Beacon was full of amazing people, and Jaune knew this.
Before he left home riding a pipe dream hoping to succeed as a huntsman, something he was woefully unprepared for, he saw his father as the pinnacle of what a warrior, no, what a man should be. He thought that just because he was his father's son, because he was an Arc, he would be guaranteed success if he attempted to join the ranks of those studying to become defenders against the grimm.
And for the last six months, he's done nothing but fail, disappoint, and humiliate himself.
Why, why didn't he train on his own all those years when he felt he was denied his future-his destiny? He had no answer.
His teammates quickly learned the truth of his cheating himself into Beacon, but didn't much care at the revelation, as his very obvious lack of skill, effort, or talent instantly became much more believable.
It's not that he was incompetent, he was just untrained.
But even still, Jaune continued to struggle, as despite how well they meant, his teammates that were sacrificing their own time to help him improve were holding him to the standard they hold for themselves to. A standard they were able to consistently reach or surpass with their multiple years of hard work.
They didn't look at him with Ire, but loathe as he was to see it, pity. They couldn't understand. It was a dark thought, one that he hated to harbor, but he couldn't help himself.
'They wouldn't be able to understand what it's like to have a parent refuse to acknowledge your dreams. Telling you about all the heroes of our family and what made them so famous, only to tell you they wouldn't even give you the chance to chase it.'
His grades were sub-par. Passing, but not even a low B. He was barely managing a C average in every class, and he was actively failing his combat class.
Jaune sat back in his seat in the corner of the library. He looked down at his textbook before moving over to the window to gaze out at the academy grounds, seeing the many students moving across the campus, and knowing that any single one he could point to was better than him.
His frustration was obvious as he grit his teeth and clenched his fists for the briefest of moments before he stopped and returned to his seat trying to finish this assignment in the hopes of elevating his grade in history. After that, he planned to crack open a few books that were centered on combat, hoping to try and lay the groundwork to create his own fighting style that he could use.
The hours passed on and before he knew it, night had come. He yawned into his hand, having spent the majority of the day in the library seeking to improve, but with little to no success it felt like.
He passed by the training rooms and saw team RWBY doing some evening training, and he looked up to the screen from where he was looking in and saw that they'd completed fifteen runs on level eight training bots. He was happy to see them doing so well, but couldn't help the sigh that escaped him regardless.
Continuing on his way to his room, he decided to turn in early knowing that tomorrow, his least favorite class, combat class, would be the only class being held.
Morning came too soon for Jaune as he rolled out of bed early. A peek at his scroll revealed it to be 05:05 in the morning. He groaned as he quietly slipped into the bathroom to get changed into his workout clothes. A few minutes later, he was outside doing some stretching as the sky above started to turn a lighter purple, signaling that soon, the sun would be arriving over the horizon.
Making sure he was fully awake, Jaune began his morning jog around the campus, wanting to get as much exercise in as he could before it was time to attend Ms. Goodwitch's class. The first lap around the grounds of Beacon was now a breeze for Jaune, but he wanted to really test himself today and decided to pick it up come the second lap. Making sure to completely turn off his aura before beginning to shift into a run, Jaune made sure to control his breathing as he felt the wind on his face.
Apparently, being able to completely shut off one's aura was a rare skill. Most people weren't able to do it for one reason or another, but the explanation given to him by his teammate Lie Ren was that most people unlocked their aura when they were around ten or eleven years old, and had spent most of the years from then until now training how to use their aura.
Jaune had only had his aura unlocked five months ago, during initiation last semester. Ren theorized that the reason Jaune could so effortlessly turn off his aura was because he'd lived most of life never having had access to it, but was intriguing to the martial artist of Team JNPR was that Jaune seemed to pick up accessing his aura rather quickly.
Jaune pushed himself as he saw the courtyard ahead, and really put his all into finishing the lap. As he passed the courtyard, he decided to try going even faster. Staying in his run, he started to use his aura, and began to speed off through another 3 laps before he decided to cool down and do one more lap in a jog.
After his last lap, and getting a drink from the fountain in the courtyard, Jaune looked up to the clock in the courtyard and saw that a little over an hour had passed. The blonde craned his neck till he heard a crack before he decided to make his way over to a cool area under a tree before beginning to do a series of workouts.
'Alright Jaune-Jaune, we're gonna get you into shape! We're gonna start you off with thirty push-ups without aura everyday, then go up five more every week, or whenever they start to seem too easy for you. After that, the same thing for squats, sit-ups, and pull-ups to start. You can do weight training with aura in the afternoon, but it's important to work out without aura too.
Since aura heals us, however hard you push yourself without aura, you'll be getting triple the benefit, at least. You might get even more since you have so much aura, and from what Renny and Pyrrha say, it's really potent or whatever. So, get to it Lazybutt!'
Ever since then, he'd followed Nora's workout regiment religiously, and it admittedly it was paying off. Currently, he had do one hundred thirty of each of the workouts Nora had told him to do, in addition to his run. But, wanting to really put in the extra work to get the reward of a hunter body, he added crunches and planks, as well as changing the type of push-ups and pull-ups he performed.
As he began to perform his workout, he made sure to do something that he'd heard Cardin ranting about in Beacon's gym once. He called it 'mind-muscle connection'. Looking into it back then, Jaune was intrigued at the concept, and figured that it must have been working for Cardin if he was as built as he is. But, the blonde teen didn't stop at mind-muscle connection, he decided to add aura into the equation.
Forcing his aura to work and heal his muscles after each rep was hard, especially since he had to split his focus between that and maintaining the connection between his mind and his muscles, but after a month of hard work, he'd managed to achieve his goal. Not only had it turned his body into something to be proud of, and added a slight amount of bulk onto his frame, not that anyone noticed through his hoodie, but it increased his control over his aura.
The next hour was spent with him going through his morning regiment of workouts, before he finally finished them and collapsed onto the grass, panting and sweating from exertion, and not to mention, sore. Apparently, using your aura in such a way really puts strain on your body, but not in a way that opens you up to injury, but makes you extremely fatigued physically and mentally, not that it bothered him as he'd become accustomed to this method of training.
He looked up at the sun now up in the sky before turning to glance at the clock in the courtyard, seeing that he had another hour before he'd need to hurry off to shower, grab a bite to eat, and make his way to get his butt kicked in combat class as usual.
He sat up before taking a pose that Ren and Pyrrha showed him for meditation. They said meditation was a good way to increase his aura's efficiency, as well as his understanding of it, which might help him to find his semblance sooner than later. And while it had been working, the last two weeks hadn't been fruitful to the knightly teen.
His lack of confidence due to being the weakest of Beacon's first years had only become a worse issue when the exchange students from the other three academies arrived. He'd been hoping to manage a win against even one of them, but so far, no such luck, making him the weakest of not just Beacon's first years, but all the first year students across the academies.
He tried to refocus his meditation, eventually succeeding as his mind moved elsewhere. He saw Ruby and Crescent Rose, visualizing how the little reaper wielded the sniper-scythe hybrid with expertise along with her semblance. Next was Weiss and Myrtenaster, and how she could practically dance circles around her opponents, before overwhelming them with her dust or completely shutting them down with her glyphs.
Yang came to mind with Ember Cecilia, and how she could already utterly brutalize her opponents in the ring with them, and if she was ever put on the ropes, or angered, she could power up with her semblance and put her opponent into the ring, literally. Blake was a menace with Gambol Shroud, her semblance making her and her weapon a flurry of motion and violence.
Pyrrha with her weapons Miló and Akoúo̱, Ren and his Stormflowers, Nora with Magnhild, Cardin with The Executioner; all of the people he's had the chance to fight in combat class, with their amazing weapons, semblances, and styles. And what did he have? Decent footwork when he imagined himself dancing, and abysmal skills with his sword and shield.
"Everyone is so amazing…even Cardin. I just…wish I could be like them, like every hunter…"
This phrase that he whispered out during his meditation was charged with frustration and jealousy, but more importantly, his admiration and respect. His thoughts continued to distract him as he pictured himself holding their weapons, using their semblances. What he'd be capable of if he ever approached their level.
Before long, he felt too distracted to continue making any of what he felt would be meaningful progress, and decided to make his way back to his dorm for a shower, and then breakfast.
Arriving at his dorm, he was greeted with a note from his team telling him that they went to the cafeteria and were proud he was keeping up with his training. He quickly hopped in and out of the shower, taking a minute to appreciate the physique he'd earned for himself through a strict adherence to Nora's workout plan, before donning his uniform and making his way to the cafeteria for breakfast. Before he left the room though, he looked at himself in the mirror before grabbing one of Pyrrha's scrunchies and using it to tie his hair into a ponytail.
As he made his way into the hall, he didn't have to look long before he caught sight of his group of friends, as well as team SSSN gathered at one end of a table. As he started walking towards them, his partner caught sight of him before her eyes lit up and she waved, grabbing everyone's attention. He yawned as he took a seat next to his partner.
"Morning everyone."
A round of greetings went by before Ruby decided to point something out.
"Hey Jaune, what's with the ponytail?"
"Well, I felt like trying something new today, plus I wanna keep my hair outta my eyes once we get to combat class today."
"Speaking of combat class, did you guys hear?!"
Nora's enthusiasm was palpable as she continued to speak.
"Ms. Goodwitch has something special planned for today. Apparently we won't be doing one-on-ones or team sparring today!"
This earned her a round of raised eyebrows from most of her friends at their end of the table, all as Jaune accepted the plate of food Pyrrha had secured for him before he arrived graciously. As he began to scarf down breakfast, she noticed something and commented on it.
"Jaune? Is that one of my scrunchies?"
The knightly teen took a moment to finish chewing before he answered.
"Yeah. It's not a problem, is it?"
The girl blushed in response before waving her hands in front of her.
"NO! I-I mean, no. I don't mind."
Jaune looked at her with confusion for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and finishing off his plate as Ms. Goodwitch's voice came through the intercom.
"Attention all first year students. Instead of attending the lecture hall today for combat class, you are instead to be in your combat attire and report to the outdoor combat arena in ten minutes."
With that, the members of Teams JNPR, RWBY, and SSSN shared a look amongst each other before making their way to the locker rooms.
As everyone started gearing up, in the little corner where Jaune and Ren's lockers were situated, the Mistrali teen heard a groan escape from his blonde leader, and turned to see him taking off the armor he'd just put on.
"It needs a readjustment again?"
Ren's question was met with an agitated huff from his teammate.
"I have no idea HOW it could need to be refitted again this soon."
Ren rested his hand on the knightly teen's shoulder as he spoke.
"Look at it like this, Jaune, it just means you're making good…"
He watched as his friend took off his hoodie and elected to just wear his plain-white short sleeve shirt as he clipped Crocea Mors to his belt before noticing Ren staring at him.
"Uh…Ren? Everything okay?"
Ren stared at him for a moment before narrowing his eyes and doing a few circles around him to inspect him before he spoke.
"You're quite built, Jaune."
The blonde rubbed the back of his head sheepishly as he responded.
"Well, I guess I have another thing to thank Nora for. If it wasn't for her regiment I-"
"No, Jaune. What I mean is, you are…impossibly, well built for how short of a time you've been doing Nora's workout plan."
"Huh? What do you mean? Isn't this what you guys were aiming for?"
"Jaune. Doing Nora's regiment everyday was supposed to have gotten you this physique in…two years minimum. You've only been doing it for a little over five months."
The blonde closed his locker before the two of them made their way to follow after the rest of their first years to meet at the outdoor arena, continuing to talk as they walked.
"I mean, the only thing I've been doing differently was using my aura a certain way I thought of whenever I work out. But besides that, I haven't done anything else."
The monk-like teen gave him a look that said to elaborate before the blonde continued.
"Well, I overheard about a way to think and use your muscles better from Cardin, and after trying it out, decided I liked it. But then, I thought, 'What if I use aura?' Now, I'm constantly using my aura to work my muscles harder and heal them during and after each rep. It actually makes me really tired…"
Jaune trailed off as he saw the wide-eyed stare of his teammate.
"Jaune…how long have you been training like that?"
"Since the fourth week in. Why?"
The quiet teen couldn't explain or question him any further before they found themselves at the back of a large crowd that had gathered in front of Ms. Goodwitch, who had been waiting for all the first year students to arrive.
"Greetings Class. Today, since this is the only class being held, and because all of you have been pleading to have such an impractical exercise for the last two weeks, we'll be holding a battle royale."
The majority of the first years erupted into cheers, only to be quieted down by a crack of Ms. Goodwitch's weapon thundering through the air. She looked amongst all of them, before she nodded at their behavior, and prepared to begin calling them into the arena one by one to make sure everyone was there.
"Jaune Arc."
Starting with him apparently, but as he walked around the crowd and stood in the center of the arena, immediately all eyes were on him as whispers erupted from amongst Beacon's first years. Even Ms. Goodwitch seemed surprised by his physical change now that he was wearing something besides his hoodie-armor combo or uniform.
"HOLY SH- That's what Vomit Boy was packing under his hoodie!?"
Yang's outburst was a thought reflected by everyone present, but Pyrrha was busy chasing a different thought.
'There's no wayJaune's body changed this much in just over five months. He was…well, scrawny. But now…'
"Damn! And here I thought boy blunder was a limp noodle under his armor. Nice to see he's actually got that going for him at least."
Cardin's comment didn't go unheard by Jaune, who simply sighed in disappointment that the general opinion was pretty similar to the Winchester heir's observation. Any further discussion was cut short by Ms. Goodwitch before the arena began to fill one by one with each of the first years present. Looking over the small horde of freshmen who were eager to begin their little battle royale, she announced the rules.
"Combat will continue until one is left standing. You are disqualified if your aura falls below fifteen percent, or if you are sent out of bounds. When disqualified from your aura falling below the threshold, I will use my semblance to extract you from the ring so as to not interrupt the battle. Do you all understand?"
As the responses were shouted out, Jaune watched as the world seemed to slow down to him as he began to think and plan.
'Right now, there are just under ninety of us in this small space. I'm near the inner part of the circle, which means; good news, there's enough people here that I probably won't be the first one out, and I shouldn't have to worry about losing to an early out of bounds. Bad news, I have people around me in every direction. And to make matters worse, I haven't won a match against any of these guys I'm stuck in here with. Best thing I can do is try and hold out until the herd thins down, and if someone starts focusing on me, try to lead them into someone else and pick off the winner.'
Jaune watched as Glynda raised her riding crop in the air as he continued to think.
'The really big threats are the rest of my team, all of RWBY, SSSN, and then Cardin. The rest of these guys in the ring I don't know enough about to rank them in terms of danger accurately. Pyrrha is in the dead middle of the arena, Ren was near the outskirts last I saw, and Nora was somewhere near Yang so she can face off with her as soon as things start.
Ruby was near the middle of the pack on the opposite side of the arena, probably wanting to abuse Crescent Rose early and create some space around her. I didn't see Blake, but I'm sure she had the same idea as Ren, and all of team SSSN is together near the middle. Cardin was also pretty close to the middle last I saw him, but it's kinda concerning that I can't spot him at all right now. Oh well, I need to be ready because as soon as Ms. Goodwitch gives the signal, I'm sure at least one person is gonna try and use an attack with a wide range to knock out as many of us as possible.'
Glynda swung her riding crop down as Jaune finished his inner thought process, and immediately, the blonde anchored down with his shield aimed at the center of the arena, going as far as to stab his sword into the ground to make sure he would be steady. His intuition proved correct as not but a few seconds later, Cardin jumped from the crowd of freshman students before descending upon the arena and slamming his mace into the ground, unleashing a shockwave from his semblance in the direction Jaune happened to be in.
A few students between where the blonde had anchored himself and where Cardin had impacted the arena were blown away, one of them actually hitting sent barreling over Jaune who ducked his head behind his shield. A look back revealed that three people were sent out of bounds, but none of them were any of Jaune's friends. Quickly refocusing, he turned back around to see Cardin taking a step in front of him with his mace reared back for a swing like a baseball bat.
"So this is where you were hiding Jauney Boy!"
Jaune knew he didn't want to take a heavy hit like that, and quickly rolled away to the side, avoiding being caught in another shockwave. His moment of respite truly lasted only a moment as he turned his head to inspect the area around him to see a tan girl with a beanie covering one of her eyes slamming the butt of a sniper rifle down towards him.
Acting quickly the blonde moved his head to the side, and looked at where she hit the ground with her rifle butt, seeing a crater as he blanched lightly. The girl didn't idle, and quickly raised the weapon to repeat the action. Jaune however, didn't have any interest in taking a hit for free, and looking to make sure he didn't miss, kicked his foot out and hit her knee where she'd been kneeling, causing her to yelp and fall on top of him.
He grabbed her in a bear hug as he felt her try to struggle, not wanting to give her a chance to escape and put distance between them with her rifle. That initiative quickly changed as he saw something, or rather someone barreling towards him. It seemed Cardin really had it out for him today, and Jaune grimaced at how he didn't leave himself with a ton of options.
Feeling the girl still struggling against him, he collapsed his shield and rolled the two of them away from Cardin's mace slam, but could do nothing to avoid or prevent the following shockwave. The girl screamed against his chest as Jaune saw them rolling towards the edge of the ring, and swore before he flipped his grip on Crocea Mors and stabbed the blade into the arena to try and bleed off some of the momentum.
The girl stopped screaming seeing that they were approaching a ring out, and began pulling the trigger on her weapon, firing off big shots from her rifle to help the blonde in not getting sent out of bounds together. Managing successfully, Jaune quickly twisted and tossed her away, and kicked her rifle as she dove for it, sending it a few meters away and buying himself a few precious seconds to immerse himself in the crowd of fighting before she would recover and begin firing upon him.
Glynda watched the battle royale with minor interest, instead choosing to focus on particular students and what each of them really had to show. But most surprising so far in the opening moments of the battle was Jaune. He anticipated that someone was likely going to open the battle with a wide range attack, not aiming at causing any damage, but trying to send a few people, even just one, out of bounds.
After that, he didn't keep himself idle like he normally did either, he managed to avoid taking a heavy blow from Cardin, and then from being capitalized upon by May Zedong. He did make an error in not attempting to toss her out of bounds when he had the opportunity, but he did kick her weapon away at least before seeking cover.
'Very interesting Mr. Arc. Show me what else you can do on this kind of battlefield.'
Having managed to elude Cardin and leave behind the unknown sniper, Jaune found himself occasionally having to duck beneath a slash or block an attack that was meant for someone else. Escaping the large cluster on his side of the ring, Jaune saw that he had another moment of safety, and looked up to the holoprojection to see that in the first three minutes, eight people had been eliminated, all by ringout.
Hearing a familiar sound, Jaune's eyes widened before he expanded he moved his shield in between himself and the human cannonball that was Russel Thrush. The blonde had to avert his eyes a bit to avoid the sparks the R of team CRDL was creating as he spun against his shield. A second later, the wild looking teen kicked off of Jaune's shield before righting himself in the air and standing across from the blonde with a smirk on his face.
Jaune readied himself for a face off against Russel, but found himself lost for words as the mohawk sporting teen fell victim to a rather ruthless attack from behind: a kick between the legs. Looking at who put Russel down for the moment, he was greeted with the sniper from earlier, who was now taking aim at him. Knowing he was in danger, Jaune blocked the first shot from her rifle with his shield, before running to reimplement his strategy from earlier.
Unfortunately, such an out wasn't in the cards as a giant broadsword was slammed down in his way, causing him to look at its wielder and meet eyes with Sage from team SSSN. The larger teen opened his mouth to speak, but wasn't given the chance as Jaune quickly moved and slipped past him, causing May to land a shot on the dark-skinned teen instead.
The next fifteen minutes in the ring were chaos, as Jaune didn't once launch a proactive offensive on anyone, but instead redirected whatever attention was focused on him onto others, and slipped away to a better location.
'Impressive. He hasn't taken a serious blow once so far, but he's managed to create several situations that led to his opponents eliminating others instead of him. He may not even realize it, but his movements and decisive decision making led to a full eleven students getting eliminated by his get-hit-and-run strategy.'
Glynda watched as the blonde of team JNPR proceeded to execute his strategy again, this time practically walking Nolan from team BRNZ into a heavy mace strike from Cardin, sending him well out of bounds.
Jaune however, knew that things couldn't keep going on like this. More than half of the students had been eliminated from the ring at this point, either by getting caught up against the peppy ginger from Atlas, one of Weiss's big area attacks, or by deciding to enter the center of the ring to challenge Pyrrha.
Having a moment to himself near the edge of the ring, Jaune looked up to the holoprojection and saw that there were thirty-one students left in the battle royale. The majority of those who'd been eliminated by aura percentage came from Pyrrha who was standing there in the center of the large ring, alone with a few students eyeing her, wondering who would try to take her down next.
The spartan's aura was well above seventy-percent, despite the fact that she'd singlehandedly eliminated ten combatants on her own. The ginger from Atlas, Penny it said on the holo, was in the sixties, impressive since she had seven takedowns to her name. And Weiss was in the fifties, but she held the third highest number of takedowns behind Pyrrha and Penny, coming in at six.
Everyone from his team and team JNPR had at least one takedown to their names, except for him. He'd managed to last longer than anyone likely would have expected from him, but now, the only ones left in the ring besides him were the students who always performed well in combat.
A look revealed that he could go after either one of the two fatigued members of team CRDL that were still in the arena. Another showed that he could attempt to take someone down from team ABRN or BRNZ. If he was feeling really ambitious, he could attempt to ambush someone from team SSSN or NDGO. But he didn't dare challenge one of his friends. Just a look at the other members of his team, the ever impressive girls of team RWBY, and even Penny had him feeling…
'...What is that feeling?'
Glynda felt something shift in the atmosphere before goosebumps ran across her skin, watching as Jaune stood from where he'd been crouched at the edge of the arena. The disciplinarian felt that something was different with the blonde leader, and that no matter what, she shouldn't look away from whatever it was he was about to show everyone.
'All this time…I've been thinking about things wrong. All wrong. I need to kill the thoughts of "Try to stay in as long as possible" or "Hold off until my team can help me". Instead of "try not to lose," it's gonna-no it's gotta be "I'm going to win!" The only way for me to change…is to go after-"
"The strongest one here."
Glynda's eyes widened as Jaune muttered to himself as he pulled Crocea Mors from the ground before looking off towards the center and beginning to walk there, breaking into a run moments after. The students around her finally noticed where she was looking before they all began to shout seeing what was about to unfold.
Pyrrha had just managed to repel her old rival, Arslan Altan, before her instincts screamed at her and she turned to find herself locking blades with-
"Jaune!?"
Everyone in the arena looked on in disbelief that Jaune had actually decided to challenge someone, especially since it was his partner who many believed to be the strongest of the first years. The light sparks that came from their blade lock gave Pyrrha a chance to look in her partner's eyes, before her own widened as she saw the look he was wearing.
For the first time since she'd met him, he wasn't looking at Weiss, zoning off, daydreaming, or pitying himself. For the first time ever, his attention was solely on her.
On beating her.
Pyrrha knew what Jaune was capable of to date, but she couldn't help the grin that overwhelmed her as it spread across her face, seeing the pure state of focus Jaune was visually dissecting her in.
Their blades held a moment longer before she shifted the balance, attempting to throw her partner off to land a slash on him once he was vulnerable. But as she turned to land a slash, Jaune did the most unexpected thing, and lifted a leg up before kicking towards her, creating space and pushing her towards a few of the others in the arena who were currently charging towards Pyrrha, them having felt emboldened by Jaune's sudden bravado.
Jaune wasn't safe from being a target either, this time being targeted by Cardin, Russel, May, and Sage. But as Ms. Goodwitch watched the blonde deadlast dodge, parry, and lead the four into each other; she noticed something odd. The entire time he was being constantly flanked and attacked by the four, he positioned himself in a way that was much less strategic than he normally would.
"Wait…"
Glynda had to do a double take to make sure she wasn't imagining it, but upon closer inspection, she was right. He wasn't even looking at the four first years trying to take him down, his eyes were kept on Pyrrha the entire time, focusing to the point where she was sure he'd drool if he kept that blank gaze any longer. But the more the deputy headmistress continued to watch, occasionally turning her head to observe Pyrrha for the briefest of moments before shifting her focus back to Jaune, everything started to fall into place.
She watched as Pyrrha jumped over an opponent from team NDGO, before landing and pivoting on her foot to slash the back of the girl she'd leapt over. Turning her eyes back to Jaune, it seemed as if he was frozen in place before he did something extremely familiar, and jumped over Sage before leaving a slash across his back.
Jaune Arc was imitating everything Pyrrha did a few seconds after she did it, but as she continued to watch, Ms. Goodwitch saw him begin to replicate her movements slightly faster and faster, growing more accurate each time, causing her eyes to widen at the only possible explanation behind what was unfolding before her eyes.
Slowly but surely, the intervals between Jaune seeing Pyrrha move and him mimicking her actions were beginning to shorten. Cardin however, not having been able to get a solid or satisfying hit on the blonde was long past the limits of his patience, and charged in alone.
"Just stand still and stop trying to be something you're not Jau-"
Cardin's outrage was cut off by a vicious counterattack in the form of Jaune imitating Pyrrha once again, smashing the pommel of his sword into the mace wielder's gut and taking the wind out of him. As Cardin fell to a kneel coughing up a bit of spittle, Jaune muttered to him as he kept his eyes solely on Pyrrha.
"...I need you to be quiet, Cardin. I'm about to get to the good part…"
Cardin looked up at Jaune confused, but felt his blood freeze at the expression he was wearing. Jaune continued to focus on Pyrrha, and in just one moment, he saw something that no one else did.
An opening.
Before any of the three others that had been attacking him with Cardin could stop him, he shot past them and got into Pyrrha's space, something she became critically aware of feeling the intent to attack rolling off Jaune. Turning around, her eyes widened at just how far into her comfort zone he'd invaded, but upon seeing how close the thrust of his sword was to her back, realized that a normal counter was out of the question. Him getting behind her distracted her from the enemies she'd been fending off, and him behind her meant that the only way out was to use her semblance.
A deep breath preceded a wave of Pyrrha's semblance getting blasted outwards from herself. Jaune's eyes widened as he found himself flying towards the edge of the arena, being propelled by the shield strapped to his arm and his sword. Pyrrha's eyes were focused on him as he was rapidly approaching a ring out, wondering what her partner would do next.
To her surprise, despite the look of alarm the blonde wore, his eyes didn't leave her for a moment. The leader of team JNPR tried to free his arm from the straps of the shield, but had no such luck. For a moment, both Glynda Goodwitch and Pyrrha thought that this was where the blonde would be eliminated, though he put up a rather impressive performance thus far.
But Jaune was having none of it. Changing where the tip of his sword pointed, he managed to drag the razor sharp blade across the straps holding the shield to his arm before releasing his grip on Crocea Mors. He fell to the ground, just at the edge of the arena but still in bounds, but unfortunately his weapons were too far to retrieve where they now lay out of bounds.
He made his way to his feet, his eyes now locked with Pyrrha who smiled in delight that her partner surprised her by managing to stay in the battle, despite the cost. But unfortunately, there wasn't much hope for him in anyone's eyes now that he was disarmed, but at least everyone saw that he had more to give in the future. That was the line of thought Pyrrha was chasing as she gazed at her partner. Jaune however, was having none of it, and upon seeing that Pyrrha had no intent of attacking him as an opponent now that he didn't have Crocea Mors, grit his teeth before running towards her again.
Her eyes widened as Jaune dashed towards her again, before she quickly put up her guard again. She expected for him to throw a clumsy punch, or attempt a kick that would leave himself open, but instead he took a lower position when he was close enough and moved to either attempt to tackle or grapple her. The spartan teen's eyes widened in alarm as she jumped back to not allow Jaune a chance to create the opportunity he wanted, before Jaune quickly kicked off the ground and closed the distance as his hands reached not for her, but for Miló and Akoúo̱.
Pyrrha managed to swing her arms away and twist into a flip before skidding back, letting out a breath she didn't expect to have lost in that moment of surprise, before she looked at Jaune again, her expression morphing to one of shock upon seeing the trance he was in as he looked at her.
She could faintly hear him muttering something about a weapon, but decided to keep her guard up to see what her partner would do next, the others still in the ring stopping to watch the exchange with baited breath to see what might come of this face off.
Jaune looked at her, still in a trance as his mind remembered one the evaluations he'd gotten after a round in combat class.
'Mr. Arc, though I commend your tactical prowess, the many openings you manage to create only matter if you can capitalize on them. Too many times in this fight, and many others, I've seen you in an advantageous position only for you to not act fast enough because you were thinking too much.'
Jaune's thoughts lingered on that memory for a moment before a different thought came to his mind.
'Sorry Ms. Goodwitch, but you're wrong. It's not that I'm thinking too much, it's that I'm not thinking nearly enough. That's what has been holding me back, along with my body and mindset. But since neither of those are problems anymore, the only thing left for me to do is to speed up my thought processes. I wonder what would happen if…'
Jaune didn't know it at the time, but what he just began to do after that thought trailed off within his mind was breaking a rule that many were too afraid to. Using aura on your weapon is an everyday occurrence for a hunter. Using aura to enhance your physical strength, speed, and durability takes some training, but nothing too out of the ordinary. But, there are two things that hunters generally never touch with their aura: their heart, and their brain.
Jaune was using aura to assist his brain in attempting to improve his perception, as well as speed up his inputting and visualization. Had he tried doing this when he wasn't so hyper focused on the goal of beating Pyrrha, any number of things could've gone wrong, but by either a miracle or hidden talent, Jaune managed to overclock his brain.
Pyrrha watched intently as Jaune's expressions shifted from the trance-like state he'd been in, to a look of even deeper focus, before falling into blank wonder as even his arms fell to his side. For a moment, she thought something was wrong before he began to take a stance.
Her jaw nearly dropped as her eyes widened, seeing the blonde taking the same stance she had. But while that impressed her, that wasn't what had her so floored. It was how flawless his imitation of her was. The only thing he was missing was-
"Hey Pyrrha…"
The crimson haired girl perked up before she gave a nod to her partner from behind her shield.
"You remember a few weeks ago when you got mad at me for talking down about myself?"
The girl's expression softened as she responded to her partner.
"Jaune…"
The blonde gave the girl a smile for the first time since they'd entered the arena.
"I decided you're right. That's why I'm not gonna talk myself down like that anymore; because…"
Everyone's eyes widened as the knightly teen's hands began to glow.
"I've decided that right here, right now, I'm going to win!"
Everyone present fell breathless as white and gold copies of Miló and Akoúo̱ appeared in his hands. Jaune stood there mimicking his partner's form with imitations of her weapons in his hands, and Pyrrha felt a few tears beginning to well in her eyes. She briefly rubbed them away before giving her leader a challenging smile as she banged her spear against her shield.
Jaune prepared to charge, and the spartan was surprised that even the way he ran at her was an imitation of how she would've done so. Once he was close enough, the two began a dance that no one felt should be interrupted. It was like watching a world class fighter trying to beat their reflection. Everything Pyrrha did, Jaune imitated.
A thrust high met with one of its own, a sweep aimed low canceling itself out, a slash of the javelin held from much lower on pole clashing against a perfect copy of itself. For Jaune, he was really testing himself, seeing what he was worth against the strongest of his peers, but for Pyrrha, she was exhilarated. Her partner was showing everyone what he could do, she was getting a rare battle that she was starting to enjoy, and best of all, Jaune's attention was her's alone right now.
Jaune and Pyrrha disengaged from each other, both of them throwing their shields at each other. The two circular shields met in the air before shooting back at their respective wielders, before Pyrrha decided to go on the attack for the first time in their bout. Jaune banged his shield with the javelin copying her gesture from earlier, before she prepared a slash knowing that it would likely be intercepted by the same exact move from him.
This was when the blonde decided to surprise everyone again, as instead of mirroring her attack pattern move for move as he had been for the last few minutes, he stabbed the javelin into the ground before using it to swing around and deliver a solid kick to her midsection, sending her away before taking the javelin and flipping it into its rifle form, shooting at her as she was in the air.
The girl grinned as Jaune began to use different moves than what she was, despite them still being hers. She flipped javelin into its xiphos form before she began to bat the bullets away with Miló and Akoúo̱. The blonde flipped his created copy of the three-form hybrid weapon into its xiphos form as well, much like how she did, before shooting off towards where she'd be landing.
Pyrrha, refusing to allow Jaune the upper hand, used her semblance to will her shield into a position that allowed her land and shoot off from it, giving her a stronger momentum as she prepared to clash with Jaune, before willing Akoúo̱ to shoot back towards her hand.
Jaune, still with that blank look of focus, switched approaches seeing that he'd committed too far into his approach and that Pyrrha was in a better position to win a clash than him in this scenario. Thinking quickly, he threw his copy of her shield to meet hers in the air, and with the position the throw put him into, chose to and follow through the motion just before Pyrrha's blade would've connected with him.
The spartan girl's eyes widened as her blade was guided along Jaune's own that he held in a reverse grip as he continued to turn. She prepared to land into a handspring so that she could launch back up to her feet, but just as one of her hands touched the ground, she found that Jaune chose to spin instead of stopping his turn, and swept his leg out, knocking her hand out from under her and leaving her in shock.
For the first time in forever, she'd almost been left completely vulnerable.
Almost.
With an awareness that could only be honed over years of training, she used her semblance on her leg armor, and landed a vicious kick under the ribs of her partner, momentarily stunning him as she landed on a foot before gracefully jumped away and back to a standing position.
She turned back to face her partner, but found that he was-
'Below!?'
Disbelief wrote itself over Pyrrha's features as she looked down to see that the blonde had closed the distance between them, panting as a hand rested on her stomach just below her chest. Normally, the champion would have blushed at the touch from her partner, but she had been intent on giving him everything she had until the inevitable happened, which sadly seemed close.
The blonde didn't see that Pyrrha had used her semblance to summon back her shield, and it was rapidly approaching the side of his head while the girl looked down to her partner and let a thought surface in her mind.
'Sorry Jaune, but this is checkmate. My fighting style is something I created to work in harmony with my semblance. Your imitation of my form is impeccable, but you can't beat me using only half of my arsenal. But you should be proud, you've given me a better fight than anyone else has in a long time.'
Everyone spectating, both in and out of the ring, watched as they seemed to realize and accept that this was the end of the line for Jaune, despite the impressive performance that he'd shown everyone. Glynda's grip on her holopad tightened as she waited, feeling that her student wasn't done surprising everyone.
And he was not.
Jaune spun around to face the shield that was fast approaching his skull, thrusting a hand towards Akoúo̱, and the everyone felt their breath hitch in their throat as the shield completely halted just in front of his hand.
Glynda's holopad fell to the ground as she and everyone else watched with dropped jaws, because Jaune just used Pyrrha's semblance.
There was a stillness in the air, as no one, not even Pyrrha, knew what to do in that moment. Jaune, however, didn't have that problem, and quickly turned before using the copied semblance to propel the real Akoúo̱ into his partner's stomach. Unprepared for such an event, she took the full force of the blow without any protective measures with her aura, and saw black at the edges of her vision as she was sent towards the edge of the arena's ring.
That blow took out a large portion of her aura, but as she coughed up spittle during her flight, she had enough awareness and resilience to change Miló into its javelin form before desperately throwing it where she projected she'd slide out of the ring. While the maneuver worked, she was unfortunately unable to twist into a better position as she slammed into the javelin with her stomach again, causing her to cough up more spit as she laid there for the next few moments.
Jaune stood there, in the center of the ring, alone. Looking up at the sky as he felt something he couldn't explain. A brief scan around him showed that individual fights were breaking up and everyone was debating what to do now that he was in the space of the ring reserved for the strongest.
He noticed his partner struggling to get to her feet as something she said during one of their rooftop training sessions came to mind.
"Jaune…Thank you, for just treating me as Pyrrha of team JNPR, instead of Pyrrha, The Invincible Girl. I…can't explain how much it means to me that you're willing to interact with me like just a girl, instead of putting me on a pedestal like everyone else."
Jaune thought about that moment as he stood there, his mind beginning to shift as he saw some of the other first years in the ring take a step towards him.
'A pedestal huh…The teachers treat Pyrrha like she's an example for the rest of us to follow, and the others in our year see winning against Pyrrha as the ultimate trophy. She's the best, and everyone agrees on that, which makes everyone else…challengers.'
Everyone's attention was shifted as the imitations of Miló and Akoúo̱ began to glow before turning into light and shooting towards Jaune's dominant hand, him still in thought as he was approaching a revelation.
'No one's gonna put me on a pedestal. If I want that, I'm going to have to put myself on one, and force myself to meet the same standards and expectations Pyrrha had thrust on her. Just being able to not be a liability was never enough for me, and now, just winning isn't enough for me, and only beating someone stronger than me won't cut it either. I want to have challengers. Which means the only thing I can do is become the strongest.'
Jaune looked up, now set in his thoughts and ambition, to see a multitude of ranged attacks closing in on him. His gaze shifted and fell on Ruby, the first friend he made at Beacon before her eyes widened as he exploded into a flurry of white rose petals and evaded the onslaught.
The first years watched as the petals traveled through the air for a moment, before dropping straight down and beginning to reform into the blonde where he'd been standing in the center of the ring moments before. As he stood to his full height, a gasp was heard from Ruby Rose as in his hands was an ivory and gold copy of Crescent Rose, but that wasn't what had everyone else's attention: that was reserved for the way the blonde stood there as he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.
"Shit! I'm having way too much fun right now. If I'm not careful, I'll throw myself off…but I can't help it…after all…"
The blonde looked up and met the faces of everyone else ahead of him, revealing the look of pure focus in his eyes, paired with a grin so positive and confident that it would've looked out of place on him before today as he finished his sentence, ready to take on everyone else in the ring with him.
"I'm fucking amazing."
And he completely believed it, and in that moment, so did everyone else.