PA10/11 Jaune Arc Scaling

It was at that moment, when Penny's eyes widened, that Ruby realised exactly what she had done.

Qrow would have had her head – taking her eyes off the enemy. How could she claim to be an adult, if she made stupid decisions like that? She saw Penny's mouth open, heard the tell-tale sound of a rifle of some sort discharging.

Prayed that her aura would be enough to deflect it, even as her silver eyes turned back to see something red and angry shooting towards her. She could have dodged it… should have, but in that moment of panic her brain failed her.

"Move!" A voice shouted angrily, even as she was thrown to the side by something slamming into her. As she stumbled, her legs finally deciding to respond to her commands, she caught side of her Professor, before he was engulfed in a wave of fire.

"Jaune!" She screamed, realising he had taken the blast for her. Saved her. She didn't even consider that he might have died – didn't have time to really. Almost as soon as he was struck, the night-time breeze blew the smoke away. Revealing him to still be standing, albeit that he was leaning heavily on one leg, his clothing blackened on one side.

He was alive though, and in that moment that was all that mattered to her.

—PA10

[...]

Any further thoughts were lost however as the orange haired man lunged forwards, wielding his cane like a rapier as he laid three rapid blows out against Jaune's body – his shield covering his head to block that one, but the other two solidly striking his rubs and his thigh.

"You shield the face and you lose vision." Roman tutted, going for the same move again – though this time Jaune put Neo's lessons to the test, spinning to dodge beyond the strike.

[...]

"Then maybe you should have thought of that…" Roman began, before suddenly being inside his guard, knocking both his sword and shield aside - driving a fist into Jaune's gut. "-before you came and botched up my operation here!"

"In… my defence…" Jaune coughed, pushing himself to his feet.

[...]

Roman laughed, posing so that he was now leaning on his cane, one leg crossed behind the other. "You see, a bunch of kids forcing me to flee is bad for my rep – and that's a big deal in my kind of industry. But being chased off by a trained hunter isn't so bad. But what's better is me kicking the crap out of said trained hunter, before cutting my losses and escaping. See what I mean?"

"Yeah I get what you mean… but where are you going to find a trained hunter..." Jaune's eyes closed as he let out a long sigh, catching on to Roman's meaning. "Oh... I suddenly don't like this plan."

"Don't worry so much." Roman laughed, kicking his cane upwards so that he was now wielding it like a sword. The grin on the man's face was now just on the wrong side of vicious. "Just… do what comes naturally."

Damn it Roman…

[...]

"Ahhhhhhh!" A voice cried out, sounding in the distance before getting close and closer. Blake's eyes widened as she saw a male figure crash into an SDC storage container, denting the side of it before sliding down to the floor.

Pretty badly. Her brain commented, even as both she and Ruby rushed over to the fallen teacher.

"Well, that's all for me!" That hated voice called out, just about visible atop the roof as he waved towards them. "Thanks for the help Red. Would have been real difficult without you chipping in."

I could still chase him… She thought to herself… it would be difficult – already the Bullhead was pulling away, but he must have had a base somewhere within Vale, so if she could just figure out the rough area where it landed. But that would mean leaving the Professor when he was injured.

After he had gotten injured trying to find her.

"Jaune? Jaune are you okay?" Ruby asked, prodding the man gently as he groaned on the hard tarmac. Blake's eyes, more suited to operating in the darkness, were able to make out a few bruised spots on his body – but there didn't seem to be any blood. She knelt down next to him, lifting his head off the gravel so that he could rest it in her hands.

"B-blake?" He muttered, eyes seeming to slowly come into focus as he looked up at her.

"Yeah. It's me."

"Blake… you're-"

"Is Professor-friend Jaune Arc still in battle-ready condition?" A voice interrupted, as the orange-haired… thing… landed beside them. Blake couldn't help the way she tensed up. This girl might be on Ruby's side, but the way she had disposed of the White Fang soldiers had been brutal.

And she did mean disposed.

"Penny, he got hurt fighting Torchwick." Ruby explained, even as the other girl began to look up and down Jaune's body in a strange manner. Blake didn't like it.

"I estimate that there is a 67% chance Professor-friend Jaune Arc has bruised and/or damaged ribs. A 16% chance he is suffering from internal bleeding of a minor nature, 12% chance he is suffering from a concussion due to cranial trauma. But ultimately a 96% chance that he will recover given sufficient rest."

[...]

"Blake…" He repeated once more, and she leaned closer to listen to his words.

"I'm listening… what is it?"

"Blake… you're kneeling on my arm – I can't feel anything."

"Oh my God I'm so sorry!" She gasped, leaping back as she released him, wincing as his head cracked back down onto the hard floor.

"Amendment: 24% chance he is suffering from a concussion."

[...]

Jaune let out a quiet sigh as he sat propped up against a cargo container. Bright lights flashed around them, a mixture of blue, red and white. The Vale police force had been the first to arrive, and to his relief they had brought some ambulances with them as well.

"I can't find any blood, so I think you'll be okay." The nameless paramedic continued, fingers parting Jaune's blonde locks in search of any injury. "You hunters certainly are robust to take this kind of damage and keep going."

[...]

"Jaune! Are you alright?" The Deputy demanded as she reached him, pausing with her arms outstretched towards him, before coughing and correcting herself. "What is his condition?"

"I'm fine." He tried, only to be ignored as she focused a sharp eye on the paramedic treating him.

"Uhh… he's okay I think, some bruising, nothing too bad." The man stuttered, wincing under that gaze as he looked around for some support. Predictably in the face of Glynda Goodwitch's anger, there was none. "He'll be fine?"

[...]

"My boy!" Peter greeted as he strolled up towards them, patting Jaune on the head. He winced in preparation for the blow, before being surprised at how gentle it was.

Even Peter seemed to be treating him like glass…

[...]

The ride back to Beacon had been a particularly awkward one, for a number of reasons.

A Bullhead wasn't exactly the most spacious vehicle at the best of times, and certainly not when four of the occupants were doing their best to be as far away from Glynda as possible. It seemed Blake's friend, the monkey faunus, had managed to slip away before the shouting began – but the four members of Team RWBY looked horribly nervous at the prospect of what awaited them at Beacon.

What also made the trip a little awkward was Jaune's position, floating in the middle of the carriage on an invisible stretcher courtesy of his superior. It wasn't so much that it was uncomfortable, because actually it was a bed that seemed to be made of air, and it really did support him well. It was more that he wasn't sure what to do with himself looking like he did.

So he chose to cross his arms over his chest and simply wait, looking for all of Remnant like he was levitating and thoroughly bored at such a feat.

Thankfully the trip from Vale to Beacon was short, and something about being levitated worked to counteract his motion sickness – maybe because he was being kept perfectly level and still by Glynda, and wasn't rocking with the motion of the vehicle. Either way, when the doors opened and he was floated off the vehicle and deep into Beacon, it was without vomit-stained clothes.

A few people looked at them as they passed, with plenty of hushed whispers going on. News probably hadn't travelled all that fast, but the explosion at the docks – and more importantly, the billowing dust cloud it had created, would surely have caught the student's attention. Now a badly injured teacher would be sure to generate even more rumours.

[...]

"Tsune is hunter-trained, and also medically qualified." Glynda explained, as the fox-faunus began gently prodding along Jaune's body, humming to herself as she did so. "Beyond that, her semblance also allows her to subtly direct the flow of aura through a patient's body."

"Though it won't be of much use here." The doctor laughed. "You're pretty much running on fumes."

"Will he be okay?" Glynda demanded, hands scrunching up Jaune's sheets.

"Unless he has a hitherto undiscovered allergy to infirmaries he should be fine. As far as I can see he had some bruising, possibly some damaged ribs – which I can check once you're all gone. And judging by how cognizant he is, I doubt he has any brain damage. Can you look into my eyes for a moment Mr Arc?"

[...]

"His pupils aren't dilating, so there's no problems there."

[...]


"Alright, I think we're done here." The doctor began to usher them from the room. "Mr Arc needs his rest, not to be haunted with whatever work he has ahead of him."

"Wait, can't we speak with him?" Ruby attempted to squeeze by the woman, only for the doctor to quickly snatch the back of her hood and begin dragging her to the door.

"Visiting hours are tomorrow, ten through eight. He needs rest not excitement."

[...]

"Just sit still, and tell me if anything hurts." She didn't wait for his response, instead placing two fingers on his chest, a little below his heart and pressing into his skin. Thankfully she hadn't seen fit to ask him to divest of his shirt, so he didn't have an attractive woman running her hands all over his chest. Instead she simply started moving her fingers higher, stopping at each rib to push in on it slightly.

"Argh." Jaune gritted once she had reached the third or fourth. "That one hurts."

"Yeah?" The woman asked, pressing down on it again. Hard.

"Ow, yes!" He gasped, giving her a small angry glare as she moved away from that rib with an apologetic smile. Yes thanks, he was good at identifying pain – no reason to press it again!

"How about this one?" She asked, pushing down on a different one, drawing a low groan from him in answer. Through the haze of pain he noticed the woman biting down on her lower lip. Her eyes closing languidly. "Hmmm yeah… that one hurts, oh yeah I bet it does…"

"Er… Tsune?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry I was just talking to myself Jaune!" The fox laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "I just meant that it looks like you have a few bruised ribs, so it makes sense that it's these three next to one another. Probably from a single solid blow to your ribcage."

"Ah right, yeah… he wasn't very gentle."

"Hmmmm…. good..."

"Pardon?"

"Oh I mean it's good that it was from him, at least then we know it's not an internal injury."

Okay… he supposed that made sense. The explained injury was better than an unexplained one or something. Wasn't that something they said about ninjas though?

"Right well, I just want to administer a dust injection, and then I'll let you rest for the night." The woman turned away from him as she began to rummage in some nearby medical cabinets. Jaune shivered from where he lay, hating the idea of injections with a passion. From the corner of his eye he could just make out the woman's tail flicking behind her, apparently moving without her control.

"What's a dust injection… it sounds risky." Surely she didn't mean injecting actual dust into him, right!?

"It's more of an auric booster, to kick-start the recovery of your aura levels. No use in the field because it makes you tired afterwards, but that will only make sleep easier for you."


—PA11