As he and Blake walked through the forest together, he learned a bit more about her as a fighter. She used a sheathe chain blade thing as a weapon, it was honestly hard to comprehend and her semblance revolved around making duplicates of herself. They weren't solid clones per say, but they were still definitely impressive. She was quick on her feet and definitely had experience when it came to combat. When he pointed that out, she glanced away and merely said she'd been trained from a young age.
It was clear to him that she wasn't comfortable talking about it, so he chose not to pry.
"So, Jaune" she said as she turned her gaze toward him. "What about you? I can see you have a sword there, but what's your semblance? Surely it should have come to you after you awoke your aura recently, no?"
He nearly tripped over his own feet at her question. He'd been afraid of that. Mostly because he didn't really have an answer for it. His semblance actually hadn't shown itself. All he had were enhanced physical attributes and some seriously broken class cards. Speaking of which, should he tell her about those?
They were sort of a superhero power, given to him by an enigmatic wizard guy. It was the sort of thing the hero usually kept a secret. But as he thought back to all the comics he'd read and how keeping secrets almost never ended well for the heroes in question, he decided to screw the status quo and tell her. She was his partner. He wouldn't lie to her.
"I don't have a semblance," he said, clearly surprising her. "But I have something way better."
He pulled out his Archer card and held it aloft.
"Install - Archer!"
And with a flash of light, he had returned to his full Atalante-esque glory. "These cards," he said, his voice now far more feminine "allow me to tap into the powers and abilities of heroes long past. This is Atalante, The Chaste Huntress."
He glanced over at Blake to find her frozen stiff, staring at him with wide eyes. He followed her gaze and realized she was staring at his lion ears.
"Oh these? They're lion ears. I think Atalante was a Lion Faunus of some kind."
If they even existed in the place she came from.
Come to think of it, he now smelled something off about Blake. Something that Atalante noticed as well, as he could practically feel her peering over his shoulder.
"Blake," he said a bit more firmly, startling her out of her stupor. "Is there a reason you reacted like that?"
She backed away slowly, glancing back and forth, as if searching for a way to escape. "N-No."
His green eyes drifted toward her bow, which was now twitching erratically. "Could it be that you . . . "
She looked terrified now, and he was beginning to suspect as to why.
"You're a Faunus, aren't you, Blake?"
In response to this, she ran away at full speed. But to him, as he was now, she may as well have been walking briskly because he casually cut her off, appearing in a whirlwind of speed. "Blake! Talk to me!"
"No! Get away!"
"Why should I? Are you saying I should abandon you?"
She stared at him, clearly contemplating whether or not she should try running again. "Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why aren't you staring at me like I betrayed you? I lied to you, Jaune! I lied to you about who I am!"
It took a few minutes for his brain to put two and two together and he let out a sigh. "Blake, if I judged you for lying, I'd be a hypocrite. I forged my manuscripts to get here after all."
That brought her up short. "What?"
"Yep. I just got lucky and Professor Ozpin saw my worth. So no, I don't think you betrayed me. I think you had a very good reason to hide your identity. Faunus, they aren't treated nicely. In fact, they're treated as less than human. Which I just don't get. There's barely any difference between them and humans!"
Atalante hummed her agreement from within him.
Blake grasped her arm and gazed away. "If only more people shared that thinking. Maybe there wouldn't be so much bloodshed."
"Blake. Whatever reasons you have for hiding your identity, they aren't mine to know until you're comfortable with telling me. Faunus or no Faunus, you're still my first friend here. My friend and partner. And such a small lie would never get me to turn my back on you. And if anyone ever looks down on you because of what you are, you tell me. I'll set 'em straight."
She slowly turned her eyes back toward him and let out a shaky breath. "Maybe you really are the hero those stories painted you to be."
"Hero?" he repeated with a wry smile. "No. I'm not a hero. I'm just someone trying to live, not just survive."
He almost wanted to gag right now. Maybe it was the forest and the blessing of Artemis. Maybe it was Atalante's influence. But he was talking like a cheesy romcom protagonist. Being installed gave him so much more confidence than usual. But he needed it right now. Blake needed it.
He shook his head. "C'mon, Blake. We got some relics to find."
She nodded, her features hardening with resolve once more. "Right."
"Steady on," he muttered as he aimed an arrow at a Grimm in the distance. "Be true, my aim."
He took one breath and then launched the arrow. It flew through the air like a missile, impacting the Grimm directly in the head and dispatching it in one strike. Its partner was quickly cut down by Blake who had attacked it from behind.
He jumped down from the tree branch that he had been standing on and gracefully landed beside her. "That's the last of them in the area. And I can see the relic clearing just up ahead."
"That Archer vision of yours is unfair," Blake muttered as she holstered her weapon. "And that's on top of your Faunus vision. Class cards are something else."
After Blake had calmed down, he'd explained the Class Card system to her and she'd quickly called him a hacker for how unfair it was. And honestly? He couldn't disagree. It was pretty unfair.
But in a world like Remnant, you needed every advantage you could get.
"Indeed. Now let us proceed."
"It also makes you way more, uh, stilted."
"Blame Atalante, she's got the social skills of a brick wall."
He could have sworn she just tried to stab him within his own mind.
"I dunno. I find what you've told me about her to be cool."
And just like that, the Archer servant glowed with happiness.
He chuckled. "Can't argue with that. She is indeed pretty cool."
He stepped into the clearing and glanced around. Were they the first ones here? If so, then that was lucky. That meant they got the right to choose first. And without hesitation, he grabbed two black rooks. One for himself and one for Blake. But just as he handed it to her, he heard a commotion.
"Blake, do you hear that?"
She nodded. "Yeah. It sounds like . . . laughing."
And then it happened, from out of the trees came a Beowulf! And two girls were riding it! And hey, he recognized one of them. That was Ruby!
"Nora, that was awesome!" Ruby said with a laugh as the poor Grimm keeled over after the orange haired girl next to her clobbered it over the head with a hammer. "I've never ridden a Grimm before!"
"Well, girl. You've come to the right person for all kinds of crazy Grimm sports. I once rode an Ursa- oh hey, it's people folk!"
Jaune lifted a hand in greeting, responding with a casual "Yo."
Blake merely nodded.
"Hey Blake, who's your partner? I've never seen her before," Ruby asked as she trotted over. "She's really pretty."
Jaune coughed awkwardly. "Ruby, it's me. Jaune."
The young weapon lover stared blankly at him for about a minute before letting out a shriek. "Jaune?! B-But. Before you were, all like, manly and stuff. And now, you're, like, really pretty! Wait. Oh my god, are you a magical girl?!"
For some reason, Jaune swore he could hear Zelretch laughing. "Not quite. I'll explain it to you later, okay?"
He then turned his attention to Ruby's obvious partner. "Jaune Arc. My partner is Blake Belladonna. Who're you?"
The orange haired girl - with admittedly large breasts - simply smirked at him and rested her hammer on her shoulder. "Nora Valkyrie! The strongest, most epic, totally unstoppable, pancake loving Huntress in training you'll ever meet."
Jaune held up a hand. "Wait. Hold on. Back up a minute. Did you just say 'Pancake loving'?"
Nora nodded. "Yep! Pancake's are the best!"
Jaune knocked an arrow on his bow and aimed it at her. "You take that back."
Nora's eyes widened. "Huh?"
"I will not let a pancake loving heathen exist within my Waffle Kingdom!"
"Oh no," Ruby groaned. "He's 'one of those.' It's like Uncle Qrow and Dad all over again. If I have to hear one more argument about why hard liquor is better than mixed drinks, I'll scream."
Nora, for her part, merely grinned at him. "So you're saying that your crappy waffles are better than my pancakes?"
"I'm not saying. I'm merely stating a fact."
He and Nora stared eachother down for a moment before Nora burst out laughing.
"Oooh, you know how to stand your ground! I can respect that!"
Jaune smirked and lowered his bow. "Likewise."
"It seems they reached an understanding," Blake said.
"Wait, are you saying they developed respect for each other through a tense standoff like two epic warriors in a fantasy novel? That is so cool!" Ruby gushed.
Jaune shook his head. "You are way too easily amused, Ruby. Now then-"
"Look out below!"
He gazed upward and spotted two figures falling from a Nevermore.
He sighed again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Should he get that checked out?
After that, two more people arrived. And now four was eight. He had been introduced to Ruby's sister, Yang Xiao-Long and her partner, Weiss Schnee. As well as Pyrrha Nikos and her partner, Lie Ren.
His clueless response to Pyrrha was chewed out by the aforementioned Weiss Schnee. And maybe it was the Atalante part of him, but he could just not find it in him to care right now. "Not everyone's a simp like you," he replied bluntly.
The look of shock on her face was priceless. But she seemed to shut up after that. Maybe it was because she thought he was a girl. She seemed to be the type who would slap around a 'useless male.' Definitely a Tsundere. He shuddered. That was his least favorite type of woman.
Pyrrha was cool, all things considered. But she seemed to get a little too attached to the fact that he had no idea who she was despite being a 'celebrity' himself. He didn't call her on it though. Maybe she was just lonely.
Yang was, well, Yang. She was a bit too extroverted for his tastes. She was all up in his face, grilling him about Ruby.
"No, I don't have a thing for your sister."
He understood the elder sibling role all too well, but to insinuate that he was chasing after her sister. It was almost like she wanted him to be and while he'd admit that Ruby was very pretty, he only saw her as a little sister. And one that he wanted to dote on very much at that.
"Yaaang, stop it!" Ruby cut in. "You're embarrassing me!"
"Can't help it, Rubes. It's my duty to know, y'know?"
"As much as I'd love to play twenty questions with you right now," Jaune said, his tone colored with exasperation. "We have a problem. Two, actually. The Deathstalker that chased Pyrrha here and that Nevermore you rode in on. They've actually been quite polite, waiting for us. But I think they're getting impatient right now."
Yang paused and turned around to glance at the Grimm. "Oh, right. Completely forgot about those."
Jaune shook his head.
"They're not going to let us get away. So the only route forward . . . is through them."
"Oooh! I like that plan!" Ruby exclaimed as she dashed toward the Deathstalker.
"Ruby, don't!" Yang called out to her, something Jaune wanted to mimic because she had completely forgotten about the flier in the area. Which promptly shot its feathers at her, one of them impacting her cloak and rooting her in place.
His breath caught in his throat. She was within striking distance of the Deathstalker. And if his quick studies before coming to Beacon told him anything, their stinger could pierce aura. And with her cloak snagged.
He glanced around. Yang was already running, but she was too slow. Everyone else was too far away.
He was the only one who could help. But the question was how? His arrows, while powerful, wouldn't save Ruby. They could kill the Grimm, but its stinger would still descend, killing her.
He was fast enough to reach her, but he risked getting them both skewered while trying to pry her cloak free. And he had no close combat options.
None except for . . .
His eyes narrowed and he took off in a burst of speed and as he slid in front of Ruby, he undid his transformation. And with only resolve backing him up, he drew Crocea Mors and expanded the sheathe into its shield form. He brought it up and deflected the stinger at the last moment. His stance buckled, but he did not fall. He held firm as he gazed into the hateful eyes of the Grimm.
"You know. My life recently has been an endless storm of crazy happenings. But I'm glad there's at least one constant. It's that monsters like you need to be defeated!"
By then, Yang had managed to reach Ruby and free her. And it was then that Jaune knew that just standing around would get them all killed.
"Blake, I need a hand!"
In an instant, the Cat Faunus was by his side, having started running to help Ruby shortly after he did.
"Nora, your hammer would certainly be helpful here!"
There was a cackle as the ginger trotted up to them. "So I get to smash things, huh?"
"And Ruby?"
The young girl, who was shaken, but still standing tall, looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Crescent Rose can turn into a sniper, yeah?"
She lit up at the mention of her weapon. "Yeah!"
"Think you can shoot this bastard's eyes out?"
She smirked. "Easily."
"Then, let's do this! Blake, you knock him off balance. Nora, Smash. And Ruby? Blind 'em!"
He raised his sword.
"As for me? Well. I'm just a novice swordsman with no skill and a whole bunch of aura. But I did pick up a thing or two from Atalante. So I'll engage this thing head on and keep its attention on me!"
He briefly considered using another Class Card, one that was better versed for close combat, but decided against it. He was already quite tired from using his Archer Install for so long. He didn't want to risk exhausting himself now.
As they prepared for combat, he heard Ren and Pyrrha discussing their own battle plans for tackling the Nevermore. Good. That's what he hoped would happen. If they could divide the two Grimm, then success was all the more likely.
Of course, he was just winging it. Even with Atalante's experience, he had no idea if his plan would actually work.
But as the great warriors of old would always say.
Fake it till ya make it!
He charged forward and deflected another stinger strike. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But with his aura, he could probably take a dozen more strikes before he buckled. Which meant that Ruby would need to blind it and quickly at that.
It was on the fourth strike that he heard the tell-tale sounds of a sniper round and a moment later, the Grimm reeled up in agony.
"Blake, now!"
She didn't need to be told twice and quickly wrapped the wire from her weapon around the legs of the Deathstalker, causing it to lose its balance.
"Nora, hit it while it's hot!"
Nora smirked. "Say hello to my little friend!"
She uppercut it on the chin and sent it reeling upward onto its hind legs.
This was his chance.
He dashed forward, sword in hand.
And took his first steps toward becoming his own legend.
Crocea Mors struck true, impaling the beast in its weak point. It let out a shriek of pain before keeling over and where it began to dissolve into smoke.
Panting, but most definitely alive, Jaune smiled. "Enemy felled."
"Ooh, Elden Ring. Nice taste," Nora said as she walked up beside him.
"I still can't beat it," Ruby pouted as jogged over from her vantage point.
"I can give you some pointers," Blake said as she dusted herself off.
They all got his reference. Yep. It was official. These three were awesome.
He glanced over to the other group just in time to see Pyrrha landing the finishing blow on the Nevermore. Looks like everything worked out in the end.
It was time for the team announcements.
He was nervous, but he made sure not to show it. This was it. He was truly taking his first steps toward becoming a Huntsman. To truly find himself as a person. To make the world a better place.
"You will be known as Team CRDL," Ozpin said. "Led by Cardin Winchester."
He blinked. Oh dear, he'd zoned out for the first announcement. Meh, he'd make sure to pay better attention now.
"Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Yang Xiao-Long and Weiss Schnee. You all collected the White Knight pieces. From today onward, you will be known as Team RWYN (Rain), led by Lie Ren."
Jaune honestly couldn't tell if Ren was happy or not. But according to Nora, who knew the guy, he was absolutely ecstatic.
Weiss, on the other hand, looked a bit miffed. Probably because she wasn't chosen. What a brat.
And then Ozpin turned his attention toward him. Oh boy.
"Jaune Arc, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose and Nora Valkyrie. You all collected the Black Rook pieces. From today onward, you will be known as Team ABRN (Auburn), led by Jaune Arc."
He was the leader? Somehow that surprised him, but when his newfound team hugged him - including Blake - he couldn't help the happy tears that came to his eyes. His dream was now closer than ever.
Jaune did not realize the implications of being on a team with three girls until he realized they were to live in the same room. With no boundaries. He felt like someone was playing a cosmic joke on him. While he didn't have time to really reflect on it much during the past few days. He'd admit. Blake was very attractive. In almost every single way. And Nora wasn't far behind, especially once he got to observe her more once they were no longer in a life or death situation.
And while he still saw Ruby as someone to dote on, he had to reassess seeing her as a little sister in his mind. Because once he saw how big her butt was after she changed into those pajama bottoms, it was hard to see her the same way. That skirt hid a lot!
But as attractive as he found them all, he wasn't going to try and pursue anything with any of them. There was a reason for this. That being the snippets of Atalante's past he'd seen.
Romance between warriors rarely ended well. And the last thing he wanted to do was die and leave a girl he loved behind to mourn him.
Because no mistake. If anyone died, it'd be him. Because he refused to allow any harm to befall his new team.
He sighed and allowed himself to fall back onto his bed, hands behind his head.
It was amusing, he supposed. Because anyone else in his position would go for the harem route. While he was going the exact opposite way. Though if he did ever decide to pursue romance, a harem would be off the table.
The last thing he wanted to do was be another Jason.
No one needed another Jason. Besides, monogamy was what he was raised to believe in. So it'd be what he stuck with.
'Indeed. The less Jason's the better' came Atalante's voice from inside his head.
He blinked. Well. That's new.
'Our bond has strengthened. I can speak to you outside of the install now.'
Oh. Uh. You didn't catch any of those perverted thoughts, did you?
'I did. But rest assured, I sensed no malice. Merely the thoughts of a normal teen boy. So you will get a pass for today.'
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Thank god for small mercies.
He was then unceremoniously yanked out of his bed, Ruby standing over him.
"Stop being lazy! We gotta redesign the room!"
He blinked. "Why?"
"Because bunk beds! We packed too much, so we have no room for it!"
He glanced over at Blake, who held her hands up in surrender.
"I tried to tell them no."
He groaned. "Fine. On one condition."
"Name it, Fearless Leader!" Nora chimed as she walked up.
"We all get up at 5 am for morning practice."
"On second thought, normal beds are fine," Ruby quickly corrected.
"Deal!" Nora said, earning a look of betrayal from Ruby.
Jaune shook Nora's hand. "I'll be in the break room. Let me know when you guys are done causing chaos."
"Will do!" Nora replied with a grin.
Meanwhile, Ruby sank to the floor. "Noooo~. My precious sleepy tiiiime~."
Blake rolled her eyes. "Drama queen."