Chapter 7
For being an academy full of new students, the locker rooms weren't as jam-packed as Pyrrha would have thought. In fact, there was enough room for her to properly here Jaune talk (not that he was at the moment) and even practice a few techniques with Milo without hitting anyone. Come to think of it, she and Jaune must have been the only ones in this hallway.
"You would have thought there would be most students," Jaune mused, probably thinking the same thing Pyrrha was.
She smiled, adjusting one of his shoulder pads that had been loosened. "Maybe the staff has multiple locker rooms for different year-levels?"
Jaune shrugged off Pyrrha's hand, reaching over and tightening the straps to his armor himself. "Possibly. Or maybe they have a different schedule."
While a bit disappointed at Jaune's minor rebuff at her help with getting his armor tightened, Pyrrha knew he wasn't upset or anything; he just liked doing things himself. "So," she asked, taking the conversation elsewhere, "any ideas on how initiation will go? You feel prepared?"
Pyrrha's mouth crooked into a small smile as she saw Jaune pause, his eyes widening just long enough for her to know he was scared, and then rub the back of his head nervously. "Um, yeah, yeah, it shouldn't be too different from Sanctum's initiation, correct?"
Pyrrha shook her head, enjoying this maybe a bit too much. "At Sanctum we had a maze to run through; here, it's a little more… difficult."
Jaune gulped. "How so?"
"Rumor has it you get thrown into a pit of Death Stalkers," came a new voice. Jaune and Pyrrha spun around to find Yang Xiao Long leaning against a locker, toying with her large yellow gauntlets with a wicked smile on her face. She smiled and walked over to the duo, shaking her head as she did. "But honestly, I think that was meant to scare gullible students, initiations are never that simple and stupid."
"Uh, yeah, good thing they are," Jaune said nervously.
Yang gave him a coy, knowing smile that practically screamed "You totally believed me for a second" before turning her attention to Pyrrha. "Initiation starts in about twenty minutes. The only actual piece of information I heard worth of note was something about landing strategies." She cocked an eyebrow at Pyrrha, ever present smile brightening. "Any ideas on what that means, Cereal Box?"
"Cereal Box?" Pyrrha asked, confused for a moment.
"You ARE on the cover of Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes Cereal, arent' you?"
"Thank Dust someone else remembers that!" Jaune exclaimed, gesturing approvingly to Yang. "It's always tournament this, champion that, but no one remembers her face on Marshmellow Flakes!"
"It's a shame really," Yang said, crossing her arm. "That was my favorite flavor too, better than that Blueberry Grain thing they had for a few years."
Jaune shuddered. "Don't remind me, that stuff tasted like chalk and took forever to chew. Good thing she got any Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes she wanted for free; that stuff was the best!"
Pyrrha groaned. "Yeah, they were a sponsor of mine for a few years. I got to eat as much as I – or, in this case, Jaune – wanted. Unfortunately, it isn't very good for you – they still insist on me being on the cover though, which still is pretty cool."
"I'll say," Yang concurred, flipping her mane over one shoulder. "Well, I'm off to find Rubes, see you two at initiation! Best of luck on those landing strategies, by the way." She punched both their arms affectionately before sauntering off further down the hall. Pyrrha turned to Jaune in hopes of asking him if he knew what kind of landing strategy he was planning on using – if he even knew what one was or how to use it – only to find her partner blanked out.
"Jaune? Hello?" Nothing. She waved an eye in front of her friend's face, hoping he hadn't been distracted by Yang in any way. "Jaune!"
"Huh, what? Oh, right, Jaune, me, okay," he babbled almost to himself, turning back into this locker and rummaging around to grab his weapon.
Pyrrha cleared her throat. "You okay?"
"Oh, yeah sure, totally, great, never been better."
She sighed. "Jaune." The name was more than that; in this case, both of them knew Pyrrha didn't believe Jaune's lie one bit, and he needed to speak up. Being with the goofball this long had made him easy to read, his body language being as familiar as her own.
Jaune sighed back, shoulder's slumping. "Yeah, I'm worried about this whole initiation thing. I mean, I don't know how it's going to work, or if I'll make it out alive, or even if I can make it past the whole ordeal, how will I make it at this school? I had you to help me at Sanctum, but I barely learned much! I ended up never competing and just following you around, acting on the sidelines and helping you –"
"Jaune, I'm going to stop you right there."
Jaune looked up at Pyrrha, his face somewhere between confusion and surprise. Pyrrha needed to help him stop this self-defeat before it got out of hand; as much as he'd complain about it and liken him to his mother, she knew pep talks were something the blond needed from time to time.
"Jaune, it may be true that you aren't the best fighter in this academy, and that you have a long ways to go before you're on the same level as everyone here –" she waited as another one of his upset groans interrupted her before continuing "– but in the last year you made more progress than most students in training make in three. You're getting better with every practice session, you've gained a lot of battle strategy – it would be a shame if you didn't see all of the improvements you've made and the skills you've picked up."
Jaune heaved a sigh. "But I'm still not where I want to be."
"No one ever is, Jaune. Everyone needs a nudge in the right direction everyone once in a while; think of the initiation as a great opportunity to practice everything you've learned!"
Pyrrha felt herself smile as Jaune straightened up a little taller, taking a deep breath and nodding. "Okay, Pyrrha… I feel a bit better about this now." He strapped Crocea Mors to his belt, tossing back his blond locks as he motioned to the door. "We should probably head over to the hill, get this over with, you know?"
"Okay, Arc," she said, grabbing a hold of Milo and using her semblance to keep Akku secured to her back. "You're the boss, you make the calls!"
Jaune laughed. "You're kidding, right? You've been Alpha Dog since day one of our friendship!"
"That's cause I was line leader that day, we've been equals after that!"
"So me being your little sidekick for all your tournaments in high school don't count now?"
Pyrrha smiled back at her goofball of a friend and gave him a playful nudge. "Aw, come on Jauney, you'd make a great leader!"
"Yeah, when Death Stalkers fly!"
Author's Note: To answer a few questions:
1. Updates are coming soon, i just need to flesh out a few plot details and work out some stuff with Chapter 8 (Ren Meets Nora needs to be done right, after all)
2. Yes, character dynamics are much different, although the title does specifically label this as a JNPR AU - meaning that the teams/partners are the same as canon.
3. Things are looking up for various characters here, it won't be as angsty as Thunder Flowers was (count on a hopefully happier story line). Even so, a couple characters will need a good while to figure themselves out and there might be a few pulls of the heart strings.
4. I know, I know, we haven't seen nearly enough Ren as the others in the last few chapters, but my baby is coming! Your time to shine will come, our little Lotus Boy, your time will come...
5. I love you guys! Thanks for all the reviews and PMs, keep asking and reviewing :)
~thd
