Chapter 4 – Should I Stay or Should I Go

Into the woods they go, unaware that it's the crucible by which their sturdy team will be wrought.

Go in, stick to Blake like glue, watch her obliterate the Grimm, learn as much as I can, go out. No problem. Simple. Simple as a pimple.

Jaune was still nervous as he walked alongside his partner into the treeline. Lemuria Settlement was fading into the ocean of green as they strode further and further through the unpaved wilderness.

It's probably normal. My first mission is giving me jitters – I bet every young huntsman gets this feeling every now and again.

Blake had kinda made it sound…rough, though. They hadn't run into any Grimm yet, but he knew they were going to eventually.

She's just worried about me. And after all of the kindness she's shown me, I owe it to her to stick around and do, uh, whatever it is I can to help.

He still hadn't logicked that one out yet. This partnership of theirs, it was moving at light speed, and the pace was almost alarming to Jaune. They'd met up yesterday just out of random chance, having been the two students to be kicked out of Beacon at the same time, and now they were in cahoots? Like, something about that just seemed rushed.

It wasn't like we had a lot in common or something to justify us needing one another; just the whole kicked-out thing. She didn't know me, and I didn't know her, and now we're…are we friends? Are we partners? I still feel like I barely know her. I think I can still count the number of times we've spoken to one another on one hand.

Make no mistake, Jaune was happy to have her. It may have been fast, and it may have honestly seemed a bit like an alliance of necessity rather than a real emotional bond between companions, but he wasn't going to disrupt their apparent harmony by questioning Blake.

There was always the possibility that she was taking him for a ride down the primrose path, but she didn't really seem like the type to do that to a guy, especially not one she was commiserating with. And besides, if she were conning him, what would she even be conning him for? Jaune brought nothing to their relationship.

Blake was already holding onto both of their checks from Ozpin, so it couldn't be the money. More money, from the mission? A free slave to do the work for her? But Blake was the one who'd asked him if she could do all of the hunting! He was getting a free ride and a potential payday at the end of this. Even if it was less than hers, it was more than 0%, which was what he was contributing professionally to their little business arrangement.

If I stepped back and looked at this whole thing objectively, I'm pretty sure that I'm the one conning her. I sit back, do no work, and get free lien for the effort. Hell, I'm even getting to watch a pro-huntress in action, which is probably something little junior trainee kids would pay for the opportunity to do.

Free money, one partner doing all the work while the other slacks off, Blake caring for me like this…is she a simp or something?

The mission they had was a fairly simple one. Fall was coming, meaning that the village was going to be receiving a portion of Vale's economic surge when the annual music festival started up in the form of tourism. Lemuria had some big hot springs or lakehouse resort or something – Jaune had only skimmed the mission briefing since he wasn't going to be working – and they needed to be ready to host people who came their way, hence the need for a couple (or, in truth, single) of hunters to clear out the surrounding forests.

The watchman at the gate reported seeing Beowolves and Ursai nearby, which meant there was a pack or tribe of those two somewhere, so they were also expected to destroy those. There were no secondary objectives, no special Grimm, no nothing – a simple 'find and kill' job. Find as many Grimm as they could, kill them all. Simple as the aforementioned pimple.

Jaune couldn't help but wipe the sweat from his brow. It was partly from the heat of lugging around his Arc family armor and weapon, but nervousness was also an element to it.

"We'll be fine," Jaune breathed to himself.

"Huh? You say something?"

Jaune shook his head. Anxious or not, he wasn't going to be the guy who distracted the professional huntress when she was on the scent.

Even though he had no intention of fighting, he still had Crocea Mors drawn and at the ready…though that was mainly so that the sheath could be transformed into a shield. Jaune's big plan was to hide behind his weaponry, maybe swishing and slashing a Grimm if it got too close, and watching Blake massacre the Grimm.

So much for not being the damsel. Still, I probably can learn a lot from this. I'll study her movements with her sword and then just apply them to myself. It should be easy. By the next mission, I'm sure I'll be just as useful as her.

"Hold." Blake held up a hand behind her.

"What is it?" Jaune asked desperately. "Is it Grimm? Are they near?"

"What do you think?" Blake asked softly.

"U-Uh, p-probably?"

"No, Jaune, that was a rhet– never mind. And voices down, if you don't mind. Grimm aren't really known for stealth, so we'll know when they're nearby. When you see the wave of clawed paws and a mouthful of teeth barreling towards you, that's when you know they're here. Right now, I just think we should pause and take stock of ourselves."

"Uh…sure. Yeah, what's up?" he asked in a softer voice, as per Blake's request. Jaune looked around and saw that the village from which they'd come was long gone. To be fair, they had been walking for a while. "Are we doing a snack break or something?"

"No." Blake's stern look faded after a second. "I mean, I guess you can. But just listen to what I have to say, m'kay?"

Jaune reached into his backpack to fish a water bottle and a sealable baggie of trail mix out, then gave Blake his full and undivided attention.

"I was thinking. About our plan of action, when we get to the Grimm."

Jaune nodded along, flicking a chocolate candy into his mouth.

"It might be best if I were to go on ahead and –"

"Nmho!" Bits of chocolate flew out of Jaune's mouth as he rushed to oppose that suggestion. Swallowing to be polite once he'd realized how gross that was, Jaune repeated himself. "No. I-I don't think that might be best, Blake."

"I can work best alone, Jaune. It's for your own good. We'll keep the same division of paym–"

"Blake, you can have the lien, just let me watch! I'll never become a…the only way I can…look, I just need to watch. I can pull up videos of huntsmen fighting on RemnTube, but it's just not the same thing. If I can just watch, even from a distance…"

Maybe he didn't need to watch a huntress in action, but Jaune certainly felt like it was essential. He'd already lost Beacon, and then he'd lost his chance to actually do stuff during his first mission. If he didn't get to even go on it, it would just be one too many sacrifices. The dream that fueled him, the desperate desire to become a hero, had been gradually slipping away further and further, and Jaune had just been passively letting it up to this point.

Well, no more. It was time for him to be a man and stand his ground!

"Please!" Jaune begged, slapping his hands together and getting down on his knees.

"Jaune, please qui–"

"I'll do anything! You…You can have the full reward, just let me at least go with you!" Crawling forward on his knees, he dragged himself right up to Blake's legs. "Please don't take this last thing away from me, Blake, I'm literally begging you!"

"Jaune, stop speaking so loud!"

"GRRRRRR!"

"Shit," Blake hissed. She pivoted around on one leg and entered a much combat stance that was much lower to the ground. Her sword drawn, he rapidly scanned the trees until her head stopped in one spot.

Jaune followed her line of sight to see a hulking black and white abomination charging their way, knocking aside branches and shrubs as it did. It was also noticeably larger than he'd been expecting, probably the size of a tank. Judging from the way it batted aside entire trees like they were mere sticks, it might have been just as bulky as one.

"Minor! Fuck!"

Blake kicked off the ground and launched onto the side of a tree, from which she kicked off again and sailed towards another. Jaune could only watch in amazement as she agilely leapt from trunk to trunk, never touching the ground as she approached her opponent.

Dodging an overhead swipe from the thick, fluffy-looking paw of the Major thing, Blake run her sword down its back, eliciting an ear-piercing roar.

"GHHHRRROOOORRAAAAHHHHRR!"

Jaune belatedly realized that, if his loud voice had been what alerted this one Grimm to their location, that dying warcry probably was the flare that announced their presence to the entire forest.

And it's not even dead yet! She's still going to town on this big boy!

Blake's sword had somehow transmorphed into a gun and was loading the Grimm full of lead at the legs. She didn't stop when it turned around and tried to dive for her, only jumping up and kicking off another tree to avoid the blow. The sword-turned-gun of hers kept firing at the same spot on the Grimm's leg until something in it tore, and the entire limb flopped off onto the forest floor.

"KKKKRRRYYYYAAAARRRGGG! GRYYAARKK!"

Blake brushed her hair, inspecting her own destruction before curtly nodding and turning back to him. "Jaune, I think it's time you…shit, your six!"

Huntsman or not, Jaune immediately knew that six meant something was behind him and turned around. When the Grimm behind him batted him aside like a whiffleball, Jaune realized it would probably have been better to have ducked rather than turned to face his attacker, but at least he'd protected his body with his already raised shield.

His moment of victory didn't last long, however, as the ground came his way by force of gravity. Jaune slid he landed on his butt, and he was moving so fast that he actually flipped over entirely and ate a mouthful of dirt. The friction hurt the exposed patches of his skin on his face like they'd been dipped in Fire Dust and lit ablaze, and Jaune accidentally bit down on his own tongue as he grunted in agony.

That hurt! Aerrgggh, GODS, that really hurt!

Something yanked on the back of his armor, and before Jaune knew it, he was flying through the air again, but this time away from the Beo-dude that had struck him the first time.

His back collided with something hard, but it was armored and didn't induce the same pain as the initial hit. It still hurt, but the impact was dulled.

I guess that's what good armor is meant for.

"Hold on, Jaune," said Blake's voice. Jaune pivoted his head to see that her weapon, switching into yet another form, had hooked him by the back of his chest plate and reeled him in like a fishing hook and line. She was perched a few meters above him in a super tall redwood tree, and she was reeling him up to safety.

Beneath them both was a small but increasing horde of Grimm, barking and howling and yipping like rabid animals. Jaune had heard about Grimm, and he'd even seen pictures, but he now realized that that was absolutely not enough. Pictures and descriptions were static, and it was the ravenous movements of these monsters that truly instilled the fear of the God of Darkness in him. They tore at the tree, digging their claws into the bark and dragging them down as far as they could into the dirt, screeching raw, primal cries of hatred at the people just above.

"Jaune, take my hand!"

Still staring down at the swarming Grimm gang beneath him, Jaune stuck his arm straight up. Even he couldn't see Blake's hand to take it, he was going to have to trust her to grab his arm, because there was no way he was going to be able to tear his eyes away from those bloodthirsty creatures down at the base of the tree.

"I'm pulling you up, okay? Hold…on…ergh…tight!"

Jaune was hoisted to safety, joining Blake on the branch. It was a sturdy one that she'd chosen, certainly strong enough to hold their combined weight and that of their weapons. Blake stood upright on it, sword in one hand, while Jaune just sat his butt down with his legs dangling down. They were probably forty meters in the air, far away from the hungry monsters that were trying (and fortunately failing) to climb their way up the bark of the redwood.

"I'm okay," Blake said. "I just…you yelled, and I hadn't been expecting them, so I…dammit. I don't think I have enough bullets to shoot them one by one, and there's too much swarm for me to safely go back down."

Jaune had no ideas, but even if he had some, he was too shocked from the whole experience to actually say them. Now that he was out of the immediate line of fire, it was slowly beginning to sink in that he'd nearly been killed just now. If that Beogrimm had swiped just a little bit higher, it would've torn his armor rather than impacting his shield. If it had been a bit higher than that, his head would be lying on the ground next to his decapitated body, to be used by the Grimm as a football.

Blake…Blake saved my life back there.

"Th-Thank you," Jaune managed to stutter. His savior wasn't really paying much attention to him, but he didn't want her to think he wasn't appreciative.

"I…I guess you get to participate in the mission like you wanted," Blake said, staring down. She aimed her gun and started taking shots. Jaune watched her aim with lethal accuracy, sniping some of the smaller Grimm with one bullet to the neck each. "Once I run out of ammo, we're going to have to split them. I'll do what I can, but you'll need to watch my back, okay?"

"I…I…what?! There's no way I can fight those things! They've gotta be twice my size, and there're hundreds of them!"

"Only about forty by my count," Blake said matter-of-factly, exploding the brains of another Beogrimm as its body disappeared.

"Forty…that's still a total of eighty times my size! Probably a hundred since some of the bigger Beogrimms are –"

"Beowolves," Blake corrected. "The bigger ones are…"

Her brow furrowed, and she stopped shooting for a second to shoot Jaune a confused, slightly baffled look.

"Have you never seen a Beowolf before?"

"I…I…no. I told you, I'm not really big on experience. Like…zero, okay?" Jaune buried his head into his hands in shame, too embarrassed to even meet Blake's eyes lest they judge him for his lies. "I have no experience. None at all."

It was embarrassing to admit this to the woman who'd practically carried his sorry butt this far, but she needed to know he was a fraud if she was expecting him to watch his back.

"Jaune, you're bleeding." Blake stepped over, kneeling on the branch in front of him. She reached a hand down and touched the scratch on his neck. Coated in his blood, her fingers rubbed together. "You're…You're bleeding."

"Yeah." Jaune's initial response was more shame, but then he realized that it wasn't some big embarrassing thing to have blood come out when you got cut. "Uh…is that a problem?"

"You don't have…"

"Don't have what, Blake?"

"ROOOOOAAAAAAR!"

The incessant noise of the Grimm below was interrupted by a uniquely loud bellow. Both teenagers looked down from their place of safety to see another Minor thing, the same type Blake had killed first, was down below, but this guy was a lot bigger. Like, the biggest Grimm Jaune had ever seen. Granted, he'd only seen them in person starting today, but this was a solid five meters tall. If the one she killed was a Minor, Jaune would have been willing to bet cold hard lien that this was a Major.

"Fuck me, is that a Major?" Blake said.

Hah, got it in one.

The Major let out another roar, this one loud enough to force Jaune to cover his ears before his eardrums ruptured. That thing can really sing!

Slamming its paws down on the ground, the Major smashed its head into the tree and made the entire redwood creak. Jaune's heart did backflips when the sound of splintering wood came from below as the Major kept headbutting the tree.

"We need to get to another tree, Blake!"

But Blake didn't respond. For some reason, she was a girl transfixed, staring at the blood that coated her fingers. The look on her face wasn't one of fear in spite of the deathly circumstances in which they found themselves; it would have been better described as deep focus.

"If you're coming up with a plan, make it quick!" Jaune pointed to the Grimm. "That thing's gonna take us down if we stay here for another ten seconds!"

With another blaring roar, the Major pummeled its mighty fists into the dirt, then leaned back for a final head-smash against the tree. However, it never came.

Beneath its very feet, the ground around the Grimm simply collapsed. The Grimm itself fell down into the hole as it began to widen in diameter and swallow up everything around it. Dirt, fallen branches, other Grimm – everything came collapsing down as Remnant itself opened up to consume them.

It was almost geometric in the way that a near perfect circle with crisp lines began to form around both Jaune's tree and the Grimm as more and more ground gave way.

Hey, I recognize this. It's a sinkhole, like the one they showed on the news that swallowed up that house in Mistral! The surface layer of rock or soil starts to collapse, and –

Evidently, nothing was safe, for the tree fell into the widening gyrepit before Jaune could even finish the thought.

When the dirt cleared, they were all of them trapped below the surface in a pit that was probably the size of ten to twelve washing machines. The sky was still visible from above at the top of the circular cavern into which they'd been plunged.

A lot of the Grimm had survived and were in the process of unburying themselves from the roots and rocks that covered their body, so Jaune and Blake weren't in the clear yet. Also, it was going to be a bit of a challenge to get out of this place. The tree's base had gone straight down and collided with the bottom of the cylindrical sinkhole (probably crushing a few Grimm on the way if the black stains on its roots were any indicator), but without its root system, there was nothing to keep it upright. Thus, it had tilted until the top hit a side of the sinkhole and got lodged into the wall of the pit. It was probably only four or five meters to the ledge, but the uneven walls didn't look safe enough to climb on.

Jaune himself had taken the tumble without any grace, losing his footing and slamming right into the branch he'd been standing on stomach-first, but Blake was still upright. As he painstakingly pulled himself up and gasped for breath, she looked down at him and then up to the surface again.

"Grrrrrrr…"

"Crap," Jaune cursed. "The Grimm are coming!"

The tree, now angled at roughly 60 degrees off the ground, was no longer unclimbable. The Grimm, digging their claws into the bark, slowly began to ascend it. One by one, in a straight line, they began the painstaking process of inching their way up, snarling the whole time.

Oh, and to make matters worse, the pit was starting to collapse even more! It wasn't as quickly as before, but Jaune could see the soil shifting down below, and the tree was slowly scraping against the wall as freedom and sunlight began to grow further and further away.

"Blake! If you had some great escape idea, now's the time!"

Never before had Jaune been so powerless, but petty feelings like pride abandoned his mind as the Grimm got closer and the forest above got farther. The only thing he could even consider right now was him and his partner getting out of this alive.

"Okay. Okay, I'll…I'll do it, Jaune."

"Blaaaake," Jaune groaned, grabbing a small cluster of leaves and chucking them at the Grimm. "Hurry!"

Abruptly and with no warning, Blake was up in Jaune's face, far too close for comfort. If she leaned forward, she could probably have kissed him.

"For it is in justice that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become paragons of warfare and grandeur to defend all. Liberated from cruelty and champions for the downtrodden, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, oblige thee."

Jaune's body exploded.

Okay, not literally, but it felt like every vein and hair and patch of skin and muscle had always been screaming, but now they were screaming in unison. The effect took a lot out of him, and he would have collapsed if not for the fact that he was already partially seated. At the same time, he could instinctively know that he was…better than before. Not feeling better; he was better.

"W-What…" Jaune slurred woozily.

But when he looked up, Blake was no longer there.

Coming Soon: No B in Team

If you only look out for number one, you may find yourself neck deep in number two.