If there was one lesson that Jaune Arc (Huntsman-in-Training, one-time fraudster, natural blond, and currently in over his head) has ever learned from his bully, it was how to escape a locker. After the third time, it behooved oneself to figure out that sort of thing.
See, there's a latch. Get that latch to turn far enough, and the door unlocks. Simple.
The fact that all the leverage was on the other side can be an obstacle, true, compounded by the springs and gears keeping the latch in place being built to withstand the capsule flying, then hitting the ground, at 370 miles per hour. With how often the rocket function got used, the lockers saw weekly maintenance, too, so he could expect this thing to be in tip-top, people-confining shape.
Yet, he had discovered that all these problems were surmountable with sufficient motivation. A full bladder was usually the catalyst for him to succeed in previous incidents. Today…well, today his need to escape carried a bit more urgency than the norm. He'd even go further to say that it's one of those do-or-die moments.
Pyrrha was on her way to face the fire lady. Prior to which, she pushed him in the locker and launched him into the sky. That was after she kissed him, which he thought was really nice right up until he discovered it had been a trick to shove him in here. There's also the aforementioned fire lady, a magic lady, Ozpin trying to get the magic lady inside Pyrrha, more Grimm than he had ever seen, a Grimm dragon, White Fang, robots, people dying his friends are in danger and holy freaking damn he's got to get out there and DO SOMETHING!
The latch snapped off, crushed in the grip of a hand clad in white Aura, and the door blasted open to reveal a dark night sky.
Above him, a cloud drifted away to reveal that pale, broken celestial body he'd always loved to see. The shattered moon, an imperfect orb trailed by its innumerable fragments. It had never looked so near.
…Oh. Right. That's probably due to the next problem facing him.
The wind ripped him from the confines of the locker, and Jaune found himself in the sky over Beacon amidst airships and Grimm. A particularly hungry-looking Griffon had taken notice of this tasty treat, and was swooping down.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no—"
Fumbling with his sword, he tried to unsheathe Crocea Mors. Too late, red eyes and a gaping maw filled his vision. The rancid stench of Grimm washed over the Huntsman as the Griffon prepared to swallow him whole.
Of all the courses of action he could take, Jaune saw one desperate plan where he lived beyond the next three seconds. He shoved his weapon, held horizontally with the edge standing vertical, into the mouth as it chomped down, right at the base where the two halves of the beak meet. Bone struck steel with a clang, stopping cold.
He could have wept, such was the relief that he yet lived. Sadly, his joy failed to last long. The Grimm began shaking him every which way in a mindless attempt to dislodge the sword. Up, down, left, right, the wild movements triggered his motion sickness. Coupled with the texture of the slimy tongue and the smell of the Griffon's breath, bile quickly rose to the top of his throat. But while throwing up onto the Grimm sounded quite decent as a final middle finger to his would-be killer, he stuck to the plan and reached for a button on Crocea Mors. A press, and with explosive force the sheath unfurled to form a heater shield, wrenching open the beak until, with the snapping sound of tension giving way, the Griffon's head ripped in two.
Then Jaune threw up. Man, Grimm, and puke fell together through the air. He noted that they were much closer to the ground than before the Griffon tried to eat him. His struggles against being lunch had dragged his foe below the aerial battle going on above, and the fall looked much more survivable from this height. It was still going to hurt, though.
The Grimm slammed onto the spire of a building, the tip spearing it through. If it wasn't fully dead before, it sure was now. Most of the puke landed on the dissipating corpse, so Jaune got that last insult in, after all. He himself fell past the Griffon to collide with the roof. From head to toe his body lit up in agony. A long, pained sob escaped his mouth. He bounced once, twice, then slid on the steep incline towards the edge. Through a haze, his mind screamed at his body to do something if it didn't want to plunge to the ground. A part of Jaune shouted a warning that it'd hurt as much as the first drop; the rest of him sat up to take notice. In the scramble to find purchase, he slammed the edge of his shield against the yellow slate tiles, scraping a long furrow to slow his descent. He came to a stop with only inches to spare.
Jaune laid there, heaving for breath as the reality of everything that had just happened hit him. It couldn't have been more than five minutes, yet his ordeal felt like it lasted hours.
"I—I'm alive! I can't believe I'm still alive!" He shouted, laughing.
But then, he recalled the wider conflict taking place all over Beacon, and sobered up. What he had managed was just the first step. The long road to the emerald tower laid before him, starting with getting off this roof.
The unfortunate issue here was that he couldn't see any access doors on this thing. The only way down required going over the edge, where he could hopefully swing into a window using an acrobatic move he knew he cannot do. See? E-easy!
Peering over the lip of the roof, he searched for an outcropping. There weren't any, but his hopes for aid swelled when movements far below on the ground captured his attention. He recognized the messy (yet stylishly silky and flowing) crow's nest of a hairdo. That's Jax Darkphenix, Team RWBY's boyfriend!
And damned if that still wasn't weird to say after almost two semesters. Some guys have all the luck. Absolute, unbelievable luck.
He was about to call down for help, but stopped as he saw the other boy raise his twin katanas. Despite the urgency of his task, Jaune waited. If enemies were in range, distracting his ally may well put them in danger.
Jax slapped his katanas together, transforming it into an assault rifle. Oddly, there didn't seem to be any Grimm, White Fang, or robots in the immediate vicinity. What was he doing?
He lifted it to aim down the sights. Following the direction of the gun revealed a—wait, wha—?
Bang!
WHAT THE FUCK!?
-o-
Jax Darkphenix POV
Shit shit shit, it was all going to shit!
One measly Point! The girl was a complete trash mob!
Sadly, Jax Darkphenix has come to realize that the so-called 'elite warriors' of this world amounted to jack all when they possessed no plot relevance. He'd hoped this one might have some value, being a pretty girl in a world where 90% of the important characters were pretty girls, but nope. 1 Point. This felt sucky enough when he had to start going for the females after shooting too many of the dudes, but for them to be worthless, too? Sucks.
Uuurgh! That green-headed chick in the distance—whatever her name was—definitely carried a higher value, he knew that for a fact since he remembered her showing up a couple times in the cartoon. If she would just stop zipping around, he'd have popped her already. It's like she was mocking him.
Giving it another shot, he changed his NGSW XM7 6.851mm assault rifle into a Barrett Mk-22 7.62mm bolt-action sniper rifle and shot off a round.
He was so tempted to pick up [Auto-aim] just to off her, but right now he can't spare a single Point. The priority was [Emergency Recall], and it cost way too much for him to fuck around. Besides, if the previous characters on her level storywise were any indication, she'd probably put up a fight. Attacks that bypass Aura only work if they hit, and these people bounce around like the Energizer Bunny. Letting them get in CQC range would make offing them easier, but then they'd start taking his HPs, too. That was fine at the start, but the number was getting awfully low.
Fuck Emerald and her thieving hands.
Heh. That's kinda funny since that was exactly what he did. Leaving the bag with all his consumables open next to the bed was a mistake, though. Whenever he gets the chance, it's [Dimensional Pockets] or bust. No more of this carrying stuff crap.
He didn't bother to go loot the headless corpse. A few bucks—oh, excuse him, a few 'Liens' weren't going to get him out of this hellhole.
After turning his Barrett Mk-22 7.62mm bolt-action sniper rifle into a PSRL-1 93mm rocket launcher, he took aim at a team of Huntsmen-in-Training and fired an SH-R1 round to wipe them off the face of the Ea- of Remnant. He checked his smartphone—wait, his scr…actually, fuck this world's terminology, it's a smartphone—and saw that the tally had gone up by three. There were four of them, so how can it give three Points?
Trash mob. Trash world. He could not get out of here soon enough.
Once again, the realization that this run had gone to shit made Jax heave a great sigh. Things had been going so well, too.
He had bagged—ahem, romanced Team RWBY by, like, the first month. It took all of his charm and skills! And when that didn't work, a fuck ton of points to up his CHARM and [Skills] did the job. There was nothing Yang wouldn't do for him. Weiss made out with Ruby because he asked. He convinced the sexy cat girl to try meowing, meowing!
Life…life was good.
And it all went wrong because, apparently, the butterfly effect was real. At some unknown point, even though he asked for the original RWBY world, events deviated from canon. Somehow!
…okay, so he had a sneaking suspicion it might have to do with him telling Neo some important details when they slept together to turn her to his side. Who could have guessed that the ice cream girl would betray him? Just because she was evil didn't mean she was a bad person!
It had seemed like Season Three's finale was averted. Everything was quiet up to and through the Vytal Tournament. He was about to win it all with his kickass Semblance that lets him ignore people's Aura (i.e. the thing that made them marginally a threat), then sweep Pyrrha into his arms with a totally cool line about how he was the only person strong enough for her before wowing her with his kissing prowess. The face on that Miles Luna Self-Insert when he steals his OTP girl would have been delicious.
Then, Cinder's (admittedly sexy) face replaced the fat professor's (very unsexy) face on the stadium's screens, and she kickstarted the Fall of Beacon like it's a scripted event, except for the giant robot that Neo sneakily bought with all his saved-up Points and was now piloting with not an ounce of control or skill.
The PSRL-1 93mm rocket launcher became a pair of…of whatever the SMGs are named, he didn't have the energy to remember, and he shot blindly into a melee between some girls and the White Fang, mowing down both sides.
Ding!
That sound, that sweet sound. He clamped one of the guns under his armpit and pulled out his phone. Staring in disbelief, he noted the number on the top left. The last group gave him 48 Points. That female team must have been side characters, because they helped him amass the Points he needed for [Emergency Recall].
This was it. This was goodbye Remnant!
"Holy shit! Yes! Get me the fuck out—"
His [Threat Detection Lv.1] went off like crazy.
Jax turned his head this way and that, trying to find where the danger was coming from. Not for the first time, he cursed Neo for his Point deficiency that kept him from making some upgrades. [Threat Detection Lv.2] would have taken care of locating the threat for him.
Jax scrunched his face in puzzlement as he failed to spot anyone nearby. Yet, the klaxon horn of [Threat Detection Lv.1] increased in volume. What was going on?
The thought struck him, then.
Combat was three-dimensional.
Jax whirled, pointed his SMGs towards the sky, and fired off all rounds at the same time that something cold, hard, and sharp rammed into his head.
Remaining HP: 1,460
Piercing damage, Sneak Attack! modifier, It Came From Above modifier
-1,460HP
Remaining HP: 0
You have died. Better luck next ti— oh, wait. There is no next time. Too bad, so sad :)
In the last few seconds before the System shut him down, his eyes rolled madly in their sockets to try and find what had hit him. It wasn't difficult. There was a body lying just over there, bleeding out as badly as he was. He recognized the messy (and unstylish) blond mop of a hairdo.
Fucking Jaune A—
And so, Jax Darkphenix, Gamer and Worldjumper, died with the name of his killer on his lips.
Like countless others who contracted with the Company, he failed his very first run.
-o-
Jaune thought he knew what pain was from Initiation, from Combat Class, and from being hit by Grimm. He was wrong.
He also thought there was nothing worse than the feeling of pain. He was oh so wrong.
Ding!
The worst was when everything stopped hurting, even though you knew for a fact that the injuries were still there, and nothing and nobody had saved you. The worst was the coldness setting in as your life bled out.
He didn't need anyone to tell him what a bad idea it had been. The drop might not take his entire Aura reserve, but it would put him at such a disadvantage that Team RWBY's dog could have beaten him, let alone their boyfriend. Jax was the strongest of Beacon. Hands down, no argument. Pyrrha was losing to him in the tournament finals.
Ding!
But…but to witness him murder so many people, so many of what should have been Jax's allies and friends, Jaune had to act. He drew his sword. He leapt. Somehow, someway, he succeeded in slaying the monster. And now, he was dying.
Because Jax Darkphenix, that psycho, had a Semblance that treated Aura like air.
He can feel his reserves attempting to heal his injuries. It'd never work. The gaping holes to be mended, the sheer amount of blood that was outside of him and mixing with that of Jax in one crimson pool, the damage was so catastrophic that there was nowhere to begin.
This was it…this was goodbye.
Ding!
And the CCT service won't even give him the dignity of dying in peace. What, was it sending him spam mail? Advertising life insurance, perhaps?
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Odd. Rather than his pocket, the sound was coming from near his head. His tired eyes blinked once, blinked twice, then opened to stare directly at the glowing screen of the scroll laying under his face. He couldn't tell what the model was, but it must belong to Jax, considering it looked super cool. Because Jax was super cool. You know, right up until he wasn't.
Blearily, he gazed at the words until they shifted into focus.
[Emergency Recall]
The cowardly way to escape all your mistakes. Sure, you can tell yourself that you're just going to nip out for some milk, to grind and upgrade and buy a couple of powers, before coming straight back here to your waifus, but we all know why you bought this. Still, in the words of a certain pair of twins in your current world: Whatever.
Effect:
Activate to exfiltrate back to designated [Home Base]
Basic Medical Package included
Activate:
[Yes]
[No]
Note: Choosing [Yes] will pause the current world until your return.
Yup. Spam mail, and the message pretty much amounted to life insurance, too. Aaaall the hate.
Yet…yet how tempting its promises were to someone like him.
Power. Something he dearly wanted way back when, and naively thought that his partner had granted unto him, so that he could fulfill his dream of becoming a hero. As it turned out, Aura could only get him so far, and no matter how hard he trained he could not catch up with his peers. Now, the crazy fire lady was displaying abilities so far above anything he had ever seen, and his friends were in danger, so of course he wished he had more power.
Pause the current world. What madness these words offered. There was no way to stop time. Not even Dust and Semblances can truly influence it, merely simulating a similar effect. Such an easy lie to see through. But as the world burned down around him. As he laid dying so far away from his goal. He wished with every fiber of his being that he could stop it all.
He tried to move his hand. Miracle of miracle, it shifted an inch. With the patience of a man who had nothing else to do, nothing to look forward to, nothing left, Jaune reached for the screen.
An eternity later, the hand hovered above the button. He wondered why he was even entertaining the message. His brain was shutting down, but his thought process went something like this:
Hey, it wasn't his scroll. If this thing gets a virus, then his last act on Remnant would be the equivalent of slaying his enemy and pissing on their grave, meaning he had died a true warrior's death.
He pressed [Yes].
At the very last moment, his true thoughts slipped out.
Please, be real. Please, I want to save everyone. Please…don't let this be…just a dream…
It should not have worked. You could say what you like about their blood mixing, and the names sharing some similar letters, but the crux of the matter was that it. Should. Not. Have. Worked.
But, as had been the case when Jaune—based on nothing but a strong wish, a devil-may-care outlook on his prospects, and quite a bit of idiocy—submitted a set of false transcripts to Beacon Academy, someone caught the attempt. They read the details from end to end, and were amused. They let it ride.
And so, Jaune Arc, fake Huntsman and a complete nobody, left Remnant as motes of light.
Author's Notes: Be careful of spam mail, Jaune. Even if it's not an all-out scam, there's always a catch.
This was a break day from writing. Aaaand then an idea hit.
A story in the vein of the CYOA, WC, world-jump fanfics, except instead of some psychopathic/sociopathic SI from Earth amassing great cosmic powers and being an absolute legend—which I cannot and never want to write—it's a fictional character from Remnant trying to grab at the scraps of power that the bona fide MCs would spare a single line of the chapter to mention.
FYI to all the SIs: If you want Neo on side, don't trust her right off the bat. Don't assume your future knowledge is going to get her in your corner. Ice cream psycho will backstab you on principle. It's part of her charm.
Three-letter MC first name, mythical animal in the last name (but with a Dark or Onyx in there so it's evil). Putting actual guns in RWBY with all the unnecessary details on caliber rounds to show Earth's 'superiority'…Bleeeech. Disgusting. Cringe. I needed a drink before I wrote that section.
Coming back to edit this in the morning.