Published: 09 Feb 2025

"KREEE!" The Centipod screeched in pain before its head got split in half down the center and its body crashed to the ground hard. The brown-haired huntsman-in-training grunted as he pulled his sword out of the mask, grimacing at the sight of the black brain matter stuck to the serrated edges while some of the blood spewed out of the head and splattered his pants. He ploughed through his disgust and the Grimm's head as he turned on the switch to activate the Dust Chamber in his sword and blasted it through the open wound. The Grimm let out another screech of pain as it thrashed about to put out the flames before it succumbed to its wounds and stopped moving, with parts of the body starting to turn to black dust.

"Oh, that is just nasty." The huntsman wiped his face a bit despite the remains starting to disappear like the body. It was still not a pleasant feeling to experience, and it did not help that until the creature was genuinely killed off, the remains and blood would be present on the clothes.

Really nasty.

"Okay, I think we got the last of the ones outside of this area." His temporary partner for this expedition spoke while shaking off the dirt and stains from his weapon. "Good thing too, I am starting to run low on Dust."

"No kidding. I spent all of my ammo on the last batch, I had to go hand to hand with this group." Another huntsman, a wolf Faunus with tribal tattoos going on one side of his face and arm, groaned as he came to his side and unceremoniously dumped himself down on the rock next to him. "Thank goodness for that off-day coming after this mission huh, Banner?"

"How are they able to grow to such numbers under our noses?" The huntsman shook his head to rid himself of the dust settling on him and to his doubts on the matter.

"From what the professors have theorised, one Centipod may have arrived in Emerald Forest several centuries ago and stayed hidden in the catacombs while feeding off some of the animals in the region." The first huntsman spoke. "But really, I don't see us completing this extermination by the weekend."

"No kidding." Banner stretched his arms while wincing from his aching muscles. "It is almost like that time we took on a small horde back in Vacuo! Those buggers stayed in those damn caves no matter how much we hit them."

"Hey there, you lot!" The trio turned to find one of the teams calling out to them. "We are heading back to camp to rest and stock up. Mark out your areas before coming back!"

"Got it!" Banner called out. "Come on, those markers won't set themselves up."

"Hope they cooked plenty. I'm starving." The human huntsman proved that with the rumbling of his stomach.

"Xander, you already eat more than us two combined." Banner shook his head.

"I'm a growing boy." The trio bantered with each other while putting up the marker and simple alert system before they made it back to the camp where some of the others were already there and queuing for the food. Once they got their food, they made their way to their tent where they could finally take the time to relax.

"Ah, I needed this." Xander let out a sigh as he took out his boots and stretched his feet. "My feet are killing me."

"At least there is no sand." The Wolf Faunus answered as he removed his own boots to do the same. "I hate sand. It gets everywhere."

"Plus, it makes it harder to clean them out of your tail, right Logan?" Xander's cheeky question earned him a single finger salute at the reminder.

"Better enjoy it while we can. The professors would want to get this mission moving." Banner's words earned groans from the other two but they complied while falling on their food like they had not eaten for ages, after which they took the time to relax.

"You know, this mission makes me wonder how lucky those first years have to be since they managed to survive the Centipods, on top of that giant Nevermore and Death Stalker." Logan quipped as he removed his gauntlets to inspect the damage to see if he needed to fix them on the spot. "Or maybe I should say unlucky because of them meeting those Grimm?"

"You know there was Pyrrha Nikos in that group, followed by Weiss Schnee?" Banner said as he turned to see the other teams coming into view, each of them stumbling in exhaustion while covered in sweat and blood and one in particular looked ready to go to his grave without much help. "Either one of them could have dealt with those creatures on their own."

"Yeah well, those two are exceptions." The wolf Faunus snorted. "But you recall seeing that footage of that first year who blasted the Death Stalker to kingdom come? According to the professors, he was also the guy who found the weak-spots of this particular Grimm we are facing."

"Seriously, the guy who looks like a noodle that could get knocked down by a gust of wind?" Banner shook his head in disbelief. "Really Logan, these kids are getting weirder by the years. From what I heard, we also have a fifteen year old joining the batch?"

"Yup." The Faunus nodded. "They are just getting weirder and younger by the year. Next thing you know, we will be ushering in twelve year olds or younger."

"I hope not, the world is already messed up as it is with the robberies, White Fang and all the weird Grimm sightings popping up everywhere. Some in the government are already calling us child soldiers because of our occupation." Banner stretched his arms and yawned loudly. "Enough of that, let's kick back and relax for now."

"Yeah." Logan cracked his neck while looking at the teams coming in before pausing. "Well, there may be one other good point to handling this mission." Banner looked to the Faunus with a raised eyebrow, to which the guy motioned with his head and a smirk. Banner turned to find one of the few all female teams coming nearer and looking like they had a tangle with a cloth shredder with all of their armors gone and their clothing in tatters. He recalled them being a group of females from the third-year most known to dress more conservatively in a school where other females were known to dress quite fashionably and daringly. (Banner had once questioned whether the academy was really for training Huntsmen or for becoming supermodels.)

But for this mission, it would seem that they were not prepared for the razor sharp mandibles or legs that could cut through their clothing, nor were they prepared for the acid that could eat through their armor. Thus, they have lost quite a fair bit of their armor and clothing, showing off more skin than they would normally be comfortable with and giving the males a chance to see their figures, much to the females' embarrassment as they walked to their resting spot amid the wolf-whistling and cat-calling.

'Huh, fancy that. The girl who is supposedly the youngest actually has the biggest bust of the lot. How and where did that girl hide those knockers?!'

"Enjoying the view, mate?" Logan interrupted his inner monologue with a knowing smirk.

"Okay, I will admit, that is a good sight to enjoy at the end of a mission." Banner shrugged with a smile. "It certainly takes the stress away from the mission."

Xander was going to add on to the subject only to be interrupted by a large explosion that rocked the camp and got everyone jumping to their feet while grabbing their weapons. "The hell was that!"

"Don't know, but we better get our boots back on." Xander and Logan did just that while Banner stood guard and alert for any attacks. They need not worry as someone contacted them shortly after stating someone got a little too enthusiastic to get rid of the Centipods and other Grimm attacking them. Hearing it was Coco Adel being the culprit because of one Centipod managing to tear her favorite scarf had the men wincing slightly in sympathy for the Grimm. The Huntress-In-Training had the reputation of a woman who would go berserk at a few things, such as friends getting hurt, and her fashionable clothes getting destroyed. The last time that happened, she nearly took out her support team as she annihilated a level 2 Grimm Horde in Mistral, thus getting a huge reprimanding and a month's worth of detentions by Glynda Goodwitch while needing to pay for some of the collateral damage.

The guys were then called up to check on the area where said explosion took place, and they knew the woman was really angry given the crater in the ground, the bullet holes in torn down trees, and what appeared to be a big hole in the hill. Even with the sun up in the sky, the hole seemed to swallow all light and a few of the teams got their weapons at the ready just in case.

One member from the teams that had arrived first was peering down the hole with a Dust powered lamp and directing the light about. "Hey guys, I think we need to get Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port here, we may have found something!"

"What is it?" In answer, one of his teammates took out a bunch of glow sticks from his backpack, cracked them to break the seals, shook them to mix the chemicals before throwing them one by one down the hole to get them better distributed. After a few more rounds of that from others pitching in, the others cautiously edge their way closer to the edge to see what caught their attention. It was Banner who voiced out the thoughts in their heads.

"By the Brothers. What is this?"

~ooOOoo~

Jaune hummed a tune as he grabbed the stuff he needed for the day from the weapons locker, thinking about all that had gone on over the week.

After he got out from the hospital, Jaune was brought to his team's room (he was still pinching himself at the fact he was made the leader) where his stuff was thankfully brought so that he could change his clothes. With slight amusement from the others, Jaune introduced them to the onesie pyjamas set aside by his sisters, and then to the photograph of his family where Nora wondered out loud if his mom was a super woman to have so many children.

Something many had voiced out when they found out about it.

Being the weekend, this was an opportunity for the newly inducted students to rest up for the new term along with getting supplies for their equipment or to get the reading materials needed for the school, as evidently shown by a few who went immediately after the initiation to get some items they either could not get in the beginning or used up during the Initiation and were now rushing to buy them. Ruby had the unfair advantage of her Semblance to rush to the stores so that she could grab the ammunition rounds for her weapon, while Weiss merely needed to order from one of the stores associated with the SDC.

Then again, he did not need Dust for his equipment. His uncle had seen fit to get whatever supplies needed for the first couple of months and his grandfather gave him some items to help with maintenance for Crocea Mors in the unlikely event that it needed repairs.

To be fair, there were others who were still recovering from their little bouts of Grimm fighting from the initiation and so this was also meant for them to get better. A majority of them were back on their feet the next day while some of the more seriously injured took another two days. At the moment, three were still in intensive care on account of them breaking their auras and getting seriously hurt afterwards.

An announcement made to the school populace over the weekend told them that their term was likely to be delayed for a few more days on account of the infestation being a lot bigger than expected and requiring more Huntsmen to be on standby. That was the chance for Jaune to see all the different types of Huntsmen in one spot, and he may have spotted a couple familiar faces to wave at.

Was it petty of him to feel smug when said people looked at him in shock for entering Beacon when they claimed he could not? Perhaps.

Did he care about it? He just enjoyed the moment before retreating to the dorm room to let out his best impression of an evil laugh.

So in light of some of the lessons being delayed, and with the time given to him, on the rare occasion that he would not use the free time given to him for reading comics or relaxing, Jaune decided to wake up early to get a head start on the breakfast choices available (he had to if he wanted hot food instead of leftovers when the crowd comes), written a note for his team to notify them of where he was heading to, and went to the locker room to do something that should have been done from the start.

Examining and cleaning the new weapon he had obtained from the catacomb.

Jaune paused to look at the blade, the portion of the blade still clean enough to show the reflection of his frown as he considered the weapon in question. His memory was a little foggy, but he knew for a fact he should not have been able to fire off a beam of light that acted like something from his comics, and he had had a few more of those odd dreams regarding the man who had been appearing for some time. He was not sure what was going on, but he decided to keep note of it just in case.

After grabbing both Crocea Mors and Crimson Blitz and locking up his weapons locker, Jaune moved on to the destination he had in mind, taking the time to take a detour away from one Cardin Winchester who was in the area tormenting other first years (He did not need that in the early morning). Once he got to one of the smaller working shacks, it was simply a matter of going to one of the spare rooms assigned for his team and beginning his weapon maintenance.

Crocea Mors did not need much to work on, just a bit of cleaning agent to remove the more stubborn stains and marks, a quick oiling to keep the joints and mechanisms going for the shield and a whetstone to keep the edge sharp. Crimson Blitz however needed more attention due to the passage of time; despite its apparent sharpness and sturdiness, there was a fair amount of rust that had accumulated along the blade, reducing its effectiveness quite a fair bit. The handle needed its wrapping replaced, and the overall body needed a good scrubbing, oiling and maybe a good soak in said oil. All of that was just the outside, he was not sure about the supposed mechanisms inside the weapon since it did change portions of its form during the fight.

'This is going to take me a while, thank goodness we have the morning off.'

"Morning, Jaune!"

"WAH!" Jaune jumped while nearly cutting his table with the weapon, a feat that was quite silly given the table was made of solid stone. Breathing heavily to calm his beating heart, he turned to find Ruby with a sheepish smile and an expression crossed between surprise and slight glee.

"Did you just scream like a little girl?" Ruby asked with raised eyebrows.

"No! That was a… manly scream. Yeah!" Jaune cursed inwardly at his pathetic attempt to sound more confident. Thankfully Ruby did not pay much attention to it as she turned to look at the old sword he was trying to clean up.

"Oh~ you are doing maintenance on this fellow!" Ruby came forward and gazed at it with wide eyes. "You are definitely going to need a lot of work for this weapon, it is really clogged up!"

"I know, and I am not sure how I will be able to get it all off." Jaune agreed before pausing. "Say Ruby, you built Crescent Rose all by yourself, right?"

"Yup, I built my baby from scratch, with all the quality parts I can get my hands on!" Ruby placed her hands on her hips and gave off an expression of pride that was a little hilarious with her cute posturing. "My baby can take on anything~"

"Yeah, so that means you know something about weapon maintenance?" Jaune lifted Crimson Blitz in one hand and the cleaning oil in the other. "I can only deal with partial rust, and I am not sure about the mechanisms since Crocea Mors is a classic. Maybe you can give me a few tips?"

"Oh~ I get to see how Crimson Blitz innards look!" Ruby squealed as she brought her hands together and hopped on the spot. "Okay then, let's go to the forge right now!" Before Jaune could speak, Ruby used her semblance to pick up all of his equipment before grabbing his collar and pulling him out of the room and onward to the forge.

"Ruby~ Slow down!" Jaune yelled as he watched the world blurred around him to the point he started to get nauseous, but thankfully Ruby reached their destination and stopped near the door. But unfortunately the momentum was still enough to send him forward, and he barely got his Aura up instinctively before he was introduced face first against the door, lightly bruising his face.

"Oops~ sorry Jaune!" Ruby panicked as she pulled him back with some effort, leaving behind a small imprint of his face scrunched up in pain on the door's surface. Ruby took one look at it before pressing a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Haha~ laugh it up girl." Jaune snorted as he winced from the pain, internally grateful to Pyrrha for unlocking his aura.

"Sorry, I just thought it resembles some of those cartoons Yang and I watched when we were younger." Ruby controlled her laughter with a visible amount of effort. Jaune merely shook his head and looked up to see the building they had arrived at. The only indicator that this was the academy's forge was an old bronze plague that had its lettering faded out and the coloring had turned to a sickly green.

"This is the academy forge?" Jaune could not help the skeptical tone in his words as he looked to the door that looked ready to drop down if not having his face introduced to it so intimately showed that it was sturdier than it looked. And unless he was mistaken, his face was merely the latest addition since he could see other faces. Even his town's

"Yeah, it is." Ruby gave a nod. "Sure it looks worn down, but wait till you see the wonders that are inside!" With that, she pushed open the door, releasing the hot air that was trapped inside and making Jaune flinch and taking a step back from the heat. "Come on, this way!"

Taking a moment to re-orientate himself, Jaune walked through the door and found himself staring at what could be the biggest set of iron furnaces one would ever lay their eyes on. The three black furnaces were easily as big as the academy protective walls, second only in size to the clock tower of the academy. They were situated by the sides of the forge building around them, their huge piping extending high to the ceiling that boosted a huge glass roof to provide natural lighting in the day. Looking at the place, it appeared to be as big as the shopping mall back in the Vale shopping District, and there were five levels worth of workbenches and private rooms for people to work on their weapons.

"Beacon certainly spares no expense." Jaune had to let out a whistle at the sight.

"Over here!" He turned to find Ruby eagerly waving at him by a table she grabbed. He walked to her and deposited the bag of items onto the table.

"Right then, let's get started!" Much to Jaune's amusement, Ruby set about taking all of his repair items from the bag and placing it at one end of the table, then grabbing some of the other tools located at the wall before reaching for the sword to be repaired. But that stopped her as she pulled back her hand with a yelp. "OW!"

"Ruby?!" Jaune came to her side as she lifted a hand with a bleeding finger courtesy of a small cut.

"I am fine, the sword just cut me." She started sucking the finger while looking at the sword with a cute glare. "I don't get it. I have been handling different weapons all my life, yet Crimson Blitz does not let me touch him at all! Why am I being hated so much?!"

"I am sure it is not like that." Jaune patted her head gently, thinking how much she resembled one of his younger sisters when they were angry at something that was out of their control. "Maybe the blade is sharper than you think?"

"That much I got, but I was aiming for the handle! You can touch it okay!" Ruby replied while pouting at him. Jaune shrugged and shook his head for the matter before reaching out to grab the weapon and lifting it to his eye level, silently chuckling at the cute expression Ruby was directing at him for touching the weapon without getting hurt.

"Hey there Crimson Blitz. Don't suppose you can ease off the cutting, Ruby is a friend and she has handled weapons before. Maybe you can let her clean you up a bit, she wants to help me with your maintenance to make you look good and cut up Grimm again." Jaune directed the words at the sword in a joking manner, but those words seemed to have triggered something as the weapon lightly glowed and the sounds of some internal mechanism moving about emitted from it before the blade portion seemed to fold into the fuller as the handle separated from the guard, leaving it open for him to remove it from the main blade.

"Okay… that was weird?" Jaune blinked as he looked at the weapon before slowly placing it back on the table and stared at it like it was a ticking time bomb. Ruby timidly extended a finger to touch the weapon before pulling it back quickly like she got scalded. When nothing happened she extended her hand to grip the handle before attempting to separate the parts. Much to their surprise, she was not hurt this time, making her pause for a moment before she squealed and started to take apart the weapon quickly and laying it out in neat rows. Before Jaune could comment, Ruby finished taking Crimson Blitz apart and turned to him with wide eyes.

"How did you do it? Are you some weapon whisperer? Do you think you can talk to Crescent Rose for me?!" Ruby started to rattle off questions as she got closer in her excitement, forcing Jaune to lean back with his arms raised.

"Erm, Ruby. Please slow down!" Jaune called out to her while placing his hands on her shoulders. 'Damn, she is certainly like one of my younger sisters!'

"Sorry~" Ruby scratched her head. "But how did you do that?"

"I have no idea, I was actually joking about it." Jaune looked at the disassembled weapon with a raised eyebrow. "Ever since I got this guy, it has been an odd experience to say the least. I know I never handled this sword before but it feels familiar for some reason."

"Maybe you had seen something similar before coming to Beacon?" Ruby asked while looking at the handle.

"Perhaps." Jaune shrugged in reply. "So how is the damage?"

"Not much surprisingly." Ruby commented as she looked at the parts with a critical eye and occasionally picked one up to look at it closer. "It is more dirt and clogged up oil sediments that is interfering with the inner mechanisms, and the blade portion itself is in pretty good condition." The younger girl pointed to the primary blade and guard. "Those are the ones that need the most maintenance. The blade needs some heavy rust remover with a whetstone to keep the edge, while the gears need a cleansing agent to remove the gunt and work properly. And there is the odd density of the metal itself. It is strong but it seems to be barely hanging on."

Jaune tried to keep up with Ruby's explanation but only got some of it, and he thought he understood the last part of it. Reaching into his bag, Jaune took out a clear bottle containing oil with a gold hue that his grandfather had given to him. "Would this help with the metal? This was meant for Crocea Mors due to the unique metal composition."

Ruby took a quick glance before performing a double-take and focused on the bottle. "No way~" The little girl grabbed the bottle and looked at the contents like it was treasure. "Where on Remnant did you get this?!"

"Er, I got it from my grandfather who owns a small business that refines, manufactures and sells these." Jaune scratched his head with a raised eyebrow at her reaction.

"Wait, are you telling me your grandfather owns Santorini-Gear Corporation!" Ruby snapped her head at Jaune with wide eyes that seemed to be gleaming brightly. "They make some of the best mechanic-grade oils and materials for weapons, they get a double gold-standard for the most-lasting rust resistant materials around! Even the SDC can't match their quality!"

"Well then, I believe my Grandpa will be very happy to hear that." Jaune smiled at the thought of his grandfather's face the next time he would write to him. The man had complained about some guy working at the SDC over some possible lawsuit over the oil, so this ought to cheer him up. "Sounds like you used a fair amount of their items."

"Oh yes, I especially am grateful for the special axles they have, it helped my baby a lot!" Ruby spoke while cradling her weapon like one would to a teddy bear. It was half-adorable and half-creepy to Jaune.

"So where do we start?" That question released the tsunami of information from the dam that was Ruby Rose as she proceeded to unload all the knowledge she could give in one possible breath. Jaune felt like his brain was getting cooked from the information Ruby was trying to bestow on him. While this was going on, a certain red-haired spartan chanced upon them and stuck around the corner to watch their interactions. Pyrrha could not help but chuckle at the manner Jaune was trying to absorb all the information that Ruby was spouting non-stop, while inwardly thinking that her luck was finally turning around.

Pyrrha had chosen Beacon instead of Shade Academy in hopes of getting away from her fame, despite her parents, her agent and even headmaster Leonard begging her to reconsider. And for a while, she had wondered if she had made a mistake with how many people recognized her upon reaching Vale. Once she landed in Beacon, too many wanted to come to her for her autographs or guys trying to chat her up. She thought no one would ever look past her persona of the 'Invincible Girl' of Mistral, yet Jaune Arc was the first person to talk with, followed by the others in their teams. Pyrrha was still weary of the Schnee Heiress considering her haughty attitude towards others, and she was a little unsure of the dark-haired Blake who kept quiet most of the time, but she actually got along well with the others, even if two were a bit hyper.

It was a very interesting few days for her to try and understand her leader. He was rather unassuming and quite honestly a bit of a noodle, but he actually had quite a head for ideas, and certainly a very interesting family. Pyrrha had to suppress a snort at the memory of Nora's reaction the first time she laid eyes on the family photo when he told them about his numerous siblings, in front of an embarrassed Ren who tried to curtail her words.

"Either your father has a secret mistress you do not know of, or your mum is a superwoman to pump out that many kids!"

Pyrrha had to agree with that internally, and she also gave her silent acknowledgment to the woman in question. No doubt she would be quite the inspiration for other girls, but she would prefer not having that many kids herself.

In any case, Pyrrha got a chance to do some training with Jaune where she got the chance to confirm her thoughts. Jaune was certainly trained in the journeyman method, and there were holes in his education that would be problematic if he had to go into sanctioned fights with other huntsmen, let alone the Grimm. Thankfully she held the exact type of weaponry and went about helping him.

She was not, as heavily insinuated by Nora and Yang, using this as an opportunity to get closer to Jaune. She was just helping out a friend and teammate, that was all.

Really.

That said, there was something odd about his training style regarding Crocea Mors and Crimson Blitz that had her frowning.

If Jaune was using just his shield component of Crocea Mors, he was practically made to be a Tank; able to hang on for long periods of assault without much wearing out, and that was without Aura to begin with. Pyrrha let out an unconscious shudder at the thought of having to face Jaune with all of that defensive strength; she was a champion all-rounder with a semblance that could be considered a cheat, but she would be the first to admit that she had issues in the past with fighters who focused on defence, and their defence strategies were considered more developed but less powerful than Jaune's. The young blond on the other hand was equipped simply with a shield that might as well be made of some adamantium-diamond alloy since she could not even put a damn scratch on it! Not to mention his rather simplistic manner of using his shield to bash seemed to work particularly well if he used it together with a tackle.

When it came to using the sword portion, that was when his skills seemed to dip harshly. He had the basics down fine and would most likely be able to handle lower ranking Grimm well enough, but he certainly had issues facing others who were faster, stronger or at least had better techniques than him. He could keep up with her if she held back, but once she disarmed him he would be nothing more than a civilian unless he had his shield.

Then if Jaune was using Crimson Blitz as his primary weapon...

Pyrrha involuntarily shuddered again as she considered that weapon. She did not think too much about it after the initiation, but there was something odd about that weapon that gave her chills down her spine. It was not obvious, but the weapon seemed to be in tune with Jaune for lack of better words, and certainly Jaune had an odd affinity with it, able to utilize it quite well if not a bit stiffly. But when she faced him using that weapon, she could not help but see an odd shadowy figure that seemed to be beside him at times, with glowing eyes staring right at her.

Maybe she was getting tired at those times, but Pyrrha had noticed how Blake seemed to tense up whenever Jaune equipped himself with the red blade for training, not to mention the oddity of others getting mysterious cuts each time they tried to lay their hands on it. Ruby got small paper cuts alongside Nora and Yang, while Weiss and Blake got bigger cuts when they tried. Ren and herself were oddly exempted from them, while on the other end of the scale, there were some who got relatively deep cuts to warrant the usage of bandages. Privately she had noted that those who got said deep cuts were those who had been trying to pick on Jaune, Ruby or the others, such as one Cardin Winchester who made a huge scene when he tried to pick on Jaune and grab Crimson Blitz, only to yell out in pain and pulled back his arm that had a deep gash on his palm, somehow bypassing his Aura. Glynda Goodwitch who was in the area merely assigned Cardin detention while checking his wound before advising Jaune to get the weapon checked and cleaned up on the matter.

If she did not know it any better, Pyrrha would swear the weapon was sentient that it did not want others to handle it...

"Hey P-money~" Her thoughts were broken when an arm wrapped around her shoulder and she found herself facing the cheeky expression of one Yang Xiao Long. "Fancy meeting you here!"

"Good morning, Yang." Pyrrha greeted her only to get a groan from the blonde. "What?"

"Seriously, you should learn to relax a little." Yang answered while waving a hand. "You don't need to be too polite in your greeting."

"Uh..."

"Take it slow dear, we can help you." Yang said with an expression that could be considered serious if not for the mischievous glint in her eyes that made Pyrrha worried for her own safety and sanity. A few days of getting to know the Blonde and Pyrrha pegged Yang to be a highly independent girl who was apparently an 'adrenaline junkie' and a person who loved to play pranks on others, so she had every right to fear Yang's proposal.

Thankfully for Pyrrha's sanity, Yang turned her head to look at Ruby and Jaune. "Oh dear, looks like Jaune has asked 'that' type of question to Ruby." Yang chuckled at the sight of Jaune trying to keep up with Ruby as the little red riding hood used her semblance to grab either a tool or a component to fix the new blade that Jaune obtained.

"'That' type of question?" Pyrrha tilted her head.

"Anything that relates to Ruby's knowledge of weapons." Yang replied with a shrug. "She is very passionate about her craft."

"Ah that I can get." Pyrrha nodded in understanding. "She had wanted to look at Milo and Akouo, and she was…" The redhead tried to find a word to describe the level of enthusiasm the younger girl had displayed without sounding rude.

"No need to worry, I am more than aware of Ruby's obsession with weapons, alongside comics and cookies." Yang snorted while shaking her head ruefully. She then glanced at Pyrrha with a teasing smile. "So, were you spying on them?" Thankfully Pyrrha was prepared for this and had a counter for that.

"Oh no, I was actually going to find Jaune to tell him that Professor Goodwitch was sending out alerts to everyone that they had to make sure they have their equipment ready because she was planning to start the actual combat training since she cannot delay the lessons any further." Pyrrha answered while using her professional training to maintain her facial expression.

"Ugh! No more free time..." Yang seemed to deflate from that news before getting right back up. "Oh well, fun while it lasted. So anything you can tell me about Lover Boy there?"

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at her question and the nickname given to Jaune.

"My team and I only know a bit about him which is not much, and I figured you know more since you are his partner."

"Well..." Pyrrha squirmed underneath the arm wrapped around her, wondering what to tell Yang without breaking Jaune's trust. "Jaune comes from a small town around the outskirts of Vale, and it has natural defenses that helped to protect it from Grimm so they only get the occasional Beowolf, Boartusk and Ursa. He is the only son of the family."

"Oh so Jaune has sisters?" Yang perked at the thought that Jaune was a fellow older sibling to take care of his family. "How many?" Pyrrha smiled knowing the likely reaction she would get.

"Seven sisters."

"SAY WHAT?!" Yang yelled out in surprise much to Pyrrha's ringing ears before the both of them turned to the person in question who apparently got the same reaction from Ruby who was now gaping. Looking around, Pyrrha noted with embarrassment at the few who were in the building looking at them wondering about the outburst.

"Seven sisters?! How on Remnant did you survive all these years, I can barely handle one Yang!" Ruby gasped at the bit of knowledge Jaune apparently bestowed on her.

"Hey what is that supposed to mean?!" Yang released her hold on Pyrrha and made her way to Ruby with a mischievous glint in her eye. Pyrrha mentally let out a sigh of relief before making her way to Jaune as she watched Yang tackle Ruby to the ground and everyone in the area started cheering at them rolling around the area while they tried to tickle each other. The red-haired spartan turned to Jaune and smiled while greeting him, privately enjoying the moment with him.

Now if only she could deal with the shadowy figure that was hovering near his shoulder with glowing eyes aimed at her...

~ooOOoo~

Ozpin let out a hum as he read the report written by Oobleck and Port who had returned only an hour ago from their mission at the forest to recover and grab some supplies. Oobleck was practically giddy with excitement at the possibility of discovering old knowledge of Vale's history while Port was looking ready to unleash his new-found discovery of the Centipods into the classroom with a new long-winded tale. Between the two of them, they managed to get together the details for said report while having some of the licensed huntsmen to monitor the forest while the senior students took the time to recover.

From what had been observed, the ruins appeared to be that of an ancient city built underground, possibly an extension of Old Vale before the cataclysm, and what may have been the battleground of a Grimm Horde before nature took over to cover the place up and become the Emerald Forest that all knew of. It was here that the Centipod nest was found in one part of the city that had been broken off from a possible tunnel collapse, and Ozpin was disturbed at the number of eggs found there. Port who entered the place had reckoned there could be more elsewhere in Vale given some of the tunnels that were heading towards the city. This was a worrisome thought as these creatures were known to tunnel through solid earth and concrete undetected, and based on both Port's and Jaune's descriptions of the Grimm, it would appear they had many undisturbed years to grow to a staggering size. He would need to send word out to the law enforcements to watch for any disappearances or attacks, for these Grimm were the types that could be stealthy if they wanted.

On another note, there was something in Oobleck's portion that tickled Ozpin's curiosity. His assigned teams went to the place where Jaune and Pyrrha had exited from the mountain and were able to find the catacombs in question and from there, they were able to find another way into the ruins. Oobleck had commented in his report that the weapons found were unusually preserved well despite the passage of time, possibly due to the environment they were in that prevented moisture from affecting the place, and unusually resistant to the attempts made by curious students attempting to remove them from the place. A third year student known for his Strength Enhancement Semblance had attempted to lift a war hammer that was half-buried in the rock, and somehow managed to break both his aura and tore his muscles in the process without the weapon bulging an inch. Part of the reason Oobleck came back to Beacon was to procure more equipment along with the aid of historians to consider the best methods of removing said weapons along with any other artifacts found there.

For Ozpin though, he had a possible answer based on one new candidate who had obtained one such weapon from the catacombs.

'It would appear that the other weapons could only be removed by a select few.'

The headmaster placed the report down on the table and took a sip from his mug, allowing the caffeine to flow through his veins to stimulate his mind while he turned in his chair to look outside the window. He had his suspicions, especially when he remembered Pyrrha Nikos's testimony about their journey through the ruins. Her mentioning of them paying their respects to the fallen warriors had confirmed some of his thoughts especially after that recording when he watched the shadowy figure standing next to Jaune with none of the students reacting to it. Then he had privately watched Jaune Arc handling Crimson Blitz for his training and how his movements and patterns differed from his handling of Crocea Mors.

Having been around for a long time, Ozpin came to the conclusion that Jaune's action of paying his respect to the fallen and wanting to get them a proper burial got him chosen to wield Crimson Blitz, but not without some 'help' from a fallen fighter who acknowledged his respect to them. If that were the case, Jaune may be the first, or even the only one, to remove the others from the ruins, with likely additions coming along.

But if it was to be the case, would Jaune Arc be in danger of losing something as a price of gaining some weaponry of questionable power? Would Ozpin be able to look past the possibility of having a person lose their soul in exchange for a possible weapon to go against the Grimm?

Did he want to sacrifice a pawn, albeit one of possible power, to checkmate the Queen?

Ozpin took another sip as he looked up at the broken moon outside of his window, feeling every year of his long life as he considered the war he had to wage against the one that sought the world's destruction, and all the decisions he had to make to gain an advantage.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.