I don't own anything related to the RWBY franchise.


Chapter 23 - The Opening Ceremony


When a distant car's engine suddenly backfired, ejecting a plume of burned Black Dust along with a sharp popping sound, Jaune's eyes snapped open, dislodging a house-fly that had been sitting at the end of his eyelash….

Eww…

Over the following five seconds, as his mind cleared and his thoughts solidified, Jaune recognized the fact that his arms… both of his arms… were currently being held captive, as two incredibly gorgeous young women were using his body as some kind of body-pillow.

For the second day in a row, Penny Polendina was hugging tightly to Jaune's right-hand side with her face burrowing cutely into the meat of his shoulder. After glancing in her direction, he found himself smiling warmly at the woman despite the fact he was worried she was going to get used to this arrangement, and demand to repeat the process every single night (an outcome that would be wildly inappropriate)…

On the other hand, after looking to his left and finding Blake similarly wrapped around his body, Jaune had zero clue how he was supposed to react to it all.

While Jaune did wake up just the day before with Blake curled up atop his lap (like a cat), that outcome could be excused because the woman had been drunk off her ass the night before and had been worried about his safety. Tonight, or rather this morning (as it was currently 3:35 Am), Blake Belladonna was being very… affectionate, which likely meant that she was going to be a tad bit embarrassed when she finally woke up…

In a repeat of the day before, Jaune immediately started casting out for a way to prevent all of the awkwardness and tension that would inevitably occur if he allowed Blake to wake up tightly snuggled up against his body.

….

…..

There was no escape!… Blake was curled around Jaune's waist, thighs and calves as if she was intentionally aiming to keep him from getting away…

And that was going to be a problem.

While Jaune really didn't want to embarrass his most standoffish female friend, if the three of them didn't start moving back towards Beacon soon, they were going to miss their morning training slash aura treatment with the Platoon. An outcome that he wanted to avoid for several compelling reasons, the very least of which being that it always left everyone feeling both relaxed and energized.

No… Jaune needed to suck it up. He needed to roll with the punches.

He needed to wake up Blake Belladonna.

With a deep indrawn breath, and a slow, preparatory crack of his neck, Jaune curled his left arm inwards at his elbow, gently curled his hand around the crown of Blake's head in between her newly revealed cat-ears (FLUFFY!), and then very slowly started combing his fingers through her shiny black hair. He very softly, very carefully massaged the woman's scalp with the pads of his fingers, until a series of quiet purring noises started leaking from within the woman's mouth, and she started wiggling even closer to his body like a small affectionate animal…

Needless to say, Jaune almost entirely forgot just what it was that he was trying to accomplish in response to the overwhelming cuteness of Blake's reaction, but he managed to stay on task because the show was about to begin…

Slowly, cutely, Blake's eyes just barely cracked open… at which point they immediately snapped shut again.

The cat-Faunus was visibly, noticeably deciding to nope everything to do with the waking world.

Jaune continued to massage Blake's scalp as if he never saw her eyes move in the slightest.

For several minutes longer, the kunoichi Huntress merely lay there, wrapped around Jaune's waist like a sloth, as he rubbed and gently scratched her scalp with his fingers… He knew exactly what she was up to, and she knew that he knew, but since their current arrangement was both peaceful and comforting, they were both happy to continue the fiction. Then, finally, when he could put it off no longer, Jaune squeezed the woman for just an instant, eased his hand away from her head, softly cleared his throat, and then smiled when Blake's eyes slowly fluttered open.

"Shall we make our way back to Beacon, Blake," Jaune suggested in little more than a whisper.

After slowly, reluctantly, easing away from Jaune's body, Blake merely nodded her head in acceptance. Then she glanced at Penny, who was sawing logs into Jaune's right shoulder, enjoying one of the most satisfying night's sleep she'd ever seen in her life…

"Yes… Penny sleeps deeply, but she also doesn't sleep all that well because she uses this time to work on herself," Jaune admitted with a fond smile at his adoptive sister slash brand new lover. "Penny doesn't want her relationships and decisions to be dictated to her by her core programming. She's making alterations even as we speak, and it's not a comfortable process…"

"That's very… I can relate," Blake offered in reply.

"I know, and so does Penny, which is why I just shared what I did…" With yet another smile, Jaune turned towards the orangette cuddled up against his side, started rubbing and fussing at her cheeks and scalp, and then grinned when the woman smiled from ear to ear in her sleep. Then he started poking and rubbing her more insistently since it was very early in the morning, which meant that the normal variety of jostling wasn't going to work… Finally, when none of his efforts got him anywhere at all, Jaune pressed his hand flat against the side of her neck, and began channeling a medium intensity current of his aura directly into her body.

"Hohhhhhh, Jaaauuunnne," Penny quietly moaned, as her eyes snapped open and then took on a smoldering, hooded quality…

"Good morning, Penny," Jaune whispered as he allowed the aura that he was releasing to trickle to a stop, kissed the woman on the temple, and then pulled the two of them up into a seated position. "It's still very early, and I apologize for that, but if we want to complete all of our daily rituals, we need to sprint through the forest back to Beacon…"

"Understood Jaune, and good morning Blake, your ears are completely adorable by the way," Penny offered, even as she started stretching towards the ceiling.

Penny's words caught Blake just as the woman was about to don her habitual black ribbon, with the end result being that she stood there for several seconds debating her options. Then she finished curling the ribbon around the top of her head, but not without shrugging in both Jaune and Penny's direction. "Now that I'm staying with the Platoon, I plan on revealing my identity to everyone involved, because the White Fang's attacks are only going to get worse, I intend to stop them, and I need to give everyone the chance to object to the danger that I represent… On the other hand, until I manage to deliver the big reveal, I think I should keep this on…"

Both Jaune and Penny nodded their understanding.

"I also plan to reveal my origins," Penny added, after glancing aside at Jaune and receiving a wide smile of encouragement.

"I'll call for Blake's luggage to be airdropped back at the house, then I'll make arrangements for the Platoon and Goodwitch to eat breakfast together at the house, so that you two can do your thing," Jaune immediately offered. "I'll also have a word with Weiss during the aura treatment that I give her this morning, since she's going to need some assurances… The White Fang have tried to assassinate her on more than one occasion, after all…"

Blake nodded, as she knew exactly what Jaune was talking about, and she appreciated the help.


Penny's POV…

In a somewhat surprising turn of events, Penny didn't have a problem with Jaune's plan for the morning, as Blake's reaction to her origin story the night before had given her a massive boost of confidence regarding her very out of the ordinary origin story. The fact of the matter was that Penny was a creation of the Atlesian Military, so she'd worried that Blake (someone who violently opposed the Atlesian Military's support of the Schnee Dust Company), would disapprove of her existence on principle alone…

And yet she didn't.

Blake Belladonna saw her as a person, like… a real one, with a soul, an identity, goals, hopes, dreams of her own… everything. Hell, the cat-faunus even asked her permission to stay by Jaune's side, which was an outcome that made Penny smile even as she shook her head in bemusement.

Blake was cool, remote, and distant, but she was also interesting, mysterious, and compelling like a femme fatale assassin from a spy novel, and Penny really liked the woman because she was so, so very different from anyone else that she'd ever met before.

Penny was the type of girl that celebrated people's differences rather than feared them. A character trait that caused a wide and happy smile to form across her face, as she aura dashed through Forever Fall Forest at Blake and Jaune's backs.


After running back to house number seven, donning some workout clothing, and then filing up in a line in the third-floor hallway, Jaune heard a pair of five Am alarms going off in the two different barracks rooms, and then he heard a half dozen teenagers forcing themselves out of bed. Truly, if it weren't for the fact that his aura treatments felt like a full day spent at a massage spa (if not better), about half of his Platoon would never bother to get up this early.

Jaune really was fortunate that his Semblance was so very versatile.

"Penny, Jaune, Blake! You're back! What were you three up to last night," Ruby called out as she blurred out of her room in only her pajamas and hugged the three of them in sequence.

While patting Ruby on the head, Blake drew in a deep breath and then pitched her voice to carry into both of the barracks rooms. "I'll explain what we were up to last night over breakfast, as it's quite the story and will interrupt our morning training."

In response to Blake's words, and the out of character candidness that they could hear in the woman's voice, everyone else stuck their heads out of their barracks rooms and stared in her direction with burning curiosity in their eyes... Then they saw that she had zero intention of telling her story until later, and they all drew back into their rooms with resigned expressions on their faces. Yang, on the other hand, moved out of the room with an intense look of scrutiny on her face.

"I… good morning," Blake began.

"I was moving towards the airbus terminal to track you down when Penny texted me that she and Jaune were helping you deal with something important," Yang quietly explained. "Even then, I hung out at a Vale-side coffee shop waiting for Jaune to request backup or something, until Penny messaged me that you'd be back bright and early…"

"You noticed then," Blake began.

"All of your clothing was gone, Blake," Yang breathed out in a carefully neutral little voice. "Of course I noticed."

After giving Yang a smile of appreciation and Blake an encouraging pat on the shoulder, Jaune drew Penny down the stairs to housing arrangement number seven's courtyard, where he started stretching out his body.

"Are Blake and Yang going to be okay," Penny asked as she scanned the various students that 'just so happened' to be walking through their courtyard, and the way that they were all peering in their direction.

"Yang was really impressive just now," Jaune replied with a smile. "She didn't level any accusations, but she expressed how concerned she was over Blake's disappearance, as well as her desire to understand… I think they'll be fine."

"I'm not so good at using nuance like that," Penny admitted with a shrug. "I always just hit you with my feelings as hard as I can…"

With a smile and a small shake of his head, Jaune drew Penny into a quick hug and then patted her on the head. "Your approach has an appeal all its own, Penny. I enjoy you very much…"

By the time Nora dragged Ren out of the house, followed closely by Pyrrha, Ruby and the rest of their Platoon, Penny was smiling from ear to ear.


All throughout Platoon number One's morning workout, Jaune found that the various gym-going women that he'd peacefully coexisted with just the week before were treating him very differently now, as apparently his status as a runaway noble had caught their attention. This outcome wasn't a problem per se, but it was a bit of a nuisance because these women kept crowding him whenever he needed to grab new weights, move from one machine to another, or even just use the water fountain. So far, none of the women involved were bold enough to intrude upon his workout, but rather they were posing themselves in his path as if they were giving him the opportunity to take an interest in them…

Annnd as it turns out, Jaune didn't appreciate any of the attention that he was receiving… Then again, maybe it would be more accurate to say that he didn't like the motivations behind it all. Despite the fact that his pedigree had been spectacularly revealed throughout the entire school, Jaune really wasn't an Atlesian noble anymore… He wasn't this generation's Arc heir…

He straight up refused to be.

No… Jaune was the very first member of the newly formed Freeman family, and while his hypothetical family was already quite wealthy due to his invention of the gravity barriers, he most certainly wasn't a noble. Those women that were interested in him purely because they thought that he was… were barking up the wrong tree.

Thankfully for Jaune, several of the women comprising his Platoon seemed to have caught on to his plight, and they were doing what they could to provide him some support. Penny, Ruby, Yang, Blake and Pyrrha didn't actually confront any of the women that were subtly trying to draw his attention away from his workout, but they did arrange themselves in a loose circle surrounding whatever machine or bench he was currently using.

Even Weiss, a legitimate Atlesian heiress, remained close by as she pushed herself through a series of amazingly graceful yoga, pilates, dance and rhythmic gymnastic movements (with extremely heavy metallic bands cinched around both her wrists and ankles).

"I feel like I'm a princess being protected by a squad of gallant knights," Jaune finally admitted to Ren when the boy sat down on an incline bench to his right and then offered him a knowing grin.

"You just need to make yourself unapproachable, like a real Atlesian Noble would," Weiss interjected as she walked up with a half-finished water bottle and a towel in hand. "There's a reason I'm not surrounded by lovesick boys right now despite my flawless looks and talent… I'm not welcoming that variety of attention from anybody… and they can tell."

"I know the demeanor that you speak of, but my family never stressed that I adopt that persona so the affectation doesn't come naturally to me," Jaune admitted. "Plus, I'm pretty sure the excitement surrounding me will die down soon enough…"

"No... it won't," Weiss slowly disagreed with an equally slow shake of her head. "Not unless you allow yourself to become completely mediocre… and that's not going to happen."

As Weiss waltzed back over to the pull-up and squat tower, Ren and Jaune simply sat there digesting the woman's words. Ren looked shocked that Weiss had complimented someone. Jaune wasn't as surprised as he'd been the week before, but rather, he hoped that Weiss was wrong…

"You any good at dealing with high expectations," Ren suddenly asked.

"No idea," Jaune admitted with a shrug. "The Arcs thought I was hopeless and helpless, while Pietro and Penny merely supported my goals… I think I'll just keep in mind the fact that we're preparing for a Grimm War, rather than a popularity contest."

Ren merely nodded at that idea before beginning a very long set of bicep curls. It appeared Jaune's response didn't require a follow up, which Jaune took to mean he must be heading in the right direction…

It was really amazing what Ren could convey with just a single spoken sentence…

After turning a grateful smile at his very quiet but wise friend, Jaune rose to his feet, drew up a pair of weights, and continued his workout with as much enthusiasm as possible.


When everyone's workout came to an end, squads RPBY and PRWN staggered back to House number seven, where they showered, changed into their aura-treatment clothes (or lack thereof), and then filed into the living room to await their turn on the massage bed.

Over the following hour and a half, Jaune kneaded and rubbed aura into everyone's backs, healing and bolstering their muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones and nerves in the process, until finally it was Weiss's turn to undergo the process, giving him an opportunity to speak to her alone.

"I have something important to explain to you, and I'd appreciate the chance to get through it all without interruption," Jaune began, as Weiss crawled across the massage bed in an insubstantial blue tank-top that revealed all of her shoulders, ribs and hips.

"Go, ahh, ahead," Weiss gasped out while shivering over the hands that were sliding along her shoulders.

Over the following ten minutes, as Jaune rendered Weiss's body into mush with an especially powerful and comprehensive aura treatment, he explained Blake's ties to the White Fang, the reasons why she was involved with the terrorist group, the reasons why she defected, her honest desire to make a new life for herself as a Huntress, the way that she tried to draw the Fang's attention away from them the night before, how he intervened when she was being overwhelmed by assassins, and then how he convinced her to stay with the Platoon. The whole entire time that he delivered this explanation, Jaune mercilessly, relentlessly, poured powerful aura into Weiss's body, and focused his entire attention on kneading any and all stress out of every muscle within her shoulders, back, hips, and thighs…

Long story short, Jaune massaged Weiss Schnee into a red-faced, squirming mass of shaking and shivering limbs, until she started pawing weakly at the mattress underneath her body, alternatively curled and splayed out her toes, and began leaking a series of quiet, languid moans…

Suffice it to say, Jaune Freeman wasn't playing fair in the slightest… and Weiss knew it… His aura felt so freaking good at the moment, she wasn't even capable of complaining…

Then again, since Weiss could actually feel through the medium of her Platoon Captain's aura that the man desired to provide her with assurance, she had very little reason to become indignant. The fact of the matter was that she could actually feel his desire to smooth over whatever hurt or fear Blake's past affiliations might cause her, and to preserve the budding trust that the two women were developing… What's more, she understood that Jaune was doing what he was doing for her, for her peace of mind... He was legitimately worried about her.

Her feelings were important to him…

Jaune cared about her… and she could feel it.

After finishing his explanation, Jaune continued working in silence for several moments, ironing out the last of his treatment and giving the woman a moment to actually think about what he'd said. Then, when there was nothing left to accomplish and it was time for him to cook their breakfast, Jaune slowly drew his hands away from Weiss's lower back, and waited for her to react.

"I… hate the White Fang," Weiss slowly but meaningfully breathed out with her forehead pressed down into the mattress and her arms curled to cover her face... "I hate the lengths that they go to. I hate the cruelty… However… I DO understand the motives that lead the faunus to resist the SDC, and I also want to change the way that my father's company operates… If Blake couldn't stand the uncalled for level of violence being perpetrated by the Fang, and she desires to find a better, more peaceful solution… then the two of us have more in common than I thought..."

With that idea figured out, Weiss's head suddenly popped up from within her arms so that she could look up towards Jaune's face... "Besides… There's a Grimm War coming… If humans and faunas can't even band together to fight for their very survival, then mankind will be completely annihilated."

At Weiss's repetition of the words that he'd said just a few days prior, Jaune nodded his head, smiled in satisfaction, and then helped the heiress up to her feet. There didn't appear to be anything that he needed to add, so he took a leaf from Ren's playbook, and he didn't say a word. Instead, he moved to the door of the storage room at Weiss's side, and then watched the young woman wobble her way up the stairs towards the showers.


Half an hour later, Jaune finished cooking a quite frankly massive amount of eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes and homefries, with grapefruit and granola on the side, and everyone was settling in around the dining room table.

Glynda Goodwitch was also present at the table, having been informed earlier that morning that Blake had something important to talk about, but she'd also been asked not to eat prior to her arrival, as she could eat with the Platoon. The beautiful blonde professor was of intense interest to every female in the Platoon, as she looked at least five years younger than she had when they saw her on Friday morning, and now that they weren't being carted off to Ozpin's office, they had the time to actually notice the changes…

On paper Glynda Goodwitch was twenty-eight years old… At the moment, she looked like she was in her early twenties…

Goodwitch merely looked bemused by the scrutiny that she was receiving, as apparently she was getting the same treatment from absolutely every woman that she knew, and was becoming used to this reaction. On the other hand, when the woman turned to regard Jaune entering the room with the last of the food, she aimed an extremely complicated look in his direction.

Finally, with everyone settled in and eating a massive amount of dairy food, Blake and Penny took turns revealing their origins, and the circumstances that led them to Beacon. Blake removed her ribbon, revealing her cat-ears, while Penny displayed a hologram of herself talking atop of everyone's scrolls… and then they both waited for their Platoon-mates to lose their shit…

Which didn't happen.

With Weiss forewarned about Blake's past, no one in the platoon had any interest in persecuting the kunoichi Huntress for the circumstances of her upbringing (although Nora did ask if Blake knew her friend Ted the dog faunus from the outer wilds). Similarly, no one started treating Penny like a monster or an inhuman creature or anything, and Ruby was all over the orangette with manic excitement in her eyes.

Jaune mostly spent the time observing Goodwitch and the hologram of Ozpin that was floating atop her scroll. It was important that Ozpin know what was happening with Blake, as the circumstances of her life might lead dangerous elements towards the school's defenses. It was equally important that the Headmaster know that Jaune was vouching for Blake personally, and that he would take responsibility for that decision…

He needn't have worried about the Headmaster's reaction.

Headmaster Ozpin was far more interested in the events of the night before than he was Blake's status as an ex-terrorist, asking dozens of questions about the White Fang, their movements throughout Vale colony, their intentions with the Dust, their involvement with Torchwick, their recruitment rallies, and so on and so forth.

By the time Ozpin was finished asking Blake questions, Jaune could see that Ozpin was quite happy to have a reliable source of information on the White Fang, as well as a reason for the Fang to take an interest in the school. By the time breakfast was coming to an end, the man was talking to Glynda about forming a fourth-year extra-credit elective to keep an eye on the school's defenses, specifically with assassins and saboteurs in mind, while yet another elective group geared towards stealth tracked their movements back to their origins.

Headmaster Ozpin was using the students at his school as a Police slash Military force, and he was happy to have Blake flushing out one of the more dangerous groups that was aiming to target Vale… In fact, he encouraged Blake to stop wearing her ribbon altogether while assuring her that he'd speak to the Atlesian government on her behalf.

Jaune was both relieved… and horrified. Blake was the bait… She knew it, they all knew it, but because Ozpin's offer was convenient, they found themselves cooperating with his whims.

Jaune actually could be manipulative sometimes, and he knew it, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he had absolutely nothing on Ozpin…

Off in the background, the only member of Platoon number one that wasn't taking Blake's story in stride was Yang, who was currently completely livid with her partner. Apparently, she was furious that Blake put her life at risk for the Platoon without ever even asking for help, displaying a lack of trust that could've gotten her killed.

Long story short, Yang was angry with Blake because she really, truly, cared about her, which of course meant that everything would be fine.

After wiping a napkin across her face, Goodwitch gracefully rose up to her feet, and then addressed the Platoon as a whole. "This morning's Hunter Fundamentals class with Professor Port is canceled, as the opening ceremony of the Vytal Festival will be taking place, and all of the other schools' participants will be arriving. Please be present in the school's main courtyard at nine o'clock looking well-groomed and professional."

Everyone in Platoon number one nodded their understanding.


As instructed, Platoon number one entered the vast courtyard surrounding Beacon's front entrance at approximately 8:40 Am, where they walked up to a large archway and stands formation surrounding the main thoroughfare. Apparently, all of the participants that were arriving for the festival would need to walk through this arch, weathering the stares of hundreds of Beacon students before heading into the auditorium for the ceremony itself.

It looked rough… Jaune could certainly sympathize, as he was currently being stared at by no less than a hundred people himself, and he was standing amongst the student body up within the stands… Platoon Number One had been among the first to arrive in the courtyard, which allowed them to claim a spot in the upper tier of the stands, further away from ground level. Their placement was chosen so that they could melt into the crowd when the rest of the student body arrived…

The plan hadn't worked in the slightest.

A perimeter of sorts, a no man's land completely devoid of people was forming in front of Platoon number one.

Apparently, no one wanted to sit directly in front of Jaune, because doing so would put them in the line of fire of the many, many people that were watching the man, and it would also prevent them from observing him themselves. Jaune was currently the school's number one source of gossip, and no one wanted to miss out on the show…

Jaune was forced to conceal his frustration, as he was currently aiming to look like a consummate professional. He was frustrated because he was highly visible… and he was about to be seen…

Softly at first, but much, much louder over time, the scream of dozens of Dust jets could be heard flying towards the school. Passenger VTOLs of all makes and models were coming in for a landing within the various courtyards that were assigned for their use.

Then there was the Atlesian air-force, an entire fleet of the Atlesian air-force, lazily flying above the school in a single vast formation of extreme military might. Half a dozen massive battleships bristling with guns slowly pulled up above everyone's heads, where they began releasing dozens of smaller passenger VTOLs down towards the courtyards below.

"Looks like Ozpin isn't the only Headmaster with a flair for the dramatic," Jaune breathed out to his squad leaders Pyrrha and Ruby who were standing at his sides.

Pyrrha merely nodded, while Ruby stared up at the gigantic battle-pack above with her usual unbridled enthusiasm for anything offensively powerful…

The first school to parade their students through the decorative archway entrance and past the gauntlet of Beacon students contained within was Shade Academy. At first, the school's contingent, about thirty trainees altogether, visibly, noticeably, stared off towards Beacon Academy in wonder, leading Jaune to believe that Shade Academy's grounds must be rather modest in comparison. On the other hand, these same students quickly corrected their postures before giving everyone in the stands extremely determined (if not outright hostile) looks. It was rather obvious that none of these Hunter trainees wanted their school to be taken lightly in the eyes of the rest of the world, and they were prepared to raise all hell to keep that from happening.

The next school to enter through the archway was Haven Academy of Mistral, a forty plus strong procession that contained at least one person that Jaune recognized. Sun Wukong walked beside a blue haired boy, a boy with dark red hair combed sideways across his face, and an extremely muscular black boy who looked like he could be in his twenties.

Not long after entering the courtyard containing the student body, Sun caught sight of Platoon Number One, saw Blake standing in line next to Yang, Ruby and Penny, and then waved cheerfully up at the girl as if he wasn't being stared at by hundreds of Beacon students.

"Sun Wukong, the boy from last night. He's pretty laid back, but he doesn't appear to like Jaune very much," Penny offered to Yang and Ruby when Blake merely nodded down at the boy without a word.

"I don't actually think he dislikes me, I think it was in his best interests that Blake and I not get along," Jaune quietly corrected.

Off on the other side of Blake, Yang caught on to Jaune's meaning, and then stared down at the boy with a newly frosty expression upon her face.

"Try to control your instinctual dislike, Yang," Jaune breathed out just loud enough to be heard. "The boy's extremely forward, yes, but he's not overly aggressive. If Blake doesn't desire his attention, she can fend him off herself…"

When Blake nodded again that yes, she could handle Sun's advances without any issues, Yang drew in a very deep breath and then continued scanning the various Hunter trainees that were walking through the archway.

Finally, the moment that Jaune was most hoping to avoid came to pass, as a fifty strong group of Atlesian trainees began walking through the archway and entering the school. While at first, the hair colors of the people entering the area were diverse, starting with bright orange and neon blue, dark blue, brown and gray, the hair color of the Huntresses that were walking at the back of the group were all a bright blonde in color.

A Platoon full of very formidable blonde's were trailing the main contingent of Atlas's fighters.

The Arc family was visiting Beacon Academy.

Of course, it didn't take long for all of the Beacon trainees standing in the stands to recognize just who it was that they were looking at, at which point their eyes trailed in Jaune's direction to see what his reaction would be. Soon enough the eyes of everyone in the stands were swiveling back and forth between Jaune and the seven blonde girls as if they were watching a tennis match.

One after another, the Arc family sisters, Petunia, Juniper, Daff, Daisy, Mari, Lilly and Olivia caught on to the direction of the student body's attention, at which point their eyes tracked up towards a gap in the audience and a Platoon that was standing along the top tier of the stands. Then they saw him, they saw Jaune, and they stopped right in their tracks.

For several moments in a row, all seven of Jaune's biological siblings stared in his direction with impossibly manic and complex expressions upon their faces, during which time, Jaune did his utmost best to act completely oblivious. He merely scanned the Arc sisters as if they were his competition in the upcoming festival, before doing the same to all of the other Atlesian Hunters that were moving up the approach.

But then, Jaune's vain attempt to convey a disinterest in his siblings didn't work in the slightest, as all of the sudden, all seven of them were climbing the stands in his Platoon's direction.

It would be hard to say who moved first, but all of the sudden almost all of Platoon number one was standing in the row directly in front of Jaune, Ren was standing on his left and Nora was standing on his right, as if he was the king in a game of chess, and his platoon was castling around him. Weiss Schnee and Pyrrha Nikos, were standing almost directly in front of Jaune, presumably because they were the most high-profile members of the Platoon, which meant they couldn't so easily be disregarded.

Finally, the Arc sisters finished climbing the stands, and they stood just two rows below Platoon number one, scanning the lot of them with deadpan expressions upon their faces.

"We would like a moment of Jaune Arc's time. We would like to speak to our brother," Petunia called out in a normal volumed voice that echoed throughout the stands because no one in the entire area was speaking.

"Jaune Arc no longer exists," Weiss immediately responded, a split second before Jaune could say the exact same thing.

"Our Platoon Captain's last name is Freeman," Pyrrha added immediately after, with extreme emphasis on his last name.

"I have no interest in reconnecting with the Arc family. You all know how I feel, so I fail to see why you're approaching me so brazenly and in such a public forum," Jaune finally managed to interject.

"You may have a new family name over here in Vale, but the Atlesian government has not ratified your emancipation from the Arc family," Petunia countered in a business-like tone of voice. "You are still an Arc, Jaune… and we are still your family."

"While I think it's interesting that you're trying to claim we're family based on legal semantics rather than any familial love or loyalty, the fact of the matter is that we are not in Atlas right now," Jaune replied in an equally stern and no-nonsense tone of voice. "Even if you were the Patriarch of the Arc family… which you're not… you'd still have no legal authority over me…"

"We are not trying to impose our authority over you, Jaune," Petunia argued with a long-suffering sigh. "We want to give you back the authority that you threw away… We want to welcome you home…"

"I will earn what authority I receive by taking part in the world around me," Jaune replied with a deadly serious expression upon his face "I will not exist as nothing more than a figurehead, a captive in that well-appointed prison you call a 'home'…"

"A Grimm War is coming, Jaune," Petunia suddenly barked out in an eerily similar tone to the one that Jaune always uses on other people. "You must be safeguarded if you're going to lead and actually make a difference. You must not be left under the care of these… children…"

Platoon number one visibly bristled in response to Petunia's words, causing the Arc sisters to tense up in response.

"If you try to take my brother away from me, you will find out what this child can do," Penny slowly growled out, at which point she started taking part in a staring contest with a newly furious gathering of Arcs. Apparently, calling herself Jaune's sister had pissed them off beyond all measure.

"Yeah, push your luck, see how these 'children' can fight," Yang offered with a dangerous looking smile growing across her face.

The tension between the two groups grew exponentially by the second, until you could feel everyone's aura fluctuating in the air as it clashed in the row of seats between them.

"None of you have changed at all," Jaune finally announced in a completely frigid tone of voice. "You still believe that my freedom is conditional upon whether or not the people around me can keep me safe…. Well, you're wrong… I'm a Huntsman. I take care of myself."

"Whatever personal strength you've achieved is completely irrelevant," Petunia countered with the beginnings of a feral smile upon her face. "All you've done over here at Beacon is trade in your sisters, a Platoon of B, A and S ranked Huntresses that are willing to die for you, for a second-rate gathering of uncoordinated girls…"

"Hey, Renny's not a girl, he's a boy," Nora immediately yelled out in an unnecessarily enraged tone of voice.

Nora's outburst successfully halted the very tense moment right in its tracks, at which point the Arc sisters finally recognized that they were being stared at by the entire Beacon student population, and that their argument was getting them nowhere.

"With yet another sigh, Petunia gestured for her sisters to back off for now, but then she delivered one last line before moving away herself. "Remnant us about to become an exceptionally dangerous place… We don't plan on leaving you here to fend for yourself."

Then the Arc sisters were walking away, with Petunia holding Olivia by the arm when she didn't immediately move with everyone else.


An hour later, after congregating in the auditorium to watch Headmasters Ozpin, Ironwood, Theodore and Lionheart speachify to the best of their ability, the various schools' trainees were divided into smaller groups that would join the various classes of the school, and then the groups that didn't have Goodwitch's second period combat class filed out of the room.

Of course, Jaune didn't think it was a fluke that all of his trainee aged sisters (Daisy, Olivia, Mari, and Lilly, AKA squad DOML) were present in the Atlesian group that would be following his class schedule, as it appeared the Arc family was exercising their authority. What did surprise Jaune was that Sun Wukong's squad, SSSN, was also joining their group, along with squad ABRN led by a boy named Arsoan Altan, and squad CEMN led by a very mature young woman by the name of Cinder Fall.

"Small world," Penny remarked as squad SSSN moved up the stands to sit just two rows ahead of theirs, and squad DOML sat directly across from them where they watched Jaune's every move like a quad of circling hawks.

Jaune merely shrugged, as there wasn't much he could do about his sisters and he didn't actually dislike Sun. The boy clearly wanted to socialize with the various women of his Platoon, but since he was a chosen representative of his school, he likely trained very hard, which would limit the amount of time he could spend flirting with the girls.

Then, there was also the fact that Blake was the type to take everything upon herself, so anything that might distract her away from her brooding was to be encouraged.

After walking into the middle of the auditorium, Glynda Goodwitch suddenly waved her riding crop up towards the hologram denoting everyone's class ranking, at which point a series of new names were added to the list. All of the exchange students that were going to be following their class for the remainder of the Vytal Festival were being added to the ranking system, so that they could take part in the daily spars.

Squad DOML, the Arc sisters, were ranked at the top of the class, and were above even Pyrrha in the standings, Squad CEMN, led by Cinder Fall was amongst the top of the standings, threaded throughout Platoon number one's ranks, and Sun Wukong's squad SSSN was ranked just below Lie Ren, displacing all the members of Platoon number two further down the list.

After factoring in the massive lead in points that Blake and Yang were currently enjoying, the class ranking ended up looking like this:

1. Daisy Arc
2. Olivia Arc
3. Lilly Arc
4. Mari Arc
5. Blake Belladonna
6. Cinder Fall
7. Yang Xiao Long
8. Pyrrha Nikos
9. Neo Politan
10. Mercury Black
11. Weiss Schnee
12. Emerald Sustrai
13. Penny Polendina
14. Ruby Rose
15. Nora Valkyrie
16. Lie Ren
17. Sun Wukong
18. Neptune Vasilias
19. Sage Ayana
20. Scarlet David
21. Cardin Winchester
22. Melanie Malachite

….
320. Jaune Freeman

Across the auditorium, the members of Platoon number two immediately broke out in a series of loud protestations and outrage, as they'd been bumped twelve people down the ranks by the addition of the Arc's, Sun and Cinder's squads.

"Yes, yes, I know, you're all upset about getting bumped down in the rankings," Goodwitch allowed with a small wave up at Platoon number two. "I have added the visiting students onto the ranking system at the ranks suggested to me by their headmasters, which will not affect those Beacon students who are displaced because two weeks from now they'll all be leaving for their own academies. Now… Why don't you all muster up your fighting spirit and attempt to take back your ranks."

Glynda's words succeeded in both pacifying and motivating those people who were most concerned, leaving an electrically charged room full of over-eager young superhumans.

But first, some of the trainees on the lower end of the rankings would get their chance to fight, and since Jaune was still taking part in a winning streak, he was guaranteed a chance to rise up in the ranks.

"Jaune Freeman and Matilda Fern," Goodwitch called out as she widened their respective standings across the face of the auditorium's central hologram.

Matilda was ranked 311th in the class rankings, which made her the highest ranked person that Jaune was allowed to face off against within the rules of Goodwitch's class. It also explained why the extremely muscular young woman winced when her name was called. Apparently, she believed one of the numerous rumors regarding Jaune's presence at the bottom of the class standings, and now she was worried that she was about to drop a full ten rungs within the class standings. A few seconds later, after drawing in a very deep breath and then letting it all out again, the woman pierced Jaune with a truly malevolent stare, her eyes burning with the light of extreme determination.

Of course, this time it was Jaune who was forced to conceal a wince, as Matilda was likely his match (if not more), and now she was preparing to fight as if her life was on the line.

This was about to get a little rough.

After retrieving their various gear from the locker rooms and then returning to the center of the auditorium, Jaune squared up in front of Matilda, took in the woman's radical appearance, took in her weapon, and allowed the cheering of his Platoon to help him get into the right mindset.

Over and above wearing enough heavy body-armor to make running a slow jog a difficult prospect, Matilda was holding what looked like a two-handed claymore sword, only it was at least five times wider than normal. The woman's sword was so damned wide, it almost looked like the face of a shield, and it had the barrel to an extremely thick rifle barrel concealed within the tang of the blade. This rifle, when mecha-shifted free of the blade, would be legitimately massive, maybe even big enough to be considered a cannon…

It was clear right from the get-go that Matilda Fern acted as both the tank and the finishing-blow for her squad by using her massive cannon-sword as a shield, and that this specialization was likely the reason why she was so far down the list in the standings. Whenever you pigeonhole yourself into a specific role, you lose the versatility that goes with using a more conventional fighting style… A decision that makes one-on-one arena fighting much more difficult to pull off.

What Matilda's specialization meant to Jaune specifically, was that the girl was either a team player to her core, or she had a Semblance that allowed her to connect her ultra-heavy sword with supernaturally swift and slippery people.

And unfortunately for Jaune… Matilda didn't look like the ultra-selfless, team-player type of girl…

Well, fine, Jaune thought to himself as he hopped up and down, limbered up his arms, and preemptively began channeling aura throughout his brain and nervous system. Be on the lookout for a disruptive or distracting Semblance… Got it.

All throughout Jaune's inner-monologue, Goodwitch had been reciting her pre-fight ritual, which is why she was raising a hand up in the air when Jaune finally finished his mental preparations.

"Fight!"

Almost immediately after Jaune started dashing to the right, he figured out exactly what young Ms. Fern's Semblance was, as well as the reason why she decided to specialize in tanking. The woman's Semblance was an aura-based jerking "pull" that was being applied directly to Jaune's aura around his left hip, forcing him to lean way off balance to keep himself from being dragged in the woman's direction, and destroying his ability to move with any coordination whatsoever. It wasn't an impossible to defy force, but it was strong, and it was a nuisance because it was destroying his center of gravity. On the other hand, the irregular "Pull" appeared to be drawing Matilda in his direction with the exact same amount of force, with the only difference being that it was pulling on the center-mass of her chest.

All of the sudden, the reason why Matilda was wearing such heavy gear and was making use of such an absurdly bulky weapon became perfectly clear, and one thought immediately emerged within Jaune's mind…

Cool!

Jaune loved the care and consideration that Matilda Fern put into making the most of her Semblance, he was a huge fan of the woman's complete disregard for the conventional, and he had stars in his eyes even as the woman began her attack.

After slamming the tip of her massive sword down into the floor with a crash, Matilda mecha-shifted free the cannon contained within its spine, pressed her chest against the stock to pull her enemy in the direction of her targeting reticle, and then swiveled in place to track Jaune's awkwardly strafing form. Soon enough, the boy would be pulled within the most effective range of her Red-Dust Cannon, and there was very little that he could actually do about it other than simply launch himself in her direction… A decision that he'd regret when he took an explosive shell of Red Dust to the face…

At this point, Jaune was being dragged closer to his adversary with every single step that he took, which is something he couldn't avoid because he didn't want to take a cannon shell in the back while awkwardly climbing away from the woman, and he didn't know enough about her Semblance yet to confidently close the distance. What he did know was that the cannon being aimed at him had a relatively short barrel in order to fit within her sword, which meant that it was imprecise, which in turn meant it was designed to be used over shorter distances…

A thought struck Jaune… An idea that was very… Jaune Freeman in nature.

After another half-minute spent awkwardly strafing to the side with his hand pressed into his own hip to support his balance, Jaune planted his feet just a meter or two outside of Matilda's effective cannon-shot range, mecha-shifted his shield into its rifle form, aimed it directly between his enemy's highly armored form, and then slammed a dozen Red Dust rounds directly into her face…

Only for nothing to happen in the slightest.

Between the armored faceplate that Matilda was wearing and the aura armor beneath it, the woman's aura level didn't even decrease by a full percentage point…

The audience from the Beacon faction murmured to each other because there had to be more to Jaune's attack than that, the Arc sisters likewise leaned in closer with expectant looks upon their faces, Sun Wukong started to smile in amusement before his mouth suddenly firmed up again, and the rest of the exchange students laughed with no hesitation at all.

But then, when Jaune appeared to give up on fighting long distance, started running directly towards his adversary, and moved within Matilda's max effective cannon range… the woman smiled in apparent triumph, and squeezed the trigger of her weapon…

Booom!

The barrel of Matilda's Dust Cannon instantly exploded outwards with an awful wrenching ripping sound that had everyone in the auditorium covering their ears, as a billowing bubble of red-hot Dust launched the heavily armored girl several meters away from her own weapon.

When the smoke from the Dust explosion trailed away, the audience up in the stands saw that Matilda's sword was still planted down in the floor, but that its cannon barrel looked more like a flower made of metal than it did a cylindrical pipe…

Once again, for Monty Oum knows what time, Jaune had made use of the rocks that he was carrying in his pocket in order to ruin his adversary's day… During the time that he'd spent circle strafing with his hand on his hip, he channeled his aura down into the rocks that he was concealing within his grip, crushed them down into as fine a dust as he could manage, and then allowed Matilda's "pulling" Semblance to carry the very fine dust in the direction of her cannon barrel. Then, once most of the dust was resting beyond the cannon's muzzle, all he had to do was merge it all into a dense rocklike mass that completely plugged the barrel.

When Matilda finally fired her cannon, all of the red-hot Dust that was supposed to discharge outwards towards Jaune's face, bottlenecked within her weapon instead, until finally the barrel couldn't take the pressure anymore and exploded outwards in every direction…

It was a cartoony way for Jaune to destroy his enemy's weapon, thus he was grateful that he was the only person who actually knew the method of his attack.

Either way, now was the time for Jaune to bring this fight to an end… Even as Matilda crashed down onto her back, Jaune was still flying in her direction, as he hadn't been within the blast radius of the explosion that he just caused. Within a single moment of Matilda's crash landing on the floor, Jaune was above her with his sword screaming down towards her body, and there was a yellow tint to his sword-edge that was going to be bad news for her armor.

With yet another shrill screeching and ripping noise, Jaune's monomolecular sword slammed down into Matilda's armored chest, ripping open the metal and carbon polymer that was protecting her torso. Then he did it again, and again, and some more, even as Matilda attempted to rise to her feet, only to have him kick her onto her side. Now that her primary method of fighting was ruined, all of the heavy armor that Matilda was wearing was nothing but a hindrance, preventing her from defending herself.

Within the next minute, Jaune hacked and slashed the aura out from under Matilda Fern, until finally Goodwitch called the match.

In the quiet moments that followed, as Jaune helped Matilda back up to her feet, he whispered some words to her too low for anyone to hear, at which point, she brightened, nodded, and walked away with a thoughtful expression upon her face.

Jaune hated to do it, but he'd just explained how he won to Matilda Fern, because he didn't want to disillusion someone who was trying their very best. He didn't explain the mechanisms behind his attack, just the method. He told her to beware attracting obstructions down the barrel of her firearm, and that had been enough.


Not for the first time, Olivia wondered just how Jaune was using his very esoteric Semblance to perform such a wide array of different functions, as she never actually saw her brother do anything to young Ms. Fern's cannon, and yet it was clearly him that caused the weapon to explode in such a dramatic fashion… Olivia wanted to know all about it, she wanted to ask Jaune questions, she desperately wanted to talk to her brother, and yet she knew that the boy wanted nothing to do with her, and she didn't have the right to force him to do otherwise…

The truth of the matter was that Olivia Arc was only present and cooperating with her sisters in order to keep an eye on them, to keep them from meddling, to keep them in line… A fact that her sisters were smart enough to have figured out. A state of affairs that left Olivia isolated even amongst her so-called family…

Olivia Arc watched her brother charm the armored pants off of Matilda Fern even as the girl's name dropped ten spots down in the ranking, and she wished more than anything in the world that the man would aim that ultra-enthusiastic smile in her direction.

It was all that she wanted… It was too much to hope for…


Cinder Fall watched closely as Vale Colony's man of the hour, Jaune Freeman nee Arc re-emerged from the dressing room, ascended the stairs back to his platoon, and then took a seat flanked by a highly amused looking group of young women.

The White Fang were screaming that she needed to kill this boy. They were claiming that he was extremely powerful, extremely influential, extremely cutthroat, extremely dangerous…

Cinder simply couldn't see it.

Jaune Freeman was ranked 311th out of 335 people in his class, and he was having legitimate matchups with the weak and ineffectual Hunters that he was fighting at that level. The boy was no threat, at least not physically… He WAS however, a battlefield engineer and problem solver of uncommon skill, and was the inventor of the same gravity barriers that were complicating so many of her current plans…

Cinder would likely make Jaune Freeman disappear before she finished her plans at Beacon, but his untimely demise was of secondary importance.

The Maiden came first.

The Maiden would always come first…


By the time Goodwitch's combat class came to an end, Cardin Winchester fought and defeated Scarlet David of team SSSN, Mercury Black briefly fought against Pyrrha Nikos before surrendering, and three out of the four Arc sisters asked to fight against Penny Polendina, only to find that they couldn't as she wasn't within the top ten of the standings. Apparently, Daisy, Lilly and Mari Arc really didn't like the way that Penny kept referring to Jaune as her brother, and they were looking for a valid excuse to vent their frustrations upon the woman.

Jaune almost felt sorry for the three Arc sisters…

Almost.

The fact of the matter was that Penny was an S class monster in the making, and the animosity that the Arc sisters were feeling towards her… it wasn't unrequited…

As interesting as all of these matchups and potential matchups were, Jaune still found his thoughts drifting to an event that would be happening later that afternoon…

After lunch and a double period of Dust Engineering with Professor Aria, Jaune's class would be taking part in its very first live action training exercise within Officer Oetger and Officer Shaw's war simulator.

It was time to show his Platoon why he kept drilling them on military basics and squad formations. It was time to show the benefit of all his prep work.

It was time.


To Be Continued


Author's Note:

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