-️-️-️-️Nora POV️-️-️-️-
*ping*
At the dorm. We need to talk.
"Gotta go, Renny's calling for meeeee! See you fearless leader!"
Renny knew I was wondering about him! He is so sweet!
But why was he not with me! He got dragged away for no reason!
And now he wants to talk? This better not be a ploy to take away my pancake indemnity! I worked so hard for that!
I spin around Magnhild in the air like a juggler. This better be good or some legs are going down!
But it's my Renny. It'll be good.
I enter the JNPR dorm and Renny's there! But it's not just him. Pyr-Pyr is with him too. They are standing in a weird "arc" pattern. Haha! ARC!
This team truly is the best.
"Sit down, Nora."
I sit down on the bed opposite them, keeping one hand on Magnhild. You never know!
Nora is quite literally a walking cliché. Way, way too many nicknames. Can't have zero cause it's Nora, but not every goddamn sentence.
"...*sigh* This isn't gonna be fun. I wish I could keep this a secret, but I have to tell you before you accidentally cause more chaos."
More chaos?! A secret? It better no-
"No, it's not the pancake indemnity. I wouldn't dare touch that. Put the hammer down, Nora."
Wait, I was holding the hammer?! A quick look over reveals that, yep, I was looking like I was about to break someone's legs! But I won't need to. I put it back down, making sure to retain a small grip on it.
A silence passes over us.
"Jaune's not on the team anymore."
…
…
…
Processing…
"Nora?"
"W-w-w-w-w-w-Why?!"
"Let me explain." I see Ren tap Pyrrha on the shoulder. Is she about to-
*VWOOOOM!*
"Pyr!" She looks just as sad as Renny does.
The VWOOOOM doesn't make a lick of sense. I have no idea what it's there for.
"*clears throat* Jaune and Pyrrha had a falling out. She got really, really angry, and so Jaune was moved off the team. He's still in the academy, but he's not here. JNPR is no more."
"B-but…" Why would this happen?! Jaune would never let himself be removed from us!
"It was the best thing for the team. Trust me, I miss him too."
"NO! Jaune-Jaune would NEVER let something like that happen! He would try to patch it up and be friends! He always does!"
"It was unfixable Nora. Jaune tried, believe me. But the situation was just too much."
This doesn't add up. He wouldn't willingly accept that. He loves this team!
He was so happy with us!
My brain trips over itself and I am stuck silent.
"Nora…"
Renny is silent too. Did Jaune really leave us?! WHY?! I have to talk to him! I'm gonna get him to join this team again! This can't happen!
I turn around and run for the door. I engage the l-
It's not moving!
Why is it not moving!
"NORA!"
"Eep!" "PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE!"
"No. You can't do anything about this. He's separated from us now, and that's how it is."
"RENNY NO! This can't be this way! You have to help me get Jaune-Jaune back!"
Ren sighs. He was really hoping not to have to do this…
I hear him whisper something to Pyr. She nods quickly, gives him Magnhild, and heads out of the room. I faintly hear a knock, before another door opens and quickly shuts closed.
"Alright Nora. I'm gonna tell you why Jaune and Pyrrha had a falling out, ok? Promise not to get mad or rush out someplace?"
Renny puts his hand on my back. It's sooooooo soothing. This will all be over soon! Then I can talk to Fearless Leader about him coming back!
"Ok! I won't do anything or break anyone's legs!"
I feel him smile. Everything is gonna be peachy! We'll finish this talk, and then he'll feed me pancakes, and the-
"*clears throat*"
My head snaps over to him.
"Jaune forged his transcripts. Pyrrha decided to tell Ozpin. Instead of expelling him, like she and everyone else thought, Ozpin decided to keep him around, and he separated him from our team. Now he is off on his own, getting special training."
…
…
"Why did she have to take him away?"
"Nora, don't think like that. It was an inevitability that Ozpin would find out about this anyway. There was no way he would keep this team together."
"He's headmaster! There's no way he wouldn't know about that! He put Jaune here for a reason!"
"And he took him out for a reason. Now c'mon, let's go to class. I'll even give you some more of those pancakes."
"Pancakes! YES!"
Why do I like pancakes so much anyway? Whatever, no time for that now, I got some pancake monsters to slay!
God fucking dammit… Any bite the scene could have is instantly fucking evaporated. This is easy to fix too, just don't fucking do that.
-️-️-️-️*-️-️-️- (A/N: it will be here soon. i promise.)
"Jaune Arc!"
Uh oh…
'Why are you late?"
"I had to help Yatsu out with something."
Yatsu nods in confirmation.
"Do not be late again. Now let us start with training. I see you still have your old weapon."
"I haven't gotten around to buying a new one." Technically true, but this does gloss over the fact that he also forgot.
"That is actually a good thing, Mr. Arc. Because you will be called today during sparring class. I need to check your progress so far."
"It's been just 3 days!"
"It has. But you have shown much improvement during these three days, more than I thought was possible. Now let us begin."
The first challenge is the training dummy thing from earlier. Jaune recognizes the situation immediately this time, being the area where he defeated the Death Stalker during initiation.
"You should recognize this one. That familiar feeling should help you out here. This droid will shoot at you, so watch out fo that as well."
Jaune steps inside the arena. The most notable thing about this particular scene, was that unlike during Forever Fall, multiple colors, including the many subtle greys of the buildings, the dark green of the surrounding forests and trees, and the pure, dominating blue sky, are present in the arena.
It's nice when you can afford multiple colors in a scene. No I'm not disgusted at the look of the early part of this anime, what are you ta-
At least I made my dumb 4th wall break stand out a bit this time.
"Begin!"
Jaune looks around, and the first thing he notices is the bridge. He remembers a lot from initiation, and one feeling sticks out more than just about anything…
Shakiness.
He was shaking, most of the other huntsmen and huntresses were shaking, and that bridge… oh, that bridge…
He does the smart thing and cut it down before anything could happen. Two quick slashes of rope is all that is needed and that crossing falls to the ground.
But how to get over to the other side now?
*pew*
Oh shit! It can see him from here?! Jaune moves his sword to block it seemingly with ease. The shot bounces harmlessly off. He looks around for a path and sees the right side has some easily jumpable gaps.
He begins to cross. On the way he sees some dust crystals, mostly fire, with a few others thrown in. Were those there in initiation?
Jaune looks over to Glynda for confirmation. She simply smiles.
As he was looking, another shot rang out. He flips around to block it just in the nick of time. Even Yatsuhashi was tensed up at that one.
After some easy jumps, he is finally on the end with the droid. He sees a downed tree and decides to hide behind it to think about his options. After way longer than is honestly necessary, he peeks out above the log. What is he going to do?
He has a hunch that the guns are on its sides. If he quickly scurries under it, it can't hit him. And then it is as good as dead. He'll even put a fire Dust crystal on just to be safe.
He executes the plan. It goes off without a hitch! But the most important part was the way Jaune finished off the droid, by giving it two slices, one to stun it, and one stab between the eyes to take it down.
Jaune looks pleased. Yatsu does too. Glynda turns off the arena and lets him out.
"Very good planning. I'm surprised you remembered that bridge. It would have collapsed on you had you tried to cross it. Your instincts were also exceptional. But there is one glaring flaw; you took too long. You sat behind that log for several seconds trying to decide what to do. And even though you got it right, a huntsman often does not get that time in a real battle with the Grimm. Adequate, I suppose, Mr. Arc."
The next test is deceivingly simple. All there is is a small machine on the top edge.
Jaune enters and stares at it.
"Take a stance at the back." He does so. Wind activates, pushing him back.
It fires some sort of explosive ball?! This is interesting. He tanks the first hit, pushing him to the back edge. Paint gets all over his armor. Jaune gets what needs to be done.
He slowly pushes toward the machine, deflecting several hits as he goes. The machine aims everywhere, but mostly toward his head and chest areas. Some even angle away from him, not even needing to be touched.
Many hits are taken, and it takes quite a while thanks to the strong winds, but he makes it over and slams his palm on the machine, deactivating it.
"Impressive."
That's all he gets out of Glynda. But a compliment is a compliment. Maybe it is because he looks like a clown got thrown into a tornado.
He waits for his final test. He's learned that it comes in threes by now.
"Yatsuhashi, take out your weapon." He does so.
"The final challenge for today is a small practice spar vs Yatsuhashi. Instead of waiting until your Aura is in the red, you will duel for only one minute. He will not be holding back too much this time."
Luckily both fighters' semblances either don't exist, or are non-factors.
Otherwise even the one minute could be a problem…
They take their respective stances. Glynda puts in the one minute timer.
"Begin!"
Jaune takes the offensive immediately. His moves are much, much improved, but they are still too slow, and Yatsu blocks them easily. He takes the offensive now, pushing Jaune away with his long sword.
Jaune looks for any openings, and even finds a few, but Yatsu simply outranges him, meaning that taking advantage of any of them is impossible. He needs to try something else.
Which is exactly what he does. After parrying a few slashes, Yatsu aims for the head. Jaune takes the time to duck under and go for his legs. He throws his shield at them to make sure that Yatsu stumbles.
Yatsu tries to jump out of the way, but is not fast enough. He's not in danger of falling, but has to keep control of his hefty sword, leaving no real counterattack ability.
Jaune takes advantage and gets up in his face, getting several good slashes in. Yatsu, now out of his comfort zone, is forced to use one hand to push Jaune out of the way. His strength is too much for the blond and he is knocked to the ground.
At this point it is Yatsuhashi's spar now. Jaune defends against his attacks well, but also takes quite a few hits in before the one minute buzzer sounds.
Glynda, unable to hide her impressed expression, reveals to them their Aura levels.
Jaune Arc: 90%
Yatsuhashi Daichi: 92%
That is much closer than Glynda was thinking it was. But what impressed her most out of all of that was Jaune's resourcefulness. Finding a way to cause his enemy to stumble when the usual fighting style doesn't work is a rare trait.
"Very impressive, from both of you. I admire your ability to think outside-the-box, Mr Arc. You managed to get some hits in despite being outranged and outclassed. That is hard to teach. I hope you will do the same in the sparring match. Both of you are dismissed!"
They both leave, Jaune to the cafeteria, and Yatsu to his team's dorm to cook. Jaune is the best he has felt in years! The glow surrounding him is brighter than ever as he walks through the halls…
The second part of this chapter is legitimately decent. This is the first piece where I can look at it and not break out into either laughing or cringing. Granted, I can do so much better now, but I'm gonna give early 2021 me a little credit here.
(A/N: The first half of this is totally gonna be on r/menwritingwomen)
