Chapter 7 – The second day
Team JNPR
Jaune bolted up on his bed. The last thing he remembered was training with Bruno when his vision had gotten blurry to the point everything went black. He looked over to his left and saw Ren sleeping quietly with Nora to Ren's far right on the furthest bed. He looked to his right and saw Pyrrah sleeping with her back facing him. He then looked at his hands and gripped them tightly. He tried so hard to recall what happened yesterday.
He saw Crocea Mors propped against the side of his dresser. He reached over and pulled it into his lap. For the first time he felt something within the sword itself, something almost sinister. He suddenly recalled one last thing hes father had said.
" Boy there will come a time where you are needed, when that time comes this sword will be by your side as it was for myself. The one thing I ask of you is to only, and only call upon this sword's true power when you are absolutely ready, and Don't forget you are still an Arc no matter how you think I treat you. You will know what I mean when you find your own path."
He gripped Crocea Mors and quietly said to himself, almost to the sword itself, ' I feel unworthy of wielding you now, funny how I used to hold you with no regard. I guess I was wrong huh.'
He looked over to his dresser and noticed a note. He opened it and it read.
"Meet me when as soon as you wake up out by the large tree outside the ballroom. I'll explain the rest of the regimen there."
He read the bottom line which said Bruno Sieg along with a P.S "I am guessing you have questions about that sword, I'll explain in due time."
He got up and got dressed in a new hoodie and jeans, he pulled on his light battle armor and headed out, being careful not to disturb his sleeping team members.
As he stepped outside he pulled up his scroll, the time read 3:30 a.m in the morning. Surely Bruno would not be up at this hour but he decided to head over to the destination because knowing the veteran. He would be there waiting for him regardless.
As he stepped outside the male's dorm room he noticed that it was a very foggy morning. The sun had not risen. The walkways were covered in mist. The air was thick with a grassy aroma as he passed the many fountains within the middle of the school. Many hall ways twisted and turned making the place nearly a maze. If it weren't for his tactical mind he would would of gotten lost no matter how many times he had passed through. He had only gotten lost in areas he was not familiar with.
Passing a large garden covered with many different flowers he was nearing his destination. It was now 3:45 a.m and due to the heavy fog he nearly missed the veterans barely visible silhouette standing under the large cedar tree overlooking the clear sky with the forests below.
He saw Bruno turn around and greet him.
"Morning Jaune, how are you feeling today?" Bruno greeted.
"I feel like I have gotten a weight off my shoulders." Jaune answered.
"Good! Lack of self-esteem can endanger everyone, take that to heart Jaune Arc," Bruno spun back around and seemed to stare into the foggy cloud separating the outline of the forest and sky, "I have called you here this morning to finish up the remainder of the regimen due losing control yesterday, you are not to use that sword until I deem you ready." He didn't turn around.
Jaune stood in silence a number of emotions going through him but decided to not prod.
"You are going to follow a similar pattern to Tir's on-going lesson, after my lessons of course. You will during and after our sessions constantly have your aura activated, as low as you can get it." He spun back around, "Though that may be a little hard for you Arc, your aura reserves are almost as large as my own." pointing at his chest, "That is why we are going to train you in combat and no not swordsmanship, unarmed combat."
Bruno walked over to a more lit area with Jaune in tow.
"But I"
"Have zero experience in the martial arts? Would rather skip to swordsmanship? Wrong! You are going to learn hand to hand from me, because there will be times where you do not have your weapon on you Arc. Plus the way my swordsmanship works is combined with Martial Arts anyway." Bruno pumped his fists together, "We are starting now. Afterwards you are to attend Tir's meeting at 7:00 a.m, aura activated and all." He grinned evilly, "Now attempt to release and control your aura."
Jaune closed his eyes and searched within himself.
Bruno watched as the boy had begun to release aura yet it was far from controlled, "Control it Arc or I will have to carry you to your dorm again. All you have to do is calm down and relax your mind. It wont help you to be wasting energy uselessly with a chaotic mind."
Jaune slowed his breathing considerably and cleared his mind.
Bruno nodded, "Yea thats a little better. Now to begin, follow my stance. You may recognize this one!"
He took up Yang's stance. "This is of the first I've learned actually. Not my strongest one...but its a versatile art."
Jaune took up the stance. Surprisingly there were no faults in the stance the veteran noticed. Though he waved it off as merely a perfect copy, during techniques he would probably get sloppy.
"Good, now lets begin."
After a few techniques Bruno noticed something, something that would accelerate his training considerably, If he knew about it himself that is. The boy was doing it sub-consciously, yesterdays events must of done something, or now that the boy was more confident in his self. It begun to surface whether he knew it or not.
"Jaune, stop." He stood in front of him, "Do you have any idea what your semblance is?"
Jaune shook his head side to side.
"Well, you are going to find out for yourself, or I am going to knock you out." Bruno grinned evilly.
Bruno switched to a natural stance, "Use those techniques I just taught you Arc. I am going to use totally different ones."
Bruno gives Jaune no time to protest. Bruno throws a basic straight, Jaune ducks out of the way but Bruno weaves into him hitting him with a palm strike causing the blonde to skid backwards leaving obvious trail marks. It made the Vet chuckle, as that palm strike was designed to actually knock out people well above the boy's level.
"Come, I'll give you a shot," Bruno flicked his finger beckoning the knight.
Jaune dashes forward, eyes analyzing the veteran's stance. Jaune's eyes narrow as he anticipates Bruno's right hay-maker. He weaved low under the hay-maker. Throwing a palm strike of his own. Bruno slid back a bit.
"I never taught you that Arc...Do you see where I am getting at?" Bruno grinned.
It hit Jaune like a ton of bricks. His semblance had the ability to absorb techniques upon experiencing them once, the more he was exposed the better he would get.
Though it felt incomplete, his palm strike was not nearly as powerful in both physical and aura enhanced power. The physical aspect he could probably improve, but unless he learned the technique in detail he would not know how much or how little aura he would need to put in to make it just right.
"Now, that is one part of your semblance," Bruno paused, "Did I ever explain to you what semblances are exactly?"
Jaune shook his head no again.
"Well, in text book definition, it is something we gain as we gain more aura control to a certain point." The vet said half-assed, "But of course, according to that definition hunters would of gained and or mastered their semblances around the time they mastered their aura control. This is where its far from the truth Arc. I've known complete aura masters and still only had fundamental semblances. Out of your group who are far from masters of aura control, I have witnessed and sensed most if not all of them have their semblances. Whether they know it or not." He smiled.
"So what are they and how are they gained?" Jaune did not want to beat around the bush.
"It is the simplest most fundamental thing my boy." Bruno put on finger up in the air, " Semblances are a part of us," He placed his finger at his heart, "They are almost like the outward projections or manifestations of our ideals. How does one attain that? Simple, the more you know about your own soul, the more you can project." He placed one hand on Jaunes shoulder, " I sense that despite your past you accept your self now. Now that you are broken from that chain, you realize your soul wants to learn, to learn and analyze anything, your soul craves it Jaune."
"That makes sense!" Jaune surprisingly did not feel confused.
Bruno stepped back into his prior position, "This is why you were possibly made leader of Team JNPR Jaune Arc, Ozpin saw it in you before you saw it yourself. Keep doing what your doing and now that you know exactly what Semblances are, I want you to actively search your own soul and be brutally honest about yourself. Plus Semblances are unique to each person, some may have similar fundamental ones, but once they search deeper it is substantially different! The only weird thing about you is you know a little more about your semblance than most here. I know you know your very fundamental parts of your semblance, I've seen it. You've used it sub-consciously Jaune. "
Jaune did not even need to think. It seemed to come out on its own, "Its defensive, I can take punishment more than others would think otherwise."
Bruno grinned and resumed his stance, "Come, I'll teach you as much as I can before we have to go."
7:00 a.m Sparring room
Team JNPR minus the J and RWBY were waiting along side an unhappy Tir.
"Where is WEAVER!" She tapped her foot, "He said he would finish up the extra lessons before the meeting!"
The teens only smiled politely.
Suddenly the door opened.
At the door a late Arc and a late immortal.
"YOUR LATE!" Tir growled
"Chill! We had a bit too much fun." Bruno lightly hit a glowing Jaune in the back, "He learns fast."
"Well, if you would get down here we can continue finally." Tir's anger slowly dissipated.
Bruno and Jaune walked down the stairs to join up with the rest of the crew.
"Ahem, now that we are all here. Today we will further increase our aura control so far you have only been keeping it to a bare minimum! Thats fine and all but just doing that will not help you in a real combat situation! So what we will do every other day is sparring!" She smiled at the excited looks on several of the teens faces, "Now choose your partner for the day."
Bruno butted in, "I want Jaune to spar with Yang."
"Wha-What?" Jaune paled a bit.
"Vomit boy?" Yang suppressed the urge to berate the blonde.
"Yes, he needs to spar with someone who has less experience than I with mixed martial arts and kung fu. I can't go full force, I would knock him out you know." Bruno grinned, "Arc your not allowed to use your weapon until you can control your aura. Never. Remember that alright?"
Jaune stood speechless.
Tir smiled, "Thats one pair! Next up!"
"Hey!" Yang tried to protest but Tir totally ignored her.
After a few minutes all the pairs were chosen. The order was from first bout to last being, Yang and Jaune, Pyrrah and Ruby, Ren and Weiss, Blake and Nora.
"As you are sparring you don't need to constantly activate your auras until later this afternoon," Tir notices Jaune's aura and responds, "Jaune Arc-," She gets interrupted by Bruno.
"My orders Tir." she nods not questioning him.
"First pair up!" Tir beckons
A bored Yang and a reluctant Jaune step down. They make their way to the two teachers in the middle of the sparring ring.
"Don't be like that Jaune! Recall the short lesson we had, you've certainly learned enough." Bruno reassured.
Jaune simply nodded
"I am going to make this fast Vomit Boy...I am not in the mood for play." Yang smashed her fists together.
Bruno walked off the arena while Tir stated the rules.
"Fight hard using your hard attained skills, I will judge when one is not fit to fight!" She whistles, "Begin!" Tir jumps back.
Yang and Jaune got into their stances. Yang was thrown off at Jaunes stance, the stance was similar to her own but, she doubted he knew what he was doing so she rushed in at full strength.
Jaune stayed calmed as he saw the fiery blonde rush. Yang threw a right haymaker designed to wipe out her fellow blonde in an instant or, so she thought. Jaune weaved under the haymaker and countered with a backhand aimed for her right temple. She had no time to dodge as the back of his right hand made contact. It was reinforced with aura so it made her skid a bit.
Luckily she activated her aura just before contact. Still, she felt the hit and it actually made her excited, "Bruno was not kidding when you are a fast learner." She reset her stance, "Here I come..."
"How much did you exactly teach Arc." Tir's eyes narrowed as she saw the knight holding is own against the fiery brawler. He was dodging, parrying, and providing his own counters.
"I don't know Tir, I think its honestly the boys semblance. His ability to pick up on new things and put them into practice is honestly terrifying. He absorbs everything like a sponge." He tried sound genuinely surprised 'Though it IS limited to skills attainable by everyone...There's also the physical aspect...' He watched as Jaune was using mostly aura to augment his forms and stances. He recalled Jaune attempting to copy his weave and failed miserably. He then continued, "With this spar, I give or take he'll know most of Miss Long's move set." He was right too because he was immediately seeing moves he never taught the boy.
Jaune dodged a series of straight punches and ducked under a round house dangerously aimed for his head. Yang didn't snap back her roundhouse kick as she lowered while spinning into a sweep kick causing Jaune to jump.
"Mistake Jaune..." Bruno muttered silently.
Yang smiled, she had him where she wanted him. She pushed with all her might upwards aiming an uppercut at the helpless blonde. Jaunes eyes widen and instinctively he crossed his arms into a block right before her fist made contact with his face. Yang yelled with all her might as she felt contact. She expected Jaune to fly even higher but, she was surprised to see him flying away from her. He had angled his block causing him to be redirected away from harm.
He skidded the ground to a stop. His left arm dropped like a lead weight, causing him to wince in pain. He breathed in slowly and let his aura heal some of the damage she had caused.
"Wow, that's a nifty aura you have there Vomit Boy." Yang reset her position again, "You aren't the aggressive-" She was cut off by Jaune.
Jaune had healed his arm to working condition and immediately dashed with aura reinforced legs.
Yang attempted to use his momentum against Jaune. She waited until he was nearly within her strike zone and threw a straight at Jaune. Jaune had anticipated her move and weaved into her. He landed a punch square in the middle torso. She winced a bit avoiding the uppercut aimed at her chin. She backed up to gain some room when Jaune followed her.
"Can't fight properly if I am this close?" Jaune smirked a bit.
"If you want to in-fight with me Vomit Boy I'll happily oblige." She pressed forward.
Both traded blows. Jaune hit her square on her middle torso as Yang socked him in his right rib. Both landed a haymaker at each others heads. Jaune and Yang both skidded backwards equally in pain but ignored the pain and shot forward again.
"Not many can go toe to toe with my sister...What did the veteran teach him?" Ruby sat in one of the student seats dumbfounded. She knew he couldn't fight but he didn't expect him to go toe to toe with her sister. She knew for a fact yesterday he was never properly trained.
"This is why I unlocked his aura Ruby, I had a feeling when I first met him that he was born to be a huntsman, just like many of his predecessors. I know my fair share of history and the Arc name is very prominent throughout history." Pyrrah was smiling, "Though, I think his semblance has something to do with how he is fairing." She watched the blonde knight tank a haymaker and bull rushing with his own, causing Yang dodge out of the way.
At this point Yang is thrown completely off. She could not down this knight and it was starting to annoy her. No single person has ever held this long against her. The last person she expected to be able to spar with her evenly was the person directly in front of her. She looked at her opponent and he had no visual signs of tiring out. He had taken the brunt of her attacks and parried her devastating punches. He also seemed to be learning as the fight dragged on at an alarming rate. Whats worse was he wasn't even using his main weapon. He would be a bulwark with that shield and she knew it. She had taken heavy damage surprisingly from the knight too. She activated her semblance causing her eyes to turn red and her blonde hair burned a searing gold.
Though, this was not true, Jaune on the inside was exhausted but he refused to show it. Each and everyone one of Yang's strikes were equal to getting hit by a truck. If it weren't for his defensive semblance he would be on the floor.
"This will decide the victor Tir be ready." Bruno's eyes trained on both fighters.
Jaune dug deep within his soul, he needed more for what he was going to do. His inner body screamed as the aura output increased, his eyes began to ooze out white aura as he took a different stance.
"Smart move Arc," Bruno smiled.
"Again, how much did you teach him! He practically enhanced his vision and reaction time! Its a bit crudely done but, the only person I expect this from is from Lie Ren!" Tir said in a low voice with a hint of surprise.
"Well...All I can say is I never taught him that Tir..." Bruno grinned, "Heck, maybe I can teach him swordsmanship fairly soon at this rate though."
Tir cringed at the thought of another having his techniques. Bruno's swordsmanship was unique. After they went their separate ways and met once again twenty-five years later...his swordsmanship skyrocketed from time they had lost their two friends.
Jaune awaited the fiery red-eyed Yang to lunge at him.
Yang lunged with fire streaking behind her path. She cocked her right hand back, aiming for Jaune's face. She was going to cloths line right through him. Jaune's auraic eyes narrowed, he had anticipated it. He brought his right hand up to meet her punch. He side stepped to the left at the same time. Using her momentum as he parried her punch he laid a well placed knee kick, fully enhanced with aura, into Yang's torso. He snapped his foot back and followed up with a round house to her upper torso putting her on her back. Seeing Yang on the ground groaning, he toned down his aura back to normal levels. Fatigue was slowly setting in however.
"Halt! Match over! Winner is Jaune Arc!" Tir exclaimed.
Bruno walked up to the knight, "See? What I tell ya Jaune?" 'And to enhance your eyes was a very smart move Arc' He thought to himself, 'Though a little unrefined with the amount of aura you wasted doing it.'
"She's as much as monster could get Bruno! I thought I nearly bought it back there when I took that haymaker!" Jaune nearly fell over only to be caught by the veteran. His aura was looking faint.
"You can drop it for now Jaune. You are now in the red. Seems Miss Xiao Long's attacks are taking their tole on you finally.
Indeed, Jaune's aura bar on the projection had gone from yellow to red by the time he had relaxed after taking Yang into the red zone.
You barely won that match but good fight none the less." Bruno laughed as he heard the boy dropped his concentration on maintaining his aura in a heartbeat. "I want you to resume when you have half of that bar though."
The boy groaned in protest.
"Ugh, my body hurts! Jaune chill out on the aura kicks will ya. I can't even stand right now." Yang struggled to get up. Her aura reserves were real low.
"Next up!" She waved off the previous fighters being dragged back over to the bleachers by Bruno and Ruby.
Pyrrah and Ruby got onto the stage.
"May we have a great match Ruby." Pyrrah smiled unsheathing Milo and Akouo.
"Give me all you got." Ruby mechashifted Crescent Rose.
"Ready!" Tir whistled, "Begin!"
Ruby was the first to react. She swung her scythe vertically towards the amazon. Pyrrah leaped backwards out of the way. She knew she could not take Ruby's weapon directly. She turned Milo into a Javalin and rushed forward, Ruby counter acted accelerating her scythe with a dust bullet causing the curved edge to rush towards Pyrrah's head.
Pyrrah pointed her shield towards the oncoming scythe. She discretely used her semblance to direct the attack as much as she could to not take the full blow. It collided with her shield. She redirected the force upwards allowing her full access to the vulnerable Ruby.
Pyrrah swung Milo at Ruby aimed towards her waist. It had made contact causing the crimson girl to fly backwards a bit, Pyrrah was not finished as she lunged forward with Milo placed on the top of her shield, pulling the trigger as she did so causing the spear head to extend. Ruby had recovered a bit by then and barely parried the stab.
"Ruby is at a disadvantage against Miss Nikos," Bruno analyzed the battle, "Though, I wouldn't count her out."
"Yes it could still go either way." Tir agreed.
Ruby activated her semblance and began to speed around the amazon. Too fast for Pyrrah to see.
Pyrrah closed her eyes and listened closely.
Ruby dashed at full speed at the amazon. She swung in a wide arc. Pyrrah opened her eyes and leaped upwards and away high in the air. Ruby handled her scythe as if were light as a feather and mechashifted it into a sniper rifle. She aimed towards the amazon and fired five dust rounds. Pyrrah's eyes widened and blocked nearly all the shells each of them actually giving her more air time, the last one nicked her in the shoulder causing her to spin. Pain filled her mind but she allowed herself to spin and threw her shield at the scythe wielder and quickly mechashifting Milo into a rifle. She fired a couple of shots to where she thought Ruby was going to dodge.
Ruby leaped backwards dodging the shield only to be hit with a couple rifle rounds. Searing pain engulfed her arms as she had been hit specifically in the arms.
"Miss Nikos is a smart girl," Tir commented.
"Yes, I fear this will not end well for Ruby." Bruno sighed.
Bruno was right, due to the hits she suffered she had trouble wielding her scythe. Pyrrah did not relent as she retrieved Akouo and dashed towards her at full speed. Ruby cleaves her scythe upwards, Pyrrah dodged going into the strike, Ruby reversed her scythe before the amazon could regain momentum and pulled the trigger causing the scythe to come down like a guillotine. Pyrrah used her semblance once more, the scythe's path slanted missing her completely. She shifted Milo back into a javelin and swung at Ruby's neck only to stop just before the blow.
"Match over! Winner Pyrrah Nikos!" Tir yelled out.
"Not bad both of you, though the aura control could be worked on." Bruno had gone full critic mode, "Ruby your swings are too wide, it may work on some of the creatures of Grimm but, against humans specifically they are easily read." Ruby nodded disappointingly, "But hey you got a good hit in! I'm pretty sure that's a feat seeing as Miss Nikos is a four running champ!" She cheered up considerably. She walked back up to Jaune and Yang's spot.
"Miss Nikos, your semblance control is pretty outstanding for your age, though I feel you are focusing too much on that core aspect of your semblance, you are only using it in its fundamental state, though that's expected not many know exactly that their semblance is more than just one ability." Tir said in a low tone.
"I know Miss Wolf, I have been looking at more possibilities of my semblance but, I can't seem find its more advanced state." Pyrrah confessed.
"Search deep within your soul, you will find the answer Miss Nikos." Bruno added in.
"Next up!" Tir beckoned the next pair.
Ren and Weiss got up and walked down to the stage.
Just as Tir was about to begin, Bruno noticed the headmaster passing by giving him a look he knew and it wasn't good.
"Tir!" Bruno shouted
"Yes Weaver?" she perked up one brow
"I'll be right back hold down the fort k?" He grinned.
"You are just lounging anyway go on." She said in a tone that would fool anyone.
"With style!" Bruno decided to go with the flow causing an audible "hmph" from his friend.
As he shut the door on the teens training hard his expression did a 180 as he walked to the office.
