Getting sick is terrible. Being bedridden is even worse. But at least I had a lot of time on my hands to work on my writing. Hopefully this is as good as it was in my head.


Jaune was exhausted. Which was the last thing he wanted on a day like today. To make matters worse his mind was flooded with ideas. Different combat strategies and lines of play kept him up all night. Even at breakfast his mind was still working overtime trying to prep for taking on a human opponent in his tactics class.

"Good morning sleepyhead." a voice broke into Jaune's mind. Looking up he saw it belonged to Ruby.

"Oh, hey Ruby. Good morning..." Jaune replied.

"I take it you didn't get much sleep last night?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"Jaune, look around." She said gesturing to the rest of the dining hall. "Everyone gets the monday blues. But you are definitely far beyond that point."

She gave him a friendly punch in the shoulder has they returned their dishes.

"Just don't fall asleep in class like you used to do last term and you'll be fine." She said with a smile. And with that she left Jaune alone with his thoughts.

"Good morning class," Ironwood greeted as the class began. "today will certainly be busy day so let's get right to it. Jaune Arc. Maryn Baldwin." The two student stood up at the sound of their names. "You two shall be the first to compete against each other."

The match was a capture the flag scenario. The first team would hold the flag for as long as possible. The second team would attack until they claim it. Afterwards the teams switch. The match would be decided by which team took longer to capture the flag.

"Jaune would you like to attack or defend first?" Ironwood asked after flipping a coin.

"Attack." Jaune said.

"You may begin when ready."

Jaune took a breath and closed his eyes.

"Good thinking." The voice said.

"About what?" He thought back.

"You aren't very quick on the attack so giving yourself no time limit is good."

"Oh."

"And you make better decisions when on the defensive so you will have the advantage there as well."

"Any actual advice for me?"

"No advice just telling you what you did right or wrong."

"Why can't you give me at least a hint at what to do?"

"Because I'm you."

Jaune attacked swiftly at first. Using an all-out attack strategy to try and pierce his way through whatever defences Maryn was trying to build up. No such luck. His attack force was meet by one of equal strength.

After retreating and rebuilding his forces Jaune tried his next maneuver. He split was forces 60-40 and tried a flanking maneuver. The first flank attacked and was meet by the same defensive forces as last time. This time though the second flank attacked from the other side of the base. With most of Maryn's forces in combat the soldiers nearly captured the flag. Maryn was caught off guard but was quickly able to react and force Jaune to retreat.

Jaune looked up from the command module feeling defeated. He wasn't making any progress and time was ticking. Maryn on the other hand looked as calm as could be. She was sitting with her legs crossed on the chair she had brought over with headphones on and humming to herself while smiling.

"Okay, now what do I do..." He thought to himself.

"Look at your options."

"Like what?"

"What have you learned from your previous attacks?"

"Both times she has meet my forces with all her might."

"And-"

"When I flanked the second front almost made it though... So if I split her forces up enough I can sneak in and take the flag."

"No."

"Why not?"

"The same thing will happen. Think about what else you can change. Why can she move her forces around so easily?"

"We are fighting too close to the base."

"You know what to do?"

"We both already know the answer to that."

Jaune had 60% of his forces lead a charge straight to the front door of Maryn's base. Just like before she defended with a majority of her troops. Jaune's second wave attacked from the other side of the base and just like the time before Maryn was able to fend off the attack. Jaune began to retreat his forces ever so slightly. Maryn's forces continued the to fight as they moved away from the base. Just as it seemed Maryn's troops would return to their base, Jaune attacked with his last effort. The small group was able to pierce the weakened base and walk out with the flag in hand.

"It actually worked..." Jaune said with a sigh of relief. he leaned back in his chair as the battlefield changed. He was now in control of the hill and needed to defend from Maryn.

"You're going down." Maryn threatened from across the table.

"Jaune is the winner of the match." Ironwood declared as Maryn ran out of time.

"How did you hold off my forces so well?" Maryn asked after the match was over. "Most opponents can't handle all-out attacks back to back to back."

"I got lucky I guess." Jaune replied sheepishly. "I figured you would have a very offensive strategy so I used the three line volley."

"The what?" Maryn asked as the class was excused.

"I spent most of last night going over old strategies. A certain general I read about was about to be attacked. He knew that his foe used blitz strategies so he prepared for it. The three line volley is named for having three lines of gunners so that there is always at least one line firing and no more than one line reloading."

"Pretty impressive for a first year." Stahl said as he joined the two. "Why don't you eat lunch with us? It'll be our treat." He offered.

The three students left for lunch shortly thereafter. One of the benefits of being a third year was being able to eat off campus. While Jaune left Beacon on the weekends and sometimes grabbed food with his teammates there were plenty of places he hadn't tried. He soon found himself at a small cart that served flatbread sandwiches. The trio ordered and ate as they talked about school, home, and missions. As Jaune listened to their stories from the missions the two had been on he lost track of time.

"Wait! Aren't we supposed to be back at school now?" He asked grabbing for his things.

"Well you probably need to be back." Mayrn said as she leaned back in her chair. "Our classes are over for the day."

"Oh man I'm sorry about that. I totally spaced that you probably still had classes." Stahl apologized. "Maryn did you set this up?"

She simply stuck her tongue out while Jaune said his hurried good byes and ran back towards the school.

Back at Beacon Pyrrha was worried. Jaune was nowhere to be seen and professor Goodwitch was able to start combat class. Moments later her fears were realized when class began and Jaune was absent. Today was the first day of mandatory sparring. Students could either volunteer to be opponents or challenge one another.

Pyrrha was in luck as no one tried to challenge her. If anyone had she won't have even noticed. She was too deep in thought able where her leader was and why he wasn't here.

"Jaune won't skip class..." She reassured. "He might fall asleep sometimes but I'm sure he wouldn't skip. He did look really tired this morning... Did he take a nap in the dorm room during lunch?"

"Ren, did you or Nora happen to see Jaune when you went to the room during lunch?" She asked.

"I did not." Ren answered.

"I did!" Nora called from behind Ren. "He was getting on a shuttle to town with some girl."

Pyrrha heard it first. The sound of a person sprinting down the hall. The desperate panting from running a long distance. The heavy footfalls of exhaustion. She turned to see the source as it drew closer. One Jaune Arc stood in the doorway to class breathing heavily and with his armor half on.

"Wonderful." Glynda commented. "I hope you have a valid excuse for you tardiness."

Gasping for air he managed to choke out. "Some third years... tricked me." He took his normal seat next to Pyrrha as he finished adjusting his armor.

"Regardless you are still late." Glynda checked her scroll. "You are still very late for class. As a punishment you must compete tomorrow. I suggest you arrive on time."

Team JNPR's dorm room was quiet. Ren studied while Nora listened to music. Jaune was taking a nap. Before that when the team had return to their room he refused to speak to his team mates about the days events. Pyrrha tried to work on homework but kept glancing over at her leader, laying in his bed worn out and looking defeated. She hadn't seen him feeling this down in a long while. She wanted to cheer him up or at least help him in some way. But she knew that it would be better for him to come to her. Jaune was making progress in his training and he was gaining more confidence but she knew there were still somethings he won't accept help with.

Jaune woke up with a feeling of dread mixed with joy. He was able to beat a third year in class and normally he probably would have had his team go out for dessert or a movie or something to celebrate. But instead he was nervous and angry about tomorrow. Thanks to a 'harmless prank' he was going to made a fool of in front of everyone. He was only really left one option, to train with Pyrrha and hope he gets lucky tomorrow.

The two members of JNPR trained hard on the rooftop of Beacon. Pyrrha never held back against Jaune and tonight was no different. In Jaune's case he had some emotions to work out and knew Pyrrha could take it.

"You are doing this all wrong." The voice told him.

"Shut up." He commanded.

"You aren't thinking. You can't win with brute force alone."

"I said shut up!"

"If you fight like this tomorrow you will lose no matter how hard you try."

"Like it even matters! I'm going to lose no matter what who I face or what I try against them."

"If that's what you want to think go ahead."

"I think I have an idea for tomorrow if you want to hear it." Pyrrha asked as the two finished. When Jaune didn't reply Pyrrha continued on. "I could be your opponent tomorrow. Think about it. It would be just like it is when we train at night. No pressure or stress. Just us sparring like normal, but with an audience. So... What do you think?"

"Pyrrha..." Jaune wanted to smile but couldn't find in himself. "That won't work."

"What do you mean?"

"When you win, which you will, everyone will think you are just showing off by beating the weakest guy in class. Or if I win everyone will think you threw the match in my favor because we are on the same team. There is no situation where people don't think less of you afterward."

"Jaune, I don't care."

"But I do! I'm not going to bring my teammates down."

"If that's what you want..." Pyrrha said as she left the roof.

"It's not..." He said once she was gone. "But it's the best I can do right now."

Jaune was on autopilot all day. He felt terrible about what he said to Pyrrha. It was the first time he had got into a fight with one of his friends since coming to Beacon. He was walking to combat class when he stopped to think for a moment.

"Was that even a fight?" He thought to himself.

Nothing.

"Oh, so now you won't talk to me? Just great. I guess I have to deal with all this myself. Just really, really, great..."

After a moment Jaune realized.

"But's what I wanted right?"

"So are you going to listen to me now?" The voice said.

"I probably should."

"Good. You know Pyrrha is going to try to convince Goodwitch to make you two spar."

"Yep."

"You know how to stop that from happening right."

"Yep."

"Good. Now go do what you have to do."

"This is going to suck..."

"Today Mr. Arc will be facing an opponent. Do we have any volunteers?" Professor Goodwitch asked. No one responded. A moment passed and Pyrrha stood up. "Ah, Ms. Nikos," she turned to face Jaune. "Unless you have a specific opponent in mind Pyrrha will be your opponent."

Jaune could feel the stare of everyone in the room. He knew what he had to do.

"I want to challenge Cardin Winchester." He stated.


I should mention I ship Arkos. So that should explain a little of whats going on here. As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter and will continue reading.