Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth. I own nothing.

6. Beacon Days 02

Emerald Forest, Initiation grounds

Beowolves are wolf-like Grimm and are named after wolves, Ursas are bear-like Grimm and are named after bears. Then, there's the Deathstalker. A scorpion-like Grimm with powerful pincers that crush bricks, a glowing venomous stinger that can pierce walls, thick bone plates capable of withstanding bullet-fire covering the entirety of its back and legs , plus ten deep-red eyes to give the monster a sweeping view of all of its screaming victims. Oh, it's the size of a truck, too.

Researchers threw up their hands and named it after what it really resembled.

Jaune Arc threw up on its legs.

He then booked it from the dark cave with his new partner, Pyrrha Nikos, in tow.

"Jaune, we can take it on!"

Her optimism knows no bounds. "Not with just us. Keep running Pyrrha!"

"There's two of us, and one of it. We have the advantage!"

Did she learn that from the twins? "It has a claw for each of us, plus a stinger. Keep running Pyrrha!"

Ahead, the forest thinned. In between the trees, Jaune spied what appeared to be stone walls. He strained his legs to run faster, the thought of a safe place spurring him to push harder than he ever had. Pyrrha smoothly increased her pace to match her partner, not a drop of perspiration on her brows.

Bursting into the clearing, Jaune cheered in his mind. What he saw was a set of ruins, situated at the center of the clearing (Fortification! Civilization!). He noticed colorful figures lined up at its edge (People! Hope lives on!). Before he could make his way to possible safety, a groan from his right attracted his attention. Swiveling his head as he ran, Jaune spotted a girl in red lying in a small crater, twitching. In the next moment, a girl in white impacted the ground, forming another crater.

Faced with girls falling from the sky, Jaune had to stop and stare.

The monster behind him displayed no such hesitation. A lethal pincer swung towards Jaune's exposed back, and whiffed empty air as a flash of red and gold spear-tackled the creature's prey. The Grimm's claw buried into the ground, momentarily halting its pursuit as it tries to dislodge its appendage. Pyrrha kept a close eye on the beast as she pulled Jaune to his feet.

"You're not dying here, Jaune. Our story have not been told yet."

So-, so cool!

"Thanks Pyrrha. Can you help me get these girls?" Pyrrha beamed with a sunshine smile.

"Of course, Jaune."

Jaune grabbed a disoriented Ruby, who has dragged herself to her knees in the crater. He lifted the short girl, barely registering her weight as he bodily threw her over a shoulder and ran for their lives. He peeked at Pyrrha and Weiss, to see Pyrrha holding Weiss in the aptly-named princess carry and running (in heels!) without a single stumbled steps.

Oum, she is cool.

With a strong jerk, the Grimm freed its pincer, and the chase began anew. A scream alerted Jaune of Weiss' awakening, her position in Pyrrha's arms affording Weiss an unrivaled view of the Grimm mere feet behind her.

"Weiss! Do you have any ideas to stop this thing?"

Jaune's loud voice drew the Grimm's attention, it's stinger shifting to once again center on his back. Glancing towards Weiss, Jaune noticed her intent gaze on the tail aimed his way. Yet, she made no movement. The poor girl must be paralyzed. Instead, Ruby piped up.

"I've got something!"

"Great! Do it!"

"Just hold me steady, Jaune."

"Wait, why…" With a bang, Ruby discharged Crescent Rose at point-blank range into the Deathstalker, the bullet lodging in an eye. With the same bang, Jaune forward-flipped from the shot's recoil. Ruby slipped from his grasp, Crescent Rose slipped from her grasp. Boy, girl, and gun sprawled onto the grass, directly in front of the Grimm.

The Grimm roared in pain, and directed its remaining nine orbs to the sitting ducks. Its glowing tail reared back and shot towards Ruby, the prey that dared to fight back.

"Haaaah."

With a sigh, Weiss Schnee activated Myrtenaster, a torrent of ice bursting forth to encase the tail inches from Ruby's face.

"I suppose I would feel guilty if it killed you two. However, you owe me, understand?"

Jaune and Ruby rapidly nodded in unison. Jaune blurted out in awe.

"Is that what Dust can do? I definitely have to get some for myself!"

"Wha-? NO! This is something only possible for a person of my caliber. It would be completely inefficient in your hands. In fact, using Dust will likely kill you. It is a very delicate substance, with caustic reactions. Therefore, you should leave all my Dust with me. You owe me this! Right? Right!"

Shouldn't they train to use Dust, if it was so effective in combatting Grimm? Yet, peering into Weiss' beautiful face inches from his own, Jaune oddly found himself forced to agree with her insistent demands. Seeing him nod, Weiss' strangling grip on his collar relented, and Jaune breathed freely once more. Sweet, sweet air, how I've missed you.

Picking themselves from the ground, Jaune and his merry band made their way to the center of the clearing. The people from the ruins were also making a beeline for their group, reaching them halfway.

"RUBY!"

The figures skidded to a halt in front of Jaune and company, a yellow blur wrapping itself around Ruby.

A girl in a bow, a boy in green, a girl in pink, and… a Yang Xiao-Long, in the flesh.

Jaune had seen her on the launch pads and had wondered where she went, if only so he could run the other way. Seems fate saw fit to trap him between two monsters today. He hadn't believed Ruby when she claimed the two were sisters. There were sizable differences that made the claim rather fanciful. Seeing their hug now, Jaune fearfully realized that he might encounter the blond woman often due to his friendship with the younger sister.

Ruby squirmed in the blonde's tight grip.

"Yang, quit it! Now's not the time!" The bow-girl, warily watching the trapped Grimm, added her thoughts.

"She isn't wrong, that ice won't hold forever. And the giant Nevermore is coming back around."

The giant what is what?

Blue eyes snapped upwards to the sky. True to the bow-girl's word, Jaune saw a flying form in the distance banking in the wind. It didn't appear very big. Jaune observed the shadowy creature a little more, and creeping dread crawled up his spine as he considered how large it must be to be so clearly visible from this distance. Running from a scorpion is hard enough already, Jaune doubted they could outrun a flying Grimm. He mulled over his dwindling options, as Ruby took charge.

"I saw more ruins on the cliff-side when I was on the Nevermore's back, I think it'll give us the best chance to avoid the Nevermore's feather attacks and lose the Deathstalker. Anyone without a relic can grab it on the way. Everyone ready?" The enthusiastic cheer woke Jaune from his musing.

"No."

His simple refusal invited incredulous stares. 'Did this idiot not want to live?' Their gazes seemed to say. Jaune powered through their disbelief.

"No, we have our best chance here. With the eight of us, we can defeat the Deathstalker. After that, we gang up on the Nevermore. Running will give both of them a clear shot to take us out." The green boy, skeptical, objected.

"The Nevermore won't wait for us to finish off the Deathstalker."

"Au contraire. Grimm of different species can't coordinate. Even within a species, they need an Alpha variant to develop pack tactics. Grimm also do not attack other Grimm. The safest place from the Nevermore, therefore, is with the Deathstalker in between. It will be our cover, and the two won't be able to attack us simultaneously."

Yes, there may be a grievous flaw to this plan Jaune did not know of. However, experiments to lure different species of Grimm into fighting each other or to induce friendly fire between Grimm, were well-known to all end in failure. Grimm do not attack Grimm was a tried and tested conclusion. They somehow knew they are on the same side, and knew to not harm each other. With its bulk, the scorpion Grimm can act as a shield against the Nevermore.

I think.

Jaune hid his own uncertainty, lest the others fall back on their suicidal escape plan. Morale was a fickle thing, after all. He reminded himself that the logic was sound.

Jaune straightened his back, and looked away from his companions to conceal his pale and sweaty face. Drawing his long knife, Jaune rested the blade on a shoulder. In his periphery, Yang Xiao-Long inhaled sharply before breaking out in a bloodthirsty grin.

"With just two of us, it was not enough. So, Pyrrha and I ran. With four, it was not enough. So, we took Ruby and Weiss, and ran. With eight?" Jaune turned his head, showing them half his face, his lips twitched into the semblance of a carefree, debonair smile. "With eight I'm willing to bet on victory and two dead Grimms. There comes a time to stop running, and that time is now, when we vastly outnumber our foe."

Without waiting for their reply, Jaune set his shoulders, and walked towards the Deathstalker escaping its confines. He did not look back.

He didn't need to. His little trick couldn't fail.

After all, what kind of honor-less cowards would run away now and leave their comrade behind to face death?

A rush of footsteps fell in behind him, and Jaune's smile turned sly. It never mattered what he said, not really. Heroes just needed an excuse to be heroes.


Emerald Forest, forest clearing

Nora, formerly known as 'pink girl', activated her Lightning Dust, it's energy ripping through her body to bring forth overwhelming power. She swung her hammer, the Fire Dust in the chamber ignited, strength and speed and sheer force culminated in a devastating blow aimed at the Deathstalker's bone-plated head!

It struck the hard, unyielding carapace, and bounced off.

Nora paused. She looked down at her hammer, and up at the Grimm. She gritted her teeth, her Lightning Dust surged once more, Fire Dust boosted her swing, and hammer crashed against Grimm again!

Witnessing the attempt in futility, Jaune slapped his own forehead, dearly trying not to weep.

He panned his gaze over the battle, and noted that Nora was not alone in having troubles.

Ruby swung her scythe in sweeping attacks. They were imprecise with long lead-ups, chipping bits and pieces off the Grimm's right claw. Yang has lost herself in a rage, raining furious blows to the Grimm's left side that damaged Jaune's psyche with every nostalgic punch. It did very little actual impact on the Grimm, though. Pyrrha fought with a singular focus, befitting her past as a duelist. Her spear transformed into a sword into a rifle and back again, each piercing strike and deadly slash aiming for the gaps in the Grimm's armor. However, she paid little attention to the battle raging outside her reach, and by all accounts intended on defeating the Grimm single-handedly. Weiss played distractions, raising glyphs that peppered shards of ice and gouts of fire on the Grimm's shell to take the pressure off the close-range fighters. Her supply dwindled with every cast. Jaune called out, in the hopes of directing their onslaught.

"The armor is too tough. Eyes, throat, belly, kidney, ba-ack! C'mon!"

Jaune, Lie Ren (aka green boy aka 'Call Me Ren'), and Blake 'Bow-Girl' Belladonna flanked the Deathstalker, faring better than the others as they hacked away at the unarmored underside of the massive tail. The efforts of their teammates, dubiously effective they may be, served as a distraction for the three short-blade wielders. The slashes brought roars of pain, yet the Grimm found scarce opportunities to turn around and deal with the three backstabbers. The eight Hunstmen and Huntresses shifted their positions with the beast's movement, preventing the Grimm from reaching vulnerable targets.

Blake, proving herself the most sharp-eyed of the eight, kept a cautious eye on the Nevermore. Jaune was happy to see that his theory held true so far. The Nevermore attempted a few strafing runs, only to abort as the students received Blake's warning and ducked behind the scorpion. It kept a patrol in the sky, waiting for its time to strike.

Jaune jammed his knife into the wound the three have carved, braced himself, then viciously twisted the blade. The Grimm screamed in agony. Its tailed jerked straight up. Blake was the first to react, diving to the side. Lie Ren, a beat behind, nimbly grabbed the slower blond boy and pulled the both of them under the Grimm's body as the enraged monster slammed its tail into the ground where they previously stood. It swept its tail back and forth in a frenzied arc, blindly trying to crush the persistent annoyances. Blake took further evasive action to avoid the crazed limb, dexterously cartwheeling out of its way. Under the monster, Jaune and Ren knelt. The two met each other's eyes and, in tandem, drove their blades upwards to the hilt into the base of the tail. Carve after carve, cut after cut, the two fell into a comfortable rhythm of attacks. As the tail raised again, Blake reentered the fray, deftly alternating between adding damage to the wound and dodging the flailing stinger.

With a final slash from Ren, the Grimm lost control of its limb. The remaining flesh tore as the long tail toppled over like a tree. The gaping hole behind the Grimm spewed black ichor.

"We got the tail! Keep at it!"

Jaune's announcement was met with a ferocious cheer.

Jaune rushed to the other end of the Grimm, noting the efforts of the frontal vanguard. Ruby and Nora have changed their tactic, aiming for the legs on the right side where the bone plates were not as thick. An appendage hung limply, and a second sported a spider-web of cracks to reveal the flesh underneath. Ren ran to support them, leveraging his gun between a crack in the armor and unloading a clip of Dust bullets. Ichor flew as the stream of bullets severed the thin, weak limb. Yang, Weiss, and Pyrrha, who remained in front of the Deathstalker, have managed to remove a few more eyes. Patches of ice covered the joints of the pincers, reducing its range of movement.

A better opportunity, there never was.

Two caved-in holes presented a glaring blindspot for Jaune to hop over the right claw. Pyrrha followed close, spear extended to take out another eye while Jaune crawled once again under the Grimm. He wedged the knife under the head of the Deathstalker, but couldn't find the space needed to start carving. Frustrated, Jaune abandoned his effort, spun around, and met the terrifying visage of a grinning Yang Xiao-Long kneeling just behind him.

"Need a hand?" She asked.

Then, she uppercutted the Grimm, Ember Celica discharging a full clip of shotgun Fire Dust rounds. The truck-sized mass lifted up for a moment, giving Yang a chance to ready her stance. The mass came down on the Huntress, her arms straining to hold the weight. Pyrrha slid to her side, wedging her spear between the monster and the ground to take some of the weight. Meanwhile, Jaune began cutting like mad into the Grimm's neck section with black, sticky blood pouring down on his arms before disappearing into smoke. Blake, appearing from the shadows, quietly joined the effort.

Victory came with a groan and spasms of legs, as the Deathstalker lost its motor functions. Without its legs, the monster's torso collapsed onto the combatants. Yang held long enough for Pyrrha to grasp Jaune by his collar, pulling him to safety. Blake flipped away as quietly as she came. Alone, Yang blasted Ember Celica into the corpse, the impact raising the torso and giving her room to roll away.

Scrambling to his feet, Jaune stood alongside his fellow students and watched the huge Grimm lie motionless. Smoke drifted, first from its wounds, then throughout its body. A sure sign, that the Grimm is dead.

Jaune couldn't stop the whoop that escaped his mouth. Ruby followed with a cheer of her own, as Yang pumped her fist. Pyrrha clapped Jaune's shoulder. Nora hugged Ren and swung him like a ragdoll. Blake…

"Uhhhh…guys? The giant Nevermore is attacking."

The giant what is what?

As Blake said, the Nevermore (that Jaune definitely didn't forget about) noticed the death of its fellow monster. The giant bird headed towards the party through the air, picking up speed along the way. Jaune could see its wing feathers growing thicker. Nevermores can launch feathers as projectiles, Jaune recalled. With a Grimm that big, each feather would have the weight and size of a spear.

"It's getting closer. Jaune Arc, was it? Tell me you've got a plan."

At Ren's words, Jaune gauged the height and velocity of the Nevermore. He then considered his knife in hand, turning it this way and that. No mechashift function or gun magically materialized.

"Welp, I've got nothing. Run?"

"Wait! I've got an idea. Remember the ruins I told you about? Well…"

Thank Oum for Ruby Rose.


Jaune's Dorm Room, that very night

Jaune hung another black suit in his closet.

Today, Jaune Arc defeated his first Grimm. Stood against the dark. Fought as a hero. Then, he did it again a second time.

He fought not with arm strength or combat experience, but with a team, with strategy, with knowledge.

Hehe, his research into Grimm worked out pretty well. It was integral, in fact, so the twins can't call him a nerd anymore. He called his teachers earlier as promised, but only to inform them of his passing Initiation. He wanted to see their faces this weekend when he recount his tale and reveal that he has been made team leader.

The ties came next. They went on a hook next to the suits.

He could hardly wait to tell them. Because above his team, his strategy, his knowledge, it was the lessons from Melanie and Miltia that saved his life today. That inspired him to fight, and showed him the path to victory. He wanted them to know what they've accomplished, that they took in a fool like him and succeeded in creating a Huntsman.

The casual t-shirts went into a drawer.

Maybe he'll get them a cake too, from that café they all liked. They deserved it and so much more.

The beloved Pumpkin Pete hoodie went… it went…

Where's the hoodie?

Jaune's thoughts halted. He dove into his luggage, pouring out everything left inside. He opened all the drawers again, in the vain hope that he had already packed it away. The closet, likewise, only contained black suit after black suit.

No. No, it can't be.

At the Bullhead station.

He left his luggage alone with the twins.

Pumpkin Pete never made it to Beacon with him, did it?

"He used his short katana pretty well!"
"…If we fight now…I wonder, who would win?…"
"His suit is black and blue, like a big bruise! Hahaha!"
"I will have another chance. I can't give up yet."
"Can't believe they don't deliver alcohol to Beacon. It's urgent!"
"They're a bit similar to each other."
"Even if we have fought side by side, I will bring you to justice, Yakuza."
-Various thoughts of Jaune, after Initiation


Author's note: Everyone that has hunted a Rathalos knows that severing the tail is half the battle. Break the limbs. Break the head. Dodge under the creature to avoid the devastating, yet telegraphed moves. Yup, this is Monster Hunter Arc now.

Wasn't as fun to write as the Yang fight. But was able to mesh various lessons from School Days into the battle. Which was the whole point of Beacon Days.

The Malachites don't go to Beacon, so we won't always get to see Melanie and Miltia in Beacon Days chapters, which is a crime.