POLL UPDATE:
Yeah so Pyrrha shot to the lead with 33 votes, Ruby with 27, the triangle with 13 and the last Weiss with 1 vote. Just so everyone knows I am thinking about ending the poll in the next next chapter, so as always...
Keep voting!
As always, thank you for taking the time to review, and if you liked it hated it, or just want to pitch an idea drop a review!
Everybody stretched as they walked out of the class. Even Jaune, who loved the tales of heroes, was rubbing his face wearily as he chatted with Ren.
"I swear," yawned Jaune, "he talks more about his younger self's exploits more than he talks about monsters. We need the monster material, not a description of his - and I quote! - dashing and young -ugh!"
That last bit was because, while talking to Ren, Jaune bumped into a another person in the class. Jaune looked up and saw Cardin, leader of Team CRDL, bending to pick up his spilled book.
"Agh! Sorry Cardin! I didn't mean for that to happen!" Jaune yelped as he bent down to help, "You go on Ren, save me a seat for clas of you get there first."
Ren waved absently as he left.
Cardin chuckled, "It's really no problem, accidents happen, um..."
"Jaune, Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it." He quipped, remembering his first talk with Ruby.
Cardin laughed loudly, nearly dropping what he had picked up,"That's a pretty good name, and funny introduction! So, you are the leader of Team Juniper, right?"
Jaune nodded, and picked up two more notebooks, "Yeah, my team really does well on it's own though. They barely need me!"
"Some of us get all the luck," Cardin sighed, "two of the guys on my team, Russell and Dove, are a bit...rude, Sky on the other hand, is rather calm and collected so I deal with the other more than I have to with Sky."
"Is Russell the guy who made fun of my collapsible bow?" Asked Jaune, his hands clenching around a pen.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Cardin replied, rubbing his neck, "He seems to need to raise himself up by putting everyone else down."
Jaune shrugged and handed Cardin his notebooks and materials before straightening his bag and jogging out the to catch up with his team, "Some people just feel like that. Nice talking to you, Cardin!" He called.
"Likewise!" Cardin called back with a grin on his face.
Jaune caught up with his team and went to his next educational class, Aura usage, taught by none other than Glynda Goodwitch.
"All right everyone," she called as the class filed in, "settle down. Today we will be learning about aura exhaustion, which no doubt will happen in the field while fighting large monsters of monsters as a beginner."
Everyone mumbled nervously thinking about the potential of aura exhaustion in that situation.
"Yes," she continued while scratching some notes on the board, "while some may carry more aura that most, it is highly likely that you will exhaust your aura at least a few times in your life. Keeping your aura reserves at a stable level requires a great deal of control and skill. Aura itself replenishes over time, despite any physical exertion of the person using the aura. But the more densely one tries to pack their aura, or the more area is covered, the faster the reserves are depleted, to use both in conjunction is severely dangerous. It is because of this that we must be able to rely on our body's ability to endure in battle. Some of us who have more malleable aura control, can supercharge our limbs with it, allowing us to use them without the muscle damage caused by normal over-usage of our muscles. If channeled properly, aura can even be used to sharpen the edge of a blade or increase the power of a blunt attack."
Jaune was listening with rapt attention, he had used his aura control on his legs but had never tried to channel it into his shield or sword, he raised his hand and called, "Ms. Goodwitch? Is it possibly to increase the durability of your weapons? Or to perhaps cover your body with it?"
"Yes Jaune, that is the concept behind a force field, though usually focused through the hands, forcefields can, in concept, be able to shroud a body entirely from harm and increase weapon durability." Her gaze turned sharp, "Of course as said before, it can be highly taxing, if you were to deplete all your aura, your will or soul in a sense, you would most likely die."
The class had fallen silent, Glynda was not one to sugarcoat any situation, and while it had its merits, it also was a bit too realistic sometimes. The weight of that knowledge weighing like a ton of bricks on each of the students' shoulders. Usually that class was excited, learning about aura made it seem like they could do whatever they wanted. They were even allowed limited experimentation of their aura usage at the end of every class. The introduction of what could happen if they ran out was a somber wake-up call to the students that this wasn't a game.
"Their is a way however, to share your aura with others," she continued after a brief pause, she drew a quick sketch on the board of a person reaching out to another with glowing hands, "usually in times of desperate measures, you can channel your aura into another person's body, it can severely drain you though, and it is only to be used in emergencies."
Juane looked at Pyrrha, who was fidgeting in her seat. When their gazes met, there was a clear, 'we WILL talk about this later' look in Jaune's eyes. He gave the same look with all members of his team. They all nodded hesitantly, they did not want to talk about this anymore than they had to, especially Pyrrha. She knew that Jaune would be especially angry with her for even attempting to unlock his aura, and he knew she wasn't foolish about the subject.
As the class went on, Jaune took notes on several important points of fine-tuning aura input into a weapon and its affects. Finally the time came for everyone to use their auras in mild experimentation, but no one was willing to try it. Except Jaune.
He concentrated in focusing his aura to create a glove around his hand, a visual technique he had picked up from Ren's book. His hand glowed with white energy, and he promptly began to thicken it. He let it cover his arm, supercharging it with aura using the visual image of his arm as a balloon he was filling with water. His hand looked as if it was covered in white, pulsating flames that were flickering brighter and brighter, everyone had stopped talking an murmuring and watched him. He walked up to a wooden dummy and took a deep breath. With a cry he smashed his fist into the dummies head, which shattered and imbedded dozens of splinters into the wall.
Glynda stared at him in mild shock, "Good display, Mr. Arc."
He turned and smiled, "Thank you."
The class was suddenly a myriad of different colors, as everyone began charging their auras so they wouldn't be outdone.
Jaune walked out of the classroom and leaned against the wall waiting for his teammates. All teams had one off together and he needed to talk to them, urgently. He stopped Nora and Ren, and caught Pyrrha's wrist as she tried to hurry off.
"Talk. Now." Was all he said.
He herded them over to a relatively secluded corridor. He face his team, waiting for them to meet his eyes.
"I am not angry or ashamed of anyone using aura, so if that's what's troubling you, drop it." He said calmly.
Pyrrha breathed a sigh of relief, and looked up. Jaune's face was stern and his voice had an authority she always imagined he had. His posture even indicated he was a leader at this moment, his back was straight, eyes sharp with focus.
"We all were paying attention, we all know the risks. So I am going to lay down one rule that you WON'T break." He said, voice challenging anyone to fight back, "If I am about to die of aura exhaustion or anywhere near that area, I forbid you to share yours with me. I drained Pyrrha significantly without even knowing it and it was only to activate my aura. If my body were drained of aura and one of you tried to help me..." Jaune took a deep breath, calming himself, "I might drain you dry. You are not under ANY circumstance, to try to transfer aura to me. Do you all understand?"
Pyrrha looked she was about to argue, but I silenced her with a look, "Swear on it."
Pyrrha sighed and nodded grudgingly.
"All right then I am going to get started on the work." Jaune said lightly as he walked towards the library, "You guys want to join me?"
Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora looked at him in shock, he had instantly transitioned from a no-nonsense leader back into their friend.
Jaune was biting lightly on the end of his pencil as he studied the course material and was finishing up the last bits of his homework for aura class. He managed everything based on how dangerous it was not to do it, therefore he always started on aura homework however much there may be. He had just finished that and the monster classes work, slipping his bag on when a hand slammed down on the table. Dove the other boy from CRDL, was looking at him a cold smile.
"Hello, Mr. Arc." He said.
"Um, hi? Before we say anything else, you mind calling me Jaune, makes me sound old if you call me Mr. Arc." Jaune replied smiling, still packing and standing up.
"I was looking for a bit of assistance and was hoping you could help me." Said Dove.
"Um, sure I guess. So what in particular do you need help with?" Asked Jaune, setting his bag on his shoulders comfortably.
Dove grabbed his bag and slid it over to Jaune, "You do it. All of it."
Jaune looked at Dove's bag and at Dove once before dropping it, turning, and walking away, a completely impassive expression in his face.
Dove frowned, "Excuse me, Jaune, but did you not hear me?"
"Sorry, I wasted valuable time actually acknowledging your presence, and if I stay too close I might catch your stupidity and superiority complex. You may want to see how far back stupidity runs in the family, because at how much you seem to think you can force me to do anything, you would have to be an utter moron of at least several generations worth of idiots." Jaune said as he walked away, waving lightly.
The room he was working at was silent, everyone letting the meaning of the words sink in as they began to laugh. Dove, face turned red before he glared at Jaune who was still walking. Dove rushed forward intent on intimidating Jaune into a apology and submission. As he reached out to grab Jaune's collar, a hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.
"I'd appreciate you not trying to attack my team's leader, we don't want anyone getting hurt now." Said Ren calmly, nodding at Jaune.
Ren always was a little quiet as a kid, reading almost constantly and practicing since a boy to use his family's style hand-to-hand combat. Once he had been deemed worthy he had gotten his weapons from his father. He hadn't been too sociable until he met Nora, who he was ashamed to say he pushed away. But Nora, in what turned out to be a normal bout of stubbornness, was insistent on making friends with him. After he got over her personality, it turned out they balanced each other rather well, and usually did alot of things together. They both aspired for Beacon academy and when they gotten in, Nora had no problem in grabbing Ren in a hug and squealing, while Ren patted her back, smiling at her antics.
When he had first seen Jaune, he had not thought much of him, he was simply a average boy who was turning out to be even more unremarkable. He had been disheartened by having him become leader of the team he was a part of, unsure of the boy's abilities. However Jaune had proved to be a much more caring and interesting individual then he initially thought. He didn't want to be leader, was fully aware of his shortcomings, and was working hard to try to make himself better; those qualities in themselves made Jaune gain Ren's respect. Adding on to that, Jaune had always tried hard to make the atmosphere in his team more sociable, and had a rather normal personality. An unexpected, but nonetheless nice breath of air from Nora's exuberance.
The bottom line was Ren knew Jaune considered him a friend and ally, and Ren looked at Jaune no different.
Dove tried to move his arm, but Ren's grip was firm. Finally after a particularly strong tug, Dove managed to extricate his arm from Ren's grasp.
"Insolent idiots, you will both rue the day you insulted me." Dove huffed as he stormed off.
"Nice catch, Ren, can you teach me how to do that?" Jaune inquired as he walked out of the study hall section of the library.
"Sure." Ren replied, shrugging.