Chapter 13

"How exactly does this help us?" Jaune asked

"Yeah, we're supposed to be doing that to the GRIMM, not each other, like your enthusiasm though."

"No, I need you to hit me with this branch okay?"

I wasn't trained like the other students. I'm still afraid of pain and the idea of getting hit. Well, so is every other huntsman but...I'm a lot more afraid. However, I still have the aura and body of a huntsman. It's like if a gun expert was given a combat knife instead. They would be a lot less effective than before, but they could still put up a fight. I wasn't helpless, I just...don't know how to use the tools I'd been given.

Nora looked at the branch club I gave her with uncertain eyes. "And you're SURE you want me to hit you?"

"Yes." I planted my feet in the ground, dropping my weapon and trying to keep my arms at my side. "Whenever you're ready." If I can stand here, knowing I'm gonna be hit and still watch it as it happens, I might get closer to getting over my fear.

"Alright, if you say so." A wild smile appeared on her face, raising the thick branch over her head as if it were her hammer. A frightening image for anyone who actually knew Nora.

'It's okay...you got this...don't move. Watch the attack as it happens. You've got aura so it shouldn't hurt that bad...probably.' Despite trying to reassure myself, I was putting my trust in aura. Something that as far as I knew, didn't exist in my world, so that wasn't very reassuring. A familiar fear gripped my chest as I saw the club come crashing down. Instinctively closing my eyes, and jumping back.

*THWAK!*

There was a smashing sound as the branch hit the ground. Nora looked at the spot where I'd jumped back with a confused expression.

"Dang it. Sorry Nora...let's try that again."

"Huh? Aero I thought you WANTED to be hit."

Jaune shook his head. "We should get going."

"No, wait! One more chance! I won't move this time! I promise!"

Nora glanced at Jaune and shrugged, walking over to me and bringing up the branch yet again. I watched as the piece of wood turned into a blur that shot towards me.

'Don't move! Don't move! DO! NOT! MOVE!'

Once again, my vision went black as I closed my eyes and covered my face. Only this time I stood my ground, feeling something smack my arms, leaving a slight stinging sensation. But...it barely hurt at all. "That's...it?" Despite knowing my aura would take most of the damage, I was still surprised that it had actually worked. My legs were trembling and my heart beat like crazy. I mean, I wasn't supposed to block her swing, but I didn't retreat this time! It'd felt like I took an actual step forward! "AGAIN!" I shouted, looking at Nora excitedly.

"You got it!" Nora seemed to be having fun with hitting me...a little too much fun honestly. She swung the branch in rapid succession, striking my face, legs, shoulders, and a few other spots. There was barely any pain at all, I don't know why I was so scared in the first place! I've got a force field!

"HA HA HA!" I happily laughed raising my arms with the rain of blows coming down on me before the branch broke in Nora's hands.

"Shhh." Jaune quietly hushed putting a finger to his lips and looking around. "Can we go now?"

"Oh...right. Sorry." I coughed in embarrassment, following Jaune with Nora asked trailing next to me.

You know, I'd forgotten something since I came here. I'm talking to Jaune and Nora, like REALLY talking to them. Two days I'd only dreamed of such a thing, and now here I am. It's actually too bad...if wasn't in danger I might be a bit happier chatting with them. "Try and keep your voices down from here on. We were attacked by only a single grimm last time. It was probably just a scout with others nearby."

"Psht." Nora said dismissively waving a hand. "Don't worry about them, we can handle those things easy peasy."

"Speak for yourself Nora." Aura shield or not, I'm not gonna go looking around for grimm to fight. "The point of this exercise is to get our relic and find team members. No matter how many grimm we kill, it won't help us. It'll just take our energy, not to mention draw more attention from other grimm."

"Uggggggh. Finnnnnnnnnnnnnne." Nora groaned and slumping her head forward.

Suddenly off in the distance explosions could be heard. This caused Nora to immediately perk up, her eyes practically shining. "Did you hear that?! Come on, let' go check it out!

"Wait what about that talk about avoiding the grimm?" Jaune said spreading his arms

"That fight means we'll find more grimm but it also means we might find a teammate. No time to lose!" Nora shouted enthusiastically running forward. She sprung upwards catching her hammer on a branch and flipping onto it before continuing to run. The sounds of battle got louder as we approached the scene. Running through the bushes, countless small branches slowed me down and pulled at my clothes. When we reached a clearing, I caught sight of a familiar blonde girl currently giving a flurry of blows to a large bear-like grimm.

'Jackpot! I managed to find Yang again.'

Yang's eyes flickered to us and a sly smile crossed her face. All of the sudden, Yang became much showier in her attacks, now that she had an audience. She stopped her savage blows, doing a flip in the air as she jerked her arms, causing her shotgun gauntlets to fire. The recoil accelerated her spin as brought the heel of her leg down on the back of the grimm's head with terrifying momentum, even bringing the large Ursa minor to the ground and briefly stunning it. All this happened in only a second. With one final punch, the grimm fell apart under her strike and disappeared.

'Wow...'

My body froze as Yang walked right up to me. Extending a hand, her two fingers went under my chin and closed my mouth, which was embarrassingly enough, hanging open from shock at her earlier feat. Something I'd wished I'd noticed much earlier...

"You like what you see?" Yang asked chuckling.

"V-very much so..."

"Yang that was awesome! Did you SEE that spin kick?!" A familiar childish voice cried out.

"I know right?!" Nora said responding with equal enthusiasm.

I blinked in surprise at that voice as Ruby jumped up in excitement. Wait how long had Ruby been standing there?

"Yep." Yang cracked her knuckles "Looks like I still know how to please em." she turned to me. "Guess we'll be seeing each other more often as a team huh?" Yang said looking at me and Nora.

'On a team? But how could the five of us...wait where's Jaune? We must've left him behind on accident. Oh! Yang thinks it's just me and Nora!' "Yep, a great team! Me, you, Ruby, Nora, and no one else!" What would our team name be I wonder? Yang, Nora, Ruby, and Aero...YARN?

"Guh!" All four of us turned our heads as Jaune fell out of the bushes panting. "Sorry for...*huff* the holdup, I...*huff* accidentally tripped and lost sight of you guys."

"Jaune?" Ruby said making a peculiar face.

"Oh, Ruby hi."

"There you are." Nora walked over to the exhausted Jaune and gave him a friendly slap on the back. "I was wondering where you'd wandered off to."

"Wait so, he's already with you two?" Yang asked. "You guys have three members on your team right now?"

"Yep!" Nora chirped before I could stop her.

"Wait, so, how would this work?" Ruby responded tilting her head.

"I'm...not sure." An unexpected loophole in Ozpin's exam rules. We're supposed to join up with whoever we make eye contact with, but the members on a team have to equal four. This means my team of three can't join up with Yang's team of 2 or else we'd be breaking the number rule. But if we don't join up, then we'd be breaking the eye contact rule... Worst case scenario, only one team is composed of four members and everyone else accidentally ends up in groups of three. "Either way we end up breaking the rules." I said shaking my head. "We should part ways for now, there's really nothing we can do."

"Yeah, I don't think it's possible to join our members like this." Ruby said frowning. "Anyway, me and Yang are gonna make a beeline towards the end. Yang thinks that some of the more talented students will be there if they've gotten there first. Guess we'll see you guys later?"

"Yeah, I guess we'll probably move ahead at our own pace. By the way, we haven't met yet, have we? I'm Aero." I said extending a hand towards her.

"Ruby." she said taking it after a slight hesitation.

I noticed with some surprise that Ruby's small hands were covered with callouses over her fingers and palms as I studied them. Her hands felt a lot rougher than I thought they would.

"Um..." I looked up at Ruby who was wearing an uncomfortable expression. "Can I have my hand back now?"

"Er, sorry..."

"Aw, my baby sis made a new friend!" Yang cooed.

"Yang!"

"Heh, seems like Ruby's pretty lucky to have a sister like you."

"I guess..." Ruby said doubtfully.

"Glad SOMEONE finally gets it." Yang said resting her arm on her sister's head before smiling at me. "Aero right? I'll see you around. Come on Ruby."

"Bye everyone, good luck Jaune."

Ruby shot off into a direction at an impressive speed with her sister tagging along.

"Hehe, she said she'll see me around..." Nora looked at me and then turned to the retreating Yang before back at me once more. Her eyes narrowed before waving her hand back in front of my face to catch my attention.

"What?"

"Nothing..." she said innocently, trying to hide a goofy grin.