I'm going to talk a little bit about Volume 6 here. One of the dumbest complaints I saw was (from people who had no idea why Volume 5 was terrible) that the airship heist was risky, reckless, and bound to go wrong. To which I responded, "I know, exciting, isn't it?!" Team RNJR's doing the best they can with what they have in this last chapter, which is infinitely better than sitting around waiting for the plot to come to them. Hopefully, it felt amusing rather than overtly silly.

And hey, Team SSSN is here. They'll have a small part to play in this one.

And Mariah was initially planned for introduction in Volume 5, but the characters were too busy with the above-mentioned sitting around, so M&K left her out. I have some plans for her in this Volume.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang all observed Team RNJR with raised brows. The three of them had shared their stories first since RNJR's story had proved longer. By the time they finished, night had fallen, and everyone had finished the stew prepared by Ren.

"So…" Weiss broke the silence and turned to Jaune. "What's going to happen to you?"

Jaune shook his head, "I don't know."

"Are you going to disappear? Is he going to disappear? Are you going to have some weird hybrid personality?"

"I don't know." Jaune insisted, "Right now, I'm trying to do things my way and stay myself, but I don't know if that's delaying the inevitable. I don't know."

Ruby placed a comforting hand on his arm. "It's going to be okay. So far, you're still you. You're still our friend."

Jaune smiled at Ruby's encouragement and tried not to notice the soft scoff he'd heard from Ren.

Yang sensed the discomfort with the discussion and decided to change the subject. "So, what's the plan now? How do we get that sword for the old lady?"

"There are four of them and seven of us. Blake supplied "Cinder's strong, but Ruby beat her once, and Yang's beaten Mercury."

"Pretty sure he was holding back." Weiss muttered, then noticed Yang's look of mock offense "at least a little bit, and that was a while ago, so you can probably take him now."

"And I don't really know how I beat her last time," Ruby added sadly, "I haven't gotten the hang of using my eyes yet. And last time I used them, I was too late."

Yang watched Jaune touched Ruby's shoulder consolingly. "Jaune, you and Pyrrha held Cinder off for a while. Do you think you could've beaten her with some help?"

Jaune thought for a moment, "Maybe. But that was eight months ago. She's probably had time to grow into her powers now."

"And then there's that big guy they were with." Ren added, "we have no idea what he's capable of."

"I can shine some light on that subject."

"Ozpin knows something about him," Jaune said as his eyes began to flare yellow, and he removed his hand from Ruby's shoulder as his posture straightened.

Weiss, Blake, and Yang's eyes widened as he spoke in a familiar cadence. "His name is Hazel Rainart. He's not as fast or erratic as Tyrian, but he makes up for it with strength and durability. His aura rivals Mr. Arcs, and his defensive control over it is second to none. And his semblance keeps him from feeling pain."

"What's so bad about that?" Nora asked, "pain nullification doesn't mean he can't be hurt."

"True, but he's aware of that fact. That's why he worked so hard to master the control of his aura. He's also one of the few people who can survive embedding entire dust crystals into his body. But it's also the source of his strength."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Even with aura, we feel muscle strain. We feel our muscle's telling us to stop. Hazel doesn't feel that. Which means he's constantly using one hundred percent of his body's strength. It can still damage his body, but that's how his aura got so strong."

"How strong are we talking?" Nora asked, trying not to grow excited at the thought of this man's strength.

"I once saw him tear a street sign out of the ground and hit someone with it."

"What happened between you two?" Yang asked, "It seems like he hated you almost as much as Raven."

"I make a lot of enemies Miss Xiao Long. I could spend days telling you about them, but we have more pressing matters." Yang frowned, but he continued, "Hazel is easily on par with Tyrian, who easily defeated Team RNJR, and Cinder's faction probably hasn't been idle. This isn't a fight we can win head-on, even with my help."

He then smiled gently. "But I'm sure the three of you haven't been idle either. Tomorrow I suggest we all spar and get a better grasp of our abilities so that we can plan accordingly."

As everyone went about their evening rituals, Yang approached Jaune, who had since taken back control. "So… seems like you and Ruby are getting along pretty well."

Jaune shrugged. "We've always gotten along. We've been friends for a while, and we've been through a lot together."

"Uh-huh?" Yang smirked then changed the subject. "Hey, do you have any idea what my mom's beef with Ozpin is?"

Jaune paused, as if in contemplation. She realized he must be talking to Ozpin within his mind.

Eventually, he scowled and shook his head. "He's not telling. He's usually pretty tight-lipped about these things."

"What things?" Yang asked, annoyed, "things that might make him look less than perfect?"

Jaune chuckled bitterly. "Probably."

Yang felt a surge of pity and shrugged, "I guess you'll just have to humble him a little bit, huh?"

"So you just left her here and told her to do nothing, while you went out to find help."

Tai Yang glared at the empty house he and Qrow had come back to.

"Do you not know my daughter at all?!"

"I thought Ozpin could keep her from doing anything stupid!"

"Oz-" Taiyang's glare deepened. "Great, he's back. I thought it took him at least a year to reincarnate. How did he find you so quickly?"

"Technically, I found him. His new host is the Arc boy."

"So, my daughter's been traveling with Ozpin for almost a year now?"

"Yeah, but the kid's being stubborn and didn't tell her until recently."

"So he's resisting? Good for him. I still don't want him near my daughter."

"Would either of you like to tell me what's going on?" Mariah chimed in behind the two men. "You said this was a matter of kingdom security, but it sounds like you two are just trying to interfere in your adopted daughters dating life."

Qrow groaned. "She's his biological daughter, and I'm her uncle. And I told you already, ma'am, we appreciate your willingness to help, but we need huntsmen who can fight."

"Young man." Mariah interrupted, "I ran away from the life when I was barely your age. Since then, the entire world's gone to hell, and I can't help but wonder if I could've done something had I not run away. I am going to help in whatever way I can, even if I can't fight. Assuming we're dealing with something world-threatening and not just a bad case of shotgun dad syndrome."

Qrow sighed, "Okay, but right now, we need help finding a girl whose gone off to try and recruit a tribe of bandits to fight for our cause. Said bandit leader probably hates this girl and the friend that's traveling with her. Assuming she's not already dead!"

"She's not." Qrow turned to see Sage and Scarlet in the doorway. "And we might know some people who can help you."

"So obviously, there was no talking her out of it, and it's a good opportunity for her to make nice with her old team!" Sun tried awkwardly to explain the situation to the glaring Ghira and Kali.

"And my teammates are off getting some people who might be able to help us if worst comes to worst!"

More glares.

"Well, I'll go and wait for them to get here. Let me know if you have any questions." He hurried from the room, eager to escape the fury of Blake's parents.

Ghira pinched his eyebrows and sighed. "I might like him more if he didn't just let her do whatever reckless thing jumps into her mind."

Kali sighed, "Wonder who this 'help' is."

Blake sat just outside the camp, taking the first watch. She tried to focus on staying awake while also thinking about how to make things right with her old team.

"Blake."

She rose as she heard a voice. She gripped Gambol Shroud. A figure slowly approached her, hands raised.

"Please don't make a commotion, Blake. I need your help."

Blake's eyes widened, and she grew tenser as Adam approached. His mask was off, and his hands rose in supplication.

"What are you doing here?" Blake hissed, backing back to the camp.

"I need your help!" He hissed real desperation in his eyes "I made a huge mistake! I'm in completely over my head."

Blake scoffed. "You're just figuring that out?"

"You need to stop them, and I know how. But we both know the others won't trust me." He pointed a way off. "There's a stream about 100 yards that way. Join me there, and we'll talk more. Please meet me there."

Blake hesitated as he headed off but turned back for a moment. "I'm sorry, Blake. For everything. Please, let me make it right."

Blake contemplated for a moment and then proceeded in the direction he'd fled in.

"Weiss."

Weiss stirred slightly and looked up, finding Winter staring down on her, a finger on her lips silencing her gently.

Weiss sat up quickly, "Winter?! What are you doing here?! I thought you left."

Winter shushed her gently, checking to make sure the others were still asleep. "We faked our departure. We've been waiting for the chance to strike."

Weiss hanged her head slightly, "Don't worry. You and your friends have done a great job of keeping them distracted. I have some supplies that can help you keep Cinder on her toes."

She pointed to the east. "There's a large rock about 75 yards that way. I have a dust cache there you can use. Don't wake the others. This camp might be under surveillance. Just meet me there, and we'll get it back here together."

She rose slowly. "I'm proud of you, Weiss." She ran off into the woods, and Weiss gently rose herself and followed the direction her sister had vanished in.

She didn't notice that no one was standing watch.

"Yang."

Yang shot up at the sight of Raven, who quickly shushed her, looking around to make sure the others hadn't woken up.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to help you!" Raven insisted, "I needed to get our enemies away from the camp, to buy us some time!"

Yang scowled, "I didn't think you cared who won."

"Of course I care. You're my daughter!" Raven seemed to tear up for a moment. "Listen; there's a cliff about 50 yards south of here. Meet me there, and we'll talk. I'll tell you how to beat Cinder. But don't wake anyone else. The enemy might be watching."

She cut a portal in the air but paused before stepping through it. "I do care, Yang. I want to help you."

She vanished, and Yang quietly emerged from her sleeping bag and headed in the direction her mother had pointed.

Emerald and Mercury grinned as Yang departed.

"Think we got time for one more?" Mercury asked.

Emerald nodded. "A quick one. Blake's nearly at her destination, but she'll probably wait a bit."

She smirked, "Let's get Arc in position."

"Didn't Hazel want to kill him?"

She shrugged as she focused on Jaune. "We'll tell Watt's to subdue and capture, not kill."

"~Jaune~."

Jaune stirred slowly and looked up. He quickly rose as Pyrrha stood before him.

"~I've missed you, Jaune~."

Jaune rose to his feet slowly as he regarded his deceased partner. "Is this a dream?"

"~I need you. Come with me. Please. ~"

Jaune slapped himself, then closed his eyes tightly, and breathed deeply. "You're not here."

"~I am here. Follow me. ~"

Jaune opened his eyes. There was a fire in his eyes. "No, you're not."

He drew his gun and fired three shots through the apparition, smirking as he heard a yelp.

"Since when does he carry a gun?!"

"Please tell me at least one of those hit you!" Jaune shouted into the darkness as the rest of Team RNJR rose.

"What's going on?" Nora looked around frantically.

"Emerald." Jaune responded, "I think she and Mercury were trying to lure me away from the camp."

"Guys." Ren looked around quickly. "Where are the other three?"

Blake jumped when she heard three shots back at camp, but paused when she heard a sound behind her.

"Adam?"

The figure that emerged was not Adam. It looked like one of the old Atlesian Knight models, but with more fluid motions.

"TARGET ACQUIRED."

Blake barely had time to react as the bot rushed her, bladed arms aimed right for her throat. Blake quickly moved to put some distance between her and the enemy. She fired Gambol Shroud, but the enemy evaded, continuing to close the distance. The cat-girl deflected a blow but noticed too late that the machine's other hand turned into a minigun, which fired on her point-blank. Her aura took the impact, but she felt herself becoming frightened. She'd fought through armies of Atlesian Knights, and none of them had ever landed a blow on her before.

She weaved around the machine, striking it in the back. The metal dented and cracked but didn't break. It was made of sturdier material than even the newest models.

The machine turned again, more fluidly and quickly than any other mech she'd seen. She only had a few moments to throw up a shadow to take the hit as she got some distance.

She leaped up into a tree and got herself out of the enemy's line of sight. She placed herself above the enemy, then dropped Gambol shroud in its Kusarigama form around the bots neck, and dropped down the other side of the branch, lifting the bot off the ground. As it dangled, she drew her sheath and severed the bots head.

"COMBAT DATA ANALYZED"

Two voices spoke this time as two new bots appeared. Blake leaped up into the tree again, only to find the tree beginning to topple as one of the bots cut it down. She got down just in time to keep from being crushed. The bots were on her immediately.

"It can't be," Weiss muttered as she distanced herself from her opponent. She'd assumed it was a simple Atlesian Knight, but it was far sturdier and more agile.

She shook herself from her thoughts. She'd need some help. She summoned her Arma Gigas, and together, they quickly cut down the enemy.

"COMBAT DATA ANALYZED"

Two more bots rushed out, focusing on her summons, shattering it.

Weiss paled, "That project was scrapped!"

Yang and her opponent danced around each other. These bots usually just advanced and attacked, but this one was different.

"That's fine." Yang shrugged, "I've been learning caution myself."

She fired off several shots, most of which her opponent blocked, before advancing closer and scratching her. She dove away, firing into the machines back, which turned and fired at her swiftly. She continued to evade, then moved in and delivered two swift blows to its head, the second blow knocking it off.

"COMBAT DATA ANALYZED"

Yang barely had time to turn as two more bots assaulted her. These didn't bother with caution. They were swarming her.

Team RNJR jumped as the sounds of battle sounded off in three opposite directions around them.

"They're under attack!" Ruby pulled her scroll and saw all three of her former teammate's Auras rapidly approaching the orange. "We need to help them!"

Ren nodded. "Someone will have to keep Emerald and Mercury busy."

"I can take care of that." Jaune supplied.

"Let's do it!" Nora cheered as she and Ren headed towards the nearer sounds of battle.

"Jaune…" Ruby turned to her friend with concern "If you get into trouble-"

"I'll let Ozpin take over." Jaune shot her a reassuring smile, "I promise."

As she departed, he equipped his shield and gun in his left arm and Crocea Mors in his right, taking another breath. "I don't know what annoys me more. That you tried to use my dead partner against me, or that you thought I was dumb enough to buy it."

He fired three shots behind himself, and Mercury appeared when one bullet grazed his shoulder.

"Are you kidding me, Emerald?!" The annoyed assassin ran at Jaune while berating his ally. "Dude's had eight months! He watched her die! He's well past the denial stage!"

Jaune blocked Mercury's kicks and drove him back with a blow to the midsection. He winced as a series of shots struck his back, and rolled away, turning and slashing her arm. He backed up and faced the two opponents. He breathed in through his mouth and readied himself.

"Looks like someone's been drinking his juice," Emerald muttered as the three squared off.

Blake panted in exhaustion as she surveyed the remains of her opponents. The two bots had shattered her cover and forced her on the offensive. Her aura was well into the red, but at least she'd won.

"COMBAT DATA ANALYZED."

She paled as three more droids emerged and prepared their assault, only for multiple shots to damage one severely. Ruby appeared in front of the three droids, then sped away as they fired, decapitating the one she'd previously damaged. The other two had anticipated this and fired on where she would be, but only landed one blow before she was on the second, which managed to deflect a few of her attacks. At the same time, it's ally landed a few more hits from afar, but the second one only lasted 15 seconds. Ruby then sped around the third in a whirlwind, shredding it in moments.

"Are you okay, Blake?"

Blake looked around for a moment, expecting more enemies to appear, but was relieved when they didn't. "Yeah, thanks for your help, Ruby."

The girl nodded and started jogging back. "We should get back. Jaune's fighting Emerald and Mercury, and he might need our help."

"By himself?"

"Yeah, but he's gotten a lot better, and his semblance is awesome!" Ruby started jogging backward and talking excitedly as the two ran back to the camp. "His aim needs work, though."

"Wait, since when does Jaune use a gun?"

Weiss began planning her escape when a series of bullets riddled one of her three opponents, drawing the attention of the other two. Ren arrived and dug one of his blades into the gun arm of one of the droids, redirecting it at its ally, distracting it long enough to cleave it's head off with the edge of his other gun. The remaining bot cut Ren in the face twice, but he tore it's arm off and delivered a flurry of kicks to its skull, knocking it off.

When it became clear that no more enemies would arrive, Weiss quickly looked at her scroll. Yang and Blakes Aura's were also in the red but seemed stable, while Ren, Nora, and Rubys Aura's were lower but still in the green. She noticed Jaune's aura seemed to be taking damage and heard fighting back at the camp.

"Is Jaune fighting by himself?!"

"It's fine." Ren shrugged as he began walking back to camp. "Ozpin won't let anything happen to his host."

Weiss frowned at the apparent venom when he said "host," but decided not to press the matter and head back.

Yang felt her heart sink as three more droids approached her. Her aura was nearly gone, and she'd used her semblance already.

The area suddenly filled with smoke and debris as several grenades landed in the area. The bots looked around in confusion before Nora's mighty hammer shattered one. She retreated into the smoke as fire rained down at her, then emerged moments later to strike the second. She rushed the third, ignoring the bullets she took as she flattened it.

"You alright?"

Yang nodded, "Yeah, thanks for the assist.

"Let's get back to the camp. Jaune might need our help."

"Was it smart to leave him by himself?"

Nora smiled. "Yeah, but he's got a gun, his semblance, and Ozpin to back him up if he gets in trouble."

"Wait, since when does he have a gun?"

"Just die already!" Mercury snarled viciously at Jaune.

Mercury and Emerald were growing more and more furious. Not only were they being held back by Jaune Arc of all people, the joke of Beacon, not only had he driven their aura's into the orange, but his aura hadn't even flickered yet. They'd landed their fair share of blows, but he didn't seem fazed at all by it!

"Time to go, children."

Emerald growled at Watt's voice in her ear. "We can take him."

"Can you take him in 30 seconds with half your aura gone?"

The two assassins sent Jaune hostile glances before they both suddenly vanished. Jaune breathed in, trying to feel their aura, but found them quickly retreating, while others were getting closer.

"Jaune!" Nora emerged into the clearing, tailed by Yang, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. They fell back. Must've known you were coming."

Yang looked at the aura meters and was surprised to find Jaune's just barely in the yellow.

"You held off Emerald AND Mercury by yourself?"

"I think they underestimated me. And my semblance was a big help."

They were interrupted by the sound of Ruby chatting animatedly to Blake, "I swear if he were leading a group of aura users against another group of aura users, he'd be unstoppable!"

Jaune smiled and chimed in, "And I keep telling you, that would require way too much concentration, and paint a giant bulls-eye on my back!"

"Sounds like you've already got a couple of those," Weiss remarked as she entered the clearing.

"Is everyone okay?" Ruby asked as she looked around at everyone.

"Just some bruised egos," Weiss surmised, stopping as she saw Jaune holster his gun.

"Since when do you carry a gun?"

Oh, and some quick responses to some of the guest comments we got recently:

ParadoxReader Feb20: Jaune didn't improve for Pyrrha's benefit. He had his own goals and objectives outside of "because Pyrrha believes in me" (even if wasting Pyrrha's time does make the show's treatment of him even disappointing). Sometimes training just isn't enough. Arkos shippers who only care about Pyrrha and keep coming up with implausible ways to bring her back are why I now hate the ship with a fiery passion. I already discussed most of the reasons why she died anyway in this, but the main one is that she was too perfect (that's why I painted her as an actual badass).

Guest with a lot of ideas Feb22: I know there are theories, and I have one of my own, but the point is, the show was extraordinarily lax and lazy with aura in the first three Volumes, and it was to the detriment of the show.

Joke characters that you aren't supposed to take seriously and are thrown aside when it's convenient don't have unresolved arcs (even if the writers forget about them. Jaune was an audience surrogate and (if not a fifth main character) a subplot character with his own story and arc until the writers chickened out because the noisy fans didn't like him. Killing him off would send the message that you have to be an elite to improve, and you should know your station (read my fic "Everyman" for how painful that feels). There are at least ten other characters they should get rid of (or not bring back) before Jaune if they're looking to thin the herd (Oscar, Qrow, Ironwood, the remaining Ace Ops, Winter, CFVY, Robin Hill.) Hell, I would put a baby in ReNora and have them take early retirement before I'd get rid of Jaune. The JNPR death theory is stupid.