Chapter 30: Instinct
Normally Weiss kept strict to her schedule, and if there were going to be variations in it, she would plan something out days in advance.
Yesterday's events made that an exception.
In order to make up for that horrendous loss she had, Weiss decided to train like crazy so something that embarrassing didn't happen again.
Waking up around four, Weiss quietly got ready as she didn't want to disturb her team.
Due to the way her current schedule was set up, the only way she would have time to train today would be if she woke up earlier than normal.
Now she wasn't planning on making this a habit unlike a certain brown-haired degenerate training on the rooftop, but today was an exception as she needed to blow off steam.
The morning sun hadn't even risen and it was deathly quiet as she walked towards the training room.
In a way, this was nice, no one else was up and she'd be able to practice in peace.
That is what she thought, to her surprise when she got to the training rooms, and it looked like someone was already using them.
She had heard Mori training on the rooftop and while Ruby also sometimes liked to do early morning training, last Weiss checked, she was still asleep.
"Who else would possibly be training at this ungodly hour?" Weiss asked herself.
Peeking into the lit room she was greeted by the sight of one Jaune Arc hacking and slashing away at a practice dummy.
Watching him train, she took note of his form and his overall physique.
She could still remember when she first met him.
After all, it was hard to forget what he was like at the beginning of the year.
A scrawny, unkempt, clumsy Blond who couldn't take a hint.
He did not look like he belonged in Beacon.
Now though?
His scrawny build had now been filled out, and Weiss could tell that his once clumsy movements had become sharper.
He kind of looked like a Knight in shining armor.
Honestly, she was impressed, she didn't think anyone could change that much in one year, but he had.
The change was a testament to his hard work.
Weiss couldn't help but feel jealous of his growth rate.
That only motivated her to get better.
Just as she was about to leave him to his own devices and train on her own he noticed her.
"Morning Weiss!" He greeted as he wiped the sweat off his brow, "You're up early."
"Morning Jaune," Weiss curtly responded, "How are you?"
"I'm good," Jaune responded as he put his sword away, "People have started to slow down asking me about dating Pyrrha."
Ah yes, Jaune was dating Pyrrha.
Weiss was initially shocked when she first heard it, but now that she had thought about it, Jaune had stopped hitting on her.
They also did show a lot of affection for each other.
She just didn't think they were actually dating!
She just thought they were just being really close as partners.
She never could imagine someone like Pyrrha ever falling for someone like Jaune but…
"I can't believe that moron announced that to all of Remnant," Weiss muttered as she remembered the bomb Mori dropped two days ago.
"I'll get him back someday I promise," Jaune muttered to himself, "Sorry about Neptune by the way." He said as he turned his attention back to Weiss.
"It's fine, I was mad at first, but I realized, I have more important things to focus on." Weiss coolly replied.
"I still can't believe he was dumb enough to flirt with four girls in front of you."
"Right!?"
"Good riddance, you deserve better."
"I do, don't I?" Weiss responded as she folded her arms in pride.
Now that she was no longer smitten with the blue-haired boy, she could see the flaws her friends pointed out that she refused to believe were there before.
How could she ever have been so blind?
"So why are you up so early?" Jaune asked as Weiss was busy fuming about Neptune's flaws.
"Yesterday was far below my standard," Weiss responded, her thoughts now back on track, "I needed to make up for that."
"Yeah, you lost pretty quickly…which I'm sure it was a bad day!" Jaune stammered at the end as Weiss gave him an evil eye.
"Mmhmm" Weiss affirmed while lowering her evil eye, "What are you doing up this early Jaune?"
"Just my weekly early morning training."
"You wake up this early once a week?
"Yeah… Mori's habits have kind of … rubbed off on me a little bit."
"As long as you don't take it as far as him you won't hear any complaints from me." Weiss snarked.
"You know Pyrrha said something similar to me," Jaune replied as he rubbed his head in embarrassment, "It was when I told her I wanted to do as much training as Mori did."
"You tried to go full Mori?" Weiss asked, amazed by the sheer amount of crazy Jaune had.
Full Mori was a term Nora had come up with, it was basically doing something like a madman with no regard to one's own health.
"I went full Mori," Jaune admitted, "I thought I could follow his training schedule. It went as well as you would think, by the end of the week, I was so spent I got sent to the nurse's room."
"What would compel you to do something that dumb?" Weiss chided, "Rest and recovery is an important process for the human body, the only reason why Mori hasn't died of exhaustion is his freaky constitution, which last time I checked you don't have."
"Hey, you see how hard he works!" Jaune said as he tried to defend himself, "I just thought the only way I could ever reach his level, I would at least need to be able to train as much as he does."
"You still want to reach his level," Weiss scoffed, "You do know how impossible that is right?"
"I do," Jaune admitted as he rubbed his head in embarrassment, "But you know if I aim for someone like him even if I fall short of my goal, I think I'd end up in a pretty good spot regardless." He finished as he smiled at her.
Weiss could only stare in amazement at the blond.
The light in his eyes and the sincereness of his words was something that caused something within Weiss to stir inside of her.
Jaune Arc was someone who didn't know what the word impossible meant.
Someone who was persistent in their goals.
Now, Weiss knew about his persistency, especially because of the length of how long he had pursued her, but now that she had seen his focus pointed elsewhere, she could actually admire it.
How many times had Weiss given up because of a perceived gap?
She never thought she'd ever be as amazing as Winter.
And she subconsciously settled for being second best in her age after Pyrrha, which then shifted third after Mori appeared.
Never once did she think she could ever bridge the gap between those who had IT and those who didn't.
But Jaune didn't care about that.
Weiss initially thought he was ignorant of the gap of strength between him and his mentors.
But from his face, Weiss could tell that he himself knew how far away he was.
And he didn't care.
He had two incredibly bright stars in front of him and instead of turning away and getting discouraged, he bravely walked into those lights trying to reach them.
Weiss could now better understand how Jaune had made a huge jump.
If Weiss was in his place, would she be able to do as he did?
Was this persistence the thing that caused Pyrrha to be drawn to him?
"Uhhh Weiss, are you ok?" Jaune asked as he interrupted Weiss's thoughts, "I didn't say anything too weird right?"
"Oh sorry," She responded as she regained her focus, "You didn't say anything too weird, I actually think that's very admirable," She said as a smile graced her face.
"Ohh thanks," Jaune responded as he blushed from Weiss's compliment, "You know as my Mother always says, 'Aim for the moon, if you miss, you'll among the stars.'"
"Well, if you are going to be aiming for the moon maybe I should join you," Weiss replied as she pulled out Myrtenmeister.
"Uhh, what do you mean by that?"
"I'm offering to be your training partner you buffoon," Weiss said as rolled in her eyes in annoyance, "Unless you want to keep practicing on a dummy?"
"Oh yeah, that'd be great!"
The boy then drew his sword and got into a stance.
Weiss wasn't quite sure why she offered to train with Jaune, if someone told her she did this a year ago she'd laugh at them and tell them to stop wasting her time but…
Something was telling her doing this would be anything but that.
Jaune gingerly walked towards the stadium, he had trained so much this morning his whole body was in pain.
She didn't look like it based on her looks, but Weiss could kick a lot of ass and in their practice session, she kicked his ass a lot.
Jaune winced as he continued to walk, practicing with Weiss was such a different experience than practicing with Pyrrha.
While Pyrrha was kind and gentle in pointing out Jaune's flaws, Weiss was a bit more brutal, smacking him in his weak spots and being harsher in pointing out his mistakes.
"Was that what Ruby has to deal with all the time?" He thought to himself.
If it was, he felt for his fellow team leader.
Still, even though Weiss was harsh with him Jaune could tell she meant well.
The fact that she was the one who invited him to train together surprised him.
At the beginning of the year, she had usually not wanted anything to do with him.
Which admittedly was his fault looking back now, he was a bit too persistent with his pursuit of Weiss.
But despite his body complaining to him about the aftermath of his training session with Weiss, he felt grateful for her pointers.
Especially because he wasn't able to practice with Pyrrha the night before.
Ever since her she came back from talking with Professor Ozpin Pyrrha had been sullen, unresponsive, and deep in thought.
Jaune initially thought she was still embarrassed for having their relationship announced to all of Remnant, but Pyrrha assured him that she was over it.
She even told him that her parents had called, and they wanted to meet him.
Jaune couldn't but feel nervous about that, especially because his family wanted to meet Pyrrha.
Still, Jaune wished Pyrrha would trust him a bit more and tell him what was wrong.
It was why he was frantically training this morning.
If he was able to stand by her, she'd be able to lean on him as he had so much on her.
The more Jaune's battle sense sharpened the more he realized the canyon that separated him from Pyrrha.
Somedays Jaune wondered if he could ever bridge that gap, but with courage in his heart, he kept preserving not letting anything put him down.
It was especially hard now that Jaune was attempting to switch up his fighting style.
He realized the need for that after fighting with Mori a couple of weeks back.
A couple of weeks back.
"Jaune Arc!" Professor Goodwitch announced calling for his turn in the ring.
Jaune immediately stood up and entered the arena awaiting his opponent's name.
"Mori Jin!" She said as his friend smiled and jumped out of the stands.
"Oof rough vomit boy," He heard Yang commentate as Mori landed into the arena.
Jaune let out a massive gulp.
Now there were a couple of reasons why Jaune was so nervous about this match-up.
The first being that Mori was a juggernaut and the default phrase for whenever he was in the arena became "Mori Jin was going to win."
The second reason was a lot more personal.
Even though he wasn't able to fight for half a year the number of W's his friend had amassed was very, very, very high.
If there was one thing Mori took pride in was his Win-Loss record.
A Very high W amount
But there was also one L on that.
That L came from Jaune's first win at Beacon which came against Mori.
That's right Mori's one blemish.
An L to Jaune himself.
Jane didn't actually beat Mori and the only reason he won was due to a technicality of Goodwithc not allowing him to fight and disqualifying Mori in their first match-up.
Everyone knew that L was a sham.
But there was an L on Mori's record.
Now Mori told him that he was over it, but everyone knew that was a lie.
Jaune could tell.
He was still very, very, very salty about that.
…And Jaune was scared to see what the end result of a salty Mori was like.
"Well, Jaune looks likes we are finally getting that match," Mori said with a smile.
Jaune couldn't help but notice that smile wasn't reaching his eyes.
Just as Jaune was going to beg Mori not to be ruthless, Professor Goodwitch suddenly threw a curveball.
"You two will work as a team!" Professor Goodwitch suddenly shouted, "Your opponents will be Octavia and Nebula from Team NDGO!"
Mori and Jaune's eyes widened at the sudden announcement.
They were expecting a one vs one match but instead, it was a tag team match.
"I guess we're partners," Jaune said as they waited for Octavia and Nebula to get into the arena.
He could see them looking nervous as they made their way up.
Jaune couldn't help but sympathize with them because that was how he was feeling earlier.
To be honest Jaune wasn't quite sure why he was even in the arena right now.
This fight was basically just going to be Mori vs the two girls and Jaune was most likely going to just be a bystander.
"Now some extra rules for this fight," Goodwitch announced as the Nebula and Octavia reached the arena, "If either Mr. Jin or Mr. Arc are defeated, that will end the match and result in a loss for them, no such rule will exist for Miss. Violette and Miss. Ember."
Jaune was about to argue about that not being fair but held his tongue back remembering he still had a cheat code on his side.
"Mr. Jin for this fight I will ask that you restrict your usage of your feet," Professor Goodwitch asked as she turned towards the two.
Jaune saw Mori nod without complaint.
Jaune didn't really care about this restriction, having Mori not use his kicks was like taking half the cannons off an Atlesian Warship.
Sure, it lost half of its firepower but… it still was an Atlesian Warship.
"Finally for the last rule of this match, Mr. Jin will not be allowed to fight for the first minute!"
…What?
"Why do I have to wait a minute to fight!?" Mori complained.
"That's just unfair!" Jaune yelled at Professor Goodwitch, "It'll be two vs one and we lose if I'm knocked out!?"
"Mr. Arc and Mr. Jin, this is my class and I make the rules if you don't want to follow them you are more than welcome to leave." She coldly replied.
Her face was so scary and she said that with so much force, that Jaune and Mori immediately backed off and nodded meekly, waiting for further instructions.
"You may think this is unfair and I agree that these terms are unadvantageous to you, however the lesson I wish to impart to class today is what one does when they have an advantage but only for a small time period or what one does when they are at a disadvantage," Professor Goodwitch explained as her face softened up, "Now, please get into your positions and wait for my signal."
Jaune looked over at their opponents who looked a lot more eager to fight now that they had a massive advantage.
"This should be easy!" Nebula excitedly said to her partner, "Just get rid of the blonde and we win!"
"I was worried for a second," Octavia responded with a cold tone, "But thank goodness that we only have to beat the weakling of that duo."
Jaune could feel his pride be attacked but in a way they were right. He was the weaker of the two and his goal here was just to survive so that Mori could enter the fray.
However, one minute shouldn't be too bad, if he survived for long enough behind his shield his aura should last long enough for the time limit to pass by, and having Mori was basically an instant win condition.
If there was one thing Jaune was good at, it was defense and being able to survive.
Ask Ruby, she would complain to him all the time whenever they played Remnant the Board Game and she would whine to him saying turtling in Menagerie was unfair.
Was it OP? Probably but if there was one thing Jaune knew what to do, it was how to survive and he could totally survive one minute.
"Don't worry Mori, I can survive for one minute," Jaune said as he got ready to initiate operation turtle.
Mori didn't respond to him and Jaune looked over to see if he was alright.
He had a displeased look on his face as he walked over to Jaune.
"I wouldn't underestimate Jaune too much," Mori told the other two as he put his hand on Jaune's shoulder, "He's a lot stronger than he looks."
Jaune couldn't help the blush appearing on his face from his friend's comment, it was nice to know that he believed in him.
"In fact."
Jaune whipped his head at his friend, Mori's eyes now glittering and Jaune couldn't help notice that those were the eyes of someone who wanted to make trouble.
"You wouldn't be able to beat Jaune within three minutes nevertheless one, Hey Glynda change my restriction to Three minutes!"
Jaune stared at his friend in disbelief.
What the fuck Mori?
Jaune looked over at Professor Goodwitch hoping that she'd deny him this request like earlier but after berating Mori on calling her by her first name she agreed to make his entry restriction to three minutes.
"Why?!" Jaune asked as he whined to his friend.
"Don't worry Jaune," Mori said as he patted Jaune's back, "I believe in you!"
"That makes one of us," Jaune muttered to himself as he got ready to face Octavia and Nebula.
"Ready!" Professor Goodrich announced as Nebula and Octavia drew their weapons, "Begin!"
Jaune quickly raised his shield up in defense as Nebula fired her crossbow at him.
He could feel the thuds of the bolts on his shield.
However, the Arc's ancestral weapon was well made and it was easily able to hold the brunt of the attack.
"Jaune watch out!" Mori shouted as Jaune looked to his right.
Octavia had taken advantage of Jaune's attention to the crossbow and had gotten close attempting to slip through Jaune's defenses.
He was barely able to react as the dagger whizzed past his face.
Even though she had missed her initial shot that did not deter her as she followed it up by kicking Jaune in the chest.
Jaune stumbled back a few steps and before he could even react, he had to once more block shots from Nebula.
This period of defense allowed Octavia once more to close the distance and get another hit on Jaune.
This combo continued on for a minute before Jaune realized he needed to change things up.
His Aura reserve was massive, but it was down a third, and if he let them continue to do what they want, they would win before Mori was able to do anything.
"Stupid Mori," Jaune thought to himself, "We'd have won already if you just kept it to a minute."
Still, that was in the past, and he needed to do something to change the flow of this battle.
He had two main problems, the first one was Nebula firing off at him in a distance and the second was Octavia striking him with guerrilla tactics.
He needed to do something to take one of them out of the equation.
An idea came to him as he once again blocked Nebula's shots and reacted to Octavia's quick strike.
Instead of running from Octavia he instead kept near her as he tried to fight her in close range.
If he was in close range Nebula would be more hesitant to fire.
He could feel his plan working as he stopped hearing the bolts being shot.
In the corner of his eye, he could see Nebula frustrated waiting for an opening to fire again.
However, another problem came, which was it was really hard to fight Octavia close range.
Wielding her dagger like an assassin, she continued to nick him as his aura continued to slowly drain.
She was moving so fast, and whenever he tried to block with his shield, she'd quickly outmaneuver him.
What could he do?
He looked over at Mori hopeful for advice, but he was folding his arms looking serious.
Just as he was about to give up, he could see Mori mouth something to him.
His lips were forming the words, "You know what do?"
Memories of past training with Mori filled his head as one phrase that he continuously told Jaune echoed through it.
"Don't block dodge!"
When the next attack came to him instead of raising his shield to defend, Jaune sidestepped and struck at Octavia.
This caught the girl by surprise as she quickly avoided the blow.
"Dammit," Jaune cursed to himself, "That was too slow."
The speed difference was apparent as he wasn't able to keep up with Octavia.
Faster, he needed to get faster and quick.
That's when he made his choice.
Letting go of its handle he let his shield clatter across the floor.
Since blocking was no longer an option his shield was only holding him down right now.
Gripping his sword with two hands Jaune was able to react to Nebula firing two shots at him as he charged at Octavia.
The clash was electric as their weapons met each other.
Using his dynamic vision Jaune kept track of Nebula while he was on the offensive striking at Octavia.
The balance of power had shifted and now Jaune was at the advantage. Octavia was getting overwhelmed and if things were kept the way they were he should make it to the time limit.
However, he was facing fellow trained Huntsmen who weren't inflexible and who were taught to react to different situations.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Nebula run towards them ready to join the fight at a closer range.
Jaune needed a new plan on what to do, if Nebula joined in on the close combat fighting the balance would shift again.
He needed to defeat Octavia quickly before Nebula got here.
An idea formed in his head that was inspired by Mori's tactics.
He struck at Octavia with multiple blows making it look like he was desperate to finish her off.
Leaving his back to Nebula he waited for the right moment.
That moment came as he heard Nebula fire three shots.
Hearing that sound, he immediately ducked letting the bolts hit Octavia.
"No!" Nebula screamed.
After hearing three thuds he jumped up and finished the dagger wielder off with a quick slash.
His idea was inspired by him noticing that something that Mori loved to do in his spars was pretending to leave an opening only to punish his opponents for attempting to exploit it.
Jaune at that moment took that strategy for his own.
"Miss Ember's aura has been depleted below Fifteen percent and she has now been eliminated," Professor Goodwitch announced.
With Octavia out of the picture, Jaune turned towards Nebula and charged, his blood pumping throughout his body.
He was able to defeat Octavia but that didn't satisfy him, he wanted more.
Screw waiting for Mori, he could win this fight on his own!
She saw her shift her weapon to a sword as she went to meet him.
Jaune knew that this would be the deciding moment.
Raising his blade Jaune let out a war cry as he was ready to bring it down on the girl.
That moment never came as a blur charged past Jaune's eye which Nebula flying.
"Miss Violette has had her aura knocked to Fifteen percent by Mr. Jin," Professor Goodwitch declared, "The winners of this match are Mr. Arc and Mr. Jin!"
He could hear friends cheer at the announcement.
However, Jaune didn't care that they just won instead he whipped his head towards Mori in frustration.
"You stole my kill!" Jaune accused as he looked to his friend in irritation.
"Three minutes were up!" Mori said as he raised his hands in defense, "I wanted to do something."
"But you stole my kill!" Jaune protested.
"Jaune take a look at your aura, if you took one more hit, we would have lost, and I will be damned if you again become the reason, I get another L on my record."
Looking at the screen he could see his aura levels straddling dangerously close to elimination.
"Ohh…sorry," Jaune apologized as he looked down in embarrassment.
That was bad, he had lost focus of his goal and in the heat of battle almost cost them the match.
"Chin up Jaune, I'm not mad that was awesome!" Mori smiled as he patted Jaune on the shoulder, "I told you that you could do it.
Jaune looked up at his smiling friend and smiled back.
"Thanks for believing in me."
"I always will!" Mori replied happily, "I still need to pay you back for my L though."
Present
Ever since that fight, Jaune felt himself get another boost in confidence.
There was something about the way in which Mori believed in him that gave him such a boost.
Another thing that occurred due to the aftermath of that fight was, he had decided he needed to switch up his fighting style.
He had begun training without his shield, he used it during the Vytal festival but that was because he still wasn't used to fighting without it, Jaune was still in the middle of that transition.
If there was one thing he noticed it was that his friends were a lot more mobile than him.
They were able to jump around not get hit while counterattacking with ease.
If he wanted to get stronger, he needed to get faster, dodging blows instead of tanking them.
Using the strength of both of his arms instead of just one.
His body was paying for it right now though, as he groaned in pain as he made his way to the stadium.
"Jaune?"
Slowly turning towards the source of the voice he could see Mori call over to him.
"Hey, what's up?" Jaune said as he gingerly tried to wave to his friend, "Shouldn't you be in the stadium right now?"
"I don't need to quite yet," Mori responded, "What happened to you?"
"I may have overtrained," Jaune admitted as he winced in pain.
Mori sighed, "You got to take better care of yourself man," he berated.
"I don't want to hear that from you," Jaune snarked back.
"You're right," Mori said hands up in defense, "Let me help you with your pain though," Mori said as he approached Jaune.
"What do you mean by-Woah!"
Appearing in front of him Mori instantly started poking Jaune in different spots of his body.
It was so quick Jaune wasn't able to react.
"What'd you do?" Jaune said bewildered by what just happened.
"I alleviated you of your aches," Mori stated matter of factly.
Jaune was about to retort and ask how poking him was supposed to help but then he realized.
His aches were gone.
"What was that?" Jaune asked bewildered.
"Trade secret," Mori he then smiled while making shush motion.
"Can you teach me that?"
He felt so much better right now, and if he could learn that maybe he'd be able to train a bit more.
Mori put his hand to his chin as he thought about it.
"Hmm," he muttered while deep in thought, "I was initially planning on teaching that to Ren but…this could suit you as well."
"Why not," he said as he made up his mind, "I'll teach you Bongchim Na once the Vytal festival is done."
"Bong-what?"
Blake sat in her seat while Ruby, Yang, and Weiss sat next to her.
"Ruby sit still and stop bouncing around," Weiss chided as they took their seats.
"Oohhh, but this is so exciting," Ruby responded back still bouncing in her seats., "I've been looking forward to this match ever since it had been announced."
Blake could feel the audience around her share Ruby's sentiment as the people around them were talking about the opening match for today.
Normally people wouldn't care because the first match today was just an exhibition match with no real effect on the tournament, but once people saw one of the names, that caused the excitement to reach an all-time high.
The person who fighting that everyone was excited to see?
Professor Ozpin.
The mysterious Headmaster of Beacon and many who believed him to be the strongest defender of humanity.
No one had ever really seen him fight before and the chance to see the fighting style of the strongest Huntsman was irresistible.
When it had been announced there had been a mad dash for tickets.
Thankfully, Team RWBY was able to get seats because they were students at Beacon and participants in the Vytal Festival.
"Who do you thinks going to win?" Ruby excitedly asked as she looked at each of them, "Personally I think—"
"Ruby be quiet," Weiss barked as she shushed Ruby, "Professor Ozpin's is about to say something."
"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Ozpin announced as he got onto the stage, "First of all I would like to thank you for your attendance during this year's Vytal Festival."
"I love this time of the year," Ozpin spoke as he looked around and began to capture the audience's attention with his natural orator abilities.
"First, because there is no greater show of unity than the celebrations that the Vytal Festival represents, for it truly reminds us all, that even though we all come from different backgrounds and cultures we are still one people, living in Remnant, striving for a peaceful world not only for ourselves but our future progeny!"
"Speaking of future," Ozpin continued, "That is the second reason why I love the Vytal Festival, for where else do we get an opportunity to witness the future?"
Small shouts of cheering were beginning to manifest within the crowd.
"Where else does the current generation get assurance that once they are gone that there will be new protectors to take their place?" his voice getting louder to counteract the cheering.
"Where else would we find our future heroes?!"
The small cheering had now erupted into a full eruption.
Blake watched as Professor Ozpin looked around the crowd not saying anything.
"The Vytal Festival allows our youths who have been training since a young age to showcase their efforts, to show everyone their abilities, to show their light so that everyone may know that the future is bright." He said as the cheers died down.
"I believe you'd find a hard time finding anyone who's watched these past few days say that the future generation is lacking talent," Ozpin said as he continued his speech, "However, I wish to truly assuage any doubts about our future and my hope with this match I will be participating today it will not only show the martial prowess of our students, but also that Remnant will truly be in good hands."
"May I introduce the individual who will represent that bright future," He then pointed to the entrance, "Mr. Mori Jin!"
Blake had to cover both of her sets of ears as Ruby and Yang started cheering like crazy as Mori entered the stage.
This was one of the ways the staff was able to pacify Mori not being able to fight in the Vytal Festival.
The first was having him be the announcer, the second was this exhibition match with Ozpin.
"This should be exciting," Blake noted as she watched Mori wave around to greet everyone.
"Who do you think is going to win Blake?" Yang asked after she ran her throat sore.
"It's obviously going to be Professor Ozpin," Weiss interrupted before Blake could answer, "There's a reason why he is Beacon's headmaster and why many consider Ozpin's the strongest Huntsman."
"Mori's going to win," Ruby countered matter-of-factly, "He always does."
"That's terrible reasoning Ruby," Weiss chided, "Past results have no effect on what future outcomes are."
"It's no different than your reasoning Wiess" Ruby argued back.
Blake watched the two bicker while she began to think about who would win this matchup.
If she was a regular outsider, she'd easily say Ozpin, he held the respect of all of Remnant.
However, after spending so much time with Mori she could tell that he had a deeper strength within him.
How deep that strength was Blake wasn't sure, but she was intrigued to see what a Mori who was pushed looked like.
"Guys stop arguing they're going to begin," Yang said with glee as Mori and Ozpin faced each other.
The rules for the fight were about to say the same as combat classes.
The crowd began to murmur as there was no sign of an Aura Meter for Mori.
Comments of what were they doing and was he really the future began to fill the stands.
Being used to Mori's lack of aura and because of Weiss's early denial of Mori's abilities, this part was one of Blake's favorites moments to watch as people reacted to Mori.
Her favorite part though would come after.
The moment when people were proved wrong.
That moment came quickly as Mori used his inhumane movements to strike at Ozpin first.
Blake watched as he aimed at the right side of Ozpin before effortlessly spinning on one foot to hit the left side of his head.
Unlike the students at Beacon Ozpin was able to react in time and block the attack with his cane.
Blake watched as Mori narrowed his eyes before he launched another fast combo.
With different types of kicks and punches, she watched Mori pummel at Ozpin's defenses.
To Ozpin's credit unlike the student body, he had been able to block Mori's attacks and minimize shots to his body.
That equilibrium would soon shift fully in Mori's favor as Ozpin blocked a cross-section shot with his cane the cost of which came at his weapon was sent flying.
Stunned silence filled the atmosphere as it looked like Mori had completely overwhelmed Ozpin.
To Blake's surprise, Ozpin had kept his cool and instead broke out a small smile while chuckling about having to fight with "That" once more.
She then watched Ozpin now disarmed get into a fighting stance.
It was…really abnormal.
It consisted of him arching his back leaning forward while having his hands in front of him, his fingers now shaped like claws.
Blake couldn't help but notice Mori look confused with this stance as well, before hardening his eyes and charging him.
This time, however, instead of attempting to block, Ozpin charged right as well.
Blake watched as Mori attempted to hit different spots of Ozpins body while Ozpin in turn was firing his own attacks back.
The only way Blake was able to tell their attacks were hitting each other was only due to the fact that each time their attacks met a small explosion could be heard.
They were attacking each other so fast their arms and legs had become blurs.
Soon they began to move around the arena continuing to exchange blows.
They were moving so fast it looked like they were teleporting.
"What is this?" Weiss asked in shock.
"I've never seen anything like this," Yang responded her mouth slack-jawed.
Blake nodded in agreement with her partner, she had never seen a hand-to-hand fight of this caliber before.
"What is that fighting style Ozpin is using?" Ruby asked as she tried to follow the two's clash.
None of the other members of Team RWBY could answer as they had no idea.
The strange stance Ozpin had shown was accompanied by a strange style.
It wasn't like anything Blake had ever seen before.
The strikes looked random, instinctual…animalistic in a way.
It was definitely not the type of hand-to-hand style that befitted someone like a headmaster.
She watched as the two continued to trade blows throughout the arena.
It looked like they were having fun with smiles adorning both of their faces as they clashed.
She along with the audience held their breath as they waited for the deciding moment.
That moment soon came as right as Mori's kick was met with Ozpin's punch, the two jumped away from each other trying to gain distance.
Blake could feel the atmosphere start to get heavier as she noticed wind pressure start to form around Mori.
Murmurs of fear began to break throughout the audience as a dragon started to surround Mori.
Mori was about to unleash his Blue Dragon Kick.
On Ozpin's end Blake noticed as his fingers started to gain a red glow, Blake soon realized he was preparing to launch a big attack of his own.
Once the Dragon surrounding Mori had fully materialized he released his attack.
At the same time, Ozpin had finished charging his attack, launching it by making a scratching motion with both his hands at Mori.
What looked like Laser Claws erupted from his fingertips.
The collision of the two unrealistic attacks caused a massive explosion as a bright light blinded Blake's eyes.
"I really need to get sunglasses whenever I watch Mori fight," Blake dryly thought to herself.
When the light subsided, unsurprisingly to Blake, the arena had been destroyed with a dust cloud surrounding the two fighters.
When the dust cloud settled, she could see Ozpin on one knee panting heavily, if one looked at the screen one could see his aura was now below the safe threshold.
Mori on the other hand was standing fine, panting as well, but fine, however…
A giant tear could be seen on his shirt.
"Mr. Jin has been hit!" The now announcing Port declared, "This Match is a tie!"
The crowd erupted at the amazing spectacle they had just witnessed.
As Ruby and Yang joined in the cheering., Blake instead, narrowed her eyes as she watched Mori approach Ozpin.
His face troubled, it looked like he wanted to question Ozpin.
She watched as just when Mori was about to ask him something, Ozpin got up, put a hand on Mori's shoulder, and whispered something in his ear.
That seemed to pacify Mori as his face, while still serious, no longer looked like it was demanding answers.
Ozpin then grabbed Mori's hand and raised it to the sky.
"One of your future protectors!" he announced as the crowd continued their cheering, "We will begin the rest of the One vs. ones in a few short moments!"
She then watched Ozpin leave one side of the stage while Mori left the other.
While Yang, Ruby, and surprisingly Weiss were excitedly talking about what they just witnessed, Blake on the other hand was thinking of something else.
There was something about not only the fight but that exchange at the end of the match that was bugging her.
Even though Blake and her team had never seen Ozpin's hand-to-hand fighting style before, it looked like Mori recognized it.
A nagging thought permeated Blake's head as she continued to think about it.
Was Ozpin somehow connected to Mori's mysterious past?
James's hands tightened as he broke the handle on the chair he was sitting on.
He had just finished watching the exhibition match.
The result fueled his worst fears.
The boy was able to fight on par with Oz!
That monster was able to fight at the same level with someone who Ironwood respected as the strongest person he knew.
If Mori Jin were to actually be an enemy who would be capable of fighting him?
As his thoughts continued to fill with worry about Mori Jin his scroll rang.
It was the captain of one of his ships.
"Yes?" James asked as he took the call.
"General, sorry to disturb you but our sensors are detecting something."
"What is it?" James responded feeling more worried than ever.
"We-we're not sure sir, all we could tell is abnormal wave activity near the south sea has been detected, it…it seems to be moving towards Vale and quickly." The captain responded.
Great, it was an unknown, why did there have to be so many unknowns?
"Take a few ships and check it out captain," James ordered, "If it's a threat eliminate it."
"Yes sir!"
As James put away his scroll, he pinched his nose in frustration and sighed.
Why were there so many things he had to worry about?
Hey guys another chapter and I hoped you enjoyed it. Sorry for the brief break after posting so many chapters quickly, I just needed to take a little break. I hope you enjoyed the chapters and once again I'd love to hear your thoughts!
The Storm master567: I'm glad you like the direction of the story! There will be a couple of things occupying Mori however the Grimm is definitely one of them as for regaining his powers we will see.
Khonkyawza: Yeah they're too used to it lol. As for the Brother Gods, I have a plan for them.
Guest: Mori could there are a couple of things he could do, I do have some plans for Weiss.
TheLost01: You know I've been thinking about it and if an opportunity comes I'll try to integrate it cause I agree his new stuff is awesome!
AtomicGod666: Yup Mori already helping his friends grow is fun.
Nishii25: I'm glad to hear that it makes me feel honored.
WizardWolf1020: I agree, my belief is it'd be kind of a boring crossover if the characters didn't learn new stuff from it.
.fox37: Thank you I'm glad you liked it!
ilanddubrowski: Thank you!
taiwoeretan1: It does especially cause Yang's name translates to little light dragon.
xXWolfsterXx644: I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Andielgranrayo: Yeah Roman's scared shitless of him lol.
Sinner and Redeemer: I'm glad you liked the way I portrayed Mori helping out, it was definitely fun to write it from her perspective.
Pop: Thanks for the concern I try to go at my own pace for this story.
Alaude Hibari: You know I wondered about that but I decided it was safer to go with what was on the wiki.
Luke: I did Mori's kicking ass and taking names and I love it.
UdaySra: Thank you!
David Alejandro Gmez Fernandez: Roman's number one priority is survival.
DaDragon562: Yeah it'll definitely be interesting to see who gets what.
Waterypaper: I'm not too sure tbh, I haven't had any real plans to bring it back lately due to it getting mistaken for the story but I may bring it back in later volumes
SeanHicks4: I hope you have because it's really fun in my personal opinion.
Guest: I'm glad you like the way the characters are developing I'm curious to hear who do you compare Weiss to?
Dragnologia: Thank you, I can't believe it's been this long and I have so many people reading it.
TheJsmooth: Putting your flag down I see, I respect that
Beta'(s)
Eliad91
Patrician Lurker
