The circle of light shimmered when he was once again back in Beacon, after using the Proof of Passage for Atlas. Same function, different Kingdom and all. Predictable, for sure, but predictable is good. Way too many things had been rather UNpredictable as of late, and he wasn't the fondest of surprises. Last time that happened, his sisters treated him like a make-up doll, which almost made him die of embarrassment.
Right then, how are things going around here…
Taiyang was out again, likely keeping the number of Grimm and Turned as quelled as possible. Saphron and Terra were resting, while Adrian played with his bullhead toy, making adorable noises while he did, while Ghira and Kali were awake, waving at him as he passed by. Ilia was still in Mistral, hopefully not in trouble for a change. But the girl was smart and Raven wouldn't touch her, if she wanted to keep his services. She may be insane, but she was not stupid.
All right then, bring the blueprints to Gunmetal and hear what he needed to make the upgrade happen.
"Hmm… you're back. Been awhile since your last visit lad, thought you had gotten yourself killed. What can I do for you?"
Jaune handed his findings to the blacksmith, who hummed while he studied it.
"Very detailed… the craftsmanship is astounding! Some sort of genius must have drawn these up. They're doable, but I'll need some components. Here, gravity Dust to imbue on the symbol on your shield and Hard-Light Dust for the extensions. If you can manage to bring me these materials, I'll be glad to forge it all for you".
As long as it could be done, that's all that matters, he guessed. For the upteenth time, he thanked Pietro for being the genius that he was.
So, about the components… gravity Dust he could get while hunting down The Clan's wayward member. But Hard-Light… that could be more difficult. Dust refined like that sounds like something that only the SDC would have. And it's not like there's much of the company left around these days…
Ah well, one problem at the time. He'll make the rest up as he went… like usual. He really needed to start making some plans BEFORE rushing head first into things… but that just wasn't his style.
Heh… Yang and Ruby would be proud.
There was only one issue that sprung upon his mind while he teleported back.
How the fuck was he supposed to reach those mines without a vehicle?!
Now, that's a conundrum… he mulled to himself, muttering, almost smacking head first into…
Winter. Well… that's just awkward…
"Thinking about something important, Arc? It's not like you to space out like that while on mission".
He liked how she added the "in mission" detail. It implied that, outside of them, he was a complete airhead. Which… wasn't exactly wrong, but come on, that's just rude…
Ah right, the question.
"You have to reach the mines where you guys helped the Ace Ops deal with that Geist? You'd need a vehicle for that… and there are exactly none left standing around… yeah, I can see how this could be an issue…"
Oh, do you? What a relief to know that he wasn't insane. The problem remains though.
"Say, Arc… are you still bothered by flight?"
As in, motion sickness? Not really, no. Unlocking his aura seemed to have put a damper on that. The worst of it now was just some mild discomfort.
"Good. Hang on tight then".
… what?
Before he could react, Winter grabbed his arm into a tight grip.
Jaune stared at the hand for a second, realization sinking in.
He. Regretted. Everything.
A second later, the sound barrier was promptly broken, alongside his sanity. And he definitely was NOT screaming like a little girl. Totally.
Fortunately, it lasted only for a minute at best. It was still the longest minute of his life.
"We are here… unfortunately, there is not much left of the place, after the fall of Amity. But there should still be some Dust you can try and extract. Just… try not to blow yourself up. Another explosion could attract even more Grimm".
He raised a thumb up from his position, heroically laying on the floor and trying not to vomit. And he used to complain about Yang's reckless driving… there must be a term for this.
Like… Maidensickness or something like that? Honestly, trying to not interact with them had been a plan that he once had. Unfortunately, his idea of going Maidenless had been dashed straight away. Damn you Raven…
"Well, I must be off now. Grimms are likely going to start cramming, now that they had a break. Keep on surviving Arc, and perhaps we'll see the end of this night".
And with that, she blasted off, like a damn superheroine. All very nice and very cool…
How was he supposed to go back now?
He hated Atlas. And Mistral. And Vale. He hadn't seen Vacuo yet, but he was sure he was going to hate it as well. Just a gut feeling.
He started to pick himself from off the ground… which started shaking underneath him. The second the big threat was gone… he rolled away just in time for a Centinel to burst out from where he was laying, cursing out in surprise.
He prepared to fight it, he was in a bit of a rush damn it… when a roar sounded from behind the Grimm, which ended up dissected, from head to… tail? Yeah, let's just go with tail.
An Ursa. Not just any Ursa, a freaking Ursa Major! Like the one in Ansel! Great, just what he needed…
He joined his sword and shield together, feeling like when he started his new journey. The beast roared, charging at him full speed… or at least he thought. The one in Ansel seemed much faster…
He jumped sideways, dodging effortlessly. The thing turned, throwing its paws at him that he once more dodged with no problem. Seeing the opening he slashed twice, finding himself surprised when the Ursa fell on its back. Damn, this thing was a hell of a lot weaker than the other one.
It got back on its feet and roared once more, sending out air waves… which barely affected him. So much so that he had the time to raise Mors Renata and shoot it to make it shut up already. Jeez, he never realized how… dramatic these things could be sometimes.
He separated his weapons when the beast charged him… again. How repetitive… his shield got in the way, locking the man and the monster into a stalemate… that he wasn't really struggling too much with.
Seriously, was there something in the air that makes Ursa Major weaker in Atlas rather than Vale. Or maybe…
The beast pushed again and he got tired. He fell to one knee, using the Ursa's weight against it and flipping it over his shield, finishing it off with a downwards stab to the throat, like he did to the other one.
It died unceremoniously, just like that. Either this thing was extremely weaker than the one in Ansel…
Or he had gotten a lot stronger than he originally was. So much so that his first true obstacle was now a mere pebble on his road.
He raised Crocea Mors, to look at himself through the reflection of the blade. It hadn't been that much time since he first woke up, right? Sure, ever since he first reached Beacon, the sun had decided that it was done doing its job and disappeared…
That growth wasn't normal. But it did feel… natural at the very least. He was confusing himself at that point, like a lot.
He shook his head. Problem for another time. Now… onto his objectives.
First things first, he had to secure a way out. A quick look around revealed a mostly intact truck. Mostly because the doors were gone and it looked a bit more… compressed than normal. But the engine was still in one piece, at the very least. When he did look, he found the problem. The scroll needed to turn the machine on was missing. Because of course it was, why wouldn't it?
Great, more things to do. He was racking up quite the list at that point and he wasn't sure how to feel about it. Not good, that's for sure. Somewhere between "I'm fucking done" and "Why is this happening to me holy shit". Yeah, that sounds about right.
His sword was unsheathed while he headed towards the mine. What was left of it at least.
.
.
.
NEW AREA: SCHNEE DUST COMPANY MINE
.
.
.
The interior was more or less what he remembered, only much more caved in. And the corpse close to the entrance was also very much new. It was a military soldier… and his death had not been an enviable one. His jaw was missing, leaving his tongue to hang out. One of his hands was missing, while the other one didn't have a single intact bone, twisted in all directions. The throat had also been slashed wide open. Difficult to say what exactly killed him, but he had definitely pissed someone off. Why?
The words written above the man in his blood were more or less telling. They spelled "Murderer".
Yikes, someone had a vendetta. A bloody one. This person had to have been strong, considering they broke some sturdy bones… and now that he checked more thoroughly, the web cracks behind the body indicated that it had been slammed with quite a lot of force.
And the open throat wasn't a slash… it was a tear. And another conundrum… someone who really did NOT like the Atlas military. He scratched the back of his neck. Poor bastard…
He moved on from there, finding increasingly bloody trails and no Grimm. One guy had been dissected from the waist down, his face still displaying terror.
"Rapist".
Okay, he did not feel bad for THAT guy.
Another one had been more than completely brutalized. Her face was a mask of blood.
"Child Molester"
Or THAT guy.
Another one was apparently a thief, with both her hands cut off.
The last one was the most violent, having his guts ripped off and used as a noose.
"Traitor"
So, this person was either a disgruntled citizen… or a former Atlas military member, likely Turned by the looks of things. What a gory sight…
Something shined in the open stomach of this last one. Great, did he really had to go dig through that? Amazing… not the most disturbing thing he had to dig up, granted, but still… gross.
With a grimace, he approached the body. One look at his hand and another at the bloody spectacle…
This better be worth it.
Jaune pinched his nose and started rummaging through the disgusting corpse. The vomit that he had barely managed to swallow earlier came back… and this time, it overpowered him. Barfing bile had never felt more gross than before…
Finally, he pinched something hard and metallic. With a sudden second wind, he ripped the object from the body. Well… at least it had been worth it…
Obtained: Scroll of Activation
Oh goodie, now he had a way out… once he was done with everything else, of course.
He was almost at the place where the Geist attacked… only to find it inexorably closed off. Of course the place with the actual Dust he needed was blocked, why not?
And where the hell was that bastard that he had to…
Something landed behind him. Heavily.
Oh… there he is. Pasty white skin, long brown hair in a long tail, black veins and all. The outfit was also… bandit-ish. Did that made sense? Likely not.
The man cracked his knuckles, not a single weapon on him. Or armor. Raven was not going to be happy… not like she ever was…
He casually tilted his head, dodging the fist that came towards him. Ah right, fight now, suffer the madwoman's wrath later. Because of course it was going to be him that will get yelled at.
His shield came up as he bent backwards, his assailant's kick passing right in front of his nose, before he smashed his weapon on his ribs. Then another one on his forehead, sending him to kiss the ground.
Holy, he thought that Shay was pathetic, but this one was even worse! Raven's excuse about "not having time" was looking less and less believable by the minute, it would have taken her less than ten seconds to deal with this guy!
Jaune groaned, stomping on the man's chest and ending him with a flick of his wrist. Of the hand holding his sword. Duh.
After the bandit died, he dropped something. He had no idea if he wanted to curse or be happy.
Obtained: Gravity Dust
This fucking asshole had just what he needed… and he was likely going to have to give it to her.
Almost as if reading his thoughts, the now familiar red portal swirled to life behind him. He took a deep, calming breath… inhale… exhale… inhale… exhale…
Okay, pros and cons. Ignore the portal, keep the Dust. Ignore the portal, be hunted down by an angry Maiden. Which is which… to defy or not to defy? That is the dilemma…
Something grabbed him by the back of the hoodie, dragging him through the portal with a scream. Not a little girl!
He was face to face with Raven, who was holding him up like a stuffed toy.
"Do we have to talk about it? I thought we had already".
Jaune shook his head. Nope! No talking! He was good!
"Whatever. What did Agnus had on him?"
Agnus? That was the name of the guy? In the interest of not dying, he decided to be honest. For once.
"Gravity Dust?! That's it?! No weapons?!"
Nope. He tried to punch him. But he was no Yang, sooooo…
Raven groaned.
"Bunch of useless idiots! They had ONE job! ONE!"
… so, she sent them out, huh?
She realized her mistake, but covered it up quickly.
"Point is, we have no shortage of Dust. You can keep that, I have no use for it".
Oh, thank the Twin Gods…
"But next time you hesitate, there WILL be blood. Understood, little huntsman?"
Perfectly understood! Crystal clear even!
Raven grunted and bodily threw him back across the portal. They were slowly but surely getting tired of each other's shit, weren't they?
For the third time in only a couple hours, he was face down on the ground, groaning.
Paaaaaiiiiinnnnn…
Hello?! Is this thing on?! It is?! Noice.
Welcome, dudes and gentleladies, to another episode of Auraborne, the show where power creep and power scaling are finally starting to show.
It kind of feels like DS1, doesn't it? First the Capra Demon and Taurus Demon were early game bosses, then by the time you reach Izalith, they're just regular mobs. The entire second half of that game sucked ass, but that was a badass moment.
Review Responses:
merendinoemiliano: Yup. Poor Robyn. She really got the short end of the stick, huh? Not as short as Oscar, but you get my drift.
Voidicus: Heeeeeeellllll! Yeeeaaaaahhhhhhh!
Essiter1987: It feels like Leyndell, doesn't it. Mid game dungeon with tons of enemies that were once threatening an now are… just regular enemies. Thank you, the Robyn fight had been cooking for a lot longer than most other bosses, and it shows. Or more like, the concept of the fight, to be more precise. It was one of the fights that inspired the whole story, together with Yang's and Weiss's. The dragonslayer was unfortunately unintended, because… you know… Blake is in the way. Like usual. She really is the worst girl, huh? The old enemies will come much later, and let's just say that… they will pose quite the threat. Thank you for always being here dude, I appreciate your support!
Some asshole 4145: Well, it looks like you've been busy. Sheesh man, you have tons of ideas! You should give it a try, I haven't taken any writing classes either… and it shows, admittedly, but you don't need em. Just throw yourself, have a go at it. Just… ya know, remember capital words and all that. I will admit that I agree with you. RWBY being so important is kind of a plot convenience thingy, lots of people could and would have done better, but you know, they make the show marketable, cause hot girls kicking ass and shit. As for the rest… I will admit that I started this story on a bit of a whim. No plans or anything, just keep trucking along until the end. After the break that I took months ago, I now have an idea of where I want to go and how. Still not perfect, but better than at the start. Which makes it weird that people even read this story back then, but I ain't complaining, for sure.
That's all folks! Ta-ta for now!