Lessons Continued Pt 1: JNPR Takes Charge

The aftermath of the Saturday night entertainment was quite apparent within the room. Empty pizza boxes with little more than minute scraps and crumbs lay discarded on the floor. Empty cups lay toppled and scattered along with the rest of the litter.

The sleeping teenagers were left to doze where they dropped, even as the light of the morning sun filled the room. The saving grace of the late-night programs was the fact they were followed by one more day they did not need to be up early for anything.

Of course, for the Wolfblade trio, they would need to be up at some point soon if they didn't want to keep Ren waiting. Aria, the first to fall asleep, awoke first, yellow orbs fluttering open. With a good stretch she let out a brief yawn and looked around at her sleeping team.

Dezaryl laid face down, snoring into his sheets, covers completely abandoned and kicked to the edge of his bed. Matthew was sleeping on his side but his face was covered with an extra pillow. Ace slept snuggled under his covers, cowering from the light with one pillow. The irritation of Matthew's snoring coupled with being at such close proximity forced him to take measures and sacrifice his pillow to muffle his friend.

Zweii who had been resting easy on his back with little covers, awoke second. Glancing around the room he saw Aria still tucked in tight but semi awake with Shadow curled up at the end of her bed. How he could sleep so compacted mystified the knight. Must have been from years of naturally doing so in his natural state.

With a stretch and the popping of his neck, Zweii left his bed and sauntered over to the Grimmborn. He gently nudged Shadow's shoulder.

"Shadow, time to get up." He said softly.

Shadow's eyes opened, peering at the boy that had stirred him.

"Morning already?" He inquired tiredly.

"Mmm, almost afternoon actually." Zweii answered looking at the clock.

"Oooh, last night was so much fun." Aria sighed contently.

"It sure was. Shame you fell asleep one show too early." Zweii said.

"Awww. I got so sleepy I passed out…" Aria said.

"Still, you were up much later than Ruby usually manages. On New Year's Eve she barely made it to midnight." Zweii chuckled.

"Yeah, she conked out just before I could tell her I was in love with her." Ace said sleepily as he joined the conversation.

"Wow, you woke up all by yourself this time? Color me impressed." Zweii jabbed.

"Bite me. I'm going to the lesson toady as well so I need to be awake." Ace said sitting up in bed.

"I see. Are you going to use your Lunar Fang or…" Zweii trailed off not needing to finish.

"Probably just going to stick with Lunar Fang. I want to test my modifications on it anyway. I already know what Ebony Shard can do and I'll just use today's lesson on it later." Ace answered.

"Sound reasoning. I wish you all the best of luck."

"Thank you Zweii." Aria said smiling.

"Not a problem. You best be going now. Say hey to Ren for me." Zweii said heading for the door.

"Oh, okay. But where are you going?" Aria asked.

"Off to do some training of my own for a while, then see about setting things up for my trial." The knight answered.

"What will this test entail?" Shadow asked.

"You shouldn't worry too much about it at the moment. But I can say one thing. It'll be one of the hardest challenges you get from any of us. I won't be shocked if you can't complete it." He stated ominously before setting off leaving the Grimmborn in shock.

"C-Can't complete it? But… Why?" Aria asked.

"Because he cares." Ace answered. "If Zweii is going that far with this lesson, it's only because he wants you all as strong as possible, just like the rest of us."

"But if we cannot beat his lesson then what do we do?" Shadow inquired.

"You do the very best that you can. Win or lose, you'll be that much stronger from it all." Ace answered.

The two contemplated this for a while and nodded.

"Understood. But… We will not fail. We will pass every test we are given." Shadow stated.

Ace smiled at the clear determination behind his brother's words.

"You sound sure of that. I like your confidence." Ace said. "Alright, let's get dressed and head out then."

With that the three grabbed their clothes and promptly got dressed. Ace holstered his blade while Shadow and Aria gathered the Dust Weiss had gifted them. Once ready they headed out for the garden to meet with Ren.

The stoic member of team JNPR was in a meditative position, eyes closed, completely relaxed. Despite this, as they approached he knew.

"Hmm. So you're here… Good afternoon." Ren greeted them, opening his eyes.

"Hi Ren!" Aria greeted back. "Were you waiting long?"

"No, not really. I heard from Ruby you were having a late-night party of sorts so I assumed you would be up later. I got here a while ago." Ren answered. "Oh and Ace, I didn't know you would be coming as well."

"Well Aria and Shadow sort of invited me to join them." Ace responded.

"Yeah, Weiss told us you could help with Aura control which would make our Dust manipulation stronger. She also said that Ace needed more practice to use his new sword more effectively so we figure he could learn with us. If that's okay with you that is." Aria said surprising Ren.

"Ace, is this true? You want to learn to use that sword?" Ren asked.

"Well, after I learned I could actually do it to begin with I made some adjustments to Lunar Fang to use Dust manipulation using my own sword, but I guess it will help with using both right?" Ace asked.

"Yes of course it would. Once you have the ability it can be applied to any weapon. I just thought that…"

"I wouldn't use it again… I didn't think so either. But that's all in the past now. Doesn't matter much now why I was given the sword or taught the skill. It only matters what I do with them. And this time, it's my choice." Ace said.

"So it is. In that case, I'd be more than happy to teach you as well today my friend." Ren said with a slight grin.

"Great. We're ready to learn."

"Very well. Let me first see what you can do with your current level of training. I want to see where you are in need of improvement."

"Okay. I'll go first." Aria said stepping up.

Holding onto her Ice Dust crystal she began doing as Weiss taught her. Soon the crystal began to glow in her hand. Gentle particles of ice began to radiate from the Dust, floating in the air.

"That's very good control Aria. Your technique is right on point." Ren stated.

"Really? Oh thank you. But I still don't know how to release an attack just yet." Aria said.

"So that's as far as you got then. Not bad for less than a day of practice and a perfect starting point for the lesson today. Now Shadow, you next if you please."

Shadow looked to the ground in hesitation. "I… Well. The last time I tried, it blew up in my face…" The Beowolf Faunus said.

"It exploded? That sounds like you were able to put your Aura into it, but you used far too much and it destabilized."

"Weiss told me I needed to put more power into it, and then it was too much." Shadow explained.

"Seems like you need work controlling the flow of your Aura to me. From what the others have told me about it, yours is very strong. But you are only beginning to learn to use it and as such you have little control."

"Control?" Shadow asked.

"Your Semblance. You can use it to boost your base abilities. Can you do it now?" Ren asked.

"Yes." Shadow answered.

Shadow's Aura flared and his Semblance activated, surrounding him in a blazing yellow Aura. As it finished manifesting Ren rushed him and palmed him in the chest. Shadow grunted from the impact and his Semblance ceased.

"Just as previously observed. Your Semblance can make you quite strong but one good hit is all it takes to cancel it as you are now. This is because you can't maintain a constant flow of your Aura. Too little, and it fails to work. Too much, and it becomes unstable and backfires on you."

"I… I see." Shadow said dejectedly.

"Not to worry. This lesson is not designed to only help with Dust manipulation. It is for you to better understand how to control your Aura completely." Ren stated.

"I guess it's my turn then." Ace said preparing to show Ren.

"No need. I've already witnessed first hand your technique. It's forced and taxing, because you were taught incorrectly." Ren said. "But tell me, what is it that triggered it to begin with?"

Ace sighed.

"She fought me… And threatened to kill me if I couldn't do it. Even that wasn't enough though. That was only half of it. During what I thought would be my final moments, it was the regret of never seeing you all again. The shame of breaking my promise to Ruby if I died there. That's when I was able to use Dust manipulation for the first time." Ace explained.

Ren's face twisted into a look of disgust. "So that's how she forced it out of you… I'm sorry to reopen old wounds."

"It's fine Ren. I wouldn't have answered if I couldn't handle it."

"Still… Her methods are unforgivable. It's no wonder your ability is so immature. Forcing it out with the turmoil in your heart… You must never use that way again Ace."

"Afraid I don't know another way. It was the only thing that worked."

"It's wrong. I'll show you the right way this time." Ren said. "As it stands now, Aria needs instruction on how to release an attack after focusing her Aura with Dust, Shadow needs regulation control, and you need to relearn how to use Dust manipulation altogether."

"Then start with Aria. She's closer so let her finish first." Ace requested.

"No. I think it would be good practice to start with you. Work all the way through from the beginning." Ren countered.

"If that's what you think is best. You're the teacher here after all."

"Let's begin then. Let's start by focusing your Auras into your chosen Dust. Remember what Weiss told you the other day."

"She said to envision the Dust as an extension of ourselves." Shadow said.

"And to use the same way we trigger our Semblances to direct the flow instead to the Dust." Aria added.

"Is that how to do it properly?" Ace asked.

"One of the ways to look at it yes." Ren said.

The three did as they were asked and began focusing their Auras. Like before it was taking some time to do so, even more so for Ace who was starting back from scratch.

"Oh, and one more thing. I've asked Nora to help me out with this part. Come on out Nora." Ren said surprising them.

"You got it Renny!" Nora shouted as she bounded towards them. "Whoo! Dust training with Ren!" She hollered from the top of her lungs.

The Wolfblades were shocked, their focus split between the energetic girl and the task at hand. The result was the complete loss of any progress much to their dismay.

"H-Hey! Why did you do that? Now I have to start over." Aria whined.

"As do I." Shadow said.

"Oh! My bad! Try again! I'll be quieter." Nora giggled.

"That would be appreciated." Aria said.

Again, they concentrated on their Dust. Nora watched them with a glint in her eyes.

"Hey! I just remembered something! I had the craziest dream last night! You guys definitely got to hear this. So there I was in this place where everything was made out of the tastiest candy when all of a sudden…"

"Nora! You messed me up again! I thought you said you were going to be quiet!" Aria yelled.

"Oh yeah! Right. Training. So sorry. Won't happen again." Nora grinned.

'Why did Ren bring Nora here to help? She's being quite the nuisance.' Ace thought to himself before going back to focusing.

A couple more minutes passed, Nora dead quiet and Ren watching without a sound. It didn't stay that way.

"Bored… Boring… So bored…." Nora groaned, repeating the same few lines in repetition.

"Nora please! You are making this very difficult for us." Shadow protested, his patience beginning to wane.

"Yeah! I thought you were supposed to be helping us." Aria added.

"Bzzzt! Wroooong~ I'm here to help Ren." Nora giggled.

The Wolfblades were baffled at the seemingly contradictory statement. She was here to help Ren but not them. It didn't make sense. Ace thought about it before it clicked in his head.

"Shadow, Aria, just ignore her as best you can. She's got no intention to stop anytime soon so just concentrate." Ace said.

"How do you know that?" Shadow asked.

"Call it a hunch." Ace replied, eyes glowering towards the giggling hammer wielder.

"Okay, we'll try…" Aria said, resuming her training.

Nora continued as predicted, making any form of distraction imaginable while they focused on their task. Eventually, the three made their Dust shine with their Auras.

"Finally did it." Aria said.

"Despite Nora's best efforts to distract us, yes we did." Ace said. "That was the whole point though wasn't it? Ren and Nora."

"Heh heh, you caught me~" Nora chuckled. "How did you find me out?" She asked.

"A few things tipped me off. For starters, I found it odd that Ren would recruit you into a lesson like this from the beginning. This sort of thing doesn't really fall under your expertise, so how would you be of any help? Then you started breaking our focus. I thought it was just your natural energy keeping you from letting us concentrate, but that wasn't it. You were doing it deliberately."

"She was? That whole time it was on purpose?" Aria asked.

"Yep!" Nora replied proudly.

"But why?" Shadow asked.

"It was all part of the lesson. The real red flags were the final hints you gave us. When Aria said you were supposed to be helping us you denied it and said you were helping Ren instead. That didn't seem accurate at the time until I noticed something else. The whole time you were being disruptive, Ren never told you to stop. Usually he's pretty good about reigning you in when you get too out of line, but not this time."

"Hey, that's right. What's going on?" Aria asked

"Isn't it obvious by now Sis? Nora was here to help in the lesson after all. She was helping Ren by creating distractions to break our focus by his request. Isn't that right Ren?" Ace asked.

"Well done." Ren praised. "You figured it out. It's true, I asked Nora to do exactly that. In combat, your enemy is not going to let you just sit and focus your Aura. You have to be able to work through distractions and do so quickly. This was all an exercise to increase your focus under less than casual circumstances." Ren answered.

"And with that I'll see you two tomorrow in the training room for MY lesson!~ Be ready for lots of sweat boys and girls!" Nora cackled mischievously.

"Yes, thank you for the help Nora. See you back at the room." Ren said.

"Yep, yep! You better not forget to make those pancakes you promised!~" Nora giggled as she skipped out the room.

"I won't. Now then, on to the second half of today's lesson. This is really for Shadow and Aria so Ace if you'd like to, you may go now." Ren said.

"Sure thing. Thanks for the help Ren. I really appreciate it." Ace said.

"Not a problem my friend."

"Well then, I'll get back to the forge and get to modifying your weapons for you." Ace told his siblings.

"Okay! Can't wait to see them!" Aria said waving Ace off.

"I'll make sure they're just to your specifications." Ace said smiling to his sister before heading out.

"Your brother really does love you two a lot." Ren said with a smile. "I'll make sure you can defend yourselves on his behalf, but to do that, we need to work on your Semblances next."

"Our Semblances?" Shadow asked.

Ren nodded. "Shadow, I want you to think back to our spar in Goodwitch's classroom when you used your Semblance. It's true it gives you quite the boost in a fight, but it's also true that it is easily disrupted. One or two good blows and it was shut off, and that's not good."

"I do remember that. It happened with my fight with Ace as well." Shadow said.

"Hmm, tell me. When you use your Semblance, do you put thought into what you are devoting that power to?" Ren asked.

"No. When I use it, I just increase everything. There really is no thought." Shadow answered.

"That very well may be your problem. Your Semblance is very unique. You store power to use later in a pinch, but once that power runs out, so does your Semblance. Because you're boosting everything at once, you drain your energy much quicker. It also seems to strain the delicate flow of your power making it easier to disrupt."

"I think I understand, but what do you suggest I do to remedy this?" Shadow asked.

"The solution is rather simple. With time and more practice, your Semblance will grow stronger. You may even be able to use it as you do now without draining it as fast. But at this point, you and your Semblance are still in the beginning stages of your growth. So, until that time, you need to focus on one maybe two areas at most to boost with it. The less you boost the easier it will be to maintain." Ren answered.

"That sounds like it would work, but how would I focus on just one or two?" Shadow asked.

"That my friend may be the hard part to a simple solution. If I had to guess though, when you use your Semblance, you need to be more aware of what you are using it for. What the situation calls for. If you are more focused, decide in your mind of what you need at the time, that may be enough."

"I will try." Shadow said, closing his eyes and activating his Semblance. 'Speed. Focus on boosting my speed…' Shadow thought to himself. His Aura enveloped his body as usual, but this time it felt less erratic. Tamed and centered. Opening his eyes, he looked to Ren. "Let us see if it worked."

Ren nodded and struck out with an open palm at Shadow. The Grimmborn easily evaded with improved speed, even faster than the times he used his Semblance before, a development neither of them had anticipated. Ren then began attacking Shadow with a flurry of kicks and punches. Shadow avoided damage easily, moving out of the way a split second before each strike or simply parrying the blows with his own two hands.

When a clever blow from Ren managed to finally connect, Shadow's Aura took the full brunt of the attack, but his Semblance persisted. Ren no longer holding back landed several more clean blows but still Shadow's Semblance remained active.

"It seems my theory was correct. You were enhancing only your agility this time, am I right?" Ren asked, to which Shadow nodded. "Not only did it make your Semblance maintain itself properly, by focusing on that one area, it improved the quality of the boost. Keep working with your Semblance, but I believe you have finished your training for today Shadow."

Shadow smiled happily at that news and took a seat at the side lines to watch his Sister's lesson.

"Now Aria, from what I understand, your Semblance is rather picky right now on when it will activate, is that correct?" Ren asked.

"Umm, yeah I guess. It's kinda ruled by my emotions at the moment." Aria answered.

"So it's your emotions that activate it?" Ren asked.

"W-Well, just one so far. W-When I first used it, I was really happy, and it was by accident. Then after that when I tried to show it off, it didn't work until I though happy thoughts about flying." She answered.

"So your emotional experiences with flight as a Nevermore are the current key in activating your Semblance. That needs some adjusting I'm afraid. As you know, there will be situations in which your mood will be less than happy. In the field you will be more likely to become scared and angry." Ren said flashing back to Matthew going into a fit of rage on the Death Stalker that hurt Ace, and then Ace himself lost to anger against Cinder.

"I know that…" Aria said.

"Emotional triggers for early Semblances are not uncommon Aria. If you've seen Yang fight, her Semblance can become partially activated by becoming enraged, and with Zwei, his temper on the few cases he loses it creates smoke from his Semblance's fire. What is important in cases like yours is that you can learn to activate it naturally and without specific emotional cues."

Aria nodded at this. "So how do you do that?"

"Well, luckily enough this training to manage your flow of Aura is the remedy. It will take you some time but just by commanding your Aura you will bypass the emotional requirement." Ren answered.

"Awesome! Thanks so much Ren." Aria said happily.

"My pleasure Aria. Now please demonstrate what you have learned today and summon a gust without thinking of flying or other happy thoughts."

Aria did as she was asked and focused on her Aura and solely that. A faint wind began to emanate from her body and with a forward push of her hands she sent an air burst through the room.

"Yes! I did it! I did it!" Aria cheered.

"And you thought of nothing else?" Ren asked.

"Well… I didn't think happy thoughts… I thought more of other things, like what Weiss told us happened to Ace. It made me unhappy…" She said.

"Good. Operating under the other emotions proves that it was not an emotional trigger but your control of your power. You pass your training Aria. You have each finished my lesson." Ren said smiling.

"Alright!" Aria said in joy.

"Now, I know what Nora has in store for you tomorrow so my advice is this. Practice and experiment with your new control, but get a good meal, lots of water, and plenty of sleep. She's going to push you to your limits and you'll need the energy."

"That sounds ominous…" Shadow said.

"Yeah. Ruby already wore out our legs…" Aria said.

"Perfect, because Nora is most likely to break them with her lesson." Ren joked, but there was something off about the half second flash of seriousness on his face after that made them think he probably wasn't just kidding around. "Anyway, you're free to go." He said with a bow.

The siblings bowed back and made their way to their room. They spent some time taking Ren's advice and practicing with their lessons so far, even sparring against each other outside for a bit. After a while they found they had done adequate work and moved to the cafeteria for food and drink. By the time they got back to their room Ace was already waiting for them, their reworked weapons on the table.

"There you two are. You're just in time to see your improved weapons." Ace said greeting them.

"Wow, already!? You work fast big brother!" Aria said.

Ace chuckled. "Well I didn't work on them alone Aria. Ruby insisted she helped tune them and get the job done faster."

"I am sure you did not want to turn down an opportunity to spend time with Ruby anyway." Shadow said with a grin.

"… You're getting too clever for my tastes little brother." Ace said with a half amused and half annoyed look. "Anyway, Aria, yours were simplest. All I needed to do was integrate the Ice Dust into your fans."

Ace held them out to her for her to inspect. The light blue crystals were clearly shown along the spines of the fans, tiny gems bedazzling them. There were also some slightly larger crystals at the grips.

"Wow! I can't wait to try them out!" Aria said excitedly.

"In due time Aria. Shadow, your guns were modified to shoot singular more powerful and accurate shots, but still posses the rapid fire function from before. You also now have the Lightning Dust built into the arm guards." Ace said presenting the claws to his brother.

Shadow looked at them, seeing the Dust, but not how the firing mechanism had been modified.

"How do I switch between the two?" He asked.

"Ah, right, so all you have to do is press on the chambers on each wrist mounted chamber and…" Ace touched the top of the weapon and a clicking noise was heard, followed by the three small barrels spinning out of sight and a larger centralized hole opened between them. "Ta da! Single fire mode. Annnd, if you charge the Dust your rounds will be electrified."

"That is good. Thank you." Shadow said smiling, slipping his claws into his jacket pockets.

"Not a problem. Of course, you both should be thinking of names and maybe color schemes for your weapons to really make them official. Also, your own emblem." Ace said.

"Emblem?" Aria asked.

"Yep yep! Everyone has an emblem, a symbol that represents them." Ace said pointing to his own on his sword. "Mine is this, a wolf head with a sword behind it, for my last name. Hunters usually display their emblems on their weapons or their clothes, sometimes both. Zweii wears his on his armor's surcoat. It's got a dragon head on it for his family name. It doesn't have to be about your name though. It can be about something that defines you, but most importantly, it should come from your hearts. No one can tell you what it should be."

Aria smiled and nodded. "Alright then."

"Something to be pondering while we work towards our initiation then." Shadow added.

"Yes indeed, but for now, clean up and let's get ready for bed." Ace said moving to his own.

The Grimmborn promptly got changed and comfortably nestled in bed as the rest of the team returned to the room for rest.

"Hey guys, where have you been?" Ace asked.

"They've been helping me set some things up for my upcoming lesson." Zweii answered.

"And man, do I feel bad for Shadow and Aria... All of it is Hell." Dezaryl said.

"All of it?" Ace asked with eyebrow raised.

"Well not all of it but most of it is pretty brutal. Not going to lie, I don't think I could get through this…" Matthew responded.

"As long as none of it is life threatening Zweii." Ace said.

"Of course, I made sure precautions and limits were implemented." The Knight replied.

"So, how'd it go today with Ren?" Dezaryl asked the trainees.

"It went well. We can manipulate Dust better, and Ren helped us work on our Semblance control." Shadow answered.

"What's tomorrow going to bring?" Zweii asked.

"We're getting a lesson from Nora next. We were warned it was also going to be really tough." Aria replied.

"Yep, they were just getting ready to sleep. So I say we all get to bed as well." Ace said.

"Sounds good. I'm bushed…" Matthew said with a yawn.

"Bushed?" Shadow asked.

"Yeah. It means really tired." Matthew clarified.

"Ugh, so many expressions to learn…" Aria sighed.

Ace simply smiled as he pulled himself under the covers. "Goodnight everyone."

A resounding "Good night" from his team signaled the end of the day.

A/N: Hello, hello everyone. I'm deeply sorry for how long it took to post any additions to the story. Life became busy and I ad so many other things occupying my time. Bur I did chip away at this chapter as best as I could. Now, it is a little shorter and only had one of the four JNPR lessons but it was like Weiss' with a lot of talking and when I thought about how much more Nora was going to add and how much shorter Jaune and Pyrrha's lesson would be I decided that this would be a good spot to call halfway and at the least get something out. Thank you to everyone who has waited patiently over nearly half a year for an actual chapter update. I'm still not super free in terms of time but I'll try my absolute best not take that long again for the next one. Until then.