First thing first, I'm sorry for the long wait. I've now decided on releasing every other week instead of trying to maintain three on and one off, you know life and what not. The chapters will arrive on the weekend, Friday through Sunday. Next, shout out to Aura Link by Dwalkern64, Jaune with a version of Velvets semblance, really like the bonding aspect. This is a thanks for the point out this story gave, and to promote the spirit of a community that is ready to share. That being said I recently found my favorite Dark Arc, check out Demonic Redemption by Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh, I know it's been around for a bit but if you haven't read it go for it. And one more for the road, Just Like the Stories Tell by TheRedRoster, not an action story just a mature take on some Lancaster fluff that I like. Sorry for the long AN. The message board will appear again but as Omakes, so they will not interrupt the story flow. Here is the message board roster and sorry didn't realize that some symbols transferred and some didn't:
Mountain&Monkey: Sun Wukong
Cool$Blue: Neptun Vasilias
Fleet0Foot: Mercury Black
Seasonedbeef: Sage Ayana (Per Sun)
Hidden^Jem: Emerald Sustrai
Fairy*Girl: Reese Chloris
Pirate_Life: Scarlet David
TheFirey1: Cinder Fall
IceCreamey: Mint Chip/ Neopolitan
Freedbird: Cardin Winchester
Survivalknight: Jaune Arc
21Paragon: My awesome beta reader
GLDNL10N: Arslan Altan
Beta Reader: BlackJackHero
Chapter 7
Walking back and having split up with the other half of the team at some point, the lioness examines the weapons of her leader, taking a long look at the shortsword/spear. "You mentioned searching for a book on a style of spearmanship, did you find anything?"
Sheepishly the blonde leader laughs, "No I haven't gone looking yet, I wanted to see the spear first."
"Do you have a point of reference?"
"The only person I know that uses something like a spear is-" pausing the knightly boy looks at the olive-eyed girl. "You know."
"You don't need to be that concerned, anyway I don't recommend that style. It's Northern Mistral style, precise, a little rigid, and involves stacking hits to do damage. You don't seem suited for it." The blonde girl states while examining the blonde boy from head to toe.
"I don't think I was aiming for it anyway. I can't see myself using the same style as Pyrrha, plus she uses a javelin, I have a full-length spear."
"It's good you know that at least. The Southern Style is probably what you are looking for, it uses a spear. There are many sub-styles to it, but just start there. It is more flexible, but lacks precision, and depends on landing big hits."
Jaune stops and begins laughing, "So what you're saying is I'm the opposite of her when it comes to combat? They have a Southern Sword style too?"
"Yes, they do, but I don't see how it's funny." asks Arslan puzzled
"She wanted to teach me how to fight, but based on what you said I don't think it would've been a good match."
Arslan deadpans, "No, even if you continued to use the sword and shield you told us about, you would've been more... what's the word?"
"Tanky" offered the blonde boy
"Sure, with a sword and shield you would probably be more suited taking and giving big hits. Not the acrobatic style she uses, but with the spear, your oddly flexible body, and ability to plan on the fly, you're the archetype for the Southern spear." Arslan explains
"I didn't realize the weapon made that much difference. Just reminds me of how much I have to learn."
"It really does, even the buckler you have is used differently. Sheilds like Cardin's and Pyrrha's are meant to take the hit and let the surface redirect it with a bit of angling. The buckler you have is used to intercept, making it a little harder to use."
Jaune remembers when the buckler he bought in Higanbana broke. Right, I tried to take on the hit like with my old shield. The spear is going to be my primary but the buckler can add another dimension to my CQC with the short sword. I'm gonna need a lot of help with this. "Hey Arslan, would you mind looking over the styles with me?"
This causes the blonde girl to blink in surprise, "You're asking me to help pick your style? Why?"
"Well, you seem really knowledgeable about this stuff and I figure, I might as well ask someone who is knowledgeable. It was one of my problems in Beacon, and I'm trying to change that."
"Um sure, I guess I can help." She answers still a little unsure.
"And if you don't mind give me some training exercises that would help me, get the new style down as fast as possible." still walking Jaune looks down at his clenching fist. "I want to be ready for any and everything."
"There are no shortcuts for what you are trying to accomplish, the best I can do is give you some rigorous exercises that will help you achieve certain results faster."
"That's good I'm not looking for any shortcuts, you know "a strong house starts with a strong foundation" and all that."
Nodding along to the phrase her fellow blonde quotes, Arslan quickly thinks to herself. He really seems to mean it, I guess nothing can be said about his character. I thought he might be looking for shortcuts since he cheated his way into Beacon. No, this is a good sign but it is too soon to judge.
"Ok, I'll help you when I have some time otherwise you need to work on your own." she says suddenly smirking at him, "It's not normal for men without martial arts training to be that flexible, so I'm going to need you to tell me why you are."
Jaune stumbles at this demand and glances down at Arslan after righting himself, "Do I really have to tell you?" the blonde lioness simply nods in affirmation. Blushing a little bit, he leans down and whispers something into Arslan's ear. She pauses and shoots him this incredulous look as if asking really? He sighs, slumping his shoulders, and nods once.
She lets out a gentle laugh bringing her one sleeve up to cover her mouth, "That's not the worst reason, and it's kind of sweet." At this compliment Jaune perks up and she can't help but compare him to a dog getting a treat, making her laugh a little louder and harder. Jaune stares at the beautiful martial artist as she laughs at him, yea, it's a nice laugh.
"Can I tell Reese?" she asks him suddenly
"No" he deadpans in response.
"It's not that bad. You don't have some macho pride getting in the way, right?" She questions
"No, it's nothing like that. People tend to ask you to show them, and I'm not going to lie, it would look ridiculous with how I dress normally." At this Arslan raises an eyebrow at the boy. "No."
Shrugging it off she ask, "Is there anything else you want to get done while we're out?"
"Maybe I should take care of this." Jaune runs a hand through his hair. It's gotten a bit on the long side. Maybe it's time for a change. Soon he pulls out his scroll and "There we go, a hair place not far from here with some good reviews for men's hair."
(Meanwhile)
"You gonna need help with that thing?" Reese points to the round shield that's found its home on the ginger's back, as they exit the grocery store.
"How you gonna help? You don't use a shield." questions Cardin
"My board serves as many things, shield just so happens to be one of them, good sir."
"What do you get out of it?" Eyeing the small green-haired girl. "No offense but we just met not too long ago, and your willingness to help is a little off putting."
"Look man, I just want to make this work. If that means helping you out then it's only natural that I do just that. I don't want you guys to quit on us like the last ones."
Snorting at this the ginger counters, "You don't need to worry about that, if anything we would drive you two off first. If that ain't happening then I'm fraid you guys are stuck with me and my blonde."
"You say that but what you guys saw is only the beginning when it comes to our work ethic."
"I'm pretty determined and I don't think Jaune is backing down anytime soon. So, you know how to use a shield?"
"Just enough to deflect and hit people with it." Answers the green nymph.
"That's more than me, when you got some time help me out. Don't want to eat into your own training."
"You're good, you can always just lose to me in another game of tag." She flashes Cardin a playful smile, "Maybe next time you won't be too scared to place a bet."
"I'll bet if I can use my weapons."
"Sure" she answers shrugging, before grinning like the cat that ate the canary. "As long as I can use mine."
This causes the ginger knight to pause. She totally bated me with that. Now if I tell her no, she can just right off any win I get as a difference in equipment. If I say yes, well her plus hoverboard equals loss, guess I have to get really good at closing that gap if I wanna win.
"Fine I'll take you on. But like I said I don't want to cut into your independent time, so when are we gonna do this?"
"We can do it on the weekends and sometimes after class if we can both agree on the day." Answers the sweater clad girl
"Cool, how bout this weekend?" Cardin proposes.
"Why Mr. Winchester it sounds like you're asking me on a date." This earns a snort for the large knight. "What am I not pretty enough for the esteemed house of Winchester." This time the ginger boy laughs.
"Naw you're more than pretty, it's just you would know when I ask you out. Wouldn't be this round about, not my style." Cardin stops and looks back at a stopped Reese, who is sporting an even bigger smile. Suddenly a chill runs up the knightly boy's spine.
"Oh, so you think I'm more than pretty?" She begins to tease, while walking up to him. The ginger turns and keeps walking, when suddenly he feels a weight on his back and two hands over his shoulders. "No, you don't, tell me am I gorgeous, am I beautiful, am I alluring?"
"More like annoying." he quips while making her let go of him. The small girl begins to laugh when her feet hit the ground.
"Anyway" Reese states after calming down. "I'm thinking I'll be requesting you cook some more food when I win tag."
"Ok what do I get when I win?"
"Free hoverboard lessons?"
"Pass, I'm a little bulky for that."
"So you're not against doing it out of the armor? How about I cook you something?"
"Sure why not. I won't ask for anything to complex since you look like the type to burn water."
"That Ars, not me." Responses the nymph
"Excuse me?" comes a stern voice from the other side of the ginger. Leaning forward while keeping pace, Reese spots Arslan giving her a flat look after finally joining back up with them. "What was that?"
"Just commenting on how you like to push the team to be better."
"Uh huh, sure you were."
"Speaking of the team," Jaune jumps in, and gives his teammates a look at his new hair. It has been shaved down on the sides leaving the faintest hints of blonde just above skin level. The remaining long hair on top has been placed in a crossing braid that ends in a loose bun.
"We should set up some time for the team to train together. You know work on formations and the like." Everybody nods along as the knightly archer continues. "Let's say Fridays after class?"
"What if we have a date? You know that's the most popular night to hit the town. And with that new hair I don't think you'll be short on invites." Reese asks
"Right sure" Jaune brushes off her comment. "It will only be for a couple of hours, it's really just for formations and team attacks. The rest of our teamwork will develop naturally through the team combat courses, and the time we spend together training."
"So, you're saying this is for the specifics of teamwork?" Arslan questions earning a nod "And the broader aspect will come from the everyday training?" This earns another nod from the other blonde
"That should work, mornings are for the team, afternoons for ourselves, Fridays for the formations, and Saturdays can be for helping each other with more specific things that we might not get to during the week." Cardin maps out.
"I think that we should go out as a team every other Friday, you know really build up the team relationship." Reese happily chips in "And Sunday sometimes if we are up for it."
"This sounds like a good plan." Jaune says looking at his team, as they finally arrive at Quad "I'm glad we got this worked out, I'm going to hit the range and get familiar with this bow."
"Don't forget, we need to go to the library at some point to find some books on those fighting styles." Arslan calls out to the back of the blonde boy.
"How about Friday after class?" He responds
"Why not tomorrow?" She calls back
"I want to keep practicing with the bow, for combat class on Friday. I want to get as much work in a possible." There isn't enough time to get comfortable with using the spear. All I know right now is how to swing it around and try to stab someone. Best to focus on the bow and use the buckler and short sword when the gap gets covered.
"Ok Friday it is." she confirms with him, earning a waive back
"Bold of you to ask him out like that." Reese whispers into the lioness's ear, causing her to jump a little. "I never figured you for that type, but I guess I could see it." she follows up cupping her chin. A hand grips the green-haired girl by the head.
"You have time to joke, you have time to train." Says Arslan with a smile, that promises torture. She then turns around and drags the girl towards the outdoor track.
"Buncha weirdos." Cardin states watching the rest of his team walk off, he soon catches up to Jaune intending to practice with his bolt shooter.
Friday comes without incident, and the first few classes of the day pass by quickly. "Today's the day you guys get to show your stuff to all the first years." Reese says as they walk into combat class dressed and holding their weapons.
"Pretty sure they saw what we can do last weekend thanks to you guys." responds the large ginger boy.
"That was before the weapons and armor upgrades. You guys are going to knock em dead."
"I don't think, I have much to show people." answers the archer and leader of the team.
"You guys have already done some really cool things, why are you nervous about single combat?"
"That's just it Reese, it's single combat. Me versus one of the people who have trained for years."
"Right, welp, good luck." she responds
"That's it? Good luck, no advice."
"Try not to lose to badly?" Cardin quips, causing the blonde to give his best Weiss impression.
"You will be fine. It is a learning experience." Arslan throws in.
"I've already learned how to make a fool of myself." Jaune's drooping arms drag his shoulders down as he trudges to his seat.
"He'll be fine" Cardin says to the girls "Just a little nervous, once his combat brain overrides his normal one. He'll be working at 120%." the thud of Jaune's head hitting the desk catches their attention. "Probably, should be better than at Beacon."
"Joy" Arslan rolls her eyes before sighing. "I guess 1 is still better than 0."
As the class progresses both Reese and Arslan get their turns, each earning a victory. Arslan returns to her seat as the next fight starts behind her, and upon approaching her team, "How's he doing?" Cardin just smirks in response and points his thumb at his partner.
When she looks over at her fellow blonde, he is staring intently at the ongoing match. His eyes are focused and he barely appears to be blinking, his face firm with focus accented by the small frown of concentration. "Hey Arslan" he says bringing her out of her slight stupor, without looking over.
"Huh...what?" she says wincing at her own harsh tone. The blonde doesn't really notice though and continues his train of thought.
"Have you ever thought of accelerating just your hands with your weapons. Really add that extra punch to your aura infused palm strikes. I don't think you need to do it all the time but it could help with your final blow."
"No, I can honestly say it never occurred to me. It might be difficult given the size, but if I use two it shouldn't be a problem. What made you think of that?"
"Well, being hit with it then watching it in action made me think about landing it so hard it would take time to recover." The lioness nods but the action goes unseen as her leader never takes his eyes away from the current fight, which soon comes to an end.
"Next will Sage Ayana and Cardin Winchester please report to the arena." calls out Ms. Faunt.
Both large boys make their way down to the arena looking the other up and down evaluating what they can see. He looks like the power type, look at the size of that sword. I can't see him swinging that thing around too fast, probably really confident in his stopping power. Should I try to out maneuver him? No, he is probably used to people trying to go around him and I'm no good at it right now. Guess I'm going through.
The boys come face to face in the arena, and this is the first time Cardin gets a good look at his opponent. His hair is sage green, and he has tattoos of wings on his chest and tattoos of old Northern Mistral numerals around his neck. Not much in the way of armor, a gold pauldron on his right shoulder, and a cuff to match on his left wrist. All over a white long coat with asymmetrical sleeves and a green wing design running down the left side.
"What do you think he'll do?" Reese questions
"Most likely he will try to out maneuver Sage and hit him from to side." Arslan answer. "It's what he has been working on with you right?"
"Right, but I don't it's battle ready. He has gotten ok at it but I don't think it's enough to work on someone like Sage, he has experience against people going around him."
"Cardin does too." Interjects their blonde leader. "He'll probably think going through him is going to be easier, because he knows that the maneuvering isn't battle ready. Plus, I don't think he gets to fight pure power types often."
"What does that mean?" Inquires the nymph.
"He's probably gonna have a lot of fun."
Cardin slides his shield off his back, while drawing his mace and giving it a quick spin with a twist of his wrist. The dark green boy across from him draws his massive blade and points it off to the side, a white edge taking form about an inch off the tip of blade. Seeing this the ginger grips his mace with both hands and the cracking glow of his semblance takes shape on the mace.
"Ready!?" Ms. Faunt points to Sage, and gets a nod. "Ready!?" the process repeats with Cardin this time. "Remember, when I say stop that is it. If you here the buzzer that also means stop." both boys tighten their grips. "Begin!"
It happens in an instant, an upward swinging mace and downward swinging blade meet each other, causing a gust of wind that can be felt by the first few rows. The weapons bounce back after contact, only for both boys to go into a spin, and follow with a similar attack, this time colliding horizontally. Cardin is the first to give his mace tilting, causing the massive blade to drag along the haft and pass the mace head.
It looks like the ginger lost the power struggle but he gives ground to let the sword pass. Once the green boy's power and weight cause him to over extend, Cardin preforms a semblance charged quick swing at Sage's exposed side. His mace connects with the pommel of the blade to his surprise, causing the blade to shoot off to the side, carrying its owner along with it.
Landing from his sudden flight, Sage turns around to face the ginger, blade held out to the side again, causing the knight to grimace a little. Shit thought I had him with that one. Didn't even land a hit, and he used my semblance to create some distance. Cardin lets out a long breath, before squaring up with his shield forward this time.
Sage quirks an eyebrow, displaying some curiosity at the change in stance. Suddenly a muffled explosion sounds out and Cardin closes the distance faster than any aura dash should allow. The tan-skinned boy quickly swings his sword at the incoming charge, blade and shield meet, causing him to slide back. Cardin doesn't miss this chance, closes the distance, swings his mace, following the path his shield has forced open from colliding with the large sword, and connects with the swordsman's body.
A series of quick and compact one hand swings follow, turning into a fast combo. He manages to land two more hits before Sage shoulder checks the ginger, creating enough space to spin and bring the massive blade to bare across the knight's body, in a solid diagonal cut. The force of the swing carries the blade into the ground, and Cardin tries to capitalize on in with a backswing from his mace, only for a hard kick to twist his head. Another kick to the chest soon follows, sending the large knight back a few feet.
Looking back up, he is able to see the massive blade coming down on him. Quickly raising the shield, the ginger redirects the blade, creating a high screech that makes the viewers wince. Another kick slams into the shield, and Sage uses it as a spring board once again forcing distance between the two combatants. The powerhouses take a second to glance at their aura.
Sage Ayana: 57%
Cardin Winchester: 51%
Cardin smiles, this is what I need. He's a power fighter through and through, no kiting around just comes at you with overwhelming force. Holding his mace to his shield the two pieces shift together and form his double-sided war axe. Spinning the axe so the blades are parallel to the ground with the top pointed at Sage, the ginger racks the weapon, and a bolt shoots out at a blinding speed.
Sage raises his blade's broad side forward to block the projectile, and the knightly ginger smiles. An explosion rings out and covers the blocking boy in smoke and fire. Taking this chance, the knightly ginger charges forward, as the edge of the axe begins to glow a burning red matching the dust crystal. Doing a hard stop a few feet in front of the cloud, Cardin slams his axe into the ground and three lines of fire rip forward into the cloud of smoke, with an explosion soon following.
As the smoke clears, he realizes the green swordman isn't there. A quick glance left and right tells him everything he needs to know, and he snaps his head up to see a spinning Sage coming down. Time to power through! Spinning on spot one time, the ginger powers up his semblance.
And releasing a mighty cry brings the axe against the descending great sword. This time the collision is so great the wave of air reaches the middle rows, without as much build up as the falling swordman the ginger knight loses the exchange. Cardin comes rolling out of the exchange still holding his weapon.
Driving his axe into the ground, he feels the strain on his shoulders as they stretch from stopping his momentum. Standing up quickly, expecting a follow up attack, the ginger holds his axe across his body. Only the follow up isn't coming, looking up he sees the tan-skinned boy standing heaving for air. He didn't get out of that scot free. Still got a chance, ok guess I can give this a shot. Remember, follow through on the swing, you are going through the target not into them.
Cardin points the axe behind him only slightly angled at the ground, as the dust glows brightly. The semblance powered dust explosion launches him forward, but this time he doesn't aim right at his opponent and is angled to side slightly, swinging his axe for a heavy passing slash. Sage drives his sword into the ground and braces his body against the blade, just in time for Cardin's axe to collide with the broad side.
Without letting go of his weapon the large swordman shoulder checks the knight, after the ginger lands from the attack, creating enough space for both boys to bring their large weapons to bare. One, two, three colliding large swings that either send both boys into a spin or pass by just enough to start another swing. A sound goes off in the background but neither boy seems to be paying it any attention, continuing their exchange of heavy attacks, until both are stopped mid swing, held in place by something.
"That, gentlemen, was the buzzer to stop." Comes the flat voice of Ms. Faunt. Suddenly paying more attention to their surroundings the suspended boys look around to see, their classmate clapping at their fight. They also notice they are tied up in what can only be called glowing strings, looking at the teacher they see her holding out a small staff, topped in a gun cylinder. "This match goes to Mr. Ayana." she states lowering her weapon.
Cardin looks at Sage extending a hand, "Great match man."
Sage smiles and nods, "I had fun, we should do this again sometime. Don't get to fight someone like you often."
"I know right, everyone wants to zip and flip around, very few people want to throw down like that."
"Gentlemen, people go around you to get an advantage. But putting that aside for now, let's talk about your fight." Interjects the faunus teacher. "Mr. Winchester, you need work with your shield, while a shield charge is a great way to cross any battlefield, you should familiarize yourself with the classics such as bash and punch. I see you've started to work on getting to one place quickly, but you need work on your stopping and turning."
"Also, I know you were excited but please remember you don't always have to meet force with force, it is ok to go around. You only recently started working on your mobility, so I hope that is why you decided to meet the falling Mr. Ayana head on."
Chuckling "Sure, let's go with that." the ginger knight responds.
Sighing, "Teenagers" before catching herself, the teacher continues "Please work on your axe skills. You still lack some of the finer handling when it comes to a heavy polearm. And don't be afraid to apply your long-range option in different manners." She finishes nodding towards the boy's shifted weapon.
"Now onto you Mr. Ayana." She turns to the large swordsman. "Your follow up attacks are some of the bests among first years. Despite your heavy weapon you manage to chain effective blows by incorporating your body to create space. But you lack options when it comes to closer forms of combat."
"The proof being, how Mr. Winchester was able to constantly close in a capitalize with smaller compact swings. And while yes you do use some hand to hand in your CQC, that is clearly just to allow you to gain distance to swing your large sword. I recommend looking into some sword styles that include things like half-swording."
"Maybe even make some minor adjustments to your wardrobe and weapon to accommodate the changes brought by expanding your combat style. And as always, be careful when blocking projectiles, your weapon tends to obscure your view, and opponents will take advantage of that. You may both return to your seats."
Returning to his seat Cardin greets the rest of AACC with a small waive. "It was a good match." says the lioness.
"You guys were really going at it. Especially with those semblance powered full swings. People up here could feel every time they made contact." follows the nymph.
"Better than fighting Nora, right?" adds Jaune
"Yea, it was." Answers the ginger with a broad grin.
"Who is Nora?" question Reese
"Jaune's old teammate. Small terror with a big hammer, when you fight her, you expect nothing but power. What you get is a lot of power with almost as much finesse, any hit that was to heavy, she could slip and redirect the force."
"Sounds like a fun fight." Arslan states. They continue to have small chats while watching the other fights, nothing to deep just the occasional comments and critiques, till finally. "The next match will be Neptune Vasilias versus Jaune Arc."
Both boys arrive at the arena and greet each other, "Sup Jaune, you ready for this fight?"
Laughing at himself more than anything the blonde answers, "I guess about as much as I can be." looking at the red jacket wearing, blue haired boy, Jaune finally lays eyes on his weapon. It looks to be a silver riffle of some sort, with a space in the barrel that is lined by teeth on the top and bottom. The teeth and barrel parts that show let off a light blue glow.
"Ready!?" asks the Teacher, restoring Jaune's focus. He quickly flourishes his left wrist causing the buckler to snap into its bow form, while pulling out two compact arrows and expanding them. One is held ready to knock while the other hangs from the same hand.
Ms. Faunt accepts this as confirmation and turns to Neptune, "Ready!?" the blue haired marksman lowers his yellow goggles, and primes his rifle pointing it right at the knightly archer. "Begin!"
Without any pause Neptune pulls the trigger launching an electrified bullet directly at Jaune, who immediately takes off to his right. Knocking the first arrow the blonde looses it, aimed directly at his opponent's head, and soon the loosely held second arrow is knocked and ready. Tracing Jaune's path the sea god shoots the arrow down with a pull up the trigger.
Lowering the gun from his eye line the blue-haired boy is about to brag but another arrow soon follows the first once, this one aiming at the larger target that is his body. Ok that one should get him moving. He seems like the precision type with that gun, probably has to set his feet. That's going to be the best time to strike.
Preparing one more arrows Jaune watches as Neptune quickly roles away from the second arrow, coming out of it into a one knee firing stance. Waiting with bow drawn, the knightly archer fires at the blue boy's feet. Without giving it much thought the marksman shoots the arrow down, causing a small explosion to obscure both combatants' vision.
Not even giving it a second thought both charge towards the smoke, Neptune reaching it first transforms his gun into a guandao. Jaune fires two more arrows into the smoke, the first being a normal one aimed straight. The second one possesses a glowing blue-white head, and is aimed down into the smoke.
A glowing blue blade cuts the smoke open and swipes the charging blonde across the chest, sending a brief current through his body, and making his legs seize up. This causes him fall and slide across the ice formed by his second arrow, till he is right in front of his opponent. Neptune seeing the down blonde quickly spins his weapon converting it to a trident and stabs hoping to take a good bit of aura.
Dammit, move dumb body! Jaune manages to roll out of the path of the stab, and quickly transforms the bow back into its buckler form. The trident stabs into the ice and lets out a charge of electricity that melts the thin sheet, that is holding Neptune in place. He then holds the withdrawn trident at the ready as the blonde archer stands up with his short sword drawn.
Got to get inside the reach of that thing. Maybe I should try the spear. Sending a bit of aura to his legs the blonde charges forward only be met with another swing of the weapon in its guandao mode, making his charge pause. Shit not good, he threw off my attack. I have to- The blue-haired boy follows the momentum of the swing, jumps, spins himself and his weapon, and brings its trident form into a downward angled aura enhanced stab.
This time is hits home, racking the blonde with electricity and sending him rolling head over feet. Neptune lands from the stab, shifting his weapon back to a gun, and a small explosion goes off sending him back up in the air. Jaune manages to use the rolling to stand back up, quickly shifting to his bow and fires a red tipped arrow like the one he managed to plant at Neptune's landing zone. Due to his haste the shot goes wide and causes a mildly distracting explosion just behind were the blue haired boy lands.
Quickly he follows the bad shot with two more arrows, each on striking Neptune in his shoulders. Having finally regained his bearings after the fall, the blue-haired boy rolls out of the way of another arrow, that lets out a small burst of lightening. Electricity races through the puddle of water, jumping towards the sea god.
Suddenly the water around Neptune's feet flows away, clearing the area. Jaune looks at the retreating water in surprise and then up at Neptune's face. Why is he scowling, did he not mean to do that? Or is it something else? Jaune quickly fires an arrow that strikes the blue boy's leg, bringing him down to one knee.
Jaune charges towards the now kneeling Neptune, firing arrows that are shot down by the bluenette. After the first two, he collapses the bow back down to buckler, and starts to use it to intercept the incoming bolts, till one catches his leg and sends him stumbling forward. Focusing he manages load his other leg with aura and springs forward colliding with the now standing Neptune.
After rolling they manage to separate themselves, and Jaune quickly draws his short sword, delivery two quick slashes across the sea gods chest. Neptune quickly shifts his gun into its trident form making is shoot towards the blonde in a stabbing motion. This soon turns into a whirl of motion, Jaune slashing with his short sword and Neptune flourishing his trident with spinning strikes and deflections.
Seeing the blonde knight being put on the back foot during the exchange, the bluenette stabs forward. The knightly archer manages to shift to the side, barely avoiding the electrified stab, only for the red wearing boy to spin on his heels and shift his weapon back to its guandao form. This creates a sweeping aura infused attack that Jaune cannot avoid, taking the hit lightening races through his body, causing the buzzer to go off.
Jaune stares at the ground of arena, Dammit I'm still not there. I need more training, the only good hits I had were the tricks I could pull. Letting out a sigh, it's only been a few weeks. Don't rush you can get stronger you just have to train. "-une"
"Jaune" Neptune speaks getting his attention and extending his hand. "You good man?"
"Yeah, sorry was just in my own head." The blonde answers, taking the hand, and looking up at the aura meters.
Neptune Vasilias: 38%
Jaune Arc: 19%
Both boys make their way to the combat teacher and stand at attention waiting for the breakdown. "Let's start with you Mr. Arc." sates the faunus woman. "Your close combat needs quite a bit of work, those strike weren't nearly as effective as they should've been. You also need work with your aura control."
"You should've been able to load your arrows with aura, not just use it to get around. That being said your clever use of your available options is what kept this match close. Your use of dust arrows, active and used, was a great piece of planning. It is my understanding from the registry that your short sword shifts into a spear?" The teacher begins to inquire.
"Why did you not put this to use? It would've helped you with the reach issue you had every time you tried to close in on Mr. Vasilis." finishing the line of thought the faunus teacher looks the blonde over one time. "Well?"
"Sorry Ms. Faunt, I'm not ready to use the spear in combat. I thought it best to use the things I know a little better." the blonde answers simply
"Mr. Arc, part of combat class is to test out new ideas, strategies, and weapons. Next time I suggest you utilize the spear mode, if only to open up new ways to approach old problems." She rounds out, earning an accepting nod from Jaune.
"Now Mr. Vasilias." shifting her attention to Neptune, her gaze causing the blue-haired boy to freeze. "You did a good job as controlling the distance. You were able to prevent him from truly covering the gap till the very end."
"But putting that aside, you must work on your situational awareness. More than once Mr. Arc was able exploit your lack of awareness by setting traps. You should expand your focus to the entire field considering your primary form of combat it the rifle mode of you weapon."
"Also consider switching up your dust ammunition. It will become predictable to those who see it once, and counter measures can easily be made against lightening dust. Mr. Arc even showed that it is not as effective if you see it coming." Finished Ms. Faunt. Both boys thank the teacher and return to their seats.
"Well, what did you guys think?" asks the blonde with a weak smile.
"Not the worst." says the nymph
"You've gotten better." Cardin affirms
"You suck." came the lioness flatly, causing the blonde to deflate. "But it was better than expected. You used your wit to make up for most of your short comings."
"That's good I guess." Jaune responses a little bit happier. Sitting down they continue to talk about their matches and make comments on the ones happening.
After changing back into the all-black haven uniforms, Jaune and Arslan make their way to the library while Cardin and Reese decide to head back to the dorm. "Do you know what we are looking for?" the male blonde asks.
"Yes, we will be looking at the books on some specific spear and sword style I think will fit you well. Lucky for you both of those usually fall under one style that includes hand to hand." Arslan replies while looking through a directory.
"So can you tell me a bit about them?" asks the male nervously
"The training will be very hard." she answers making her way towards a certain section.
"Yay" comes Jaune's very real enthusiasm, as he follows behind.
"You asked for this." deadpanned the olive-eyed girl, earning an "I know" from her leader. "I know just the one for you." As she reaches the section and plucks a book down glancing it over and throwing it a Jaune.
"Ok, and this involves?"
"A lot of circular and flexible movements that can end in heavy strikes, perfect for someone like you."
"Is this one of the styles you know?" inquires the blonde archer
"Not really, it's just one I know of. I've seen quite a few of them in action, thanks to the tournaments back at home." she answers nonchalantly. "Start reading, I'm going to find some books on training, and we can look over everything when I get back."
No wonder she knows so much, sounds like she's seen hundreds of styles. Thought the knightly archer as he watched her walk away.
"You work fast man." comes a voice from nearby.
"Huh" Jaune looks around and spots the blue-haired marksman of team SSSN dressed in the same uniform as him. "Hey Neptune."
"You have to tell me how you managed to land a library date." taking a seat next to Jaune looking in the direction Arslan left, Neptune continued. "I asked her out and it felt like she was going to take my head off."
"It's not like that." Jaune explained waiving his hand. "She is just helping me out with some research on fighting styles."
Touching his chin, the bluenette let out a sound of fake intrigue, "So that's how you do it? I should try that next time."
"That might not be the -"
Neptune burst out laughing, "Chill man I'm just messing around with you. That was a good fight back in class."
"Naw you had me the whole time."
"Nope dude, you had my number when it came to brains. Only reason I won that is I am a better fighter. I consider myself a bit of an intellectual, and to be outsmarted was new."
"Thanks, I was pretty much doing everything I could out there."
"And now you're in here trying to get better. That's real cool, and I know cool." says the sea-god with a dashing smile.
"Did your teeth just sparkle?"
"Don't think about it too much."
"Ok... I have to do everything I can to get stronger. This is just one of those things."
"Dude I can respect that. Does that include studying?"
"Yea among other things. You say you're an intellectual, you any good at the basic courses?" questions the blonde.
"The best."
"You mind helping me out from time to time. I can help you with history."
"Perfect, here's my scroll number bro, hit me up if you wanna hang some time. I might bring my te-" Both boys' scrolls vibrate indicating a message, and with a quick glance down they stand and take off into the halls. It doesn't take long till they find a crowd of students yelling Lien amounts, with the sound of a body hitting the wall following.
Pushing past the crowd they find Cardin and Sun slamming each other back and forth across the hall. Till with one push Sun throws a punch into the large gingers stomach, followed by an elbow to the chin. Cardin without missing a beat sticks close to the blonde throwing hooks into his body, till Sun snakes his tail around the large boy's leg and pulls it from under him.
He quickly mounts the ginger boy and begins to rain punches on him, "Haha how's that for monkey business, asshole!" Cardin bucks his hips while pulling on one of the monkey faunus's arms, flipping him into the wall. The brawling boys quickly recover, and are ready to charge at each other till their partners push in between the two keeping them from reaching the other.
"What the hell is going on!" yells the human blonde.
"This monkey doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about!" yells the large ginger boy
"I'd rather be a monkey, than some ignorant asshole!" yells the blonde faunus.
"Cardin! What the fuck!" Jaune yells in his face.
"What? This idiot doesn't understand that even though he lost the fight it's still the better match!"
"And I'm telling you, that instead of the one he lost you should pick his win over The Witch. It's way more epic!" responses Sun from the other side.
"Wait, wait, wait, what are you talking about?" ask Neptune
Both boys pause, and look at each other and then their partners, "Headmaster Lionheart." causing Jaune and Neptune to gape a little.
Sighing Neptune releases his partner "You know what my bad, continue." stepping aside and motioning to the other boys across the hall. The monkey faunus springs across the hall without hesitation tackling Cardin and resuming their stupid scuffle.
Jaune and Neptune clear away from the fight and stand next to Reese who is holding up her scroll. "Why did you send me a message about an emergency?" questions the blonde not fighting.
"I thought you would want to see it in person before I post it on the message board." answers the nymph with a bright smile, till she cringes after Sun drives his knee into Cardin's kidney.
"So Neptune still wanna hang out from time to time, he'll probably come along." Jaune motions to Cardin as said ginger headbutts the monkey faunus.
Shrugging Neptune answers "Why not, at least things won't get boring with you guys around."