Here we go with next chapter. JJD made this readable.
CH 11
"So… are you really going to eat all of that?" Asked Yang, looking warily at the mountain of food that her fellow blonde brought over.
Jaune looked up at her, then down at his tray, and back at her.
"Well.. yeah. I'm a big boy, and I need my nurishment."
"If you say so…"
Jaune smiled and focused on his breakfast. When he was almost done, Ruby called up to him.
"So.. how did your special assignment go?"
He looked up at his fellow team leader, swallowing the last bit of his breakfast.
"Yeah, I heard you came back pretty late. Some people were getting worried about you…" Yang cut in, smirking at him.
Next to him, Pyrrha suddenly become very interested in her empty tray.
"I'd say I came back quite early, rather than late. It was only an hour or so until dawn when we got back to Beacon. As for the assignment - it went very well, I'd say. We took down our prey, and I learned a few things."
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say." Yang shook her head. Then her eyes narrowed.
"You aren't going to try and use your sleepless night as excuse to not show up on our date?"
It took Jaune a few seconds to realize what she was talking about.
"If you mean the joint training session we agreed on, then no, I'm not going to miss it."
"Good to hear. I kinda want to see what you are made of." Yang's gaze shifted to Pyrrha. "And get a crack at miss Champion over there. What do you say, P-money. Wanna go a few rounds?"
Pyrrha smirked and nodded.
"With pleasure."
"Anyway, where is Weiss? Haven't seen her today?" Asked Jaune looking over cafeteria.
"She said she had some 'family business' to attend to, and went to Vale as soon as she woke up." Answered Blake form over her book.
"Family business? Is it something serious?" Asked Pyrrha.
"I don't know. She received a call yesterday evening. Apparently her father wanted to talk with her. She didn't look too nervous though, so I don't think it's anything bad."
Jacques decided to call? Why do I have the feeling it's not to ask how his daughter is doing… Jaune thought with scowl. Yang noticed it and raised an eyebrow.
"What's wrong Ladykiller? Sad your Ice Princess is not here?"
"No. Just feel sorry for her that she has to deal with her father first thing Saturday morning."
"Why? Do they not get along?" Asked Ruby.
"Yeah, kind of. Mostly because her old man is an asshole, and that is putting it lightly."
"Wow. You really don't like him, huh? Is there some story behind that?" Yang asked, shaking her head.
"Yeah, kinda. But since it involves Weiss' family, it's not really my tale to tell."
"Really? Well that's a shame." Said Yang, letting the subject go. Instead, she looked over to the two empty seats next to Jaune - where Nora and Ren usually sat.
"So, if we're talking about missing people. Where did our love birds go?"
"Nora wanted to go to Vale to buy a few things. Ren tagged along."
Yang snorted.
"I guess he didn't have too much say in the matter?"
"No, he didn't."
They finished their breakfasts and left cafeteria chatting on the way. This was interrupted when Jaune's scroll started ringing. He opened it up and smiled when he saw who was calling.
"Sorry guys, have to take this." He said accepting call.
"Hey, Mei… Nah, it was fine…. Yes… Yes, of course… Mei, please… Ok. sure… Really?! That's great…. Next Saturday? Sure I'll be there…. I love you too… Bye." He ended the call and pocketed his scroll.
An arm wrapped around his shoulders. He looked to the side at a grinning Yang.
"Well, well, well. Care to tell us who this Mei is? And why you set a date with her, instead of any of the four beautiful Huntresses right next to you?"
Jaune shot her a deadpan glare.
"She is my grandmother. Called to say that my parents and sisters are going to visit her next weekend."
Yang tsked and let him go.
"You are no fun. No fun at all."
Jaune just shrugged.
"Sure, whatever you say. Anyway, I'm going to Vale, need to buy few things. Wanna tag along?"
Yang raised eyebrow.
"Haven't you been out earlier this week?"
"Yeah, but it was interrupted. Had to run from Pyrrha's crazy fans."
Yang laughed at that.
"Oh, I heard about that. Or rather saw." She turn and nudged the red haired champion in the arm.
"You know, P-money, they call me troublemaker, but I never caused a riot just by going out in the city." she said, shaking her head.
"I wouldn't call it a riot… there were just a few people, running around Vale, trying to find us. Nothing big." Jaune said shrugging.
Blake looked up from over her book.
"Jaune… It was all over evening news. There were like, three hundred people there…"
"Pfft, yeah right. News channels always blow things out of proportion. Someone will see a lone Beowolf, and they call it an invasion and end of the known civilization."
"We kinda saw footage…. There really were a lot of people there..." Ruby interjected.
Jaune opened his mouth to respond, paused for a moment, then just shrugged.
"Well, whatever. Not that any of it matters."
They paused when they reached the intersection of corridors.
"So I'll ask again. Any of you want to go with me to Vale?"
Yang looked like she might agree, but then just shook her head.
"Well, I would love to, but I think we will hit library first." She wrapped an arm around her sister's shoulders. "We still have some homework to do, better to have it done as fast as possible before Weiss starts nagging."
Ruby whimpered, but didn't protest when her sister started to drag her away.
"What about you two?" Jaune asked, turning towards the last two girls.
"I think I'll join Ruby and Yang. It's better if I don't show up in Value for a few days."
Jaune just nodded. As much as he hated to admit it - his partner was right. Her showing up in Vale now was bound to cause uproar. There was even a few instances of people trying to sneak their way into Beacon.
"I think I'll just use this chance to read in peace. Our room is usually too noisy for that." Said Blake when Jaune turned to her. He smiled and shook his head.
"Well, be glad you are not on the same team as Nora. She brings 'energetic' to whole new level."
The black haired girl smirked.
"I know. And I'm happy I don't have to share a room with her."
Jaune smiled and started walking towards Beacon's airport. He briefly considered postponing his 'supply run' and joining Pyrrha in library, but decided against it. It was almost time for him to make a new batch of Elixirs, and he would like to start experimenting soon too.
Ok Vale, here I come. Let's hope nothing too crazy happens this time.
Jaune was walking down familiar street, a decently sized bag in his hand.
I have most of things I need. Only thing left is to grab some herbs.
He paused when he noticed one particular shop. He always passed by this one, since it didn't sell anything he would need. Or that was what he thought. After his last training session with his team, he realized how different fighting people who have both Aura and training is than fighting Grimm or bandits. So maybe an addition to his arsenal would be welcome.
Might as well take a look. Maybe I'll find something for myself.
With a shrug he entered the weapon shop. There were tons of different tools of destruction hanging from the walls - form simple knives and swords to complicated mecha-shifting weapons.
Now, what would I need? Probably something small, with a big mag so I can just keep shooting and keep whoever I'm fighting distracted when I close the distance.
He passed several stalls with larger guns, some of them kind of reminding him of Milo in its gun form
I believe this is called a hunting rifle?
He thought, picking one up. He looked it over, then put it back.
No point in wasting time looking over something I won't use anyway.
He walked further into shop, and finally found what he was looking for - the handguns section. There were quite a few there to choose from. Jaune looked them over, picked a few that caught his eye to take closer look, but put them all away.
This is pointless. I know nothing about guns, wouldn't be able to tell a good one from a bad one even if my life depended on it.
He briefly considered asking the clerk for advice, but discarded the idea. There was good chance he would try to sell him anything, just to earn some cash. Of course he might turn out to be professional, and give him good advice, but Jaune preferred to not take any chances. Afterall, it was not like he didn't have anyone he could ask for help.
Well, no one said I have to pick a gun. Maybe something like throwing knifes would be a good idea?
He shook his head. Later he would ask for help from someone who knew more about firearms than himself. Which shouldn't be hard. Not only was his own knowledge basic at best, he was now surrounded by people who used them on a daily basis.
He left the store and headed to the last shop he intended to visit. As soon as he passed the door, the familiar scent of herbs hit his nose. Jaune took a deep breath, smiling. Something about this smell made him relax.
He wandered around the shop for a few moments, before pausing, when he caught sight of familiar faces.
What are they doing here?
He thought, making his way towards the two people at counter.
"Hi guys. Fancy meeting you here."
Ren and Nora turned around, both smiling when they saw him.
"Hello Jaune." The black haired boy nodded to him.
Blond boy looked at many different packs lying on counter.
"That's all yours?" he asked taking closer look.
"Yes." Ren answered with a nod. "I used to dabble in herbalism myself, and after hearing you talk about your Elixirs I thought I might try to return to it."
"Oh, really?" Jaune considered his teammate for a moment. "You know, I'm going to make some bases for my Elixirs, and I was thinking about starting to experiment with new ones. Want to help me out?"
Ren looked uncertain.
"I'm not sure if that is a good idea. The most complicated things I ever made were some simple medicines, or herbal teas. Nothing nearly as complicated as your Elixirs."
Jaune just shook his head.
"It's fine. I started with medicines too, and Elixirs are not that different. It's just matter of the right mix of herbs and dust. Worst case scenario you could give me a second opinion."
After a moment of consideration, Ren nodded.
"If you say so. I must say I'm quite intrigued to learn how you make them."
Jaune smiled and nodded.
"Ok, give me a moment to grab what I need." He paused for a moment and looked around. It was rather small shop, with them being only customers.
Jaune could feel his growing anxiety.
"Ren…" The black haired boy finished packing what he bought and looked at him. "Where is Nora? She was there just a moment before and…"
Ren was already gone, door slamming shut behind him.
Jaune considered his options for a moment. Then quickly grabbed what he needed, paid and followed his teammate.
He had a feeling that leaving Nora unsupervised was not a good idea.
They found her only ten or so minutes later, in nearby park. She was surrounded by several very excited children. Nora didn't seem to mind - quite the opposite. She was playing with them with big smile on her face.
Ren and Jaune, content to know no disaster would happen, sat at a nearby bench and relaxed.
"She seems to enjoy it." The blond Hunter said after few moments of silence.
His companion nodded, a found smile on his face.
"Nora was always good with children. Even way back when we were still living in sister's Martha orphanage, she was always taking care of younger kids."
Jaune just hummed.
"We should probably get moving soon." Ren said after around ten minutes. "Our spar with team RWBY will be starting soon, and Nora will not forgive us if we're late for that."
Jaune laughed.
"Oh I can imagine."
Prying Nora off the children proven to be far more difficult task than Jaune expected. Not least because she herself didn't want to go. But the prospect of free violence convinced her to come back to Beacon.
Pyrrha wasn't sure what to make out of what she was seeing. Her teammates returned from Vale just a few minutes ago and were now unpacking the supplies they brought.
Ren bough ammo, some Dust, and what looked to be packed herbs. The first two were normal things for Hunter's to buy. Herbs were unexpected, but judging by his and Jaune's talk, her teammate had some experience with herbalism. And apparently they planned to work on Jaune's Elixirs together.
She briefly considered offering her assistance too, but discarded the idea. The closest she ever had come to working with herbal products were one or two commercials she took part in. Pyrrha somehow doubts this was enough to help with making something as complicated as Jaune's Elixirs.
Speaking of which - her partners shopping list included far more items than Ren's - and it was that what made Pyrrha confused - and curious.
Dust and herbs were expected. The hammer and bag of nails less so, but she supposed they could come handy if something needs fixing.
What was unexpected was a sewing kit, and roll of blue material. That was not something a Hunter would usually buy.
She briefly considered asking him - but Nora beat her to it.
"Oh, what is this for? Are you going to sew something? What's it gonna be?" She asked, leaning over his shoulder.
Jaune, who was currently scribbling something in his notepad, paused and looked up at his ginger teammate.
"Yeah, a dress."
There were a few moments of stunned silence. Then Nora grinned.
"Ooooooooh! For whom? Your girlfriend?"
Pyrrha did not tense up at the question.
"Nah." Jaune laughed. "It's for my sister. I couldn't make it home for her birthday, and I promised that if I missed it, she can ask for whatever she wants an apology. She wanted a dress, so she will get a dress."
Pyrrha relaxed, and found a smile on her lips. They had known each other for only about a week, but it was clear to everyone in team JNPR that they leader had soft spot for his family.
"So you gonna learn how to sew, just because your sister asked for a dress? That is very nice of you Jaune." She praised.
Her partner laughed again.
"Nah, I actually know how to sew. Made my fair share of dresses too - everyone of my sisters, and even my mother has at least one made by me."
There was another stunned silence. Then Pyrrha made a decision.
Yang can NEVER learn about this.
Jaune continued to scribble something in his notepad, and rest of them went about their own business. About thirty minutes later, Ren called out to them.
"I think it's time for us to get going. We don't want to keep team RWBY waiting, do we?"
They all nodded and left the room.
"Go Yang! You can do it." Ruby cheered.
Yang smirked and threw a few more punches. Most of them impacted shield, but two hit the boy holding it. Not that it did much.
She jumped back a few steps and fired a few shots at her opponent. He jumped back, then to the side, avoiding the few that went low, and took rest on his shield. Jaune Arc didn't appear too bothered by the assault - just like everything she threw up till now.
A quick glance to display screen revealed that yes, she took out some of his Aura - almost fifty percent, while she had lost only thirty-five.
This would sound good, if not for the fact they fought for five-fucking-minutes already.
Just thinking about it made her eyes flash red, but she forced herself to say calm. Yang was used to quick matches, that were blur of movement. Constant dashes in and out, throwing attack after attack, and hoping to overpower your enemy before he overpowered you. Contest of speed and strength - that was how she fought, how just about everyone she knew fought.
But not Jaune Arc - he prefered to defend, to wait until his opponent made a mistake, or tired out. She had faced a few defensive fighters, and was always able to break through their guard with her relentless assault, but the blond boy in front of her had three advantages over everyone she fought up till now: a giant Aura pool, some super high-tech armor, and a shield.
Fuck that shield.
She fired a few more shots - but most of them impacted on the offending piece of metal. The few that hit his exposed legs did next to no damage.
And fuck that armor too. I wish Ruby would have said something about it's weak points instead of just gushing about how cool it is.
She sighed and dashed back into the melee. She threw two quick jabs that he blocked, and the followed with low kick. His leg buckled under him, and it looked like he might fall.
Yang instantly jumped back.
Oh no Lady Killer, I'm not falling for that again.
The first thing she learned about her opponent - other than his shield was not just for show - was that he was a counter fighter. As soon as the fight started she opened with a few shots to test him - her usual tactic. Jaune easily blocked them and started walking towards her. Not running, not jumping, just steadily walking.
She engaged in melee hoping she would be able to overpower him. Unfortunately, most of her hits were blocked, the few that went past his defense were stopped by his armor. And then, when she though she and him off balance and vulnerable, it turned out he is just baiting her.
She winced. Stab to stomach followed by shield bash to the face didn't do much in terms of damage - but it seriously hurt her pride.
With a tired sigh, she charged in again, threw three quick punches and taking one quick slash. She kicked the bottom of his shield, and it moved it out of way for just a moment. She quickly capitalized by striking toward Jaune's face.
She took slash to the side for that - but that was ok.
Just a bit more… she thought, jumping back.
Yang took a few deep breaths and eyed her opponent. His strikes weren't too strong - and paradoxically this worked in his favor. Weaker strikes meant her Semblance charged slower.
She glanced at the display. Both of them lost two percent of Aura in the last exchange. This meant she would win if she kept this up. The problem was she wasn't sure she could. She was beginning to feel tired. Jaune didn't look nearly as winded as she - but maybe he was just hiding it.
This is taking too long. I need to make him do something reckless.
She already tried to provoke him, throwing verbal jabs alongside physical ones, but Jaune ignored them all.
Let's try something different.
Yang backed few more steps and struck provocative pose, one finger on her lips that stretched in smile that she knew would make any boy start to fantasize.
"Come on Lady Killer. Don't you want to get close to me?" She said with sultry voice, trailing a finger down from her lips towards her cleavage.
Jaune didn't react in the slightest. He just continued to walk towards her at the same steady peace.
Yang scoffed and got into her own stance. This was another thing she learned quite fast - Jaune was totally different in the arena than he was normally. Gone was the awkward, slightly dorky teenager that was an oh so easy target to tease. Steady and focused - those were the words she would use to describe him. He didn't react to her taunts, he didn't took any of her baits, and his strikes, even though not strong or fast, usually hit the mark. And when she created some distance he would just walk towards her neither slow, nor fast. Steady.
She found this a little creepy.
With little else to do, Yang charged again, threw few punches and kicks and retreated. Most of her attacks were blocked but like usual one or two slipped by Jaune's defenses. She earned two hits this time, but they were glancing blows. After a moment to catch her breath she dashed in agin.
Two punches towards his head were easily blocked, but by raising his hield Jaune left his lower body vulnerable, She quickly took advantage of it by throwing middle kic. It connected - but didn't do as much damage as he hoped.
Fuck this armor.
She sidestepped his thrust, and scores first clean hit on his head in a while. Jaune recoiled, but managed to raise his shield in time to block follow up attack.
Fuck this shield
She saw incoming counter - horizontal slash towards her ribs, but ignored it. Like every hit before it lacked power to be too threatening, and it left him temporarily open. She quickly took advantage of it, scoring clear hit on his shoulder, and then throwing low kick. It staggered him only a little, and he retaliated with shield bash.
It didn't hurt much, but staggered her, and left open for follow up slash that hit her shoulder. She winced and threw left hook. He took it on his shield, and retaliated with another stab. She ignored it, and instead threw punch at his midriff.
Jaune tried to counter with another shield bash, but she stepped back out of range. Then she jumped even further back, and eyed her opponent.
For quite some time she had this feeling that there was something wrong, and now she was sure. With how open she left herself in the last exchange, Jaune should be able to do some good damage to her, but that was not the case. Sure, she got hit more than usual, but he didn't took advantage of all openings.
It's almost as if he is baiting me into something.
Her eyes narrowed. What were his semblance again? She could recall Nora talking about it, but all she got from it was that he could manipulate his Aura easier. It didn't exactly told her much. On the other hand he knew how her worked - courtesy of Ruby. She wasn't bothered by it too much. After all her Semblance was fairly simple - even if her opponent knew how it worked, there was little he could do to stop her from activating it, beside not hitting her. Or taking her down before she had chance to use it. This never happened so far - but it was possibility.
His attacks are far too weak for Hunter. He wouldn't be able to deal any serious damage to any Grimm with hits like that, and Pyrrha said he could early cleave through Bewolfs during initiation. So he holds back on purpose. But why?
She considered it for a moment - and answer wasn't really hard to figure out.
Since he knows how my Semblance works, and he is not very mobile, he probably wants to prevent me from activating it. So he don't strike at full power to make himself look like less of a threat and make me careless. He probably wanted to bring me low enough to take out all of my remaining aura in one quick exchange
She grinned.
Not bad plan Ladykiller. Not bad at all.
Yang glanced towards display screen and her grin only widened. She was around fifty, Jaune was hovering near forty. She was still winning, but gab was slowly closing.
Her grin only widened.
Ok, it should be enough. Lets see if you can handle my all, Ladykiller.
She looked at her - he noticed her grin, and stopped hsi advance, instead taking low stance and eyeing her early.
"Well, what I can say Ladykiller. You lasted far longer than any boy I played with." She rolled her head and shoulders. Jaune raised his shield, staying alert.
"But I think it's time we end this. There are other people waiting for their turn you know."
She grinned, her eyes flashing red.
"So now," she pointed finger at him. "You are,'" she took her stance and clenched her fist, "Going." Her Semblance activated, washing arena in golden flames. She could hear Ruby, and to her surprise Nora, cheering loudly. Her grin almost split her face in two.
"DOWN!" She roared and charged at other blond.
First strike hit the shield, but the force of the blow was too much and it was knocked aside.
Jaune tried to retaliate, but she caught his sword by the blade, cocked back her right hand back and smirked.
To her surprise Jaune closed his eyes - and smirked too.
Most civilians thought that Aura was some kind of solid forcefield that blocked all incoming attacks. This was not true - not only did it require some amount of control to use effectively, it also didn't block attacks, only dispersed the force of the blows. That's why Aura users still felt pain when hit, and still would get blown away when hit by a strong attack. So, unlike what many movies and novels said, punching Hunter don't feel like hitting a brick wall.
But Yang certainly felt like she just punched one when her fist hit something that should be, but definitely wasn't, Jaune Arc's face. Pain raced through her hand, making her stagger back, and flash of bright white light that blinded her didn't help at all.
That sonuvabitch!
Soon though, that was the least of her worries. Something, that she was fairly certain was Jaune's shield, slammed into her stomach, but with far more force than she expected. Another blow soon followed, and it too was much stronger than any she received before. She tried to regain her balance, but Jaune wouldn't let her.
She eventually managed to put some distance between them by firing from both of her gauntlets. She spared a quick glance at display screen. They were both at around thirty seven percent.
This bastard, he WANTED me to use my Semblance!
She looked at her opponent - he was grinning at her - a vicious, feral smile that brought to mind a predator baring its teeth at it's prey.
Yang mirrored his grin.
They both dashed forward, meeting in a flurry of blows. It was by far most intense exchange in their whole match, but it lasted only a few seconds.
"Stop! Jaune Arc wins!" Ren exclaimed.
Both combatants stopped and looked at display. Yang dropped barely below thirty percent, while Jaune was around thirty three.
"Good fight." Said the blond hunter, extending his hand.
Yang smiled and took it.
"Yeah. You won this one, but next time you are going down Ladykiller."
Jaune laughed.
"If you say so."
They returned to the stands. Ruby was already waiting for them.
Oh good, sweet Ruby, ready to cheer her sister up. Thought Yang, watching as the little red huntress rushed towards them. She spread her arms, ready for an incoming hug.
"Hey Rub…" was all she managed to say before red blur moved past her and stopped in front of the blond knight.
"That was SO. AWESOME! No one ever was able to take hit from Yang like that! And what was the white light? It was your Semblance, right? Right?!"
Yang looked at her sweet, lovely sister, jumping excitedly around the guy who just beat her up.
Life is so unfair. She though with a pout.
Then again, Rubes makes good point. What the hell did he do at the end?
"I would like to know too, Jaune. You haven't used anything like that when we were sparring." Said Pyrrha.
"You didn't hold back, did you?" She asked with hint of hurt in her voice.
Jaune laughed nervously.
"No, nothing like that. It's just little trick with my Semblance I discovered some time ago. I can harden my Aura to make it more solid. Sort of like a wall. But I can't control it too well - it last only a moment, and I need to focus for a few seconds to make it. So it works only when I know when and where attack will come."
"And the white light?" Asked Blake.
"I'm not sure, to be honest. I think it might be my Aura flashing out, since there is a lot of it concentrated in one spot. But I don't know for sure."
"Sooooooo… You want to tell me that you not only have lots of stamina and a big… Aura pool, but your Semblance can make you extra hard?" Yang asked, wrapping her arms around him from behind.
Jaune blushed slightly when something very soft pressed against his back.
"Y-yeah." He stammered.
Yang grinned, then leaned closer.
"Well, Ladykiller, I think we should get to know each other more…" she purred into his ear.
Jaune stiffened, and blushed eve harder.
"Y-Yang stop that."
The blond brawler grinned.
"You sure you want me to stop, Jaune?" She asked, but let him go. Better to not push her luck - Pyrrha was already glaring at her.
"Don't worry Dork-knight, I'm just messing with you. Beside…" she winked at red haired champion. " I think there is someone who wants a piece of you more than me."
To her delight, Pyrrha blushed and looked to the side.
Bingo. Oh, I'm going to have fun with these two dorks.
"Ok, last fight - Weiss vs Nora. Get ready ladies." Jaune called out, a little louder than necessary.
"Don't worry Weiss, I won't break your legs… too much." Said Nora, grinning at her opponent.
"Well, thank you Nora. I'll be sure to find you a nice spot after I turn you into ice sculpture" The heiress answered with a smirk.
"You both ready?" Shouted Jaune
They nodded.
"Then begin!"
Both girls dashed at the same time. Nora forward, Magnhild ready for strike.
Weiss backward, erecting several walls of ice in the way of the ginger berserker.
Nora jumped over the first, then the second, and then ran through the third. Weiss shot several ice blades at her - but they were easily swated aside. Nora charged again, swinging Magnhild in a wide arc.
Weiss created a glyph and jumped back. Nora followed after her, swinging her hammer. It was easy to dodge, but at the same time, forced the heiress to focus on this - she simply didn't have time to stop and use her Semblance, lest she will be hit the massive weapon. She eventually managed to create some distance and created another glyph. Nora took a wide swing and smashed into it - and was blown away.
Weiss didn't waste a second and sent a barrage of Dust attacks at the downed girl. Nora rolled away and got to her feet pretty quickly - but still got hit by quite a few. The heiress kept up her assault, and the ginger girl could do little more than dodge. Eventually, she found cover behind one of Weiss' own ice walls.
The heiress winced, and dashed around, hoping to catch Nora from behind. But as soon as she moved past the wall, she threw herself in a frantic dodge, narrowly avoiding the pink explosion that erupted in the spot she was just second ago. Nora jumped on top of the ice wall that served her as a cover, and continued her barrage, laughing maniacally the whole time.
Eventually the ginger girl ran out of ammo. But instead of reloading, she switched Magnhild back to hammer form and jumped down.
Weiss got up from where the last explosion threw her, and dusted herself off.
Both girls stared at each other for a few moments.
Then they dashed forward, Nora opening with a horizontal swing of her hammer, that Weiss ducked under and countered with a stab on her own. It was blocked by the handle of Magnhild, and immediately followed with a downward swing, that the heiress had to roll out of the way of. The ginger girl followed, bringing her hammer down yet again, but Weiss managed to get back to her feet and jumped back few steps. She created a glyph under her feet, and the moment before Nora's hammer reached her, jumped high in the air.
Nora followed her, but let out a surprised yelp when she slammed into the glyph. Many more surrounded her soon after, and Weiss, using them as jumping pads, started to zip past Nora, slashing and stabbing at her each time she passed by.
The ginger girl could do little more than try to block as many attacks as she could. Eventually, the number of active glyphs started to dwindle - and so did the possible angles of attacks for heiress. This allowed Nora to better defend herself - and even throw counter attacks. She overshot her target, but even though the head of her hammer missed its mark, the handle hit the heiress hard enough to throw her to the ground. She landed soon after, and leaned on Magnhild for support, panting heavily.
Weiss was in no better state, kneeling on one knee, her breath ragged. After just a few moments both girls readied they weapons and started walking to each other. It was clear it would be last exchange - both of them were too exhausted to be able to fight for much longer.
They stopped about ten meters from each other, eyeing each other carefully. Then, on some unspoken command, both dashed forward.
Weiss ducked under horizontal sweep of Magnhild, and Nora used the haft of her weapon to knock Myrtenaster aside. Heiress sidestepped the follow up thrust, and answered with one of her own. Nora managed to dodge it, and responded with an upward swing. Weiss jumped back at the last second. She tried to go back inside the ginger girl's guard - but had to retreat from another wide swing.
Weiss jumped back, when Nora brought her hammer down on her, and then again when ginger girl tried to tackle her. She ducked under the next swipe, and countered with a thrust towards her opponent leg. It hit its mark, and Nora staggered a little. The heiress quickly took advantage of this opening, throwing two more thrust. Both hit their mark - but left her open for a counter.
Nora drove the back end of Magnhild handle into the heiress stomach, knocking the air out of her. Her muscle tensed, ready to follow with an overhead smash.
Weiss knew she couldn't' dodge in time. So instead, she threw herself forward, throwing one last, desperate attack.
"Stop! The match is over, Weiss Schnee wins!" Jaune declared.
Both girls froze. Weiss was kneeling on one knee, one hand on the ground supporting her, and other outstretched, pressing Magnhild into her opponent torso.
Nora, with hammer stopped mid-swing.
They looked at each other, then at Jaune, and then at display screen.
Indeed, Nora dropped below thirty, while Weiss was still around forty.
Both girls looked at each other again, and after a second collapsed on the floor.
"Daaaaaaaaamn I'm spent. I'll need like a hundred pancakes after this. And I didn't even get to break any legs. Life is so unfair, right Weiss? " Nora whined.
The heiress felt like pointing out it was her legs they were talking about - but decided against it. Arguing with Nora was about as productive as trying to negotiate with Grimm.
"And that concludes the first JNPR vs RWBy tournament. " Announced Jaune when both girls joined the teams.
"With two wins and two losses for each team, we have draw."
"Only because you have Pyrrha." Ruby said with a pout.
"You are just mad because you lost in thirty seconds." Jaune retorted.
"Hey, that was lucky shot! And beside, first fight should be leader vs leader! You cheated!"
"Everything is fair in war and love."
"I would have won if it was you." Ruby mumbled, crossing her arms.
"Probably." Jaune admitted, "but then Pyrrha would just kick Yang butt, and we would still have draw."
Yang felt like arguing, but let it go. She knew she was good, and was confident she could take on just about anyone they age. Problem was that Pyrrha wasn't anyone.
Ruby huffed.
"Well, at least we have better ninja than you. Blake destroyed Ren."
Black haired girl smiled and shook her head. Her fight against green clad boy was much closer than her leader made it sound - and she won so decisively only because of her Semblance. She had a feeling they next fight will not be as easy.
Jaune just shook his head and checked his scroll nodding to himself.
"We still have half an hour from our reserved time, So I guess we can do some more training. Any suggestion?"
"I think we could work on your offensive some more Jaune. You did well against Yang, but I noticed few things you could improve."
The blond leader nodded at his partner's words.
"I guess you are right Pyrrha."
He picked his weapons and started to walk towards the arena, both teams in tow.
Yang leaned towards red-haired champion and wisphered with smirk
"You just want to see for yourself how hard he can get, don't you?"
Pyrrha instantly blushed and satter denying.
Yang's grin only grew
Oh, she is so easy...
Blake took few gulps of energy drink and relaxed on the bench. She just finished sparring with her partner, and now both of them were sitting together, watching the other pairs train. Or rather pair - Jaune and Pyrrha were only ones still going.
"You know, I'm surprised they still have energy to go on." She said.
Yang hummed in agreement.
"Yeah. I can kinda understand Pyrrha - she isn't moving too much. But Jaune? From what I saw he is not used to running around like that."
Blake nodded and focused back on the fighting pair. Well, it could hardly be called a fight - Pyrrha was just standing in one place and defending, and Jaune was charging at her. The whole point of their little exercise was to make blond knight get used to a more mobile fighting style.
She watched as Jaune charged, then rolled under Pyrrha's strike, and used the momentum to get up and strike at his partner back. Of course, the red haired champion blocked his attack with ease, but Blake was still impressed. Jaune was far more agile than she would expect from someone wearing so much armor. Of course he was nowhere near her level, or even Yang's or Nora's, but still pretty good.
The blond knight continued his charges, and Pyrrha continued to defend, shouting instructions and encouragements.
"Good, Jaune, but you have to do it harder!"
"You sure? I don't want to hurt you…"
"I can take it. Just give me everything you got."
"Pyrrha I'm at my limit…"
"Just a little more Jaune! Keep it up."
Blake shook her head and turned to her partner.
"Do you think they know that what they are saying can be taken wildly out of context?"
The blonde girl hummed
"I don't think so. They are too adorkable."
A few moments passed, with the only sound being clang of weapons, and fighting pair shouts.
"You are still going to tease them to high havens about this, aren't you?" Blake finally asked.
Yang grinned at her.
"And why do you think I'm recording this sound-only?"
Blake snorted and shook her head. What was she even thinking - Yang passing on opportunity to mess with someone? No way.
Soon after the pair ended their spar. Yang, not wasting a second, walked to Pyrrha and wrapped one arm around her shoulders. Moments later the champion's face turned the same shade as her hair.
Blake smiled. It was all so… normal. People sparing, laughing, and just spending time together. It was so different than White Fang, where everyone was constantly on edge.
It was only a week since she started her education at Beacon, but she already had group of friends in the form of her team, and - dare she say it - team JNPR. And if someone would have told her just a week before that she would call the heiress to the SDC a friend - she would probably punch said person for making fun of her.
Someone called her name and she looked up to see Ruby waving to her. WIth a smile, she got up and walked towards both teams. Her eyes flicked towards Jaune, but she just shrugged and focused on her leader, talking excitedly about something.
She decided to give up on investigating Jaune. What his connection to Headmaster Ozpin was she still didn't know - but decided that at the end of the day it didn't matter. Maybe his parents were the Headmaster's friends, maybe he was some distant family. Or maybe someone pulled some strings to get Jaune into Beacon in less than legitimate means. It could be either of these, or hundreds others - and either way it was none of her business.
She smiled to herself as both teams left the training room, and headed towards the cafeteria, everyone talking with each other. Blake quipped from time to time too. It was nice, just hanging out with friends like that. She would not let her paranoia get in the way. After all, even if Jaune has some secrets, it couldn't be anything more serious than hers, right?
And here we go. Two fight scenes, and I must say Weiss vs Nora was much easier to write than Yang vs Jaune. I went over it multiple times, and even then first iteration was crap. Eventually, after talking about it a bit with JJD I rewrote it to current version. I think it works pretty well. I tried to portray Jaune as defensive fighter, who would prefer to wait for his opponent to come to him, rather than chase them around. I based this on my personal experience from my days in HEMA - I usually wore a lot of armor, with big shield on top of that. Setup like that gives a lot of protection, but didn't encouraged running around.
At first this fight was from Jaune's POV but then I decided to switch it around, to give some insight on Yang's mindset. Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out at the end.
Oh, and Blake lets go of her suspicions towards Jaune. You guys can stop hating on her now.
JJD: Like most things we write together, we debated these fights endlessly haha. I feel like Cr00cy and I have enough content for a talk show about fighting at this point. As always, I think it came out better in the end for the debate (I know that FM and FS scenes are).
Also, people will never stop hating on Blake man, it's just part of the character at this point.
Cr00cy: Yep. It happens often -we discuss some scene one moment, next we have hour or so discussion about fighting. This is actually very interesting experience for me since up till now I take only with people with similar (swords or other melee weapons) or no knowledge. JJD is practicing hand-to-hand, so while we both know basic things about fighting, details are different. In these chapters we argued quite a bit about how Jaune vs Yang should go - JJD suggested he should chase Yang around, to hopefully pin her down, and take away her range advantage. I thought it would be better for him to not waste stamina chasing faster opponent, and just tank her shots until she runs out of ammo. In the end, I settle for something in the middle -and like I said, I think it turned out much better.
Anyway, here is this week's omake:
Letter to Friend
Jaune rolled his shoulders, trying to get rid of the stiffness. Writing a letter was surprisingly hard . Not because he didn't have anything to write about, but because there was just so much that had happened during the month he was traveling with Leon.
He looked out of the only window in the room he and Leon were sharing. It was dark outside, the only thing he could really see were the stars and moon. The inn they were staying at was located in small village. Well, calling it village was generous. It was just a few houses and a small dock - a lumberjacks colony. It wasn't even a permanent settlement.
Jaune sighed and focused back on the piece of paper in front of him. After some brief consideration, he decided to just start writing about anything that came to mind.
"Hi Samantha,
Sorry I haven't kept in touch, but I've been very busy this last month. And tired. Other things too, but mostly tired. Leon started training me as soon as we left Silver Lake. Well maybe 'training' is a bit too much. He said I needed to work on my cardio, so I've mostly been running around. I asked him once when my cardio would be good enough. He joked that when I'm able to cover 40 km, fight for hour, and then cover another 40 km within 24 hours, carrying full equipment.
At least I hope he was joking.
Anyway, we practiced fighting a bit. I still don't have my Aura unlocked - Leon said it's better if I learn basic fighting without it. But he assured me that I will have it unlocked before we go into the Wilds.
The fact that he said 'you will have it unlocked' and not 'I will unlock it' has me a little worried. Also, this part about it happening 'before we go into Wilds', not 'before I'll have you fight Grimm.'
I've learned to pay really close attention both to what he says, and how he says it.
Well, there is not much more to say. Or rather - there is a lot to say. But it mostly comes down to Leon teaching me things that I thought I knew. Fun Fact: Turns out spinning to make an attack stronger is not a good idea.
Anyway, we are currently staying in some temporary lumberjack camp south of Vale. But we will be moving out soon - not sure where. When I asked, Leon said "wherever we are needed." Kinda cool, but not very helpful. But we should move closer to Vale soon, so I might be able to call.
Well see you later,
Jaune.
PS. One thing that surprised me - but maybe shouldn't - was Leon's cooking. I'll tell you - he would give my Dad a run for his money."
Jaune put away his pen and looked over the letter. Deciding it was good enough, he put it in the envelope and went to bed. Tomorrow he would give it to captain of barg taking wood from the camp to Vale. From there it should reach Sam somehow.
So here it is - Jaune set on his journey, and this is his first letter to Sam. What will Leon do to turn bumbling mess that is 13 year old Jaune into professional Hunter? What will Sam do to get the attention of her dorky knight? Will Jaune survive this with his body and mind intact? Who knows.
JJD: See, some of you still think this is a story about Jaune. This is CLEARLY a fic based on Sam. Hopefully Cr00cy will let me focus on the true main character some more next week.