Arc of Legend V2 Chapter 1: Footwork, a rwby fanfic

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Chapter One: Footwork

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"That's a big Ursa!" - Speech

'I'm so tired.' - Thoughts

[Game Announcement]

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I don't own RWBY or The Gamer.

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"Jaune you know if you ever need help you can just ask."

Pyrrha's words hit Jaune harder than Cardin ever could. He mulled over what Pyrrha said staring down at his plate of food as Nora bounced up and promised to cripple Cardin for him.

'She's offering to help you and you lied to get in here. Everyone else can handle Beacon and you can't because they belong here. If you're gonna take Pyrrha's help or anyone else's, you should be honest first. One hundred percent. I'm sick of feeling like this, and I think a great way to stop is to just come clean.'

Jaune stood up and picked up his plate.

'You're gonna suck it up and talk to Ozpin. Should I let Pyrrha know first? She's smart, she'd probably know what to do. But I really messed up. What would she say?'

Jaune looked at Pyrrha and sighed as he walked away to put his plate.

'She'd be supportive! Right?'

He decided this would be a good idea. "Pyrrha, can we talk?" Jaune threw his head towards the doors.

The girl nodded and stood up to leave the cafeteria with him.

"Jaune what's going on?" asked Pyrrha when Jaune chose a quiet place to talk.

He turned around to look at his teammate, looking around the small part of the corridor outside the cafeteria to make sure no one could hear him. "I lied to get into Beacon. I want to go talk to Ozpin about it."

Pyrrha took a second to process this. "Wh-What do you mean?"

"I faked my transcripts to get into Beacon. It's why I don't know anything. About fighting, about Grimm, about weapons. I just don't belong here." Jaune said. "And to be honest, I don't think I should be here anymore. I want your help to help me make a decision."

Pyrrha looked at him speaking honestly. "Well then why did you come here?"

"Because of my family." Jaune breathed in tightly. "Because my whole family is made up of Huntsmen, and I never was one. I came to be one just like them. I just, didn't realize it'd be so hard."

And just like that, it all made sense to Pyrrha. "I understand then." Pyrrha frowned looking at Jaune's saddened expression. "I get why you're so confused now. But the person who'd know best about if you should stay or go is Professor Ozpin. I can't really decide for you."

Jaune refrained from facepalming. 'Of course, she'd tell you to just be honest. She's Pyrrha!'

"You're right." Jaune looked down at his feet. "I'll go talk to him."

He began to walk away and Pyrrha kept frowning. Before he could leave she spoke out. "Jaune?"

He turned around.

"Even though you're making the best decision I think, if you want my opinion. I'd like you to stay, and I think Nora and Ren would too." Pyrrha said with a smile.

"So, so would I," Jaune said back sadly, before walking away.

~000~

The lights on the ride up to Ozpin's office flew past Jaune's face as the elevator ascended.

Ozpin saw the elevator doors to his office open and Jaune walked out bashfully. Jaune held his arm. "Um, Professor? Can I talk to you?"

Ozpin nodded and gestured to the seat in front of him at his desk. "Of course."

Jaune bit his lip and approached before he sat down patting his knees. "Uh, lovely day isn't it?" he asked casually.

Ozpin blinked calmly at him from behind his glasses with a blank stare.

Jaune cleared his throat. "Right! I wanted to tell you that," He paused. "My transcripts to get into Beacon were completely. They were completely." Jaune cleared his throat again struggling to say the truth despite how badly he wanted to come clean. "They were completely. Completely-"

"Faked?" Ozpin sipped his coffee and spoke calmly. "Yes, I knew about twenty minutes after initiation."

"R-Really?"

He shrugged. "It was quite obvious. Even a below-average Huntsmen in training who attended at least a year in any academy would know the basics of fighting. And your performance is quite frankly an embarrassment. Also, I checked your transcripts again just to make sure and I found they were faked."

As if possibly being expelled wasn't gutting enough, Ozpin's words cut deeply. "Right." Jaune had never felt worse about himself.

"Unfortunately, I couldn't expel you despite lying, being a disgrace to Beacon's prestige, and overall, a complete failure at even the most rudimentary skills a Huntsman would need. And the reason is quite simple. Your name." explained Ozpin.

"My name?"

Ozpin nodded. "Believe it or not, I know your family better than most Mr. Arc. I understand how much pressure must be placed on you."

Jaune was surprised. "You do?"

Ozpin chuckled. 'I actually remember the first Arc to become a Huntsman.'

"Oh yes. I know how far back your name goes. I know why you enrolled. To have years and years of Hunting tradition pushed on you after never having trained a day in your life must be taxing to say the least." Ozpin caught Jaune off guard by smiling at him. "And to apply to Beacon not knowing how to swing a sword takes a kind of naivety I don't often see."

"Naivety?" Jaune didn't know what Ozpin meant by that but smiled anyway.

"Stupidity." Ozpin blanked killing Jaune's hope. "It also takes a tremendous amount of courage to take on a challenge you know you're not ready for. That's the only good quality I see in you Jaune. You're not smart, you're not skilled, and you're not very good at making the right decisions. But, you have courage, and that's the first thing any good hero needs."

Jaune legitimately couldn't tell if Ozpin was keeping him in Beacon out of pity or respect for his courage.

"Either way, I understand the reason you came up here. Beacon is a lot more difficult than you thought. And you've realized becoming a Huntsman is hard, very hard." Ozpin finished his coffee. "And understand me, Mr. Arc, you'll have to learn on your own how to solve your problems. "

"Do you know about Cardin then?"

"Of course I do," said Ozpin cooly. "I spend a lot more time than you'd think observing what goes on in the halls. Luckily, struggles build character. And you're going to have to solve your problems on your own Jaune."

He stood up slowly, looking at the Headmaster sitting calmly in his chair. "S-So I'm not expelled then?"

"No, you are not. But Jaune, I expect you understand that keeping you in Beacon means that you won't take the opportunity for granted."

Jaune sighed. "Y-Yeah I understand Professor."

Dismissing him with a handwave, Ozpin withdrew a small canister of coffee from his desk and spoke out before Jaune could leave.

"Oh and Jaune?"

Jaune stopped. "Yes?"

"Just because you have to face your problems alone, doesn't mean you can't ask your friends for help."

"Thanks, Professor." Jaune exited in the elevator.

Sighing and leaning the back of his head against the elevator as it descended, Jaune groaned in his head. 'Great! So not only do I have to become a Huntsman despite sucking! I also have the added pressure of living up to Ozpin's expectations of me! Wonderful!'

"If there's a sign I can do this. Show me right now please, I'm so dead." Jaune placed his face in his hands exhaustively only to hear a sudden [Ring!]. "Huh?"

A floating blue screen popped up in front of him.

[Welcome to the Game |Jaune Arc|!]

Jaune's eyes widened when he removed his gloved hands from his face. 'So yeah, I think I actually might've died in this elevator somehow.'

[Gamer's Mind- Calms down the user to an effective level.]

Jaune nearly laughed in surprise reading this. 'What? No way I can just calm down and forget how crazy this is so easi- Whoa.'

[Gamer's Mind Activated!]

Jaune started blinking rapidly after his panic was erased, abusing the |Ability| as his muted panic just seemed to rise. "Uh, hold on. What is happening."

The elevator kept descending as Jaune read the screen.

[The System is designed to be activated at will depending on the actions, thoughts, and conditions of the Gamer. For instance, anything ranging from Smithing to Swordfighting are considered |Skills| and are measured on the |Leveling| scale.]

[The |Gamer| is a very dynamic power that allows the user to manifest their physical abilities to advance much faster than the average person. Namely, through the distribution of Stat Points, the Gamer can choose how to improve themselves differently than how anyone else could.]

"...So this is weird," Jaune said to himself strangely as the elevator doors slid open and Jaune walked out.

He focused on Glynda as she walked toward him from the end of the lobby up to Ozpin's office.

[Observe]

[LV 1 Skill used! Observation - Allows the user to collect information by observing. Through increased use, the user may collect better information on a larger variety of things. No AP or SP is required to use this ability.]

Jaune read these two screens before the third one popped up as Glynda approached the elevator. 'I'm wondering if I'm imagining this.'

[Glynda Goodwitch LV 67 - Huntress]

"Uh, Professor?" Jaune asked as the blonde witch walked past him.

The woman stopped walking in her high heels and looked at him. "Yes?"

Jaune looked from the floating blue screens in front of him to his teacher, hoping to get a reaction. After the Huntress looked at him strangely, Jaune's eyes widened realizing only he could see this. 'Yup, I might actually just be seeing things.'

"Are you all right Mr. Arc?"

"I-I'm fine Professor." Jaune turned away blinking rapidly again trying to come to terms with what was going on. While |Gamer's Mind| definitely helped, he still needed some fresh air despite the calm that washed over every ounce of his shock.

Jaune stepped out of the lobby of Ozpin's office and into the open air. He smiled soaking in the suns warm rays. 'I'm not getting expelled. And even though I might be hallucinating, I'm fine. Everything's fine.'

The knight decided to walk around Beacon for a bit.

Walking toward the flowers that lead to the entrance to Beacon, Jaune admired how a butterfly was fluttering towards a rose lily. Wanting to know more about it, the |System| took notice when he triggered |Observe| by focusing again.

[Valean Emperor LV 0 - Insect]

Jaune decided to focus on the row of flower beds that graced Beacon's entrance. Nothing came up. Jaune focused his gaze again on random students as they walked by and no screens popped up in front of him.

'Strange, so I can only get information on a couple of things. This crazy thing might actually be useful!'

"Hey Vomit Boy!" a voice yelled suddenly making him jump.

A familiar blonde girl walked around him and laughed as he shivered. "H-Hey Yang."

The boxer put her hands on her hips. "What did you and Pyrrha talk about after dinner?"

"Not much, just, training and stuff," Jaune said before remembering something. "Hey, I never really apologized for vomiting on your shoes."

Yang laughed a little. "It's fine. Was that really your first time on an airship though?"

Jaune nodded shyly and Yang smiled. Jaune took the opportunity to focus on Yang again.

[Yang Xiao-Long LV 27 - Student]

Jaune began wondering about this 'level' aspect for each description of a person or thing he observed. Was it simply arbitrary or did it actually reflect their skill and such? It made sense because Glynda was a fully-fledged Huntress while Yang was still-

"Jaune?" Yang raised an eyebrow and he stopped rubbing his chin deep in thought. "You dozing off?"

"U-Uh. Yeah," admitted Jaune. "Sorry long day. Lots of stuff going on."

"I feel you," Yang said. "I can be in class with Port and-." she blew a raspberry. "Nothing. You know he hit on me on the first day of class?"

'Can't really blame him can I?' Jaune looked aside knowing where his eyes would lead if he glanced at her. "No, yeah. I totally get it, that must suck."

"So what do you have planned for the rest of the day?" wondered Yang.

"Not much. I was gonna just walk around for a bit." Jaune shrugged. "Then I was gonna talk to Pyrrha about getting trained."

Yang saw how Weiss had a point calling him 'scraggly.' "Good idea you could use it."

"Well, how often do you train?" asked Jaune.

"Every day, for the past seven years," Yang said casually. "And what about you?"

"Does uh," Jaune rubbed the side of his head. "Does eating cereal and playing video games count as training?"

Yang smiled again. "I think you can answer that yourself."

'Dang, he's kinda funny whether he's trying or not to be.' Yang thought. 'Emphasis on kinda.'

"Do you have any advice on fighting?" Jaune said.

She shook her head. "Not really, I'll guess Pyrrha'll teach you what you need to know."

"Can you teach me something then sometime?" Jaune wondered.

"Sure." Yang checked the time on her scroll. "I have to read this thing for Port. I'll talk to you later I guess?"

"Yeah sure." Jaune nodded as she walked off.

Jaune watched her leave before looking down at his hands. 'Wait, was that the first time I ever talked to her? Yeah, and I made myself sound like a complete idiot.' Another voice in Jaune's head spoke. 'It could've been much worse. At least you weren't checking her out. Now get to training! You heard what Ozpin said!'

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Jaune entered his dorm room and Nora stopped bouncing on her bed. "Hey Jaune, you doing okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine." he nodded to the redhead. "Pyrrha, I was hoping you could help me with something?" Jaune threw both of his thumbs toward the door.

"Sure thing." Pyrrha stood up off her bed and put her book away.

Nora looked at Ren and smiled and pointed jokingly toward the door after Pyrrha left with Jaune. Ren rolled his eyes and shook his head, returning to cleaning his pistols.

Pyrrha closed the dorm room door behind her. "So, how did it go with Professor Ozpin?"

"Well I'm not expelled so, I guess it went pretty good?" Jaune rubbed his eyebrow with his thumb.

Pyrrha smiled. "Glad to hear it."

"Right so, I was hoping you could help me train now?" asked Jaune hopefully.

"Definitely. I know just the place." Pyrrha lead him towards the rooftop of the dorms.

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"Great view right?" suggested Pyrrha as the stars twinked.

Jaune couldn't deny it as he looked out from the roof. "Yeah it's pretty great," he said seeing Beacon twinkle at night.

Pyrrha held her weapons. "Well, shall we get started?"

Jaune nodded.

"First thing's first is your stance. If your stance is wrong, everything's wrong." Pyrrha lowered herself slightly and raised her sword and her shield. "Make sure you're low enough but keep your balance and have good posture."

"O-Okay." Jaune tried imitating Pyrrha's fighting stance. He crouched slightly while keeping his shield out in front of him.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Pyrrha looked over to see him looking forward with her. "Make sure your sword is still pointing up."

Jaune raised it.

"Good. Stay a bit more off your heels. There. And just, sway a little, start transferring your weight back and forth from your front foot to your back one." Pyrrha looked to see him start bouncing a little forward and backward. "Just keep going."

Jaune and Pyrrha kept looking forward to the fantastic view the rooftop offered at nighttime, shifting their weight back and forth from foot to foot. After about two minutes or so, Pyrrha was satisfied. "Great. Now we're just gonna start moving around a little. Make sure you're always holding your shield up, stay light on your toes, and keep your shoulders loose."

Jaune started moving around in a circle bouncing around lightly keeping his heels off, seeing how Pyrrha moved out of the corner of his eye. "Don't worry about me, this is just a warm-up. You don't need a lot of technique."

From the little he saw, Jaune could tell that Pyrrha was far more advanced at this simple exercise than he was. She was constantly dodging invisible attacks, slipping out of the way and shifting her weight around by twisting her hips and feet.

Jaune listened and began bouncing in his little spot on the rooftop.

"Try to move around more, go forward and then change directions," suggested Pyrrha.

He kept his shield up while staying on his toes, moving forward and backward and then twisting to a new angle.

"There." Pyrrha nodded while starting the same footwork exercise.

The two shifted and moved together, bouncing about and twisting. After about five minutes the |System| registered Jaune's progress.

[Swordfighting Skill Created! |Footwork| - LV 1 (04/100). This skill involves simple exercise and body movement to improve your speed and effectiveness in combat by moving in multiple directions. Requires SP to use.]

Jaune ignored the floating blue screen and kept training. Another minute of practicing his footwork with Pyrrha and he could feel himself begin to sweat. After about five minutes of footwork, Pyrrha turned to Jaune. "Feel warmed up?"

Jaune nodded and wiped some sweat off his brow. "Yeah."

"Good, let's begin with a thrust." Pyrrha stayed in her stance and showed him. "Keeping your shield up to protect your face, twist your body forward and thrust your sword out."

Jaune awkwardly started trying to poke the air in front of him twisting a little off his heels.

"Shift your weight as much as you can, put your entire body behind it. Twist more off your feet, and release some air from your mouth when you strike." Pyrrha showed him with a 'ts!' and brought her blade back to her guard after finishing. "Don't worry about speed or power, just focus on technique for now."

Jaune kept his shield up and twisted his body as much he could off his heels thrusting his sword slowly through the air in front of him and huffing air out through his nose. Jaune returned his sword to his guard still staying in his stance, making sure to keep it pointed up.

"There you go Jaune, keep practicing it for a bit."

Jaune kept training his thrust, adding a bit more speed and hip movement as he kept thrusting Crocea Mors through the air. Two minutes passed and Jaune turned with a bit more sweat on him when Pyrrha spoke. "Nice work, now practice it on my shield. Don't be afraid, go ahead," she said raising it.

Jaune turned to her and started twisting his body forward, poking Pyrrha's shield with strength releasing air from his nose how she taught him.

Ping!

The metal rang when Jaune's sword made contact with Pyrrha's shield.

"Again."

Jaune breathed out quickly through his mouth taking a note from his teacher, making Pyrrha's shield ring again when he thrust the tip of his sword into it.

[Swordfighting Skill Created! |Thrust| - LV 1 (02/100). A basic technique done by twisting the user's sword hand forward. Requires SP to use.]

Jaune read this and assumed 'SP' stood for stamina points returning to practicing on Pyrrha's shield and thinking. It had to as Jaune could feel himself tire out by using these skills. He also assumed when he read 'AP' it stood for aura points, and then that there could be Aura powered versions of standard techniques that used said 'AP.'

"Okay, a few things to help you." Pyrrha lowered her shield as Jaune listened attentively to her advice. "When you're thrusting, try to emphasize the turning motion of your right hand. Think of it like you're screwing in a lightbulb. Secondly, try not to come up as much, always stay lowered in your stance, attacking or blocking."

Jaune nodded. "Got it."

"I'm going to move around for a bit, keep practicing your thrust." Pyrrha raised her shield again bouncing on her feet.

Jaune felt himself get even sweatier as he bounced around more in his stance, continuing to ring Pyrrha's shield with his thrust. Jaune moved left and right with her, beginning to pant as he exercised.

He wiped the sweat away panting. "Can we continue this tomorrow?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Mhm. Thanks for taking my advice Jaune."

"N-No problem." Jaune panted. "You can go on ahead, I'll catch up with you in a second."

Pyrrha walked off and Jaune brought up the |System| by thinking. 'Menu.'

[Swordfighting LV 1 Learned (01/100)! This skill is at the lowest level of sword fighting, including standard attacks and defense.]

[After training, you have gained +1 to |STA|.]

Jaune caught his breath and looked up from the blue screens over at Beacon's nighttime view from the rooftop, seeing Beacon Tower's glow green. 'Today was crazy, and I don't know how to use this weird video game thing but I'm gonna use it the best I can! I'm glad I'm still in Beacon. I have a way to learn how to be a Huntsman, but I'm gonna do it! I'm not letting Ozpin down, I'm not letting my teammates down, I'm not letting my family down!'

Jaune raised his sword over Beacon. 'I will be a Hero! No matter what it takes, I'll make it as the best! I promise! I'm given a chance and I'm not gonna pass it up.'

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Yup, re-write time. I started writing Arc of Legend two years ago just when I started reading and writing fanfiction. So here I am, two years later and wanting to change what I wrote. Just a few things, first, Jaune will be OP eventually. Someone was whining he wasn't OP enough yet on Arc of Legend when I was building to it.

Second, the Harem's gonna be small, and will not be instant or be the focus at all. Arc of Legend is more of a fluff harem Isekai type, I'm hoping to actually make this its own thing and focus more on Jaune becoming a hero. Thirdly, and finally, this is a fanfic I'm taking seriously, Arc of Legend was me just having fun, and I will continue to write it. This is the re-write.

Dragon Bone Z suggested that I imagine the voice actors reading the lines aloud and I kinda tried that and learned it helps keep the writing in character.

I am open to requests for Betas for this to help with pacing and characters and such? Thanks for reading.