weakness
/ˈwiːknəs/
noun
1. the state or condition of being weak.
"the country's weakness in international dealings"
2. A disadvantage or fault.
"you must recognize your product's strengths and weaknesses"
Oscar almost regretted agreeing to join the others in their sparring session with Qrow, bruised and beaten, he sat back and watched as Qrow continued to push Jaune and Nora back with relative ease.
Ren had been knocked out of the fight not long after Oscar himself, Qrow-master huntsmen that he was-could spot and prod at a weak point easily, quickly taking advantage of Ren's low stamina and Oscar's own lacking strength and coordination in his smaller body again.
Jaune's one saving grace throughout the fight was his aura reserves, able to keep getting back up every time Qrow knocked him down.
On the other hand, Nora seemed to be doing an excellent job of holding her own in the fight, landing a fair number of hits to the more experienced Huntsmen and avoiding many of the ones aimed at her.
This didn't seem to come as a surprise to anyone, Nora's confidence wasn't just for show. She was easily the most skilled member of the group, with her excellent control over both her weapon, aura and semblance, she was a formidable opponent.
Qrow eventually disarmed Jaune, forcing him to yield… leaving Just Nora for him to take out before giving them his opinion on their combat skills and what they would need to improve upon before he deemed them ready to take on Salem's forces.
Though, rather than continue the fight, Qrow called it quits once Jaune has collected his weapon and moved to the side.
"No point continuing, would just be a waste of energy to keep going. I'm impressed." Nora only smirked and raised an eyebrow at the complement before putting away her weapon and taking a seat on the ground with the rest of the group.
"You've all got some impressive skills, far more than most kids with only a year of formal huntsmen training under your belts… but, you all definitely have areas that need to be improved on."
At Qrow's words, the group turned their full attention to him, not willing to miss anything the vetren Huntsmen had to say.
Rather then putting his weapon away, Qrow quickly pointed the sword towards Ren. "You are a skilled fighter, you adapt well and have excellent awareness of your surroundings, but you lack stamina, in a lengthy battle you will end up putting not only yourself- but the rest of your team into danger. We're gonna work on improving that" Ren gave a solemn nod in agreement and Qrow moved on.
"Jaune. Your an absolute powerhouse, your Aura is impressive to say the least, and from what I've seen, your combat is steadily improving from what it was at Beacon… but, you still have a long way to go, you're still creating far to many openings that your opponent can and will exploit." Jaune looked away, guilt and shame finding their way into his features.
Lowering his sword, Qrow took pity on him, "your also a brilliant strategist. That is an impressive and invaluable skill to have in this profession. You'll be able to work on improving your combat during the sparring sessions we're going to be having every day." with that said, he moved on.
"Now. Nora, I really don't have anything specific you need to improve on. Your combat skills are impressive. All I can really offer is to continue sparring with you, so that you can get more practice fighting a stronger opponent that'll actually hold a challenge for you."
Nora preined under the praise Qrow offered her "looking forward to kicking your butt Professor!"
Qrow rolled his eyes. "Don't let that go to your head, you may be skilled… But in battle, there will always be someone stronger than you waiting just around the corner, and an overly inflated ego can get you killed just as quickly as any other weakness."
Her expression turning serious, Nora nodded.
And suddenly, Oscar had Qrow's weapon in his own face, his attention focused on him. "Oscar. From the way you fight it's obvious that you are well trained, what you seem to lack is the coordination and reaction timing that comes from fighting real people. And the strength gained through intense training. So, we're gonna work on getting you up to scratch and onto the same leave as the rest of these guys as quickly as possible."
Oscar nodded, Qrow was half right, but he didn't need to share that bit of information, the intense training Qrow was bound to put him through would allow him to regain his abilities much faster and with the fight he knew was coming, Oscar needed that to happen as quickly as possible.
"Uncle Oz told me that my magic would come with something similar to muscle memory, that as I trained it and myself, everything would come to me pretty quickly- one of the perks of magically inherited abilities! So I'll take all the training you guys can give me."
Oscar had found that lies that were based in truth were the easiest to tell, it wasn't entirely wrong that he would quickly regain not only his own, but Ozpin's muscle memory the more he trained… so spinning the effects of his magic this way was an easy and convenient cover for the rapid growth his powers would go through.
"We'll be sure to not go easy on you then!" Ruby said, chearily offering her own input to the conversation.
Qrow shook his head before turning his attention from Oscar to Ruby herself. "Your not getting out of this without a review either, kid. Your talented and an incredibly competent fighter, but like you said before- once you lose your grip on Crescent Rose you're screwed. So, you are going to focus on hand-to-hand until you can stand on your own in a match without relying on your weapon."
Muttering under her breath about how she already knew all that, Ruby crossed her arms and pouted. Not expecting Qrow to start lecturing her along with the rest of the group, to which they all had a good laugh.
When the laughter died down, Ren raised his hand as if they were in a classroom, Qrow just rolled his eyes, "what's up, Pinky?"
"I was just wondering what you would consider your greatest weakness to be?" Ren asked, not commenting on the nickname given.
The question drew everyone's attention back to Qrow as he finally put his weapon away, "well, aside from my obvious drinking problem and Semblance?" He replied, his tone almost joking, before continuing on a more serious note. "I don't know kid, there are a lot of things I could call weaknesses… but. I've learned to use them and make them work in my favor…"
"Not all weaknesses are bad things… sometimes they can be the things that save your life and protect you. it just comes down to how you look at them." With that said, Qrow bid the group good night.
Oscar continued to think on Qrow's words long after he and the rest of the group had gone inside.
He was right, and had given Oscar an idea for how to deal with his greatest weakness.