Hello everyone, Maestro here with a new story. I've been wanting to do this one for a while as I'm a big fan of Invincible and always loved the story it told. For those who don't know what Invincible is it is a superhero from a company called Image comics. It's a very good comic that I had read since middle school up until its conclusion in 2018. It might be a long read, but honestly its easier then a manga like One Piece or other long running series, so give it a look.

Anyways, enough talk. Onto the story!

Dauntless

Ch. 1

Our story begins like so many others do. We start on a small planet, in a small galaxy, with little importance to the rest of the universe. The people on this planet go about their lives like they always have. Never changing, never differing much from the previous. The deal with the minor matters that all mortals deal with, food, housing, love, hate, etc. The only thing different about this planet are the beasts of pure darkness that keep its inhabitants from reaching their full potential, but even then, it's not all that different from any other world with its horrors.

Well, maybe that's not entirely true. There is something somewhat unique to this world that differs from most.

Near a lake in the middle of a forest of this planet is a family. This family is currently on vacation at a villa. The father's cooking something on the grill, the mother is talking to two of her daughters, the other five daughters are playing in the lake with a lone boy.

This young man is Jaune Arc, the sole male child of this household and the only one not born from the parents. Jaune is a cousin of the Arcs. His mother was the sister of their father, Michael, but had passed away almost immediately after Jaune was born. Jaune's father had supposedly left soon after and he's been in the care of his uncle and aunt ever since.

As he's been apart of this family since birth, he does consider them his true family, but it hasn't been without its issues. A part of him has always felt alienated from the others. Like there was something different about him beyond just blood. Though he never knew what this difference was it made it hard to connect sometimes.

Back with the children, Jaune prepares to jump into the lake. He gets a running start, sprinting faster then he usually does, and leaps into the lake.

Clearing nearly halfway the lake in doing so.

When he doesn't immediately make an impact he starts to panic before he finally breaks the waters surface. He swims to the surface and gasps for breath. He looks around to find out where he is. Off near the shore he notices his aunt standing there calling for him.

"Jaune! Jaune! Are you okay!? Answer me!"

She frantically calls out for him as Michael joins her. Jaune raises his hand to wave and responds.

"I'm fine, auntie Isabella!"

And he was fine. He didn't feel like he was in any pain or that he was hurt. He felt completely normal. He swims back to the shore where his aunt and cousins meet him.

"Are you sure you're okay, Jaune? It looked like you flew out there."

One of Jaune's older cousins, Saphron, asks.

"Ya, I'm fine Saphron. Nothing seems that strange." The girls looks him over before giving in.

"Well, I think lunch is almost ready. Why don't we head over and get ready?" Isabella ushers the children to the picnic tables to dry off and enjoy the meal.

Michael eventually brings the food over for everyone. During the lunch Jaune remains silent. He thinks back to what happened at the lake. He'd noticed some strange things happening on and off since this morning. He thought it was only his excitement from the vacation, but now he thinks it might be something else.

After everything's cleaned up the kids gather together.

"Alright everyone, we're gonna play hide-n-seek. Make sure not to go too far into the forest, okay?"

The eldest of the daughters, Marron, instructs the rest on what they'll be doing. After volunteering herself as the first one 'it', the rest scatter.

Jaune runs into a part of the forest he'd found earlier that had a place hidden under one of the trees. Its roots gave extra cover and would definitely be a great hiding spot. It was a bit farther in then his aunt and uncle would probably like, but as long as he wasn't found he would be fine.

Several minutes pass as he waits either to be discovered or to hear that the others have given up. While waiting he hears something rustle in a nearby bush.

'Is that one of them? I didn't think they'd come out this far.'

He crouches a bit lower to cover himself better. He starts to think of a good place to run if he has to when his blood runs cold. Emerging from the bush isn't one of his cousins, but one of the terrors of the planet.

A Grimm.

An Ursa to be specific. The black creature sniffs the air as it stalks along a path locals use when in the forest. It appears to be on the trail of its newest prey.

'What's a Grimm doing here?! Shouldn't the local Huntsmen be taking care of them?'

Just as he says, there are Huntsmen whose job is to deal with the Grimm. The company that rents the villas hires Huntsmen to patrol the area and allow the people vacationing to enjoy themselves. Usually there's never a sighting of any Grimm while someone stays here, but it seems the guards are slipping.

The Ursa stalks around, looking for something to hunt. It suddenly perks its head up as it finds it. There's another rustling in the bushes from the direction of the lake when Saphron steps out.

"Jaune! Jaune where are you?!" She yells out for her younger cousin. "The games over! Dad said we have to head back now! It's getting dark." She continues to trek through the brush, calling out all the while. "Please, we heave to go! Jau—"

Until she locks eyes with the beast.

At first, she doesn't scream, she doesn't run, she doesn't even feel fear. She's just too shocked to do anything. When the Ursa takes the first step and snaps a branch is when everything comes together for her. She still doesn't scream, but she sure as hell runs.

Jaune watches as his cousin runs for her dear life as the dark beast lets out a monstrous roar and goes to give chase. He believes if he stays hidden that he won't be found, but if he does that his cousin will definitely be captured and killed by the beast.

When the Ursa is just about to pass his hiding spot he reaches out for one of its rear legs. Even if it will only slow it down, he can't just let his cousin be attacked by this thing. After getting a hold on the leg he tries to pull it back, only to find no resistance.

The Ursa isn't in his grip anymore. There's the sound of something crashing into the trees behind him. Turning to the source of the disturbance he sees the broken remains of a tree and the crumbled mess of an Ursa. The Grimm's body is already dissolving into black specks.

Jaune stands there for a moment, surprised by the entire scene.

'Did…. Did I just do that…?'

He stares at his empty hand, trying to grasp what just happened. First, it was the incident at the lake, and now throwing an Ursa though a tree. Not wanting to stay around to be found by any more Grimm Jaune heads back to his family.

Like earlier at the lake he's running faster then usual. Much faster in fact. Doesn't even take a full minute to make it back to the clearing. His uncle is standing there talking to a women with a broadsword one her back. After he sees Jaune he say goodbye to the Huntress and runs over.

"Jaune! Are you okay?" When Michael gets to his nephew, he gives him a quick look over. "You didn't see any Grimm out there, did you?"

"I—" Jaune paused for a moment. He couldn't really say he'd picked up and threw a fully grown Ursa no problem, or that he'd wandered so far away from the area without worrying the man. He didn't want the man to have anymore worries then he already did. "I…. didn't see any. But I might have heard some growling in the woods earlier."

Michael pulls his nephew into a tight embrace. "Thank the gods. If anything had happened to you I…" The man was almost in tears as he tightened the hug. He's shaking was so bad he almost toppled over with the small boy still in his arms, but for some reason he was able to stay up.

After regaining his bearings, Michael sent Jaune inside with his aunt and cousins while he remained outside to keep watch. The girls were only slightly more emotional about seeing Jaune back and didn't let go of him the entire time they waited for the all clear from the scouting Huntsmen.

The rest of the trip was pretty much ruined. The company that rented out the villa offered some credit as an apology. The family left the next day early in the morning. And like that their vacation was over.

The next day

After they put all their luggage back the kids split off for the most part to unwind. Finally getting some alone time Jaune headed off into the forest near the house while no one was looking. At a nearby river he sat down on a nearby log.

"Man, these past couple of days have been really weird. First the lake, then the Grimm." He looks at some pebbles in his hand. He pulls back and throws one of them across the river. It skips once before it goes right through a tree on the other side, and then the next, and the next, and the next 4 after that. It finally stops after it hits a thicker tree. "And then…. There's that."

He get's off the log and reaches underneath it. Making sure to get a good grip he puts his back into it and lifts the log with as much effort as everything else. He sets the log down and sits back on it. He sits in silence for several minutes, thinking of his recent discovery.

"…. I guess I have superpowers?"

Hello everyone, Maestro here again.

I know I started another story when I have… several that haven't been updated in a while. I'm sorry to say but schooling is killing me, and I'll have to start on the job training soon, so it might be a while until I get back to the others.

Real quick I do wanna give an update to the stories individually.

Shield to Sword: Ongoing. I still plan to update but will wait until the third heavens feel movie comes out.

Light of Remnant: Rewrite. Sorry to say but following anything in the comic will become too strenuous, so I'll be making a self-contained story that will change the lore of Remnant.

Blonde swordsman: I plan to update this after I get my grove back. Still got some ideas I wanna see happen.

Knight of Oppai: Rewrite.

Half human half something else: Hiatus. I have an idea what I wanna do but no motive to do it right now.

Jaune the Stampede: Hiatus. I just rewatched Trigun again so maybe my motivation will come back with the others.