"I do not have romantic feelings for Pyrrha!" Weiss shouted. Had Jaune been an oblivious bystander, he would've found her reaction suggesting otherwise. However, since he was the one intentionally trying to get under her skin, all he could do was keep playing along with the farce. Not that he was complaining.

"My mistake, then." Jaune folded his hands behind his back and tilted his head as he looked down at her. He never expected the heiress to be this short in person. "There's no need for you to act so defensive about it. You're going to convince me you really do want to pursue Pyrrha in that manner with how red your cheeks are getting."

"You insufferable..." she growled. She muttered to herself about being stuck with a bunch of loonies at this school, or something along those lines. "I'll have you know I hold Pyrrha in high regard for her accomplishments."

"And you wish to voice your opinion of her because she's done more than plenty to earn such praise?" he guessed.

"Correct."

"You also want to have Pyrrha to believe you are of good character."

"Well, yes..."

"Where you'll then tempt Pyrrha to allow you to ravage her..."

"Yes-" Weiss blinked. "By the gods, you are despicable!"

"Didn't deny that last part, I see..." Jaune did a few tricks with his eyebrows and grinned.

Jaune caught Pyrrha doing her best to maintain some maturity by stifling her audible chuckles. It was actually quite cute. He pressed his finger against his chin as he contemplated her with his tired eyes.

"How peculiar... Why are you so frustrated? There's no need for you to lash out at me like this. I'm simply a man trying to piece together..." His eyes widened. He placed his hand on her shoulder and let out a fake tear. "I see... Weiss, I know how difficult it is for a girl like you to find another with your tastes, but fear not, I'll be here to support you until you can find a partner to relieve that stress of yours."

Weiss swatted his hand away and held back from slapping him. He could tell she wanted to. Her desire for it was even stronger than the desire for Pyrrha's chastity.

"Don't worry; Pyrrha would be more than happy to start off as friends." Jaune forced a toothy grin, winked, and swung his arm with a thumbs up. "I totally believe in you, Snow Angel."

Weiss stormed off and brushed by the onlookers. Some whistled as she huffed and sent one last chilling glare at him.

"I think she likes me," Jaune beamed. "It seems her sexual tastes are a blessing. If I weren't a man, she'd be begging to ask me out the moment she laid her eyes on me."

"Are you suggesting the only way for a woman to escape your charms is to be a lesbian?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's a curse, I swear."

"Well, I know for a fact it's not working on me; a perfectly straight young woman."

Jaune laughed. "Ah, such cruel words. I suppose I'm not on the radar of the Pyrrha Nikos. Such a shame..."

Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder, flashed a smile, winked, and swung her arm.

"I believe in you. Fear not, we can start as friends."

Jaune's heart fluttered.


"Students," Ozpin started. "I see potential in every one of you. You shall endure the hardships and burdens that come with being a huntsman. But before that, you must prove your resolve and demonstrate your skills, intellect, and more."

He gestured towards the flat stones beside him.

"If everyone would take their place, I'll explain initiation." Ozpin began to pace between the ends of the row of students. "Your objective is to locate the ruins deep within the Emerald Forest and secure one of the relics there. You are all free to team up with anyone you come across. Keep in mind that you only need one per group. Gathering all of the relics for yourself will have no benefit for you. Anyone that fails to return with a relic will be dismissed for separate evaluation. Staff members will be on standby, but do not rely on them. Any questions?"

Nobody moved nor made a sound. Jaune then boldly raised his hand.

"How are we getting down there?"

"You will be falling."

Before Jaune could ask him to elaborate on that, he noticed that Pyrrha was no longer on his left, but soaring through the air.

"Oh, fu-"

Jaune's cries echoed as he was sent flying. Nobody had told him it would be necessary to have a landing strategy. The idea of those ridiculous vaults was absurd! And why couldn't he watch the Schnee get launched to her surprise?

All he had to do was relax and improvise. He's handled worse... What's the harm in potentially shattering all of your bones, or knocking yourself unconscious, leaving you as a free meal for the Grimm? What's the harm?

By the gods...

Jaune was just about ready to collide with a tree when he realized he wasn't falling anymore. His sheathe was practically giving him a wedgie of sorts with how it was holding him up in the air. He turned his head to see a familiar face smiling at him. Pyrrha held her hand out which emanated an odd force.

"Staking your claim, eh?"

Pyrrha gasped and lost her grip. Jaune hurdled toward the ground and prepared to epically land... only for his face to meet the dirt before he could even grasp any sort of control.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha called.


Besides the earlier mishap, Jaune and Pyrrha managed to find the ruins easily without any complications. There were a few Grimm, but the pair managed to avoid them thanks to Pyrrha's scouting. A scope on a rifle had its uses. Jaune noted how her weapon had three forms: sword, spear, and rifle. She could use her semblance to retrieve her weapon easily, or send her shield flying and have it return like a boomerang.

Or like she demonstrated earlier, she could bring in an opponent with any armor on. Disarming her enemies would be easy as well. Then again, the Grimm didn't use anything of the sort.

Polarity... He'd need to know all he could if he was going to have a chance against Pyrrha Nikos. She was still a renowned fighter that earned her place among the greatest of the students here at Beacon, even without her semblance.

She had gone on about how she preferred to stick with her skills since she felt as if her semblance was cheating. Pyrrha was an interesting case for him. He didn't know whether or not to commend her or convince her to use it when the day he'd challenge her came. Still, she wasn't relying on her aura the same way most people did.

"So Jaune, what's your semblance, if you don't mind me asking?"

Pyrrha had cut down another branch as she led the way back to the cliffs. Unlike the pair of girls from earlier, Pyrrha didn't fret over leaves or sticks ruining her hair or breaking her nails. She was professional, if that made sense. She wasn't afraid to banter, but focused on the task at hand.

"I know I owe you for earlier, Pure..." Jaune admitted. "But I'm not exactly comfortable talking about my semblance. You'll find out when the time is right."

Pyrrha gave a teasing look. "My, my... Jaune Arc, the man with the gall to speak to Weiss Schnee in such a crude manner, afraid to speak about his semblance. That's quite adorable."

"And look at you, acting all assertive..."

Pyrrha laughed a bit. "Well, I'm not always like this. I suppose it's nice to finally have someone to speak to." She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him. "Whenever someone approaches me, they'd point out who I am as a champion, not a person. I don't recall the last time I had a conversation with someone that wasn't about my feats or anything of the sort. With you, I'm talking about how I actually enjoyed watching you belittle Weiss Schnee."

"And I guarantee I'm not always a moron." Jaune walked up beside her and looked ahead. "It's just that Remnant if full of incompetent fools I'd rather not bother with. Best way to get out of a situation is to be either manipulative or audacious."

It sort of works with arrogant ones as well.

"Weren't you doing both with Weiss earlier?"

"It's an opportunity I don't face everyday." Jaune's eyes widened in realization. "Think of the endless possibilities... I can come up with tons of ways to mock a Schnee and actually say them since we go to the same school." He wrapped his arm around Pyrrha. He grandly presented the sky above them. "We have struck oil, Pyrrha. Picture all of the reactions we'd get out of her."

"As amusing as that sounds, I don't think it'd be smart to constantly anger her." Pyrrha paused. "Do you by any chance, have a grudge against Weiss, if you don't mind me asking?"

Jaune dropped the silly charade.

"I dislike many things, Pyrrha. At the moment, Weiss is potentially an enemy of mine. I have yet to get a complete picture of her personality. All I know is that she's from a prestigious family shrouded in controversy. She has the family semblance, and her personality isn't the most appealing. However, I don't know why Weiss Schnee of all people is attending Beacon when she's the heiress."

"Because of that, you're curious what sort of depth there is to her," Pyrrha realized.

"Right. There's you for example. I thought you were going to be holding your power over the heads of others at first. It was a pleasant surprise to see you were indeed a shy girl trying to grow out of her shell, in the end."

"So I have your approval?"

"Not entirely. This is the second day, after all."

"Well, there's plenty of time for me to earn it, no?"