I do not own RWBY. Rooster Teeth does.

Ozpin felt a headache coming on. It had only been a day since the incident had happened and the entirety of the Atlas Military was performing the equivalent of a cavity search on his school. He grabbed his mug and looked inside.

Empty.

He sighed and glanced over to Ironwood, who was pacing back and forth across his office. The man's rage and frustration were palpable if his clenched fists and furrowed brows were any indicators. His flint-grey eyes looked over to Ozpin.

"They were here, Ozpin. They were here!" Ironwood said, looking at the weary headmaster.

Glynda crossed her arms and sent James an annoyed look. She was at her wit's end. Ever since that incident at night, Ironwood had his troops interrogate students and members of the staff.

"We know they were here. You've clearly established that fact when you did a cavity search on the entire school," she said.

"Great! Just great! Now that we know, are we actually going to do something about it or stand here and twidle our thumbs and ignore the entire situation?" he fired back.

Ozpin rubbed his temples. This was becoming extremely annoying. Between having to deal with the enemy possibly inside their school and the fallout of the revelation of a certain someone still being alive, he can safely say that this has been a horrible semester for him so far.

His saving grace came in the form of the elevator door to his office ringing. The door opened with Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and Pyrrha Nikos with the third member of the group looking rather annoyed while Jaune just looked tired. Ruby looked somewhat ashamed and Ozpin could guess what had gone down inside the elevator.

"Ah! We're sorry we took so long… someone pressed all the buttons on the elevator," she said.

Pyrrha tried to keep her exasperation hidden while Jaune struggled to contain his laughter.

"It wasn't me, I swear," Ruby said.

"Nevermind that. You three, how are you feeling?" Ozpin asked.

"Thank you for your concern, Professor. We're doing fine as of right now," Pyrrha said.

"Yeah, though it kind of sucks that the dance had to be finished early," Jaune said.

No one spoke up at his words. The three adults just stared at him with no hint of amusement in his eyes, causing him to speak.

"R- Right, read the mood," Jaune said.

The three stopped when Ironwood walked over to them.

"You three. I feel that it is appropriate to commend you for the actions that you took last night. Your minds are in the appropriate state for being Huntsman and Huntresses. You three recognized a threat and did your best to deal with it," Ironwood said, offering them a small salute.

"Oh, well, thank you sir," Ruby said, returning her own salute.

"Yes, it's an honor," Pyrrha said.

"Yeah but… she got away. And she's still out there," Jaune said, clenching his fist.

"It's alright. We've already begun to track her," Ironwood said.

"Ah yes, about that," Ozpin said, his voice catching all of their attention.

"Yes, Professor?" Jaune asked.

"General Ironwood here has informed us of the events that transpired last night and we are well aware of the situation at hand. However, there are still some missing pieces so now that you three are well-rested, is there perhaps any information that we are unaware of that you might know?" Ozpin asked.

"Was she alone? Did any of you three happen to recognize her?" Glynda added.

"Er, well…," Pyrrha began.

"No, we didn't recognize her for one," Jaune said.

"And from what it looked like… she was alone," Ruby said. "And to add to what Jaune said, she wore a mask so that made it hard for us to make out any other facial features. She also fought with glass but…"

"From the looks of it, that wasn't her semblance," Pyrrha said.

"Yeah, her clothes lit up whenever she attacked," Jaune said.

"Hmm," Ozpin crossed his arms.

Next to him, Glynda placed her hand on her chin. Her eyes widened after a few seconds, recognizing the descriptions they were given.

"From the details aside from the glass, the woman sounds like the woman that Ruby and I encountered on the night we met her," Glynda said.

"That's highly unlikely. From the description of the clothes lighting up, it sounds like the woman wove dust into her clothing. That itself is an age-old technique that a lot of older hunters still use and third-year students in every hunting school are taught," Ironwood said.

"Wait," Ruby stepped forward. "You think that that woman was with Torchwick and the Whitefang?"

Ironwood and Ozpin went silent.

"Perhaps it's possible," the silver-haired man said. He pushed his glasses up as he focused on the three.

"Mister Arc, Miss Nikos, you two may head back to your team. Miss Rose, please stay here for a few more seconds," Ozpin said.

"Eh? What did Ruby do?" Jaune asked.

"It's not about what Miss Rose did. It's that, if she is correct, she has faced off against this woman before," the headmaster replied.

"I see," Pyrrha muttered.

"Rest assured, Miss Rose will only be a few seconds behind you. If you wish, you may wait for her by the elevator," he said.

"N- No! I'll be fine. You guys can go," Ruby said.

"Really? You'll be okay here?" Pyrrha asked.

"I will," she responded.

Jaune and Pyrrha glanced at each other and then to Ruby before nodding. The two walked over to the elevator and got inside. The ride down was a long one. Ozpin's office was at the highest point in Beacon after all.

"That was intense," Jaune said, finally releasing a heavy breath that he had been holding. He glanced over to Pyrrha, who had visibly relaxed as she wiped a small bead of sweat off her forehead.

"Y- Yeah, though I expected something more," she said.

"You really think that woman was the woman Ruby told everyone about on the first day of school?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know but if Professor Goodwitch believes that they're similar enough," Pyrrha said.

"Hmm, what bothered me was what she was doing at the CCT in the first place?" Jaune pondered, placing his hand on his chin.

"Let's not think about it too much, Jaune. Headmaster Ozpin and General Ironwood have this covered. It's not in our hands anymore," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

He glanced at her and nodded as the two left the elevator.

Jaune dropped his pack on the ground atop all the other bags from the various students from the Four Academies that had come here for the Vytal Festival this year. He walked over to his team, all of whom were waiting for Ozpin to begin speaking.

"Look, it's team RWBY," Alice whispered. He glanced over to the four girls as they made their way over to them. Ruby and Blake waved while Weiss and Yang remained tense when the Arc twins laid their eyes on them.

Team RWBY and JNPAR stood with them as they all looked towards the stage of the Auditorium.

"Headmaster Ozpin would like to say a few words before we begin," Glynda said, catching all their attention.

The room slowly went silent as the Headmaster of Beacon walked up to the microphone and began his speech.

Jaune listened as Ozpin began to talk about the Great War. About how the war was fought for many reasons with one of the biggest ones being the destruction of art and self-expression. It was facts that everyone on the planet already knew but it was rather inspiring to hear. Jaune found himself captured by the way Ozpin spoke, feeling uplifted as Ozpin expressed the importance of unity and effort as the foundation of the peace of the Four Kingdoms. He found himself inspired as Ozpin stated that they were the reasons that the peace was currently being held.

"Which is why today, while the world celebrates peace, Huntsman and Huntresses work to uphold it," he said.

Jaune noticed a few hardlight screens appear around the auditorium as Ozpin began to enter the final part of his speech.

"As first-year students, you will be tasked with shadowing a professional huntsman or huntress on a mission. Some of you may be taken outside of the kingdom for several days while the rest of you might work within the safety of the walls for the rest of the week. But remember, no matter which path you choose, remember your training, remember to be safe, and remember to do your best. Huntsman and Huntresses, godspeed on your mission and remember to watch each other's backs," he said.

The entire room erupted in applause as Ozpin walked off the stage.

The entirety of Team JNPAR glanced at each other before making their way over to one of the screens. Jaune pressed the screen. A series of missions popped up ranging from perimeter defense to search and destroy.

"Ooh! Which one should we pick?" Nora said, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Perimeter defense?" Jaune suggested.

"No, Big Brother. You have to live a little. How about Search and Destroy?" Alice said.

"It would be nice to get out of the Kingdom for a couple of days," Ren said.

"Yeah that would be really nice," Pyrrha said.

"So Search and Destroy?" Jaune asked as he clicked on the option.

They all nodded and he turned back around and typed in the team name.

The screen loaded and a confirmation screen appeared. Jaune pulled out his scroll when he heard it beep and saw a new ping.

"So this is the mission," Jaune said as he began reading the details.

"A Bandit Cell has been located in the Quadrant 2 which is the Northeastern Part of Vale. Our job is to go in and eliminate the bandits," Jaune said.

"Eliminate as in… kill?" Pyrrha asked.

"...," he remained silent as he kept reading. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw who was heading this mission.

"Our leader is Professor Goodwitch," he said.

"It's nice to know that someone like her is leading us on this mission," Alice said. "Big Sis Glyn will probably be strict with us or something…"

"I can assure you, Miss Arc, that the reason I will be strict is that so none of you die. I won't have a repeat of that fiasco back at Aurbis."

Glynda's voice caused them all to turn around to see the slightly amused eyes of the combat instructor. A small smile made its way to her face as she gestured for Jaune to hand her his scroll. After he did, she tapped a few buttons on the screen before handing it back to him.

"I just placed further details on the mission as well as where your team shall meet me later today. For now, get some rest and grab whatever you need for this while I go take care of a few things regarding the incident at prom," Glynda said.

"Of course professor," Jaune said.

"I'll see you and the rest of your team no later than the time listed," she said before walking off after Ozpin.

"You guys wanna head back to the dorm?" Jaune asked as he watched Glynda disappear with Ozpin. His eyes traveled over to team RWBY who were leaving the auditorium.

"Yeah, let's go get our stuff. What time did Professor Goodwitch say we have to be there?" Alice asked.

"We have to be at the port in 2 hours… it's half-past eleven so… about one thirty," Jaune said.

"Come on. Let's go see what other supplies we need to-!"

"Well, well, well," a voice called out.

That voice made Pyrrha freeze. She gritted her teeth and her entire body tensed up. She knew that voice. She wanted nothing to do with that voice.

Diana must have told them, she thought.

But she knew that wasn't true. It was common knowledge that the Champion of Mistral had gone to Beacon rather than Haven Academy.

"Venus," she said.

Pyrrha turned around and noticed that her friends were already standing around her protectively. She felt touched. They must have noticed her sudden tense-up.

Venus wasn't different from the last time Pyrrha saw her. Her face contained that light touch of pink make up. Her flowing light red hair cascaded past her shoulder and she wore that armor that she could barely call combat gear. It revealed too much skin in her opinion.

The man next to Venus was extremely bulky. If they had a person to compare this man to, it would be the second-year student, Yatsuhashi of Team CFVY. He had spiky red hair and sapphire blue eyes. Unlike the rest of his companions, he didn't give them a look of superiority. Instead, all he held was a look of discernment. Like he was analyzing and gauging their battle prowess. He wore a black shirt underneath a large leather long coat with black combat pants and boots.

Next to Diana was a man who looked nearly identical to her. Due to the similarity, he looked almost androgynous in nature but retained enough features as so people wouldn't mistake him to be a trap. He had long red hair down to his mid-back tied in a ponytail and orange eyes. He wore a white vest with a yellow shirt underneath. His pants were black much like Diana's with black combat boots.

"I see that the champion of Mistral remembers me," she said, walking over. She was completely unintimidated by Pyrrha's team. That air of arrogance rolled off her like the morning fog.

"Don't," Jaune said, standing in front of Pyrrha.

"Oh and who are you?" Venus asked.

"I'm her partner," he said.

She scanned him up and down. He was plain in her eyes in terms of appearance however… her eyes drifted over to Pyrrha, who was leaking a subtle aura of possessiveness.

Does she like this boy? I wonder…, she thought. A wicked smile graced her beautiful features as she gave Jaune a seductive gaze.

"And you want to be partners with someone as boring as her? Why don't you be partners with someone who can give you a good time?" Venus said, leaning in close to Jaune.

Pyrrha's eyes dulled in response as she think of a million ways to hurt her step-sister. As she was about to move to shove Venus, Jaune pushed the woman away. It wasn't a harsh push but it was by no means gentle. Venus stumbled back in shock when she saw Jaune glaring at her, his eyes glowing a deep shade of violet. His glare sent shivers down her spine.

"Don't touch me," he said. "Come on guys…"

Ren looked at the team coldly while Nora gave them the stink eye, sticking her tongue out for added effect as they walked. Alice gave them a sideways glance with a glare similar to the one her brother, except her eyes flashed gold rather than violet.

"What a rude man… well, it goes to show that people who hang around our dear stepsister become foolish, don't you think Diana?" the red-haired man in the white suit said.

"Hmph, well, you're not wrong about that Apollo," she said.

"Venus, are you alright?" the bulky man said.

"I need to get that man, Ares," she responded.

"Huh?" was the collective response of the three.

Venus began to shiver in pleasure as she began to think of ways to get him on her side. The sheer pleasure of getting someone like him to fall for her seduction and to see the despair on Pyrrha's face when she sees her riding him in their dorm. And most of all, the face that Jaune would make when she breaks him.

"Fufufu," Venus giggled as the rest of her team backed away from her.

When Team JNPAR arrived at the landing pad, the scene was rather nostalgic. At least for the original members of the team of course. Glynda Goodwitch waited at the entrance of the airship with a scroll in hand and a single pack. She looked up from her scroll and beckoned for them to come over. The mission was,overall, beginning to look eerily similar to that mission they took to Argus. Albeit, that mission as they now realized was most likely illegal due to how inexperienced they all were.

But none of that mattered now. Glynda walked forward with her scroll in her hand and stood before them.

"You five have selected to come with me to Quadrant Two on a Search and Destroy mission in the Northeastern Part of Vale. Our mission is simple. A group of bandits have taken residence up in that area. Our goal is to wipe out that cell. The bandits can either be brought back alive," she said, looking them all in the eye.

She saw them all become uncomfortable when she trailed off. However, she noted that Jaune was visibly less unperturbed by her words.

"Or dead," she said.

"W- Wait… we have to kill people?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yes. Such is the life of a hunter, Miss Nikos. We are not a glamorous profession. As soon as you are out of Beacon, you will be forced to do some less than savory things… such as killing Humans and Faunus," she said.

"I see," Pyrrha said, not at all comfortable with taking the life of someone else.

"Any other questions?" Glynda asked.

No one spoke up. She nodded in satisfaction as she used her Semblance to levitate their packs onto the Bullhead.

The ride to the Northeastern Quadrant of Vale was a long one. They really didn't anticipate how long this trip would take. After boarding the ship, Glynda had informed them that they might be away for several days due to tracking down the tribe. Of course, none of them had any objections to this. After all, other than Jaune, this would be a good way for them to gain some real-life experience. Well, more real life experience aside from that disaster of a mission back in Aurbis.

After a few hours, they arrived at a small village town in the northeast portion of Vale. The town was rather quaint, seemingly stuck in the past with their semi-victorian architecture. Steam rose from a section of the town and from the air, they saw that the town had several hotsprings. As they exited the Bullhead, Glynda stopped and turned to speak to them.

"Now, usually, in a Search and Destroy, we need information… far more than what was provided to us in the briefing so we will go speak with the village chief or mayor on this matter. I want you all to observe how to go about discussing details with the client in general. Most huntsman missions in Vale are commissioned by the Valean Government via a complex bureaucracy that maintains the circulation and flow of missions. And these missions are sent here by village mayors such as the person we are about to meet," she said as they walked down the street.

"So, we're sort of like…," Nora began.

"Quasi-Mercenaries?" Ren finished.

"In a sense, however, in addition to taking care of requests sent in by villages, the Valean Government dispatches Hunters on clean-up missions of Grimm or Criminals, which still requires us to speak with whoever knows the area the best. Remember that information is one of the most powerful tools a Hunter can wield. One can have the best weapon or the strongest semblance, but careful planning and preparation can turn the tide of battle as easily as the strongest sword," Glynda explained as they arrived outside of the village's town hall

The team followed Goodwitch inside and watched as she spoke with the secretary. The secretary got up from behind her desk and led them down the hall to the mayor's office.

As opposed to most towns in Vale, the mayor of this sleepy spring town was a faunus. From the looks of it, he was of the deer variant if his antlers were anything to go by.

As per instructions, Team JNPAR hung back as Glynda sat down in a chair that the mayor gestured to. The mayor was rather cordial if not a bit dreary. However, they chalked it up to the stress of running a town in addition to dealing with repeated bandit attacks. The mayor described how the bandits had appeared merely a few weeks ago but now the town was on its last legs. In addition to inexplicable changes in weather, the past few weeks had been harsh on the old deer.

Glynda asked if he knew the general location of where the bandits were. Of course, the mayor responded with a no. Apparently, he had sent out several of the village's fighters only for the party to come back empty-handed. However, despite that, they had deduced that the bandits were indeed camped out in the surrounding forests based on clues that they had found which pointed to a large number of people staying in an area.

"Thank you for your time, Mayor," Glynda said.

"No thank you. The sooner you get rid of those bandits, the better," he said.

"Believe me, Mister Mayor. We shall perform the task with utmost efficiency," Glynda said. She glanced over to Team JNPAR as she stood from her chair. She shook the Mayor's hand one last time before beckoning for the team to follow her out the door.

"Now, all of you, what did you get from watching me?" she asked as they walked out of City Hall.

"Always remain calm when speaking to contacts or clientele," Alice answered.

"Good, what else?" she asked.

"I noticed that you never brought up the nature of payment. Is that something that the government handles?" Ren asked.

"Yes, the government handles Hunter paychecks and never our client. If the mission was submitted by a client to the government for bounty missions, the client is required to make a deposit. This deposit has multiple purposes with the main two being reparation and payment," she said.

"What about if the client doesn't know where the target of interest is?" Jaune asked.

"Then we go out and search in the area that the target was last spotted," she said. "If there was no last area of sighting, we search the perimeter or the general area of the quadrant."

"I see… that's why you said this would take a couple of days then," Pyrrha said.

"Quite, now let's go. We need to cover some ground before the Sun sets completely," Glynda said.

The group searched for several hours. Like the mayor had said, there were signs of a large group that had made its way through the area and it wasn't Grimm. Signs of a campfire, tent markings, and scuffle marks all indicated the signs of intelligent life in the area. And with this knowledge, they knew that these people couldn't have gotten that far in a single day.

"Hey wait," Jaune said as he knelt next to a patch of grass. Alice walked over and narrowed her eyes.

"This energy feels familiar," Jaune said.

"You mean weird?" she asked.

"Huh, you've felt it before?" he asked.

"At the dance, after you and Pyrrha left. I felt something weird enter the room. I know that people can sense aura but what I felt wasn't aura," she said. "It felt more like this…"

"What is it you two?" Glynda asked as she walked over.

"There's something off about this place," Jaune said. "There's like a weird energy signature that I can't put my finger on…"

"What does it feel like?" she asked.

"It doesn't feel like aura," Alice said.

"Not like aura?" Glynda placed a hand on her chin before noticing the growing darkness. She glanced at the sky and sighed.

"It's getting dark and I don't want us to be ambushed by the bandit tribe so we'll set up camp here. However, I want you all to be on your guard. We'll take turns taking watch. Miss Arc and I will get first watch later," Glynda said.

The night went by rather fast for Jaune. He had fallen into a deep sleep until he was gently shook awake by Pyrrha.

"Come on, it's our turn," she said.

Jaune nodded blearily as he walked out of the tent. He passed by Ren, who offered him some of the coffee that he brought.

"Thanks," Jaune said as he gratefully accepted it. "Get some rest. We got it from here."

"Thanks," Ren said.

"Nitey nite Jaune-Jaune!" Nora said as she followed Ren into the tent.

"Ah, let's see…," Jaune placed his bag in front of him and saw it squirming. He chuckled and opened the bag. Nyx popped out of it and jumped on top of his head.

Master, it was getting suffocating in there, she said as she sat on his blonde mop of a head.

"Ah, I see she's happy to get out of the bag," Pyrrha said, chuckling as she grabbed some meat from her pack and began to roast it.

"Yeah, but I don't know how Goodwitch would react if she saw me carrying a Grimm around," Jaune said.

"So we might be in the woods for a few days looking for absolutely nothing," Pyrrha said as she took a bite out of the meat.

"Mmmph! Thash really good!" she said as she swallowed her food.

"If we come out of this with nothing, doesn't that mean that we failed?" Jaune asked.

"Well, I guess but… maybe we were too late," Pyrrha said.

"...," Jaune remain silent as he roasted a piece of meat that Pyrrha gave him. He wracked his head with methods on how to make their lives easier. It was obvious that there were signs of life here and that they had recently moved. His eyes roamed around the area they were camped in and he noticed one thing.

"Hey wait… wouldn't an area like this be too small for an entire bandit tribe?" Jaune asked.

"Huh?" Pyrrha looked at him oddly.

"Look around. This area is too small for an entire tribe but not a scouting party," Jaune said.

"Scouting party?"

"Yeah, I've seen a lot of movies about the Great War. I used to watch them when I wanted to study for Tactics Class," he said.

"I don't think you should apply fiction to reality, Jaune," Pyrrha said.

"Those movies may be fiction but… we know that the tactics used in them were actual tactics used during the War. Armies sent scouting parties to assess the situation and gather information about the environment or area that they're moving through. Armies tend to camp in large clearings or near sources of water and this area we're in is too small to sustain something like a bandit tribe. It's also too close to the village and the mayor said that their fighters couldn't find the tribe," Jaune said.

"So… where do you think they are?" Pyrrha asked.

"I'm still working on that but I have an idea. What if we use Nyx to find them?" he said. The little beowolf perked up at hearing her name.

"Can Nyx find them?" she asked.

"Nyx, can you track someone down for me?" Jaune asked.

Track? Like hunt? She asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Like sniff them out. I assume Beowolves have a good sense of smell."

We do. I can try, Nyx said as she hopped off his head. She put her nose to the ground and sniffed around, taking in the scent of everyone that had been here. Her eyes glowed red as she turned her head north of their location.

"I'm assuming she has their scent," Pyrrha said, slightly impressed.

"I knew she could do it," Jaune said.

"Yeah but still, how do we get her to track them without Professor Goodwitch finding out?" Pyrrha asked.

"Hmmm," Jaune placed a hand on his chin. How would they tell Goodwitch? Should they just come out and say it?

"I think we should just tell her," Jaune said.

"But…," Pyrrha interjected.

"We'll have to tell her sooner or later and I'd rather her find out from us rather than… in the middle of battle when a Beowolf just comes out and starts attacking everything," Jaune said.

"So you guys are going to tell Professor Goodwitch?" Alice asked as she stretched.

"Yeah, Jaune figured that this way, we can use Nyx's help to sniff out the tribe's location," Pyrrha said. The two had spent the entire night discussing the pros and cons of telling Goodwitch that Jaune could control Grimm. The reaction they expected was hostility so they steeled themselves for a possible interaction with their combat professor.

"I see. Jaune, are you sure you're up for this?" Ren asked.

"No…," he grimaced. A bulge in its hoodie made itself known as a head popped out from the collar.

"Renny, have some tact. Goodwitch might turn Nyxie into a black smear," Nora said.

"Not helping," Jaune said, holding Nyx protectively.

"Well, all we have to do is find Goodwitch," Pyrrha said.

"And what might you require of me, Miss Nikos?" Glynda said.

"...," the others immediately turned to see Glynda walking over to them.

"Now or never," Alice said.

"What is it?" Glynda asked.

"Um, first off, Miss Glyn, don't freak out," Jaune said.

"Mister Arc, I can assure you that I can remain calm," Glynda said.

The five gave each other glances before nodding. Jaune reached into his hoodie and pulled out a black ball of fur before holding it in his arms. Glynda's eyes widened when the black fuzzball unwound itself and she found herself peering into the red eyes of a beowulf puppy.

Her hand flew for her riding crop and was about to draw it when she saw the looks the five were giving her. She hesitated in pulling it out and sighed. She would at least hear them out before dispensing any sort of judgement.

Who knows… this could just be a black dog in a Grimm costume, she thought.

"Um, so this is Nyx… she's a Beowulf puppy," Jaune said.

"I see," Glynda said, pulling her riding crop out.

"Woah! Wait!" Jaune said, holding his right hand out.

"Mister Arc, we need to kill it immediately," Glynda said.

"But she's done nothing wrong!" Jaune said.

"It is a Grimm, Mister Arc. The ultimate enemy of mankind. As Hunters, it is our job to kill the monsters that lurk in the dark," Glynda said.

"W- Wait but she can help us!" Alice said.

"Help? I can assure you that the only thing it wants to do is destroy," she argued.

"Stop calling her an it! She has a name too!" Jaune said. "And Alice is right! She can help us find the bandit tribe!"

The mention of their objective caused Glynda to quiet down.

"Help?" she asked.

"Yes, we can use her Beowolf senses to track the scent of the people who were here," Pyrrha said.

Glynda glanced at Pyrrha before looking back at the monstrous fuzzball in Jaune's arms. Her resolve waned as she was forced to choose between Nyx and the Bandit Tribe they were sent to eliminate. Every cell in her body screamed at her to strike Nyx down but… a small part of her irrational mind considered the possibility of using Nyx to find them. Her eyes scrutinized the small puppy as it quaked in Jaune's arm under the intensity of her gaze. Her gaze drifted to Jaune, who looked at her defiantly. She was going to regret this.

"Fine," she sighed.

They all sighed in relief before Glynda spoke up, pointing her weapon at Nyx.

"If it attacks any one of us, I will personally turn it into a fur coat," she said.

"Noted," Jaune gulped as he set Nyx down.

"Alright, Nyx. Track them," he said.

Of course, Master, she said as she began to sniff around.

Glynda watched, baffled as the Beowolf began to behave like a common dog, obeying Jaune's commands. A seed of unrest began to form in her mind. Was Jaune… no, he couldn't possibly be. The Arcs were sworn defenders of humanity. There was no way that they would be working for her. So why… why was Jaune able to control the Grimm?

"This way," Jaune said as he followed after Nyx. The others followed with Glynda sticking close to the Arc, if not to observe.

I have to tell, Ozpin, about this, she thought.

Nyx ran through the foliage, having tracked the scent she had picked up. Behind her, Team JNPAR and Glynda Goodwitch kept pace. The Grimm pup began to growl when she felt it. Negativity. So much of it. The sins of man were as sensible to the Grimm as was the taste of food was to the humans. And she felt it all. Greed, lust, pride, anger… all of them permeating the entire area. To Nyx, this forest was bathed in a thick miasma of it and it all seemed to be radiating from a focal point deep into the woods.

"Jaune," Alice said as she ran up to him. "That energy is getting stronger the deeper we go in…"

"Yeah," he said.

"Professor," Alice said. "Jaune and I are picking up the energy again."

"Is it like the one you felt back at that clearing?" she asked.

"Yeah, but it seems to be radiating rather than a trace amount of it," Jaune replied.

Suddenly, Nyx stopped and sniffed the air before walking back to Jaune. She nudged his leg with her snout. He looked down at her and picked her up.

"We're here," she said.

"She said we're here," Jaune said.

Glynda gave him a hard look before reinforcing her leg muscles with aura. She leaped up to a tree branch and quickly made her way to the top. Her green eyes widened when she saw a steady stream of smoke off in the distance. So the Grimm was able to bring them into the general area but purposely stopped far away enough from the camp for them to not get noticed.

Glynda landed behind Jaune and nodded.

"So what now?" Pyrrha asked.

"For now, we need to find out how many bandits we're dealing with exactly to minimize the risk of death," Glynda said.

"How do we do that?" Ren asked.

"Hmm," Glynda placed a hand on her chin.

"Why can't Ren just watch from afar?" Nora suggested.

"Miss Valkyrie, I will not place any of you in danger just to retrieve information," Glynda said.

"Why not? Renny's quiet enough to be as good a ninja as Blake," Nora said.

"Still, I won't place him in danger. There is the possibility that Mister Lie might get spotted and killed," Glynda said.

"So what do we do?" Alice asked.

Glynda began to think. There was no way for them to be able to scout out the bandit camp. If it was her, then she could no doubt pull it off but she had a student team with her. The chances that a patrol group from the tribe coming this way was too high for her to ignore. Therefore, she had two options that she deemed logical but ineffective and one solution that she considered reckless. The time it would take for one of them to go to the village and back would likely be several hours considering how far they penetrated the forest within a single day and the likelihood of those who remain getting captured would be too high. Her second plan would be to call for reinforcements but that was time they couldn't afford to wait for. The trip from Beacon to Quadrant 2 was a few hours and that was too long for them to wait. Not to mention that the presence of aircraft would alert the tribe.

Her final option was to go in with the forces she had in a surprise attack against the Bandit Tribe. She would send in Mister Lie to get an initial count at how many there were and then-

Her train of thought was interrupted when Jaune spoke up.

"Miss Goodwitch! I think we have a plan," Jaune said.

She raised an eyebrow. The five of them had come up with a plan?

"What is it?" she asked.

"Have you seen… Galaxy Wars Chapter Four?" Jaune asked.

A bandit sighed as he walked out of the camp. Guard duty. As if there were going to be any people crazy enough to be inside this forest. Earlier, they had several nevermore attempt to destroy the camp. He guessed he should be thankful that their leader was such a monster. To kill that many fully grown nevermore in a few minutes was no easy feat and he doubted even professional hunters could pull it off.

The feeling of nature calling suddenly overcame his body as he stopped. He unzipped his pants and prepared to let loose the contents of his bladder when something slammed into the side of his head. The last thing he saw before passing out was two people, a blonde and a brunette standing over him before he passed out.

"Come on," Jaune said as he and Ren picked up the unconscious body.

"Are you sure this will work?" Ren asked as he took off his shirt. He grabbed the bandit's clothes and began to put them on. Thankfully by some sheer luck, this bandit wore a mask over his face.

"No," Jaune said. "But it beats waiting for a bullhead from Beacon that would probably take a few hours to get out here."

"So what is it exactly that we're doing?" Ren asked.

"We're going to re-enact the Floofie scene when they invaded the Extinction Sun," Jaune said.

Ren sighed as he pulled out some rope from his pack.

"Come on, I need to tie your hands together," Ren said.

Ren walked Jaune up the path they saw the bandit taking. The barrel of Stormflower was pressed against Jaune's back. They needed to make this look realistic. At least, as realistic as Ren could without turning off the safety and shooting Jaune. As they approached, the two guards looked at them and raised their weapons when Ren spoke.

"Wait, I found this one snooping around our camp," Ren said, the lower half of his face hidden behind the bandit's mask. He pulled out Jaune's ID card.

"A hunter…," he said.

"A hunter?" the guard glanced at his partner.

She nodded and walked forward. She swiped the card from a disguised Ren and looked at it.

"A Beacon Student…," she said.

"Beacon? Should we tell the boss?" the guard asked.

"You two come with me," she said.

Ren nodded as he pushed Jaune forward. Jaune glared at him, before begrudgingly following after the guard. However, as they made their way through the camp and towards the leader's tent, they both sported small smiles on their faces.

They were in.

Sorry for the late update... group projects and school. I hope this chapter wasn't too boring. This is basically set up for the next chapter which will be Glynda and Team JNPAR versus the Bandit Tribe. Hehehe...

Anyway, that's all I have on thoughts about this. Oh, before I forget, for all of you who read up to this point, there was a small part of the prologue I changed. The dream sequence before Jaune wakes up and calls his parents. That is all. Everything else is the same.

Please review and have a nice day!