17

Chapter 16-Jaune Reckoning Part II

Jaune sighed in exhaustion as he slumped onto a bench outside of 'Weapons and More,' a popular weapon store visited by most of Beacon's students. After buying the supplies he needed, he found he still had time before class, so he decided to stop by this store to view their guns. He knew he lacked ranged weaponry, so he decided to look into some pistols for extra protection.

He found a few he liked, especially one that transformed into a trench knife, but he couldn't afford any of them. So with a sigh of recognition, he had left the store in defeat. He sat on the bench for a moment while he debated on what to do next when a voice called his attention: "Excuse me, young man, but is the seat next to you taken?"

Jaune jumped a bit at the deep, drawl coming from his side. He looked up and saw a tall man wearing a lumberjack's outfit and a large shotgun type weapon strapped to his back. "Oh! Not at all," he responded.

"Thank you!" The man plopped down next to him and asked, "So! What's your story?!"

"H-Huh?"

"Oh, come on! It's plain to see! You have a story to tell! You're eyes hold a fire that refuses to be put out! I like that in people! It says they have a purpose that will not be put out!" the man proclaimed. "Now come on! Don't leave me hanging!"

"Boomstick! What are you doing?!" a loud voice shouted, the two looked up to see a tall man wearing a lab coat run at them.

"'Bout time you caught up, Wiz!" Boomstick hollered. "I was beginning to wonder if you got lost!"

"Quit screwing around! We're supposed to head to Vania village in ten minutes to slay a horde of Grimm! We don't have time to be goofing off!" Wiz admonished.

"Ah, Wiz, that's plenty of time!" Boomstick waved dismissively. "Besides, I'm trying to learn this kid's story! He was just about to say something before you so rudely interrupted!"

"So," Jaune drawled out, gaining the two's attention, "you guys are Huntsmen?"

Boomstick grinned. "Yep! And I tell ya…" He leaned back on the bench and said, "Best. Retirement. Ever!" Jaune was a bit disturbed by this.

'He calls hunting serial killing monsters the best retirement ever?' he thought in disbelief.

"Ignore him," Wiz sighed. "He's always been like that. Anyways, I'm Wizard or Wiz if you like," he introduced himself. "The idiot beside you is Boomstick."

"I'll kill you, Wiz," Boomstick said seriously.

"Yeeeaaaaahhhhhh, not gonna happen," Wiz said unbelievingly. He looked to Jaune and said, "So Boomstick said something about you telling him 'your story' as he puts it?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. W-Well, there's not much to say about me," Jaune muttered. "I'm just a guy trying to uphold my family name."

"Oh! So you're one of those guys!" Boomstick shouted. "Well, here's some advice to help you out with that!"

Wiz groaned. "Oh boy…"

"You, see, my young friend, an amazing man once said, 'In order to achieve great things, one must sacrifice stability, and push one's limits past sanity,'" Boomstick quoted with a grin. "Trust me, it works! Many a great warrior have followed these wise words of wisdom!"

"Which ones?" Wiz asked sarcastically. "Because I'm pretty sure you said that quote. Last week in fact. Not a lot of time for someone to follow it."

"Wiz, please, don't get bogged down on such details! The words still rain true! Although, that's a given seeing as I said that quote!"

"You're so full of it."

Jaune didn't hear much after that, because he left the two strange men alone and headed back to Beacon. He needed to head back now or he would be late for class, anyways. He was about round a corner when he bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry!" he apologized.

"No, it was my fault," the woman, who was wrapped in a dark traveling cloak responded. "Excuse me." She walked on, but Jaune paused for a moment.

"She…sounded familiar," Jaune mused quietly. He quickly shrugged and said, "Must have been my imagination." Unseen by him, the woman smirked playfully as a strand of blonde hair fell in front of her face.

Beacon Academy; Dr. Oobleck's classroom; Vale, Vale Kingdom

"Prior to the Faunus Civil Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus war," Dr. Bartholomew Oobleck cited as he raced around his desk at rapid speeds, taking quick sips of his coffee as he went. "Human kind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie," he lectured as he appeared next to his board and pointed at an island on the map displayed there with a ruler.

He took a sip of his coffee. "Now! While this may feel like ancient history to many of you, it's imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions…"

Everyone in the audience paid rapt attention to the green haired professor go on, with notable exceptions being Cardin and his partner Russel. Most others however were watching the highly caffeinated professor zip around the room in amusement. Harry, in particular, was listening intently, deciding that Oobleck was his favorite history teacher.

Of course, his other history teachers before this were a stern old lady who made kids feel uncomfortable just by glaring at them at all times, and a ghost who may or may not have had a grudge against goblins and spoke in the most bland, sleep inducing voice anyone could ever hear. So really, it wasn't that hard to make the top spot of best history teacher in Harry's books.

"Now! Have any of you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?" he asked the Faunus in the room. They seemed reluctant to raise their hands, but one by one, many of the Faunus slowly began to raise their hands. Velvet, tentatively, began raising hers. Blake and Isabella raised their hands as well.

"Dreadful! Simply dreadful! Remember students! This is precisely the kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" He took a sip of his coffee. "I mean…I mean…Just look happened to the White Fang!"

Blake tensed at the mention of the White Fang. Recently, Adam had told her of his deal with Harry, and that they'd have to me Jacques soon to discuss their, hopefully, gaining pardons for their crimes. Hopefully, they could convince him.

"Now, can any of you young scholars tell me what many theorist believe was the turning point, in the third year of the war?" Weiss raised her hand. "Yes?"

"The battle at Fort Castle," Weiss said in utter assurance of her answer. Oobleck zipped around behind his desk and tapped it repeatedly with his ruler.

"Precisely!" he praised. "And, who can tell me what the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"

Around this time, Cardin had made himself a paper football and was about to flick it at the back of Jaune's head, who was currently taking notes. In fact, Cardin could see multiple papers and books around the blond in an almost chaotic manner. Cardin snickered and flicked the paper football at Jaune's head, thinking it would hit the back of his head and send it hand flying up, and embarrassing the loser.

However, it didn't end like Cardin wanted. The second the projectile neared its target, Jaune's left hand shot up grabbed the paper football out of the air before it hit him in the head. Cadrin gaped in shock at the action, but before he could say anything, Oobleck appeared in front of Jaune.

"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class, are we?! Well, what's the answer to the question?!" Oobleck asked rapidly, and Cardin had to smirk, thinking his plan was still going strong.

Sadly for him, that wasn't the case. "H-Huh? Oh, yeah! Right! Sorry, Profs-Dr.! I meant. Dr. Oobleck. Well," Jaune spoke calmly but loudly, gathering his papers up, not noticing the smile on Oobleck's face; "the first thing was that General Lagune was vastly inexperienced in dealing with Faunus, and did not study up on who he was fighting. Not to mention that the Faunus he fought had more knowledge of the land and the castle, as well. However, General Lagune knew that he didn't have the advantage in terrain, so he planned a sneak attack at night. A good plan, but he failed to take into account that most Faunus have near perfect night vision, so their scouts saw them coming very easily, and warned the others. All these factors led to Lagune's army being defeated by the Faunus in a single night, and his capture at the hands of the Faunus."

Most of the other students gaped at Jaune while Oobleck smiled broadly. Harry smirked at the blond swordsman, while Pyrrha smiled happily. Blake stared at Jaune appraisingly. Weiss looked shocked that Jaune answered correctly, and Ruby and Nora wore giddy looks on their faces. Ren and Adam looked impressed, and Lily and Isabella shared a smile at Cardin's attempt at getting Jaune in trouble backfired.

"Excellent! Excellent! Simply excellent!" he praised. "Well, done, Mr. Arc! Outstandingly well researched and terrifically presented! This, dear students, is the kind of dedication a true Huntsman should show at all times! Oh! And Mr. Winchester…"

"Huh?" the teen said carelessly, and suddenly a paper football wacked him right between the eyes. He yelped in slight pain. Jaune blinked and opened his hand up to see whatever he caught was missing. Oobleck looked annoyed.

"The next time you wish to play with paper footballs, please do so on your own time, and not try and hit your fellow students in the back of the head," Oobleck said firmly, causing the class to begin snickering at Cardin. Cardin growled and glared at everyone laughing at him.

Cardin scoffed and slumped in his seat. "Why's it even matter? Everyone knows it's easier to train an animal than it is a soldier," he said loud enough for the others to hear. He was shocked when Oobleck suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Because Mr. Winchester! Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it!" Oobleck shouted at his normal volume. Which is to say, Loud. "Since you seem so uninterested in learning with the class, you can learn by yourself this evening after class!" Many students began laughing at him as the bell rang. "Very well then! Students you are dismissed! Not you, Mr. Winchester! Or did you think I was bluffing when I said you could learn after class?!"

Cardin growled as everyone laughed at him as they walked out. Jaune gathered up his things began walking out of the room. Cardin tried tripping him, but Jaune quickly skipped over his outstretched foot, not even looking down. Jaune walked out of the classroom to see Pyrrha waiting for him. She smiled at him.

"That was impressive, Jaune," she complemented. He smiled at her as well.

"Well, it's not really that impressive," he told her. "Really, the library has all sorts of books on the Faunus War. It wasn't hard to find out the information I said in there." He began walking to the dorm room, and Pyrrha began following after him.

"Maybe not, but not many humans look up all that information," Adam commented as he walked up behind Jaune. Jaune looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I'm not trying to be racist here; but from my experience, and from what I gathered from everyone in that classroom, most of the humans in there only knew the advantage Faunus had was night vision. You, however, went above and beyond and actually did more research on the subject. I'm actually impressed."

"Not many people actually care about history to study it extensively," Isabella said, coming up beside Pyrrha.

"Especially if it's about Faunus," Lily commented from behind Adam. Pyrrha smiled at them, but frowned soon after.

"Where's Potter?" she asked. Weiss, Blake, and Yang came up as she asked that.

"Oh, he and Ruby left for the workshop to work on his super-secret weapon," Yang explained. "I tried finding out what it was…again…but when it comes to anything weapon related, Ruby's like a steel trap. Any other time, I can get the truth out of her any day of the week, but with weapons, she's like our resident ninja over here." She jabbed her thumb at Blake, who gave her a flat stare. Adam chuckled at the analogy.

"Well, Blake's very good at keeping secrets," he admitted with a grin. Blake steamed in silence.

"Shut up, Adam," she mumbled. Ok, maybe not so silent.

Everyone laughed at Blake's misfortune, but Pyrrha kept her sight on Jaune, who simply chuckled lightly at the comment.

Later that night; Jaune's training ground; Beacon Academy

Jaune sighed in exhaustion as he slumped against a tree. He had been punching a straw dummy for the past three hours straight and now couldn't even hold his arms up. After dropping his stuff off at his dorm and hanging out with his team, he headed to his training ground. Tonight was all about strength. So, accordingly, he began to toughen himself up.

His fight with Cardin showed him he wasn't strong enough yet. He needed to boost his physical strength to the point he could hold Cardin off without much problem. Otherwise, if he fought Harry, he'd lose simply because the Faunus was a damn Hercules. He'd seen how Harry casually stopped that Yatsuhashi's massive cleaver with one hand, then took and matched Lily's attacks (whom he learned is strong enough to lift airbuses casually!) with very minimal effort.

As he took a few deep breaths, he heard a voice call out, "Well, you certainly are training hard, Jaune." He looked up to see Pyrrha staring at him in amusement.

"O-Oh! Pyrrha!" Jaune exclaimed, trying to stand up. "W-What are you doing here?!"

"I was worried about you," she admitted. "So I followed you out here. Imagine my surprise to see this quaint little training ground you made for yourself." She frowned however when she looked at the tree that held his pulley system. "But Jaune. Those ropes…surely you're not using them to travel down to the Emerald Forest, are you?"

"Um…" Jaune mumbled.

"Jaune…" Pyrrha pressed.

"Um…" he mumbled again.

"Jaune!"

"Well, sorry! You're putting me on the spot!" he defended himself.

"Jaune, going into the Emerald Forest on your own is forbidden unless you have a professor present!" Pyrrha admonished him. "You may be getting stronger, but we're still first year students! Going in there is ill advised!"

"Ill advised, it may be, but it's not stopping me," Jaune sighed.

"Jaune, that could get you killed! And if it doesn't, you'll get expelled!" she protested. Jaune snorted.

"I'll get expelled for a lot worse than going spelunking in the Emerald Forest Pyrrha," he said. "Besides, what I'm doing is the only way I have to catch up with everybody else. I've spent far too much of my time goofing off before I got on that Bullhead."

"Jaune, you're doing great now! Look at what you've accomplished! You are in the top twenty of our class! Sure. You may not have started off well at the beginning of the year, but you have proven you belong here! At Beacon!" Pyrrha said loudly.

"Yeah. But when I started here, I didn't belong. Literally," he said tiredly.

"Jaune, what are you talking about?"

"Not important right now. Look, I know it looks bad, but I've got it well in hand, Pyrrha. I promise," he said to her.

"Jaune…" she persisted.

"Please drop it, Pyrrha," he said. He just wanted to rest a bit then get back to training.

Sadly, Pyrrha wasn't about to give in that quickly. "Jaune, please," she pleaded, "help me understand why you are doing this! Why are you going down into the Emerald Forest unsupervised? WHY would you be expelled if not for this?"

Maybe it was he was really tired. Maybe it was because of Pyrrha's persistence. Or maybe he just wanted to end her interrogation. Whatever the case, Jaune's patience had worn thin. "Because I didn't get in here like you, or Harry, or Ren, or even Ruby did! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I sent them to Beacon!" he said bitingly.

Pyrrha could not hide her shock. "Y-You what…?" Jaune didn't back down.

"I literally snuck my way into Beacon!" he said louder. "I couldn't do anything you guys could when I got here! I didn't know anything about Hunters or Huntresses besides the common civilian knowledge, and I didn't know anything about those damn landing strategies!" That hurt the worst. He almost came off looking like a fool that day. Almost because his landing was better than his takeoff, and the landing was what counted the most, but still, the fact remained that he was almost permanently stuck in the fool zone. "I shouldn't have been hanging with any of you!"

Pyrrha was still stuck on the fake transcript thing. "B-But why?" she asked, and Jaune threw his hands up.

"Because I wanted to uphold my family's legacy!" he shouted. "Everyone one in my family: my dad, his dad, his dad's dad, and everyone before them were heroes! They fought in wars! They saved lives! They didn't just live a farmer's life; they took up arms and fought for what they believed in!"

Jaune sighed in exertion. "I just…I just wanted to be a part of that legacy," he said quietly. "I wanted to show my family that I could be my own person. That I had the ability to stand and fight on my own. That I was worthy of carrying on the family name of Arc." He walked away from Pyrrha and moved to one of his training dummies. "I don't want to be a disappointment," he said again.

Pyrrha grimaced, feeling her heart go out for her leader. She was shocked, naturally, that he lied to get into Beacon, but the thought that he did so just to prove himself spoke to her. She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're not a disappointment, Jaune," she told him. He looked back at her. She hesitated, trying to find the right words. "While I'm…shocked, that you were accepted because of fake transcripts…" She shook her head and looked him square in the eyes. "Jaune, you've proven that you deserve to be here. In over a month, you've proven that even the least qualified of us can become strong warriors. You knew where you lacked, and improved. I…I think your family is proud of you!" she finished with a smile.

He smiled back at her, but didn't fully believe her words. He knew his parents would probably still doubt him. "You know," he chuckled mirthlessly, "if not for Harry telling us about his past, I may have improved much." Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, prompting him to continue. "Before I met him, I didn't have any doubts about my plan to join Beacon. I felt I could roll with the punches and coast through the next four years. But after hearing about what Harry had to go through…I just couldn't do that anymore. He's so strong because he had no choice in the matter. It was be strong or die. I felt I couldn't compete with that kind of strength.

"So I decided: if he can be that strong despite everything, I could too. I wasn't going to be left behind. So I started finding ways to improve myself and fast. I'm still not where I want to be, but I feel that I can make it there now. Like you said, I'm making good progress, but I'm not at the level where I can hang with Harry yet," Jaune finished.

"Jaune," Pyrrha said slowly, slightly amused and slightly amazed at his speech. "I can barely 'hang' with Harry. I only lasted as long as I did because of my Semblance. Without it, I'd be hopeless against Harry."

Jaune was about to ask what her Semblance was, when he suddenly heard a voice call out again: "Yeah! No one can hang with Harry! He's like 'Hoo! Haa! Whachomp!" Pyrrha and Jaune turned to see Nora hanging upside down from a tree branch by her legs, making various karate moves and noises, with Ren sighing in exasperation beside the tree.

"Ren? Nora? I thought you guys were going to get some pancakes?" Pyrrha asked in shock.

"We were," Ren replied. "But we saw you heading to the woods, and Nora decided she wanted to follow you."

"Then we heard you and Jaune arguing," Nora added with an enthused chirp.

"H-How much did you hear?" Jaune asked.

"All of it," the two replied in sync. Jaune paled slightly until Nora said, "Didn't think you had the balls to lie to get into Beacon, Jaune. That's awesome! And with your improvement, they'll never know!"

"While I don't approve of how you got into Beacon, I must say you have more than proven you belong here," Ren said. He gave Jaune a small smile. "You don't have to worry. We won't tell anyone who you don't want to know," he continued. Jaune looked shocked.

"But why?" the blond asked.

"Because you're our leader!" Nora said, as if the answer should have been obvious.

"You have yet to steer us in the wrong direction," Ren continued for her. "While it's only been a month and a handful of weeks, yes, but you haven't shown me that you are untrustworthy yet. For that, we'll stand behind you. No matter what." Jaune looked at the two in shock. They were willing to go along with him? Even after learning about his transcripts?

Pyrrha turned to Jaune with a smile. "And so will I." He looked even more shocked at that. "You've proven you are an excellent leader, Jaune. I'll follow you as well."

Jaune was touched. The fact that they believed in him was almost enough to bring a few tears to his eyes. Almost. He nodded in gratitude. "Thanks guys." The three smiled at him.

"Soooooo….About that pulley system..." Nora said.

"No," the other three said.

"But…"

"No."

"Just one!"

"No."

"Oh, come on! Jaune goes down there!"

"After the last time you got us to ride Ursai in Professor's Rose's survival class? I'm cutting the ropes tonight," Jaune deadpanned. "It was already a risk going down there by myself. If you go down there, the professors will know."

"They will not!"

"Nora." The orange haired girl turned to Ren. He gave her a stare. She frowned at it.

"No."

Stare.

"Stop it."

Raised eyebrow.

"Fine!" she sighed in annoyance. "Man, you are scary when you stare at me like that!" she complained. He simply chuckled lightly.

"Now then, Jaune," Pyrrha asked. "What do you intend to do now?" Jaune looked a bit unsure.

"U-Uh…I guess I'll need to amp up my training if I'm going to be a better leader to you guys," he mumbled. Pyrrha chuckled at him.

"Perhaps we can be of assistance?" she asked, motioning to Ren, Nora, and herself. Nora looked excited at the prospect while Ren looked intrigued. Jaune really didn't want help; to him it felt like charity, and he didn't want that. But looking at their faces, seeing their expressions, he could see that they weren't offering charity.

It was just some assistance to their friend.

He smiled lightly at them. "I…guess training with actual people will help me a lot better." They all smiled back at him. "But first, I'm cutting the ropes to the Emerald Forest before Nora can glide down there!"

"Dammit!"

He walked towards the tree he had the ropes attached to, only sparing a quick glance back at Pyrrha, who smiled happily at him.

He smiled back.

Somewhere in the Emerald Forest

"Oh, Jaune, you're well on your way to being a true lady killer!" a feminine voice said laughingly from atop a tree. It was a woman wearing a dark cloak watching her Scroll. The screen showed Jaune beginning to train with his team.

The woman smiled as a strand of blond hair fell into her face. "I sure do hope you don't end up like your old man," she commented. "Otherwise, you might not get the girl!" She giggled as she zoomed in on the redhead. "I always knew you had a thing for redheads…"