(A Long Time Ago, Brunswick Farm)
???: "3... 2... 1! Alright Avi, here I come!"
Outside of the farm, an orange-haired boy with green eyes begins looking for his friend. Once he does find her hiding behind a small shed, Avi starts running, giggling all the way.
Avi: "You can't catch me, Remus!"
The two kids run through a farm before running pass a well. Remus catches an unfamiliar sound coming from within the well, making him stop in his track. He turns his attention at the well, staring at it for a few moments before Avi calls out to him.
Avi: "Remus! Why you stop chasing me!?"
Upon hearing her voice, Remus shake off the weird feeling he has for the well and resumes chasing her.
Remus: "Hah! I pause just to trick you in slowing down."
The two kids keep running as Remus can't help but glance over the well and the strange sound he heard from it.
_____________________________________________________________________________
(Ruby, Present Time)
In the middle of a forest somewhere in the continent of Amina, Jaune, Ren, and Nora lay in wait behind a log as Nora speaks up.
Nora: "I'm just saying... there's more members of JNPR in this team than RWBY+Y/N. It just makes sense to go with that one."
Ren: "But "junior" isn't a color."
This makes Nora let out a brief groan.
Nora: "How can I be clearer?"
Nora puts out her hands and the letters JNRR pop into existence. She points to the first three. She then points to one of the R.
Nora: "One, two, three. That's more than one."
Ren: "But we're helping Ruby with her objective. Wouldn't that make her the leader? "
Ren holds out his hand and the letters RNJR pop into existence as he continues.
Ren: "Besides, we have Y/N too. How does he fit in this team name?"
Behind him, Jaune is crouched and watching something as he chimes in.
Jaune: "Guys!"
Ren and Nora turn their heads toward him.
Jaune: "We need to focus, guys. Y/N and Ruby went out to find our target so, let's keep it down... Also, JNRR is way cooler."
Nora: "Exactly!"
Ren goes to speak, but instead just groans. They then feel a sudden rumble on the ground.
Jaune: "It's here."
Suddenly, a spinning red and black mass, leaving a trail of rose petals, burst out of the trees into a clearing. It unfolded in midair to reveal Ruby and Y/N, who both raise their weapons and start shooting furiously behind them into the forest. A few seconds later, a giant rock golem, the Petra Gigas, emerged from the forest, seemingly enraged by the gunshots and swiped a large hand at them, who narrowly avoided the attack.
Y/N #1: "Of course, it uses stone."
The Grimm manage to land a hit on Y/N, sending him flying several meters away from the others.
Ruby: "Y/N!"
Jaune: "Let's get that thing off them!"
Jaune ran off towards the Grimm, while Ren and Nora took their positions at the top of a tree.
Ren: "We need to draw it's attention away from them."
Nora nod to this, transforming her hammer into its grenade launcher form, unleashing a barrage of shots on the Grimm, which exploded on its back. Unfazed by this, it then struck out at Ren, who leapt from tree to tree, avoiding each swing of its large arms before launching himself into the air above it. With his blade held in front of him, Ren comes down with a spinning strike. The blades simply bounced off the rock-hard surface of the golem, and Ren jumped back to the ground beside Jaune.
Ren: "My blades don't hurt it."
Jaune: "Damn it."
The golem turns around to face the two boys, taking a menacing step forward.
Nora: "Oh crap."
Ruby: "How about this!?"
She loaded a clip into her sniper and shot a lightning dust straight towards the face of the towering stone monster. It raises its right arm to block the shot, and the bullet struck the arm instead. It does nothing to it. The Grimm shrug it off and goes to raise its arm to strike again as it came down fast towards them. They brace for impact only to hear the clanging noise of a sword rubbing against something. They look up to see Y/N, holding Grimm Slayer to block the Grimm's attack.
Ruby: "Y/N!"
Jaune: "Thank goodness!"
With all his might, Y/N manage to slide the golem's arm away with his blade and following it up by leaping towards it and slash away its arm away from the rest of its stony body as it falls to the ground with a loud boom. Y/N quickly turn to his group.
Y/N #1: "Sorry for the delay. I had to dash over here."
Ruby: "I'm just glad you're okay."
Ren: "Well, we're not done, as you can see."
They all turn their attention to the recovering golem as it slowly gets back on its rocky feet. It then used its other arm to smash the ground where the five of them had been as they scattered in different directions. Suddenly, they spot a black Grimm arm suddenly grew out of the empty spot where its former rock arm was. The golem then struck the hand into a hollow tree trunk, uprooting it from the ground with ease.
Jaune: "Uh oh."
The Grimm begins swinging its newly required arm at Jaune, who made a quick dash for cover, while yelling out.
Jaune: "It's arm is a tree! Its arm is a tree!!"
On top of a tree, Ruby yells out.
Ruby: "Big mistake!"
She quickly shot a flame bullet at the wooden arm, setting it ablaze. Standing nearby to Ruby, Y/N soon realize what Ruby just did.
Y/N #1: "Big mistake, Rubes."
Ruby: "Huh?"
They then look upon Jaune, running off towards to cover of the forest as the Grimm advanced on him with its now flaming arm, unfazed by it.
Jaune: "Big mistake!!!"
Y/N quickly dash over to the Grimm as its about to swing its flaming arm at Jaune. With Grimm Slayer at hand, Y/N manage to block it, swiping it away as best he can. This makes the golem step back a bit, giving him the opportunity to lunge towards it and kicking it as he takes out one his pistols and goes to shoot its face. It screams in pain, which Y/N notice of as he goes to shoot some more only to back away as the golem's body begins falling down again.
Y/N #1: ("Tch. Damn it.")
He goes to backflip away from the falling Grimm and regroup with the others as they try to come up with a strategy.
Jaune: "Okay, how do we do this?"
Ren: "It's body is too thick to break through."
Ruby: "Y/N, could do it."
Jaune: "That's right! Y/N, you use your slash thingy to tear through its body's defenses."
Y/N #1: "Well, I can try. My blade is more meant for slashing, not breaking. Hell, that thing doesn't mind losing a limb or two."
Jaune: "That's true, it doesn't care about its body..."
Nora: "Plus, it can keep getting new limbs."
Jaune: "But it's protecting its face..."
Ruby: "We can't get close enough to break it."
Y/N #1: "Damn thing is very weak on its own. Explains why it possess other strong objects form their body as a suit of armor."
Jaune: "Uh... Okay so... what if we knocked all of its limbs at once and then went for the face! If we kill the limbs, we'll have a shot to kill the whole thing!"
Ruby: "Alright team! We know how to beat it now. Let's do this!"
Y/N: "Okay, you guys can leave the limbs to me."
Jaune takes a deep breath before speaking.
Jaune: "Alright. Ruby, Ren, and I will distract it, Y/N will take out the limbs, and Nora-"
As he turns to face his teammate, he and the others spot Nora holding a small amount of electric dust on her hand. Upon seeing this, they're a bit confused, unlike Ren, who's eyes widen.
Ren: "Nora, don't."
Nora: "I have to, Ren. We need to have the edge over this fight."
Hesitating, Ren slowly yield to this.
Ren: "Okay then."
Jaune: "Let's do this."
The Petra Giga suddenly advanced towards them, having gotten back to its feet. Ruby spun into her petal form and dashed around at high speed before striking out at the Grimm with Crescent Rose. It blocked with its flaming arm, and at the same time, Ren appeared in front of its face in mid-air and fired rapidly. The Grimm brought up its other arm to block only for a couple of large arcs of wind cut through both arms, leaving only a short stump on either side. The Petra Giga stumbled backwards as it tries to find its assailant.
Y/N #1: "Hey!"
The Grimm look up to see Y/N falling towards it, Grimm Slayer raised over his head, ready for a swing. It steps backward to avoid the strike, but Y/N was counting on that.
Y/N #1: ("Dumbass.")
In an instant, Ruby uses her semblance to grab Y/N and with a swift movement, Ruby takes Y/N to one of its legs and slice it off. With a moment's hesitation, Y/N spun on his feet quickly and slash its other leg. As the Grimm begin to fall to the ground, Jaune shouts to Nora.
Jaune: "Now!"
Upon hearing this, Nora slams the small number of electric dusts in her arm.
Nora: "Ready!"
Jaune: "Use everything you've got!"
Ruby then uses her semblance to fly at the Grimm, taking Nora with her, and the red and pink swirls go right for the tree arm. Ruby slices the tree in half, opening the way for the charged-up Nora to hit the mask with her hammer. There was a loud boom, as pieces of shattered rocks flew in every direction. When the smoke cleared, the Geist rises out of its destroyed stony body, now floating in the air above it.
Once the Geist see its opponents regrouping, it then turns and fly away through the forest. Unfortunately, Y/N and the others spot it leaving.
Y/N #1: "There, that's the real body of the Grimm. Rubes, shall we?"
Ruby: "Sure thing."
Ruby takes out her sniper and Y/N takes out one of his pistols, Crimson as they both take careful aim at the retreating Grimm. They then fire a single shot out of their respective weapons. The high velocity from the two bullets tore through the air and manage to pierce into the Grimm, which let out a small, horrific squeal before turning into a tar-like skeleton and plopping into the ground.
Y/N #1: "Nice shot, Rubes."
Ruby: "Thanks, you too."
Y/N raise a hand up and Ruby replies with a high five. Jaune put his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest.
Jaune: "Another victory for Team JJNR (Junior)!"
Y/N raise a brow at this.
Y/N #1: "Wait, Junior? I thought it was RNJR (Ranger)."
Ren: "Thank you."
Nora: "Ugh, how many times will we do this?"
Jaune: "Actually, Nora... I think they might be onto something there, Junior's just not sounding great anymore."
Ruby: "Come on guys, let's head back to the village."
____________________________________________________________________________
Once they made it to the village, they've been rewarded for taking out the Geist as the village chief shook hands with Ruby with the others behind her.
Village Chief: "We truly can't thank you enough."
Ruby: "Hehe, just doing our job, sir."
Village Chief: "That Grimm had been plaguing our village for weeks. We had two local huntsmen on hand, but that Grimm put them out of commission."
Y/N #1: "Are they going to be alright?"
Village Chief: "Oh, they will. We were beginning to wonder if we'd have to relocate or get outside help."
Ruby: "Well, we are on our way to Mistral. You could always come along with us if you don't feel safe."
The man just chuckle at this.
Village Chief: "I take it you're not from these parts. Anima is a large continent. I'm afraid our people would never survive the long trek to Mistral. It may be safer in the , but we prefer our way of life. I just wish we could pay you more."
Ren: "Our previous arrangement is more than sufficient."
Y/N and the others then bow respectfully to the village chief as he left.
(Several Minutes Later)
At the weapon shop, the horned Faunus blacksmith dropped a new and improved version of Jaune's armor on the table.
Blacksmith: "There you go, son. It's going to be heavier than what you're used to, but you'll thank me the next time you go up against a set of claws."
Jaune: "Wow... That... I don't know what to say."
Y/N #1: "Uh... how about thank you?"
Blacksmith: "Don't gotta say anything! Just put it on. Oh! And here's this."
He then places a collapsible helm on the table along with the armor.
Jaune: "What the?"
Blacksmith: "Well, you gave me enough material left over. Between the two weapons sets and so I decided to get creative with it. Wait here, I'll go get the rest."
The Faunus blacksmith turns and goes out back. Jaune then turns to his friends, standing behind him.
Nora: "So, what are you waiting for? Put it on!"
Jaune: "Oh, uh, right!"
Jaune takes off his old chest plate.
Jaune: "Guess I was going to grow out of it eventually."
Ren: "It's a sign of progress."
Jaune: "Right... progress."
Before he can put it on, the blacksmith brought over his weapons.
Blacksmith: "Can't have a Huntsman without his weapon."
A wide sword sheath is stuck into the countertop.
Blacksmith: "Made all the modifications you asked for."
The blade expands into a shield.
Blacksmith: "That was some fine metal you brought me. Accents the white nicely. Where'd you get it from?""
The five students look down at the familiar gold metal of Pyrrha's old gears lining edges of Jaune's new armor. Giving a small smile, Jaune simply answered.
Jaune: "From a friend."
As the blacksmith walk off, the blonde boy looks over at the weapons and armor, his expression saddens. He then softly mumbles to himself.
Jaune: "I don't deserve it."
Y/N and the others notice this as Ren steps in.
Ren: "Pyrrha... would probably have preferred her weapons still get used. That way, you're keeping her alive."
Letting out a sigh, Jaune turns to Ruby and Y/N.
Jaune: "Remind me to thank Qrow for recovering her sets and her spare gear."
Ruby: "No problem, Jaune."
Y/N doesn't reply back for a moment.
Y/N #1: "I'll... I'll help pay for it, Jaune.
Jaune: "Oh... Thanks."
(Later On)
Jaune emerged from the weapons shop to meet with the rest of the team, brandishing his new gear with a smile on his face. He pulls out the sword and expands the shield.
Blacksmith: "He cleans up alright, don't you think?"
Ren: "He certainly does."
Nora: "I still think a grenade launcher would've 'really' brought the look together."
Y/N #1: "He doesn't even know how to use one."
Nora: "I made my statement."
Ruby: "Nothing's gonna stop Team RNJR now!"
Nora: "Team JNRR~!"
Ren: "Still not a color."
Jaune: "It doesn't matter what we're called. As long as we're together, right Y/N?"
Y/N #1: "Oh, y-yeah."
This left the two in a brief awkward silence before the blacksmith chimes in.
Blacksmith: "You kids sure you won't stick around? You've been real good to this town."
Ruby: "Sorry, but we've got another mission."
Nora: "Make it to Haven Academy, no matter what!"
After that, the group head out of the village, continuing their journey. As they leave, Jaune comments as Nora rummage through their stuff.
Jaune: "Food."
Nora: "Check!"
Jaune: "Water."
Nora: "Check!"
Jaune: "Ammo."
Nora: "Locked and loaded! Thank you, Schnee Dust Company."
At the mention of Weiss's family company, Ruby's face fell a little with sadness. This went unnoticed by almost everyone in the group as Y/N give her a gentle nudge to draw her attention.
Y/N #1: "Hey, you alright there, Rubes?"
Ruby let out a sigh before responding.
Ruby: "I'm fine, I just... really miss everyone."
As she said this, Y/N hold one of Ruby's hands with his, still looking at Ruby, while walking after the others.
Y/N #1: "Yeah... me too. But, I don't know, for some reason... I'm not really worried."
Ruby: "What makes you say that?"
Y/N #1: "It's just... a feeling I have, that somehow, some day, we'll all be together again."
This makes Ruby giggle lightly.
Ruby: "I think that feeling is called hope, Y/N."
Her remark makes Y/N confused.
Y/N #1: "Hope?"
Ruby: "Mm-hm..."
She gives him a smile, holding his hand tightly before tilting her head over his shoulder as they continue walking.
Ruby: "I have hope too, Y/N."
The couple then overhear their friends' chatting in front of them.
Jaune: "What do you mean you don't have the map?"
Nora: "Ren has it!"
Ren: "No, I don't. You asked me for it, remember?"
Nora: "Uh, what?"
Jaune: "Guys, please tell me you're joking."
Nora: "Uh..."
Jaune: "Guys... GUYS???"
Y/N calls out to them.
Y/N: "Don't worry, guys. I figure something like this might happen so, I brought a spare map, just in case."
Upon hearing this, they sigh in relief that Y/N came prepared as they turn back and resume their chatting. Y/N was about to put away the map, until Ruby swipe it out of his hand, much to his surprise.
Y/N: "Rubes?"
Ruby: "As your team leader, I'm going to check on the map thoroughly."
As she said this, the red-hooded girl does that with her eyes glue to the unfolded map as Y/N goes to ask.
Y/N: "Aren't you tired though?"
Not a moment later, Ruby shifts her attention to Y/N as she responds softly.
Ruby: "Uhm... I guess you can say that. That fight against the Geist was really exhausting."
Y/N: "Hm, can't blame you. So, you want me to give you a piggyback ride?"
With a bright smile, Ruby answers.
Ruby: "Something like that."
Y/N: "Eh?"
A minute later, Ruby now rests on Y/N's shoulders as Y/N holds onto her legs to ensure she doesn't end up falling off of him. As Y/N follows after their group, Ruby is in the middle of examining the map. Despite that, the smiling Ruby does go and ruffle his hair a little as she says.
Ruby: "Thanks, Y/N."
Y/N: "You know, a piggyback ride would've been fine."
Ruby: "Yeah, but I won't be able to check on the map with both of my hands if I did that. Besides, with me on your shoulders, I'll be the lookout for any potential danger."
Amused by his team leader's way of thinking, Y/N just chuckles to himself.
Y/N: "Sure. You might as well rest up for now anyway."
Ruby: "Will do. Oh, and don't worry about the map. I'll give it back to you once I'm done checking on it."
Y/N: "Alright then."
As she turns her attention on the map, Y/N is quite pleased to have his head being compress between Ruby's thighs. Though, he refocuses his gaze on the path ahead, continuing their travel with the others.
Y/N: ("Guess traveling with Qrow and by myself really help me out in this kind of situation.")