Chapter Fifteen

With a grunt, I took the blow, delivering one of my own, sending my opponent back a dozen feet, even as she spent another shot righting herself.

"You can't assume the other person will always block," I chided. "Tougher opponents will be willing to take it to hurt you, Grimm especially."

"Isn't that what you do all the time?" Yang shot back with a grin, darting forward once more. I'd left my sword and shield off to the side, still not up to snuff with them, and was relying on my fire-hardened gloves instead, even as I was reminded of why, no matter how cool they looked, fingerless gloves were not good armor.

The punches I could deal with, it was the damn shotgun on top that was giving me problems. Catching her first punch, I pushed her hand up, the blast from her weapon firing off to the side, even as she twisted with the deflection, her second coming right for my now open stomach.

With a moment of inspiration, I pulled her other hand up even higher, leaning into the blow, which hit my chestplate, the round exploding against it as well, shoving us both back. "Yes," I replied, "And it's bad when I do it on something other than my armor, but that's why we're both still training."

"Ugh, you sound like my dad," she scoffed, though she was smiling, blasting her weapon off behind her to shoot forward before I was ready, reaching in with her right arm for a punch.

Knowing that trying to meet her head on without being rooted was a bad idea, as the me-shaped crater I'd left in the wall twenty minutes ago would attest to, I instead reached out even as I fell backwards. Grabbing the descending fist as I fell. My back hit the hard floor as I kicked her upwards, sending her off-course, only for her to fire again as I tried to roll to my feet, blasting herself right back at me.

Letting my wings manifest for a moment, I used them to push off the ground as I twisted, almost dodging her, but still getting clipped. Her shotgun missed me, but I was still sent spinning crazily through the air needing my wings again to slow me down, landing against the wall on my hands and feet, launching myself off as she tried to follow, blasting out a bit of stone right where I'd been with a punch.

"Okay, I definitely need to work on this 3D movement bullshit," I spat, as Yang laughed, following me, but now that I had eyes on her she was easy enough to dodge, needing to point an arm away to change direction, telegraphing her vector shifts.

Dropping back to the ground, and getting a chance to root, she blasted down at me, and I moved to catch the blow, twisting to the side at the last moment to let it pass by instead. She hit the ground, cratering it, and tried to dodge, using the force of the shotgun going off to leap away, but she wasn't fast enough.

Stepping in to close the distance, I sunk a fist right into her hip, upside down as she was, blasting her off to the side, rolling, and unable to spring back to her feet. Glancing up, I saw she was only down to seventy-one percent Aura, so we were still good to go.

"Can't you hold back a little, Light-Knight?" Yang groaned, getting to her feet, massaging away the phantom feeling of pain.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize this was the Beacon Academy for Pretty Pretty Princesses," I smirked. "I thought this was a Huntsman academy. Besides, I thought I was sparring with Yang, not Weiss."

"Hey, no need for that kinda language," my fellow blond laughed. "So let me guess, 'Don't overextend?'"

I nodded, thinking of what I knew happened to her in Canon. "Meh, it's really just a different version of what I said before about myself. You're strong, but that doesn't matter if you don't hit, or hit something you can't damage. That goes for getting hit as well. I tank, but that's a bad habit that we both share, thinking we can take the Aura cost and hit our opponents. I have armor, kinda, so I can make someone hit that instead of somewhere vulnerable. You on the other hand, well, your outfit's nice, but you have no armor."

"Aw, like what you see?" she teased, darting forward. Keeping her blows more conservative, I didn't have any openings, and was surprised when a feint to my face, which she sharply pulled back, still set off her gun, blasting me off my feet.

I tumbled, trying to right myself, blinking away spots from my eyes, when Yang rushed me, another punch ready. Rather than eat that one too, I stumbled, flared my wings into existence just long enough to push me forward, and met her head on, pushing her extended fist to the side as I tackled her.

We went down in a mess of punches and kicks, but close in she lacked the speed and power needed to set off her shotguns. However, her slightly shorter limbs were still able to hit more effectively than I could as we both rolled across the ground.

Resisting the odd urge to bite, my fingerless gloves let my claws rake her sides, draining Aura, as we tried to fight for dominance. It was a whirl of action, more instinctual than anything, until I finally had her pinned under me. My hands held her wrists down as I straddled one of her legs, an ankle holding it down as she weakly tried to knee me with the other, neither limb having the leverage to do anything. We paused, locked together, both of us were breathing hard.

I looked down at her, flushed, hair splayed around her in a golden halo, and had to take a second to remember what we were talking about. Oh, right. "I'm a straight male, of course I like what I see, Yang. Especially now."

"Like your girls pinned down and helpless?" she teased, grinning up at me.

I laughed, "Like you're actually helpless. No, I like them strong."

Yang looked at me for a moment, before she surged up towards me. Ready for a head-butt, I was surprised when, instead, she came up in a kiss, using her pinned arms to lever herself up and arching her back to cross the distance.

Instinctually, I closed my eyes, leaning into the unexpected, but not unwanted, sensation. Part of me, a part that seemed like it was a bit separate, directed me, and I went along with the suggestions provided. It was a feeling somewhat like Faerie Feast, as I pressed my body down on her, not enough to force her to the ground, but to increase the sensation of pressure.

Shifting my grip, instead of pinning her wrists, I held her hands, palms meeting and fingers intertwining. Giving a throaty chuckle of enjoyment, I could feel her shiver in return, and I opened my lips a little, biting hers, not particularly gently, Aura keeping me from injuring her, but still giving her the sensation.

The kiss deepened, her pushing herself into my mouth, only for me to counter, fighting for dominance there as well. Following the perk-granted instincts, I shifted my torso a little, causing her to falter for a moment, shuddering as I realized I was rubbing her nipple through her shirt with my armor.

She bucked her hips trying to flip me, and I resisted it for a moment, making her drag herself against my thigh, before I fell backwards, pulling her along with me. Slipping her hands away from mine she clutched my head, dragging me in even as she hopped up to straddle my hips, rubbing against me even as I reached up, running my hands along her sides, timing it so my they reached her breasts, not directly, thumbs running along their sides, right as I gave a small thrust, just enough to show her how much I was enjoying this.

She shuddered, moaning into my mouth, before she tensed, and pulled back, sitting straight up. "I," she panted, breathing hard, "I gotta go."

"What?" I asked, confused, but she tried to get up, her legs buckling, as she fell to the side. Slamming a fist on the ground, she fired her weapon, using the blast to pick herself up and, stumbling, ran from the room.

"What?" I repeated, like a horny parrot, trying to figure out what'd just happened. From the wet spot on my jeans, I'd been doing everything right, and Yang had been very much enjoying herself, so what'd happened?

I wanted to guess she'd lost track of time and had something she needed to do, but, not only was that a Jaune level answer, pressed as she was against me, she couldn't have seen a clock. Collecting my weapons, I wondered if everything going right had been the problem. The kiss had come out of nowhere, not that I was complaining, but maybe she hadn't liked being pseudo-dominated?

Okay, no, she'd fuckin' loved it, not complete control, but a fight taken to a different 'field' as it were, my approach tweaked by my perk to make her feel as good as possible, but then. . . why'd she run?

I sighed, opening a portal back Home, needing to wash my pants, and relieve some. . . tension. With my luck, Blake would smell Yang on me and throw another fit if I didn't.

DR

Showered, and with my clothes in the wash, I wandered back to Remnant, and then towards the dorms, trying to figure out what to do next. The rest of this week's of class had been. . . okay. Port was still a blowhard, and Oobleck was still amazing. We'd kept working on activating Dust with Tim, practicing on doing so quickly, and with better control, a large target set up over the blackboard for us to try to hit. I had a feeling Cardin would've probably tried to 'accidentally' hit someone, but by virtue of class custom, the front row was now 'his', the near-universal disapproving looks from the rest of the class when he tried to sit in the back forcing him forwards.

No one wanted to get too close to Elemental Gallagher, and team CDNL, as well as team LVND, got that dubious honor of front row seats.

Glynda's class, the day after the shop class from hell, had been. . . interesting.

I'd admit now that I'd still been a bit depressed. I had a way to go forward, and Ruby had helped, as had Pyrrha, but feelings weren't so easily shifted. I'd barely paid attention to Port, though I'd got the relevant details, and then it'd been time for battle practice. I'd been called up in the middle of the bouts, and Goodwitch, looking around, had asked for volunteers.

"Oooh, me!" Nora had cheered, launching herself from the stands, landing and rolling onto the newly repaired arena, Ruby having put some cracks into it during the last fight. "You're bein' a gloomy gus, so I'm gonna beat you 'till you smile!" the hammer-wielder had announced with exuberance.

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way," I'd had to point out.

Nora, however, would not be deterred. "That just means they weren't hitting hard enough!"

"Remember, stop when the buzzer sounds," Goodwitch had remarked with a smirk, and retreated.

What had ensued was a protracted dodging session, as Nora had gone at me with everything she'd had, and I had only barely managed to avoid getting hit, too slow to capitalize on her openings. Finally, I'd put aside everything that'd happened and stopped playing her game, deflecting a blow instead of dodging, and slamming into her with a thrust that had sent her tumbling. She'd slammed the back of the hammer into the ground as she'd bounced away, stopping her flight and spinning around, running right back at me.

"Finally!" she'd pronounced, firing off her hammer to close in on me faster, starting a back and forth beat down that finally ended when, having lost my sword (not throwing it this time), I slammed her full in the face with a haymaker that'd sent her flying once more, the buzzer sounding even as I started to chase after her, as letting Nora Valkyrie get a running start only brought pain.

"Woo, I won!" she'd cheered, flat on her back, arms raised, even as I'd walked over to her.

"I'm pretty sure I won," I'd noted, reaching down and helping her to her feet, though she practically sprang up and over me as I did so.

Nora had shaken her head and poked me in the cheek. "Nope, like you said, different win condition thingies. I said I was gonna beat you to the smiled, and I'm pret-ty sure that's one right there!"

I'd tried to repress it, but that'd made my smirk just grow to a full-on grin. "That you did."

Nodding, she'd walked back with me. "And now that my theory's been proven, I need to use it on Ren!"

I'd paused, "Um, not sure that's gonna work. Also, can't he suppress his emotions with his Semblance?"

That'd caused the ginger to gasp as we reached the stands, pointing an accusing finger at her crush. "Renny! You cheater!"

"I'm smiling on the inside, where it counts," he'd noted dryly.

"Pfshaw, you don't have a mouth on the inside, so how could you be smiling. No, I'll find a way to make you smile, even with you cheating," she'd declared, before hesitating, suddenly nervous. "That is, um, if you don't mind."

"I do not," the not-a-ninja had reassured her. "But another time."

"It's a date!" Nora had agreed. "I, uh, I mean it's a rematch! Match? It's an appointment between friends!"

Ruby had giggled at that, while I'd just looked over to Yang and Pyrrha, shaking my head. Yang had laughed, while Pyrrha had just smiled, shaking her head back.

As we'd been leaving, Goodwitch had called me over, and apologized on behalf of the school for Amakuni's behavior, but had also asked me to continue attending the Faunus' classes. "Though, if she acts in such a manner again, do not hesitate to contact me," she'd informed me.

I'd nodded in agreement, still a little weirded out by having the administration actually listen to me, and thanked her.

I still wasn't sure what to make of Glynda Goodwitch. She was a stern disciplinarian, but she dressed like the sexy parody of one. She'd very much been unfair the first class, but now she'd taken me seriously, and was actually doing her job in defending me when I'd been treated unfairly by another member of staff, something that never had happened when I actually went to college. She taught the combat course, but her advice on how to actually fight was. . . lacking to say the least, all of it basic bitch 'pay attention to your Aura' BS.

Looking at our schedules, and getting a sense of how much free time we had, I was probably going to start having everyone do their 'here's the basics of what I've mastered' seminars next week. Different team members having their strengths was good, but specialization was for insects, and not having a basic grounding would not only limit our options in the field, it might get someone killed.

Thinking back to my time playing D&D, it was the 'one guy with no ranks in stealth' problem, where he'd either have to be left behind, or the rules would have to be bent 'till they squealed to make anything other than a loud, in your face frontal assault work.

Actually. . . that might be just the thing! I didn't really have a specialization myself, and while Pyrrha said it was tactics, I didn't really agree with her. That said, I could teach tactics, in a general sense. Not the fine-tuned work we'd eventually need, but in a general sense of taking care of one's assets, positioning, investigation, and so on.

Hell, the 'can fight until you're out of hitpoints' unrealistic-ness of most tabletop roleplaying games actually applied here, only it would be Aura instead! Not a d20 based system, the ridiculousness that system tended to lead to, while entertaining, wouldn't be good training. Maybe a 3d6 based system, to even out the probability curve? 4d6?

Inventing the source-books would be a pain, but, while Jaune had never heard of them, that didn't mean they didn't exist. It'd also help everyone memorize Grimm, as I practically had the knowledge that you needed acid or fire to take down Trolls inscribed on the inside of my skull, but I never expected to fight one in real life. Then again, I thought, with the Sweet Home's portal, that might actually happen.

I chuckled, knocking on RRWN's door, Nora answering. "What's up?" she asked.

"Is Ruby there?" I asked right back. "I want to talk to her."

The ginger girl nodded, looked inside the room, and announced, "Hey, Jaune wants to talk to you." I could hear Ruby squeak something, but couldn't tell what it was. Nora nodded, turning back to me. "Ruby says to tell you that she isn't here," Nora grinned.

I lifted a finger, trying to parse that statement. "Um. . . okay, well, when she 'gets back', can you tell her I wanted to talk? I'll be in my room."

Nora nodded, looking inside, "Got that?" Ruby's embarrassed groan was clearly audible. "Will do!" Nora promised me, closing the door in my face with a slam.

Shaking my head, I headed across the hall, nodding to Pyrrha as I entered. "How did the spar go?" she asked.

"Good," I shrugged. "Ended kind of weird though."

"Oh?" she asked, sitting back from the essay that Ooblek had assigned. I'd dashed mine off in an hour, but I had a lot more experience there, and had already offered to look hers over when she was done.

"So, we were sparring, hand to hand since, well, I'm still not the best with sword and board-," I started to explain, getting a nod.

"And you are not going to get better if you put off practicing," the redhead chided me good naturedly.

I rolled my eyes, "Yeah, but we all need hand-to-hand skills anyways, and I'm sure you'll put me through my paces in our spar tomorrow. So, we went from fighting, to grappling, which was to be expected, but then out of nowhere she kissed me, and then she ran. I have no idea what just happened, but you might, so, suggestions?" I asked, hoping to get a feminine, Remnant-native perspective.

"Kissed you?" Pyrrha echoed, voice odd.

"Yeah," I agreed, still confused about the entire thing. "Like, I didn't really mind, to be honest, it was just surprising, but so was her running."

"Oh. Do you. . . like her?" my teammate asked, sounding as unsure as I was about the situation.

I just shrugged, suddenly aware that, while my first instinct was to lean on Pyrrha, if only to see if I could, this was a topic she herself had a vested interest in, "I barely know her. I mean, I guess. I like you too," I added casually, causing her to freeze.

"You like us both?" she questioned carefully.

I nodded, "I mean, I don't know either of you that well, but as of now, from what I've seen of both of you, yeah."

She processed that. "Do you like Blake?"

I snorted, "Not really, no." At her inquiring look I added, "The accusations of abusing my position kind of soured that pretty fast."

"She has her reasons," Pyrrha argued half-heartedly, "but I understand how that would affect things. Ruby?"

"She's fifteen."

"Of course," the gladiatrix nodded in approval, not even bringing up Weiss or Nora.

There was a moment of silence. "So, what should I do about Yang's smooch and scooch?" I prodded.

She giggled, "Really, Jaune? Must you describe it that way? As to what to do. . . I would. . . pretend it didn't happen," she directed. "If she regrets it, bringing it up will just make things awkward. She has not said anything to me, one way or another, so that's all the advice I can give."

I sighed, dropping onto my bed with a smile. "Thanks Pyr. Fighting, I get. People? Fuggedaboutit!"

"I am happy to help, Jaune," she smiled, turning back to her essay.

We settled into a comfortable silence, broken several minutes later when the door opened, and Ruby poked her head in. "Jaune?" she asked, trepidatiously.

"Yeah?" I replied sitting up, wondering where she'd gotten a key. Right, she's probably using her sister's.

"Um, you wanted to talk?" the girl questioned.

I nodded, sitting up and swinging my feet over the edge of my bed, motioning towards Yang's, as I was sure my teammate wouldn't mind. "Yeah, I had some questions."

Ruby hesitantly entered, making her way over, sitting down, playing with her hands as she haltingly asked, "About. . . Yang?"

"What? No, I wanted to talk about redesigning my weapons," I replied.

The girl in front of me collapsed on the bed with relief. "Ohthankgod," she sighed, before sitting up. "Um, I mean, good! What were we gonna talk about her anyways? Nothing interesting going on there! Nope! Wait, don't tell her I said that! Wait, did you say redesign! I had some ideas, gimme a sec, be right back!" she blurted out, disappearing in a rush of rose petals.

"Were you originally going to ask her about her sister?" Pyrrha inquired from behind me.

I shot her an incredulous look, "And drag her into this? Yeah, no."

"Good," the gladiatrix agreed, as Ruby reappeared, holding a notebook.

She opened it up, sitting on Yang's bed, and tried to turn me to show it, before, after a moment's hesitation, jumped over to my bed, almost leaning against me, pointing out possible ideas. After a few minutes Pyrrha joined in, kneeling on my bed behind us, looking over our shoulders and adding her own thoughts.

"An artillery cannon sounds nice, but to use it correctly I'd need to be at a distance, and I'm not gonna leave my team like that, even if I could fly over to them if things get bad," I decided. "Maybe if I had a Semblance like yours I would, but I want to be there to protect them."

"That is why I made Crescent Rose a sniper rifle, instead of a shotgun like my Uncle," Ruby admitted. "Wait, two weeks ago you didn't know what a sniper rifle was. Were you. . . pretending to be dumb to make me talk about myself?" she asked suspiciously.

"No, I really didn't know then," I replied, my answer ready. "I've been studying, and learned a lot. I still don't really know the difference between a 'high-impact' sniper rifle and a regular sniper rifle is, though."

"High caliber," the tiny team lead shrugged.

"So, it's just better?" I asked, despite knowing the difference.

Ruby shrugged, "Well, I think so."

"I think she means caliber, as in a larger bullet, not caliber, as in quality," Pyrrha explained. "From the size I'd say thirteen millimeters?"

"Yep!" the small girl cheered. "Kicks like a Nightmare, but it'll one-shot, one-kill for over half registered Grimm! At least it was when I built it. But are you sure, Jaune? With your strength you might be able to use a twenty! Maybe even a twenty-five!"

Puppy dog eyes applied to weaponry was not a combination I expected, but I stood firm. "No, the problem with Grimm isn't quality, it's quantity. If we need targeted fire, we've got Pyrrha. If we need power, we've got Yang. If we need, um, whatever it is that Blake's pistol can do, we've got that. I want the ability to wipe out a horde of Grimm if need be. I think I can use my Semblance to do that short-range, but I want a medium-to-longer range option as well, and one I can use near my people that doesn't cost me Aura."

I got another few seconds of pout, before her face split into a wide grin. "Sounds good!" Ruby cheered, turning over a few pages, and another not-so-nice picture of Professor Port (which she noted she drew outside of his class), to a different base design, this consisting of two separate parts that could fire independently, but came together into a small rotary cannon. "The problem here is metal stress. I could make it bigger, even with weight less of an issue, but keeping functionality when split is a problem."

"Actually," I said, reaching over to my bedside-table and fishing out a trio of metal rods. "Found another use for my. . . let's say Semblance." One of the rods looked normal, one had very faint discolorations, and the third seemed to be etched, with darker sections standing out starkly, even though it was perfectly smooth. "I can, um, enhance things, but I have no idea what that actually means other than strength."

"Those designs. . ." Pyrrha noted, staring at the twisting, swirling patterns. I nodded, manifesting my wings, twisting to make sure not to hit her in the face, arcing around her instead. Extending the wing on the other side from Ruby, I showed the pair the identical designs on the inner membrane.

"Not exactly subtle, but, well, run some tests on it when you can?" I asked Ruby. "I tried, but I'm still learning what everything means. Whatever this is, I can do it to finished pieces, but I have no idea what'd happen if I used it on something already built of moving parts, let alone mechashift. And also, again, I have no idea what it actually does, other than physically strengthen objects."

"Your gloves!" Ruby realized. "I thought something was different. Wow, Jaune, your Semblance is the best! Ooooh! If it makes it stronger, can I have you use it on my bullets! I could probably use the overpenetration to take out three Nevermores with one shot!"

"Isn't it two birds with one stone?" I had to ask.

Ruby gasped, "Who'd want to hurt birds! Besides, I've already shot two Nevermores at once, but then the round deforms. and it's knocked off course with my normal rounds!"

Shaking my head, I held up the first rod. "One minute of work." The second. "Thirty." And the third. "Three hours, and then I couldn't do any more. And it was grueling."

"Oh," Pyrrha noted. "That's where you went yesterday."

I nodded. "It doesn't burn me, but I don't know about anyone else, and I'd rather not test that by accident."

Handing Ruby the rods, her eyes went wide. "Wow, they're warm!"

"Really?" I asked, not having noticed. Accepting the 'engraved' rod, it seemed normal to me. Handing it over to Pyrrha, she almost dropped it, the metal slowing for half a second as she caught the cylinder with her Semblance.

"It is," the redhead sighed, blushing a little as she rubbed my shaft. No, bad brain, I thought, but that just made it worse.

As she massaged my rod, I shrugged. "Must be a quirk of my power." Fingering my length of steel, Pyrrha reluctantly passed it back to Ruby. "So, take a look at it and tell me what you think?"

"Will do!" the weapon fanatic cheered, zipping over to the door, and pausing. "And Yang didn't mean to, you know, kiss you, but she said she really liked it. Bye!"