Jaune fell over panting from yet another hellish training session with Pyrrha, it wasn't that he didn't enjoy spending the time learning with his partner, he did! He just wished that she would be a little easier on him sometimes, but then again, he knew that if she was, he would never improve. So he did what Arc males do when they're doing something they'd much rather not do, and sucked it up. He slowly got to his feet and slipped into a stance, his shield pointing towards Pyrrha, and sword held out from his side. He noticed Pyrrha steal a glance at his feet and quickly adjusted his stance a little, moving his feet out a little wider, so he wouldn't be knocked on his butt immediately, getting an approving nod from his tutor. Jaune simply nodded back and focused on blocking Pyrrha's first blow, letting it glance off the front of his angled shield before rolling to avoid a shield bash from behind. Jaune jumped back up to his feet and quickly planted them into a wide stance as he just barely blocked Pyrrha's shield from becoming acquainted with his face, and then blocked her sword with his.
He smiled uncertainly as he let his blade slide off of Pyrrha's, jumping to the side to avoid the retaliatory strike he knew was coming and scrambled to avoid her thrown shield, however, it seemed this was where his luck and meager skill ended as he took a kick to the back as he tried to spin around and meet Pyrrha's next strike, so that rather than looking impressive and staying in the fight, all he got was a boot to his back and gravel in his mouth.
Jaune sighed as he pushed himself up, but smiled at Pyrrha's proud gaze, rubbing the back of his neck nervously as he asked her the same question he always did after getting his butt handed to him for the last time of the night. "So, how'd I do Pyrrha?" Her smile just got wider at that.
"You've improved immensely Jaune!" She said, beaming at her leader, before taking on a more serious look, "However, you do have a lot of room for improvement, maybe we'll discover your semblance soon, and then we can learn how it affects your combat style and we can implement it. I have no doubt that you'll be better than me some day Jaune, if you keep improving like this." Jaune blushed at the praise, like he always did. Not because Pyrrha Nikos was praising him, telling him that one day, he could be even better than her, but because his partner, Pyr, believed in him.
Which was more than he could say for his parents, sisters, or his few friends back home.
Jaune pushed the depressing thoughts to the back of his mind as he stowed his weapons, groaning as the soreness came through his aura. "Hey Pyr, do you think next time, you could I dunno, beat me into the ground a little more gently?" His only answer was an incredibly girlish giggle that if he didn't know her, would doubt came from Pyrrha's mouth. He sighed and looked into his partner's eyes. "Is that a no?" Pyrrha smirked as she replied.
"That's a no." Jaune chuckled tiredly and simply shrugged.
"A guy can try, right?" He asked rhetorically before holding the roof access door open for his partner and following her back to his dorm room. "You can have first shower Pyr, I'm gonna check something on my scroll." He said as the girl swiped her scroll across the lock to their door. His only answer was a nod before she grabbed a bundle of clothes from atop her bed and disappeared into the bathroom. Jaune pulled off his armor segments, and his hoodie, revealing a plain looking orange t shirt underneath. He flopped unceremoniously onto his bed and began flicking through different pages on his scroll as he listened to the shower start. The pitter patter of water hitting the shower's floor relaxing him as he laid back on his bed, causing his eyelids to grow heavier and heavier as he tried to read whatever it was he was trying to focus on.
He soon fell asleep in exhaustion, his sore body and sleep addled mind not caring that he smelt like sweat.
Jaune jerked upwards as he awoke in an odd landscape, standing on clouds with no scenery minus the spires of what looked like a castle far ahead of him, Jaune started walking for it, but a bright flash of light brought him to a stop. He covered his eyes and then after the flash ended, he blinked the bright spots out of his eyes to a peculiar sight.
A golden wolf sat in front of him, a single red eye glaring upwards at him.
Jaune tensed and readied his sword as the wolf snarled and leaped at him, Jaune jumped to the side and held his shield out in defense feeling the snout of the beast graze off of the shield's surface. Jaune sighed with relief and stood tall once again as he readied his sword and lowered his shield enough so that he could see.
He was incredibly surprised to see not a gold wolf this time however, but rather a skeletal figure standing before him, dressed in ornate golden armor and holding a rather intimidating blade at him, leisurely holding a round shield at his side. He was even more surprised when it spoke.
"So you're my new student then?" He asked blandly, a calculating gaze in his single red eye. He nodded slightly as though he only slightly approved of what he saw. "You have a lot of potential, but it's untapped, I guess I'll be the one to teach you." Jaune looked at him confusedly, but before he could speak, the skeleton attacked.
Jaune dropped his sword in surprise and only just managed to block the blow with his shield. The skeleton 'tsked' in disappointment as he jumped back from the young man before him.
"A sword wields no strength, unless the hand that holds it has courage!" He rumbled out, pointing his sword at the young man, who dropped into a combat stance. "I am the Hero's Shade, your ancestor, and it has fallen unto me to teach you the way of the sword, Jaune Arc." He narrowed his one good eye at the boy in front of him. "You have a long way to go, but we may make you a swordsman yet."
Jaune looked up at the tall spirit in front of him in awe, this was one of his ancestors? Someone who had been one of the heroes to bring honor to the Arc name? Jaune held his head high and nodded tightly as he slipped into his stance, he'd learn from this shade, skeleton, ghost thing, and maybe he'd be a bit more useful to his team, rather than just their strategist.
The Shade nodded as Jaune fell into his stance, "Good! Now, for the first lost art of the hero! The Ending Blow! Let it be hewn into your mind!"
And with that, their training began.