Winter Break 15

The red-haired Spartan took a look at the light armor set Jaune had on. She blushed as she saw how well he filled it out. His muscles were broad enough now that she could notice through the outfit that was so close to his skin.

"I've been calling you name for a while now. Are you okay, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked with real worry in his voice.

Pyrrha shook her head and said, "Sorry, I'm fine."

Jaune frowned and said, "No you're not, you were...are, you are my partner Pyrrha. I know when something is bothering you."

Pyrrha sighed as she held her hands out, "Jaune, do you believe in destiny?"

Jaune furrowed his brows and pointed to himself and said, "Are you really asking that to the time traveler?" 

He then grinned before he continued speaking, "As someone who came back and destroyed his own timeline in the process, then, no Pyrrha, I don't believe in destiny."

The Champion lifted a brow before Jaune pointed his thumb against his chest and said, "I do however believe that the choices we make consolidate our future, but, until we do, nothing is written in stone."

Pyrrha shook her head, "I always thought I was destined for greatness, to protect all of Remnant, but who knew it would only lead to my death." 

Tears started to form at the corners of her eyes, "It cost me everything, and nothing was rewarded...I lost everything...even" Pyrrha looked into Jaune's bright blue eyes.

"Pyrrha..." Jaune held his hand out and placed it on her shoulder.

Pyrrha started to cry as she jumped onto Jaune's chest.

Jaune was slightly taken aback. However, he calmed down and started to pat her back. 

"Everything I've worked for, everything I've done, tell me Jaune was it all pointless?"

"Of course not! Pyrrha, in your time as a Huntswoman in training, how many lives have you saved?"

Pyrrha looked to him with tears falling from her cheek, Jaune wiped them away with his sleeve and said, "Those people that count on you, those that you've saved, the accomplishments you worked so hard for, all of that makes you who you are. I know you want to shoulder the burden all by yourself, but, you can't Pyrrha, your destiny, as you elegantly put it, isn't just your own."

Jaune pointed to himself, "You helped shape me into a hero. Your actions set me on a path I've never regretted. We're connected by our interactions and experiences, and together we forge our own futures with them. You may have perished in my timeline, but I carried you with me through everything, right here." Jaune pointed to his heart.

Pyrrha was sniffing and trying to stop her tears, Jaune cupped her cheeks and stared into her eyes as he said, "You weren't....aren't destined to die Pyrrha. I was just too weak to share the burden back then, but this time is different."

Jaune continued to console her as he let her cry out everything on his chest.

After a few minutes, Pyrrha calmed down and suddenly realized that what she was doing could easily be misconstrued as something scandalous.

Pulling her head back with a cherry-red face, Pyrrha suddenly turned around and stuttered as she said, "S..s...Sorry, I di..did...didn't mean to."

Jaune laughed and said, "Pyrrha, it's fine, we didn't do anything wrong, and Ruby would understand." 

"He's right you know?" Yang's voice called out, making Pyrrha jump even higher.

As she tried to hide her face, Yang playfully punched Jaune's shoulder and said, "Sorry, I overheard a bit." 

She was planning on bringing up that blackmail material. However, this wasn't exactly the right place or time.

Yang hugged Pyrrha and said, "We got you P-Money! We have a few more months to train, so let's make the most out of it and beat those jerks into the stratosphere."

Pyrrha smiled as she realized the mistake made by her in a previous timeline, "I'm not alone..."

"Yang, what are you doing out here?" Jaune questioned as his fellow blond let Pyrrha out of her hug.

"I was curious, and besides, you aren't the only one who needs to train now." Yang grabbed her wrist, "Although having a metal arm is cool and all, I'd hate to be dis-armed before I had a chance to give a ~hand~ and help everybody with the al~arm~ing future a~hand of us!"

Jaune shook his head and said, "That was bad, like really bad...Even for you."

Pyrrha wiped her eyes and nodded her head, "I agree with Jaune."

Yang pouted and said, "Come on, that was good, a real, pun~ching combo!"

Jaune and Pyrrha shook their heads in disagreement as they groaned. 

Hearing this, the blond spitfire crossed her arms and then let out a grunt as she said, "Whatever…that was a good one, it's your tastes that are skewed."

Yang then held her hands out behind her head in a relaxing manner and said, "Anyways, what are you guys doing out here? Sneaking away for a little romantic time, eh, lady killer? Whatever should I say to Ruby?"

Jaune grinned and pointed his hands out to the large grassy field in front of them. Five miles out or so was a large hillside covered in trees, as Jaune pointed to the forest he said, "There's a trail for running near the forest back there, the field is also good to work on moving in open areas, while the forest can help one gain a better understanding of how to fight in a crowded area."

Pyrrha was surprised that Jaune had said such a thing, she originally came out here to practice her fighting style and semblance control, it had never occurred to use the terrain to train in such a unique way.

She looked to her leader and remembered that he was actually a far more experienced Huntsmen than everyone in their school. To be able to survive the Darklands and defeat Salem's army was no small feat. 

Pyrrha realized that the experiences that Jaune went through must have been terrifying and just how difficult it must have been to survive in that kind of environment.

"Ohh! That reminds me of something Qrow said when we were training," Yang said as she slapped a closed fist into her open hand.

Jaune nodded his head, "Yes, he's' the one who taught me to use everything and anything I could to get stronger. So, I had to think of a lot of ways to train myself, coming to you for teaching included."

"So what are you waiting for?" Yang shouted as she started to stretch, "The first one back wins! The losers have to do whatever the winner wants for one request!"

Jaune grinned, "Are you sure?"

"Oh, confident, aren't you?" Yang shot back.

Jaune smiled and turned to Pyrrha, "Hey, Pry, I'm sure you noticed Yang's biggest weakness, right?"

Pyrrha nodded her head as the blond brawler gave a dumbfounded expression. 

"Boi, what'cha talking about?! I'm perfection, baby!" Yang boasted while flexing her well-toned muscles.

Jaune laughed and looked to Pyrrha as he said, "Let's say it at the same time." Jaune then pointed to the forest trail in the distance.

Jaune then smiled as he nodded at his partner and said, "On 3!" 

"THREE!" Pyrrha shouted out. 

Both of them then suddenly took off before Yang could even finish stretching.

The blond brawler stood shocked for a second, "Did the golden boy and girl just do what I think they just did?"

"Cheaters!" Yang shouted as she quickly gave chase.

"Not cheating, just implementing good footwork and strategy!" Both Jaune and Pyrrha shouted as they ran as fast as they could go.

Since Yang's physique was actually stronger than the two, she quickly started to catch up. However, when she got up next to them, she noticed that they barely seemed to be straining their bodies.

Jaune grinned and said, "Yang, you get hit too much. I know it's useful for your Semblance, but compared to how you used it in the future, well, let's just say, your skills in abrupt Aura control sucks."

Yang frowned as she recalled some of the memories she watched through Jaune's point of view.

It's true. In the memories of some of the spars between her and Jaune, she could see that her older self was doing something different.

"Use your perception," Jaune said as he pointed to his feet, giving the blond bomber a hint to what he was talking about.

"I see..." Yang said as she realized that both Jaune and Pyrrha were only sending constant small bursts of Aura throughout their legs alone, most of which was concentrated on the bottoms of their feet.

Yang started to understand what she did in the future, "How did I learn how to do that?"

"You start by learning Burst Aura Control," Jaune commented as he began to instruct Yang, "Frist lightly put Aura into your legs, only using enough of your Aura to highlight your legs.

Yang did as instructed. 

"Then, for the next step, as quickly as you can, send all of your Aura to the bottom of your feet. Using only a split second you have to release your Aura in a burst of force at the same time as your foot leaves the ground."

Yang tried to do it but only ended up creating a small crater behind her as she stomped the ground.

Yang suddenly growled as she thought, "This isn't going to be as easy as I thought it was." 

Jaune smiled and said, "Good try, keep it up, and you get it in no time."

"Anything else you got to teach? Well, do ya, Future Boy?!" Yang asked as she tried again, creating another crater.

"Well, since you asked so nicely. Instead of taking a large amount of damage, you can use Aura to capture and redirect force through your own body. Then you can release any of the force you gathered into your next attack. Although you still take some damage, it's so minuscule that your Aura can easily heal it. When you reached the peak of your martial arts, you claimed that you no longer needed to get hit. You simply touched them and absorbed the kinetic force before redirecting and amplifying it with your own attack."

Jaune then pushed a large amount of Aura into his feet and pivoted his entire body to spin behind Yang. 

In a single burst of Aura that escaped his feet, Jaune ended up on her other side without her eyes being able to follow him.

A chime rang out in Jaune's head. 

[Unlocked Auric Art: Aura Burst Footwork; Quick-Step Effects: Able to increase top speed by channeling Aura in a specific manner. Makes a quick Burst of Speed that uses very little Aura to perform, however, the range is limited to eyesight.]

[Output: 380% Speed Bonus; 250% Maneuverability Bonus. Current Mastery Level 7!]

Jaune grinned at the notice. He felt glad that his body was finally strong enough to handle some of the techniques he made in the future now. After thinking for a bit, he decided that he'd spend some time unlocking all his old skills during the break. 

"If you learn to improve your footwork, even something like this is possible, but you have to be fast enough to direct the flow of force into a useful attack, otherwise you just deflecting the force in a defensive manner."

"Wait, so I don't need to get hurt to activate my Semblance?"

"Don't see why, isn't Burn just the ability to absorb energy? You need think of what your Semblance is at its base and experiment with it. That's how your Semblance can mutate naturally."

Yang nodded her head as she listened earnestly before shouting, "Thanks, Jaune!" 

She thought of getting even stronger and started to grow more excited.

The blond knight smiled and spoke with complete seriousness, "No, there's nothing to thank for. You thought this up all on your own. I'm just relaying info from your future self."

Yang grinned and playfully punched Jaune's shoulder, "How did I manage to come up with this?"

Jaune shook his head, "From one of your worst enemies. Strangely enough, it was the fighting style of the guy that took your arm that you learned from. In a way your Semblance and Adam's are similar in certain aspects. You worked hard to make his style your own."

"The White-Fang Guy, huh?" The blond brawler frowned at the thought of the person who took her arm.

"Thanks for the heads up, or should I say hands up! EH!? EHH!?" Yang joked earning a slight grunt from the two running beside her.

Jaune then said, "Just so you know, I think you are way stronger than that guy. You made a martial art that not only complimented your Semblance, but also artificially mimicked another's person's powerful Semblance."

Yang blushed a bit as she said, "Thanks, Jaune."

Jaune then sped up making Yang look at his back before he suddenly shouted, "Now, what am I going to make you do for the bet..."

Yang grinned at Jaune's confidence, "I'm not going to lose that easily!" She shouted as she started to pick up speed.