"Hey guys, don't forget that we are once again going to ignore safety standards, traditional ethics, and our moral responsibility to keep you from endangering yourselves by letting you go into the wilderness mostly unsupervised." Atin shook his head at the blank looks coming from the latest victims of Oobleck's class. "You're going on a trip to the Forever Falls, make sure you pack your bags, get some sleep, and be ready to fight." The students began to file out, their chatter eager and animated, though whether at escaping Oobleck's class or the field trip Atin was unsure.

LLL

Max leaned back against his chosen wall, exhaling in relief. "Oh, I'm so glad tonight's session is over!" he breathed, looking over at Atin and Jaune. It was eleven at night, their training session having ended a bit early so Jaune could get some sleep in preparation for the field trip.

"Stop talking. I don't have the energy to process words. Or respond. Everything hurts." Atin slumped onto the ground, his muscles trembling from exertion.

Jaune lay where he was, groaning. "So, I can leave now, right? I've still got some...things, to do before I sleep tonight," Jaune said. Though he'd asked permission to leave, he wasn't actually suiting actions to words.

"Jaune. Stop." Atin pushed himself back to his feet, locking his knee's, doing his best to keep his voice steady. "We know what Cardin's doing to you. Don't let him. He has no power over you, so why are you doing his dirty work?"

Jaune was silent, before finally replying with, "I don't know what you're talking about, sir."

"Sure you don't," Max said with a snort. "The last two weeks, you've been acting like his gopher. Not sure if you noticed, Jaune, but this school isn't actually filled to anywhere near its capacity. News travels fast in a small community, kiddo."

"I'm only blind in one eye Jaune, and the other works well enough to see you looking overworked, out of sleep, and so jumpy I'm amazed the energizer bunny isn't following you around. So I'll make this real simple. Stop. Doing. Cardin's. Homework. For crying out loud, we grade the papers. You think we didn't notice when all his work suddenly started getting turned in with your handwriting? Or why the quality of his work got way worse? Although to be charitable, yours is worse, too, so I'm willing to put that down to overwork." Atin stared down at the defeated looking boy, feeling sorry for him.

Jaune sighed, closing his eyes. "I messed up. Really bad. Cardin's got me on a short leash as a result and Pyrrha isn't talking to me…" He opened his eyes and sat up, looking at the TA's. "I'm starting to think I should have never come to this school. I feel like such a failure…"

"And?" Max asked. "You're not a failure, Jaune, you just made a mistake. It's gonna happen. Besides, you're a leader now. You aren't allowed to fail."

"You fail, your friends die. If you get lucky you also die. Otherwise, you have to live knowing you killed them. So get off the floor, square your shoulders and remember something important. Ozpin picked you. Not Ren, not Nora, and not Pyrrha. He picked you over a tournament winning champion. He had a reason for that. You have the potential not to just be a good leader. You can be a great leader if you just get over yourself and stop being afraid. Learn to ask for help when you need it, and learn to lean on your team. I've done the whole 'I'm a man and don't need others help, and I don't need to talk about my emotions or problems' thing. You know what that did to me? It made me an angry, lonely, bitter cynic. For some reason I was lucky to have a friend literally beat some sense into me and tell me to knock it off. Right now, I'm too tired to hit you, but I think Qrow's done a good enough job for me. So you're gonna leave this room, walk back to your team, tell them you fucked up, tell them you're sorry, and then you're gonna ask them real nice to help pull your butt out of the fire. Got it?" Atin took a deep breath, hoping that the rant would get through to Jaune.

"As for that leash you mentioned. You've stuck with this training for a month now, Jaune. You can stick up for yourself by this point," Max chimed in. "You need to draw a line somewhere. Before things result in someone actually getting hurt. Whatever he's got over you, it's only got as much power as you are willing to give it. Think on what we've said, alright? And stay alert on your field trip. That place is crawling with Grimm. Good night, Jaune." Max finally stood up, recovered enough to make the walk back to his shared suite with Atin.

"Last piece of advice for the night. You are gonna screw up. I sure have. But the important thing is this. Your mistakes only have as much power as you give them. Own them, control them, look at them, and learn from them. Making a mistake is only something to be ashamed of if you let others make you feel ashamed. Don't listen to them." Atin swung the door open, gesturing for Max to precede him out.

Jaune stared at the slowly closing door, giving a slight yawn. His scroll beeped, prompting a groan as he opened it to reveal a late night message from Cardin.

LLL

"That was a mistake, Jauney boy," Cardin said with a sneer. His chestplate was now smeared with the sap the students were supposed to collect, courtesy of the jar Jaune had thrown at the bully.

Jaune's only reaction was to glare at Cardin. As Dove and Sky grabbed Jaune's shoulders, he grinned. A month of training with Qrow had taught the young man how to snark when the occasion called for it. "What, are you so scared of me, you need more than just one of you, Cardin?" Jaune asked. Cardin stepped forward, and drove his fist home into Jaune, who simply tensed his stomach and took the blow with a grunt. "Come on Cardin, you can do better than that. Or at least I hope you can, or we might be here till the sun goes down." Jaune fixed a crooked grin to his face, confident that he could take far worse punishment. If he could take a punch from a drunken Huntsman without passing out, he could certainly take a punch from a sober one in training.

Cardin glared at Jaune, grabbing him by his collar. "What, you think you're a big strong man now that you can take a hit?" He cocked his fist back, ready to sink it into Jaune's face.

"Do whatever you want," Jaune said, fixing his own glare onto Cardin. "But you leave my team and my friends alone!"

Cardin began winding up again, but was interrupted by a low growl coming from the bushes, and a massive spiked Ursa emerged from the tree's. It towered over the students, who stared in shock. The Ursa sniffed the air a few times, before staring straight at Cardin and letting out a roar that caused the students very bones to vibrate with the ferocity of it.

"That's a big Ursa!" shouted Russel, who began fleeing with Sky and Dove.

Cardin remained rooted to the spot, frozen with fear. As if Russel's voice had been a trigger, the Ursa slammed it's paws into Cardin, sending him shooting off to the side. The Ursa stared down at Jaune, who had been dropped the ground when the rest of team CDRL abandoned their leader and his latest victim. A quiet sniffling could be heard in the clearing, as the massive Ursa looked at Jaune, and then promptly ignored him, lumbering over towards Cardin and the sap smeared on his armor. Finally snapping out of his fear induced daze, Cardin brought his mace up in an attempt to defend himself, only for the massive beast to swat it aside.

Cardin turned to run, aiming for the nearby treeline, only to have the Ursa take a leap, clearing his head easily. The Ursa turned to face Cardin, swiping down and knocking the student back with its massive claw. Cardin turned his body, trying to crawl away on knees and hand, his other hand now gently held against his ribs, checking for damage. With another roar, the Ursa once again raised a paw, Cardin turning his body once more in fear. Eyes closed, he waited for the hit, only to be surprised when he heard the sound of metal ringing out. He opened his eyes to see Jaune's back, Jaune's shield holding the Ursa's massive paw back.

Lower center of gravity, push off, Jaune thought to himself, adjusting his shield to let the Ursa's paw slide off and to the side, his sword hand swinging at the Ursa, hitting its stomach. With a pained roar, the Grimm took a swipe at Jaune, who blocked, letting himself go with the blow. Jaune stood his ground as the Grimm roared once more. He would win this. He had to, otherwise, Cardin might die with him. He steeled himself for the fight, his fingers tightening on his sword's grip. He ran at the Ursa, being batted away, repeating the motion and reaction twice more. The Ursa raised onto its feet, Jaune swinging his sword upwards. Keep an eye on its paws, just like Qrow taught me when fighting with fists, he thought, raising his shield to catch the Ursa's massive paw swinging down toward him. There was a moment when he thought he felt his arm suddenly grow lighter, his shield raising to stop the Ursa's paw, while his sword cleaved clean through the neck of the beast. He took a few breaths, trying to calm down, the adrenaline slowly ebbing away. Once he could breathe regularly, he put his weapon away, walking back over to Cardin, offering his hand. Once Cardin accepted it, Jaune pulled the other teenager up to his feet. Before letting go, he stared Cardin in the eyes, glaring. "Don't ever mess with my friends again, Cardin. Got it?" Jaune stared hard at Cardin, refusing to be the first to look away.

Cardin simply nodded, giving Jaune's hand a quick shake. "Yeah. Yeah, no problem Jaune," Cardin replied, releasing Jaune's hand.

LLL

"Max, where the hell is Jaune? They should have been back from the trip by now. If he takes any longer, I might actually be worried." Atin was pacing back and forth in the center of the training room.

Max watched Atin pace from the floor, sitting cross legged. "They only just got back last night and it's a weekend. Besides, Qrow isn't even here yet. The kid's still got time," Max replied. "

A few minutes went by and the door opened to reveal Jaune followed by Pyrrha, much to Atin's surprise. "Jaune, just because you bring someone else here doesn't mean you can get out of it. And why did you bring Pyrrha of all people? Pretty sure she doesn't need extra credit. In any class."

"Um, well...I thought Pyrrha could help me with my sword and shield technique when we get to the combat portion of the training sessions," Jaune replied, rubbing the back of his head. "That...is okay, right?"

"I mean, we don't have a problem with it, and I assume she doesn't. But you're the one that gets to explain why she's here to Qrow. " Atin sat down on the floor, tired of standing after his bout of worried pacing.

Jaune's only answer was to whimper a bit, while Pyrrha simply looked confused by that short exchange.