Chapter 81: 81
"Holy shit." Pyrrha saw Yang whistle as Jaune shared the video of her and Jaune's spar yesterday, already having gone through some basic editing by another member of their class and uploaded to advertise their booth (foot traffic today had been hell), "You're straight up keeping up with Jaune fully. That's awesome P-money!"
It would be a bit more awesome if Yang wasn't hanging off Jaune's shoulder so casually.
She blinked.
That was odd.
"It really is," Blake nodded, Jaune's beanie was on her head, "I can only do that when I over-leverage my prosthetics alongside my Semblance. But Jaune can usually guess where I'm jumping forwards to with it all, so it only ever buys me fractions of a second."
She'd never gotten to wear his beanie.
"Prosthetics?" Pyrrha blinked in confusion, looking at the black haired girl up and down.
"My legs." Blake was currently completely into the festival mood, even renting a traditional Mistralian shrine miko outfit, like the Mikos of Mt. Seiya, one of the few organizations on Remnant that worked on cultivating Aura techniques for healing, rather than combat.
She pulled up the bright red hakama pants up to show her ankle, wiggling it.
"I lost both of my legs a long time ago from an accident and Jaune's been keeping them up to date. I assume he hasn't talked much about it?"
She gave him a half-hearted glare, only getting Jaune to weakly chuckle as he scratched his cheek, still painted with a bit of blush that hadn't wiped off completely, even though he'd had the earlier shift and was now out of his maid uniform.
"It's not something I want to brag about or nothing." He defended as both Blake and Pyrrha gave a snort, blinking as they turned to each other.
"Ah, so you understand our struggle?" Blake giggled, "Jaune never liking to take credit for things?"
"He's bribing our homeroom teacher with the coffee machine he made for the cafe so that they don't advertise the fact he's made a slew of tools and machines just for our kitchen by hand." Pyrrha nodded sagely.
"Which I will need sample copies of for my father and to draw up new contracts for making sure the new appliances don't go to waste." Weiss chimed in slightly tiredly as she poked Jaune in the ribs. "Because even if you're not advertising it, there's already pictures of it online and people raving about the coffee, and it doesn't exist on the market, despite looking brand new. Nobody would have fallen for it, Jaune."
"Urk." Jaune winced, his face twisting into a frown. "It was worth a shot?"
Ever since Jaune had created the MEDI bands, a commercial product for civilians to help her family, he'd opened the doors wide to the populus realizing that his talent could even be used to help normal people live better lives.
Nobody sensible demanded he do as such (although the vocal minority certainly was loud) and so he worked with both the SDC and Menagerie to bring more such things to the open market acting as some kind of buffer and bridge between the two groups.
Her own mother loved the most recent dishwasher he'd brought to market through the SDC, claiming it was one of the best presents she'd ever received.
"It was a good effort." Pyrrha smiled, encouraging Jaune in what she could.
"Yeah, not your fault a bunch of randoms are being even nerdier than you and over analyzing the coffee machine." Yang laughed as she pulled Jaune in with an arm around his neck, pulling him towards her chest.
"Y-Yang!"
They were just being friendly. Nothing was odd about it all, but Pyrrha was weirdly uncomfortable. Which was strange because Yang and Blake were both very nice, friendly girls, even if Blake was a bit quiet.
She must have just been… hmm.
"Pyr? You ok? You look a bit out of it."
"Oh? Yeah. Not sure why." She shrugged at Jaune who'd mostly pulled his face out of Yang's grip. "Maybe I'm just stressed? This is the first time our class did anything so directly personal for the Spring Festival."
"That might be it." Jaune nodded, "We've usually done some dumb plays and stuff. The haunted house from a year ago was pretty neat though."
"Those costumes were pretty fun." She agreed with a laugh.
"Oh? Got any pictures?" Yang perked, her lilac eyes shining curiously as she added herself back into the conversation. "Jaune almost never takes pictures of himself."
"I've got a few." Pyrrha admitted, suddenly feeling a bit sheepish at that admittance. Actually it was definitely more than just a few, now that she thought about it. "Jaune was dressed as a giant spider because he can stick to walls. He looked ridiculous when you looked at him standing up normally in it."
"Oi! Wait, Pyr no! Don't show that!"
"And you're certain of this? This is absolutely a fool's move. What a rotten Kingdom." Knight-3 spat as he flipped through his copy of the files in his hands.
How utterly out of touch. To believe that such a play would be acceptable at the Vytal Festival in the sick mind of the highborn. Even Adam himself had been surprised when The Crown had caught wind of this. It was only because of his perceived loyalty and the fact it could further disrupt Mistral as a Kingdom that he was even given wind of such a thing by Gillian Asturias.
Well there were other reasons he'd earned her favor for now. Additionally they were, at the very least, both bound by the interest of keeping Jaune Arc alive, which had certainly helped in this case.
"They truly believe that their own people will accept such an ending. The Idealists have burrowed into their foundation, begun taking away their power and positions, and in turn the Traditionalists have chosen to bury their heads in the sand. In doing so they aim to harm the one person on this star they should have never dared to aim their blades at." His old master's (Knight-1) face twisted in cold fury, his large hands creasing the papers in his hands.
"So let's just fucking find the ring leader and butcher them! Easy solution!" Knight-2 tossed her copy of the report back on the table. "These damn bluebloods are always attending some party or another, or indulging in some brothel down on the middle levels of their Capital, right? We just gotta jump them in transit."
"Rather we know who the leaders are. They desire a spectacle and thus we know the exact moment they intend on declaring their so-called superiority. Thus it is far more critical to usurp them at the peak of their ignominy, when they believe they are unstoppable."
"...you wish to upturn them at the final moment. That is a dangerous game." His old master frowned. "It would take but a single mistake."
"I will not fail. For that, you all have my word. We still need the majority of our manpower for our original objective."
"Hey, boss, I get that you're confident, but this is a-"
"Understood." His master nodded. "I have confirmed your conviction. Do us proud, our leader."
"Yeah, fuck off with your worries, Yuma. If our leader says he's got it, he's got it." Knight-2 jumped in, leveling a glare at the bat Faunus.
"Knight-2. Be mindful of names." Adam warned. They were using secured channels to communicate but it never hurt to be cautious. "This isn't something we can pretend is a private call between individual parties."
"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry, Knight-0." The spider Faunus flushed a bit in embarrassment at being called out. "Won't happen again."
"I will accept your apology. However-"
"Yeah, I know. Sorry Knight-3. I fucked up."
"Eh. I'm honestly the one that messes up the most with codenames, so don't mind it." Yuma shrugged, his wings flapping casually behind him. "Just don't let it happen during any ops."
"I won't." Trifa nodded.
"There is one thing that I want you all to investigate, however. They intend on using an unknown object that predates the Kingdoms. I want you to look for the man that delivered it and learn its purpose, if any. It may be a mere collector's item, but our sources state something is intended for it specifically, thus there can be no room for error."
"We will find this Hazel Rainart." His master nodded, pulling the photo of the man in question from his report, the sight of the large man hooded by a dark green cloak. "You have our word."
The image showed the man handing over a long bone spear to a member of House Goten, twisted and spiraled like strands of off-white lightning curled around its haft. A large, dull black coffin hung off his back.
"Yeah, the big bastard isn't exactly inconspicuous. We can find him." Knight-2 said.
"Good. Split the caravans into the four brigades. The Quartermaster will be held with the Red Leos for now and will adjust course in case any of the other brigades become in need of repairs. I expect everyone to keep in touch with each other to mark your progress. Dismissed."
"SIR!"
"You sure P-money isn't into Jaune at all? She's not clingy or anything, but they're really close."
"I say you're overthinking it." Weiss rolled her eyes as she watched the two (Nora called them battle-junkies) friends whisper to each other as they discussed the spar between the exhibition spars between two members of Class 7-B in their last year of Sanctum. "She was homeschooled until her first Circuit, so Jaune was just her first ever friend and nobody else could really make friends easily after the overwhelming display of strength she showed. At least not any friend that didn't have some greater motive than mere companionship."
"I mean, yeah, but…" Yang pouted with her arms crossed, "He kinda feels different around her. Plus he gave her a nickname. He hasn't even given me a nickname."
"Yang, your name is one syllable. How is Jaune to shorten that further?" Weiss was somewhat glad to not be in love if it made one this irrational. "Don't be ridiculous."
"I'm back." Blake quietly rejoined them, Jaune's preferred beanie still on her head. Rather Weiss was pretty sure that it was just her's now and Jaune would be getting a new one to replace it. "I was successful."
She gave a small V with her fingers as Yang pulled her in to hold the Faunus girl from behind, her chin resting on her shoulder, tucking down a bit as Blake was a few centimeters shorter.
"Nice, glad you got the location of the place they ordered those shrine maiden pants thingies from. I'm surprised you liked them so much. They look really impractical."
"I think hakama pants are surprisingly nice and might be worth looking into for my Huntress clothes." Blake shrugged, making Yang's head bob up and down. "Plus, I think they'll be good to keep Umbral Hare hidden under. Frankly wearing it in the armored skirt state has been kind of murder on the hips and even though I can make it into a briefcase instead, I don't want to lug that around either."
"You'd still be carrying it either way and it'll weigh the same." Weiss pointed out briefly, though she didn't exactly know what Umbral Hare meant. She assumed it was some sort of kicking weapon, considering Blake had state of the art prosthetics handcrafted by Jaune. "It'll be tiring any way you look at it then."
"Heh." Yang grinned, her face getting a briefly sleazy look. "You underestimate the power of Blake's abs-" Her hands drifted over Blake's stomach as the girl hissed softly, "-as well as the Bellabooty."
Blake elbowed Yang in the side lightly, more for show rather than actual irritation.
"Please tell me that's not why you're holding Blake from behind." Weiss deadpanned.
Yang just laughed as she squeezed harder, pressing her body closer against Blake.
"Only partly. You're right that I'm probably overthinking things about P-money, but maybe it's normal to just be jealous of their closeness anyways."
Blake hummed at that, looking over at Jaune and Pyrrha who were still whispering into each other's ears back and forth.
"It's not like he's not allowed other friends. Plus it's not like either Yang or I are on Pyrrha's level of battle analysis, so Jaune should be allowed to indulge in that with someone else." Blake was definitely the most mature of the two girls. Weiss was glad to see that at least someone would have a level head there. "Plus Jaune's her first friend. I don't think she wants to mess that up even if she did feel that way, Yang."
"Glad to have another level headed girl around." Weiss smirked, feeling just confident enough to tease Yang without the girl exploding at her like she would have done years back, "See? Naturally, I was correct."
"Wow, you don't even know how to say, I told you so properly." Yang, on the other hand, had a look of vague pity on her face. "Yeah ok, you're right."
Weiss scoffed, feeling slighted.
"A remarkable display of prowess. Everyone, please give a round of applause for Timothy Starshard and Yin Clearwater." Robin Arc's serene voice announced on the speakerphone. Part of the reason they'd come to the seventh year booths was to watch Robin act as an announcer as her class performed their exhibition matches. "The last round shall be between our Class President, Negi Hyuudol, and our surprise guest, Class 7-A's Class President Wessel Geom!"
"Either way let's group up with those two." Weiss stepped forward purposefully, "Yang certainly isn't going to fully get over this until she personally sees there's nothing to worry about between those two. I don't think those two have a truly dishonest bone in their bodies."
"I'm with Weiss on this one." Blake laughed as she pulled Yang who still sulked slightly as she hung off the slightly shorter girl's back.
"My instincts still say I should be worriiiiiiied." Yang groaned half-heartedly. "But yeah, let's go."
Qrow soared in the air, gazing down at the ground below. Damn treeline, making it difficult to spot shit.
Nothing specific. Vytal Festivals are always potential points of upheaval. Jaune's message had stated cryptically as fuck.
Because of course it was. Gods, Ozpin was right when prophecy was rarely reliable.
It was precisely because the Vytal Festival was a symbol of hope. That it pushed back the influence of Grimm in the Kingdom that it was hosted in for three or so years while the other three got a year of further respite. It was almost a shame it couldn't be hosted every year, but then it would lack the specialness that helped draw in the proper level of hope and excitement required for their society.
Make something annual and it lost a lot of its charm and uniqueness, usually giving way to some corporate nature that sucked the hope out of it in return.
It was just the nature of mankind to take things for granted, to accept new standards as the 'norm' rather than a blessing and gift.
Hell the only reason Qrow was sure Menagerie wasn't like that, that the Faunus there loved Jaune so much and viewed it as a sort of little paradise was because despite being accustomed to all the changes, they still had the other Kingdoms to compare to and realize how blessed they were. Most of them had immigrated TO the little budding Kingdom-to-be to get away from their shittier lives, after all.
That not only was Jaune giving proper industry to the desert continent (frankly it was too big a landmass to just call an island, even if it was too small to feel like a continent in Qrow's eyes) without taking a single Lien into his own pocket, but he was adding new things regularly to keep the potentiate Kingdom flourishing and growing.
The leadership of the Four Kingdoms might be snubbing the Settlements of Kuo Kuana and La Hau, but Menagerie brand products were spreading like wildfire nowadays.
Even being compared to the of the SDC's line of household appliances (a recent addition to the Dust mining super-conglomerate), funnily enough, as they were both sourced by the same kid.
The damn brat was playing both sides, using the Schnee name to elevate Menagerie's products to be compared to that of the Schnee by default. Qrow did worry about the kid getting roped in too deep, though. He'd heard from Raven that even though they hadn't begun dating officially, he was now in something with the little firecracker and the Belladonna girl.
Male Summer lookin'... heh. He wished the kid happiness, despite all the jokes he could make.
But he was playing a bit of a dangerous game with Jacques Schnee. The man wasn't powerful physically, but he was smart and more than a bit ruthless. Jaune might end up getting engaged to his daughter (possibly both, who knows) if the businessman had his way.
The worst part was that it might be a genuine temptation for the kid because of his Schnee Fetish.
Really, he felt bad making fun of the kid at his first reaction to Winter.
Maybe he'd even subconsciously doubled down on his attraction as a result of it? Jaune had always been a surprisingly sensitive kid.
Gods he hoped not.
He passed over a trio of large armored Caravan below, a monstrous six wheeled off road vehicle, the sides painted with Vacuoan colors.
Odd.
He flew down a bit lower, noting the icon branded on the vehicle.
Shifting Sands Caravan: Goods and Services to serve all needs.
Odd. A Vacuoan trading company in Animus? This was eastern Animus, so not too unbelievable, as they were only separated by a stretch of ocean (but it was still quite a gap), but it was still a bit strange.
He was still playing double agent for Ozpin against The Crown after Raven severed the mind control Semblance he'd been put under as well as after Raven had (she'd become strangely protective, though perhaps possessive might be more accurate knowing her twisted mentality) demanded something from Jaune to shield his mind against the influence of further control.
Jaune had been busy for a few days, even requesting as much Dust that Ozpin was willing to give up with no questions asked. They'd even dipped into some of Beacon's normal funds to bulk purchase Dust, cutting back on Qrow's personal salary (he himself had offered it, as it was for him) and Jaune had eventually given him his new armor lined coat.
Looked exactly the same as his old ones, aside from the fancy as fuck buttons with embedded gems with gold symbols and lines etched onto them, way too obviously MAGIC RUNES, Jaune.
Honestly they were really fucking fancy, which normally would have looked out of place on him without Glynda to keep him in check with better grooming and hygiene in general. Now it just made him look like he took Huntsman fashion a bit too seriously. Which was good for picking up chicks, but bad because he was a taken man nowadays.
The insides also glimmered with strange swirls and lines, like if gems had been turned into thread and woven into patterns. Way too fancy for his tastes, even if it looked good.
The rest of Team STRQ had their own version of such a thing now though, although it seems Jaune had figured out Dust weaving (which was honestly not easy) enough to get the same effects with the less obviously magic method. Alongside a bunch of his friends and family, to boot.
Still, his mind was running away from him.
He himself hadn't heard of the Shifting Sands Caravan when he reported back to The Crown or stopped into Almurawij (although he wasn't allowed to gamble for Lien anymore, which was honestly a fucking shame) but that might just have been because this was a coincidence. Still he'd never heard of this group, though, and if they were a cross-continental group she should have heard them in passing.
Still he'd bring it up to Ozpin to have it investigated and looked into.
Heh.
Glynda was rubbing off on him (they did a lot of rubbing, he he he) after all. Qrow Branwen using his fucking brain, who'd have seen it coming?
That damn kid was great, even if he'd begun sinking his own fangs into Ruby (shit, fuck, shit), even making ol' Jimmy feel like he had a goddamned heart, for once. He'd never seen the General of Atlas as loose and casual as this, sometimes actually cracking jokes in private, instead of being a hardass all the time.
He was still a hardass, of course.
Still, his spy network's lead that Hazel Rainhart had been spotted in Eastern Animus couldn't be ignored. That had to be followed up on even if they had no idea why he was here. Especially when the Vytal Festival was so near. And after Callows had been spotted and fought in a suit of strange armor that Raven swore she felt magic from.
Qrow rose back into the air.
He had a good feeling about this Caravan. He'd stick with it for a bit.
The clouds looked a bit rough though. Maybe he'd crawl into the overhang on the back of one of the Caravans in his bird form? The vibration and potential motion sickness wouldn't be great, but it beat getting soaked to the bone.
Gretchen always loved the rain.
It was why even if he wore a hood, he never bore an umbrella. He didn't want to forget even the smallest things. Feel everything the way she would have. To live on in her place, experience what she would have wished.
It was why he traveled on foot, occasionally trains, even as the rain poured down upon him as it did right now.
Trains are romantic, aren't they, baby bro? Hey, I'm the older twin, you're my baby brother.
He never understood that about her. Trains were cold metal boxes, moving along simply because that was what people demanded of them. There was nothing unique about them.
Even so he walked along train tracks when the situation allowed.
I love the sensation of soil beneath my boots! …Actually, let's go camping next weekend! Just like old times!
Mud clung to his leather boots, worn after the years. He'd almost worn away the first set to disuse before he'd replaced it with an exact same make. Half a size too large for his feet, just the same as she'd bought when she'd forgotten his exact size.
She was always a bit scatterbrained when it came to details. He'd still loved her for it, though. He had just been happy for her feelings. It had been the last birthday present he'd ever received.
The armored coffin on his back was heavy, but a small amount of Gravity Dust had been applied to reduce its burden.
He would die in the grave he carried. After he buried Ozpin into the ground again and again for what he'd done.
It didn't matter that it was for the sake of the world. Did not matter that it had been to work to ensure the future of the planet. For Hazel, it could all burn.
Huntsmen were a joke. There weren't enough of them to defend any Kingdom if a large enough force of Grimm came. Nor were they all paragons. For every one good, true, and honest Huntsman there were five more that were in it for money, or a cushy job being a guard to someone rich.
He gazed off to the west, the glimmering scarlet and carmine of the setting sun.
I love the sunset. It reminds me of mom. Back before… you know.
She could never see a sunset again. Every time he could, he witnessed one in her place.
For every sunset she'd been made to miss, he'd make it up to her.
The coffin that would be his Grave felt heavy on his back again, even through his Semblance ignoring his muscle fatigue. Even this was a form of training, of penance.
If I wear these ankle weights, I'll be training ALL the time!
He continued to walk, seeing the glimmering of light in the distance from a large off road vehicle.
"Excuse me, good sir. Do you require aid? It's raining rather heavily."
"There's no need. I will be fine."
"The forecast states it will likely rain for the next two days. If you want, I can give you a lift. We have plenty of room."
"Your kindness is appreciated, but unnecessary. I wish you luck on your journey."
The Caravan continued forwards, leaving the man behind.
"Stop two kilometers ahead and park the Caravans." HE ordered, "All combatant, get ready to board into your Leo Mobile Armors."
"Sir!"
HE too, stripped off his coat and loose pants, dressed in a fusion between Vacuoan garments with Mistralian influences to better blend into their play at merchants.
Only a padded bodysuit remained.
Even the miners wore slightly tighter clothing so that they wouldn't get caught and pinched in the exosuits. The Black Knights on the other hand, had to operate slightly differently, their clothes needed to be a bit more exacting to fit into their custom armors. Even their combatants were to follow a relatively strict diet and exercise regularly enough to prevent from growing larger than their modeled armors.
They could account for about an extra four or five extra centimeters of waistline, but it was still better to not require as such.
Only a rework due to a gain of musculature would be accepted.
Regardless, they had a rat to catch.
And a Leo used all of its power to hunt even vermin.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone