Huzzah, new chapter! Hope everyone is doing well still! Enjoy this chapter of a... peaceful day?
"Ah, a day off," hummed Jaune as he laid back on his bed, taking a much needed personal break. It was a Tuesday, meaning he was closed for the day. All his chores were done, the supplies ordered and arrived early this morning, and with luck, the suppliers helped move everything in for him. All that was left was his usual daily training and reading, and he had the whole day to himself!
"What to do?" pondered Jaune as he stretched, "Take a nap after lunch? Maybe go out?"
He didn't voice it, but he was starting to miss seeing Pyrrha's weekly visits, and it had only been almost two weeks. However, he did hear from Ren that she would be returning tonight.
"Maybe I should see what I should cook for dinner... right after I play some video games!" grinned Jaune as he quickly booted up his television set, linking his Scroll up to pull out an FPS game.
In the city, Emerald and Mercury, two people under Cinder's direct command, were prowling about. They still had a few days before they were 'formally' introduced into Beacon as Haven students. Meaning they had a lot of time to burn. Emerald had been snooping around, making sure Roman was doing what Cinder had tasked him to do. While doing so, she found a White Fang ex-sympathizer secretly packing his stuff to make a break for it to Vacuo. Roman had received orders to either convince or terminate him. However, the source of the orders wasn't from Cinder, but rather Adam's White Fang group. Cinder herself had agreed to it, but as it wasn't a direct order from her, so Roman put that order on hold as something unimportant.
Which in reality, it really wasn't. Tukson merely provided food and shelter for White Fang members in his rather spacey bookstore. It was rather a matter of pride, tying up loose ends to prevent desertion and send a message that quitting wasn't allowed.
And so, Emerald decided to take it upon herself to do it as a way to pass the time while impressing Cinder. But she couldn't just strike at Tukson's shop, otherwise, it would raise more suspicion about why a bookstore was targeted instead of the Dust stores Roman had been robbing. Mercury was the one to come up with a plan to strategically strike different places with no real reason for resources, but rather for the first letter of the business's name. If the police ever did find a connection, that would see that it spelled Remnant and assume a serial robbery trying to make a name and show for themselves, not knowing that the true target was Tukson's bookshop.
So far, they had already struck the R, E, and was aiming for an M now. Mercury had compiled a list of businesses starting with M, and threw a dart at the list whimsically. And by chance, it landed on...
Mii Amo: Elysium Oasis
Roughly 7 pm.
"Are we really going to rob this place?" asked Emerald with an eye twitch.
"Hey, blame it on chance," shrugged Mercury, "Poor sap is just that unlucky."
With that, Mercury took out a mask and put it on his face.
"Really?" deadpanned Emerald.
"You didn't complain about the last few shops," shrugged Mercury as he passed one to Emerald, "There's bound to be security cameras. We know Tukson doesn't have one because he's afraid his cameras will be hacked to reveal him aiding the White Fang."
Emerald sighed as she put on her mask, feeling a bit ridiculous about it, but not complaining. Anything to lower the chance of them being connected to Cinder was worth it. It was a full black ski mask that covered everything but the mouth and eyes.
Taking a look at the lock, Emerald was surprised at the security of it. If it was a simple traditional lock, then Emerald could easily pick it open under a few seconds, as she did to the other locations. This one, however, was a high-security lock, which puzzled Emerald. Why would a measly massage clinic have such a thing? That should have been the first warning signs for Emerald, but she ignored it, thinking that the owner or landlord was a security freak. Though it did take her longer to pick through it, having to carefully navigate through the loop.
"Geez, what's taking so long?" complained Mercury, watching the streets in case of stragglers.
"Shut up and let me concentrate, this owner's a real security nut," hissed Emerald.
Mercury took a quick peek over Emerald's shoulders and whistled, "Damn. Either this guy is paranoid or he's got some real valuables in there."
"Almost... got it... ha!" grinned Emerald as the lock finally clicked open.
"Good, let's get in and mess up the place," hurried Mercury as the two of them quickly pushed the door open.
The two of them had to admit, the inside of the office looked pretty nice. It was a shame that it was about to be ruined.
"Oooh, I haven't seen these comics in ages," grinned Mercury as he rifled through the bookshelf, "I'll go ahead and take this."
"Shut up and get to work," hissed Emerald as she walked past the entrance door, quickly rifling through the drawers before finding the Lien. With a grin, she pocketed the Lien and looked around for some more valuables.
"Hey, what are you doing here!?"
Jaune had been in the back cleaning, and so failed to hear the door being picked. It had been just a coincidence when he finished cleaning and walked back that he saw a masked robber rifling through his drawers.
"Hey, what are you doing here!?" shouted Jaune.
The robber turned around, looking at Jaune for a second before a smirk on the face.
"Don't mess with me! I know how to fight!" said Jaune nervously, unnerved by that smirk.
Then, out of the corner of his eyes, Jaune saw someone rushing down the hall towards him. He quickly turned to deal with it before realizing that nobody should have been at the hall where he had come from. Those were his last thoughts when something hard and explosive slammed into the back of his head.
"Got him," grinned Mercury as he slowly put his foot down, "Looks like that's another one down. Nice work with that Semblance."
Emerald merely huffed, turning to see if there was anything else when the two of them heard a groan. They both whirled around towards the source of the voice to see Jaune groaning, slowly getting up.
"The hell? That should've killed him," frowned Mercury, looking down at his combat boots.
"Did you put it on non-lethal?" spat out Emerald sarcastically, though looking at Jaune with curiosity. There was no way an ordinary civilian should've survived that. They soon got their answer when a white glow surrounded Jaune.
"He has his Aura unlocked?" frowned Mercury, "Well, that just means I'll just have to kick him a few more times."
Jaune slowly got up, facing the two while trying to get his brain working despite the grogginess. He knew he wasn't going to win against these two, but he needed help. He doubted that they would let him get his Scroll to call the police. The back door was locked, and by the time he opened it, they would have already caught him. The front door, he was sure was probably unlocked as they had somehow broken in through it. So there was only one choice for him to escape and live.
Jaune crouched down a little before charging forward like a bull, his arms crossed over his head.
"Desperate idiot thinks he can take us," smirked Mercury as he fired a few shots into Jaune before frowning, noticing how Jaune's Aura was protecting him. For a civilian, he seemed to have quite a bit of Aura in reserve. Still, even with a large Aura, without training, it was pointless against a trained assassin.
As soon as Jaune got close, Mercury merely jumped above him and spun, sending a spinning kick towards Jaune's head. Mercury expected Jaune to turn around to attack him but was completely surprised when Jaune merely shifted his arms to protect the back of his head, taking the hit. Due to Jaune's momentum continuing forward, the kick didn't completely connect, but it was enough to send Jaune flying through the side door and into the wall.
"Weird," hummed Mercury before firing a few more blasts at Jaune, who dove away.
"Idiot, he's trying to escape!" barked Emerald as she activated her Semblance.
Suddenly, Jaune found his world turned upside down and backward. He had been trying to head to the exit, but now he had no idea where that was.
"Leaving so soon? That's too bad, we're just getting started," grinned Mercury as he began to savagely kick Jaune.
Jaune immediately curled up, protecting his head and body as best as he could.
'Think... what did Pyrrha say?' thought Jaune frantically.
"People have a tendency to fall into an attack rhythm if they think they're winning," lectured Pyrrha in his mind, "The same can apply to the majority of Grimm. It's just the matter of finding it and exposing it."
'So what's the rhythm?' thought Jaune as he tried to calm down, 'He seems to be favoring kicks to the head more to the body. 3 hits to head, 2 hits to the body, 3 hits to head, one hit to the body... to the head again!'
Jaune desperately threw a punch loaded with all his Aura, hoping it would smack into his assailant's head.
Mercury had been getting cocky, more of toying around with his victim when Jaune threw the punch. Mercury, however, didn't let his guard down, but he wasn't exactly cautious either. When Jaune threw his punch, he hadn't collided with Mercury's head, but rather his attacking foot.
"Tch, I'll just overpo-," started Mercury, only for a loud bang to finish his sentence.
Upon the clash, Jaune's overloaded Aura punch not only made Mercury's leg fly back from the recoil, but sent him flying right into Emerald.
Jaune suddenly felt the senses returning, the world upright once more, and dashed for the door.
"No you don't!" hissed Emerald as she managed to push off Mercury and swung her chain at Jaune, grabbing his foot. With a quick jerk, she pulled back, forcing Jaune to fall forward. Though he fell, it was enough to force the door open.
"Now that was a surprise," hissed Mercury as he quickly walked to Jaune, slamming his foot on Jaune's shoulder, making him cry out in pain, "Barely any Aura left, eh? Not surprised with that punch of yours, but that's a mistake you're never going to learn."
Before Mercury could land another blow, his instincts blared at him to protect himself. He quickly raised his foot in time to block a kick aimed for his crotch. As a white heeled boot was blocked, a red covered hand with claws grabbed Jaune away.
"Stay away from our favorite masseur," growled Melanie as she jumped to attack with her other bladed heel, only for Mercury to quickly block the attack to the head.
With a grunt, Mercury pushed Miltia away, hoping to get Jaune, only for Miltia to have pulled Jaune further away to safety.
"Say Melanie, what's this asshole doing on our turf, bullying our favorite masseur?" huffed Miltia as she placed Jaune against a wall and calling the police.
"I dunno, but we should teach them a lesson," replied Melanie.
Emerald and Mercury glanced at each other, unsure what to do. Now that there were more people involved, two of which knew how to fight at the very least, it would now be wasting time for them. Especially if a Huntsman or Huntress came in now. Still, with Emerald's illusion, they could possibly finish it up fast and take care of Jaune. At this point, it was a matter of pride now.
Emerald quickly activated her Semblance on Melanie, forcing her to see several copies of Mercury as he charged forward.
'Gotcha!' thought Mercury as he raised his leg to perform an ax kick, only for Melanie to spin right where Mercury truly was and block it with her own high kick.
"What!?" shouted Emerald and Mercury in shock.
Mercury attacked a few more times with Emerald creating hallucinations, but Melanie always seemed to know where Mercury was. The reason for this was due to her Semblance with Miltia, Twin Sense. Passively, they shared some physical sense, such as when Jaune massaged them one by one. When activated, they could see from each other's eyes.
So when Melanie saw duplicates, she immediately swapped to Miltia's point of view and saw the real Mercury, unimpeded by Emerald's hallucinations.
"We don't have time for this!" shouted Emerald as she attacked Melanie, forcing her to redirect her attention on her while Mercury went for Jaune. Miltia quickly stood up in front of him, her claws ready to attack Mercury. However, her claws never got to see action at all.
The reason for this was because someone suddenly grabbed Mercury in the middle of his flying kick by his arm, and without hesitation, slammed Mercury into the ground.
"Guh!" coughed Mercury in pain. He looked up and gulped when he saw the furious glowing eyes of Aurivelle Arc, Jaune's grandfather.
"You best have made a will, boy, for trying to kill my grandson!" roared Aurivelle.
Aurivelle raised his arms, his fist loaded with Aura that Mercury knew if hit, would take him out of commission.
"Shit!" cursed Emerald before hurling a dust crystal at Aurivelle.
Aurivelle raised his hand to catch it, only for it to explode as Emerald shot it with an explosive bullet. Despite the explosion, Aurivelle merely swung his arm from left to right, sweeping away the dust and smoke without any injury. Though he did notice that Mercury was gone now. Emerald had managed to hurl her chain sickle, looping around Mercury and pulling him out. The two immediately fled the scene, hoping to escape.
Aurivelle was sorely tempted to run after them, but opted to stay behind to make sure his grandson was alright. He was a semi-retired Huntsman, he was too old to be chasing after criminals.
After making sure Jaune was alright and patched up, Aurivelle turned to Melanie and Miltia, who had been hovering over them to make sure Jaune was also alright.
"Thank you both for saving Jaune," bowed Aurivelle politely, "If it weren't for the two of you, who knows what would've happened."
"We were just lucky," replied the twins simultaneously.
"We wanted to see if Jaune wanted to have dinner with us," continued Melanie.
"So we were on our way here already when we saw the door fling open. We expected the worst and rushed over," finished Miltia.
Aurivelle hummed as he thanked the twins once more before adding, "So am I expecting my grandson to have a rose in each hand after this?"
The twins blushed at that implication.
After making sure Jaune would be alright, Aurivelle marched towards Beacon. Melanie and Miltia promised to watch over Jaune at a hospital Aurivelle had brought Jaune to make sure he was alright. Since the incident happened on Junior's turf, Junior was more than willing to help pay for Jaune's medical bills. It may have helped that Jaune was also his favorite masseur, and with just a little convincing from her nieces about the Aura massage, he covered the whole thing.
So with Jaune squared away, Aurivelle was heading to Beacon with one mission. Finding Jaune a bodyguard.
"Ozpin!" boomed Aurivelle as he walked into Ozpin's office.
"Aurivelle," greeted Ozpin courteously as Glynda stood next to him, having turned in a report about the upcoming Vytal Festival, "What brings you so late at night?"
"I need to put up a commission," declared Aurivelle, "My grandson was attacked tonight by some hooligans with their Aura unlocked."
"What!?" said Ozpin sharply as Glynda gasped.
"Is he alright? What about his clinic?" asked Glynda.
"He's in the hospital just for precaution, but his office is a bit trashed," replied Aurivelle.
Ozpin glanced over to Glynda, who nodded in reply and quickly walked towards the elevator with purpose. The elevator soon opened to reveal Pyrrha, who had come to report that she was back from her trip. She jumped aside in surprise when she saw Glynda march into the elevator without even a glance, quickly tapping the button for the elevator to close.
"Anyways, I want to hire a team to protect him. At least until I feel it's safe again. Who knows if those hooligans will try to attack my grandson Jaune again," continued Aurivelle.
'Jaune!?' thought Pyrrha, 'Did something happen to him?'
Ozpin hummed as he began to form possible plans. Truth be told, he was rather fond of the massage clinic and was planning on getting another massage soon. Dealing with the council about the budget for the next semester was a massive headache in itself. Still, he couldn't exactly send a full team of up and coming Huntsmen and Huntresses just as bodyguards for Jaune. Many were training for the Vytal Festival, and a small bodyguard job wouldn't be a proper experience.
"Excuse, did something happen to Jaune?" asked Pyrrha, inserting herself into the conversation now.
As Aurivelle glanced over to see who it was, Ozpin smiled as he cleared his throat, "Miss Nikos. It's good to see you back at Beacon safely. I was a little worried that Headmaster Lionheart would've tried to convince you to transfer to Haven Academy during your trip back to Anima."
"I prefer to remain with my team here at Beacon," replied Pyrrha. Her agent once again tried to convince her to transfer, but she stubbornly refused and threatened to get a new agent if he continued to push it, "But what happened to Jaune? Is he alright? Is he hurt?"
"Mr. Arc is in the hospital right now, though his grandfather tells me that he's alright and that it is just a precaution," replied Ozpin, glancing at Aurivelle, "Perhaps he can tell us a little more detail?"
Pyrrha looked over to Aurivelle before realizing that this was Jaune's grandfather.
"Hello," greeted Pyrrha nervously, quickly jumping back before giving him a polite wave.
"It's nice to meet such a polite lady who is so concerned about my grandson," chuckled Aurivelle before turning back to Ozpin, "From what I was told, Jaune was repeatedly kicked all around, especially in the head. If it wasn't for his Aura, Jaune would've died from the first kick to the back of the head. The twins currently looking after him right now tell me that one of them has some sort of Semblance that causes the target to experience hallucinations. It's probably why it took Jaune so long to get out. So I need a team to protect him for the while."
"While I understand your reason, I can't ju-," started Ozpin, only for Pyrrha to interrupt.
"I'll do it!" volunteered Pyrrha immediately, "My team isn't participating in the Vytal Festival, and a bodyguard assignment would be a nice experience for us."
Ozpin hummed as he thought about it. Currently, team PLN was only a three-member team who couldn't really go out on the more higher-risk missions for the first years despite their good grades. So such a job would be beneficial for them. Not only that, but he wouldn't need to pick out another team that would most likely balk at this mission. And finally, it could be good to get Pyrrha off the spotlight a little for what his group had planned.
"It's good to see you so eager to volunteer!" boomed Aurivelle, "If Ozpin doesn't mind, then I'll take this team to my grandson's place for protection."
Ozpin nodded, accepting both Pyrrha and Aurivelle's suggestion/offer.
"Good, good. Now you can tell me what your connection is to my grandson," smiled Aurivelle.
"We're just... good friends," coughed Pyrrha, "I'm glad that I unlocked his Aura, though."
That caused Aurivelle and Ozpin to raise their eyebrows. They were both unaware that Pyrrha had been the one responsible for that. Especially Aurivelle, who had called in so many favors to have people unlock Jaune's Aura, only to fail.
"Well, them, I'd love to speak to you some more, as a semi-retired Huntsman to an up and coming Huntress," smiled Aurivelle as he guided Pyrrha to the elevator, "Perhaps I can share some of my experience with your team."
"That would be wonderful," nodded Pyrrha.
Aurivelle was already planning to thank Pyrrha in some way. Just how it would be done would be the biggest question.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Reminder, I have a pat reon, look up azndrgn making fanfic. Donators get perks!