Chapter 2: Grimm Airlines

Gamers Mind has negated Overwhelming Fear

The freak out Jaune would have had was negated by another surge of Gamers Mind. That didn't mean that Jaune was still not kicking himself for his poorly thought out plan.

Something that was made worse by another notification.

+1 Intelligence for Realizing the Faults in a plan

The notification would have normally sent him into a slurry of cursing but for now Jaune held his tongue. In part out of fear that he would be discovered but also because perhaps due to his boost in intelligence he knew it would do no good. His Mother had never approved of cursing and even now as he was ferried far from home and the mixed emotions his parents had invoked, he found himself listening to her.

Jaune sat down on one of the crates hands crossed on his jeans. Everything he owned was in his inventory currently leaving him looking little more than a normal kid.

Could he work with that? Pretend he had gotten seriously lost from his family?

He wasn't sure he had a better idea.

Either way he needed to figure out where he was going. He maneuvered through the cargo hold until he came upon what an elevator. He hesitated wondering if this was really his best idea before shrugging to himself. It wasn't like he could make this worse for himself.

He pressed the up button and stood in front of the slate grey elevator waiting patiently. That was before he realized that it was entirely possible someone else might becoming down. Frantically he took cover by one of the crates ducking behind it.

You have gained a new Skill from an action.

Received skill Stealth.

Skill has been set at Level 1.

The elevator door slid open with a ding and Jaune cautiously peaked over to see that the elevator was entirely empty. Groaning he walked over, stepping onto the elevator looking at the buttons arrayed before him.

There were thankfully only three all arrayed in a row with no other markings. Jaune examined the buttons carefully hoping against hope that the secrets of the device would be revealed to him.

Nothing occurred and Jaune sighed to himself. Well obviously the bottom button had to be for the cargo area. Maybe the top button was for the pilots cabin which maybe meant the middle button was for passengers.

That of course was assuming this airship has passengers.

Jaune groaned and threw his hands into the air.

"Whatever! I don't even care anymore," he slammed his finger into the middle button. The doors closed and the elevator began to rise.

Jaune waited edging himself to the side of the elevator so he wouldn't be immediately apparent when the doors opened. In a time that felt equally too short and too long the elevator came to a stop and opened.

Nothing immediately happened and Jaune peaked his head out to the side and saw to his surprised that he had arrived in what actually looked like a passenger deck judging by the people arrayed about in normal clothes as opposed to the uniforms he expected the crew would be wearing.

As casually as Jaune could he stepped out of the elevator and made some distance between him and where he had exited.

As he walked through the people, he realized with some small measure of comfort that the people around him did not seem to be paying any attention to him. One small benefit he probably had because of the fact no one expected a random child to be wandering around an airship without their parents.

Jaune continued his path through the crowd trying to think of a way to discover where exactly he was headed.

"Ladies and Gentlemen we thank you for flying with us today. We are currently around ten hours out from Atlas. Feel free to mingle about the cabin or take a nap in one of our rest areas. We should have a pretty smooth flight."

Well at least he now knew he was headed for Atlas.

Wait. He was headed for Atlas!?

He was in so much trouble. His parents would kill him. Then his sisters would kill him. That was if he somehow managed to make his way back across the ocean.

His mind was once again forcibly calmed by a resurgence of Gamers Mind leaving him to attempt to reason a way out of this situation. All he had to do was somehow get on another airship back to his Village from Atlas. Simple enough.

For now he would focus on finding a non-suspicious spot to sit. As casually as he could he looked around the airship cabin deciding on a pair of seats that sat unoccupied by the other passengers. He went over and sat in one of the seats trying to act as causal as possible.

Glancing around to make sure he wasn't being watched he pulled out a book at random from his inventory. Finding that he had grabbed a book on Dust that he had pulled from his families library out of curiosity he settled in his seat doing his best to focus on the book to the exclusion of all else.

The book turned out to be far more interesting than Jaune had thought it would be and even despite the circumstances he found himself absorbed. Especially as he got a notification that Dust had been added to his General Studies skill along with an extra level.

So absorbed was he in the book and so used to not sleeping as he no longer felt the cues that it was only when he finished the book and got another level in General Studies that he realized that the sky outside the airship had turned a deep orange as the sun was about to set

Frowning he glanced around to make sure that no one was watching him before he put his book back into his inventory. Despite the fact his body since he had gotten the system never felt any aches or pains Jaune decided to take a quick walk around the cabin. After staring at a book for so long he needed to clear his mind a little bit.

Strolling about the cabin making sure to keep quiet so as not to wake the other passengers Jaune enjoyed the tranquil quiet with only the low hum of the airship to keep him company. He stopped at a window and gazed out at the ocean below. He had only ever traveled to Vale before and had never seen the expanse of the ocean like this.

It was beautiful and Jaune found himself in awe at the sheer vastness of the water.

Maybe this trip wasn't so bad after all. He could probably make it back before he was missed anyways. It was going to be a couple weeks till his parents came home and he would just have to reverse the process that got him on this airship but with more intention this time.

Nodding to himself Jaune gazed at the sight of the ocean letting his worries fall into the vast expanse and vanish.

Strange black flecks appeared in the setting sun's light and Jaune cocked his head confused. What could those be?

Slowly the flecks grew larger and larger and as they did the pit in jaune's stomach deepened. Those weren't just flecks. He may have only seen them on a screen before, but those spots of darkness were beginning to look an awful lot like-

Fire red light flared out from an out of sight part of the ship tracing their way through the flecks causing some of them to fall but the rest to grow larger and remove any doubt of what they were.

Grimm.

Nevermores soaring across the sky headed directly for their airship.

Even as he watched Jaune so orange flashes trace across the sky cutting down some of the Grimm. Still, it was comparable to a drop of water in an ocean. The guns simply weren't cutting the Grimm down fast enough to make a difference and stop the Grimm's approach.

As he watched one of the nevermore flew up to the side of the airship and flared its wings sending a shower of feathers downward.

Jaune backpedaled just in time as a feather pierced through the ship's hull just where he had been standing.

In the back of his mind Jaune heard the sound of screams from the passengers behind him but he pushed that to the back of his mind as unimportant for now.

He had to do something. He may not even be a Hunter in training, but he knew that if he didn't, they were all going to die.

At that thought he looked around the cabin and spotted a door which the passengers must have entered from. He immediately dismissed that as an option, he would endanger the rest of the passengers if he went out that way.

In the panic his run to the elevator went unnoticed by the rest of the passengers. Frantically he hammered the button calling the elevator. The elevator arrived in seconds that as the airship kept on being hammered felt like minutes.

The doors opened and Jaune sprinted in before hammering the top button. The doors closed and Jaune with a quick manipulation of his inventory pulled out Corcea Mors. He attached the sword and sheath to his belt.

The doors opened and Jaune looked upon a scene of absolute chaos as the crew of the airship ran around shouting orders to each other. It was so chaotic that his presence was completely unnoticed.

Ignoring the panic around him Jaune stepped out of the elevator and quickly located what he had hoped to find up here. A door labeled, 'Exit to Top of Airship.'

Jaune sprinted to the door and opened it before throwing himself out while shutting the door behind him.

The outside air hammered into him, but he managed to steady himself with far more ease than he would have expected. Something he could only attribute to his Aura.

He could see the guns on the wings tracing fire into the cloud of nevermore but it was no use against the dark waves. For every nevermore that fell it was seeming replaced by two more as they pushed forward aiming for the turrets.

Acting more on instinct than though Jaune leaped forward drawing his sword in a textbook slice cutting through a small nevermore that was swooping down to take out a gunner. His sword passed through with surprising ease Jaune noted in the back of his mind as he once again landed on his feet.

The bird fell from the sky but that was all the time Jaune had to contemplate his first Grimm kill.

You have gained a new Skill from an action.

Received Skill Sword Arts

Due to Existing levels in Hunter Martials Arts, Sword Arts has received a skill bonus.

Skill has been set at Level 5.

A notification popped up but then minimized as Jaune frantically dismissed it. He didn't have time to look at it. Another Nevermore came barreling in and Jaune grabbed his sheath popping it open and into a shield raising it frantically blocking the nevermore's scratching talons. Using all sixteen of his strength points Jaune threw the nevermore back letting it spiral through the sky downward.

You have gained a new Skill from an action.

Received Skill Shield Arts

Due to Existing levels in Hunter Martials Arts, Shield Arts has received a skill bonus.

Skill has been set at Level 5.

Jaune had bought enough time for the gun behind him to make some headway in pushing back the cloud of Grimm but he knew it was only temporary. He sprinted to the next turret letting his Aura empower his legs and letting him leap into the air this time managing to cut down two grimm in as many slashes.

He didn't stand still moving onto the next turret then the next one rotating as needed to provide a bulwark between the guns and the advance of the Grimm.

In the back of his mind Jaune noted that despite this frenetic physical activity he wasn't tiring. In fact, he hadn't physically gotten tired since he had gotten this power.

Jaune soared through the air slicing through Grimm aiming for the wings as with each clipped wing a nevermore would spiral downward to the ground far below. Back and forth across the airship he ran doing everything he could to keep the turrets clear.

It was as he turned back around to spot his next target that Jaune made his mistake. His senses warned him a second too late as a nevermore swept into him sending him sprawling across the airship.

He rolled for a couple of meters before he finally slowed managing to come to his feet just as more nevermore dive bombed him. He raised his sword and shield managing to repel one nevermore with a well-timed shield bash while stabbing through another one with his sword.

A third nevermore slammed into him causing him to roll backwards losing grip on his sword.

Jaune desperately got to his feet narrowly avoiding a swooping dive from the same nevermore. Glancing behind it he could see his sword still impaled in the dissolving body of the nevermore he had slain. Turning his attention back to the Grimm between him and his sword Jaune felt his gut twisting as fear began to seep through him.

Just as quickly as the fear had appeared it disappeared replaced with cool rationality. Jaune took a deep breath before sprinting at the Grimm shield raised in defense blocking the majority of feathers sent his way only a couple of them slashing into his aura draining it.

Still he charged at full speed slamming his shield directly into the nevermore before it could backpedal launching not of it's on accord back through the air. Jaune quickly scooped his sword up from the ground.

The nevermore attempted to soar back towards him swooping low and Jaune acted with skill he didn't know he had as he simultaneously blocked the claws with his shield while he swept his sword through the belly of bird.

The nevermore crashed to the ground behind him weakly screeching as it tried to get up heavily injured though it was. Jaune didn't hesitate slicing through its neck leaving it to dissolve into black smoke.

Looking around Jaune was able to take stock of the situation for the first time in a while. Grimm lay smoking about the deck while the rest of the skies had cleared. The Gunners talked to each other in quite hushed tones but even as young as Jaune was he could see the palpable relief in their faces.

Something warm swelled in Jaune's gut. These people would be able to go home to their families. Before when he had thought of being a Huntsman he had thought of it abstractedly. He would be a Hero like his Great-Great Grandfather and slay Grimm he had thought rather simply.

This… This was so much more than that.

He had saved people. Him with his half-trained skills and meagre abilities. He had made a difference.

"Hey kid, that was really something," a voice said from behind him, and he turned to see one of the gunners standing there goggles pulled up onto her helmet in thick brown leather clothing. She held out a hand to him and Jaune responded giving his own hand to shake in reply.

"Uh… Yeah no problem," he replied rather lamely. He hadn't done that much. It was the Gunners who had truly pushed back the Grimm. All he had done was keep the few Grimm that got through off the Gunners.

Now that he wasn't fighting for his life though he was struck by a couple things.

The first thing was the notifications.

You have Leveled Up!

You have Leveled Up!

You have Leveled Up!

Hunter Sword Arts has Leveled Up by 5.

Hunter Shield Arts has Leveled Up by 4.

Aura Control has Leveled up by 2.

They had popped up the moment the battle was finished and Jaune gave momentary thanks that the notifications did not pop-up during battle.

In the back of his mind Jaune noted that it seemed that leveling up his combat skills seemed to be far more efficient in actual battle rather than just training. Was it possibly because actual battle gave more experience? Either way that wasn't the immediate concern.

The immediate concern was the gazes of the people who were above deck with him.

"Uh Hi," Jaune made a small wave.

One of the Gunners snorted, "Hi he says."

"Give him a break Red," said the other Gunner, "The kid just saved our lives."

"Don't know where you were looking," Red snorted, "I did just fine saving my own skin."

The other Gunner shook his head before looking at Jaune, "Ignore Red he's always like that. I'm Steele I think I speak for all of us when I say we appreciate the help though we're a little bit confused. We didn't know we had a Hunter Trainee on board."

Jaune blinked, they thought he was a Hunter Trainee? Well there was no reason to dissuade them he supposed. It wasn't like he could tell them that he had accidently snuck aboard their ship.

Well technically he could but he doubted that would be met with a warm reception.

"Well you know," Jaune stalled for a moment, "It was kind of a last minute thing. I'm going to see a… a friend in Atlas."

"Really?" Steele asked, "Not going to apply to the combat school there?"

That… Would have made more sense and would also have been far more believable.

+1 Intelligence for Realizing the Faults in a Lie

Shrugging off the proverbial salt being rubbed in his wound Jaune shrugged plastering on a grin, "I'm actually planning on attending Pharos Academy it's a lot closer to my hometown."

"Well, I'm glad to see you're going to be putting those skills to use," Steele smiled broadly, "Anyway that's enough chatting. We should get back inside and let the captain know the situation had been dealt with. Steele, Red and the other gunners trooped inside.

After a moment of hesitation Jaune followed after them. He just had to hope his Luck held out and that they didn't check the passenger manifest.

If only he knew what his Luck stat actually was.

Apparently, whatever his Luck stat was it was enough to hold out. After getting thanked by the captain, he had had gone back to the passenger deck where the passengers were being assured by the crew that everything was dealt with.

There he did his best to shrink into a corner to avoid any untoward attention while also not looking like he wanted to avoid any attention.

Stealth has Leveled up by 1.

The rest of the trip passed in a relative peace as most the cabin seemed to be talking amongst themselves and verifying that the friends and family, they were with were okay.

As the ship descended and came to a halt the passengers were all too eager to pile off the transport and onto the waiting tarmac. The first thing Jaune noticed as he stepped off was that they were in fact still very high in the air. The next thing he noticed were the large number of soldiers and robots arrayed about their landing zone. The final thing he noticed was a man with a bight white uniform with a red collar who had short brown hair and teal green eyes.

He was comforting the passengers but to Jaune seemed to be distracted looking around as if he was searching for something.

Jaune quickly made the decision that whatever the man was looking for he didn't want to be anywhere near it. He was obviously part of the Atlesian military and Jaune had no interest in getting mixed up with that.

He thus made the decision to casually walk away mixing with the rest of the crowd of citizens. He continued his path across the pavement and just as he was about to turn onto one of the streets, he felt a hand moving to land on his shoulder. Jaune spun around instantly reflexively landing his hand on his sword and sheath which he had kept at his side knowing that them disappearing might be suspicious.

The same man stood there an easy going smile on his face.

"Looking a little lost there kid," he said in a warm voice.

Jaune chuckled unable to keep the uneasiness out of his voice, "Not really just trying to go on my way and all that."

"Uh huh," the man nodded, "Well if it's not too much trouble the General had a couple questions that I think you might be able to answer."

The General? Who was the General?

"Well I-" Jaune began before the hand on his shoulder began to steer him back from whence they had come.

Jaune briefly considered running in that moment but judging by the strange device at the man's side he was probably a hunter. A hunter that would have no problem catching him if he decided to run.

Maybe his Luck stat was negative Jaune ruefully contemplated in his head. They continued walking back through the platform before they arrived before a tall broad shoulder black haired man who was clean shaven with a strange metal part on the right side of his face. He wore a white suit with a white glove on his hand and as he moved Jaune caught a glimpse of two revolvers at his side.

"Is this him," the white suited man asked to the man standing behind him.

He responded, "Yes General."

The General looked down at Jaune his face set in a frown, "My name is General Ironwood. I'm not sure whether to commend you for the job you did or ask how exactly an apparently unaccompanied child got so far from home."

Jaune didn't know how to respond to that, so he chose to remain silent. It didn't seem that the Ironwood expected a response to that anyway as he continued.

"Either way given what you've done I believe I'll just say thank you, where is your next destination?

Jaune blinked in surprise before he considered the man's words. Could this man get him back home? That would be suspicious though if he immediately asked to go back from where he had come.

What he needed to do was get back home. The only way he could think to do so was pretend he had business here for awhile before then legitimately using the money his parents had left him to book a flight home as his confidence in managing to sneak aboard once of these ships with guards around was practically nil. What could his business be though?

He remembered what Steele had said an idea popped into his mind.

"I was headed to check out the Atleasian combat school," Jaune said, "I figured I would give it a chance before I decided on a combat school closer to home."

Mentally Jaune congratulated himself on his excuse. In a way it was even the truth. He had considered running away to go to a combat school before. Just not quite as far as Atlas.

"Indeed," Ironwood quirked a brow, "Well if you're interested in our combat school, I'm sure we can make arrangements for you to experience it. What is your name young man?"

"Jaune Arc," Jaune replied instinctively not wanting to deepen the lie he had dug himself into

Ironwood turned to the man behind Jaune, "Ebi can you get Mr. Arc a dormitory at the combat school? I'll arrange to see that he can be enrolled there on a trial basis."

Ebi nodded and gave a quick salute.

Jaune blinked at the turn of events he had found himself in the midst of before he focused on a particular snippet of it.

He was going to go to a combat school!

In Atlas.

Where his parents still had no idea where he was.

Why did he think this was a good idea again?

Authors Note:

In the RWBY universe training Hunters seems to be an incredibly high priority so it doesn't seem outrageous that going to a combat school is funded enough to allow students to enroll without paying. Ren and Nora are literally orphans who have no trouble learning at Beacon.

Without spoiling too much my intention is that Jaune by the time of Cannon will have been around most of the world of Remnant except maybe for Vacuo.

On another note my pace may slow down a bit while I chart out some things. I don't want to accidently head-butt a cannon wall too hard.

I will (hopefully) see all of you in the next episode.

Here are the stats for anyone who is curious.

Stats:

Name: Jaune Arc

Level: 4

HP: 100

AP: 1000

Mana: ?

Strength: 16

Agility: 10

Vitality: 10

Sense: 4

Intelligence: 10

Luck: ?

Available Ability Points: 20

Skills:

Gamers Mind: Level Max

Dancing: Level 50

General Studies: Level 29

Hunter Martial Arts: Level 12

Hunter Sword Arts: Level 10

Hunter Shield Arts: Level 9

Aura Control: Level 8

Survival: Level 3

Stealth: Level 2

Inventory:

Crocea Mors

Assorted Food Supplies

Camping Equipment