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No Victory in Strength (Minecraft Jaune) - Chapter 5
🕑 Added 2024-08-20 05:05:04 +0000 UTCLast chapter in Domremy before we go to Vale and start getting into the various factions that want Jaune. And then chaos ensues. Both good and evil groups are gonna want a piece of Jaune. Plus all the romance stuff with Team RWBY and soon Pyrrha.
We'll also delve a bit more into Jaune's character since, per the request of the commissioner, he hasn't gotten any POV segments yet. Hopefully seeing him bounce off of people trying to openly exploit him will show more of his personality.
On a side-note, I'm thinking of writing an omake where Jaune is a Faunus here. This causes most of the various groups to shit bricks since the various groups have a history of mistreating Faunus and without the usual offers available, they know Jaune has no reason to be sympathetic to their pleas. Meanwhile, Blake is at a major advantage since she has way more buttons to press to convince Jaune.
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This place was so odd.
That was the thought that ran through Pyrrha's head as she walked along with the rest of her team. Jaune had offered to show them around, which they all gratefully accepted. She'd been born and raised in Argus, so a miniature kingdom like this wasn't completely alien to her. Still, it was undeniably impressive. Especially since (if the briefing was accurate) it had only shown up all in one year, if not less than that. She'd heard of fast construction before, but this was absurd.
Their official mission was to reinforce team RWBY and confirm their report. Beyond that, they weren't told much of anything. The headmaster did say that he would contact them later in the day, but until then, they were free to do whatever they wished. A part of her felt somewhat guilty that they were so lax during their mission, but she brushed it aside. It wasn't her fault that the headmaster had chosen such a thoughtless mission for them. Wasn't Team RWBY's report confirmation enough?
"Oh, wow! Look at that!" Nora pointed excitedly at many of the buildings they passed while Ren nodded along. From what the two of them had told her, they were both orphans since they were children and spent most of their lives surviving on the outskirts of Anima or in the slums. Living costs in the kingdom were expensive; far too much for the two of them to afford. A part of her felt guilty at that before she again brushed it off. It wasn't her fault that she was lucky enough to be born to living parents in a stable pseudo-kingdom.
Her eyes flicked to her partner. Like Nora, Ciel looked around at the various amenities and took note of everything. Literally. She hadn't stopped tapping into her scroll since they arrived. Ciel was never the most talkative partner, but now Pyrrha felt even more awkward at the thought of disturbing her. Especially when her eyes practically bugged out of their sockets at the sight of a building marked 'Airship Dealership'. Was that a shop selling what she thought it did?
Finally, her gaze turned to their impromptu tour guide. Jaune Arc. The briefing told them that he was (apparently) singularly responsible for his village's miraculous industrial revolution. Pyrrha found it hard to believe, if she was being honest. She knew Semblances could run the gamut from extremely powerful to nigh-on useless. Her own Polarity ranked very high up on the scale, and even it paled in comparison to Professor Goodwitch's Telepathy.
Still, a Semblance that allowed him to turn a village into a kingdom sounded absurd. Even if he could build everything by himself, the timeframe made no sense. Argus took years of thousands of people (at least) working together to get to where they were. That and the backing of both Atlas and Mistral. This place - Domremy, she reminded herself - had one man's Semblance and nothing else. It sounded too unbelievable to be true, but here they were.
Argus was a trading port. While they had luxuries like movie theaters and even a spa, it was still nothing in comparison to what real kingdoms had. Domremy was different. While a decent chunk of the city was taken up by essential systems such as farmland and the like, another part of town seemed to be built just for entertainment. Bars, theaters, hot springs, various restaurants, and even an arena.
That last one in particular drew her attention. Argus had an arena, but until recently, it was a small place where some of the local youths trained for the tournament circuit. It was only within the past couple of years that the government decided to put some funding in to expand it.
After all, the hometown of the Invincible Girl attracted many young hopefuls hoping to be the next champion of the circuit. They even put her photo up on a banner...
"OH...MY...GODS!" Nora screamed, jolting her out of her negative thoughts. Pyrrha looked to where the other redhead was pointing and blinked at the sight of a crowd gathering in front of a stage that had a table full of people and...pancakes? Pyrrha rubbed her eyes to make sure. Yep, there were plates upon plates stacked with pancakes as tall as she was - and she was not short by any means. Nora looked up and drooled shamelessly at the sight.
"Oh, that's a pancake-eating contest," Jaune said casually. Nora was hyperventilating now. Even Ren looked somewhat worried, "We have contests like these from time to time. Gives people a chance to unwind with something silly." He looked at Nora and blinked at her borderline unhinged expression, "Uh...do you wanna join-"
"YES!" Nora didn't even wait for him to finish before she practically charged onto the stage. The host looked confused before he spotted Jaune in the crowd, who gave the older man a nod. That was all the host needed to announce Nora as a last-minute contender. The crowd didn't much care. One more person they could see try to stuff themselves with food. The team and Jaune all looked at one another before they sat down on some of the spare chairs.
The rules were simple enough. Eat as much as you can. No pausing for more than ten seconds or you were out. So on and so forth. The thing that really grabbed her attention was the prizes. Ten thousand lien for first place, five thousand for second place, and two thousand five hundred for third. It wasn't much - about on par with some of the amateur tournaments she'd been in - but for a pancake-eating contest? That was a pretty penny. Their weekly Beacon stipend was about a hundred lien a week. Just enough to buy Dust and parts for other repairs.
Jaune was sat to her right with Ciel to her left. Her partner had actually stopped taking notes while Jaune just looked on with a somewhat bored expression, "I've seen it before," Jaune said as an explanation, "It was cool at first, but one guy always wins."
He pointed to the guy sitting at the center of the long table. He was fat. That wasn't her being mocking, she was merely stating a fact. He looked like he took up three chairs all by himself. He had curly red hair that ended in thick sideburns along with equally thick eyebrows. Pyrrha wasn't one to shame people for their appearance - she knew that it mattered more what was on the inside - but something about him made her frown. The term Fat Bastard suddenly came unbidden before she could stop herself. That was so mean of her.
"BEGIN!"
Watching the contest was both impressive and grotesque. Pyrrha had fought everyone from peers her age to adults, many of whom had brutal fighting styles. And yet all of it paled in comparison to the sight in front of her now. Watching men and women of various ages gorging themselves on pancakes like their lives depended on it. The utensils were left forgotten as people used their hands to stuff themselves full of syrup-covered wheat.
Nora wasn't any different. She grabbed pancakes by the fistfuls and ate and ate and ate. Pyrrha felt somewhat sick watching it. Her diet had been strictly regulated by her trainer to ensure maximum gain. Even after going to Beacon, she still preferred to pace herself. Aura and the average student's required training regiment meant that they burned through most of the calories they ate regardless, but she still preferred to err on the side of caution. Nora was the opposite.
Sadly for her, even she couldn't hope to match the reigning champion. As everyone else tapped out or passed out, Nora and the rotund man were left, and it was clear Nora was flagging. Her hands were shaking and her eating slowed. Meanwhile, her opponent continued to eat at the same fast rate as before with no signs that he was stopping. Heck, he was even eating from the other contestant's plates! Pyrrha covered her mouth and swallowed down her bile.
"I...I can't..." Nora stopped, looking at the next towering pile she was given after she just finished the last one, "This...is impossible...! I'm...queen of the castle...!"
"Not in this castle!" The large man said in an indecipherable accent, spewing chunks of pancake everywhere. Urk, "I'm bigger than ya! I'm higher on the food chain, lassie!" And then, just to rub it in, he grabbed a handful of pancakes from Nora's plate and ate it. Were it any other situation, his legs would've already been broken, but Nora was too stuffed and too weak to protest. Instead, she raised her hand before tipping over to the side, a woman defeated.
"And the winner is...Bob!" The announcer screamed.
The audience clapped politely, though it was clearly only out of obligation. Fat b- er, Bob didn't care in the least and kept on eating even as the announcer congratulated him and put the stack of ten thousand lien next to him.
Nora was utterly inconsolable. She cried and screamed about how she was dethroned and completely ignored the five thousand lien stuffed in her pocket. For her, pride mattered more than money. Ren rubbed circles around her back and whispered soothing words of comfort as Nora wept. It wasn't graceful either. She ugly cried the whole time and she hadn't even bothered to wipe the pancake crumbs and syrup away from her mouth. Not that Ren cared, of course.
"That was...disturbing," Ciel muttered.
"It's all in good fun," Jaune said, though even he sounded unsure, "Gives us something to do with some of our excess grain."
Ciel nodded, "Yes, we all saw your crops." Crops that grew within minutes. She knew people who would (perhaps literally) kill for those, "I assume you stockpile those given the sheer quantity."
"Yep. We also try to give out the excess to any villages that need it." Ciel noted that down, "Not everyone is willing to leave their village and go here, which I totally get. They set themselves up there and worked really hard to get where they are. It's unreasonable to tell them to pack up and move. So I - we - try to help where we can."
"That's very generous of you." It was a kind gesture...and a sadly rare one. She'd done promotional work for a fair share of charities, but the cynic in here couldn't help but wonder how much of the donations actually went into helping those in need versus the various 'fees' of the charities themselves.
"Not a big deal. They're there and we can help them." Jaune shrugged, "Anywhere else you guys wanna go to?'
"Well, I was actually interested in the arena we passed by earlier. Do you all mind if we go there next?" Pyrrha asked. Everyone agreed; even Nora who was still warbling about how 'horrific loss', "I'd be interested to see the fighting skills of this city's miltia."
"I doubt they can match up to a Huntress-in-training, but sure. I'm sure everyone's gonna be excited to see what a future Huntress can do!" Future Huntress. Not the 'Invincible Girl' or 'Mistral Regional Tournament Champion'. Pyrrha found herself smiling at that. That was the whole reason she came to Beacon. She wanted to be more than a face on a billboard.
The fights in the arena were, sadly, rather mundane. While it was to be expected - she was dealing with militia members and local youths - it was somewhat disappointing. She felt the same at Beacon. While the students put up decent fights, rare was the enemy that required her to even use her Semblance. So far the only one that required it was Yang, and even that was only on their first bout. After that, she'd gotten wise to the blonde pugilist's tells.
As Pyrrha defeated her last opponent, she briefly wondered if it was all going to be a disappointment when Jaune suddenly came up to her, "Why don't you fight one of my knights?"
"I'm sorry, your...knights?"
"They're not actually knights. They're golems, like the ones you guys saw near the entrance. I made a bunch of 'em and testing them against a future Huntress could really help me gauge how far they're coming along."
"Hm, I don't see why not. I just hope you don't mind any damages."
"Ha, nah. Go nuts."
Pyrrha took her place on the right side of the arena and watched as an ornate suit of white and red armor strode to the other side. It was finely made, easily surpassing some of the decorative suits she'd seen in some of the high-class abodes she'd been (forced to) visit. It was a fine piece of craftsmanship and she almost felt bad at the idea of trashing it.
Her guilt lasted until it suddenly charged towards her with surprising speed. Pyrrha blocked the blow and gasped in slight surprise as the force of it actually pushed her backward before she could brace herself. The knight continued the assault, slashing at her with an unexpected ferocity. Unlike her previous opponents, there were no tells and obvious signs, at least as far as she could see so far.
Her heart beat faster and she smiled.
The fight lasted for a couple of minutes. It was...thrilling. Possibly due to its nature, the golem moved with inhuman speed and almost matched her blow for blow. She was still faster, of course, but the knight didn't have to worry about accumulated damage. The knight's armored frame was easily strong enough to take the impacts of her blows without her having to hold back. She even found herself using her Semblance to pull back some attacks that would've gone past her defense.
By the end of it, she was victorious and the knight lay in pieces across the dirt. The crowd cheered, and for some reason, she found herself beaming when she saw Jaune among them, "Congrats!" Jaune said as he ran up to her. The thought that she was reeking of sweat suddenly came to her and she took a subtle step away, "You're the first person I've seen who's ever beaten one of my knights!"
"Thank you," Pyrrha demured. She was used to praise, but she found herself smiling genuinely regardless, "It was a fruitful challenge. I'm sorry for wrecking one of your best golems."
"Nah, I told you that you could go nuts. Besides, that was just a scout."
...
"A what?" Pyrrha asked.
"A scout. You know, the ones you send to see how bad a place is. That's why it was so small." That was small? "I've got other units and they're the ones who do the bulk of the fighting."
"Such as?"
"Well...the warriors, the vanguards, the tanks. Different knights for different roles." Back at the stand, Ciel was tapping on her scroll so fast it was a miracle it didn't catch fire, "Using anything besides a scout on a tournament just didn't seem fair so I never put them out."
"...Jaune?"
"Yes."
"Let me fight a warrior."
"Huh? But-"
She grabbed his shoulders with both hands firmly, suddenly not caring about any sort of embarrassment, "Let me fight a warrior. Please."
"Uh...okay? Sure."
Jaune looked confused but complied anyway. Pyrrha was practically vibrating as she took her place on the right side of the arena again. A scout. The golem had given her a challenge and it was just a scout. How much stronger would the other knights be, then? Her heart beat rapidly, a rush of excitement that she hadn't felt in a long time coming to the surface. By the time she was fifteen, fighting in the tournaments felt more like an obligation than something she did for the thrill of the sport.
The feeling of excitement was intoxicating.
It only got better when she saw her opponent. Another knight. this one colored black and blue, took up the opponent's side. It was easily twice her height with a sword that could easily cleave her in two if she got careless. Her mouth split into an open-toothed grin and she got into a battle position.
With a joyous laugh, she charged the knight and jumped in the air.
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Back at the castle, Team RWBY lay sprawled out in front of the castle's gate. All of them - even that traitor Blake - had enough sense to not want to fight and wreck Jaune's place and make him mad. Then when they kicked Blake's butt (okay, not really since she still had like half her Aura next), Ruby rounded on Weiss and got mad at her for trying to steal her soulmate. Then Yang butted in and suddenly they were all fighting till they were all on a heap on the grass.
Okay, all of them still had half their Auras, but it was the principle of the thing.
"Alright, new rule," Yang said as she sat up, "No more sabotaging each other or pulling blackmail shit." She looked right at Blake and Weiss as she said it. Both her partner and Blake refused to look at her, "We all like Jaune, some of us for better reasons than others, but that's no reason to tear each other's throats out."
"We wouldn't need that rule if you guys just butt out. He's my soulmate." Ruby crossed her arms and harrumphed.
"Soulmate? Ruby, you met the guy literally yesterday. I'm all for dating him, but I'm not gonna act like he's the love of my life or anything."
"Exactly!" Ruby slapped both hands on the ground, "To you, he's just another guy! You can find someone else to date once we're back in Vale! And both Blake and Weiss just wanna use him!" The two protested, but Ruby ignored them, "So really, you three should just let me and Jaune be happy!" Why didn't they understand? She and Jaune were practically made for each other! They had so much in common and he'd already touched her baby in a way no one else, not even her family, did.
"Ruby, stop being a child!" Weiss scowled, "Jaune's abilities are a gift, one that should be used for more than just improving your weapon. Didn't you become a Huntress because you wished to be a hero? You should be helping me! My plan will help improve the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, across Remnant."
"You're already the heiress, you can change things around with Jaune's help," Blake said, "But the Faunus don't have that privilege. We need Jaune if we're going to have any sort of hope of being more than second-class citizens."
"Alright, we're just going around in fucking circles." Yang sighed, "Alright, something else we need to talk about."
"Like what?" Weiss scoffed.
"Like those Grimm that showed up earlier." The reminder of the horde made them quiet. As mad as Ruby was with them for trying to steal her soulmate, they were still her friends and she was still a Huntress(in training). This was just as important as getting together with the love of her life, "Cause that shit definitely wasn't normal, right?"
"Definitely not." Weiss shook her and stood with the rest of them doing the same, "While Grimm are known to work together when hounding a victim, they hardly do so in the wilds. It takes an alpha beowolf to do so to its lesser compatriots when they're not all summoned by mass negative feelings."
"Jaune didn't look like he was suffering from negative feelings when we found him, but those Grimm were definitely beelining for him."
"Are you saying the Grimm were targeting Jaune?" Ruby asked. The thought of it made her gut churn with worry, "I know Professor Oobleck said that the Grimm get smarter when they get older, but this feels...different."
"Jaune said that this wasn't the first time either." Yang hummed, putting her hands behind her head, "So this happened a buncha times already and it'll probably happen again. No way there's that many old Grimm hanging around here."
"Grimm care for only one thing: destruction. Perhaps Jaune's constant and rapid building has somehow drawn their attention due to that innate desire?"
"Maybe, but they attacked Jaune when he was out of town. Why wouldn't they try to attack the city itself? No, it's almost like they were waiting for him specifically."
"But how the heck would the Grimm know Jaune was the one who built everything? They don't make plans!" It was one of the reasons classes on fighting Grimm were different from fighting people. The Grimm didn't plan and they didn't care about tactics. Sure, some of the older Grimm knew how to be patient, but they were still all about killing as many people as possible. Why target one guy far away from the town instead of trying to ram the walls and get at the people inside?
"We don't know, and that's worrying." Weiss sighed, "I think we should tell the headmaster about this. He might know what's going on."
"We should, but I doubt he'll tell us anything we don't already know. Like is he gonna say someone's actually commanding the Grimm or something?"
"Don't be dumb, Yang." Ruby rolled her eyes. Everyone knew that the Grimm couldn't be controlled. That was like trying to lead a hurricane. There were horror movies about big stupid corporations trying to do it and they always got their faces eaten. It was one of the few times she rooted from the Grimm. Stupid Meyland-Antani.
"Hey, I'm just spitballing here!"
"Either way, we should be on alert."
They all nodded at one another, hostility (temporarily) forgotten. Ruby was a Huntress and Grimm organizing like this was something that needed to be stopped.
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This place was fucking weird.
That was the thought that ran through Qrow's head as he transformed back to a human behind a building out of sight. Oz told him to shadow the kids and make sure that they weren't just talkin' out their ass about some sort of miracle kingdom that popped out of fucking nowhere.
Well, they definitely weren't. This place was real as real could be, "Shit..." He took a swig of his flask and watched the townies walking around. The cynic inside told him that it was all too good to be true. That under all those happy smiles and skipping kiddos was a layer of rot. Maybe that made him seem like a prick. but instincts were instincts and that was how he'd lasted so long in this line of work. You needed to see what people were hiding.
He had to admit, though, this place was damn convincing. Put some of the poorer districts in Vale to shame. The living costs in the kingdoms were high since it was the only guaranteed safety in Remnant. That meant a buncha people bled themselves dry paying for a cardboard box underneath an overpass. It sucked, but at least they knew that no matter how miserable they were, the Grimm weren't gonna be mulching on their guts tomorrow.
This place didn't have that. There was no place where the dregs and burnouts were, and he looked. People had roofs over their heads and everyone worked or spent their money in the entertainment district. It was...perfect. Too perfect. This was the kind of place the kingdoms made themselves look in all the commercials. Happy citizens where everyone got what they wanted and worked hard for the betterment of the community. It was damn creepy.
Raven would've loved a place like this. Not to stay and work hard, of course not. All she'd see was a fat big for her and the rest of their 'tribe' of parasites to feast on.
Shaking his head, he walked around aimlessly and stopped when he saw a sign for a bar. Well, it'd been a while since he had a drink. A proper drink, not swigs from his flask that he mostly spat out anyway. Place looked high class too. He usually went to dive bars, though that was mostly out of necessity. Villages didn't exactly have a lot in the way of luxuries. Alcohol outside the walls was meant to be quick and cheap. It made you forget your problems and come back for more. Well, he could afford it. Being the best Huntsman in Vale, and Ozpin's personal agent, paid pretty well. And unlike Jacques Schnee, he didn't spend it on mansions he never even stayed in.
Qrow stepped through the double doors and breathed in deep. Place looked like a saloon, but it was too clean to be a real one. The people didn't look up from their drinks or pay him any sort of mind. Huh, usually the weapon would draw attention. Well, whatever. Qrow walked up to the counter and took an empty seat. The bartender, a guy in a suit polishing a glass, grunted at him.
"What'll ya have?"
"Strongest and most expensive thing ya got. Feel like spoiling myself."
"Tough guy, huh? Fine. two hundred fifty lien."
Qrow slapped the lien card on the table and the bartender came back with...a bottle of beer? Qrow scowled at the guy, "This a joke? Two hundred fifty lien for a glass of beer?" He liked beer, but that was cause it was cheap.
"Our grain's top shelf. Trust me. You'll be out before you even finish that."
"Really?" Qrow drawled.
"You don't like it, you can check at the other bars."
"Ah, fuck it. Fine." Qrow grabbed the bottle and took a swig. He better get his money's wo-
...
...
...
Qrow's eyes opened to the worst headache he'd ever had, "Ugh..." He moaned. Oh Gods, his head felt like it was being drilled open! What the fuck? He looked around blearily and saw that not only were all the customers the same, but it was still light out. How...How long was he out? Fuck. He lay back down on the ground. One swig. He'd take one fucking swig and went out worse than the time Yang thought she was big enough to drink from his flask when she was fifteen.
"Arf."
He turned his head to the side and saw Zwei looking down at him in disapproval. He was also wearing a fedora for some reason, "Oh, don't you start." He scoffed at the judgemental corgi, "You've been going missing for days at a time, you don't get to go 'tut tut' at me, you little bastard." Zwei was a Huntsman-grade pet, unlocked Aura and everything. Breeds like them were pretty independent and it wasn't rare for Zwei to go wandering off for days ever since Yang and Ruby left for Beacon. Tai wasn't worried. He always came back eventually.
Well, now he knew where he went.
"So this is where you've been, huh?" He rubbed the corgi's back weakly, "Tell you what, you don't tell anyone what I've been doing and I don't look too close at what you're doing here. Sound like a deal?"
"Arf!"
"Yeah, suddenly you don't care when your ass is on the line." Qrow rolled his eyes and winced. Okay, no, calm down on the eye-rolling. He got up and sat back down on his seat. His bottle was still there, "...How long was I out?" he asked the bartender.
"Ten minutes. I trust you were satisfied with your drink, sir?" Qrow wanted to wipe that smug fucking smile off his face, "We sell remedies if you're interested. Only one hundred lien. Back to tip-top shape or your money back."
"Sell the poison and the cure, huh?"
"Is it poison if people seek it out?"
"Whatever. Gimme that remedy then."
He was handed a small cup of something that smelled like a pig's asshole. Sighing deeply, Qrow chugged it down and- what the fuck? He looked around and shook his head. A few seconds ago, that would've had him reeling. Now he felt stone-cold sober.
...
"Gimme another drink, something less strong this time, and get one of those remedy things ready."
"As you wish, sir."
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Pyrrha panted as she fell to one knee, sweat falling down her body in rivulets. Her Aura had been broken for the first time since...she couldn't even remember. Across from her, the knight lay still with its head missing. The aftereffect of her last desperate attack, using her Semblance to amplify her javelin and throwing it straight through the helmet with enough force to utterly destroy it. For anyone else, that would've been the end, but the knight kept going and hit her with one last slash that destroyed her Aura.
It wasn't technically a win, but it wasn't a whole loss either. In any other situation, it would've guaranteed her victory, but she wasn't fighting a Human or a Faunus. Still, Pyrrha held no shame in the tie. She took its head, it took her aura. She was satisfied with it.
"Pyrrha, that was amazing!" Jaune and the rest of Team PNCR helped her walk and hobble to the stands. The people were still cheering and she heard a few whispers about how they recognized her. She didn't care. She was too satisfied with the fight to let it bog her down.
"Yeah, that was awesome!" Nora cheered, her depression forgotten. Ren nodded while Ciel handed her a towel to wipe the sweat off.
"Here, drink this." Jaune pulled out what looked like a potion and handed it to her. She drank it without any hesitation and suddenly felt revitalized, all exhaustion forgotten.
"What was that?"
"Just an energy potion," he said that far too casually. Ciel took down another note, "Anyway, you guys said that you wanted to check with Team RWBY, right? Ruby should be awake by now, so do you guys wanna head up."
"Of course. Lead the way, Jaune."
They followed after Jaune as he led them up to the castle. She'd seen it before they landed, and she figured Jaune owned it, but it was still a bit of a shock, Pyrrha had a decent nest egg from her tournament winnings and other media appearances, but her family strictly kept themselves to above middle-class. Mom and Dad didn't much care for extreme luxuries. Better to have money saved than spent on useless things, as Dad always said.
Team RWBY was sitting in the living room when they arrived. Weiss' eyes widened when they saw them, "P-Pyrrha? What are you doing here?"
"The Headmaster sent us to check up on things," Pyrrha replied with a slightly forced smile. She didn't dislike Weiss, but she still remembered how the heiress tried to cozy up to her due to her reputation. First impressions were hard to break.
"Does he not trust us?" Blake's eyes narrowed.
"He simply wanted a second pair of eyes. The report your team sent sounded rather...fantastical," Ciel said.
"Fantastical, was it?" A new voice asked. Nora shrieked in surprise as a purple and cyan cat creature suddenly appeared on the table, "New visitors! So many coming in recent days! Does anyone want to talk about their life stories? I'm always willing to listen!"
"How long have you been here?!" Yang screamed.
"That is the question, isn't it?" It hopped off the table and landed on Ciel's shoulder. Amazingly, her partner didn't seem to care in the least, "Would you like to talk, beret-wearing person? You seem like someone who's going to be notable!"
"Curious! We talked about personal space!" Jaune scolded.
"Oh, I don't mind. I am willing to answer any questions this creature has in exchange for questions of my own being answered. Does that sound fair?"
"More than fair!" The cat purred.
"Excellent. Oh, before I go." Ciel pulled out her scroll and tapped the screen, "The headmaster informed me that he wished to talk with you, Mr. Arc."
"What does the headmaster want with him?" Weiss asked.
"That is between the two of them."
Ciel handed Jaune the scroll before leaving, the cat chatting away the entire time. Pyrrha and everyone else crowded around Jaune and waited for the headmaster's face to show up on the video call, "Ah, Mr. Arc. Good afternoon to Teams RWBY and PNCR as well. I was hoping to talk with you."
"What about?" Jaune asked.
"Well, that is-"
"Forgive my rudeness, headmaster, but we must tell you something first," Weiss said. The rest of Team RWBY suddenly looked troubled, "We've encountered something that I believe requires your immediate attention."
"Okay. What is, Ms. Schnee?"
Pyrrha listened as Weiss told the headmaster about a horde of Grimm. Hordes were somewhat rare but not exactly unheard of outside the walls, but this was different. As Weiss gave explicit details on the types and number of Grimm they encountered, she saw the headmaster's brow furrow in worry even as Jaune claimed that it was hardly something to worry about and they were easily dispatched the last six times they tried something.
Her fists clenched in worry at the thought of Jaune being attacked.
"Hm...this changes some things." The headmaster steepled his hands together, "Mr. Arc, I was hoping to have a proper conversation with you, and this only exacerbates that need. Might I request your presence at Beacon? I understand that this is sudden, but Grimm activity such as this is more than a little worrying.
"Alright, I don't mind. It'll give me a chance to use one of the new ships I made too." The headmaster looked utterly gobsmacked at the casual declaration, "Guess we'll see you there."
"Indeed. I look forward to our first meeting, Mr. Arc."
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Beacon, here we come! I'm sure things will be totally fine once they get there :P Anyway, we've had Pyrrha get some focus and see here more excitable Battle Junkie state. It's a bit more fun than 'I'm lonely cause I'm so famous (even though no one treats me that way onscreen)'. She also seems to get along with Jaune and isn't quick to fall in love with him. Kinda ironic given canon.
Anyway, that's it. See you guys next time.
Questions:
1. Do you guys think Ironwood would lean towards being a villain in his desire to control Jaune's Semblance or remain on the heroic end? The commissioner suggested the latter, but I'm curious regardless since whoever controls Jaune's Semblance esentially has the capacity to be the biggest superpower on Remnant.
2. Does Cinder seem like the type to seduce? Fanon seems to think so, but her personality in canon doesn't seem to have a lot of charisma outside of desperate street urchins like Emerald. I wonder if she'd try to charm Jaune or just immediately go to threats.
3. How do you guys think each faction/group (sans Blake, Weiss, and Ozpin) would try to appeal or convince Jaune? As mentioned in the previous chapter, offering money, connections, and protection isn't gonna fly since Jaune doesn't need any of it. This makes it very difficult for the various groups to try anything. Some will definitely try kidnapping and threats, but that's not gonna end well for them.
Comments
The Brotherhood of Steel
Love the idea of Ciel talking with the curious cat
HellKnight70
Q3b) Okay this idea came to me just now. Raven being thrown into a different dimension after trying to kill/kidnap Jaune and he ends up being the "strongest" of tribe.
Thelurker12
Qrow can afford the beer. He doesn't need to sell Ruby and Yang.
HellKnight70
THAT FAT BASTARD CHEATED USING THOSE WIRES! JK. Q1) let him be heroic for once. Q2) she'll go for threats first. Q3) Qrow would offer his nieces in exchange for unlimited beer. He doesn't tell Tai
ShinySpiritomb
1. I would like to see Ironwood become some kind of a hero for once. By no means should he be perfect, but it would be nice for him to be properly depicted as the light gray, anti-heroish figure I think he was supposed to be. 2. Honestly I can picture Cinder going for threats first like the power-grubbing opportunist she is, and when those donβt work, THEN she resorts to seduction. Half-baked, desperation driven seduction that is. But it could really go in any order. 3. White Fang would try to their usual terrorist antics (threats, extortion, etc) first before going for assassination. Same with Salem and her cronies. Ironwood and Ozpin I think you already have a pretty good grasp. Criminal organizations like Raven and Roman (idk if he would even bother leaving Vale tho) would be very fun to see tho. They can be unpredictable and can go about it any number of ways. Thanks for the chapter. Also are we gonna see the Overworld, End, and Nether at some point, as well as more modded content like ores? (Watch them try to wrap their heads around ores like allthemodium or even netherite lol.)
MilitiaMasker
1. Heroic 2. Since you are going the fandom route, Iβd say seduce. 3a. Salem would kill Jaune 3b. Ironwood would explain that the military could stabilize Remnant 3c. The White Fang would kill Jaune 3d. Criminal organizations would kidnap Jaune
Thelurker12
Man, Ironwood using nationalism and Jaune going 'Did you forget I'm not Atlesian?' would be comedy GOLD. He's so used to using that speech every time and he's stuck without it now.
Tomas
That was a great chapter. 1.) Ironwood could go either way, but it'd be nice to see him be a hero for once. 2.) I can see Cinder trying to seduce Jaune but fail miserably due to having no Charisma. 3.) Ozpin would definitely try using the "Whole world is at stake" angle to get Jaune to work for him. Ironwood would use a Nationalism approach, even though Jaune isn't from Atlas. Salem would probably use threats to get what she wanted. I'm looking forward to the next chapter!
Redwing641
1. Best case Ironwood will be civil about it even if Jaune doesn't help. Worst case we could see a civil war between Domremy and Atlas. Civil war gives author a chance to show Jaune's full capabilities. Just an idea. 2. would like to see CInder try and fail to seduce due to over estimating her allure 3. I dont know any other factions
Yugo Strange
Depends on what state of mind James would be in he'd either try to use "the greater good " to try and persuade Jaune to work for him.If he's in a bad state of mind he could try to threaten to mark Jaune as an enemy of atlas or something As for cinder , I'm leaning on she'd just go for threats
