Chapter 5: The Field Trip
Jaune once again had to thank his strange ability as he was notified that it had negated his airsickness once again. He, Weiss, and some of their classmates were sitting in a bullhead as it flew over the northern part of the continent of Anima. They were headed to Argus where they would disembark and finally encounter the Grimm they had been training to fight.
It was relatively safe they had been assured. Argus was protected by the Atlesian military, and the Grimm were therefore kept in check.
Jaune for his part was hoping that he would be able to fight Grimm. Something that he didn't voice to Weiss who was sitting in the seat next to him. Jaune's excitement was seemingly shared by a couple of the other kids who had been chosen to go along on this mission. Some of them were whispering to each other while the more serious ones were checking over their weapons.
The objects of actual interest were the Huntsman who had been charged with their care. Notably one that Jaune recognized as 'Ebi' who had a relaxed air about him as he chatted with one of the other Huntsman.
Jaune felt the bullhead shudder as they began to descend something which caused Ebi to look up from his conversation and speak to the rest of the cabin at large, "Alright kids were nearly there. For the duration of this expedition all of you are under my command. If I give you an order you are to obey it to its fullest extent. Saying as much there shouldn't be much of a problem. All of you are here have demonstrated your competence already." Ebi said sternly before finishing with a wink, "Let's go slay some Grimm shall we."
The bullhead came to a smooth landing and the rear door opened allowing them to spill out onto the tarmac. They had landed at the base where a large spire of rock seemed to encompass part of the building. The Huntsman trainees filed over the bridge led by Ebi who took the role of leadership with ease.
All around them Atlesian troops moved about in strict formations following orders that Jaune could only guess at. Instead of turning to the tower of rock Ebi led down the other way on the bridge to the city of Argus itself.
Argus was different than Atlas, Vale, or his hometown Jaune thought, it had pieces of notably Atlesian architecture, but other parts were quite different like the close together houses and streetcars. He could almost imagine Saphron living here as she had talked of always wanting to live on Anima. Shaking the oddly wistful thought away Jaune continued to follow behind Ebi with the rest of group.
They walked through the city Ebi letting the students the majority of whom had likely never been out of Atlas ooh and ahh at the architecture. Jaune thought it was indeed gorgeous but his attention had been caught by an odd poster that was seemingly plastered everywhere.
'Come See the Undefeated Pyrrha Nikos Fight!'
Under that line was a picture of a young girl about Jaune's age with fire red hair, emerald eyes, and sleek bronze armor.
Jaune frowned at the poster. Undefeated. Did that mean she had never been beaten in an official match or did that mean she had never been beaten ever? While the first was impressive he didn't think the second one was possible.
Either way he couldn't help but think that maybe if he could fight someone who was labeled as Undefeated, he could finally increase his skills more.
Shaking his head free of his wandering thoughts he once again focused on following behind Ebi who was kept leading them to the outskirts of Argus where they stopped at massive walls that reminded Jaune of his hometown.
Squashing the surge of home sickness he listened as Ebi began to talk, "We'll be splitting into groups here. I'll be taking Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, and Pyrrha Nikos."
The other Hunters singled out their students as Jaune with Weiss walked up to Ebi.
Weiss asked, "Who's Pyrrha Nikos. I know she's not a student at the academy."
Leave it to Weiss to know all the students in their class. Still Jaune wondered if they meant the girl on the poster. Surely she was busy with whatever tournament- "
"I'm Sorry!" a cheerful melodic voice called out and Jaune saw the same girl from the poster running up to them. She was even dressed just how she was on the poster making Jaune realize that maybe the armor was not just for show.
She stopped in front of them and briefly bowed in apology, "I was held up, I'm sorry that I'm late."
"No problem," Ebi said cheerfully, "We were just about to head out," he turned to also face Jaune and Weiss, "We'll be taking a patrol a fair distance outside the walls. If we encounter any Grimm, I'll take the lead and direct who will fight them. This training is after all for you to get used to combatting the Grimm."
Receiving various voices of ascent from the students they headed to the gate and for the first time Jaune legitimately left the relative safety of civilization and into the wild filled with Grimm. His first impression was that he had maybe hyped this up too much.
Grimm did not immediately leap onto them from all sides. The sky did not blacken with nevermores. The big difference was that they entered a heavily forested area about one hundred meters from the wall.
They walked through the forest with Ebi in the lead. He seemed the picture of relaxed his weapon hanging off his belt. Still Jaune could see his gaze traveling over their surroundings every so often.
Jaune looked at his fellow students. Weiss seemed entirely out of her element likely having never seen a forest like this before. Pyrrha on the other hand seemed almost like Ebi at least in posture. Jaune wondered where she had been trained. Was there a combat school in Argus that she went to? Did they go into the forest to fight Grimm?
He continued to troop along in the middle of the group the silence weighing on him.
Ebi stopped suddenly and raised his hand up causing the group to come to a halt. He turned to them addressing them quietly, "We have Grimm up front and to the left, who's up first?"
Jaune raised his hand instantly and he realized immediately afterwards that he wasn't the only one. Pyrrha had raised her hand with him and Weiss had only hesitated momentarily before also raising her hand.
'You're eager, that's good," Ebi nodded approvingly, "How about Arc first?"
He gestured for Jaune to step forward which he did with only mild trepidation. He had faced Grimm before he internally reassured himself. All he had to do was not make a fool of himself in front of his best friend and the other girl.
He stepped forward extending his shield before drawing his sword with a practiced motion. He focused his senses and immediately located the shifting and cracking of the forest which must be where the Grimm was. He paced forward drawing closer to the rustling.
The sound stopped for a moment, then in a flash of black what was recognizably a Beowulf leapt out of the bushes leaping towards him. Instinctively Jaune raised his shield blocking the Beowulf's body on his shield.
He ground his feet into the ground as the Grimm attempted to push him back stopping the beast dead. Stabbing his sword forward he pierced through the Grimm's body and he felt it fall limp against his shield. Shouldering the already dissolving weight of his shield he kept his eyes on the forest around him reaching out with his senses.
He was rewarded as his senses picked out two more shifting bodies towards him. In the next instant he blocked one's strike from the side bashing it backward with all thirty six of his strength stat points not to mention the enhancement that aura added on. The Beowulf collided with a tree with a loud crack but he had no time to follow up on it.
He leapt back from the strike of another Beowulf before spinning his blade in a deadly arc lopping off another questing paw. He pressed his advantage slamming his sword through the Grimm's chest causing the best to collapse and then slowly begin to dissolve.
His senses didn't pick anything else up so he chanced a look back at his companions. Ebi was standing there looking relaxed as could be a hand casually resting on his weapon at his side. Pyrrha's expression was formed into a pleasant smile that she gave to Jaune. Weiss's face was unreadable and even with the amount of time that Jaune had known her he couldn't quite guess what she was thinking.
"Well Done, Jaune, now we'll rotate to Weiss then Pyrrha." Ebi said gesturing them to continue their path forward.
Weiss stepped forward and Jaune found himself walking beside Pyrrha. She seemingly had a permanently pleasant expression plastered on her face. For some reason though it didn't quite feel real to Jaune. It reminded him of how Weiss acted at the events at her families home he had gone to.
Why she had that expression he had no idea though.
Deciding to try and engage her so he wouldn't be silently walking beside her for the rest of the time he asked, "So what's with the posters?"
He saw her visibly wince and immediately he felt guilty at his lack of subtlety.
Still, she seemed able to push past her obvious discomfort as she replied, "Oh. That. I fight in some of the local tournaments Argus. Actually, that's why I'm on this trip. My schedule is so busy with training and fighting it's hard to make time for actual schooling to become a Huntress."
Jaune nodded processing her words before he asked his next question, "Why do you want to become a Huntress then? I mean if you're good enough at our age to fight professionally don't you want to focus on that?"
Pyrrha frowned her gentle smile disappearing, "I suppose I could. That wouldn't feel worthwhile though. Fighting other people for the rest of my life instead of helping hold back the Grimm. It would feel like a waste."
Jaune nodded feeling that maybe he was understanding this girl a little bit better, while his options hadn't been sport fighting, he had felt the desire to do more and help people by becoming a Huntsman.
"That's a really admirable perspective to have," he said softly and Pyrrha's frown turned into a soft smile she directed at him. One that felt genuine compared to the one she had plastered onto her face when they had met.
They continued their walk through the forest running into a pair of Beowulf's that Weiss dispatched with clinical efficiency.
When it came to Pyrrha's turn Jaune couldn't help being awed at the grace and fluidity in her movements as she danced between the three Grimm that came at her slicing her sword before transitioning it into a rifle to finish one.
If Weiss was a dancer, then Pyrrha was an artist in combat.
Refocusing on observing the forest around them he listened as Ebi once more addressed them.
"You all did well," Ebi said to them his easygoing smile on his face, "We'll continue going through the forest for a couple more hours, but I don't expect there's anything here you kids can't handle. I-"
A ringing echoed through the forest Ebi paused frowning as he pulled out his scroll answering it.
His frown deepened as he listened to whoever was on the other end of the scroll.
"I'll be there," he said shortly before ending the call and looking at the three students, "One of our student groups ran into a larger than average pack of Grimm. I'm going to go help them out, but I need you three to head back to Argus."
Weiss frowned and replied, "We could help-"
But Ebi was already shaking his head, "I know you could but it's our policy to keep our students out of danger as much as possible on these trips. Stay together and I know you'll be safe."
With that he ran out of the clearing leaving the three students standing together. They all looked at each other sharing a moment of shock.
"We should start heading back," Weiss said, her face paler than usual.
Pyrrha face had changed from her superficial smile to serious frown, she nodded, and said "We can't risk them needing to rescue more students."
Jaune had nothing to add to that so merely fell in behind Pyrrha as she led them at a run back toward Argus. She ran with an easy loping grace that Jaune didn't think he could emulate even with another year of training.
They ran over the forest floor headed toward Argus and minutes passed until the wall of Argus was beginning to come into sight over the tree line. That was when all of their scrolls began ringing causing them to halt and for each of them to draw forth their scrolls.
There was a message emblazoned across the scroll in red font.
Alert: Surge in Grimm Presence Around Argus
Jaune looked to the two other students seeing the look of shock on Weiss's face and Pyrrha's expression turning stern.
Jaune's senses alerted him as he became aware of many things becoming 'visible' on his senses approaching them through the forest.
He turned to the other students some of the panic he was feeling seeping into his tone, "They're getting closer we need to-"
Was all he had time to say as a Beowulf leaped out of the forest barreling toward Pyrrha. Her eyes widened in surprise but that was all the reaction she gave as she spun her spear into its sword form before slashing through the creature.
It collapsed to the ground already beginning to fade but other Grimm were already beginning to creep out of the forest.
Jaune centered himself between Weiss and Pyrrha and moving almost in sync they moved to his sides as the Grimm ran at them splitting on their formation. Normally Jaune would have attempted to dodge and shift about but instead he relied on his shield to take the brunt of the blows. He couldn't afford to let the formation to fall apart in the face of the onslaught.
He knew they would be in a far worse position if they were separated from each other and the Beowolfs could close in from all side.
Using his shield he threw a Beowulf backwards while lopping the paw off a questing paw. Even with his sense stat still the lowest of his stats he could perceive the motion of the Grimm around him even the ones not in his sight. He hewed and hacked foregoing grace for efficiency in cutting through the horde.
The flashes of light from Weiss's glyphs and the report of Pyrrahs rifle only served to convince him he would have to do something about his lack of fire power in the future. That or at least discover a hopefully kick ass semblance. He couldn't let himself get distracted though he realized as a paw hit his cheek glancing off his aura.
They were slowly but surely getting pushed back.
Frantically Jaune forced his mind into overdrive. That was before he realized that he was overlooking the simplest of the solutions.
"We need to run," he shouted to make himself heard over the growls of the Grimm and the report of the weapons.
"Run?!" Weiss sounded a mix between outrage with a small bit of worry, "We're here to fight the Grimm aren't we?"
"He's right," Pyrrha called back, "We don't know how many more of them there are, they could overwhelm us at any moment."
"We disengage on the count of three," Jaune said, "One, Two-"
With a slash he sliced the limb off another Beowulf and roared, "Three!"
He didn't need to look to know that despite Weiss complaints she was running. Not only because he trusted her fully but because his senses detected as she and Pyrrha turned from their encounters and took off in full sprints.
He held a second longer drawing the Grimm's aggression toward him with a flurry of sword cuts before ducking another a set of claws and turning to sprint after the other Hunters in Training.
Pyrrha and Weiss had already made significant ground on him but he still gamely chased after them sensing the snapping of the Grimm behind him. The Grimm were fast but with his thirty in agility he was faster.
He leaped over fallen trees and ducked around branches following the flashes of white and red through the trees.
His senses were telling him the Grimm were falling behind him and he felt a brief flush of relief as it seemed the Grimm were unable to quiet keep up with the pace they were setting. Weiss and Pyrrha slowed enough to allow him to join them.
"We seem to have lost them," Weiss said between controlled breaths.
Pyrrha frowned, "Maybe. We should keep running though we can't let ourselves get overwhelmed by them."
Jaune couldn't disagree with her assessment.
They continued running through the forest. Occasionally Jaune's senses would alert him to the Grimm around them but the Grimm didn't seem to be interested in them. They were instead seemingly moving somewhere to the East. Why though Jaune had no idea.
He pushed this worry to the back of his mind as he continued running with Weiss and Pyrrha.
One moment they were in the forest and the next they were standing before the wall of Argus.
Pyrrha gestured to the left, "The closest gate into Argus is that way."
She took the lead and they followed jogging around the wall till they came across a gate where the guards were standing on the alert turrets swiveling above them on the wall.
One of the guards spotted them and gestured them to come in, "You must be some of the Hunter trainees, come on get inside, it's not safe out there."
Weiss, Pyrrha, and Jaune hurriedly walked behind them but not before Jaune heard one of the guards talking on his scroll to someone else.
"You're going to have to wait for backup, we need all our guards on the wall to protect the city."
"If we wait we're not going to make it," the voice on the scroll replied, "the Grimm keep surging and we don't have enough people to fight them off."
Weiss evidently having heard the conversation looked at the guard who was having it, "What's going on?" she asked with the authority of someone used to getting answers.
Perhaps because of her unexpectedly commanding tone the guard responded, "A Schnee dust mine is under attack but we can't get anyone out to it. Do you know if any of the Hunters you were with can get there?"
Weiss's eyes widened, "I- I'm not sure, give me a moment," she turned to Pyrrha and Jaune, "Can we even contact any of them?" she asked frowning.
"I don't have any of their scroll numbers," Pyrrha shook her head.
Weiss's frown deepened, "Neither do I."
Jaune was already shaking his head as they turned to him, "I don't either. I can't abandon those people though."
Shock crossed over onto Weiss's face, "You don't mean we should go out there?! We're just students!"
Despite the situation Jaune felt a wave of calm certainty flowing over him. It didn't feel like Gamers Mind but it came with clarity of it.
"I'll go by myself and you two can stay here at the wall. Tell Ebi when he gets back where I went so they can send backup. I should be able to at least buy them some time."
Weiss's eyes flared in rage, "No! Don't you dare leave me behind! This is my fight too."
Pyrrha also spoke up sounding calmer but with a firmness in her voice comparable to steel, "If there's people in danger I can't stand by either. I especially can't leave the both of you to do this yourself. I'm from Argus and I won't leave our citizens behind."
Jaune looked at the both of them something warm swelling in his chest as he saw they're steely looks of determination.
Weiss turned to one of the guards, "We're going to assist the mine. Give us the location."
The guard turned to them surprised, "Wha- You're just kids-"
Weiss interrupted him, "I am an heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. Give me the location now."
For the second time Weiss demonstrated just how commanding she could be. With a fiddling of scrolls she had the location and turned back to the rest of them.
"We're going to save those people," she said confidently before glaring at Jaune, "All of us."
Jaune merely nodded back awed at her presence.
She began running and Pyrrha and Jaune followed in her wake. The path they were taking led directly away from the main road to one of the rocky mountains. With the pace Weiss set and the relatively clear path they made far better time than they had through the trees. Still they were running for quite a while and even Jaune was feeling the drain on his aura from sustaining their pace.
The first sign that they were getting close was that as they crested a ridge was a pool of black surging around one side of high walls around the base of the mountain. At first glance it looked like the wave was being held back by the chatter of turrets but Jaune noticed with each surge the wave got ever so slightly higher on the wall.
Jaune noticed they were focused near the gate and he gestured to the other side of the walls.
"We should probably approach from the other side."
Weiss turning giving him a flat look, "Yes. We should."
Pyrrha gave no comment so it was they jogged to the side of the wall where they stopped as some of the people moving about it seemed to notice them.
"Are you the Huntsman?" a male voice shouted out.
"Yes," Weiss called back, "Can you let us in?"
There was shuffling about the wall before a rope was dropped down.
"Climb up," the same voice shouted.
The three of them looked at each other before Pyrrha took the rope and began to climb up the wall bracing her feet against it.
Weiss hesitated for a moment glancing at Jaune a bit of pink on her cheeks, "Don't look up till I'm at the top," she said softly before she too took the rope and began to climb.
Jaune consciously looked about on the lookout for any Grimm to loop around to their side of the wall to attack. He didn't see anything so he too turned back around bracing his feet against the wall and began to climb.
He had no conception other than what his senses told him of where the top might be so he climbed against solid rock for around twenty feet before he felt the edge of the wall some distance above him.
As he reached the top Pyrrha grasped his hand and with ease helped pull him over.
Jaune found himself standing in front of a number of what he assumed to be the miners. Miners that he noted in the back of his head to a one seemed to be Faunas.
Strangely enough Weiss seemed to be fairly quiet in front of them not demonstrating her take charge personality from earlier. Seeing as Pyrrha also wasn't speaking as she was busy pulling the rope back up he spoke to the miners.
"We heard your distress call?" he asked leadingly.
One of the miners snorted with ill humor, "Yeah some distress call it apparently was. They sent a bunch of kids to help us?"
Jaune responded hoping to assuage them, "We're Hunters in training. Everyone else is busy repelling an attack on Argus. We're here to help."
The same minor opened his mouth to respond before he was shouldered aside by a woman with red fox ears, dark brown hair, and golden eyes, "We appreciate the help," she responded shortly before gesturing at the front of the mine, "Is there anything you can do to help with that."
Jaune's brow furrowed, that was a lot of Grimm. More than he had ever really expected to see in one place. Their weapons would hardly make a dent in that.
"How much dust do you have?" Weiss's voice suddenly emerged into the conversation and Jaune turned to see her focused on the woman a strange expression he couldn't quiet parse on her face.
The woman stroked her chin for a moment, "We have about half of our weekly shipment waiting for transportation, so a couple tons maybe?"
Weiss muttered under her breath for a moment before she nodded to herself once, "Get as much fire dust as you can we're going to ignite it over the walls."
The woman frowned, "The company won't like that, we're supposed to keep the dust safe in the event of an attack."
Weiss straightened her shoulders, "I'm the heiress so the company will just have to send their complaints to me."
The woman looked at Weiss an odd gleam in her eyes before she said after a long couple of seconds, "Alright, let's do it."
Authors Note:
Sorry this one took so long to get out. I had a couple debates with myself on how exactly I wanted to handle some things.
Thank you all for the reviews, favorites, and follows.
I will see you all in the next episode.
Stats:
Name: Jaune Arc
Level: 4
HP: 300
AP: 3000
Mana: ?
Strength: 36
Agility: 30
Health: 30
Sense: 20
Intelligence: 28
Luck: ?
Available Ability Points: 20
Skills:
Gamers Mind: Level Max
Dancing: Level 50
General Studies: Level 35
Hunter Martial Arts: Level 15
Hunter Sword Arts: Level 28
Hunter Shield Arts: Level 24
Aura Control: Level 25
Survival: Level 3
Stealth: Level 2
Inventory:
Crocea Mors
Assorted Food Supplies
Camping Equipment
