About four months had passed since Jaune started travelling with Musashi and in that time, not once have they been back to Orleans. Not for the first time Jaune had brought this topic up as the two of them set up camp for the day somewhere in the Mistralian wilderness.
"Are you still talking about that?" Musashi asked as she laid down a blanket on the ground beneath a giant oak tree, "I told you, we're getting there."
"That's what you said when we went to Atlas where we blew up some buildings." Jaune said as the boy tended to the fire in front of him, "I remember the glare Specialist Schnee sent us that day. Still sends shivers down my spine."
"The good kind of shivers?" Musashi asked as she brought out their dinner for the night, two fish they had just caught a few hours ago.
"There are no good kind of shivers going down somebody's spine." Jaune said as the two of them started prepping their respective meals, "And then just two months ago, in Vacuo where you got us stuck in some dusty old ruin."
"Well, we got out of it just fine, didn't we?" Musashi asked as the both of them started roasting their dinner over the open fire.
"Yeah, after a week of wandering and you whining about our food all the time." Jaune fire back as he went to work on their vegetable soup next.
"Well, look on the bright side. At least now you'll know what to do the next time you're stuck in a dusty old place like that with limited supplies." Musashi said with a laugh, "I'm sure you'll thank me in time."
"Boy, I sure wish I had your joyful enthusiasm." Jaune said with a deadpan stare at his companion slash mentor.
"And besides, if you look at the itinerary I gave you, it clearly says that we're heading back to your home." Musashi said as she poked and prodded the fire in front of her.
"What, you mean this?" Jaune asked as he took out a folded piece of paper from his front pocket.
"Yup. That's the one."
"Musashi, you drew this by hand!" Jaune said, unfolding the piece of paper in his hands to reveal a crude drawing of two stick figures - one labeled Jaune, the other Musashi - with an arrow between them that pointed to a badly drawn house labeled Orleans, "With crayons!"
"That doesn't mean we're not following the itinerary." Musashi said, "We're just-"
"-taking the long way round. Yes, I know." Jaune said, a sigh escaping his lips as he pocketed the "itinerary" his companion had given to him at the start of this journey, "What does that even mean, anyway?"
"It means you're going to get the most of the Miyamoto Musashi experience in the very short nine months we have together." Musashi said, a beaming and proud smile on the woman's face as she pointed at herself.
"...Are you going somewhere after… all this?" Jaune asked, the boy refusing to meet his mentor's eyes as he tended to the pot of soup in front of him.
"Hmm? I'm not sure." Musashi said, "That Headmaster, Ozpin, did ask for my help with some stuff and I did promise to help him. For a price, of course."
"What did you ask for?" Jaune asked, "Money?"
"Nothing so dull." Musashi said with a wave of her hand, "I asked him to let you into Beacon if I agreed to help him."
"You… did?" Jaune asked, "Why? And why didn't you tell me this before?"
"You never asked." Musashi replied with a shrug, "Which is weird, considering the fact that a woman you just met decided to drag you halfway across the world in the name of "training" and you didn't even bother to question it."
"Well, sure, if you put it that way, it sounds dumb." Jaune mumbled to himself, "Makes me sound like I have no sense of stranger danger."
"That's because you don't." Musashi said, a teasing grin on her face as she pulled her fish from the fire, "Honestly, out of all the people I've ever taught, I think you have the potential to be the best of them."
"You've taught other people before?" Jaune asked as Musashi replied with a nod, "I'm surprised."
"Oh, yeah? Why is that?"
"Well, from what I've seen these past few months, I was pretty sure you had no experience in actually teaching anyone and that you were just making stuff up as you went along." Jaune said.
"Hmph. You're also the rudest student I've had." Musashi said with a huff. Jaune, meanwhile, let out a small laugh in response.
"How many students have you had before me?" Jaune asked as he prepared two bowls of soup for the both of them.
"Well, there was Iori and…" Musashi said, the woman placing a finger on her chin as she thought back to her previous experiences as a mentor, "Yeah, just Iori. He was a good kid and a pretty good swordsman but not as good as me, though."
"Well, you're definitely the most humble person I know." Jaune said.
"Aww, thanks, Jaune." Musashi said, the woman missing the obvious sarcasm in his voice. The two of them continued to talk about random things while having their dinner, the broken moon shining high above them before Jaune let out a yawn.
"Caw! Caw!" the sound of a nearby bird cawing caught both of them by surprise.
"Why don't you go to sleep?" Musashi said as she stood up, "We have an early day tomorrow."
"Where are you going?" Jaune asked, the boy making to follow only for his mentor to push him back down.
"I'm going to take a leak, Jaune. Oh, do you want to help me, instead?" Musashi asked, a mischievous look in her eyes, "My, how brazen you are. I don't remember teaching you to act this way, Jaune."
"Sh-shut up!" Jaune shouted as his face quickly filled with the color red, "You should have just said you were going to the toilet in the first place!"
"Aww, you're adorable!" Musashi said as she pinched Jaune's cheeks only for her hands to be swatted away.
"Just go already!" Jaune said before the blonde laid down on his blanket he had set up earlier, "I'm going to bed."
Smiling to herself, Musashi looked up at the nearby crow from earlier as it flew away into the darkness of the forest.
"Caw! Caw!"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Musashi whispered to herself as the woman trailed after the little black bird.
[~]
"So, how's the kid's training going?" Qrow asked as he leaned against a tree.
"I don't know why you're trying to be all mysterious and edgy like that." Musashi said as she took a seat on a tree stump, "You should have joined us for dinner. We had some delicious roasted fish and vegetable soup."
"Maybe some other time." Qrow said with a chuckle.
"Your loss." Musashi said with a shrug, "So, what's up? You got something for me?"
"Not sure yet." Qrow said, his grin disappearing in an instant, "I have a lead but problem is, I'm already nose deep in something else. So, I need your help to look into this second thing. Think you can do that?"
"Eh, sounds simple enough." Musashi said with a shrug, "What's the lead?"
"There's a small settlement near here, it's about a day's walk. Maybe half a day if you're fast enough." Qrow said as he pointed north to where they were standing, "There's been a few disappearances lately. Ten men, women, and kids have gone missing in two months."
"How many people live there?" Musashi asked, the woman now a lot more serious than a few moments before.
"About a fifty, maybe a hundred people." Qrow said, "It's an SDC mining settlement so the SDC has guards all over the place. Not as big as some of the bigger mines out there but enough that one or two Grimm won't pose any trouble."
"Could just be Grimm attacks that are taking these people." Musashi said, the woman cupping her chin as she thought about what Qrow had just told her.
"Maybe but without looking into it further, it's honestly hard to say." Qrow said, "So, you think you're up for it?"
"Of course. Consider it mission well done now that I'm on the case." Musashi said, a confident smile on her face.
"Thanks. That takes a load off my back." Qrow said, a sigh of relief escaping his lips as he leaned on the tree once more, "So, four months out here with the kid. How's that going?"
"It's going alright. His fighting skills have improved by a lot since we started but that's not saying much since he had no skills to speak of when we started this whole thing." Musashi said with an amused chuckle, "I'd say he's a twenty-five now, maybe a thirty."
"You think he'll be ready for Beacon?" Qrow asked.
"With me as his mentor? You bet!" Musashi exclaimed, "I'm sure he'll be even better than your nieces, Qrow!"
"Oh? Them's fighting words, Musashi." Qrow said, a grin on his face, "Now I'm even more interested to see how this kid does when the new Semester starts."
"Look forward to it, Qrow." Musashi said, before she let out a yawn, "Anyway, I'm getting tired. You said this village of yours was to the north, right? What's it called?"
"Kumimoto." Qrow said.
"Kumimoto. Got it." Musashi said as she went back to her campsite, "See you around."
"Yeah, see you around." Qrow said, the man turning into a crow before flying off.
[~]
The sound of a twig snapping immediately made Jaune wake up with a jolt. Looking around the camp, the boy saw that the fire beside him was still going strong while Musashi was nowhere in sight.
"Musashi?" Jaune asked, the blonde immediately grabbing Crocea Mors as he continued scanning the immediate area before calling out to his mentor once more, "Musashi, is that you?"
The sound of a nearby bush rustling had Jaune turning his head around to see who it was.
"If it's you, can you say something? Maybe give some sort of signal?" Jaune asked. A few moments of silence passed before another twig snapped. Getting no response from his travelling companion, Jaune immediately took her teachings to heart as he stood up while unsheathing his weapon, "Musashi, this better not be another dumn prank of yours or I swear to any gods that exist, I will-"
Whatever threat the boy had planned was cut off as a giant snake head with white bone plating suddenly emerged from the darkness. As it hissed at the young Hunter-in-training, Jaune took a step back, fear immediately gripping his heart.
"Musashi, if you're listening, I really need your help right now!" Jaune shouted, the boy taking a few steps back from the Grimm in front of him before his back finally met resistance in the form a tree.
The Grimm immediately seized the opportunity presented to it, the giant snake head lunged towards its prey. Eyes widened with terror, Jaune had the presence of mind to roll to the side, avoiding what would have been a serious injury.
As the King Taijitu gathered itself, Jaune immediately went on the offensive. The boy, with Crocea Mors in hand, raised it high above his head before bring it down on the Grimm in an attempt to decapitate it. What should have been an easy kill - in his mind, at least - become more complicated when his weapon's blade bounced harmlessly off of the giant Grimm's bone plated head.
"Oh, right. Bone plating." Jaune muttered to himself, the blonde quickly raising his shield up as the King Taijitu finally composed itself before striking at Jaune with its head.
Trying his best to stand his ground, Jaune was eventually pushed back against a different tree that took out a small chunk of his aura.
"Gah!" Jaune screamed from the impact as the Grimm reared its head back to attempt another lunge. It's jaw opened wide, the Grimm lunged at its prey in an attempt to swallow Jaune whole.
Jaune, meanwhile, spotted a boulder nearby as he dodged the Grimm's attack. The blonde then climbed to the top of the boulder before he leapt as high as he could. With Crocea Mors gripped in both hands, Jaune raised it high above his head before bringing it crashing down on the creature of Grimm, this time on the part without as much bone plating as its head.
The sword cut clean through, with the white head of the King Taijitu screaming in agony as it disintegrated into dust, signifying its death. With heavy breaths, Jaune let himself fall to a knee as he started to recompose himself.
"Hold on… I feel like I'm… forgetting something… important here…" Jaune said in between breaths. His doubts were answered not a moment later when a similar giant snake head - this time black instead of white - made itself known as it appeared from the darkness. No time to prepare, Jaune was barely able to raise his shield up just before the Grimm lunged at him.
The attack sent Jaune crashing to the ground a few meters back. Acting on pure instinct alone, Jaune quickly rolled to the side to avoid another lunge by the King Taijitu as the blonde found himself crouching just below its exposed belly.
Looking up at the Grimm above him, Jaune realized there was no bone plating. Thinking quickly, Jaune shrugged before shoving his sword up into the Grimm's mouth as a triumphant smile appeared on his face.
The King Taijitu roared in agony at the sword sticking into its mouth, the Grimm rising high into the air as it unknowingly brought Jaune along with it.
"Okay, I did not think this through!" Jaune shouted to himself, his triumphant smile from before having been replaced with a look of immense regret. Screaming his lungs out, the blonde was holding onto the hilt of Crocea Mors for dear life as the King Taijitu thrashed about in an attempt to fling Jaune away.
Fortunately for the Grimm - and unfortunately for Jaune - the sword eventually slipped out of the Grimm's mouth as Jaune fell several feet before hitting the ground.
"Ow…" Jaune said, the blonde rubbing his backside just as his gaze met the King Taijitu's own. Sweat dripping down his brow, Jaune gathered himself before crouching down to pick up Crocea Mors as he raised his shield in front of him, "Come on, you stupid overgrown snake."
As if responding to Jaune's challenge, the Grimm lunged towards its prey, it's maw opened up to swallow the blonde whole. Pouring every bit of his aura into his shield arm, Jaune was able to not only block the King Taijitu's attacks but also deflect its head to the side.
With its unarmored neck exposed, the young Hunter-in-Training immediately seized the opportunity presented to him. Raising Crocea Mors high above his head, Jaune pumped his arms full of aura before bring it down in one fell swoop to decapitate the King Taijitu.
With heavy breaths, Jaune stared at the disintegrating body of the Grimm he had just slain before the young man dropped to his knees. Picking himself up, Jaune slowly made his way back to the campsite in search of water.
"Who knew… fighting Grimm would… make you so… thirsty…" Jaune said to himself. Just as he reached the campsite, the sound of hands clapping reached his ears.
"Congratulations, Jaune." came the voice of his mentor, Miyamoto Musashi. A proud smile was etched into her face as she appeared from the forest around them, "There were a few things you could have done better but overall, I'm proud of what you managed to accomplished tonight."
Jaune, meanwhile, continued guzzling down the contents of the thermos flask in his hand as he stared at his mentor.
"I especially liked that last part where you deflected that Grimm's attack. Who knew you had it in you to actually stand your ground?" Musashi said, a look of pride of the woman's face as she thought back to the battle that had happened moments prior.
"You were… watching this whole time?" Jaune asked as he dropped the empty flask in his hands, "What am I saying? Of course you were watching. Not like this hasn't happened before."
"So, what do you think?" Musashi asked.
"About what?" Jaune asked as he plopped down on his blanket, ready to pass out at anytime from pure exhaustion alone.
"How you did, of course."
"Oh… Uh… I think it sucked… I was almost killed a few times back there." Jaune said as he thought back to his performance, "I think I just got lucky with the white one and very lucky with the black one."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Jaune." Musashi said, the woman lying down on her own blanket, "I think you did great, especially considering the fact that you had just woken up when that thing appeared."
"...Thanks." Jaune said, rubbing the back of his neck in embarassment as he turned to his side to face his mentor, "What score am I now?"
"I'd say you're a solid thirty-five, forty if I'm being generous." Musashi said, earning a chuckle from her blonde student.
"Still a long way to go, huh?" Jaune asked, a smile on his face, "What do I need to do to get a hundred?"
"Obviously, you have to beat me in a straight up fight." Musashi answered, "Which isn't gonna happen this century or even this millennia. Anyway, you should get to sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Oh, yeah? Where are we going?" Jaune asked.
"Kumimoto village. A mining settlement." Musashi said, "Apparently, a few people have gone missing lately and our job is to find out why and stop it."
"Sounds awful. What do you think is going on?" Jaune asked.
"Only one way to find out." Musashi said.
[~]
"You know, when I woke up today, I was not expecting to find a wannabe crazed mad scientist to be the one behind all the disappearances." Jaune said to himself, as he and Musashi both sat down on the ground while watching SDC personnel try and contain the fire that was currently consuming the warehouse in front of them from spreading, "Nor was I prepared to find out that he was chopping up the animal parts from Faunus and stitching them on humans to see if they would still work as normal."
"If it makes you feel any better, this is not the craziest thing I've encountered in my travels." Musashi said as the two of them shared a look.
"I'm… not even going to ask what the craziest thing you've seen." Jaune said as the both of them returned to watching the SDC personnel successfully containing the spread of the flames.
"Who knew Dust was so flammable…" Musashi muttered aloud.
"Everybody knows that, Musashi." Jaune said, "Literally everybody knows you do not light a fire near an open crate of dust."
"Guess you learn new things every day, huh?" Musashi said, earning a chuckle from her student.
"I guess you do." Jaune said, "So, now what?"
"Now, we rest. Eat a well-deserved meal and get a good night's sleep." Musashi said, the woman getting to her feet before offering Jaune her hand, "Because tomorrow, we're heading to Argus for a flight to Atlas."
"Urk… Argus? Do we have to?" Jaune asked, horror filling his face at the thought of facing Saphron once more.
"If you know a faster way of getting to Atlas, then I'm all ears." Musashi said as Jaune grabbed her hand. The woman then nodded to herself when Jaune couldn't provided an answer, "No? I didn't think so. It's settled, then. To Argus."
"Wait, why are we going to Atlas again?" Jaune asked as the both of them started making their way to the nearby inn.
"General Ironwood and Specialist Schnee is in need of our assistance once more." Musashi said.
"Any idea what it's about?" Jaune asked, "Please don't let it be something this batshit insane."
"I'm sure it'll be fine." Musashi said, "I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"
As soon as those words left her mouth, Jaune let out a defeated sigh.
"Did you really have to jinx us like that?"
[Chapter END]
A/N: And that's a wrap on Chapter 9. Honestly, this was a fun chapter to write and I basically took only a single afternoon to write it from start to finish. A rarity for me. I enjoyed every single moment of it. Hopefully this energy continues to the next chapter.
Speaking of which, I'm torn whether to show one more chapter of Jaune and Musashi's adventures throughout Remnant - this time either in Atlas or Vacuo - or to start Beacon next chapter. What do you guys and gals think? Let me know in the reviews.
Also, sorry. It seems I lied to you guys last chapter. I know I said we were going to shift our focus to Yang and the rest but for the life of me, I just couldn't find anything to write about that. So, apologies for that.
As always, faves, follows, and reviews are always appreciated.
NoXIV Signing Off