Author's note: Hello. Smilingsamurai here. Some of you may know me, and many of you don't. This is a new fic, set in an alternate universe. As you will discover, many things in this verse differ from canon. That's about all I'll say. Without further ado, let's get this show on the road!
Chapter 1: Initiation
Jaune looked around. The hall he was standing in was quite spacious. In fact, one might even go so far as to say it was massive. It was easily large enough to fit a few compact houses inside. The floor was made of marble, and was polished till he could see his own reflection on it. The pillars that stretched several metres upwards from the ground were made of metal, and went on to form an elegant framework, holding in place the glass ceiling. Most of the railings and fixtures on the benches were gold coloured. On the ground, in the centre of the space, was a logo in the shape of a molecule symbol that rested on a shield. Quite an appropriate way of proclaiming the purpose of this place, Jaune thought.
After all, this was the Beacon Institute. The prime academy for Empowereds in Vale. They needed a way to tell the world exactly what they were about. A symbol that said it loud and clear. So that particular logo fit the bill. And it was certainly well known and trusted.
Trust.
Well, that was an interesting word. Trust. Belief. Faith. Interesting words.
Jaune wondered what it might be like to experience these feelings from someone else. He decided to push the thought out of his head. For the moment, it was better to focus on the task at hand.
He walked up to a tall desk, behind which sat a bespectacled and serious looking woman. She looked up from her screen as he approached, regarding him with a neutral expression.
"Good morning. What can I do for you?"
"I'm here for the Test", he answered, choosing to be to-the-point.
Her expression grew even sharper, and she momentarily adjusted her glasses.
"Name and registration number, please?"
"Jaune Arc. 07"
Her eyes showed a glimmer of recognition, but she immediately managed to hide it. Jaune spotted it, however. He was used to that reaction whenever people heard his surname. It was why he generally chose to introduce himself by first name only whenever possible. For the moment, however, he remained silent as the woman typed away at the display in front of her.
She seemed to have found his name in the records she doubtless had in that terminal, because a moment later, she had printed out a card, which she proceeded to hand him. Jaune took it and turned it over in his hand. It was made of a synthetic polymer, and imprinted with pigments that formed a high resolution image of his face, along with his name, registration number, the location he was supposed to report to.
"Room 490", the woman said. "There is half an hour before the Test is scheduled to begin, so you can choose to refresh yourself if you want. I highly suggest being at the required location at least fifteen minutes in advance however."
Jaune nodded.
"Thanks," he said, pocketing the card as he walked away.
He walked over to a floor guide that was helpfully posted near the elevators.
Huh. The place was sort of like a mall with things like these lying around.
If a mall were built of military grade alloy and had ceilings made of reinforced glass that could survive a direct missile strike without a scratch. Just by sight, Jaune was able to recognize the composition of the glass that made up the aforementioned ceiling. As a matter of fact, touching the various walls and fixtures had confirmed his observational analysis. This entire place was a fortress disguised to look as approachable (or at least as sterile) as possible.
Impregnable. Emotionless. Unbreakable.
Fitting words for a facility like this, Jaune noted.
Ignoring these thoughts, he consulted the floor plan, and saw that Room 490 was located, obviously enough, on the fourth floor.
He walked towards a pair of elevator doors and pressed the call button, waiting for it to arrive.
As he was doing so, he heard footsteps approaching, and turned his head slightly to peer out of the corner of his eyes at whoever it was.
Two individuals were approaching.
One of them was blonde, and appeared to be almost the same height as himself. She was clad in a partially unzipped brown leather jacket, under which a yellow top was visible. Her skirt appeared to be made of leather as well, and she was wearing a pair of tights underneath it. Jaune noted that she was wearing boots and fingerless gloves, and also had aviators on. Indoors.
Well, different strokes for different folks, I guess?
It did not escape his notice that she was quite… voluptuous.
The other girl was shorter and more slender of build, and seemed younger too. However, what the blonde had in mature charm, she made up for in sheer cuteness.
She was dark haired and was dressed in a style that Jaune had heard was called "goth". Black boots, leather bottoms with metal knee pads, a white top with a leather binding around her torso, most likely for protection, and a hood, currently resting on her back, leaving her face open to view. Her top was interesting it was full sleeved, but had strategic openings at the shoulders and elbows.
Interesting.
The two came to stand next to Jaune, evidently also looking to use the elevator.
He shot them a glance, to which the smaller girl responded with an awkward smile. The larger of the two grinned provocatively.
"Like what you see, blondie?" she asked.
"Er… sure?"
He had no idea how he was supposed to respond to that. He wasn't really in the habit of conversing with strangers. However, it seemed she didn't really mean anything by it, as she giggled quietly and turned away. Evidently, she was just kidding around.
Jaune shrugged and looked away, just in time for the elevator to arrive and the doors to open. He entered, followed by the two of them, and hit the button indicating the fourth floor. He noticed that neither of the girls pressed any other buttons, meaning they must be going to same floor too.
Given their age and attire, Jaune figured they must be here for the same reason he was: the Test.
Within seconds, they arrived at their destination, and the doors slid open.
Jaune stepped out into the corridor, gathering the arrangement of the rooms from the way the numbers proceeded on the doors that were in front, and walked right, accordingly.
488, 489… ah. Here we are.
Room 490's door was made of treated hardwood, same as all the others. But Jaune could detect metal reinforcements hidden in the walls. Probably a set of concealed doors that could slide down in case of an emergency, if they needed to prevent someone from getting in… or getting out.
Totally normal.
He proceeded to push the door open and enter.
Inside, he found himself in a large facility that had various equipment placed around it. All of it, he noted, seemed to represent one or the other challenge, which was fitting, since this was where the Test would be held, after all.
This equipment was all arranged around the perimeter of the facility, which was circular. In the middle was a large indoor arena of sorts. It was a circle around twenty feet in diameter, lowered into the ground so that one had to descend into it by stairway. The walls of this arena were ten feet high, and around it was a seating area similar to the spectator stands of an actual sporting stadium. It was in these stands that he saw many more individuals who looked to be the same age as himself.
Yep. This is definitely the place.
A uniformed guard gestured silently at him to take a seat with the rest of the candidates, and Jaune quietly walked towards the stands, examining the others as he did so.
There were a few groups, and these seemed to be the most talkative people in the room, though even they spoke only in whispers for the most part. From the way they dressed, and their body language, they seemed to Jaune like…
Jocks? Ah well. World can't go round without 'em, I guess.
Particularly notable among these was a group composed of a guy with a buzzcut mohawk, a large brown haired youth who appeared to be dressed in a denim jacket, and two others so nondescript, Jaune forgot what they looked like almost as soon as he saw them.
However, not everyone present was in a group. He spotted several loners too.
A standoffish-looking girl dressed in a white top, purple leggings and black thigh-high boots. Her long black hair framed her face, and she wore a bow.
She appeared to be reading a book as she waited for the test to begin.
"Fifty Shades of Gray's Anatomy", the cover read.
Fantastic, Jaune deadpanned in his head.
Elsewhere in the stands sat a girl who looked about as ill-fitted to her clothes as anyone he'd seen.
And by that, he meant that her demeanour didn't seem to add up with her outfit.
Her clothes seemed like randomly picked out items at a discount store. An almost colourless top, a worn out flannel shirt, ripped jeans and a beanie.
Yet, her bearing seemed more like what Jaune had seen from the posh kids back in the neighbourhood where he'd lived at home.
Her eyes were rimmed with red and underlined by shadows.
She hadn't slept in a while.
A runaway?
Well, it wasn't unheard of for people to escape from wherever it was they lived, and do whatever it took to get far away from there.
Made sense that Beacon would see as many hopeful applicants as people trying to just stay alive and willing to try any means to do so.
Looking around, he spotted a pair of teens huddled close together.
Both of them were dressed like punks. Ripped jeans, sleeveless vests proclaiming the names of a popular band. One of them had black hair with a single lock dyed pink in front, whose eyes met Jaune's almost immediately. He seemed to be quite observant, and stared at the blond with a level, serious gaze.
The other one of the pair was a busty orange-head who seemed to have a bubbly personality, whispering animatedly to her companion and seemingly oblivious to anything and everything else.
And finally, sitting alone, on the opposite side of the stands, a lone redhead.
Even Jaune, as jaded as he was, couldn't help but stare at her.
She seemed quite grounded. Wearing a simple pair of sporting trousers and sneakers, along with a zipped up hoodie, she seemed somewhat like an athlete before a training session, a resemblance backed up by how toned her legs looked. She was also quite pretty, Jaune noted, almost unwillingly feeling a blush creep up his face, momentarily reminding him of his years spent as a horny teen with unrequited crushes.
The girl noticed Jaune staring, and turned to look at him, meeting his eyes.
Instead of glaring, however, Jaune was surprised when a small smile came over her face before she looked away.
She didn't wave or anything, and Jaune didn't even know why that possibility occurred to him: it wasn't as if the two of them even knew each other.
But that momentary smile had been warm, and Jaune felt his cheeks grow even hotter.
Damn it, he admonished himself. Snap out of it. I'm not in high school anymore!
He took a deep breath and exhaled forcefully, bringing his thoughts back on track. Ignoring everyone else, he found an empty section of the stands and took a seat there.
There was still a little while to go before the Test was to begin, and Jaune decided to spend the time analysing the composition of the various materials around him.
He started from what he was sitting on. The stands were average industrial-grade concrete, as was the arena floor, and Jaune couldn't see any manner of padding anywhere.
Well, at least I know a suplex down there is going to hurt whoever takes it.
He did note, however, that there were barely noticeable grooves along the floor, which suggested the presence of hidden panels that would either slide or fold open due to hidden hydraulics. There was no way for him to confirm this without getting closer, however.
Pushing the thought out of his mind, he examined the other candidates now.
He wasn't close enough to any of them to analyse them by anything other than sight, but most of them appeared to be made of organic tissue on their visible parts, without any more exotic variations.
Judging by their physiques and body language, he drew at least some conclusion on their abilities and methodology. It was far from a complete picture, but it was at least some information to go on if he was forced to go up against them, which, considering the fact that this was an arena, he likely would.
He had already noted what pieces of gym and physical testing equipment were scattered around the facility, so he knew what the test would likely entail in addition to one-on-one fights.
There was nothing more he could glean from sight at the moment, so he decided to lean his head back, close his eyes and relax for a while.
He had come this far.
It was pointless to be nervous.
He would give it his best, and take whatever results came.
Pyrrha Nikos looked around the facility where she sat. She had arrived quite a while back (it was her habit to always be there at least an hour in advance), and had watched the other candidates slowly trickle in. There weren't a lot of people here, but that was to be expected.
Beacon had an extremely stringent pre-screening procedure, so very few people even qualified for the Test to begin with.
Also, it was a risky job.
Not everyone liked putting their life on the line to protect the fate of humanity, and all that.
She was a solid A student, earning top honours in all subjects. She had the smarts, she could easily have qualified for a research position somewhere, or more comfortable still, a cushy desk job.
Safe, behind the walls, whiling away her life until she died of old age… or until the walls were finally broken.
Still, she had chosen to come here.
Well, she thought. Guess we'll find out how it goes.
In all honesty, she didn't see much chance of failing the Test. Not with her Ability. Although it was still a possibility. She had seen some very unlikely things happen in her life, and knew very well that one could never predict what might happen in any situation with one hundred percent certainty.
As she waited, she couldn't help but want to talk to people.
She had always been a loner. Not by choice, mind you.
She had just ended up being one, isolated.
She knew all too well, that being bad at things wasn't the only way for you to be ostracized.
No, it was just as possible to be alienated for being too good at things.
And so it had been for her.
Of course, here in this room, no one knew her. They had no reason not to approach her.
But they had no reason to do so either.
And so she sat, the mask of a bright expression on her face masking her true thoughts.
Until she saw him.
The blond boy was taller than most, standing around the same height as herself. She noted he appeared to be in good shape: the sleeves of his t shirt were filled out by his arms, and a toned chest and wide shoulders were clearly visible. He was good looking by conventional standards too: strong jawline and sharp features, and that beach boy haircut.
In a way, he sort of reminded her of the surfer dudes she had seen around her hometown.
Except he wasn't.
The way he carried himself was different. Not tense, but vigilant. His eyes always casually observing everything around himself. Somewhat similar to an apex predator prowling around in the wild, always aware of its surroundings, of other apex predators that might challenge it.
He carried himself like a man who had seen action. Like a fighter. And his eyes had a certain weight in them, a depth that only came with experience.
A depth Pyrrha saw when she looked in the mirror.
Well, at least there are some interesting folk here.
That would have been the end of that. She would normally have noted him as an interesting individual out of this crowd, and left it at that, except for one thing.
Their eyes had met. And in that moment, she realized that he had not been intimidated by her.
The logical part of her pointed out that he didn't even know her, so there was no reason for him to be intimidated yet.
But still, he had seen her, and blushed like a schoolboy.
Like any boy might if he saw a pretty girl.
That reaction was something she hadn't got in ages.
Just for a moment, he had reminded her of a time when she wasn't the one who had to stand out in a crowd.
Maybe he'd be worth getting to know. At least… if we both make it in.
She decided to give him a small smile, inwardly giggling at how his reaction was for his cheeks to heat up even more as he shuffled away to sit by himself.
Cool guy, huh?
She shook her head and went back to observing the rest of her surroundings.
It was several more minutes before the door finally opened once more. Not the one she had entered through, but the other one. A sliding metal door diametrically opposite to the other.
Several people entered, their boots clacking on the ground as they made their way to the arena, and then down to its floor.
Notable among them was a tall, silver-haired man. He was clad in a black two piece suit and green tie, and wore purple round-rimmed shades. He carried a staff too.
Immediately, Pyrrha noted that this man exuded power, though he did not flaunt it.
Somehow, it was clear right away that this man must be in charge here at Beacon.
When he stood on the arena floor, he looked around at all the candidates in silence for a moment before speaking.
"You are all aware why you are here."Pyrrha knew indeed.
"The terrors that lie in wait outside the Walls."
A vision of blank eyes. Staring, emotionless. Blood dripping from seemingly thin air. Thin air that had perforated bodies like pincushions.
"But we are not here to mince words. And perhaps some of you are not fully cognizant of the step that you are about to take. So I will say it here and now."
The silver haired man's voice grew louder, more forceful, carrying the authority not of the principal of a school, but the head of a facility that created weapons.
"Humanity is in the middle of a war. A war, which, make no mistake, we are losing. The reason for this is known to you: evolution."Evolution. The genetic truth.
"Around a generation ago, the world experienced a change. The reason for this change, the catalyst, is unknown. But the result is something we are all aware of. Several species on this planet experienced massively accelerated evolution. A drastic genetic change that completely altered their very cellular structure, altering their very nature."He paused for a moment before continuing.
"Some of you might have parents who experienced this change firsthand. Humans developed, overnight, powers that they could not have previously dreamed of. Powers that made some believe they were gods. But such delusions were not given time to flourish." His eyes sharpened.
"We weren't the only ones who experienced this change. Other species did, too. And several of these took on forms… that no longer bore any resemblance to what they once were. It would be a lie to call them animals any longer."Pyrrha felt an involuntary shudder run through her as the memories flashed in her head again.
"We call them… the Mutates. They are the creatures in the dark, the horrors in the sun. They are myth made reality. They are the hunters of humankind, the ones that prey on our flesh. Genetic nightmares. We have emptied entire clips on them, only for them to spit out the bullets. We have dismembered them, only for them to grow bladed appendages and cut us down. We have attempted military warfare, only to realize they are equipped with natural firepower more deadly than anything we had yet developed. Make no mistake: Mutates are the apex predators of the planet. Human beings cannot defeat them."His eyes hardened even further. They were now those of a soldier, a general.
"But you are none of you humans. You are the second generation, born of parents who had been affected by the great change. And as the next step in evolution, you possess powers even your parents could not dream of. Make no mistake: many humans never experienced the original mutation. Much less are there second generation beings such as yourselves. It is as if you are the chosen few. The few humans, who have been given the power to fight back against the monsters that threaten our very existence. You are… the Empowered."Yes. This was Pyrrha's nature. She had been like this, from the moment she was born. Both her parents had possessed Abilities too, but neither of them had been particularly strong. In fact, her power didn't even appear to be related in any way to theirs, making her wonder how exactly the genetics of this worked.
Regardless, the fact remained. She had power, where most people did not.
And that, in her mind, was a good enough reason for her to fight, for those who could not.
She reaffirmed her conviction, and returned her focus to the silver-haired man.
"You have each of you signed a contract. A contract that states, that should you be accepted into Beacon, you will enter the Eliminator Program. At the end of this, you will emerge as humanity's warriors against the Mutates, the heroes who will guide us to the next age. This is your last chance to back out. The doors will now open. Should you choose to leave, you will be given the only copy of the signed contract, which you are free to destroy and render void and null. Should you remain in this room when the doors close, you will be subject to the Test. At that point, you will already be past the point of no return. So make your final choice, and make it now."
A tense silence followed. Pyrrha could heard some shuffling. Evidently, some people were having second thoughts. But ultimately, five minutes passed and the doors closed. No one had left the room.
This was it. For better or worse, there was no turning back.
"Very well," said Ozpin. "You've made your choice. Let the Test begin."
The Test was purely practical, and broken up into two segments. The first was a physical ability test. This involved using one's Ability to give one's best possible performance in the various tasks one was given.
There was a hard cutoff point. Candidates who performed below that would be disqualified, and their contracts voided as they were ejected from Beacon.
Candidates who cleared the minimum requirements would move on to the second part of the test.
One on one battles. Each candidate would fight in one match, which would go on till submission or incapacitation. Only the winners would move on to finally be accepted into the Ghost Program.
======================================================================
Ozpin looked through the list of the candidates. There was no possible way to know what any of them were capable of, since there was no data on their powers, or on them.
Well, most of them anyway.
There were a few exceptions.
"Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose both came," he said.
The woman next to him,Glynda Goodwitch, shook her head disapprovingly.
"Qrow will hate you for this," she said.
"He has hated me for a long time," Ozpin answered.
He looked through other names.
"It appears Pyrrha Nikos is here," he muttered.
The redhead's name was quite well known in the academic community, and to the public to a degree, since she had appeared in one or two commercials for popular brands. Ozpin had heard she had been a teen model.
But that was neither here nor there.
She was either strong enough to make it in, or she wasn't. Her fame didn't matter.
Which led to the final familiar name on the list.
"Jaune… Arc."
The Arcs were quite well known to Ozpin. Both Arc parents were notable among the first generation of human mutants, and had been instrumental in the battles to hold back the Mutates long enough to build the Walls and herd humanity inside them.
They were both retired veterans now. Ozpin knew for a fact that each of their children was a notable Empowered, and all of them were at one of the other Institutes across the four Settlements.
Except Jaune.
From what Ozpin had heard, the youngest child of the Arcs had been born without the evolved gene, the Stigma.
He realized now how foolish an assumption that had been. In the first place, human research had not successfully pinpointed the genes that gave the Empowered their abilities in the first place. Meaning, there was no way to test a body to find out if it had powers or not.
The only way to know if someone had an Ability, was to see them use it.
Jaune was rumoured to not have ever used any Ability.
Whether those rumours were true or not, the Test was about to reveal.
Ozpin sincerely hoped the boy had not been foolish enough to apply if they were true.
"Well, our fates rest on this generation. Let's hope they have strong shoulders."
He proceeded to the observation deck.
Physical Ability Test.
Task 1: Pressing strength. This was relatively straightforward. There was a barbell placed on the ground, and weight plates. The task was to load up the bar to whatever amount the candidate believed they could handle, and then lift it up from the ground to above their heads by whatever means they wanted. Needless to say, no assisting equipment was allowed.
One by one, the applicants came forth. It was clear that many of them had never set foot inside a gym in their life, and had no idea how to do a deadlift or safely get the bar to even shoulder level. Yet, they tried the best they could, each managing to get various amounts of weight above their heads.
Of course, not every applicant even needed to use conventional lifting methods.
The dark-haired girl who had been reading the adult novel proved to have a body that was semi-fluid, able to change shape and volume.
Disturbingly, she flattened herself till she was under the bar completely, even it was resting on the ground, and then allowed herself to return to her normal height, the recoil force from the transformation pushing the weight up. She only held the weight for a second at full height, but that was enough for it to count.
Blake Belladonna: 2000 kg.
Ability: Shapeshifting
There was a Faunus with rabbit ears who summoned five spectral clones of herself to help out, together managing to get the bar up and even hold it for a few seconds.
Velvet Scarlatina: 600 kg.
Ability: Solid Light ConstructsOf course, there were a few who only did well by human standards.
The short-haired goth girl managed to overhead press 60 kg, although she did it with proper form, showing that she had indeed trained, and that her Ability likely had nothing to do with lifting strength.
Ruby Rose: 60 kg.
And there were a few who managed to completely blow away the competition.
The brown-haired jock from earlier casually loaded 3000 kg, over 3 actual tons, on the bar, and gripped it one handed with his palm under the bar.
Without needing to use his muscles at all, he simply used his Ability, an explosive blast from his palm that launched the bar almost all the way to the ceiling.
Cardin Winchester: 3000 kg.
Ability: Explosion CreationHe looked obscenely pleased with himself when he was done.The blonde girl with the aviators stepped up, and did not remove any of the weight Cardin had added, causing the boy to scoff. Instead, she casually doubled it, causing him to now stare at her in disbelief.
"Hey, can I use equipment as long as I don't directly use it for the lift?" the girl called out.
One of the examiners gave permission, and the blonde proceeded to whip out a can of what Ozpin recognized as Bullhead fuel, and proceeded to drink it.
Almost immediately, her body started to glow with a burning aura. Grinning, she gripped the bar one handed, and hoisted it clean off the ground to above her head, holding it there for a few seconds just to drive the point home.
Yang Xiao Long: 6000 kg.
Ability: Energy Absorption/Power Boosting
Up next was the black haired youth with the pink fringe on their hair. Ozpin noticed that he patted Yang on the shoulder as he walked past her. There had to be a meaning to that gesture.
The look on the blonde's face was priceless as the punk proceeded to lift the same amount of weight, and with one hand just like her.
Lie Ren: 6000 kg.
Ability: Temporary Ability Steal
After him came his partner, the upbeat girl with the orange hair.
She proved to be yet another who used equipment prior to the lift. And that equipment happened to be an industrial grade live portable power generator… from which she removed the insulation before touching it.
Visible sparks of electricity crackled violently, but she appeared unharmed.
Walking over to the bar, she proceeded to one-up both Ren and Yang by doubling the weight to over 12 tons.
Nora Valkyrie: 12000 kg
Ability: Power Boosting through Electrical Absorption
That led to Pyrrha Nikos' turn.
The redhead came up to the bar, and surprised everyone by loading up every last one of the available plates.
Even Yang had an eyebrow raised in mild disbelief.
Pyrrha raised her arm, and at her command, the bar rose up in the air, without her needing to even touch it.
Pyrrha Nikos: 24000 kg.
Ability: Supermagnetism.
And that… left only one candidate to go.
======================================================================
Jaune approached the bar, ignoring the focus of everyone else in the room.
From this close, his Ability came into effect, and he recognized the composition of the weights, identifying them as a dense specially made alloy.
Honestly, this was disappointing. He'd been expecting something a bit more challenging from the infamous Beacon Initiation Test. But it was too early to draw conclusions. This was a competition, after all, so it didn't matter how basic the task was, only that you did better at it than everyone else.
Jaune was observant enough to note that literally every applicant with a powerful Ability had not used anywhere close to even half of their full power, because there was no point to going all out and exhausting oneself, or to revealing one's limits when one didn't need to.
And Jaune was smart enough to realize that the design of the test in this manner was deliberate, so that Beacon could see which candidates wasted time and energy flexing, and which candidates didn't.
I only need to do better than most of them. Let's see… 2 tons should be enough.
That was already better than 70 percent of the others.
Jaune loaded up the weight, and proceeded to first deadlift it, then jerk it to his shoulders, and finally overhead press it with proper form, holding it there for a few seconds before lowering it to the ground.
He could have, in all honesty, done the lift one handed with none of this required, but there was no need for anyone else to know that yet.
The only one he could think of who had really displayed something incredible was Pyrrha Nikos, and that had been because, given her specific Ability, 24 tons of metallic alloy was her holding back and using only a little. That, and he had a suspicion she was cleverly using the magnitude of her power to mask something else.
Jaune's lift was recorded as well, though he noted with pleasure that the examiners had not correctly identified his Ability.
Jaune Arc: 2000 kg.
Ability: Super Strength
While it was certainly true that Jaune had strength far surpassing ordinary humans, this was not his Ability. Rather, it was a result of his Ability.
An Ability that wasn't simple enough that one could recognize it easily, even though Jaune was using it almost constantly.
An Ability that his parents and siblings hadn't been able to recognize or realize he had, causing them to dismiss him as an ordinary human.
And Ability that he himself had discovered through accident. After the initial euphoria that had come with that discovery, he'd played around with it, and was quickly disappointed, because in comparison to the amazing powers of the rest of his family, it had seemed so… average.
But that was until he experimented with it, and found out there was so much more to it than met the eye.
Jaune's true ability was telekinesis. It had appeared disappointing at first because the amount of mass he could move at once was very limited, capping out at 30 kg. It had a limited range too, only upto a radius of three feet from his body.
No way was that going to be viable in a fight, he had thought desperately.
But over time, he discovered some facts.
Fact 1: Within that 30 kg limit, Jaune could move anything. It wasn't about how big he could go, it was about how small he could go. In other words, it wasn't the magnitude of this power that made it potent. It was the precision.
Jaune was able to move individual molecules. Able to perceive them through a special telekinetic sensory field that came with his Ability, and thus manipulate them. In fact, he could even go so far as to manipulate individual atoms.
This of course, led to Fact 2: Within that 30 kg limit of mass, things like molecular forces did not matter. For whatever reason, he was able to bypass the strength of those forces, and arrange the building blocks of matter as he saw fit.
Fact 1 and Fact 2 led to Fact 3: Jaune decided to study science. A lot of it.
Enough of it, that he tried something crazy.
Slowly, over the course of a decade, he manipulated matter, in order to rebuild his entire body.Everything was modified. Bone toughness and density. Composition, mass and strength of muscle fibres. Accuracy and range of sensory organs. Efficacy and hardiness of vital organs.
Jaune was a one hundred percent, self-built superhuman.
It was a process that could have killed him if he made a single mistake. Worse, it could have left him a vegetable.
But he had pulled off the one in trillion miracle, through sheer courage, ingenuity and luck.
In a world where the ones surrounding him had incredible powers, a world where incredible powers would be needed to survive; a world where the ones he respected and loved told him he could never fight…
He had changed himself, and come for a fight.
And that fight was now. He was going to crush this Test, and join the battle for humanity's survival.
Not because he cared so much about people.
That had been a long time ago. No, it was because the world had told him he could never fight.
And his reaction to that, was to prove to himself that he could.
Jaune Arc was not a hero, and would never be.
But no one in that Test room was.
Humanity didn't need heroes.
It needed warriors.
And Jaune fully intended to become one.
The rest of the tests passed in similar fashion.
50 metre sprint.
Standing long jump.
Projectile dodge test.
Punch power test.
Crunches, pushups and squats for endurance test.
In all of these, different aspects of the candidates' power was revealed, and always, Jaune used just enough of his abilities that he would be in the upper half, but never enough to stand out.
When the first part ended, Jaune was above the cutoff point, and had qualified for the one on one combat test.
While he was confident that no one, not even the Beacon staff, would have been able to figure out the true nature of his power yet, since he had not directly used it a single time during the Test, he was not so naive as to believe that he had gone completely unnoticed. Even if he had deliberately chosen to not get the best result any single test, he was one of the few candidates who had consistently done well in all the tests, while most were only able to ace one or two of them at most.
In the end, would it even matter? During his fight, they were sure to get an idea of what he was capable of. Still, he would try to keep it as efficient as possible, and avoid unnecessary attention.
Yes, that was best.
There was no point to unnecessary attention.
He wasn't here to make friends. He was here to fight, to prove to himself that he wasn't powerless. That everything he had built up, could take on the world, and win.
Thus, as the other candidates went through their fights one by one, Jaune observed them all. When possible, he got close to them. Although it wasn't always possible to be within three feet of them to scan them all using his Ability, he was able to get at least a few scans, and a lot of observational information.
He had a fair idea of who was going to win each of the encounters, and his picks all turned out to be correct.
Finally, his own turn came.
His opponent, perhaps fittingly, perhaps ironically, was Cardin Winchester.
The two of them stood ten feet apart in the arena at the centre of the room.
Between the two of them, Cardin appeared slightly bigger, although only by a smaller amount.
The cocky youth grinned at him.
"Heh. I was watching you during the first round. Gotta say, kid, it's a damn shame. It's not like you're weak. It's just… you're so fucking average."
Jaune heard his words, but didn't allow them to register. He had learned long ago to tune out anything that came out of an enemy's mouth during a fight. Sure, some would argue that it was possible to goad an opponent through conversation, or gain some insight into their way of thinking.
In reality, though? Most fights ended quick, and being focused on the action made the difference between winning and losing.
And Jaune did not depend on conversation to learn about the opponent. He had his own, more reliable ways.
Nevertheless, he could not say he disliked Cardin particularly. The boy was rude and annoying, but not worth enough to get annoyed over.
He was like many others Jaune had met over the years: vaguely along the lines of a bothersome pest. Normally, opening the window and letting him out would be enough.
But on this occasion, the pest would be actively trying to harm him.
That left him only one option.
"Begin," said Ozpin.
Right away, without warning, Cardin threw an explosive burst at Jaune, which detonated as soon as it seemed to touch him, covering the arena in smoke.
"Cough, cough." Yang tried to get the dust out of her throat. "Did he get him? That's a shame. Blondie was kinda good look-"
The smoke was blown away by a sudden movement.
A movement so fast, so forceful, the smoke was blasted away by their air pressure, leaving the arena in plain sight.
Most of the other competitors had their jaws hanging open now, as Jaune, unharmed, was holding Cardin up in the air, one-handed, an iron grip wrapped around his skull. It was clear that the explosion had connected, since Jaune's t-shirt was blown away, revealing a well-sculpted, muscular body. But there was not a single scratch or burn on it.
"Sorry," said the blond. The earlier apathy was gone from his eyes, and it seemed to everyone watching that his demeanour had changed from the guy who had been satisfied with being just good enough in the first round.
His blue eyes were drilling a hole into Cardin with his glare, a determined glare that had no anger in it.
"Sorry. You can't win. You should give up here."
Without further ado, Jaune used his other hand punch Cardin, almost gently, in the chin. A blow there rattles the skull, and with Jaune's strength, that meant an instant knockout. Cradling Cardin's unconscious body, he laid it lightly on the ground, before turning to the silver haired man for confirmation.
"Number 07 wins. And with that, we reach the end of the Test. Those who have qualified, remain behind. The rest of you, get treated at the Medical Wing, then leave and return to civilian life."
Jaune walked out of the arena.
Although his face remained impassive, inside, he felt a thrill of joy, of excitement.
It was ridiculous to think of for someone who would be risking his life in dangerous battles to celebrate having scored the gig.
Yet, Jaune was doing so now.
It was the first step, in his journey as an Eliminator.
Of course, he was not aware that he had won the attentions of several of his new fellow recruits too.