Ch 6 Life Is Also Play, Team Play That Is

Beacon Dorms, Team JNPR Room

Jaune stepped out of the shower after a good long run during the early Saturday sunrise. While this run was longer than usual it was likely because Jaune decided to take a break from moving his aura into items and instead focus on moving it through himself. It was taxing his mind, and also his wallet seeing as he blew up over 100 pencils by now. Heck, that sleeve from before was still being redone, since he wasn't the strongest at finishing a project he didn't start himself. But that stuff didn't matter today, no today was all about physical training, and maybe some slacking on his school work. Since he still had a Sunday to get everything done, and mixing a tired body with a tired mind, was a bad move.

So as he finished toweling off his hair flipping it into place a couple of times to give it that natural look he liked. He exited the shower greeted with a studious Pyrrha and Nora with an unconscious Ren. A small smile graced his face before he moved over to the other boy. Slowly tapping his back collar bone and slowly kneading his shoulder blades at a nerve cluster got an instant effect as Rose pink eyes glazed with sleep opened to gaze at him impassively. "Shower is free, me and both the girls have already taken one. Plus we have got group training once Pyrrha and Nora finish their history readings."

While the Ninja of Team JNPR efficiently slinked his way into the bathroom Jaune sat down and picked up a notebook. A sense of calm surrounding him as he pretended to read, but his eyes gave away his panic. 'Oum, why did I have to bring up team practice so early, and with my semblance being out to them I was strong-armed by Nora to join her work out regiment after. ' He was very very unprepared. He had even forgotten to get some basic practice in with his weapons thanks to his obsession with aura recently. And another delay with an excuse of double booking was thrown out the window since Pyrrha had joined him for the sparring room booking. Meaning in the simplest terms he was screwed beyond belief.

Pyrrha and Nora were both sneaking glances at their leader for similar, but ultimately different reasons. While they were both curious about his plans for team training, Pyrrha was also locked on his eyes for their shine and depth. While Nora was amazed at how quickly he filtered through info or was it pictures, was he a great artist, maybe he was some kinda Vicasso. Though they both noticed as he switched notebooks that he had a surprisingly large number of multi-colored and organized notebooks under his bed.

It was kinda surprising to realize they hadn't noticed he'd effectively barricaded his bed's bottom with notebooks that all seemed new and recently worked on. Some were even marked on the spine, probably to help organize them. It would've looked kinda weird if it wasn't hilariously bordered by his impressive stack of comic after comic that guarded the other 2 sides of the opening. The guy was a comic-phile if the sheer number said anything.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312

Team JNPR could all be seen doing various stretching and prepping their bodies for combat. Interestingly enough their stretching was as diversified as their fighting styles. Ren worked through slow bends and reaches, while Nora focused more on loosening joints through rotation of the limbs and body, Pyrrha focused more on limbering up and the occasional hop, while Jaune proved to be the oddest. Sitting on one leg the other was pointed to the ceiling making an almost perfect 180-degree split, while one arm would reach around his body from various angles. As he switched legs, doing a full spread squat in between, he'd pass his notebook to the hand that had just wandered. The whole time reading an even occasionally flipping pages back and forth.

Ren yet again found himself chuckling at the stupified expressions of both his long time friend and the Mistrali champion. After quickly learning that he shouldn't underestimate his leader he found that others couldn't as easily hop on the same train. It was quickly becoming his favorite pass time watching his leader confuse and awe others. He had to relent though cause even he hadn't expected the boy to be so flexible or coordinated while distracted. But then again he was realizing more and more, that the more distracted Jaune was the more he showed off his coordination. Almost like a switch between dorky and focused hidden away.

After their stretching session ended Jaune quickly began to pace in front of them before clearing his throat and turning around. Holding out his notebook that was titled "Team JNPR" he showed off 2 pages that held basic sketches of Ren and Nora's weapons, as well as some basic bullet points. "Seeing as Ren and Nora have the most experience and coordination, I believe rather than skip focusing on you 2. We should instead try in alternation to include me and Pyrrha into your usual combinations. By throwing a wrench into your teamwork we can see what you 2 need to work on in including others. While also help us spot some of your signals and how you 2 flow in combat." He turned to look up with a confident gleam to his eyes not noticing the momentary flicker of awe in Nora's eyes. As he gave a naturally confident grin "So who's ready to get used to falling flat on their ass?"

A hiccup level giggle escaped Pyrrha as Nora snickered at the imagery, while Ren playfully rolled his eyes. "Good, then we'll start with Pyrrha as the opponent while the rest of us target her. Then switch out one person till we've all fought as the one at least once." That got a confused look from the 3 teens though, which Jaune noted before nodding. "Well, you can't test out how to fight together without having an opponent. And the fewer targets we have the more the 3 people fighting will likely step on each other's toes. Plus it lets the 4th person practice fighting at a disadvantage." 'Or helps give me an excuse for why I'm being used as a mop for the floor.' Ren and Pyrrha hummed in approval while Nora started to fidget in anticipation.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2 Pairing 1

If there was one thing about her leader that Nora couldn't grasp about her leader it was his sudden shift in capabilities. It was made super obvious last rotation when he was himself, and boy was that a thing to see. He was a mess his attacks slow, his patterns predictable, and while his defense was solid it was awkward. Which mirrored drastically with him on the team of 3. While he was hesitant his eyes were sharp, his attacks prominent and concise, his defense ironlike, and he was had to predict. Even if he wasn't meshing well with them he was like a different person. So she was a bit distracted as the started this Round after a 10-minute break.

The minute the fight started Nora was caught off guard by a shield charge from Pyrrha. Whom was happily taking advantage of her distracted mindset, but yet another change happened with her leader. She watched as he and Ren shot forward in sync almost like she was used to seeing herself doing. He slid his shield into Pyrrha's path and did a shield bash to throw her momentum to the side. Before crouching and letting Ren Jump off his now stairlike leg over his shoulder to slash into Pyrrha's quickly reforming defense. Ocean blue eyes met Shocking aquamarine ones before they flickered down and then rolled slightly before he bit his teeth together. It was nearly instinct that drove her to follow the signal, while her mind wrapped around the fact that Jaune knew one of her and Ren's signs.

Jaune barely blocked a sword stroke from Pyrrha which in turn allowed Ren to dance around behind him. Nora used the now awkwardly held out shield blocking Pyrrha's vision of her to do a sweeping uppercut. The kite shield moving at the last second taking Pyrrha off guard and barely able to put her own shield in the way. Since she had thought she was taking advantage of Jaune's horrible stance with a shield bash. Hammer met metal full-on for the first time in her second team bout VS the Invincible girl. And man was it satisfying to see Pyrrha skid awkwardly before her feet left the ground and she was shot back away. A smart move on her part as she balled up behind her shield to avoid a salvo from Ren.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2, Pairing 2

As Ren peppered Nora with his SMGs he couldn't help, but wonder about their leader. The boy was a mystery, his fighting was crude, unpolished. and horribly textbook. Yet in just 2 fights together the boy was almost as easy to fight with as Nora. It was Jarring to experience as a tired Pyrrha went in for a machine gun stab with her javelin. To see Jaune flow under one of the champion's back swings and effectively placing himself in between the incoming hammer and allowing him to tilt his shield to pass off the hit. Even if it wasn't a full hit to see someone not built like a truck casually take a hit from Nora. And then Rose pink met Ocean blue and he heard 2 teeth clicks and saw a double wink.

Rushing forward as Nora was now forced to dance away while trying to regain control of her already air-born swing. Trying to gain distance from Pyrrha's reach only to have her balance almost retched to the side. Jaune locked his blade on the underbelly of the hammer using the shaft to propel it further to the side. He faked a shield bash that allowed Ren to slash into Nora's exposed side with Stormflower. The full side sing from Nora used to expertly gain distance as she forced them to create distance again. Ren watched Jaune turn to Pyrrha with his shield held to his eyes and suddenly after looking at the blonde Pyrrha and Jaune shot forward together.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2, Pairing 3

Emerald green eyes locked with Ocean blue as Jaune slid his gaze down and then jerked his sword hand for no reason. Before he shot forward with her at his side. Nora jumped over and behind him to avoid a salvo of Ren's SMGs. Jaune's shoulder charged with his shield ranting Pyrrha cover from the rain of bullets. His sword moved to the side and low as he swung for the legs. Such an easy low slash was seen and dodged with a slight hop. Only for Pyrrha to slide in behind with her own low slash taking advantage of the fact he was still landing from the slight Jump. Her sword met its target just in time for her to move back as he lost balance.

The Champion hadn't even seen Jaune signal Nora, but even then she felt like he had. Since the roundhouse swing was to perfectly match with his shitty executed, but distracting shield bash. Positioning Ren perfectly to be knocked across the stage with a large loss of aura. The silent fighter quickly rolling and returning to his stance as Pyrrha and Ren turned to look at their male teammate for a split second.

Beacon Training grounds, Sparring room 312, Rotation 2, Pairing 4

Jaune barely managed to catch his breath as the 2 girls looked to Ren for a split second. He was glad for the moment he gained when they all rushed forward, but almost into each other. Cause that was another second to catch his breath and try to remember how to position his feet again. Trying too hard to keep up with fighting(not dying more like it), remembering what his sword and board book said to do, and trying to figure out what his team would do. Too many thoughts clouded his judgment, causing him to fail to correctly block a hammer swing. His shield arm was now pinned to his side and arm before he could even think about bracing his legs felt the burn as bullets crashed into them. Ren was raining pain from a distance and reminded him he had other opponents, but it was too late. Pyrrha was already in his blind spot and he barely had time to turn enough to see the shield meet his face with a crunch from his nose. And dropping him for the count was a boot to the chest that knocked him off his feet freeing Nora to finish her swing. Knocking him into the red and all hopes for air out his lungs.

The horn signaling someone's aura going into Red sounded. Causing the 3 to back off as they watched their leader gasp for air like a diver barely making it to the water's surface for air. It was scary how big the blondes reserves were. They had been in the lower orange after each fight, well Pyrrha in upper orange, but then Jaune would top their aura off while giving them a boost. The boost wore off after one fight, but it had given them all the reprieve they needed. And yet 8 fights later, 2 of which where he was the single, each lasting a minute and a half. The blonde leader had finally fallen into the lower orange and then down to red. Those reserves were nothing to joke at, especially since they were feeding a semblance at the same time.

As the team sat around or laid in Jaune's case, they greedily guzzled their waters. Each going over things they noticed about themselves or each other that they could talk about. Once he finally regained all his lost air and some extra to last through basically drowning himself in the refreshing water. Jaune turned to his team and tiredly clapped. "So *huff* who wants to go first in telling us what *huff* they noticed?" He looked between his team as they all stopped long enough to look between themselves and then focus on him. Well damn, he had hoped to avoid going first so his brain could catch up with his no longer dying body. But they seemed to all be perfectly happy to put him out first, ouch.

"Well, let us start with Pyrrha" A slight flinch from the redhead. "While your attacks and defense are powerful you seem to have trouble timing things with Nora and Ren. While I know I'm slow enough to easily keep up with you gotta work on keeping to everyone's flow. You push ahead to much and try to hard to make each fight a one on one. So maybe slow down and watch others first, or we can have you watch how they fight together next time. So you can read them without the heat of battle. Buuttt you performed beautifully when we finally cornered whoever we fought. Using us to further back your target into a corner. It was very effective and helped give me and Nora an opening we could exploit."

"Moving to onto Ren" The ninja sat a little straighter. "While I understand that you are used to working with Nora, You can't just superimpose those tactics with everyone else. Nora's fighting style isn't how others fight, you can't expect to pull off things the same with others and how they fight. Though I have to admit you took advantage of my shield well. I never thought I could be used as such efficient cover." He gave the boy a small smile and a nod. To which he got a nod in return.

Turning to Nora who was vibrating in her seat, but whose eyes were clear and focused. "And to Nora, I have to admit, you're probably the best of us at teamwork. You used opportunities that Pyrrha created well, took advantage of my defenses for avoiding fire, and your hammer was always in motion taking us into account. But you also have a charging problem, you close distance to quickly and some of your swings forced me and Pyrrha to back off and made it hard to take advantage of opening the swing made. As well as you need to work on swinging with your off-hand without support from your hip more. It might just be nothing, but I feel like you rely too heavily on your right hand and body to swing and neglect the use of your left hand. But otherwise, I couldn't help noticing that outside of your large swings you are good at keeping your team in mind when attacking." He gave the bomber 2 thumbs up and a large smile. That she quickly returned with gusto.

As he let each of the 3 filter through the information. Jaune started to psych himself up. Preparing himself mentally for what was to come next. 'Okay just calmly ask them about what they think you did wrong, but make sure to have them focus on the teamwork aspect. Don't let them think about your direct performance or even your fighting while by yourself' As he opened up his mouth to ask the sparring room door was kicked open. "You were right Rubes they were training together too." The boisterous voice of Yang grabbed all their attention as a tired, but grinning Yang walked into the room. Only to be distracted by the shower of rose petals that spawned right before Ruby collided with Jaune. Without even thinking Jaune braced himself with his back foot and spun. Grabbing Ruby's shoulders before he stopped and set her on his feet. "Wooh, careful Ruby you almost killed me" But the pout coming from the Shimmering silver-eyed demon turned on him caused him to stop. As the reaper whined, "Why didn't you invite m- Us to train, I wanted to see all your weapons in action too."