Jaune woke up feeling entirely unrested.

He had spent the entire night agonizing over their coming match.

He couldn't help but feel his level of training was woefully inadequate. So instead of sleeping, he had chosen to meditate and practice his aura concealment. As he did, he tried to run over every possible scenario that he could come up with.

How he would deal with Ruby's speed. How he would deal with her range and the weight of her blows with all their momentum. What he would do against Weiss' dust, knowing that she could blow him to the moon if she used it all at once. He tried to come up with a solution for everything.

It was only when Pyrrha, who had also been struggling to sleep slid into his bed after midnight that he stopped. Not that he had chosen to of course. Pyrrha pulled him into her arms like a makeshift teddy bear. She ran her fingers through his hair like she was patting an animal. It must have been a comforting distraction for her, but it also served to put him to sleep.

When the pair made it to breakfast, almost everybody noticed their shared expressions.

"What's wrong with you two?" Blake asked.

"Stayed up too late," Jaune replied.

"Yeah? What were you both doing up so late together, hm?" Yang asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Trying to come up with a plan for beating your sister," Jaune stated.

He didn't even register she was teasing him as he shoveled what little food he could stomach into his mouth.

"Well, I hope you didn't come up with anything too serious. I'd like you to take it easy on my sister if you can."

Ruby and Jaune both frowned.

"Ya-" Ruby started.

"That's not happening." Jaune unintentionally interrupted. He spared a moment to see if Ruby wanted to say what she was going to say but she didn't. "I can't afford to take it easy on your sister, or Weiss for that matter. Nor would I even if I could. I have too much respect for both of them for that."

Ruby's jaw dropped a little and her eyebrows rose.

"As you should." Said Weiss.

"Do you mean that Jaune?" Ruby asked.

"Which part? Just because I'm with Pyrrha doesn't mean the win is guaranteed. We're both going to have to push ourselves to win. We lost to your team members once before because we weren't up to par, we can't go making a habit of it." Jaune answered.

"I meant the other part. You respect us?"

"Of course he does. He knows our grades are top of the class and that we have performed admirably in all our matches. Even Jaune isn't stupid enough to underestimate us." Weiss answered for him.

"Pretty much what she said. If anyone here is underestimating anyone, it's you, Ruby. You almost threw our last match." Jaune stated. It was several months ago now, but he still remembered.

"No." Ruby replied resolutely. "I won't be making that mistake again. Sorry Jaune, but I'm going to be taking no chances with this match."

"I'm glad to hear that," Pyrrha said, with a weak smile. She was just as tired as Jaune, if not more so. While he was mentally exhausted, she was emotionally drained too.

"Come on Pyrrha, let's go get ready for the match. We have a few things to go over." Jaune half lied.

He did want to discuss some plans with her, but he also wanted to clear the air. To make sure she wasn't distracted by thoughts that she wasn't sharing.

"I'll see you both in the arena," Jaune said to Ruby and Weiss. He then looked over the others. "Everyone else, well, wish us luck I guess."

/-/

"Sorry I didn't ask until now, but what's been eating at you Pyrr?" Jaune asked once they were alone in a waiting room on the colosseum. "And don't be vague, please. I know what it's about, give me some details."

Pyrrha breathed a long, drawn-out sigh.

"Just worrying about things I don't have any control over. What-ifs and how-abouts. I've already made my decision, but now I'm worried that it wasn't the correct one." She replied.

"It's not too late to back out. I'm the only one you've told. The professors haven't heard a word. You shouldn't lock yourself into anything until you're sure."

"I don't think I'm ever going to be sure of my answer." She stated, lowering her guard for him.

Her shoulders dropped, and the dark circles under her eyes from the night of unrest seemed to worsen.

I might not be able to help her find an answer, but I can do something about the tension she is feeling right now.

Jaune took off his gauntlets, grabbed her hips, and pulled her across the bench towards him.

"Eep!" She squeaked in mild surprise. "Jaune, what are you doing?"

"Turn around," Jaune ordered.

Pyrrha obliged, showing him her back by spinning to her right. Jaune immediately got to work massaging the tightly wound muscles of her shoulders.

"This kind of tension is going to slow you down in the match. I know you've got a lot on your plate right now... But maybe the right thing to do is put it aside for now and lose yourself in something you enjoy." He suggested.

"That doesn't sound very responsible. I should be giving this the attention it deserves. It's important." Pyrrha responded.

"It is important. But so is your health. Take these few hours, let loose and go a little crazy, Ruby and Weiss can take it. Then when the match is over, win or lose, we can talk it over some more. Work ourselves to the bone for the rest of the day to come to a decision."

Jaune tried introducing some more of his aura and willpower to the massage. He knew that visualization profoundly shaped the impact of his willpower. He wanted her relaxed, so he tried to remember the scent his sister had used on him.

Pyrrha hummed appreciatively and leaned into his massage a bit more.

"You're good at that." Said Pyrrha.

"Just another one of those things I was forced to learn from my sisters. I had to give a lot of massages growing up. The aura stuff is new though."

"It's nice. You used it on me yesterday too didn't you? During the dance as well. It feels... nice."

"You said nice twice." Jaune teased.

She responded by slapping behind herself, hitting him in the thigh.

"I don't know how to explain it. It just feels like you. Sometimes I can feel something specific come through, but you always have this... flavor, I guess." Pyrrha tried to explain.

"A flavor?"

"Mhm. It's savory and warm. It reminds me of trips to the beach with my family. It's comforting."

"That's specific..." Jaune admitted. "Can you channel your aura for me?"

"Hm? Like this?" Pyrrha asked as she generated her aura shield, bringing it all to the surface.

The surface of her skin gently thrummed with power. It was wilder than Ren's or his own. Pure aura control wasn't her strong suit after all. Instead, her powerful Semblance and creative use of it was her specialty. It was this sensation of wildness that stood out. Like the Forever Fall forest with which she shared the color of her aura, there was beauty and danger.

"Well?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's certainly you," Jaune answered.

"Ever the poet Jaune. Care to be a bit more descriptive perhaps?" She teased.

"You kind of remind me of a Grimm infested forest."

"Well. That's not the answer I wanted to hear. Not quite as romantic as the ocean, is it?"

"I don't know. I like it." Jaune took his hands off her neck and wrapped them around her waist from behind. "I met you in a Grimm infested forest, how bad can they be."

"We both nearly died in one 48 hours later too if I recall."

"But it was exciting, no? We took out that Deathstalker together. You unlocked my aura and taught me how to use it. They're special memories to me. Frankly, I think we owe a lot to the Grimm in that forest."

"Jaune! They are quite literally the enemy of mankind." Pyrrha scolded.

Jaune shrugged.

"What can I say, you're worth it." He said, accenting it with a kiss just below her ear.

He felt her melt in his arms.

"So what's your plan for this match?" She asked.

"Oh? Back to business are we?" Jaune asked with a smirk and she softly elbowed him under the ribs. "I wasn't able to calculate anything specific. You're going to have to make decisions and fight by yourself, and I'm going to have to do the same. But as much as possible, it's in our interest to stick as close to each other and a single opponent as possible."

"Is that wise? They both specialize in area of effect attacks. If we stay close together, they can get us both at the same time." Pyrrha asked.

"True, but as long as we stick to one of them, they risk friendly fire. Individually, they have an advantage against us with this plan. Fortunately, their teamwork suffers from it. Meanwhile, our teamwork makes us more than the sum of our parts. Though, this isn't a fool-proof plan. Weiss and Ruby aren't useless with precision combat. It stops them from using their more devastating attacks, but they'll still be a threat. If they separate me from you, I think you'd be fighting an uphill battle 1 on 2." Jaune explained.

The TV flicked on in their waiting room, a sign that the first match would soon be about to begin. Coco and Fox would be facing off against Mercury and Emerald from team CMSN.

"Like I said, as far as plans go, stick together. Everything else depends on how well we can get our heads in the game and pull it off." Jaune concluded.

Pyrrha nodded.

Jaune sensed that she would slip again into her thoughts if he let the conversation end here.

"Who do you think will win out of these two teams?" Jaune asked, trying to keep her busy.

"Hard to say. An assassin and a... What is Emerald again?" Pyrrha asked.

"She's a..." Jaune stopped and thought for a second. He was sure he knew, but for some reason, he couldn't remember. "I don't know actually. She fights with those gun-chain-sickle-things so maybe a ninja or something?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right. So, the match is an assassin and a ninja up against a heavy gunner and a monk. It's not a common matchup and they've both performed very well in their previous matches. Team CFVY is strong, how strong is team CMSN?"

"Cinder was impressive. I think she could fight on par with you if she was at her best, if only for a little while. But she dropped out last round. I think her nerves got to her. If Mercury and Emerald are even half as good as Cinder was in our short spar, I think they'd beat team CFVY."

The terrains for this match turned out to be forest, savannah, urban, and geyser. None of which were blatantly an advantage for either team.

"I guess we'll have to watch and see. When we make it through this round we may be facing them as our next opponents in the finals." Said Pyrrha

If we make it.

When the match started, watching it became quite a leisurely experience. With Pyrrha still wrapped up in his arms, they both pointed out points of interest in the match. For a time, they were just two more spectators in the crowd.

Jaune pointed out how Mercury was interfering with Coco's ability to use her mini-gun. By guiding her and Fox into each other, they risked friendly fire. He explained that it was exactly the sort of thing they should aim to do to Ruby and Weiss. Later on, Pyrrha was quite impressed by Emerald's mobility and stealth. She used the curved hooks of her weapon to fling herself from branch to branch within the forest. She even managed to sneak up behind her and land a direct blow to the back of Coco's neck, eliminating her from the match.

It was a match worthy of the last round of doubles. Of course, the excitement was soured by the fact that there was now only one more match until it was their turn.

Within a few minutes, the next competitors were making their way onto the stage.

Sun and Neptune were facing off against Penny Polendina and Ciel Soleil from Atlas.

Jaune knew for a fact that both Sun and Neptune were strong fighters. Under normal circumstances, he would put his money on them. But from what he had heard the other day of their opponent's performance, he wasn't so sure.

All the fighters were at least of a level where a two on one fight should be a challenge for the one fighting alone. But she had won her fight without taking a single hit. And more to the point, it had been done while her partner sat back and watched. They had the skills and the confidence to back them up.

"Did you catch up on this team yesterday Pyrr?" Jaune asked.

"No, I didn't. Should I have?"

Jaune nodded.

"The orange-haired girl took out a pair from Atlas without taking a scratch. All by herself." Jaune watched through the screen as she gave an innocent salute to her opponents. "She seems nice enough, but she's probably right up there with team RWBY and you in skill."

"Hmmm... Well, I suppose I'll have to wait and see."

This match, for the first time, revealed the gravity terrain. A series of floating platforms with multicolored lights lining each edge. In terms of actual cover, there was none. With that said, fighting in that terrain at all would be an exercise for the brain.

Other than the gravity terrain it was lava, mountain, and urban. No water terrain for Neptune to use or run from.

Jaune hopped up from the bench. His pre-match anxiety was starting to get the better of him, so he started to get his body warm. Frankly, he didn't need it. He'd gone from rested to fighting conditions plenty of times before in class or for the other matches. He just wanted to do something.

"Nervous?" Pyrrha asked, catching him out almost immediately.

"Yes." He replied honestly. "I get you've done this before, but how are you not nervous?"

"I'm excited. I've got butterflies in my stomach just thinking about our match. I can't wait to see if they've got some tricks up their sleeves."

"I'm certain they do, and that only makes it worse."

Pyrrha laughed. While his mood was worsening as the match drew closer, it seemed that hers was improving.

"Come on Mr. Vanguard, you can handle two little girls can't you?" Pyrrha teased.

"Please. We both know they're not just 'little girls'. They're monsters. How does a fifteen-year-old girl learn to fight like that?"

"I was fighting in tournaments just like this when I was thirteen. She is good though."

Then you're just as much of a monster as she is.

Jaune chose not to verbalize his thoughts and focused on his stretches.

"Here, let me help." Pyrrha suddenly offered.

She planted a foot in the small of his back and pushed his chest to the floor between his spread legs. His groin muscles were stretched to their limit.

"Ah!" Jaune groaned in surprise.

"Should we come back later?" Yang asked from the doorway.

Jaune tried to crane his head around to look at who else was here. Pyrrha absent-mindedly pushed down on him harder as she did the same.

"No, we're just doing some light stretching to warm up for the match," Pyrrha replied.

Light?

"I can see that... We were just on our way from Ruby and Weiss' room to go to our seats to watch your match. Figured we should at least wish you a little luck, even if we are hoping you'll lose." Said Yang.

"Appreciate it." Jaune groaned from the floor.

"I think Jaune might be sufficiently stretched..." said Blake, alerting Jaune to her presence.

Pyrrha only now seemed to remember she was pressing the heel of her shoe into his spine, and let him up. Jaune sprung back like a released spring. The back of his chest plate slammed into the ground with a loud clang.

"Thanks, Blake," Jaune said as he slowly hopped back to his feet.

"Don't mention it. Anyway, we're off."

"Right, see ya," Jaune replied.

"We'll put on a good show for you." Added Pyrrha.

As Blake and Yang left, Jaune snuck up behind Pyrrha.

"Your turn!" He shouted as he linked his arms around her arms at the elbow and pulled her off her feet. Typically it was meant to be a back and hip stretch for partners.

Pyrrha moved with it, rolling over Jaune's shoulders and landing with both feet facing Jaune.

She gave him an incredibly smug look and Jaune nearly growled. "No fair."

"Says the one launching a sneak attack." She replied.

"I'll show you a sneak attack."

Jaune launched a series of attacks, attempting to grapple his partner. It devolved into what almost resembled a game of tag, making a mess of their changing room. They were so distracted that they managed to miss the entire match that they had been about to watch. Partly because of their impromptu competition, but also because of how short it had been.

Before they knew it, they were being called to the arena.

/-/

"Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos!" Professor Port announced.

"I still can't believe you couldn't just let me get a little payback. You deserve it." Jaune complained.

"You can get your payback when you've earned it." Pyrrha retorted as she waved to the crowd.

"And their opponents, Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee!" Doctor Oobleck declared.

Yang's cheering could be heard over the deafening cries of the crowd.

Ruby gave a small wave after she burst onto the stage with her Semblance. Weiss followed behind her, walking her usual professional pace.

"The crowd is really into it today Peter, so let's not waste any time!"

The arena terrain display began to whir.

Behind them, forest.

Shouldn't be a problem.

To their right, a swamp.

Okay... That gives Ruby and Weiss a bit of an advantage. Their Semblances let them ignore the terrain whereas we have to slog through it.

Behind team RWBY, an urban setting.

Probably won't get to use that unless they retreat. Still though, not too bad.

Finally, to their left, the volcano terrain.

Shit.

None of these terrains outright gave them an advantage. Meanwhile, the two side terrains were a distinct disadvantage for Jaune. From the get-go, he was restricted to running straight forward, or straight back. The volcano was technically useable terrain, but he couldn't afford to slow down. He was already subconsciously making a fist and tensing up in the shoulders.

Just ignore them. Think of something else.

Pyrrha was jumping on her toes like a small girl who was about to be set free inside a candy store. Her long red hair, pulled back into her trademark ponytail, was bouncing side to side like the tail of a dog, wagging in their joy.

The image made Jaune laugh and he shook out some of the tension.

"That's more like it!" Pyrrha cheerfully encouraged from beside him. "You stress too much when you fight. You'll never be my match if you can't learn to love this."

The countdown started, and Jaune tried to formulate his plan of action.

Though he was calmer, distracted, the problem didn't go away. He would still have an issue with flames.

All of a sudden, Jaune noticed something.

Weiss was looking right at him.

She had been so dismissive all this time, so hyper-focused on his partner being the real threat.

Three!

It wasn't because she thought he wasn't an issue.

Two!

It was because she'd long since made a plan to deal with him right from the start.

One!

Jaune took one final glance to confirm his suspicions. Her rapier was already set to her fire dust cartridge.

"Pyrrha, dodge!" Jaune shouted, the second the alarm sounded.

Not a second later, Weiss expelled the entirety of the dust in one single roaring inferno.

To be able to summon that much fire was intimidating enough. The risk of it blowing up in your face instead of at the target's location wasn't zero. What made it much more terrifying, was that she was controlling it after it had been released.

It was a technique that Jaune knew mages were capable of. It was what made them famous and gave them such varied skills. He'd even hoped to emulate that skill with his aura control. But Weiss was a specialist in her element. She had likely trained this kind of talent since she unlocked her class.

The flames gushed out in a single beam at first. It cut a path between both Jaune and Pyrrha who jumped to their respective side of the wall of fire.

There goes the plan of sticking together.

The close encounter with flames of that level had slowed his reactions. He was a tenth of a second slower at most, but it was enough for Weiss to capitalize on.

She summoned glyphs at both ends of the flame, creating a circuit. The flames wrapped around him, creating a barrier that locked him in the terrain behind him, with no way out.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted.

Jaune panicked, looking for a way out. The flames flowed around the trees that got in the road and set them all aflame. The foliage quickly spread the fire through the entire canopy. He was surrounded on almost every side, including up. The only way out that he could see was to jump off the platform, disqualifying himself.

"Sorry, Pyrrha. We know it's not exactly nice to do this to Jaune when he is still getting over it, but we have to win this. Just be thankful that we didn't hurt him." Weiss apologized.

Even through the crackling of the wood around him, Jaune managed to hear that, and it frustrated the hell out of him.

She could be pushing these flames toward him at least. Take him out of the fight properly with some real damage.

Instead, she was leaving him trapped in a cage that wouldn't even work on the average huntsman. It worked only because they knew he was afraid of it.

With his aura sight, Jaune could see that Ruby and Weiss had begun to focus their attention on Pyrrha. Apparently, Weiss' glyphs required no maintenance. Based on the visage of her aura, she wasn't even watching this part of the battlefield anymore.

Ruby got up close and personal, using her regular lethal fighting style. The sound of her high caliber rounds firing and the air itself rang out over the arena. Jaune, while still distracted by his surroundings, was keeping a close eye on his partner. Normally she would be able to handle her, but something wasn't right.

Her landings seemed to fail as if she couldn't get any grip on the ground beneath her. Weiss couldn't have turned the floor into ice though, Ruby was managing just fine.

Jaune concealed his aura and tried to ignore the ambient heat which was now much more irritating. With his aura concealed, he was able to see aura with more clarity through the wall of flames. Weiss was placing glyphs beneath Pyrrha when she tried to dodge. She was literally moving the ground out from underneath her.

Unable to put any force into her counterattacks or dodge the way she wanted to, she was fighting a losing battle. Jaune noticed a faint black aura around Ruby's scythe that matched the one around Pyrrha's armor.

She must be using her Semblance to redirect Ruby's scythe while pushing herself around in mid-air.

Still, as the mistakes began to add up, Ruby got closer and closer to landing a direct blow.

I've got to do something, fast.

Weiss was facing away from him, entirely focused on her role of disrupting Pyrrha. Ruby meanwhile was constantly darting around. He wouldn't be able to do anything about Ruby seeing him. He doubted he could predict her movement that perfectly. But he didn't necessarily need to.

Jaune reactivated his aura shield, cutting off the worst of the heat around him. As he did, he started to prepare himself for a maximum speed burst that combined all of his techniques.

He readied his aura step and his muscle augmentation so that he could move as fast as possible. He channeled his aura into Crocea Mors, prepared to release an aura slash.

You can do this. You've done this all before. These are just a little bigger.

Pyrrha stumbled once more, but Jaune knew it was in a way that Ruby would finally be able to capitalize on. This was the moment he was waiting for.

Jaune released the aura slash vertically through the flames. The instant he did he concealed his aura everywhere except his feet. As his aura cut through the flames, he dashed through right behind it. He kept his body as small and low to the ground as he could.

He heard the sound of steel on steel as Ruby's strike landed.

"Weiss, look out!" Ruby shouted not a second later.

His aura stopped dead in its tracks. Weiss had managed to stop his weakened aura slash with her rapier. What she didn't stop was Jaune's sword that cut through his first attack, overpowering her defense.

His blow didn't contact flesh directly. But the sheer weight of his sword pushing the blade of her rapier was enough to send her flying through the air. To confirm his strike's success, his eyes darted to the match display. Her aura was plummeting.

A golden light streaked away from Weiss' rapier, striking Ruby. A clock-like glyph appeared beneath her feet.

"Weiss Schnee has been eliminated!" Both professors shouted from the commentator's box.

Jaune was about to celebrate, having turned the match into a two on one in their favor after such a poor start. But before he even had a chance to blink, Ruby disappeared. From her position across the battlefield, she appeared right beside him.

"Wha-" Jaune tried to respond.

Ruby's first strike hit him square across the shield which he was holding in a loose position across his chest. The speed and force with which she struck would have been enough to have knocked him backward. The three strikes from each other direction stopped that.

In the end, Jaune was actually knocked upwards into the air where Ruby was already waiting. She brought a downward strike down onto him, but his shield moved in the way, absorbing the blow. The black aura surrounding his shield let Jaune know that Pyrrha had covered for him and kept him in the match.

Even still, the blow knocked Jaune to the ground, leaving him with barely a third of his aura remaining. Not even enough to use his techniques to their fullest.

"Thanks for the save." Said Jaune as he hopped onto his feet.

He tried his best to follow Ruby's movement. She was a red blur of petals with golden streaks of lightning arcing away from her as she moved. Whatever Weiss had done had taken Ruby's speed up to a whole new level.

There's no way she can keep this up indefinitely. Weiss has been eliminated, so she can't be fueling this ability anymore.

"Pyrrha, we just need to outlast this speed boost. Focus on defense." Jaune ordered.

Pyrrha nodded and held her shield at the ready with her sword held in a reverse grip. They each stood back to back, eliminating each other's blind spots.

If I was Ruby, I'd want to make the most of this. I went over her fighting style hundreds of times last night, I can do this. I'm already weakened and low on aura whereas Pyrrha is still in the green. She'll want to take out Pyrrha and leave me for when she is back to normal.

"Pyrrha, do you trust me?" he asked.

"Of course." She replied.

"Good."

Jaune waited for the second, the very instant that he lost sight of Ruby. He didn't bother checking where she had gone to. Instead, he wrapped his sword arm around his partner's at the elbow and flipped her over his torso. As he did so, he moved his shield into where she had been.

Exactly as expected, Ruby had gone for his partner. At those speeds, changing your mind was impossible. Her scythe slammed into Jaune's shield.

With his stance poor from having displaced Pyrrha, he was sent flying.

While mid-air he adjusted his position in a way he had seen Pyrrha do hundreds of times before to land on his feet. With a thrust, he slammed the point of his sword into the arena floor. Even with the added friction of his aura step and his blade, he still wound up sliding into the swamp zone.

When he was finally steady, he checked the battlefield he had been thrown from. Ruby was no longer a red and gold blur, but instead back in her human form, fending off attacks from Pyrrha. Her Semblance made her fast enough to stay away from Pyrrha's attacks normally. But Pyrrha was using her own to slow her down by restraining the movement of her scythe.

Jaune was out of breath, low on aura, and with his fair share of developing bruises. But he knew there was just one more push until they won this thing.

Jaune ran back into combat, circling to Ruby's back. Normally she would reposition herself and reset the fight to her advantage. But she would never do anything without her weapon. With Pyrrha holding it, she was forced to move at the speed her strength would allow her. Which is to say, not fast enough to both avoid Pyrrha's counter-attack, and Jaune's grapple.

As Ruby blocked a blow from Pyrrha, Jaune grabbed the handle of Ruby's scythe.

Ruby's was forced to mechashift her scythe to break Jaune's grip while using her Semblance to get away. Unfortunately for her, Jaune had long since learned that trick.

More than once in his mental simulations of the fight had he seen this exact situation popping up. He had memorized exactly where to grab such that his grip was not broken.

Pyrrha knocked her out of her Semblance with a strong thrust from her spear. With her grip weakened, Jaune ripped the weapon out of her hands and threw it out of the ring.

"No!" Ruby shouted, bursting after her weapon. Her speed almost matched her enhanced state from earlier.

Unfortunately, controlling those kinds of speeds were incredibly difficult. Trying to react to external stimuli at the same time was too tall an order.

Pyrrha redirected her scythe so that it spun off to the side. Ruby, however, could not redirect. She normally used the very same weapon she was chasing to change directions mid-air.

Ruby slammed into the wall that divided the seats from the arena. Her weapon clattered onto the ground a short distance away.

With barely any of her aura actually lost, Ruby had been disqualified by ring-out.

"Our winners: Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos!" professor Port announced.

The crowd went wild and Jaune couldn't blame them. He let out a victory cry right alongside them.

"Pyrrha! We did it!" Jaune shouted.

"I told you we would be fine." She said confidently.

"Yeah I know, but we actually did it!" Jaune said, repeating himself in his excitement.

Pyrrha laughed.

"I believe now the sportsmanlike thing to do would be to check on our opponents," Pyrrha advised, having no doubt gone through what he was feeling many times before.

Jaune raced over to Ruby, leaping off the arena to help her up. She hadn't needed it, as her actual damage was negligible, but she had taken it anyway.

"Good fight." Said Ruby.

"Mhm! It was. That thing you did, with Weiss. That was a cool move. If I'd guessed wrong we might have been toast." Jaune admitted.

"Perhaps," Weiss said from behind. "But if I had have listened to all the times I was told not to underestimate you, we could have won long before that."

Jaune had been frustrated at first, but it was clear no one was more frustrated than Weiss herself.

"I did warn you." Jaune teased. "It was a smart move though, especially with the forest behind me. Your glyphs worked so well on Pyrrha too. It was a close fight!"

"You're not wrong. Though I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, were it not for Jaune you would have given me quite the run for my money." Pyrrha admitted as she finally dropped down to join them.

Weiss huffed and Ruby gave her a sympathetic look. They had both wanted this win so badly, and Jaune could see that.

"Come on Pyrrha. Let's let these two catch up with the rest of their team. They probably don't want us hanging around right now." Said Jaune.

"Jaune, wait," Ruby said, reaching out and grabbing his arm. "Thanks for the fight."

She's thanking me?

"You're welcome?" Jaune cautiously responded.

Ruby shook her head. "I mean it. You always give it your all in our matches, not everyone does. When my sister told you to take it easy this morning, I was worried you might hold back. But you really gave it your all and took me down. I would've been mad with you if I'd won because of something like that."

Ruby then raced up and wrapped her arms around him in a very quick and embarrassing hug. Jaune looked in Pyrrha's direction as if to relay his innocence, but she was already laughing at his expense.

When she finally let him go, they said their final goodbyes and went back to their waiting rooms.

/-/

"That. Was. Amazing!" Nora shouted directly into their faces, temporarily deafening Jaune.

"I hadn't realized you'd learned so many aura techniques Jaune. To use them all simultaneously as you did, you'd make quite the monk." Ren praised.

"And did you see Pyrrha? She was flipping all over the place like an acrobat! I mean, we all knew she could move, but damn. That's how the champ does it!" Nora continued.

"It wasn't that impressive. Anyone here could do it if they tried." Pyrrha humbly deflected.

"Yeah, I'm going to have to disagree with you there Pyrr. I relied on you holding them off like you did that entire match. From the start to the end, you gave me the space I needed to pull off the tricks I did." Said Jaune.

"Speaking of, how did you know where Ruby was going to strike? We didn't see Ruby until you had already blocked her. Even the slow-motion cameras had trouble playing it smoothly." Nor asked.

"That's a good question. Jaune, how did you know? I could barely follow her and my dexterity is much higher than yours." Said Pyrrha.

"Well... It was a gamble. I didn't know and I couldn't follow her. I was just pretty sure that's what she was going to do. She was moving in straight lines to maximize her speed and I was already nearly out. I just assumed she'd attack you in a straight line and hope to hit you before you could react." Jaune explained.

"Excellently said, Mr. Arc." Said Professor Ozpin from the doorway. "Your powers of observation have improved immensely."

"Professor Ozpin!" Pyrrha exclaimed.

"A splendidly fought match Ms. Nikos. You and your partner make Beacon proud. Ms. Valkyrie, Ren, if I may have a moment alone with your team members?" The professor asked, stepping aside from the door to let them out.

Jaune and Pyrrha waved to their teammates who said they would meet them back at the dorms.

"What's this about Oz? You weren't visiting every other team after their matches, were you?" Jaune asked.

He shook his head.

"No, I am here for what we discussed earlier. Tomorrow is the last day of the festival. All three rounds will be fought over the course of the day. We need to hear your answer." The professor explained.

Jaune gave Pyrrha a querying look. They were supposed to have one more day to come to a decision and talk things over. Despite this, she confidently gave him a nod before turning her attention to the professor.

"I'll do it," Pyrrha stated.

"But-" Jaune interrupted the professor before he could respond. "We have two conditions."

"Very well." The professor replied.

"You've got our answer right now, but I want my fight with Jaune to come first. That means tomorrow or the day after is the earliest we can... perform the transfer." Pyrrha stated.

"And the second is that once she has the powers, our team starts training immediately. No red tape, no administration. The minute Pyrrha is in danger, someone takes us on full time. Not a few hours a day once a week like how you trained me." Jaune added.

The professor nodded.

"Both are agreeable. And for what it's worth Jaune, I apologize that I wasn't as hands-on as I wanted to be. Had none of this happened, I can assure you I would have been a better teacher." Jaune nodded. "Very well then. When you both finish your matches, meet me in my office. Until then, I wish you the best of luck."