Chapter 9: Balled and Chained Down
Fenris vs Ursa Major: Master Thyself by Bear McCreary
Review Replies
Knightmare Lord: Glad we got to see a tiny bit of Penny there. I am content. Also, I wanna see Fenris quote Death the Wolf from Puss in Boots against Weiss.
Dragon Emperor0: Uh, dude? Fenris already beat Weiss in this chapter, did you not pay attention? Also, don't you worry about Penny, we got a few plans for her. A couple of them involve Fen's little brother Colt—or as he's known by his Fiskaran name: Sleipnir.
ThermalsniperN7: Fenris quoting Death the Wolf doesn't really fit, given that the former is more aligned with the Red Horseman. Quoting the best quality Puss in Boots villain is reserved for the Pale Horseman.
Dragon Emperor0: And that role is being reserved for a Horseman who's yet to make his appearance—the Horseman of Death, who is currently in Atlas and awaiting his debut as said Horseman. But we won't reveal who he is—not yet at least.
-Beacon Dorm Commons-
A few weeks had passed since the fights between Ruby/Weiss and Fenris/Weiss, which is the topic of conversation between the two remaining members of Team RWBY, the latter three of team SSSN, and all of JNPR.
According to Yang and Blake, things between Weiss and all of the team have bottomed out, leading to Ruby and Weiss to bury themselves in video games and studies respectively.
Fenris had been trying to cheer his beloved rose up on multiple occasions, but to no avail—leading him to start drinking ungodly amounts of mead and ale and eating unbelievably large quantities of food just to keep his mind off of things—leaving him passed out on either Neptune or Luca's bed for hours at a time.
Luca in particular was honestly feeling pretty frustrated by the state of things. Honestly, it hasn't even been three months yet!
"If you ask me, I'm surprised that Ruby didn't just trip Weiss at the start of the fight and started ganging on her." Jaune commented rather sarcastically. "I mean. She's quick, but the fight lasted for ten minutes." He added.
"In retrospect, that would've been a good move." Sun remarked.
"Says the man who lost to Pyrrha in under thirty seconds." Yang noted.
"Sh-Shut up!" The blonde knight snapped in embarrassment.
"I'm sure that it wasn't that bad." Pyrrha amended.
"I was just off my game, is all." Jaune stated.
"Forgive me for not believing that." Luca commented flatly.
"Okay then, smart guy, then how about you try challenging Cardin in our next class tomorrow?" Yang challenged.
"And if you win, you'll get a full week's worth of desserts." Nora added.
"Alright, fine." Jaune nodded confidently.
Luca, Yang, Ren and Pyrrha, however, had a good idea of how this was gonna go.
(Later)
At said class, Jaune was currently being sent flying by a physically stronger Cardin, who swatted each of the boy's attacks—even ones that managed to catch him off guard—as easily as swatting a fly.
"I knew it. He's outmatched." The snake faunus sighed.
"He's putting up a good fight, though." Fenris hummed.
"Jaune just isn't strong enough." Sun nodded. "Boy isn't that something I can relate to." He murmured.
Jaune tried to rush Cardin after recovering, but the larger teen evaded and slammed his mace onto his back, knocking him down again.
"Oooh, that's gotta hurt." Neptune winced as the boy hit the ground.
Cardin decided to let Jaune recover, and when the blonde did, he locked his blade with the Winchester's mace. The two looked into each other's eyes as they clashed.
"Gotta say, Arc, I'm surprised you've lasted this long." He growled.
"Yeah, well, I'm surprised you've avoided getting expelled for this long." Jaune retorted as he shield bashed Cardin in the face and tried to press the attack while he was off his balance.
Even when he staggered back, Cardin was still able to fight back by swinging his mace at the blonde. This made Jaune get knocked down again, and as he tried to get up, he saw Cardin getting ready for a finishing blow.
Jaune did the only thing he could do in that situation, block the incoming attack with his shield and roll out of the way just in time for Glynda to call the match.
"That's the match!" The woman exclaimed, which made Cardin cancel any other ideas he might've had.
Jaune, meanwhile, just looked relieved.
"Well done Mr. Arc, that was much better than last week." Glynda noted. "But as you can see." She said, gesturing to the screen. "Your Aura was very close to going into critical levels, though it took far longer due to how much you seem to have." She mused. "I advise that when you're in battle, be mindful of your Aura so that if you are low, you can switch to a more defensive stance to recover." She added.
"Noted." The blonde replied as he got to his feet, his pride still wounded due to the fact he lost.
(Later)
As Jaune left to lick his wounds from his previous bout, he soon found that Pyrrha was waiting for him at their dorms.
"Jaune, can we talk?" She asked lightly.
"Uh… Sure. What's up?" The boy asked with a sigh.
"Come with me." The redhead replied as she took him by the hand and dragged him away, up towards the roof of the dorms. "Now, I brought you up here tonight because I'd like to offer to help you better improve your skills." She explained as they reached said roof.
"A private arena, huh?" The blonde mused as he looked around. "Not sure it'll help…" He sighed dejectedly.
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha questioned.
"I didn't get into Beacon by graduating from a combat school." He explained. "But I've been trying so hard to close the gap–but even my best isn't enough." He sighed. "Honestly. I don't think you should waste your time, Pyrrha." He added.
"W-What? Why?" The redhead gasped, taken aback by his words.
"Because, I just feel like your skills would be wasted on a slowpoke like me." He told her.
"But–" The champion started to say before she was cut off.
"I cheated my way in!" Jaune blurted out in frustration, shocking Pyrrha. "I got some transcripts from a friend of mine who decided to not go and managed to pass the practical with my self taught skills. I've been going off of luck most of my time." He told her. "But like I said, I've been trying to catch up." He added.
"Then let me help you!" The redhead tried to insist.
"No! I don't want help!" The blonde denied. "I need to do this myself! If I can't manage this on my own, then what's my value?!" He questioned, much to Pyrrha's dismay.
"If that's what you want, Jaune." She sighed as she walked away. "But, you should know. There's nothing wrong with asking for help, when there isn't anything you can do yourself–it doesn't make you lesser." She told him as she left.
As Jaune stewed in his self loathing at his own inabilities, he almost failed to hear someone climbing onto the roof behind him.
"What do you want, Cardin?" Jaune questioned, clearly not in a good mood right now.
"Nothing serious, just a little talk." The jock replied a little too casually as he strutted up to him like an arrogant peacock. "I just couldn't help but overhear–." He began before Jaune cut him off.
"Before you say anything, you should notice that you're right standing at the edge of the roof." The blonde told him, the veiled threat not going unnoticed by the taller boy.
"Whoa, whoa! Chill!" Cardin yelped in surprise, not expecting that level of bite. "But that said, I don't think you'd want your secret to get out. So, how about we help each other?" He questioned.
"What?" Jaune asked.
"Let's make a deal. You help me and the guys with school stuff, and we make sure that your little slip up doesn't make the rumor mill start turning." The brunette offered, holding out a hand. "Deal?" He questioned.
"... You better keep them within reason." The blonde grunted as he shook hands with the jock.
"I swear on the Winchester family name." Cardin told him, crossing his chest.
As the two parted ways, a banana peel dropped from an air conditioning unit that was across from where they were, and a look up revealed that a very surprised Sun was sitting on it, a fruit basket in his lap.
"... I gotta tell the guys!" He exclaimed as he started scrambling away, catching his basket in mid air as he zipped along.
(Timeskip)
A few days later, during Oobleck's class…
'Why does Jaune look wiped?' Fenris couldn't help but note with a raised eyebrow as he saw that Jaune was trying to stay awake as if he hadn't slept properly.
"Man, Jaune looks wiped." Neptune noted, voicing his leader's thoughts–causing Sun to facepalm.
"That's right! I totally forgot to tell you guys!" He groaned.
"Tell us what?" Luca questioned.
"Cardin is blackmailing Jaune into basically being his servant." The monkey boy replied. "Or, I think he's blackmailing him. Maybe Jaune just owes him a few favors? I dunno." The blonde sighed, having only the barest context of the situation due to only hearing the tail end of it… No pun intended.
"Lovely…" The snake boy sighed in exasperation.
"Think we should do something?" Neptune asked, getting a head shake from Fenris.
"No, not yet, at least." He replied.
Speaking of Jaune, the boy was about to completely fall asleep when Cardin tapped him on the shoulder–though whether this was to help or just him being annoying was up for debate, as it did wake Jaune up–but at the cost of getting Oobleck's attention.
"Feeling tired, Mr. Arc?" He questioned.
"Sorry, I was up late last night doing homework." The blonde yawned.
"I advise learning when to stop so you don't leave yourself in your current state on a regular basis." The green haired man told him. "But since you're awake now, mind explaining what advantage the Faunus had at the Battle of Fort Castle during the Assault of the Six Fronts?" Oobleck questioned.
"Uh… Hang on." Jaune said, tapping his head in thought. "I know that it had something to do with them being able to find the opposing forces in the dark–allowing them to pick off a lot of the troops as a result. But I can't remember how." He grumbled in frustration.
Oobleck, seeing that his student was making an effort, decided to throw him a line.
"Then say your best guess, there's no shame in giving a guess. A wrong answer is better than no answer at all." He told the boy, while Pyrrha attempted to pantomime the answer to him.
"Best guess? … Night vision goggles?" The boy shrugged nervously.
"Partial credit. It's just plain night vision; no gadgets required." The man told him before carrying on with the lesson.
Jaune let out a sigh, feeling deflated due to his near screw up–thank brothers for understanding teachers like Oobleck, or he would've been screwed.
Fenris saw this and frowned a bit. He might have to address this sooner than he'd like, if it was as bad as he thought.
(Later)
At lunch, the gang was all discussing Jaune's recent behavior and closeness with Cardin, especially when the blonde left the table as soon as they brought it up.
"This sucks, it hasn't been a full semester yet and our friend group is already experiencing some serious drama." Yang sighed.
It was at this point that poor Sun couldn't hold in what he knew any longer–As he hated keeping secrets–to him, it was the same as lying.
"Cardin has Jaune under his thumb! He's using him as a servant!" He growled, just barely managing to stop himself from yelling it.
"What?!" Nearly everyone at the table exclaimed.
"You guys knew, and didn't say anything?" Yang questioned.
"It's not exactly our place, Yang." Luca told her in reply.
"Luca is correct, getting involved will only complicate the issue." Pyrrha nodded.
"So your brilliant solution is to just sit by and let things get worse?" Fenris questioned with a growl, his ears pinned. "The issue isn't jumping in, it's jumping in at the wrong moment. Doing nothing is just a show of cowardice." He added.
"What could we do? We don't have full context, so that leaves us blind and uncertain." The snake boy retorted.
"Then we act when we're sure we're needed." Fenris replied.
It was then that they noticed that Cardin was harassing Velvet.
"Yeah, but people like Cardin are trash, so there's nothing we can really do about it." Yang sighed.
"How about we break his legs?!" Nora suggested.
"That would get us expelled." Luca deadpanned.
"No no, hang on." Sun stated, pointing at Nora. "She's got a point." He added.
"I'm game." Yang grinned.
"Same." Fenris smirked ferally.
"You're all insufferable." Weiss said, walking up to them. "Honestly I'm surprised that Faunus are even allowed at this school at all." She added, looking at the Faunus at the table.
"And where do you get off acting racist?" Neptune questioned with a frown.
This led to a series of barbs and glares being directed at Weiss from basically everyone–including Blake–before Ruby arrived, prompting the heiress to leave.
Ruby sighed as she sat down, picking at her food. "Glynda said that she's looking at a possible transfer for Weiss, that is, if Ozpin doesn't shoot it down." She sighed.
"She is way too uptight." Fenris grunted. "Weiss, I mean." He elaborated upon getting a raised eyebrow from Luca since Glynda had all but officially adopted the snake faunus.
"Shouldn't this be a good thing?" Yang asked her sister.
"I felt a genuine connection with Weiss back at the Emerald Forest–I just thought that I could honestly make her come around… Guess I was wrong." Ruby lamented.
"All this over a team position…" Luca grumbled, facepalming.
"Tell me about it…" Nora muttered in agreement.
"Someone really needs to take Weiss down a peg and expose her for who she really is." Fenris snarled as Ruby got up.
"Not hungry…" She sighed as she walked away.
"... You might wanna focus on Ruby while the rest of us handle Weiss and Jaune somehow." Luca told his leader as he watched the cloaked girl leave.
"I will." The wolf faunus nodded as he followed Ruby while Yang tried to convince everyone to come party with her.
(Later)
In the RWBY dorms, Fenris found Ruby deep in one of her games, when he decided to get her away from them by laying in her lap like he would when they first met, nudging himself into her to get her to pay attention to him.
"Huh?" She gasped before realizing it was just Fenris. "Oh. Hey, Fen…." She sighed.
"You barely pay attention to me anymore." The wolf boy grumbled as he laid face down in her lap. "Guess it's true, animals are only enjoyable when they're younger." He sighed with a pup-like whimper.
Ruby instinctively set her game aside and started consoling him.
"I'm sorry, it's just… Weiss is too full of pride to admit her faults or when she's wrong. It's got me all upset, and I don't know what to do." She sighed, running her hands through her hair.
"And that's supposed to make either of us feel better, how?" The boy questioned, failing to see how airing out well known greavenses would help either at this point.
"I don't know… And I'm not sure what will help right now…" The girl replied with a grumble.
The two sat in silence while Ruby stroked Fenris' hair, before the boy spoke again after humming in thought.
"Ruby, if you wanted to have kids. How many would you want?" He asked.
"U-Um…" Ruby uttered, blushing a bit at the unexpected question. "Wait, why are you asking this out of the blue like that?" She questioned.
"It's been rattling around in my head for weeks now." He told her. "I just wanted to ask." He added.
"... I… Wouldn't be opposed to having three kids…" The girl admitted after a beat passed.
"Funny, I always thought that I'd love to give you triplets." The wolf faunus hummed as she stroked his hair, his tail wagging.
"Heh, you really want a lot of kids, don't you?" Ruby chuckled slightly.
"It's more that I just don't want to wait, so I'd prefer to have three all at once." He told her simply with a nonchalant yawn. "... Would you like to give it a try?" He offered, his tone seemingly casual even with the context of what he was saying.
"Wha–?! Huh?!" Ruby gasped in surprise.
"I'm asking, do you wanna give it a try? At least once." He clarified.
"... I dunno… It… It feels so sudden…" Ruby admitted with a blush on her face.
"I only ask because it could take your mind off of Weiss–it certainly could be better than just staring at a screen all day." The boy shrugged, still laying in her lap. "But you don't have to if you don't want to." He amended.
"... Thanks for being here for me…" Ruby sighed, idly moving a hand along the bridge of his nose. "Also, I'm not ready to practice being married to you just yet." She added, booping his nose.
"Aw." Fenris sighed, softly voicing his disappointment.
"Don't be like that." She told him, rubbing his head again. "The wait is going to be worth it when it does happen, anyway." She whispered into his wolf ear, causing a shiver to go up his spine.
"Alright…" The boy sighed as he fell asleep in her lap.
(Later)
The duo of Ruby and Blake were walking to the Gears Sporting Goods store to get supplies for a trip to Forever Fall—both of them being rather strapped for cash due to the fact that Team RWBY's struggling grades left them with a small allowance.
Despite this, however, the two were in rather good spirits, even bonding over a few books they were familiar with.
"I'm a little surprised that you would be into folktales." Blake remarked as they kept shopping. "They have a lot of darker themes that I honestly thought you wouldn't find appealing." She noted.
"Well, I love old stories. But I always found the originals and not the pacified ones told to kids." Ruby explained. "And, I always thought that as Huntsmen, we're basically supposed to do the same thing for the rest of the world." She continued.
"Suddenly what you said back before initiation has more clarity." The bookworm mused as she picked out something they needed. "Then does Weiss symbolize a sort of hurdle to overcome in that pursuit for you?" She asked.
"I suppose so." The girl nodded. "Though, I'm reminded of something Fenris said his dad always told him when he did something wrong." She hummed.
"What's that?" Blake asked.
"Don't be sorry, be better." Ruby replied.
"Now there's words to live by." The ravenette chuckled. "… Come to think of it, what's that book that Fenris always has with him?" She asked.
"I think it's a Fiskaran mythology book called The Vargas Eda." Ruby replied.
"… Isn't that the one that talks about the Prophecies of Ragnarok?" She questioned.
"That's the one. Fenris says he feels an inexplicable draw to it for some reason." The cloaked girl replied with a shrug that said 'I'm just as clueless as you are right now.'
"Well, his family is named after characters in the book." Blake mused as they continued to look around. "And the fact that he was bound and presumably tortured does line up pretty well with the story of Fenrir… Not to mention how well it matches his Semblance, come to think of it." She noted.
"That can't be a coincidence." Ruby commented with a small frown as they continued their search.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, Yang was currently being slapped awake by an irate Coco, despite a rather annoyed Luca's efforts to get her to leave the blonde alone.
"What the fuck?!" Yang blurted as she shot upright.
"Don't you get an attitude with me, Yang, you're the one who's getting drunk while your team is in shambles." Coco growled.
"You do realize you could have made that comment without resorting to violence, right?" Luca hissed at the fashionista.
"I had to wake her up somehow!" The brunette snapped back.
"A simple 'wake up' would have sufficed." The snake Faunus retorted. "Yang, what were you doing passed out in front of your dorm, anyway?" He questioned.
"I… Had too many drinks." The blonde replied sheepishly.
"This is why I hate drinking: blackout wandering." Luca deadpanned. "Even better that I've sworn it off." He added.
"I just had to get away from it all." Yang sighed. "I've been wanting to grab Weiss by the face and literally beating some sense into her to get her to stop being such an ass to Ruby, or at least expose her racist tendencies to the others–but getting involved is just going to make things worse, so I decided to just take Pyrrha's advice and leave it be–while drowning my sorrows in booze." She added.
"That's a terrible idea." Coco said flatly. "Drowning your sorrows away will just make things worse. Getting involved at random is a bad idea, yeah, but not getting involved period is also worse." She added.
"That's exactly what Fenris was saying." Luca mused.
"I… Guess I better sleep on it." Yang nodded.
"Come on, you can crash at our dorm." The Snake Faunus told her as he led her along.
(Elsewhere)
Meanwhile, back at the shopping center, Ruby and Blake had decided to split up and this led to Ruby bumping into Pyrrha and Penny, and Blake bumping into Jaune.
"Oh, sorry, Blake." The blonde boy apologized before he paused. "Wait!" He gasped before he grabbed her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "Listen, I need your help with something–something that's going to require a stealthy approach." He told her.
"Why would I do that?" The ninja girl questioned.
"It involves putting Cardin in a bad spot." Jaune smirked, causing her eyes to widen slightly.
"... What do you need?" Blake asked, returning his smirk.
(Elsewhere)
As this was going on, Yang crashed on Luca's bed while the Snake faunus started getting changed into some more comfortable clothes–which incidentally ended up revealing the burn scars all over his body. The look of liquid gasoline being seared into his flesh–or like he'd been covered in cane tar or scalding hot grease.
"What… The… Hell…?!" Yang gasped, her mind going from the verge of falling asleep to awake and alert as she looked at the horrid burns with wide eyed horror.
"Yeah, it's nasty." Luca sighed as he got a shirt on. "Two psychopaths in Atlas did this to me just to get a kick out of it. Karma collected its debt from them eventually." He added.
"D-Does anyone else know?" The blonde gulped, now looking a little shaken.
"Just my team and Professor Goodwitch, the latter of the two all but adopting me as her son when she found out." The snake boy replied as he sat next to her.
"Seriously?" Yang questioned before shaking her head as he put on a shirt and pajama pants. "Come here." She said, pulling him onto the bed with her.
"Wha–?" Luca got out in surprise.
"You deserved none of what happened to you." She whispered into his ear. "And if the people behind your scars are still alive, I'll kill them myself!" She added with a growl that Luca swore sounded like a dragon's.
"... You know, for a girl who has such a hard workout regimen, you're actually really soft, anyone ever tell you that?" The boy questioned as he felt his face being pulled into the girl's unbelievably soft bosom.
"A few times." The brawler replied, not breaking the embrace. "Why? You like what you're feeling?" She purred with a grin.
"... A little." Luca admitted with a blush.
"Good." Yang smiled as she yawned, before she slowly fell asleep with Luca still in her arms.
The boy himself found himself also falling asleep as he listened to Yang's heartbeat. It was actually relaxing to listen to.
(Timeskip)
It was time for the trip to Forever Fall and everyone was tasked with gathering sap for Professor Peach's survival class–With Glynda pulling both Ruby and Weiss aside momentarily.
"Listen, I know both of you are at odds with each other, but you'll have to shunt that off to the side for the duration of this trip." She told them. "I am still mulling over the possibility of transferring you two to different teams, but until a final decision is made, you two are to act amicably until then, understand?" She questioned.
"Yes, ma'am." The two nodded.
"Good. Now I must be off." The woman told them before she walked away.
The two then began their work with Ruby letting Weiss take the lead to avoid causing friction–which the heiress uses as a chance to get on a power trip.
Meanwhile, Jaune was currently with Team CRDL with a box marked Rapier wasps. He'd attempted to get Cardin off his back after he'd gotten sap for only his own team, but things moved quicker to the current events as the wasps buzzed in the box–and they were right behind Pyrrha.
"Wh-What's going on?" He gulped.
"You're gonna release those wasps right after I douse miss perfect in sap. That'll show her who's the best." Cardin stated.
"You said you'd keep things within reason! How the flying fuck is this within reason?!" Jaune snapped angrily. "... You know what? Screw it! I'm done being your slave!" He growled, chucking the sap at Cardin in a fit of anger.
"... You're gonna regret that." Cardin snarled as they got ready to fight–right before an Ursa appeared, attracted by the negative emotions the boys were generated.
"Oh great, the last thing I need right now!" Jaune griped as Dove, Russel and Thrush ran off in fear.
Cardin tried to fend off the bear with his mace, but the more physically powerful brute swatted his weapon away over the cliff while Jaune tried to get up himself.
"Now you know how I feel." The blonde groaned as he shakily got up his feet. "Hey ugly!" Jaune called as he readied his shield and smacked it with the flat of his sword. "Come get some!" He taunted the bear-like Grimm.
(Elsewhere)
With Fenris and his team, the wolf boy's ears perked up when he heard a roar that he knew well. Luca noticed this.
"What's up?" He asked his leader.
"I thought I heard trouble." The boy replied while Sun was currently filling some small bulbous jars of sap to take back to their dorm after Neptune got the last one required for the class.
"Think we should check it out?" The blonde questioned, hanging from the tree by his tail.
"I think we should. It might bite us in the ass if we don't deal with it now." Neptune commented.
"Then let's go." Luca nodded.
Fenris let out a calling howl as he and his friends bolted to where the sound came from.
As this was going on, Ruby and Weiss were actually starting to get along rather well after everything had finally blown over from before, to the point where even Yang and Blake seemed to notice.
"Finally." Yang whispered to her partner, who couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"I hear you. It's relieving to see them getting along." The ravenette whispered back. "For however long that lasts…" She mused.
This moment was interrupted, however, by Russel and Thrush bursting through the trees in a panic after retreating.
"Whoa, whoa! What's going on?!" Yang questioned as she stopped Thrush for answers.
"Big—Ursa—Attacking—Cardin—Send help!" The boy gasped, completely winded.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha gasped, realizing what this meant.
It was at this moment that team CESN arrived.
"I heard roaring." Fenris stated.
"We think Jaune might be in trouble." Ruby told him, causing the boy to sniff the air.
"Follow me." He growled, before they started charging into the brush.
(Later)
After a brief jog, teams RWBY and CESN along with Pyrrha arrived and saw Jaune fighting off the Ursa Major. His performance was lacking at the moment, and it was clear he needed help.
"Yang, you take Pyrrha and Sun to hold the back." Ruby told her sister. "Blake, you, Luca and Neptune handle the flanks and above–." She continued looking at the wolf faunus. "And Fenris?" She prompted.
The boy looked at her, the aura of his semblance starting to surround him.
"Smash." The girl ordered.
A beat passed before Fenris grinned savagely as he leapt into the fray and started fighting the Ursa Major to take the heat off Jaune.
"I was going to question your plan, but then I remembered how strong Fenris was." Weiss remarked. She did not forget her fight against him. "But why don't we just–?" She questioned.
"Because that's an Ursa Major, Weiss. They may be solo hunters, but it's also entirely possible that this one could attract the attention of an opposite pack–meaning we'd be sitting ducks if we rushed it." Ruby retorted. "Plus, since I'm fairly certain that is a major, then none of our weapons would be able to pierce its hide except Fenris' blades or Neptune's cannon." She added.
Weiss could only stare at Ruby in dumbfounded surprise for her cunning–right as Fenris let out a howl as he started wailing on the Ursa with several rapid Rage filled punches–before lifting up a massive boulder and hurling it at the Grimm.
The blow ended up having enough power to send it over the cliff to its death, and that's assuming the force of the blow mixed with the boulder's mass didn't kill it instantly.
"Fenris is great at what he does…" Ruby smiled in satisfaction.
The wolf faunus slammed his fists on his chest, before letting out a loud howl.
Jaune, meanwhile, decided to confront Cardin while he had the chance.
Helping the bigger teen up, the blonde glared him down.
"We're done." Jaune growled.
"Wh-What?" Cardin gasped. "I'm the one with dirt on you here!" He protested.
"Not anymore." Jaune smirked. "I had a friend sneak into the records room and replace your transcripts with forged ones bearing your name. If I go down, I'm taking you with me." He continued. "So here's how this is gonna go: You leave me and my friends alone, and I'll leave you and your team alone. Got it?" He growled.
Cardin only grunted in acknowledgement as the kids all left the forest–it had been a very long day.
(Later)
Jaune sighed as he made his way to his dorm to try and find Pyrrha, when he accidentally bumped into someone.
"Oh, sorry about… that." The blonde said, right until he saw who he bumped into.
It was a girl about a couple years older than himself, with caramel brown skin, milky white eyes and raven black hair. She was dressed in a pair of black pants, boots, a white blouse and had a silver eagle shoulder pauldron on her left shoulder. Additionally, the right side of her face was painted to look like a skull.
She was also an Eagle faunus, as she seemed to have wings on her back–four to be exact.
"You okay, kiddo?" The eagle girl asked, her voice sounding slightly gruff.
"Yeah, sorry about that." Jaune nodded. "Did you just transfer here? I don't see a uniform on you." He noted.
"Oh no, I don't go here." The girl replied. "I'm actually here looking for my younger brother." She explained.
"Who would that be?" The blonde asked, hoping to lend a hand.
"His name is Fenrir." The girl replied, her voice gaining a slight accent as the name left her lips causing Jaune's eyes to widen.
"Fenris? Wait, you're his sister?" The blonde questioned.
"Yeah. Name's Hraesveglr. I prefer Helena, for those who can't say it properly." The eagle girl replied.
"Why are you here to see him?" He asked.
"He's been missing for over a decade, my brothers and I all are extremely worried about him, so we tried to find him." She told him.
"Well, he's here at Beacon leading his own team." Jaune told her, causing her to perk up.
"That's a relief." She sighed. "Tell him that I'm here with our brothers in Vale, and that Jormungandr's looking for him." The girl added.
"Noted." Jaune nodded as he continued on his way.
Helena, meanwhile, smiled to herself. Over a decade of searching was finally over, and she couldn't wait to hug her little brother again… And then chew him out for trusting a stranger.
Then again he was five at the time, so how was he supposed to know?
Dragon Emperor0: As you guys can see, we are–at last–one chapter away from finishing Vol. 1, and moving on to the real good stuff. Like introducing the cast to Fenris' family for example. It's no accident that they're here in Vale right now–especially since we have something big planned involving Fenris' older brother Jordan, aka Jormungandr in Vol. 2.
ThermalsniperN7: Yeah, and we also got to show Luca and Yang getting closer to each other. Yang in particular is not liking how Luca got set on fire, and she has every right to hate that it happened.
Dragon Emperor0: Expect this to be used to counter a lot of Weiss' points in the next chapter, because I think that along with Luca, Fenris and his entire family's backstories would be able to show her that the Faunus have had it way worse than her by a few metric miles.
ThermalsniperN7: More like a few metric kilometers. And yes, we just referenced the Avengers movie for the fight in Forever Fall.
Dragon Emperor0: I mean, we already had one reference, why not add more? Anyway, guys, see you next time.