24. Beacon Days 13
Forever Fall, riverside
Living in Vale and Beacon made it easy to forget, but the wild lands beyond the walls have their own kind of beauty. Pure streams of water untouched by civilizations. Creatures that have never learned to fear humanity. Soft sounds of nature harmonized into a song. A peace that calmed one's heart.
Forever Fall had a few differences to the woods surrounding Ansel. His home laid on flatter lands, where forest met plains, and he had always loved the view of the sky stretching to the horizon. Here, the trees extended up a mountainous terrain, forming walls of red to hold up a blue ceiling above him. This being the last days of fall, the breeze has taken on a touch of winter's chill. Yet, where the trees of his home would have shed their coat by now, the red leaves around him remained vibrant despite autumn's end approaching.
The woods he knew spoke of a young land full of adventures and possibilities. Here, a sense of eternity permeated Forever Fall, where ancient trees loomed over insignificant mortals. A thousand years from now, even if civilization has fallen to the Grimm or left for the stars, this sight will remain unchanging.
For a moment, standing by a river, Jaune beheld the immortality of nature.
*smack*
And nature slapped Jaune for staring too long, in the form of a fish.
He jolted from his daydreaming, the insolent trout bouncing off him to flip and flop on the riverbed. Nature's song fell to the background as the noise made by his fellow Huntsmen and Huntresses wash over him once again. Looking to the water, his blue eyes met Nora's green, the girl standing in the shallow stream with a wet hand raised in a follow-through scooping motion.
"Uhhh." She shifted into a bow. "Dinner is served, Boss."
He glared at her, unamused, then glanced uncertainly at the fishing rod in his hand. Nora's harebrained idea of imitating a bear secured her a second windfall already. He, however, hadn't gotten so much as a nibble ever since Team JNPR began catching their meal, despite the river overflowing with fish. He knew it was, because…
*fwiiip*
Further downstream, Pyrrha extracted Milo, a salmon speared on its tip. The fish went into a basket, and she readied the weapon while scanning the water for the next target. The effectiveness of her method could not be denied, though her spear was a bit too large. The fish she caught would take more effort to prepare for cooking.
Upstream, Ren crouched on a small boulder, eyes closed and hands plunged beneath the surface. He appeared to be deep in meditation, chest rising and falling as he breathed. Then, gently, he lifted a trout out of the water. His face remained serene but for a soft smile of contentment. Of them all, the fish caught by Ren stayed the most intact with neither damage from blade nor from impact.
A sharp stick and bare hands proved superior to the innovations and devices of civilization. Jaune snorted at the thought and, shaking his head ruefully, decided that he can contribute to the camping trip in other ways. His team's bounty will provide the bulk of tonight's dinner for his and Ruby's teams. Besides that, they had a few side dishes for variety. Still, something for dessert would not go amiss.
Bidding farewell to his team, Jaune grabbed a cooler that was sitting next to his tent and went off in search of delicacies.
-o-
One might think that finding sweets in the wild was a tall order, but for a good forager, it was a matter of knowing the land and the resources available.
"Beer for trade. Nice and cool, beer for traaaade, here!"
Jaune walked the length of the river where many teams made their camps, touting his wares. His call rang out loud and clear, drawing many interested gazes, though most lacked anything of appeal.
Everybody agreed that Ozpin's idea of a camping trip for the two lower years was a wonderful idea. However, the emailed announcement came out of left field, and led to poor preparations. In return, the man provided each team a small stipend. JNPR's convenience store sold out of ready-to-eat meals and cakes by nightfall as a result.
Of course, those items made for terrible camping choices, considering the available options for refrigeration. A slice of red velvet cake did not keep well in a cooler, and after a few days even sandwiches lose taste and freshness. They'd be reduced to eating the school's tasteless rations by the end.
Between Teams JNPR and RWBY, they had three halfway-decent cooks in him, Ren, and Yang. For them, the stipends were better spent on camping equipment and ingredients, with Forever Fall bolstering their supplies. Blake claimed to have experience with wild herbs and mushrooms. Yang and Ruby have caught and prepared rabbits before, though Weiss was vetoing that plan hard for the time being. And finally, his team has proven their supreme fishing abilities. Filling bellies won't be an issue, and their group stood in a good position to enjoy the trip as a break from their hectic schedules.
Still, halfway-decent cooking skills translated to mostly frying and grilling on the campfire. Life was more than meats and vegetables. With close to two hundred people here, there had to be better cooks willing to part with their creations. Keeping in mind what teenagers on a trip with minimal supervision may want, Jaune had smuggled along coolers of beer.
Efficiently packaged and easily transportable, the drinks kept well on ice. They commanded a high demand, and were disguisable under a layer of soda cans. The perfect barter item.
He hadn't been the only one to employ trading as a survival skill. Entrepreneurship was alive and well on the campgrounds as a dozen other students hawked various goods. The pot of stew a student cooked won't garner much demand on the first day, but might find itself with a long line from tomorrow onwards. One person made sandwiches, attracting steady business. Another displayed a selection of teas and juices traded by the cup, the closest substitute for Jaune's drinks.
His first stop found him joining a campfire, watching as a Mistralian student grill peach slices over a fire. They were wary of him at first but could not resist the allure of booze. After careful perusal, they declared what be brought to be 'weaksauce', but admitted that it may be the best available. Now, he could have protested the damning review… but he also knew it to be true. The people here were looking for the thrill of drinking on a school trip (and so was he), so why bring the good stuff (for them)?
His tent, on the other hand, was stocked with a mini-bar holding all his favorites.
The important point was that he had something they wanted, and they had a pretty tempting item on offer. The peach slices, grilled to perfection, caramelized with brown sugar, and sprinkled with pecan bits, made for a light dessert that Jaune imagined would go over well with Ren and Pyrrha. Perhaps Blake, too? He hardly knew the fourth member of Team RWBY, but she didn't seem to eat much whenever the teams met for breakfast. In any case, the Mistral team agreed to a one-for-one trade, and Jaune left with four plastic bowls balanced on his cooler.
After leaving, he browsed from camp to camp until he ran into a passing peddler, a first-year girl, who had a cooler similar to his own that had been stocked with mason jars. In each, a thin layer of dough covered the bottom, with a mix of berries, jams, and whipped cream filling the rest of the space to the brim.
It might not be the cake Weiss yearned for, but it'd do. Ruby will certainly enjoy the quadruple-strawberry rendition, which incorporated the fruit in every ingredient. He, himself, was eyeing the all-chocolate jar, but ultimately left it behind in lieu of apple and cinnamon. The hefty, decadent dessert carried a high price. For all his haggling, Jaune parted with two six-packs for four jars in return.
He later encountered shrewd negotiators in Team CFVY, who proved quite reluctant to part with the team's coffee. They've had a year of Beacon to experiment with alcohol, and they can spot bottom-barrel swill when they saw it. That was not to say that hope was lost. Jaune opted for the long game and joined the team on the riverside. Feet in the water, he chatted with the upperclassmen, presenting his case with subtlety and grace.
"Burgers tonight, huh. You know what goes with burgers? A cold, refreshing can of quality beer. Mhmmm. Just imagine it." Aaaand, wink!
Yes, subtlety and grace.
He wanted coffee, dammit, and if that meant employing Miltia-moves then so be it.
Unfortunately, the charm attack failed to reach its mark and Coco, lounging on a flat boulder, waved a dismissive hand.
"Nah, nah, my team won't drink nothing until the last night of this trip, and we're taking all the coffee we've got to make sure everyone is wide awake tomorrow." Jaune quirked an eyebrow.
"I never took you for one to participate in camp activities. What will Goodwitch have you doing? Because if it's collecting Red Sap, watch out for allergic reactions."
Cracking open an eye, Coco Adel looked at him for a long moment. Then, her eyes widened in surprise.
"Huh. I thought it was weird for you to be so blasé about it, but you really have no idea of what's coming, do you? Didn't you read the email?"
Email? Ozpin's email?
"Yes, I have. It was about this camping trip."
What he did not say aloud, and which may be a mistake in hindsight now that he thought about it, was that he only read up to 'classes will be canceled'. A surreptitious hand reached for the scroll in his pocket.
Coco rolled her eyes.
"Word of advice, newbie. Read everything Ozpin sends you. He likes to lead with the happy news and blindside you with the important stuff at the bottom. What you need to know is that there will be a combat exercise tomorrow. Everyone's participating."
That…didn't sound so bad. He expected a few days of leisure, but it never hurt to work up a sweat.
Velvet, laying one spot over from her leader, cut in.
"Our performance will determine which teams gets first pickings of the end-of-semester missions."
A drop of cold sweat ran down his face. A sense of dread crawled up his spine.
Those missions were a requirement of their grades, and they took place after the exams, just before winter break. In other words, the faster a team completed their mission, the earlier they started the holidays. It sounded great, until one realized the sheer possible scope and range of the tasks.
The upper years reveled in telling Jaune and his peers about the lucky ones who nipped out for an afternoon and added an extra two weeks to their break, then told horror stories of teams trekking out in the wilds on Dustmas. It happened twice out of hundreds of times as far as anyone remembered, but with the sewer being a vivid memory in his mind, Jaune hesitated to bet on his good fortune.
The worst outcome could not be allowed to happen. He had plans for this winter break. His teachers said they had plans for this winter break.
Opening the cooler, he began stacking can after can before Team CFVY until only the desserts remained. Information carried a high price, and it paid to be generous to one's sources. The silly haggling game has lost its appeal, anyhow.
"Thanks for the warning, Coco. Do you have any idea what format the exercise will take?"
"Nope. If you find out, don't forget who your friends are."
"Will do. Good luck tomorrow."
The two team leaders nodded to each other, an understanding reached. The likeliest scenario would have the first-years and second-years competing in their respective groups. In such a case, cooperation may see them both scoring high in the combat exercise.
Jaw set in determination, his anxiety hidden underneath, Jaune made his way back to camp.
-o-
Dinner with Team JNPR was always a raucous affair, doubly with Team RWBY added to the mix. Yang showed a starry-eyed Weiss how to grill fish over a fire and they almost burned the camp down. Nora dared them all to eat a mushroom of an unknown type, and it became a fight to stop her from trying it herself. Even Pyrrha joined the chaos when Blake challenged her to an eating competition, her drive to win spurring her to accept. They each scarfed down at least three people's worth of fish, putting a sizable dent in the stockpile. And while Blake lost, she appeared satisfied with the result.
Amidst the boisterous atmosphere, Jaune's reticence passed largely unnoticed.
He'd made a second pass of the camps, but nobody knew any more than what Ozpin announced. Rumors ran the gamut from a Grimm-hunting competition to a mock Vytal tournament. One person proposed that they'd be hunting bandits, to combine both aspects of slaying and human opponents.
Jaune left that camp as fast as he could.
The complete lack of Grimm near the campground gave credence to the possibility that they've been rounded up for the exercise. On the other hand, the email did not specify to bring their equipment on the trip. Most did, if they read the email in their entirety. He had his knife hidden about his person, because that lesson had been hammered into him.
Yet, he was not alone in skimming the announcement, and even some who did had failed to make the connection, leading to a good number of students being short on ammo and Dust. Combine the insufficient supplies with the fact that many people saw tonight as a chance to party, and it was a coin flip on how many will be combat-ready tomorrow. Of course, the professors were not dumb and blind to the happenings among their charges, which pointed to the unpreparedness of the students being irrelevant.
Or, perhaps, the grading have already started, like some kind of social experiment and they were all lab rats.
Too many theories, too many rumors, too many contradictions. It added up to one big mystery. Gaming the event beforehand was a futile endeavor, and a terrible waste of his remaining time. That left the option of improving himself.
The one avenue he could explore on such short notice was his new technique. It had been his hope to spend the next few weeks mastering the far-leap…the quick-step…the as-yet-unnamed movement method discovered in the sewer fight against the Deathmauler. And to come up with a good name for it.
As things stood, using it caused him pain, the distance covered cannot be predicted, and he fell over more than half of the time. He'd preferred not to show the technique to his friends in its current state, so they will not see his failure. Needs must, however.
Sighing, he placed the untouched jar of dessert back in the cooler and slid over to his fellow team leader.
"Ruby. Can I ask your help for something?" Ruby leapt to her feet.
"Finally!" She lowered her voice at his shushing motions, whispering, "I was about to sic Yang and Nora on you to stop your fretting."
She had not meant it as a threat, but Jaune took it as such and quickly explained.
"I found a way to move really fast, sort of like you." Her jaw dropped, and he continued. "Problem is, I can't control it-"
"-and you need me to teach you? Yes, yes, all the yes!" Her eyes became round. "Does this make us speed-buddies? Oh, oh, if you get a sniper rifle, we can make a super cool Huntsman-Huntress duo. They'll call us the, um…" She snapped her fingers. "… The Quickshots!"
Jaune made a mental note. Ruby Rose will not name his new technique, or anything of his. Ever.
Especially his long knife.
-o-
Hands on her hips, an expression that could almost be called arrogant on her face, Ruby displayed supreme confidence. When it came to speed, Ruby Rose was an expert, a fact she knew well and a comforting thought for this floundering student.
"Alrighty. Show me your move."
Jaune obliged her, setting his stance. Reaching for his Aura, he pushed power into his legs. They creaked and groaned under the strain. He judged by memory how much they could take, and raised a foot high in the air. Once the blue-white glow attained the brightness he remembered, Jaune slammed the foot against the ground to propel himself forward. The world faded into a blur.
An instant later, his face smashed into a tree. The momentum of his lower body swung him around the trunk, sending him flying off at an angle to land in a crumpled heap with a loud "Oof".
Standing off to the side, Ruby winced.
"It's like my first practice all over again."
In a way, her words comforted him better than any empty praises. If she started at this level of inexperience and attained mastery, then he may have hope yet. Picking himself off the ground, Jaune waited for her instructions.
"Could you try that again?"
He did so. Then, again. After the fourth try, where he actually stuck the landing, Jaune had to stop and cling on to a tree to keep upright. As they waited for his legs to recover, Ruby went around to the divots he left with each leap, humming in thought. Once done, she stood with chin in hand.
"Uhhhh, I think you're making the exact same mistakes I did early on. See how you gouged out the dirt wherever you start and stop? You've put in too much power to push forward, so you had to bleed it all off by slamming your foot down at your endpoint. That causes a lot of damage to your leg, and whenever it fail to stop all the momentum, you go flying. Try to use less Aura on the next jump."
Following her direction, Jaune pumped Aura into his legs again. This time, he released the energy much sooner. Even as he pushed off, he knew it would fail. Whatever catalyst that allowed him to cover the distance with blinding speed did not activate, and he merely took a long stride while retaining most of his Aura.
His control of Aura have improved somewhat in two months, but remained far below the required level for fine adjustments. Ruby was not much better, in truth. Her Semblance mitigated the necessity for it, simply transforming Aura to speed in a process that made little sense (as typical of most Semblances). Any excess momentum can be halted with the use of Crescent Rose, which she customized for that specific purpose. Practicing with her power was a matter of mostly instinct, like working a muscle rather than tapping into a spring of energy, with some weapon training thrown in. Visualization played a big part, and it was here that they discovered the next issue.
"What do you mean, you can't see?"
"It's like all the colors smudged together. Think 'spaceship going into hyperdrive' like in the movies. I'm guessing it's different for you."
It was one of those issues nobody ever asked Ruby about, because once again her Semblance bypassed the problem altogether. The rainbow blur of a world he saw every time he boosted his jump with Aura? She experienced it with clarity since the first days of possessing her Semblance. And as the previous solution for those without a shortcut was 'learn to use less Aura', the response here boiled down to 'learn to see faster'.
Another way to put it would be 'relentless training'.
With time and effort, Huntsmen and Huntresses adapted themselves to higher-speed battles, overcoming the sensory overload that came with such an environment. From the stories (more like boasts, really) Ruby told of her uncle, it was a key requisite to become the best Huntsmen. Said uncle had shown her a slew of methods designed for improving one's perception, chief of which was to spar against faster opponents. In Jaune's case, repeated use of the technique could also teach him to parse through the information his mind viewed as an incomprehensible mess of colors, trading pain for experience.
Practicing now won't help much for tomorrow, though, it being a long-term process that required weeks to get the hang of, and often extended past the Academy years to reach the level of an expert. He'd have to make do with what he currently possessed for the combat exercise, come what may.
The night has not been all bad news. His friend confirmed that this path was not a dead end. If he persevered, abilities like this can be mastered.
Besides, should the worst outcome happen, he had time until they chose missions. Bribery and sabotage may ensure that he received a favorable one. He had options, so instead of worrying over tomorrow, he was better served getting back to camp and resting up.
A dessert called his name. He intended to answer it.
"Oh, and there's this trick I used to do back when I started, where I put a foot down early and sliiiide across the ground to bleed off momentum. It's not very precise and never really worked in combat for me, so I built Crescent Rose. Still, maybe it can reduce the feedback you get hit with?"
Or, he could stay here and keep practicing.
Lead with that, Ruby Rose!
Author's Notes: A slow set-up chapter to ̶l̶u̶l̶l̶ ̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶s̶e̶n̶s̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶n̶c̶y̶ provide a nice slice-of-life story where nothing dramatic happens.
