Winter Break 20

Weiss, who was above Ruby and getting ready to attack only if Ruby could make an opening, suddenly saw a ball of pure Aura smash into her.

"Weiss, don't die on me!" Ruby dramatically cried out as she held Weiss in her arms.

"I'm not dead you dolt!" Weiss said as she stood back up, only to see the ribbon Gamble Shroud stretching around them.

The last thing Weiss saw before everything went black was Blake's bottom crashing into her face.

Before they could complain, the whole group was bound together tightly and immobilized.

"Ugghh…Come on! What is this thing made of?!" The blond yelled as she tried to struggle free. However, it only ended up earning gripe from her teammates.

"Yang!" Ruby shouted as she felt the restraints grow tighter.

"Stop! It hurts!" Weiss muffled out from underneath Blake's backside.

"I'm so sorry, Weiss! But please don't talk!" Blake said as she fought the pain and embarrassment.

Yang stopped and giggled, "Aw, man, we're all tied up, I'm gonna yarn and take a catnap. Blake doesn't get catty on me now. Get it, because we look like a ball of yarn!"

"Oh, God! Get me out of here!" Ruby shouted with fear.

"This is worse than any torture known to both Faunus and Humankind!" Weiss cried out.

Blake just wanted to cry because she could feel Weiss's mumbling vibrating her on her bottom.

Gwen quickly untied everybody and patted them on the head, "You all have learned a lot since you came here. However, you have a long way to go." 

As she explained what they could have done differently and what their flaws were, Nora jumped out from behind some oddly placed bushes while shouting, "For the hoard, whatever that is!"

Gwen suddenly stepped to the side and watched as Team RWBY ran for cover.

Nora slammed the ground when she felt Gwen pick her up by the back of her shirt and toss her back into the air.

"YAHOOO!" Nora shouted as Ren deactivated his Semblance and lept from a tree top to catch her.

Now that the presence of the amethyst-eyed hunter was revealed, things took a turn for the worse for the poor fellow. When Ren landed with Nora in his arms, Gwen noticed team RWBY trying their luck with a surprise attack.

Before they could make a move, team RWBY, Ren, and Nora felt thick cables of Aura suddenly wrapping around their waists.

"Aww crud!" Ruby said as Gwen slammed them all together, this time they were side by side.

"Save me Pyrrha!" Nora shouted as the Spartan watched from a distance.

Pyrrha was near a batch of trees watching the fight progress, looking for any opening that she could exploit. However, Gwen was sharp, and her senses were working at peak performance.

Pyrrha stepped back and started to line up clear space between herself and Gwen. She then started running and suddenly stepped into the air. 

The red-haired Spartan had been experimenting with some of Jaune's suggestions and managed to make the fabled air jump possible.

She jumped a total of three times. Using her boots as footholds held in place by her Semblance, Pyrrha managed to cover a few dozen feet of space. As she descended, Pyrrha threw out her spear while holding on to her shield.

She then placed the shield beneath her feet and tried to use it to fly while Milo in javelin form landed directly on the central cable of Aura connected to her teammates.

The Spartan planned to grab the broken Aura string attached to her party and pull them to safety by using her Semblance to keep the cable's structure intact.

Unfortunately, Gwen's Aura was far more robust than she imagined. When the javelin hit her intended target, the cable bent, but didn't break.

Pyrrha's plan failed miserably, delivering herself right into Gwen's grasp.

"That is the correct choice, Pyrrha. If you can't win, run and try and save whoever you can. However, you should have coordinated with Sun better. Use gestures, reading lips, anything to inform him of your actions," Gwen said as she raised her hand and pulled out a chained up monkey from a treetop.

"If you gave him some notion of needing to gather my attention, I would have let you break my Aura around the others and escape." Gwen waved her hand, pulling Pyrrha and Sun into the group.

After lining them up nice and neat, Nora was in the center smiling ear to ear, "Aww! We're all happy pancakes in a stack," Nora said as she looked around at their appearance.

"What does that even mean?" Weiss said looking very confused.

"I think she means, peas in a pod, you know, kind of like a family," Pyrrha said as she had the most exposure to Nora's, Nora-ness.

Ren nodded his head at Weiss to confirm Pyrrha's words, and said, "You're getting used to Nora speak, I'm impressed."

Pyrrha smiled and cheerfully chirped, "Thank you, Ren!"

"Oh...is that it?" Weiss wouldn't admit it, but she didn't mind that statement as much now.

It didn't take them long for Gwen to offer up several ideas for their training. Yang couldn't believe that she was really related to the Dorky Jaune she now had more memories of than the one that came back in time. She then looked at herself and thought, "Well, no one would think I'm related to my dorky sister."

Yang then thought of something and grinned, "Oh, I got you now. It's payback time, Vomit Knight."

Yang playfully smiled as she walked over to her future mother-in-law and said, "So, Mrs. Arc, you should definitely come work at Beacon. I would love to have you as a combat teacher, and I'm sure Ozpin can pull some strings."

Gwen put her finger to her chin as she thought, "I don't know."

"Oh, come on, all your kids are out of the house, and this way, you can be close to your Bun-Bun." Yang giggled at the nickname.

The Arc Matriarch smiled and replied with a knowing expression, "You know what Yang, I'm gonna go ahead and ask Ozpin..." Gwen paused, "But wait, won't that make it hard for Jaune's plan?"

"Nah, all we have to do is hide your identity a bit, maybe even use your maiden name." Yang could see that June's mother was seriously considering her idea.

"Hmm, that could work. We know when they'll arrive, so as long as I play it low and it's kept quiet..." Gwen turned her head and smiled.

"S-o-o?" Yang followed up.

"Sounds like fun, but it will have to wait! Plus, I want to be there for when my boy takes down Cinder, I'll have Ozpin get me a job there then. After you guys capture her."

Yang clicked her teeth as she thought, "Well, it's better than nothing, no, it's better this way, that way, this way I can get some pretty good video of him having to call her mommy in class."

"I can't wait, Mrs. Arc, we'll have a shocking good time. Get it? Arc, shock!? Eh?" Yang continued to joke around.

Gwen put her hand on Yang and said, "Sure thing...oh, and Yang, you have to call me Momma, Mom, Mommy, Dearest Mother, Mother-in-Law, or any mom title that you want. Not, Mrs. Arc."

Yang gulped as she realized her plan might have backfired, Ruby let out a snort when Gwen said, "Same for you, Ruby."

Ruby's face flushed as she hid her face with her hood, the rest of the team laughed at the two and really started to like Jaune's mother. Not everyone could reduce Yang to such a meek state.

Gwen continued to train with them for the next two days. Lance and his parents offered their advice many times as well while Jaune continued to put as much effort into training as possible.

That night, Jaune worked on his chest plate. He mixed in some other materials, Athena Bronze, which had concussive absorbing effects. Most of Pyrrha's equipment is made from this metal. Next was Diamondnite, and then Titanium Alloy. Once the mixture was complete, Ruby and Jaune began hammering away at the material, shaping them into new pieces.

While the pieces were still hot, Jaune poured granulated Moon Dust on to the surface while Ruby hammered them in. Every time he placed the pieces back into the forge, it would glow with a lunar ambience that lit up the whole workshop.

After around 6 hours, Jaune and Ruby managed to make the chest plate similar to his Atlas gear set up. Thin yet durable, flexible and reaching over his abdomen for both front and back.

During any free time they had during the forging process, Jaune managed to make replacement parts for Crescent Rose's exterior. 

When his girlfriend saw the parts, she jumped on him and kept kissing him with hearts floating above her head. 

The metal they produce was a much better material used in Crescent Rose's original alloy. It was lighter, sturdier, and could slowly restore lost Aura.

After Ruby ran out of breath and had to stop making out with her boyfriend, she cheerfully walked over towards her He then started on his shield, he and Ruby stayed up all night working on his shield designs, it wasn't Pridwin yet, however, he could set up his Dust Sheaths.

First, they built the sheaths from Diamondnite and had to call his grandmother for help.

When Joan came to the shed/workshop, she was surprised by their works, Jaune and Ruby had managed to level up their Blacksmithing to an astonishing level of 47 and 75 in just this session. Ruby was still ahead of him by quite a bit since it was her specialty, but Jaune was rapidly catching up.

They just kept getting better and better as they worked, even earning a couple of titles such as Master and Grandmaster Forger, which gave them a 30% Increase to production quality. The other title was Arms and Armor Specialist, which gave them an additional 30% Increase to durability and sharpness to any weapon or armor they forge.

"Wow, I'm impressed, you two did all this?" Joan looked over the steel. "Hmm...what kind of Dust did you mix into the metal?"

"Moon Dust, I need you to carve in some Dust Weaving Symbols, think you can do it?" Jaune smiled.

Jaune pulled out a fist-size piece of Moon Dust and handed it over. 

Joan inspected it with intense scrutiny and even gave it a lick.

She was contemplating something as her face scrunched up as she said, "I can think of something to do with this...but Jaune, where did you get this?"

"I found it in the Emerald Forest. We wouldn't have even known what it was if the System didn't inform me," Jaune answered plainly, almost as if it were no big deal at all.

Ruby's eyes were sparkling, "Does Joan know that Symbology stuff? I heard only a handful of people in the world can weave dust into clothing. Isn't like some kind of lost art?"

Jaune and Joan laughed, Ruby's cheeks turned red as her cheeks puffed up, "What?" She shouted with an embarrassed tone.

"Dear, it's not as lost as you think, the military, many knights, and royal family members hoard over the knowledge in their private libraries," Joan announced.

"Oh... Wait, why would they hoard that kind of knowledge, we barely have Dust stitching to mix into our hunter gear, if we had Dust Symbols, we could save so many more lives!" Ruby seemed genuinely angry.

Joan nodded her head, "That's what I said, but the Royal Families and Council Members think that it gives Hunters too much power, and in a way, they're not wrong. An experienced Dust Symbologist has enough power to easily topple the rule of a whole economy."

Ruby crossed her arms, "Still very selfish! We're surrounded on all sides by Grimm, and they want to hoard knowledge that can save lives?"

Joan patted her shoulders, "I like you, Ruby. But it's not that simple…Dust Symbology is extremely complex, and not everyone has the patience or skills to learn."

"I see…well, maybe that's just because no one ever found a way to simplify it. I bet that someone could've have advanced the art of Symbology if the information was available for the public to review." The silver-eyed reaper huffed as she crossed her arms.

"I'm glad a girl like you is with Jaune. Say…would you like to learn about Dust Symbols?"

Ruby's eyes lit up, "Can I?"

Jaune scratched his cheek, "I was hoping to learn as well. After the fall, we pieced together bits of what little remaining knowledge we could find on the subject, but I never really understood it. Only a few people in Sanctuary could make heads or tails of it." 

Jaune then explained that the insides of his sheaths were imprinted with different Dust Symbols, mainly used for turning his Aura Sword into an Elemental Sword. The Symbols inscribed within the piece of equipment would charge his Aura Sword with one of the Elements before he slashed away or used a one shot elemental beam that needed to be recharged by sheathing the weapon and loading more dust.

Joan looked over his Symbols and shook her head, "These are rudimentary level symbols, Flame Thrower, Icy Mist, Water Gun, Earth Spire, Harden Metal, Shock...oh, this one's an intermediary level symbol, Increase Gravity.

Jaune nodded his head, "So, can you teach us?"

Joan laughed as she started to explain, "Of course, but first, let me make the symbols for your current work. You might as well let me work on the rest of your armor as well."

"No. I think we should hold off on that since I'm going to reforge them again when we get the Arc Reactive Ore. I just want to improve them a bit to help with the Nuckleave." Jaune shook his head.

"Might as well draw down the symbols then, I'll even leave you copy-paper to ink in new ones once you reforge them." 

Joan moved over to the design desk, it was covered in Jaune and Ruby's works.

The grandma then smiled at their skill as she pulled out a few dozen pieces of paper and set their blueprints aside as she started to draw, "Contrary to belief, Dust Symbology isn't so much science as it is art."

Ruby and Jaune watched her work, "Mental focus, emotion, will power, and imagination are the most important aspects needed to become a Dust Symbologist."