"Here you go son, it's on the house. Consider it a consolation prize for an amazing fight." The stall owner said as he handed over several cans of soft drink.

Jaune tucked them into his sling, readjusting several other items to make space.

"Thanks," Jaune replied with a forced smile.

He'd gone through the same conversation everywhere he went. He almost felt guilty about the whole thing as after Pyrrha's outburst, he wasn't exactly in need of consoling. Honestly, the only thing that was bothering him right now was all the future drama he knew was coming. The discussion with his team and Pyrrha's aura transfer would be a lot more painful than his broken arm.

His family had contacted him, and for once they had nothing but praise to give. Even Coral restricted herself to backhanded compliments. Jaune couldn't help but feel a twinge of smug pride knowing that he'd proven his family's doubts wrong.

"You look like shit." A voice from behind him stated.

Jaune turned around to see Cardin dressed up in bandages like a mummy standing behind him.

"God it's cathartic to see you roughed up like that," Jaune replied.

Despite their beginnings, Cardin's dedication deserved at least a little respect from Jaune. The guy might be terrible at giving apologies, and his ethics are a bit obscure, but he wasn't a bad guy. Jaune could overlook their history and entertain a working relationship. Though, it would be one built on brutal honesty and a desire to one-up the other.

"This is nothing. I'm up and walking in only two days. What did it take you? Two weeks?" Cardin pushed.

Jaune gritted his teeth and forced a smile.

"Well, you know how it is. Not everyone fights an opponent who is willing to give first aid afterward. Some of us fight real battles with real consequences."

"True. Though if I can avoid shitty nicknames like 'The Vanguard of Vale' then I think I'll stick to beating up losers."

"Asshole." Jaune spat.

Cardin laughed right in Jaune's face with genuine glee.

"Well for what it's worth, one loser to another, I think you did alright," Cardin said with what sounded like actual sincerity.

"I'm glad the great Cardin Winchester thinks I did 'alright'..." Jaune sarcastically drawled. "Thanks though. I appreciate it."

Cardin nodded and walked away. Enough had been said apparently.

Jaune checked his scroll for both the time and the status of the broadcast. Especially on the last day, advertisements are pretty extreme. Fortunately, there was a timer that indicated the exact runtime of the remaining ads. People who needed the bathroom, or in Jaune's case food, knew how much time they had.

If Jaune rushed, he wagered he could make it back to the waiting room to watch the match on a better screen.

So, while trying not to spill the contents of his sling, Jaune raced back to the waiting room. Pyrrha was still meditating in the same position as when he'd left.

"Oh good, if you're still doing that then I haven't missed the fight." Said Jaune.

"No, you missed it," Pyrrha replied.

"What?! How? I swear I didn't take that long, I should have at least made it in time to see the end."

"There was no end. Those two girls from Atlas got put against each other and one of them surrendered instantly. After our match, the audience is going to be upset by that. Now let me concentrate."

Jaune shuffled his feet awkwardly. It was good that Pyrrha was focusing on recovering her aura, but the cold food was getting hot and the hot food cold.

Jaune took a seat next to her in the end, placing her share of the food in her lap for her to have when she was ready. Jaune started eating, but while he did, he took the time to try and piece together a few things that he had learned.

Unlocking details of his Semblance in the middle of a fight like that wasn't exactly ideal. Now though, he had all the time in the world to try and wrap his head around it.

Just like his sister had guessed, his Semblance was a fusion of both his mother and father's Semblances.

Where his father had a dense aura all the time, Jaune was capable of condensing his with pure aura control. The better his control, the greater the density he was capable of. Making his aura twice as dense had the effect of making it twice as potent and twice as costly. By itself, this was a useless ability. Fortunately, techniques gained unique benefits at higher levels of density.

From what he could tell, the cutting power of his aura slash was one such benefit. That much aura would normally occupy a larger space. Against creatures dozens of times larger than him it was fine. It wasn't as good against smaller creatures or those with a hide that could withstand pure force. When condensed though, it had all of the power packed into a smaller space. A perfect razor-sharp edge with all the force from before.

The other half of his Semblance came from his mother. The second pool of aura was connected, yet separate at the same time. It contained well over double the amount of aura he normally had. With it, he could pull off large-scale attacks one after by replenishing his main reserves.

It wasn't quite as simple as just having more aura though.

Jaune had spent maybe 15 minutes in total since the fight finished. By his math, with a total aura capacity of 100, that should have equated to 3 or 4 points of recovery. But despite this, he had only barely regained a single point of aura.

At any given time he could only access the aura stored in his main reserve. It seemed that for the same reason, his regeneration was based on that reserve too. Presumably, once he had replenished his first 'tank' he would begin to fill the second as a backup.

As interesting as all this was, it didn't answer every question. What Jaune wanted to know more than anything, was what his other aura skills were capable of now.

Glancing down at his arm, still wrapped up in its sling, Jaune thought to test the limits of his healing first.

With my current aura, I'd normally be able to get 40 minutes of accelerated healing. Roughly the equivalent of a good night's rest for someone without aura. If I condense my aura, I can probably only expect 10 to 15 minutes. I wonder what the difference will be though.

Jaune forced his aura into one spot, right where the cut on his forearm was, and activated his aura healing.

At first glance, it was faster, even more so than expected. The wound itself itched and Jaune could feel the fibers stitching back together in real-time. But after a few minutes, Jaune began to notice several other differences.

First was that he was starting to feel out of breath, not a common symptom of aura usage. Then, even though he was healing, he began to feel weaker. Jaune lifted his right hand to observe a slight shake in his fingers. The simple act of holding his arm up was proving a struggle. His forearm seemed smaller than normal like his muscles had shrunk. Further observation proved this to be true all over his body, though only by a mild degree. Worse than all of that though, was the hunger. It was like he hadn't eaten all day.

Jaune couldn't stop himself from tearing into the food which he had only been grazing at slowly. With every mouthful, the hunger and shaking lessened. Even his body seemed to return to its normal size at an unnatural pace. Frankly, it was freaking Jaune out.

Jaune was no scientist. Even so, the signs all pointed to one logical conclusion. Somehow his body was converting its energy stores into whatever it needed to heal. The inch-thick gash in his forearm felt like little more than a scratch and in so little time. So long as he didn't let his body run out of fuel, it was an amazing technique.

I wonder if dad had to deal with this, or if it's unique to my Semblance...

"We once again apologize to our viewers for the results of the previous match. We are now back and ready for the third match of the quarter-finals." Doctor Oobleck's voice spoke from the TV.

"Oh! Pyrrha, the next match is about to start. You should watch it, the winner could be your next opponent." Said Jaune excitedly.

"I suppose I can spare a few minutes to watch our friends fight," Pyrrha replied.

"Yeah exactly! Blake or Yang could be up next, they might even end up fighting each other as we did! Wouldn't it be weird if every fight in the quarterfinals had partners facing each other? Oh, by the way, how is the recovery going?" Jaune blurted out his multiple questions, eager to make use of the time where she wasn't busy.

Pyrrha smiled at his antics.

"I'm up to about 20% now. Without interruptions, I'll probably have recovered my aura within another 2 hours. I can focus on stamina and fatigue after that." She answered. "Thanks for the food by the way."

Mercury's face appeared on the screen.

"Oh hey, Mercury is fighting. You fought him once, how do you think he'll do?" Jaune asked.

"He was holding back in our spar. He had excellent timing, but he just didn't take any opportunities. It was like he was waiting for something that never came, then he just surrendered. Unfortunately, he can't win this tournament." Pyrrha replied.

"Why not? If he was holding back, maybe he has some tricks up his sleeve."

"Not up his sleeve, but hidden in his boots. He has prosthetic legs, metal ones. When he comes up against me, I'll be able to end the fight whenever I want."

"Wait, really? How'd you work that one out?"

"The sound he made when he kicked my shield was distinctly metallic. I tried to use my Semblance on him to redirect one of his attacks. When I'm controlling something I can sort of feel it with my Semblance, and I could feel all the moving parts."

The match display displayed the second fighter for this match; Blake.

"Oh!" Pyrrha suddenly exclaimed. "This match should be very interesting! It's not often you get to see a match between two assassins. Especially ones who are so opposed on the assassin spectrum like they are."

"The assassin spectrum?" Jaune asked.

Pyrrha nodded.

"It's one of the things my tutors taught me. Two people might share a class, but the way they grow can be completely different. We call that the class spectrum. Blake isn't the type of fighter to focus on how she can take out an opponent, but rather, how she can confuse them. Whether she uses that confusion to deal damage is up to her, but her specialty is in evasion and trickery. From what I've seen of Mercury, he is the exact opposite. He is quite talented in a straight-up fight, able to take on martial class fighters like Yatsuhashi. When he fights, he doesn't try to out trick you, but rather, he tries to out skill you." Pyrrha explained.

"So what about the matchup between Ren and Fox?" Jaune asked.

"That was a situation where they had grown in very similar ways. Neither Fox nor Ren seem to have dedicated their time to their martial skills. Instead, they each focused on aura skills. As such, it came down purely to who was more skilled."

Jaune knew he shouldn't have been surprised. Still, he was impressed by his partner's never-ending wealth of fighting knowledge. She knew more about fighting than just how she should move in response to certain threats. She was intimately aware of the meta-knowledge that many others didn't even consider.

Jaune didn't have long to think about it though. The fight was already in its countdown and Pyrrha was clambering over to turn him into a seat.

Jaune wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and spread his legs out so she could sit between them.

Jaune wasn't able to view the match as well as he could were he out in the crowd with his aura sight. Even then, the match proved incredibly entertaining.

Blake's clones gave her the ability to instantly maneuver several feet. She didn't even need something to kick off as Jaune did with his aura step for high-speed movement. She could be mid-air one moment and behind you the next. In a one-on-one battle, she could use this to its fullest.

With no allies to cover his blind spots, Mercury would have to sense where she had teleported to. He had to operate within the instant between when she disappeared to when she struck. With Blake's natural talent in stealth, something like sound wasn't going to be a factor. It was like watching a repeat of the training Oz had put him through.

Except where Jaune had been learning, it seemed that Mercury already had the answers.

No matter how many times Blake appeared in his blind spots, Mercury was able to defend. Occasionally, he even managed a counter-attack, though none had landed thus far.

Blake tried using her Semblance multiple times in a row. She jumped from blind spot to blind spot. Somehow Mercury seemed able to read exactly when Blake planned to strike.

A near miss flew over Blake's head as Mercury nearly caught her with a spinning back fist. Blake displaced herself backward and put as much room as possible between them. Her weapon transformed into a gun and she shot him with no regard for conservation.

It became apparent in an instant that it wasn't going to work when Mercury outran Blake's bullets on foot.

"He's fast," Jaune stated the obvious.

"The assassin class's main stat is dexterity, and it's clear that Mercury hasn't slacked on his training," Pyrrha replied.

Blake soon ran out of ammunition in her current magazine. In the fraction of a second it took her to reload, Mercury fired a single blast out of the sole of his shoe. It collided with the ground at Blake's feet and exploded. Thick white smoke covered the battlefield.

And then suddenly, silence.

The microphones were good enough to pick up Blake's breathing if you listened closely. But even still, there was no sign of Mercury's presence.

The smoke stirred, barely detectable on the cameras. Blake grunted after a loud impact of metal on aura echoed.

Whatever happened knocked her aura down by half.

Seconds later an explosive gust of wind cleared the smoke from the arena.

Mercury stood arrogantly near the border of the arena. With arms crossed, he waited for Blake to recover. Blake meanwhile was grasping at her head in visible discomfort. Her ears were flat against her head. Blake only did that when she was bothered by something.

"Blake's bow is missing!" Jaune suddenly realized.

Jaune flicked through the channels to observe several of the different cameras. Finally, he found where it had gone. Mercury was holding it in his hand.

"Oops, I guess the cats out of the bag now," Mercury said, loud enough for everyone in the audience to hear.

"Give it back," Blake ordered.

"Oh, sure," Mercury said with a shrug.

He waltzed over to Blake, holding the ribbon out in his hand for Blake to take.

The moment she reached out, Mercury struck. His first kick connected with the underside of her jaw, launching her several feet into the air.

Mercury leaped above her, using the explosive power of his artificial legs to boost him. He spun into a somersault. Using the rotation he planted an axe kick to Blake's solar plexus and driving her back to the ground. Blake's aura shattered and evaporated on contact with the ground.

"Mercury Black wins!" The professors announced.

Mercury brushed himself off then threw Blake's ribbon down onto the ground beside her.

"Jaune, you should go check up on her and everyone else," Pyrrha suggested, pulling his attention away from the screen.

"Right."

/-/

It didn't take long for Jaune to find Blake. He had been lucky enough to catch the others racing from the stands and he fell in line behind them.

"Blake!" Ruby shouted as she sped through the doorway.

Jaune and all the others piled in behind her shortly after.

Physically she seemed fine, barely a scratch on her. She only shattered her aura after impacting the ground after all.

Mentally, however, she wasn't doing as well.

You could almost mistake her current mood for her usual anti-social calmness. But the way she held and stared at her bow rather than putting it back on betrayed much of her true emotions.

"You look better without the bow anyway Blake." Said Sun, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's not about how I look." She replied.

"It's not like people out there are going to put your whole history together just because they saw you have ears," Jaune stated. "We took classes on the current leadership in Menagerie and none of us realized until we found out."

"I don't care what people think or find out either!" Blake fumed.

"Then... what's wrong?" Ruby asked softly.

"This whole time I've been hiding who I am. I wanted to be honest with everyone and myself when I was comfortable. I wanted to do it on my terms. But I had the choice taken away from me. I hate that." Blake explained.

"I understand how you're feeling. I've spent my whole life having my decisions taken away from me. There's nothing worse. But that doesn't mean you can't make the best of this. You were going to do this anyway, so make it yours." said Weiss.

Blake stared back at the ribbon in her hand. For a moment, Jaune wondered if nothing they had said had gotten through. Blake soon put an end to that thought as she stood up with a determined look in her eyes.

"You're right. It's not the end of the world." Blake stated.

With some hesitation, she wrapped the ribbon around her arm, joining it with the others.

"So what now?" Sun asked, disturbing the mood. "You're going to get back at that guy still, right? What he did wasn't cool."

"No." Jaune and the others whipped around to the door to see Yang standing there. Her eyes were glowing red. "There's no need for Blake to bring herself down to his level."

"Well said." Weiss praised.

"Not after what I have planned for him." She continued and Weiss' face fell.

"Yang no." Ruby gently scolded.

"Yang yes!" Nora exclaimed.

"Don't worry. I'm just going to mess him up a bit and make sure he loses the tournament." Yang confessed.

"You've got to beat his partner first." Jaune reminded.

Despite having spoken plenty of times in the discussion thus far, it seemed as though no one had realized. Blake's plight had taken precedence. Now though?

"Jaune! Oh my god, your match was so cool!" Ruby gushed. "It was such a close match too!"

Jaune waved his good arm dismissively.

"It wasn't all that special. I just happened to know some tricks to deal with Pyrrha and had a bit of power to back that up. I'm sure Yang is going to blow my attempt out of the water once she is finished with Emerald and Mercury."

"Pyrrha must be hurt to know you're on my side instead of hers." Yang teased.

"Did I say that? She's going to destroy you and everyone else in this tournament. I just meant your match will be more entertaining." Yang scowled. Jaune piled on one last jab. "You're flashy, but Pyrrha doesn't lose."

"Yeah? Well, we'll see won't we?!" Yang shouted as she stormed away to her match.

"Was that entirely necessary? That's my partner you're sending on a warpath." Said Blake.

"She was already on a warpath." Weiss corrected. "Jaune just put himself in the firing line, that's all."

Blake stepped up to Jaune and poked him in the temple with her pointer finger.

"I believe he did the same last time I was having Faunus issues... I wonder what it is about me that attracts these troublesome blondes." She wondered aloud.

Jaune, to his credit, took her teasing in stride.

"I'm just a sucker for a damsel in distress, can't help myself. Sun would know though." He replied, shifting the attention perfectly.

"Huh? I mean uhh her... hair?" Sun offered.

"Can't be that. Jaune prefers red-heads. What else is there?" Blake pushed with a smile, Sun took an awkward backstep.

"Just tell the truth and admit it's her as-" Nora began.

"Okay, you three. Cut the guy some slack." Neptune requested to Sun's great relief.

"Well, in any case. As long as everything is fine, I'm heading back. Pyrrha sends her regards by the way." Said Jaune.

"Ooh! That's perfect, we'll come with you." Said Nora happily.

"Right. Thanks for coming to see me, everyone." Said Blake with an earnest smile.

"What are friends for?" Jaune replied.

/-/

Jaune took Ren and Nora under the arena to collect his gear. Their multiple working arms were a boon he was more than happy to put to use.

"I can't believe you stripped down in front of the crowd. Talk about fan service!" Nora exclaimed.

Jaune blushed a little bit. The members of team SSSN had a fan group that was always drooling over the boys' muscles. He hoped that nothing like that developed as a result.

"That wasn't my intention. I just didn't want Pyrrha picking me up and throwing me out of the ring with her Semblance. She already gave me enough grief trying to control my sword as I swung." Jaune explained.

"Speaking of Semblances, that was far more aura than normal. Did you finally work it out?" Ren asked. His aura sight must have revealed a lot about that fight that would have gone unnoticed by others.

"I did yeah. You'll have to wait for the demonstration though. I'm tapped out."

Ren nodded understandingly while Nora seemed to pout at the minor inconvenience.

Jaune led them back to Pyrrha's waiting room. She was up and moving which was a good sign. He didn't want to distract her from meditation twice in a row.

"Pyrrha!" Nora shouted the minute she entered the room. "You totally kicked butt! That other schmuck didn't stand a chance."

"Umm... 'That other schmuck' is standing behind you, you know?" Pyrrha reminded.

Nora didn't even bother looking over her shoulder to see Jaune's incredibly forced smile.

"Yeah, but forget about him. He won't even agree to show us his new super powers, so he's on the naughty list."

Jaune shrugged and started taking off the bandages around his forearm. Ren sat down beside him, all too happy to stay out of the conversation as long as possible.

Nora praised Pyrrha's performance, pointing out all her favorite parts. She was especially striking with her comments on how much cooler Pyrrha's moves were than her opponent's. Jaune couldn't work out what he'd done to justify the provocations, so he just ignored them.

Yang's match was bound to start any moment now and it would be straight to the action this time. As the final match of the quarterfinals, there was no delay caused by matchmaking. Jaune would have to stay put and tolerate the not so subtle harassment aside for now.

"How's the arm?" Ren asked, finally providing a distraction.

"Better than you'd think, but not as well as I'd like. I'm running low on a lot of things right now." Jaune stated.

"Such as?"

"Interestingly enough, food is an issue. I can probably finish healing this arm before the semi-finals. But at that rate, I'll starve without food on hand. The accelerated healing makes me hungry like nothing else."

"If you want I can go get you something?" Ren offered.

Jaune was tempted to take him up on that, but he had another realization at the same time. After this match, there would be several hours before the next. There was a good chance that Pyrrha might be getting a visit from the professors soon. Each member of team JNPR was right here, and he wasn't sure when the next best opportunity would be.

"Thanks, but no. There's something a bit more important to take care of first... Pyrrha?" Jaune prompted.

"Now?" Pyrrha whined.

Jaune nodded.

Pyrrha shuffled her feet for a little while, unsure of how to start.

"I... that is to say, we have been offered an opportunity to study abroad, among other things. We had a discussion a few days ago with several professors and they all think it would be for the best. Jaune and I talked it over and agree, so now it's time we asked for your opinions." Said Pyrrha.

Her explanation was very barebones, no doubt to keep the bigger secret. Jaune stepped in to smooth it over a bit.

"They explained that we'll get to do a lot of traveling and even work while we study. It'll be a great opportunity for you both to go on those missions you wanted to. We'll be training with professionals and experts from around the kingdoms. Our first stop will be Atlas, I don't know for how long, but probably at least a year-"

"A year?!" Nora shouted. "What about team RWBY?"

Jaune knew that would be one of, if not the first question. It had been the same for him too, ignoring the focus on mortal peril of course.

"Nothing is stopping us from staying in contact. Plus because we aren't studying traditionally, I bet we'll get to visit lots." Jaune lied. He knew that until Pyrrha had her powers under control, travel would be unlikely.

"You guys don't have to say yes if you don't want to. We're a team of four, which means that there won't necessarily be a majority ruling. If you wanted to stay, we'd understand."

Nora made to stand up and walk away, but Jaune grabbed her wrist.

"Don't!" Jaune ordered. "I understand the frustration, and that could have been worded better."

Pyrrha's eyes opened wide as she realized the implication.

"We want you to come with us. We're a team. But we had a limited time to come to a decision, and we've already confirmed it. We can't afford to be dancing on eggshells with each other because... Well, because we'll probably be leaving tomorrow with the General." Jaune finished.

Nora pulled her hand free but didn't try to leave, opting instead to cross her arms and fume silently.

"This is a very late notice. You're asking us to uproot our lives with 24 hours' notice." Ren stated.

"Less probably, it could be as early as tonight. And yes, I realize that it's a lot to ask." Jaune replied.

"But you're asking us anyway." Said Nora.

"It would mean a lot to have you come with us." Said Pyrrha.

The TV flickered on, showing Yang and Emerald standing in the arena. The professors began giving their usual pre-match rundown.

In hindsight, I could have picked a better time...

"How about you guys think it over for a bit? We'll answer any questions you have in the meanwhile." Jaune offered.

"I think that would be best," Ren stated. He looked over at Nora who didn't look happy in the least and sighed. "We might need to talk by ourselves."

Ren stepped forward and whispered to Jaune. "To be honest, the fact you both had only a few days means that I'm not personally too bothered. Nora however will take some convincing. It wasn't that long ago that you both skipped out on her match, now you're keeping secrets like this. Plus… she's kind of sick of travelling, especially after she'd finally found her place."

"The secret important thing from that day was this, just so we are clear. There's more to it than we're telling you. And we will tell you. We just need more time than we've been given." Jaune whispered back.

Ren frowned but nodded.

"Come on Nora. If we're fast, we can catch a seat with team RWBY to watch the match." Said Ren as both he and Nora left.

When they left, Jaune put his good arm around Pyrrha's shoulders.

"They'll come around," Jaune said confidently. "Let's just focus on what we can do right now, okay?"

Pyrrha nodded and returned to her meditation.

/-/

The fight between Yang and Emerald had come to an unsurprising conclusion.

Yang's anger fuelled her Semblance and made her stronger before she took a single blow.

If it wasn't for Emerald's timely apology, she would have ended up getting hurt worse than she did. It seemed she knew how troublesome her teammate could be.

As it was, she got away with just the depleted aura and a bit of a beating. Mercury wouldn't be as lucky.

There was a several-hour-long break between the first and second rounds. Different representatives got to give their end of festival speeches now. Several organizations even put together entertainment to keep the crowd excited.

Jaune didn't spend much of his attention on them though. Half of his time was spent sending the occasional message to Ren and Nora. Neither had responded as of yet. So in the meantime, he focused on his recovery, and where he could spare it, the study of his new skills.

For the day, Jaune had no issues funding his newfound eating habit. It didn't seem to matter what he ate or drank, as long as it was calorie-rich, it all got metabolized by his aura. By lunchtime, he was already healed and working on restocking his second reserve of aura. He knew though that he would have to work out a better solution than junk food for the future.

"Feels good to get this off. It's only been a few hours, but I was getting sick of it already." Jaune idly commented as he removed the sling.

"I'm glad to hear it," Pyrrha replied.

With her higher level in meditation, she had finished her aura recovery a while ago. She was currently working out the kinks in her body from having sat stationary for so long. She stretched and shadow sparred to warm herself up for the next round.

"Do you need any help warming up?" Jaune offered.

He wasn't exactly unhappy to sit and watch the way his partner moved. He had missed that. But he still thought it polite to offer.

Pyrrha seemed hesitant, no doubt because she was the one who injured him most recently.

"Okay." She finally decided. "But we're only doing some light sparring. Neither one of us wants another injury."

Jaune lifted his sword from the pile his gear was sitting in, deciding to leave his armor for now.

He gave it a few experimental swings.

I should probably increase its weight again soon. It's no good training with a weight I'm comfortable with.

It will have to wait for now though, I shouldn't waste the aura.

When Jaune signaled he was ready, Pyrrha and he began to spar.

Since their last practice spar, both their strengths and styles had changed. Despite this, it was easy for them to fall into a familiar rhythm. The only difference was that Jaune wasn't quite as easy an opponent anymore. Even without his muscle augmentation, Pyrrha had to treat his blows as threats. His still growing experience allowed him to predict his partner's moves. Reacting to them was possible so long as she wasn't going out of her way to push her limits.

"I think we need to start on finding a proper style for you soon. You've taken to the basics like a fish to water, I think you're ready." Said Pyrrha.

"What do you mean? I have a style, don't I?" Jaune asked.

Sure, he swapped between a few different methods. But he was still fairly consistent. He was a sword fighter who could use a shield or unarmed strikes. That was his style.

"I meant in the more literal system-focused sense of the word," Pyrrha replied. When it was clear Jaune wasn't following she elaborated. "It's a skill. Under certain conditions, upon leveling, you'll learn a new passive skill. They're incredibly rare at higher levels, so it's very important to do your best to try and get them if you can."

"But I don't get skills when I level..."

"Right, but I'm fairly confident you could learn it through training. Maybe it would be better if I gave you a few examples?"

Jaune nodded.

"Okay... So, Russel, he fights with two weapons. He might not have it yet, but if he continues training, he should one day get the dual-wielding skill. He will keep his dagger skill, but on top, he'll be even more proficient while fighting with two weapons. Yatsuhashi is a second-year student, so I wouldn't be surprised if he already has it. Fighting with a weapon that large, he'd be likely to learn some form of great weapon fighting skill. These are both examples of intermediate skills." She thoroughly explained.

Jaune parried a blow that Pyrrha launched at him as he nodded, flipping her off for the cheap shot. She stuck her tongue out in response.

"So if those are intermediate, then is there advanced beyond that?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah. Rather than the weapon you use, advanced skills revolve around how you fight. Russel leans toward a style where he overpowers you with a high number of attacks. A very famous dexterity-based fighting style is the sword dance style. It requires perfect footwork and amazing accuracy in your body control. The masters of this style can move so fluidly between strikes that it looks like they're dancing. In theory, it doesn't even matter what weapon you use, as long as it doesn't hinder your movement."

"Sounds like something you'd be interested in," Jaune commented.

"It is. I've always looked up to the sword dance as a goal to strive for in my fighting. Sadly, I think I might be a bit... stubborn for that style. I don't think I have the mindset to achieve it, at least, not yet." Pyrrha replied, sounding less than thrilled.

Jaune landed a push kick to her stomach while she was reflecting.

"So what about me then? From what you said earlier, you seemed to have an idea." Jaune asked, curious.

Pyrrha shoulder-checked Jaune, only for him to rebuff her with a redistribution of his weight.

"That right there!" She stated the moment it happened. "You've naturally had a predisposition for a heavier fighting style. Out of all the students at Beacon, you're one of the few who wears armor. I wear it for my Semblance, and Cardin wears it because he relies on damage exchanges. You though, you don't have a reason quite that limiting."

Originally, it had been to cover for his lack of aura. Now though, Jaune's reasons were just 'why wouldn't I wear armor?'

"You know how to manipulate your center of gravity quite well, you're grounded and frankly kind of heavy. What you need is a style that can make use of all that weight. Not just in your blade, but your whole body. A shield charge, a tackle, even a shove from you can have a great impact. Perfect for the Crashing Wave style." Pyrrha continued.

"The Crashing Wave style? Sounds..." Awesome. "...like a good place to start. So what should I be doing then, to learn the new skill?"

"Well normally, you would just hope that your future level-ups would grant it to you. Whatever your natural style is, is what you'll get. I'd imagine as long as you start training with the style in mind you'll unlock it like you do everything else." Pyrrha explained.

The style seems to revolve around moving your opponent by using your body weight. It's not a sword style, but rather a martial art.

I guess the simplest way to use it would be...

Jaune slashed at Pyrrha, crossing her sword with his own in front of her chest. Normally, Jaune would have used Pyrrha's defensive counter to reverse into a second swing. This time, however, Jaune stepped in even closer without breaking their blade lock. Under ideal conditions, he would force her to backstep, letting Jaune gain the initiative.

Pyrrha was not an ideal opponent.

At this very moment, she had more than enough strength to fend off his attack and push him backward. Were he fighting at his fullest, it might have worked, but the stat difference was too much.

"That's good." Pyrrha praised. "By using your weight and strength, you take away your opponent's options. You control the flow of the fight. Hence the style's name."

"I can see the merits, but you kind of just proved it has a pretty huge weakness. If my opponent is stronger than me, it's useless. What am I supposed to do against Grimm? All the armor in the world and I wouldn't compare to the average Boarbatusk."

"Ahh well... I have to admit that I'm not exactly an expert in the style. I just did some quick research on what might suit you after all. Plus most of these styles aren't built for dealing with Grimm. They're more for human on human contact, specifically one on one fights." Pyrrha admitted. "Still though, it's not like you have to fight in a certain way once you start learning a style. You'll always have your basic skills to fall back on!"

"Can all competitors head to the arena? The second round is about to begin." Ms. Goodwitch's voice ordered from a set of speakers within each of the rooms.

"Guess that's your signal. I'm going to watch from the stands, okay?" said Jaune.

"Okay. I'll make sure to put on a good show for you!" Pyrrha promised.

"Can't wait."

/-/

"Oh! Jaune, come sit with us!" Ruby urged.

Jaune was happy for the enthusiastic welcome. Ren and Nora were here, but he wanted to offer them some space.

When Jaune took his seat next to the short girl, she was instantly all over him. She pulled on his sleeve and bounced in her chair with the energy that reminded him of Nora after a sugar binge.

"Who do you think will fight? I can't wait to watch Penny and Yang fight. Oh, and Pyrrha too, of course! I can't believe they all made it to the finals, this is so great. No matter who wins, I get to hang out with the winner!" Ruby was practically vibrating.

"What about Mercury? He's not exactly a pushover. Certainly gave Blake a run for her money." Jaune reminded.

"A dirty trick at best, I wouldn't have fallen for it in a real fight." Blake retorted, sounding offended by the suggestion.

Jaune chose not to mention the fact that she hadn't been doing amazingly before that.

"It doesn't matter how good he is. Yang is Yang. We've spent the break calming her down as best we could. Even still, he's probably going to be lucky if he gets out of this match with just a broken leg or something."

"A broken leg? I don't think he has anything to worry about then." Jaune replied.

Ruby looked like she was about to ask him what he was talking about, but she was interrupted.

"We once again thank Mistral Academy for putting on such an excellent performance. Catching all those Grimm wasn't an easy task, but it made for an amazing gladiatorial show. But now, we finally return to the main event; The Vytal Festival tournament's semifinal rounds!" Doctor Oobleck announced.

It seemed that the Grimm slaying had done a great job of keeping the crowd warm over the several-hour break. Their energy was as high as he remembered from his matches. This time, however, he was free to let himself get swept up in it.

"You know and love them, let's get our four finalists onto the stage!" Professor Port declared.

"Mercury Black from team CMSN of Haven!" the doctor announced.

Mercury strutted onto the stage with hands in his pockets.

"He sure looks confident for a future cripple." Weiss coldly commented.

"Yang Xiao Long from team RWBY of Beacon!"

Jaune had expected her to be lapping up the attention, but she almost stomped her way onto the stage. Her eyes were her usual lilac, but her attitude was clear. Right now, she meant business.

"Penny Polendina of team CPPR from Atlas!"

Ruby shouted words of encouragement for the girl, surprising Jaune. He picked up on it earlier, but Ruby seemed pretty close with her.

"You know her?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah! Wait, you don't? Penny was the one who saved you at the docks. Didn't you know that?" Ruby responded.

"No. No one told me. You'll have to introduce me so I can thank her properly."

"And finally, Pyrrha Nikos from team JNPR of Beacon!"

Jaune broke the conversation immediately to cheer for Pyrrha. Despite all the other noise, Pyrrha managed to pick him out of the crowd and give him a wave in response.

"From an initial cast of 64 talented fighters, these four have proven they're a cut above. There can however only be one winner, so without further delay, the matches!"

The four profiles shuffled on the display before lining up from left to right. With this, the rest of the tournament was decided.

"Oh, man..." Jaune commented when he saw the first match.

"Mercury Black versus Yang Xiao Long! Can the remaining participants please exit the arena?"

"God, it's almost hard to believe these matches are random. I swear the biggest ticket fights are all happening exactly the way the crowd wants them to." Said Jaune.

"What do you mean?" Blake asked.

"Pyrrha and I advertised our fight and it happened straight away. We got two assassins facing off, resulting in a decent upset. Now we have the revenge match between Mercury and Yang. Pyrrha versus Penny should be interesting too. They both seem to have similar Semblances." Jaune explained.

"Penny doesn't have a Semblance." Ruby corrected.

"What? Then how do you explain the way she fights. Pyrrha controls her weapons mid-air with magnetism. I don't think aura control could replicate that. Especially not with as many weapons as she uses."

"Wait..." Ruby looked about ready to get up and leave, but with Yang's fight almost underway, she restrained herself.

With the microphones in position, it was easy to hear the discussion occurring on the stage.

"I'm going to make you pay for outing my partner like that." Yang threatened.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. I was just doing what I could to win. I promise I'll apologize in person after this." Mercury replied.

He seems... a lot nicer than I thought he'd be. He sounds genuinely remorseful.

Yang growled.

"Shut up!" She shouted back, eyes flashing. "You're not going anywhere near my partner."

"Woah, Yang?" Blake asked aloud, verbalizing what everyone was thinking.

Her response was way more aggressive than it needed to be.

"I understand. For what it's worth, I am sorry. Hopefully, we can still have a good match?" Mercury replied, offering his hand to shake.

Yang ignored it, her face twisting into a scowl. She raised her hands into a fighting position.

Two seconds later, the match began and all bets were off.