Professor Goodwitch's class is Pyrrha's favorite. This time she partnered up with Weiss, she wanted to partner up with Jaune but Blake got to him first. And she has no problem with that. No. None at all. It's just that they seem suddenly so close, not that she doesn't want Jaune to only be close to her. That would be ridiculous.
They have been sparring for a good thirty minutes now and Weiss is already a bit out of breath, she on the other hand feels totally fine. Weiss rushes at Pyrrha and gets her in a clinch. Weiss isn't really a good hand-to-hand fighter and it shows. She on the other hand learned boxing and wrestling from her father when she was six years old, he is an especially talented wrestler. Pinching Weiss' arm close to her body, she then steps with her left leg on the outside of her right side, and with a great pull by rotating her whole body, Pyrrha easily throws Weiss onto her back and rushes forward into a mount where she could easily rain blows at her head. Weiss taps out.
"You good to go?" Pyrrha asks while helping an out-of-breath Weiss from the ground.
"Just give me a minute."
Giving Weiss a bit of time for recovery, she begins to think about what brought her here to Beacon. Pyrrha loves fighting. She loves training and she loves showing her opponent she is better than them. Ever since she can remember, she loved it. And coming here to Beacon was one good way to hone her skills further, she, of course, got many offers from elite huntsmen who wanted to take her under their wings and would have let her accompany them on their missions. And even though she would have gathered important experience, and would have seen the life of a huntsman up close, she still declined them all. In the end, she chose Beacon because she knew that coming here would finally give her the chance to make real connections.
It's really embarrassing to admit but she was really lonely. When she was younger before she won her first big tournament even, she had friends, not many but she had them. But that changed after her first win in the Mistral tournament, it started slowly with compliments and praise from teachers, and instructors. Then it changed to some strangers on the street recognizing her, and jealousy reared its ugly head.
"Alright, I can continue," Weiss says, interrupting her current thoughts.
"Good, let me show you how you could do better."
Weiss gives her a grateful smile and nods before they both move into a clinch. Even something like that changed after her wins. Her classmates who were nice and grateful when she helped them, were suddenly rejecting her advice and help. But here, things are different, just seeing that Weiss is happy to accept her help warms her heart and makes the decision so much more worth it.
Getting back on track, she begins to explain some simple methods to avoid being thrown like Pyrrha just did to her, like keeping off center from the opponent or lowering their center of gravity which had its own ups and downs but it would suffice for now. After a few minutes of explaining and trying out the movements, Weiss seemed to get a good grip on how to move and position herself to her advantage.
"Good job Weiss. You picked it up real quickly," Pyrrha says with a smile.
"Oh, thank you. I suppose you are an adequate teacher," She responds, clearly flustered by the compliment but not trying to show it. This just makes Pyrrha let out a giggle.
Yeah, coming here to Beacon was a really great idea. She had friends who she could get to hang out with, a team that had her back, and of course, a partner who instilled a kind of confidence in her that she normally only has in the ring. In spite of Jaune's awkwardness, his lack of combat prowess, and his dorkiness, he somehow still has a way with words, being around him makes her feel at ease, and she often finds her laughing a lot more when he is with her. It is no wonder she is crushing on him just a tiny bit.
She takes a look around the class to see how Jaune is doing and sees him and Blake grappling. Well, it's more apt to say she sees Blake mounting Jaune and smirking down at him. She says something to him that makes him blush. Pyrrha feels her eye twitch; that could have been her. Okay, maybe her crush on him is bigger than expected.
"Are you okay Pyrrha?" Weiss asks. She glances in the direction Pyrrha is looking and sees the same situation as her. "They seem closer than I previously thought."
Pyrrha stopped looking at them, something in Weiss' voice seemed almost gloomy. Her lips are in a thin line and her eyebrows are furrowed.
"Is something wrong Weiss? Are you still angry with Jaune?" Pyrrha knows that Weiss doesn't have a very high opinion of Jaune. And she might understand her just a little bit – her fans could get very annoying – but even at his worst, it never seemed like Jaune overstepped too much with his flirting and asking her out. But maybe that is just her bias talking, and to be fair, Weiss made it more than clear that she wasn't interested in him, she might also have been a bit harsh in her rejections and how she talked to him sometimes.
"What? No!" Weiss says. "Yes? I don't know. I mean he was kind of irritating and I told him to stop on multiple occasions but–"
She takes a deep breath, not knowing how to express the thoughts she had since her talk with Blake yesterday.
"Maybe I have been a bit too mean to him," Weiss finishes lamely.
"Weiss, I–"
"Please gather students, we still have enough time for one match for today," Professor Goodwitch interrupts Pyrrha before she can make her point to Weiss. "Will Mr. Winchester and Mr. Arc please retrieve their weapons and armor, and step into the arena."
Letting out a sigh, she just gives Weiss a small smile in hopes of cheering her up even if it is just a little bit. They meet back up with their teams to observe the match between her team leader and his bully.
After a few minutes of preparation time, both fighters come out of the locker room, Jaune already scowling at Cardin's back who is walking out with an arrogant smirk on his face. Pyrrha does not often truly dislike people but Cardin actually makes it really hard to feel any other kind of way about him. His comments about Jaune do not help him in this regard. And looking at how they both hold themselves right now, Cardin must have said something unpleasant to Jaune already.
Both fighters now gathered in the arena are waiting for the Professor to start the match.
"Begin!"
Jaune gathers himself, changing from a scowl to a more determined expression all the while raising his shield up to guard his body and slowly moving towards Cardin. Both are crucial for Jaune to finally take a win against Cardin since his offensive maneuvering is subpar – as much as it hurts Pyrrha to admit it – and being on the defensive at the edge of the arena would only invite Cardin to force him out of the ring.
"Woo, break his legs!" "You got this Vomit Boy!" "Let's go Jaune!", come the cheers from Nora, Yang, and Ruby respectively.
But if there is one thing Jaune has in spades it is his defensive capabilities. Of what she had seen of his aura, he must have a lot of it, and his use of his shield wasn't too bad either. The only problem is when Jaune himself tries to go on the offense, his swings are sloppy, he almost always drops his guard when he swings leaving his side wide open, and his footwork does not help him keep his balance when a retaliatory strike comes.
It is no wonder to Pyrrha when Jaune loses ground as soon as he begins attacking Cardin as each strike of Jaune is either deflected or blocked by Cardin and then punished by one of his own, and no matter how big your aura is this hurts which only leads to him making more mistakes.
Despite the onslaught of Cardin's attacks Jaune manages to catch himself and get his guard up again. His aura is now at sixty-seven percent while Cardin's is still above the nineties as some of Jaune's swings still seemed to damage him. Jaune's strength does not seem to lack but that won't win him this fight.
And as predicted the tides of the fight don't change at all, Jaune keeps being on the back foot and finally loses by being forced out of the ring.
"Match," Professor Goodwitch calls out. "The Winner is Mr. Winchester by ring out."
"Boo!" Nora shouts.
"Silence, please! Mr. Arc while your defense is at an adequate level, your swordsmanship, your footwork, and your offensive tactics are severely lacking, they need to be improved upon immediately or you will remain a burden on your team," the Professor harshly critics, looking down at Jaune with a stern expression. "Do you understand Mr. Arc?"
"Yes Professor," comes the sullen response from Jaune.
"Good. Now, Mr Winchester while you have won this bout, aimlessly bashing your Mace against an opponent whose strength lies in his defense will not always be this effective, especially if your opponent exploits one of the many openings you have while you attack in such a manner."
"Yes Professor," Cardin responds.
"Very well. Class dismissed!"
With that, the class begins to filter out of the classroom and into the locker rooms to wash off. While getting into the shower and getting ready for the next classes, Pyrrha thinks about Jaune's fight a bit more. Almost everything the Professor criticized about him was sadly true, and while Jaune actually improved quite a bit from the first days here at Beacon – the continuing matches in Professor Goodwitch's class being a great routine – he is still far away from being on the same level as any other of her teammates; her especially.
But the one thing the Professor was wrong about, is him being a burden on their team. He may not be the best fighter but he shines as a tactician and without him, she could not imagine their team to be as cohesive as they are right now. In fact, if she were to be the team leader, as she first feared it would be, she would not even know what to do and how to interact with Ren and Nora. Jaune on the other hand has the ability to get on with most people.
Nora is always happy to see him, Ren, as reticent as he is, seems to have built a quiet rapport with him, he helped Ruby on their first day here at Beacon and now they always go on about their favorite comic stories and games, he puked on Yang's shoes but she has forgiven him and teases him good-naturedly, and maybe most surprisingly he gets on really well with Blake, a bit too well if someone were to ask her. The only exception is Weiss but the talk he had with them seemed to show that he is aware of his fault.
As a team member, it is now her duty to support her leader and friend with anything that might trouble him, and she might not be as good as Jaune on the social site but if there is one thing she knows, it's fighting. She knows with help Jaune can become someone who can stand side by side with their team and won't ever think of himself as a burden. Now with a purpose, Pyrrha begins to quickly end her shower and redress to suggest the idea of her training Jaune.
The locker room is already empty, it seems like she was lost in thought. After exiting, she takes a look arounf for her teammates, only a few stragglers left in the class. Nora and Ren are already waiting at the door.
"Ugh, you guys take sooo long," Nora whines.
"Is Jaune not ready yet?"
"He still was in the shower when I finished," Ren answers her.
"You guys should go ahead. I am going to wait for him," Pyrrha says after thinking to herself for a moment. "I wanted to talk to him anyway."
Before Ren can say anything, Nora already pulls him after her.
"Okey dokey. Don't take too long."
Pyrrha decides to wait at the locker room doors. She is really excited about the idea of training Jaune, it would mean they would spend lots of one-on-one time together, and Jaune would of course be a better fighter because of her. That's the main reason why she is doing this, not because of her crush. It's not like Jaune's thankfulness could lead to some other things. Hehe.
After a few minutes, there is still no Jaune in sight. A bit tired of waiting, she sticks her head into the locker room. No one is there; she goes in.
Jaune is sitting on a bench with Crocea Mors on his lap, looking at the sheathed blade with a somber look, his tail hanging down low with no movement. He seems to have taken the loss worse than she thought.
"Are you alright Jaune?" She interrupts his downward spiral.
"Oh, Pyrrha," he smiles at her and his tail slowly begins to perk up and wag, causing her to have butterflies in her stomach. "I'm sorry, I guess I took a bit too long. Guess I am a bit down after losing against Cardin again."
"No, no, I just wanted to talk to you but I told Nora and Ren they shouldn't wait for us."
"Alright, what's up?"
"So I was thinking, as I am your partner and you know, I am actually pretty good at fighting and had really good trainers," Pyrrha says not looking at Jaune anymore but at her feet instead. "I thought, maybe, I could train you. Of course, I don't want to force you or anything. Just an idea I had, you know?"
Pyrrha ends her offer by looking back up at Jaune who no longer is smiling, his tail wagging slows down to a standstill. Did she say something wrong?
"So you want to train me?" He asks with an expressionless face.
"Yes, I–"
"So you think that I can't do this on my own? That I need your help?"
"What?! No! Of course not, I just thought–"
"No, what you thought is that Jaune has lost again he can't even win against Cardin in all the weeks he had to fight him, that I am just bringing the team down, isn't it? That you could have a partner who is actually good at something? That I don't belong here."
"That is not true Jaune!" She desperately tries to convince him
"Just leave me alone Pyrrha."
Shocked and saddened by Jaune's outburst, Pyrrha turns around and almost sprints out of the door, tears threatening to escape. Maybe not everything changed here at Beacon.
"Fuck!" he is such an idiot. Pyrrha did not deserve any of this. It's all his fault. What Professor Goodwitch said to him really got to him, and Cardin, that asshole, with his comments before the match and after didn't help. Maybe Cardin was right about some things, that he is useless, and he'd always need someone else to get out of a difficult situation. Fuck.
"You are an idiot. You know that, right?" A voice from the door says.
Blake is standing in the doorways, eyebrows raised and waiting for his answer. Why is every girl he knows suddenly turning up in the male locker rooms?
"Yes Blake, I know. What do you want?"
"No, I don't think you know. Haven't you said just this morning that as long as you had us, you know your friends, that you'll be alright?"
"Yes, but–"
"And yet I hear you rejecting Pyrrha's offer to train you and even better you made her cry," Blake states disappointingly.
He made her cry?
"She just offered because she is embarrassed by me! She thinks that I can't do this by myself!" He says, getting a bit defensive.
Blake looks at him with a flat stare.
"Jaune, please listen to what I am going to say next very carefully, and do not interrupt me," Blake begins. "At the level you are at the moment, you will not be here for a second semester and what is worse than that, if you do not advance in any significant way in the near future, you will die fighting against the Grimm, leaving behind your team and friends. And let's make it clear you won't be seeing much progress if you keep insisting on doing it alone. You need help. Do you get that Jaune?"
"Yes," he answers with his head lowered not daring to look at Blake.
"And really do you have any idea what opportunity you just missed out on? I mean we are talking about the Pyrrha Nikos here, she is an actual prodigy in the fighting arena. I actually think that most of the students at Beacon don't stand a chance against her in the ring."
"I really fucked up didn't I?"
Blake just gives him a look.
"Ugh," he lowers his head into his hands. "What should I do now?"
"Well, you could start by begging for Pyrrha's forgiveness and maybe she will train you anyway."
That's probably the right thing to do but still, it feels wrong. He knows he should be able to depend on her and his other teammates but he wants them to know that he isn't hopeless and going to them and asking for help– Gods, even he has some pride. He wants to be a leader they can look up to and for that, he can't ask them for help, not yet anyway. But maybe he doesn't have to ask his team for help, he looks up at Blake and smiles nervously at her.
"You are right Blake. I cannot do this alone but I also can't demand Pyrrha to train me after being such a dick," he takes a deep breath. "So, will you help me? Just to a point where I am not a burden anymore."
"Did you even listen to me? You're not a burden," she says, before starting to smirk at him. "But since you liked our sparring today so much, I guess, I could help you."
Jaune blushes thinking back to their sparring, or more accurately described, Blake putting him in different grapples and teasing him all the while.
"But make no mistake Jaune, I am not as generous as Pyrrha is. If I do this you will owe me for this. So are you sure you want me to help you?" Blake says almost leering at him.
Jaune's tail now standing straight up showing his shocked, frightened feelings and probably other feelings he doesn't want to name right now, gulps.
"Yes?"
"Very good Jaune. I will call you when I schedule a training room for us," she says and with that, she turns around and leaves a still-shocked Jaune behind in the empty locker room.