No One's Pov
The first few weeks of school and his conversation with Weiss, Kanji kept to himself most of the time and scored just above average on assignments for his classes but no one knew how as they saw he spent most of his time in the retractional center slouching in the small lake. He sat alone at lunch and breakfast and stayed in his room when he wasn't in the recreation center or at class. On one particular day during lunch, Kanji was sitting alone as always when Ruby came to the table he was at. She walked over next to him and asked
"Mind if I sit here?" Kanji had his hood on. He looked at the table where team RWBY and JNPR sat. They were engaged in their own conversation and didn't see Ruby with him.
"Go ahead," He said
He was wondering why Ruby was not afraid of him. The only decent conversation the two had was when Ruby was in tears over Weiss snapping at her and they weren't friends just acquaintances who share classes together sat next to him, Kanji was eating his lunch and Ruby was just looking at him trying to see under his hood.
Kanji could feel her stare and took off his hood to see if she would say anything.
She asked, "Is there any reason you have to be a 'lone wolf'?"
Kanji swallowed the food in his mouth and answered, "No."
"So what keeps you away from everyone?" Ruby asked.
"It's complicated... I don't want to talk about it." Kanji answered.
Ruby stayed quiet as she continued to look at Kanji
"Not here, at least... I can tell you more another time when not that many people are around." Kanji replied.
"Can you at least sit with your team?" Ruby asked.
Kanji smirked and said, "You just had to ask nicely." He got up, and Ruby followed as he took a seat where team RWBY and JNPR were, Ruby sat next to him.
"So the lone wolf makes his way to the pack. What'd my sister do to get you to come here?" Yang asked Kanji.
"She asked," Kanji answered.
Team RWBY and JNPR continued their conversations, and when Kanji was asked questions, he kept the answers short and simple.
"So where did you live before you came to Beacon?" Yang asked.
"The Atoll Islands." Kanji answered.
"Isn't that outside the border of the continents of Anima and Menagerie." Jaune asked.
"Yes, it is." Kanji replied once more.
"Forgive me for saying this, but weren't the Atoll Islands uninhabitable and was the test site of the prototype of the Payload bomb." Weiss said.
"Yes, it was Schnee, but it wasn't uninhabitable. There were people there." Kanji said as he gave an angry look on his face."Now I've lost my appetite." Kanji answered.
He got up, and he walked away.
The next day in training class Cardin Winchester with The Executioner perched on his shoulder and Jaune Arc opposite him with Crocea Mors drawn, leaning on his weapon as if exhausted, in the spotlight shining on the Beacon Academy auditorium stage.
He looks at Cardin, who laughs at his opponent's tiredness, and Jaune gathers his strength to charge forward and swing his blade at Cardin, only for him to jump out of the way. Jaune looks back, surprised, as The Executioner sends Jaune's shield - and himself - flying back. Now only armed with his sword, Jaune continues to try and attack but is blocked by the mace's hilt. Their weapons locked, and Cardin forced himself up, towering over a struggling Jaune.
"This is the part where you lose." Cardin said.
"Over my dead!" Jaune is cut short as Cardin knees him in the gut, making Jaune drop his sword and fall to the ground in pain. Cardin raises his mace and is about to slam it down on a worried Jaune just when the buzzer rings, the lights come back on, and Glynda Goodwitch's voice causes him to stop
"Cardin, that's enough!" Glynda orders he relents and walks away as she comes onto the stage, tapping her tablet. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match."
While Jaune still lays on the floor in defeat and Pyrrha Nikos looks sad, Glynda turns her head to look at the losing warrior as he pulls out a smaller tablet with his low, blinking stats and that of his entire team. "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Gauging your aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?"
"Speak for yourself…" Cardin said.
Glynda looked to the seated and standing students, such as: Yang Xiao Long, punching the air in anticipation; Weiss Schnee, shaking her fists with an excited smile; and Ruby Rose, shaking her entire body with enthusiastic energy while squealing softly as Soren just stood there with his arms cross.
"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"
one more match, who would like to spar?" Kanji quickly raised his hand, "Ah, Mr. Kanji, come to the arena, and we will find you a sparring partner."
"I have someone in mind, I will take a piece of him," Kanji pointed at Cardin as he walked to the arena, "him." Glynda looks at me with a frown, "Mr. Winchester has already sparred with someone else, Kanji."
"Not worth my time anyway." Cardin adds, "Oh, is that it, or are you afraid to fight me?" Kanji smugly replied.
Everyone in the room looks at me in shock
"What'd you say to me, punk?!" Cardin asked angrily.
"You heard me, I'm like only a few feet away from you. What, are you deaf as well?" Kanji replied.
Cardin glares at me and says, "Oh, it's on you, little shit!"
"SKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOONNNNGGKK" Kanji let out his roar and pulled out his katana.
"Begin!"
Cardin charges at him with his mace raised, when he gets near Kanji he brings his weapon down to hit me but Kanji dodge to the side and he kicks off from his back which sends him falling to the floor and me in the air. He transforms his katana into a modified version of the STG44 and rapidly fires at Cardin, to which he blocks with his mace in front of him, just what Kanji wanted. He changes the gun back to sword mode and arm himself with his naginata and lands on the ground, turns his naginata into its kusarigama form, and whips it at Cardin's mace, scythe first.
The chain wraps around the weapon, and Cardin realizes his mistake as I smile and pull the chain towards me, bringing the mace and Cardin towards me. Cardin loses his grip on his mace and drops it as he's flying towards Kanji, then the dorsal plates on his back and tail start glowing as well as his eyes. He opened his mouth and unleashed his atomic breath on Cardin, knocking to the ground.
Kanji then walked up to the down Cardin and lightly pushed him on his back with his foot.
"This is the part where you lose." Kanji said.
Then he stomped on Cardin's chest and twisted and turned with his foot on Cardin's chest, putting the bully's aura in the red.
"Impressive, Mr. Kanji, you are simply impressive." Miss Goodwitch
Kanji let out a victory roar, then kicked Cardin aside and exited the arena.
The bell rings, and students start leaving while Pyrrha continues to frown sadly. Jaune, still sitting on the floor, hangs his head in shame as the scene goes dark.
Then, a zoom-up of Nora Valkyrie's turquoise eyes appears as she tells an unbelievable story to her audience...
"So! There we were, in the middle of the night…" Nora explained.
"It was day." Ren corrected.
"We were surrounded by Ursai…" Nora said to Blake who wasn't paying no attention as she is lost in her book, and Yang, who is hanging on her every word with her hands cupping her face.
Ren was holding a coffee cup. "They were Beowolves."
"Dozens of them!" She screams this as she stands at the table of both Team RWBY and JNPR, where Weiss is ignoring Nora and filing her nails, Ruby and Pyrrha are listening politely, and Jaune is messing with his food while Soren is sharpening his sword.
"Two of 'em." Ren corrected again.
"But they were no match... And in he end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora said while Ruby and Pyrrha now look at a distant Jaune with concern.
Ren sighs. "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."
Pyrrha was looking at her leader. "Jaune? Are you okay?"
Jaune then snapped out of it, turning back toward them. "Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?"
"It's just that you seem a little... " Ruby started to say, but Kanji opened his mouth.
"Not okay…" he said as the others stopped and turned their distractions and stared at him.
"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" Jaune said as he holds up a thumb while laughing nervously until his attention is focused on the members of Team CRDL, standing around Velvet as Cardin laughs at her and Sky Lark holds up his hands to his head in a mock interpretation of her unusual features.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said.
"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!" Jaune explained.
"He's a bully." Ruby said.
Jaune scoffs. "Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me."
Jaune is seen on the way to class as Cardin is going the other way down the hall. When the two pass, Cardin knocks his arm into Jaune and makes him drop his book, then continuing on his way with his hands out as if daring anyone to challenge him.
"Ah, come on!" Jaune yelled.
Jaune and Cardin are about to pass through a doorway, but Cardin clicks on Jaune's sheath and extends it into its shield form as he's going out, causing him to run into his own defense and have it block the exit.
Jaune grunts in frustration as he tries to lift his shield back out. "Come on...!"
Glynda is in the locker room with several students, gesturing at the devices.
"Each of you will be assigned one rocket-propelled locker to store your weapons and extra armor. Additionally, your locker can be sent to a custom location based on a six-digit code." Glynda explained.
Hearing this, Cardin looks at Jaune - standing between him and the only open locker in the room - and the cliché plays itself out as Cardin quickly pushes a shocked Jaune into the small dark space and closes the door on him, pressing random buttons on the pad right after that.
"What?! No, wait, wait! You've gotta get me out of here! Please! Don't! Don't! Don't do it!" Jaune begged
It's too late to protest when the locker scrunches down and launches up with a burst of blue fire coming from its base. Cardin watches as the locker slowly soars across the sky.
Jaune was still heard from within the locker. "Ahhh, coooome oooooooon...!
The others are totally focused on him now.
Jaune attempts to laugh it off. "I didn't land far from the school!"
"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask." Pyrrha said
" Ooooh!" Nora exclaimed, then she got up from the table and presented her diabolical plan with a not-entirely-sane grin. "We'll break his legs!"
"I'm okay with that." Kanji replied.
"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."
They all look over as the laughing grows louder, mixed in with cries of pain from the rabbit girl when one of her ears are tugged on by Cardin.
"Ow! That hurts!" Velvet begged, stopped struggling, and grimaced as she said. "Please, stop…"
Cardin continues laughing as he turns to his cronies. "I told you it was real!"
Russel Thrush was still guffawing with his teammates. "What a freak!"
Kanji decided he had enough of this and said, "Then why don't any of you do something about it?!" I walk over the racist pricks as the others try to tell me to stop, which I obviously didn't listen to them.
Kanji walked up to Cardin and said, "Hey, asshat, how's about you leave the poor girl alone?" Cardin at me and glares, "What the hell do you want?"
"I just said it dumbass, now leave her alone or else." Kanji said coldly, and his dorsal plates started to glow . Cardin, being the dumbass he is, stands up and looms over me as if trying to intimidate me. He smugly says, "Or else what?"
"Or else I destroy you." Kanji answered coldy.
"I'd like to see you try." Cardin said.
"Do you want me to teach you another lesson like before?" Kanji asked which Cardin glared at him and threw a punch at Kanji, which Kanji caught with his hand. Cardin was surprised by this, so while he's distracted, Kanji uppercut him, and he fell on the table. Kanji jumped up on the table and punched Cardin in the face.
"You gonna quit screwing with the rabbit girl?" Kanji asked.
Cardin looks up and glares at me in fear and says, "What the hell are you?"
Kanji grinned sinisterly, and his eyes started glowing blue. "A God , now get out of my sight."
Cardin's teammates looked at Kanji, who growled at them in response they picked up Cardin and took off.
Kanji got off the table, handed Velvet a tissue, patted her on the head, and then left the cafeteria.
(Timskip brought to you by Chibi Kanji swimming in the ocean)
Jaune was sleeping with his head resting in his hands while a constantly-zooming and fast-talking Professor Bartholomew Oobleck is in the middle of his hyperactive lecture, educating Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Pyrrha Nikos, Velvet Scarlatina, and a leaned-back Cardin Winchester directly behind Jaune.
"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution--more popularly known as the Faunus War–" Oobleck said, which zooms up to the front of the class and the map covered in papers behind his desk. --humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing the Faunus population in Menagerie.' Then he points at the map of said-area with his stick, then zooms off to the side for a sip of his coffee before appearing in front of the desk
"Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He then zooms around the classroom more, sipping his coffee again before continuing to zoom and talk. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated against because of your Faunus heritage?"
Some of the silhouetted students raise their hands. Velvet, after a moment, does the same.
"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Oobleck takes another sip of his coffee. "I mean, I mean, I mean, just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the war?" Then a hand is raised. "Yes?"
"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss answered.
"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?" Oobleck asked.
Unseen by the professor, Cardin flicks a paper football at Jaune's head, causing him to wake up.
"Hey!" Jaune shouted.
Oobleck then was zooming over into Jaune's face. "Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"
Jaune: Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... that the Faunus…" He looks behind Oobleck's focused face at Pyrrha, who coughs and motions to her lips as she gives him the answer. "…had over that guy's stuff... he sees Pyrrha cup her hands around her eyes and goes for the most obvious answer. "Uhh... Binoculars!"
While Jaune looks pleased with his answer, the class laughs at him, and Oobleck is back at the front of the class. sipping his coffee. Pyrrha sighs and slaps a hand to her forehead as Cardin pounds his fist on his desk while chortling.
Oobleck was zooming back behind his desk. "Very funny, Mr. Arc! Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"
"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier."
"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" Pyrrha asked as Oobleck shook his head.
"What? You got a problem?" Cardin asked.
"No, I have the answer! It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect sight in the dark." Pyrrha said as Cardin growls at the correct response.
"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured. " Blake added, then she turned to Cardin. Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure.
"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat." Oobleck orders as Cardin gets up from his seat, fist clenched when Jaune laughs at his tormentor's embarrassment, zooming up to him. You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings." He takes yet another sip of his coffee.
Jaune's shoulders slumping. Oohhhh...
Oobleck then zoom away. "Now! Moving on!"
When the lesson ends, Pyrrha, Nora Valkyrie, and Lie Ren come out of the classroom, only for Pyrrha to stop near the doorway.
"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune." Pyrrha said as they looked back inside as the after-class talk occurred to the two boys.
Oobleck sips his coffee. "You two have been struggling in my class since day one! Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is…" He then takes a longer sip of his coffee."It stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by the next class! Now! Run along."
With that, he zooms out of the classroom and past a waiting Pyrrha in a green and white blur. Jaune comes out first, and Cardin emerges behind him, pushing him to the ground and emitting an "Ow!" From him that makes the bully laugh before walking away.
Pyrrha pulled Jaune back on his feet. "You know, I really will break his legs." She said.
Jaune sighs, and Pyrrha looks like she is struck by inspiration. "I have an idea! Here, come with me!" She grabs a confused Jaune by the arm and drags him along as she turns down the corridor.
Ruby's pov
It was late at night and it has been a few days since Kanji beat up Cardin in the cafeteria but I was worried about Kanji he didn't return to the dorm all that time and I am worried about him as both his friend and team leader and I saw Jaune standing out the door to his team's dorm.
Hey, Jaune!" I giggled at his reaction." Long time, no see! Did you lock yourself out again?"
"Oh, uh, nope!" Jaune said as he held up his Scroll, attempting to laugh. "Got it!"
"So! Where have you been lately?"
"I, uh... Jaune said as he tried to come up with something but just sighed and lowered his head. "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me, and…: He breathes heavily through his nose. "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea." Then he presses his back to his team's door and slides down to the floor in depression. I'm a failure."
"Nope!" I said
Jaune was looking at her in surprise. "Nope?"
"Nope! You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure." I replied.
"But... what if I'm a failure at being a leader?" Jaune asked.
I think about it for a moment, then give my answer. "Nope!"
Jaune laughs as I join him on the floor. "You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."He said.
"Nope!" I said as Jaune leaned into the door some more. Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid... Jaune groans and sinks lower to the ground... and you might've even been a failure the first day we met! "He groans and goes lower still.But you can't be one now. You know why?"
"Uhhh, because...?" Jaune asked.
"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us." I answered as I got up and placed my hands on her hips as I spoke.
"We have to put our teammates first and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you." Jaune, now slightly inspired by her words, watches me wave. "Have a good night,"
"Hey, where are you going?"
"To help out a teammate." I answered.
I grabbed some towels from a hall closet, and then I headed to the cafeteria and got a huge plate of chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of milk, then I headed for the recreational center.
I soon came across the large lake, and I saw Kanji at the bottom of the lake. Then he looked and saw me and then he came to the surface.
"Can we talk about it now?" I asked.
"Nobody followed you here ?" Kanji asked, and I shook my head no.
He came out of the lake, and I placed the plate of chocolate chip cookies and two glasses of milk down on a table, and as he walked up to me, I handed him a towel and he dried his face off but everything else was completely dry.
"Ruby, did you ever hear the story about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body?" Kanji asked.
"Yes, Blake was reading that book when I first met her." I answered.
"Well, first I was a normal human Ruby, and I have two souls, my own and something far more powerful than you can ever comprehend." Kanji said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"You see, I grew up on the Atoll Islands with my parents. My father was a good and strong man, and my mother was the perfect mom I could ask for. Then, one day, when I was five years old, our house caught on fire, and when I ran as fast as I could avoiding the flames along the way, I heard screaming coming from my parents' room. I rushed upstairs, and I broke the door down, and I saw a horrific sight. My father was covering my mother from the flames . There were flames everywhere, and I heard shouting and from the front window I saw people with pitchforks and torches at the house my parents were terrified and I try to get to them but then a piece of the ceiling hit me on the head and my vision became blurry and I saw my parents before everything went static, when it stopped I saw my parents dead on the floor with blood I was horrified by the sight before I scream out for them. Then I saw a huge warhead hitting the ground, and everything was engulfed, but I saw a huge reptile-like hand grab me. When I came too, I discovered the dorsal plates on my back and a tail and gills on my neck. I was scared, and I swam away, and I was in tears because I had just my parents.then what seems like forever I reached landfall at some town in Mistral and I stole a cloak to hide my newly inquired Faunus traits and I stole to survive then one day stole a man's wallet and I caught by two policemen who took my cloak away and beat me calling me an animal and a good for nothing Faunus but then the very same man whose wallet I stole stop their attack and he took me away." Kanji explained before he continued. "I learned the man was a scientist named Serizawa. He told me that he and his assistant Dr. Graham was friends of my parents, and Serizawa took care of me, but then when I was ten, Serizawa told me something that would change my life forever." Kanji explained.
"What did he tell you?" I asked.
"He told me that he and Dr. Graham is a part of a scientific organization called Monarch, which was founded in secrecy after the Great War as a joint coalition between several kingdoms in order to hunt and study massive unidentified terrestrial organisms. During the Great War, when the first nuclear power dust submarine ever reached the lower depths, it awakened something. Kingdoms of Vale and Vacuo thought it was the Kingdoms of Kingdoms of Mantle and Mistral while Kingdoms of Mantle and Mistral thought it was Vale and Vacuo all those nuclear dust bombing test Atlas and the other three kingdoms did after the war they weren't test Ruby.
"What do you mean?" I asked, and then I saw Kanji grab a stick and begin to draw something in the dirt.
"They were trying to kill it." Kanji replied as he continued to draw.
"Who?" I asked.
"Him." Kanji answered by showing his drawing to me. It was a large reptile-like creature with two legs with the same dorsal plates on his back and tail as Kanji. "Serizawa and Dr. Graham called him Gojira or more commonly known as Godzilla."
Kanji said, and then he got emotional."Godzilla was spotted near the Atoll Islands, so Atlas dropped that prototype bomb on my home island. I didn't have many friends... No one wanted to be around me, and those who did made fun of me called me names. They said I was different. All I had was my parents, and now they were gone all because Atlas wanted to kill this monster and a lesson to the Faunus a lesson. I became the monster, so I ran away, but everywhere I went, I heard people making fun of me pointing and laughing at me. Sometimes, I wished I had died in the explosion."
I grabbed him and pulled him into a hug, and held tightly. "Don't say those things, Kanji, you are special. This thing isn't a curse. You have a strong gift, and besides, when we met, I didn't think that I thought of you as a hero, nothing more." I said as Kanji had a tear fall down his check, remembering the cruel world of his past.
I got to my feet as did Kanji, and we headed back to his dorm so we could enjoy our cookies and milk.