So, uh, I'm sorry but I kind of changed the prompt. Instead of Jaune acting out the role as the villain, it's something else. Kind of? Ok, just read it.


When the colors fade,

When hope seems lost,

The herald of rainbows comes,

And brings back the dawn.


"Sigh." Jaune Arc was a man used to seeing a lot of things.

A random girl audibly sighing while idly kicking the pebbles beneath her into the river (and accidentally sending those pebbles flying with every motion of her leg) was not one of those things. Then again, he had seen a lot of things. The less said about Vytal Memorial Park, the better. Anyways, he was screwing around in Argus when he saw the girl by the river.

The first thought that went through his head was 'That girl is pretty cute.' And the following thoughts were discouraging him from going up and flirting with her. She had ginger hair that curled at the ends, wore a white blouse, and an olive overall skirt on top of it. Her neck was covered by a pitch black warmer of sorts with odd glowing lines.

Anyways, he wasn't the only one around.

"She's been like this for a while." Oh yea, he'd been playing around with the neighborhood kids. Turns out, when you look fairly good, wear knight armor, and carry a sword in public, children tend to look at you funny. And when untethered from their parents and politeness, they tend to crowd the weird stranger guy. The kid next to him, Maroon, was a young one, only about as tall as his legs. "Big Sis Penny been kinda sad."

"Penny?"

"Yea! Big Sis is super cool!" He then looked towards Penny, who was still facing the river. "Huh. She has really good hearing, I thought she'd hear me." Maroon seemed disappointed and worried.

"Maybe she's distracted by whatever has her worried."

"Hmmm, maybe. Hey, Amy?"

"Yea?"

"You hang out with Penny, do you know what's going on?"

"Uhhh, well, big sis was really sad and asked me-what's Jaune doing?" Amy (and the other kids) turned around to see Jaune simply walk up besides Penny and begin tossing pebbles into the river. Enraptured, they decided to listen in, interested on what the two unique strangers would say to each other.

"Hey, you good? You look like you've seen a ghost." Jaune gave a comforting smile, nothing too bright, it was just a soft grin. Penny's eyes turned to see the new face and Jaune felt an awkward silence as she analyzed him.

"Salutations, it is nothing." Penny slightly turned to face him and kept on looking him in the eye. He felt slightly uncomfortable at the impromptu staring contest, but didn't comment. People had their quirks and he wasn't going to question. "It is just-just-just-" Penny kept on repeating that word, deliberating on whether or not to tell this stranger her woes. All of her logical protocols dictated she not spill national secrets, but a large part of her desperately wanted to speak, to ask for help. In the end, a compromise was made. "-just that I'm afraid."

"Hmm?" Sometimes, he could help just by having a pair of ears and limitless patience.

"I was not raised normally. For much of my existence, I have been alone, with only my father. And now I am in the greater world." Jaune could swear he heard fans, but shook it off. "Ever since I was but a prototype and my form limited, I've been enamored with the idea of being a girl. I want to be a real girl. But I'm afraid that's not true. I'm afraid of what might happen if people find out who I am on the inside, I'm afraid they'll fear me." She was talking about the potential pushback she might get, the way people might treat her if they knew she was a robot. The soldiers in the know initially displayed signs of discomfort, who knows what could happen when the public found out?

"..." Aside from the peculiar choice of words, which Jaune just accepted as just that, he got a vague understanding of what ailed her. The problem was that he really didn't know what to do about it. Any and all choices were bad. Silence was stalling, empty words only exacerbated the wound once looked at with a slightly discerning eye, and he didn't really have any advice. All he had was silence and even then, the tightrope was thinning. He knew nothing.

Nothing but the fact that Penny was, no matter how he looked at it, as real as they came. Even with her admissions, it didn't change the fact that she was a real girl. But he knew that those words were empty without argument, without something to back them up.

So, he waited, listening to her further.

"I remember, the first piece of media I've ever watched was a series called Magical Mollie." Though her tone was somewhat stilted, Jaune could sense the nostalgia in her voice. "I developed wanting to be like her, to save the day and to live a normal life. To spend time with friends, getting to know them."

"..." Jaune's eyes widened, he had an idea. Penny noticed his increased heartbeat and brain signals, but didn't comment. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself before. My name's Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it." His smile didn't change from its comforting nature, even though he cringed a bit upon saying that again. "It's a joke." He lied, trying to preserve a bit of his dignity.

"Oh." Penny looked surprised. "Ha. ha."

"Yea, I deserve that. Anyways, I heard your name was Penny? Well, Penny, I hope you're able to put faith in yourself in the future. And call me crazy, but I think that time's going to come soon." His smile was threatening to become wider with anticipation. "And, sorry to cut this conversation short, but I think it's time for me to go, Penny."

Penny looked somewhat hurt by his departure. A part of him wanted to stay, but he knew he had to do something. "Oh. Well, goodbye, Friend Jaune." Instinct she programmed was checked by logic and past experience, which was acted upon with haste. "Oh! I apologize, I-"

"Don't worry about it, I'd be glad to be your friend."

"Hmm? Is it not worrying that I am a total stranger?"

"Eh, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

"Huh." The saying was so utterly illogical, so insanely naive. Yet, Penny found but a kernel of truth in it. After all, Jaune was a total stranger, yet he became her friend. "Huh." She found herself smiling, even as he walked off. Perhaps it was better if she didn't dedicate all of her processing power to her profound quandary, perhaps she should focus on other things. After all, she came here to Argus for a test run in public. She should get back to participating in various social activities.

Meanwhile, Jaune began thinking.


It was a boring Monday morning. Penny didn't know why people didn't like Mondays, she didn't know why people didn't like days in general. Wasn't the coming of another day a cause for celebration? Another day of survival? Another day of living? For her, every morning was a good one, it meant she had further time to grow and learn and smile.

Anyways, as part of her human socialization research initiative, she was to explore Argus for the break. Father was rather worried for her, but she assured him she'd be fine. She had been looking forward to this for so long.

She should've been jumping for joy and making new friends with all the interesting people in Argus, in fact, she already had made friends with a few kids and became their 'big sister' which confused her, given that the adoption process was a lengthy thing and she technically didn't have any official documentation. But, when she returned for the first day, she overheard something.

It was Special Operative Commander Cordovin expressing her worries to Father over her. Worries about the fear of uprisings, how people would react if she accidentally spilled her secret, and about the way she was being raised. The Polendina Project was to create automatons with aura in order to boost their efficiency and decision making skills. It grew from there, advancing into artificial lifeforms and finally into what it was now, the creation of her. Cordovin wanted a weapon against the Grimm, not a naive child playing dress up.

Father was furious at her words. But at that point, Penny had already left.

Talking with friend Jaune cheered her up a bit and after a good night of charging and rewatching her favorite shows a couple hundred times, she was combat ready once more!

And here she was, sitting in a comfortable seat on a corner cafe, looking curiously at the drink in her hand.

"Hmmmm." It was coffee. She ordered a simple cup, nothing too bothersome to brew. She wasn't going to waste the barista's time by ordering something complicated that she wasn't even going to drink. It was just hot water that went through ground up coffee beans and a paper filter. It was consumed by people in order to energize them, for the most part. In her browsing, she'd seen people say that they liked the taste of coffee, though she found an equal amount of people who only drank it for the caffeine.

And then an orb of darkness fell from the sky above and smashed into the ground with a crunch. Cars would've ran into it, but the only things in the street were trams that were at the edges. Plus, it was still early in the morning, so there weren't very many people. Still, those that were there looked curiously at the orb. It looked ethereal, smoky, and it had an odd aura around it. It was almost as if it was alien.

And then it began to swirl. The darkness condensed into tendrils that began sprouting from the source as vile laughter came out. Soon, with the sound of metal clanking, someone stepped out. They were dressed in twisted black iron armor with jagged edges and spikes everywhere, a concealing helmet with horns, and wearing a large tattered red cloak that fluttered, despite the fact that there was no wind. He carried a twisted cane that overwhelmed Penny with the odd energy it radiated as well as a jagged blade.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I SEE, THIS IS MY DESTINATION!" A deep and imposing voice boomed from the armored individual. "LOOK UPON ME AND FEAR, REMNANT! I AM THE VOID WALKER AND I HAVE COME TO IMPOSE MY WICKED WILL UPON THIS WORLD! TREMBLE!" Penny didn't have any protocols for this scenario. She had stuff for robbers, kidnappers, murderers, and criminals of all sorts, but for this? This wasn't anything she was programmed to handle.

It didn't seem like anyone was taking him seriously, however. Some brushed it off as a good cosplay, some even laughed or made jokes. An Atlesian knight walked up to it as its protocols stated.

"Excuse me possible unidentified citizen, you are obstructing the road and disrupting the peace. Would you ple-" The Void Walker slammed his staff into the ground, causing shadows to leap from the impact and lurch towards the knight. It was engulfed in shadows and, for reasons that only a handful knew, all color was drained from it. To everyone, it became shades of black and white, the Atlesian blue sucked up by the shadows. Without much fanfare, it collapsed lifelessly to the ground. (She scanned it and realized no internal or external damages were done. The shadows just pressed the force shutdown button)

That made everyone go silent.

"Fuck." Whoever said it first was the catalyst for panic. Everyone began to run away from the clearly dangerous man. Penny in particular found herself conflicted. She was combat ready! She could fight! But she was instructed to keep a low profile, to not draw any attention towards her, to not reveal anything of her nature.

So, she kept on sitting. That was perfectly normal, right? She could keep an eye on the suspicious Void Walker while also keeping her guise as a normal person.

Knights were called into action and ran towards the source of trouble, but the smokey shadows lurched towards them as well, shutting them down before they could even take a shot. The Void Walker, sheathing his sword to walk solely with the staff, made his way to the cafe, where unnerved patrons uncomfortably scooted away. The barista, who Penny commended for staying so brave, merely looked up towards the menacing figure who stood at about six feet.

"W-What would you like?" The barista flinched as the smokey shadows jumped up onto the counter, rolling and squirming.

"A VENTI CARAMEL CRUNCH FRAPPUCCINO WITH HEAVY CREAM, EXACTLY SEVEN PUMPS OF DARK CARAMEL SAUCE, EXACTLY SEVEN FRAPPUCCINO CHIPS, FIVE PUMPS OF FRAPPUCCINO ROAST COFFEE, EXTRA SALTED BROWN BUTTER, 5 BANANAS, EXTRA EXTRA ICE, 1 PUMP OF HONEY, EXTRA CARAMEL CRUNCH, EXTRA CINNAMON, EXTRA WHIPPED CREAM, AND EXTRA CARAMEL DRIZZLE!" And in an instant, almost all of the tension in the room evaporated as people began to nervously chuckle at the overly long and complicated order. Even the barista seemed to relax upon hearing that.

"Uh, alright, that will be eleven lien please."

"OF COURSE, BUT YOU'LL HAVE TO COUNT THEM TO MAKE SURE!" The Void Walker suddenly pulled out a large bag and poured out its contents, revealing them to be hundreds upon hundreds of Centilien. "AND YOUR TIP!" He pulled out a gift card with a lot of money and put it into the tip jar. "BUT ALAS, I SCRATCHED OUT THE REDEMPTION CODE! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHA!"

The only thing keeping the barista from bursting out laughing or kicking the guy out was the sword and very menacing armor.

"Hey, hey, hey?" Huh, a feline managed to sneak up on her. Penny internally sighed, she must be getting rather lax with her sensor calibrations if she couldn't see that coming. Wait, did it speak? "Hello? Are you listening?" Yes, the cat was, in fact, speaking. The black cat in front of her was speaking. "Yes, I'm speaking, not every day you see a talking cat. Anyways, that guy's kind of a dick, right?"

"I have not looked-"

"He's a bad guy."

"Oh, then I suppose in a sense he is. He has committed several minor misdemeanors on top of being generally rude."

In fact, he had received his order and spat it out before sapping the entire cafe of its color, as well as its patrons. Though it didn't have any actual harmful effects, people still panicked as the shadows swirled.

"Well, wanna stop him?" The cat's gaze was piercing, which was an odd saying considering none of her internal sensors could detect the cat's perception.

"Of course. But I am unable to do so right now." The cat displayed rather human tendencies, even attempting to stroke its own chin.

"Hmmm, I think I have the perfect solution to that!" The cat, out of nowhere, pulled out a small pendant. "Simply wear it and say 'Lady Luck Bless Me So' and enjoy the show!"

"I am sorry but I believe that only works in-" The cat interrupted Penny by putting it around Penny's neck. "Ok!" Well, why not? "Lady Luck Bless Me So and Enjoy the Show!" The cat blinked, she wasn't supposed to say that last bit. Oh well, it worked anyways.

In a flash of light, color, and a whole bunch of other things that Penny couldn't recognize, she transformed. The first thing she noticed was that even her own sensors were having problems perceiving her. Her visual receptors could recognize what she looked like and looking at herself remotely through a nearby camera let her see herself, but it was cloudy. There were clothes and hair, but her face and other identifying features were all obscured. Not in the sense that she couldn't see it, her face was present. But, if she looked away for but a second her memory banks were robbed of that data.

It was perfect. Nobody could tell it was her! She ignored the fact she was carrying an unknown and very possibly dangerous object in favor of focusing on the positives, just like those motivational posters said (regardless of how realistic they actually were).

And then she noticed she was in a exaggerated version of her own outfit. The skirt was frillier, a bit shorter, and way more vibrant. The bow on her head was also larger and her hair was longer!

She was a magical girl.

"Huh." For the first time in a very long time, Penny was absolutely stunned. And then she heard the cries, the screams of terror, the maniacal laughter inside the cafe. Oh right! There were people to save! Was this a dream? Beyond the obvious desire to save people, she felt elated, positively radical! (Ironwood once noted to Pietro that her vocabulary should really be shaved of the more aged words)

Without a moment of delay, the door burst open. She walked in and her visual scanners analyzed the entire room, finding it devoid of all color. She double checked to make sure there wasn't a monochrome filter imposed on her, then triple checked, then checked a few more hundred times to make sure she was seeing correctly. Turns out, she was.

"AND YOU ALWAYS SPELL MY NAME WRONG! PLUS, YOUR PAY IS SHIT AND SHOULD BE RAISED!" It seemed the very obviously evil man in twisted armor was simply ranting about the famous coffee chain. Actually, it seemed like more than a few people were actually cheering him on.

"Stop evildoer!" Was that the correct term? Penny shrugged it off in a fraction of a second. "In the name of justice and love! I am Lucky Penny-" The name came from algorithms trained on the names stored in her memory banks, searching for trends and patterns, until they eventually settled on that. "-and I will stop you with the powers of all the colors under the rainbow! We will prevent you from further annoying the people!" The rainbow thing came out of nowhere, she admitted, but it was a nice foil to the whole monochrome thing he had as a theme and power.

More than a few customers seemed conflicted. On one hand, this was so comical that they had to take her on her word. On the other hand, the guy was actually raising more than a few good points regarding the store.

"..." Reading the mood, Voidwalker flicked his staff to create a very cute looking puppy. He proceeded kicked it. For extra effect, he walked up to a child with a lolipop and snatched it out of his hands.

All fell silent.

"You monster!" Someone cried out.

"Your villainy knows no bounds! Prepare yourself, for I am combat ready!"

Now, Jaune (who was dressed up as Voidwalker) was expecting to just play along and roll with whatever punches Darling's toy gave her. In the end, they would all be illusions that would counter the relic he had borrowed.

He was not expecting a rainbow colored sword to fly at him, hit his chest, and actually do damage. He didn't expect it to hit like a truck, hurt like a truck, and hurtle him into the counter like a truck looking for another unfortunate teenager to thrust into another world.

And there were more.

"Oh boy." Jaune whispered to himself, now extremely afraid. Penny also seemed rather shocked by the sudden change, but she quickly recovered. Luckily, he had prepared some magic tricks. Using confidence and auric roots to try and shrug off the bombardment, he slammed the staff on the ground, this time not calling upon the parlor trick level magic artifact in the orb, but instead on the gravity dust he had laced it with. Suddenly, a shockwave shot towards Penny, shooting her out the door. The bombardment had recolored most of the cafe in the light and its accuracy meant that only he was hit by its weight.

As Jaune ran out of the cafe with weighty steps, nobody paid attention to how Maroon simply pulled out another lolipop out of his pocket. In fact, the civilians all chalked the entire stunt up to a very weird promotion for a TV show. It honestly wouldn't be the first time.

Anyways, the scene outside was slightly different.

Penny was flying. She was, honest to gods, flying. What the fuck? Was Darling giving her super powers? Wait, no, Jaune couldn't sense any magic, nor could he see any thrusters giving her flight. But, with Calm Waters, he could sense small vibrations making tiny waves, kind of like if a string was being plucked.

Ah, so that's why those sword answered her will. That was pretty advanced tech! Probably aura powered, maybe a non-thruster based gravity dust engine? Those were finicky, but far more maneuverable!

Oh yea, fight.

"You shall go no further with your dastardly plots!" Penny, despite ostensibly being here to prevent him from being evil, looked like she was having a lot of fun, a wide smile on her face.

Was this plan complicated? Expensive? Stupid? Barely a plan at all? Extremely impulsive and barely thought out? Yes, it was all of those things. Was it worth it, even for this singular smile? Of course it was.

"I SHALL GO WHEREVER I WANT!" Crying out in the hammy and hard-on-his-throat voice, he tossed a flare up before slamming it like a baseball player with the staff, imbuing it with the color sapping elements of the artifact while also igniting the volatile fire dust inside by guiding his aura into the flare in the brief connection formed.

A small black hole was created and sent flying towards Penny, who replied with a bombardment of glowing swords. This set was entirely magical, though designed to have a bit more of a punch by Darling. Was she helping Penny out? Speaking of the deity, she was actually pretty excited for the plan, if a bit peeved she'd only play the animal familiar (she was such a drama queen about it, insisting that she take the role of villain. Bah!).

Most of them were sucked up by Jaune's attack, while the other hit him before dissipating, the blades burning hot and trying to boil Jaune's blood. Luckily, he still had boatloads of aura, unluckily, it was extremely uncomfortable regardless.

He slammed the staff again, causing the ball of darkness to morph into a sword. He waved it forward, smoke seeping out from the orb, causing the sword to speed up, swerving slightly as it flew to avoid the barrage of rainbow blades. With more swings of the staff, more swords came out and began to counter Penny's colorful assault.

"LET THE WORLD LOSE ITS SHINE!" He let his maniacal mood overtake him as he made tendrils of shadow form from the ground and snap at the seemingly floating Penny, who gleefully grinned as she also upped the stakes.

"In the power of the rainbow! BEAM OF FORTUNE!" The first thing Jaune thought was that she pronounced beam quite oddly. The next thing he thought was that-HOLY SHIT SHE HAD A GIANT LASER! A giant laser of rainbows shot out of a small halo of blades pointed his way, forcing Jaune to temporarily erect a barrier of shadows before realizing it easily pierced through the measly construct. So, she genuinely had a giant laser! Good to know! Who the hell was this girl anyways!? "Beam two, activating! Beam three, join in!" And like the lights in a club, more lasers were formed as extra swords were pulled out. Though, instead of transparent pillars of colors gliding across a crowded dance floor, they were opaque rays of firey death that promised pain to whoever stepped in them.

Well, they would've, if it weren't for the fact he could sense Darling's interference. Now they were remarkably harmless!

To everyone but him. He could still be burnt to a crisp. He would've called this a surprise, but it really wasn't.

Jaune ran like hell away from incineration, trying to hide his panic as he danced through the crossing lasers before jumping up, boosting himself with the gravity dust in his armor (He simply wore another layer of armor, his normal stuff was pretty light all things considered). Leaving his staff in his off hand, he drew Crocea Mors (with an illusion spell cast on it) and aimed for Penny.

She jumped back, the swords and string leaping with her. In response, he raised the staff, causing the shadows to jump from the street below. Like an evolving organism, it began growing as it crept up the sides of the building, until it formed a platform for Jaune to stand on. The thing was quite versatile, though actually creating tangible objects would cost more aura than just illusions.

Plus, Darling was loaning him it. She was probably venting her frustration over giving him access to her vault of treasures.

"NIGHTMARES, NIGHTMARES, ANSWER ME! YEAHEAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA!" And then he made to charge at her. In response, Penny used Floating Array to match him in swordplay. Whenever he thrusted with the jagged Crocea Mors, two swords would flick him away before eight others stabbed him from several dozen different directions. An overhead slash would miss as she twirled like a dancer, with a ring of blades spinning around her and slamming against his armored side.

Ok, he was losing. Counterpoint, he was the villain! Still, he had to put up a fight!

People below held up their scrolls and took pictures as the mysterious heroine of justice fought the abruptly appearing asshole above Argus, clashing blades and unleashing hell on each other. The Voidwalker conjured a legion of shadowy minions for Penny to gun down while providing fire support in the form of void javelins.

Meanwhile, the handful of magi left in Remnant spasmed in shock at the sight of such blatant wizardry.

Penny handled Jaune's relentless offence with surgical grace, yelling out increasingly ridiculous attack names like "Blue Beam!" or "Purple Punch!" and countering Jaune's attacks.

Her beams eventually tore at the supports keeping him up, making him fumble and screw up a few attacks, creating an even bigger opening.

Soon enough, he was cornered, Penny had a dozen blades pointed his way, and he knew she could probably end the fight right then and there.

"Surrender?" And still, she had a friendly smile on her face.

"THE VOIDWALKER DOES NOT SURRENDER!" Using the trick Darling lended him, he reached for an artifact to make his escape. As he did that, a blade shot at his arm, making him flinch and accidentally drop his staff and also a handful of other artifacts onto the ground, causing them to shatter. "... That was not part of the plan."

Shit.

"FLASHBANG!" He supercharged a flare before running away. Not because he was scared of the police, but because he was scared of what Darling was going to do to him.

"Quick, AFTER HIM!" Darling, in her cat form, ordered Penny to do just that.


"OWWWW!" Jaune cried out in agony as, after disposing of the extra armor, he was caught and tortured by a now very humanoid Darling who was pinching his cheek so hard that his aura was lighting up the alleyway. Penny stood nearby, looking very confused.

"Friend Jaune, I understand that you were attempting to cheer me up by trying to fufill my fantasies-" Wow, she was quick on the uptake. "-but, I do not understand anything else that is happening. Who is this?" She pointed to Darling. "Is their semblance shapeshifting? Why is their skin green? Why are there clovers in her hair? And why is she making such a big deal over a few antiques breaking? Furthermore, how did those appear? Additionally, why did I sense an unknown energy leaking from them?"

"Yes, dear, WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPLAIN TO HER HOW BADLY YOU SCREWED UP!?" Darling really was pissed, wasn't she? Her smile was extremely strained with anger, exasperation, and resigned acceptance.

"OK! OK!" Jaune put his hands up in surrender, getting Darling to let go of his cheek, cross her arms, and huff loudly. "So, uh, Penny, funny thing! Magic exists, it's weird and old. That doesn't matter. What does matter is that I kind of sort of maybe-OKOKOKFINE!" He winced as Darling moved to strangle him. "I broke some of Darling's magical artifacts! And she's a super cool luck god pleasedontkillme!"

"Hmph. You'll be sleeping on the couch, mister."

"Are the two of you romantically involved?" Before Jaune could deny that, Darling, with a shit eating smile, pushed on her advantage.

"Oh yes~, Jaune and I are very close. Why, we've been together for months now!"

"Huh, but you seem many years older than Jaune."

"Eh, he's legal." Jaune didn't make it worse for themself by mentioning he was 17 at the time they met and 'got together'.

"But that doesn't change-"

"Shhh, that's not important." Darling put a finger on Penny's lips, which got her to shut up. "What is important is the fact that you two have to get those things back!"

"Eh, aren't they just broken?" Jaune quickly shut up when Darling's finger almost gouged his eye out.

"No!" Darling sighed as she manifested a whiteboard and accompanying lights out of nowhere. A piece of chalk formed in her fingers and she got to drawing a chart of a sword shattering and weird wavy lines. "The magical artifacts in my vault are loaded with power. The artifacts don't really matter aside from being containers, it's the power in them that matters. And you've just broken the containers! So, the energy has dispersed." Penny uniformly raised her hand. "Yes, Ms. Polendina?"

"If the energy has dispersed, that must mean the artifact is neutralized. The container is the only thing keeping it in, like a bottle. If let out, it should dilute itself by spreading."

"Good observation! Mr. Arc ought to take notes." Jaune threw his hands up once more. "You are correct, yet wrong at the same time. Under most circumstances, the magic in artifacts act something like liquid!" She drew on the whiteboard to match her explanation. "Except, these aren't normal artifacts. These are my artifacts. My very old artifacts." She snapped and the dust on the board jumped off. Specifically, they jumped off and clumped up into small clouds that smacked Jaune's eyeballs, causing him to scream in agony before reaching for and using his canteen to wash out his eyes.

"So they've gelatinized?"

"Sure!" Darling drew a plate of jello. "It has gelatinized, creating a firm and squishy matter. Instead of the magic simply breaking when the circuit does, the circuit and magic energy become intertwined and harder to break! In a sense, they turn from enchantments to curse. And curses are hard to get rid of. Artifacts shift from becoming the glue to becoming their prisons. And breaking the prison means they're free to roam."

"So-"

"They're out there. And they're going to cause trouble. You're lucky you only broke a handful." Darling sighed as the whiteboard fell back into oblivion and the explanation was over. "So guess what Penny? You're now an actual magical girl! You can keep the pendant, it's a simple thing that, when you wear it, makes your identity clouded to anyone who doesn't know you. The magical stuff was me, which you aren't getting more of. But, that doesn't really matter, because-"

"I am combat ready!" She gave a hearty salute.

"I swear, that's been repeated four times now." Penny, for the first time in most of her existence, involuntarily blinked. That thought process was filed for later as Darling moved on. "Anyways, you're not getting out of this, Jaune!"

"Didn't think I was." Jaune shrugged, not really surprised.

"And as extra punishment~!" She snapped, causing Jaune's hair to grow out and his body to shift.

"WHAT THE FU-" Jaune was now a girl. Honestly, he really should've expected that Darling could do something as outrageous as this.

"You're also a magical girl now~!" Darling snapped a few more times and with that, his outfit changed as well. His practical garb turned frilly and nonsensical. Below the tight metal breastplate, instead of a belt and jeans, he wore a blue mini skirt (what was with huntresses and wearing mini skirts anyways?) and his white metal greaves and sabatons became more encapsulating and far tighter armored knee-high leggings that he wasn't sure was actually feasible. "I hope you have fun with that new body, I certainly am~." Jaune looked only vaguely disturbed.

"So, uh, is this permanent?" It took a bit to get used to, but not everything was different.

"Only if you want it to!" Darling gave a teasing smile as she pulled out a camera and began to take photos. Jaune was still too enamored with his own new body to care. "Take a look!" She handed a photograph over.

"Huh, I actually look pretty good." Jaune was surprised at how neutral to this transformation he was. Maybe it was the decade and a half of being a dress-up doll eroding his defensiveness towards things like this.

"Indeed! Friend Jaune looks extremely beautiful!" Penny piped up with her own input, gaining a blush from Jaune and a smug smile from Darling.

"Alright! Now let's go hunting for those troublesome artifacts!"


Turns out, finding the first one was easier than all three of them thought. Well, two of them. Darling said she was going on a short vacation until all of this was settled (after she got a good share of pics of Jaune being cute) and left Penny and Jaune to their own devices. Anyways, they found it fairly quickly. Luckily, it was in a secluded location. AKA: In the middle of the snow covered Argonian forest.

Problem: The powers in the artifact had seeped into a Geist. Why was that a problem? Because it took the powers of the staff. The Molder of Shadows, it was called. It had the power to conjure shadowy constructs with varying levels of strength. They could be spread out like a gas to create an illusion or bunched up to create solids.

"Drill!" Penny sent a rapidly spinning blade in order to crack the giant shadow boulder that the newly evolved Geist had gotten.

A Geist imbued with the power of the Moulder of Shadows. And Geists, as Jaune learned both from experience and Talos, were able to 'become' whatever they possessed. That was why the fight started out so poorly, with Jaune trying to get a clean strike on the mask. The Geist simply became intangible before attacking the both of them.

Jaune shivered in the snow as he danced with Crocea Mors. He wasn't exactly going to get much use out of the shield at the moment, there was better chances of dodging the projectiles thrown his way than trying to match their force with his own strength. He was strong, but he wasn't that strong.

"Friend Jaune, you should yell out your attacks!" Penny yelled out to him as she twirled around, avoiding javelins of darkness as Jaune covered the ground.

"Uh, sure, why not!?" Jaune shrugged, it wasn't like the Geist could really understand it. "Rock Splitter!" With two hands on Crocea Mors, he rose the blade above his head and cut the newest projectile from above, shattering it like glass. "PIERCE!" Jaune used his jets in order to boost a thrust towards an incoming Beowolf. Looks like their fight was attracting attention. "Pen!"

Penny gasped and held her hand over he face. "Friend Jaune, is that a nickname!?" She seemed extremely excited at the fact.

"Yep!" Jaune offered a strained smile and thumbs up as he pulled out his shield to avoid being shredded up by an Ursa. "I'll hold the Grimm, you can fight the Geist!" Jaune yelped as he narrowly avoided being hit by a divebombing Nevermore. His fighting was mostly the same, even with a changed body. Standard slashes, blocks, parries, and dodges. He bobbed and weaved through the growing horde, navigating the closing operating space he was given while continuously grasping for more with Crocea Mors. His shield now found constant use, blocking and deflecting blows so he could immediately respond with a thrust into the skull to shatter bone. His offense wasn't optimal, but his defense was like a five feet thick steel shell.

"O.K!" She kept that smile as the Floating Array left her back in full. Sensors detected an projectile incoming from above, so she sent three blades to knock it off course. A giant maw threatening to crumple her in an instant? Grab onto the wires of Floating Array, propel the blades upwards, and use the rubber band mechanic to escape. She saw Jaune was about to be overwhelmed and sent a trio of swinging blades that wrapped around him and acted like a blender in the small sea of Grimm.

Jaune instinctively fired his flare gun at a shadowy projectile. Instead of instantly being battered by the large pillar thrown at him, the flare simply went through it, causing the attack to dissolve into smoke.

"..." Jaune blinked right before going back to fending off the onslaught. The fact he was so cramped in the tiny bubble he'd kept the Grimm from taking was the real reason he wasn't turning the tides. He was focusing on not dying, but Penny wasn't. She took in the information, the shadow constructs were weak to light. More specifically, light sources. Energy, perhaps?

"BEAM!" With a meaningless snap and point of her fingers, the blades of Floating Array opened up in order to unleash small, but powerful beams of green energy upon the floating cloud of shadows with a single glowing eye. It began to frantically move, making her miss the obviously critical weak point of its eye. Still, her blasts created holes in the shadowy, proving the theory. "Glow!" Floating Array snapped back into blade wing configuration, ready to answer her commands. But, now they were glowing green from the energy normally blasted at a distance.

If the Geist could evade her from a distance, she'd just have to come up close.

"Well, this is just DANDY!" Jaune spoke with grit teeth before yelping as he ducked to avoid a nasty right hook from an Alpha Beowolf. Then he had to bump off an Ursa Major that was trying to crush him. Apparently, the elder Grimm were using him as a training dummy for their youngbloods, except after too many had perished from his blade, they'd moved in to finish the job themselves.

An Alpha Beowolf was as hard for him to beat as 10 Beowolves. An Ursa Major was as difficult for him to beat as 8 Ursa. There were 2 Alpha Beowolves and 3 Ursa Majors. He was practically juggling bombs as he rolled, ran, blocked, and prodded in order to avoid being skewered, slashed, pounced upon, or crushed.

"A little help!?" Jaune cried out just as Penny began to pursue the fleeing Geist. The possessor Grimm, with their abilities relying on knowledge of their host object, had some amounts of natural intelligence they were born with. They had enough to know that it had no way to beat Penny, what with her energy blasts being a hard counter to even the strongest of constructs it could create. So, it began to retreat.

Penny, on her way to the Geist, helped Jaune out with a few kicks and flails of her arm, with Floating Array following the motions at lightning speeds. Glowing with green energy, they cut through the Grimm like a hot knife through butter. Jaune began to run with Penny after the Geist, even picking her up bridal style so he could use the jets in his boots to fly up to hop on the trees. Though it took a few seconds, Jaune managed to run on the trees, though if he stopped for even a second he'd fall. Luckily, the jets gave him a large margin for error if he made a misstep or lost his balance.

Penny, meanwhile, jumped with calculated precision as she chased after the cloud, firing off shots in the vain hopes that it'd hit the mask and shatter it, killing the Geist.

And then it stopped.

"Prepare to face the power of Lucky Penny!" Penny did a pretty cool pose with Floating Array as she said it.

"Uhh, and don't forget the blade of Crescent Moon!" Jaune created a silly name and did a pretty shrill voice (though it was already modified by Darling) to boot.

"GROOOOOOOOAOOOARRRH!" The shadows condensed into a single point before exploding. The entire surrounding area was engulfed in shadow, temporarily blinding Jaune and Penny. The sudden lack of sight caused Jaune to stumble and fall to the ground, with Penny noticing and going down to catch him. Floating Array's glow intensified in order to provide light, shedding the darkness in order to provide her visual scanners optics on Jaune's features and the world one foot near the light.

"Friend Jaune?" They landed on the floor of the forest with the crunch of snow. They weren't pulled into another realm, that was for sure.

"Pen!" Jaune's eyes darted around, eventually sticking to the only thing that wasn't the endless void: Penny.

"Hmmm, this is quite the predica-" During her sentence, Jaune's instincts stood on edge and he pulled Penny out of the way as something ran by and tried to strike her head. "-ment. Let me try suppressing fire. Please take cover." Jaune did so, pulling out his shield as Penny began to wildly fire off shots from Floating Array.

One aimed at the sky created a beam of light that pierced the heavens and reached the floor like a pillar.

Jaune turned around with his shield, creating sparks as something smashed against it. Penny shot a few more rays into the sky before stopping, creating more light for them to walk into. They were like spotlights, safe areas where there were no threats, but surrounded on all sides by the shadows. Jaune and Penny took separate spots, keeping apart. Penny had to shut down Floating Array's glow, she was running low on energy, so she had to rely on the lights she had created already by piercing the blanket of shadows in the sky.

It was like a messy chessboard made of patchwork quilts.

Jaune dipped halfway into Calm Waters, using the vibrations to guide him. That was when he realized that the Geist wasn't the only thing there. There were Grimm. Lots of Grimm.

"Penny! Grimm incoming! They're in the shadows!" And Jaune could see red dots in the darkness frantically coming closer. Jaune made a blind stab in the dark, only to have it deflected off of the bone plate head of a Beowolf. "Shit." He used his jets to pull back, ignoring the stumbling he did before he lost balance and tripped over, in order to avoid the immediate retribution of several Grimm slashes.

Then he heard the screams. Ravagers. They were in the sky, barraging the both of them with their sonic screams. The blasts that missed and hit the snow created explosions that created small craters in the white and countless tiny vibrations that gave Jaune a headache.

"Copy that!" Floating Array spun around Penny like a hula hoop or protective barrier, bisecting plenty of weaker Grimm that tried to take her on without a plan. The smarter ones lurked behind in the shadows, waiting. In fact, Jaune could sense a particular one, one that had two presences. One moved like an Alpha Beowolf, the other one radiated a tiny bit of heat in a pattern reminiscent of a Geist's eye.

So they could possess Grimm as well, neat.

Through careful hopping from spotlight to spotlight and Penny's strength, the two of them managed to whittle the Grimm down to one. The one who lurked in the dark. The one possessed by a Geist.

Jaune shot a flare towards its direction. It was like a beacon in the darkness that temporarily revealed whatever was in its path, even giving the two of them a glimpse of the newly merged Grimm. The Geist mask was on its chest, though the Alpha likely would guard it heavily. But several things had changed. Its mouth was leaking out shadowy goop. Its bone plating was gone, replaced with shadowy outlines. The only hint of color was its yellow eyes and the blood soaked skull that replaced the usual bone.

It ate the flare, the goop swallowing it up and extinguishing the fire.

"It's on the run!" Jaune swore out before ducking to avoid a slash aiming for his head, only to realize there were two sets of movements. The first one that he dodged vanished without a trace, leaving him vulnerable to get slammed on from an overhead bash from the Beowolf that slammed him into the dirt. He swore out in pain as his aura flared, temporarily revealing the Beowolf's position, causing it to run wildly away as Penny unleashed Floating Array. She left one sword as a sort of handle to help him up.

"Do not worry! SEEK!" She pointed her finger and immediately, Floating Array began zipping around at lightning speeds. On top of trying to find the Beowolf by process of elimination, the wires were also creating a wide web that would alert her to the Grimm's location. She noticed a wire was pulled and let all but two blades converge on that point. She heard the sound of flesh being torn and an anguished scream from the shadowy wolf as she began to move the blades.

And then it gripped onto one of them, snapping it clean in half. She gasped and pulled back Floating Array immediately. She had a limited number of them and while her strength was superhuman, her weapons were what really made her effective in a fight.

"Alright, let's see how this works!" Jaune loaded a prototype flare he had made into his gun before firing. It flew through the air, though it wasn't creating any light. Instead, a fuse was burnt up and several small clusters of firecrackers were spread out. He jumped out of Calm Waters to avoid the headache before they all detonated, creating a long line of fireworks going off, almost like flashes from a camera that briefly gave them glimpses on the Wolf's position.

Floating Array hovered around Penny protectively as she adopted a more defensive stance while Jaune kept his shield arm tense, ready to block a blow at a moment's notice. Even if he couldn't turn in time, his aura-strengthened armor would tank it well enough.

The fireworks were made to last long, so that'd give them some leeway against the Wolf. On an attempted ambush, Jaune slashed it and managed to draw Grimm blood. Grimm blood that soon evaporated into shadowy smoke the clung to the ground and began to choke the fireworks, limiting the light once more to the rays from above. The fact that it was tangible and leaving those open probably meant it had given up on a good chunk of its power to create this zone.

Soon, the two of them were back to back. Jaune's eyes were darting left and right, his ears were focusing on every little movement, and his mind was racing with possibilities to keep him alert. Penny was thinking up an idea as well.

"Hmmm, Jaune, I have an idea."

"Yea?"

"Those lasers cost me energy. If I were to unleash a full power beam, I would fall unconscious. But, it would kill our foe. I will do it, but I will need you to carry me back to Argus."

"Energy?" Like dust?

"Ah, my apologies, aura. Think of it as a Semblance of sorts." The lasers were powered by her own life force. Though, it could be modified with dust.

"Oh. Well, uh, funny thing." Jaune held Penny's hand, earning a surprised yelp from the girl, and began pumping aura into her. Foreign sensations and unknown activity blared in her head, but for some reason it felt rather pleasant. After Jaune's hand let go, reports indicated her aura was back at 100%, while Jaune's was nearing 35%, which was pretty good considering how long he had been in combat.

"Is that your semblance?" Jaune nodded. "Exceptional! Let me finish the job then." And, in a display of power Jaune would never quite forget, Floating array formed a cannon that shot out a condensed energy beam that zipped across their entire small bubble, tearing the shadows to shreds and eventually obliterating the wolf. Jaune, with Calm Waters, could sense the ancient power still lingering, and grabbed a new crystal ball Darling provided to cage it with.

"Phew, we finally finished." Jeez, now he was getting really chilly wearing nothing to cover his thighs but a mini-skirt without the rush of combat.

"Yay! Task concluded!" Penny raised her hands in joy, though kept rather still. Jaune thought she was asking for a high five and gave her one, eliciting perplexed looks and a long winded explanation as they went back to Argus.


"Hey, Penny!" Penny was admiring the flowers while also going over some journals in her repository over the species when Jaune appeared. She sensed him coming a while before he even entered the park, his auric signature was quite unique, but she wasn't supposed to know that, so she kept on looking at the flowers until he greeted her.

"Hello friend Jaune!" In an instant, she got up and turned to face him. She engaged courtesy protocol and offered a hand to shake, which Jaune took with bemusement in his eyes.

He was wearing rather casual clothes, a simple t-shirt and jacket along with tight fitting jeans. His elongated hair was tied up in a bun, in contrast to the dirty blond mop that he used to have on his head. "So, what you doing around here?"

"Oh!" She paused for a second, deliberating on what to say. "Enjoying the flowers, of course!" She pointed to the patch of ground she was staring at. There were a wide assortment of flowers there, though slightly trampled. Regardless, their petals were a vibrant rainbow that added a bit of variety to the otherwise monotone green grass.

"Huh, didn't think Argus would have stuff like this, given how cold it is."

"Oh! Well, Argus is actually built on diluted fire dust deposits that warm up the water! That's why there are also several natural hot springs around!" Another point in the favor of Argus' natural appeal. It wasn't hard to see why it was called the 5th kingdom.

"Aren't there deposits in most of Northern Mistral's rivers?" Memories of the Shadeferry came to mind. How was Maria doing?

"Yes, but it covers a wide enough area that the climate itself has actually changed! Before Argus was built, this area was a warm pocket with a small forest!" She pulled out a scroll and showed an artist's rendition of what Argus might've looked like in the past. "Though, because of the pavement, most of the heat is still trapped underground, going up in specific areas like this park or hot springs. It's also why the tap water is naturally warm!"

"Huh, interesting." He never really considered how much dust had altered the landscape around them. Like how many areas were fertile because of plant dust deposits. Was Atlas as cold as it was because of vast quantities of ice dust? Man, he really should've paid more attention during class.

"Yes!" Penny merely smiled at Jaune until she realized she was still shaking his hand and sheepishly retracted her arm. "Apologies, friend Jaune, but why are you here?"

"Eh, taking a walk." He actually was, believe it or not. Well, taking a walk and also considering how the hell he had gotten into this mess. "So, this what you do all day?" He pointed at the flowers.

"Well, I sometimes cuddle with my betta fish plush and tend to the live ones I have in my aquarium!" She said it with such an enthusiastic smile that Jaune almost choked. Was he hearing that correctly?

"A betta fish?" Jaune was remembering that brief stint as Kris Kringle. Come to think of it, Penny's voice was actually pretty familiar now. But what was she doing all the way in Argus? Ah, whatever.

"Yes! Betta fish, or beta fish, are tropical freshwater fish that are commonly kept as house pets because of how easy they are to care for!" She actually had a camera always observing her fish, just in case something happened to her precious fish. Or if they did something funny. Or if they moved. Or if they began playing poker.

If dogs could do it, then fish weren't out of the question.

"Huh." Jaune's interruption made her realize she was rattling off factoids about betta fish in between talking about hers. "You really like betta fish, don't you?"

"Yes." Penny's face fell, she had ruined the conversation, hadn't she?

"Hey, hey!" Jaune quickly moved to reassure her. "It's not a bad thing. Everyone has something they like to obsess about, you know? I have a friend who likes gambling so much that it's probably an addiction-" In a Vacuan resort, Darling huffed. "-and I know someone who's really into archaeology-" Oscar sneezed, was someone talking about him? "-and the list goes on and on."

"Then what about you?"

"Huh?" Jaune was brought to a halt by the question.

"What about you? You said everyone has a hobby."

"I-uh-hmmmm." Jaune felt like he should've realized this sooner. Then again, any day he had free almost always came after a long week of trekking or fighting. "Well, I sometimes like to read?"

"That is not very convincing, friend Jaune. I know!" She took his hand once more and began to drag him off. "Let's go find you a hobby!"

"Eh? Yeowch!" She pulled on him so hard that his socket was almost yanked out. "Ok! Ok! Let's go!" He grumbled a bit about excessive force before walking off with her.


"Man, this view is good." They started small. Penny got two sketchbooks and some pencils for them to draw with as they sat on a rooftop overseeing the Argus skyline, facing the ocean. Jaune accidentally snapped a few pencils, as did Penny, which they both laughed about. Penny reached for a new one while Jaune continued on with the broken piece.

"Indeed!" Penny seemed far more relaxed than Jaune, who was mindful of the fact that he was sitting on a rooftop and might fall at a moments notice. Still, it didn't stop him from sketching out the landscape. Maybe it'd be good for him to do that more, he did travel a lot, so there would be no shortage of places to sketch. And it was pretty space efficient, all things considered. "Friend Jaune?"

"Hmmm?"

"Are you ok?" Penny seemed rather worried for him.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" He had a look of confusion on his face.

"It's just that you're always tugging at your clothes." She pointed it out just as he shifted uncomfortably in his jacket. After a bare bones explanation and a confirmation of his identity, Saphron and Terra embraced the change immediately. And by embraced the change, Jaune meant go ham on dressing him up as the 8th Arc sister. He barely escaped the house with his jeans. Fighting in a skirt was one thing, wearing one constantly was another. "And you're constantly reaching for something at your side." Now that he paid attention to it, Jaune realized he had been reaching for Crocea Mors out of habit.

"Oh! Well, it's just been a while since I've worn something else, you know? Been a while since I've taken off my armor and left the sword, actually. It's tight, but it's comfortable." He had a nostalgic smile on his face, even though he was in his armor not too long ago. He went without it mostly on a whim.

"Do you sleep with your armor on?"

"Hmm? Of course." Jaune seemed confused over the inquiry. "I mean, if I get attacked while I sleep, what else is going to protect me?"

"Your aura?" She looked confused at the behavior.

"Armor is more efficient. More aura is used to block an attack on flesh than when reinforcing something like a shield or armor that's been hit." He'd actually tested it a few times himself and talked to some hunters on the road about it.

"But the efficiency only matters when you're in hostile areas for long periods of time."

"Well, I kind of am? I'm a huntsman, if you couldn't guess, and a meandering one at that. I spend most of my days in the wild, so I need to use the least amount of aura in a fight just in case something else jumps me right after." Penny's eyes widened in realization. So that was why he wasn't in any databases beyond generic social media ones!

"Wait." But according to all known databases, he was still very young! About the age of a first year academy student! And he was from Vale! What was he doing in Mistral!? "Should you be wandering around like this?"

"Huh?"

"Mortality rates amongst non-academy graduated hunters is extremely high. You're at constant risk of deaths that I've heard are exceedingly cruel. And that's counting all non-academy hunters. Most are simply stationary, staying in their own towns or occasionally taking missions." Penny looked at him as if he was a puzzle, though her hands were still moving, still sketching the outlines of the view. "Why?"

"Why does anyone become a hunter?" Jaune looked at her with a genuine smile. Before she could answer the rhetorical question, he took over. "The idea just called to me, you know? Fighting monsters, saving people, a life of excitement, of adventure." His smile was tempered by heartbreak and disaster. "Of hardship, or tragedy, of death." It began to wither, his lines became harsher, the sun became more overbearing, the shadows starker.

"Hmmm."

"And you're clearly no normal person either, you a student?" He'd actually seen a few students around Argus, apparently it was a holiday.

"Yes! Penny Polendina, first year student of Atlas Academy!" The enthusiasm in her voice actually got Jaune to chuckle a bit.

"You know, sometimes I can't help but be a little jealous of you guys in the academies. I mean, you get awesome teams, giant campuses, and I hear the teachers are all the best in their fields." Meanwhile, he got Raiden. Jaune wasn't about to be an ungrateful bastard, Raiden was definitely skilled. But, he was far from the best teacher. He taught fundamentals that Jaune simply couldn't know without explanation, but he would leave things like stance and strategy entirely up to Jaune to figure out.

He said that Jaune was smart enough to do so, the knight privately thought that Raiden was just too lazy to bother. Then again, Raiden had no obligation to teach Jaune jack, so even that was something to be grateful for.

"Yes! All teachers in Atlas Academy were hand picked operatives that are immensely skilled in their subject of choice on top of being trained to be effective instructors." Penny never said anything in half measures, did she? Well, Jaune wasn't one to curb her enthusiasm, even if everything she said about her school kind sounded like it came from a brochure.

"Well, no use complaining about missing out on stuff like that, you know?"

"You could still join an academy. You're 18, correct?" Jaune hummed to the affirmative. "You'd be one year older, but not out of place as a first year."

"Yea? Penny, can I tell you a story? Of when I made my choice?"

"Of course."


It was a long time ago, in Vale. It was late at night and Jaune was in front of a 24/7 store that was barren, sitting on a stone bench and looking at his scroll. He and Raiden had parted ways just that morning, having one final breakfast before Raiden left to wander more. Though they played tough and snarked at each other, Jaune knew Raiden was hurt by the separation as much as he had been. It was present in his eyes, all of it, pride, fear, joy, and melancholy all wrapped up and staring at him.

He sipped on a cheap bottle of soda he bought and stared at the application form.

Name? Jaune Arc. Age? 17. Gender? Male. That was the easy stuff.

Now was the rest.

Credentials? He put in several faked transcripts. He still got them, though at the very least he had a bit more skill to back them up now.

If you were the only hunter in a non fortified town that was about to be besieged by Grimm, what would you do? He'd evacuate all civilians immediately if escape could be made and the Grimm only came on one front. If they were from each point, then they'd have to break through to escape. If even that was impossible, call for reinforcements and prepare for a siege. Freeze the earth to make the hordes slip, use electricity dust to charge the skies and let nature strike the Nevermore down, create moats full of jagged spears that'll never clog up because the Grimm dissipate. Jaune remembered doing just that in a village on the outskirts of Vale. Luckily, the horde wasn't horribly large, so it was merely a matter of endurance. Though Jaune was left bedridden with extremely heavy casualties (and a whole new set of scars), he managed to prevent just a few casualties.

What would you do upon arriving on a breached town with a force of 12 hunters? They'd make as much noise as possible, attracting all the Grimm to them, and make it clear they were there to help in order to bolster morale among the civilians. Scouts would spread out and begin rescues, sharpshooters would spot notable Grimm, take out key targets to prevent civilian casualties, and mark survivors. They'd be brought to a larger group with tankier forces that would protect them as a dense bubble that would eradicate the sparsely spread out Grimm around them.

How would you purge a Grimm horde's den? Considering how large hordes were, it would be easy to use the environment to wreak catastrophe on the Grimm, but that isn't always an option. Otherwise, it depends on how many allies he had. If he only had a few, he could set up camp far away and begin patrols to exterminate scouting packs to whittle down their numbers enough to make a direct assault feasible. A larger one with enough firepower could simply lure the horde into a killzone where they'd be gunned down.

Why would you be a good fit at Beacon Academy? Jaune paused at that one.

He thought about it. Beacon Academy, the school for the future defenders of humanity, a place to make lasting friendships and be taught by experts. A glorious campus with architecture that made royal palaces feel small. It had facilities for days for everything from farming to forging to even a fully fledged shooting range. It was a hunter's dream training with ideal conditions to create the next generation of hunters.

And yet, something didn't feel right.

What would his days be like for those four years? Waking up in the same bed every day, the same classes with an occasional trip or mission? And he'd just sit in class and doze off during lectures while there was work to be done?

But, what had he been doing for the past month or so? Hadn't he been training without pause for the past few weeks for this purpose? To fulfill his dream and go to Beacon?

But was that his dream? Was his dream an idyllic school life with the underlying promise of a life of fighting to follow it? Or was his dream always to become a hero, to fight for what was right, to protect people from the Grimm just like his father? Was Beacon ever really a part of his dream? Or was it merely the road to achieving it?

In fact, hadn't he been living his dream already? He was on the road with Raiden, fighting Grimm, helping rebuild villages, solving local problems, and meeting new people. Despite the pain, the hardship, and the training from hell, he'd found himself satisfied.

He'd been so focused on getting into Beacon that he hadn't realized he was already so close.

"... Screw it." He closed his scroll and chuckled. The idea was stupid. A barely trained idiot going out into the wild? He'd be Grimm chow in seconds. He could barely hold his own as it was! But then again, the idea of him going to Beacon without a lick of training or even unlocked aura was absolutely insane to begin with. Sticking with Raiden for so long was an act bordering on the nonsensical. Many of his choices were extremely questionable when placed under even the slightest bit of scrutiny.

So, why not make one more?


"So you chose not to apply because you liked wandering better?" Penny seemed confused,

"Yea, that's basically the gist." Jaune's hand loosened up on the pencil, he stopped chipping the lead. "I mean, why not?"

"I suppose that is reason enough." Penny shrugged before looking Jaune straight in the eye and saying, "What is it like to be a nomad?"

"Interested?"

"A bit. I've sometimes wondered what it's like outside of Atlas. I've never really been very far from home." Footage and photos weren't the same as experiencing the outside for oneself. "What's it like?"

"Hmmmm, exciting, I guess. You always wonder what's going to come at you next. Sometimes it's really boring, just days upon days of walking with the occasional Grimm pack to kill. I've run my fair share of marathons when running from stuff I can't handle. But you know, it's relaxing. Not a life for everyone, definitely not. A lot of hunters I've met have called me crazy for hitting the road so often." Yet, they all understood that he wasn't going to change his mind and let him be. "The sights are to die for. One time, in southwestern Mistral, I was going through the mountains when I suddenly found an ancient temple! Exploring that was amazing!"

"Hmmm." Penny took it in without comment. "That does sound delightful."

"Yea? It's kind of my dream, I guess." He chuckled lightly. "I could do with a pillow, but the grass works just as fine. Have you thought about what you want to do after graduating?"

"..." Penny gave it a lot of thought. She hadn't really considered what she would do, what aspirations for the future she held. What did she want? "I-" Did she want a peaceful life? A life of adventure? A life dedicated to protecting the innocent? What did she want to wake up to every morning? "I don't know." She knew her purpose. Floating Array was perfect for exterminating Grimm, but she couldn't just fight the Grimm all the time. If that was still the point of the Polendina Project, then they would've created highly skilled knights or divert resources to the development of the Paladin.

"Eh, that's ok." Jaune surprised her by simply shrugging. "We're young, it's not set in stone. You'll only have to worry about it when you're close to graduating." At that point, the two of them had finished their sketches. Penny's was remarkably detailed and sharp, practically a mirror of the city, shore, and sea. Meanwhile, Jaune's shifting mood had definitely impacted his final result. It shifted from light strokes that seemed more like hazy recollections to forceful pushes and well defined shadows. It wasn't good by any means, but it was definitely interesting. "Hmm, not bad." He didn't hate it. It wasn't fine art or anything, but it was serviceable.

"Indeed, not bad." Penny felt a bit disappointed with hers, but it was soothed by the fact that she had hung out with a friend. Progress made already!


"Huh." Crescent Moon and Lucky Penny were at it again! On the hunt for the dangerous magically possessed Grimm. If someone told Jaune that he'd be fighting a giant Grimm with a Manticore head and upper body, a Griffon's head and wing, and a small Drake's head, wing, and lower body, and a snake for a tail that could spit out acid, he would've laughed in their face.

He was paying the price for that decision.

"Owowowowowowow!" Jaune muttered in pain as he ran away from the hail of feathers that the Chimera's Griffon wing shot at him while Penny failed to cut through the nigh impenetrable hide of the Drake wing. Floating Array tried prodding at the furry areas of the Chimera, but had to retreat before they were disintegrated by shots of acid from the snake tail. "What freaking artifact did this thing eat!?" Jaune wasn't having the best of times.

It radiated magical energy, but besides being a one of a kind Grimm, Jaune didn't think very much of it. At least, that was until it began absolutely dominating them in combat. It was strong enough to make Jaune's legs feel like crumpling as he tried to block a slash, its acid ate half of his aura in a second, and to top it all off the scaled parts of its body were simply impossible to cut through.

"Pen! Go back and act as fire support!" Since Floating Array couldn't cut through it and getting close meant risking being hit by acid, it was the safest option for her. For him, it just meant more attention. Still, maybe Penny's firepower could lighten the load for him. Hell, maybe they just needed her lasers to pierce its hide!

"O.K!" She backflipped (Jaune didn't know why) away, letting Floating Array arrange itself in the air behind her. The levitating swords opened up and began unleashing fire. Each shot was aimed precisely in order to hit what seemed to be a weak point, the Griffon head. While the Manticore and Drake were armored, the Griffon only had normal. She also made sure not to hit Jaune, which he appreciated as he dove right just in case her aim wasn't as good as he thought it was.

"!" Jaune's eyes widened once he heard the hissing of the snake. He bolted out of the snow and began running as the snake tried to reduce him into fleshy mush with high pressure shots of acid.

Meanwhile, Penny's laser shots bounced harmlessly off the scales of the drake wing that the Chimera immediately flaunted as a shield. "Hmmm." Penny hummed, unsatisfied with the results. With reaction speeds like that, she couldn't get a good shot off.

Wait, she could!

"Spread!" Floating Array leaped into the air and began surrounding the Chimera on all fronts, preparing to do a synchronized blast. Its wing was large, but it wasn't large enough to cover its entire body.

The Chimera responded by whipping around and launching its snake tail at high speeds at her. Penny's eyes widened as the Prince Taijitu tried to bite into her. She dodged, of course, but had to play carefully as it began to spit out acid at Penny. Meanwhile, Jaune had jumped away to avoid being whacked in the face by the spinning Chimera, only to then begin running away as a giant scorpion tail sprouted out of its backside and began to try smashing a hole through the top of his head.

"..." As he ran from the offending appendage, Jaune facepalmed, of course he couldn't catch a break. Looking in Calm Waters, Jaune could notice that there were a sort of binding between all four Grimm, something that let them combine their forms in order to fight as one. "Huh!" And old memories flashed through his mind, of an experience similar to this. He looked back at the combined Manticore-Griffon-Drake Chimera, with ethereal lines splitting its body.

Rolling through the snow to avoid a pounce and diving to dodge a slash, he gripped onto Crocea Mors and cut through the ethereal lines, pouring amplified aura through his blade.

It cut true, shattering the bind and splitting the Chimera in two. It divided into a Manticore and a Griffon-Drake Chimera. The Manticore occupied his attention with frequent attempts to cave his skull in with its stinger and crush his bones with its giant paws. Meanwhile, the Chimera began flying over Penny, shooting flaming razor feathers at her as she fended off the Prince Taijitu.

It was surprisingly agile, slithering through Floating Array's attacks like it was navigating a tunnel system in the ground.

"AHHHHHHH!" Jaune pulled out his heater shield and huddled behind it as the Manticore unleashed its fire breath, causing his blood to practically boil and his aura to drain as he tried to insulate himself and put out any nascent fires. "SCREW OFF!" After a few seconds of torment, he forced himself to change out the fire flare in his flare gun for an earth dust shot from behind the cover of his shield so neither would detonate. Then, still behind cover, he pulled the trigger, causing high quality earth dust to fly out like a cloud and form a pillar that blocked the fire for him.

It wasn't a permanent solution, though, because the rock barrier was beginning to falter and chip with the extreme pressure of the flames.

Now that it was separated from the Griffon and the Drake, the only armor the Manticore really had was on its head. Its fur was tough, but it would easily be pierced by Crocea Mors.

"Hmmm." But it would never let him flank it and thus, he was restricted to dealing with its armored front. He was too slow to go around it faster than it could turn and-

Wait, no, he had something!

Just as the barrier was about to crumble completely, Jaune jumped through the flames and out of cover, using the jets in his armor to boost him. The Manticore, not expecting the sudden increase in speed, flinched, giving Jaune just enough time to get around it and stab Crocea Mors deep into its side.

Unfortunatley, before he could pull it out and cause excessive bleeding for the Grimm, it turned around and bucked Jaune off, causing him to slam into a tree.

"EEK!" Jaune screeched as he jumped away just as the tree was obliterated by the Manticore's stinger.

Meanwhile, Penny was dealing with both the Chimera in the air and the Taijitu on the ground. When detached from the main body, it grew in size until it was about half of a King Taijitu in volume. The Chimera occasionally did strafing runs that scorched the land she stood on, melting all the snow and leaving wet dirt. She ran out of the way more often than not, but fighting two enemies at once was sub-optimal.

So, she took the best course of action.

Floating Array stabbed at key points in the Prince Taijitu, wires wrapped around it, and with all of her strength, the snake was lifted and thrown at the Chimera in the sky. Faced with the options of assimilating or self-destruction, the Grimm choosed to combine once more, the snake shrinking in size and becoming the tail again.

"Beam!" Now that they were all in the air, she was in the perfect position to start using ranged weaponry. Floating Array positioned itself around her and began the light show, rays of green flew through the air as the Chimera tried in vain to dodge. Its best bet was using its Drake half in order to block shots, but whenever it tried to get closer she'd begin to fry the Griffon half.

Sacrifice was needed, it realized. The three Grimm Chimera split up once more into one part with the Drake and Taijitu, while the Griffon was left to die from Floating Array's lasers. Meanwhile, the impervious Drake immediately rushed towards Penny, who could only run helplessly as it began to spew more flames. Using Floating Array and its wires as a grappling hook, she zipped from place to place in order to avoid her circuits frying.

Meanwhile, Jaune wasn't having fun avoiding firey death with only his shield. He always kept one flare of each type of common dust he could find and he had already spent his earth dust one. Fire was useless. Ice would melt immediately. They were in Argus, so plant was out of the question already.

Really, dust was more of a one shot gimmick. His aura was dwindling so if he wanted to amplify the dust, it'd have to be a guaranteed win. And he didn't buy hard light dust cause it was too expensive, so he couldn't just manifest a giant spear to instantly skewer the Manticore. Really, his swo-

Another idea hit him. Jaune grabbed his lightning dust flare and gripped it tightly, almost cracking the shell. He loaded his flare gun as he avoided more strikes from the Manticore. Holding the firearm, aura pooled in the hammer, amplified by his semblance, but it didn't go through and activate the lightning dust. Keeping just a bit of aura in his legs, he proceeded to shoot a powerful burst of amplified aura through his greaves to shoot him past the Manticore, letting him see its side, where his sword was.

And then, keeping it steady with his other arm, he pointed the flare gun towards the Manticore and poured his aura into the lightning right as he pulled the trigger.

The dust activated immediately. The dormant energy within the dust began moving, agitated by the spark. It was joined by his aura, which poured through the lens of lightning in order to create electricity. It jumped out of the dust, forced out as more and more came out, looking for a connection.

And a connection it had.

Even before the flare hit, plasma arcs jumped several meters to use Crocea Mors as a road, going through the sword like it was a wire and pouring excessive amounts of energy through the metal. Jaune put all of his aura into the dust, putting all of his faith into this last gambit.

It paid off as the dust turned white and the lens cracked, unable to take any more energy, and all of the electricity shot through Crocea Mors, into the bloodstream of the Manticore. The Grimm was electrocuted to such a degree that it burnt away into ashes instantly, all at once.

"Ahh, I'm going to sleep." Jaune, his aura finally softly shattering, smiled exhausted as he let unconsciousness consume him.

Meanwhile, Penny was beginning to turn the tides. Now that the Chimera was reduced to two entities, one of them she quickly excised with Floating Array flying in like a plant nipper wielded by a ghost, she could fight it without much worry. She was fast enough to avoid its flames and she could more than match it in close quarters combat. On top of that, she could even outclass it in range with her laser shots. But, she did keep mindful of her energy levels, Jaune's aura had shattered, so there was no safety net to fall back on in case she ran out of ammunition.

Oh yes, ammunition.

"I am sorry, Friend Jaune, but I must requisition you for ammunition!" In her fleeing, she stopped by Jaune's body (taking care to pick him up and move him to safety while she was at it) and grabbed his flares shells. With a brief moment to think up an idea, she took the only useful one, the ice dust shot, and ran towards the Drake once more.
After it opened its mouth in another strafing run, but before it could spew out flames, Penny threw the ice dust into its mouth. It activated with the fire spark from the Drake's mouth and froze it shut, letting all the air in it burn and thus kill the flames. It had been frozen with its jaw fully extended as well, so it couldn't muster up the strength to shatter the ice. It could only slowly chip at it while it began to melt.

It landed in confusion, dragging up the snow and dirt under it. But before it could dislodge the piece of ice in its mouth, Penny attacked. Floating Array became a storm of blades poking at the scales of its neck, trying to flay it of its shiny armor.

With enough effort, she managed to pry a few off, and from there she plunged Floating Array through the opening and let the blade work through the soft flesh, tearing the Drake apart from the inside.

After hitting something vital, it began to fade away into black dust.

"Combat concluded!"


Another day and another moment of break time. Jaune and Penny had spent the morning hunting for the next afflicted Grimm and came back with nothing, so they spent the afternoon hanging out. In specific, Jaune was exploring his new body. And by that, he meant clothes. He was getting clothes.

Look, if Darling was going to spring a new body on him, he might as well get clothes to match. Plus, Penny insisted.

"It is a totally normal girl activity to get new clothes, after all!" There was something off about Penny, but Jaune just couldn't put his finger on it. Seriously, he had spent so much time out of the walls and with Darling that his conception of normal people had been skewed heavily towards not questioning anything because he seriously didn't have the time to freak out over every single thing.

"But, I'm not a girl." He didn't mind looking good, however. Guy or girl, he wasn't going to say no to turning heads.

Again, spending time with Darling, training under Raiden, and being beaten into the dirt hundreds of times over meant breaking his pride.

"But I am a totally normal girl-" Jaune subtly smiled, it was nice to hear her affirm that fact after what she was like when they first met. "-And thus, your lukewarm denial is cancelled out by my enthusiasm!"

"Uh, Pen, I don't think that's how it wor-" Jaune realized midway that he had already committed to doing this. Protest was futile. "-Never mind, lets' get on with this."

"Yes, Friend Jaune!"

Anyways, Jaune hadn't changed too much in his transformation. His hair grew longer, which for the sake of sight and sanity he tied into a braid. He grew a bust, which was bizarre to deal with. His sense of balance was knocked off kilter for a few seconds before he finally got used to it. The way he walked also changed. He was still rather tall, had fairly defined (and actually fairly larger) muscles, and had a dopey smile on his face.

"..." Anyways, Jaune had realized something key about himself: He was cheap. Well, it was less that he was cheap and more that he rarely had lien to begin with due to his half heroic and half pragmatic tendencies. That meant that all purchases were for essentials, usually dust. And because of his limited options, he was always conscious about pricing. That was why his eyes practically shot out of their sockets as he looked at the prices of some of the dresses in a botique. "What the hell?" Why were they so freaking pricey anyways!? Were they made with the blood of people? Weaved with fabric made of Grimm dust? Did they have hard light dust barrie-

Oh, wait, it did. It had hard light dust weaving in it that could be used for a variety of purposes. Huh, that was neat.

"Wait-" Jaune hadn't really paid much attention to the other stuff and soon realized that this was a mixed botique, one filled with both hunter and civilian grade clothing, all of it flashy. A part of Jaune wondered why the hell hunters were so focused on fashion. He (and Raiden, though his mentor wasn't exactly subdued in his youth in terms of clothing) seemed like the only guy who didn't wear custom clothing.

Well hey, at least they could try the stuff on in the changing rooms. He barely had enough money for one outfit as it was. After gathering up some outfits, he decided to try some on for Penny.

"Huh, suddenly these are a lot more cramped." It'd been years since he'd been in a changing room, after all. Anyways, the clothes were all pretty well made hunter grade clothes.

Made to be extra durable and be well suited to channeling aura (as opposed to most normal clothes that actually begins to burn up), hunter grade clothes were made to last. They were also made to be bright and flashy, fitting for the torchbearers of hope that Hunters represented. There were also raw materials of hunter grade cloth, leather, and steel for craftsmen making a custom order.

Funnily enough, his hoodie actually was hunter grade. As a kid, he just thought it was particularly tough and resistant.

"Tadah!" Jaune's first outfit was a white sundress, a jean jacket, aviator sunglasses that he put on his forehead, and sandals. At first he tried the heels, but switched them out after tripping ten times in the changing room.

"Very good!" Penny held up a large card that had '10' neatly written on it, which got an amused snort from Jaune. "Though, I do wonder if it would be smart to wear such a thing in a cold place like Argus."

"Ah, yea it isn't the season. Well, I think I got something for that in here." Jaune went back into the changing room and quickly switched clothing, only getting slightly frustrated as his stray hairs frizzled after rubbing against the cloth. Soon, he came out wearing a form fitting white sweater and black tights, along with fuzzy slippers. Honestly, Jaune could see Terra or some of his sisters wearing this type of stuff, maybe Coral (though she usually stuck to loose oversized t-shirts that she wore for days on end).

"Also a 10!" Penny was overwhelmingly positive, which he grew to appreciate. The clothing felt nice, even if it was a change from his usual armor. He still preferred the tight but comforting confines of his metal, but he was within the walls.

"Thanks!" Jaune tugged at the sweater, noticing that it was a bit small and would expose her back if she tilted even slightly.

"Hmmm, I've read that 'virgin killer' sweaters like this-" She held up the article of clothing, "look even better!"

"PFFT!" Jaune choked on air as he heard that come out of her mouth. "O-ok, Penny, where did you hear that?"

"F-"

"Actually, don't answer." He stared at the backless sweater before sighing and taking it. "Alright, might as well." he went into the changing room and came out with the virgin killer and shorts on. "Not bad." Jaune looked at himself in the mirror, smiling at how he came out looking, and eventually caught Penny staring. "Enjoying the view?" He tried his best teasing smile, though he knew it wouldn't faze the unflappable magical girl.

"Yes." She was uncharacteristically subdued.

"Hey, Pen. Penny." Jaune sat down on the stool next to her. "You good?" He looked her in the eye, comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Of course, Friend Jaune, my vitals are all-"

"I mean in here." Jaune pointed to the head. "Or here." He pointed to the heart." Or here." He pointed to the stomach, jokingly. "Y'know, if you're hungry. I don't think I've ever seen you eat anything. You want to get something?"

"No!" She wasn't made with the capability to consume biological material. At best she could put it into a storage compartment for disposal later. She realized that her emotions made her response much louder than she intended. "Sorry. I'm not hungry, as you call it. It's-well." Penny found herself stumbling over words like never before. A small part of her was excited at the new experience, the rest felt dread. "How did you know those would look good on you?"

"Eh?" Jaune looked at himself and stared. "Well, I just chose my usual colors, white and yellow. Maybe I could've thrown in some blue, but those two colors are what I usually wear. That and instinctual stuff and personal style."

"Friend Jaune, would you believe me if I said that I had no fashion sense?"

"Eh?" That was what this was about?

"Yes. I haven't been a girl for very long-" Three years, two months, and 15 days to be exact. "-and with that comes inexperience. I don't know what will look good on me and looking at you has kindled feelings of-" Her mind was at a loss for a moment. Sadness? Anger? Wanting? "-envy. I felt envious of how you smiled." The irony was not lost on Penny, who smiled approximately 86% of the time. "I suppose I felt jealous over how much you looked like a normal girl."

"..." Jaune thought about it. It wasn't like he was a girl. He just felt comfortable in his skin, before and after Darling changed up his body. "Hey, Pen? You wanna know something funny I just realized?"

"Hmmm?"

"It doesn't matter if I'm wearing a dress. It doesn't matter if I look like this. If it's what I say, I'm a guy. It doesn't mean I can't dress up like this or look like this. It doesn't really mean much of anything, if I'm being honest. It's like my armor. It's not my armor that makes me a hunter, though it does help, it's me. It didn't matter how weak I was when I began training, it was the drive inside that mattered." He chuckled a bit at the revelation. "What I'm saying, Penny, is that you don't need to wear a dress or look like me to be a normal girl. God knows that if all girls were as tall as me, a lot of guys would be quivering in their boots." He chuckled, imagining a scenario where the Arc household was just filled with 6 foot residents.

"Hmmm." Penny took in those words. As her high opinion of one of her few friends and his advice clashed against his own insecurities, Jaune continued on.

"Look, I said it before, but when I look at you, I see a normal girl. Sure, you could kick my ass six ways in a second. Sure, you have your quirks. Sure, you probably wouldn't think twice about a Vacuan prince asking for money. Still, doesn't change a thing. It's who you say you are, so it's you. I think there's a saying? Cogito ergo sum." Truthfully, he only learned the saying when he was researching old Valean when he wanted to sound smart for a crush.

He failed, miserably. Still, if that embarrassment meant cheering Penny up, it was worth it.

"Hmmm." Penny stared at Jaune with a neutral expression. Hey, it was better than that frown. "Are you flirting with me?"

"Eh?" Jaune took a moment to pause before immediately backing up. "W-wait, what!? No! No, I-I'm not flirting w-with you." Then he realized what that sounded like. "I-it's not that you aren't cute! And really fun to be with! And a grade-A badass, but-I-" And then he realized what that sounded like. "It-I-well-uh-brothers-" All roads lead to flirtation, he supposed. "I'm married to Darling." How was that the best option he came up with!?

"Heheh." Penny smiled, oddly enough she held a hand over her mouth as if she was trying to hide her laughter. "I think this is where I say, 'kidding!' is it not?" She asked with an innocent smile.

"..." Jaune looked her in the eye before rolling his and scooting back towards her. "Ok, you got me. You get what I mean, right?"

"Yes, Friend Jaune!" Good, that smile was back on her face. "But, I would still like to try out this new activity of 'trying on clothes.' It has been very long since I've received these and I have yet to try on anything else." Her closet was just filled with identical copies of the outfit she had on.

"Yea, sure. I'll help you pick out some outfits." Turns out, being forced to be a shopping cart and give comments on outfits would actually pay off.


"Alright, final one!" Jaune's smile was as radiant as the sun. After two weeks of going at it, they were finally finishing with cleaning up after his mess! And after this, he could scratch that itch and get back on the road. Well, ok, maybe after a day or so more of being with Penny.

"Yes! It is good we finished before my break ended." Oh yea, her break from school was ending soon enough.

"And it's right here!" In a frozen lake.

This totally wasn't ominous.

"Hey, Pen, ever try ice-" Jaune's words trailed off as he noticed she had taken off already. With perfect balance, she walked onto the ice and began to glide on it using two of Floating Array's swords as skates. "-skate." Well, that was definitely a challenge. "Hmm." And as a man with pride, he couldn't just stand by and not answer the call! So, he used some rock dust to create skates for himself before setting off. He'd tried it once or twice in an artificial rink in Vale, but that was a long time ago.

So it didn't really surprise him when he fell face first on the ice. Thank the brothers for aura.

"Heh." Penny audibly chuckled as she leaned over Jaune's still body. He was still breathing, just not moving. "Would you like to request help, Friend Jaune?" She offered a hand and a smile, which he graciously took.

"Thanks, Pen." She helped him up with unexpectedly unrestrained strength (his socket felt sore) and held his hand as he slipped trying to stand upright.

"It is alright if you want to try an alternat-"

"No, no, I got this, I can do this!" Jaune was failing, evidently enough. But, after a few minutes of trying, he managed to actually stand without slipping up. His muscles were tense, he was sweating a bit, and he actually lost some aura from falling onto his face, but he was standing.

"Outstanding!" While he suffered, Penny applauded for him, threatening to kill his pride with a thousand cuts.

"Yea, yea." He grumbled as he began to try and move forward. And he failed. And failed. And failed a few more times. "Fine." He gave up on trying to do it on his own after he remembered that he had to learn this before the Grimm came to attack. "Please teach me Ms. Polendina." He sighed and threw that meaningless bit of pride away.

"Ok!" She picked Jaune up again and stood by him. "Look at my feet!" Jaune did so. "Now, to move forward, twist your knees like this!" Creating a v-shape, he followed. "And then, take a step." She did so and he mirrored. "And with that momentum, untwist your knees and let yourself go!" In sync, they both did so and began to skate towards the frozen lake's center, where the Grimm lurked. The plan was to lead it to land in order to fight it on proper ground. "Now, remember, if you lose your balance, squat like this!" She did the motion for example and Jaune committed it to memory.

"Alright, alright! Let's do this!" And now, they were heading towards the arena for the final Grimm.

It answered their call with a groan. A groan not of life, but a groan of a large piece of ice bearing the pressure of a large rising creature.

And then, a giant bone armored tentacle shot out of the ice, dripping with ice cold water. With its emergence, cracks began to form in the ice.

And then it tried to turn them into a stain on the ice. Jaune grabbed Penny and used a propulsion blast from his armor to dodge the attack. The force of the tentacle's slam caused the ice around them to fracture and the sheet of Jaune was on to tip upwards like a seesaw, sending him flying through the air. With a bit of help from his armor, he managed to land on another chunk of ice, Penny in his arms. He let her down so they could face the tentacle, which began to go towards them, brushing off the large pieces of ice like they were nothing.

"Ok, let's split up and try to create an opening." Because as it was, there seemed to be little to no way of actually beating that thing. Crocea Mors sure wasn't able to pierce its heavy bone armor and from the looks of it, Floating Array wasn't having an easier time.

"Affirmative!" Penny, with a little help from one or two of Floating Array's blades, began to skate on the ice, occasionally jumping with grace to avoid falling into the water. Jaune, stumbling a bit as he did, went in the opposite direction to encircle the tentacle. If it tried to attack one of them, it'd create an opening for the other.

Penny unleashed shot after shot from Floating array, which singed the bone plating but didn't actually do any damage. Meanwhile, Jaune had leaped onto the tentacle and had tried to drive Crocea Mors through the plating, only getting halfway before being forced off and taking his sword with him. He landed on his ass on the ice and yelped, remembering that he was wearing a skirt.

"AHHHH!" Jaune immediately bolted upwards, hand smashing the skirt against his rear as the brief frostburn made him shiver. "AGH!" And then he realized the boney pillar was attacking him. He barely managed to boost himself up with his sabatons before its sweep almost crushed his side.

"Saw!" Meanwhile, Penny was throwing her blades in buzzsaw formation at the tentacle in the hopes that it'd break through the bone armor.

Klink!

It didn't. Floating Array just bounced off. Penny knew that there was little she and Jaune could do against the armor. But, perhaps there was an alternative? As Uncle Ironwood sometimes said, a shield does not defend everything.

"Jaune, fire dust!" The knight looked over and saw Penny raising her hand and answered the call, throwing a flare to her, which only went halfway. Luckily, one of Floating Array's blades caught in time and let it bounce so it could reach Penny. She cracked open the flare and poured it into one of Floating Array's blades in cannon mode, switching the element.

Normally, her energy blasts acted more like electrified shots. But with dust, she could modify their capabilities. The fire dust was spread throughout Floating Array and, once ready, the blades pulled back and arranged themselves in firing line form.

"Beam: Red!" Taking a cue from some shows she watched, she actually held one of Floating Array's blades in sword form as a sort of commander's blade. It wasn't efficient, but it was very fun to do. On her command, Floating Array unleashed synchronized beams of heat onto a single spot. The combined condensed flames managed to heat the bone so much that it melted. With a bit more fire dust left, Floating Array moved to exacerbate the wound, shooting heat into it from several different angles through the opening created.

On the other side, Jaune had come up with his own idea. He had laced the top half of Crocea Mors with gravity dust before again plunging it through the chink in the armor. Then, he overloaded the dust to create a forceful explosions that simply tore the armor off, Grimm blood and flesh coming out with it. From the combined assault, the tentacle began desperately crashing into the ice, destroying even more ground and leaving even less room for the two of them to stand on.

Penny stopped her assault as soon as the fire dust was expended and Floating Array was red hot with heat. That was the downside of using dust. Electricity threatened to short circuit the machinery, fire overheated the metal, water could go through the cracks, earth could let dust form and grind against parts, and gravity/wind could simply break the blade's internals with the knockback.

Anyways, the tentacle, wounded heavily, retreated into the water, defeated.

Jaune sighed a breath of relief.

And immediately ate it when a dozen more untarnished tentacles sprouted out of the water.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." Jaune's eyebrows twitched. He had a few flares left, but it wouldn't matter if they were immediately destroyed by the heavily armored appendages. Luckily, they were spread out throughout the entire frozen lake. Unluckily, that meant they had fractured the frozen surface, creating a small sea with dozens of fractured floating platforms drifting through it.

Dipping into Calm Waters, he could notice coalesced magical energy rising as the main body met its challengers. It'd also likely be its weak point. All they had to do was survive long enough to meet it. The problem was that there were 12 of these giant boney pillars and that in the commotion caused by their rising, he and Penny were seperated.

"Oh boy." Jaune couldn't even see where Penny was given that a number of pillars were blocking his view. The best course of action was to slip through their attacks and meet up with her in order to either flee or go for broke and try to attack the head. That was going to be difficult, however. Mostly because there were significant gaps between platforms of ice and the pillars were going to be relentless. "Well, pressure's on." Indeed.

So, with a blast from his greaves, he began to skate away. Crouching to keep his balance and with Crocea Mors in its sheath, he jumped into the air as a tentacle came crashing down against the ice. He landed on his feet on another pillar and didn't let himself slow down, even if he almost fell face first. Falling was bad, but losing momentum was even worse. Losing time would mean risking being stuck on the ice when it was destroyed and falling into the ice cold water.

Wait.

"Oh yea!" Jaune laughed nervously, why didn't he think of this before!? He loaded an ice dust flare into the chamber of his flare gun and shot it at the water. The sub-zero cold let the ice dust flare create a pathway of ice that Jaune took, taking a shortcut through the pillars instead of going around them. "Eek!" Of course, they tried smashing him into the deep with all their might, actually creating waves that he raced against on the thin road of ice he took.

After jumping to a larger chunk of ice, he managed to see Penny, who was holding up fairly well. She was dancing through the various pillars that tried to slam into her with thrusts and sweeps, using Floating Array and its wires to give herself momentum or to scratch at the bone.

And just before he could jump onto the platform she was on, the main body rose out of the ice. It was a lot of things. Instead of a yellow orb, it had a large ornate mirror for an eye. Bearing that mirror like a socket or frame was a large head like that of a fish. And holding that head was another one, that of an octopus. Holding that was one of a shark. Holding that was one of a whale's. And sprouting from the whale's sides were all the numerous tentacles, as if the whale was a piece of cloth fraying at the edges, whose owner tried to halt its decay by tying the loose strands.

It was large, perhaps if it removed itself from the lake the surface would drop twenty feet. It was definitely thousands of years old, if not older. It had long since grown powerful enough to ignore the authoritative voice that beckoned murder. It had evolved into something else.

And its sheer presence attracted the power of a shattered artifact.

"u2018h092131249094800429139208304-529103021858013021938829019jJ !IKSQEWQSI)DW!J_!H(E UDJ(W!)# !*$ !&* (!(#8823190389*$ )(#82180302149813#(*) (!)$* !)()* #(!#"

What was it like to hear numbers? To hear symbols? To hear the language of a species not meant to speak?

"-." Jaune was bleeding. His ears were bleeding. So that was what it was like. His amygdala was overwhelmed to the point where fight and flight became two roads that intertwined like braiding hairs, their meaning lost as the distance between them grew smaller and smaller, until finally there was but one road. Jaune fell to his knees as his aura was dominated and suppressed. If it could be represented by a gas that emanated around him, then the rising of the thing in front of him would've compressed his auric presence into a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a centimeter of space deep within his rapidly beating heart.

Penny wasn't as affected. At least, not by the Grimm. No, her eyes were captured by the mirror. Her visual receptors were infiltrated and modified, as if someone was playing with puppets in front of the camera.

The Grimm underneath the lake was a holdover from an age before most. This Grimm was one who lived long enough to be strong enough to have enough mental capacity to have thoughts. It grew and grew and grew until it eventually rejected its own nature completely, trying to rebel against the Violet Drake of destruction that saddled it with such a role.

For its treason and infection by the Golden Serpent, the Drake banished it under the lake. And there it lay, living, but deprived of all senses. And there it lay for so long, until a curious accident gave it the power of sight.

And there it formed, a mirror, a reflection of the world. And by absorbing it, the Grimm was able to see the world once more. And with the power, it felt compelled to stare, compelled to force humans to stare into the mirror, it felt compelled to break their resolve and consume their souls with its power.

And in it, Penny stared, and she saw herself. More than that, she saw visions, visions of possibility, visions of herself. Penny Polendina saw the million fates of Penny Polendina, she saw the million 'bad ends' that she would meet. Her secret was found out, the Polendina project was shut down due to public backlash, Pietro did one last act of kindness and released her before she was forcefully shut down, but she was hunted down by agents of paranoid kingdoms to scrap her components and research them for their own usage while Atlesian operatives were forced to put her down so she wouldn't be recovered by foreign powers. She continued to live on, the secret kept, she made a friend, they found out, and she was murdered in a fit of panicked fear. She continued to exist, but all of her friends would perish, and she'd be all alone.

And the worst one of them all, she'd be the reason why humanity as a whole fell. Her eagerness to be human would be the reason why Amity fell twice, why countless friends had grief stain their hearts, and why the end of times would come.

Penny Polendina felt very human at that moment. She wasn't calculating, she was thinking. She wasn't processing, she was seeing. She wasn't acting in self perseverance, she was fearful.

But, despite feeling human, she didn't actually feel changed in the very slightest.

Oh, her arms were gone.

Huh, was this one of the bad ends? No, no, the Grimm had latched onto her arms and drew her closer to the mirror. The force had torn her arms off, revealing circuitry and a metal skeleton. So, the Grimm held back its monstrous strength as it held her by the torso this time.

She realized that in a blink. And when her eyes opened, it was back to staring into the mirror. The infinite fates of Penny Polendina, all for her to see and acknowledge. The million ways her thin facade could break and for her entire life to crumble like a potato chip.

Wouldn't it be better if these never came to be? If she ended it right here? If she didn't bring misery upon others with her existence? Wouldn't it be better if she stopped playing pre-

"No." Penny ceased those thoughts before the process even finished. "I will not fall to this."

But her arms! Jaune would see! Jaune would fear! He would scream! He would shout! He would run! She would lose her only friend!

"I doubt that." Penny smiled. She had faith in Jaune that he'd accept her, flesh or metal, as who she said she was, Penny Polendina, a totally normal girl.

The mirror had shown its hand. And against Penny's determination and unwavering faith in others, it was found wanting.

"One final attack." Penny tried raising her hand. Oh, how clumsy of her, she didn't have any. "A sendoff to this saga." Her energy was lacking, all of her aura was dedicated to self-repair systems. All of it was dwindling.

A miracle happened.

Her systems created a new function on their own and reached out for the closest source of energy: The pendant on her neck. With what little aura she had, she opened it up and siphoned its energy into her, making it her own. And then, spreading it throughout Floating Array. "I am no longer Lucky Penny. My name is Penny Polendina, combat ready!" And she smiled, she felt so alive. Her blood was pumping, or was that electricity? The fact she couldn't tell excited her. The only thing she needed now was a overly complicated name.

"EXECUTE PROGRAM:TEN THOUSAND MIRACLE BEAM!" And Floating Array unleashed a rain of rainbow lights that smashed against the mirror and shattered it into a million different shards. Now broken for a second time, the energies in the mirror found themselves drawn to Penny and, thanks to the unknown system within her, were converted into raw aura that was dedicated to self-repair systems.

And now, without sight once more, the Monster of the Deep had no more senses to rely on. And with that, it fell back into its timeless slumber, letting Penny go, letting her fall gently onto the ice.

And there she knelt. Floating Array brought her arms back to her and let her aura begin the process of self-repairing. Odd, she couldn't do that before with her chassi-her body. Perhaps it was a matter of perception?

"AH!" And at that moment, Jaune's aura had finished repairing his ears, finally stopping the bleeding and repairing functionality. "Ugh, that was terrifying." He had seen so much in the mirror as well. Visions, possibilities, blood. "Well, at least it wasn't too long." And like Penny, he fended it off long enough to avoid his soul being consumed. "Hey, Pen, you alri-" And here was the moment of truth, Jaune seeing her for what she was on the inside.

Metal.

"Uh, Pen? You good?" And yet, he simply looked at her as if nothing was wrong.

"Heh!" Penny laughed. Not the audible laughter of before, but the genuine deal. "Heheheheheheheheheh!" She laughed and laughed and laughed, almost keeling over, following the example of laughter she'd seen in humans.

"Uh, Pen?"

"I am sorry, Jaune, it is just that I've finally felt the joy of being proven right." And despite their auras both flickering, despite Penny's arms still being far from functional, despite Jaune bleeding in several areas, Penny smiled. It was a smile Jaune realized he had only seen shadows of before. It was a smile more radiant than the sun. It was a smile worth the entire world.


It had been a long hunt. But finally, it was over. When they retrieved and captured the final artifact, Darling came back with little fanfare, chucked the orbs into her vault, and kept Jaune as he was for a little while longer (much to his dismay, since the skirt was beginning to get a bit frustrating to wear). And on the final day, Jaune and Penny hung out for the last time in a while.

"Boyfriend Jaune?"

"PFFFFT!" Jaune keeled over as he spat out his lemonade. "U-uh, Penny?"

"Yes?"

"What did you just call me?"

"Boyfriend Jaune?"

"... Yes, that. Why did you call me that?"

"According to records, boyfriend is a rank above best friend, which itself is a rank above normal friend. Thus, I will call you Boyfriend Jaune." She stated it like it was a normal and understandable fact, which, when put that way it was. Still, Jaune couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Uh, Penny, I'd be fine if you called me best friend or just friend."

"Hmmmmmmmm." A bead of sweat appeared on Jaune's forehead. This would probably be the moment where this all would spiral out of control. "Ok!" Or not, whatever! "As I was saying, Friend Jaune, today is the final day of break. After this, I will be returning to Atlas Academy for my tenure as a student. I know you will not be able to join me. However, I do wish to at least part after saying something to you."

"Hmm? Sure, Pen."

"Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you." She looked at him with a gaze bearing a million words as she chose a fraction to express. "You spent the last two weeks trying to cheer me up. And though I don't know the reason why, I will never stop being grateful for what you've done to help me." Following some guides she read, she embraced Jaune, taking care not to suffocate him.

Jaune's arms wrapped around her back as well, returning the hug.

"No problem, Penny. It's just what a huntsman should do."


Hey, you know Yondu's arrow? That's what I imagine Penny's weapons could be like. Also, how do the wires on it work? Like, wouldn't a really big weakness of them be the fact they could be cut whenever? Idk, whatever.

Anyways, this was pretty fun to write.

Also, headcanon that Ruby is able to comfort Penny over her insecurities immediately because she can personally relate or smth where Jaune kinda fails at that at first. I dunno, maybe I'm stretching?

Anyways, next is either Siege, or Mech. It's not a vote, I'll do one or the other. Maybe I'll actually fucking finish Neon's chapter. But here's a little premise for each.

A young girl prays to the 13 Virtues and 4 Medicines. And then a drunk time traveler falls through the sky and in front of her. Somehow, this leads to a holy pair leading the charge against the Grimm siege that had been tearing apart the kingdom.

There is no hope. A small town is practically fated for death as Grimm surround it on all sides. Faced with certain doom, Jaune decides to risk it all on a gambit, and puts himself in the cockpit of the one weapon that might give the people a way out of their nightmare.