It took a few weeks but the team finally settled, and Jaune accepted his fate. Blake and Yang looked increasingly amused every time he saw them. Team Lavender had settled a lot. Ren had adopted an almost military demeanor, Nora was eccentric, though she acted like Ren's personal muscle and bodyguard. Pyrrha had always been accepting of Ren's commands, and she merely seemed happier without the constant fighting.
Weiss had changed the most. She was less barbed, and seemed more like she was having fun when she argued with Nora. Her smile was softer, and she seemed to lose a lot of stress that she normally had held.
Jaune thought it was funny that Ren's team had improved while his had declined. Ruby, as team leader, was focused more on him than her role as such, and Yang and Blake acted like a splinter group. Onlookers to the drama of Ruby and Neo fighting over him.
He felt Ren's initial pain, and snapped himself.
"Alright. That's it. I'm done." he said forcefully.
Ruby and Neo, who had been wrestling on the floor, stopped to look at him. Blake and Yang turned to eye him as well, interrupting their discussion.
"I'm taking over now. I'm tired of this. Nothing is getting done." he said. "Ruby, I'm sorry, but I'm going to take over as team leader."
Ruby turned her head on its side like a dog, before smiling and nodding. "You will do well, Jaune." she cheered
"Ruby, Neo. This can't happen the way it has been. Sleep in your own beds." he ordered.
They pouted, but Jaune dragged a bed in and put it in the middle of the room.
"I'll sleep here." he said. "Tomorrow, we are going to go over the work we should be doing, and practicing tactics. From now on, we won't be team Raspberry. We will be Journey."
The four girls nodded, and he smiled happily at them.
"Ruby, you will still be second in command. I want you to be in charge whenever I can't be. Blake, you are in charge of research and stealth. Yang, demolition and close combat. Ruby, you are also in charge of Weapons and tactics. Neo, you have deception and defensive maneuvers."
They nodded again. "What about you, Jaune?" Ruby asked.
"Negotiations and Combat tactics." he said. "Ruby, you will design tactical pairings and teamwork oriented moves, and it'll be my job to decide when they are worth using and call them out in a fight."
"Let's get some rest."
Line Break
The next day was full of cramming. Blake and Jaune worked on their schoolwork, organizing it and planning the material they'd need to review with the others. Meanwhile, Ruby sat with Yang and Neo and thought of names for different combinations of team members for them to fight as.
An example was Ladybug, to signify Ruby and Blake working together. Exact attacks were based on the battle, so they didn't specify what exactlky they would do. Jaune would most likely describe it if necessary while they were fighting.
It was a long day, and they worked hard. Jaune seemed to resent the position of leader slightly, but he excelled at it. They reviewed their class work and Jaune begrudgingly promised to fight in combat class.
Team Journey changed that day.
Line Break
It was the very next day that everyone noticed the minute differences. In Professor Port's class, the team of 5 took turns copying down notes as he droned, one team member always recording the important information.
In Oobleck's, they did much the same, though the 5 of them all tried to take notes simultaneously, catching what words they could to paper and comparing them for accuracy.
It was Goodwitch's class that marked the largest change.
"Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos." Goodwitch called.
Jaune and Pyrrha walked down the stairs as always, but the change was marked when Goodwitch called for the match to start.
Everyone watched, waiting for Jaune to ask for a game of chance, or pull out cards or even a chess board.
Instead, the blond unsheathed his sword and expanded his shield.
Pyrrha hesitated before doing the same. She controlled her shock and transformed her weapon into it's sword variant.
The crowd was silent as they watched the 'Invincible Girl' and a boy who most took for a slacker square off.
Jaune leapt forward first, the strength of his muscles launching him along the ground without having to continue to sprint.
Pyrrha raised her shield and side stepped, hoping to deflect the blond. Instead, Jaune scraped his sword on the ground, turning his momentum slightly to the side, kicking at Pyrrha with an ordinary sneaker.
She turned her shield to block it completely, and staggered back.
Jaune kicked off the shield and flipped backwards, before surging forward again, this time mashing his shield forward.
Pyrrha made to deflect his shield to the side, and Jaune jabbed forward with his sword, taking advantage of the opening she made and grazing his sword on her ribs.
She hissed in pain and flipped backward, out of his reach.
This was an opponent she couldn't underestimate, and she tapped into her semblance.
They collided again, furious blows being turned aside as they gouged concrete and pushed their opponents away. They always caught themselves, and returned the favor.
Pyrrha switched occassionally from sword to spear, and once even to rifle, but Jaune's defence stood strong. He blocked everything that came his way, and Pyrrha did the same.
Jaune finally spied an opening, no doubt due to his opponents' exhaustion, and deftly caught her sword, flicking his wrist to launch it away. She now had just her shield.
She quickly retaliated and swung her shield into his, knocking it out of the fight as well.
Jaune took a strong swing into her shield, and she twisted it and ripped away his sword. Jaune, in return, firmly grabbed her shield and wrenched it from her grip.
They were both completely disarmed.
Pyrrha hesitated, before grinning widely. Her sword and shield scattered through the arena, landing in her hands as she rearmed herself.
A string of gasps echoed through the room, but Jaune and Pyrrha were intent only on each other.
Jaune smiled disarmingly, and slid forward, punching her sword away and dodging her shield. She screwed her eyes in anticipation, and flinched when he...
tapped her forehead?
"Match." Goodwitch called.
"What?" she breathed.
"Ms. Nikos' aura is in the red, Jaune Arc wins."
Pyrrha looked down at her scroll, and sure enough it was just in the red. Looking up at the display screen, Jaune's aura was just below green, in the yellow.
"I... lost?" she asked under her ragged breathes.
"Good match Pyrrha." Jaune said, offering his hand.
She took it automatically. "I lost?" she asked again.
He frowned. "There's always next time." he said before letting her hand go.
Pyrrha watched him walk away. He wasn't even breathing hard, she realised.
His team greeted him with cheers and smiles, and she saw Ruby hug him happily.
Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl... defeated.
She couldn't help but smile.
Line Break
His team's opinion had changed again. Now he was heralded in the halls as a God, and his teammates seemed intent to protect him from outside influence. The only other people he saw with any regularity was team Lavender, and they were facing the same kind of questions as his teammates.
"How did he get so strong?" he heard a few times.
"Where did he learn to fight?" was another one.
"Why didn't he do that in the first place?" was heard.
It led to him ignoring people outside of his team, save Lavender, and they were reacting much the same way. That is, Ren and Nora were always ignoring strangers.
Weiss seemed to be trying to find out the answers herself, and he heard her bemoan that she hadn't partnered with him in initiation, which only made him happier he had picked Ruby.
Pyrrha though. She had came up to him at dinner the next day and brushed his hand gently. "I can't wait for a rematch." she said softly, winking as she walked away.
"D...Does she have a crush on me?" he asked incredulously.
His team stared at him in open awe. "You can tell?" Yang blurted.
Jaune scoffed. "Well of course. It was in her body language. Anyone could have seen it." he remarked.
"Then why haven't you noticed that-" Yang was cut off by Blake, who slammed her hand over Yang's mouth before she could continue.
"Sorry, she is having delusions." Blake remarked.
Yang glared at Blake, and Blake immediately retracted her hand with an exclamation of disgust.
"Don't lick me!" she yelled.
Yang stuck her tongue out, but didn't try to continue her previous sentence.