Jaune's Pineapple Jam 39

Cameras flash and voices speak out to the trio facing the pack of vultures.


“Captain Roger! The people have questions! Can you tell us what happened here? Are the people of Vale still safe with all that is happening around? And what is Atlas doing here?” Lisa Lavender fires consecutively, pointing her microphone towards the police captain standing in the middle of the trio as the opening salvo.


Stern face and rugged looks aimed at the cameras, Captain Roger steps forward to answer Lisa’s question.


“Earlier tonight, two people led a giant robot in a chase across the streets of Vale, culminating in a battle which destroyed the robot. It is my pleasure to tell everyone that despite the disturbance, Vale is safe. As for At-”


“But what about the giant robot? Where did it come from? Who were the two people it was chasing?” Lisa cuts him off, almost earning a scowl from the aged huntsman and lawkeeper.


Before Captain Roger could reply however, someone steps past him to bear the brunt of attention next.


“I believe it would be better for me to answer that.” General Ironwood calls out, presenting a bulwark before speaking as matter of factly. 


“You see, the robot in question was the Atlesian Paladin-290, a new mechanized battlesuit we are currently developing for the protection and safety of our citizens. The one that rampaged across Vale was a prototype that was stolen by the White Fang. Atlas is here to provide additional protection for the upcoming Vytal Festival.”


Like predators attracted to blood, the media pounces on the perceived weakness.


“How was the prototype stolen by the White Fang? Was the Master Thief Roman Torchwick, currently known to work with the White Fang, involved?” A male voice calls out from the crowd of journalists hounding them.


An obvious attack to insinuate incompetence while framing it as Roman Torchwick being just that good. A frown appears on General Ironwood’s face before he smoothens it out with judicious use of his Semblance.


“Classified.” He answers monotonously, ending the discussion for that particular matter.


Any other journalist would have been intimidated and ended the interview then and there but Lisa graduated from the same bonafide assassin school Neo came from. She was not deterred as she kept her focus on her prey, leading her fellow journalists to keep on it.


“Does that mean the two people who led the Atlesian Paladin on a chase in the middle of Vale were also from Atlas?” Lisa asks doggedly.


An innocent question from all angles but if handled carelessly, could lead to an avalanche such as Atlas trying to clean up their own mess while involving the citizens of Vale. It is, however, ineffective in the face of Beacon’s representative. The Disciplinarian, Glynda Goodwitch.


“Ahem. I’ll be the one answering that question. The two were highly talented students from Beacon who managed to defeat the Paladin in a hard-won fight together with their teams, securing the safety of Vale. For their privacy, I will not be divulging the identity of any student involved in this incident.” Glynda replies firmly, slapping her riding crop to showcase her resolve.


Even Lisa flinches at that but she has one last bullet left to shoot to hunt her prey.


“Are these the same students who stopped Roman Torchwick and the White Fang on the docks last time? They seem to be spirited in keeping the peace for us if they’ve managed to run off the White Fang twice.” Her eyes widen as if in realization and her voice takes on a curious lilt before approval and admiration colors her tone.


“It was the work of the police who apprehended the perpetrators last time.” Captain Roger snaps without hesitation, getting everyone’s attention.


It’s not like he could say anything else. After all, the last time they talked about the docks they told everyone that it was the police who repelled the White Fang. His sudden answer however, does not have a good look. It had the image of the police trying to compete against students in their own jobs.


That’s when the rest of the journalists finally saw a new opening. The authorities, both local and from Atlas, were just outperformed by students from Beacon. 


Not a good look for either of them and the media falls upon it hook, line, and sinker. 


Beacon isn’t safe either because no matter how good its students were, they still involved and harmed civilians and that’s what the media used against them.


“How many were hurt du- ”


“Did they manage to catch the-”


“What efforts are being done to prevent something like thi-”


Voices cry out to ask all sorts of questions and that’s when Ozpin finally turns off his scroll to stop listening to the news.


The Headmaster sighs to himself before he turns his chair towards his large office window to look at Vale’s skyline. He could already predict what was going to happen next without watching the news. 


Glynda, James, and the good captain Gold Roger will do their best to present a united front, citing cooperation and collaboration between all three bodies against any threats but it will be futile.


The news will sensationalize everything as the authorities escalating their response against a growing threat. Emphasis on the growing threat. 


While the response will calm some people, everyone will still become paranoid of the White Fang’s next actions thereby breeding unease and fear. 


Unease and fear which will be like a lighthouse in the night for every Grimm surrounding Vale, making it more dangerous for those entering or exiting the city. Which in turn will create another cycle of unease and fear that feeds itself.


Worse yet, they didn’t actually manage to arrest anyone responsible for this act of terror today. Now that’s another hit to their reliability and capacity to protect the citizens of Vale. Doubt will flourish and it will be the start of then for Ozpin’s hold on Vale.


They need to nip this bud as soon as possible. They need to act now and secure the future. His gaze hardens as he finally decides on a course of action. 


With Glynda and James tied up as the defense as security for the upcoming Vytal Festival, he needs someone for offense to hunt down their enemies. Luckily for him, he knows just the person. Qrow Branwen is coming home.


To secure the future however….he needs to talk to Mr. Arc soon about healing Amber. But in the case he fails, Ozpin would then need to talk to Pyrrha about inheriting the mantle of the Fall Maiden. Then and only then however, will he fully explain everything and induct both Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos into their circle.


It is fortunate then that the two students he needs to talk to are partners. It would certainly make it easier for Ozpin to make Jaune understand the gravity of the situation if he lets him know that if he fails in healing Amber, Pyrrha would need to take the risk of using James’ new technology to transfer the power to her. 


It makes him feel slimy and manipulative to do something like that but Ozpin is an old hand in squashing sentiments like this all in the name of the greater good. 


A sad smile still finds itself on his face however as his thoughts turn to the two new lovers. It might have been an eternity since he experienced it himself but there’s no reason an old man like him can’t find delight in the happiness of young love. 


He just hopes nothing bad ever happens to their relationship. The Gods know that he knows just how bad a breakup could be. 


—----------------


When Jaune opened the door to their dorm room, Pyrrha’s mouth moved before her thoughts could even catch up to it.


“Jaune, we need to talk.” She asks, all sorts of thoughts from the events of today as well as the talk she just had with Team RWBY swirling on her mind


“Are you breaking up with me?”


And just like that, all other thoughts are blown away as Pyrrha comes back to the here and now. Her eyes blow wide as Jaune asks that and Pyrrha is already standing up before she knows it.


“What?! No!” 


“Thank the Gods! I thought for a second there…” Jaune says in an obvious sigh of relief, putting a hand on his chest.


“Why would you even think that?!” Pyrrha shouts back, red-faced and worried.


“Because you lead with ‘Jaune, we need to talk’! Do you know how stressful that made me feel?” Jaune answers back indignantly himself and Pyrrha feels a bit of shame as she realizes how exactly her words could be taken.


Before she could reply however, someone pipes up from behind Jaune.


“Yeah Pyr-Pyr! Don’t scare us like that!” Nora pipes up, bumping past Jaune to look at her.


“Nora?!” Pyrrha shouts in shock. In hindsight, she shouldn't have been surprised. This was Nora’s room too.


“Yeah, sorry sister. Don’t mind me. Just gonna get some clothes so I can sleep with - I mean stay! Stay with Renny in the infirmary, I mean.” Nora responds lightly, casually walking into the room to get her things before jumbling her words with a blush.


“O-oh. Is he okay? Pyrrha asks worriedly with a frown on her face however. If Ren had to stay in the infirmary then his injury must have been more serious than she thought.


Nora disperses the worry immediately by dismissively waving her hand. She looks to Jaune just in case to make sure of  it and her frown finally smoothens as she sees him nod.


“Yup, he’ll be good as new soon. Anyways, I’ll be using the bathroom there so you don’t need to wait for me to use the room.” Nora continues, before waggling her eyebrows suggestively at both Pyrrha and Jaune.


““Nora!””


And just like that, Nora leaves them blushing inside their own room.


“Bye lovebirds! Just don’t use our beds!” She calls out one last time before she reaches past the door, laughter following close behind her.


Silence blankets as both Pyrrha and Jaune let their friend have the last laugh. Face still burning, she covers her face with her hands to hide the involuntary smile threatening to grace her face. That’s Nora for you, even when she embarrasses you she’ll still leave you laughing.


“So…Nora, huh?” Jaune states, finally breaking the silence.


It seems he was thinking the same thing as her and that makes Pyrrha smile as she drops her hands from her face to look at Jaune.


“Yes…She seems happy.” She replies slowly after sitting down in exhaustion, her smile growing as she and Jaune think about their friends.


“Seems like she and Ren managed to fix or at least move on from their drama.” Jaune responds, closing the door to give them more privacy.


That…finally makes Pyrrha remember what she wanted to talk about with Jaune.


“Speaking of drama….” She starts slowly, not knowing how to bring up the subject.


“Is that what you wanted to talk about? Drama?” Jaune replies confusedly and Pyrrha couldn’t blame him for that. She’s self-aware enough to know that she’s springing this up right out of nowhere after a stressful day.


Pyrrha’s face scrunches a bit, thinking on how to open it up before her nerves finally break.


“...Here, I got our scrolls from Blake. You should probably hold onto Argent Mors too, it was really helpful but I don’t think it fits well with me.” She lets out a sigh and says resignedly, handing out his things.


Jaune, however, was observant as ever.


“Pyrrha…I doubt you wanted to talk to me about scrolls and a gun. What is it really?” He asks as he takes back his stuff slowly.


“....Fine…I’m not sure if it’s drama, but yes…our drama, specifically.” Pyrrha sighs resignedly after a moment of internal debate, rubbing her eyes before finally looking at Jaune.


“...I wasn’t aware we had drama.” Jaune says softly, sitting on top of the bed next to Pyrrha.


“That’s why I said I’m not sure, Jaune.” She rolls her eyes exasperatedly before the words register in her mind. Her eyes widened in surprise and she was just about to apologize when Jaune beats her to it.


“...Sorry…What did you want to talk about specifically?” Jaune responds, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly before looking at her as if nothing was wrong.


She winces internally before taking a deep breath. She’d have to apologize later but now…now’s the time for that particular topic.


“...We need to talk about your women.” She lets out slowly, expression as flat as she can make it.


“My women?!” As expected, Jaune reacts in surprise and confusion, his eyebrows rising as high as they can.


“Yes, Jaune. Your women.” She replies cooly, maintaining her expression and hoping beyond hope that he gets what she is talking about.


“You mean you and Blake?”


This is when Pyrrha finally sighs, breaking her expression and causing Jaune’s brows to furrow. 


It seems her boyfriend is as dense as ever. Still, this reminds her of the times that she had to go as far as stripping in front of him to get him to notice her interest. But reminiscing and stripping is for later…maybe. But for now, she has to move the conversation along.


“Why yes, you have me and Blake which reminds me that you need to have that conversation with Blake soon.” Pyrrha looks at him pointedly, reminding of that oh so long awaited talk with Blake before she finally continues and gets to her point before Jaune could even nod in understanding. “But we also need to talk about the others.”


“Others?! What others?! I wasn’t aware I had others?!” Jaune yelps hysterically, eyes obviously spinning in dizziness at the way the conversation is going. 


She can’t blame him for his reaction but then again, Pyrrha has been patient the whole day. She feels entitled to at least have a talk about this right now.


With Jaune remaining silent after his outburst however, Pyrrha does her best to control herself before she has to name…the others. Control was something of an old friend to Pyrrha. And Pyrrha was strangling that old friend just to keep ahold of her true emotions as she says a name.


“Neo.”


The name explodes between them but it should have been obvious even to Jaune considering what just happened earlier.


“Py-Pyr, what?! Neo?! Nope! Nope. She forced me! It didn’t mean anything, you know that!” He shoots up from the bed in an instant. His hands crossed together to form an X to emphasize his denial.


Pyrrha however, was not convinced because of one fact.


“You’re blushing.” She points out without a single change in expression.


“I-PYR! She pushed me out of a bullhead! This is anger! This is fear!” He shouts out indignantly, waving his hands to his face before suddenly kneeling beside her and holding her hands as he continues.”If my heart ever skipped a bit for her, then it was the suspension bridge effect, alright?! You know that, right?!”


Her eyebrow rises at that before she finally gives in to Jaune’s pleading expression.


“...Alright, we’ll table Neo for now.” She sighs out, keeping her true emotions to her chest.


Jaune mumbles something like Damn you, Neo. But Pyrrha wasn’t done just yet. 


“What about Ruby then?”


“R-Ruby?!” Jaune gasps breathlessly, unable to believe she just said that.


“Yes, Jaune. Ruby. I know I’ve joked about you and her before but everyone saw how you two were when she caught you after Neo pushed you out of the bullhead.” She rolls her eyes exasperatedly at his disbelief.. 


Does he really think anyone who saw would just forget the scene of them tangled with each other with blushes on their faces?


“Ruby. As in 15 year old Ruby Rose? My best friend and fellow team leader?” He replies, his voice taking in a blank tone as reality must have felt like breaking for him.


“Yes, Jaune. That Ruby. What are your intentions with her? Your best friend and fellow team leader Ruby Rose.” She asks back in an equally blank tone.


“...Nothing. I have no intentions with Ruby.” He answers firmly, his eyes showing resolve in them.


“Are you sure? Are you really, really sure? I want you to think about your answer carefully. Close your eyes and think about Ruby for a second.” She shoots back skeptically, looking at his face for any change in expression.


She knows she’s being pushy about this and she is obviously testing Jaune’s patience but Pyrrha has to know.


“Is that what this is about? You’re jealous of Ruby?” Jaune hisses for a bit before a glare finds its way on his face. 


“No! No…It’s not that. I’m not jealous.” Pyrrha exclaims immediately at that before her voice weakens. 


It’s the truth. She’s not jealous of Ruby. It’d be a lot simpler if she was but it was more complicated than that.


“Then why? Why, Pyrrha? Why are you asking these questions?” Jaune tilts his head in confusion even as Pyrrha winces in uncertainty.


The dreaded question. Why. She knows why, of course but before she could answer that question, Pyrrha takes a moment to center herself and think about what brought this topic on in the first place. Sure, Neo’s actions today were the catalyst but it was something more than that.


Again, control was something of an old friend to Pyrrha Nikos.


As someone who managed to gain fame at a young age, it was something she had to be familiar with. She couldn’t experiment with her hair. She couldn’t try fashion her own way. She had to speak a certain way. She didn’t even have her own schedule under control. All in all, it was a stifling environment to grow up in. 


Some would have thrived under that environment. Someone like Weiss perhaps, but she wasn’t Weiss. She wasn’t like them.


Which is why she was so happy when she got to Beacon. It started with her friends. Jaune and her team and eventually Team RWBY, yes even Weiss, who helped her to speak as herself and not just a mouthpiece. They might not have realized but all those casual conversations with her was something she treasured.


Then it started with sneaking out disguised with Jaune and being so bold. She never knew she could feel such exhilaration then outside of fighting but the experience sure showed her, huh.


Then suddenly, all that repression just flooded out into a threesome with Blake and Jaune. And ooooohhhhh she was so gonna blame Blake later because that’s when she started to notice something. She only completely realized it today and she was ashamed to say this but her repression? It made her kinky.


Her face burns at the thought. She’s sure she would have been normal! She’s sure she could’ve been satisfied with just the two of them! But her experience with Blake and…. seeing Jaune get serviced by Ruby (sure it was Neo actually wearing Ruby’s face but it was easier for Pyrrha to imagine it as Ruby), well, it was certainly enlightening because she felt a dark heat spread through her. She just wished she’s the one leading Ru-


“Pyrrha, you know you have nothing to worry about, right?”


She jolts at the words as Jaune looks at her worriedly.


Her heart warms even more in both love and shame. Here she is, thinking naughty thoughts and Jaune was thinking worriedly about her. She really does have the best boyfriend, doesn’t she? A boyfriend who deserves every single love, comfort, and service she can give him.


“I-I’m okay. I know I have nothing to worry about.” She replies. 


Now how to tell him that she wants him to be serviced and pampered as much as possible?


Thinking hard about it, she finds….none. None that wouldn’t result in her just saying I want you to fuck and be serviced by other girls because you deserve all that is good in this wo-


Kiss.


He just kissed her. Softly. Lovingly. And the dark heat inside her turns into light as she feels her heart flutter.


“I love you.”


Yup, that was that. Three words and Pyrrha Nikos was dead.


“H-huh?” She replies dumbly and she blushes as she sees Jaune snicker at her reaction.


“Come on, I don’t know about you but I want to wash this hair dye off. I miss seeing our color together.” Jaune continues, dragging her up and towards the bathroom.


As she finds herself suddenly stripped inside the bathroom, all thoughts of other girls leave her mind and only spending time getting fucked and loved by Jaune Arc remains.

—------


Beacon, before the sun rises was something Jaune found comfortingly silent.


Waking up with his girlfriend cuddled up to him, Jaune thinks back to their conversation and earlier events. The sex was amazing but he knew that whatever brought Pyrrha to bring up other girls must have been important and still there. Painful as it is, he’d have to keep some distance with Ruby for a while until he manages to find out what has Pyrrha acting up and solve it.


Regardless, based on everything that has happened today, it was clear to him that despite all his training, Semblance, and extra memories, he was still weak.


He wasn’t good enough to stop Neo from holding him hostage. He wasn’t good enough to keep up with Pyrrha to be in the fight with the Paladin. He wasn’t good enough. Period.


Well, that was going to change starting today. Slinking away from his girlfriend, he quietly changes into his armor and picks up both Crocea Mors and Argent Rose. 


He was worried for a second when he almost dropped his gun trying to hook it on his pants but he shouldn’t have had. Pyrrha continues snoring cutely away and Jaune breathes a sigh of relief. He made sure to tire her out last night, subtly using his Semblance to regain his stamina bit by bit but it was never a sure-fire solution for what he had planned today.


Exiting their room and looking at his girlfriend one last time before closing the door, Jaune follows half-remembered memories to his destination. 


Training with Pyrrha was good. It was something he genuinely enjoyed. Not only was it spending time with his girlfriend, but it also honed his skills. But Jaune knew, even if Pyrrha tried to hide it, he knew that she was holding back on him. Holding back on him was only logical actually, but Jaune didn’t want logical right now.


He wanted to test himself.


Click!


Arriving at his destination, he flicked the light switch on. Light fills the room and Jaune smiles at the sight that greets him. Training bots. Time to see how far he can go with pure skill. No Semblance, no Dust, and no gun for his first run.


Walking forward the appropriate distance, he stands in front of one ordinary looking robot equipped with a sword and shield. 


“Initiate: Level One.”


He dodges underneath the straightforward strike and uses tge momentum to drive his sword through its chest.

Sparks flash around him as Jaune walks past the metal corpse to approach another robot armed with a greatsword.


“Initiate: Level Two.”


He blocks the first strike with his shield and uses a low feint that leaves the robot overextended when it falls for it. A smooth slash decapitates the new robot.

Walking past the now inactive body of the second robot, he stops in front of a third holding a long metal staff


“Initiate: Level Three.”


Clang!


The training bot blocks Jaune’s attack with its metal staff and he has to push it away with his shield to disengage. Wrong move. He should have closed in even more instead of getting distance. Now, the bot has the disadvantage with its longer reach and Jaune had to let it hit him just to stab through its chest.


Panting at the effort and wincing as he stretched his shoulder, Jaune looked grimly at the next training bot before standing in front of it.


“Initiate: Level Four.”


Five exchanges later and Jaune was holding his gut in pain after receiving an uppercut there after the robot sidestepped his attack and left him overextended.


He just hit his limit it seems. Good. His dream self managed to beat Level Eight Combat Drones by the end of the Vytal Festival with both Crocea Mors and Dust usage. Jaune was going to beat that by pure skill with Crocea Mors by next week.


How? By cheating of course. As he kneeled there on the ground in front of the training bot, Jaune Arc gently used his Semblance to soothe the pain. 


Standing up once he is ready, he gives the robot a grin. Thank the Gods he has such a useful Semblance.


“Initiate: Level…”

-------
A/N: I was supposed to post this last night as a draft visible only to the Early Birds and the Huntsmen Graduates so they can weigh in with their feedbacks before making it available to all patrons as a complete chapter today. That didn't happen obviously but just warning you in the future that I plan to post the draft a day early for those whose tiers are entitled access to before making it available to every patron at the correct date.

Anyways, edited some stuff here and added a bit. Love it? Hate it? Let me know what you think.