Author's Note:First off, apologies for dropping off the radar with no explanation since the last update. Life and work kept me busy so it was hard to get in the mood to write even if I find free time. Plus, my country is experiencing quite the nasty heatwave so for those readers experiencing the same thing, do your best to keep cool and hydrated!
Anyways, please enjoy the chapter. Also, apologies for some potential cringe though your mileage may vary. I'll jabber on some more at the end as usual.
Jaune yawned out loud out of boredom…well, as loud as one can be within one's own subconscious as Ozma was in control of his body right now, talking with Oobleck. The reason for his boredom was that he had nothing to while Ozma talked to Oobleck about his ancestor.
Normally, he'd be interested in hearing more of his grandfather's stories, especially this one in particular. His great great grandfather, who had become a soldier at that point, had taken part in a fierce three way battle with the forces of two rival noble houses. However, the battle was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a horde of grimm, forcing the three armies to retreat. During the chaos, they were ambushed by a pack of beowolves that had overwhelmed the lord's bodyguards. Fortunately, Jaune's ancestor had rallied those around him to slay the grimm and save their lord, earning their trust and gratitude.
However, Ozma and Oobleck had been debating on the details of the story, from which battle it might have been to which noble houses that took part in said battle for so long that it bored him to nonexistent tears.
He didn't complain since he didn't want to make Ozma feel bad. He was all for helping Ozma out but he hadn't realized that talking about family history would be this boring! Fortunately, he was saved from his boredom when he heard a series of knocks on the door to Oobleck's office.
"Come in!" Oobleck called out and the door opened, revealing Pyrrha standing by the doorway.
"Hello, Pr-Doctor Oobleck." Pyrrha corrected herself when Oobleck's brow visibly twitched, "I'm here to pick up my partner."
"Ah, has that much time passed already?" Oobleck said, looking up at his watch. "It appears that we'll need to pick this up next time, Mr Arc."
"Of course, Doctor. I'm looking forward to it." Ozma replied.
'That makes one of us at least.' Jaune grumbled to himself before Ozma gave him back control of his body and got up to join Pyrrha by the door, "Thanks for picking me up, Pyrrha."
"Happy to help." Pyrrha smiled.
"So how did your Dust class with Weiss and Ruby go?" Jaune asked. He and Pyrrha had applied for Practical Dust Applications but he didn't get accepted while Pyrrha did get in. Apparently, he required more basic knowledge on Dust beyond 'colorful rocks go boom'. Professor Peach had not been amused when he made that joke and kicked him out of her class. Guess his dream of adding elemental attacks to his repertoire was still a while off. On the bright side, he still got to see Weiss during Leadership class at least.
"It was fine was usual, though Ruby did cause a small incident in class." Pyrrha answered.
After spending so much time with Ruby at the forge, Jaune started to realize how reckless Ruby could become when she became too absorbed with something and couple that with Dust…
"No one got hurt, right?"
Pyrrha shook her head, "Thankfully, no. Weiss stepped in before things got out of hand…though Ruby did get an earful from Peach as well as detention to clean up the mess she made. Wess was not happy to say the least."
"I can imagine." Jaune sighed in relief as he conjured up a mental picture of a visibly annoyed Weiss standing watch as a remorseful Ruby cleaning up the Dust Lab.
Ozma chuckled at the amusing thought, making Jaune smile.
"What about you, Jaune? Any progress on your family history?" Pyrrha asked.
"Eh, hard to say." Jaune said noncommittally as he hadn't really paid any attention to what Ozma and Oobleck talked about after things became boring. "Me and Oobleck-"
"Oobleck and I." Pyrrha corrected.
"Right! Well, we kind of got stuck on stuff and just been trying to figure out what really happened."
"I see…though I'm amazed that you were able to keep up with Doctor Oobleck so well. It almost like you're a different person when you're with him." Pyrrha pointed out, "I'm almost a little jealous…which I'm not!" she hastily added, her cheeks flushed red ever so briefly.
Though Jaune missed it as he was giving Ozma the mental equivalent of a stink eye for making him act out of character. Now Pyrrha probably thought he was a weirdo that liked to hang out with the teachers over other students.
'Technically, I am one of your teachers so does that count?' Ozma quipped.
'Hush you! Oww!" Jaune hissed as he reached for his back.
"Jaune, you okay?" Pyrrha asked worriedly.
"Yeah, my back is just a little stiff. Guess sitting down for three hours straight didn't do me any favors." Jaune said while rubbing at his back. "Guess I need to stretch my muscles a bit."
"Hmm, I think I have an idea on how to do that."
Jaune quirked his eyebrow at this.
"Argh!" Jaune shouted as he crashed into the ground of the arena, tumbling back before using the momentum to roll himself back onto his feet, sword and shield raised just in time for the latter to block Pyrrha's blade. "You know this wasn't what I had in mind by stretching my muscles, right?" he complained between gritted teeth out as he pushed back against Pyrrha's sword.
"It worked, didn't it?" Pyrrha retorted cheekily before leaping out of the way of his sword swipe and performed a familiar acrobatic flip in the air during which she shifted her sword into its rifle mode and fired at him.
Jaune grunted as the rounds pinged off his shield and launched a quick but weak 'Air Slash' towards Pyrrha who easily blocked it with her shield, letting the condensed aura disperse against it. Immediately after she landed, she switched her weapon back into a spear and charged towards him. He narrowed his eyes as he reinforced his body with more aura and launched himself forward to meet Pyrrha's attack head on.
When Pyrrha suggested they spar in the training rings to loosen up his muscle, he agreed as he had sparred with her and the other members of his team for the past couple of weeks. It helped them learn more about each other's fighting style and how to better work together as a team and Jaune had learned quite a lot about his team's individual fighting styles.
Nora for example, preferred to fight up close with her warhammer and the power behind her swings with it was almost on par with that of the giant deathstalker which he found out after his first and only attempt to block it took out a good chunk of his aura while also leaving his arm numb long after the fight. Suffice to say, he learned to avoid her hammer whenever they sparred. Her grenades on the other hand…let's just say that trying to dodge high explosives was easier said than done. And trying to block them was a terrible idea.
Ren was the complete opposite as he preferred using hit and run attacks as he would stay on the move, peppering him with shots with his dual pistols to pin him down. Then he would dash in to strike him with his blades and dash away. Slowly chipping away at his aura and wear him down while leaving his own untouched.
Ozma called it death by a thousand cuts though he preferred to call it stings from a thousand shots as getting hit by them really stung. This forced him to improve on using his shield to deflect most of Ren's shots. Though Ren's true skills laid in his martial arts and use of aura channeling. Thankfully, it didn't implode him from the inside out like it did the deathstalker, though it still delivered an unexpectedly explosive amount of force that rivalled Nora's swings though it required a lot of energy to use so it was rarely used.
Pyrrha however, was in a whole different league altogether. Where he could dodge Nora's hammer, he couldn't do the same with his partner's rapid combinations of sword swings and spear thrusts that were supplemented by gunfire. Trying to block her attacks like he does with Ren's wasn't that effective either as she would go for his blind spots or break open his guard with strikes that were heavier than they appeared, probably thanks to her semblance.
The only reason he had been able to last so long against Pyrrha was by using 'Reinforcement' on his whole body throughout the fight. While the effect of using the technique on his whole body was weaker when compared to reinforcing specific parts of his body, as well as more costly, it still allowed him to keep up with his partner, albeit barely.
Even with his speed and strength enhanced, he still had a hard time landing a solid hit as Pyrrha would often dodge his attacks by the smallest of margins or deflect them at the last moment before countering with a punishing blow. The only thing that worked so far was his 'Air Slash' but the technique only worked in a straight line and Pyrrha learned to avoid it after the first few times he had used it on her so he needed to-
'Duck!' Ozma's voice called out.
Jaune immediately did so, just in time to see Pyrrha's shield flying past where his head had been. He thanked Ozma for the warning before resuming his charge towards Pyrrha for a shield tackle though it was actually a feint as he pumped aura into his sword for a point blank 'Air Slash'.
However, before he could get close enough to enact his plan, he heard a distinct Clang! from behind him. Just as he wondered what it was, he barely heard Ozma shout, 'Get down!' before his vision painfully exploded into stars. This was followed by the sudden sensation of momentary weightlessness from being knocked off his feet and then falling which ended in more pain.
"Ugh…" Jaune groaned as he cracked his eyes open to see Pyrrha standing over him with the tip of her spear pointed down at him. Realizing the position he was in he let out a sigh before raising his hands in surrender, "You got me again."
Ozma noticed the corner of Pyrrha's mouth turn down into a frown, as if she was disappointed by the victory before it curled up back into her usual smile before putting away her weapon and offered Jaune her hand which he accepted.
"Thanks." Jaune said as she helped him up. "Good match."
"Yes, it was. You were impressive back there." Pyrrha complimented.
'Agreed, you're getting better at planning ahead in combat.' Ozma praised, 'However, you need to work on your situational awareness…in more ways than one.' Ozma grumbled to himself before continuing his lecture, 'Just because you're facing a single opponent does not mean you should ignore your surroundings.'
'Duly-oww! and painfully, noted.' Jaune hissed as he rubbed the back of his head where Pyrrha's shield hit him.
"Jaune, are you alright? I didn't hit you too hard, did I?" Pyrrha said guiltily.
"I'm fine. It's just some cuts and bruises. Nothing my aura can't fix." Jaune assured her. "Though my head's ringing a little from that last hit but it'll probably pass."
"Sounds like it could be a concussion. Would you like me to take you to the infirmary to see Doctor Tsune?" Pyrrha offered.
"Yeah, I-"
'No, absolutely not! Unless you are in danger of losing either life or limb, I forbid you from letting that woman anywhere near us.' Ozma ordered in an overly serious tone.
"Actually, I feel fine. We don't need to bother Doctor Tsune." Jaune said, not wanting to hear more of Ozma's complaints about the fox faunus's odd fascination with pain.
"Still, I'd feel a lot better if you go see her. Please Jaune, for me?" Pyrrha insisted with a pleading look in her eyes.
'Do it and I'm drinking the most bitter coffee Beacon has on offer.' Ozma threatened.
"I, er…Umm…" Jaune stuttered, unsure on what to say that would placate both Ozma and Pyrrha.
"Perhaps I can be of assistance here." someone spoke up and the pair turned to see Ren walking up to them. "Doctor Tsune taught me how to check for concussions last week so I can help check."
"Yes please!" Jaune exclaimed, feeling grateful for the lifeline Ren just gave him.
"Awww, Ren! Things were about to get juicy too!" Nora pouted she popped up from behind Ren.
After living with Nora for the past few weeks, Jaune learned to not take her words too seriously, most of the time. Growing up with seven sisters certainly helped him on that front.
"J-ju-juicy?!" Pyrrha stammered before looking away with her face beet red.
"Relax, Pyrrha. Nora's just messing with us." Jaune assured her. After all, what's so juicy about him and Pyrrha training alone together?
'…' Ozma sighed.
"Oh…right." Pyrrha laughed sheepishly before clearing her throat to change the subject, "Anyways, what are you two doing here?"
"Well, I was waiting for Jaune to come back to our room for his lesson on aura channeling when I received a message that said our team had booked a training room. So I came to check." Ren replied before pulling his scroll out of his sleeves and showed them the notification as proof.
"Oh yeah…it kind of slipped my mind. Sorry about that, Ren." Jaune said as he smiled sheepishly. "Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"
Ren shook his head, "No need for that. I'm already gaining plenty from observing your aura during our lessons anyway."
"Ooh! Ooh! Renny! I got an idea." Nora cut in excitedly, "Tell Jaune-Jaune to make a rule that we eat pancakes for breakfast everyday!" she had a dreamy look on her face as some drool came down the corner of her mouth.
"Nora, I already make you pancakes for breakfast everyday." Ren pointed out while patiently wiping the drool off her face with a tissue he pulled from his sleeves.
"Oh yeah! Nevermind then." Nora then skipped over to Pyrrha before leaning over and whispered something into her ears.
"Nora!" Pyrrha suddenly cried indignantly as her face turning red, which made Nora cackle with delight. Ren sighed as he shook his head at his partner while Jaune wondered what did Nora say to make his normally reserved partner to react like that and wondered if he should intervene. Then he recalled his sisters and thought better of it.
'Agreed. Less drama that way.' Ozma stated.
Jaune nodded before turning to Ren, "Anyway Ren, since you're here, can we have our lesson here instead?"
"Certainly, though only after I check if you have a concussion or not." Ren said as he took out a small first aid kit from his other sleeve.
"Sure…though I gotta ask, how do you fit so much stuff in there?" Jaune asked curiously.
"A lot of practice." Ren answered cryptically before taking a small flashlight from the kit and turned it on, "Now, look into the light…"
"Nora Smash!" came the gleeful battle cry as Nora slammed her hammer down on Pyrrha who quickly dived to the side, avoiding the hammer that instantly cratered the floor. Pyrrha jumped back in with a powerful dropkick to Nora's side that sent the Valkyrie flying towards the edge of the arena for a ring out.
However, Nora quickly recovered as she swung the back of her hammer down and drove the spike there into the arena floor, instantly stopping herself a few feet away from the edge of the ring. She then vaulted herself forward and used the momentum to pull her hammer out of the floor. She then shifted her weapon into its grenade launcher form and aimed it at Pyrrha who grew nervous at the manic grin on her face. Her grin widened as she pulled the-
"Nora! No explosives." Ren's voice called out, putting the match to a halt as Nora spun around to face Ren who was seated on a nearby bench with Jaune.
"Awww, but explosions are so much fun though, I even had a cool one liner ready too!" Nora whined.
"Nora…" Ren said sternly. The two stared at each other before Nora relented.
"Ugh! Fine! No explosions. But I want extra syrup on my pancakes, mister!" Nora demanded, leaving no room for rebuttal as she shifted her weapon back into its hammer form with a huff. She then turned to face Pyrrha who hadn't move from her spot the whole time, "Thanks for waiting."
"No problem, Nora. Ready?" Pyrrha asked while raising her weapons, relieved at the lack of explosions.
"You betcha!" Nora yelled as she charged forward, resuming their sparring match.
Ren sighed at the noise before turning back to Jaune and saw that he completely focused on his hand, which glowed brightly with the light of his soul. After making sure that he didn't have a concussion, much to Pyrrha's and Ozma's relief, the two of them started their lesson on aura channeling.
The lesson involved wrapping his hand in a layer of solid aura and maintaining it. Ren told him that it was a simple exercise to help beginners like him to get used to projecting his aura. However, while the exercise was simple, it certainly wasn't easy for Jaune as it required him to maintain the aura in his hand without discharging it like he was used to. Use too little and the projection would dim and sputter out but too much and it'd burst in a bright flash of light-
"Gah!" Jaune cried out as he was suddenly blinded.
-just like that.
This happened so often that Ren had started wearing sunglasses he had been keeping in his sleeves to protect his eyes. He had offered Jaune the another pair he had on him but Jaune declined after seeing the tacky heart shaped frame on it, opting to suffer for his mistakes instead rather than wear Nora's sunglasses.
"How about we take a break…and rest your eyes for a while." Ren advised.
"Man, this is harder than I thought." Jaune complained while rubbing the spots out of his eyes.
"Learning a new skill is rarely ever easy, doubly so for the art of aura channeling." Ren said as he took off the sunglasses, "Still, I am impressed with how much you've improved."
"Really? Cause it sure doesn't feel like it." Jaune grumbled skeptically.
"It's true. When you first started, your aura would usually burst almost as soon as you tried projecting it." Ren reminded, making Jaune feel self conscious as he recalled the many, many times he blinded himself by accident.
"And I'm still messing it up." Jaune grumbled.
"True, but you're now able to maintain your aura much longer now." Ren stated.
'He is right. It might not seem like much but you are improving little by little.' Ozma said. 'Plus, you have more than just me helping you out now.'
"Thanks." Jaune said to both Ren and Ozma, "I think I'm ready to get back to it. Think you could show me how it's done again? I wanna see if there's something I did differently."
"Of course, First, create a mental picture of your aura around your hand…" Ren explained as he patiently explained the process to Jaune while also demonstrating it to him.
Jaune nodded as he followed Ren's example and his hand soon started glowing once more. He smiled as he could feel his aura flowing more smoothly this time. This was it, he could feel it in his gut! After he learns how to properly project his aura he'll-
'Jaune, don't lose your-' Ozma warned but was too late.
"Gah! Not again!" Jaune cried, blinded once more by his aura.
'-focus…' Ozma sighed. It was going to be a long day.
"Damn it." Someone growled as he looked down at his scroll. He had wanted to train with his team in one of the training rooms only to find out that all of them were full. He became annoyed when his team complained about them coming here without booking one in advance but a quick glare shut them up real quick before he sent them off to look for an open room.
"Hmm…" he hummed when he saw that the door to one of the training rooms was left open and he heard the sound of fighting coming from it. He thought he could sit in and save a spot for his team after the team using the room was done. He then grinned as he thought he could learn some of their moves and use it against them in combat class.
He praised himself for the idea as he sneaked through the door and took a peek at the arena where he could see Nikos and Valkyrie fighting, destroying the arena floor in the process. Well, there goes that idea. There was no way he or his team could win against a team with the Pyrrha Nikos on it. Though while Nikos and Valkyrie were training, he could see Arc messing around with his aura to the side.
"Tch…" he sneered.
Why was Arc playing around with his aura like a first year in combat school instead of training like Nikos or Valkyrie was? He gritted his teeth in frustration at the thought of Arc slacking off just because he got the Pyrrha Nikos as his partner.
He bet Arc only passed Initiation by letting Nikos do all the heavy lifting and who cared if he took down some grimm in Port's class? Anybody in class could have done that and better too. And what's so impressive about taking down a hunk of junk one of the professors built in his Assessment Test? A tin can was still just a tin can.
Arc was a fraud and nobody else but him could see that. But how could he show everyone the truth? Come to think of it, he never really saw Arc fight in combat class before. Only Nikos was ever called up. So not only was Arc a fraud, he was also a coward! He grinned as he came up with a brilliant idea on how to expose Arc and make himself a look good at the same time.
He chuckled to himself as he walked away.
Author's Note: Gee, I wonder who that could have been. Sarcasm aside, we're going into the Jaunedice Arc soon though given how Jaune had received actual training and entered Beacon legitimately, there will obviously be quite a few changes. I got a few ideas I want to use like some of the pranks Cardin pulled in canon backfiring in some...creative ways.
As for Jaune's electives, you can tell that he tried to apply for Practical Dust Applications but got rejected since with Glynda in charge, the electives are more stringent with who gets to sign up for the class. I might make some omakes about the electives Jaune tries and fail to sign up for since I can't fit them in the main chapters. Guess we'll see.
And speaking of omakes, here's a little bonus segment for your enjoyment ;)
(Omake, semi-canon)
"Aargh, it burns…" Jaune hissed as he applied the eyedrops to his dry eyes before sighing in relief when the burning went away. "Aaah, much better…Thanks, Ren. My eyes were burning like crazy." he said as he passed the eyedrops back to Ren.
"Glad I could help." Ren said as he put the eyedrops back into the first aid kit before storing it inside his sleeves. "However, I suggest that you get some protective eyewear just to be safe."
'I agree. Considering you've essentially - what's the term again? Ah right - flashbanged yourself repeatedly for the past hour, I'm surprised you haven't develop a need for glasses.' Ozma teased.
'I thought I asked you to not use gamerslang again.' Jaune complained.
'I never said I won't. Though in all seriousness, do go buy some sunglasses if you're going to keep doing this. Aura or not, being blinded by flashes of light over and over is not good for you.' Ozma cautioned. The last thing he wanted was to have a host go permanently blind. It had happened before and it was not a pleasant experience to say the least.
"Okay. Guess I'll go down to Vale for some shopping this weekend." Jaune said as he pulled out his scroll to set a reminder for himself while also wondering how much it would cost him since things tend to be more expensive in the city
"By the way Jaune, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about." Ren asked which was interrupted by a soft but audible gasp from Nora.
"Sure Ren, what is it?" Jaune asked.
"Why do you want to learn how to use aura channeling?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Jaune asked, confused by the question.
"You already have a solid grasp of your own fighting style so why do want to devote your time and effort to learning aura channeling instead of refining the skills you already have?" Ren clarified.
"Well, my teacher taught me that I should always try to learn and experience new things. He also said that it's better to have options so I figured that learning aura channeling would be good for me." Jaune explained.
Ozma sighed as he had meant for Jaune to experience more in life and expand his personal horizon beyond his near obsessive desire to live up to his family legacy and yet the boy had misconstrued it encouragement to learn how to fight better. Thankfully, Jaune had his family to help him live a happy and largely incident free childhood.
"I see, so that's your reason for learning aura channeling." Ren stated in understanding.
"Well… I do have one more reason why I want to learn." Jaune added.
"Oh? What is it?" Ren was now curious.
Ozma was just as curious. While he was able to listen in on Jaune's thoughts on the surface, he had refrained from prying any deeper so as to give the boy some privacy. So he waited for Jaune to respond.
"Well, it sounds kind of dumb but the other reason I want to learn aura channeling is to try and see if I could project a sword with my aura." Jaune answered albeit hesitantly.
"...What?" both Ren and Ozma responded at the same time.
"You know how aura channeling is supposed to let you project your aura into different shapes to fight? Well, I thought that it might be possible to make a sword from my aura." Jaune answered. "What do you think?"
"It theoretically is possible… but why though? You have a perfectly good sword already." Ren said, pointing at Crocea Mors sheathed at Jaune's side.
"Well, I won't always have my weapon on me so I thought it would be handy in those situations." Jaune answered.
Ozma had to agree with the logic since he has been in fights where he didn't have a weapon. Maybe Jaune was on to something which was surprising since he often had flights of fancy, usually influenced by some show or game he liked. Perhaps the boy was finally maturing?
"Plus, wouldn't be cool to be able to summon a sword made of light?" Jaune said, his eyes sparkling in delight. "I could shout, 'Light! Come forth!' and bam! Aura sword!"
Or not. Ozma thought with a resigned sigh though he had expected as much. Still, as silly as reason for it may be, having options is a sound idea.
Meanwhile, Ren had a look of horror on his face as he uttered shakily, "By the Brothers…there's two of them."
Does this mean that Jaune will get a 'Spirit Sword'? No, not really. It's just a fun little nod to Imyoshi's story Silver where that Jaune got an actual 'Spirit Sword' though it won't stop this Jaune from trying.