Hours…
It took several hours into the night for Nico to take all the notes on Jae; his Semblance, each Style, all of what he could do with each weapon and where he got them from. "Alrighty Jae, let's do one last test on Mezzalom then we'll call it done!" She called out from her worktable; Once she saw him summon up his saber Titan Fang from nowhere, she locked herself into a hyper fixated state and hadn't intended for him to leave until she understood every aspect of what made his Semblance work and how his Demon heritage affected it.
"You promise this is the last one?" Jae asked as he summoned up the twin knives in his hands and twirled them around; Since he took the chance to practice with them while going through the weapons. These knives proved to be a lot more versatile than any other weapon in his arsenal; while he utilised the knives aspect of Mezzalom, he was able to take down a number of the dummies and "vintage" training robots that Nico used for practice, though he also had the longer ranged side to the weapons in his hands; by using the cables that attached the pommels of his knives to the wristbands, Jae was able to swing the knives around with a wider radius with the speed of a whip and the dexterity of a rope dart.
"Sure do, now run the obstacle course!" Nico barked like a drill sergeant as she watched Jae rush towards the swinging pillars and moved between them.
"Trish said he came across these weapons just this afternoon yet he can wield them like he had picked them up from the day he could walk…" Nico mused to herself as she was writing up a storm and even managed to sketch out some diagrams of Jae mid movement while he swung through the obstacles like he was Tarzan.
After he crossed the endpoint; Jae heard a click as Lady stopped the time on a stopwatch; "Gotta say, this new weapon of yours got you through in record time." Lady complimented as Nico walked over.
"So…Regarding each of your abilities; I've been able to come up with the right plan to train you up between Lady and Trish….Though I kinda got a little caught up on stuff and forgot about your gun." Nico mentioned with an embarrassed laugh; "But don't you worry, I'll get it looked at tonight while I can come up with something to tide you over." She would assure him as she lightly nudged him out of the workshop; "Now get on off to sleep, you and your team have a busy schedule tomorrow~"
As soon as the door closed with Jae leaving for his quarters, Lady figured she'd take the time to check in; "So...What's the story on the wonder-kid?" She asked Nico as the mechanic sat behind her worktop and grabbed her tools. "Because from what I saw, he's pretty good."
"Oh it's much more than that, this kid's a literal wiz with those weapons of his." Nico mentioned bluntly; "So far from what he's told me and with what Trish mentioned about that last piece of gear in his set; The kid's a prodigy when it comes to picking up a weapon and wielding it efficiently…Dare I say even more so than most adult huntsmen." She explained as she started taking apart Rebuttal piece by piece.
"You're really tooting the guy's horn…Though how much can that be attributed to his Demon side?" Lady asked curiously. "Because I'm not so sure that Instant Mastery is a Demon's trait."
"Nope, he's got Style…But I can recognise the difference between a natural prodigy and a trained one…He seems to be the latter, I'll leave it at that considering what your own pops did with you." Nico pointed out as she focused on examining the disassembled gun.
"Oh…THAT kind of training…I can't say I blame him for being a little sceptical about opening up to us, most other people who think they're Demons or have a natural edge because of their predecessors tend to blab about it a lot." Lady mentioned as she headed out; "I'll be going, from what Trish told me; there's a herd of Beringel that she wants me to track."
——Back in the bunkhouse——
"They're Demons?" Pyrrha asked as she and the others listened to Jae explain about what they had in mind for the group.
"Yeah, they said that they were part of the reason why Ozpin sent us here." Jae mentioned as he sat on his bunk; "Though Trish did say that we'd still all be trained up on stuff here, but that I'd benefit from some learning with like minded people."
"So that's the reason why we got put here? So you could train here while we idle about?" Ren asked in confusion since he was unsure why all of them had to go here in the first place now that he knew this.
"Actually, the ladies told me that you guys were incredible back when we fought the Lancers; Trish herself said that we managed to exceed her expectations and that rather then teach us what we already know, they could help train us up physically and get us used to working as a legit team rather then winging it." Jae explained; "Plus if what we dealt with at the beginning was any indicator; we can DEFINITELY improve while we're here."
"Jae does make a good point, we can actually learn how to work as an actual team of Hunters rather than just being reactive." Pyrrha agreed since she could see beyond what Ozpin had in mind for Jae.
"Though I saw you guys at the dance, you two sure that you can control yourselves now that you've actually come clean about how you feel?" Nora said to tease the two of them and had a smug grin on her face when she saw both Jae and Pyrrha go a bright red.
"N-Nora!"
"You know me better than that…Besides, are you really sure you're one to talk since you still have t-" Jae smirked as he was about to retort but was quickly shut up.
"YES! ABSOLUTELY! THANK YOU JAE!" Nora yelled out to drown out what her leader was saying while covering his mouth with her hand.
Pyrrha laughed a little as she watched Jae and Nora bickering and trying to get one over on each other.
"Alright, let's try to get some sleep at least…If what Jae said is true then we've got a lot of work tomorrow." Ren mentioned as he climbed into bed.
The two finally stopped their argument and decided to retire as well, the moon in all of it's broken glory shimmered in the night sky.
—Morning—
When Jae started to wake up in the morning, he groaned a little as he felt a weight on top of him in his bunk; Once he was able to unblur his eyes, he felt himself stifling down a yelp of surprise when he saw a mane of deep red hair draped over his chest. He had been wondering why he had a dream of someone wrapped around him like a coiled snake, though instead of feeling fearful like he did when someone would hold on to him like this; he felt safe and more at peace than he had ever felt before.
"nn…" A soft voice could be heard as Pyrrha gently snuggled herself in closer; the warmth of Jae's body and the feel of his firm muscles combined with the slow, steady beat of his heart made it almost too addicting for her to pull away now and held on; "Just a little…More…" Pyrrha quietly and almost poutily mumbled in her sleep as she held on to her human sized "teddy bear"
Ordinarily, Jae would have welcomed the excuse to get some extra sleep following the amount of drilling that Nico had him do. Unfortunately in this particular case he had a number of things to start worrying about; the first was that Nora would wake up and see them like this then he'd never hear the end of it. The second was that Trish walked in on them as a pre-emptive wake up call, something like that'd give off the wrong impression and he wanted to prove he was capable. The last thing was that regardless of if he was a Demon or a Huntsman in training; The horrific temptress that was teenage hormones had started to kick in and Pyrrha's muscular, almost divinely beautiful body rubbing up against him in her sleep was as much a nightmare as it was a dream come true for most, the fact that she had packed light and was currently wearing a white vest and a pair of shorts was far from helping either.
Pyrrha however managed to wake herself up and lifted her head to peer up at Jae who she had sprawled herself over. "Uh….Morning?" She said with a nervous yet still somewhat content smile on her face, "I couldn't really sleep all that well and…You were kind of squirming about in your's so I figured I'd help a little." She admitted with a faint blush in her cheeks despite the fact that she hadn't moved from straddling him.
Jae was about to say something to Pyrrha but before he could even formulate his addled thoughts; There was a loud banging from outside as Trish rapped on the door for them.
"WAKE IT UP, BUTTERCUPS! YOU'VE GOT WORK TO DO!" Trish barked at them from behind the door; "Meet at the townhouse and we'll talk more on what you're doing today."
"Well, so much for sleeping…in?" Nora grumbled but froze in surprise when she saw Pyrrha on top of Jae and then grew a smile that got wider and wider.
"Uh…." Jae started to try explain themselves but he couldn't find any way to justify it though all it earned him was a thumbs up from Ren as the four of them went to the washrooms to change to their working outfits.
—Meanwhile with Nora and Pyrrha—
"So, you move fast, don't you?" Nora teased Pyrrha with a smug look on her face as she pulled her shirt on.
"I-It wasn't like that…I just…Saw him having a bad dream and I felt…the urge to comfort him." Pyrrha admitted shyly as she tugged on her heeled boots; "Besides, it's not like you don't ever have thoughts like that."
"Oh I do~" Nora remarked without an ounce of hesitation; "But I don't think I've ever done it to the extent that you did~" She added with a further lilt; "Besides, you've literally got nothing to be ashamed of at this point. You've already admitted you like him and I can tell he likes you too…The only thing left for you guys to do is to fu-"
"NORA!" Pyrrha yelled out with a deep crimson blush in her cheeks, admittedly she did have "Those" kinds of thoughts about him when she had her alone times but she still considered the time and the place.
"Well, I can't really blame you…He's a great guy, even Ren likes him a fair amount enough to deal with him more than anyone else at school." Nora mentioned and smiled to reassure her.
"Y-Yes…But once we're back at Beacon…We have work to do here first of all." Pyrrha decided to agree with Nora at this rate; "Though I am going to be doing this with a locked door and her out of the way….Because Gods damn it, this little brat is a tease beyond compare…" She thought to herself since being stuck in close proximity with everyone made it had to slip away for her...Alone Time.
By the time the others were finished, they headed towards the town house where Trish said for them to meet. However unbeknownst to the Team; there seemed to be a peculiar black bird watching them from the treeline, or rather it seemed to be watching Jae intently before flying off. "So…This kid's one of the new pet projects? There is something about him, I'll admit…But if he finds out just how much he's really worth, what's to stop him from running to Salem if she offers him a better deal?"
——At the Town House——
"Well, look at that…Record time to show up, you're already more promising than most people who come all the way out here." Trish teased them a little as she sat on her desk with a nail file.
"So, what's the mission today?" Pyrrha asked curiously and looked to see Lady with her gun Kalina Ann plus Nico with a bundle in her arms.
"Today, you'll be patrolling the borders with Lady…We got word that there's a nesting ground of Beringels nearby from a local trader, ordinarily we'd steer clear of them but they've decided to set up their home nearby one of the only ways to get through by cart." Trish explained as she tapped her scroll to bring up a diagram of a Beringel; "So, pop quiz kids, what makes these guys so dangerous?"
"They tend to act like normal gorillas?"
"They're crazy strong?"
"Extremely territorial even for a Grimm?"
"You're correct on all fronts, kids…I'm impressed, good to see that you're listening in class." Lady remarked sarcastically as she headed for the door and gestured for them to follow.
"Hold it!" Nico yelled to Jae as she rushed over with the bundle; "The gun you gave me is still being examined and repaired so take this for the time bein'" She explained before pushing the bundle into Jae's arms; "It's an investment on my "Side Project"…So plus side I get details on how this thing does with it's mix and downside is that it's one of a kind so try not to break it."
Jae unwrapped it and was rather surprised; it looked like a typical sawed off shotgun however the different with this weapon was that there was a very faint decorative engraving along the metal chambers that seemed to glimmer red in the light; "A shotgun?" He asked as he examined it carefully.
"Oh-ho-ho~ this ain't your typical buckslinger, This is Coyote! I built it from the scraps of that ore I dug up, it isn't as pure as the other stuff I told ya about so it took me a ton of effort, plus a few number of yellings from Trish before I could get enough of the Fire-Dust lined Ore to make this." Nico explained with her usual manic grin; "You can use this while I'm putting your little shooter back together."
Trish nodded in agreement; "I gave up after a while when she wouldn't stop…Kept saying that this kind of gun was gonna make waves so I just made it clear she doesn't go in alone to get the ore she needed." She explained; "Even then this was top surface stuff so the Dust mixed in with this ore is a minor boost but it'll do the trick."
"Well, I'll make sure to take notes and see what I can come back with." He promised to the two as he walked out to join the others after pocketing the shotgun.
With the two now alone, Nico turned to Trish; "Y'know…He did say he was willing to help out, if he and Lady come along with me then maybe I can get the higher grade stuff…That alone co-"
"Nico, I told you no! We still need to get the measure of his physical ability and what he can really do, even then it's too dangerous for you AND Lady on your own…What makes you think that I'm gonna send a kid to go down into a literal suicide maze?!" Trish argued the point, while she was all for getting Jae tested the best he can; throwing him into a literal pit of monsters was dangerous even for seasoned Huntsmen and Huntresses.
"Well, get him in a ring with you…I've seen him in action with his weapons and he gets surprisingly efficient." Nico insisted as she shut the door and headed back to her workshop.
——Outside the borders of Onigarashi——
"So what's it do?" Nora asked as she could see the shotgun hanging on Jae's belt. "It's not the same as your other gun but at least you got options."
"Nico said it was fire Dust boosted so I'm assuming it's got Fire buckshot or something." Jae mused as he followed alongside the others after catching up. Admittedly he did want to try and help with the mountain stuff for two reasons; The first was that he sided with Nico about the higher grade ore there in the deeper parts of the mountain could make a difference, the second being that he wanted the challenge and to see what he could actually do with his new abilities.
"Alright, everyone…Time to focus up! We've got ourselves a visitor." Lady arked as she readied her bazooka and gestured for the others to do the same; The sound of a monstrous roar echoes through the woodlands and the creaking of a tree crashing to the ground heralded the approach of a Beringel.
The hulking Gorilla Grimm could feel the presence of some new beings encroaching on it's territory; it saw the five of them but oddly enough, it's gaze was squared solely on Jae since it could tell that something was inherently threatening to it… Something familiar.
"Stay on guard…Even when defensive, a Beringel is a dangerous monster…" Lady whispered to them as she kept a watch on the ape.
Jae cautiously summoned up Behemoth and made sure that it was the size of a carpenter's hammer to hide it from view; "Lady, you got something to pull it in?" He whispered to her as he noticed the Beringel eyeballing him.
"I have a grappling bayonet on the gun…What's your suggestion?" Lady whispered back as Jae cautiously laid out his plan for the others.
Lady nodded as she readied Kalina Ann and aimed it at the Gorilla before shooting the grappling line at it's chest before her and Jae yanked it towards them with a sharp heave.
With the Beringel getting jerked forward towards Jae and roaring menacingly, the Grimm was ready to pummel the annoying presence that infuriated it to no end; "KILL! CRUSH! SMOTHER BUG!"
"NOW! Split up and take the others!" Lady yelled to Nora, Ren and Pyrrha as two more of the Beringels came out.
Pyrrha was the first one to take her's down as she nailed it with several well placed rifle shots and then a javelin throw in the head.
Nora used Magnhild to knock their Grimm off it's feet and Ren doubled up to pepper it with a barrage of bullets as it toppled to the ground, finally poofing into a pile of smoke when Nora gave it her patented "Smash!".
Jae would rush forward and cocked the shotgun that Nico gave him; "Here goes!" He warned and then pulled the trigger. The sudden flash of red Dust on the barrel of the shotgun lit up followed by a FWOOSH! as the Fire Dust inside the shotgun ignited the blast that Jae himself had to brace for.
"Ho…ly….Shit Nico, how much Dust did you pack in that thing?" Lady asked out loud as the Beringel's entire upper right half vanished from head to ribs.
"I think the better question is if she's sure that she gave me the weaker version." Jae quipped and saw the injured Beringel rearing up with a howl. "No, you don't!" He smirked and then aimed another shot at the Beringel's body, knocking it down for good.
"Trish might have her sour grapes about going into that mountain but I think Nico's on to something." Lady remarked as she watched Jae steady himself; "Stay sharp though, The Alpha might still be around if they travel in groups." She warned the others as they got their bearings.
And right on cue with her words; A larger Beringel smashed through one of the toppled trees, if there was any indicator that this titan of a Grimm was an Alpha then it wasn't subtle. It was twice as big as the Beringels were and it's head was almost a full skull plate with the exception of a few jutting horns on the sides of it's heavily scarred mask.
"That's an Alpha…No doubt…" Jae thought as he readied the shotgun again; "It's a 4 on 1 so we should be able to give it the runaround."
"Nope." Lady had an epiphany; "You guys handled bugs easy enough now show me how you can deal with a Grimm that is definitely bigger and stronger than you." She decided to challenge them; "I think that considering all you are then it shouldn't be too hard." Lady mentioned as she sat on a stump but kept Kalina-Ann nearby in case things got out of hand.
"THAT'S-"
"Grimm first, then complain after!" Jae snapped to focus them up as he summoned up Behemoth; "Let's split things up and give it more targets."
"Jae, that thing will squish us if it catches us…" Ren pointed out as he kept Stormflower trained on the Grimm.
"Which is why we keep moving and spread out, it's big but it's also a big ape…It's only a problem if it catches you." Jae mentioned as he made Behemoth even bigger and twirled it in his hand; "Pyrrha! Ren! CHLORIS!" He called out to Nora for a team attack as the two rushed forward.
Pyrrha nodded to Ren as the two circled the Beringel and started to open fire on it; it may have been the equivalent of bee stings to the Gorilla but it was still annoying enough to divert attention. The redhead's rifle managing to graze it's face while Ren's pistols managed to pepper at the Beringel's chest
With Nora sidestepping to the right and Jae jumping to the left, the two set up their own Team Attack; "Nora! RAIJIN!" Jae roared as he swung Behemoth forward and crashed into the Grimm's chest while Nora's lower swinging hammer made contact with it's abdomen.
Lady watched in awe as the team dashed about seamlessly and even lowered her orange glasses when she saw both powerhouses floor the Beringel Alpha with nothing but hammers. "This is insane…I don't think I've seen a team of Huntsmen work this well together let alone a bunch of kids…Then again, they don't seem worried about Jae so either they know he's a Demon or they believe in him that much."
"It's down!" Ren proclaimed as he watched his leader retract Behemoth and then summoned up Fenrir. "Make it count!"
"Alright Pyrrha, IPPON DATARA!" Jae yelled out as he aimed the spear and Pyrrha did the same. "Nora, get ready for Arm Day!" He warned her as he and Pyrrha threw their spears and hit the Beringel in the shoulders with a howl of pain.
Nora quickly jumped in and grabbed the two spears in each hand before lifting them up to hold the Grimm back for a brief moment; "Better hurry! This sucker's heavy!" Nora groaned as she felt her arms shake a little.
"GUNSLINGER!" Jae said and twirled the shotgun; "Let's finish it!" He thought to himself as he flipped over Nora and aimed the now fully charged shotgun's muzzle under the Alpha's chin.
KAFWOOSH!
The sound of a flame quickly igniting caught the Beringel head on and incinerated under the burning shot that Jae launched into it. The bright crimson fire quickly rendered the Grimm into a pile of red and black smoke as it fell backward. "They…They did it…" Lady thought to herself as she watched this Grimm that could easily take out an inexperienced Team of Huntsmen fall to a group of kids. "Yeah, this kid's DEFINITELY a powerful one…"
Jae fell forward as the energy left him and the Coyote quickly lost it's glowing red luster; "That…That was a lot of switching….You guys okay?" He asked as he sat up and saw the Grimm falling apart; "Damn….Remind me to get Nico on speed-dial."
"That was crazy! We actually did it…." Ren was still bemused that they pulled it off. "Though wouldn't the better question be "Are YOU okay?" since you know…You blew a giant Gorilla Grimm's head off with a shotgun that could turn a tree into a barbecue…" He asked as he used his shoulder to help Jae up.
"Oooh, What's THIS weapon gonna be? A Muscle suit? A Hammer with fists?! Maybe a-"
"Nora, maybe we should let Jae recover first before he does anything else." Pyrrha mentioned as she caught a brief glimpse of a white light entering Jae's arm and noticed the upper half of the Beringel altering his marking to look like it was holding the sword point down.
Jae mouthed a "Thank you" before Lady started walking over. "So was that any good?"
"You know…In all honesty, I was half expecting you to predict the threat and retreat." Lady mentioned bluntly; "Not that you'd fail if you did, the other part of being a Huntsman or a Huntress is to understand the danger and react accordingly…Rushing in head on is an admirable thing but it's also one of the things that kills a less than cautious Hunter."
The four mused on this and quickly realised that maybe backing down was a better option since it meant Jae wouldn't be as worn out and they wouldn't have fought it after taking on other similar Grimm. "Well, I suppose if you put it like that…" Pyrrha mentioned as she seemed to be understand the lesson a little more than Jae did.
"But pushing our limits is what helps us improve, doesn't it? Surely it would have been worth the risk if we feel confident enough to try." Pyrrha mentioned; "We had the weapons and the teamwork to keep it too distracted to attack."
"That is also true." Lady admitted as she pat their backs as a well done; "All I ask is that you take risks into consideration for the future." She finished as they moved on.
——Hours later——
Jae had finished with the patrols and had returned to the workshop to return the shotgun that Nico lent him. "Thanks for the borrow, this thing really pulled through."
Nico grinned as she took it back; "So, how'd it feel to use a gun that's practically tailor made to you?" She asked curiously as she cleaned up her worktop.
"Oddly enough, it felt natural….Like it was a gun I've used for ages." Jae mentioned as he saw Nico placing the now repaired Rebuttal in front of him; "How much for the repairs?"
"Eh, consider it on the house this time." Nico waved it off; "Though I should give you fair warning; That Gunslinger style of your's with the Charge Shots? I'd advise on not overdoin' it with a gun like that." She said with every hint of seriousness.
"But this gun was a specially made one that could handle heavy duty stuff…Can't it?" Jae asked as he looked over the heavy hand cannon and noticed that the scuff marks around the hammer was still there despite the cleaning.
"Mhm, that gun right there is a Vale made .50 calibre Peacemaker with a barrel custom made for Dust rounds of different intensities….Normally they fit these bad boys on the Atlesian Robots that they parade around for security since a shot from the regular barrel is enough to dislocate someone's arm." Nico explained as she pointed out the scuff marks; "True, this thing can take some pretty hefty shots but if I remember right; There was a Demon in the past named Nero who used a similar gun to you who could charge his shots too…Damn thing broke after too many and left him open to the Demon Hunters and the Grimm." She elaborated; "I'd say limit your Charge shots to two a day, anything more would blast the barrel apart or smash the firing hammer to shit."
"Huh…I guess that kinda makes sense…" Jae nodded along as he holstered his gun; "So about this Mountain stuff…What can I do to convince Trish to let me help?" He asked though he looked a little concerned when he saw Nico's grin extend all the way across her face.
——A Couple of Nights Later——
"I still can't believe you convinced me to do this! The both of you are crazy!" Lady said in a harsh whisper as they walked through the night.
"Oh hush…You're itching to look at it too…Plus I heard the way you talked about Jae while he started fightin' back against Trish in their spars." Nico snarked as they ducked under the low branches. "He's been improving and he's done more than just get better at dodging Trish's Bare Knuckle."
"You know I wouldn't ask if I didn't think I could do it…If it helps you guys out then I'll do what I can." Jae reinforced as he shook in excitement.
"This might be a Grimm hunt but keep sharp kid, if that Alpha you fought earlier was any indicator then that cave is gonna really put you through your paces…" That same voice would warn him as they reached an open mouth to the mountain that was blocked off by a boulder.
"Looks like Trish thought ahead to try stoppin' the grimm getting out." Nico mentioned as she saw the dirt that got dragged up.
"Alright kid, this is the point of no return so I'll tell you this now; If you go in there then you're on your own while I guard Nico in case Grimm come out in the dark. Secondly; Keep. Regular. Contact! If you have trouble in there then tell me and I'll come get you, this is so that you can warn us for anything…And finally, if you feel like you're in too deep or you find something dangerous, get the hell out of there…Last thing we want is for you to get hurt or worse." Lady barked out her orders to Jae as he nodded with each point she made.
"One note from me; The Ore's a side project at best so if you find anymore of that Dust-ore then gather as much as you can, the deeper in means the higher purity and the better the mix…But you come first so don't risk yourself if you can afford it." Nico mentioned as they watched Jae walk over to the boulder.
With a loud heave and a lot of pushing, Jae managed to roll the boulder out of the way with a much easier effort then if he had tried it before; "Thank Gods for Trish hammering in the training…I think I might be able to do this…."
"You've trained up hard since you guys came here…Make sure you come back in one piece kid." Lady offered one last piece of encouragement.
"You make it out of this with an ore of high enough purity and I'll make sure to try whipping ya up somethin' good." Nico added an extra reward as Jae wandered into the mouth of the mountain and vanished into the Darkness.
"And now…We wait…"