Somewhere in the forests within Mistral's borders, there was movement in the bushes. In short intervals, there was a shaking in the ground. For many others, this would have been a sign to leave or to find shelter for whatever terrible thing that might befall them. For the five-man team of JNPR, this was a sign that they were getting closer to their target.
During their travels on the continent of Anima, JNPR had been taking missions to earn up some lien to pay for food, supplies and a place to sleep. It also aided in building up their reputation which wasn't really intended but served them well. Ever since the Battle of Beacon, negativity and uncertainty had begun to rise in these settlements, especially those far away from the major cities. Huntsmen and huntresses had become scarce around these parts and the fear and anxiety from it all had drawn more Grimm to their areas. Much of the defenses were left to the guards of these towns which were significantly weaker than trained huntsmen. The most that those were good for were primarily for lookout and alerting the others. It was something that team JNPR had also sought to rectify in their travels.
It was mostly a suggestion from one of their members, though for technical reasons, she is more of a semblance. Jeanne d'Arc, Ruler-class Servant, a semblance of one Jaune Arc, the fifth Maiden and member of team JNPR. It wasn't right that most of the towns and settlements had to rely on huntsmen, she argued. While the finances were understandable, JNPR ensured that every town guard were at least capable enough to deal with the lone Grimm or two. If Grimm were drawn to negativity, then perhaps having someone who could handle one despite not being a huntsman would help in combating that negativity.
As such, their popularity had started to rise. Even without the influence of famed competitive fighter, Pyrrha Nikos, JNPR's members were like shining stars that pierce through the veil of darkness and lighting a hope in the people in despair. They would even stay a little longer just to help rebuild the broken homes before moving on. If lien could not be used to pay, then they were content enough just for warm food and a good enough roof over their heads. Time spent on the road really made them miss their time in Beacon and its comfy beds.
Team JNPR moved closer to their target. Jaune, Jeanne, and Pyrrha were ahead while the other two members, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren, were at the back. The latter two were having a debate, as if the mission was going to be easy that they could finish it nonchalantly. While eliminating the Grimm was going to be the easy part, it was getting the Grimm to be vulnerable that was going to prove difficult.
Their latest mission was that relating to a Geist. A possession-type Grimm that takes over various objects as it causes destruction. From the last sighting that they had, it was out here gathering boulders to form its body. The top boulder could only be barely seen from above but the movements it had made were impossible to miss.
They have been following the Grimm for a while now. Mostly because they wanted the Grimm to be far away from the town. Since it was spending its time building itself, JNPR would allow it until the Geist was far enough away from the people.
"For the last time," said Nora, sounding more tired from her debate than anything. "We should really consider renaming our team! It's not right that Jeanne gets to get left out!"
"But we have to adhere to the rule of four," Ren argued. "Besides, Jeanne is registered as a Semblance and thus an extension of Jaune."
Nora pulled her face. "Alright fine," she replied. Her tone indicated that she was done for now and just wanted to continue with the mission. "We can still call ourselves Juniper but we should spell it out as JJNPR."
"Even if we did do that," said Ren. "Wouldn't it be more efficient to retain the JNPR spelling? With Jeanne and Jaune having the same letters anyways."
"They can't share the same letter! Come on!"
"Guys," said Jaune, stopping the conversation. "We need to focus." There was a moment of silence as for a moment, Ren and Nora felt like they were being reprimanded. "Also if we did do the five letters, what other color has double Js in them anyway?"
"You don't have to use the J," replied Jeanne. "There's always the last name. I have a D, you don't."
If there was ever any tension, it was broken here. Jeanne didn't realize what she had just said until it had come out of her mouth. Time spent as a Beacon student has made her more aware of not only the lingo of the student body but also aware of some of the humor. She was supposed to be the Holy Maiden yet here she was unintentionally making crude attempts at humor. The rest of her team was okay with that though. It made Jeanne feel like an ordinary girl again. Albeit, one whose profession is monster hunting but still.
"Categorically untrue," Jaune teased. "Unless?" Jeanne hit him lightly but her smile betrayed her.
"We're far enough from the town," said Pyrrha who had stayed silent throughout this little expedition. The change in her facial expressions though was sign that she was listening to the conversation. Pyrrha was rather neutral about the whole thing as those were just team names anyway. "I'll draw it out."
All members of team JNPR nodded. Jeanne turned to Jaune and said, "you ready?"
Jeanne's banner manifested. She was worried about her brother like going into a mission like this. Without his weapon, Jaune wasn't going to be doing much fighting. His new armor was back in the town as well and both needed time in order for them to be the highest quality possible. He was the last among his team to get upgrades barring Jeanne herself who doesn't need them.
"Yeah," said Jaune. "I'll lead from the sidelines while you lead on the front."
"You got it, coach!" Nora saluted enthusiastically.
Jaune and Jeanne held hands tightly and shook it. Both of them were leaders by their own right and having two of them at once certainly helped things along in the missions that they had undertaken.
The rumbling of the ground grew in both frequency and intensity. Pyrrha had rushed out earlier to get its attention but no gunshots were heard. Not even the clash of metal against stone reached their ears. Soon enough, the birds all flew away from their nests as the trees started to break fall and snap at the sudden force that struck them. From the shadows, their teammate rushed back out, large Grimm of stone chasing after her with surprising speed for one so large.
Ren went upwards to one of the tree's branches that could take his weight. Nora followed soon after with a blast from Magnihild's grenade launcher form. Emitting a spiraling pink smoke as she flew towards a neighboring branch as Ren's own only had room for one.
Numerous shots rained on the Grimm chasing Pyrrha. The Grimm turned and attacked Ren but the latter was too nimble and quick. Jumping from tree to tree, Ren circled around the Grimm as he sought his opening. Eventually, he was back on the ground as the tree he was on was too far from the next one. A large stone pillar flew his way which he managed to jump over and land on. Ren quickly rushed his way towards the white-mask like thing that formed the Geist's face. He nearly struck at it before another boulder came up and blocked his attack. Having lost his footing and momentum, Ren backed away before the Grimm could retaliate.
"It's protecting its face," he declared. "My blades don't hurt it!"
"We need to get to get rid of its arms!" Jeanne commanded.
"I'm on it!" Nora volunteered.
She ran towards the Grimm, shooting out grenades as she did so to get its attention. When it had worked, the Grimm sought to bring down one of its stone arms. Nora spun herself while shifting her weapon to its hammer form. The combined momentum of both the arm and the hammer swing was enough to shatter the boulder's arm. The Grimm reeled back as if in pain.
Pyrrha, being the closest among them, sought to end the fight quickly by jumping on top of where the face would be to stab down her sword. However, when she got there, the Grimm's face was nowhere to be seen and she ended up embedding her own sword into the stone, causing some chipping on the edges of the blade.
The stone body moved awkwardly. The Grimm had changed the location of its possession. Now found lower down, the Grimm threw Pyrrha off of it before returning back to where it had been. A large black arm came from where the boulder had been destroyed earlier and took possession of an empty tree. It's movement with it wasn't as flexible as the stones it had before. It swung at team JNPR, causing much of the ground beneath it to be dug up. Small holes began to fill the area as more earth was being disturbed by the swings of the Geist.
"Nora, get back!" Jaune called out. "We'll need to get rid of everything that it possesses, first!"
She got back without missing a beat. With Jaune opting out of much of the fight, it had allowed him to see things that most of them would have missed otherwise. He saw the Grimm moved towards another stone as a means of protecting but wasn't fast enough to have warn his partner about it.
"Ren, left!" Jeanne called out. "Pyrrha, right!"
The two of them nodded. Ren hopped from tree to tree while Pyrrha stuck close to the ground. A rain of shots from the left and singular but more powerful ones from the right. The Grimm was getting confused as to which one it should attack first. Suddenly, it had lost balance. Jeanne had swung her banner at the smaller stones that made up its feet. Before the Grimm could strike back at her, Jeanne thrusted her spear-point towards the face. It would not have reached it anyway but since the Grimm had self-preservation instincts from blocking Ren's attacks earlier, it had some base behaviors that they could exploit.
The real goal of that was to get the Grimm to one of its arms. It had used the stone one which Pyrrha had exploited as an opening. Aided by her semblance, Polarity, Pyrrha's shield flew at the arms and bounced off of it, changing it trajectory towards the Grimm's face. It wasn't going to be enough to kill it but it did cause it to fall backwards. Before it could get up, Ren showered it with more shots close enough to its face which made the Grimm panic and move lower just to avoid the incoming gunfire.
It was here that Nora Valkyrie had her time to shine. While all that was happening, she was producing and channeling electrical currents straight into her own muscles and her weapon. When the opening had been made, with a burst of lightning speed, Nora bolted towards it and thundered down on all the parts that the Grimm had possessed, shattering everything that it had used to protect itself.
A few seconds had passed before the Geist escaped the little pebble to flee. It didn't last long as it was surrounded on all sides. Pyrrha's javelin flew at it and the Grimm began to dissipate. JNPR's mission had been accomplished.
"Another mission accomplished, good job JJNPR!" said Jeanne. A minute passed. "Yeah okay, if we're actually going to use five letters, we'll need to change our name. Until then, we'll stick to JNPR"
/-/
"Once again, we thank you," said the mayor of the town. "This place is certainly in your debt. It is bad enough that we have an increase in Grimm but to also have huntsmen and huntresses become scarce? I feared the worst."
In the background, a few of the townsfolk could be seen practicing with swords, spears and bows. Before JNPR had set out on their mission, they have opted to stay and offer a little training to the townsfolk.
"It increases chances of survival," Pyrrha replied. "We were more than happy to ensure that the town is protected."
"Yes," replied the mayor. "I have heard of your adventures. You are doing good work in this trying time. I just wish we had more money to pay you."
"Don't worry about it," replied Jeanne. "The previous arrangement was more than enough."
All members of team JNPR bowed as a traditional sign of respect around the area.
It was no secret to anyone, even to the civilians in the town, that team JNPR were excited about the upgrades to Jaune's equipment. The other members all had theirs though it may not be as obvious as others. Their upgrades were primarily to emphasize their strengths and cover some of their weaknesses.
For Lie Ren, the first among them, that came in the form of his sleeveless outfit. There had been times where the length of his clothing had gotten in the way due to the restraints they have on his nimbleness. It wasn't obvious but he claimed that he feels it sometimes. His clothing was too tight, essentially. His weapon now has the added benefit of having hook-shots. With a mechanism in the trigger, the bladed portion of his weapons could extend outward like a grappling hook, wrapping around limbs and objects that would then be used as either moving around or for coiling around opponents.
Nora's upgrade was more on the improvement of her weapon's ability to conduct electricity. Since she could produce electricity, it was best that her weapon could do so at similar levels. The grenade launcher form also had different settings now other than simply launching grenades. It could now fire a continuous stream of pink smoke for her aerial needs as opposed to having short bursts.
Pyrrha's were the most noticeable upgrade before Jaune. She began to wear more armor on her person. Protecting the previously exposed shoulders to her neck, her own was more akin to different pieces that would expose in movement but the presence of a shield makes that rather difficult even for clever and wise opponents. On her waist, there was a skirt with metal plates that stripped it, allowing for a level of protection without weighing down too much on her body. Her weapons didn't need much refinement as she had an answer for most things anyway, especially with her semblance.
Jeanne never needed any armor. It wasn't that of arrogance but rather it was a simple matter of changing outfits which she could do at will anyway. Saving them some lien, Jeanne wasn't that in need.
That left Jaune the last among them. Out of everyone in team JNPR, his was the most expensive. While he could have built it piece-by-piece, those would need constant readjustments in shape and quality of material, not to mention forging, which would just cost them more. As such, they all opted to have his occur when they have enough lien earned for it.
Supposedly, the design was akin to a character from a children's story. Jaune's armor was designed after common artistic descriptions of the Rusted Knight character, minus the rust, of course. He would be wearing plate armor from head to toe. Jaune may have improved vastly and was practically equal to his peers by now, but he went down a different path than them. While others could be airborne with their fanciful techniques, Jaune's was simpler. Some might even call it brute force. He was more grounded with shield bashes, pommel strikes, kicks and knees. It wasn't elegant in the slightest but Grimm didn't exactly care about that.
"I used to pretend that I was the Rusted Knight," he said. "Kinda why I wanted to be a huntsman, you know? Be the hero and all that."
"I'm sure it will look wonderful," replied Pyrrha. It was her inspiration too. The Rusted Knight was pretty much the first heroic character that the children of Remnant grow up with anyway.
"All we need now is a Jackalope," said Nora.
"The only Jackalope we have is the Grimm. If we really wanted, we'll need to tame one." Ren noticed that Nora was actually contemplating the thought. "No, we're not taming a Grimm for Jaune."
"Why not?" she whined. "Just think on how cool it would be!"
"Because we're going for the Ruste—or rather—Shining Knight," Ren argued. "Not a Death Knight."
"A horse?" Nora wasn't about to give up on that.
Surprising everyone else, Ren actually looked at Jaune as he visualized his team leader on a horse. He then said, "White horse with silvery-gray mane."
"Yeah." Nora raised her hand for a high five which Ren had given. "Lord of the horses, swifter than the wind."
Jeanne and Pyrrha both looked at Jaune, the rather fantastical image in their heads. The final decision would be on him. "Uh," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Maybe someday. Horses are expensive aren't they?"
"If we could even afford one that isn't too skittish," said Jeanne.
"Something to think about for the future," agreed Pyrrha. She doubted that it would actually come to that. "It would definitely combat the negativity, that's for sure."
Everyone agreed on that. It was something that they had learned for themselves with these missions. Combating negativity had always been part of huntsmen training but they had initially thought that fighting the Grimm was good enough. The devastation that Grimm leave behind often makes staying positive a difficult thing, not to mention the loss of lives. As such, team JNPR opted to stay in towns and villages longer just to help the townsfolk less the Grimm return. In some cases, they do. Although recently, that number had begun to decrease. It was a win either way. The settlement is rebuilt and no Grimm to worry the people.
"We're here!" Jaune said joyfully. Everyone else shared similar sentiments as they opened the doors to the blacksmith.
AN: Still frustrated that my boi lost his drip after Vol. 9. I hope they bring back the wolf-tail, at least.