Outsider Chronicles: Red Huntsmen
Dieing and ending up in another world is one thing. That world being one infested with monsters is quite another. Add in stubborn parents and a grouchy mental roommate and you've got a recipe of a massive headache
And we're back with another RWBY Jaune replacement idea. This time however, Persona won't be getting anywhere near it. Enjoy!
Chapter 1
Well, I can safely say that someone is pissed at me. Why? Well, I'd just died from having a shelf of kitchen equipment fall on me at work and now I find myself waking up in the body of a baby with a giant in a surgical mask leaning over me. Needless to say, that scared the crap out of me.
After that pant wetting introduction to my new life, I quickly made a few interesting discoveries. First of, I had been reborn into the world of Remnant. You know, the world where everyone has colour's in their name, weapons can change shape and the entire world is infested with Monsters? Yeah, that one. In other news, I was apparently not my own person but rather a certain useless, shortsighted blond. Yep, apparently I'm now Jaune Arc.
Growing up was...interesting to say the least. Last time through, I had only had one younger brother, but now I found myself with seven older sisters, all of whom were extremely powerful Hunteresses and FUCKING TERRIFYING! Seriously, the one time I managed to piss off the youngest sister, she damn near killed me. I can't even remember what I did to piss her off so much, but I made damn sure I didn't do it again.
It was strange, growing up again while knowing just what was in store for this world, as well as a potential future for the body I wore had I not been the one born into it. When I was little, I had a lot of time to think since my body wouldn't move and I spent a long time brooding over what I could do. Sure, Jaune was a weakling, at least to begin with, but he did have interesting effects on a lot of people. I couldn't help but wonder what me being...me would do to the future. After all, I wasn't really Jaune, I had nothing to prove like he did. If I wanted, I could stay put and live a semi normal life, without the constant threat of being eaten that came with being a Huntsman. On the other hand, what would become of the future if I did that? After all, as weak as Jaune was, he still had a huge effect on a number of other people, Pyrrha being the most obvious. Eventually, when I was seven, I came to a decision. I'd become a Huntsman and change the future proactively.
Just one problem. My parents and sisters absolutely refused to hear about it. Even after I proved that I had a tremendous amount of talent with a sword (yay for old skills), they still wouldn't let me sign up for the local prep school for Beacon. Indeed, it was only my Grandfather who seemed to have any faith in me, especially after he asked me to spend a day training with his sword. I don't think I did anything particularly impressive. Still, it was enough to convince the old man to start training me in the use of the weapon and even gifted me it and the sheath for my 17 birthday, along with entrance papers for Beacon.
"Just don't tell your Mother," he said with a wink.
"Why?" I asked, a question I'd been wondering about the answer to for years, "I thought Mum and Dad forbade you from training me?"
Grandpa scoffed.
"Your Father forgets that I used to put him over my knee when he acted the fool," said the old man, "And if my bones didn't ache this much, I'd do it now for how stupid he's being. Anyone with eyes can see that you'll make an excellent Huntsman and the fact that Crocea Mors likes you makes it even better."
I blinked at the odd choice of words.
"The sword...likes me?" I asked.
Grandpa smiled knowingly.
"Let me tell you a secret," he said, "Crocea Mors is not a simple sword and shield. In truth, it holds power that goes well beyond virtually any modern weapon. In fact, there are only six other weapons in existence that can match it and one of them has been broken to the point that its power has long since been reduced to a shadow of its former self."
"This thing?" I asked, eyeing the inoculus sword.
Grandpa smiled and picked up the weapon, slowly drawing it from the sheath. I frowned slightly as I noticed a very faint glow emerging from the blade, but it vanished so quickly I must have imagined it.
"According to legend, this is the sword that the original owner, a great and noble Knight, used to slay a mighty Dragon," said Grandpa, "Supposedly, that act, along with his mighty faith, imbued the blade with the power to fight against Darkness and especially those foes with a Draconic nature. However, because of that great power, only certain people can wield it. Oh, anyone can swing it around and its still a sharp bit of metal, but its power can only be accessed by someone worthy."
"And I'm worthy?" I asked with a frown.
That story sounded oddly familiar, as did the weapons attributes.
"Apparently so," said Grandpa, "Truthfully, I have no idea what makes a person worthy to wield the swords true power. My Father was, I was and you are, but for some reason, your Father isn't. Strange, is it not?"
"I guess," I muttered.
Grandpa laughed.
"Well, whether you believe it or not, the fact remains that you are worthy and Crocea Mors is now yours. Take good care of it and it will never let you down."
"Hnn."
A few weeks after my birthday, the first day of Beacon rolled around. I was walking through Vale towards the Bullhead station to catch my ride to Beacon. As I did, I passed a certain Dust shop with a large hole that was being gone over by the police while the owner, an old man, stood in the background wringing his hands. I know its horrible, but I couldn't help but snort as the sight reminded me of the fact that I'd be meeting the girl responsible for said hole very soon.
The station was only a block or two away from the store and I made sure to arrive in plenty of time so I could grab a seat. I did just that, putting my rucksack between my feet and pulling out a book, a bottle of water and a packet of travel sickness tablets. What? Just because my Souls different to Jaune, doesn't mean my body is, travel sickness included. In fact, I think it might just be worse considering I had it last time through as well. True, I was more of a seasickness person, but I wasn't about to risk it.
As it turned out, I was right not to risk it as, three minutes into the flight, I was reduced to a groaning wreck in my seat. The tablets took the edge off somewhat, but only enough to keep me from puking up my breakfast. Fortunately, my suffering was interrupted by a news broadcast that someone had decided to turn on. Unfortunately, it was right next to my ear and the volume was cranked up so it could be heard over the engines, so I basically exchanged feeling like death warmed over to being completely deaf in one ear. I growled in annoyance as I worked a finger into my ear in an attempt to clear out the ringing as my Aura went to work fixing the damage. The report was the one about Torchwicks robberies and the rally that the White Fang had disrupted, before it was cut off so Goodwitch could do her welcome speech.
"This is really not my day," I grumbled, right before my travel sickness slammed back into me with more force than ever, forcing me to stumbled over to the nearest bin and puke my guts up.
"I HATE AIR TRAVEL!" I growled as I drained my water bottle, crushed it and tossed it over my shoulder into a bin.
The Bullhead had finally arrived, allowing me to stagger off and back onto solid ground, pointedly ignoring all the snickering going on behind me. Fortunately, now I was out of that infernal contraption (and I cannot believe I just said that), I quickly regained my equilibrium and my stomach finally stopped its rebellion. With that done, I straightened up from where I was leaning against a tree and turned to head into school. As I did, I caught the tail end of the argument between Ruby, Blake and Weiss and watched as the former flopped down onto her back.
"Eh, might as well follow the script," I muttered as I walked over.
Ruby opened her eyes as I walked up to her.
"Hey, need a hand?" I asked, offering said limb and a smile, "I'm Jaune."
"Ruby," said Ruby, accepting my hand and letting me pull her to her feet, "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"
I rolled my eyes as we started walking towards the school.
"Travel sickness, the one issue no amount of Aura or training can fix," I said, "I got some tablets, but they only do so much. They also seem to be losing their effects…"
Ruby giggled.
"By the way, I caught the end of that argument," I said, "What was it all about?"
Ruby looked sheepish.
"Um, I kinda knocked over some girls luggage and she started yelling at me," she said, "Then some stuff happened and I sneezed and exploded then that nice girl came to help and told the crabby girl off and…"
"Yeahhh, I noticed that explosion," I said, cutting of Ruby's babbling, "To be fair, she was more at fault than you, waving that Dust Vile around so much."
"I know, right?" said Ruby, looking relieved.
We slipped into silence for a few seconds as we walked.
"Sooo, I got this thing," said Ruby, pulling out Crescent Rose and slamming it into the ground.
She also almost cut off my toes, but I didn't do more than flinch.
"Ohh, now thats cool," I said, "A mechashift scythe/sniper rifle. I bet this thing could do some serious damage to Grimm."
I looked up and nearly took a step back when I saw that Ruby was staring at me with massive, shining eyes.
"Y-you know what it is!" she said.
"Um, well, yeah, my sisters Durandal operates in a similar way," I said, "Its a Zweihander rather than a scythe, but the principles are the same."
"Um, so what have you got?" asked Ruby.
"Just these," I said, indicating to the sword and collapsible shield attached to my hip, "Their family heirlooms. Supposedly, the sword has powers, but I don't know how true that is."
"Really?" asked Ruby, leaning in to take a closer look at my sword, "Mind if I take a look?"
I shrugged and drew my sword.
"Knock yourself out," I said, handing the weapon to Ruby.
"OUCH!" yelped the red themed girl, snatching her hands away from the hilt, "It just shocked me."
I frowned.
"Static?"
"No, it felt more like a warning," said Ruby, "Does it have some kind of security system on it?"
"Not that I know of," I said.
"Weird," said Ruby, "So, um, where are we going?"
I paused.
"Apparently nowhere," I said, "The halls back that way."
I jerked my thumb over my shoulder.
"Er, oops?" said Ruby sheepishly.
It didn't take us long to get to the Hall where we were supposed to meet for the opening ceremony.
"Hey Ruby, over here!" called Yang from the crowd, "I saved you a spot!"
"Oh, come and meet my sister," said Ruby, grabbing my arm and dragging me over to where Yang was waiting.
"Hey Ruby, glad to see you're OK," said Yang, eyeing me cureously, "I see you made a new friend."
Ruby blinked and looked mildly surprised by that.
"Um, yeah, I guess I did," she said.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Is it really that surprising?" I asked.
"Don't mind here, shes not very good at making friends," said Yang, eyeing me up and down with a gleam of appreciation in her eye, "I'm Yang Xiao Long handsome."
I blinked. Well, that was a tad unexpected.
"Jaune Arc, nice to meet you," I said.
"You see Ruby, I told you you could make friends if you just put your mind to it," said Yang.
"Yeah, but only after you ditched me and I exploded!" snapped Ruby.
"Yeesh, meltdown already, huh?" asked Yang.
"No, I literally exploded a hole in front of the school!" protested Ruby, "And there was some fire and I think some ice and…"
"Are you being sarcastic?" asked Yang, now looking totally confused as I stood back on my heels to watch the show.
It was even funnier in person.
"I wish! I tripped over some crabby girls luggage and she started yelling at me and then I sneezed and then I exploded and then she yelled at me again and I felt really bad and I just wanted her to stop yelling at me!"
While this was going on, I was having real trouble keeping from laughing as I watched Weiss slowly approaching Ruby from behind. Apparently the white themed girl hadn't noticed her future leader yet, but that quickly changed as she noticed Ruby's red hood.
"YOU!" she shouted, making Ruby jump into Yangs arms.
"Oh no its happening again!" she howled.
"You were lucky we werent blown off the side of the cliff!" snapped Weiss.
"Oh my god, you really exploded," said Yang.
It was at that point that I lost all self control and burst out laughing, drawing the attention of the R,W and Y of RWBY. Yang looked like she was trying to keep from laughing as well, Ruby looked a little betrayed and Weiss...Weiss was trying to burn a hole in my skull.
"And just what is so funny?" she demanded.
"S-sorry, I just can't help it!" I said, "This argument sounds like something out of a cartoon!"
I burst out laughing again, this time with Yang joining me.
"Yang!" wined Ruby.
"S-sorry Rubes, but hes right," said Yang.
"D-don't mind us Ladies, you just keep on chatting," I said as I struggled to get my hysterics under control.
Fortunately, Ozpin chose that moment to step up on stage and give his speech, after which we were shepherded out to the Great Hall, after dropping off our gear in our lockers of course. I quickly changed into my sleepware in the gents, a pair of black pajama bottoms and a white vest, and headed back into the Hall where I headed over to where I'd claimed a spot in the corner and pulled out a book. I didn't start reading though, instead using it as a cover for watching my future classmates. I could already see several important people, such as Ren and Nora preparing for bed (Ren doing so calmly and quietly while Nora bobbled and bounced around with excess energy), Pyrrha sat quietly in another corner meditating and Cardin and his goons messing around and acting like pricks towards the Faunus in the room.
"Assholes," I muttered.
I turned away from the morons who would likely end up as my punching bags at some point in favor of a commotion going on on the other side of the room. I smirked slightly when I saw it was the fight between the future Team RWBY. Said smirk was interupted by a yawn and I decided to call it a night.
"What the..?"
I blinked as I looked around in confusion. I'm pretty sure that a moment ago I had been in bed, asleep, but now I found myself floating in a large, empty space with a massive, red wall in front of me.
"Where am I? Is this a dream?"
"Of course its a dream you fool."
I jumped at the unexpected voice and looked around wildly.
"What the...who's there? Show yourself!"
"Show myself? I'm not hiding idiot. I'm right in front of you."
I blinked, then paled rapidly as the wall shifted and a pair of massive, green eyes glared down at me.
"OHFUCKINGSHIT!"
I sat bolt upright, gasping for breath as sweat dripped from my forehead.
"What the fuck was that?!"
What the fuck indeed. For those interested, this Jaune is identical to canon Jaune in terms of appearance...for now. He'll change before long.
So, whats with the mysterious powers contained within his sword? Where did they come from and why do they seem so familiar to Jaune? Could they be connected to his dream in some way? Hmm, I wonder if you can guess what it is by the title?
And I'm gonna sign off here. Don't forget to review!