Chapter 8) Not-So-Pointless Field Trip

A/N: So, any of you ever watch 'The Revenant' with Leonardo DiCaprio?

The Forest of Forever Fall was once known for being a very popular destination, for both tourists and locals from Vale, to spend time in. Family picnics on lazy afternoons, young couples on dates enjoying the scenery, adventurous children who loved clambering among the curiously-always-auburn leaves of the trees…

But then, several years ago, the Grimm began to push further into the area, and much of the forest was declared off-limits to civilians. Huntsmen conducted regular sweeps of the forest to cull the population as much as they could, but even after dozens of campaigns intended to reclaim the territory, the Vale Council still classified Forever Fall as a dangerous Grimm hotspot. Which really was a shame, because if you were careful enough to avoid the most densely-populated areas of the forest, Forever Fall really was a stunningly beautiful sight to behold.

A fact that their chaperone for the day was all too eager to explain to the class in plentiful detail.

"Unlike the vast majority of fruit-bearing broadleaf trees, and indeed the vast majority of plant-life in general, the Red Leaf Maple does not photosynthesise, owing to the lack of chloroplasts in its distinctively-coloured leaves. Instead, in order to produce glucose for respiration, the Red Leaf has adapted to burrow deeper into the ground with its roots than any other tree. The root system of but a single Red Leaf Maple can extend downwards for over a mile in order to harvest the maximum possible amount of ambient nutrients from the soil."

Professor Peach may not have had the same amount of energy as Professor Oobleck, but her enthusiasm for her subject was quite evident in the way she explained the various attributes of the many plants that could be found across Remnant. With a smile on her face and cheerful lilt to her voice, the diminutive pink-haired Professor happily continued to rattle off factoid after factoid about the trees the class were slowly walking through.

"But of course, a single Red Leaf Maple can only do so much by itself, which is why it also possesses a second adaptation: inosculation. In essence, all of the many trees that make up this forest share a single, gargantuan root system that allows them all to work in tandem to maximise the yield of nutrients they harvest. In fact, there is far more forest beneath our feet right now than there is surrounding us!"

Coming to a halt, Professor Peach spun on her heel and faced her class, arms spread wide as she gestured to the large clearing they had arrived at… after almost three hours of nonstop walking!

"Set your gear down here, class. This will be our base camp for the day."

A chorus of groans, sighs and one or two curses filled the clearing as twenty-or-so very tired teenagers unceremoniously collapsed to the floor, dumping bags and belongings haphazardly here and there as they did so.

"Professor," groaned Weiss, slumped up against a stump. "Did we really need to walk this far just to collect some sap? If all these trees are linked like you said they were, then surely any tree would do?"

"You are quite right, Weiss. But I figured you could all use a day away from the main campus. After all, everyone needs a day off now and then!"

If the Professor noticed the sea of borderline murderous glares being sent her way, she did not let it show, simply continuing to beam at them as if she had done them all a favour, as opposed to wasting three hours of their time on what was apparently a pointless nature walk.

Jaune would have seethed at that if he had the energy left to seethe at anything. Instead, he just let out a disgruntled sigh as he too slumped against the trunk of one of the many trees that surrounded the clearing.

Just take the opportunity to get a little more rest, Jaune. You need your strength back if you're gonna be hitting the training room again tonight when you get back.

"Now then," Professor Peach announced loudly. "Everyone take one jar from the boxes that Team CRDL graciously transported here for us. And do take care not to break them, as we only have so many to go around."

The 'gracious' Team CRDL grumbled as the four of them opened the boxes they had been lugging all the way through the forest and began passing out jars to everyone.

Cardin held one jar out towards Jaune, who quickly snatched it from the other boy's grasp without comment. That earned him a glare, but Professor Peach was already talking to them again, so Jaune just ignored it.

"As I explained in class last lesson, the sap that the Red Leaf Maple produces is rich in energy and nutrients, and as such it is a highly versatile substance with both medicinal and nutritional applications. Therefore, you are to each gather one full jar of sap for use in our practical class tomorrow. You'll need to harvest sap from multiple trees in order to gather enough to fill the jars, so you will need to venture out beyond our little clearing. Stay in your teams, keep your weapons close at hand, and be on your guard. While this area of Forever Fall is safer than most, Grimm still lurk in these parts."

Professor Peach's voice turned serious for a moment towards the end of her instructions, only to return to her usual, more cheerful tone right away. "Meet back here at 3pm, and have fun!"

With that, the teams began to split off from the group and ventured into the forest. Jaune saw Cardin lead his team back in the direction they had all come from, while Team RWBY were already in the process of harvesting from the trees around the clearing.

Jaune stiffened as his own teammates made their way towards him.

"OK," said Pyrrha. "Why don't we all head-"

"Let's split up." Jaune spoke quickly, cutting Pyrrha off before she could complete her statement. "Each go in a different direction and gather our own sap. If we split the workload between us, we'll save time."

Short, sweet, and perfectly reasonable.

"Jaune, Professor Peach told us to stay in our teams." Ren levelled Jaune with a pointed stare as they spoke. "If we stay together, one of us can keep watch for Grimm while the-"

"I don't need you to watch my back, Ren," snapped Jaune, his patience already gone.

Why couldn't they just leave him alone?

"In that case, why don't you keep watch for us instead?" suggested Pyrrha. "We can get the sap while you stand guard."

"Yeah!" added Nora. "Let us take care of this one!"

Jaune fought down the urge to snap at them again. He knew, in some small part of his mind, that they meant well. They just didn't realise that this was not what he needed right now.

They were going to try and talk to him again, just like they had been trying to do for the last three days since he and Pyrrha had had their first talk on the roof. Quite frankly, Jaune was sick of it all. Between Nora constantly asking if he wanted to "buddy" with her and train together, Ren sending what he swore were disapproving glares at him in class, and Pyrrha just refusing to accept his assertions that he did not need any help and that she should just leave him alone…

"Fine," Jaune sighed. "Let's just get this over with."

"Then follow me!" Nora spun around and began to march into the forest like she was leading an army. Ren followed with a shake of their head, Pyrrha followed with an amused smile, and Jaune trailed behind them all with a frown.

After about a minute of walking, the gap between Jaune and the rest of the team had widened enough that he could no longer hear whatever Nora was saying to Ren.

Perfect.

As quickly and quietly as he could, Jaune slipped off in a separate direction from the others and began to navigate the forest on his own, weaving in between trees and around fallen tree limbs until he was confident enough that he had lost his team.

After a cursory sweep of the area to make sure he was indeed alone, Jaune let out a breath he hadn't realised he had been holding, drew Crocea Mors from the makeshift sheath he had managed to procure, and walked towards a tree whose bark looked a bit darker than the rest, one of the signs Professor Peach had told them to look out for that indicated a tree with more sap than the rest.

The blade of Crocea Mors sliced through the bark with ease, and a trickle of deep reddish-purple sap flowed from the gash and into the open jar Jaune held underneath.

A very slow trickle of sap, one that very quickly ran dry. There wasn't even enough to cover the bottom of the jar.

"This is gonna take a while," Jaune mumbled to himself.

The sun was now directly overhead. Almost two hours later, and Jaune's jar was a little over half-full of sap. Crocea Mors was stained purple all along its edge, as were Jaune's hands and the ends of his sleeves.

I hope this stuff comes off.

Slicing into what had to have been the five-hundredth tree that day, Jaune allowed himself to feel a little bit of relief when the sap flowed out in a substantial quantity, bringing the level in the jar to almost two thirds in a matter of minutes before the tree ran dry. With any luck, he would be finished within another hour, then he could-

Jaune froze. He hadn't heard anything approaching, but something was causing the alarm bells to go off in his head, and he was smart enough to know that ignoring those alarms was never a good idea.

Setting his jar down carefully, Jaune stood as still as he could, ears straining to pick up the sound of whatever may have been approaching…

Footsteps, not those of a person, slowly approaching from behind, getting louder as they got closer. Leaves crunching underfoot. A branch snapping.

Jaune turned to face… a bear. A regular, non-Grimm bear.

It must have smelled the sap and come looking for a snack. Well too bad bear, you're not having any of this, it's mine!

A quick scan of the floor, and Jaune spotted a nice, heavy-looking branch a few feet away. The bear's attention was drawn to Jaune as he strode purposefully towards it and picked it up. Taking aim while drawing on some of his Aura for a boost, Jaune hurled the branch into the tree beside the bear, causing it to splinter into dozens of tiny pieces with a loud noise.

Regular bears may have been a threat to regular people, but to those with unlocked Auras, they were not a danger in the slightest. Jaune's display of strength was more than enough to spook the animal, causing it to flee in a panic… in the direction of the jar Jaune had left on the floor.

"No, stay away from that!"

But it was no use. The bear, in its rush to get away, crushed the jar underneath one of its paws while Jaune could only watch, unable to react in time to save all his hard work from being smeared on the forest floor and rendered useless.

The bear vanished into the trees, and Jaune simple stood where he was for a moment as his mind processed what had just happened.

Fisting his hands painfully into his hair, Jaune screamed in anger and frustration.

He screamed and yelled and cursed as all his effort was rendered pointless, as yet again he had all his hard work invalidated in an instant.

"Why does this keep happening!?"

It was like some sort of cosmic joke. No matter what he did, Jaune always wound up losing in the end. All his hard work and training to earn a place at an academy, ignored. All the time spent trying to improve so he could stand alongside the others here at Beacon, worthless as he failed again and again to win even a single match. Even something as simple as getting some stupid tree sap, utterly pointless as nature itself decided to just kick him while he was down…

ROAR!

Jaune's own screams of anger died in his throat as he registered the much louder sound of a Grimm making its presence known.

ROAR!

ROAR!

Make that three Grimm.

Jaune lifted his head, and felt his heartrate instantly double at the sight before him.

Three Ursas. All larger than he was. Giant, armoured facsimiles of the bear he had just scared away, black-skinned with white bone plating and glowing eyes all trained on him as they advanced.

The Ursa closest to Jaune roared again and began to charge.

Jaune had only enough time to raise his Aura before the Ursa headbutted him in the stomach and sent him tumbling across the forest floor. Were it not for the protection of his Aura, the blow would have left him winded and defenceless.

Not for the first time, Jaune was amazed at the difference having an unlocked Aura made to his ability to do… anything, really. Rolling to his feet, Jaune quickly took his stance and grasped Crocea Mors in a two-handed grip, ready to respond to whatever the trio of Grimm would do.

He could do this. Even without his worthless shield, he still had his sword and his Aura and his experience from all those many hours of practice. He could handle a few Grimm no problem.

After all, what good was he if he couldn't even handle this much by himself?

One of the other Ursas charged next, but Jaune was ready. Just as the creature was about to slam into him like its friend had done, Jaune dodged to the side and swung Crocea Mors in an upwards arc. The blade sliced through the flesh of the Grimm's shoulder, cutting a deep gash and revealing the red inside.

With a yell of his own that mixed with the Ursa's cry of pain, Jaune brought his sword down upon the Grimm's neck, slicing the beast's head off and killing it instantly…

…is what should have happened. Instead, Crocea Mors became wedged in the thick neck of the Ursa, failing to fell the beast and leaving Jaune open and unable to defend himself.

So when the third Ursa made its move, Jaune was sent flying by yet another full-body charge, losing his grip on Crocea Mors and landing roughly on his back. His Aura flared to absorb both impacts and prevented him from having the wind knocked out of him, but that meant nothing to the Grimm. The first Ursa was once again on him, this time swiping at his body with its paws, its sharp claws raking across Jaune's body and scraping away more and more of his Aura.

Jaune lashed out with a kick at the Ursa's body, unconsciously channelling some Aura into the blow and succeeding in knocking the Grimm away. Seizing the opportunity, Jaune scrambled to his feet-

Claws raked across Jaune's back, causing him to stumble and almost fall over again. He turned and raised one fist, ready to-

Another full-body charge sent him flying. It was only by some miracle that he was able to remain upright. Jaune quickly back peddled to put some distance between-

Another powerful paw swipe knocked Jaune off balance. He fell to one knee with a wince, his Aura not quite dulling the pain entirely. Clenching both fists, he rose to his feet and prepared to-

Another swipe, and he was on his knees again.

Another swipe, and he was on his back.

Another swipe.

Another.

Another.

Another and another and another…

Jaune's Aura flashed and flared with each hit, but its light was growing fainter, and the pain from each blow was increasing.

Jaune lashed out wildly, a punch here, a kick there, anything he could to try and get the Grimm to back off for just a moment so he could get up-

Jaws clamped down on his leg and began to pull, dragging him across the floor.

Then another pair of jaws grabbed his arm and began to pull in the other direction.

A third pair seized his other arm, and Jaune was being pulled this way and that, his Aura straining to prevent him from being torn into pieces as he screamed in pain and he was going to die he was going to die die diediediediedie-

"JAUNE!"

"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"

"YOU LET HIM GO YOU UGLY FREAKS!"

Gunfire rang out through the forest, and the three Ursas dropped their prize as they were peppered with bullets, their attention now fully drawn away from Jaune.

Jaune was left to stare up at the red canopy of leaves above him, every part of his body on fire from the agony of almost being ripped apart, but what was left of his Aura was already beginning to dull the pain.

The gunfire had stopped but the sounds of fighting had only intensified. Jaune could hear blades slicing into Grimm, and the unmistakable sound of a particular hammer slamming into bodies.

The pain had receded enough that Jaune was able to push himself into a sitting position and see what was going on. Pyrrha was fighting one of the Ursas, her spear-sword stabbing into the belly of the Grimm as it reared up on its hind legs to swipe at her. Her shield was able to guard against the Ursa's paws.

Nora was in the process of demolishing the second Ursa, which still had Crocea Mors lodged in its neck. Her hammer making short work of the creature's armour, and the wounded and quite frankly outmatched Grimm was beginning to back away.

As for the third Ursa, Ren was dodging each of its swipes as they slashed with their own blades at the Grimm's limbs each time it overreached in its attacks.

They were all holding their own perfectly well against the monsters that had only moments ago being using Jaune as their chew toy.

What am I even doing here?

Jaune watched as Nora delivered a final blow to her Ursa. It fell down dead and began to evaporate, Crocea Mors falling free and dropping to the ground as the body vanished.

Jaune stared at the sword that his family had held onto for so many generations. The sword that he had used to cut a few trees open before losing it in a matter of moments to a Grimm that should have been no issue at all for someone like him to handle.

No, not someone like him. Someone like them.

Like his teammates.

He was nothing like them.

He was nothing at all.

Maybe he really didn't belong here after all…

Jaune watched as Pyrrha finished off her Ursa with a final thrust through its neck. Ren likewise dealt with their opponent shortly afterwards, and the final Grimm was left to evaporate like the rest.

I'll catch up? To them? How could I be so stupid? I'll never measure up to them.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha ran over to his side and knelt down beside him. "Are you alright? Are you injured?"

"How did you find me?" It was a pointless question, but Jaune asked anyway. He wasn't sure why.

"You kinda left us a trail with all those trees you sliced up," answered Nora, who was kneeling on his other side. "That and the yelling were enough to track you down."

Ren knelt in front of Jaune, levelling him with a look that was more relieved than disappointed this time around. "I did say we needed to stay together. But we're all just glad we made it in time."

"Yeah," muttered Jaune. "Thanks."

"You dropped this, by the way." Ren held out Crocea Mors, having apparently retrieved it before coming over. "You probably want it back."

Jaune stared down at the purple-stained family heirloom he had dared to assume he was worthy of holding and calling his own.

He did not take it.

"I don't deserve that."

…

"Jaune, why would you say that?" Pyrrha sounded confused. "It's yours."

"It's my family's. I just took it and thought I could use it. But I was wrong."

Jaune rose to his feet and began to walk back towards the clearing. Sure enough, a path back was clearly indicated by the many scarred trees he had left in his wake.

I'll call Saph and tell her it just didn't work out. No need to worry her, especially when Terra's pregnant. I'll just get a temp job someplace in Vale until I can figure something else out-

WHOOSH!THUNK!

Crocea Mors embedded itself in the tree directly in front of Jaune, quivering from the force of the impact.

"Jaune, stop!"

Jaune turned to face Ren, who had evidently thrown Crocea Mors and was now looking at him with an expression Jaune had never seen on them before: anger.

"You're acting like a child, and we're sick of it! Just listen to us for one minute and stop being so stupid!"

Jaune just stared at Ren, genuinely taken off guard by their outburst. He wasn't the only one surprised either, as both Nora and Pyrrha were also looking at Ren with surprised expressions.

Ren closed their eyes and took a deep breath. "Sorry, that was a bit much, but my point stands. No more dodging us. We are having a proper discussion right now, no excuses."

Jaune blinked. "And if I say no?"

Ren's expression turned furious once more, before they schooled it back into their usual neutral gaze. "Then we'll force you to."

"No we won't," stressed Pyrrha hastily, waving her hands. "But we do want to talk, Jaune. So please, just stay and listen."

Jaune glanced from Pyrrha, to Nora, to Ren. Pyrrha looked at him pleadingly. Nora was still staring at Ren. Ren was staring straight at him, almost daring him to try and leave.

"Well, what is it you want to talk about?"

They all relaxed at that, and Pyrrha was the one who stepped forwards first.

"Jaune, let me make this first part perfectly clear: we do not think any less of you for anything. We don't think you're weak, or that you don't deserve to be here, because you do. You've worked hard, and I meant every word I said on the roof about your potential. No matter what you think of yourself, you did earn your place at Beacon."

Jaune resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Of course he shouldn't have expected anything else other than more of the same. "Pyrrha, I-"

"Let us finish," Nora interrupted, cutting Jaune off. "We have a lot to say, and you need to hear all of it. You can say whatever you want after we're done."

Jaune closed his mouth and nodded.

Let's just get this over with.

"You think not being able to do what we do makes you worse than us, but that's not true." Nora smiled as she spoke. "You came up with that crazy-awesome plan during initiation! We'd never have been able to take out that Nevermore if you hadn't been there!"

"And don't say she's lying or that she's wrong," Ren said before Jaune had a chance to say exactly that. "You took charge when no-one else did, and led us out of a situation that could have ended badly."

Pyrrha took over from Ren. "Even without an unlocked Aura, you were able to fight a Beowolf one-on-one, and killed it with nothing but your own strength. You've only had an unlocked Aura for a month, and already you're able to use it in ways that take others much longer to master. Not to mention just how much of it you have. You have talent, Jaune. Even if you don't see it, we do."

Nora nodded, then her expression turned dour. "But you need to realise that there's only so much you can do by yourself. We're a team for a reason, Jaune. No-one can do everything alone, and no-one should have to. You can rely on us. You can ask for help. You can say when you're struggling and not worry about being seen as weak, because we never would."

"We all support each other," said Ren. "All of us, as partners, as a team and as friends. If any of us came to you asking for help, you'd say yes, wouldn't you?"

"Of course I would," replied Jaune without hesitating, his voice shaking slightly as he spoke, absorbing everything the others were saying.

"Then trust us as well, like we would trust you. Let us help."

"Please, Jaune," pleaded Pyrrha. "We can't just watch while you tear yourself apart. Let us in."

"Come on, Jaune, what are friends for?" added Nora with a grin.

"We don't pity you," said Ren. "Not one bit. We just want to help."

Jaune was at a loss for words. This was not what he had been expecting. This was… genuine. No fake smiles or pitying looks. No empty words. No consoling assurances that maybe he could do something else instead.

"I…" Jaune swallowed. "I want to be here. I want to be a Huntsman."

Pyrrha nodded at him with a smile. "Then the first step, is accepting you still have room to improve, and not thinking of that as a mark of shame, but as a mark of what you could be in the future."

"No-one starts out an expert, Jaune," added Ren. "We all have to work to reach those goals, and if we fall short and need help, that's just the way things go."

Pyrrha stepped forwards again, and this time held out her hand. "You can be a Huntsman, Jaune. Just… don't try to do it alone."

Jaune remained still for a moment, then slowly reached forwards and took Pyrrha's hand and shook it.

A moment later, Nora and Ren's hands were placed over theirs, and Jaune couldn't help but smile at the gesture.

"I was acting kind dumb, wasn't I?"

"Super dumb," answered Nora. "But that's fine. We all act a little dumb sometimes!"

Jaune chuckled, then laughed, and before long they were all laughing together.

"Team hug!" Nora cried, sweeping them all into a group embrace as they carried on laughing.

It all seemed so silly now.

"Well, we should probably be getting back," said Pyrrha as they broke their embrace. "We don't want to be late for the rendezvous."

Jaune's good mood soured again as he recalled what happened to his jar. "I'm gonna need to start all over again with the stupid sap…"

"No you won't," chimed in Ren, holding up a jar full of sap. "We have a spare."

"But Ren!" whined Nora. "We were gonna keep that for our pancakes!"

Jaune was about to turn Ren down and say he needed to get his own sap like they did, but then he stopped himself.

It's OK to ask for help.

That, and Jaune really didn't want to spend another two hours cutting trees open. Crocea Mors was probably never going to be the same colour again…

Speaking of which, the old sword was still embedded in that tree.

Jaune grabbed the handle and pulled Crocea Mors free. The blade really was filthy, the handle was sticky, and the whole thing smelled like syrup.

"Sorry Grandpa. I promise I'll treat her better from now on."

The temporary sheath was a little too big, and Crocea Mors rattled within as Jaune walked back to the clearing alongside his team.

I'll get the rest fixed up as well. You deserve a proper sheath after all.

And I think I know just who to ask about that.

"All done!" said Ruby, holding out the finished product with a smile.

"It wasn't too much trouble, was it?" asked Jaune as he took it from her hands. "I know you were probably busy…"

Ruby shook her head. "It w-was n-no trouble at all, J-Jaune. I just h-h-hope I did a good j-job with h-her."

Jaune drew Crocea Mors from the sheath, the blade gleaming in the light, not a trace of purple to be found anywhere along its length.

The sheath slid onto the brace on Jaune's left arm, and with a flick it unfolded into its true form, the shield broad and undamaged.

Jaune moved around with both shield and sword. "The shield feels a bit heavier than before."

Ruby looked alarmed at that. "Oh n-no, I'm so s-s-sorry, Jaune! I th-thought that you w-would w-w-want it to be s-sturdier after w-what h-happened, s-so I-"

"Ruby, it's fine, I'm not complaining," Jaune reassured her. "I like it. You did a great job." With another gesture, the shield collapsed back into its sheath form and Crocea Mors was stowed away within. "It folds out and back faster now as well. Thanks!"

Ruby beamed at that, her smile still looking a bit nervous, but she was clearly quite happy with Jaune's comments.

"W-well, I'm glad y-you like it."

Yang slung her arm around her sister's shoulders and shot Jaune a grin. "Ruby here is the best when it comes to fixing weapons, no matter what they are! Now that'll be 150 Lien!"

"No it won't," deadpanned Ruby, turning to her sister with a rather unamused expression. "S-stop trying to m-make money off of my work."

"Yang does have a point, Ruby," chimed in Weiss from where she was working on her own sword at another workstation in the weapons lab. "You could make a decent profit from offering a maintenance service to people."

"W-Weiss, w-we've talked about th-this. I like f-fixing w-weapons. I don't n-need to charge people."

"But just think of all the cash we could make!" stressed Yang.

"S-so I sh-should start charging you f-for your repairs?"

"Well obviously I would get a family discount, right?"

Jaune clipped his returned gear back onto his belt. "Well, I don't have any Lien on me right now, but I make a good batch of cookies if I do say so myself. Does that sound like a good payment?"

Ruby smiled sheepishly at that. "W-well, I w-wouldn't s-say no…"

Jaune nodded and smiled. "Thanks again, Ruby. I really do appreciate it."

Turning and heading out of the weapons lab, Jaune made his way towards the training rooms and let himself into the one he had booked for the afternoon.

"All ready?"

Pyrrha was sat on one of the benches beside Ren, while Nora was standing in the middle of the room, Magnhild at the ready in its hammer form.

"Ready when you are, Jaune!" she called, hefting her weapon and leaning it on her shoulder.

Jaune smiled, but then turned serious as he gestured for Nora to follow him and sit on the bench alongside the other two. She followed, and all three of his teammates levelled him with a curious look.

Jaune took a breath. This was probably not going to go over well, but it needed to be done.

"I don't think I should be the leader anymore."

Pyrrha frowned at him. "Jaune, what happened to everything we talked about?"

"I'm not saying I'm quitting the team," Jaune continued. "I just don't think it's right for me to be the leader right now, not when I still have so much more to do."

Ren levelled Jaune with their usual look of disappointment whenever he said or did something dumb. "Jaune, you are a good leader, we've all established that. And like we said, having room to improve is not a bad thing."

Jaune shook his head. "It's not like that, I promise. This is something I've thought about properly. It wouldn't be forever, just until I feel like I'm ready. If I am going to lead this team, I want to feel up to the task first."

The group was silent for a moment, until Nora spoke up.

"So, who'll lead the team until then?"

Jaune turned to face Pyrrha. "Well, I was thinking Pyrrha, but only if she wants to. It'd be pretty hypocritical of me to force someone else to lead when I don't want to."

Pyrrha seemed to give the idea some thought. "Would the rest of you be OK with that? I don't want to make such a decision alone."

Nora gave a smile and a nod. "I'm OK with you leading us for a little bit. Ren?"

Ren nodded as well. "I suppose we would need to think of a new name for the team, though."

"We can do that later." Nora rose to her feet once again. "Now come on, Jaune! We have work to do if you wanna beat Cardin!"

Jaune followed Nora into the centre of the room, drawing Crocea Mors and deploying the newly-refurbished shield on his left arm. "Pyrrha, you have our Aura levels up on your Scroll?"

"Already loaded up."

"Ren, you ready to be the referee?"

Ren took their position off to the side. "On my mark, get set… go!"

"Match over! The victor is Cardin Winchester!"

Jaune picked himself up off the floor and stowed Crocea Mors away in the folded sheath.

Cardin leaned against his mace and breathed heavily, the exertion from the fight catching up to him.

It had been a much closer fight this time, but ultimately Cardin had managed to break Jaune's guard at the last moment and drop his Aura below the threshold with a well-placed strike to the side, but Jaune had gotten quite a few good hits in of his own.

"Nice try, Arc, but you still don't stand a chance of beating me."

Jaune shot Cardin a smirk as he held out his hand for a shake. "You're pretty good, Winchester, but I'll beat you one day, you mark my words."

Cardin gripped Jaune's hand hard and shot him a smirk of his own. "We'll see about that."

Releasing each other's hands, the two boys returned to their respective teams. Jaune sat between Nora and Pyrrha, both girls congratulating him on his effort.

I'll get there. I swear I'll get there one day. I will be a Huntsman.

We all will.

Hello again to everyone who waited patiently for this new chapter to be finished! And to those people who binged the whole series so far in one go, welcome! I'm Not Scot.

I wanted to make Jaune's fight with the Ursas feel chaotic and panicked. Did it work? I suppose that's for you to decide. I quite enjoyed writing it. I think I'm starting to get the hand of writing fight scenes, but do let me know if your think there's anything I should do better.

So Jaune has renounced his leadership of JNPR for the time being, and Pyrrha has taken over in the meantime. I really did try to come up with a good new name for the team to give them this chapter, but for the life of me I could not think of one. If you can, by all means let me know, because I'm drawing a blank.

This is the halfway point for Volume 1. Eight chapters remain, and if I can keep a good pace, we should be onto Volume 2 by the end of the summer. No promises though. Anything can happen, after all.

Before I go, I want to take a moment to really thank all of you for your support. This fic recently passed the 50-followers line, which I'm really happy to learn, and I'm glad so many of you are enjoying this story so much.

Next chapter will be a Ruby POV chapter. JNPR (or whatever I wind up calling them now that Pyrrha is in charge) will be on the back burner for the rest of this Volume. From here on out, this is Team RWBY's Volume.

It's getting quite late now, so for the time being, I will take my leave.

Until next time,

Not Scot.

P.S: Sorry Team CRDL, that's all the focus you guys are getting for the foreseeable future.