RWBY belongs to Roosterteeth

Dedicated to Monty Oum

Jaune was having a very pleasant dream about snowflakes and cereal until a very loud and abrupt noise shook his whole house. The blonde knight sat upright immediately and rushed to his window to see what was going on.

In his very own backyard stood Nora and Yang going toe to toe, Nora fired off several grenades from her launcher and Yang was meeting each grenade with a shotgun blast. Each collision caused an explosion that shook the earth, and the house. The grass was charred and on fire. Jaune clutched his hair and nearly yanked out of his skull in sheer panic. He raced out of his room and down the steps. He grabbed his hoodie from the coat rack he had put it on yesterday and raced outside and onto his porch. He noticed that everyone besides him had already gotten up and was standing there cheering on the spectacle.

'NO NO NO NO. YOU CAN NOT DO THAT HERE. DID ANYONE TELL THEM THAT THEY CAN'T DO THAT?'

"Hey quit blowing up my backyard!" Jaune shouted in an attempt to be heard over the explosions. Nora and Yang either didn't hear him or just decided to ignore him.

'Dad's gonna be PISSED when he sees this! I can't let him murder my friends on the first day!'

Jaune had to think fast but his thoughts were constantly interrupted by the loud explosions going off every second.

"Would you two stop already?!" Jaune slammed his hands down on the lawn and pumped aura into the earth. The grass started to turn green again and began to grow at a rapid pace. He willed his aura towards Yang and Nora causing large blades of grass to wrap around their legs. Finally he willed his aura to the side and caused the grass to trip the two deadly women. Unfortunately that caused Nora to flail her gun around wildly and fire a stray shot in Jaune's direction. The grenade was shot and exploded in midair thanks to Ruby's quick thinking and quick hands.

The explosion was close enough to deafen Jaune and set part of his porch on fire.

"Hey Jaune you should be more careful!" Ruby shouted cheerfully as she skipped towards the blonde knight.

"WHAT?!" He yelled back.

"I said you should be-"

"WHAT?!"

"I said-"

"WHAT?!"

"…Nevermind"

"…WHAT?!"

"YOU'RE PORCH IS ON FIRE!" Ruby shouted and pointed to the quickly spreading flames.

"OH NO MY PORCH IS ON FIRE!" Jaune shouted, still not being able to hear anything. "WEISS PUT IT OUT WITH YOUR ICE COLD PERSONALITY!"

"Quit yelling!" Weiss pulled out Myrtenaster and launched ice crystals towards the flame. Unfortunately Jaune was also caught in the blast and was frozen solid.

"You accidently hit Jaune too." Ruby pointed out dejectedly.

"No, I did that on purpose." Weiss said nonchalantly.

"I thought so." Ruby sighed.

"Did you really think I would let him get away with that joke?" Weiss scoffed.

"No."

"Alright kiddies, playtime is over." Troy spoke nonchalantly as he exited his home and stood beside his son on the porch. Attached to his hand was a thick mechanical gauntlet.

"What's that?" asked Weiss.

"This is a flame gauntlet. One of the many weapons I've invented over the years."

"Can I take a look at it?!" Ruby squeaked.

"No. I need it to thaw out my son." Troy lifted the gauntlet and pressed a button on the side of it. A tiny barrel attached to a hose that spewed gasoline popped out of the wrist and small flames erupted from each of the knuckles. Troy took aim at Jaune and was about to fire.

"Wait" interrupted Blake. "Wouldn't going from extreme cold to extreme heat be deadly-"

"JUST BLAZE!" Troy shouted. A stream of flames flew from the gauntlet and coated the ice incased boy in fire.

After a couple of minutes Troy opened his hand and a huge puff of air shot out from his palm. The air blew out the flames instantly. Jaune stood there shivering and wet.

"Now to warm you with my bosom." Troy said blankly and spread his arms out towards his son.

"D-D-D-Dad n-n-no" Jaune chittered and backed away.

Troy turned towards the rest of the group, a look of defeat on his face. "Remember kids if you ever mess with fire, make sure to have a backup plan just in case you lose control." Troy spoke whimsically. "Otherwise you might set half the forest on fire."

"Who would let loose an uncontrolled flame in the forest-" Weiss started.

"Not everyone is as smart as you Ice Queen!" Troy interrupted.

"…"

"Gear up. We leave in twenty minutes."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll find out in twenty minutes." Troy walked back inside the house, leaving the group of friends in silence.

"…So Nora where were we?" Yang said a wide smirk on her face.

"NO!" Jaune shouted.

…..

After twenty minutes Troy came back outside with several large backpacks full of supplies. He threw one to each of the huntsman and huntresses in training.

"You'll need these. Make sure to ration out the food because I have no idea when we'll be back." Troy said seriously.

"Will you tell us where we're going now?" Weiss asked.

"We are going into that forest." Troy pointed to the forest that bordered his backyard. The brush was thick all around and nothing more could be seen of the forest. "There are a few things you should know before we go though."

"Like what?" asked Yang.

"This forest has the name 'The Great Devourer' and it was given that name for a reason. Whatever enters that forest is at risk of being consumed by it. You'll basically be going up against nature."

"Well that would be just our luck." Jaune sighed.

"That's not all though. The forest also adapts and can change based on what it's consumed. It's eaten Grim, animals, humans, and even vehicles so it's going to be pretty crazy. The last time I was in this forest it almost killed me."

"Like when you were a boy?" Jaune asked hopefully.

"Last week." Troy said firmly.

"Oh god."

"The forest changes constantly and it even shifts so the chances that we lose each other are high. If we should get separated then we rendezvous out our goal, the heart of the forest." Troy said.

"How will we know where the heart is?" Blake asked.

"The area surrounding the center is constantly shifting but the center never moves it's always in the same place. The center is also heavily covered in large dust crystals that have built up over the millennium." The look in Troy's eyes made everyone tense up.

"This doesn't really sound like a training exercise. It sounds more like a mission." Blake pointed out.

"You're right. The best way to learn is through experience. I've gotten permission from Ozpin for both of your teams to accompany me on a mission." Troy looked wearily at each person. "I'm sorry for hiding this but I do need your help. I can't do this alone."

"Dad, what exactly is going on?" Jaune asked worriedly.

"The White Fang has posted a large outpost on the other side of this forest. Their numbers are easily in the thousands and they are heavily equipped. From what I've gathered they are planning to mine out the dust reserves in the center of the forest."

"Why would they send so many men just for some dust?" Ruby asked.

"I don't think you understand exactly how much dust is there. There is enough dust to power a small country for an entire decade."

Weiss' eyes widened in shock, her mind was racing a mile a minute just determining the value of that much dust.

"So what are we supposed to do against thousands of soldiers?" Yang asked.

"We're going to hopefully drive out the White Fang without too much confrontation. The forest will also clean up a large portion of those men. Worst case scenario we blow up all of the dust. It's extremely unstable in its natural state so it should be possible."

Weiss looked like she wanted to protest but she didn't say anything.

"Any other questions?"

Eight hands shot up at once. Troy sighed and started walking towards the forest.

"I'll answer your questions as we go." Troy said

Troy was bombarded with questions about the finer details of the plan as they marched towards the forest but Jaune heard none of it. He was trying to quell the constant fear inside of him. He thought he would be ready for this but now that the moment was here he didn't know. His hands were shaking in terror. His heart was hammering in his chest. He was completely caught off guard when Pyrrha slipped her hand in Jaune's and gave it a reassuring squeeze. She smiled warmly at him and for just a brief moment, Jaune felt like he could take on anything. That moment passed as they went through the brush.

Heat blasted his face. Not natural heat though, a suffocating kind of heat that knocked the wind out of him. He looked around at the gigantic trees, the metal whirring trees. They buzzed like machines and they loomed upwards forever. The metal spires branched out, revealing artificial leaves. Each tree hummed loudly and blew hot air out of vents.

"What…the…hell." Was all that Jaune could muster out. He clutched his heart which felt like it was being crushed. The atmosphere had entirely changed from a cool morning air to deadly suffocating hot. It felt like he was being choked. The trees didn't make sense; it was something that shouldn't even be possible.

He suddenly felt a large pulse that made him double over in pain. The darkness that came over him had drained him.

"Jaune what's wrong?!" Pyrrha knelt down next to him.

"There's something big…and evil…in this forest and it wants us dead."

A/N- What do you think so far? If you have any questions then go ahead and PM me. Otherwise I hope you enjoyed it. You should also check out the Best of RWBY Fanfiction community because there are some great stories there! Leave a review if you want or don't it's up to you. Have a good day, Carnage out.