The buildup!
You never cease to amaze me, kid.
Qrow watched as Ruby shifted mid-air and corrected the seemingly uncontrollable path his deflection had sent her on. It had taken the entire afternoon and Ruby still had a long ways to go before he would consider her capable at being able to correct herself, but these last few attempts showed a great deal of promise that she was figuring out a way to deal with a Deflection that wouldn't drastically alter the way she fought.
"Take a rest kid." Qrow took his own advice not having the energy to keep up with his niece at least not when she really got into something.
"Did you see that one? I managed to not run into anything and I didn't come to a complete stop either!" Ruby exuded happiness.
"Yeah I saw, I'm glad you figured out without me saying it but coming to a dead stop was only slightly better than ending up on your face." Qrow remembered the image from early how every deflection he did ended up with Ruby crashing into a heap. Pulling his flask out he took a pretty small sip his mind still trying to make sense of what he saw earlier.
Before Ruby grabbed me I was going to report straight to Oz, but the more I think about it did I actually see anything truly suspicious or am I just connecting things together cause Oz is so certain something is going on? Qrow looked at his flask considering another drink but ultimately deciding against it. "It's getting pretty late kid, let's call it a day here I'll walk you home I need to speak with Tai anyways."
"Okay." Ruby quickly collected her things and left with Qrow.
"So, Jaune do you spar with him often?" Qrow figured that asking a few questions might give him some insight.
"No, he normally disappears with Yang or if she's busy he seems to write a lot."
"Oh? do you know what he writes about?"
"I've never gotten a very good look at it but he seems to write about a bunch of different things."
"Like what?"
"Dunno most of it doesn't make sense there are loads of abbreviations and references to things like I said it doesn't make sense. Although he gave a book to Yang I snuck a look at that one and it made a lot more sense. She must have told him she was going to be fighting in tournaments and he gave her a book that had whole lists of fighters what kinds of weapons they used known Semblances." Ruby smiled as she spoke looking up at Qrow. "Did you know Pyrrha Nikos's weapon had three forms?"
"No I didn't that sounds painfully confusing to me, must be a young person weapon like yours." Qrow smiled at his niece.
The were approaching the path to Ruby's home when from the other direction Qrow and Ruby both spotted Jaune and Yang who didn't seem to have spotted them. Ruby quickly grabbed Qrow and dragged him out of sight from the path.
"Uh, Ruby why am I hiding behind this tree with you?" Qrow felt ridiculous he guessed he might want to give Ruby lessons on how to hide if she thought this worked on any level.
"Well obviously were spying on Yang and Jaune." Ruby answered back thinking that the act of doing it was reason enough to do it.
Qrow pulled out his flask and took a drink. Yup definitely going to have to teach Ruby a few things about stealth later.
Qrow knelt beside Ruby looking past her to watch Yang and Jaune. As far away as they were they couldn't have any hope to make out what they were saying to each other than assuming it was a pleasant conversation by the way Yang kept laughing and Jaunes face was a bright red. They watched as the two teens reached to path leading to Yang's home, judging from the way his blonde niece was standing it seemed like she didn't want to leave the young man. They finally parted ways after a few minutes of conversation, Jaune had rested a hand on his niece's shoulder which seemed to give his niece some kind of relief from splitting with the young man. Jaune turned and left waving with his back turned, Qrow watched his niece intently she stayed on the path watching the way Jaune left for far too long before she seemed to snap back to reality and turned down the path to head home. Beside him, he both felt and heard Ruby release a breath she had been holding in for awhile apparently as her face was red from holding her breath.
"Come on Shortstack shows over let's get going too." Qrow stood up and moved towards the path himself, Ruby caught up with him moments later, if he would have looked down he might have noticed that Ruby looked deep in thought.
The evening hadn't been too eventful for Qrow. Taiyang had laid out an extra plate and the four of them had sat down for a meal, afterward Ruby and Zwei kept them all entertained until the girls went off to bed. When it was just himself and Taiyang left awake there two men sat outside around a fire they had built earlier. Conversation that happened between them was talk of Signal, events around Patch, pretty much any topic Qrow could think of to avoid the subject he really wanted to talk about unfortunately Taiyang seemed to get tired and wanted to get to the point.
"Qrow, what is it? What's going on you aren't typically this evasive around me?" Tai looked at his friend, he knew Qrow had a great many secrets and even though he was privy to many of them so whatever Qrow was mentally debating tell him now must be a bad one.
"Heh, i'm so easy to read am I? Just can't want to spend an evening with my family?" Qrow looked up at Tai though judging from the look Tai gave him he wasn't going to believe that. "Yeah okay stop with the glare would ya!" Qrow shifted in his seat getting comfortable. "Oz filled me in on what you have been doing this past year or so, he uh wasn't satisfied with your appraisal of the young man. He also is more than a little concerned about how Yang has advanced recently." Qrow looked at Taiyang watched as his friend's face turned unrecognizable his eyes hardened and his jaw clenched.
"So he asked you to spy on my daughter your own flesh and blood niece?" Taiyang spoke coldly watching Qrow's every move and gesture.
"Actually technically he never asked me to do that, according to Oz I am overworked by all my hunter trips so he's letting me have a vacation of sorts where I'm to hang around on Patch and teach." Qrow knew what Ozpin meant and Qrow also knew that Taiyang would know what Ozpin meant also.
"So what are you going to do then? I have never known you to go against Ozpin!" Taiyang relaxed slightly he trusted Qrow probably more than he should knowing where his friend came from but he had earned that trust over a lifetime.
"Well, I'm going to follow Oz's orders he wants me to stay at Signal and teach I'll stay at Signal and teach." Qrow spoke into his drink.
"You're still going to keep tabs on Yang, though?" Tai read Qrows body language like a book.
"God damn it Yes! Tai, I'm going to keep tabs on your daughter, my niece. How often has Ozpin ever been wrong? Never in the entire time, I've known him. Judging from what little I saw today Ozpin's not wrong about Jaune. The kids a knot of problems whether he's a friend or a foe I have no idea but what I do know is he and Yang are connected somehow. So would you rather me ignore all this and pretend like nothing is going on or would you rather learn the truth?" Qrow spoke heatedly he didn't like this anymore that Tai but he couldn't afford to ignore things like this.
Tai slouched into his seat he knew Qrow was right. Ozpin had never been wrong even if there were times his decisions weren't the best but being completely wrong about something that had never happened. "You said what you saw today, what happened?"
Qrow told Taiyang what he had seen today the spar between Jaune and Ruby and after that the one between Yang and Jaune he explained all the inconsistencies he even added in his training and conversation with Ruby and as an afterthought he told Taiyang about what he witnessed on the path leading to Tai's house he didn't skip a single detail. Once he finished Qrow watched the fire as it slowly burned the last of its life out while he waited for Taiyang to process everything.
Taiyang sat silently also watching the fire his mind slowly going over the story Qrow told him.
Jaune being well, inconsistent wasn't anything new. Yang and Ruby being friends with him is troubling the worst thing is though is that Yang seem's to know what's going on! No not just know what's going on she's actively trying to keep his secret.
Taiyang thought back to all the sparring class's he had had Jaune fight in. If Jaune could dodge or deflect all of Ruby's attacks that would easily put him well above every other student I had placed him against. Taiyang knew this as Ruby while young could easily handle most any other student at Signal already so much so that finding her appropriate spar partners had become almost impossible. Which meant Jaune was actively trying to look like a weaker fighter. Why would anyone do that though he must have a clear reason...
Taiyang's head starting to swim with wild and outlandish reasons he couldn't actually think of any logical reasons why Jaune would do that.
Taiyang and Qrow talked long into the night going over everything they knew about the young man. As the night wore on they had no real luck forming any real concrete theory so they gave up Taiyang offered Qrow the couch but Qrow had somewhere else to be. Taiyang watched as his friend shifted into a familiar form and took off from Patch heading towards Beacon.
Jaune watched as Qrow flew off towards Beacon he had spent his evening watching the Xaio Long house. He couldn't get close enough to overhead anything but the fact that Tai and Qrow had stayed up so late and from there expressions there was a problem the two men were trying to sort through.
Now is that problem me or is it Yang? Jaune turned and made his way to his camp site. What can I even do at this point! every other time I have spent this much time on Patch I have never drawn attention like I have although I have never interacted with Yang or Ruby directly before Beacon either. It's clear now with the way Qrow left that Ozpin is involved. Have I ever successfully confronted Ozpin without it backfiring on me? Jaune walked into his camp site and laid down it was close enough to dawn that he wasn't going to go to sleep but he was going to at least let his muscles relax before he had to start another day. Running is out of the question I can't and won't abandon Yang. So what does that leave me with options? I can't become more proactive that's just going to make everyone more suspicious. Staying the same and hoping for the best is also beyond foolish but I really have no choice but to do that but be more careful.
As the new day started to begin Jaune stood with a great sigh prepared for a long day.
"You know how this all sounds to me Qrow!" Ozpin stared at the man leaning against his table.
"Yeah, I know how it sounds. What are you going to do with this information Oz?" Qrow's voice betrayed an amount of concern.
"Unfortunately while this does reconfirm my suspicions about the young Mr. Arc he has not done anything to warrant any actual response, If being secretive and evasive were crimes then we would be world class criminal's ourselves." Ozpin watched as Qrow relaxed slightly. "There is nothing to do right now, though. The young man is intent on keeping his secrets whatever they are. Keep an eye on him it is all we can do for the time being." Ozpin turned to his window taking a drink from his ever-present cup.
Qrow turned to leave as he reached the door though he stopped and looked back at Ozpin. "Oz...I have seen him around my nieces I believe he truly cares about them and I know they care about him too." Qrow didn't wait for a response instead he left to head back to Signal.
Ozpin turned from the window and watched as the door to his office slowly slide closed.
Jaune slumped down against a tree his body ached from not enough rest and his mind wasn't any better. It had been a week since he had all but learned the Qrow was now watching him. "Take a break, Yang." Jaune waved to Yang who probably didn't need the break herself but that didn't stop him from needing one.
"You need more than a five minute break Jaune you look like shit when was the last time you slept properly?" Yang knelt beside the man looking over him with a great deal of concern.
"That would be eight days ago if you want the honest answer." Jaune stood up and adopted Pyrrha Nikos's starter stance.
Yang watched but didn't go to her start position instead she remained under the tree. "We are done for the day Jaune if you push yourself without resting you are not just hurting yourself, your hurting our plan." Yang stood and performed the action to have Ember Celica compact down to their concealed form.
Jaune sheathed his blade he knew Yang was right he needed to relax if anything was going to happen it would have at this point. Jaune walked over to the tree and sat down next to Yang.
"That's better but you still need some actual rest your beyond exhausted and no good to anyone, let alone trying to train me!" Yang sat down beside Jaune. I have another Tournament tomorrow when I get back you need to be better you said it yourself before we can't afford to waste time."
"I know Yang I know a problem with too much knowledge is I know, no, knew how Qrow and Taiyang should have reacted but something is altered drastically enough that what I knew about them is no longer correct." Jaune closed his eyes and rested his back against the tree. "I will get some rest while your away even If I can't stop my mind from over thinking everything thing that seems wrong or out of character I can at least be rested enough to properly train you when you get back." Jaune spoke while stifling a yawn.
"That's at least a start and maybe if you're less tired your mind will find things easier to accept." Yang stood and offered a hand to Jaune which he took, "Come on I know you need sleep but passing out here isn't going to do you any good let's get some food in you and get you back to your campsite."
Jaune didn't argue and let her lead him into town and to a restaurant that would still be serving lunch.
"Any concerns going into this competition Yang? There will be more skilled fighters than the other one you attended, you have read the book I've given you right?" Jaune asked while they waited for their meal.
"I'm less worried about the competition and more worried about Pyrrha. According to Professor Port, her agent has been very active in trying to find a way to fight me. Port is stonewalling any single fight events currently but if she finds a way to enter one of my competitions after the entry deadline I'm not sure what I should do." Yang's concern was obvious to Jaune.
"Well you don't need to worry about it for this next one there are only sixteen fighters and I have double checked if any fighter were to drop out at the last minute the are at least a dozen reserve fighters that would also need to drop out before Pyrrha would have a chance to enter." Jaune reminded her that everything had been planned out meticulously as to avoid that unwanted confrontation. "That's not going to stop her from watching though unlike your first event this one is big enough to be streamed live so try and hold back will you the less she knows the better."
"Yeah, I know. No Semblance no Ember Celica if I can avoid it and preferably no fists." Yang slumped into her chair, she was fine without using her Semblance during her other life she realized she relied on it too much. Ember Celica though she felt naked not having it deployed in a fight.
"I know what your thinking Yang and if you really want to use Ember Celica I won't stop you but you know my reasoning behind wanting you to keep them hidden." Jaune had explained many times how keeping his shield hidden had been on the difference sometimes in some of the toughest fights of his lives.
"I know but I'm sure you must remember how uncomfortable it must have been when you originally started trying to hide it away."
"Well actually I wasn't, I spent a good deal of my lives not even using Crocea Mors. So hiding a part of it never made me feel incomplete. The hardest part for me was going back to such a basic weapon after using far more powerful ones for so long."
"Wait I never considered that you are using Crocea Mors on purpose you have so much time to prepare you could use any type of weapon you want, why do you use it at this point?" Yang listened with interest wanting to understand the reasoning behind Jaune's choice.
"Really? Okay but the answer is far less profound than what your imagining I'm sure. Crocea Mors is my weapon through convenience simple as that. It costs an absurd amount of Lien to make hunter weapons and if you have a heavy Dust usage one it gets even worse."
Yang was a little disappointed with Jaunes answer but agreed that it made sense at the upgrade they put into Ember Celica was pretty minor but the price had been pretty overwhelming. Jaune had paid for that out of pocket with the money he earned before Taiyang had enrolled him into Signal.
"Have you ever tried my fighting style and Weapons? If you have I bet theirs all kinds of stuff you could teach me!" Yang asked excitedly.
"I have tried your weapons I was even pretty good or so you told me." Jaune smiled at the memory.
"Wait I taught you?"
"Of course Ruby taught me how to use my Scythe, Weiss instructed me on Dust weaponry, Nora, Ren, Blake hell pretty much you name a person at Beacon and I probably was trained by them. So no I can't really teach you anything about your fighting style I can just try and add to it on the parts you lack like your footwork." Jaune watched as Yang slowly realized that Jaune wasn't just an expert on Pyrrha's fighting style but probably most everyone at Beacon.
"So you adding kicking to my fighting style was more well thought out that just this life wasn't it, you probably give us all subtle hints each life to help us improve."
"Guilty, I have already helped Ruby to notice one of her biggest flaws already and with enough advance time that it will actually make a real difference." Jaune watched hungrily as their food arrived.
Jaune and Yang parted ways after eating Yang had to do some last minute prep that Professor Port wanted her to do and Jaune was exhausted so he went straight to his camp site to pass out but not before promising to watch all Yang's fights on his Scroll.
Jaune felt bad he had just finished watching another of Yang's fights, the last one before the final and while her opponent fought well there was a drastic void in ability between the two. Yang had plowed through this tournament as easily as she had the first. Jaune was happy to see that even if she appeared frustrated at not using her fists she was still holding that part of her fighting back.
Some of the blows he had watched Yang deliver reminded his of the acrobatic little devil Neo, Jaune was actually impressed on how well the much larger Yang managed to mimic the moves and flexibility that Neo displayed. He was confused when he didn't see anything that reminded him of Mercury but realized that in that last life Yang and Mercury never actually fought like they normally did at the Vytal Festival.
Jaune looked at Yang's opponent for the final match of the tournament and the smiled in anticipation. Jaune was glad the final fighter ended up being one of Pyrrha Nikos's fans that mimicked her weapons and fighting style. In their training Jaune could only mimic Pyrrha to an extent he wasn't as graceful or lithe so while he was an adequate substitute for a trainer in there spar's Jaune had to fight with Pyrrha's more grounded moves and could not give Yang any real training on how to deal with Pyrrha's more acrobatic attacks.
Jaune flipped through his copy of the booklet he had given Yang until he found the woman's entry. She used an almost exact copy of Milo and Akouo though her Semblance was unknown Jaune had done some digging and while he couldn't be sure he figured the girl had some form of advanced spatial awareness semblance that allowed her to keep track of anything within a certain radius of her even if she wasn't looking directly at it.
The final fight was about to start and Jaune sat back to get comfortable to watch through his Scroll.
Jaune watched as Yang rushed in and launched a series of powerful kicks that her opponent either dodged or blocked with her shield and then retaliated with a series of spear thrusts. Yang evaded the first set of thrusts and the final one she pushed away with a well-timed kick sending the girl spinning as well. Yang tried to capitalize on the spinning girl with a kick to her exposed side but at the last moment the girl brought he shield around and managed to soften the blow but she was still sent to the floor from the kick but she had at least significantly softened the blow.
Good move that could have ended the fight if she let Yang land that kick squarely.
The girl rolled to her feet with enough distance she switched her weapon to its rifle mode and used it to keep Yang at bay while she recovered from the blow. Yang had other plans and fought her way through the barrage of fire forcing the girl to switch her weapon back to its sword configuration. Yang could not find a way to get past the girl's shield and weapon though the girl had switched to focusing on defense not wanting to take another solid blow. Yang to her credit wasn't losing her temper and was instead of trying to land heavier blows to power through the girl's guard instead was using quicker lighter kicks to force her towards the edge of the stage where the girl would either be forced to retaliate or be knocked out of the ring.
Jaune leaned into his Scroll getting seriously impressed on how Yang was tactically cornering her opponent, It was something he had been working to teach her but so far she had not actually needed to use it as her opponents couldn't deal with her opening attacks.
Yang's had worked her opponent to the edge of the stage the girl was now not blocking attacks instead she was dodging as a solid strike through her shield would send her off the stage. Jaune could tell watching the dodging was eating away at the girl's stamina but she hadn't given up yet with a feint she rolled past one of Yang's kicks and actually ended up behind Yang reversing their rolls in an instant now Yang was on the verge of being pushed from the ring.
Jaune cringed as he watched as Yang smiled and brought her knee up to lunge forward with a very heavy kick which her opponent dodged with ease the kick being slow and obvious what wasn't obvious was the punch she threw right behind it. Yang had kicked to force the girl to either fall back giving her the room she needed to get out of position she was in or if she stayed close to cut off her escape she would end up in striking range of Yang's powerful right hook.
Yang's arm connected with the girl, no shield there to guard against the unexpected blow she fell back to the center of the stage trying to shake off the blow. Yang rushed toward her not intending to give the girl a chance to recover she sent forward a series of kicks that the staggered girl couldn't keep up with she was overwhelmed and began taking blows though not for long as after only the third kick the bell sounded signaling the end of the match the girls aura had fell into the red.
Jaune smiled, Yang showed a great deal of skill dealing with her last opponent. Anyone who watched Yang fight knew that even if she didn't use her fists that she was only doing so on purpose her stances and movements telegraphed a Boxer or Brawlers training. Still, Yang had only thrown a single punch that her opponent had no chance to avoid it was either let Yang escape with the powerful kick or try and screen and hope that she could deal with whatever Yang threw after the kick.
Definitely, shows that my training is working. Yang dealt with a very agile opponent even if the girl was only copying Pyrrha she had the skill to make the moves her own, I wish she lasted longer though or not have been put on the defensive so quickly. Jaune sighed and ended the stream to his Scroll and instead looked at Yang's next competition she only had only signed up for one more before Beacon and that was a long time off. According to what Yang had told him, Professor Port had been asked multiple times from other fighters managers to fight with Yang, Pyrrha's manager being the most persistent. I guess we could get you to take on some of those fights avoiding Pyrrha of course.
Jaune pulled out a book and started writing down plans while he waited for Yang to make it back to Patch.
Another one done!
Work is back to its normal levels again so between work and other commitments I only managed this one chapter!
Anyways Chapter is done can't say I'm 100% happy with it mostly to many character and perspective shifts but I got them out of the way so that I can focus more on Jaune and Yang for the next couple chapters (maybe a bit of Ruby it's fun writing her trying to be subtle about having a crush )
Okay down to the details of going forward! For everyone asking about when we're going to see the Yang v Pyrrha showdown that's coming after the next chapter! And for everyone wanting to get to Beacon unless anything changes Initiation will begin the chapter after that.
Speaking of Initiation I have two different team layouts I'm considering I won't give you the details of who's on which team but I'm sure this is obvious so send me a PM do you want Jaune and Yang on the same team or on different teams I'll take whichever team has more votes by the time I write the Initiation chapter!
