Disclaimer: Don't own anything associated.
Chapter Twenty: The Battle Of The Gamers
The music kicked in and both were off, feet gliding across the panels with precision and skill, their speed was almost untrackable, the only ones seeming to keep up with the speed of Ren and Jaune's movements were their fellow team-mates and at times it appeared as though they were struggling to follow in places. One thing very noticeable was the numbers on the screen displayed by the P1 and P2 symbols. They'd left the high scores behind, several paces ago and were only doing the service of making the high score further and further out of reach for the next person who played.
"...I may have made an oopsie."
Jaune twirled around and managed to hit, one of the panels with his hand, then drop back down and hit two more panels with his feet and finish off the sequence by flipping through the air side ways to catch the next two panels with ease. Ren pulled off a similar move and it seemed that the two of them were neck and neck, never too far away from keeping up with each other the entire time. The two boys seemed to have a natural competitiveness in them being drawn out by this game.
"But, Jaune can dance?" Pyrrha asked, her voice giving away her surprise.
"Well, he told us he had seven sisters," Yang pointed out, "It shouldn't really be all that surprising that he can. They would've probably been the ones who taught him or got him to learn so that they had someone to practice with."
Blake turned her head slightly, just enough for Weiss to see the expression on her face and dished out a feral smirk in her direction. Weiss gave a 'hmph' of frustration then turned on heel and walked over to join Ruby, whom was practically open-mouthed at how naturally the boys were moving. She quickly tapped Yang's shoulder, "Yang, Yang!"
"What, Rubes? I'm trying to watch too, ya know?"
"The way Jaune's moving, doesn't it look like it could be some kind of fighting style?"
"Yeah..Wh-Ruby, you're a genius! If we can teach Jaune to implement the same thought into his movement dancing as he does fighting then he won't be so clunky and now he's not held down by the weight of his shield we can focus on maximizing his movement!" Yang and Pyrrha's eyes had both lit up at the prospect of something they could feasibly teach Jaune. He would definitely see progress in such a case and they could show him that he would find the sword's power when a worthy opponent of its power came along, not for some idiot school bully like Cardin Winchester who they both knew in their hearts, Jaune could beat on his own.
"The way he's moving," Pyrrha muttered, "It's so quick I can easily imagine him being able to handle multiple enemies coming from him at all directions when he's truly mastered it. We just have to help him see that there's a fighter buried beneath all that self-doubt."
"Self-Doubt?" Weiss questioned, "He's a Dunce, I don't know what you're all seeing there."
"A leader," Yang said bluntly, "He relies on advice a lot because of his nerves, but outside of the whole book incident he's proven that he has the capacity to lead as well as Ren does. Don't you go acting like little miss perfect either, Weiss Cream. You have your own vices to deal with."
"THEY'RE STILL GOING!?" Nora shouted incredulously.
Jaune and Ren looked over at each other, throwing smirks over. The competitive nature of the bout was still going as strong as the two of them were on their makeshift dancefloor.
"HOW!?" Ruby added for good measure.
Jaune twirled, then dropped, quickly hitting each panel consecutively, then rose back to his feet. Ren tried to copy the move but, fumbled just on the panel. He recovered though and was able to return to his feet, but that one slip up had put Ren on the backfoot and Jaune managed to slip into the lead right at the end of the track, leaving him the victor.
"Jaune won..." Ruby said in disbelief.
"He finally got defeated!" Nora shouted happily, throwing her arms up in victory, "You were right, Pyrrha! Video-games really are Blondie's forte!" She then quickly rushed over and grabbed Jaune's wrist, throwing his hand up, "Winner and new Champion!"
"How did that dunce move like that?"
After managing to pull his hand free from Nora, Jaune rose it to rest behind his head and chuckled shyly, "Well, I have seven sisters and dancing was something I had to learn because they all wanted someone to practice with."
"See?" Yang vocalized, "Told you so."
There's laughter from both Ren and Jaune, and exchange a handshake but the two don't comment and instead move away from the machines, smiles on both of their faces as they moved over to the seats on the far side of the room and dropped into them. The girls continued on playing the games, Ruby even managing to get Weiss to try one of the shooting games with her.
"I'm glad you learned the lesson."
"Huh?"
"I didn't get a chance to say it properly outside the airship, but it was rather enjoyable to have someone to go back and forth with about things concerning leadership. We both have a different perspective on such things naturally, having the different perspectives was one way that I saw considerable chance for both of us to grow as leaders. Here, I was thinking of you the other day when I read this myself."
Ren reached into his pocket and removed a smallish book entitled, The Growth of Leadership and how to nuture it. Jaune's brow arched slightly, "Are you sure it's okay for me to have this? I've no doubt that reading it would be helpful but-"
"I think you can be trusted to learn from your mistakes Jaune and this book most likely could help you realize why prioritizing that book over your team was the wrong move in the first place. We're all growing Jaune, even at different rates we all will need help sometimes and that's okay. Though, I will warn you, if your relationship with this book ends up like the last one did, the girls won't have to say anything because I'll deal with you myself, clear?"
"Crystal."
After the girls had finished with the last of the Lien they'd set aside for their time in the Arcade, they all exited together and smiling as she looked back at the rest of the group, Yang asked, "You lot want to get lunch with us?"
"We need all the foods!" Nora shouted, "There's a Mistralian Place at the West End that Renny likes, and it tastes really good! We should go there!"
"Are you sure, Nora?" Ren asked her.
"Well, they do have the best Strawberry Cheesecake..."
Ruby's eyes glinted and she immediately grabbed hold of Nora's hand, silently demanding directions out of her. Jaune could see what Nora had done. Sensing that Ren had been reluctant to accept being made a priority even by his childhood friend had led Nora to using some underhanded tactics to get what she wanted. Sure, none of the others had been asked what they wanted but Mistralian Food had a lot of varieties and in Jaune's opinion was a place they'd be most likely to find something for everyone even with specialized tastes of the heiress. Laughing to himself, Jaune fell into step behind Ruby and Nora, his hands moving up to the back of his head. Shaking his head some, Ren joined Jaune in pursuit of the two girls, leaving Blake, Yang, Weiss and Pyrrha to follow.
"I'm guessing Nora didn't tell anyone how far this place is?" Pyrrha asked Weiss.
"Not to my knowledge," Weiss said, "We'd better not lose sight of them."
"Good idea," Yang agreed, keeping her own pace matching with Pyrrha and Weiss. Placed between the group at the front and the one at the back, Jaune walked along beside Ren in a comfortable silence. Since most of the girls had a crazy amount of energy, they seemed to be taking the opportunity they'd been presented with to catch their breath and slow down, if only for a little while. Within a couple of minutes, the group had arrived at the restaurant that Nora had indicated Ren liked. The place seemed to have quite a few patrons at the moment, but Jaune figured they were more based around being a dinner restaurant since they still seemed rather empty even for a lunch rush. the group of eight slowly made their way to the back of the restaurant where the larger tables were so they could all sit together then picked up menus and began scouring thorugh them to look through what they wanted to eat.
"They have sushi here?" Blake asked excitedly and if Jaune were to explain the look on her face he mght've said that the amber-eyed girl had stars in her eyes. What was it with her and fish? Sure, everyone had a favorite food but her love for it seemed to be on an entirely different level to what people were normally like around their favorite food. Though, it wasn't his right to judge so he felt it would be better to keep his mouth shut and not say anything. Besides, he still needed to decide what he was eating. In the end, Jaune settled on a beef bowl and closed the menu. Once everyone had decided on what they wanted, Nora, whom amongst much agreement had the loudest voice of them all had called for the waiter and orders were placed.
"Hey Jaune?" Ruby spoke up, "What are your sisters like?"
"Well..." Jaune said softly, a smile coming to his face, "I've got two older sisters, a twin sister and four younger sisters. My two older sisters are named Saphron and Rosemary. Then my twin's name is Joan and the four younger ones are May, June, Daffodil and Blossom. Blossom's the youngest and has a way with getting away with things. Rosemary's the one who pulls the most pranks and tells the worst jokes-don't tell her I said that. Daffodil's quiet and she likes books, plus also seems to be able to slip between all groups of the sisters without getting too much into fights. May and June are our other set of twins, identical and they fight...all the time. Saphron is much older than the rest of us and she moved out about four months before I came here."
"Sounds like a lot of busywork," Ren said.
Jaune wanted to say that it was not unlike being around Nora for an extended period of time but thought better of it and elected to simply nod alongside the words Ren spoke instead. Despite her excitable nature Nora had proved herself in the short space of time they'd known each other that she was fiercely protective of not only Ren but the entire group and if Jaune was asked who he could count on to watch his back he knew he'd be able to put Nora near the top of the list. Discussions of varying kinds had already started around the table but Jaune wasn't paying much attention to those and instead kept talking to Ren.
After the meal had been completed the group decided that it was time to return to the Academy. As Ren had put it, even though there was still quite a few places that they were yet to visit in Vale it would be a bad idea for them to do as much of everything they could in one trip and give themselves less and less to look forward to in the way of surprises each time they visited. Finally in agreement the two teams paid for their meals and left the restaurant. Everyone seemed to fall into step again at a much more sedate pace than the one that they'd employed during the walk to the restaurant. Yang had thumped Jaune on the shoulder on her way past, walking up to be alongside Pyrrha and Ruby, they'd automatically picked up the conversation they'd started in the restaurant. Weiss walked a little bit aways from the girls but she would put in her own opinion from time to time.
Nora was happily chirping away to Ren, telling him about a dream she was having. Jaune was quietly observing the going ons around him and for the first time in a long few weeks a genuine smile was plastered over the Arc's face. Jaune felt a sudden pressure on his upper arm and slowly turned his head toward the source. Blake had lightly pressed her side up against his and offered a tiny smile but a second later, without so much of a word to Jaune she walked up a little to join the girls and their conversation.
A soft chuckle from Jaune at the realization that Blake had probably found her equivalent to Yang's playful punches. He lifted his hands behind his head then tilted his head up towards the clouds. He hadn't figured out the secrets of Excalibur but for the first time, that felt okay, that felt like something he could accept. The truth of the matter was even if he had somehow managed to find that power on his own would he be ready to wield it for the right reasons? No, the fact he'd charged so desperatedly towards the hope of finding it merely to put a bully in their place spoke miles about his lack of readiness for such a responsibility. It didn't mean that he would never discover the power that was hidden within the sword it just meant that it wasn't time right now.
"Pyrrha! No, we're going back to the academy now!"
Jaune was yanked out of his thoughts by the sudden exclamation and looked over to lay witness upon an amusing sight. Yang and Blake had taken ahold of either of Pyrrha's wrists and were attemtping to drag her away from the door of the arcade.
"We can come back and play more another time," Yang cried out desperately.
Ren and Jaune shared a look, but neither boy commented. There was silence for a moment then Jaune decided it would probably be for the better if he spoke up. He'd not really been acting like a leader should be as of late and this would be the right kind of opportunity to start being so again. It was probably a trivial thing but it was important for him to show them that they could still rely on the fact they had a leader despite everything that'd happened over the last while.
"C'mon, Pyr," he said gently, "We've got to go back to Beacon for now. Leader's orders."
Pyrrha's eyes widened. Evidently she hadn't been expecting that because a moment later she turned fully around beaming right at Jaune, whom had an extremely confused look upon his face. Had she been waiting for something like this? Well, he hadn't exactly been acting like a leader even after they'd supposedly started working towards doing things better so it could easily be put down to that. Shrugging some, Jaune fell back into step alongside the group who'd already started moving back towards the airship during his moment of confusion. It still seemed a little off how easily they'd accepted what was done as done, but Jaune could tell that it wouldn't be so easily forgiven if he allowed something like this to happen again. Perhaps he'd been given the benefit of the doubt thanks to his inexperience, but he highly doubted thinks would be so pleasant should something similar happen in the future.
Jaune was just hoping that his motion sickness wouldn't be so bad for once. It didn't tend to be so bad for the shorter journeys but everything was so strange lately he wouldn't have been surprised if it was the case here as well. Unfortunately for Jaune, it seemed that he didn't have all the cards in his favour. He'd pushed himself up as tightly to the wall as he could manage and clutched his stomach tightly, hoping it'd be enough to hold himself back from throwing up all over the seat.
The only small reprieve that Jaune found himself happy with was that the journey back to Beacon wasn't a long one. Jaune descended the platform of the airship wanting nothing more than to be off that floating death trap as soon as he possibly could, almost smashing into the person slightly ahead of him.
"Sorry about that," he told the individual once they were away from the platform and not holding anyone else up.
The figure turned around, placing a hand behind his head and unleashed a sheepish chuckle, "Don't worry about it, I saw how green you looked on the journey and figured you'd want to get off the airship as quickly as you could. I'm Jett by the way."
"Jaune, nice to meet you. If I'm being honest though, you look a little old to be a student here," the knight told the arrival bluntly and his mystified expression was met by a laugh from the other man's lips and his hand rose to the back of his aquamarine colored hair in time with this move.
"I'm a former beacon student, graduated two years ago. I've got a meeting with the headmaster today, as you can probably guess it was easier for me to come here rather than for Ozpin to leave the school. Speaking of which, I should probably get a move on. It was nice meeting you though."
"You as well."
The man named Jett left with the slight raise of a hand, turning away from the group and continuing on the way toward the Headmaster's tower, Jaune still watching him with a curiosity of sorts held in his eyes.
"Who's that?" Yang asked, her and the rest of the group finally descending the landing ramp to the platform below.
"Jett," Jaune answered, "Former student from what he just told me. Has a meeting with the Headmaster."
"Weird," Nora observed, but a moment later she'd shrugged her shoulders and turned her head back to smile at Ren, "Well then, fearless leader, what's the plan now?"
Jaune didn't hear much of the conversation after that. His eyes were still tracking the movements of Jett who, in his opinion was moving toward Ozpin's office very slowly. To Jaune it seemed different to the kind of slow that one adopted when they were reminiscing...This Jett guy was, by the looks of things at least, quite concerned of what might come from this upcoming meeting with their headmaster.
"I doubt there's anything you can do about it," Pyrrha cut through Jaune's thoughts, as if reading her partner's mind, her hand going to the other's shoulder, "It likely doesn't involve us so we shouldn't worry too much about it."
"I don't like the feeling it gives me," Jaune muttered darkly, after a moment of silence Jaune finally heaved a sigh as if accepting his fate then nodded to Pyrrha, "But you're right. I hardly think me worrying about it is going to do anything good...I just have a bad feeling about this, that's all."
"You met the guy five minutes ago," Yang interrupted, "Maybe even less."
The pommel of Crocea Mors glinted slightly, as if shining with magic, but before anyone's attention could be grabbed by the change it had dulled once more, "Something feels off. But you're right. It's probably nothing to worry about. Did we come up with a plan of what we're going to do for the rest of the afternoon now that we're back?"
"Yeah," Ruby announced, "We're all going to work together to get our Homework done, then after that we're going to use the Common Room to watch movies!"
"Common Room?" Jaune asked, "We have one?"
"Oh, right!" Yang exclaimed, "You were too busy with that book when we found it so you wouldn't know. At the end of the rooms there's a Commons Area that all the teams on a floor are welcome to use. Since we're the only teams on our floor it'll be just us but I think that suits better."
That had really come up suddenly. Though, he had been a little disconnected for the past while thanks to that book and trying to find some answers that it could only be expected. This was also an inadvertently good way of keeping Jaune's mind from drifting back to the appearance of Jett when they arrived back at Beacon. No doubt as the Headmaster of one of the Hunstsman Academies Ozpin was sure to get tonnes of meetings such as that one and the last thing Jaune needed to be doing was putting the same level of importance on it as his pursuit of information about Acheron.
"I think it's time I got a chance to see it," Jaune laughed, placing a hand to the back of his head at the same time. Yang shook her head in the face of her leader's antics but playfully thumped him on the shoulder of his lowered arm. Still laughing a little, Jaune turned in the direction of ABYN's dorm room and led the way back to it. If they were all going to be studying in this commons area then they would first have to collect their books and things before heading over there.
Right after Jaune had collected his books, he was surprised by another thump on the arm from Yang, still in the playful manner of the others. Jaune was a little curious about the reason for it since Yang usually spaced it out over time but he chalked it down to not being able to do it for a while and making up for lost time. Another thing he took note of was the fact that Blake and Pyrrha seemed to never be far behind. Sure, they didn't exactly go about thumping him like Yang did but he noted that they were never too far out of his line of sight, yet from what Jaune could tell, their demeanor didn't give off the indication that they were worried about him running off at any second right back to the book he'd been obsessing over either. Deciding it was another one of those 'don't worry about it,' things, Jaune pushed the thought of these occurences from his mind and pushed on with gathering what he needed for the two teams to study together.
Once they'd collected their books both teams made their way down to the end of the hall and entered a circular room covered entirely with the same blue carpeting that was plastered all over the floor of the second level of the dorm building. The room itself had a large desk to one side with several chairs around it, several large and admittedly squishy looking arm-chairs and finally a large space on the back wall that Jaune could only assume was for using as the projector space when throwing up a screen from a scroll or something similar. He personally thought that it looked rather comfortable in here and would be much better for spending time with both teams here rather than having everyone trying to squeeze into either of the teams' much smaller rooms.
"What order should we do it in?" Ren voiced.
"I say we tackle the History homework first, then Grimm Studies, after that we can do the stuff from Survival Skills and to finish off the girls can analyze the notes I took before the whole fiasco with the book surrounding my observations in our initial training sessions while you and I do our homework for leadership class," Jaune stated.
After the decision had been agreed on, the eight students all sat around the table and began woring through their class work. As could likely be expected, Weiss seemed to fall into a semi-leadership role here as the best when it came to the theoretical side of things. She moved around the table, picking up on where the others were stuck offering pieces of advice or even patiently explaining the problems without giving the answer and in Jaune's opinion, she was proving that she had a capability for teaching herself. Still, it was nice to see that she was starting to get along with them all.
Between all of them, with their individual and collective strengths, working through the assigned homework was done within a reasonable amoutn time. Each of the eight first years able to offer guidance and help where it was needed to each other. Jaune proving to be particularly helpful when it came to Desmond's survival class. Finally though, the work came to an end and Jaune felt happy to just put the pen down. He'd barely done so when he felt a light thump to his arm and though no words were exchanged, Jaune immediately knew who'd been responsible. A comforted smile came to his face and once again he felt happy to know that everything was back on the up again.
He turned his head to Ren, who had just finished helping Ruby with the last section of the survival homework, to which he met Jaune's look with a nod and the two of them moved to sit at the same end of the table so as to work on their leadership homework together. Ozpin hadn't set them much homework and Jaune had to wonder whether it was because it was early in the semester still or if Ozpin simply didn't want to give them too much. Either way, he wasn't going to complain about it given the sheer volume of all their other homework and was happy that he and Ren would be able to work through it all rather quickly.
"It's based around situations we might find ourselves or our teams in," Ren observed, "And asking what approaches are the best from the options given."
"Did the headmaster really give you multiple choice bubbles for your homework?" Weiss asked, a tone of disbelief clear in her voice, "I find that difficult to believe."
"Well, you can always have a look if you don't believe us," Jaune pointed out, holding his book up so that the heiress might see the pages contained within.
"I guess...he did."
Laughter rings throughout the room and Jaune and Ren return to what they were doing while the girls began to look through the notes Jaune had taken earlier in the semester around the training they'd done and what he'd observed of each of their fighting styles since their time at Beacon had begun.
"These are really thorough," Weiss said, sounding surprised, "You pay that much attention to how we fight?"
"Of course I do," Jaune said, "Observation is half the battle. If I can find a weak point to exploit or in our case work to get rid of in our training, then I have to be able to spot it out. There's no point doing things halfway. If I miss something, it could mean one of you not having the chance to take that weakness out of your combat style and could mean you getting hurt and I will never let anyone I care about get hurt again."
"What d'you mean?"
But Jaune didn't answer.