Time had flown by much faster than Jaune would have liked. It felt like yesterday that Jaune had shown up in Vale, and since he had met Junior and truly got serious about chasing this dream. Jaune had met and fought with Neo Friday after Friday and today was the last one before he finally went to Beacon.
Jaune felt as prepared as he could after only a few months of really trying to become a huntsman. Every day he had trained in some way or another. Most days except friday involved a 10 mile run. With his aura's constant support and his endurance improving Jaune's runs had gone from an hour and a half to 45 minutes. Jaune knew he could do better, but with only three months of serious running he knew he was doing pretty great.
Alongside the cardio, Jaune had every day for the past month set aside time to practice and train in swordplay even heavier than the month before. Some days Jaune focused on footwork, basic forms and sword play. Neo had even told him his footwork had gotten a lot better.
Well she hadn't exactly said it straight up, but she did tell him that his footwork and movement had gone from the 'worse than a double amputee' to 'almost not awful'. Neo reminded Jaune that it was still a massive improvement though especially for someone who had no training at all before. She had also told him his forms had improved, and while he was still abysmal as an offensive fighter he was improving extremely quickly.
Jaune had felt immense pride after she said that. He was improving, He was reminded that he would be the worst fighter in the year by a wide margin through both text and practice. Jaune knew this already though, and the reminder from Neo had really just served to bring him back down to remnant after Neo had told him his smile looked dumb, and then proceeded to try and slice it off of his face.
To be completely honest though his sessions with Neo were the best part of his week. Even if he's not one hundred percent positive she's not actually trying to kill him…
Jaune didn't have much work at Junior's, but he did help the man clean up, and even start to make the club look semi passable again. The bar was left fairly undamaged outside of a few dents from things and people slamming into it repeatedly. The main floor had taken the brunt of the damage though with several craters and scorch marks from the fight.
On the ceiling though there was a Jaune shaped crater from when brawler had exploded a second time. Junior made sure to point it out once he had gotten out of the hospital, and out of police interrogation. The police were very interested in why an incident like this happened, and Junior had told them as much as he could while still keeping himself in a good light.
The twins had ended up fine with their auras taking care of everything, but the rest of Junior's men had not been so lucky. None of them ended up dying miraculously which was fairly incredible as Jaune had seen one of the men take a point blank shotgun blast to the face. Some of them were going to be done working for good though as the girl had managed to do enough damage to permanently cripple a few.
The girl in question had been brought down, and Junior even threatened to sue her for the damages to the club, and for harming his employees. Unfortunately for Junior though the girl was a huntress in training, and a fairly well connected one at that. Both Signal and Beacon decided to help pay for the damage caused to the club, and even apologized on behalf of the girl.
When it came to Junior's men though his luck ran dry. Seeing as a lot of the men in his club were hired out of prison, and everyone who was there ran out in the commotion. It was Junior's word against the blonde girl's and when it was threatened to be leaked to the media that several former convicts had "attacked" a huntress in training, and that Junior was the one who hired them, he had no choice but to back down.
Junior did get a couple questions about Jaune though seeing as he was one of the main combatants, and also an applicant to Beacon. They seemed fairly interested, but Junior understood. Two possible future students get into a brawl, and its bound to raise an eyebrow or two.
With the majority of Junior's men down for the count this had also meant that Roman had to source his help with the dust heists from elsewhere. When he had told Cinder he didn't have any other contacts with expendable men the woman had damn near killed him she was so irrate.
She did give the master thief almost a week off though which was great for him, and Neo. Then he got a text from Cinder telling him she had gotten more men to assist him. The man was shocked when he met up with Cinder, and right next to her was standing the second in command of the White Fang. Cinder had managed to "persuade" Adam Taurus to lend her and by extension Roman some men to continue the heists.
Unfortunately for Roman Cinder had considered this doing Roman a favor by keeping him alive, and she said she would collect later. Roman had told Neo as soon as he got back from their meeting that he owed Cinder a favor now. Cinder already had Roman by the balls, him now owing her a favor didn't really make sense to Neo.
After being threatened by two of the more frightening people Roman had ever met, his quota went up. Neither Roman nor Neo could lie though, it was much easier having trained White Fang grunts help with heists than Junior's men. Even though they had more work they were getting it done a good bit faster, and that made it so Cinder wouldn't be on their ass as much.
Neo was even able to do less heists, since Roman was usually able to keep up now, and get some of the sleep he desperately needed. Neo and Roman both had a solid relationship with Junior, but seriously? He had to do better if the White Fang ever became his competition in the Vale underground…
Junior did in fact have better men, but risking his actual gangsters getting arrested compared to some of the guys he hired to fill the club and work jobs for other people was an easy choice for Hei Xiong.
This left Junior with damn near none of his own men that he would want seen to help fix the club. Although he had Jaune sometimes which was nice, but outside of that he was hiring outside help to try and make it as expensive on Beacon, and Signal as possible. He knew they were tax funded but he also got bounced around his club like a basketball and thrown out the window. He was going to milk this a bit.
Jaune had been doing his best to keep busy, and since the club had been destroyed by the blonde (and himself) he had been doing a pretty good job at it. When he wasn't training or helping Junior he was exploring Vale, taking up random jobs around the city, looking for books, and other things he felt he might need to help him.
His favorite place he had found though had to be a small bookshop called Tukson's Book Trade. It was one of the few places that sold books on fighting techniques as well as reading material for other subjects Jaune would have to catch up on to help him fit in at least a little more. Jaune suspected that this was because his shop was partially made to cater to the Beacon population.
Jaune did more than just buy books from Tukson though. The knight had also decided to help out the man when he could, and the man had in turn given Jaune advice on several things. His big advice, and secrets involved how to get a leg up on those at Beacon, and to train on hand to hand combat.
Tukson's a great guy, and getting advice on both Beacon, and a weak point of the students was always helpful. As he said one of the things that always seemed to happen was a few students coming down every week to try and find books on hand to hand techniques so they could learn. That didn't usually help all that much though so Tukson had told Jaune to just practice alongside reading, and he would be better than at least half of the students by just knowing how to fight decently unarmed.
Jaune had asked the twins to help teach or train him. Unfortunately for the knight though Melanie and Miltiades had a lot of work to do with Junior, and they also didn't meet him when they said they would. Luckily for Jaune though he had someone else more than willing to kick his ass barehanded.
He had asked Neo to help him practice hand to hand, and she had more than happily obliged which had resulted in the most humiliating loss to her so far which he would take to his grave. It wasn't like she hadn't beaten him up without her weapon before, but after he talked to her about it. It happened much more often during their friday night sessions.
Sometimes after she disarmed him she would throw her own weapon away just to 'test' him. Jaune wasn't getting a lot better against Neo in hand to hand, but learning how to deflect strikes without his shield was something he could definitely find use in, and something he had caught on to fairly fast.
Neo herself enjoyed this new addition seeing as this was meant to be stress relief and it felt great throttling the knight with her bare hands. Sometimes though it wasn't all that satisfying because defensively he was a prodigy. She was adept with unarmed combat, especially when it came to hitting the knight. But with how difficult it could be to actually wear him down with punches and kicks Neo had gotten to practice herself with grappling. She was already good at it before, but Jaune was actually a good opponent that she could train with, and not worry about breaking him once and him not getting back up.
Neo wouldn't tell him this, but Jaune was a tank after these three months. She could still beat him without too much effort on her part, but everytime he would bounce back up, and whittling him down became a workout in it's own right especially with how much he had improved endurance wise. He might not be a good fighter, but he was going to at least go in relatively prepared to take a beating, and make it look almost like a fight.
Tonight Neo had been getting into actual exchanges parasol to sword though. Purposely drawn out exchanges to see if there was real progress with the knight before he was sent off to Beacon. Neo was mildly impressed, Jaune was able to keep himself from stumbling. Her advice with the dancing must've really come in handy, because he looked much more comfortable, and confident in his movements.
Jaune made sure to stay away from anything fancy, and while it definitely showed due to his lack of finesse and polish he wasn't bad. If Neo didn't know better she would've thought he had been training for a couple years. Jaune picked up a lot quickly and was dedicated to being a huntsman.
Every slash and stab was powerful. Neo really didn't enjoy having to deal with full on strikes and less so when they were coming from Jaune. He hit extremely hard even if he was slow. She dreaded the person he eventually hit with one of his swings. Neo did as much as she could with Hush to bleed off momentum and power from his attacks.
Jaune was focused, and doing his best to avoid and deflect Neo's strikes. He was doing alright with that as well. Every time he thought he found an opening it led to him getting lightly stabbed as Neo showed him the holes in his own guard. Jaune picked up on each mistake quickly which let Neo increase the pace more as Jaune found new things to be careful about.
The exchange lasted about close to ten minutes before Jaune was panting, and Neo was out of breath herself. They had ramped up from a few prodding strikes to an almost full speed exchange for Neo. Jaune's sword flew from his grasp after she got into his guard, and used the hook of Hush's handle to catch the handguard and rip the weapon from him.
Hush cracked across his face, and knocked Jaune back. Before he could get his bearing back he felt cold metal rub under his chin. "I surrender." The girl presses an unseen button on Hush, and the blade slides back into its home.
Jaune walks over to Crocea Mors and picks up the sword. Sheathing the weapon and wiping the sweat from his brow he turns towards Neo. "What did I do wrong?" Jaune asks as the girl walks to him scroll in hand.
'A lot was wrong, but I don't see how you can get much better before you leave.'
Jaune nods at the message, and shrugs. "Sometime thats what it ends up like. Thank you Neo. For everything. You've helped more than I could've thought, and if I manage to get in it'll be in large part to you. I owe you."
'You already owe me :P' Jaune chuckles at the message. It was a very real reminder that he was in debt to her already, and in all honesty Jaune was scared of what she would ask for when she finally decided to cash in.
Neo on the other hand didn't think of it as any more than a joke. In all honesty Neo wasn't even thinking of this as much more than a good release for her pent up stress and anger. And it just so happened she had found the perfect stress toy, and he didn't even complain (usually). He asked a question or two, but that was to be expected.
She was really just beating the hell out of him and rarely giving advice anyone else trying to get into a huntsman academy would know already. She did have one more piece of knowledge to give him for now though. She knew that it would be useful too.
'I do have something to tell you that could help.' Jaune's eyes opened wide at the message it was the first time Neo had actually given him info without him asking first. 'Its nothing that can really be counted as special, but I know it's going to involve the Emerald Forest, and from what Ive heard you should be prepared for something crazy to be thrown at you'
Jaune nods. He didn't know anything about Beacon's initiation test, and at the very least knowing that it involved the Emerald forest helped immensely. It meant it was probably going to be a practical test to see how well each applicant worked in the field before they took them in.
The second part though made Jaune nervous because what kind of crazy things would a huntsman academy throw at him, and the others in a practical test? "Do you have an idea on what they might throw at me?"
Neo shrugs and shakes her head telling him no. Jaune nods, and thanks Neo. The information was more than enough to help, and for that Jaune felt like he owed Neo even more than he did. He wasn't going to offer her another favor yet, but he was going to do the next best thing he could do.
"I think you got a few more fights left before I go." Jaune says confidently pulling Crocea Mors off his belt.
Hush twirls around and Neo starts moving to the right, and Jaune follows in suit. Both of them circle around the ring slowly. As soon as Jaune steps forward the girl vanishes, and his eyes widen to the size of saucers. He feels two feet slam into his back launching him forward. The knight crashes into the floor and slides headfirst into one of the crates that made up the boundaries of their little arena. 'What a fun start to the fight' he thinks.
Jaune scrambles to his feet, and looks around for any sign of the ice cream themed demon. The young Arc knows whatever is about to happen to him isn't going to be a fun experience, and he puts up his shield to protect from a frontal assault. It wasn't very likely that she would attack from the front which was what made it all the more likely that Neo would attack him head on.
What Jaune did not expect though was to have Neo slam into his shoulders from above like a meteor and drive him into the ground. Jaune's knees bend having nothing else to do in the situation and Neo rides his fall like a surfer. Hopping off with a small step once his face collided with the ground once again.
Neo definitely did help Jaune, he couldn't deny that. Both of them knew though this agreement was first and foremost for her entertainment and to release stress. Neo didn't really think Jaune had caught up on it, but when you're on the end of the beatings… You start to realize that some of the hits are much more personal than others.
A brutal beating ensues with Jaune getting disarmed and crashing face first into the concrete floor of the warehouse a lot. He wouldn't give up though, and that's just what Neo wanted in a match like this. She may have been less stressed because of the extra help, but that didn't mean Jaune wasn't going to serve his purpose as her blonde stress ball.
Jaune takes a minute to get to his feet and back into a fighting stance. He knew his purpose was less so as a student, and moreso as a punching bag right now. Neo taught him enough, and she wasn't a merciless beating machine all the time during their sessions, but when she was Jaune almost regretted agreeing to train with her.
It was during these matches that Jaune let his body go on auto pilot, and think about things. Right now he was thinking about said girl, and what she might want from him when she finally decided to cash in one of the favors he owed. He knew she was dangerous, and it wasn't just the one on one fights that told him that.
He had asked Junior about Neopolitan once, and the man had told him that not many if any people knew of her outside of the Vale underground, due to the fact that her partner liked to keep her secret. Junior had told Jaune that you wouldn't see her and her partner together often, because it made things easier if it seemed they didn't know eachother all that well, and made his normal jobs easier when there was an ace up his sleeve.
Those who did know her said she had gained a reputation for being someone you didn't want to run into when you were on opposing sides. Apparently the twins had some history with her, and while they were two of the best fighters he knew they weren't as good as Neo. They could beat the absolute piss out of him too, but there was just something different about Neopolitan.
Jaune didn't get much information out of Junior and the twins, but what he got was more than enough to realize that Neo wasn't someone he should take help from lightly. When they asked how he knew that name, he told them he heard someone mention it in the club and got curious. He was already more than grateful for her, but if keeping her in a decent mood with him, and not thinking about what she wanted from him meant getting turned into a Jaune shaped puddle every Friday then he was more than willing to accept that outcome.
So here he was 'letting' the girl with the most vicious, and animalistic grin on her face rip him to shreds as he feebly attempted to fight back. Jaune needed this just as much as she did though. He felt like he needed the humbling just as much as she needed someone to beat on. For however much he had improved he had to remember that he was still doing this illegally with no formal training, and getting a big head would get him killed.
Three hits in quick succession blast through Jaune's defense and slam across his unguarded stomach and face. His head whips to the side and his breath is knocked from his body as he stumbles backwards. He gets his shield up just in time to block a spinning kick. The force of the blow rattles Jaune's arms. He knew Neo was strong but it was times like these when he really could appreciate how strong she really was.
Jaune pitied the poor soul had to deal with her truly angry. Jaune knew he could take a hit, he knew that before he had even started training with her. It was one of the few things she would say that she liked about him.
Neo followed up with another kick this one a low sweep which caught Jaune's legs and toppled him. Her boot cracked across his face, and stunned the already downed knight. When he turned his head back to look at his foe he felt the business end of Hush resting on his neck. "I surrender." Jaune groans.
Neo backs off of Jaune and gives him time to catch his breath. Jaune really didn't get how Hush worked if he was being completely honest. She could take the blade out on its own but it also came out of the end of the parasol too. Was there two blades or was there some weird thing he was missing. He was loosely familiar with mechashift, but that familiarity started and ended with his shield. Maybe he needed to read a bit more on it.
It seemed like more than a few people who were better fighters than himself had weapons that could transform into something else entirely. Hush was one of the more simple weapons and even that was beyond Jaune.
Jaune got out of his own head, and stood back up, ready to fight one more time. It was just about time to leave, but he wanted one last fight with Neo, and the fact she was already standing with her blade pointed towards him told Jaune that she did too.
Jaune raced towards Neo, and swung at her head trying to cleave her in two the girl uses no illusions this time, and instead guides the sword down her blade and away from her self. Neo had deflected the blade inwards allowing her access to his now unguarded right side. Jaune was peppered with stabs and slashes that stung through his aura. Spinning around quickly his sword whistles through the air as Neo hops backwards. Jaune didn't rush in to attack this time. Instead he let Neo come in swiftly barely dodging and deflecting each blow. Neo stabbed and slashed, her weapon screaming against his sword and shield when it didn't make it past his defenses.
Blow after blow was traded none of the knight's, and few of the thief's hits landing. Jaune was having fun. Both him and his partner smiled as they slashed, stabbed, and danced around the warehouse. Their energy was slowly waning, both getting sloppy as they tire, and Jaune's aura was finally at its limits.
Slowly the dance turned into weak attempts at hitting the other. Jaune was both extremely sore, and tired. Neo herself was just about at the end of the line. She was panting. She may not have been going all out, but still she was putting out significant effort, and fighting at that level still took its toll after an extended period of time.
A lazy swing passed by Neo without her even needing to move. Soon after the sword followed a stumbling Jaune Arc who lost his balance when Neo stuck her foot out to trip him. It was cheap, but she didn't care and with the way he wasn't exactly moving to get to his feet to keep fighting, he didn't either.
"You win." Jaune groans from his resting place.
Neo let her body sag and then walked over to the edge of the crates and slid down until her butt hit the ground. Jaune dragged himself next to her not unlike a worm. Once he got to her side he crawled up the crate and sat next to her.
Neo turned her head to the side and nodded in acknowledgment. Both of them sat in silence the only sound between them their breathing. Neo didn't mind Jaune's presence. As he sat next to her she thought about him. He was extremely dedicated to his dream. She knew because she saw him running on the sidewalk and street a couple days day after they trained two weeks ago. This peaked her interest and she spent the next day watching him to see what he got up to. She didn't have anything better to do during the day after all.
He was running miles around the city, and finding other places to train, and whenever he didn't do it in the open he trained in his apartment. Pushing aside the little bit of furniture he had in there and using the empty space to practice his footwork, and technique. He spent at least four hours during the day training, and then spent at least two more reading various books in a small bookshop.
Filling up the rest of his day was just exploring Vale, and going to the club for an hour as he helped Junior. She had went to the club after it was destroyed and asked what happened. She got the same story from the owner as she did from Jaune. When she asked about Jaune the mans eyes grew dark as he looked at her. Apparently Jaune hadn't told him that Neo was the person he was training with and Junior wanted to know what she was making him do.
Neo had explained that she was training him. Still suspicious Junior asked Neo what she was planning on getting in return. She told Junior that Jaune owed her a favor, and that he was more than fine with the arrangement. Junior really must've liked Jaune cause he rarely got this defensive when it came to people. He even told her that if she needed to use her favor not to ruin his life, and that he was a genuinely good kid.
Junior rarely spoke highly about people which made her trust him even more than she did especially seeing as he hadn't even mentioned her to the information broker as the one who was training him. She really thought she would hate someone like Jaune someone who seemed like such a massive hypocrite on the surface, but she didn't.
He still annoyed her sometimes and her anger and stress were focused on him, but he was also one of the few people she felt like she could just relax around. He gave off a warm, and familiar feeling that was really comforting in a way.
Jaune gets up first, and offers a hand to Neo. 'He really does try to sell the whole knight thing though.' Neo thinks. She takes the gloved hand though, and lets him bring her to her feet. Jaune walked over to where he left Crocea Mors in the center of the warehouse, and attached it to his belt.
"Thanks for everything Neo." Jaune tells the girl and reaches out to shake her hand which she takes. "I hope to see you around, and not just for when you decide to cash in your favors." Jaune smiles and tries to turn to leave, but is stopped when he realizes he can't pull his hand out of Neo's grip.
"Neo?"
The girls grip doesn't falter even as he tries to pull his hand away, and she pulls out her scroll with the other hand.
'Your talking like this is the end of the these training sessions.'
Jaune looks at her confused "Isn't it? I'm leaving for Beacon, and you get your Friday nights back."
'You are leaving but that doesn't mean training will stop.'
"I know, but I should have a team that will train with me, and I'll be learning too."
'It wont be enough to catch you up when your in.'
"If I get in Neo. I'm not guaranteed to make it through initiation, and if I don't then I wont need your training anyways."
'Alright then. We can stop the training… IF you dont get in.'
"Neo even if I make it past the initiation test-"
Jaunes wrist is twisted by the girl and he drops slightly his body trying to alleviate the pain by moving down. Now he was eye level with Neo, and she didn't need her scroll to tell him what she thought about him talking back.
'You still owe me. You're not getting out of this.' her eyes told him. She needed the stress relief just as much as he still needed the training. When Jaune didn't immediately answer she bent his arm more dropping him to his knees
"You win." Jaune says in a panic knowing disagreeing with Neo right now wouldn't end up well for him. "If I get into Beacon I'll come down on fridays just like I do now. Please let go of me."
Neo obliges, happy to have gotten her way. Jaune gets back to his feet. Even though he's well over a foot taller than the girl whenever he stood face to face with her he felt small. Maybe it was how much more powerful she was or maybe it was her personality. She loomed over him even though she stood at chest height.
"Thank you Neo. I know I owe you and its not for free you're doing this so thank you. Even if I don't get past initiation, and if this was our last training session. I had a great time."
Neo nods. The praise and thanks was more than appreciated. Even if she was just using the knight as to relieve her stress, anger, and pent up irritation with Roman half the time, she still had a good time. Neo and Jaune walked out of the warehouse together and shook hands once more before Neo vanished like she usually did. Jaune stuck his hands in his pockets and walked back home like he did every Friday.
He took in everything as he walked. Afterall depending on how the next few days went he might not be in the city as much as he was before. Jaune got back to his building, and took the elevator up to the 8th floor. He dropped his clothes and Crocea Mors as soon as he got into the apartment, and hopped into the shower.
The warm water washed away the sweat, and his aura washed away the soreness. Jaune stepped out of the shower feeling both better than he did before, and just as nervous at the same time. He was going to get a chance to prove he could be a hero.
But therein lies the problem. He needed to prove it. He had already broken the law, and cheated to give himself a chance, so now he had to prove that level of commitment wasn't wasted by failing. He had trained sure, but had he trained enough? he learned a bit of what was to come, but was he prepared? Deep down he knew he hadn't done enough, but he knew he had to try.
BOO! I'm back again. I wrote this a month ago, but tried writing another RSSH Chapter through writers block on that story and post that before I posted this. I realized though a bit too late that it would be dumb to not just write for which story I am feeling the most smooth with at that moment.
Hopefully there will be a new chapter out of something by the end of next week, but I can't make promises, because unfortunately along with bening a bad writer, I am also one that has a problem with procrastination, and lack of ideas. I've been doing fairly well, and I hope you all are doing good.
I think I might write another new thing as well, just for those times when I have no ideas for any of the three other stories. Hopefully enough people read the authors note to tell if it's a good idea.
As always though I hope you enjoyed the chapter and enjoy the story. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you do and don't like or what I can do better, as well as any theories or ideas you have. I love reading all of the reviews and I hope you all have a great day, night, morning or whatever time it is. :)