16

Chapter 15-Jaune's Reckoning Part 1

It had been a month since the Dementors invaded Beacon, and the school had finally settled down. Though most were still on edge because of the Dementor attack, classes continued like normal as everyone fell into their own unique routine.

Jaune Arc in particular had found a balance between his school work and his own training. Though, it was extremely difficult. Summer Rose, just as he imagined, made slave drivers look nice and easy to deal with. Literally, who the hell makes their students climb up the Beacon cliffs without harnesses over a near one hundred and fifty foot drop over rocky waters WITH AURA SUPRESSORS ON?!

Flashback**

"COME ON YOU PANSY ASSES!" Summer shouted over her, rather unnecessarily, large megaphone as she leaned over the cliff. "GET TO MOVING! YOU'VE ONLY GOT 10 MINUTES LEFT BEFORE THE TIMER GOES OFF! HURRY THE HELL UP!"

Jaune gasped for breath as he tried to hold onto the measly little ledge he was on. Thanks to his gymnastics, he was able to make it as far as he did, but that hardly made a difference since he was completely out of breath and his limbs were burning red hot, and he had no Aura to strengthen him!

"I…*pant* c-can't…*pant**pant* g-go oooonnnnnn!" Ruby whined from a few feet below him. She may have had the upper body strength thanks to her training with her preferred weapon, but her endurance wasn't up to par.

"SURE YOU CAN, MISS ROSE! JUST PUT ONE HAND ABOVE THE OTHER, AND PULL YOURSELF UP!" Summer encouraged from her place atop the cliff.

"*huff**huff**huff* Are we sure she's not insane?!" Adam shouted from several feet above Jaune.

"I'M NOT INSANE, MR. TAURUS!" Summer shouted back. "I JUST HAVE A DIFFERENT REALITY THAN YOU DO! NOW, LESS SASSING AND MORE CLIMBING!"

"…*pant**pant* Kill me now!" Weiss whined from even further below Ruby.

"Tough it out, Weiss!" Harry grunted from beside Jaune. He then laughed hollowly. "Like I can talk!" he muttered. "I can barely move anymore!"

"TIME'S NEARLY UP, KIDDIES! YOU BEST HURRY UP IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE CHASED AROUND THE SCHOOL BY ME!" Summer shouted cheerfully again. "THREE MINUTES LEFT!"

"DAAAAMMMMMMIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT!" came the collective shouts of the students on the cliff face.

Flashback end**

Though, in all fairness, Jaune guessed it wasn't all bad. After all, Summer Rose gave amazing rewards when they actually survived her training: her cookies. Jaune was ashamed to admit just how much he thought her cookies were better than anything his own mother could make! It was a huge slap in the face for Jaune and the other members who survived her training. Not only was she a great Huntress but she was also a world class baker?

That was just unfair!

But back to topic, Jaune also found out just how lethal Harry could be when he was trying. It was actually pretty terrifying…

Flashback**

"Miss Nikos and Mr. Potter, please come on stage," Summer said as from the stage. Pyrrha made her way up to stage eagerly, hoping for an (uninterrupted) FAIR fight with her rival. Harry calmly, methodically, sauntered his way to the stage, looking horribly outraged. Jaune was uneasy. Harry had been like that since he walked into the auditorium.

He had a bad feeling about this fight.

"Before we begin, Pyrrha," Harry's calm voice broke through his thoughts. "I must apologize in advance."

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because Cardin and his team, somehow, found out Lily's fear of hospitals, and decided to play a very petty and cruel prank on her," he growled lowly. "She's still held up in our dorm, freaking out. So with that…CRDL!" he shouted suddenly, making the four look up at him. "Pay VERY close attention to this fight! Because if you EVER, EVER decide to screw with my team again, YOU'LL be on the receiving end of what's about happen!" He cracked his neck from side to side. "Let's go," he muttered.

Summer raised an eyebrow. "Ok." She held up her hand, throwing it down and jumping off the stage. "Fight!"

(Play Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Set it off)

Suddenly, the entire auditorium became colder. Jaune's eyes widened as a massive presence SLAMMED down on his shoulders. He shivered like a leaf in a hurricane, feeling like he was…like he was being watched.

Like he was being hunted.

Jaune looked around and saw how everyone else was effected, as well. Team CRDL was gasping for air as they tried to stay upright. Jaune to his left and saw Nora and Ren hugging each other in a rather…suggestive way. If he wasn't feeling complete terror right now, he would have found that funny.

He looked further to see Adam, the only other member of team HAIL in the auditorium looking around frantically, a look of alarm on his face. Next to him, Ruby and Yang were clinging together looking terrified, while Blake, in a comedic display, had jumped into Weiss's arms like a scared kitten, while Weiss looked like she was having difficulty staying calm.

Pyrrha, however, she was staring in wide eyed terror at her opponent, who was currently glaring at her furiously. His emerald green eyes seemed to glow as the air around him grew hazy, and a dark, malevolent aura began to form around him. She gasped for breath, trying to calm herself, but the dark presence aimed at her made it difficult. She staggered under the aura.

She looked up, but gasped at the sight she was met with. The aura around Harry had morphed. It was no longer a shapeless mass. It was now in the shape of a massive, pitch black wolf. The wolf growled at her, making the normally composed girl scream in terror. She quickly turned Milό into its rifle form and began firing shots off at Harry.

Harry showed no outward emotion, and calmly dodged each shot with no effort at all. Pyrrha fired off more shots, aiming for his head, chest, and legs, hoping one would hit him. But it was all for naught, as Harry continued dodging with the same ease as before. She continued firing until she saw it wasn't doing any good, so she changed Milό into its sword form and charged Harry.

She was almost near Harry when he shifted his weight to his right side…and vanished! Her eyes widened as she skidded to a stop and tried to locate him. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew behind her and she felt a presence behind her. She whirled around and tried to slice it in half, but the presence vanished again, making her slice through air. Harry appeared behind her again, and she turned again and swung. She missed again.

She spun around again, but Harry appeared in front of her and landed a hard right hook to her cheek. She staggered under the hit, but Harry didn't let up. He landed four more punches to her face, and chest, before he jumped up and spun, sending five quick kicks to her chest. She stumbled backwards. Using his Aura to push himself through the air, Harry landed behind Pyrrha and grabbed Akoύo from off her back. He held it with both hands and began to repeatedly slam it down on her head. He then slammed the shield into the side of her head, dropped Akoύo, and vanished again.

He reappeared in front of her and grabbed his sword. He rushed her, but she saw him coming. In a frenzied panic, she sent a huge pulse of magnetic energy at him, hoping to send his sword flying away from him, but he suddenly vanished again, but his sword remained, spinning violently in front of her. She hesitated, only for Harry to appear under her and sweep her legs out from under her. She rolled away as she hit the ground, but Harry did a hand stand and tried to land on her side, feet first. She rolled again, coming up behind the spinning blade.

Harry spun and brought himself upright and grabbed his sword. He thrusted forward, but Pyrrha used her Semblance to grab Akoύo. It flew into her hands, and she held it in front of her; but Harry's sword tore through the metal like tissue paper and nailed her right between the eyes. The resulting force from the blow made her cry out as she flew off the stage, her body glowing a bright red before flickering out. She hit the ground and rolled all the way to the auditorium's doors.

(End Wolf in Sheep's Clothing by Set it off)

The aura then vanished as suddenly as it appeared, making everyone gasp in relief. Harry calmly righted himself and pulled Pyrrha's ruined shield off his sword and sheathed his blade. He made his way off stage and walked in front of Cardin. Cardin frowned at him, but before he could say anything, Harry grabbed him by his collar and pulled him out of his seat.

"If you ever think about doing something harmful to my team again," he growled in the orange headed teen's face, "what I did to Pyrrha will look tame compared to what I inflict on you!"

With that, he scoffed at Cardin and threw him down to the ground like a sack of potatoes and walked over to Jaune. Jaune tensed, but all Harry did was nod to him and say, "Sorry about what I did to your partner, Jaune. Could you relay my apologizes to her?" Jaune nodded dumbly, and Harry nodded back and walked out of the auditorium.

Flashback end**

Jaune still shivered when he remembered that day.

A large wicked looking mace crashed down on his shield, making him stagger back and breaking him from this thoughts. He cursed. Leave it to him to drift off in the middle of a fight!

Cardin smirked as he tried to push Jaune to the floor, but Jaune tilted his shield to the side, and Cardin's mace slid off. Jaune then side rolled around to Cardin's side and righted himself. Cardin growled and spun. His mace came racing at Jaune's head, but Jaune bent at the waist and let the weapon sail over him. Cardin frowned and brought his mace up to slam down on Jaune's front, but the blond swordsman quickly put his hands to the ground and back flipped away.

Jaune landed and turned around. Cardin swung again, but Jaune ducked under the swing and side stepped away from Cardin. Cardin turned and swung again, but Jaune jumped back. Cardin growled again and tried an overhead swing, but Jaune rushed him. He slashed diagonally at Cardin's armor, then again diagonally, before ending his combo with a quick horizontal slash and a stab. Cardin's armor took the brunt of the slashes, but the stab made take a few steps back. He looked shocked, but soon began snarling like a wild animal and charged Jaune again, mace raised high. Jaune tensed, and just as the mace came down, Jaune reacted.

He side stepped the attack, and the mace landed right next to him, cracking the stage pretty badly. Jaune gulped, hoping he didn't get hit with that thing. He shook his head of those thoughts and leapt onto the weapon, shocking his opponent. Taking the opportunity presented to him, Jaune quickly ran up the shaft of the weapon and Cardin's arms. He jumped off Cardin's shoulder and flipped behind him, sending a vertical sword slice at Cardin's back.

Cardin grunted as he was pushed forward, but he recovered and whirled around, bringing his mace around at Jaune. Jaune turned around and saw Cardin's mace approaching him. He held up his shield to block it, but the blow was too much for him as he was picked up off the ground and sent flying across the stage.

Cardin ran to strike that finishing blow, but a curt, sharp tone cut him off: "Alright! That's enough!"

He stopped his advance as the lights of the auditorium brightened and Summer Rose and Glynda Goodwitch (who was asked to help out with the day's lesson) walked on stage. He moved out of the way, and Glynda began speaking. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura is in the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate Jaune is no longer fit to battle, and the official can call the match," she lectured. "Mr. Arc may have had more Aura than Mr. Winchester, but Cardin proved high Aura levels will only prolong the fight if you have the strength and patience to whittle away at it." Cardin smirked while Jaune hung his head.

"However," the voice of everyone's favorite combat teacher called out from Glynda's side. "Mr. Arc has proven that no matter how strong you may or may not be, that means jack-fucking-shit if you can't hit your target! While Mr. Arc hesitated slightly and was slow to react in certain areas, he demonstrated that being agile is a pivotal aspect when you're fighting an opponent much stronger than yourself." Cardin scowled in anger while Summer's smile widened as she turned to Jaune and said, "I've gotta say, Scrawny, I'm impressed with your growth the past month! Why, I'm so impressed, that I'm bumping you from 'Scrawny pipsqueak' to 'Scrawny novice.' A full three title jump! Now that's progress!" Jaune smiled a bit at that. He learned that that was Summer's version of a compliment.

"While I wouldn't word it like Summer, I agree, Mr. Arc," Glynda spoke up, to Jaune's shock. "In the past month, you've jumped from the near lowest of your class to the top twenty. Such a feat is no laughing matter." Glynda didn't particularly like being proven wrong, but in this case, she was glad she was. Jaune had started out one of the worst in his class. She honestly thought there was a mistake regarding his transcripts until she saw him start to steadily improve.

Shocked and impressed, she began to observe his training habits. In all honesty, they were damn near suicide runs that would have Summer impressed. At first she thought he was being idiotic, but after a few days of watching his 'training,' she saw that each crazy exercise he did, she saw that each had some purpose; and that shined through with every new spar he participated in.

She even knew of his little training area near the edge of cliff leading to the Emerald Forest. She had been shocked when she saw him use a make-shift pulley system to travel down to the forest, and had quickly pulled out her Scroll to locate him. What she saw was him parrying swipes from Beowolves, with surprising finesse at that. She had been shocked that he'd be so moronic that he would enter the Emerald Forest without permission or without supervision of a Professor that she had almost decided to exercise her right to expel him for disobeying the Academy's rules right then and there. But she held back. She wasn't sure why, but something told her to leave him be. Against her better judgement, she found herself keeping a watchful eye on him as he made his regular trips down to the Emerald forest, to make sure he didn't get himself killed.

Seeing him in his spar today, seeing how he was improving by leaps and bounds, Glynda was sure she wasn't making a mistake in not confronting him.

"Remember everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away," Glynda announced. "It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms will begin arriving in Vale, so keep practicing!" This news had everyone pumped up. Team RWBY began to silently cheer as Yang shadowboxed, Ruby became jittery, Blake smirked widely, and Weiss's hands began to shake in excitement. Team HAIL smirked at each other as they all fist bumped each other. "Those who wish to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!" The bell rang after she spoke. The students began gathering their things as they stood and started walking out of the auditorium.

"Oh! And don't forget, my cute little students!" Summer called out. "Tomorrow we will be having a training day, and I want everyone to bring their rain coats because we're heading to the Forever Fall forest, and tomorrow a very powerful storm is supposed to roll in! Be prepared for anything!" Many of the students groaned loudly at that.

Pyrrha stood and looked up to the stage to see Jaune, but noticed he was already heading back to the locker room. She sighed and walked towards the door leading to the locker rooms, hoping to catch Jaune as he walked out.

Cafeteria; Beacon Academy; Vale, Kingdom of Vale; 12:30 P.M.

"So there we were," Nora said ominously. "In the middle…of the night!"

"It was day," Ren said monotonously.

Everyone (sans Harry, who wasn't seated yet) listened in rapt attention. Yang in particular listened in awe while Blake read her new book. Ruby and Pyrrha, however, were more focused on Jaune, who was eating slower than normal. "We were surrounded…by Ursai…"

"They were Beowolves," Ren corrected again, taking a sip of his drink.

"Dozens of them!" Nora suddenly shouted, standing abruptly. Lily chuckled at Nora's enthusiasm.

"Two of them," Ren said.

"But they were no match!" Nora went on undeterred. "And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boat load of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" She sat down, crossing her arms and looking pleased with herself. Ren sighed and put his mug down.

"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now," he explained.

Isabella hummed. "Sounds like a good dream then," she commented.

Pyrrha frowned as Jaune finished his plate. "Jaune…" she said, getting his attention. He looked up to her.

"Yes, Pyrrha? What's up?" he asked.

"Are you ok?" she asked in concern. The others looked over and listened in to the conversation.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he countered.

"You're eating a tad slower than you normally do," Pyrrha said. "And you seem distracted by something."

"Is it about your fight with Cardin?" Ruby asked. "I mean, it's ok to lose a fight every once in a while…"

"No, it's not that," Jaune sighed. "I'm just…" He sighed. "I just have a lot on my mind right now…"

"Like what, Jaune?" Nora asked.

"Just things," he dismissed. Suddenly, a loud cry caught everyone's attention. They turned to see Cardin pulling one of Velvet's ears, his team laughing mockingly.

"S-Stop it!" she cried.

"See?" Cardin told his buddies, pulling harder on her ear. "I told you they were real!" His friends laughed harder.

"Please stop!" she begged through gritted teeth.

Lily growled angrily and smashed through the table. After she finally got over the prank Cardin pulled on her, she had sent the sorry bastard to the hospital for weeks. Sure, she got detention for the duration of his stay, but it was worth it for him to know not to cross her.

Sadly, it seemed he chose an easier target.

Adam snarled quietly. He hated Faunus being bullied and persecuted. He was about to step up and aid Velvet, when the strangest, funniest, and most disturbing thing happened. Team CRDL's clothes vanished (save for their underwear), but the funniest part?

They were all wearing girl's underwear!

Suddenly, everyone began laughing at the all-male team. The four looked confused until they looked down at themselves. They cried out in girly squeals and vainly tried to cover themselves. Velvet moved away from them as Cardin let go of her ear. She looked shocked and found herself trying hard to be polite and not laugh at her tormentor.

What could she say? Cardin could actually pull off white panties with little hearts on them.

Harry came walking in to this scene. He had a plate of food in one hand and a large metal sword case in the other. He spared Cardin and his team a small glance before looking to Velvet, stopping his walk for a moment. Velvet tensed. While she had heard great things about Harry Potter, it didn't change the fact that he was a Wolf Faunus. Not only were her instincts running haywire in his presence, but she had bad experiences with carnivore Faunus bullying her because she was a rabbit Faunus.

But, to her shock, Harry shrugged and turned to Cardin and said, "Nice panties, Winchester." Students began to laugh harder at that while Cardin turned red. Harry turned to Velvet and winked. "You see, Miss Scarlatina, this is why we can't have nice things. Not that there's anything wrong with these guys expressing themselves, of course! But while on school property, you'd think they'd exercise common decency, don't you agree?" He flashed her a charming smile, which had her giggling slightly. Hesitantly, she nodded in agreement, which had everyone laughing harder again.

Cardin growled in anger, but before he could snap at Harry, Professor Peach, who was eating lunch at the time, showed up and shouted, "Alright! That's enough of this! Misters Winchester, Thrush, Bronzewing, and Lark! Please put some clothes on! Head to the lockers or something!"

Harry snickered quietly as he quietly slipped away and made his way to his friends. He walked in-between Adam and Lily and sat down, placing his sword case in the middle of the table and set down his food in front of it. "That was random, wasn't it?" he asked with a large grin.

"Cut the crap, Harry," Weiss deadpanned. "What did you do?" Harry looked offended.

"Me? What makes you think that I had something to do with that?!" he demanded, pointing at the retreating forms of team CRDL.

Weiss raised an eyebrow at him. "Uh-huh, sure," she said, not sounding at all convinced.

But Harry held strong. "I didn't!" She continued to stare at him. Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore, and started giggling like a mad scientist. "Ok, yeah, I admit it! But in my defense, he had it coming!"

"How'd you do it?" Yang asked, grinning.

"Banishing charm on their clothes and armor, then a bit of Transfiguration, basic transformation magic, to turn their underwear into girl panties," Harry explained, his grin still present.

"It was rather amusing," Adam chuckled.

"Amusing? Try flipping hilarious!" Lily laughed. "Served the jackass right!"

"They're reputation has been shot for months now," Isabella said in amusement.

"Well, they really shouldn't have been bullying Velvet," Blake said blandly. She had met the girl, and honestly liked her company, but knew she wasn't much of a fighter.

"Hey, Harry," Ruby asked. "What's in the case?" It was a weapon's case, that much she could plainly see, but wasn't sure what might be in it. The case itself was nearly seven feet long and had the Schnee family crest on the lid, but was split in two with Harry's lightning bolt symbol in the middle of it. A deer's skull seemed superimposed over the two symbols.

Harry looked to her, then to the case. He smirked at Ruby. "Prongs," he said. "My personal, hand-made weapon I've been developing. I'm going to start back working on it after lunch now that I have time." He grinned as stars appeared in Ruby's eyes. "You wanna help me out, Ruby?"

"YES!" she squealed. The group laughed at her while she blushed crimson. Jaune chuckled at her enthusiasm. He finished his meal, and stood silently. He made his way to put his tray up and then walked out the cafeteria. Pyrrha, after laughing at the exchange between Ruby and Harry, noticed Jaune was walking out of the cafeteria and frowned in concern. She knew he did his own training by himself, but had never really asked what it had entailed. She believed that Jaune would tell his team when he was ready, but, lately he seemed…distant.

She sighed in discontent.

With Jaune

Jaune sighed tiredly as he made his way to the airstrips. He planned on catching a Bullhead down to Vale to buy a few things he needed for his training, then race back to Beacon to catch Professor Oobleck's class. As he walked, however, his mind wondered.

His fight with Cardin could have went better. He knew he was better than what he had shown during that fight. But he got distracted too easily. He needed to stop doing that. He frowned as he thought about what he needed to do to change that.

"Mr. Arc," Professor Goodwitch's voice called out, making him turn to look at her. "May I ask where you are going? You still have classes today."

"Oh! Hello, Professor Goodwitch," Jaune greeted. "Yeah, I do, but I have some spare time before Professor Oobleck's class, so I thought I'd catch a quick airbus to Vale and pick up a few things I needed."

Glynda frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. He did still have twenty-five minutes left before Bartholomew's class started. "For the record, Mr. Arc, Bartholomew prefers to be called 'Doctor,' not 'Professor.' He gets…touchy…when you don't."

Jaune was slightly surprised that she was giving him advice. He had gathered that she wasn't his biggest fan. In fact, he always had a sinking suspicion that Professor Goodwitch would expel him if given the right reasons. "T-Thanks, Professor Goodwitch," he said gratefully. "I-I'll be sure to remember that." He waved goodbye and turned towards the airstrip again.

Glynda nodded in acceptance, and was about to walk on until she thought of something, and hesitated. "Mr. Arc," she said again, causing him to look to her again. "For what it's worth, I…I feel I must extend my apologizes to you." Jaune looked at her in confusing, slightly scared of what she had to say. "When you first began your time here at Beacon, I did not believe you were ready for Beacon's level of combat and training. Your spars, your test scores, and your overall demeanor were…pardon my frankness, but, mediocre, at best."

Jaune looked gloomy at that, but Glynda wasn't done. "However, this past month, I am proud to say you've proven me wrong, Mr. Arc. Should you need anything, anything at all, let me know, and I'll do my best to help you. It's the least I can do for one of my students, and one that I severely underestimated."

To say Jaune was shocked was like saying Harry was a guy he never wanted angry at him. A total understatement. Jaune stared at Glynda in shock for a minute or two, but quickly shook himself of his reverie and smiled slightly at Glynda. "T-Thanks, Professor," he said. "I…I appreciate that. I'll be sure to…let you know if I need anything." She nodded in acceptance as Jaune turned and made his way to the airstrip, wondering just what the heck that was all about.

He shook his head in irritation and walked quicker, hoping he still had time to get to Vale and back.