Chapter Nineteen: ABYN's Day Off

Once he'd showered, Jaune dried off then pulled on a pair of jeans, a dark blue shirt and finished off the look by pulling on a dark hoodie. Smiling at himself in the mirror, Jaune swept a hand through his hair. Offering the mirror a small smile, The Arc then turned on heel and finally departed from the bathroom.

"Finally!" Yang said exasperatedly, "You were taking longer than me!"

Jaune shrugged, then lightly punched Yang on the shoulder. The brawler gave a fake gasp, then returned the shot right back to him. The two of them shared a laugh, then Blake and Pyrrha approached them as well. Pyrrha wearing a smile and Blake rolling her eyes good naturedly. The four of them left the dorm together and for once Jaune was hopeful that this day might go down without any sort of major incident. Sure, it was him and his luck of late had been absolutely atrocious but after everything the three girls had endured thanks to him over the past few weeks he thought they deserved some semblance of an ordinary day. He turned his head slightly and caught Yang shooting a concerned look his way but he just smiled at her which seemed to placate his fellow blond and they turned to focus on the matter at hand.

"So, where we headed first?" He asked aloud.

"Dust Shop," Blake said immediately, "I've been thinking about experimenting."

"That sounds exciting!" Yang exclaimed, "Sign me up for trying some of that!"

"Well, we should probably head for the airship, unless you were planning on coming up with a landing strategy that covers a jump off the side of Beacon and down into Vale," despite the comment earning him a trio of glares, Jaune laughed openly and kept on the way toward the airship. In the distance, Jaune caught sight of a familiar face and a smile came to his.

"Yo, Ren!" he called, holding a hand up in greeting as he approached the other boy.

"You seem to be back to yourself," Ren said politely, "It's good to see you, Jaune."

"And you as well, sorry about y'know."

"It's fine, just for your team's sake I would suggest that you don't let it happen again."

"I know," Jaune confirmed, "You guys off to Vale too?"

"Yes," Ren confirmed, "Nora insisted that we all go along with her today. Apparently there's something important in Vale that she has to do, though, she refused to elaborate on what that might be."

Jaune was relieved that Ren hadn't chewed him out as much as he probably should've. The small mention seemed to be enough for his fellow leader, but perhaps the disappointment in Ren's voice was able to do more speaking than anything he could put into actual words. He couldn't blame Ren, nor any of the others who he knew to share these sentiments. How could he have become so tied up in such things? Why did it bother him so much? Yeah, he'd been really horri- that's why. That's who he reminded himself of. A sigh rolls off Jaune's lips, but he feels a hand move to his shoulder and his eyes widen some seeing Ren's hand comfortingly placed against his shoulder.

"One mistake doesn't define you, Jaune."

Ren was right. Jaune just had to keep moving forward. What's done was done and nothing could be done to change it so all he could do now was make the best of the second chance that his friends had seen fit to give him and not squander their trust again. Was he still curious about Acheron and the secrets the man in his dreams held? Of course he was. Solving that puzzle would come in time and there was no need to rush that. After all, it was like his mother had often told him, 'all things have their time.' The fact that he wasn't receiving those answers right now merely meant that he would discover the truth when he needed to and for once...that was okay. He felt content with that.

"Airships calling for passengers," Yang said, interrupting both Jaune and Ren's conversation as well as the former's internal monologue, "We'd better board unless you'd rather we wait another half an hour for the next one to get here."

Jaune's attention refocused on the airship and he couldn't help but sigh. His thoughts had been all over the place for the morning and it was just now that he realized he was forgetting something very important. This ride down into Vale was going to be horrendous if nothing else thanks to his motion sickness. Taking a deep breath, Jaune moved over to the ramp and ascended into the waiting airship before them all.

Horrendous, it turned out, was a word that had ultimately been the understatement of the century. Jaune had made sure that he was away from the rest of his team for the duration of the journey. Jaune's motion sickness had returned in full force. Somehow he managed to hold himself together long enough to endure the ride without throwing up and before long the group had finally touched down and were able to leave the airship without too much issue.

"I suppose we should all be thankful," Yang joked.

"Our clothing is unblemished by the-"

"I get it," Jaune cut in, playfully rolling his eyes. Sure, his motion sickness was rather horrible, but he was thankful that his team was willing to be good sports about it. Even when he'd been pouring over that book trying to figure out some kind of secret from within its apges thaey'd stuck right beside him and even gave him a good wake-up call when he needed it. They'd been right of course that he was going the wrong way about it and the worst part about it was he made the team feel like it didn't have a leader...a thing he was sure that would get picked apart in Leadership class as well. All Jaune could hope for now was that Ozpin didn't bring it up. He struggled enough with his reputation of being useless and he really had no desire to increase the levels of those rumors whatsoever.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, effectively cutting off his train of thought, "You alright?"

"Yeah, just thinking about a couple of thngs," he admitted, "C'mon we'd better get moving so we don't hold everyone up."

Together, the four members of Team ABYN left the station in silence, though there were little exchanges that occurred the entire time. Blake seemed to be drawing close to Jaune, as if worried he might sprint away right back to the book given the chance, Yang would often give him a cheeky grin and accompany it with one of her trademark blows to his upper arm. Pyrrha would occasionally glance over them all, a protective glint in her eye. They crossed the streets of Vale, starting the day out the dust shop as they'd discussed yesterday. The four of them spent a good deal of time looking around then purchased the dust that they needed.

"Well, looks like that's done," Yang said, "So what're we going to do with the rest of the day?"

"We should probably start with something to eat," Jaune advised, "Then maybe we can just look and see what's here, we didn't really get the chance last time thanks to that weird guy showing up."

That was another thing the freedom of having his mind back informed Jaune. Ever since he'd started looking into the book he'd barely looked back on that encounter nor into anymore about how that weapon had broken through his aura with a single strike. Professor Goodwitch had given a decent explanation...but he couldn't help but think there was more- a light thump on his shoulder alerted Jaune and he turned his head to see Yang smiling at him. Right. He could look into that later, he'd left his team blowing in the wind the last time he'd gotten an inkling of something to do with Excalibur and its pieces, he had to focus on being a leader now.

"I was thinking," he said.

"Oh no, I thought I smelt something burning, well at least the mystery is solved."

He shot a playful glare at Yang, but made no further comment. She threw the glare right back in mocking fashion, but still no more words were exchanged between the two of them. Together, they crossed the threshold into the cade closest to them. It was a quiant place that they'd visited the last time they came here and all had found both the atmosphere and menu quite pleasant.

"I definitely owe the three of you an apology," Jaune said aloud once they'd been seated, "The fact I didn't do so immediately only further proves how bad it was. That book shouldn't have taken away from my role of leader and I made things worse by pushing you all away, people whom I claimed were friends to me."

"We all make mistakes," Blake said immediately, shaking his words off.

"But you need to promise us something," Pyrrha interjected.

"Of course, what is it?"

"Next time something like this comes up, you come to us and not someone else, okay? We're here to help you and we're not going to judge you. Jaune, everyone, us included, needs a push from time to time. That doesn't make you any less capable than the rest of us. We'll figure this out together. You have friends Jaune, you don't need to take on the world by yourself. That's what the rest of us are here for."

"Oh, and if you ever make me worry that much about you again we won't need a training match because I'll pound you into a pulp then and there, got it?" Yang finished for good measure.

"Understood clearly," Jaune gulped.

"Good," the three girls confimed, nods being given in perfect sync to the word they'd spoken. Eventually, a young man with spiky jet black hair and golden eyes approached them, a clipboard clutched within his fingertips, "Hey there everyone! What can I get for you today?"

"I'll just take a black coffee and the bagel of the day."

"One milkshake with extra whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. Oh and one of your tuna sandwiches please."

"I'll take a lemon water as well as the bagel of the day."

"A lemon water?"

"Even though we're at Beacon Now, I'm still a Champion, Yang. I've got to maintain a strict routine when it comes to these sorts of things," Pyrrha informed her.

"Riiight. Anyways, I'll take a coffee with cream and three sugars. For food I'll get the French Toast."

The man quickly scrawled down their orders upon the paper attached to his clipboard, informed them that he would have it brought out once it was ready and then returned to the kitchen a moment later. Team ABYN remained seated in a companionable silence seeing as none of them felt the necessity to talk in the current moment. That and all of them seemed to be more lost in their own trains of thought rather than maintaining conversation with those around them.

Jaune found his mind drifting back to Crocea Mors and the mysteries it held, but it wasn't the same obsessive thoughts he'd been having recently, more of the same curiosity he'd had when he first discovered the sword's true nature. He didn't know what those mysteries entailed yet and for once, he was okay with that. The girls were right, whatever happened from here on in, if he was meant to discover the secrets of his sword then he would and it would be presented to him in the sort of way that he wouldn't expect. Life just worked like that sometimes and trying to fight the process only made things worse in the end. If nothing else, his experience with the book had been a learning experience. He knew a fair amount more about Acheron Arc now and was content to leave that search alone for a while.

The secret to doing better in Combat Class wasn't stealing it wth skill he hadn't yet earned. If anything that sort of thing would lead to overconfidence and in the end..overconfidence would be his undoing whether he liked it or not. Perhaps winning was not the only sign of improvement? He'd done miles better during his encounter with Cardin in comparison with how he'd been in the Emerald Forest and that had been a testament to how well his training with Pyrrha, Yang and Blake was going. Winning would be nice, especially if it would wipe the smug look off Cardin's face and he was determined to do it at the next opportunity but he'd finally realized that using that as a benchmark for the increase in his skill was hardly the ideal scenario.

He'd absentmindedly reached down to graze his thumb against the pommel of the sword and for the first time since his first day at Beacon, Jaune once again felt comforted merely by the presence of the weapon. Jaune looked up from his thoughts just in time to see the waiter from earlier descending upon the table with three trays and he quickly placed them down on the table, received his thanks then returned to taking the orders of the other customers within the cafe. Jaune took the mug on his tray and lifted the mug to his lips in silence, exhaling happily once the bitter liquid hit the back of his throat.

"And everything is back to normal," Yang joked, breaking the silence.

A laugh is shared by the four teens and they turn back to their meals, focusing on eating. In contrast to when they were waiting for the food though, they seemed to be exchanging conversation amongst themselves between mouthfuls of food and liquid, ultimately just making the most of the opportunity to just talk that they'd been denied ever since the fight with Cardin had ended and Jaune's obsession with his weapon had begun.

"We should work on a training regime for all of us, just because Jaune's got the most work to do out of the four of us doesn't mean that we should be slacking off eiher," Pyrrha advised.

"You didn't have to say it so bluntly, but I do agree that we should all work on our individual fighting. I also think we should bring Team LVWR into some of the sessions too so we can get used to fighting as a team!"

"I would agree with that Jaune," Blake nodded, "It's odd that Combat Class has us all fighting exclusively one-on-one after they put us all in teams but perhaps that'll be addressed later in the curriculum? I find it weird that they're sending us out on missions without giving us opportunities to work better as a team prior."

"Maybe it's a growth experience?" Yang offered weakly.

None of the members of Team ABYN thought it was a particularly good idea that they didn't seem to have any lessons that covered team work right now, so it seemed imperative that they used whatever time they had before missions started up for the year to bond as a team both on and off the battlefield because it could very well save their lives at a later point. Jaune couldn't help but feel sorry for the teams who didn't get along so well. He'd not experienced this in his time at Beacon, but he was sure they existed. Sure, situations where your life was on the line tended to draw out a person's willingness to co-operate but he could still imagine it being rather difficult.

"Either way, we should make sure we prepare for this as best as we can," Jaune advised.

Once they'd finished with the meal, the Team quickly left the cafe again and were back to looking around Vale, the first point of travel turned out to be Tukson's Book Trade, which Blake had insisted upon them visiting. Jaune's hands moved up behind his head and he looked over at the sign above the shop, "You familiar with this place?"

Blake nodded without vocalizing an answer, then she pushed her way through into the opening of the store, the rest of ABYN following her movement. The interior of the store instantly filled Jaune with a sense of calm and he felt a small smile quirking up on his lips. It was the perfect blend of an atmospheric calm as well as quiet. It was no wonder that Blake found comfort in a place such as this one. It was right up her alley so to speak.

"Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, how may I help yo- Oh, it's you Blake. Good to see you. Your order's not quite come in yet, but it's expected in the next one."

Jaune and Yang's brows arched inquisitively, Blake's cheeks had reddened at the mention of the order and that created curiosity within them both. Jaune didn't comment but it seemed the look on Yang's face would reveal that she had every intention of bringing this matter up with Blake at a later point in time when they weren't so deep in the public eye. No doubt Yang would pester Blake the moment they got back to their dorms and judging by the expression on Blake's face, she had the same concern.

"So, I'm guessing this is the team you got placed with at Beacon, then?"

"Yes," she said softly, and though Jaune wasn't entirely sure he could see it, he thought there might've been the faintest trace of a smile on the dark-haired girl's face, "These are my team-mates Yang and Pyrrha, and our leader Jaune."

Blake went on to spend a good deal of time looking around at the books in the store, Pyrrha found herself drawn to magazines on Videogame strategies, Jaune was of course lured in by the comic books and Yang decided to pass the time they were in the store chatting away to Tukson. After purchasing what they wanted the group bade farewell to the Faunus then were on their way again. Once they were outside the doorway, a bright light caught Pyrrha's attention and her eyes widened immediately upon turning toward the source of it.

"An Arcade?" She could vaguely remember a conversation that she and Jaune had partaken in a few days ago about these places, buildings that had an abundance in games collections stored on machines that worked by sliding lien cards into the slots and receiving lives to play the games. Practically bouncing on her heels, Pyrrha grabbed Jaune and Yang by the arm and yanked them forward.

"Whoa, what is it Princess?" Yang inquired.

"Arcade! There!"

"Let's go then, coming Blake?" Jaune put in.

"Sure, why not? Let's go."

Together Team ABYN crossed over the street, slipping between the few people who were also going about their business. Luckily they'd managed to avod collisions with anyone at least until...

"Yang?"

"Ruby!"

"Nora!"

"Nora, please."

The four of them had run into Team LVWR outside the Arcade and by the looks of things it appeared as though they were about to go inside as well. Yang's brow arched, she wasn't surprised to see Ruby out here by the Arcade since she always loved them, but the others being here was a suprise, especially Weiss, whom Yang thought would rather be caught dead than in a place like this. As if detecting the brawler's question Weiss sighed, "We're doing a tour around Vale, Ren suggested we each choose two or three locations to explore and this was one of Ruby's choices."

And now everything in the world made sense to Yang again, she shrugged and jerked her head towards the door, "Well, since we're all here now, wanna go in together?" A unanimous nod passed around the group. All of the members of ABYNLVWR piled into the Arcade. Blake immediately moved over to a seat beside the machines and pulled out a book from her bag of purchases, settling in immediately to read. Ruby and Pyrrha found a game with giant guns that they took up. From what Jaune could tell it was a co-op game that dealt in two players teaming up to down hoardes of Grimm. Ren and Yang took the other machine of that nature, Weiss went to sit on a seat quite a little bit aways from Blake and Nora found a game that specialized in whacking a hammer against a button for points. Jaune quickly caught on though and was able to steer her towards a fighting game that was more based in pressing buttons. Last thing they needed was to be kicked out when Nora decided to bring the hammer down.

"They have Ninja Madness Classic!?" Jaune exclaimed without thinking.

Pyrrha's entire body froze, her head turning away from the co-op game she was playing with Ruby and as if he'd recognized his mistake, Jaune quickly clamped his hand over his mouth. He ignored the looks of curiosity on Ruby, Weiss, Ren and Nora's face and the worry on Yang and Blake's. Pyrrha's efforts in the game she was playing with Ruby doubled and she snatched up the gun that was meant to be used by a player three. Somehow, she was able to balance herself perfectly between the two slots, essentially dual wielding to get her and Ruby through the next few levels. He determination to finish quickly left even an ordinarily excitable and quick Ruby struggling to keep up with her.

"Whoa, Whoa, Pyrrha!"

Yang sighed, she having just gotten a game over, leaving Ren to be the only survivor on their machine. Hearing the mention of that particular game, she spared a glare in her leader's direction. Though there seemed no heat to it and behind the glare she was smirking at Jaune, "You just had to mention that game didn't you? We're going to have a hell of a time trying to get her to leave now."

Jaune shrugged, "Eh, she'd have found it on her own eventually, at least we're- we're not prepared at all, are we?"

"Nope."

"Thought not."

Shaking their heads, Jaune and Yang shared a small smile, Jaune silently jerking his head to one of the machines without really looking at what he was indicating another fighting based game though, unlike Ninja Madness, Yang didn't recognize this one. Not one to back down from a challenge, she approached the right-side of the table as Jaune approached the left.

"I hope you're ready for endless punishment, Jaune."

"I'm about to make you eat your words, Yang."

"Oh no, here we go," Blake murmured, spotting what was going on with Jaune and Yang. Jaune rolled his sleeves up a little, then reached for the joysticks at the control panel of the machine. He cycled through the characters until he found the one he wanted and selected it. A loud voice sounded through the Arcade, courtesy of the machine, "Spider-man selected!"

Yang took her controls a second later and selected, "Wolverine!" then the two combatants were ready. The machine indicated the start of the match after a loading screen and instantly the match was on. Jaune took an early lead which stretched out a bit and though Yang struggled as best as she could, in the end Jaune's skill with the game and Spider-mans nature as a character with high attack and manoeverability ultimately led to Yang's defeat.

"Whoa, he's really good!" Nora exclaimed, beaming at the screen.

"Video-games are Jaune's forte," Pyrrha informed Nora, a pout on her face, "None of us have been able to beat him in any of these fighting games before now. Speaking of-"

"I'll play you on Ninja Madness Classic, Don't worry."

Much the same with the Marvel vs StreetFighter Machine fight against Yang, Jaune had naturally caught a flow of the controls and was able to defeat Pyrrha rather handily. Though he lacked a good deal of the combos he'd come to appreciate in the more modern version, there had still been enough familiarity for Jaune to come out with the victory.

"See what I told you?" Pyrrha said to Nora, dragging out the 'u' sound at the end of her question.

"Wow, he's suuuper good, I can totally see it!" Nora nodded enthusistically, "He might just be the one that's capable of doing it. I've never been able to...but Jaune maybe can!"

"Do what?" Jaune asked her.

Suddenly Nora grabbed a hold of Jaune's hand, then marched over to Ren and clutched the hand of his was closest to hers, his response of, "Words, Nora," was ultimately ignored until she dragged them both over to a machine in the center of the Arcade, it was notably a bit bigger than most of the other machines in here.

"Dance, Dance Revolution?" Jaune vocalized.

"I have been unable to defeat Ren at this game ever. I'm usually pretty close on the other ones but he's so amazing, but then Pyrrha and Yang were saying that Jaune was super good at video-games so I figured if anyone can beat Ren at this, it'd be him!"

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Nora," Weiss informed her, "But I highly doubt this dunce is co-ordinated enough for a game based on anything else but one of those controller things. Movement isn't exactly something I would have faith in Arc for."

Blake glared at Weiss, biting back whatever comment she had threatening to leave her lips. She figured it would be best not to make a scene here, not when the rest of her friends were having such a good time and by extension giving her a little bit of time to get into her book while she waited for things to finish up here. Still, even if she wasn't in her environment right now, she wasn't about to let Weiss bully Jaune. Yes, he was problematic at times and had recently proved just how immature and stupid he could be with the whole book fiasco but he had room to grow as did the rest of them.

"I'd like to see you play any of these games half as well as he does. You're probably just annoyed there's something that Jaune can do better than you," she hissed lowly. Well, that came across more protectively than she intended. That hiss definitely wasn't usual when it came to these types of things but perhaps Weiss just brought out that fierce side of her personality. Stuck up little piece of work.

"Well, what do you say Jaune? Ready to go up against the champ!?" Nora boomed excitedly.

Jaune laughed, then turned his head to Ren, "Do you, Leader of Team LVWR, champion of the Dance Machine accept this challenge, made for you on your behalf by Nora?"

Ren sighed, but he had a smile on his face, "Please don't indulge her too much, Jaune. However, I will accept this challenge. Prepare to be defeated and humbled in the middle of this Arcade for both of our teams to see."

"YESSS, THE FIGHT IS ON!" Nora yelled, throwing her arms skyward.

Ren slowly ascended the steps on the left platform while Jaune did the same on the right. Both boys inserted lien cards, then stepped back to take their starting positions on the platforms. The girls were cheering both of the boys on, but neither seemed to pay attention to the comments, focusing instead on preparing themselves with what little time they had left.

"First stage. Are you ready? Let's Renew your soul!"

End Chapter.

Sorry that this is short and mostly filler, I've been a while away from writing due to some personal reasons and needed something like this to get the juices flowing again. Hope you guys enjoyed it either way and we'll be on track again with the next chapter. Yes, these bonding moments are still important but I wanted this to be longer, however this seemed like the appropriate place to call it quits.