-Chapter Two-
The Forging of Bonds
Jaune made it to the cliffs soon enough, seeing two adults – a silver haired man and a woman who gave even Pyrrha a run for her lien, though thankfully she was a teacher, so Jaune didn't need to worry about trying to impress her in a romantic sense.
The man was tall and trim, standing a few inches shorter than Jaune, with a fair complexion and – like most successful Hunters – an unassuming build. His face was attractively gaunt and angular, with a hooked nose, thin lips, and a pair of angled, enigmatic brown eyes that were hidden by a pair of jagged, silver framed, round glasses. His hair was a wild, spiky mop of hair that fell to his ears from a side part – quite similar to how Jaune wore his – with a clean-shaven face.
He was dressed in a simple black, three-piece suit with a dark green vest above a green, wide necked turtleneck – which bore a silver cross brooch with a purple jewel embedded in the center – with a pair of dark brown leather dress boots and a silver handled combat can tucked under his left arm, with a mug of some steaming liquid in the other.
Jaune didn't know why, but his bullshit sense started going off at the sight of the man. But that couldn't be the case, he was the Headmaster of Beacon for Brother's sake!
The woman, meanwhile, looked like she belonged in a long and wildly successful career in the porn industry than teaching at a school.
She was a statuesque, hourglass build framed woman who stood at six foot even, with a creamy pale complexion and curves that should've been criminal to have. Her face was stoic and heart shaped, with an aristocratic nose and a beauty mark near the bottom left corner of her full lips, her eyes were hawk-like and a striking pale green that was blank by a pair of black half-moon glasses.
She was dressed in a high collared, white frilled blouse that bore cuffed, frilled sleeves and a large keyhole that showed off her impressive cleavage, over this she wore a black underbust corset with bronze button alongside a matching pencil skirt over a pair of dark brown pantyhose that lead to a pair of knee high, black leather, two-inch bronze heeled boots. She also wore a black, purple lined cap that ended in arrow and flame-like patterns, with teal, teardrop earrings and a matching brooch closing her collar.
Needless to say, it took every ounce of Jaune's willpower to not let his hormone charged and eternally horny teenage brain from ogling the veritable goddess of a woman in front of him – after all, Mama Arc raised him better.
Shaking his head and cracking his neck, Jaune approached the pair and stopped a few feet away, crouching down and unfurling his bundle. Said bundle contained what he dubbed his "Assault Kit", which consisted of a rugged, paratrooper styled battle rifle, a 10-gauge sawed off shotgun, alongside his "main weapon" Crocea Mors and a chest rig with some additional webbing-style shell carriers.
Crocea Mors was a simple, gold colored mech-shift gauntlet and blade. The gauntlet acting as a shield/sheath for his blade, with the addition of sharpened, claw-like tips at the end of each finger, which could be used as an improvised weapon or to slow his fall if the need arises. Whereas the blade was an equally simple mech-shift knife – which could transform from a dagger to a thin arming sword in length – with a similar blade design to that of a kris – bearing a wavy, flame-like blade – with a gilded guard similar to that of a Valean spatha, alongside a simple blue leather wrapped handle and pommel similar to that of the ancient Mistralian Han Jian.
Nodding to himself, Jaune got to work. First strapped on the chest rig, then he removed his bottom belt and looped on the shotgun carriers, alongside the shotgun's drop-down holster. Before slinging his battle rifle over his shoulder and securing it to his left hip. Lastly, he strapped on his pack – which contained a surprise tool to help him later – and slide Crocea Mors onto his left forearm.
He checked and double checked his gear, nodding in satisfaction he stood and went over to the silver plagues embedded into the ground – waiting for the rest of the potential first years to show up. After ten or so minutes all the prospective students arrived and took their place on the silver plagues.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin started once everyone was in place.
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of "teams"." Goodwitch continued. "Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion, each of you will be given teammates… today."
"What?" Whined a distressed Ruby. "Ohhh…"
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon." Ozpin interjected. "So, it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well." Ruby groaned. "That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."
"Whaaat?!" Ruby cried out with a shocked expression, before seemingly turning to glass and shattering.
"See?" Nora looked to Ren smugly. "I told you-!"
"After you've partnered up, make your way north, at the end of the forest you will find an abandoned temple." Ozpin explained. "Along the way you will meet opposition, hesitate to destroy anything in your path… and you will die."
A sense of oppressive tension settles upon the prospective students at the headmaster's words, for many it'll be a wakeup call, for the remaining few – it was Tuesday.
"You will be monitored and graded throughout the duration of initiation but be warned out instructors will not intervene." Ozpin warned. "The temple houses several relics, each pair must choose one relic and return to the top of the cliff – we will regard that item, as well as your standing, before grading you appropriately." He raked the mob of students. "Any questions?"
"I have a question." Jaune spoke, raising his hand.
"Good!" Ozpin exclaimed, ignoring Jaune. "Now, take your positions."
As if on cue, the rest of the students struck a pose on their tiles. Nora crouched low with her maul resting on her shoulder, Ren struck a Mistralian martial arts pose, pistols akimbo, Yang raised her fists in a boxer's stance, Ruby limbers up, and Jaune lowered his hand.
"Dick…" Jaune grumbled before raising his voice, missing the tile below Weiss rising up and acting like a springboard – launching her into the forest at a violent rate. "Sir, how exactly do you expect us to get down off of the cliff?"
"By falling." Ozpin answered curtly.
"Why?" Jaune asked, missing more students being launched into the forest.
"To use and improve your landing strategies."
"Why would we need landing strategies?" Jaune asked, missing an excited Nora and a calmer Ren being launched. "When would we even need to use such a tactic?"
"To survive falls of great distance." Ozpin replied as Yang and Ruby were launched.
"But parachutes are a thinGGG!" Jaune yelled as it was hit turn to be launched into the forest.
-/-
Ozpin smiled vindictively as he watched Jaune tumble ass over teakettle into the forest. Only for said smile to be whipped off his face as the boy stabilized himself and unfurled a parachute from his back.
"Hm, it seems one of them finally read the brochure." Glynda mused next to him.
"So, it seems." Ozpin deadpanned, pulling up a small pair of binoculars to watch the parachuting Arc – only to see said Arc turned back and flipping him off.
In response, Ozpin clicked his tongue. "Rude."
-/-
Jaune, meanwhile, was cursing Ozpin in every language he knew and with every curse he knew – which would've given his mother a heart attack if she heard him and would've made his grandmother smile.
After a solid minute of cursing, Jaune caught his breath and grumbled. "No wonder Gram-gram hates you…" Before steering his parachute towards the ground, landing with a tuck and roll.
Discarding his chute, Jaune unattached his rifle before deploying the stock and shouldering it, scanning his surroundings.
He had landed in a small clearing with plenty sounds of life, meaning no Grimm where anywhere near him. Tucking his rifle under his arm, Jaune cautiously crept forward, heading north. He made a good distance before all the sound suddenly vanished, as if someone had hit mute. Stopping on a dime, Jaune crouched and surveyed his surroundings. A slight rustling to his right was the only warning he received before a Beowolf launched from the bushes – only to receive a .308 full metal jacket between its eyes.
Immediately, Jaune stood and fired as another Beowolf tried to ambush him from behind, sending two rounds into the creature's chest. He ducked under a swipe from another Beowolf, kicking it hard in the ribs to create distance and send another round into the side of its head. He spun once more and jabbed the end of his barrel into the throat of a charging Beowolf, stunning it long enough to finish it off with a head shot. Almost immediately after, he sent another three rounds out into the clearing at a trio of charging wolves, hitting the first two dead on and dropping them – but missing the last. Jaune tried to jab the end of his barrel into the Beowolf's throat, but the Grimm countered with a swipe that not only knocked his rifle from his hands – but tore it from its sling.
"Shit!" Jaune grunted as he pulled his blade from Crocea Mors and used the momentum to block an overhead swipe, countering with a stab to the creature's unarmored belly.
The Beowolf recoiled in pain and shock, which Jaune used to shoot for its legs to take it down and drive it to the ground. Slamming it into the ground, Jaune drove his knee into the creature's chest, before pulling his sawed off and blasting it in the face – tearing the things head clean off.
Jaune let loose a heavy sigh, cracking his neck before going to retrieve his blade from the Beowolves dissipating corpse. Only to suddenly have to throw himself to the side in order to avoid a surprise attack. Rolling to a crouch, Jaune came face to face with a juvenile Alpha Class Beowolf – recently changed judging by the diminutive size of the creatures back spikes. The creature charged and Jaune raised his shotgun in response, only to have it smacked from his hand as the creature deliberately went for his weapon.
Now weaponless, save for his gauntlet, Jaune grit his teeth as he assumed an amateurish boxing stance – while not a master by any means, he had enough knowledge to defeat a lone opponent. Ducking under a swipe, Jaune countered with a right cross, only to block and trap another swipe before sending an elbow strike to its elbow joint – shattering it. Howling with equal parts pain and fury, the Alpha lunged at Jaune with its jaw wide open, only to get a gauntlet clad jab directly to its face – knocking out most of its teeth. With hatred burning in its heart and eyes, the Alpha slashed recklessly with its remaining arm, getting tossed and pinned for its troubles.
Jaune violently wretched the Alpha's arm back and across its back, popping it out of its joint, before kneeling on its back and wailing on its head with his gauntlet clad hand. After a minute's worth of violent ground and pounding, the Alpha lay dissipating with a mushy smear that at one point used to resemble a skull.
Breathing heavily from a mixture of adrenaline and exhaustion, Jaune collected and holstered his weapons, clicking his tongue in annoyance at the ruined state of his sling, being forced to carry his rifle – a sub-optimal position.
"That sling was a gift, you asshole!" Jaune grunted, before pulling his sawed off and pointing it to his right at there was once more rustling bushes, only for Ren to stumble out of said bush, clearly tired.
Ren sighed and looked up, only to meet the twin barrels of Jaune's sawed off with wide, saucer sized eyes.
"Don't shoot!" Ren yelped with raised hands.
Jaune holstered his shotgun and looked Ren in the eye, before smiling ruefully and sticking out his hand. "Sorry 'bout this, but it seems we're partners, names Jaune, Jaune Arc – short, sweet, rolls of the tongue! Ladies love it!"
"Ah, y-yes." Replied a blushing Ren.
"Yeah, sorry for not being your girlfriend, but hey, maybe we can still be on a team with her?"
Ren blushed. "S-She's not my-"
"It's okay, Renny." Jaune interrupted, walking past and patting Ren's shoulder. "Now c'mon, north's this way!"
"It's Ren." Ren mumbled, before following after Jaune.
-/-
"Birdie no!" Ruby cried as she slammed into a black bird going Mach Fuck.
-/-
Said black bird hurled to the ground, hitting every tree, branch, and impaled rock on the way down like he was in a pinball machine, before landing hard as none other than a thoroughly dazed and confused Qrow Branwen.
"Ugh… Did anyone get the plate of that truck that hit me…?" Qrow groaned, before promptly passing out.
-/-
Ruby, unaware she just hit and ran her uncle, flew through the air before landing on a branch and unfurling Crescent Rose into its rifle form. Briefly scanning the wood line before taking off once more.
"Okay, just gotta find Yang, or Jaune! Jaune's nice, and handsome, a-and has really pretty eyes and – oh god I have daddy issues!" Ruby thought as she ran a mile a second, almost running smack dab into the one person she'd rather not have – none other than crabby girl herself, Weiss Schnee.
Sliding to a stop mere inches away from each other, a minute of silence pass before Weiss turns on a dime and walks off.
"Nope!"
Wait!" Ruby cried out pathetically. "We're supposed to be… partners…"
With nothing better to do, and with much dismay, Ruby shot off after her new partner.
-/-
"Ruby…! Jaune…! Book girl…!" Yang yelled out as she walked through the Emerald Forest, sufficiently bored now that she wasn't flying through the air. "Ugh… this sucks…" A nearby rustling caught her attention as she rushed over and gasped. "Ruby!?"
Only for a large shadow to engulf her frame, accompanied by a deep growling.
"Nope." Yang replied, popping the P, rolling backwards to avoid the sweep of a dinner plate sized claw.
"Alright!" Yang cheered, rolling to a stand with a wide smile stretched across her face. "Let's rock!"
Yang banged her fist together and activated Ember Cecilia, before throwing her hands behind her and firing off two rounds, rocketing her forwards and to an inertia enhanced superman punch. Which not only knocked the Ursa onto its ass but snapped its neck as well.
Dodging a swipe from behind, Yang countered with a spinning hook kick and a blast from Ember Cecilia – using the recoil from the blast to spin around and send a hammer kick to a third Ursa's head.
"C'mon! Don't tell me this is… all… you… can…" Yang's taunt was forgotten as a single strand of honey blonde hair gently fell in front of her.
An eternity passed within the span of a second, before the whole world was consumed by fire as a raging Yang shot off like a bat outta hell and decimated the remaining Ursa. A snarling from behind clued her in on the surprise attack, spinning around she raised her fist – only to lower it as the Ursa fell forward, dead, an excitable ginger wielding a giant hammer stood behind it.
"Renny!" Nora cheered, only to wilt as she noticed she was not, in fact, in front of Ren. "Wait, you're not Ren! Ooh, and I did our signal and everything!"
"You… you had a signal?"
"Yeah! A sloth call!" Nora cheered before making a sound that no animal known to man made – but to her it was a perfect sloth call.
Yang just stared dumbfounded, before her over developed maternal instincts kicked in and all but adopted the red head in front of her – which if she had a lien for every time she more or less adopted a red head, she'd have two liens, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice.
-/-
Pyrrha sprinted through the Emerald Forest at a breakneck speed, using a byproduct of her Semblance to track her query, demolishing any and all Grimm in her path – until a singular of Boarbatusks decided to get in her way.
Snarling, Pyrrha launched Akoúo, using her Semblance, into three Boarbatusks, stunning them. Before spinning Miló into its rifle form and crouching, firing off three shots in short succession, hitting the Grimm in between their plates of bone armor – killing them instantly. Another Boarbatusk jumped up and began spinning, causing Pyrrha to summon back Akoúo and brace, using her shield as a ramp to launch the porcine Grimm into a tree – before reverting Miló to its sword form and skewering the stunned Grimm.
A snap of a twig behind her alerted her to a surprise attack, only to turn and see a monochrome dressed girl wielding a mech-shift kusarigama.
Blake looked Pyrrha in the eye and spoke in monotone. "It seems we're partners."
"S-So we are!" Pyrrha cheered with practiced falseness. "Shall we go collect our relic?"
"Let's."
-/-
"It seems all the students have partnered up." Glynda called out without looking up from her tablet. "Some interesting pairs this year." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "And I can already see the headaches Ms. Xio Long and Ms. Valkyrie will give me."
Ozpin gave a noncommittal noise as he looked over the feed of Ruby and Weiss, already sensing tension. "Dammit! Why couldn't have Ms. Rose and Mr. Arc have partnered up! I've been trying to unite those two families for generations now!" He sighed near silently. "I was so close with Summer and Nathaniel, then the Faunus Revolution had to kick off and mucked everything up! Damn Reina for being such an attentive and understanding nurse!"
-/-
Jaune and Ren pushed through the bushes into the temple ruins, with Ren still recovering from an earlier bought with a King Taijitu.
Jaune gave Ren a concerned look. "We really need to improve your stamina." He looked forward with a chuckle. "You're like a damn pillow princess!"
Ren blushed in embarrassment, grumbling. "I trained to fight around Grimm, not directly against them…"
Jaune's subsequent laugh made Ren's blush worse. "Whatever you say, Princess."
The pair approached the temple and were… less than impressed.
"Chess pieces?" Ren quirked a brow.
"Well, that doesn't bode well…" Jaune quipped.
"Why not?"
"Because it means the headmaster sees himself as a chess master." Jaune explained. "And what do chest master commonly do?"
It took a moment for Ren to get it, face going pale as realization kicks in. "Oh…"
"Yeah, "oh…", c'mon, let's collect our "relic" and go." Jaune marched up and noted the missing pieces. "Huh, the bishops and pawns are gone."
Shrugging, Jaune looked over the pieces, his eyes instinctively drawn to the Knight – a strategic, tricky piece known for agility and daring – nodding to himself, Jaune picked it up and put it in a spare pouch.
"Alright, let's go!"
But before the two could move an inch, another pair entered the clearing – Pyrrha and Blake.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha beamed, rushing up to the blonde like a puppy that's missed its owner all day. "It's good to see you again!"
"Yeah, you too, Pyr!" Jaune smiled, causing Pyrrha to visibly perk up.
Blake walked up to Ren, holding the other Knight piece, before looking at the pair in front of her with a quirked brow. "Are they… dating?"
"I… have no idea…"
Before the pair could ruminate on the sight in front of them, a lone Ursa burst through the brush, carrying to buxom women. Before collapsing in the middle of the clearing, dead.
"Aww, its dead." Nora pouted.
"Well… you did keep hitting it with your hammer." Yang pointed out.
"It's not my fault it was weak!" Nora replied, before gasping as she saw the relics and zoomed over – picking up a Rook and singing. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"Did she…" Blake asked.
"Yes." Replied Ren calmly. "Don't worry, you get used to it."
Jaune and Pyrrha didn't notice the newcomers, engrossed in their own conversation, that was until a shadow engulfed Jaune's form. Looking up, Jaune was greeted by a familiar pair of panties falling at terminal velocity. Stepping back, Jaune held out his arms and caught the falling reaper.
Jaune smiled down at Ruby. "Just dropping in?"
Ruby looked up at Jaune with wide eyes and an atomic blush. Stuttering slightly before vanishing in a burst of rose petals behind Yang, peeking out from behind her taller sister. Said sister looked down in confusion, as her sister had never acted this way before – and she knew Jaune didn't do anything as she was with Ruby all night last night. Pyrrha, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes as her competitive streak flared to life.
But before anyone could do anything, a large, bird-shaped shadow the size of a small Atlesian frigate passed overhead – alongside the shrill cry of "Why did you leave me!"
"I told you to jump!" Ruby yelled back, no longer behind her sister.
"She's going to fall." Ren pointed out.
"Nah, she's fine!" Ruby denied.
"She's falling." Blake piped up.
Sighing, Jaune stepped under the falling Heiress and stuck out his arms, catching the barely hundred-pound girl.
"Are all right?" Jaune asked in a low, concerned tone.
"Oh, I, uh, y-yes… I, um, am." Weiss answered, face progressively getting redder as her eyes grew to the size of saucers.
"That's good!" Jaune smiled, causing Weiss to start unconsciously rub her thighs together.
Blake, meanwhile, glared unimpressed – as her enhanced sense of smell could pick up the Heiress' "excitement". "I knew the Schnees were freaks…"
"Alright!" Yang called out, not willing to see what'll happen if Weiss keeps giving Jaune "fuck me eyes". "Let's collect our relics and go, no reason to stick 'round."
"I second that." Jaune replied, tone as serious as a heart attack. "That Nevermore will be back any second now, we'll need to lose it – or at least get to a more defensible position."
With that, Ruby zipped over t collect the other rook piece and the group of eight took off into the forest, just in time as a volley of man-sized feathers impaled the ground where they just were. The group ran crisscross through the forest, dodging both feathers and topside roots, as they made way for the cliff.
Unfortunately, the Nevermore was old enough to know what the humans were doing and cut them off at the bridge leading to the cliffs, destroying it before they could cross.
"Shit!" Jaune yelled, throwing himself behind a fallen pillar for cover. "Ruby! You're the only one of us with something that can reach out and touch that feathered fuck!"
Nodding, Ruby burst off in a cloud of petals to a raised pillar – firing her .50 at the Nevermore, drawing its ire. While she did so, Jaune took stock of the situation and the group he was with and formed a plan – only to have to scrape that plan and work on a new one as a Minotaur tore out of the brush.
"Crap!" Jaune cursed before yelling. "Weiss, Ren, Nora, go help Ruby with the Nevermore – harass it until it goes for a dive-bomb, then Nora can blast it with a grenade and Weiss can freeze it when its down – the rest of you, with me!"
The teens split into two and went their separate ways to deal with their assigned threats.
"Alright, here's the plan!" Jaune called out as they ran. "Minotaurs are strong as hell but have a hammer mentality, so I want Yang and Blake to go for hit and runs while me and Pyr keep its attention on us – when you see an opportunity, go for the legs and drive it to the ground, we can finish it off then and there!"
The group split once more, with Jaune and Pyrrha charging the Minotaur and Blake and Yang flanking. Jaune ran and slid through the beast's legs, punching its crotch with his gauntleted hand, with Pyrrha coming up shortly after and blocking its retaliating attack. Yang launched herself into a blast enhanced Superman punch and clocked the beast dead on, while Blake threw Gambol Shroud and planted it into a tree, pulling the reinforced ribbon taunt and tripping the Minotaur.
Seizing the opportunity, Jaune and Pyrrha rushed forward and planted their feet on the Minotaurs arms, trapping them, before unloading onto them with their respective rifles – while Yang and Blake thrashed the beast's legs.
As the beast's limbs were reduced to a thick, black paste, Jaune rushed forward with a 10-gauge shell clutched in his hand. He poured a large amount of his Aura into it before shoving into the screaming Minotaurs mouth, kneeing it in the face before backtracking hastily. And not to soon as the beasts head exploded as the Aura enhanced propellant cooked off like a makeshift grenade.
"What… the hell… was that?" Yang asked as they caught their breaths.
"Dust has a pretty… violent reaction when I pour my Aura into it." Jaune answered. "S'why I don't use much of it, but it has its uses – mostly as I.E.D's."
"Remind me not to piss you off…" Yang muttered, never even thinking that Dust could be used like that.
"C'mon." Jaune continued. "Let's see if the other's need help."
They turned just in time to see Ruby behead a half frozen, pinned Nevermore.
"Well… never mind!" Jaune replied. "Hew, I need a drink!"
"Second!" Yang cheered.
"U-Um, t-third?" Pyrrha eked out.
"Mhm." Blake sounded out.
And done, slightly later than I intended – an unfortunate injury sustained stopping a dog fight forced me to stop three fourths the way through, which was annoying.
For anyone wondering, Jaune's new Crocea Mors is based off of Lion-o's gauntlet and Sword of Omens, with a bit of Jason Todd's dagger from the Under the Hood comics mixed in – as I fucking love that knife.
In unrelated news, I've been watching my niece lately and have noticed that Sonic seems to dominate in Tv shows and movies compared to Mario – which is weird as they're both as equally famous, yet Mario has only had, what? Two movies? Whereas Sonic has had a show or movie every few years since the turn of the century. Just something I've noticed.
Thank you for reading, alongside all the reviews, follows, favorites, and suggestions, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stick around for more!