MrLightbringer0
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Jaune's Pineapple Jam Ch 35
🕑 Added 2024-03-03 16:17:59 +0000 UTC“This is a disaster!”
“Calm down, Glynda. I’m sure it’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?! Not that bad?! Two students are missing, Ozpin! Not just students, international students! How are we going to tell Lionheart we lost two of his students! Ozpin! Are you even listening to me?!” Glynda raged as she saw Ozpin fiddling with his scroll instead of taking their emergency meeting seriously.
“It’s only been a day. I’m sure Mr. Wukong and Mr. Vasilias are fine.” Ozpin replies calmly, unfazed by her words.
“They better be. We ended classes early just to look for them once we realized they were missing.” She says in a lower tone of voice.
“Are you sure they are not inside the Academy? Even in Atlas we have the occasional truants who tend to sleep in instead of attending classes.”
“I assure you, James, they are not. If they were, then Bart or Peter would have found them already.”
“I suppose if they are alright and return by the end of the day then they need to be disciplined.”
“Agreed. Going missing is not a light matter especially since situations such as this can easily escalate into international incidents.”
“I suppose a punishment is an appropriate action then. However, speaking of international incidents, I’m more worried about what is currently happening out there.”
Ozpin shows his scroll playing live news coverage of an Atlesian Paladin rampaging on a highway chasing her students, Blake Belladonna and Lie Ren.
Glynda and James take one look at each other and come to one conclusion. A giant robot from Atlas chasing students from Beacon while two other students from Haven are missing? International Incident.
“I’ll get my soldiers.”
“I’ll get my children.”
They stand as one and Glynda has one last thought running through her mind as she prepares to deal with this chaos.
How?! Just how did it come to this?!
—-------
LT was pissed. To understand why he was pissed off, he would need to recount the last few moments.
For the first time in his wretched life, LT finally found someone who could feel his pain. Someone who also suffered under the brutality of the humans.
When he first saw the young man carrying a gun straight into a White Fang meeting, he panicked internally. You don’t come in armed together with civilians if you were really just planning to join. Chances are, the guy was an undercover plant by the authorities. So he acted accordingly, confronting the guy before he could even go deeper in their organization.
When the ears unexpectedly fell off, he felt like it was confirmation. A human disguising himself as a Faunus to sabotage their organization. He has never been more glad to be so wrong in his entire life.
When Deery confirmed the guy as a Horse Faunus by whatever means necessary, LT was ecstatic. He finally found someone who knows what it’s like for him.
Sure, everyone in the White Fang suffered under the humans, but there’s a special kind of suffering exclusive to people like him.
People who were maimed and had their Faunus trait cut off. LT’s own experience left him unbalanced and partially deaf for a long time.
He’s aware enough to know that it left him traumatized and in pain which just makes it more amazing that the kid in his sight seems well-adjusted. Hell, the boy even managed to get a girlfriend!
No wonder he was packing some heat. He probably brought it everywhere to avoid feeling the helplessness both of them experienced at their worst moments. He wanted protection from the thought of losing everything he has.
LT nods in approval at that from atop the stage as he sets his sights on the kid in the crowd. He could sympathize with the feeling.
Still, if the kid wants to join the White Fang, he would need training. Training that LT is perfectly happy to provide. He could already see it, him and the kid training and fighting together for the cause.
The image of having his own protege puts a smile on his face.
Everything felt like it was going great….Until it wasn’t.
His smile disappears when two people barged into their meeting uninvited.
“Freeze! Nobody moves!” Blake Belladonna shouts beside a human.
So you see why LT would be pissed?
LT growls at the interruption to what is an increasingly rare wonderful day. He should have pushed to keep the guards outside but noooo, Roman wanted all of them to hear his grand speech.
Well this is what they get for listening to a human. He will have to let Adam know of his complaints but that is a problem for later. For now, LT has a situation to handle.
To their credit, Blake and her accomplice managed to realize the situation they’ve put themselves in. They made the correct decision to disengage before they could even be bogged down.
And just like that, pandemonium starts as LT hears the groan of metal and whirring of gears.
“Time to take this baby for a test drive!” Roman Torchwick shouts enthusiastically as he activates the Paladin.
As much as LT wants to go after Blake Belladonna himself, it would be a waste of energy and resources considering Roman was already going after her. He settles for staying where he’s noted. Leading the White Fang while Adam was still away.
Just before the Paladin stands and causes chaos, LT shouts toward the crowd.
“Make way for the Paladin! Let it go out first before leaving! White Fang, get the recruits to safety, lay low and don’t get caught!”
With intruders already barging in their meeting, who knows how many more are waiting outside to arrest them? Better to let Roman be the distraction. LT needed to stay here and get everyone to safety which seems to be an increasingly harder task watching his recruits and even his men flail about.
He watches as both civilians and his newly trained troops start to scramble in a panic to give way for the Paladin. Flicking his eyes to the kid’s last position he sees…..nothing.
Damnit, figures the kid with a tortured past is ready to flee in the middle of a commotion and this was more than just a commotion. LT was just like that after getting his ears cut off. Some would have called it being skittish or a coward but he knew it as just being smart. Live to fight another day and all that.
No matter how annoyed he felt at the kid’s disappearance he can’t help but give an involuntary nod of approval. Decisive and quick on his feet. He’s got potential, that one. He just hopes the kid isn’t putting himself in danger instead of running away from it.
—-----
“What in the world is happening?” Jaune mutters as he is about to put himself in danger…again.
“Jaune-” Pyrrha starts but Jaune continues to talk over her as they make their way outside of the warehouse.
“First, Neo lets us into the meeting.” He rambles as he sees Blake and Ren are nowhere to be found near the entrance they just used.
“Jaune, we-” Pyrrha tries to get his attention again but is interrupted by something bigger than her.
CRASH!
“Then Roman drops valuable information right on top of us.” Jaune continues as he sees the Paladin Roman was showcasing back on stage crash outside through the wall.
“Jaune, we need to-” Pyrrha tries to pull him aside to safety but pauses when they see the Paladin hone in a certain direction instead of them.
“Just when we thought we were going to get out fine, Blake and Ren break in with their guns out.” He continues as he sees Blake and Ren quickly hopping across rooftops to run away.
“...Yes, that was strange.” Pyrrha pauses in her attempts to get Jaune’s attention as she looks back at the situation.
“And now Roman Torchwick is rampaging out in Vale with a giant mech! Just what in the world is happening?!” He finally shouts in frustration as he begins to run towards danger…again.
“Jaune! Focus! I need you here!” Pyrrha pulls him harshly by the hand just before they reach the road.
Jaune blushes at his lack of composure but in his case, he feels it is justified.
None of this happened in his championship dream. There were no White Fang attacks in his dream. No Roman Torchwick inside a mech in his dream. No….girlfriends in his dream either….
Welp, no use thinking about it. Instead of what ifs or could have beens, he should be thinking about his situation right now.
“R-right, sorry. W-we need to…we need to….stop that Paladin.” He says, taking a deep breath before watching the Paladin begin to run after Blake and Ren.
Pyrrha only looks at him worriedly, Jaune doesn’t know why but something about her look twists something inside him.
“Jaune….are you sure? This is dangerous.”
Doubt, that was it. That’s what he was seeing from her. His insides freeze at the realization but he does his best to take it in stride.
This is his girlfriend after all, he understands that she has the right to be worried but Jaune isn’t the weakling he was anymore. He isn’t doing this to prove himself either. He’s doing this for Blake….who is currently being chased by the Paladin.
“We have to. He’s after Blake and Ren. Besides, is it really more dangerous than sneaking inside a White Fang meeting?” He says as he gives her a wry smile before dragging the both of them to run after the Paladin.
“No, maybe? But we are going up against a giant robot, Jaune. An armed and weaponized giant ro-”
Tired of her hesitation, Jaune interrupts her. He winces internally but every second they waste arguing is a second that they aren’t helping Blake and Ren. Still, as painful as it is to admit, he can’t really do much against a giant robot directly. He can however direct his girlfriend.
“Pyrrha, do you trust me?” He says with resolve in his voice.
“Of course! But I’m worried-” Pyrrha reels back even as she effortlessly matches his pace.
“I have a plan.” That’s all he says, but this time he uses what Nora jokingly calls his fearless leader voice.
“....Alright, Jaune. I trust you.” She answers after a small pause even as they see the Paladin getting farther and farther away.
“Tell me, Pyrrha. How effective do you think your Semblance would be against th-”
“HELP!”
Jaune’s blood goes cold as he sees the Paladin toss away a car filled with people. He doesn’t know how he heard a scream from that distance with everything that is going on but he does. His body moves before his mind could even catch up with the situation.
—-----
Pyrrha has always hated the title Invincible Girl ever since she got it.
It always felt like an insult to all of her training and effort for it to be relegated as just being a character trait.
People only cared to know that she was a good fighter, not how she got to be a good fighter. That grated on her of course.
Yet despite her dislike of the title, she can’t help but feel like it is an apt description of her current situation. Because Pyrrha felt invincible as she glowed like a star and used her Semblance to follow Roman Torchwick.
It started when she and Jaune saw a car get tossed off the highway. Everything happened so fast but Jaune was already moving before Pyrrha could even think of something.
“Catch it!” He shouts as he grabs her hand.
“W-what?!” Her surprise at his words causes her to falter.
Even if she wanted to and could catch it with her bare hands they were too far away to do anything. As always though, Jaune is full of surprises. His Aura. His Semblance. It all floods into her in a rush and Pyrrha has never felt anything more amazing. She has never felt so much m-
“Your Semblance! Catch it!”
His bark snaps her out of her euphoria and Pyrrha’s hand lashes forward instinctively. Her eyes then widen in amazement with what she sees.
The car filled with passengers that was doomed to a fiery crash stops in midair and stays there.
“What?” She whispers in shock.
“Your Semblance. I amplified it. I can’t believe it worked!” Jaune answers beside her enthusiastically.
“You can do that?” She replies in astonishment, looking at her partner with bright eyes.
“I wasn’t sure but Ren once told me that our Semblances were the tangible projection of our Aura and all that we are. So I thought to myself, what would happen to your Semblance if I amplified your Aura?”
“You intensified it. Pushed it past its limits.” Pyrrha answers for him as she stares at her glowing hand in wonder while gently lowering the car.
Pyrrha always imagined her Semblance worked as a magnetic field with her as the center. For the most part, she had a vague awareness of every single metallic object within that field and depending on her needs and wants, Pyrrha could change the polarity of objects inside the field to either attract or repel.
Her imaginary magnetic field only allowed her to affect so much weight and only up to a particular distance from her however, certainly nowhere near the weight of a car or across the distance she just used her Semblance on.
Which is why she is so amazed at the effect of Jaune’s Semblance. Her magnetic field felt bigger, stronger, clearer. She very clearly glowed with excessive power. While she may very well have been able to force past her limits through sheer force of will, she doubts she could replicate a feat such as what she just did so easily.
“Think you can do something about the Paladin now?” Jaune asks her with a confident grin on his face.
Pyrrha blushes at his words as he once again breaks her out of her thoughts.
Jaune’s earlier question about the effectiveness of her Semblance suddenly makes sense. If this was his plan from the beginning then no wonder he was ready to jump into danger. He trusted her to take care of it.
Not wanting to waste his trust in her, Pyrrha quickly narrows her imaginary field to target Roman Torchwick only to run into a problem.
“He’s too far!” She shouts even as she starts running to drag Jaune with her.
“Damn it! He’s too fast!” Jaune yells as they see the Paladin quickly outpace them and gain more distance.
Pyrrha didn’t become a four-time regional champion by giving up so easily however. Thinking quickly on her feet, she thinks of something. Something crazy. Something she has only ever tried once before.
The thought makes her giddy..
When Pyrrha was a child and only coming into her abilities, she had the bright idea to use her Semblance to pull herself closer to other objects. Back then, she decided it wasn’t worth it because the effort she needed to pull herself towards a lamp pole for example was too much. Even then, running normally was faster.
This time however with Jaune’s Semblance boosting her? It was more than doable. That makes her grin.
“Hold on!” She shouts as she focuses her magnetic senses on the car she just landed ahead of them.
“Uhhh, Pyrrha? What are you doing?” Jaune pipes up as he feels Pyrrha’s body start to vibrate and car ahead of them to glow black.
“Something crazy, now hold on tight!” She answers with a smile before finally starting to pull herself towards the car using her Semblance.
“Pyrrha? Pyrrha?! Is this supposed to happen?!” Jaune shouts panickedly at the sudden boost of speed, struggling to keep up as he tightens his hold on Pyrrha’s hand.
Pyrrha doesn’t know what makes her do it but she shoots him a look with a smirk.
“You’re not the only one who can make a plan.” She sees him stummer and blush at that and she laughs. She laughs a wild laugh brought on by his reaction and probably by his own Semblance as well before continuing. “When I say jump, then jump!”
“Okay, ju-”
“Jump!”
Pyrrha didn’t give him time to reply as she increased the strength of her pull, allowing them to jump over the car with impressive speed. She wasn’t done there however. Just as they passed over the car, Pyrrha changed the force from attraction to repulsion pushing them forward as well as upward.
As they gain height, time slows down for Pyrrha and she has the particular feeling that this is what flying feels like before reality slaps her in the face and time rushes forward again.
She would’ve loved to say that she felt free but the truth was she was too busy squinting her eyes against the wind and letting her magnetic senses tell her where they were.
Jaune was also screaming right beside her and she couldn’t blame him even if she wanted to because she herself wanted to scream when Pyrrha feels gravity begin to take hold of them once her push starts to get weaker.
Instead of letting panic take hold however, she focuses her senses on the next car ahead of them and mentally lashes a magnetic rope between them.
She gives it a light tug and Pyrrha pulls them forward instead of crashing straight down the pavement. It takes some time for Pyrrha to adjust but eventually, it starts to become a routine. Quick change from pull to push and vice versa every time they travel over a car eventually makes their movement akin to flying.
“D-don’t do that again.” Jaune says shakily behind her ear as his grip tightens not only on her hand, but also on her shoulder.
“No promises.” She says absently with a smirk as she tries to familiarize herself with her senses to avoid letting them splatter onto the ground.
It seems during their mad start to a flight, Jaune began to literally hold her tight. Pyrrha must have been too busy then with learning the mechanics of how to give them a boost to notice but it got the job done. They were no longer being left behind by Roman Torchwick.
It was still however too slow for her liking and Pyrrha is afraid of the reason why.
“We’re not fast enough.” Jaune mutters beside her head as he squints at Roman’s Paladin ahead of them.
That’s right. The way things are going, they wouldn’t be able to catch up with Roman on time without him doing too much damage. Even now, Pyrrha has to use crashed cars on the side of the highway as anchors for their flight.
“I’m slowing you down.”
Pyrrha winces as Jaune comes to the same conclusion as her. She remains silent however, not willing to voice out the solution. Jaune however, has no qualms saying it.
“You need to drop me.”
Pyrrha only bites her lip in silence at that. She doesn’t want to come as being overprotective, she really does. But this is different. This would be the first time she would leave him alone in a mission like this.
In the first place, she could only handle him being in the debacle at the docks and even sneaking into the White Fang meeting because she was there. No matter what happened then, she would be there to help Jaune. But right now she knew that if she wanted to catch up with Roman she had to leave Jaune behind.
“I’ll catch up with you, I promise.” Jaune pipes up over her shoulder, giving her a warm smile even from his very pale face.
“Jaune…” She begins but she doesn’t know what to say.
“Look, I’ll just help anyone who needs it down here and then I’ll catch up with you. Who knows, you might even be done with Roman before that, then you can come back and pick me up.”
And that was that. Pyrrha lands gently on top of a crashed car and wastes no time turning around to give Jaune a hug.
“Be careful.” She whispers softly.
“I should be the one saying that. I’m not the one about to chase down a giant robot.” Jaune answers back with a chuckle that warms Pyrrha’s heart.
She is not okay with this and yet she knows Jaune would be safer here than in the middle of a fight with Roman Torchwick inside Atlas’ latest giant robot. Still, he’ll need some protection.
“Here, you should have this back now..” She replies as they part, removing Argent Rose from her pants together with its Dust rounds.
“Keep it with you for now. You’re going to need it more than I do.” Jaune responds by pushing the gun back towards her.
She highly doubts she’d need it with her Semblance amplified right now but every second they waste here is every second Roman gets farther and the longer it will take for Pyrrha to stop him and then come back.
That’s not to say she gives up the argument easily however.
“At least take some Dust with you.”
“Fine, alright..” Jaune rolls his eyes at her and pain pricks at Pyrrha’s heart before it is replaced by warmth at his next words. “Just go and come back to me.”
Pyrrha smiles at that. While it may seem Jaune is chafing at her protectiveness, it’s not to the point that he is actively pushing her away.
Turning around to aim herself at Roman’s direction again, Pyrrha doesn’t see the incoming strike.
SLAP!
She can’t believe it!
Throughout all her days, Pyrrha Nikos will say she might have made a sound, maybe a squeal in surprise at most, but she never ever moaned as Jaune Arc slapped her ass boldly on top of a crashed car. In plain view of anyone who cared to look at two teens standing atop a crashed car!
She aims a glare at him but she’s sure her blushing face shows him she isn’t really that irritated.
“For luck.” He says cheekily with a smirk and Pyrrha pouts at her boyfriend.
“I don’t need luck.” She retorts automatically before she leaps away in embarrassment.
She notices just as she uses her Semblance again. Jaune Arc just slapped her ass to give her a boost with his Semblance! That’s why it felt so good! She blushes at the thought but she couldn’t erase the grin on her face.
She’s going to stomp Roman Torchwick into the ground for having to pull her away from Jaune. Then she is going to rush back to Jaune for some payback. Who knows what that will be? Maybe she could make him uncomfortable before giving him mercy? After all, they still have to have that talk about Neo.
Busy with her thoughts, Pyrrha Nikos does not notice the flash of brown and pink hair appear behind Jaune.
—-------
They made a mistake.
Frankly speaking they made a lot of mistakes. Lie Ren in particular feels like he made a lot of mistakes today. His failed conversation with Nora for one. Next was the one with Blake rebuking him about his choice.
It just kept getting downhill from there. When they received the call from Yang, he argued with Blake for a bit, this time not about him and Nora. While he wanted to wait for the others before going in, they eventually agreed to go inside only after telling Yang their general location.
They then jumped into the White Fang meeting with incomplete information. Blake and he knew they messed up when they saw about a hundred people listening to a speech instead of Jaune and Pyrrha being tortured like they feared.
The latest mistake however was leaping onto cars after using the rooftops to get away from the giant robot chasing them. Instead of luring the robot into an isolated location, they unwittingly involved civilians.
Granted, you didn’t tend to think very well when a giant robot suddenly starts chasing you, it was still a mistake they needed to rectify very soon.
“We need to get off the highway!” He shouts towards Blake as they leap from car to car in a fast-paced race to avoid the giant robot behind them in the middle of an on-ramp highway.
“We can’t! It’s too fast! It’d catch us in an instant!”
Ren tsked, no, careful Ren. Keep your frustration in check. Taking a glance backwards, he sees the Paladin speeding up even more as it shoves cars out of its way.
“We need to slow it down!”
“How?!”
If he knew how, he’d have done it already! He complains internally.
Now this is why he can’t be with Nora! He knew he was going to hit a limit somewhere and this was it.
Part of him is glad that this happened without the chance of hurting Nora but part of him is also angry. Angry and frustrated that he proved himself right. That Nora staying with him would probably end badly somewhere down the line.
Unbeknownst to Ren, the emotions within himself cause his control to slip and Ren jumps off from atop a car just a little too hard. Anger turns into horror when Ren feels what he has done. A small mistake with meaningful consequences.
Landing on another car, the world slows down for him as he turns around to see that the force of his jump caused the previous car to bounce which in turn launched it backwards towards the giant mech’s path of destruction.
His eyes find the driver’s as the car approaches the charging mech. It could have been anyone. A man or a woman, a Human or a Faunus, young or old. It did not matter. Ren now has to live with the fact that he’s just about to kill an innocent person.
Or not.
Because the next thing he knows, the car was being covered in visible dark light and lifted out of the way of the giant robot.
“What?” He mutters in confusion and even Blake pauses from their life and death race to take a quick peek behind her.
They watch in amazement as the car is smoothly lowered onto the highway behind the robot.
Ren blinks, Blake blinks, even the robot seems to blink with what just happened. While that didn’t stop their bodies from moving, it all caused them to turn their head back towards the car.
Behind its profile, they see something they will never forget. A shining star streaks across the highway. The light flares and the next thing Ren knows is the giant robot was being launched over their head and off the on-ramp they were in.
It takes a moment for Ren’s mind to comprehend what is happening when the shining star comes close enough for him to recognize what it is.
“Pyrrha?” He mutters incredulously as he sees his teammate bolt past him with impressive speed and jumps off the on-ramp to follow the robot with a fierce expression on her face.
He and Blake look at each other in wonder before unanimously deciding to jump off and follow Pyrrha.
—-----
Comments
Daniel Hyena
Thank you for easing my worries, you wouldn't believe how many Ficts introduce Neo into the mix and she just tramples everybody (relationship wise and physically). -Neo rant ahead - we know she is strong but the only fight we see her win in the 3 first volume is with a tired Yang, we know Pyrrha can defeat trained competitors from her championships, whole teams by herself, we can infer she is the best first year in beacon including Yang so I think she could beat Neo one on one she even put up a good fight with maiden Cinder ( Cinder didn't fight maiden Amber alone ) .
Biggs Ringor
You actually hammered one of the plots I have going forward. Blake will have her moment with Jaune so they can really accept each other and make this unconventional relationship official while Pyrrha will have to deal with some stuff with herself. While it might simply look like Pyrrha wants to dominate the others, it's a bit more complicated than that. She's conpetitive which is pushing the domination image but she is also possesive with Jaune, especially when Weiss is involved. However, she also sees how other girls can make Jaune happy like with Blake helping them in their relationship and Ruby connecting with Jaune as best friends. At the end of the day, I envision their relationships would have a bit more equality between them as they mature with Pyrrha having a strong voice. As for Neo, she wouldn't be the type to be satisfied with just settling below Pyrrha so she'll fight for her place. Pyrrha will have to earn her respect or beat her into submission if she doesn't want Neo taking liberties with Jaune freely. (If she even lets Neo in, or if Jaune lets Neo in. This will be a plot in the future.)
Biggs Ringor
The inspiration for Pyrrha's use of her amplified Semblance comes from The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson. I highly recommend you take a read of it if you have the time.
Daniel Hyena
If you are gonna involve Neo or any other girl (Yang, Ruby, etc. ) in the relationship please give time for Blake to be fully integrated and Pyrrha to cement herself as the "leader of the pride" since we know she likes be dominant of others girls, having Neo undermine and be flippant to Pyrrha will break the foundation of the relationship and hurt her.
Biggs Ringor
Similar concept but not quite. The inspiration came from a book was the only one I ever read that explained how someone can use magnetism to fast travel between towns/cities. It kinda functioned like a railway network. I'll share the answer if no one gets it within 24 hours of the chapter's posting so you could take a read at that
Biggs Ringor
Similar concept but not quite. The inspiration came from a book was the only one I ever read that explained how someone can use magnetism to fast travel between towns/cities. It kinda functioned like a railway network. I'll share the answer if no one gets it within 24 hours of the chapter's posting so you could take a read at that
CYA_B
The only other character I can think of that uses magnetism/polarity to fly is Lorna Dane (Polaris), Magnetos’ daughter in the comics.
KirbyKingShip
Only thing I can think of is how Magneto can fly by manipulating the magnetic field around him (with the caveat that he is wearing metal)
Biggs Ringor
Took a bit longer than expected but only because I needed to make sure I won't have continuity problems with my outline for the next chapter. Think you can guess where I got my idea for Pyrrha's use of her amplified Semblance? Let me know and first one to comment it here has the option of getting a sneak peek on Pineapple Jam 36 or Rusted Knight 6.
