Now we're back to the actual story, yay. I honestly have much more fun making new chapters for this story than any other one I have.
The walk back to Beacon gave Jaune time to think. He was still trying to figure out who the woman was and how she tied in with Roman. Also how was it that he lost so much of his aura? An Ursa Major shouldn't have been that tough of an opponent. Was the seal getting weaker? Maybe more of his aura was being used to keep the seal in place. If that's the case, then what would happen in the future? Would he just get weaker?
"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, somewhat breaking him from his thoughts.
"Hm?" He responded quietly, not entirely focused.
"Are you alright? You've seemed very distracted ever since we left the forest," Pyrrha said with concern. This seemed to finally get Jaune's full attention.
"Me? Oh yeah I'm fine, never better!" Jaune said giving a small smile and a thumbs up, hoping that it would be enough to convince her.
The Champion frowned, "You're not very good at lying Jaune."
Jaune chuckled and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah I know, but this is more of a personal issue. I know you're my partner, but I can't really talk about it yet."
Pyrrha seemed to lighten up slightly since he admitted that something was bothering him, but it also worried her that he didn't want to talk about it.
Finally the large group re-entered Beacon, then split apart seeing as how that was their final class of the day. Team CDRL was to brief Ozpin on the encounter of the Ursa Major and how that predicament happened. Other than them the other students were allowed to do as they pleased. Jaune however, had to speak with Ozpin, but seeing as how he was preoccupied at the moment, he was VERY bored.
Jaune grumbled incoherent complaints as he poked his food with his fork, seemingly uninterested in the large plate of meat in front of him. The others took notice of his rather gloomy mood and decided to try to help him by finding the problem.
"Something wrong Jaune?" Ruby asked. Jaune looked to the girl with an expressionless look.
"I'm bored," he whined. A few at the table sighed at his childish antics, while Ruby pressed on.
"Well why are you bored then?" She asked. Jaune gave her a weird look. 'Isn't the cause of being bored usually because you've got nothing to do?' Jaune thought.
Jaune grumbled again, so this time surprisingly Blake chimed in, without looking up from the book she was reading. "Well then what are your hobbies Jaune?" she asked with slight curiosity.
Jaune held his chin thoughtfully for a few moments, Yang, Ruby, and Pyrrha leaned with anticipation for his answer. They individually thought if they could find out what Jaune liked to do, they could arrange to do whatever it was with Jaune, and only Jaune.
"Fighting and…" Jaune paused for another moment, the three girls expecting another answer. "That's pretty much it." Jaune said with a chuckle as he scratched the back of his neck, which was starting to become a habit.
Ruby and Pyrrha fell backwards in surprise, while Yang seemed to brighten up at this.
"How about we spar then Jaune?" Yang said with amusement. Jaune sat up straight with a slightly shocked expression.
"You want to spar with me?" Jaune said. He was thrown off by this since earlier in the week, he would ask random students to spar with him. The only response he would get was a stuttered excuse from most females, and a fearful look and a more understandable excuse from the males. Jaune was starting to think that the people here didn't like him.
"Hell Yeah! I know for a fact that you're a powerhouse, and I didn't get to fight a Grimm today. All I got to do was milk some trees." Yang stated.
"May I interject?" Pyrrha asked, recovered from her surprise at Jaune's simple answer. Everyone's attention was turned towards her. "Jaune's aura was pretty low when he fought that Ursa Major, I don't think he should be fighting today." Pyrrha finished worriedly. Jaune smiled at his partner.
"I appreciate you worrying about me, but I feel much better now. And after I eat this meal, I'll be ready to go!" Jaune exclaimed happily.
"So then lady-killer, you want to spar after dinner?" Yang said, anxious to spar with Jaune.
Jaune ignored the fact that he was called a 'Lady-killer' again, even though it bugged him. Like, seriously, he's never harmed a women with the intention to kill. Unless Grimm had genders. But regardless he smiled widely with glee as he began to practically inhale his food. "You bet! I can't wait!"
In only ten minutes, both teams entered one of the training rooms. Yang and Jaune took the stage while the rest of the members of both teams sat in the bleachers. Ruby started getting worried for Jaune. Jaune may be tough, but Yang was a real bruiser. Pyrrha was thinking something similar. Pyrrha understands Yang fighting style enough to know that if she got under your guard. You'd experience quite a bit of pain.
Blake had her eyes over her book, watching as Yang and Jaune were stretching and inspecting their weapons. She was Yang's partner, so she had seen her fight a few times. Jaune, however, was still a mystery to her. He seemed a bit too childish to know how to fight, but looks could be deceiving. She knew firsthand since she was a faunus.
Weiss was rather indifferent to the fight. She only tagged along since the rest of her team went and insisted that it would be fun. She didn't see the great fascination of watching two people fight.
Nora was extremely excited to watch the match. She didn't get many chances to see Jaune's 'Dragony power' during the combat classes, and the Emerald experience was super fun for her, but she didn't get to see him fight the pack of Beowolves that followed behind them due to the fact that she was helping with the fight with the Deathstalker. She wanted to see what her leader could do firsthand.
Ren was interested on where this fight would go. He had heard that Jaune's fighting style was nothing short of unique. While he didn't use any form of gun, he had the ability to use ranged attacks with his semblance. Yang was skilled in close and medium ranged combat. Ren knew that this would be entertaining to say the least.
On the actual arena floor, both combatants were getting excited. Yang had actually wanted to spar with Jaune since the initiation. She knew about his abilities to an extent, but she wanted to fight him to understand him at least a little bit more.
Needless to say, Jaune just wanted to spar with a tough opponent. Yang's weapons seemed to be for fist fighting only. Jaune could do that with ease.
Both of their faces appeared on the overhead projection board with green aura bars. Yang's was completely full while Jaune's was slightly less than full, but he showed no look of surprise or concern. Instead he had a cocky smirk plastered on his face.
"Looks like you got a handicap Yang," Jaune said as he pointed at the screen. Yang smirked in return.
"Oh, lucky me. I think I'll need that," Yang said in a mocking tone.
The countdown started from three, cueing the two students to take their stances.
3…2…1… BEGIN!
Yang quickly leapt into action as she blasted her gauntlets behind her, giving her a boost towards Jaune. Jaune raised his shield as Yang began to try to break his defense with a barrage of punches. Jaune let out a few strained grunts, but held his shield. Yang began to see that her tactic wasn't working, so she switched to a ranged approach.
She quickly distanced herself from Jaune, who just kept his shield up, eyeing Yang. Yang began to fire several rounds at Yang while running in a circle around Jaune, who followed her movements with his shield held high.
In the bleachers, Ruby and Pyrrha were shocked in the fact that Jaune hasn't tried to attack yet.
"Why isn't he attacking? He can't hold out forever!" Ruby asked anxiously, clenching her fists together.
Blake and Ren could see the look in Jaune's eyes though. The look of anticipation and amusement.
As empty shells fell to the ground as Yang continued to fire shotgun rounds at Jaune, who held his guard. Yang stopped in her tracks when she heard a familiar clicking sound from her gauntlets. The moment she moved to reload her gauntlets, Jaune closed the distance between them.
"I won't let you!" Jaune said as he swung his sword downwards. Yang jumped back to avoid, but Jaune kept up his attack of rapid swings and stabs. Yang knew she needed only a few seconds to reload, but Jaune wasn't giving her that luxury. As she ducked under a vertical swing of his sword, she grabbed Jaune's sword arm and pulled him into the air and began to spin. Before she could throw him, he twisted his waist and sent a kick towards her head. She leaned back to avoid the kick, but at the cost of her grip on his leg. Upon her release of Jaune, Jaune twisted his body so he was back on his feet and quickly leapt back towards Yang. Yang rolled out of the way of his overhead swing and got back to her feet before Jaune could recover. She ran into him and tackled him to the ground and pinned his arms.
"Now what will you di Lady-killer?" Yang said as she held her knees to Jaune's arms. Yang took the moment to load her weapons. Jaune just waited while she reloaded with an amused grin. A certain few of the onlookers were blushing and glaring at Yang, who was straddling Jaune's chest. Once Yang finished reloading, she drew one fist back, ready to pound Jaune until he was in the red zone.
"You're done reloading I see," Jaune stated. Yang just nodded as she waited for him to say something else. "Good, cuz it's time for round two! White Dragon's Roar!" Jaune yelled as Yang's eyes widened as she saw Jaune open his mouth and a bright light appeared in the back of his throat. Yang jumped away from Jaune as his laser fired into the air. Jaune quickly got up and continued to fire the laser and she ran around to avoid it. Jaune finally ended his attack to take another deep inhale and laugh at Yang's surprised expression.
"What's so funny?" Yang said as she blushed in slight embarrassment. Jaune whipped away a tear from his eye as he laughed until he was holding his stomach.
"I'm sorry, it's just that expression never gets old. No matter how many times I use my powers," Jaune said in between laughs. Then he quickly shook his head to get him to focus again. Yang took advantage of his slight pause and moved into his downed guard. Jaune looked up to see Yang with her fists drawn back.
"Uh oh," Jaune said before he was hit with several shots. Yang punched Jaune's sword hand, forcing him to drop his sword. Jaune finally raised his shield, but Yang gripped his other arm and quickly undid the straps and tossed the shield to the side. Yang was about to show off a victorious smirk, but she heard Jaune chuckle.
"I'm better at fighting hand to hand anyways," Jaune said as his fists began to glow bright white and form into spheres. Yang responded with raising her fists, smiling.
"The White Dragons fist will dowse the mightiest of flames," Jaune whispered as he sprinted towards Yang. Yang mimicked his action. Once they met in the middle they both swung their right fists, which both made contact with each other's faces. Immediately there was an extreme exchange of fists until Jaune decided to turn the tide in his favor.
"White Dragon's Claw!" Jaune yelled as he went for Yang's stomach, but Yang redirected his fist so his attack didn't make contact with her. Jaune jumped into the air and inhaled deeply.
"White Dragon's Holy Breath!" Jaune yelled, firing a more expansive ranged attack from his mouth, landing directly on Yang. Jaune landed on the ground, breathing heavily as he checked his aura levels. It was just below half, while Yang's was slowly increasing, which confused Jaune. His look was lifted once the smoke cleared, revealing Yang, who's hair was on fire and her lilac eyes turned crimson red. She was growling as she held something in her hand. To Jaune's confusion and Ruby's horror, it was a strand of hair. Somehow Jaune's last attack managed to separate a single strand of hair off of her head.
"You…" Yang said in a low growl, sending a shiver down Jaune's spine. "You will pay!" Yang yelled as she unloaded several shots at a surprised Jaune. Jaune held his arms up to guard against her attack, which was slowly failing. Jaune saw his aura levels dropping heavily. He glanced around and saw his shield. He should have at least one white dust capsule filled up from blocking Yang's attack from earlier. Jaune sent a kick into Yang's stomach, knocking her back. Jaune took the moment to run to his shield and open the compartment containing his capsules. He saw Yang quickly running towards him with the intent to beat the living hell out of him. Jaune quickly ingested one of the dust capsules. Yang pulled her left hand back to start another barrage, but as she swung her fist at Jaune, he caught it, taking the full force of the blast that followed, but didn't back down.
"I like this power of yours, but you need to calm down." Jaune said as he twisted around her until both of his arms wrapped around her elbows in a restraining manner. Yang thrashed around a bit, but then inhaled a few times, the fire in her hair dying down and her eyes returning to their normal shade. Yang's aura meter drastically reduced until it reached the red zone. Jaune gently placed Yang on the ground and allowed her to rest for a bit.
'Her semblance must take a lot out of her, but it's pretty impressive. If I didn't replenish my power, I might've been in trouble,' Jaune thought with a smile.
Both teams rushed towards the two. Before anyone could ask questions, Ruby chimed in.
"Yang's semblance activates when she takes enough damage. The more dealt the more she'll deal right back, but her wrath come from Jaune damaging her hair. She takes it quite seriously." Ruby said with a nervous chuckle.
"Remind me never to ever ruin her hair. I don't feel like dying yet." Jaune said nervously as he stared down at the tired Yang, who pouted.
"I'm still here, ya know." Yang said weakly. Jaune lifted her up bridal style, which led to Yang letting out a surprised yelp and hidden glares from two red-heads.
"Well you're tired, so in return for giving me a good fight, I'm going to carry you back to your room. You're on your own from there." Jaune said, an amused grin on his face. Not noticing how intimate the situation really was.
As the teams walked down the halls, Yang began to feel less tired, but she didn't let it show. She was enjoying herself at the moment.
"Could you at least help me get changed into sleeping clothes?" Yang said teasingly. Jaune didn't notice the flirting behind her words.
"I know you're not that tired, maybe some other time." Jaune said jokingly, but it caused Yang to blush and look away from him.
After Jaune dropped off Yang at her dorm room, he bid the rest of team RWBY a good night. As his team was about to enter their room, they saw Jaune walking back down the hall.
"Where are you going?" Pyrrha asked.
"I just need to take care of something quick." Jaune said without turning around and a lazy wave behind him.
'I should be able to talk to Ozpin now," Jaune thought.