Sorry this chapter took so long, some real-life things got in the way, and I also ended rewriting this whole chapter part by part. Luckly I should have the next chapter out within the next few days. Again, thank you for reading and I appreciate everyone's support. With that in mind, please enjoy the chapter.
Beta Reader: BlackJack Hero
Chapter 5
"Arslan." Jaune calls, chasing her down as she trudges down the hall. "Arslan." continues the blonde boy as Arslan attempts to ignore him. "Arslan, we need to talk about this."
Stopping and turning around abruptly, Arslan snaps at the knightly boy, "What's there to talk about? You won, congratulations you're the leader!" Cardin and Reese just stand there watching the confrontation. "To make thing better, Headmaster Lionheart wasn't going to change anything even if we went to him."
"Didn't we agree to "No hard feelings"?" the lioness scoffs at these words. "Even if you wanted it to go differently, we still won!" motioning to himself and Cardin. "And as your leader, I think we should talk."
Making it back to the dorm Arslan almost rips the door off its hinges while entering the common space. Jaune catches her by the shoulder and turns her around as the other two enter the room, with Reese closing the door. "I want to be the leader; no, I need to be the leader. To prove myself. To prove I can be better than her." The last word came out in a hissing growl that puts Jaune on edge.
"Who? Who are you talking about? Who do you have to be better than? Is it worth driving people away?" pushing through his apprehension caused by her tone.
"That was their fault, they weren't able to keep up. Anyway, it doesn't matter, you don't need to know who I'm talking about!" the tan-skinned girl responds with some bite.
This stirs a part of Jaune's anger after he suppressed it, "Of course it matters! If it is something that's already causing so much trouble in our team then WE need to talk about it!" to put further emphasis on it Jaune waives his hands around motioning to the whole team. "Now!"
"Oh, I suppose since you told us your little secret, you expect us to share." poking Jaune's breast plate with her finger. "That isn't how this works."
Swatting her hand away Jaune throws his arms up in exasperation. "Or Oum forbid, I actually want to help you get over whatever all of this is. No, that's impossible, because no one could understand and help you with your problem."
"You're right, you won't understand."
"Wrong words." Cardin jumps in with this quip.
"I... I won't under... I won't understand! Are you fucking with me! I've been blackmailed, bullied, and spend every day around amazing people doing amazing things. I am constantly reminded that I AM NOT GOOD ENOUGH! My own parents didn't-" Jaune cuts himself off, his face visibly darkened.
"You know what, I'm done with this." the blonde just walks into his room shutting the door. Running his hands through his blonde hair, his grip tightens on the back of it as he lets out a groan of frustration. Every time it's the same thing, dismissed before I even get a chance. Pyrrha and Ren did the same thing, they didn't even hear me out, just threw me away at the end of the day without hearing me out.
I understand more then she thinks. I've never been good enough, I wasn't good enough for my parents, for Beason, for my own team! If anybody has something to prove, It's me! At least she knows she belongs here! I still need to prove that Headmaster Ozpin was right to let me in. I still need to prove that I have what it takes to be a hunter and a hero. Pausing the blonde boy calms himself down.
What has got her so twisted up? Clearly, she is strong and intelligent enough to be a huntsman, but why is she pushing so hard. What could've made her so focused that she ignores how she effects the people around her. Who is she so hung up on anyway?
"Pyrrha Nikkos." he hears the voice of Reese. "This is about Pyrrha Nikkos."
These words cause the blonde boy to freeze before sighing in an understanding manner. I can understand that. Pyrrha might as well be a living legend at this point. Staring at the floor he clenches his fist. I know what it's like trying match something like that, but always feeling like it's out of reach. Getting more and more frustrated while people around you tell you can't do it.
I guess it's something we can talk about, Pyrrha is only one of the people who don't believe in me. At the end of the day, she didn't even believe in me enough to hear me out. Finishing his thought Jaune walks back out of his door to rejoin his team in conversation, as the tan-skinned martial artist reveals her thoughts.
Arslan stands there, shoulders going up and down, and emotions still high from the fight. Reese walks over to offer her partner some comfort but Arslan shakes her off, before trying to enter her room. Just as she reaches the door the large body of Cardin cuts her off. "Move." She growls
"Gonna have to make me." he responds without backing down. "I'm not like Jaune, I'm not afraid to make you stay and talk."
"Like you could."
"The old me would've been more than happy to take up that challange. But right now, I don't think violence would help. The fight earlier should've proved that given your current state." Cardin continues to stand his ground as the lioness appears to grow more hostile.
"Move" she says in a cold flat tone.
"No, we need to have this conversation."
"Didn't our leader say we all need to talk about it." counters the tan-skinned lioness sarcastically.
"You're right, and I'm sure he will be back out and ready to talk after cooling his head. So why don't we get started and he can join in later."
"There is nothing to talk about, I need to be the leader."
"Why do you need to be the leader?"
"To prove that I'm better than her!" yells the blonde girl
"Who!?" the ginger roars back
"Pyrrha Nikkos." Reese softly speaks up. "She is talking about Pyrrha Nikkos."
"Reese" hisses the blonde "Shut up."
"When we went to Sanctum, they would always compete over the top spot. For the first year it was fine they would bounce back and forth trading first and second. But things changed when Pyrrha started winning tournaments."
"Stop" interjects Arslan. "He doesn't need to know about any of that."
"Why? Do you think it's shameful? I don't, I always thought it was amazing that-"
"Just stop Reese, you are the only one who still thinks that." The nymph tries to speak up before looking at Arslan's face and stopping herself. "When she started winning more minor and major tournaments, people started to call her the Invincible Girl. Nobody could touch her."
"Ok, so what does that have to do with you?" questions the large boy
"Everybody had pretty much given up on beating her, except me. I kept trying and trying, match after match, and every tournament I challenged her and lost. She always said the same thing, that it was a good fight. I noticed that the people around us, already considered her the winner before we even got in the ring."
"Ouch that's actually pretty harsh to the other competitors."
"Yea it was, but then people started to quit before even fighting her. As more and more of her opponents kept doing this, I continued to challenge her. Eventually I was criticized for even trying."
"What!?"
"Why is she still trying? She will never beat her; it's getting kind of pathetic. She should just give up. More and more people were saying things like that, I even got hate mail and threats."
"What the hell is wrong with people?"
"I didn't let any of that stop me, I challenged her more and more. Every time we fought; she would say it was a good fight. It took me some time but at some point, she started to give off the same feeling as the people who watched the fights. When I confronted her, she gave me some shit about liking my effort but felt it was a waste for me to keep trying. To make things worse I could tell she thought this was best for the both of us."
"It pissed me off, so I promised myself I would prove I'm better than her. So, when I heard she wasn't picked to lead her own team, I thought I was finally on the way to proving her wrong, that all she had to do was trust in me to get strong enough to challenge her. Prove that my goal of beating her isn't some stupid pipe dream. All I needed to do was push my team, to be better than hers."
"And all that pushing drove off your old teammates, only to have them replaced by a guy Nikkos threw away. Then to make matters worse said guy is named leader."
"You got it." confirms the blonde girl
"And just like she stopped giving you the chance to improve, you decided not to give Jaune the chance to show you he can be a better leader
"Don't compare me to her!"
"From where I'm standing I ain't seeing a difference. Actually, you're worse than her, at least she gave you the chance. You looked at Jaune and wrote him off from the get go." Arslan looks away with shame on her face. Upon seeing this Cardin's eyes widen and he begins to laugh.
"What's so funny?" she says defensively
"Sorry just reminded me of something someone said to me. Looking at you I think I get it a bit more. Let me ask you something, why do you think you're a better leader than him?"
"I'm confident in my decisions, and reliable in any situation. I can actually lead people, and make informed decisions. I am a great combatant and dedicate my all to doing this."
"What makes you think he can't do any of that?"
"Just look at him, he doesn't seem like much."
"You're right he doesn't seem like much, but after being his partner for a short period of time, I can tell you with absolute confidence he is way more than he seems. If you want an example, I'll remind you that we won today's spar, and that was thanks to his ideas."
Jaune starts to speak up from his spot next to Reese, having rejoined the team at some point. "I understand you more than you think. My own family wrote me off before I even got a chance, my friends and classmate laughed at me, and my old team ended up throwing me away without even giving me the opportunity to explain. I've been living my whole life with people telling me I couldn't do what I dreamed of. Eventually I got sick of it, and decided that I need to prove those people wrong."
"So, I forged my transcripts and entered Beacon aiming to be the hunter I know I can be. I was put in charge of my own team and was doing pretty well till I let my own ego and pride get in the way. I didn't seek out help and I wasn't going to except it. I didn't want pity; I wanted a chance. Then when it came time for my team and friends to give me one, I was written off again." the blonde boy continues.
"But Headmaster Ozpin was willing to give me a chance. I'm going to use mine to become the best huntsman, and just because you're not the leader doesn't mean you don't have a chance to best huntress. Maybe we can help each other out along the way?"
"I don't think you can do things I can't."
"Can you cook?" Asks Cardin
"What no."
"I can, and I'm pretty damn good at it."
"Can you hunt?" Jaune chirps "I can in case we ever get trapped in the wilds for two weeks with limited supplies."
"I know you can't board." says Reese causing the tan-skinned girl to blush a little. "But don't worry we got ya."
Sighing Arslan admits "I guess I can give this a chance."
"Yay! Are we passed all this now?" questions Reese which causes the boys to laugh.
"Probably not, it's going to come up again and we will work past it as a team." Jaune says after settling down. "Most likely at the worst moment, but things like this are a process."
"Yea, one corny speech from some goofy blonde dude isn't gonna fix your problems." jokes the large boy. "But it can help." Cardin pauses and takes a deep breath. "I've got something to tell you two. I'm... It was me. I'm the one who blackmailed and bullied Jaune."
"Wait what?" Reese half exclaims. "You're the one who was going to attack his partner?"
"Yeah" hanging his head in shame. "Nikkos had embarrassed me and my team by beating us all down in class. I took it bad and thought I would get revenge by hurting her."
"What were you thinking?" asks the lioness sternly "So much could've gone wrong."
"Look I know that, I had... I have some things I'm working through."
"He was raised like an asshole." Jaune adds on, and Cardin looks at him, "By his dad."
"He's not wrong. I'm working on being a better person."
"Are we going to be able to trust you? If you can blackmail someone you might be capable of anything."
"I said I'm-"
"Yea we can trust him." Jaune says without batting an eye. "I know we can."
"How can you say that!?" the ginger protest, surprising everybody in the room. "Why are you such a good person to someone like me? I nearly cost you your dream and I did cost you your team and friends."
"Ok yea that first one is pretty bad, as for those last two. You didn't really do that, that was Pyrrha, she is the one who turned her back on me before hearing me out. And since then, you've been a decent partner and friend." adding a small quip at the end the blonde smiles a little.
"You're something else man, you know I tried to throw you under the bus, right?"
"Yep"
"And you're over it now?"
"Nope" this response catches the ginger off guard. "But Ozpin knew about it all along, and still let me in. For all the faith Pyrrha said she had in me she showed very little when it was something she couldn't control."
"You though, since we've started this, you've worked with me and together, we've managed some pretty amazing things. It wasn't you covering for me but actually working with me, you didn't just make me adjust to you, but you've adjusted to me every step of the way."
"You have to know I started doing it because you showed me pity."
"Nope, I didn't show you pity. Remember I gave you a chance." Jaune says with a smile that seems to light the room up. "And I don't think I could ask for a better partner."
"I give up." Cardin exasperatedly expresses throwing his hands up and plopping on the empty chair.
"What have you guys been through to build this kind of comradery?" Arslan questions
"Survived a bullhead crash."
"Rescued a pilot."
"Fought and killed some imps barehanded."
"Saved each other's lives."
"Fought an ancient Grimm."
"And survived a two-week trek from Higanbana to here." The boys bounce back and forth while answering the blonde woman
"You said you fought an ancient Grimm? What was it?" Reese asks
"I think it was called a knucklebee or something like that." Jaune scrunches his face trying to recall.
"You mean The Nuckelavee."
Snapping his finger and pointing Jaune confirms. "Yea that's what it was called."
"You guys fought and escaped a Grimm that has been terrorizing most of Mistral for years?" asks Reese in disbelief. "There has got to be a story there, let's hear it." Her eyes sparkled as she sat on the arm of Cardin's chair.
"Oh, yea it was -" sitting on the couch as he prepares to tell the story, the couch snaps in two. Caught off guard the blonde knight falls to the floor in between the two pieces, a melodious laughter rings out across the room. It is a little deep by female standards but still very pleasant to the ears. So that's what her laugh sounds like.
Arslan offers a hand after she reigns in her laughter, and begins to help Jaune back to his feet. "Sorry it was just so out of nowhere."
Grunting, Jaune takes the offered hand. "Don't worry about it, pretty sure you broke it anyway." Arslan promptly let's go, causing Jaune to fall back down. "Guess I'll tell the story from down here."
"Thank you for your assistance today Ms. Faunt." says the headmaster after the arriving back at his office, effectively dismissing.
"No problem, sir. It was my pleasure to help instruct the students. I think I will go have some fun." the faunus woman wears a smile that sends a shiver down Leonardo's spine.
Coughing into his fist, "Well try not to drink too much, even though we don't have work tomorrow, we still have to be ready at a moment's notice." Melissa waives back at the headmaster over her shoulder as she walks away. "She is a great teacher, but terrible when drinking."
Upon entering his office, he locks the door, and proceeds over to his desk, taking a seat with a large sigh. That fight was interesting to say the least. They showed skill that you would expect from first years, Mr. Arc even less, matching what the transcripts said they are capable of. For only being partners for a couple of weeks they showed some incredible teamwork.
It was enough to believe they have been working together for much longer. The fact that outside of and during battle that Mr. Winchester responds to the Arc signals him to be the lead. I need to keep Mr. Arc in a place where I can keep an eye on him, so even if the boys lost, I would've made him stay the leader.
A sharp tapping catches his attention and he looks up at the door or at the space just to the right of his front door. The headmaster shakes as he stands and walks over to the wall, placing his hand on a part of the wall. It lights up and traces an outline around his hand before a hissing sound lets out and causes the wall to open up.
The shaking Headmaster is greeted with a small hallway leading to another door, where the tapping sound is coming from. Trepidly he walks down the narrow hall, that only seems to grow narrower with every step closer to the door. Finally reaching the door Leonardo hesitantly opens the door revealing a grimm with a small, spherical body that is covered with bone-like plates, along with long red tentacles, each tipped with sinister bone barbs.
Lowering its single extended tentacle, the grimm floats past the lion faunus, pushes him aside, and comes to a hault in the middle of the office. Trailing behind the grimm, Headmaster Lionheart comes to a stop in front of the dark creature, waiting for something to happen. After a few moments the grimm emits a low female voice, "Leonardo, I assume things are well."
"Y-y-y-yes, your grace. I was just about to reach out to you. I was go-" suddenly one of the tentacles lashes out and wraps around the neck of the headmaster.
"Do not test my patience, you were supposed to contact me earlier this day. The fact that I had to reach out to you is proof I have been too lenient with you." The headmaster struggles trying to free himself from tightening grip, in the next moment he falls to the floor gasping for air. "You better have good reason to have kept me waiting."
Gasping for air and coughing painfully the headmaster begins "I-", "Was", "keeping an eye-", "on possible spies-", "from Ozpin."
"Oh, do tell."
"An Arc. He sent an Arc over here as a transfer student. He says he is untrained, but he still took him into Beacon. He clearly wanted him for something, and after keeping him for a few weeks he sends him my way with another possible spy in tow."
"I see...and you said you were monitoring these two? And what is your assessment?"
"While they don't show any battle capability above first year individually. When working together they were able to easily show teamwork above their years. This leads me to believe they may have been trained together before Beacon." Explains the headmaster in great detail.
"This is not unfounded, Ozma has been known to use children as pawns and soldiers. Is the second boy from another family Ozma has been using for some time?"
"Not directly your grace. The Winchester family used to be wards of the Arc family, but once the Winchesters rose to knighthood this relationship seemed to stop."
"Keep an eye on these young men Ozma has sent to you. We must know if he suspects you, and if these two are there to investigate you. Now what do you have planned for those I'm sending to you?" Questions the woman steeped in darkness.
"You're sending them? I thought that I was going to be forging their transcripts for the festival." holding his hands out questionably.
"These young men sent by Ozma have caused a change in my plans. Since we are unsure if they are spies, we need my minions to have a presence but also be able to move freely."
"I can put them in the upper years, they are often gone on missions. This can be used to explain their absence, but it also means they will need to participate in the prelims for the Vytal Tournament."
"That is fine, make sure you put them in with the second-year teams. I want them to have as many chances as possible to come into contact with the team of Ozma's spies. You are also to monitor them personally, just come up with some excuse to spend more time with them."
Bowing low the headmaster answers, "Yes, your Grace it will be done."
"And do remember Leonardo, as long as you follow my instructions, I will spare those innocent people and students."
With his head still lowered and biting his lip, "Thank you." the Grimm floats back into its hiding spot, somehow making the doors close behind it. Drops of blood hit the floor from the lip of the lion faunus. He stands and wipes his mouth off as he walks to his table with the ornate tea set.
Quickly he brews a fresh pot, pouring himself a cup, he pulls out a small flask and adds the contents to the cup. Remember why you are doing this. You know she is unbeatable; this is saving as many people as you can. Yes, you are scared but not just for yourself but for the people who don't even know they are opposing her.
After the shaking goes down Lionheart makes his way back over to his desk and begins to put together sone convincing paperwork for the three incoming students. He is supposed to receive the information on their fourth member in the next few weeks, until then he can claim they are on an individual assignment.
"Damn, so close. You guys could've been the people who killed the Nuckelavee." Reese exclaims
"Naw, it sounds closer than it actually was. We were both out of aura and the only real damage done to the upper body was the arrow Jaune put through its arm." Cardin says looking up at the green haired girl sitting on the arm of his chair.
"But still, imagine if we had been there with you. We could've taken it out."
"I don't think it would've gone well then either. Its last attack on Cardin was faster, stronger, and went farther than anything before. I think it was holding back while fighting us." backing up the ginger, Jaune speaks up.
"I have to admit that you two are better than I thought." the tan-skinned girl voices her thoughts while preparing some tea. "You work surprisingly well together. You said you found those weapons?"
"Yea we found them in the destroyed village."
"Did you check them for symbols? If you manage to find one, you can search the huntsman database for it and give the weapons to their next of kin." The boys nod in affirmation. "Was that your first time using those weapons in battle?"
"Naw we fought plenty of Grimm coming here." Answers the ginger.
"But your first one against people?"
"Yea"
"You can tell, you both need more training with those weapons. Are you going to keep using weapons like those in the future? I know some people who could help you both out."
"Anything will help at this point; I have a lot of things I need to work on. I'm thinking of going to the library to look up spear techniques since I can't even land a stab. Maybe pick up something on aura control while I'm at it." Jaune finally pulls himself off the floor when Arslan hands him a cup.
"Arslan is really good at that stuff, maybe she can help you out." Reese states absentmindedly while glancing at Arslan, she is a little taken aback at the lioness's complicated expression.
"That would be cool, maybe we can even discover my semblance." the male blonde visibly perks up. "It would be nice to know what it is."
"You don't know your semblance?"
"No, why do you all know yours? I don't think I really saw you using them during the fight. You know I think this is a good opportunity to learn something about each other."
"Let's make a game out of it. Loser has to go request a new couch. We have to guess the semblance and the name based on the fight."
"What about my semblance?"
"We can ignore it for now." these words cause Jaune to visibly deflate.
"Don't worry I'm sure we can figure it out." Arslan comforts Jaune while patting his back. "Ok we start with Cardin."
"Ok me first, it's called Cardin Smash. It grants him a strength boost simple as that." Reese joyously guesses.
"I don't think so, it's Winning Hammer. He can take the force he creates and exerts it over another object." counter Arslan. "And Jaune you can't guess this time since you already know."
"Do you guys really think I'm the type of person to name their semblance after themselves?" the ginger questions. A resounding yes is the answer, even from Jaune. "Arslan is the closest in description, so let's give her the point. I can generate and direct shockwaves, but I need some momentum first, and it's called Crash and Bang."
"What happens when you add dust?" Reese ask quizzically
"With Fire dust I can direct explosions and make a wave of fire. Earth and Ice let me direct spikes. Gravity creates a pulse to throw thing around me. Those are the only ones I use."
"Ok me next."
"Did you even use your semblance during the fight?" Questions the ginger skeptically.
"Sure did." Answering she downs her drink and lets out a refreshed sound. "A lot. Matter of fact it was one of the reasons I could put you on the back foot."
Stroking his chin Cardin give it some thought before speaking, "Let's go with Make Believe, it lets you project energy outside of your body or something like that. I don't think I've seen people make wind dust slice; it normally just blows."
"I-" before Jaune can get started he is cut off.
"Awww, how come you're so close? And Jaune you only get to guess Arslan to make it fair for us." She points to herself and Arslan. "Anyway, it's called Skywriting, and it more or less does what you said. I channel aura and project it out like this." She raises her hand with a finger extended.
After briefly glowing a pale purple color, she drags her finger across leaving a streak of matching color projected in the air. It stays there for a few moments and Reese reaches up and taps the line, it shifts down with her touch showing it to be a solid object.
"That's pretty cool, does what you write control the effect?" Jaune asks with an intrigued look on his face. "Like making a circle creates a shield?"
"Yea something like that, it really depends on the dust I'm using at the time. It's the reason Ms. Faunt told me to devote to being a dust slinger." Letting them know the extent she could use her semblance.
"Ok that means it's my turn, right? I only have to guess Arslan's semblance and what it does. Did you use it during the fight at all?"
"Yep, once I turn it on it keeps going until I turn it off or my aura is broken." Arslan answers coolly. I don't think he'll be able to guess it.
"Since I'm new to this aura thing, can I ask one more question?"
"Sure, go ahead and ask."
"Does it affect you or your surroundings?"
"Me."
"Ok, let's go with Noble Presence. It lets you feel incoming hostility and immediately respond. I don't think it is an automatic response, I think you get to choose and it doesn't seem like it is infallible."
"Damn, you are kinda smart, aren't you? How did you figure that out?" says Reese with a hint of surprise.
"Naw, I'm just good at picking up on stuff. Like how she responded to my strike without turning around. It was way to crisp to be regular sense, but I knew it could be beaten from the two times we split you guys up. Your sense seemed to concentrate on Reese the second time and the first time I don't think Cardin entered your range."
"They call that being observant, but putting that aside how did you get the name?" Arslan corrects and then questions.
"I don't know you just have this presence about you, and they called you the Noble Lion. I just put the two together and threw that out there."
"Alright with that the winner is Arslan." exclaims Reese. "And Jaune comes in last place, so he has to call Ms. Faunt."
"Wait, Why?"
"You're automatically disqualified for not knowing your own semblance."
"Doesn't that mean I lost the moment we started playing this game." Another resounding answers of yep comes from the blonde's team, causing him to let out a sigh. "I guess I'll call her in the morning."
"Oh, yea Jaune, speaking of tomorrow are we gonna go pick up some stuff. We only have these workout clothes, and the uniforms they gave us and tomorrow is the last day we get a pass before we get treated like the rest." Cardin brings up an issue.
"Yea we should probably go out a buy what we need, clothes, stuff to sleep in, and maybe some new armor. And-" Jaune looks down at the weapons that have helped him so far. "I think it's time we got some weapons made for us."
"Sounds like a good plan. These things have gotten us this far but they weren't made for us, plus the families might want these things back."
"Can you guys tell us about any places that cater to hunters?" The blonde asks facing to two females of his team.
"I know some places, and I can show you around, but I've gotta ask Neptune for places where you can buy guy stuff." Answers the green haired girl. "We can all go, make it a team thing get a chance to get to know each other."
"Ok, so we do our morning workout, Jaune calls Ms. Faunt for the funds and new couch. Then we can go down into Mistral to get you guys your stuff." The lioness plans out. "By the way, do you guys have something to change into?"
"I think I will manage for tonight." Answers the blonde, as he looks at his partner, he notices the ginger staring at him before bursting out in laughter. "What?"
"I just remembered what you wore on the night of initiation." Still laughing the large boy grabs his side and falls off of the chair. "It was so stupid."
"I told you my sisters made it for me."
"That doesn't make it any better, but at least it was destroyed in the crash."
"What was it?" questions the nymph.
"I also wish to know based on your reaction." Arslan chimes in
"It was a blue bunny onesie." this causes a silence to befall the two girls, they begin to snicker, and soon it turns into full laughter.
"It's not that funny." Jaune's shoulders droop a little before he continues. "You said you work out in the morning, wake me up so I can go with you." After recovering Cardin ask to be included in the morning workout. After everything calms down the girls go to the bath house, while the boys take turns using the shower. After everyone cleans themselves up, they go off to their own rooms reflecting on everything that happened today.
The banging on his door abruptly brings Jaune out of his much-needed sleep. Groaning he puts on a different Haven shirt and some shorts that would be easy to workout in. These are the last clothes that haven Academy has given him, besides his uniform. As he walks into the common space, and is greeted by Arslan and Reese.
They are both dressed in form fitting workout clothes, with colors matching those of their regular garb. Looking around he doesn't see his partner yet, but after about another minute Cardin exits his room looking as tired as Jaune feels.
"Let's drink something to wake us up." Arslan walks over to the counter and presents four steaming drinks, she and Reese pick one up, and briskly raise the drink to their mouths. The boys walk over and soon follow suit before Jaune begins to choke on the drink and Cardin spits his out.
"What is this!? It tastes like hot lawn clippings mixed with mushrooms and sludge!" glaring at what the girls call a drink, it's clear Cardin does not approve.
"It's a drink for cleansing the body and calming the mind." Arslan explains
"No, just no. That is the Grimm's wheat grass. How can you drink that, and why are you finishing it?" Cardin asks Jaune watching the blonde boy struggle through the rest of the drink.
Gasping after finishing the drink, "I've had worse. Ren's drinks felt like they could kill anyone without aura. You might as well finish it." Cardin stares down the drink before downing the remainder. Oh Oum, this is just wrong.
Arslan leads everyone outside and begins to stretch out, "So what is today's wager?"
"How bout we keep it tame? You know for the boys. Loser pays for lunch." Reese suggests
"Sounds good to me. What about you guys?"
"Sounds good." say the blonde and ginger in unison.
"How far are we going?" Jaune stretching showing off great range of flexibility.
"All the way to the Gym." answers the lioness. "On three."
"Three!" yells Reese taking off towards the quad, with Arslan right on her tail. The boys take a second, and take off after the girls trying their best to catch up. After around six mins the race is officially over with Cardin finishing last. The girls show the boys shown the exercises they do in the morning; each boy adds on their own exercises to improve point they believe they need to focus on.
Cardin works on increasing the weight he can lift and amount of explosive momentum he can generate, while Jaune after receiving some advice from Arslan begins focusing on the number of times he can lift the weights. The blonde woman says he can do this and still slowly go up in weight, building his strength and endurance at the same time.
Afterwards they divide into groups of two. Reese goes off with Cardin and Jaune calls after the retreating back of Arslan. "Ok so what should we work on?" Reese asks the larger of the two boys.
"Well, I need to work on catching people who are good at moving around. Maybe I'll do something to improve my mobility besides using me semblance or weapon." Cardin then turns to question the nymph. "What do you have to work on?"
"If I'm going to commit to being a dust slinger, I guess I need to get better at creating distance without wasting my semblance." Stroking her chin. "Ok, let's play some tag."
"What?" Cardin looks at the small girl in confusion.
"You know tag, you try to catch me and I try to get away. This should help both of us, you get to work on catching up to someone nimbler and I get to work on creating distance, win-win."
"You think that it will help?" Cardin asks with heavy skepticism.
"Yea, we can give it a go, or are you afraid your gonna lose again?" Goads the green-haired girl.
"Ok let's do this." Cardin spreads his feet shoulder width apart and bends his knees slightly. Reese faces him in a similar stance, as aura begins to flood their legs and then Cardin charges right at her closing the distance and reaches out to tag her. Reese jumps back easily out speeding the approaching boy, and upon landing takes off to the side with the large teenage boy in hot pursuit.
"Seems like you are really good with your aura. Can you teach me how to control aura? I'm not very good at it." Jaune asks Arslan after the pairs have put a little distance between them.
Rolling her eyes, the tan-skinned answers, "Why do I have to help you?"
"To make the team better. We are only as strong as our weakest member." fidgeting he tries to convince the lioness.
Letting out a sigh she questions the blonde boy. "How much do you know about using aura?"
"Let's just assume I don't know anything." Jaune scratches the back of his head letting out an embarrassed chuckle.
"Really?" Arslan flatly asks the boy. Only to receive a small nod in confirmation. "Ok, so you just want to learn how to control your aura."
"Yea, and maybe you could teach me some CQC. Your palm strikes felt like you were trying to tear me apart." This time it's Arslan's turn to chuckle embarrassedly.
"Anyway" she says deflecting. "Show me how you use your aura."
"Ok, here we go." closing his eyes, a pale-yellow glow covers his body after a few seconds before fading away. He opens his eyes to see his fellow blonde staring at him as if waiting for something.
"Is that it?" she asks genuinely
"Umm, yea that's it. It's like a force field" he pauses looking still looking at the other blonde. "Right?"
"Who taught you how to use your aura? Did they not explain anything to you?"
A memory briefly crosses Jaune's mind of Pyrrha unlocking his aura, and telling him how it is meant to protect a huntsman. "I was just told that it protects me."
"It does so much more. It doesn't simply protect you; it empowers you. Makes you stronger, tougher, and faster. It is as much a shield as it is a spear when wielded correctly. Has there ever been a time where you focused and felt any of the effects I mentioned."
This time a few memories cross his mind: jumping to catch Weiss, blocking the pincer of the death stalker, killing the wasp that were chasing his friends, charging the open back of the imp, facing down the Nuckelavee. "Oh, so how do I do that without someone's life being in danger?"
"You have to let it flow through your body, with every breath you take, feel the energy travel through your body. You focus on what you want to achieve and your soul will respond. Now sit down and cross your legs, you are going to meditate."
"What is this supposed to do?" questions Jaune as he sits on the ground
"It is going to allow you to focus inwardly so you can get more in touch with your aura. Once you get this down, we can work on getting you to actively utilize it, like that." finishing her explanation she points to Cardin and Reese who are darting around the open space with surprising speeds.
Cardin continues charging the smaller girl, trying to tag her, but every time he gets close, she manages to open the distance. It is not far enough to be comfortable, because he follows her with one step.
"Both of them are using aura to enhance their legs. Reese is using a small amount to create sharp turns trying to slip away, while Cardin is using small burst to accelerate and close that distance after turning."
"Don't people do that with weapons though?"
"Yea but what are you going to do if your weapon isn't available or it's stopped working? This was made for people without speed semblances. There are even people who channel aura to attack."
"Like your palm strike?"
"Yea, now get to meditating"
The blonde closes his eyes breathing in, and out focusing on himself. He repeats this a few more times and the glow of his aura slowly engulfs his body. The aura shimmers across his body, and begins to focus on different parts of his body flowing from one part to the next.
"Jaune, have you ever study to aura arts before this?" Arslan ask with a serious look on her face.
"The what? If you're talking about meditation, one of my old teammates showed me some stuff before but that's it. I didn't even have my aura unlocked until initiation."
There was muffled crashing sound as Cardin's concentration is broken during his game of tag with Reese. Standing from his unexpected fall the ginger questions, "You told me you blocked a deathstalker pincer during that."
"Yea when we were trying to kill it, I took on one of its pincers to help create an opening." The blonde responds to his ginger partner, before a hand swats him on the back of the head.
"Focus, if I'm going to help you. You will listen when I tell you what to do." Arslan says while holding her palm out. "Don't get distracted."
Reese and Cardin resume their game of intense tag, as Arslan is having Jaune continue with his meditation. Eventually everyone feels themselves hit their limit with their morning exercises.
"We should do this every weekend." Arslan says catching the boys by surprise.
"You actually want to help me?" asks her fellow blonde
"No, but since you've shown the will to train, I might as well help so you get better as quickly as possible. And with me training you, you will improve." the hard stare from the girl makes Jaune gulp.
As they return to their room Jaune uses his scroll to alert Ms. Faunt through message, that they need another new couch for the common space. He is very surprised when his scroll starts to ring and the picture shows the face of the faunus woman. Answering the scroll, he is berated by the haggard looking woman, pointing out that it is his responsibility as team leader to prevent this kind of nonsense.
After taking the tongue lashing Jaune and Cardin are given money to buy what they need and order new armor and weapons. Everyone heads to the bath house to clean up and the boys change into their Haven Academy uniforms minus the jackets and ties, before heading down into Mistral.
"So where do you guys want to start?" Reese asks as they exit one of the paths that lead from Haven to Mistral.
"We should probably start with clothes, then armor and lastly weapons." Answers the ginger knight.
"Yea that sounds good to me." confirms to blonde boy.
"We should probably swing by a dust shop too." Suggest the last member of team AACC
"We need combat clothes and regular clothes; do you guys know a place?" Cardin asks looking down.
"Hold on I got a recommendation from Neptune just give me a sec to pull it up." chimes the nymph while pulling out her scroll. It isn't long before she is leading the team down one of the main streets with multi story pagoda style buildings. Looking around people can be seen entering on different levels of the buildings from paths of varying elevations.
They continue traversing the multiply level of Mistral until they come upon the shop Neptune recommended. Upon entering the boys take their time selecting various clothes to wear outside of school and battle, even replacing their long-lost underwear. Jaune also purchases a sewing kit hoping to repair his limited-edition pumpkin pete hooded sweater.
The next store they hit up is one that caters to hunters specifically, Noblesse Oblige by Adel. After reading the store name Cardin shivers a little as if haunted by some horrible memory. "What's wrong with him?" Arslan questions
"He picked on the wrong bunny." Jaune says walking into the store ignoring Cardin's state. After the look around the store for a few minutes, the clerk approaches them offering to help with selecting a hunter outfit for the boys.
It takes some time but Jaune ends up with a short sleeve, ocean blue, high collar gambeson with gold buckles running down left side, straight fit black pants, and dark brown combat boots, officially retiring left and right. He adds a thick brown belt with a dark gold buckle and a med pouch on his left hip. On the outside of his right thigh is a black pouch for his compact arrows, attached to his pants.
Cardin's look doesn't change much for the most part. He replaces his damaged black pants with a new pair, and ends up changing the color of his shirt to bronze with a red trim lining the collar. He matches his new combat boots to the color of his sash and attaches a dust pouch to the small of his back.
After paying for their new look, Jaune promises to tell Coco that her family brand is overpriced. "Last place is a forge; do you guys have any ideas for your weapons?" Reese brings up their next destination.
"I've got some idea of what I want, but it's gonna require some more training on my part." Cardin answers as they approach the forge. "Thinking about using a round shield."
"I think I'm going to go with a short sword that shifts into a lance. I also want to add a dust function but I'm not really sure how to make it work. Do you guys know anything about weapons?" Jaune questions, looking at each one of his teammates for an answer. Guess I'll have to figure it out for myself then. Just wish I had some help with the dust function and buckler design.
Just as they are entering the forge Jaune scroll begins to ring. Pulling out his scroll he continues to speak, "I'm also considering a buckler but will need some help with its secondary-" staring at the image on the screen Jaune stops frozen on spot and with dread in his heart reads the name displayed below the familiar photo. "Ruby?"