"The more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in combat."

-Richard Marcinko

Reupload of a chapter because of a mistake pointed out by a reader, sorry.

Chapter Three: Dirty Fighting

Jaune came to a stop at the end of the trail, panting, he started to walk off his soreness in his legs. Walking around after a run would help him cool down, at least that was what Moss would tell them. The other recruits were ambling around, or more aptly, stumbling around from the gruelling run. A little further down there was Sergeant Razz, who looked like he went for a walk in the park. Always at the front, he beat everyone by leagues. Jaune always marvelled at how long the unassuming man could run, he was a machine, and not just at running too. The first time they shot their rifles, Moss saw fit to knock some of them down a peg. Razz scored perfectly for everything. Almost no one could match him, except Lavender, who proved a natural shot, getting the closest to beating Razz, but never quite beating him.

He heard the footsteps before he saw Thistle. Jaune could tell from his marginally less ragged breathing that the lanky teen was becoming less lanky by the day. Thistle limped up to his side, watching the rest of the recruits come in with him. He remembered the first time when the Instructors spoke to them like normal human beings, it felt as if aliens had taken them and replaced them with clones. Turned out the yelling was just for the indoc phase to toughen them up. Jaune shook his head and looked to Thistle.

"Jaune," Thistle huffed, wiping a sheen of sweat away with his hand, "seriously dude, how are you managing to beat most of the people here?"

Jaune shrugged, "Don't know man, maybe Moss is actually improving me."

Thistle was still panting, out of breath, "That's fucking bullshit Jaune -gasp- I'm trying my hardest here and you look like you hadn't broken a sweat!"

He had broken a sweat, he thought. A sheen of perspiration covered his face.

To Jaune's right, Jay talking to a few of his friends. Their relationship hadn't gotten much better in the past weeks; they'd only just learned to tolerate each other, but not that well. Jay was still always asserting himself as the alpha male, while everyone else just followed along. Jay caught his eye and began to saunter confidently towards him.

"Look out Thistle, here comes big boy Jay." snarked Jaune. Thistle laughed, which turned into a coughing fit. Jaune slapped Thistle on the back sharply in an effort to help him, which sort of worked, at least he stopped coughing! Thistle didn't really appreciate it, shooting him an indignant look.

"Hello there Arc!" came a familiar voice, sweeping his hand down and bowing sarcastically. His deep brown eyes flashing with a wolfish look. "It's your Section Senior here, in flesh."

Section Seniors were a member from each section that was chosen randomly and were responsible for their Section. They rotated around regularly, and this day it just so happened that Jay was selected to be Section Senior. The position itself wasn't too much to be proud of, you made sure your section was accounted for and made sure they were okay, but Jaune believed Jay had a boner for authority and went out of his way to leverage his position as Section Senior.

"Hey Jay," Jaune greeted unenthusiastically. "Still beating everyone, as usual."

Jay threw his hands up, "What can I say Arc? I'm the best."

"Maybe," Jaune relented, not really wanting to get into a fight with Jay then. The Instructors would have his ass if he did.

Jaune heard a strangled gasp at the finish line, and then the sound of someone collapsing on the gravel underfoot. Turning around sharply he saw Lavender on her hands and knees, heaving while sweat poured down her face. Her shirt was stained with perspiration, and her face pained from exertion. Jaune rushed over, as he had done the countless other times for her. She was an expert shot, but never excelled in PT.

Jaune kneeled beside Lavender's curled form, he felt the presence of her sister, Vi, next to him, "Lav you alright?"

"I'm- fine," she forced out between breaths. Her eyes shone with determination as she tried to get up from the crunchy gravel. She collapsed back on the ground right after.

Jaune caught her as she fell, "Alright Lav, let's get up." he propped her up and tossed her arm over his back as he helped her to a nearby log. Sitting down, Lavender gulped air.

"You better not be feeling up my sister Arc," quipped Vi, a soft smile on her face, but an edge of danger on her voice.

Blood rushed up to his face, he started to deny it, before seeing Vi's mischievous smirk, "Oh screw off!" he said before throwing a weak punch her way, she dodged readily.

Lavender's face was still crimson. Burying her face in her hands she looked up to him, "I don't need a knight in shining armour, Jaune."

Jaune snorted. Hearing that reminded him of Beacon. It was so long ago, back when he wielded his sword and shield rather than his rifle and bayonet. He still missed Crocea Mors, the familiar weight on his belt had been absent the last five weeks. He found himself wishing for the trusty sword again, but he found shooting a rifle a bit more simple than the intricacies of sword combat.

"Maybe so Lav, but you sure don't do well with running, or anything physical."

Lavender pouted, "I can still outshoot you "

His entire section was gathered around them, trickling in after seeing the gathering. Finch had come in just before Lavender, in a similar state of collapse. He was smart with tech and had used it to great effect with his drones and robots, much to the instructor's chagrin. Despite all his efforts, he could never really recall where Cedric usually ran in the formation. It was a recurring theme, no one but Iris ever knew where Cedric was or what he was doing.

"Uh, hey guys," Jaune said awkwardly, waving his hand at them.

Iris snorted, crossing her arms, "Do you and Lav need to get a room or something? I mean there's a for-"

Iris was cut off by Jaune lunging forward, seeking to tackle Iris to the ground. Iris squawked and panickedly sidestepped his clumsy attack. Iris burst out laughing at his poor attempt at an attack, soon the rest of the section was laughing at him.

"Fuck off!" he yelled out, throwing up his hands in frustration. "Hey, if I actually tried I would have gotten you!"

The Instructors were standing nearby watching the last recruits come in. Rouge glanced over to him, and he saw them exchanging lien, a satisfied grin on his face. Were they betting on something? He realized he had just sworn, and probably the first time since coming to the place. Oh God, they were betting on when I was going to swear. Of course the Instructors were going to bet on him…

Moss watched the last recruit come in before calling out to everyone, "Alright Recruits, your next class will be countering Aura, and general anti Aura tactics." a murmur passed through the crowd of recruits, they'd heard about the Striker Group's controversial tactics when it came to dealing with Aura and were interested, if not eager to find out.

Jaune could smell the stench of the sweat dripping recruits, and see the drenched PT shirts of the recruits, and so could Moss, "God, you guys smell like shit! Go shower and eat your lunch, then you'll have a chance to use that handy Chemical Warfare training you learned last week."

Moss walked away and the recruits began to disperse. Jaune's face blanched at the mention of Chemical Warfare. The gashut had not been a pleasant experience for him at all. He just hoped he wasn't going to have to be the one in the gas.

/ - /

"Alright everyone, welcome to 'How to Disable an Aura User'," said Moss, clapping his hands together.

The recruits were in a dirt clearing, inside the base's training grounds that were used to ensure a unit's readiness or to train recruits. Jaune had been there many times, whether it was combatives, shooting, or fieldwork, Striker Group had a vast area to play with. That meant their platoon also had a lot of different environments to play around in, and this time it was in the Urban Warfare Center. A collection of buildings arrayed in a village, it provided plenty of space for their upcoming training.

Jaune shifted in his combat gear. An olive drab coverall frag suit, it would protect them from shrapnel, low velocity rounds, and most importantly, would stop a certain amount of Grimm attacks. He adjusted his helmet, a high cut version of the Atlas helmet, sans the visor. It left his ears exposed, but that meant room for a headset. Checking his vest again, there still was enough pouches to last him for a while. Reaching down for his rifle, a slick black device fitted with a scope, he let it rest against him.

Moss produced a small cylindrical device, Jaune remembered it from the endless gas attacks from the field exercises last week, "This is a tear gas grenade, as you might know, it irritates the victim to a point where they're either forced to run away. Usually, you should have a gas mask on you, which lets you arrest or subdue the target. Can someone tell me why this is effective?"

Thistle's hand shot up, much to Jay's pointless annoyance, "Yes Recruit Redwood?" said Moss.

"It's because Aura only protects from physical attack, Warrant!"

Moss began to pace in front of them, "Exactly, that's the reason all of you suffered last week in the gashut," sounds of displeasure emanated from the crowd, "and that's why we like using chemical weapons so much. Behold, a Nerve Agent!"

The crowd visibly recoiled at the sight of the red cylinder, marked with a clear biological warning. Jaune finally realized just why exactly PMC's were held in such low regard by everyone. It was their utter lack of regard for honour or fair play. They were willing to do anything to get a job done and weren't restricted by any treaties banning weapons either.

Moss laughed heartily, "Don't worry, this isn't a real one," collective sighs of relief from the recruits.

"But we'll be using them eventually to get you used to them. These will kill just about anything, Aura or not, and are pretty handy with Grimm. We don't usually use these as producing these toys are expensive as fuck, and bullets and bombs typically do just fine. Be careful about using these, as anyone without proper protection will die from it. With that in mind, we don't commonly issue these, instead, we just give everyone tear gas."

"Arc!" Moss yelled out, the crowd parting to reveal the surprised blonde with a frightened look on his face. "Get over here."

Shit.

Jaune complied and jogged hastily to the front besides Moss. The Warrant made him look painfully small, the giant he was, and Jaune wasn't short by any measure. Moss turned behind him and grabbed a black duffle bag, he tossed him it. Staggering back from catching it, he was surprised by the weight of it. Moss motioned for him to open it, which he did. Jaune let out a tiny gasp as he drew forward Crocea Mors. It'd seem like forever since he last held it. Jaune glanced up at Moss, who was turned back to the recruits. Why had he given Crocea Mors back to him?

Moss had a cheshire grin on his face, "Recruit Arc here used to be a Huntsman-in-Training, isn't that right?"

His face exhibited his utter panic, much to his section's entertainment, "Uh, Warrant I w-"

Moss interrupted him, "Well, we're going to test that and have his section try to disable him, to demonstrate even without the right tactics, the gas is very effective. Also, he should have better Aura control than all you guys over here."

Moss turned to him with a shit eating grin. Jaune was sure that he had something out for him now, "Arc, you have thirty seconds to go find somewhere to go before I set your section after you."

Jaune decided that this was his cue, and sprinted down the street. Dashing into the nearest building he saw and bursting through the door, to see a mock living room. Quickly unsheathing Crocea Mors and unfolding his shield, he let his rifle fall behind his back on the sling. He needed to buy as much time as possible, glancing around the room, there was some furniture laid around to simulate real life conditions. Kicking the door closed, he pushed some tables to block the door. Backing up, Jaune swivelled his head towards the other room.

Jaune needed to get to a place where he could ambush them, where his swordsmanship wouldn't matter, just that he had the big pointy metal sword, and they had a lengthy rifle. Sprinting down a corridor, there was a room where he could hole up in. He entered, leaving the door open behind him, he hid beside the entrance. Outside, Thistle was shouting orders, the stomps of their boots loud and audible through the walls. He picked up that there was going to be two teams going in, and at separate breach points.

Jaune waited in anticipation for his section to enter, trying to calm his ragged breathing from running around in his heavy kit. An explosion from outside the house, shaking the frame and dropping chunks of wood on him. Outside were the shouts of his section mates, their yells getting more discernible as they moved closer. Luckily for him, and unluckily for them, none of them were exactly trained in urban warfare yet.

"Move!" he heard Thistle yell out. "Toss a tear gas in there!"

With the clatter of boots next to him, he deduced they were just outside. It was time to act. Jaune stepped out to see Jay pulling the pin on a tear gas grenade. Surprise flashed across his face when Jaune bashed a shield into his face. Not knowing much about sword combat, he opted to use Crocea Mors in the only way he knew how to, stabbing and slashing.

He saw all of them had gas masks on, and their rifles at the ready. But in the tight corridor, they could hardly raise them before Jaune smashed into them. Still, rounds punched into the front plate of his armour, the electric stun rounds hitting ineffectually on his plate.

The stun rounds didn't affect him through his plate carrier, luckily enough for him. Otherwise, he'd have fallen to the ground, paralyzed.

Jabbing his sword into the lead man, there was hardly any room to miss. He cried out and stumbled back, toppling over the rest of the stack. Following up with an elbow, Jaune made sure the attacker stayed on the ground.

Jaune's eyes started to sting from something, Jaune twisted around to see a white gas waft around the narrow hallway. Shit, the grenade had indeed gone off. Tears started to well up in his eyes, the gas finally starting to take effect. He needed to get out of here quickly before the tear gas filled up the hallway. He bolted down the corridor, eager to escape the painful tear gas.

Hearing a small gasp when he accidentally stepped on one of the assault team, he paused for a moment. His boot slammed into the last person in the stack, who he recognized as Lavender. She had been trying to get up and let out a painful wheeze when he stepped onto her.

An idea formed in his head. Drawing his pistol swiftly, he shot each of his section members a couple of times to keep them down. The young teen felt the tears roll down his face, and the snot gushing out of his now. It was time to get out.

Jaune coughed hoarsely and turned around to escape the white gas. The impaired knight was met with the image of Cedric bashing him in the head. He fell forward in an abrupt heap, dazed. Groaning on the ground, the concussion rattled him despite his Aura.

He found himself being carried out triumphantly by his victorious section. Eyes still burning from the tear gas, he was dumped unceremoniously in front of Moss and the rest of the recruits. Propping himself up on his arms, his face felt like it was on fire.

He made out a blurry image of Rouge coming to douse him in water. Letting Rouge pour the refreshingly cool water all over his face, Jaune breathed a sigh of relief. Looking up, Moss had a projection going that had all of their helmet cameras on it. Jaune didn't relish the knowledge that everyone had seen camera footage of his wrecked state. Reaching up, he wiped a glob of snot away.

Moss stifled a laugh, "Well Arc, you did quite well seeing you were outnumbered. Though Recruit Lilo here got the drop on you."

Cedric ripped off his gas mask and grunted, his sweat dripping face the only sign of exertion.

Moss turned back to the other recruits, "As everyone can see here, the tear gas is pretty effective, but can still not work without the proper tactics, as seen here. Arc was able to get the drop on the assault team and take them out. A flashbang would be better here, as the tear gas takes a bit to take effect, which would allow your opponent to disable you, as Arc did. Now, the Instructors and I will show you some better tactics and ways to disable an Aura User."

Jaune raised his hand, face still stinging from the tear gas.

"Yes, Arc?"

"What if we come across an actual Huntsman?"

Moss' face darkened, "You do everything here and hope to shit you live."

/ - /

Striker Group, Jaune learned, wasn't going to train them up to a Huntsman's level, not even close. They were just going to train them enough so that they'd have a chance if they used clever weapons, tactics, and teamwork if they even came across one.

Jaune collapsed on the ground again, snot pouring out of his nose, and his chest heaving. He had been chosen as the main test dummy because of his supposed "better control" with Aura. It really wasn't that hard! He knew how to use it instinctively when he unlocked it, why couldn't everyone else? Feeling the shock of Finch's electrified baton slamming into him, he spasmed across the narrow road.

"Agh! I surrender!" he yelled out, covering his face with his arms.

Someone threw a bucket of cool, freshwater onto his face, "Get up Arc, that's your last time."

Jaune absolutely hated the tear gas, the flashbangs, and the electric fucking batons being thrown at him. Lavender reached out a hand to help him up, an apologetic expression on her face. He gladly took it and hauled himself up, she staggered back from the effort, surprised from the effort it took. His kit all together weighed sixty something pounds.

"Alright," grunted Jaune, "who's next on the chopping block?"

"We're going to have a break, let everyone recover from being gassed all the time," said Moss, his form imposing over the recruits. He pointed to a small collection of tables in the distance. "Go rest over there, then we'll continue on later."

Jaune bent to pick up Crocea Mors from the ground. He hadn't been all too successful in using it as a sword, mainly slashing and stabbing wildly and hoping to hit something. As they walked over to the benches, eager to get away from the tear gas filled training area. Everyone had gotten a chance to be the one gassed and beaten, but Jaune had to be picked on by Moss, making him quite adept at countering the tactics. Or at least last as long as possible.

Plopped himself heavily on a bench, he threw off his helmet and set down his rifle. He'd need to wash all of his kit later to get rid of all the tear gas that'd been absorbed.

Thistle sat down next to him, "So you used to be a Huntsman?"

"Huntsman in Training," he corrected. "I got kicked out a month in."

Thistle laid down his rifle next to him, "Why's that?"

Jaune looked down between his knees, unable to meet his eyes, "I- I forged my transcripts to get it. I would've died without my friends helping me along, hell! I didn't even have my Aura unlocked, I could've gotten people killed if certain things had gone differently. It was completely stupid to th-"

His rambling was cut short by Thistle hitting him hard in the shoulder. Flinching, he jumped up out of his seat a little bit, "Jaune, do you think I care, do you think we care about that now? You've proven yourself enough here."

It was only then Jaune realized that his whole section was standing around him.

"We all have our stories Jaune," said Vi, shrugging. "We won't judge you for what happened then. Maybe if you told us at the start we would have looked at you different-"

"Vi!" complained Lavender, crossing her arms sternly.

"-but you've proved yourself plenty here," continued Vi, "and not like there are people here that have done worse before they joined."

Jaune scratched the back of his head, "I'm not sure if that's supposed to be motivational-"

"I assure you it's not Arc."

"-but thanks anyways." he finished. It was nice to see his section mates still liked him regardless of his story. A pang hit his heart, RWBY and JNPR had not been all accusations, his teammates stood behind him, supporting him. But what did he do at the slightest sign of accusation?

He ran. He'd turned tail and ran away when Weiss started yelling at him.

Jay's face had gone white, the blood draining from his face, "You say you went to Beacon?"

Jaune laughed glumly, "Yeah, and I remember someone named Cardin Winchester. Happen to ring a bell, Jay?"

"C-Cardin?" Jay's eyes went wide. "Shit, the old man really pushed him in there..."

"Well, Cardin was the asshole who got me kicked out," Jaune's eyes rose to meet Jay's. "So I hope that comforts you, Jay."

Jay's face contorted from surprise to anguish, then finally to one of melancholy, "Guess we have more than one thing in common, Jaune."

Raising an eyebrow, Jaune looked to Jay. This was the first time he ever used his first name, "What are you talking about, Jay?"

"Let's just say we both have a history with Beacon, and not a good one," Jay said, letting his arms hang loosely by his sides.

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked curiously.

Jay waved a dismissive hand at him, "Later Jaune, don't feel like it right now."

They didn't have much time left either, because Moss started yelling at everyone that break was over. Jaune stretched his tired muscles and grabbed his rifle. Grinning a little, it was soon going to be time to not be the person getting beat up.

/ - /

"Alright, now that we're finished urban warfare training, we'll move onto force on force exercises," said Moss, standing infront of the gathered recruits.

It was a few days after they learned how to counter Aura Users, after which they started learning urban warfare. An informative experience where they learned all about how to assault buildings, and not die immediately when placed in a city. Crocea Mors was absent from his belt. Jaune supposed it was too much to ask that they would give it to him for the rest of training, but the little time he had it, it was a reassuring presence on him.

"Separate into your sections, Instructors will be looking over each one. They'll give the brief and get you guys set up for this. Let's move!" ordered Moss, clapping his hands together loudly.

Jaune's section formed up in a circle, their battle rattle on and ready to go. Razz stepped into the circle, and looked around at everyone.

"Well, well, well," began Razz. "Isn't it 2 Section, get your shit in gear and follow me."

Razz spun around and strutted towards the urban warfare village, the section following him. Thistle ran up beside Jaune, his rifle dangling in front of him as he adjusted his high cut helmet.

"Yo," said Thistle, "who do you think is going to be section lead this time?"

The gravel crunching beneath his feet, and the acrid smell of Dust in the air. This area had definitely seen recent use, probably by another platoon. Jaune swung his head to Thistle briefly. "I just did, so probably not me. Could be anyone honestly, if they want to give everyone a chance to lead."

"Eh, we'll see."

The Section filtered inside a stout gray building, inside a planning board and Razz, who was laying out a map on a table.

"Alright kids," grumbled Razz, his voice coming out gravelly and pissed off, "you'll be facing off against the 4 Section hotshots," collective boos came from around the gathered section members.

"You'll be assaulting their position, and trying to clear the building of everyone inside, got it?"

Affirmatives from around the room.

"Good, it's Winchester's turn at the bat for leading today, so don't fuck this up. I have twenty lien on you guys, so if you fail I'm going to PT all of you to hell," finished Razz, turning away to go to the corner, before pausing then looking back. "Oh, and whoever wins will skip morning PT tomorrow. Fail and I'll personally make sure you all die that morning, I'll leave you to plan."

Razz retreated to the corner of the room to watch them. Jay stepped forward in his place, a broad smile on his face.

"Well everyone, with those stakes, let's take a look at the schematics here," announced Jay, gesturing to the laid out plans on the table.

A wide street in the middle, it winded and twisted around, corpses of cars littering the street. A big red circle around the target building, it was surrounded by a perimeter wall, and flanked by buildings. They had used this exact village several times before, used to represent what they would see in the wild, defending villages who would hire them.

"I say we have everyone move forward down the street, and hit the building from two sides, here, and here," brainstormed Jay. He pointed to the street just in front, and the street leading to the back entrance. "We'll move hard and fast, and take them out. We'll separate into two teams and move from there."

Jaune looked at the compound image. The target building was flanked by another building, close enough that they could blast a hole and jump across…

"Hey Jay," said Jaune, studying the map laid out before them. "I think we could blast a hole in the neighbouring building and jump across. Also, why don't we have an overwa-"

"It's my plan Arc," interrupted Jay, walking right up to Jaune, their noses nearly touching. "I call the shots and you listen."

Jaune glanced at Razz in the corner, who shrugged helplessly, as if to say, figure it out yourself. Looking back at Jay, he was looking down at him, indigo eyes staring into his blue eyes.

"Fine Jay," relented Jaune. "We'll do it your way."

"Good," said Jay, turning away. "Lilo and Ray with Finch and I. Everyone else with Redwood, he's the team leader, we'll rush them before they can react. Ready to go when they are Sergeant."

There was a weapon rack laden with all sorts of equipment, grabbing a disposable one-shot rocket launcher nonchalantly, he slung it behind him and walked behind Jay. Maybe it would come in useful later. Whether it was what he intended to do with it or not.

Razz spoke into a radio and gave a thumbs up to Jay, who pushed open the door and led the section out into the open. Jay looked at them and spoke, "Redwood, take your team around the back and start moving forward."

Thistle nodded and ran forward towards a stubby concrete wall. The four contractors crouched behind it and peered over at the target building.

"You know Jaune, we all know you're better than me at this, so how about you do this?" said Thistle, looking over at the objective.

Chuckling, he glimpsed a flash on movement in a window, "I mean Thistle-"

"C'mon man," complained Thistle. "I know you want to do this shit."

"Fine," he replied, dashing to the next piece of cover, "follow me."

His part of the section stacked up behind him. Jaune peeked around the corner to see the gray two-storey building, and another building close to the side. Rounds kicked up in the dirt beside him and Jaune ducked back behind the wall. On the other side of the road, Jay dove down to the ground as rounds whizzed by his head. His other team members started laying down fire on the house, cement fragments breaking away.

"Vi, lead us around to the back. Then I'll explain the plan," she nodded and turned back, turning the corner around the wall and dashing to the building. The team covered each other, while they bounded from the wall to the building side. With the target building just next to the one they were taking cover behind, they took care not to be spotted.

"Lav, Vi," he said to them. "Pin down the enemy and make them think we're heading in through the back, Thistle, you're with me."

Lavender and Vi nodded, and turned the corner, rushing towards a burnt out car to use as cover. Jaune moved to the door of the building they were next to and kicked it open, Thistle behind him. The room was empty, so Jaune climbed the stairs, rifle raised just in case.

"So are you going to tell me what you plan to do?" grunted Thistle, following behind him.

Jaune ran to the wall that was right next to their target building. Yeah, this was the one, "We're going to blow a hole in their wall and jump through."

"Didn't Jay say no?" asked Thistle, scanning outside the window.

"Well I don't think they're doing too well Thistle," Jaune gestured outside. Jay and his team weren't faring exceptionally well, pinned down behind their cover. Lavender and Vi weren't managing much better either, curled up behind their piece of cover, asphalt kicking up around them. Pulling out an explosive charge, he slapped it on the wall, rigging it to blast a man sized hole. Or what he hoped would be a man sized hole.

Jaune unslung his rocket launcher and tossed it to Thistle, "Here, take this."

Thistle caught it with a surprised expression on his face, "And what do you want me to do with this?"

"Once I blow the wall, shoot it into their wall. I'm hoping then we can hop through and surprise them," explained Jaune, connecting the explosives to a detonator. "You good?"

Thistle shouldered the launcher, kneeling down at the back of the room, "Yeah, are you sure the explosives aren't just going to knock the whole building down? With us in it?"

Jaune grinned wildly, "They're breaching charges, so they shouldn't."

"Real comforting Jaune," muttered Thistle under his breath.

"Use your Aura," he replied snarkily. "Ready, three, two, one, fire in the hole!"

The wall in front of them exploded outwards, tossing dust into the air. Covering his face with his arm, he slid down his goggles and pulled up his neck scarf, he punched Thistle in the shoulder, "Now!"

The rocket flew into the dust, flying through the dust, creating a small hole in the wall of smoke. A thunderous sound blasted into the air, the explosion ripping into the opposing building. Dust clearing, Jaune made to leap across the gap, diving into the hole they had made. Rolling through into a room full of similarly clad men firing out of windows.

The nearest man turned around in surprise, swinging his rifle to engage the dust covered teen. Jaune swung up his rifle and stitched the first man with a burst to the chest, a round catching him in the throat. Electricity arced around his body, paralyzing from the shock. They were using electricity Dust rounds to prevent any "accidents", due to some recruits being new to Aura, and their control lacking.

Getting up on his knee, he switched targets to the contractor leaping up the stairs, spraying his torso with rounds. Leaping forward to his feet, he tackled a contractor to his left that was too distracted taking shots at his section. Knocking the man to the ground, they scrambled to get on top.

Pushing Aura into his hand, he slammed a palm into the man flipping the man over and tossing him into the wall. Pulling out an electrified knife, Jaune sprung forward and stabbed it in the throat, effectively "killing" him. A Footstep behind him, he turned around to find a barrel shoved in his face.

"Oi, get up you're my hosta- argh!" screamed the woman, collapsing onto him. Jaune caught the woman in his arms, revealing Thistle behind her, gun smoking.

"Nearly forgot about me while you're going commando huh," smirked Thistle, dragging the limp, swearing body of the woman off him. "Stop fucking talking Holly, you guys lost."

"Fuck you Thistle!" yelled the woman. "Dad's all high and mighty hey?"

Thistle snarled and jumped forward, "Oh you fucker!"

Jaune leapt up to his feet, blocking Thistle from assaulting the paralyzed contractor, "Woah! Calm down Thistle, let's get this done then we sort this out!"

Eyes staring into his, anger evident on his face. Thistle shot the woman one last look before turning away quickly and walked towards the stairs. Jaune pulled up his slung rifle, and joined him.

"Ready," he announced, tapping Thistle on his shoulder.

They moved down the stairs wordlessly, stepping over the cursing man on the ground. Reaching the base of the stairs, they split off, each taking a direction. Jaune went right, raising his rifle towards the distracted contractors firing off shots through the windows. He squeezed off bursts into the back of their heads, dropping them onto the ground disabled from the electricity dust.

Through the window, Lavender and Vi poked their heads up to see Jaune waving at them. Bewildered, they approached the door cautiously, entering.

"Holy shit Arc," said Vi. "I didn't think you were going to fucking blast a hole in the wall and leap across! But good shit."

"Well I did, now let's help Thistle," turning back he stepped through the doorframe, only to be met by three rounds to the chest, his training rig declaring him a kill and locking him up. His arms splayed out, slack from the Dust rounds. Vi stepped over him, blasting her rifle, at the opposition. All Jaune could do was watch disabled on the ground.

He was already able to start moving his fingers, the tingling sensation dissipating. The electric Dust rounds barely affected Aura-less people, even less with trained Aura-users. So they usually used a training rig to simulate what it would be like to fight without Aura, to get them not to throw themselves at the enemy carelessly.

The gunfire faded, and Jay stood over him, an angry expression on his face, "Thought I told you to not do that Arc!"

He heard the calls of endex, the training exercise had ended and it was time for a debrief. The training rig automatically disabled and Jaune propped himself up, "Well, seemed to work well enough Jay, we got in and took them out." looking around he realized Cedric was still outside, having been shot before.

Jay looked back at him before exiting, "This isn't over Arc."

Thistle got up in front of him, patting down his vest, "Don't sweat it Jaune, your crazy idea more or less worked, still got me shot though, so that's minus one point for you."

"We were pretty pinned down ourselves," smiled Lavender. "Thanks for the assist."

The rest of the section filed out of the building, the opposition close behind, "Yeah, welcome."

Moss appeared out of nowhere, clapping loudly, "Who was the crazy bastard who thought of jumping across buildings?"

Before he could speak, Thistle spoke up, "It was Arc, Warrant! He thought of it all!"

Razz was at the side of Moss, silent.

"Well then, I'll have to commend you, though I specifically remember something about that not being in the plan?"

Jay shot him a dirty look, before turning back to Moss, "Warrant, Recruit Arc took the initiative and enabled the section to close and destroy the enemy, even though it was not in his orders."

A flash of surprise appeared on Jaune's face, before hiding it behind a mask of indifference. He expected Jay to report him for disobeying his orders, not that it would have much of an effect, seeing that they were all Recruits here to learn.

Moss raised an eyebrow at Jay, taking on a questioning tone, "Very good, Striker Group needs guys who can think on their feet. Good job on that, no morning PT for you guys. It's dinner soon, so go get ready." he finished before turning away to the other Sections.

Thistle leaned towards him, "How'd you think he knew you asked about this?"

"Sergeant Razz probably told him," shrugged Jaune. "What was that about your dad being all high and mighty back there?"

His face twisted into a pained expression, "Fuck, thought I wouldn't have to tell anyone. Guess some people just know."

"So who's your dad."

Thistle looked off in the distance, eye's glazing over, "My dad is a contractor himself, pretty high up too. Never made for much of a home life for me, he was always off doing contracts in the middle of nowhere. Though he always tried to make room for me, he still was away a bunch. He's not a bad dad mind you, just away a lot."

"Then why'd you join?"

"Wanted to adventure around the world, was too old to become a Huntsman, so figured Striker Group would be close enough," Thistle paused, then laughed. "My dad was always someone I looked up to, so I thought I would try and fill those shoes."

"So just how high is he?" asked Jaune, watching everyone else start dispersing.

Thistle bit his lip, "Commander of all Land Forces, Commander Slate Redwood."

Chapter Three, nice.

Also headers, also very nice.

Don't worry, the training arc shouldn't last too much longer, a few chapters at most. I'm mostly setting things up with tactics, characters, and such.

Again, please leave a review, whether it's just saying good job or whatever. I really appreciate them, and if you have criticism, I'll love it. It helps improve my writing.

Thanks, Top Hat out.