AN: Everybody hated the last chapter. Not that I blame them, I hated it too. I finished that chapter about a year ago when I was still getting used to writing and I basically copied the first Rami movie.

I'll make a promise right here and now. I will never do something like that again in this story. I just didn't feel like deleting an entire chapter of work to write a new one.

There will still be references obviously, but I will not blatantly copy any of the movies for an entire chapter ever again. You have my word.

I felt so bad about it that I rushed to get this one done faster than usual.

I hope this one is better!


Ruby forced her heavy eyelids to open despite how little she wanted to get up right now. She was no longer in any pain from the beating she took, so that was a plus. Groggily reaching over to grab her scroll, Ruby placed the device on her arm for a second so it could read her aura.

She was quite happy when a full green bar displaying 100% greeted her vision. Her spider healing didn't help with restoring aura but it did help aura heal her body so her aura could regenerate without worry.

Ruby glanced at the time on her scroll. 7 PM, I should patrol for a bit.

Ruby opened the news app on her scroll and was unsurprised to see the terrorist attack was the most talked about topic right now. She opened up a video on the front page and it began to play.

"This is Lisa Lavender reporting to you live from the Unity Day Parade. The Unity Day Parade is a parade meant to celebrate the everlasting friendship between the kingdoms. Unfortunately for everybody, a terrorist attack occurred not 20 minutes ago right where I stand."

Here we go. Ruby thought.

"Eyewitness reports tell of an unknown man in green armor riding some sort of flying glider through the air throwing bombs toward the civilians. I have with me here a few unfortunate citizens caught in the chaos who were kind enough to explain what happened."

The camera changed perspectives and zeroed in on a man in a tattered outfit covered in dust.

"It was crazy!" The man exclaimed. "I was lucky to get out of there alive. I was standing on that balcony up there when this lunatic started throwing bombs around at everybody. The damn thing started collapsing with everyone standing on it. I was lucky there were some hunters there that brought me down. I got the hell out as fast as I could after that!"

The camera switched perspectives again to show a woman who didn't look injured, but instead just looked a little shaken up.

"I seriously thought I was gonna die! There were just large chunks of rock raining all around me, a few of them almost crushed me. I didn't stop running after things started exploding."

The camera switched back to Lisa.

"As of now, there have been seven confirmed casualties, but that number may very well get larger with time. There are a total of 22 injured in the hospital with five of them in critical condition. Our hearts go out to all the families who lost loved ones today."

Ruby had to hold back tears at the news, she knew that there would be casualties, and she knew that there was nothing she could do about it. But she couldn't shake the feeling that maybe if she had been faster then she could've saved them.

No, I can't think like that. I saved lives today regardless of what happened. I have to remember, the hardest part about this job is that I can't always save everyone.

"The police report that we have numerous hunters in training from Beacon Academy to thank for the lives saved that day. However, according to some eyewitness reports, they appear to have left out a very important detail."

"I knew this was coming," Ruby said to herself.

"While the hunters in training did play a part in the lives saved today, we must also extend our gratitude toward the biggest hero of the day, I am of course referring to our very own Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Woman!"

The camera once again shifted to the perspective of a man in a business suit covered in dust. "It was incredible!" The man shouted. "Spider-Woman showed up and beat the crap out of the bad guy and sent him running home! It was so awesome! You should've seen her dodging attacks and punching him over and over!

The camera whipped to a woman with blood running down a cut from her forehead. "One of those bombs exploded right next to me on that balcony. The thing was about to collapse when Spider-Woman showed up and webbed the entire thing to the building which gave the hunters enough time to get us down. Thank you so much Spider-Woman! You saved my life!" The woman bowed toward the camera.

The camera changed perspectives once again to a child once again covered in dust but otherwise looked uninjured.

"Thank you Spider-Woman! You're so cool!" She said with a smile.

Pride swelled in Ruby's chest and tears rolled down her cheeks. After all the terrible news reports calling her a criminal and police chasing after her. It felt really good to be appreciated for all the work she does in protecting Vale. She made a promise after all.

With great power comes great responsibility.

Lisa Lavender appeared on screen once more. "It goes without saying that we all owe Spider-Woman a debt of gratitude for her actions today. But the masked villain still managed to flee the scene and his whereabouts are unknown. Please, If you have any information, then please contact the proper authorities. That's all for today. This is Lisa Lavender signing off."

The video ended and an ad for a vacuum cleaner started playing. Ruby shut off the scroll and placed it on the bed. After wiping the tears from her cheeks, Ruby stood up with vigor and prepared to leave.

The world needed a Spider-Woman, so they would get a Spider-Woman!

Ruby kept a spare costume in case hers ever got damaged, she was grateful too because that last fight had shredded up her getup badly.

After rummaging through her closet for a few seconds, she came across a cardboard box that housed her spare costume. After jumping into her suit and snapping her web-shooters to her wrist, Spider-Woman launched herself out the window and made her way to the great city of Vale.

"Ok, I need a lead on the White Fang and Roman Torchwick more than anything right now. They're planning something big and I'm willing to bet they don't plan on supplying homeless shelters with all that dust."

Spider-Woman pulled herself to the top of a flag pole and surveyed her surroundings.

"In order for the White Fang to gather members they have to have some sort of recruitment rallies where a whole bunch of faunus gather together. If I could figure out where one of these rallies is held then I could infiltrate the White Fang as a member and take them down. Or if I'm lucky then I could find their leader and take them down right then and there."

That was much easier said than done. For one, she had no idea where these rallies were held in the first place, she doubted that the internet could tell her where to go, if it could then the police and Huntsmen would've taken them down a long time ago.

Also, showing up in a black and red brightly colored spider suit would be the worst idea in the history of bad ideas. She might as well go to the Vale council and tell them that she's Spider-Woman. She would need to go there as Ruby Rose instead. Or maybe she should wear a disguise – maybe a wig and some colored contacts would do the trick.

That also left the problem of her not being a faunus at all. Maybe she could pass as a type of lizard faunus that could stick to walls. It might be the safest if she just tells everybody that her faunus parts got cut off due to discrimination.

Spider-Woman jumped from her perch and began to swing through the city. The streets were still busy at this time of night, either people coming home from a long shift at work or people going to work their night shift. Her bright red costume stuck out like a sore thumb and everybody began to point in awe.

"I really need to design a new stealth costume. Maybe something in all black with a grey web pattern would look really cool."

Dark storm clouds started to roll into the sky. It looks like Penny's earlier assumption about the weather had been spot on. Working in the rain was really uncomfortable but sometimes it was necessary. At least it was easier to hide in dense rain.

Her Spider-Sense gently pulled her in the direction of a nearby alleyway. Obeying its suspicious tingle, Spider-Woman landed on the roof and peered into the dark below.

There was no one there apart from a few rats scampering about in the darkness. Not seeing any danger, Spider-Woman jumped down and landed silently. Her night vision helped her greatly in viewing her surroundings but she still failed to spot anything.

"Come out come out wherever you are," she taunted at the empty alley.

Sending a quick pulse of her Spider-Sense in every direction, she was both surprised and disgusted to find it directing her toward a sewer cap in the ground.

"...shit."

She just took a shower a few hours ago and now she has to go crawling around in the sewer? What a bunch of crap!

Literally!

Still, with no other choice, Spider-Woman grabbed the manhole cover with her sticky fingers and lifted it out of the ground.

The thick stench of sewage snuck right through her mask and made its way up her nose. Suppressing the urge to vomit, Spider-Woman turned away and took a breath of fresh air away from the sewer hole.

I don't want to do this…

Spider-Woman peered down the sewer hole, steeled her resolve, and took a deep breath – despite how little it would actually help.

I really don't want to do this…

Not wanting to touch the ladder, Spider-Woman held the manhole cover high above her head and jumped into the great unknown. The cover slotted back into place and the masked vigilante plummeted about ten feet before landing on solid ground.

She was positive that she would've thrown up by now if she had eaten before coming here. She would need to add a filter in her mask to make trips like this more bearable.

"The comic books never explain how to deal with this terrible smell! What a rip-off!"

Deciding to get this over with as quickly as possible, the hybrid pulsed her Spider-Sense in every direction until it latched onto her target.

"No time like the present I guess," the hero said miserably.

Her only saving grace was that there were walkways on either side of the sewage stream. She would really rather not climb on this ceiling. The pathway was also way too narrow to swing through.

Trudging along the pathway, Spider-Woman listened intently for anything suspicious that would give her enemy away, but the sound of rushing sewage was too loud so it was no use.

The masked mechanic brought her web-shooters up to her face to make sure they were still in working order. Her battle with that green elf thing might've damaged them. Luckily for her, the small devices seemed to be undamaged and her dust supply was nearly full.

Maybe I can create more tech to sell to the public. Getting a patent for some of my inventions will be a pain. I'm willing to bet it'll be expensive too.

Being an engineer as smart as herself, there was no shortage of ideas bouncing around in her head. She had the idea once to create a blade for Crescent Rose that could have dust flow through it, creating a flaming scythe or something like that. It would be so cool!

Sadly, she lacked the funds to do anything meaningful with that idea. Most of the parts she got for her sweetheart were found at the dump. She was very impressed with herself that she managed to create a weapon so awesome out of literal garbage.

Most of the metal that made up Crescent Rose was taken from busted cars and kitchen appliances. While the gears were just found lying around for the most part. She could only imagine what she could do if she had money to actually buy some quality equipment.

While she was reminiscing on her pride and joy, Spider-Woman thought back on that field trip to Oscorp.

Oscorp has been working on nanotech for years now but they haven't gotten any closer to perfecting the tiny robots. I'd love to get my hands on some of them, I bet I could figure something out.

Of course, she had no idea how the nanites worked. According to her limited research, the nanites were tiny robots that could move around and combine with other nanites to create anything the user wished.

The problem that everyone was facing was that the nanites could only reliably communicate with a few hundred other nanites to create objects, and the objects weren't that strong either.

Spider-Woman had a few ideas on how to get them to work. For one, maybe if they just made the nanites bigger with moving panels on top, then the objects they could create would be larger and they could also change shape.

Or maybe, instead of trying to have all the nanites communicate with each other, why not just have one central computer tell each nanite what to do so they aren't overwhelmed with hundreds of different orders at once?

She'd love to get her grubby little fingers on those tiny robots, but they weren't for sale outside of some advanced medical fields and a few others.

Also, Oscorp was the company that made the things and they were very secretive about their products.

And they were way too expensive anyway.

A girl can dream.

A few minutes of walking later, Spider-Woman spotted a faint light that illuminated the path in the distance. Crouching low to the ground, she slowly approached while being prepared for an ambush.

Peeking her head around the corner, Spider-Woman expected to see a couple of criminals counting a large haul of stolen lien or goods. Much to her surprise, what she saw instead was a small area with a single computer and a large antenna poking out of the top.

There was a White Fang grunt sitting at the computer with a mask covering his entire face, although she could see some large floppy dog ears on his head.

How can he not hear me with ears like that?

Spider-Woman casually approached the criminal while examining the screen to see what he was doing. The screen showed what appeared to be a progress report from someone named Bull.

"Plans are progressing at a reasonable pace. We're a little behind schedule thanks to a certain masked vigilante. I will be there in two months to take over for Torchwick."

I'm guessing this "Bull" is either the leader of the White Fang or someone who is highly respected within the organization. This also confirms that he's working with Roman for some reason.

This computer has to be filled with all sorts of useful information on the White Fang. Good thing I brought a flash drive with me just in case this happened a second time.

Deciding to have a little fun, Spider-Woman leaned down toward the man's head and blew gently into his dog-like ears.

The man screamed and whipped his head around while pointing his gun in every direction looking for a threat. He wouldn't find one because she had stuck herself to the ceiling before he could spot her.

She was pretty sure she could smell the fear that radiated off of the man.

Wait…that's just sewage…

She rappelled from the ceiling by her web and hung upside down between the man and the monitor, waiting for him to spin around so she could scare the hell out of him.

The masked faunus gave a breath of relief when there appeared to be no threat to his safety. He removed his mask to wipe the sweat from his brow and calm himself down.

"Stop being paranoid Mark," he told himself. "No one will find you here." He sounded like he was trying and failing to convince himself of this fact.

He slowly spun around to resume his work only to come face to face with the terrifying sight of Spider-Woman.

"Why hello there Mark," the hero said jubilantly.

Mark was petrified, unable to move or speak. She was unable to see his face because of the mask but she could only assume that he had gone sheet white.

It took a good seven seconds, but eventually, Mark worked up the nerve to take a deep breath and scream for help.

Or at least he would have if it wasn't for the crushing grip of the Spider-Woman that crushed his mask and forcefully clamped his mouth shut. He wouldn't be screaming for help any time soon.

"Tsk tsk tsk," Spider-Woman clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction. "You're gonna have to do better than that Mark." Mark's muffled screams would be heard by no one and his frantic clawing at the hero's arm would be ineffective against her vast reserves of aura.

Spider-Woman removed her hand from the faunus's face only to fire a small glob of webbing on his mouth that would prevent any cries for help.

"Now, be a good terrorist and stay there while I siphon this computer of all the secrets of the White Fang," she cooed as she trapped him against the sewer wall in a net of webbing.

He kicked and thrashed against his bindings but she knew he would be unable to break free of webbing that strong. She surprised herself with the incredible tensile strength of her webs.

"Now then, I think I'll help myself to a little classified data."

Spider-Woman plugged in her flash drive and navigated to the computer's main disk drive. There were hundreds of folders here, all of which looked very important. She calmly began sliding every folder into her flash drive.

This was gonna take a while.

"Hey Mark, do you think the red and black costume looks good?" She asked the terrorist. She only got a blank stare in response. "I was thinking of switching it up a bit, maybe some red and blue would look cool."

Mark rolled his eyes.

Annoying criminals might just be her favorite thing in the whole wide world.

"No?" She asked, dejectedly. "I thought it was a good idea," she murmured.

The next few minutes consisted of her grabbing various folders and throwing them into her flash drive. She would have to make a custom flash drive that would do this automatically so she could get it done faster.

And then...

Spider-Senses tingling!

Spider-Woman ripped her flash drive out of the computer and jumped backward right before the entire system detonated in a brilliant flash of searing flame. Sharp slabs of metal sliced past her ears and speared into the wall behind her.

Her ears rang momentarily from the concussive blast but she was otherwise unharmed.

Dammit, I didn't get all those files!

She had only managed to gather a few of the important files before the computer exploded. She just hoped that it would be enough.

The hard drive was destroyed so there would be no recovering any data from the machine.

Miraculously, Mark was completely unharmed apart from some slight burns across his clothes. She noticed a small device in his palm with a suspicious-looking button in the center. He must've managed to grab it from his pocket and used it to detonate the computer.

She webbed up the device and smashed it against the wall. "Okay, I'll admit, that was clever."

"Alright Mark, let's get you out of here. There's a nice jail cell with your name on it." Mark's muffled screams would go unheard as Spider-Woman tore him off of the filthy sewer wall.

The trek back was even worse, with Mark thrashing over her shoulder and the terrible smell of the sewer mixed with the smell of burning metal.

I need another shower now.

"I'm still trying to figure out why you dumbasses think being terrorists will make humans respect you. You're making things much worse for all faunus," Spider-Woman spoke to the restrained terrorist.

She only got a muffled reply due to the glob of webbing covering his mouth.

"Oh, sorry. Let me get that." Spider-Woman proceeded to tear the webbing straight off of the faunus's mouth quickly like a band-aid.

"OW FUCK!"

The webbing tore off a good amount of his facial hair which left Mark's face all red. The webbing wasn't thick enough to tear his skin off. He started screaming obscenities at the vigilante which she promptly ignored.

When Mark realized that his insults would remain ineffective, he instead decided to remain silent. The two continued their journey before Spider-Woman spoke.

"Care to enlighten me on why Mark? Why do you think this is the way to go?"

She could feel Mark tremble with rage and frustration. "Because being peaceful didn't work! You're a faunus too, you've suffered discrimination simply because of how you were born."

It was true that Spider-Woman had insults thrown at her for being a faunus, but she would never tell anyone that she was actually a human. People thought she was a faunus and that's all they cared about.

"You're right…I've faced discrimination for being myself. But I don't do this because I'm fighting for equality. I want to make the world a better place for humans and faunus."

"WHY?!" Mark roared. "What have humans ever done for us? Why should we treat them with respect when we are worth less than the dirt under their boots?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," she answered simply. "If you have the power to do good things for others, then you have a moral obligation to do those things."

Spider-Woman stopped in her tracks. "The White Fang didn't even try."

Mark whipped his head around and shot Spider-Woman the most hate-filled gaze possible. "Of course, we tried! We won the great war fair and square! All we got was an island and got told to fuck off!" Mark screamed at the hero.

"We tried peacefully asking to be treated like equals and we got rocks thrown at us. We're forced to work in terrible conditions because the humans don't care. Then we finally got some results with violence and decided to capitalize on it. Don't you dare say we didn't try!"

Spider-Woman was starting to get angry. Rage bubbled up in her stomach, threatening to explode at any moment.

"Oh yeah?" Her voice dripped with venom. "Now everybody is terrified of faunus, and it's all your fault. No wonder there are so many racists, it's all because you're creating more of them."

Her voice started to tremble with rage. "Why not try helping people instead of killing them? I haven't seen a single member of the White Fang help an old lady cross the street, help someone carry groceries to their car, or volunteer at a homeless shelter. You keep going on about how you tried your hardest when I know for a fact that you didn't even try a little!" She spat.

"If this is you doing your best, then maybe the faunus deserve to be treated like dirt!"

How long has it been since she has been genuinely angry? Seething with rage? How long since she's had the right to be angry? She's been shot at, beaten, exploded, and damn near killed, yet this is what pushes her over the edge.

"Look at me! I'm only 15 and I've done more for faunus in a month and a half than you've done in years! The results speak for themselves!"

Her heart was thundering in her chest, her breathing became labored and her muscles tensed.

She resumed walking before speaking up again. "It's not fair, but you need to try harder. Because with great power, there must also come great responsibility."

Mark remained silent.

Good, she wanted silence.


Spider-Woman dropped Mark off at the police station with a note webbed to his chest explaining he was part of the White Fang.

Ten minutes later she was laying on her bed staring at the ceiling while rolling the flash drive she had collected between her fingers. The computer had exploded before she could get everything, but she managed to snag a few important files.

I really hope I got something useful out of that whole ordeal.

Spider-Woman pulled off her mask and strolled over to her computer stationed in the corner of her room.

Ruby inserted the flash drive and was rewarded with a chime indicating that the computer recognized the device.

"Time to see if that was all worth it."

Opening up the folders revealed some useless information like quantities of dust and old emails that provided no information she could use. But there was one file that caught the attention of her Spider-Sense.

The folder was titled "Recruitment."

Opening the folder revealed a few outdated emails and a list of names for new members.

Names would be useful if she could track down these people, but the list didn't have any addresses so she couldn't do much.

She scrolled through emails and documents for a few minutes, hoping to find something useful. "Why can't the evil terrorist group just have a folder titled "Super Evil Stuff: Keep Out?" That would make this much more convenient."

Her Spider-Sense started to buzz right as she was about to scroll past a particular spreadsheet. The spreadsheet was titled, "Recruitment rallies."

"Jackpot."

Not wasting a second, Ruby clicked on the folder to examine its contents.

Her jaw damn near hit the floor.

"This-this is…"

The spreadsheet had a list of every White Fang recruitment rally that had taken place for the last year! Not only that but there were also rallies listed here that haven't happened yet, including dates and locations!

"YES!" Ruby rejoiced. This was exactly what she needed. Now she had a complete list of all the places the White Fang would gather to recruit more members. She could take them down one at a time and cripple them.

According to the spreadsheet, the next rally was quite a ways away, which gave her plenty of time to prepare for battle. She knew that she couldn't hand this over to the police, they would have to do everything legally, and there just wasn't enough time for that.

If anybody in the White Fang discovered that she had this information then they would change their plans accordingly. No, she would do this herself and look good while doing it!

Ruby glanced over at her workbench which was covered in blueprints and spare parts. She should really clean that up before her dad saw anything.

She was currently attempting to make small tracking devices that she could fire out of her web shooters. It was proving to be more difficult than she had anticipated but she wasn't deterred at all.

Taking a seat at her workbench, Ruby fingered the device for a few moments before powering it on. The small device could stick to anything she fired it at, but the big problem she was facing was the range of the signal.

She spun the dial to change the radio frequency before her Spider-Sense screeched in her skull.

"Argh!"

Ruby clutched her head in agony and bit her tongue to prevent any screaming. This was easily the most pain her Spider-Sense had ever put her through. It felt like a saw was violently ripping her skull to pieces, her brain threatening to liquefy at any second.

It only took Ruby about half a second before she completely shut down her sixth sense to avoid further agony. Sweat poured down her cheeks and her heart thundered in her chest. Fresh tears gently landed on her legs and seeped through her costume.

"What-what the fuck was that?!" Ruby cursed to her cranium. There was zero danger for miles, nothing here could hurt her, so why did her Spider-Sense buzz so violently?

Carefully, she reactivated her Spider-Sense and was greeted by a very faint buzzing noise. Refusing to push her sense any further, Ruby examined the source of her suffering.

Her Spider-Sense was pointing to the tracking device.

"The hell?"

Cautiously picking up the small mechanical device, she twisted the radio dial slightly, which immediately caused her Spider-Sense to come to a screeching halt.

"Huh…That's interesting."

Can my Spider-Sense detect radio signals? That's so cool! Based on how much that hurt, I'm willing to bet that it's extremely sensitive. That must mean the range on it is insane as well.

Just one more thing to add to her crazy list of powers. She had a feeling that she had more abilities that she hadn't discovered yet.

Ok, she finally had a lead that she could follow. Things were starting to look up for the young Spider-Woman. All that she needed to do was keep crime under control until the day of the rally, then she could deal a huge blow to the White Fang.

After a quick shower to rid herself of the sewage smell and a thorough scrub down her Spider-Suit, Ruby slid into bed to prepare for a new day.


Sweat saturated Jaune's eyebrows and all his muscles twitched in pain. Heavy breaths wheezed from his lungs while aura worked overtime to protect his fragile body.

He brought his shield up in time to deflect a spear aiming to impale him but was ill-prepared for the sweeping leg that tore his legs out from under him.

He landed on his left arm painfully but managed to roll out of the way of a boot aiming for his face. Scrambling to his feet, he blindly slashed his sword at where he predicted his opponent would appear next. He was correct in the location but severely underestimated the skill of the warrior.

His blade was parried with ease and he was unable to get his shield ready to block the knee strike aiming for his stomach.

Jaune was starting to regret asking Pyrrha to not go easy on him. He hadn't managed to land a single strike on the Amazon warrior and he was getting the shit kicked out of him. It wasn't that different from Ruby's training, with the only exception being Pyrrha's different fighting style.

Pyrrha was much more graceful in a fight than Ruby was, it was almost like she was dancing through his attacks. It was like trying to fight a human made of water.

Pyrrha liked to avoid Jaune's defenses and strike in openings that he left. His shield wasn't large enough to cover his entire body so there was no shortage of places to strike. He wasn't anywhere near fast enough to stop her anyway.

While Pyrrha liked to avoid Jaune's defenses, Ruby simply ignored them. She struck his shield regardless of the openings he left around it. It didn't matter anyway, simply because she was much stronger than she looked. He never had the chance to counterattack because her strikes always managed to stagger him. The only exception was when she was holding back.

Pyrrha danced around Jaune's blade while Ruby preferred the more direct approach. She tore through him. She was so vicious with her attacks, and there was a sort of animalistic flair to her movements. She was also much faster than Pyrrha, her Semblance was very unfair. At least the rose petals smelled nice before she caved his face in.

With the trip to Forever Fall tomorrow, Jaune would need to be prepared to face the creatures of Grimm once more. He refused to slack off during training.

After recovering from the knee strike to his abdomen, Jaune tried to be clever and slam his head into Pyrrha's nose. Ruby taught him that every part of his body was a weapon and that he should take every advantage he could get.

Unfortunately for him, Pyrrha saw the strike coming and brought her shield up in time for Jaune to crash his forehead against it.

Pain erupted from the point of impact and the loud gong from the shield momentarily deafened him. His aura kept his skull in one piece but the pain was intense.

Jaune didn't even bother trying to block the sword slash that descended on his shoulder. He pushed his aura to his shoulder and closed his eyes while preparing for the worst.

Amazingly, the pain never came as he expected. Jaune slowly opened his eyes to see Pyrrha sheathing her blade and wiping a thin sheen of sweat from her forehead. Jaune was positive that she was only sweating because his aura reserves are so massive that he could keep fighting for extended periods of time. There was no way this was a difficult fight for her.

"Let's call it a night," Pyrrha spoke softly. "You'll need your rest for tomorrow and your aura needs to recover."

Jaune didn't need to be told twice. He dropped his defenses and his aura shrank back into his soul. As the adrenaline faded, his legs became wobbly, but he forced himself to remain standing. He would still need to shower to rid himself of the terrible smell that no doubt lingered around him.

Jaune took many slow deep breaths and relaxed his arms for the first time in an hour. The tip of his sword rested on the floor of the training ring.

Jaune had a very strict training regime that Ren had given him, he refused to deter even the slightest bit. He would wake up early in the morning to join Nora for strength training first. Nora was easily the most physically powerful on his team so she obviously knew what she was talking about.

After that, Ren would help train his aura control. It helped soothe the muscles that were sore after an intense workout. It also had the added benefit of making sure he wouldn't collapse during classes.

Then after classes for the day were done, he would have Pyrrha train his swordplay. She gave him some pointers that greatly helped.

Finally, he would have one more training session with Ren to soothe his limbs after Pyrrha beat him senseless.

It would take time, but with some dedication and a little bit of luck, he might just survive in this school.

Pyrrha handed Jaune a drink which he eagerly accepted. They sat down in silence for a few minutes, enjoying each other's silent company before Pyrrha spoke up.

"You're improving Jaune," Pyrrha said in between sips. "Much faster than I expected."

Jaune knew he was getting better. He hadn't won a single match in combat class as expected, but he was lasting a lot longer than when he first started.

"Thanks," Jaune replied simply. He was too exhausted to say any more.

Jaune pumped his aura throughout his body to soothe his aching limbs enough for him to be able to walk on his own. His bones groaned in protest when he put his weight on them.

"We should get going. I smell like death and I still have aura training with Ren later."

Pyrrha smiled at her teammate before rising along with him. She noticed Jaune struggling to stay upright but decided to remain silent. She could also see aura leak out of his body in the form of light.

The trip back to the dorm was painful, but Jaune managed to fumble his way through the door that Pyrrha held open for him after colliding with the door frame.

Ren was reading a book in silence on his bed while chewing on a protein bar. Jaune couldn't make out the title.

Unfortunately, the bathroom door was closed and he could see faint wisps of steam escape from under the door. He couldn't hear any running water though. Nora was likely just getting out.

Jaune wanted to collapse onto his bed but refrained from doing so. Scared that he would spread his filth all over his clean sheets. Instead, he opted to drop onto his rear at the base of his bed and take several deep breaths.

"How'd it go?" Ren asked without looking up from his book.

Jaune didn't bother responding so Pyrrha did instead.

"His growth rate is nothing short of meteoric. I'm very impressed."

Jaune felt heat creep up his neck at the praise he was receiving. He spun his head to the left to hide his face quickly and avoid further embarrassment.

Pyrrha chuckled at the bashful boy which only caused his cheeks to heat up further.

The bathroom door swung open revealing a freshly showered and joyful Nora. Unfortunately for Jaune's ever-decreasing sanity, Nora had once again decided that getting dressed before coming out of the bathroom was simply out of the question.

Instead, she opted to simply wrap a towel around her body to protect her modesty. However, that didn't make the situation much better considering that Nora had decided to cover the bare minimum. A healthy amount of her cleavage was still visible over the top of the towel.

Jaune damn near had a heart attack the first time she walked out of the bathroom looking like that. He was sure that Pyrrha was about to pass out from blood rushing to her face at Nora's lack of modesty.

Now, Jaune was getting more used to Nora's antics. She clearly couldn't care less about the view he was getting, so Jaune didn't speak up about it. Jaune figured out that bad things tended to happen whenever he spoke.

Ren's eyes never left his book, this was obviously a fairly normal event for him. Jaune had no idea how Ren maintained such a calm demeanor while dealing with Nora.

Jaune gathered his clothes and toiletries and headed into the bathroom while making sure to keep his eyes straight ahead and not let them wander to the beautiful naked girl right next to him.

Nora had left him plenty of hot water, so he allowed all his sorrows to swirl down the drain for an extended period of time.

Glancing down at his body, Jaune was happy to see that his training was paying off with interest. While he definitely wasn't ripped like most of the other guys at Beacon or buff like Cardin, he could easily see his abdomen becoming more chiseled.

He was quickly losing body fat across his entire body, his arms felt firmer too. A smile spread across his lips when he ran his hands along his bicep.

Sadly, he still had to save enough hot water for Pyrrha, so he finished up and got out of the shower. But that didn't stop him from admiring himself in the mirror for a few more moments.

Thankfully, Nora was fully dressed when he exited the bathroom, much to his relief. Pyrrha slipped into the bathroom behind him while Jaune rubbed his head with his towel.

"You ready Jaune?" Ren said as he placed a bookmark in his book and set it aside.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Jaune replied as he threw the towel in his laundry basket.

Jaune and Ren's beds were right next to each other so there was no need to move somewhere else for training.

"You're getting much better at using your aura. It's scary how fast you're improving." Jaune flushed a little at Ren's praise. "But you're still having trouble keeping it in your body while using it. If your aura leaks out of your body then it's useless unless your Semblance requires it."

Ren demonstrated this by pooling his aura into his hand and allowing it to overflow. A bright pink light burst from Ren's palm. Jaune had to squint to protect his eyes. "When you're aura starts to shine brightly like this, you're expending it in the form of light. That's not good."

The bright light dimmed considerably and then started to mold itself around Ren's hand like a glove of light. The soft glow was still there but it was clear that Ren was suppressing his aura.

"We can't expect you to be perfect at this right away, so let's work slowly for now. I want you to aim to cover your hand in aura like this. This isn't perfect because my aura is still being expended but this is much better than the blinding light you usually shine."

The first time Jaune had trained his aura with Ren, he managed to lose control of his aura so badly that Ren was blinded for ten minutes. Jaune felt so bad at the end that he demanded to make it up to Ren somehow. Ren simply requested that Jaune buy him a pair of sunglasses.

Ren reached over onto his nightstand and grabbed said sunglasses before shielding his eyes with them. They would hopefully be enough to protect his eyes this time.

"Normally I would suggest that you start training with only a single finger, but since your aura is so large I think you can afford to lose a little more than normal."

Jaune nodded and closed his eyes. He focused on the energy surrounding his heart and grabbed a hold of it tightly. Jaune had gotten pretty good at calling upon his aura but controlling it was still a problem.

Making sure to be extremely gentle, Jaune softly pulled his aura to the palm of his hand. A brief blinding flash of light blasted from his palm before Jaune got it under control.

Thankfully, the sunglasses did their job and Ren could still see perfectly fine.

Jaune began sweating as he tried to compress his aura around his trembling digits. His veins flashed with energy and his muscles started to burn. They didn't burn with pain, but instead with power.

He was amazed at how strong he felt with aura. He wondered how he ever lived without it until now. He felt naked whenever he ran out.

Still, he was constantly reminded how weak he was despite having aura. Even the weakest Beacon students could beat the shit out of him with little effort. The only thing he had going for him was some dirty tricks and vast aura reserves.

"Stop!"

Jaune immediately cut off his aura and the light surrounding his palm vanished in an instant. Sweat trickled down his forehead and his pupils dilated. He trembled and forced himself to take several deep breaths.

Ren removed his sunglasses and smiled gently at Jaune. "Having a large aura is both a blessing and a curse. You can protect yourself much better but controlling your aura will be much more difficult."

Jaune scowled. "But I'm making very little progress. I need to try harder or else it won't be enough."

Ren pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a deep sigh. "Jaune, aura mastery isn't something that can be learned in a single month. It took me nine years to completely master my aura control, and that was without any professional training at all."

Jaune knew he had his work cut out for him when it came to his aura training. Jaune would never admit it, but Ruby beating him up had done wonders to help him instinctually activate his aura.

"Hey…T-Thanks for doing this for me," Jaune said bashfully. "I really don't know how to repay you."

Ren's smile was enough to ease his worries. "If you really want to make it up to me then all you have to do is keep working hard."

Jaune was lucky to have a partner as generous as Ren. "Right! I promise!"

Without warning, a pair of powerful arms wrapped around Jaunes torso from behind and pulled him off of his bed into a suffocating hug.

Nora squealed with delight from behind Jaune. "Fearless leader! Don't you worry, I'll make sure you're strong enough to take on any threat and become an amazing Huntsman!"

Jaune didn't like the sound of that and he really didn't want to know what Nora had planned for him.

"Oh?" Ren spoke up. "What surprises do you have in store for our fearless leader?"

Dammit, Ren!

Nora dropped Jaune on his ass and tapped her chin in thought.

"Let's just say it's a good thing that you know first aid Renny."

Jaune paled.


AN: Yeah…I have nothing to say.