The Reviews!
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Reader: Thank you!
X3runner: I was originally gonna bring in the whole Ace-Ops but I felt like I should save the rest for a later date, though I chose Elm for the exact reasons you said. Unfortunately, the "Rukia" Moment is saved for the CROWN Arc which is funny because it's based on the Esapad Arc of Bleach.
Phantom117a: Actually, he does of the ability to manifest Favnear outside of his body, however, Favnear wouldn't be exactly be the same. When outsode of Jaune's body, Favnear would look like a baby wyvern, but he still keeps the original color scheme of Grimm.
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I made a mistake in the last chapter with the sneak peek of this chapter, that was the original plan in my head but when I went to my Docs I saw that I had reworked a few things about this chapter as well as Chapters 38-40.
Though don't worry, we'll still get to see Weiss later on in the Arc!
Thank you for reading today's chapter and I hope you have a wonderful day!
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Penny found herself in a white void, devoid of anything, and she was completely confused at where she was.
"Penny!"
Hearing her name be called out, Penny turned around only for her eyes to widen as she saw around only to see Ciel, Neon, and Flynt, all three of them smiling at her. She was completely surprised by them being here. "What are you all doing here?" She asked
"Why wouldn't we be here Penny? We're your friends!" Ciel said with a smile.
Neon nodded her head, "Yeah! So let's get going girl, and get this party started!" She cried with glee.
Flynt shook his head but had a smile as he looked at his partner's antics, he then turned to Penny, "You hear the lady, let's go," He told her
Penny smiled brightly and ran toward them and brought the three into a hug much to the surprise of the three teens.
"Whoa, can I get in on this hug?" came a new voice.
Hearing this new voice, Penny's eyes widened in surprise once again and she broke the hug and turned around quickly only to see Jaune standing there, also smiling.
Penny's smile widened, "Jaune!" Penny cried with glee. She ran into the hug and tackled him into a hug. She heard the blonde chuckle before embracing her as well. She broke the hug and looked at him, "What are you doing here Jaune?" She asked.
Jaune looked at her with a raised brow, but kept his smiling, "Why wouldn't I be here?" He asked her, "I'm your friend Penny, I'm always there for my friends!" He said.
Penny felt a sense of warmth around her body as she saw Jaune's smile.
Suddenly, she heard a scream and she quickly turned around only much to her horror to see Hades stood behind her and Jaune, and around him were the lifeless bodies of Flynt and Neon, and in his hands held up by her throat was Ciel.
"No..." Penny began, "NO! WHY ARE YOU HERE!?" Penny cried.
She watched as Ciel struggled to get out of the man's grasp, but Hades squeezed his hands around her neck tighter before hearing a crack and he then dropped Ciel like a sack of potatoes.
Penny watched in horror as she saw her friend be killed right before her eyes and anger rose up inside the girl as she charged at the older man with blind fury. Angered at the man who had just taken away her friends.
However, like before, it did nothing as Hades balled his hands together and raised them up high and just when Penny was in range, he brought them down atop her head and she crashed to the ground. She felt like she could move as she looked up at the man with rageful eyes.
"Penny!" Jaune cried out and rushed to attack Hades.
The two fought as Penny watched the fight, still unable to move. As she watched Jaune fight, she remembered the times she had heard about Jaune's great deeds...
Penny walked down the halls of Beacon with Ciel, but she could hear everyone talking and muttering about something. Penny turned to her friend with a raised brow, "Ciel, do you know what everyone is talking about?" Penny asked her.
Ciel turned to her, "You don't know?" She asked, "Apparently, Beacon's only 1st year took on Roman Torchwick in a stolen Atlas Mech, from what the papers say, he and a few haven students took on Torchwick underneath a highway and nearly caught him, but he had escaped,"
Penny was surprised, "Oh! Jaune did something like that?" Penny said with glee, "That's amazing!" she cried.
Ciel rose a brow in confusion, "You know him, Penny?" She asked.
Penny nodded, "Mhm! We met near the docks! He and I are friends!"
She then remembered learning about the breach of Vale and Jaune's role in it.
Penny, Ciel, and team FNKI were outside under the shade of a tree. They mission was in a nearby village, to help with a Grimm problem that they had. For now, they all were relaxing awaiting any more arrival of the Grimm, well, that was until Neon ran toward them, a paper in hand.
"HEY, GUYS! YOU WON'T BELIEVE THIS!" Neon cried with an enthusiastic face.
Ivory, one of Neon's teammates looked at her with a confused look, "What is it, Neon?" they asked.
She quickly showed them the front page which read: "Beacon's only 1st year, Jaune Arc captures Roman Torchwick and saves Vale City!" - By Lisa Lavander.
"Whoa! What!?" Ivory cried as she snatched the paper away from Neon.
All of them gathered around the newspaper as Ivory read out the article.
"Jaune Arc, the most talked about Student in Beacon History has saved Vale once more from the most heinous act that seemed to be planned out by the notorious criminal, Roman Torchwick, who also had members of the White-Fang with him," Ivory read out.
"Ugh, not the White Fang again," Ciel groaned.
Neon nodded, "I know, they aren't helping their so-called message of freedom with this stunt," Neon said.
Ivory continued to read, "Together, they had used Vale's old Underground train system to breach Vale City and bring Grimm into the city, however, with the help of Mr. Arc as well as fellow students of different academies, they had single handily saved the city and captured Roman Torchwich, ending his reign of terror!" Ivory finished with a shocked face.
Flynt whistled, "Damn! He actually did it!" Flynt said with shock.
Ivory nodded, "I know, He did something so many cops and other Huntsmen have failed to do!" Ivory said.
Penny looked at the photo, seeing Jaune and his other friends smiling as they posed for the photo, and she couldn't help but smile at how happy and proud he looked.
'He... he can't lose! He just can't!' Penny told herself as she watched the fight in front of her.
As the fight before her continued, she saw Hades begin to overpower Jaune. The young blonde swung at Hades, but the older man disarmed the young knight before grabbing his sword in the hair and then stabbing him in the chest. Jaune's eyes widened with shock before blood fell from his mouth. Hades had a blank expression as let go of the blade that belonged to the knight and then pushed him back and Jaune fell onto his back, dead.
Penny watched in horror as she saw Jaune fall and screamed in grief and anguish, and tears began to fall from her eyes.
Hades now appeared right in front of her and looked down at her, no emotion was expressed on his face. "Why do you cry? You are nothing more than a machine, you have no heart, you have no emotions, and you do not feel as a human does... you are not real," He told her.
Penny grabbed her head as she continued to cry, she felt a swirl of emotions inside of her and she had no idea what was going inside of her. She just continued to cry in anguish as Hades' words taunted her.
She wasn't real.
She wasn't human.
Were her emotions real? Was she simply a tool built to be used and then thrown away when her purpose was over?
Why was she created?
Why...?
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Jaune walked down the street, heading toward the meeting place that Ciel had given them with directions, and as he did, the young knight made sure he wasn't being followed, looking behind him and around him, even atop the roofs, however, as he continued to walk, he felt very tired and groggy. The reason he was in such a state was because of what Favnear taught him in his soul, thankfully he didn't go feral this time, however, after Favnear taught him how to manifest his power in physical form and he woke up and had to practice it, and after around 10 or 20 times, he managed to maintain the power, however, the side effect of the practice was that he used up a lot of Aura and stayed up most of the night.
Eventually, Jaune arrived and the meeting point, which was apparently a brick house near the west end of Mantle. He walked up the small stairs that lead to the front door and knocked on the door.
Suddenly, the mail slot opened and he heard a whispery voice on the other end. "Password?" they asked.
"Uh... PartyHardy," Jaune said.
The mail slot closed and then a few seconds later, the door opened, and in front of him was Neon, who gestured for him to hurry in, which he did. Once inside, he saw a well-decorated living room, and sitting on a couch were Ciel and Neptune, Neon closed the door and they both joined the other two.
"What is this place?" Jaune asked.
Neon looked at Jaune, "My place," she told him, "My mother is on vacation in Vacuo, and Ciel and I agreed to this place because it's the safest place for us to hide," she said.
Jaune rose a brow in confusion, "Why?" he asked, "Wouldn't this be the first place they check?" he asked again.
Ciel nodded, "It would, but apparently, they've already searched here and my mother's home yesterday, so Neon thought they wouldn't look in the same place twice and while that sounds ridiculous, it worked, they haven't caught us yet," She said.
Jaune nodded, but he then looked at Ciel, "So, what's the plan?" He asked.
"Our objective is to find Hades, and Neon has more connections down here in Mantle than I do, so she and Neptune have volunteered to speak to Neon's connections and see if there's anything we can find about Hades," Ciel said, "Which leave you and me with the hard part," Ciel told Jaune as she looked at him.
Jaune rose a brow in confusion, "What's the hard part?" he asked.
Ciel turned to the blonde, "Dealing with both Specialists Winter Schnee and Elm Ederne," Ciel said. "We can take on simple soldiers, but those two are what we have to worry about," Ciel told him.
Jaune nodded, "I know when I fought that other specialist, Elm, she was strong, she's a damn tank, and Winter's powerful in so many different ways," Jaune said.
Ciel nodded, "They are tough and unless we deal with them and try to convince them to help us, we are in big trouble," Ciel told him, "Let's just be thankful we don't have to face the entire Ace-Ops when we came here," Ciel said.
"Ace-Ops?" Neptune asked.
Neon turned to him, "A team of the greatest Huntsmen in all of the kingdom, however, Specialist Schnee isn't a part of them, but that doesn't make her any less dangerous," Neon told him, "Each member of the Ace-Ops are all powerful in their own right, and all of them are S-Class Huntsmen,"
Neptune let out a whistle ins surprise, "Then it's good we're not fighting all of them," Neptune said.
Jaune nodded in agreement, but he then turned to Ciel, "If both Winter and Elm are S-Class Hunstmen, what makes you think we'll beat them?" He asked.
Ciel looked back at him, "Because of your ability to exceed your limitations," Ciel said, "You have this very odd ability to push past your limits in a matter of seconds, not only that but your Aura techniques are strong and help put you on par with those of a much higher rank than you," Ciel said.
Jaune was surprised by all Ciel said, and would admit he was a fast learner, and had exceeded the expectations of teachers and peers. However, Ciel only answered half of his question, "What about you then?"
"My goal is to become a specialist, I trained for years to be the best, I've learned from retired ones, I know how they act and how they think, I know what they are trained to do, but then there's also my Semblance, which is a rather large trump card," She told him. "If things don't go in our favor, then I'll use it," She finished.
Jaune's brow rose, "What is your semblance?" He asked.
"I'm afraid I can't reveal that, not yet," Ciel said.
Jaune nodded in understanding, it wasn't his business, but if they were going to fight together, Jaune wanted to know, but he'd ask later.
"So, tomorrow, we put the plan in action," Ciel told them, "Understood?"
The group nodded and they all were ready for what tomorrow would bring, but in the meantime, they would relax for a bit but peek out through the blinds, looking for any signs of APD or Atlas Soldiers.
That night, Neon cooked them dinner and they ate in peace, before going to bed early so that they could feel well-rested for tomorrow. They were going to need every ounce of energy for what would happen tomorrow.
The next day, they all woke up early and prepared for the rest of the day, once they were all ready, the four students left Neon's house and split up with their respective partners. Neon and Neptune walked toward the inner city where most of everything happened, while Jaune and Ciel headed for the tram that would take them up to Atlas.
With Neon and Neptune, they looked around for any signs of the authorities and seeing no sign of any, they quickly walked down the sidewalks, trying to make their way toward a building, where Neon said one of her contacts would be.
"Are you sure they'll know something?" Neptune asked.
Neon looked at him and nodded with a smirk, "Trust me, nothing happens in this city without her knowing, if anyone knows something, Ms. Hill does," Neon said.
"And if she doesn't?" Neptune asked with a raised brow.
"Well, then there's the Goliath Bar, a place where criminals and Huntsmen mingle," Neon said.
Neptune looked a little worried when Neon told him, "Is that really the best place to go asking questions?" the haven student asked her.
Neon nodded, "It is, there are plenty of information brokers there, and the place has rules, no fighting, and no killing," She told the blue-haired teen.
As they were walking down the street, the two teens were unaware that they had been seen by a certain specialist, who smiled and prepared to arrest them.
Meanwhile, after 30 minutes of waiting in line, Jaune and Ciel got on the tram, and after a short ride, they arrived in Atlas, however, once they arrived in Atlas, they saw that most of the tram area was empty.
As the rest of the civilians walked away, Jaune and Ciel couldn't help but feel as if something bad was about to happen. Suddenly, dark purple glyphs appeared over them and pushed them to the ground.
Ciel tried to free herself from the force, but it was too great, "D-Damn!" Ciel cried.
Walking toward them was Winter herself, who had her hands behind her back and a blank expression on her face.
Jaune looked at her with a small glare, "H-How'd you know we'd be here?" He asked. His voice strained due to the force atop of him.
Winter turned to him, "Elm ran into Ms. Kat and Mr. Visilias, and she is handling them as we speak, we had soldiers down there looking for you two, but I had a feeling you'd come here, so I waited here," Winter said. "Now, with the both of you in the state you are, it makes this so much easier," Winter said as she pulled out a pair of cuffs.
Jaune grit his teeth and suddenly manifested his aura, however, it morphed from White, to black and red. Winter's eyes widened with shock and she quickly jumped back, while Ciel was confused at how Jaune's Aura had changed from one solid color two to different colors.
'Is the Grimm taking over!? If it is this is bad!' Winter thought.
However, instead of Jaune entering a Feral Grimm state like he had before or Favnear taking over, the burst of his new two-colored Aura shattered the Glyph above him, much to the shock of both Winter and Ciel. Once he was free, he quickly unsheathed Crocea Mors and unleashed a black and red Arcus Mortis at the glyph above Ciel and cut it in half, freeing her from the Glyphs powers.
Ciel quickly got up and she and Jaune took fighting stances as Winter stood there, glaring at the two as she now had to fight them.
Winter continued to glare at the two but sighed, "I know the answer to this, but still, I must ask, will you two come peacefully, or must I bring you in by force?" She asked.
Jaune and Ciel didn't answer, and Winter took their silence as their answer and simply nodded before releasing her secondary hidden weapon and she to took a fighting stance.
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That was it for today's chapter but the next two chapters are going to be wild!
Here's what to expect in Chapter 38!
Neptune and Neon's past are revealed as their fight with Elm continues!