Chapter Text
'This is my life in a nutshell. Once again I'm tumbling out of control, destiny taken out of my hands. How did my life end up like this? All I wanted-' "Waaaaaaaaaa!" Jaune's internal singing was broken as he came to a sudden halt above the ground. He looked up and saw that a spear caught his cape and pinned him to a tree. Well at least he wouldn't tumble along the ground and break something. "Thank you!" He called out to the direction where the spear came from.
"I'm sorry!" A familiar, feminine voice called off from the distance. Jaune chuckled to himself at how concerned she sounded. He tried reaching up for the spear to pull it out but he couldn't reach it. He tried twirling and swinging his body around, gripping his cape and using it to pull himself up, but he couldn't pull himself up and reach the spear. All he managed to do was turn himself around and face the tree.
"Alrighty then," Jaune sighed in defeat. "Tree, you are my new best friend. Uh… not sure what my parents would say when they found out I'm a tree hugger." His head perked up when heard giggling. He did his best to look down behind him and saw Pyrrha.
"Jaune," Pyrrha smiled up at him, "are you ok? Do you need help getting down, or will your new friend help you?"
Jaune retracted his mouth plate. "Very funny… but yeah, yes please. I don't think Bob is one for helping others," he motioned to the tree, making Pyrrha's smile grow.
"Ok I will have you down in a sec." She hold up her hand up towards him.
"Great, it will be nice to fin- wait how are you waaaaaaaaa!" Pyrrha used her semblance to pull Miló free from the tree, sending poor Jaune hurtling to the ground.
"Ow." Jaune fell flat on his back. He sat up and shook his head to make the stars circling his head go away.
"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha ran over with a look of concern on her face as she held a hand out for him. "Jaune are you ok? I really sorry, I thought you were prepared for the landing."
"Nah I'm good," Jaune accepted her helping hand and she pulled him up. "Just got a little dirt on me. Nothing's broken so we should be fine. Besides it would take a lot more than a small fall like that to stop me," Jaune said but noticed that she was still staring at him. "Everything all right Pyrrha?"
"Your armor got dented. My bad." She points down at his left thigh armor plate. It had a massive dent and scrap marks on it.
Jaune looked back up and smiled to show it wasn't a big deal. "It's fine, it served its purpose in protecting me from harm. Plus now it has that cool battle damaged look. Besides, my father always said that a knight in shining armor never saw battle." Pyrrha smiled. "So uh… any idea where to go? I couldn't see very well with my spinning and all."
"I think we're supposed to go this way," Pyrrha pointed to her left.
Jaune and Pyrrha trekked their way across Emerald Forest. Pyrrha was currently taking point, with Akoúo̱ on her back and Miló in its rifle form, as Jaune was bring up the rear and watching their flanks as they are make their way through the bushes.
"Did you hear that?" Jaune asked when he heard noises off in the distance.
Pyrrha turned to the direction the sounds for a brief moment. "Gunfire. It seems some of our comrades have encountered the enemy."
Jaune kept looking towards the gunfire. "Should we go help them?"
"No," Pyrrha shook her head. "Though a noble gesture, if too many of us gather it will only attract more Girmm. We should trust in our fellow classmates to handle it themselves."
Several louder shockwaves echoed through the forest before the sounds of battle ceased. "Yeah I guess you're right. Sounds like they have it handled."
Ren looked up and his long life childhood friend as the exploded remains of a King Taijitu disintegrated all around him.
"For the record," Ren crossed his arms, "I don't think sloths make explosions."
"Boop." Nora poked his nose causing him to smile.
Professor Ozpin is watching the students progress on his Scroll at the Beacon Cliffs overlooking the Emerald Forest. Glynda Goodwitch walked up behind him holding her own tablet. "The last two pairs has been formed, sir. First we have Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie" She taps the screen to show the two in question. "Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. And the last pair is Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos." Glynda changes the video on her tablet to a view of the two of them.
"Hmm?" Ozpin noticed a look of concern in her eyes. "Is there something bothering you? You looked worried."
"No I'm fine," Glynda said quickly. "It's just… well as you've heard from yesterday, I've been with Jaune and helped him grow since he was very young. I just can't help but feel a little nervous."
"It's only perfectly natural that you feel concerned," Ozpin placed a hand on her shoulder, "but you fret for nothing. If Jaune was not able to handle himself he wouldn't be here. He earned his place here, no doubt with your help."
Glynda couldn't help but smile. "Thank you."
Jaune and Pyrrha stood at the mouth of a dark cave, where drawings are seen to the side involving armed men against a giant beast. "Think this is it?" Jaune asked his partner.
"I'm not sure this is it," Pyrrha replied honestly.
Jaune sighed "We should still check. I will go in take a look. If nothing's there I will come back and we can keep looking. Worst case scenario is we waste a few minutes time."
With a sigh, Pyrrha looked up at him and smiles. "Ok, go on then. I will keep the entrance covered to make sure no Grimm follow you in."
"Thanks." Jaune nodes and then heads inside. He walked for a bit until he was barely able to see. "Night vision on." His vision suddenly goes green and he is able to see again. He walked in a bit more and he saw something glowing in the distance. "Hey Pyrrha," he yelled behind him, "I think, I've found something!"
"What is it? What have you found?" Pyrrha called from the cave entrance.
"No idea! Hang on, I'm going to go check it out!"
"Ok, be careful!"
At the temple, Yang approached one of the relics "Hmm..." after studying the golden knight piece for a few moments she picks it up and shows it to her partner, Blake. "How about a cute little pony?"
Blake rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Sure." They then walk towards each other at the centre of the temple floor.
"That wasn't too hard," Yang grinned.
"Well, it's not like this place is very difficult to find," Blake smiled in response
As Jaune gets nearer he starts to make out what looks like a strange rock formation with a glowing object attached to it. "Huh, is that it?" Hey Pyrrha, I found it!" Jaune called to the entrance. As he reached for the glowing object it moved away from him. The rock formation began to move and several red eyes opened on it. "Oh crap."
Outside the cave, Pyrrha grew a little concerned. "What's taking you Jaune?"
"MISTAKES WERE MADE! MISTAKES WERE MADE! MISTAKES HAVE BEEN MADE!" Pyrrha heard screaming and heavy footsteps getting closer. "OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP! RUNNING, RUNNING, RUNNING!" Jaune jumped out of the cave entrance
"Jaune, what happened?!" Pyrrha asked not even a moment before the Deathstalker crashed through the hole, roaring and waving its grass-encrusted claws. Pyrrha looked up at Deathstalker "Oh that's what's the matter." Pyrrha turned and ran after Jaune.
The pair kept running with the Deathstalker in hot pursuit. Jaune lets out an agitated grunt. "I'm not built for distance running." He spun around and drew Crocea Mors.
Pyrrha skids to a halt next to him. "Right, what the plan?" She asked as the Deathstalker burst through the trees in front of them, turning them into splinters.
Jaune smiled. "Don't have one. Let's just hit it with whatever we can and see if anything works."
Pyrrha holds up her hand to stop him but too late. He's already charging into the Deathstalker's reach, slashing at it with Crocea Mors. She let her hand drop back down whilst sighing in defeat. "But that's not a plan!"
Jaune ducked under the Deathstalker's left claw and then sidestepped its stinger as it tries to impale him. "Ha, this thing is not as tough as it looks!"
Pyrrha charged in, wielding Miló in front of the Deathstalker. "Careful Jaune! Whatever you do, don't let it hit you!"
Jaune laughed. "It's too slow for that." He stabbed Crocea Mors forward, striking it right in one of its eyes. The Deathstalker shrieked in pain. "Yes I got it- uh oh" He tried to pull Crocea Mors back out but couldn't. "Pyrrha it's stuck. I think I ca-" before he can finish the death stalker spun around in circles, trying to shake Jaune loose. He lost his grip and was sent flying into a tree.
"Jau-" Pyrrha got distracted, allowing the Deathstalker to close the distance. It smashed both of its claws into the ground, sending Pyrrha into the air and then quickly hit her with all of its might with its tail, sending her flying off into the forest.
Jaune finally got up in time to see his partner go flying. He turned back to the Deathstalker as it continued to snap its claws at him. He was now alone and his sword was still stuck in its eye. He smiled embarrassingly before turning and rushing away in a brush of green leaves.
'Why am I the only one with bad luck like this?' Jaune moped to himself.
"Do you have anymore brilliant ideas?!" Weiss shouted at her partner as she tried desperately to hold on.
"Well, why don't we just jump?" Ruby suggested.
"What, are you crazy?!" Weiss looked over to see that her partner was gone. "Oh, you insufferable little-"
"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" A gingerly bomber yelled as she rode an Ursa through a forest.
"Nora!" Her long life ninja best friend shouted as he desperately tried to keep up.
Jaune continued to run through the forest, running close to the trees. He thought that knocking down the trees should slow the Deathstalker down. But unfortunately that wasn't the case. The trees weren't thick enough to stop the might of the charging of the enraged Deathstalker and it soon caught up to Jaune.
Jaune jumped to dodge a snap from its claw but was sent into the air by the other one. He screamed as he fell back down on top of the Deathstalker's body. The Deathstalker continued its charge, roaring in defiance that Jaune dared be on top of it. It swiped it's pincers and jabbed its tail at him to try and get him off.
Jaune yelped as he barely dodged each attack, trying desperately to hold on to the Deathstalker for dear life. He just barely dodged a swipe from its tail when he lost his grip. He screamed as he slide down its body while the Deathstalker tried to shake him off. Out of luck, Jaune managed to grip and hold on. The Deathstalker roared and twirled it's body harder to shake him off. Eventually Jaune lost his grip and was sent flying. He skidded along the ground and eventually came to a halt. He looked up and saw the yellowed eyed, black haired girl from last night.
"Did you just ride a Deathstalker all the way here?" She asked him.
"Yeah… I guess I did," Jaune replied as he rubbed his head.
"See Ren, I told you it was a good idea!" Jaune looked over and saw the loud pair from earlier. He then felt shuffling underneath him.
"Can you get off of me please?!" Yang commanded more than asked angrily.
"Oops." Jaune got off of her and offered her a hand. She squeezed his hand tighter than necessary. "Sorry."
"You're just lucky my hair isn't messed up," Yang said as she dusted herself off.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out as she and Ruby ran up to him. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah I'm ok," Jaune said as he scraped some dirt off his shoulder. "You were right, charging the Deathstalker head on wasn't a good idea," he admitted as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "So uh… where did you end up?"
"Oh," Pyrrha had a small embarrassed blush, "after I was launched I crashed into Ruby mid air and then landed in a tree." She pointed to Ruby and a group of trees behind her.
"Thanks for that," Ruby said from behind her.
"Speaking of which, why were you falling from the sky?" Yang asked.
"Oh uh, me and my partner decided that since we couldn't see well on the ground and that getting high would help us, we… jumped on a Nevermore's back." Everyone just stared at the girl like she was insane.
Jaune just tilted his head to the side. "And where is your part-" he and everyone else looked up as a feminine scream reached their ears by above, "-ner?" That white dressed girl from the locker room was screaming, flailing her limbs as she fell from the sky at high speeds.
"I got her!" multiple of them shouted as they held out their arms and moved around to try and catch her.
"I got her!" Pyrrha said.
"I got her!" Ruby yelped.
CRASH
"I don't got her!" Nora said.
"My back..." Jaune groaned in pain as he laid on the ground.
"Ow," Weiss winced as she sat up on the knight she landed on. Her eyes then landed on Ruby and she pointed accusingly at her. "YOU! That was the worst idea I have ever seen!"
"But you followed it!" Ruby countered.
"I jumped on it because it was taking off with you on it!" Their arguing was interrupted by the howls of the Nevermore. Jaune stood up and they looked up in time to see it launch a barrage of feathers.
"Scatter!" Ruby shouted as she jumped forward and pushed Weiss out of the way. Everyone managed to dodge the barrage, but Ruby's cape was pinned by one of the feathers. As she tried to break herself free, loud thumping came from behind her. She turned to see a Deathstalker with a sword lodged in its head making its way towards her.
She gasped and used Cresent Rose to block several strikes with its pincers but then it brought its tail up ready to strike. Right before it impacted it's tail, pincers, and legs were encased in ice. Ruby gasped and turned around and saw Weiss stabbing her rapier in the ground, casting a glyph.
She and Jaune then ran up to her and got her loose. "Are you ok," Weiss asked.
"Yeah, thanks," Ruby replied as they finally got her cape free. She looked back up and saw that Weiss had her arms crossed and a stern face.
"Ruby, you are so childish… and dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." Her face softened up and her voice softened as well. "And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."
Ruby smiled. "Deal. Uh, sorry about coming with the plan with the Never-"
"Omph!" The looked over and saw that Jaune fell on his back. "Yes!" He held his sword above him in victory. They both turned to stare at the Deathstalker, struggling to escape the ice with no avail.
Yang rushed up to Ruby and gives her a hug, which Ruby grunts at upon receiving. "I'm so happy you're okay!" The two stare at each other for a moment, before cawing from above took their attention.
"It's attacking again!" Ren shouted, giving everyone a heads up to successfully dodge another barrage of feathers.
Jaune brushed passed some feathers and regrouped with everyone. "Guys? That thing is going to keep circling us and it's only a matter of time until the Deathstalker breaks loose. What are we gonna do?"
Weiss huffed in annoyance. "Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." The group stared at the chess pieces by the ruins.
"She's right," Ruby nodded. "Our mission is to grab an artefact and make it back to the cliffs. There's no point in fighting these things."
"Run and live, that's an idea I can get behind," Jaune said, earning a chuckle from Pyrrha.
Ruby walked over and grabbed a gold knight while Jaune took a gold rook. The Deathstalker roared as it continued to struggle against its bonds. Small cracks started to form in the ice.
"Time we left!" Ren stated as he equipped his twin pistols.
"Right." Ruby waved to the others. "Everyone, let's go!" Everyone followed her, except for a smiling Yang.
"What's wrong?" Blake asked her partner.
Yang just stared proudly at Ruby as she leaped on a boulder and motions for the group to move onwards. "Nothing..." she moves on as Blake smiles in realization.
As the group headed out of the forest and into another abandoned series of ruins, the Nevermore followed them from the air. They spread out when it passed above, concealing themselves behind some of the stone blocks. It perched up on a high column and cawed. Yang moaned out in annoyance. "Well, that's great!"
Jaune turned around to look behind them to see the Deathstalker bursting through the tree line. "Oh come on!" The group emerged from their hiding spots, causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air and fly towards them.
Ren turned to Nora. "Nora, distract it!"
Nora obliged, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from Magnhild, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore, and causing it to retreat. She was unaware of the Deathstalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren perform a cross-slash with their weapons, Gambol Shroud and Storm Flower, against its shell. Weiss lands next to Nora so she can create a jumping glyph beneath them and leap to safety while Blake and Ren are now being chased.
Pyrrha stopped running beside Jaune and gets out Miló is rifle form. "Go, go!" She fired several shots along with Ren's blasts for a few seconds until it reaches them and tried to swipe its claws at them, prompting the group to run again. The eight then race over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the Nevermore closing in on them until it uses its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns. Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha are on the other side with the Death Stalker. Ruby fires her sniper rifle at the retreating Nevermore while Blake is knocked back by the Deathstalker.
"Damn it," Jaune yelled as he ran over to the edge of the break in the bridge. "We got to get over there! They need help!"
"Got it!" Nora ran up beside him "Let's do this!"
"Yeah, but…" Jaune looked down at the misty abyss, "I'm too heavy I can't make that far of a jump."
Nora smiled diabolically at him, laughing as she knocks him back, turned her weapon into its full-length hammer form, and jumps to the edge of the bridge. Jaune saw what she was about to do. "Wait! No, no, no!" Jaune tried to plead, but it was too late. She slammed the hammer into the bridge, throwing Jaune to the other side, constantly screaming "Nooooooooooo!" as he missed the edge of the bridge and fell out of sight.
Meanwhile, Nora placed one foot on the hammer and fires it off the collapsing section of bridge, launching her to slam her hammer right in the centre of the Deathstalker's face. She fired her weapon to dodge a strike from its stinger. But when she dodged back, she accidentally knocked into Blake, making her fall from the edge.
As she fell, she saw Jaune pulling himself up onto the bridge, then noticed the Nevermore above her and launched her weapon so the gun's blade sunk into the edge of the bridge. She used her ribbon to circle around and leap onto the aerial Grimm's back. She dashed all over its body, slashing her sword against it the entire time, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby. "It's tougher than it looks!" She warned the others in irritation.
As Ruby, Yang, Weiss, and Blake battled the Nevermore, the Deathstalker was still battling Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha as Jaune finally climbed back up onto the bridge. With a sigh of relief he sees Pyrrha, Nora and Ren rush towards the Grimm, only for all three of them to be swiped back. Jaune stood up and then ran towards the Deathstalker. He reached behind him and detached the weapon from the back of his belt as he held the hilt in hand.
"EXCALIBUR!" with a hiss of pressurized air and the clanking sounds, segmented metal extend from hilt to make a double bladed sword. The sword is almost as tall as Jaune. He gets into a combat stance as the Grimm just shrieked at him. "Time to cut you down to size."
Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren recovered just in time to see and watch Jaune charge the Grimm. The Deathstalker tried to swipe him with its claws but Jaune deflected them away with Excalibur. It then tried to stab him with its tail, but Jaune dodged it and slashed it by the stringer. The Grimm roared in pain as it took several paces back. Jaune is smiled when he heard one of the three whistle in amazement behind him.
The moment was then immediately ruined when malfunctioning static was heard and the sword blades collapsed back into the hilt, leaving Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren gasping and staring at the weapon. "Damn it, not again!" He yelled as he shook the hilt. "You useless piece of crap, come on!" With a sigh, Jaune looked back up at the confused Deathstalker and holstered the hilt.
"You know what, screw it." He pulled out the seven chambered revolver and rapidly fired into the Dealthstalker's head, right where his sword cut a tear in the armor. Though the revolver had seven chambers, each chamber held three shots, giving him 21 total. After the ninth eleventh shot, the Deathstalker collapsed. The other three watched on, their mouths hanging open.
Nora looked on in amazement. "Holy hell metal guy, why kind of calibre ammo are you using?"
Pyrrha walked over to Jaune. "I would like to know as well. With the way they broke through that Grimm's armor, the kickback alone should have made the gun impossible to control like you did."
"Nah, it's not that bad," Jaune smirked as he walked over to the Deathstalker. "I just aimed for the crack in the armor we made with our swords earlier. The armor was weak enough for it to punch through as easily as I did."
Pyrrha got concerned as he got closer to it. "Jaune, I wouldn't get so close it."
"Nah it's dead. See, it's not moving." Jaune gave it a kick to emphasize his point and turned to face them.
"Wait… why isn't it disintegrating?" Ren asked. Jaune raised his eyebrows when he realized he had a point. His eyes widened and he gasped in surprise in pain when the Deathstalker grasped Jaune in its claws. "What! When could they play dea-" he was cut off when the Deathstalker quickly slammed him into the ground multiple times.
"JAUNE!" Pyrrha shouted as Jaune slumped against the rock, unmoving. "How dare you do that to my partner!" She shouted a war cry and charged forward. Pyrrha deflects its claw with Akoúo and slashed them with Miló in sword form. The Deathstalker recoiled and swipes at her with its other claw. Nora arrived just in time to smash the claw aside with her hammer, knocking it back so Pyrrha can leap over and attack its face. Ren ran up and jumped on the stinger when it tried to impale him on it, shooting at the base between it and the tail while Nora fired more grenades at the attacking claw. Pyrrha hurled her javelin straight into one of the monster's remaining eyes, making it recoil violently and threw Ren to the side against a large boulder and falls to the ground.
"Ren!" Nora ran to her best friend's aid and Pyrrha was forced back by another attack from the Deathstalker.
"Gahh!" Jaune grunted once more as he tried to break free of the Deathstalker's grasp in vain. "Enough of this, release limit lock 6," he grunted just above a whisper and pushed to break free once more. The Grimm let out a shriek in pain as not only did Jaune force the claw open with his bare hands, he then wedged his feet in one side of the claw and moved his hands over to the other side and kept pushing until cracking and tearing sounds could be heard over the Deathstalker's shrieks. It's claw soon broke in half, dropping him down. He looked over towards where Ren was laying against the boulder.
"Is Ren ok?!" Jaune called out, getting a nod and a thumbs up from Ren, though he was still injured. Jaune drew Crocea Mors just in time to block another strike from the Grimm. With it's one claw out of commission it focused attacking with its other one and then pushed Jaune back a few paces with its tail. It didn't press the attack because Pyrrha ran and fired several shots at its eyes, making it block the bullets with its claw and back up.
Jaune noticed that stinger was hanging limply. "Pyrrha, the stinger!" Jaune pointed towards the stinger.
Pyrrha saw and understood what he meant. "Done!" She raised her shield and hurled it like a disc, slicing the stinger off and causing it to fall into the Deathstalker's head. The shield then ricocheted back into Pyrrha's hands.
Jaune then turns to Nora. "Nora, nail it! Make sure it pays!"
"Heads up!" Nora ran up towards Pyrrha, who angled her shield to help give Nora a boost as she jumped. She smiled the entire way up before twirling down and slamming her hammer down on the stinger, driving it into its head and crushing the bridge beneath it. Jaune and Pyrrha bound over the monster to the land behind it, as Nora fires up and away behind them as the monster falls to its doom.
Jaune hits the ground and almost trips over. Pyrrha landed in a crouch pose and stood up quickly, just like she had so many times before. Nora lands on her bottom, but quickly got up. Ren simply walks over to them, panting and groaning and leans over on Nora for support.
They all took a moment to recover when a yell caught their attention. The looked over to see Ruby dragging the Nevermore up the cliff by its neck with her scythe. When she reached the top she severed the head clean off, letting the Grimm's decomposing body rain down as she stood on top of the cliff, her cape waving with the wind.
"Good job team!" Nora shouted with glee as if nothing happened and gave everyone a thumbs up. Ren just smiled and shook his head. Pyrrha and Jaune joined them
The audience gives a clap of ovation at the newly formed team RWBY left the stage and four more students went up and take their places in front of the headmaster. Their faces filled the screen above them. "And finally," Ozpin turned to them, "Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." Amid the clapping, Nora laughs and gives Ren a hug. "Led by... Jaune Arc!"
"Huh?" Jaune looked up and pointed to himself in confusion. "Me...?"
"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin said. A grinning Pyrrha offers a friendly shoulder bump, making Jaune sway back and forth.
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year."
As everyone clears out of the auditorium, Team RWBY heads down and meet team JNPR. The eight huntsmen and huntress conversed with one another, congratulation each other over a job well done and gloating over who did the best in initiation.
"Jaune," Glynda called as she headed over to Jaune with a smile. "Good job out there. I'm so proud of you." She pulls him into a hug, much to the shocked look of his teammates and team RWBY.
Yang smirked, seeing an opportunity. "So I take it you know the deputy Jaune? What, is she your lover~"
"YANG!" Ruby punched her in the shoulder.
"What, no!" Jaune blushed under his helmet as they pulled away from the hug.
"Great, another one of those students," Glynda sighed before addressing the rest of the group. "No, I've been a friend of his family for many years and have known Jaune since he was very little."
"She's pretty much my unofficial aunt," Jaune added, "and also my guardian angel." Jaune smile grew when Glynda smacked him on the back of the head.
"Jaune, I told you not to call me that in public." The two teams burst into hysterics as Glynda's cheeks turned a dash of red.