Chapter 4

Pyrrha Nikos was worried.

She just watched her partner and crush walk towards the front of the class. Not something you usually worry about, but the fact that he's about to face grimm in Professor Port's class gives her a valid reason to worry about him right now. She's happy that Jaune is participating in class when he answered Professor Port's question earlier and showed them that he was actually being attentive, but she doesn't think it would still be safe for him to face multiple grimm at the same time.

Looking around at her friends, she notices most of them are worried. Ruby is already looking nervously at Jaune with her silver eyes, nervous enough not to cheer for him so she doesn't distract him. Weiss seems like she already knows Jaune would need help and looks at Professor Port preparing his weapon Blowhard beside the cage. Blake may not show any concern outwardly but she is already focusing her amber eyes on Jaune. Yang, not looking worried at all actually but still training her lilac eyes towards Jaune. Nora doesn't look worried at all, she looks more excited actually at what her fearless leader will do. Ren, looking straight faced at Jaune, not letting any of his nervousness or worry out. Everyone knows that Jaune isn't actually the most competent in combat right now, so it's understandable for them to be worried for his safety.

Letting out a nervous breath, Pyrrha faces forward again to keep her eyes on Jaune. Watching Jaune prepare himself, it's fortunate that he only needs to take off his blazer to wear his metal armor over his undershirt for additional protection. It's lighter than what he usually wears for combat but the metal chest plate would already be enough for her Semblance, Polarity, to move him to safety.

Keeping her eyes on Jaune, she prepares to use her semblance while he gets ready by drawing Crocea Mors and raising his shield. She's proud when Hearing him say ready, she takes a quick look at the cage beside Professor Port. Her eyes widen, when she sees it open suddenly and four beowolves rushing towards Jaune.

Four?! I thought it was just gonna be three because of its size! Jaune won't be able to take four at the same time! They'll overwhelm him with numbers!

Eyes wide in panic, she prepares her Semblance to help him defend against the grimm like how she helped him with the Ursa Major. She sees one of the young beowolves leap toward her partner, only for it to get cut in half by Crocea Mors.

What?

Eyes wide in panic, turns to eyes wide in surprise. It only widens further in more surprise when she sees Jaune shield himself with his eyes closed from the other young beowulf's attack on his extended swing.

"Wow! Jaune-jaune's doing pretty good! Did you teach him that last night?" Nora pipes up from beside her as they see Jaune push his shield forward to unbalance the young grimm and finishes it off with a slash.

"I only taught him how to keep his balance with his stance. This is a surprise to me too." She could only nod in response, it seems like Jaune is surprised too because he is also looking at his hands like he doesn't know how he did it. The next thing she hears is Professor Port telling Jaune to move.

I can't believe I lost focus! There's still two more enemies for Jaune to beat!

Seeing Jaune's shocked expression at the third grimm bearing down on him with its claw ready to swipe his head off, she starts to use Polarity to move him. Only for him to do something with his feet she doesn't see. The only thing she sees is Jaune is already falling forward below the swipe with his sword angled to stab through the grimm.

What was that? It looked like he tripped, but did he actually plan it to avoid the swipe and finish the beowolf off with a counter attack?

"Wooohoooo! Go Jaune! You can do it!" Pyrrha hears Ruby cheer from the side, now that the silver-eyed reaper could see that he can handle it with only one grimm remaining.

Pyrrha looks towards their other friends and notices that Weiss has her eyes widened in surprise, same as hers were actually. Blake has one of her eyebrows raised and a smile filled with curiosity aimed at Jaune. Yang has actually focused her eyes on Jaune with such an intensity you would think she was studying her prey. Ren has a small smile on his face, comforted by the fact that his leader seems to be more than what they thought he was. Meanwhile, Nora has a grin on her face happy that her fearless leader is actually finally showing off.

Turning towards Jaune in the front of the class, she sees him prepare himself. Shield raised, sword tight, feet wide, and eyes on the Alpha Beowolf rapidly approaching him. It looks like he doesn't want to be surprised this time. Seeing that Jaune has already surpassed her expectations, she tries to calm herself down from preparing to use Polarity earlier. If she thought Jaune already surprised her with how he did earlier, then the next series of events she bears witness to impresses her furthermore.

—-

You wanna dance big guy? Let's dance.

Looking at the Alpha Beowolf charging, Jaune Arc would describe it to be larger than him, more slender than regular beowolves, with bones pushing outward from its skull down towards it back, it has longer claws with bones appearing along its forearm and ribcage, and with muscles designed to push the beast to speeds faster than what a normal human can analysis would show the Alpha Beowolf as a predator that could kill you with size, speed, and strength, while still having some measure of protection from the bones acting as armor. In short, the Alpha Beowolf is an absolute unit meant to kill you and make it harder for you to kill it. And that absolute unit is currently charging towards Jaune Arc, with only about five large strides between them left.

Calm down Jaune, remember the basics of dancing, move to the right place at the right time with the right pace.

Waiting for the grimm to commit so it can't adjust to his steps, he gets the opportunity when it leaps toward him with two strides left between them.

Now! One step, two step, three strike!.

Stepping his left foot over his right, then moving his right foot across the left while keeping his body aimed towards the grimm, he strikes with a backswing from his sword while keeping his shield up to block any counterattack while following an imaginary beat. He hits its left hind leg and causes it to stagger when it lands.

It's working! I need to keep up the pace! You've killed an Ursa Major before, you can do this Jaune! Move forward! Don't let it recover!

With their positions reversed while the grimm's back is still towards him, he charges forward with his shield up at an angle. One step forward and the grimm turns right in time to use its forearm to smack him with a backswing. It hits his shield, but the shield does its job and deflects it away from his body. Two steps forward, and he is in striking distance, Jaune moves to slash the grimm's neck to make it flinch, but he ducks at the last second to avoid its right claw from piercing his head. With both arms out of position, he slices the beast's right arm off from its elbow, careful to avoid the bony spikes from its arms. Screaming in pain and outrage, the Alpha tries to move back to create some space. With one arm cut off and its left hind leg already injured, the Alpha can only stagger back with Jaune already pushing forward intent on pushing it down with his shield. As the Alpha falls on its back, he slices its left hand off to prevent any counterattack. With the grimm armless and already on its back, it only takes one slice from Crocea Mors to decapitate it.

Holy Oum! I did it! I actually did it! Thank you Pyrrha for teaching me to keep my balance! Thank you sisters for teaching me how to dance! Thank you dream for teaching me to keep my shield up!

Breathing heavily on top of the headless Alpha, he turns to look at his friends to see if this is actually real. He locks eyes with Pyrrha's surprised expression. He gives her a smile, trying to convey how thankful he is that she taught him last night. Before he can see her reaction, he turns to Professor Port.

"Bravo! Bravo, Mr. Arc. An excellent showing! You eliminated the two younger ones in quick succession, you killed the third one with a counterattack, thereby not wasting any time. And finally you faced off the Alpha not by just standing there and taking hits, but by using your footwork and aiming for its limbs first before finishing it off with a killing blow. Bravo Mr. Arc! To think you did all that in a small amount of time without taking any hits to your aura. Impressive. Thank you Mr. Arc. You may return to your seat"

I did what? I did that without taking any amount of damage in a small amount of time?! Holy Oum, I did!

Walking towards his table after taking off his armor and stashing it to the side, he still can't believe he did that. He hears his ginger teammate before seeing her rush towards him with a hug.

"Damn, fearless leader! You've been holding back on us! I can't believe you did that! You were like slash!, block! Whoosh! Then slice! Off with its head. Since when have you been holding back on us huh?!" Nora greets him enthusiastically, almost crushing him on her hug.

"Nora… can't….. Breathe!"

"Nora, put him down before you break him."

"Okay Renny!"

"Thank you Ren" He says while trying to get his breath back.

"It's no problem… Congratulations on your performance, regardless Nora raises a valid question. Judging from your previous…. performances it really is surprising what you did today." Ren states, not really saying the implied questions, "Did you hold back on us? Since when? Why?" Even Pyrrha is looking at him curiously, though still with a proud smile on her face.

"...I guess Pyrrha's tips to me last night really helped me out. Plus since I already decided to do some things differently today, I wanted to do my absolute best and be better than before. After all, it's a new day, a new me." He answers, not really sure how to explain that he got his moves from his dream. And that's another thing he needs to worry about, if the knowledge from the dream is useful, and the moves have helped already be better, what else can the dream help me with? And is it actually just a dream?

Oh wow, is this like X-ray and Vav Issue #69 wherein we are sharing memories with alternate versions of ourselves? Damn, all this thinking is already giving me a headache.

"... Well I'm glad that doing things differently is helping you out. If you need any help feel free to talk to us." Ren replies to his previous statement with a smile.

"Thanks Ren, I'll definitely do that." He replies while sitting down next to his partner giving his team a small smile.

"Congratulations Jaune, I'm proud of you." Pyrrha greets him with her own smile, this time free of worry and very sincere. He can only smile back and thank her.

Well, however I got this dreams it's already helping me, no use in wondering I got it. Still though.. Does this mean all the people I meet in my dream are real? Hmmm, guess I'll find out if I ever meet them.

With that thought in mind Jaune decides to continue his day, wondering how he can already breeze through Doctor Oobleck's History class, but more importantly, how to get through Professor Goodwitch's Combat Class later today.

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ko - fi lightbringer0