We come to late at night in the dorm of team JNPR to find Nora, who is bouncing on her bed. Pyrha, who is looking out the window with a sad look on her face. And Ren, messing with his weapon to make sure it still works. But no sign of their team leader.
Nora: "How come Jaune gets home so late?"
Ren: "He's become rather scarce ever since he's been fraternizing with Cardin. I even say Kai try to converse with him one day, but Jaune scattered away quickly for no reason."
Nora: "That's weird. Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest."
Pyrha then responded in a kind of aggressive way.
Pyrha: "I'm sure out leader knows exactly what he is doing."
Ren and Nora then looked at each other with concern.
Nora: "I guess so..."
Unknown to them, Jaune stood in front of the door cracked hearing the conversation. He then closed the door, guilty for what he has done.
Kai: "Hey Jaune."
Jane: "Gah!"
He was surprised to see Kai standing behind him. In a red tank top and black shorts, ready to go to bed.
Kai: "Long time buddy. Let me guess, locked yourself out again?"
Jaune: "Uh, nope. Got it."
Kai: "Good, good. So where have you been? Out being one of Cardins lackys now?"
Jaune: "No...well yes. But it's not like that, I swear."
Kai: "Ok, then what's up?"
He said as sat against the wall. He then patted the ground to let Jaune sit next to him. And Jaune complied sitting to his left.
Jaune: "I messed up."
Kai: "How exactly?"
Jaune: "I said something I shouldn't have and now Cardin's got me on a leash, and Pyrha won't even talk to me...I'm starting to think coming to this school is a bad idea."
He then hung his head low.
Jaune: "I'm a failure."
Kai: "Failure? Do you hear yourself dude. Because that's one thing your not. So to that I say 'nope'."
Jaune: "Nope?"
Kai: "Nope. Because you're a leader dude. You're not allowed be a failure."
Jaune: "But what if I'm a failure at being a leader? I mean, I'm not Seth. Who's basically the smartest leader and student in this school. And I'm not Ruby whose always optimistic about the worst of things."
Kai: "Once again...nope."
Jaune: "Hehe. Is that the only word of advice you have?"
Kai: "Nope, hehe. But seriously, you might have been a failure when you were little. And who wasn't? We were all failures when we were kids. And you might have been one the first day we met..."
Jaune then slouched with a defeated sigh.
Kai: "But there is no room the word failure now. You wanna know why?"
Jaune: "Uhh, because-"
Kai: "A. Because it's a just a word. Words shouldn't affect you bud. And B. It's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now. And trust me, after being with those three weirdos for most of my life, not one of us even wants to self-degrade ourselves like this. If you fail, you'd just be bringing your team down with you. You've got to put your teammates first, and yourselve second. Even me. And sometimes, you shouldn't try to be a leader like Seth. Because it's not you. You're a leader, for what we all see in you. And it's not a failure. I see greatness, and potential in you Jaune. And I want to help you bring it out."
Kai then gets up to go to his room, but he stops at his door and turns around.
Kai: "That team of yours deserves a great leader, Jaune. And we all know it's you. Good night, buddy. See you during the field trip tomorrow."
He then closed the door. He walked to his bed to see Seth on his scroll.
Kai: "I'm here early."
Seth: "Decided to ease having fun with the Snowstorm tonight?"
Kai: "Har-dee-har. What are you doing anyway?"
Seth: "I'm about to wake up the whole dorm. Watch."
He showed his scroll to Kai. Which was a text to Nora, waiting for her reaction. Seconds later, there was yelling coming from the JNPR Dorm.
Nora: "OH MY GOSH HE TEXTED BACK!!"
Ren: "NORA!"
Both Seth and Kai snickered a bit, not wanting to wake up Percy and Ranger. They then stop when they heard a familiar voice coming from the hallway. They both then walk to the door to hear what it was.
Cardin(Voicemail): "Hey! It's your buddy Cardin. I know you're probably busy with that dust project I gave you, buuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps. And make sure they've got some really big stingers. It's important, so don't screw this up!"
Kai then rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Kai: "Jaune, what did you get yourself into?"
Seth: "So that's why Jaune's been acting weird. He's been on Cardins leash all along."
He then went to his deck of cards and shuffled it.
Kai: "What do you think we should, Seth?"
Seth: "Simple. We get our friend back."
~~~
Cut to tomorrow, where our heroes, including team CRDL, are wondering through the Forest of Forever Fall, with Mrs. Goodwitch supervising them.
Goodwitch: "Yes students. The Forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peaches asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest. And I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
Kai then looked at the trees and looked back at his hair.
Kai: "I think I found my 'roots' in the world. Hehe."
He said to himself. They all made a stop in a part of the forest. And Jaune was the last one behind because of all the equipment he is holding for team CRDL. He tried to stop, but lost a bit of balance and hit Cardin. Cardin then turned his head with a mad look on his face. Jaune just let out a small chuckle and whistles like nothing happened. Seth saw this, and he clenched his fist. Percy put a hand on his shoulder and whispered to him.
Percy(Whispering): "Don't worry, we're getting them back tenfold."
Seth then nodded and cooled off a bit.
Goodwitch: "Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this Forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous here at four o'clock. Have fun!"
Cardin then took hold of Jaune's and dragged him.
Cardin: "C'mon, buddy! Let's go."
Jaune then looked at Pyrha, who had a disappointed look on her face. Seth then got his team in a huddle.
Seth: "Alright guys. You know the plan."
They all break up the huddle and follow their friends. Seth walked next to Nora and Ren. Percy and Ranger next to Blake and Yang. And Kai next to Weiss, Ruby and Pyrha. And they all found a couple of trees and decided to continue from there. A couple of minutes pass, and Seth looked at his teammates wondering if they were ready. They all gave him a agreeing nod. They grabbed their gear and empty jars and all grouped up.
Seth: "We're gonna go find some other trees that'll give us some sap. We don't want to take all of the sap from them."
The rest of them looked at them in confusion.
Yang: "Uh, but these trees are fine."
Weiss: "Are you sure you didn't hit your heads last night?"
Ranger: "I told ya they wouldn't believe us. Look, truth is. We know why Jaunes acting the way he is. Cardin has him on a leash and we are gonna get our friend back. Today."
The rest of them looked at each other and then back to the boys. Pyrha took a couple of steps to come face to face with the four of them.
Pyrha: "Please...bring him back to us."
Seth: "Heh. You know we will. Cmon you guys."
They all walked of to find team CRDL. But the Kai walked back to the rest of them.
Kai: "Also, it might be in the best interest to not tell Goodwitch about this."
Ruby: "We got it. Now go be heroes already!"
Kai: "Don't worry, Petals. We already are."
He then ran back to met up with his team.
Meanwhile, team Cardin found a opening in the forest and decided to rest and have Jaune do all the work. He then came back to the team with ten jars of sap. He appeared before the team and dropped them, before falling to the ground with them.
Cardin: "Hey, great work, Jauney boy. Now that wasn't to hard was it?"
Jaune answered with a stuffed up nose
Jaune: "I think I'm allergic to this stuff."
Cardin: "Great, great great. So Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect a whooping ten jars of tree sap, when there's only five of us?'."
Jaune: "That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes."
Jaune then sat up. And Cardin walked past him.
Cardin: "Well, come with me and you'll find out."
Jaune: "Ohh..."
We then see team CRDL laying down on a ledge looking at something. Jaune then crawls up next to them. Jaune was surprised to see his friends and grouped up together. He then had a worried look on his face.
Jaune: "Cardin, what's going on?"
Cardin: "Payback."
Jaune then looked back to his friends.
Jaune: "Pyrha...and team SPRK. What are you-"
Cardin: "That's the girl. Red-haired know-it-all thinks she's so smart. Even those other four who think they can get back at us for what we do. 'Call it fate' my ass. Alright boys. Last night ol' Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps. And now we're gonna put them to work."
Jaune then let out a nervous laugh. Sky then looked back at the group, only to find a worried look on his face.
Cardin: "Now, according to one of the essays he wrote for me last week, these nasty things looove sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach-."
Sky: "Uh, problem."
Cardin: "What?"
Sky: "No SPRK."
Cardin the got up with a jar of sap in his hand.
Cardin: "Oh, I figured as much. I guess those four are already..."
He then turned around and threw the jar at Seth who was behind him by a yard. Seth the caught the jar without breaking it.
Seth: "Sticking around."
The other team then got up to their feet. Russel then took hold of Jaune. Which made team SPRK grab their weapons.
Russel: "Ah ah ah. You heard what he said. You wouldn't want Jaune here to be all swollen up now do you?"
All of team SPRK then looked at each other and let out a defeated sigh and dropped their weapons. Cardin then gave off a toothy grin.
Cardin: "Nice to know you all care for Jaunes well-being. Now to make sure things don't get ugly. You two, get their weapons."
He told Dove and Sky. They then grabbed all of their weapons and they all looked amused by them.
Dove: "So can you actually play cards with these?"
Seth: "If you wanna play a dangerous roulette, then yeah you can."
Dove: "Nice."
Cardin then let out a chuckle.
Cardin: "Well, I guess this is what your so called 'fate' has decided for you. Russel, let him go."
He then complied, pushing Jaune to Cardin. He grabbed Jaune and gave him a jar of sap and turned him to look at Pyrha.
Cardin: "I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two. And you're gonna do it."
Jaune: "Do what?"
Cardin: "Hit her with the sap! Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon. And you wouldn't want those four to be a part of this now, would you?
Jaune then looked at the jar in his hand. He then looked up at the four bullies, and back to his teammates. Kai then looked at Dove messing with his chakrams.
Kai: "So, you like them huh?"
Dove: "You kidding? These thing look awesome."
Kai: "Think so huh? Well then, let me show you a trick."
He snapped his fingers and fire appeared on his weapons. Dove saw this and threw them in the are in a startled state of shock. Kai then moved his hands to bring the flaming chakrams back to his hands. He the threw his weapons to collect his teammates weapons which flew from his chakrams and into their hands. He then got into a battle stance.
Kai: "Cmon birdies. Let's see what you got!"
The rest of team CRDL looked at Kai, then back at their leader.
Cardin: "Uh, get them."
They all then ran over to team SPRK for their fight. Russel went to fight Ranger as they were both gunslinger. Kai threw his chakrams at Dove, which he blocked with his blade. Percy then ran to Sky and delivered a right hook. Leaving only(you guessed it) Seth and Cardin. Cardin then looked at Jaune.
Cardin: "As for y-"
He was cut off by Jaune throwing the jar at Cardins chest plate. Seth saw this the laughed at Cardin. Cardin then chuckled menacingly.
Cardin: "Oh-ho-ho, you've done it now."
He went to grab Jaune by the collar, but was stopped by one of Seth's cards being thrown at him.
Cardin: "Ow! You, stay out of thi-"
He was cut off by a punch to the gut. Seth then got in front of Jaune.
Seth: "Jaune, we'll take it from here. Go back to your team."
Jaune: "But Seth.."
Seth: "Now, Jaune!"
Jaune then looked at Seth. He then nodded and ran off. Leaving two team leaders to battle it out. Cardin then got up and chuckled.
Cardin: "You shouldn't have let you team leave you here. This won't be like back at the cafeteria. I'm gonna enjoy this."
Seth: "You know what? I won't use my semblance this time. I'll make this fight even."
They both got into a fighting stance and then ran at each other.
As the fighting continues for about another two minutes, Percy then heard something sounding like it was running at all of them. He the got in the middle of every fight to get their attention.
Percy: "WAIT STOP!!"
The two fighting teams then looked at him in confusion.
Percy: "Do you guys hear that?"
Everyone then hears the approaching loud footsteps. They all turn to the direction of the coming object. Cardin saw this as an oppurtunity, and ran away to find Jaune. It's revealed through crushing the trees in its was. It was a Ursa. They all ran away in the same direction. Before Kai did a head count of all of them.
Kai: "Wait, where's Cardin?"
Meanwhile, Cardin caught up to Jaune and decided to rough him up with a few punches knocking Jaune to the ground. He then grabbed him up by the collar and punched him again, which caused him to fall onto the floor.
Cardin: "You know that wasn't very smart, Jaune-y boy."
He then grabs him by the collar once more.
Cardin: "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny, pieces. And those other four who interrupted our fun, I'm gonna make sure they get what's coming to them too."
Jaune: "I don't care what you do to me. But you are not messing with my team. And my friends. Besides, those four will come back at you ten-fold anyway."
Cardin: "What, you think all that talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?"
Jaune chuckles a little as his answer. Cardin didn't like that, and went for a right hook to his face. As soon as the hit made contact, a bright light flashed the area. The light fades away and Cardin drops Jaune, and he holds the arm that he punch with. It made him hurt on contact apparently. Jaune was sitting on the ground as he looks at his hands glow white outlines. Meanwhile, Cardin grabbed his hair and brought him face down to the ground and got up away from him.
Cardin: "Let's see how much of a man you really are."
He then stops as he heard the sound of multiple footsteps and a Grimm roaring. He then sees his teammates and SPRK all running away from the Ursa that followed them. They all grouped up and looked and the shadowy bear. The Grimm then sniffs the area and spots the sap on Cardins chestplate. He then roars in Cardins face. Which made his teammates flee.
Russel: "That's a big Ursa!"
Percy saw the three running.
Percy: "WUSSES!"
Seth then looks at Jaune, Cardin and the Grimm and then looks to Kai.
Seth: "Can you handle this? Well make sure the other three don't spill out secrets."
Kai: "You don't even have to ask."
Kai then got infront of Jaune and Cardin.
The other three then followed Russel, Dove, and Sky to where they went.
Kai: "You know I hate to say this. But we gotta work together on this one."
Cardin: "Shut up alr-"
He was interrupted by the Ursa sweeping him away with his arms. The Grimm then turns its direction to Kai.
Kai: "Alrighty then. C'mon!"
The Grimm then looks back at Cardin and walks its way over to him.
Kai: "Hey! I'm right he- Oh right. The sap."
The Ursa then approaches over Cardin. He grabs his mace to defend himself. But, the Grimm swipes the mace out of his hands, leaving him defenseless. The mace rolled its way to Jaunes feet. Kai looked at Jaune, then back to Cardin. He knew this was something Jaune had to accomplish on his own. Kai let out a sigh, then placed a hand on Jaunes shoulder.
Kai: "Jaune listen to me. I know he's done crazy stuff to all of us. But he doesn't deserve to die. So, I'll ask you this. Who do you think, should be the one who saves him?"
Jaune took a couple of seconds. And gave a determined nod.
Jaune: "Me."
Kai: "Good. I'll catch up with the rest of them. I'll let you do all the sweating."
He then ran off to pursue the other boys.
Meanwhile, Seth, Percy, Ranger, Russel, Dove, and Sky are running through the forest.
Ranger: "Ya know. For a team that focuses on the attack. You guys are really good at running."
Russel: "Shut it, Cowboy!"
Cut to RWBY and JNPR collecting more sap, they heard a distant roar.
Ruby: "You guys hear that?"
They all see Russel, Dove, and Sky running away. They look back and see Seth, Percy, and Ranger.
Yang: "You didn't have to go that far."
Seth: "It's not us. There's an Ursa back there."
Yang: "Where?!"
Ranger: "Back there where we went. And we think it's got Cardin."
Pyrha then dropped her jar
Pyrha: "Jaune!"
Kai then appeared from the path they came from.
Kai: "He's ok. Don't worry."
Weiss: "What do you mean don't worry? You left someone as useless as him with an Ursa."
Kai then looked at Pyrha.
Kai: "It's alright he is. He even told me he'd do it. I can show you where. I'd recommend bringing a small party with me."
Seth: "Ok. Then me, Percy and Ranger will go warn Goodwitch."
Ruby: "Yang. You and Blake go with them."
Pyrha: "You two go as well! There could be more."
Cut to Cardin running away from the Ursa, but the Grimm jumped over him and slashed him sending him back a couple of yards.
Cardin: "Crap, crap, crap."
Then Kai, Ruby, Weiss and Pyrha came to the scene.
Pyrha: "Oh no."
Cardin attempts to crawl away. He then looks at the Grimm as its about to attack him. But instead of him being hit, he heard the sound of something shielding him from the impact. He then saw Jaune standing in front of him, protecting him. Weiss then got into a fighting stance, but Kai stopped her.
Kai: "Wait!"
Jaune then pushed the arm of his shield and slashed the Ursa. The Grimm regained its balance and tried to attack Jaune. He dodge rolled out of the way. The Ursa then went for a sweeping hit, but Jaune jumped out of the way. But he wasn't fast enough to stop a third hit, aimed at his gut, sending him sliding on the ground. He quickly got back up and ran at the Grimm, with a jump slash. But was stopped with the Grimm hitting his back and sending him away. Jaune the got back up and looked at his scroll to see that his aura is in the red. He saw the Grimm roaring at him. He ignores the scroll and runs to fight the Grimm once more. They both try to attack with an overhead swing. Pyrha looked at this and decided to give Jaune a secret boost. She lifted her arm and used her semblance to control Jaunes shield to block the Ursa's attack. Which left it vulnerable for Jaune to decapitate it. He looks at the Grimms body, proud of himself. Pyrha the puts her hand down. Ruby looks at her.
Ruby: "Uh, what."
Weiss: "How did you..."
Pyrha: "Well, Ruby has her speed. You have your glyphs. My semblance is similar to Kai's. But instead of fire, it's polarity."
Kai then waved himself arms around like making a rainbow.
Kai: "Which means, she can control poles."
Ruby: "Awesome."
Weiss: "No you dolts! It means she has control over magnetism."
Kai: "I knew that. I was just lighting the mood a bit."
Weiss: "Hmph. Of course you were."
Ruby: "Magnets are cool too."
Kai then walks to Jaunes aid. Pyrha then walks away, but was stopped by the other two girls.
Weiss: "Wait, where are you going?"
Ruby: "Yeah, we gotta tell them what happened."
Pyrha: "We could. Or, perhaps, we could keep this our little secret."
The threw girls then see Kai congratulating Jaune for his win. He throws his arm around his shoulders.
Kai: "Way to go dude! I told ya you hade it in you!"
Jaune: "Yeah, I guess that talk really helped. Thanks Kai."
Kai: "But of course buddy. You can come to me for anything!"
They both walked over to Cardin on the floor. Jaune offers him a hand up. Which Cardin accepts.
Cardin: "Holy crap, Jaune?"
Jaune: "Don't ever mess with my team, his team...no, our team. Our friends, ever again. Got it?"
They both walk of leaving a shocked Cardin standing there. Kai then once again, puts his arm around Jaune.
Kai: "That bruise isn't a good look for you bud."
Jaune: "Heh, you think?"
Kai: "How's about this. I'll ask Percy, and he can whip us all up some of his 'Feel Better Coco'. It always lifts my spirit when I'm hurt. Physically and emotionally."
Jaune: "You know what? I'd like that very much."
~~~
Cut to late at night. We see Jaune in his uniform standing on one of the dorms roofs. Looking at the school. Pyrha and Kai walk up behind him.
Pyrha: "No Cardin tonight? I thought you two were best buds?"
Kai: "Pyrha, you really think nows the time to-"
Jaune: "Kai, it's ok. I deserve to hear it anyway. Pyrha, I'm sorry. I was a jerk. You were only trying to be nice, all of you were, and i-i had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"
Pyrha: "Jaune. It's ok. Your team really misses their leader you know."
She then walks off back to the door.
Pyrha: "You should come down. Ren made pancakes. And Percy made his Hot Coco. No syrup though, you can thank Nora for that. And the marshmallows, you can blame it on Ruby."
Kai: "Wha? My marshma-RUBY!"
Kai ran to the doors and went to go after the marsmallow thief. Jaune then looked at Pyrha and extended his hand.
Jaune: "Wait! I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but...Would you still be willing to help me? To help me become a better fighter."
Pyrha smiled, and turned around and walked to Jaune. Only for him to be met with a push to the ground.
Jaune: "Hey!"
Pyrha: "Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground."
She then offers her a hand to help Jaune up. He accepts the help and gets up.
Pyrha: "Oh and to get back at you a bit, I'll be bringing one of team SPRK at random some days."
Jaune: "Oh goodie."
Pyrha: "Now. Let's try that again."
~~~
Cut to what seems to be a meeting room in a fancy hotel. A round table surrounded by what seems to be two people dressed in black cloaks. The table looked like it could fit more than two people though. One decided to talk about the thing that happened today.
???: "Are you certain? The weak one killed an Ursa?"
The one with a gruff male voice asked.
???: "I'm telling you, he did! And I'm certain that it had to do with a certain red-head. And I'm not referring to Mrs. Nikos."
The female of the groups answered.
Female: "It was Kai. I recognized those chakrams from the past."
Male: "Well then. This certainly is a turn of events. Our Superior will be delighted to know, Team SPRK is back in town."
Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed this long chapter! Don't worry, next chapter will be shorter than this. And I hope you liked the little ending. And old enemy that team SPRK dealt with in the past is coming back.
Oh no!
Stay toasty my little Fireballs
4ho3nix Out!!