kEpT yOU WaiTiNG, hUH?

It's nearing Eid, and as such I've got lots and lots of free time! I'm sorry this took so long, 'cause there were midterms, assignments, the works, really. But with the holidays coming by, I finally managed to finish this thing!

Oh, and I'm sorry for mis-updating the last chapter when it was first posted. Was going to sleep when I realised the mistake :)

A warning for this chapter, please please please don't get your hopes up too much for action and/or going to Vale to meet the most of the RWBY cast. I'm sorry to say, but this is mostly a setup chapter for the next arc of the story, covering the beginning times of the cast in Remnant, so it won't be V3-era just yet. Pacing will be kinda slow compared to the usual speeds.

The condition now is kinda like an AU that runs parallel to canon V2/3 before converging at the end of V3, if that makes sense? (Damn I need to re-read those parts…)

General time frame is the mission that Tai took that made him send Zwei to Ruby via cardboard box. Since I don't think it's ever explained what kind of mission he took, I decided to expand it here!

Next, it's time for review responses! This is gonna take long, so SKIP IF YOU WANT TO!

Alright, ForSuperSaiyajin4Vegeta, Aura's effects could already be seen in earlier chapters. They can't block HF blades, but they will heal wounds inflicted by them. And Bladewolf will be going to Remnant, along with a 'special guest' from another gaming franchise that I've already mentioned offhand before.

To Skeletalrepublic, thanks for the compliments! I'm glad that you're excited!

To Mernom, general consensus I see is that it's because Armstrong fought for much longer against Raiden than against Sam. He took down Sam in one stab, while Raiden took on hundreds of punches and a Metal Gear exploding and he wasn't dead yet. As such, his nanomachines got weaker and weaker as they fight dragged on and on.

To Baou Zakeruga, thank you! I'll try my best!

ToShortyMcCoy, sorry for the long wait!

To Kabuto S. Inferno, yes he will get Aura, but that's still stuff I'm planning a bit farther down the line. And yeah, the Shadow Style was just a bit of a cameo, nothing more, sorry to disappoint if it did!

ToPureSalty101, glad you liked it!

To TheNineNerdGhouls, thanks a lot!

To Anon, I'm glad that you thought it wasn't a stupid way to bring 'em back to Remnant. Really, it's the only way I could've thought of, so I'm happy it turned out well!

To Big E, agreed!

To Guest (1), AND IT WILL NOT LET UP UNTIL THE END IS NEAR!

To Sunnyboi221, thanks for the compliments! Glad that I've managed to write them so well, and I hope to continue delivering!

To Shimuza, agreed!

To Mattysteel, yeah, the U.C will still play a role though!

To TITAN URANUS, I guess you did!

To AverageReadingEnjoyer, hope this chapter satisfies the wait a bit!

To Lubber, no problem!

To Guest (2) (HeyTales), happy to entertain! I'll be sure to take proper breaks!

To Guest (3), That's CRINGE Jack and your setup is weak! You can't even project yourself onto a building!

To Wabbayack22, You do have a point, but since we're already here, I… guess there's no point?

To ScruffinMcguffin, happy to oblige! And thanks for the high praise!

To Jack1nTheBox, hope this satisfies a bit!

To Chaotic Phoenix, thank you thank you!

To mera mera no mi, uh, the Brazillian accent? I dunno really…

To Benyx, Thank you!

To zakuzilla, thanks!

To MrKeyFox, Um, well, if you're reading this, sorry to disappoint. I'm not really a fan of writing world cross-overs, so fusions are what I usually run to.

To cubed, thank you! I'll try my best!

To cool, thanks for the compliment!

To Guest (4), :)

To Ogay The SIMPson, hope this satisfies a bit!

To Big E, doggo

To Reader, foils (the trope for similar yet different characters) will be something I'll play a lot into, as well as playing into the Hunter philosophy. Stay tuned!

To Guest (5), As I said before, I'll be sure to take proper breaks. Thanks for the concern!

To Zain Blazye, I guess I could write the (slow burn) warning? Is that the proper usage?

To StandardBuster, Hope this satisfies!

And now, to the next stage!

Raiden groaned as he regained his senses. Slowly but surely, they came back fully.

First, the ninja felt his back laying against a hard surface. He tried to get a feel of what it was, even with his mechanical body. '…A tree?' Next, He listened for any sounds. The harmonious chirping of birds can be heard, both near and far. 'They don't sound like desert eagles… and there aren't any trees in the Badlands either.' He took a small breath, just enough to get a general scent. 'Hm... and the air's fresh too, no sign of pollution of any kind.'

With all of that said and done, Raiden shook his head and tried to clear his thoughts. He opened his singular eye and noticed that he was in the middle of a lush, green forest.

'What….'

A total contrast to the Badlands.

'Where am I….?' He thought with a daze. He looked around, as if trying to confirm that this was real. 'No sand, no desert at all… and trees as high as you could see. Am I in a dream?'

As he looked around, something besides him shifted. Raiden's eye widened as he realised, 'Wait, Jaune!'

Jaune too groaned from beside Raiden. Raiden quickly gathered himself and shook Jaune by the shoulders. "Hey, wake up."

"Ngnh…" Jaune rolled aside. "Sleepy…"

Raiden growled. His patience was running thin. He tightened his grip on Jaune and shook him harder. "Hey, wake up! What the fuck did you do, Jaune?!" Raiden bit out.

Jaune groaned. "Agh… fine, fine." Jaune fully woke up. He rolled his neck and shoulders. "Damn, you're giving me a migraine here, Raide-." Jaune stopped mid-sentence, eyes wide with surprise.

He noted the trees, the air. The clear skyline, the atmosphere.

He may not know precisely where this was, but the general characteristics were just familiar enough.

Too familiar.

'Impossible…' The samurai quickly tried to lift himself up with both his hands, but instead only managed to stumble forwards. He looked at his mechanical right arm. Dead, unmoving. Totally useless.

'Right, right.' Jaune noted. 'No more nanomachines, so it can't be used anymore. Ah well.' He got himself back up with only his left arm. 'I'll make do. More importantly…'

He stood on his own two feet and looked around, making sure what he saw was right. Was real.

"Well?" Raiden asked from behind him. The ninja had gotten up too, and was now leaning against the tree he woke up against.

"I think…." Jaune smirked as he looked behind Raiden. "I think we're in a different continent."

"A different continent?" Raiden asked. "What, you mean a different country?"

Jaune waved his left hand. "No, no, a literal different continent outside of the United Continents. Tell me, Raiden," Jaune chuckled, "have you ever heard of Remnant?"

Raiden's eye twitched. He shook his head. "Bullshit. That's just a legend."

"I'm telling you it's not." Jaune smirked, "That's where we are right now."

Raiden growled. "Don't play around, Jaune."

"I'm not~" Jaune said as he rubbed his chin, inspecting their surroundings even further.

Then, the samurai's voice gained a serious edge. "I am being serious here, just so you know. And judging from the trees around us, I think we're around… huh, the middle of nowhere?" His voice took a higher pitch at the end. "I think so, at least. We're pretty deep into wild territory I'm sure, otherwise there'd be more signs of civilisation around here."

Raiden shook his head. Looks like there's no convincing him otherwise. Jaune must be going crazy. "Fine then. Whatever you say, Jaune. More importantly, how do we get back?"

At this, Jaune sagged a bit. "I don't know. If my theory is right, then it's going to take… a while."

"How long?"

"Until I get control of my Semblance."

"Semblance?" Raiden wracked his brain. "So your Semblance is teleportation?!"

"Heh, pretty cool, right?" Jaune puffed his chest. "So, what'd you think after hitching a ride?"

"Ugh." Raiden closed his eye and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You're insufferable, you know that?"

"I try my best."

Raiden growled "And was this your plan all along? Drag me here-"

"I didn't have a plan, Raiden." Jaune cut off, his voice cold, lacking the usual mocking undertones. "I… I didn't have a plan. Much less come back here…" Jaune whispered the last words, though in the forest it can be heard loud and clear.

"…"

Jaune let out a breath, his stance clearly losing a lot of motivation as he did so. "You know what, forget about it." He waved Raiden away with his left arm. "What's important now is getting to a safe spot as soon as possible." The samurai perked up when he realised something else. "Oh! And getting you a power source, I suppose. You must be running low, aren't you?"

"I've taken some repair nanopastes after the fight. Got two of them to spare, in fact." Raiden said. "Are you going to need them?"

"Nah, keep it for now. Not even I know how far we need to go, so it's best to save them. Besides," Jaune shrugged. "My nanomachines are toast. They won't work anymore, so nanopastes won't do much good"

"You're sure?" Raiden asked, raising an eyebrow. "All of your nanomachines are gone?"

"Yeah. The nanomachines to suppress my Aura have probably long since fried. They're not designed to be compatible like yours, only to suppress. With the suppress models deactivated, I'm sure the normal ones have been deactivated too." Jaune tried to move his mechanical right arm, but it didn't budge one bit no matter how hard he tried. "See? It's dead. And if you're wondering, the suit's running on analog mode right now. No enhancements at all. It's just a sturdier ballistics suit by now."

"So you're back to just using Aura?"

"Pretty much."

Raiden closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He forcibly relaxed, trying to take it all in.

First Armstrong, now this? Stuck on an island from the legends? Just what has he gotten himself into this time?

Raiden took a deep breath. "Okay. Okay. Another continent that's considered a legend. Apparently, you-" Raiden pointed to Jaune, who smirked, "have been here before. Great. That makes a lot of sense!" Jaune chuckled at this while Raiden let out a sigh. "I guess it's safe to assume we have no contact with the United Continents?"

Jaune rubbed his chin. "Hm, I don't really know, but it's safe to assume so. I mean, I didn't know about you guys before coming there, so It's a safe bet to say we're cut off completely."

Raiden just grunted. "Right, right… just what I needed." The ninja tried to refocus himself. "So, about that safe spot you mentioned. Any idea where? And why exactly do we need one so soon anyway?"

"Hm? What do you mean?" Jaune asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Jaune, we're war machines. I mean, we took on Armstrong, didn't we?" Raiden reiterated with a raised eyebrow. "What do you expect, some bear will pop up and maul us till we're dead?"

"Hm… Right, right, I forgot you don't know about that either…" Jaune said, "Look, I'll fill you in on the details later. For now, we just need to start moving."

Raiden grunted. "Fine. Where to?"

"I think we should just wander in a straight direction. Like I said, I have no clue where we precisely are on Remnant. Hopefully, we'll find a dirt track that leads somewhere."

Raiden knew from Jaune's tone of voice that he wasn't that confident, but he was the one who knew this place, so Raiden wasn't in any position to argue. "Then lead the way."

"Gladly." Jaune then opened his left hand to Raiden. "And HF Murasama, if you don't mind?"

Raiden nodded. He looked to his feet, where HF Crocea and HF Murasama were lying on the grounds, both swords sheathed. The ninja picked them up and threw HF Murasama to Jaune. Jaune caught it and gave it a small flourish, then attached it to his right hip. Meanwhile, Raiden got off the tree and attached the sheathed HF Crocea to his back.

Raiden nodded at Jaune, who smirked back.

"Let's go, Raiden."

A Few Hours Later...

They walked for a few hours, not saying anything much to the other. The sun was beginning to set, casting slowly sending darkness across the lush green forest.

Jaune looked up and noticed the orange-tinted sky. "Sun's setting." He said aloud, "I think we better stop here, Raiden. We'll continue tomorrow."

"Alright." Raiden didn't put much of a fuss, and Jaune was silently glad for that. That said, Raiden still looked around. The spot they were on was a small clearing, with tree foliage that had a small opening, allowing them to see the skies clearly.

As Raiden looked around, Jaune wasted no time and unsheathed HF Murasama. With it, he cut off several small branches and used them to start a fire.

Raiden turned to the small fire as the sun went down completely. The fire's light illuminated his face as he saw Jaune sitting across from him, behind the fire. He had a knee propped up, left hand hanging from said knee.

"Take a sit, why don't you?" Jaune said, "We should be pretty safe around here."

Raiden grunted and did as he was told, sitting across from home.

"So," Jaune talked first, "First impressions?"

"Just how far do these wild territories stretch on?" Raiden asked bluntly, "I mean come on, even the wildest forests on the U.C don't stretch on for this long."

"Ah," Jaune nodded along, "That would be because they don't have the Grimm."

"The Grimm?!" Raiden almost shouted. "You're joking, right?"

Jaune let out a tired breath. "No.." Jaune said, "The Grimm have terrorised us for as long as I reminder. Because of that, we hardly have any real land for ourselves. The lands we do have are divided into four kingdoms." Jaune brought up his left hand, counting to 4. "There's Mistral, Vacuo, Vale, and Atlas. Of course, there are some settlements scattered around. Those are the ones I'm hoping we'd run into."

"I get it…" Raiden nodded along. "Kingdoms, huh? Never thought something so old-fashioned would still hold on… So then what about the Grimm? Can you give me the rundown on them?"

Jaune rubbed his chin. "Honestly? No. They're just way too varied for a simple explanation. The general advice is to aim for the ones not covered by bone armour. But then again…" Jaune smirked. "They haven't seen an HF blade before."

"Any chance of them attacking us now?"

"I don't think so. No tell-tale signs of Grimm activities around this general area, at least. We should be fine to take a rest."

"I'll take your word for it." Raiden said. The ninja finally relaxed in his sitting position. "If that's it, then I'll be going to rest mode."

"Hm. Suit yourself. I'll wake you up for your second watch." Jaune nodded at Raiden.

Raiden let out a breath, his senses slowly going off. "…Thanks, Jaune."

"No problem."

As Raiden drifted off, Jaune looked at the cracked moon in the sky. His smirk fell, eyes losing amusement as he leaned back, left hand propping him up.

Memories from his life before flashed across his mind. The possibilities of reuniting with his family, his team, the people he knew and loved…

And how it could never really happen.

Jaune sighed.

'…What am I going to do now?'

The Following Morning...

The sun had finally risen once again, Raiden noticed with a small amount of releif. He got up from his leaning position against a tree and shook Jaune awake, having finished the second watch. The sun shone from the tree foliage clearing above them, casting light rays against their faces.

Jaune groaned. "Yeah, yeah, I'm up…" He gathered himself, then stood up and did a quick stretch. He fully opened his eyes, now ready for the journey ahead.

"I'm at 40 percent." Raiden informed Jaune before the latter could ask. "Going on yesterday's rate, we'll have to find a settlement in two days."

"Otherwise, you'll be dead weight." Jaune finished. Then, he hummed as he rubbed his chin. "Either that or get you a power source before we get to a settlement." Jaune finished. With that, the samurai began walking again, Raiden following suit.

"I want to ask you about that too." Raiden said, "You said about getting a power source yesterday. Do they make fuel cells around here too?"

"No, but I do have a theory." Jaune answered. "And that theory's called Dust."

"What's Dust?" Raiden reflexively asked.

Jaune hummed, "I'm surprised you don't know." He said, "After all, if you leave something alone for long enough, it'll eventually collect some dust, right?"

"Wha-Not that kind!" Raiden shouted.

Jaune laughed out loud. "Heh, I know, I know. Look, I don't know the specifics myself. Basically, they come in the form of crystals, and we use them as a source of power. Think of it as Remnant's substitute for the role nuclear power played back in the U.C. Since we could find them easily, back in the day at least, we never bothered to create any form of alternative energy resources. Even now, we just increase labour to get more, faster."

Raiden listened on. Jaune took it as his signal to continue.

"The United Continents, from what I understand, ran out of it a long time ago, and because of that their scientists searched for new sources of power. Oil, nuclear, fuel cells; really, I was surprised that when I came to the U.C, people weren't using Dust whatsoever."

"So that's how it is, huh?" Raiden concluded. "You got any examples of this?"

"Hmm, there's Fire Dust, Gravity Dust, let's see, what else…" Jaune trailed off, then snapped his fingers. "Oh! Electricity Dust. That's what I think might be our jackpot, Raiden."

"Right, right…. Any idea on how I could absorb it?" Raiden asked again. "Do I just…" He made a squeezing motion with his right hand.

"Probably." Jaune nodded to himself. "Well, it obviously helps that when Dust crystals are crushed, they release the elements they… contain… for a lack of a better word. And since Electricity Dust release pure electricity, you and I should be able to absorb it easily as if they're regular fuel cells."

Raiden nodded silently. It was then, however, that he noticed a pair of red eyes staring at them, almost hidden by the foliage around them. He tensed and stopped, slowly moving his hand to the sheathed sword attached to his back.

Jaune followed Raiden's eyes and saw the red eyes that Raiden noticed. He chuckled and readied himself, putting his left hand above HF Murasama's hilt.

"Ah, guess it was just a matter of time." Jaune smirked. As he said that, more and more red eyes became visible, surrounding them from all sides.

Jaune didn't flinch. Instead, he slowly moved to stand back-to-back to Raiden. "You ready, Jack?"

Raiden grunted, though he couldn't help the smirk that came to him. "When you are."

"Then let's do this." Jaune's mechanical mask slipped down, covering his nose and mouth with a clang.

Without warning, a black… bear… thing… lunged at the two of them. The ninja-samurai duo neatly dodged by jumping up. As the two fell, Jaune quickly drew HF Murasama and swung the sword below him. His sword ignored the creature's bone armour, cutting it cleanly in two and sending shattered bone shards splintering in the air. Jaune landed in a crouch, Raiden still mid-air. "Ursa Minors." He muttered to Raiden. "Pretty basic enemies, Jack. Keep an eye out for numbers."

Raiden landed on Jaune's shoulders. "Got it." He answered back, jumping from the samurai's shoulders and towards a tree. He landed on the tree deafly, sparks of electricity bouncing from his feet to the wood. Silently, he launched himself off the tree as another Ursa lunged at Jaune from behind. Drawing HF Crocea mid-air, he held it in a reverse grip and reached that Grimm mid-lunge. Raiden thrust his sword arm forwards as the Grimm opened its mouth. With barely any effort, he cut the Ursa in two as he landed.

Raiden got up and flicked HF Crocea, cleaning it of the Grimm's blood. At the same time, Jaune flourished HF Murasama and held it firmly in his left hand.

Jaune turned his head to look slightly at Raiden. "Scatter?"

"Scatter."

The two jumped away, forcing the Grimm to split their focus. It didn't take long for them to start attacking again.

From the shadows, a …bipedal black wolf…? stood before Jaune. The samurai grinned as the wolf attacked. It swung a claw down and Jaune easily parried it with HF Murasama. The samurai smirked as the claw recoiled back, leaving the chest wide open. Faster than any normal Hunter, he quickly slashed its torso wide open. "Beowolves!" Jaune shouted to Raiden. "Keep an eye out for their claws!"

"Right." Raiden growled. The ninja ducked, an Ursa Minor flying above him as it lunged forwards. Switching HF Crocea to his foot, Raiden smoothly switched to a handstand as he brought the sword-attached-foot up, slicing the Ursa Minor easily. It fell with a thud as it landed past him, already dead.

The ninja backflipped to land on his feet again, switching HF Crocea back to being gripped by his hand.

"Hah! Just as I thought, bone armour is useless against high-frequency blades!" Jaune laughed as he dodged a Beowolf's slash. "Honestly, they're not even a challenge!"

Another Beowolf lunged from the shadows, coming straight at Raiden. The ninja's sheath moved to his hip, Raiden sheathing his sword as it did so. Charging up his blade, Raiden let it loose once the Beowolf was close enough, slicing it into a hundred pieces and sending shockwaves around the air.

Jaune felt the wind blow against his ear, his ponytail swishing in the air. He smirked as he dashed forwards and plunged HF Murasama deep into an Ursa's head, totally ignoring its armour. Then, he turned to look at Raiden and what he had done. "Nice work, Jack!"

Raiden smirked and grunted. He looked around their surroundings. "That the last of them?"

"Might be…" Jaune trailed off. He too looked around, and he didn't see any red eyes around them anymore.

But then, the samurai's ears picked up the sound of gunfire. "You hear that?" Jaune turned to Raiden.

The ninja nodded. "Yeah. Someone else must be fighting these things."

"Probably a Hunter…" Jaune looked upwards in thought. "Maybe they can guide us to the nearest village. What do you think?" He looked back to Raiden. "We help him out, hopefully he'll give us some pointers, right?"

Raiden filed the 'Hunter' term for later. He just needed to confirm one more thing… "And if they're hostile?"

"Pfffft!" Jaune held back a laugh. "Come on, Jack. We're working together here. Who do you think can take us on?"

"Fair point." Raiden conceded. "Let's help them out."

With that, Jaune and Raiden ran towards the gunshot sounds. Around a minute or two after they took off, they found a battle taking place. A man holding his own against a Grimm horde, protecting a caravan behind him.

With speed, Jaune and Raiden intervened by slashing two Grimm that managed to sneak behind the man. "Mind if we cut in?" Jaune remarked.

The mystery man turned around to acknowledge them. He had faded blond hair and blue eyes, as well as a small beard growing. The man flashed them a small smile. "Thanks for the help. But who're you two?"

Jaune put on a smirk, but internally his interest was piqued. 'He seems kinda familiar…'He refocused, "Just some wandering swordsmen. You mind if we lend you a hand?"

Raiden took note of the truth omission. 'Better keep that in mind when talking to strangers…'

The man seemed to think it over for a moment, but then shrugged. "Sure thing. My name's Taiyang. Yours?"

Jaune smiled. 'Taiyang, huh? And he's fighting with his fists too…' He chuckled to himself. 'What a coincidence….' "The name's Jaune. He's Raiden." He pointed his thumb at the ninja, who grunted in greeting. "Now, let's get back to fighting, shall we?"

Taiyang nodded. "Sure thing."

With that, the three warriors engaged the Grimm once more. Raiden weaved around their attacks, giving quick and accurate strikes against the Grimm he fought. Reflexively, he slashed a Beowolf open and plunged his hand through it. Pulling his hand back out, the Grimm slumped dead. Raiden smirked and flexed his bloodied fingers. "Bullseye."

Meanwhile, Jaune laughed as he parried an Ursa Major's lunge. Skidding back a few centimeters, Jaune twirled HF Murasama and positioned it in front of him, edge ready to pierce. He lunged forwards and moved his hand forwards as he went. He landed behind the Ursa, the Grimm becoming still in shock. The samurai chuckled and flicked the blood off of HF Murasama. As he sheathed his sword, the hilt meeting the sheath with a click, the Ursa fell to pieces behind him.

Taiyang used his weapons to punch his Grimm enemies away, a pair of explosion-impact gloves he named LimitBreak. Each impact detonated a small explosion against the Grimm he fought. He tilted his head as a Beowolf attempted to slice at him, responding with a punch to the stomach. The Beowolf let out a shriek as it flew back, disintegrating until there was nothing left.

Taiyang let himself catch a breath before turning to the two 'wandering swordsmen'. He has a bit of skepticism towards these two. They were just too skilled to be your average bandit. And to top it all off, they were showcasing some serious tech. 'I mean, the white-haired one barely has any skin left!'

Taiyang put on a smile. "Thanks for the help. I appreciated it. Jaune, right?"

'Jaune' Let out a grin. "It's not a problem. Though, can we ask for a favour?"

'And there it is' Taiyang thought to himself. Internally, he readied himself for another fight, but externally, the Hunter kept his grin stable. It's not that he didn't like the help, far from it, but his senses told him to be suspicious of these two.

Taiyang's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. The way they held themselves marked experience and skill. And this far out in the middle of nowhere, smack dab in the middle of the grounded Mantle-Mistral route? They could be runaway criminals, rouge Huntsmen, or something even worse. "And what would that be?"

The one named 'Raiden' stepped forward "Jaune and I need to find a settlement, fast. We're running low on power and could use some Electricity Dust. Would you mind helping us out, maybe show us the way?"

Taiyang thought about it for a little. If you asked him, there were more disadvantages than advantages in this case. They could sneak up on him and the client and kill them in their sleep, they could rob all of their belongings, they could kidnap them all back to a bandit camp-

"Sure you can!" A voice from the caravan behind him spoke up. A head popped up from the caravan,, it's expression eager to talk.

His client! "Just come with us! It's the least we can do after your help!"

Raiden turned to the caravan and gave a small smile. "Thanks, Mr…." Raiden trailed off, not knowing the name.

"Jade! Weapons specialist!"

"Mr. Jade. Sorry that Jaune and I will be burdening you. We'll do our best to make it up."

"Nonsense! You're all welcome here."

As they conversed, Taiyang felt a migraine growing. 'Great, now I'm stuck with two people I don't know, strangers with deadly skills, following me and my client. This is terrific.'

"Yeah, I guess you can come with us." Taiyang finished.

Taiyang tried to take a look on the bright side. Well, at least the blond one knew how to make puns.

'Heh, cut in. I should write that down.'

Some Time Later...

They spent the next few hours making good progress, at least that what Jade told them. Jaune, Raiden, and Taiyang all spread themselves around the caravan while they walked, ensuring the safety of their resident weapons specialist. As they walked, Jade excitedly asked Jaune and Raiden about their technology. It was unlike anything he had ever seen!

That didn't mean he didn't have his suspicions, however.

Raiden mostly gave short, brisque answers, but Jaune fully indulged the weapons specialist.

Jaune let out a laugh as he explained his blade to Jade. "Yeah, it was a bit of a pain learning how to apply HF technology to a prebuilt sword, but I made it work out. The results speak for themselves if I do say so myself. Not many swords ever reach past VT5, let alone VT7."

"Would you mind teaching me how to do it?" Jade asked excitedly.

"Hm, I'll think about it." Jaune said in a contemplative tone. "I could use some brushing up. Maybe once we reach…. it's Mistral, right?"

At the mention of their destination, Raiden perked up. He had been meaning to ask Jaune about the place but held back since he was speaking with Jade. Sensing their conversation ending, he decided to speak up. "What's it like there, anyway?"

Taiyang decided to speak up, "From what I remember, Mistral's a pretty heavily cultured kingdom." He said, "Lots of ancient architectures, classy people, expensive souvenirs, things like that."

"And what about the Dust there?" Raiden pushed forwards, "You think they'd have enough for us?"

Jaune hummed, deciding to answer Raiden himself. "I mean, from what I remember, Mistral's still good enough technology-wise, though it's far from the best. They should have enough Electricity Dust to fuel us, but only that. Nothing too fancy other than that"

Raiden turned to Jade. "And how long did you say it would take us?"

"Well, since you two decided to come with us, I think we could just take the faster route now." Jade said, nodding to himself.

"Are you sure?" Taiyang asked. "The whole reason we've been doing more than a month of walking is-"

"I'm sure, Mr. Xiao Long." Jade said. "Trust me."

The hunter sighed, exasperated. "Alright." Taiyang weakly nodded along. He made sure to get Jaune and Raiden into his field of view before shooting a glare at them both. Jaune chuckled in response, while Raiden shrugged.

As The Night Approaches...

It was nighttime again, so they decided to settle down, right at the beginning of the faster route. While Jade had already decided to call it a night, the three fighters of the group were all staring at each other around a campfire, gazes relaxed yet intense at the same time.

"So…" Jaune began. "Raiden and I haven't been around the kingdoms for a long while. What's the world now like, behind the walls?"

Raiden noticed the lie beneath Jaune's words. 'Jaune said people don't know about the U.C here. Looks like it's best to keep it a secret.'

In response, Taiyang narrowed his eyes "I'm going to need a specific time to work with."

"Let's say…" Jaune gave a 'so-so' motion with his left hand. "Two and a half years?"

"…" Taiyang thought for a moment, then, "Well, since you need Dust, I guess you should know that Dust prices have been skyrocketing, mostly because of the whole fiasco in Vale. Aside from that, The White Fang's been more active in making more strikes against the population, and lastly, the Vytal Festival's coming up."

"The White Fang, huh?" Jaune leaned back. They were a bunch of faunus terrorists and extremists, if he remembered correctly. But then again, who was he to judge?

"Attacking the civilians?" Raiden asked. These White Fang sounded like a bunch of criminals, so Raiden asked again, "What about the police or the militaries of the… kingdoms?" He still stumbled over that last word. "Can't they do anything about it?"

"They mostly rely on us Hunters." Taiyang shrugged. "The councils hire us as a crutch for the heavy lifting."

"Is that so…" Raiden trailed off. And that was the term again, Hunter. If they were supposed to hunt, then why fight against criminals? Maybe it's a different system of military force distribution, and judging from what he saw of Taiyang, he didn't seem half bad either, especially as a lone fighter…

"Speaking of, what do you do as a Hunter these days?" Raiden asked, adding a bit of the lie Jaune laid out before. "I thought that from the name, you'd just hunt these Grimm, but from what you just told me, you have to fight people now too?"

"Well, we're more like contract workers." Taiyang said. "We get job offers by missions and we take it. The mission can be anything, be it clearing Grimm, helping kingdom security, or," He briefly looked at Jade's caravan. "Escorting people."

Internally, Taiyang got more and more interested, 'How do these people not know what Hunters are? Maybe they really are wanderers… No one else can be this uneducated, after all...'

"Sounds busy." Raiden spoke, 'And so much like the PMCs…fighting just for personal gain…'

"Oh it can get busy alright." Taiyang nodded. "My studetns have been training since they were kids and they still get themselves swamped with missions once they go to the Academies!"

Raiden's eyes widened.

'Trained since they were kids…'

'TRAINED since they were KIDS?!"

A blindingly fast punch met Taiyang's face. He rolled on the ground, coming to a stop when his back hit a tree. Taiyang's eyes flashed with anger as he looked at Raiden, fist outstretched, though his gaze was met with an equally angry stare.

"You're telling me…" Raiden growled. "That those Hunters are CHILD SOLDIERS?!"

Raiden went for another attack, but before he could Jaune had jumped up and held him back with his single working hand.

"Raiden!" Jaune urged, "Calm down. You don't want to-!"

"AND YOU!" Raiden pushed himself off of Jaune and turned to look at the samurai." This is your world?! Let kids die fighting for things they don't understand?!"

"Wha-no!" Jaune said. "Listen… I… hate… how we're made as much as you do. But things aren't that simple here. The Grimm are attracted to negativity, so there's no land where they won't find us. Even in your homeland, the people always fought over small things, am I right? It's even worse here, so we need Hunters as much as possible… at any cost."

"That doesn't mean this is right, Jaune!" Raiden retorted with more anger, and the ninja narrowed his eyes while growling lowly, "I thought, after everything, you'd know better than this."

Jaune sighed, "Humanity and Faunuskind have barely survived, Raiden. We needed fighters as much as possible, as fast as possible… It's no real reason, but if I had it my way." Jaune's eyes turned resolute. "We wouldn't be supporting the dream with a system like this."

Raiden took note of one of Jaune's words. 'We…' His rage calmed down ever so slightly,"'So that's the legacy you were talking about… you were a Hunter." The ninja stated coldly.

"In-training." Jaune chuckled. "Never graduated. Well, not that I need it now, anyways."

Raiden seemed to calm down at that. He walked past Jaune, but stopped after a few steps. "I won't accept this."

Jaune smirked humourlessly. "I know."

Raiden nodded. He left to cool off, deciding to return once the sun returned.

As Raiden left, Taiyang decided to stand back up. He rubbed his jaw. "What's his deal?" He asked Jaune, still a bit of anger left in the Hunter. "Hunters and Huntresses are pretty normal. I mean, it's not like we send them on missions right away! We keep safety measures, and combat schools barely have any Grimm practice, let alone fighting against criminals-"

"Stop." Jaune raised his only working hand. "I understand, Tai." The samurai trailed off, looking at the sky. "But if you ask me, you should take a look at your daughters."

Taiyang shifted again, this time more ready for a fight than ever. He growled lowly. "How do you know about them." He demanded.

Jaune chuckled humourlessly. "I was Ruby's friend, once. Ah, she was so full of dreams, ever so hopeful…" He looked at Taiyang, who bristled the empty eyes Jaune had staring back. "I wonder… when will her dreams be crushed like mine?"

Then, it all clicked for Taiyang. 'Hunter-in-training, blond hair and blue eyes, Jaune…' "You… you're Jaune Arc. Ruby's friend, the one she said had died." He whispered.

"Am I?" Jaune asked. He chuckled. "Would she be friends if she saw what I am?"

"Of course she would!" Taiyang said indigantly, "Don't you know how many people were sad the day you died?!"

"Well maybe I should've died." Jaune whispered, "I fought for a dream, where justice can be served to those who deserve it." He began walking towards Taiyang, "Isn't that Ruby's dream too?"

The samurai's steps gained more and more weight as he stepped closer, "I've killed so many people, fought because it made me feel alive. Isn't that what Yang's about?"

Taiyang's intense eyes stared at Jaune's.

The samurai stopped a step away from Taiyang and his voice gained an edge, his eyes burning into the Hunter's "Ruby told me her dad's a great Hunter, so I don't doubt that you've killed someone before. The question is, when will the day come when they'll be forced to take a life? When will their hands be stained…like yours and mine?"

Jaune turned away, chuckling hollowly all the while. "On that day, you'll realise that they became Huntresses because of you."

End scene!

And so our three protagonists frame the three stances on Hunter philosophy: Raiden refuses to accept it at all, Taiyang believes it's a faultless path, and Jaune is on the fence. The following chapters will focus on exploring the people behind the philosophy, more specifically the worst people behind them.

Did I get it through clear enough? As usual, tell me what you thought!

See you next time!