Hello again! One more backlog chapter till we reach current status. That means even more waiting! I mean I have almost completed the current one so maybe not? Damn I suck at this... Regardless of this story's crappy production, We are now starting the lesson saga. Yup, and of course the first of many world modifications, involving new characters, techniques, and general information. I hope I wrote it well enough, and if not... I hope you enjoy it regardless!


Chapter 6: Lesson in Confidence (Jaune Arc)

In his exhausted mind, Jaune felt the break Xreos allowed as a gift from Monty himself. Now granted, this "break" involved several sets of burpees and curl ups but compared to a 100-lap sprint with no breaks, he was more than happy to sing praise to the 15 paced workout. I knew this would be a challenge but holy shit!

"I know right!? Damn at least it seems easier on paper then ol' Goodwitch right?" A smooth cherry voice interrupted with an equally exhausted breath.

"Eh?"

"Aww. sorry, names Vincent Rhodes… Thought I'd introduce myself Ya know? Leader to leader?" Jaune turned to fully see the newcomer, a fairly built due to their profession, six-foot, nice light tan, chocolate brown haired teen. He wore a small set of sunglasses on his head, but his most prominent feature to Jaune, was the fact he wore a scarf curled tightly around his neck.

"How are you wearing that? I'm drawing in sweat here…"

"Ah? Right, well coming from Vacuo, feels like home with working up a sweat!" Vincent chucked at himself.

"Oh… well I'm Jaune, Jaune Arc, nice to meet you I guess?"

"Pleasures all mine Jauney! Glad to see another sap here at this hellhole!"

"W-what?"

"Don't mind him, he's a bit stunted when it comes to social norms."

"Hey!"

This time, an auburn brown haired fair skinned girl strolled towards the boys wearing the girl standard gym uniform, a simple shirt and shorts combo, yet the girl had somehow modified the clothes with a dye causing them to change colors in the light.

Woah!

"At least I ain't showing off my bod towards every person I met- Ouch!"

"Shut it you moron… Ah right I'm Miracle Rollins. Call me Mira, Nice to meet you." Mira added casually, despite the now large bump growing on Vincent's head.

"Woah… your name's Miracle, that's cool." Jaune commented dumbly, still mesmerized a bit by the girl's outfit.

"Eh? Well Yeah, Mum always said I was her little Miracle after all…" Mira said sheepishly with a small blush.

"You know…" He said while rubbing the bump on his head. "Referring to your mom all the time like that might be why no boy wants to date Ya- Gahh!"

"Go on… Keep going."

Well... I'm just going to go… Jaune intelligently thought, broken out of his stupor as a thwack sounded out, shuffling away before he witnessed a crime scene in the making.


The two teams- without Ruby present to Jaune's observation- Stood together after their workout. Xreos looked and walked in front similar to a drill sergeant. After analyzing the group, he gave a small nod to himself before addressing them. "Alright, after that little workout-"

"Little!"

"I think it's time to actually go with what's wrong with you all." He stated while motioning for Nora and the Electric blue hair from earlier to come forward.

"Valkyrie and Lunberg, you two share a similar problem…" Grabbing a couple of dust vials from a pocket, He then zaps the life out of Nora while simultaneously burning the other.

Normally dangerous and terrifying to see, it was more so as the two seemed to gain energy from the surprised action. One held a wild feral grin while the other merely looked manic.

"Control."

Before the two could do anything, a wave of aura flashed over them and in an instant, what looked to be an unavoidable bout of chaos, unexpectedly became two girls blankly staring, confused where their previous energy went. "I'll have you two keep practicing control over your respective semblances, that way you will be able to think clearly while having a boost in power... Got it?" Xreos continued seemingly missing the earlier tension.

"Yes sir…"

"Whaa... Psh… I'm always in control! Like a sloth moving down the tree to get some pancakes!" Nora lied as fluently as she breathed.

Too bad no one bought it…

"Yeah… sure Valkyrie… But you're in my class, so practice control now." Xreos said, non-negotiable.

For a second Nora just stared at the Violet huntsman, enough to where Jaune thought they might have to drop the course after all, then it was passed by a nod and off Nora went. From there, Xreos continued down the list. He had Mira and Ren do some sword katas to start, something about finding balance first, but he then wanted them to fight each other so they could learn to be more aggressive.

When it came to Jaune, Pyrrha, Vincent and some guy with brown hair, Xreos had other ideas.

"Nikos and Nerman, I want you too to watch, learn more how your teammates fight, that way you can get a better feel into their style. Arc and Rhodes… I want you to spar."

"What!"

"Gees Jauney afraid I might beat Ya in front of your girl?"

"EH!?"

"Whoa we're not like that! We're just good friends!"

"Yeahgoodfriendsandnothingmore…"

"You say something Pyr?"

"Enough!" Xreos shouted, interrupting their bit.

"You ain't here playing Arc the dense!"

"Hey!"

"You're here to learn how to be a true huntsman. So, help me, I will fight you both myself if you don't get into stance now!"

"Yes sir!" the two leaders frighteningly shouted, getting into a fighting stance in speeds Ruby would be impressed.

"There, now, whoever can't keep going is the loser, no until aura is red or tournament crap. Whichever one of you two can't go on loses got it?"

The two gave frantic shakes of acknowledgment.

"Then begin!"

(Optional music is the Instrumental Metal Sonic Mix from sonic forces)

Jaune took a deep breath as he stared at his eccentric opponent. He noticed Vincent's weapon was something he never saw, along with the fact he somehow wore skates.

"Aww see you checking out Som Alto pretty cool huh?" Vincent said with a smirk. The gun in question looked as if it was some sort of high-tech speaker. It was solid while having a grip on the back end along with a pair of noise suppressors built into the side and a medium size one on the front.

"Um... looks good…" Jaune said unsure at what he was looking at. Seriously, anyone will use anything as a gun… The knight thought, making sure to successfully keep his thoughts to himself.

"Now don't look at me like that!" Apparently not successfully. "It pairs well with my semblance!" He gestured towards his shoes. "My real treat are these bad boys." And with that Jaune noticed that the chocolate haired teen wore a pair of steeled skates. What confused Jaune was that he couldn't find any wheels on them.

"What-"

"But enough checking the drip out! Ya heard the boss man lets fight!"

'Woah!"

Barley dodging a quick to the face, Jaune duck and rolled as he tried to figure out what just happened.

"Now come on!"

What's with everyone being fast! The blond thought, kind of pissed off at yet another disadvantage he had. Taking care to back off again as the skater came back with another fast kick, Jaune attempted to counter with a hard slash towards their gut. An attempt that wasn't so successful as it missed entirely due to poor skill and a much faster opponent.

His reward was a fury of kicks to the jugular and back. Stunned, Vincent made sure to take advantage of the blonde by another series of fast paced kicks. Then with a click of his "gun" a random force fired into Jaune causing him to fly far,

Pyrrha grew concerned and worried over her partner's "fight". Despising the horrid fact that all she can do is sit and watch until the beating is over. A glance towards Xreos showed nothing vital, except a weird raw anger. Confusing, but thinking it was something to not worry about, Pyrrha turned her attention back towards her blond leader as the others entered the peanut gallery after their training was over.

As for Jaune, he knew he was stuck on the back burner, as every attempt to dodge or fight back was viciously denied due to their major difference in skill. And I thought Cardin was bad… Goes to show the gap between me and the "true students" huh…

With a desperate last move, Jaune waited for his rival leader to fall back and skate(how?) around, before throwing his shield like his champion of a partner does. Unlike said champion who has not only a good mountain of experience in the action, but also a semblance that makes the METAL shield go where she wants anyway, it was clumsy and amateur at best. Yet unexpected enough by all parties, that when Vincent came to launch another set of kicks, was smacked dead in the jaw with heirloom's home.

It caused him to trip and fall, something Jaune took criminally advantage of as he wildly slashed about the fallen teens body. Before Jaune could get a finishing blow, a sharp sound pierced his ears as he yelled in shock before his remaining aura broke under the vibrations. Dazed, he was helpless when Vincent jumped back up and gave a roundhouse kick.

"Oh… man… nice one Jauney… gonna need a lie down after that."

"Jaune!"

(Music stop)

"Augh..."

"Uh… I think the match is over… guess we did end after zero aura huh…" Vincent said holding back a wince as the Blond's last gamble did more damage than previously thought. Said blond was collapsed on the ground, still dazed as his team helped him on his feet.

"W-what… What was that!?" Jaune slurred.

"That be me semblance, I call it "Jammer". I can boost/jam frequencies of sound, that's what Som Alto is for. It boosts my area of control into a more precise cone. S'how I stunned you mid attack"

W-what?"

"Basically, shouted really loud in Ya brain."

Still confused about what just happen, Jaune just gave the Chocolate haired student a "I understand sort of" nod as Xreos entered the scene, looking unusually angry. Ah oh what did I do now…

"What the fuck did I just witness!?" The violet huntsman yelled out, stopping not only the current conversation, but all conversation as he stalked towards the blond knight.

"I expected low or mediocre skill coming into this course, but never have I ever thought to lower too abysmal!" He huffed. "I literally saw civilians perform better than you Arc. How in the ever-loving Oum did you make it to beacon in the first place!"

"Hey now that's enough." Pyrrha started, anger rising as she couldn't stand to hear their "teacher" insult her leader. "You stated that no matter what skill level you were, you could still take the course."

Xreos turned to give the champion a heated glare. "Yeah, I guess I did… Glad to see someone taking full advantage of a lapse in judgement."

"Well, I'm here ok!"

The sudden shout from the knight stunned the two-causing attention to shift. "I'm not only in beacon but I'm here taking your stupid course you got that!?" Jaune, oblivious to the attention, continued in his monologue. "Honestly after what you did to Ruby, I have half a mind to, I don't know- do something! The point is I know there are better people to train from, hell If I wanted to, I would go to Professor Goodwitch! And she would probably kill me with how hard she is during actual class!" And if she found out about my fake transcripts... "But I-no WE- don't have time to take things slow or normally, with what happened back at those docks and with how my friends always seem to get into those situations, you're our best bet within a time crunch. So how about you do your damn job, and instead of complaining on how far behind I am, which I can do much better than you or anyone for that matter, and teach me so I can make sure none of the people I care for get killed!"

Jaune took some heavy breaths as he finished speaking and waited for the moment when he and his team got kicked out for lashing out on an instructor. After what seemed like an eternity, he was confused at what he heard.

"Very well then"

"I'm sorry what?"

"I said alright," Xreos started as he turned towards Vincent, "Rhodes your semblance affects frequencies, yes? Do you know what your second awakening is? Can you boost your teammates along with yourself?"

"What's a second awakening?" Jaune asked now confused by the sudden switch in tone the violet hunter made.

"More in depth later but it is your semblance's change as a hunter grows in both strength and mindset."

"WHAT!?" The knight yelled as Xreos looked at Vincent expectantly.

"Eh? Well theoretically. But I haven't got the foggiest idea on my second awakening though…"

"Then by next week I want you to not only reach your second awakening, but I also want you to be able to boost your teammates for a match."

"Oi oi, you want Vin to not only have a second awakening, which may take years to decades of time to manage for an experienced hunter to reach, but also be able to boost all of us in a week!?" A man with sleek black hair spoke in terms of the ludicrous order.

"Yes... Like I said, this training will be hell compared to any school regulated programs, and I wouldn't worry about experience, some people, in the most traumatic circumstances, can go through a second awakening in just under a day. And I will personally make sure you go throw yours."

Vincent only gulped at the promise as Xreos turned his attention back towards Jaune. "And as for you mister Arc." Jaune stiffened at the hunter's professionalism, "For the remainder of this program I will personally train you so much. that Miss Nikos seems like a child playing with hyper destructive toys."

"W-what?" Jaune said dumbly as the example confused him.

"And next week I am going to have you face VRMN (Vermillion)."

"WHAT!?" was the collective word everyone present, excluding the guy who gave the plan, as they couldn't believe what was planned.

"Y-you want me to face off against a whole team by myself!? I-I can't do that!"

"Didn't you listen, I said I would be personally training you, and if you refuse, I will personally question why your skill level seems lower than what is normally required to pass the entrance exams in this institution."

That shut any protests from JNPR, who knew of their J's forged transcripts, and what might happen if the headmaster started to question them. For VRMN they questioned the lack of resistance after Xreos spoke but ultimately knew that the situation grew out of their control.

"As for the rest of you, I have your specific regiments planned and tomorrow I shall go over in detail what to expect in this course." He looked over the two teams before him as he studied their expressions, JNPR being somber over their leader's upcoming fight and VRMN's V and R questioning if they could keep up. Knowing that challenges would only keep coming, Xreos gave a small sigh as he dismissed the teams, as a certain reaper met up with hers.


Yup, training... Not much I can say except our noodle has a lot ahead... As for the specifics, like why so harsh a session, wouldn't that kill a man? and what the hell is a second awakening... Well stay tune because those, future, and past questions will be answered later on Cross Fates!