Before we begin some answers to a few reviews.
Guest: As far as I'm aware the teachers rarely gave advice, but that's mainly a problem with the writing of RWBY. I honestly wish they had developed Beacon and the other academies a lot more.
Arrow in knee: I will focus on JNPR and making them stronger gradually, but at the heart this will be mostly Jaune centric.
Triscythe59: Absolutely, the first two were already set in stone because I had written this fic a whole back but I'll take any suggestions for his third trainer.
Maxwolf936 and Arturwho: Thank you both so much, you have no idea how happy it made me to see someone remember this story and enjoy it.
The rest of lunch came and went without incident for the young huntsmen and huntresses in training. Now they were on their way to their final class of the day, that being combat class.
Jaune could say with certainty that he was not fond of combat class for a number of reasons. Primarily among them was that he lacked actual combat skills and was almost always paired up with Cardin...yeah not fun. He was also pretty sure that Ms. Goodwitch didn't like him all that much, but he couldn't really hold that against her.
What was he getting at again? Oh yeah, he did not like combat class or he used to not like it, but today would be different. Today he wouldn't be fighting as the blonde noodle that had no idea what he was doing, no today he wasn't going to just beat Cardin he was going to humiliate him.
Apparently the rest of team CRDL wasn't getting off easy either. So far the class had started with little fanfare and gone through three matches already. Sky Lark was pitted against Nora for the first match and had gotten beaten to a pulp. Jaune may of had something to do with that, what with offhandedly saying that Nora should "enjoy" her match. A lightning dust crystal later and Sky was beaten around with Magnhild in a way that made him look like a paddle ball.
The next match had been Dove Bronzewing versus Yang and Jaune had to actually feel a little bad for Dove...just a little. Yang's semblance was the second most terrifying that he had ever seen, second only to Nora's, and she had used it to absolutely decimate the guy. The arena had actually been in such terrible condition that miss Goodwitch called a brief intermission in the class to repair the damage and give the blonde brawler an earful about restraint.
Currently Russel Thrush was down in the arena against Pyrrha. Of course Pyrrha ,being the nice person that she is, was not absolutely demolishing Russel like Yang or Nora had done to his teammates. While Pyrrha was more graceful and a superior fighter, she still had more restraint than her teammate and friend.
Of course these matches all involving members of team CRDL didn't go unnoticed by anyone, but most thought nothing of it. At least the first years didn't, but Jaune had overheard a couple of third years in front of him talking about Goodwitch running team CRDL through the "gauntlet" this year.
His curiosity peaked Jaune leaned forward so as to speak while keeping his voice low and tapped one of the third years on the shoulder. The one to look back at him was slightly annoyed until she saw that it was Jaune and then she gave him a small smile.
Now that he had a better look at her Jaune would admit she was very attractive. The young woman wore the standard Beacon academy uniform with the only alteration being a pair of half folded high, gray leather boots. She was a mouse Faunus if the two ears and slim whip-like tail were anything to go by. She actually reminded him a bit of Ruby with the way her hair was in a short almost bob cut.
Realizing that he was starting to stare Jaune spoke up regarding his earlier question. "Sorry to bother you, but I overheard you and your friend talking, what do you mean 'gauntlet'."
The girl simply smiled a little larger before giggling. "Don't worry about it I'm not bothered at all."
Jaune was inclined to disagree due to how she had reacted at first, but wisely kept his mouth shut.
"It's not something I should tell you buuuut considering what you did in the cafeteria earlier I'll make an exception." She stated coyly with a foxish smirk that seemed alien for a mouse faunus. "The 'Gauntlet' is when a team of trouble makers gets to be too much of a handful for normal methods of discipline to work. So the teachers make their lives living hells until they get in line."
Jaune raised an eyebrow in confusion wondering if that was actually ethical considering it sounded a lot like hazing. Then again they were also training to be huntsmen and might get themselves killed if they act up like CRDL had been.
Seeing his look the girl elaborated. "Of course I get what it may sound like, but you have to understand the mortality rate for huntsmen is pretty high. So it's better-"
"Better to haze them now and get their heads on straight than lose their heads later on." Jaune finished causing the young woman to laugh silently.
"Exactly...if only all first years had their heads on like you." She commented with a small smile.
For his part Jaune blushed slightly, but what could you say. He was still a young man with hormones that was just complimented by a rather attractive young woman.
"Oh right I forgot, I'm Jaune." He introduced himself.
"Jane Doe, and it's a pleasure to meet you Jaune. If you have any more questions come find me, Beacon has plenty of mysteries first years aren't aware of." She stated with a sly smile as she turned back to speak with her friend.
Jaune blinked owlishly for a moment as he thought over what Jane had said. "What mysteries?" Jaune was shaken from his thoughts by Nora who tapped him on the nose.
"Boop."
Jaune shook his head slightly before a small smile broke out. He looked towards Ren to see that he was also watching Jaune.
"Did I miss anything?" He asked.
Nora grinned as she pointed towards the arena. When Jayne's turned his head he saw that the match was over. True to her nature Pyrrha had not outright hurt Russel, instead opting to run circles around him instead. By the end of it Pyrrha had only lost a small portion of her aura still well into the ninety percentile while Russel was on the ground panting. His aura had been reduced to exactly nineteen percent dropping him into the red.
"Jaune, are you sure about this?" Ren asked causing Jaune to turn to his friend.
Jaune obviously knew what he meant, with RDL down that only left the big C to deal with. "Yeah, I'm sure Ren."
Ren watched his leader for a few moments before he nodded.
Their attention was brought back to the arena where Ms. Goodwitch had announced Pyrrha the winner.
"Now the next and final match of the day will be Cardin Winchester against Jaune Arc. Gentlemen please make your way towards the locker rooms and retrieve your equipment."
Jaune stood from his seat and started towards the locker room, but not before receiving wishes of good luck from his friends.
With Ren
Ren watched his leader leave with a slight amount of concern. Jaune was not what one would call skilled, now don't get him wrong. Jaune was an excellent leader and had a knack for strategic thinking that it traumatized most of their team when they played against him in a session of Remnant The Game. However, Jaune had not shown much if any affinity for actual combat and that concerned Ren.
He was pulled from his thoughts as he heard Ruby speak up. "Do you guys think Jaune can win? I mean I know he said he could fight better hand to hand, but..."
Ren nodded along with Ruby's statement, saying one could do something and actually being able to were two very different things.
"Of course fearless leader can do this. Has he ever lied to us?" Nora asked effectively shutting the conversation down. Even Weiss would not challenge Nora on this stance.
Ren felt a small bit of guilt after her statement, Jaune had never lied to them. He was honest to a fault and wore his heart on his sleeve. Ren shook his head slowly as he watched his leader step out of the locker room wearing his usual outfit, however this time he was missing Crocea Mors and his armor. He would just have to have faith in his leader, it hadn't lead him astray so far.
With Jaune
Walking into the arena Jaune stood across Cardin who now stood in full plate armor with his oversized mace in hand. Between the two stood Ms. Goodwitch who was watching Jaune intently.
"Mr. Arc where is your weapon and armor?" Goodwitch asked.
"In my locker Ms. Goodwitch." Jaune replied easily with a smile deciding he would take a page out of Kakashi Sensei's book.
"And why pray tell would you leave your equipment there?" Glynda asked.
"Ah, I was never actually trained to use a sword and shield. It was more of a family tradition and I went with it for as long as I could, but now I think I should actually fight like I was taught." Jaune replied as he reached into his back pocket and took out...'Make Out Tactics'. Opening the book to a random page Jaune started to read.
"Mr. Arc...are you reading right now?" Glynda asked slowly not believing the audacity of the boy to her left.
"Of course."
"And why are you doing so right now."
"I want to find out how the book ends."
Glynda's eye twitched she was about to use her semblance to remove the book and give the boy detention when she heard a grinding sound to her right. Looking in that direction she saw that Cardin was getting increasingly irate at the obvious disrespect.
It was then that she realized what Jaune was doing. She then surveyed the room to find her remaining students in a mix of disbelief and laughter. She had to applaud the young man, he was playing on his opponents weakness and doing so beautifully.
"Very well Mr. Arc, do let me know if it is a good read." She stated causing most of the room to go bug eyed.
Jaune simply gave her a small salute as Glynda prepared to start the match. "Combatants ready?! Begin!"
With the beginning of the match announced Cardin exploded across the arena intent on pummeling Jaune...or that's what others saw.
Jaune watched Cardin running across the arena towards him as if he was watching a slow motion scene. 'Was Cardin always this slow?' He thought to himself.
When Cardin reached Jaune he swung his mace in a left arc only for Jaune to move his body the smallest of margins just barely avoiding the blow. Using his right elbow to push Cardin and sliding his foot underneath Cardin's heel Jaune used the momentum from Cardin's attack to send the boy flying.
As Jaune simply stood there with his back towards Cardin he flipped a page in the book muttering an "Oh."
Cardin quickly got to his feet as he once again charged Jaune this time going for an overhead strike. Just as he approached Jaune spun behind Cardin still facing away from him and kicked backwards into the back of one of his opponents knees. At the same time Jaune used his free hand to push Cardin over causing the bully to fall on all fours. Adding insult to injury Jaune then leaned backwards so that he was using Cardin as a seat.
"Thank you I was just thinking that I should sit down for this part." Jaune stated as he flipped another page.
Hearing the laughter of the class increase Cardin was getting angrier. "ARRRRCCCC!!!" With a loud guttural growl Cardin picked up and slammed his mace into the ground igniting the dust crystal inside. The resulting explosion threw dust and debris everywhere obscuring the arena from all.
As he stood up once again Cardin smirked thinking that he had finally hit Arc. That was until he heard clapping, looking around he could tell where it was coming from. When the dust settled he saw Arc still standing with a damned smirk.
"Not bad Cardin, hey how much do you charge? I've been meaning to hire a house keeper." Jaune explained.
Cardin hoisted his mace into his shoulder once again. "Fuck you arc!"
"Sorry don't swing that way, but I know who does". Jaune stated pointing to Cardin's left.
"Like I'm going to fall for-"
Cardin was cut off as a fist collided with his cheek sending him rolling across the floor. Looking up Cardin was shocked to see his teammate Sky walking towards him.
"Sky what the fuck!"
"Guess again."
That was all the warning Cardin had before he dove to the side and swung his mace as he rolled. Cardin felt his swing connect and shatter whatever he hit. Looking back in the direction he had avoided he was surprised to find a log where Sky had been.
"The fuck?"
"Praise the log."
Cardin looked beside him to see Arc...praying just before an arm shot out punching him in the mouth. Staggering backwards Cardin swung his mace overhead towards Jaune only for him to disappear in a flash of smoke and another log take his place. With yet another log shattered Cardin started looking around for any sign of Jaune only to see that he was nowhere to be found.
It was then that Goodwitch approached him. "Mr. Winchester it appears that Mr. Arc has left. You may return to the locker room."
Cardin's shoulders dropped and his mouth fell open. That...that little fuck had chickened out. He started to silently curse out Arc as he started to leave the arena. As soon as his foot stepped over the boundary the match was called.
"Winner by forfeit Mr. Arc!" Goodwitch announced causing Cardin to spin around in shock. It was then that he saw there were two Glynda Goodwitch with the one that had called the match staring pointedly at the other. "Mr. Arc could you please...return yourself to normal."
Wordlessly the other Ms. Goodwitch disappeared in a cloud of smoke revealing Jaune Arc. Silence reigned for several moments until cheering, starting from team (J)NPR, spread through the arena.
Goodwitch allowed for it to continue for a couple of minutes until she raised her hand silencing the crowd. "Now let's review your performances, starting with you Mr. Winchester." She stated seeing the two boys nod although it was obvious Cardin was gritting his teeth.
"Mr. Winchester, quiet frankly that was an incredibly pitiful display. You allowed your opponent to goad you into rushing into that fight and continued to allow your anger to cloud your judgement throughout it. When faced with an opponent that could obviously outmaneuver you, you refused to adapt to those changes and continued to allow your opponent to dictate the tempo of your match. I recommend that you work in facing such opponents in the future and countermeasures for such a foe." Glynda then turned her critical eyes away from Cardin and into Jaune.
There were many things running through Glynda's mind at the moment, most prominent amongst them was how she failed to notice that Jaune Arc had such skill and potential. She hated to admit it, truly she did, but Ozpin was right. She had been wrong in her earlier assessments of Mr. Arc.
"Mr. Arc, never have I seen a student so inept in one form of combat only to be so proficient in another. I also feel the need to applaud your tactical awareness, not only did you lure your opponent in by playing on his ego, but you also used a myriad of strategies to further the gap between you. That does bring me to a question, how were you able to appear as Mr. Lark, myself, and change places with logs?"
Jaune was silent for a moment unused to the praise of his combat instructor. He then registered her question and thought about it. Should he tell her? As a matter of fact should he go to her and the headmaster about the lottery? There were still a lot of unknowns about the lottery that he wasn't sure of, but maybe professor Ozpin could help him.
Realizing that he had yet to answer her question Jaune cleared his throat before speaking. "That was part of my semblance."
Glynda was surprised as her eyebrows raised. "Your semblance? In that case what does your semblance do? If you've just unlocked it we need to know in case there are unexpected developments or health concerns."
"I...can't really say, as you know the Vytal festival is coming up soon and my team and I would like to keep most of my semblance under wraps. Of course I can elaborate that I was able to change my appearance, form duplicates of myself, and switch places with a prepared item. The first two were actually illusionary based as I didn't change my appearance just cast an illusion over myself." Jaune explained causing most of the class and Glynda herself to mentally scream at how bullshit that sounded.
Glynda went to speak again, but her scroll began ringing. She held up a finger to tell the class to give her a moment as she answered it.
"Sir?"
...
"I'm aware sir."
...
"I will sir."
...
"Of course sir."
She ended her call and put her scroll away before she turned to address the class in general. "Alright students, that will be all for today. Have a pleasant evening and I truly hope some of you will behave yourselves." She stated giving a pointed look towards Nora and Yang who had started whistling innocently. She then turned back to Jaune who was preparing to leave for the locker rooms. "Mr. Arc please stay behind for a few minutes after class."
Jaune nodded before he looked back towards his team and team RWBY. Locking eyes with Ren Jaune pointed to himself and then balled his hand into a fist before pointing to Ms. Goodwitch. Ren nodded in understanding before relaying the message to the others and leaving the room.
When the room was void of anyone other than teacher and student Glynda made to speak.
"You and your team know hand signals?" She asked in mild surprise. That seemed to be the new norm with Mr. Arc today.
"My sister, Opal, and I learned when we were kids just for fun. A couple days after initiation Nora accidentally did one and I replied back out of habit. It kinda snowballed from there, they come in handy though." Jaune explained sheepishly.
"Mr. Arc I must apologize to you." Glynda stated suddenly.
Jaune was surprised by the sudden apology and stuttered a bit. "Ah-um, what?"
Glynda adjusted her glasses before speaking. "I'm aware of your transcripts Jaune."
Jaune froze in fear, this wasn't good, what would happen now? Would he be expelled? Arrested? His eyes immediately darted towards the only exit in the room. Would he make it? No, no, Goodwitch's semblance would make escape impossible.
Seeing the building panic Glynda snapped her fingers bringing Jaune out of his inner panic. "Rest assured you are not in trouble, transcripts are merely meant to weed out who shouldn't be attending our initiation. However, there are some individuals that slip through the cracks such as yourself. Most voluntarily drop out after a few weeks, but those that make it are legitimate students of Beacon Academy."
"O-oh then why are you apologizing? If anything I feel like I should be apologizing."
"Because I let my feelings about your entry turn into bias. A bias that caused me to single you out thus ignoring all that I could be doing to actually help you." Glynda explained.
"Oh, then thank you Ms. Goodwitch. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. It's just...my parents never wanted this for me. Even going so far to ban any talk of huntsmen, aura, or anything else related to them when they realized I was serious. I had to take this chance. I promise I'll become a student to make you proud." Jaune explained as he stared at the floor. He had his eyes screwed shut as he awaited the eventual admonishment and dismissal of his dream.
What he was not expecting was for Glynda Goodwitch, toughest instructor at Beacon Academy, to pull him into a firm hug. He opened his eyes in shock only to see Glynda smiling at him.
"Ozpin was right, you should of had someone to believe in you to begin with. I'll have to give Juniper and Nicholas a piece of my mind next time I speak with them." Glynda stated causing Jaune to stare shocked.
He pulled away from the hug in shock. "You know my parents?"
Glynda chuckled "Of course I know your parents. You mother and I were teammates back in our Beacon days. Your father was on a separate team, but was still a very good friend."
Jaune was surprised yet again, he knew a lot about his dad because he told him tons of stories, but he didn't know anything about his mother's days as a huntress. It wasn't that his mother was ashamed she just preferred not to discuss her time as a huntress.
"I was actually in the running to be your godmother." Glynda stated.
"I have a godmother?"
Glynda nodded. "Yes, a former teammate of your fathers. Unfortunately she's not in the best of conditions these days."
"What about a godfather?" Jaune asked curiously.
Glynda grimaced "He...was my teammate Brynn Odinson. His wife was our last teammate Gondull Valkyrie."
The gears in Jaunes head were turning quickly as he started piecing bits and pieces together. "Valkyrie...as in Nora?"
Glynda nodded somberly. "That's right, Nora Valkyrie is my Goddaughter and had things played out differently she would have been your sister as your father was her Godfather."
Jaune stood still in shock, he knew Ren and Nora were both Orphans, but to know that Nora was essentially family to him and had been left on her own for who knows how long made him sick.
"Jaune...that's why your parents didn't want you to be a huntsman. They know better than most the cost this career can take from you better than most. Our circle of friends was twelve strong and now we're down to just half of that. Not to mention only three of us are still active huntsman." Glynda explained causing Jaune to slowly nod in understanding.
Jaune felt like he could understand his parents a little better now after talking to Ms. Goodwitch. He had only been part of his team for about a month, but they were his family now. If anything happened to them he would be devastated.
"Does Nora know?" Jaune asked causing Glynda to shake her head.
"No, I...am ashamed to admit that I and your father could never find her after we learned of her parents deaths. I had given up hope until I saw her transcripts submitted earlier this year."
Jaune looked to Ms. Goodwitch and could tell that she felt terrible and conflicted. "I think you should tell her, Nora...Nora has had no one but Ren before she came here. I already think of her as an eighth sister, but I think if she could have just one more person, especially someone that knew her parents, then she would be that much happier."
Glynda sniffled a bit before she composed herself. "This weekend, I will speak with Ms...Nora. I will speak with Nora this weekend."
Jaune nodded before he turned to leave only for Ms. Goodwitch to stop him. "I almost forgot, Professor Ozpin would like to speak with you. Come with me I will lead you to his office."
Ozpin's Office
Jaune found the walk to Professor Ozpins office to be a short one. Located inside Beacon tower itself it was actually only about a ten minute walk from the classroom that held their combat class.
As he stepped out of the elevator and into the office Jaune couldn't help but wonder if professor Ozpin had a hobby as a clockmaker, considering he was going all in on the clock tower theme.
"Ah Mr. Arc, thank you for coming."
Speaking of the man Jaune looked towards the only desk in the room to see Professor Ozpin behind it.
"It's no trouble sir."
Ozpin nodded as he took a sip of his coffee. "I don't wish to keep you long from your team Mr. Arc, I'm aware you've had a busy day. There were just a few things I wanted to discuss with you." Ozpin stated as he gestured for Jaune to take a seat.
Jaune did just that. "Of course professor, Miss Goodwitch has already told me you know about my transcripts."
Ozpin nodded. "Yes we are and you are not in any trouble, as I'm sure she also told you. No Mr. Arc what I want to discuss is your sudden ability in hand to hand combat and your semblance."
Jaune nodded dumbly as he listened to the headmaster.
"You see Mr. Arc, even though I may not look it, I have been around for a very long time. As such I have seen many things that border on the impossible and include the impossible." Ozpin took another sip of his coffee allowing Jaune to digest that information.
"You claim to have recently unlocked your semblance even though yesterday there was no sign of you having such a thing. Not only that, but in the span of a day you showed more mastery of your new semblance than anyone I've ever met that had just awakened theirs. I've also noticed other changes as well Mr. Arc, such as your newfound confidence, bravado, and skill in combat. Now the only question I have for you Mr. Arc is what aren't you telling anyone else?"
Jaune sat in silence for a couple of minutes as he pondered just what he should do. On one hand if he lied he would be betraying the one person that has enabled him to chase his dream. On the other would the headmaster even believe him or would he call him crazy?
"You said you've seen the impossible headmaster, what if I told you something impossible? Would you call me crazy?" Jaune asked after finally letting out a defeated sigh.
The headmaster took a final sip from his mug before he stood up and walk around his desk to stand in front of Jaune.
"Mr. Arc, I am one of the least qualified people on Remnant to describe another as crazy."
Jaune nodded before he began his story. Starting with going to bed the night before to waking up this morning Jaune recounted everything. When he was done Glynda had taken the seat next to him needing to digest the information while Ozpin had began to look pensive.
After a long suffering silence Ozpin spoke once again. "I'm inclined to believe you Mr. Arc, however I must ask if you have a way to prove what you say is true."
Jaune thought for a few minutes before he remembered the last bit of advice the lottery woman had given him. Looking to the Headmaster Jaune nodded. "I do."
With that Jaune closed his eyes and concentrated he remembered the room, the woman, the wheel, and finally he remembered the portal that had taken him to Kakashi. "I want to return."
For a second nothing happened until suddenly a bright light cut horizontally in the room just the width of a doorway before expanding to match it in height. Jaune stood staring at the doorway, shocked that it had actually worked as intended only for Ozpin and Glynda to stand in front of him protectively.
"It's alright." He told them as he walked around them to stand in front of the door. "Follow me." With that Jaune walked through the doorway disappearing in a flash of light.
The teachers shared a look before following after their student. As they stepped through the portal in a bright flash of light they appeared in a room exactly as Jaune had described.
Looking forward they found Jaune standing there sheepishly. "Welcome to the lottery room."
Ozpin was about to ask Jaune more questions when a voice interrupted them.
"How rude Jauney! You need to ask a lady permission first before you bring guests with you."
Looking towards the far wall they found the woman that Jaune had described now berating him for breaking an unknown rule.
For his part Jaune laughed awkwardly as he scratched his cheek. "Uh yeah...sorry about that, but I really needed to show my headmaster."
The woman pouted as she glared at him. "Fine, but only this one time. Only lottery winners are allowed in this domain."
"Who are you?" The question left Glynda's mouth before she had a chance to even register that she had spoken.
The woman smiled widely as she spoke. "I am but a humble lottery attendant here for the convenience of our winner Jaune Arc."
Ozpin stepped forward as he intended to introduce himself and his deputy headmistress when the woman stopped him.
"I know who you are Ozpin and all about your little witch too." She stated causing Ozpin to freeze for a moment to Jaune's confusion.
"I see and where do you stand?" He asked neutrally.
"I stand here and nowhere. I have no interest in your squabbles. My only interest is in keeping this lottery up and running for my customers convenience." She explained.
"I see...Mr. Arc please feel free to continue on, we can discuss this when we return. Myself and Glynda will simply watch if that is okay with our host."
The woman shrugged. "Fine by me." She then turned to Jaune as she spoke more enthusiastically. "Now, congratulations Jauney you've received not just your daily ticket, but also a reward ticket!"
Jaune looked confused. "Reward? Did I do something noteworthy?"
The woman smiled. "In the grand scheme of things not really, but for you personally yes. You defeated your bully Cardin Winchester in single combat and for that you have been awarded one ticket."
Two lottery tickets appeared in a flash of light causing Jaune to suddenly snap them out of the air.
"Would you like to play or would you like to save your tickets?" The woman asked.
"A question real quick. Last time you said that all the prizes were training vouchers, but it was a one time only deal. Is it common for you to run 'campaigns' like that often?" Jaune asked wondering if this was like some scroll games he had seen one of his sisters play.
"It is, we run one special campaign every week on Sunday and one week long campaign each season. Of course the rewards and order of prizes vary, but since you just had a special campaign we won't hold one again until next Sunday." She explained happy that Jaune was so invested in her beloved lottery.
Jaune nodded in understanding seeing that it was sort of like those games his younger sisters played. He shrugged, it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and use the lottery tickets now. It was Wednesday now and it wasn't like he couldn't earn plenty more before next Sunday.
"In that case I'll go ahead and use my tickets." Jaune stated handing the tickets to the woman who took them gleefully. Jaune placed his hands on the wheel and gave it a good spin.
As the wheel continued to spin for several moments Ozpin watched closely as he was mentally weighing the pros and cons of recruiting Jaune into his inner circle. He then shook his head deciding that, while what the young Arc had access to was a huge boon, he was not yet ready to drag another into his war. He would adopt a wait and see approach and have Jaune keep him informed of all his luck.
Soon the wheel stopped spinning as a small ball was dispensed. This one was white in color with a picture of a large gold bar with a times ten written beside it.
Jaune looked expectantly at the woman who was grinning. "Congratulations Jaune, you have won prize number one thousand three hundred and sixty-two. That being ten four hundred Troy ounce gold bullion."
Jaune looked blankly at the woman frozen in shock as he slowly fell backwards. He wasn't sure how much all that was worth, but it sounded like a lot.
Glynda quickly ran forward to check on Jaune less worried about the gold and more about how her student was unconscious. Meanwhile Ozpin had been frozen in place, unlike Jaune he actually knew exactly how much that much gold was worth.
When Jaune finally woke up it was to ten large gold bars appearing in a bright light on the floor next to him. Standing slowly with the help of Miss Goodwitch he could only stare in disbelief.
"How am I supposed to carry that out of here? I don't have pockets THAT big?!" He asked in shock.
The woman snapped her fingers, she knew she had forgotten to explain something earlier. "I new I forgot something. Jauney say 'open storage'."
Jaune looked at her blankly before he did as instructed. To Glynda nothing happened, however to Jaune and Ozpin they could see a gold screen opened up in front of Jaune that said storage. While Jaune was busy nerding out about the inventory Ozpin started in silent shock at what he knew to be magic. Looking over at the woman she held a finger to her lips telling him to be silent.
When Jaune finally calmed down he picked one of the bars up only to nearly drop it not expecting the weight. After carefully putting all the bars away he turned to the woman. "So how much is all that gold really worth?"
It was Ozpin who answered him. "Four hundred Troy ounces of gold is worth roughly eight hundred thousand lien. Now multiply that by ten and congratulations Mr. Arc, you now have eight million lien worth of gold bullion."
Jaune stared in shock as he realized just how much money he had now. He...he was going to need a while to figure out what he could do with all that. Wordlessly he walked back up to the wheel and once again gave it a spin.
This time the wheel spun for only a few moments before it stopped releasing a black colored ball with a playing card on it, The ace of spades. The woman took the ball and placed it on the table where in a flash of light a pistol now took its place.
The pistol was a sleek revolver decorated in a black and white pattern. The most notable aspect were the two white spades that adorned just in front of the cylinder and the grip on both sides.
"Congratulations, you have won prize number three million one hundred twenty-five thousand four hundred and fifty-six, also know as the Ace of Spades. This was the legendary hand cannon wielded by the guardian know as Cayde-6." The woman stated.
Jaune gingerly took the revolver into his hands as he began to get a feel for the weapon. It wasn't overly heavy like he was expecting, in fact strangely enough it felt right.
"I guess I'm going to go shopping for a holster when I get some free time." Jaune stated as he added the Ace to his storage. "Well I guess that's it so we'll be leaving now, but before we go what do I call you?"
The woman looked puzzled as Jaune decided to elaborate. "I mean your name."
The woman smiled slightly. "I go by many names Jaune, but you may call me Lady Luck or just Luck for short."
Jaune nodded as he and his two professors exited through the doorway they had arrived in. When they returned to Ozpin's office the conversation that followed was a lot...simpler than Jaune had been expecting. Essentially all he had to do was just keep Ozpin in the loop about what he got out of his lottery draws, which to Jaune wasn't such a big deal.
What was a big deal and something that had Jaune excited was that Headmaster Ozpin knew a few dealers in Vale that would happily buy the gold he had gotten. The headmaster promised to go with Jaune tomorrow after classes in order to make sure he got a fair deal. The Headmaster had also stressed that for the time being he should withhold the information of the lottery from his team and friends.
Jaune was so excited that after getting back to his teams dorm he had a small kick in his step. When he stepped inside he found that not only was his team here, but so was team RWBY. The first to notice his happy disposition was obviously his partner.
"Jaune, you've been gone for a while did everything go okay with Ms. Goodwitch?" Pyrrha asked.
Luckily Jaune had removed the Ace of Spades from his storage to use as a piece of his cover story. He also had a fake letter from an attorney that didn't exist that the Headmaster had prepared for him to explain his newfound wealth.
Jaune gave his partner the best smile that he could muster as he spoke. "I'm great Pyrrha, it turns out the headmaster knew some of my family and wanted to talk with me. Apparently I had some inheritance that I never knew about."
This bit of information caused his friends to all watch in interest as Jaune took out the letter Ozpin had given him and sat it on a desk so anyone could read it. Weiss being the closest took the letter first.
Weiss began reading the letter in silence- "HOW MUCH?!"- until she got to the part about the gold. Jaune had to keep his growing laughter to himself as he watched everyone crowd the heiress wanting to see what had set her off.
Finally Nora had surged forward and gave him a bear hug. "Fearless leader can buy me all the pancakes in the world! Hahahahah!!!" Okay the deranged cackling was a little disturbing.
"Nora no, that money is Jaune's to do with as he pleases." Ren admonished.
Jaune actually thought about that for a second before speaking. "I mean, I know a few people to talk to about investing most of it, but I was also thinking about adding some to our team fund." Jaune stated.
While his team smiled at their leader for thinking about them the members of team RWBY were confused sans Ruby.
"Team fund?" Yang asked confused. "What are you guys going in on something together?"
"No, the team fund refers to the monthly stipend each team is given for ammunition, weapon repairs, or whatever else we may need." Jaune explained.
"You guys didn't know? Shouldn't Ruby, all the leaders were told about it at the same time." Nora said confused.
Yang, Blake, and Weiss all turned to an unusually serious Ruby who was staring them down. As they all stared to speak Ruby held her hand up stopping them.
"Yes, I knew about the team fund. I didn't tell you because let's face it your all horrible with money with the exception of Weiss." She stated getting indignant squawks from Blake and Yang.
"And you're that much better cookie monster?" Yang challenged.
Ruby's eye twitched at that dig. "Yang, since we started Beacon a MONTH ago you've spent all of your Lien on hair products and parts for Bumblebee." Yang had the decency to turn away with a small embarrassed blush.
Blake went to say something but Ruby turned on her next. "And you can't be trusted with money because I caught you eyeing that all in one collectors edition of 'Ninjas of Love' on ScrollBay aaannnddddd those sites that you can buy bulk seafood from."
"Wait why didn't you tell me then?" Weiss asked causing her partner to give her a deadpanned look.
"Weiss when was the last time you needed to borrow money for anything?"
Weiss opened her mouth to speak but after a moment of thought closed her mouth "Touché."
Jaune cleared his throat as held up the Ace of Spades. "I also got this. Ruby I was wondering if you could take a look at it for me to see if it needs any maintenance."
Seeing the unfamiliar handgun Ruby squealed in excitement. "Awesome give me a minute to grab my tools!" With that the little reaper was out the door.
"When did Ruby get so assertive?" Yang asked aloud wondering where her baby sister had learned to be so uptight with money.
The other occupants of the room just shrugged. Jaune wisely kept his mouth shut knowing that this was all Ruby. Their leadership classes included a portion of managing finances. During that portion of the class Jaune had witnessed Ruby nearly bring another first year to tears in a debate over justifying the purchase of a certain weapon part. Socially awkward or not Ruby Rose was very fierce about her finances.
When Ruby returned she had a look at the Ace while also showing Jaune how to operate the firearm and maintain it with all the enthusiasm she could muster. When team RWBY left Jaune was mentally exhausted but absolutely beaming as he puts the Ace away in his nightstand.
Just before crawling into bed Jaune had discreetly taken another training voucher from his storage and slid it under his pillow. As Jaune closed his eyes and drift off to sleep he couldn't help but think that he had some amazing friends.
Training Dimension
Jaune's eyes snapped open as he awoke inside the training dimension. This time however it was different, instead of a forest clearing Jaune found himself standing on a long dirt road with water as far as the eye could see on either side of him.
"Okay, so I'm here, but where is my sensei? And what's up with this fog?" True to his word a dense fog rolled in quickly limiting his field of view to barely a few feet.
Suddenly Jaune dodged to his left just barely avoiding a hail of senbon that would have turned him into a pincushion. He then threw up his right arm barely blocking a hard kick to his face, but missing the follow up that struck his stomach. Thankfully his Aura held as he was only sent skidding backwards.
"Mhmm this will be quite interesting."
Hearing the mature feminine tone of voice Jaune looked up to see a woman now standing across from him. She wore a shoulder-less blue dress and gray open toed shinobi sandals. She had a fair complexion with long auburn hair that reached her lower back and green eyes.
"What's your name young man?" She asked
"Jaune Arc." Jaune stated.
"My name is Mei Terumi, I'll be your sensei for the next six months. Let's get along well Jaune~"