An Alternate Method

RWBY w/ Gonna Be the Twin-Tail elements

Jaune Arc / Thoearle / Others TBD

Having to "Withdraw" from Beacon due to outside pressures with regard to his transcripts; Jaune is forced to abandon his dream of being a hero. Or at least that was what he thought until he had an altercation with a grey haired woman; with an offer. Will this alternate method allow him to live his dream, or is he bound for further disappointment.

(Contains Henshin : male to female)

/==/ Chapter Two /==/

Ralph Furley was tired, and more than slightly annoyed. Six noise complaint calls by four am, meant he didn't get any sleep, and as the Landlord of the four-story building he had a duty to address the issue. So there he was at 5am, standing before the door of apartment 1-A, regarding a tired and embarrassed looking young man. This was one of the few things Ralph didn't like doing. He felt he was a good landlord, fair and understanding… even though he only had the job because his brother owned the building. But complaints are complaints, and they need to be addressed.

"Jaune, care to explain?"

"I… um…" Ralph watched as Jaune rubbed the back of his head, an obvious sign he was nervous and possibly hiding something.

"Jaune you've been a good tenant for almost a month, and now suddenly I have half the building complaining to me about noises coming from your unit." Ralph sighed, "So please give me an explanation, because this could impact whether you can continue to stay here."

"I'm really sorry… my… guest…"

"Guest?"

"Yes… I ran into an old friend from home, she needed a place to stay for a couple of days…"

"How does this explain the noise?"

"She's a gamer, and… um…"

"A gamer?"

"Yes?"

"Jaune… I may be a little old, but the sounds coming from your apartment sound very close to construction work."

"She's playing SimVale?"

"Jaune." Ralph Furley gave the blond young man a look. "This is a problem. I have multiple complaints, and I've also heard the sounds. As per your lease, you can not be making renovations to your unit."

"I'm not…"

"Jaune, I would like to inspect your unit. I also wish to meet this guest of yours."

"I…"

"Jaune, with the number of complaints I have gotten… I must insist. So please step aside, so I can inspect your unit." Ralph Furley kept his grey eye gaze on the taller young man. Jaune was a good kid, but his job was his job, and he needed to get to the bottom of this. "Jaune?"

"I'm sorry, of course." Jaune's shoulders dropped in a defeat, as he stepped aside. "Please come in, I'll go get Thoearle."

Ralph just nodded, and accepted the less than enthusiastic invite. He couldn't blame Jaune. It was early in the morning, and the poor guy didn't look like he had slept well. As Jaune moved towards the back, where the bedroom was, Ralph took a quick look about. Nothing seemed out of place, though he was a little astounded, when he saw the computer system and wall sized collection of monitors. While it wasn't a breach of his tenancy agreement, it was lending credence to Jaune's claim of his roommate being a gamer. No reason you'd have a rig like what he was looking at unless you were a gamer, or a day trader.

Moving about, he did notice that the bank of monitors was anchored to the wall, which was again not a breach, but something he would have to speak to Jaune about. He caught the sounds of a muffled conversation coming from the bedroom, but ignored it. Instead, he moved around the main living area, checking for any indications of further alterations. Finding nothing, he waited. A couple of minutes later a rather fetching young woman, who Ralph was certain was older than Jaune appeared from the bedroom. She gave the Landlord a weak smile as she approached.

"Ralph Furley, I'm Jaune's Landlord, and I'm sorry to interrupt and intrude, but I've been receiving noise complaints."

"Thoearle, and I'm really sorry about that. I was up late gaming, but my headset needs to be replaced, so I was using my speakers… I didn't think."

"Well, please turn it down." Ralph commented, "Now while Jaune is allowed to have short term guests, he should still have informed us, for safety reasons."

"Again, that was my fault. He mentioned it to me, but I was so happy to see him again after so long, I sort of monopolized him."

"Well, I will need the pair of you to drop by my office sometime today or tomorrow at the latest."

"What for?"

"To register you and assign you a temporary key, along with a few pieces of paperwork that will need your signature." Ralph replied, "Plus, I need to know how long you intend on staying. Depending on the time frame, I may have to have you and Jaune sign a new lease agreement."

"I see." Thoearle, "Is there anything else I should be aware of?"

"No, I just need to finish my inspection, and then I'll be out of your hair." Ralph responded, "Ah, where's Jaune?"

"I think he fell asleep." Thoearle replied, "I think I kept him up as well."

"Well, let me take a quick look in the other rooms, and I'll let you both be."

Thoearle nodded, and Ralph moved to get his job finished. It took him all of another five minutes, of looking around and checking the other rooms, to decide nothing was obviously breaching Jaune's tenancy agreement, and that there was no construction happening with in the unit. Bidding Thoearle a good morning, Ralph left, and returned to his own unit.

Thoearle was wiped out, and as soon as she was able to lock the door, behind the leaving form of the landlord, she turned about and weaved her way back to the bedroom. Without any ceremony, or playfulness, she roughly shoved Jaune across his double bed to make room for herself. A second later, he was face-first into a pillow, and half sprawled on and off the mattress. Sleep overtook her instantly.

/=/

Jaune awoke in a daze, and sighed as his mind clicked into gear and quashed the rising panic at him being late for classes. Today was the only day he had all week that was only afternoon classes. He still needed to force himself to get up from his warm bed and get ready, but at least he still had some time. It was then he started to understand something. His bed was feeling a little crowded, and warmer than normal… plus there was the soft squishiness in the palm of his left hand. Slowly he opened his eyes and was instantly greeted with the out cold drooling form of Thoearle. Any traces of lethargy evaporated from within him. Sputtering and choking, he pushed himself up before fully understanding that he was unintentionally groping Thoearle's feet with his left hand.

"Noooo, comfy," Thoearle moaned and groaned as she rolled towards him, trapping his arm between her breasts and twisting it so it dragged him back into the bed flat on his back, as Jaune attempted to remove it from her.

Jaune was paralyzed with indecision, his fight or flight response was in full gear, and it wanted to run. Though a little part of him, deep in the recesses of his mind was cheering and trying to arrange a parade in honour of Lefty's recent success. Gritting his teeth, he tried to come up with a plan. That was his thing right? He was the tactical mind of JNPR, right? Not a chance. His mind was totally blank.

"You can grab other parts ok." Thoearle offered as she opened her eyes and gave the silently freaking out young man a saucy grin. "I won't mind."

"Let go… please?" Jaune pleaded, his face growing cherry red at his predicament.

"You need to be more sure of yourself, Jaune." Thoearle commented as she released her gri and rolled onto her back while yawning. "You'll never claim me, if you keep acting so wishy-washy about your needs,"

"I don't want to claim you, whatever that is supposed to mean." Jaune replied as he yanked his arm away. "I need to get ready for class, and you need to keep the noise down with whatever it is…"

"It is your secret base of operations, and it is complete." Thoearle cut in, as he rolled from the bed to her feet. "So come with me, I'll show it to you, and then you can get off to school."

/=/

Melanie Malachite was nervous. Ever since her and her sister's run in with the blond huntress in training, she had felt it was time to move to a career path less laden with inherent danger. So even as she continued to work for Junior and her mother, she spent her free time searching courses, and training opportunities. While part of her did relish in her abilities to smack down shitheads, more of her wanted to be something better. It was surprising that her mother and Junior both gave her their blessing when she hesitantly announced her intention to return to school, and study to be an EMT.

Yet it was not because this was her first day in the upgrading program, nor did her nerves have anything to do with the ominous mountain of homework she would need to catch up on. Nope, the hurricane of butterflies in her stomach were because he was there. Jaune Arc. She doubted he remembered her, it was almost a decade ago that the pair had met and became fast friends. She couldn't recall the specifics, but for two years she and Jaune had been inseparable, until Jaune's family had to move from Mistral. So the pair had tried but fallen out of contact, but she would never forget him.

Biting her bottom lip, she made her move. Maybe he still remembered her? So she closed on him, as he was adjusting things within his book bag. Stopping before him, she let her eyes gaze over his hunched over form. He was much bigger than she last remembered, but that was a good thing, right? Yet, still, she couldn't bring herself to speak up, and just stood there, her shadow enveloping him. She took a step back as he looked up, his deep blue eyes looking straight into her greens. There was a long delay, and Mel felt the need to either speak up or bolt. It was like watching him in slow motion as his eyes opened wide, and a smile crossed his boyish features.

"Mel?"

"J… Jaune." she replied, before letting out a panicked yelp, drawing the attention of the other milling students when Jaune leapt to his feet and wrapped her into a tight hug.

"It's really you, right?"

"Y… yes, it's me." she stammered her reply, a blush colouring her cheeks. "It's… it's been a long time."

"It has." Jaune replied as he released her from his grasp, and took a step back. His hand instantly going to rub the back of his neck. "Sorry, I was just surprised and…"

"Happy to see me. I feel the same, so it's okay, Jaune." Mel cut him off. "So, what are you doing here?"

"Taking upgrading, my original plan didn't pan out… so I'm getting my grades up, so I can apply to either the Police Force or the Medical Core."

"Original plan?"

"Yeah, um… I wanted to be a huntsman, but it didn't pan out."

"Well, you could always try ne…"

"No, I've been sort of black listed from all the combat schools and academies." Jaune said with a defeated sigh.

"Black listed, how can?" Mel's eyes narrowed. "I've never heard of that ever happening. How did you manage that?"

"Can… can we not talk about that?"

"Sorry." Mel gave Jaune a weak smile, while noticing how uncomfortable he was.

"So, what about you?"

"Upgrading as well."

"Why would you need upgrading? You were like one of the smartest girls I knew when we lived in Mistral."

"Things happened, and I sort of dropped out." Mel bit her bottom lip again, and quickly ran through plausible excuses to use, instead of telling Jaune the truth about why she stopped going to school.

"Mel?"

"Things happened after you moved away, and I'm trying to make up for it now." she rushed out as an explanation. Not in the slightest wanting to let her childhood friend know that her own mother had pulled her and her sister from regular school and sent them to that place. She calmed when Jaune gave her one of those soft, comforting smiles she remembered from years ago.

"So, what are you looking at doing?"

"I want to help, to do good."

"You always did good, Mel."

The simple statement caused the former gang member to blush. "If only you knew." she thought to herself, and then pushed the accompanying images from her mind. She was her to start fresh, to make something more of herself than what she had been, and then of course her traitorous mind had to chime in, about reconnecting with Jaune as a bonus. She shoved it down. Mel was just happy to see Jaune again, after so long. That was it, and she was going to in no way hide the fact of his close by existence from her twin sister. Nope, she wouldn't.

Jaune for his part was happy to see Melanie. She was someone he had had a special connection with when his family had moved to Mistral for several years. She and her sister had made his time there anything but lonely, and on the bonus front, his sisters had even liked the pair of young girls. But his mind was also still trying to sort out everything Thoearle had told him. The base or hub she had built basically under his bedroom closet was more than impressive, The tech on display was mind-boggling. Much of what Thoearle informed him of the hub's capabilities was over his head, and was straight out of a sci-fi novel. Geosynchronous satellites stationed over the four kingdoms and even Menagerie.

Real time communications monitoring of White Fang, Military, Civil Defence, and Police frequencies. Then of course there was the Dimension gate. Instantaneous travel to and from anywhere on Remnant. This also spoke nothing of the labs, maintenance bays, and training rooms, Thoearle had created. The place was a marvel of technology, and the fact it was centred on him and improving his ability to not only use the tail-gear more efficiently and effectively, but also to prepare him for the growing threat of the eventual arrival of the Elemelians.

"So what's your first class?" Jaune asked, attempting to distract his mind from the amazement the Twin-Tail Hub was filling him with. There was a time to salivate over it, and at school was not one of them.

"It's…" Mel pulled out her scroll and opened her class schedule. "Biology 201 with Mrs Parker."

"I have that class too." Jaune gave Mel a smile, "We can catch up while we head there."

/=/

"Jaune?" Thoearle's voice sounded concerned as it came through the bracelet. "We have an issue, several in fact."

"What is it Thoearle?" Jaune asked from the privacy of the toilet stall.

"The White Fang are on the move, but not here in Vale."

"Okay, so?"

"It means if you want to try and stop them you'll need to sue the Dimensional Gate, but…"

"They're attacking more than one place at the same time, right?"

"Yes. I've intercepted several communications. The focus is all on stealing dust for some reason."

"We can figure that part out after I stop them. What are the targets?"

"One is a Dust refinery near Atlas, the second is a Dust shipping depot in Mistral…"

"And the third?"

"A cargo carrier out of Vacuo." Thoearle informed Jaune, "there are massive amounts of dust at each…"

"Which has the largest amount of civilians?"

"The refinery, the depot, has some and the cargo carrier has none."

"Then the choice is simple. I'm going to Atlas."

"I'll configure the gate, get to the roof."

/=/

"The White Fang have been busy." Ozpin commented as he went through the reports forwarded to him from his various contacts. The amounts of dust the Fang was going after was very troubling. While they had a history of going after SDC shipments, this was something entirely in a league of its own. The pure amounts they were going for was staggering. Something big was in the works, and Ozpin was finding himself behind the eight-ball in regard to it. "Though…"

"How did Tail-Red get from Vale to Atlas and then Mistral in time to disrupt the attacks?" Glynda asked for him.

"Precisely."

"Teleportation semblance?"

"Doubtful. There is usually a very specific criteria entwined in such abilities, like Raven's need for an emotional bond. The answer is something else."

"I would like to know, how she was able to detect these incidents, prior to them happening." Glynda pointed out, as she was also reading over the provided reports. "Just look, she was seen just before the attack on the Refinery in Atlas, and then as soon as the authorities had arrived to take control, she was gone, and suddenly appeared in the middle of the activities in Mistral."

"It would seem that there is even more to Tail-Red than I first assumed." Ozpin commented as he studied the blurry surveillance stills. "Her skills appear to be getting more refined…"

"Or she is becoming accustomed to her abilities." Glynda offered.

"Possible." Ozpin leaned back in his chair, his mug forgotten as he studied the image. Tail-Red was quickly becoming a popular figure, but was also an enigma. The tech on display was one of several factors that him concerned, but it was also the familiarity of her face. Even though the pics from both the refinery and depot were of rather poor quality, Ozpin couldn't shake the inkling that he KNEW Tail-red.

/=/

Mel was at a loss for words. Earlier that day, she had followed Jaune after he rushed from the bathroom, during the break between third and fourth period, even though Jaune had told her he would connect with her later. That he had something important to do. Now, Mel would admit she was not the most gifted in the realm of skills required to follow someone without notice, but she was more than skilled enough to follow Jaune. Why, did she do it? She could tell just by his tone, and the look of his eyes that something was up, and she wanted to be nosy. In her mind, she figured maybe it was a family emergency, and he was just skipping the rest of the day. What she didn't expect was him rushing to the secluded roof, or that he was Tail-Red.

She was having a lot of trouble digesting that revelation, and if she hadn't seen him change, she would have laughed her ass off at someone insinuating that Jaune was in any way shape or form even linked to the petite vigilante. But her eyes saw the proof, and now she had a problem. The clans and gangs had been received word through various channels that the Fang had an open bounty on Tail-red. The reward was decent, not something astronomical, but well with in reason for the trouble that Tail-Red had caused the terrorist organization. She had the exact type of information that Junior would love to sell back to the Fang. Information that would put a friend in danger.

Even though she was trying to distance herself from the underworld. To turn over a new leaf and be more constructive with her future, she still had ties. Familial ties, and some obligations to her former companions. So she was at an impasse. To hold on to this information, to pass it on, or to confront Jaune about his activities. It was on her return trip to the club, above which was her and Miltia's apartment, that as she browsed her scroll in a vain attempt to distract her mind that she saw the news reports. Atlas and Mistral. How the hell?

Swiping from the news feeds, she opened her messenger program. She and Jaune had traded contact info, and she made the decision to use it. So she typed out a simple to the point message. There were no added treats or veiled comments about keeping secrets.

Jaune I saw you on the roof. I want to know what's going on.

/==/

So, yes, I decided to age regress the Mel, so she was the same age as Jaune. I did this, so it made slightly more sense for her to have known Jaune directly rather than through his sisters.

As I mentioned, I'm jumping back through some of my older works. Mainly to give my mind a short break from my more recent project, and to try and jumpstart my imagination, so I can continue with some of my older and larger projects like "Secrets", "Reunion", "Unleashed" (which will be added to AO3 soon) and "Monster" (which is only on )

So I hope you enjoyed this little offering, and as always comments, critiques and suggestions are more than welcome.