"Watch your footwork, Mr Arc." I commented as I parried an overhead slash, only to sigh as the blonde haired boy literally looked at his feet to see how he needed to adjust their position.
This wasn't the first time he'd done something similar, and while I knew some people needed to visually adjust when first learning something – Jaune had weeks to work what should be basic muscle memory into his stance by now.
Jaune was honestly a bit of a contradiction that made teaching him five times more frustrating than it needed to be.
When he was working in the field with his team or sparring with people he knew well like Team RWBY, he showed remarkable improvement compared to the beginning of the semester. But the second he was put in a classroom or given even mild guidance from a teacher, it was like he forgot how to walk – let alone fight.
"Eyes up, Mr Arc." I stressed for the tenth time this class alone, followed by a sharp rap on the head with Torashinai.
Naturally this meant that Jaune moved to cover his head with a yelp, tripped over his feet in the process, and tumbled off the stage to the laughter of some of his nearby classmates.
I held back another sigh as Leona made her way over to check that the boy hadn't hurt himself in his fall. Aura covered a lot, but a sprain or pulled muscle could still happen on occasion.
That was about all the time we had though. A quick glance at the clock showed class was going to end soon so there wasn't much point dragging Jaune back onto the stage for another match.
"Alright everyone, start wrapping it up! If you're done with your matches, start stretching and then you can head to the showers. And Jaune, once class is over please hang back for a minute, okay?"
A shaking hand slowly appeared over the lip of the stage and gave me a thumbs up showing the blonde had heard me.
-o-
"You, uh, wanted to see me?" The rather nervous looking leader of Team JNPR asked once combat class had finished.
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes, I did. But I don't remember asking for your whole team to stay behind."
"C'mon teach, we can't just leave our fearless leader behind, can we?" Nora said with a grin while Ren and Pyrrha nodded in support.
Well if they wanted to waste their afternoon like that, who was I to say otherwise? Besides, it was a show of support that as a teacher – even an assistant one – I should probably be encouraging.
"Do you know why I asked you to stay behind, Jaune?" I asked instead, because I did have other things I wanted to do today.
All of Team JNPR winced at my question. They might have their leader's back, but none of them were delusional about his performance in class.
"I-is it about me tripping up earlier?"
"Partially." I agreed. "But it's more about how you're still struggling with the basics in class. Tripping up because you can't assume a proper stance without looking isn't something that meets Beacon's standards you know."
"...yeah, I figured. So what's that mean for me?" Jaune hung his head dejectedly.
Nora immediately jumped to the worst possible outcome. "You aren't kicking him out of Beacon are you? Cause even if Jauney is weak, clumsy, and kinda sucks at fighting he's getting better you know?! Plus he's really good at making plans!"
I could see every word striking Jaune like an arrow through the heart. Nora didn't hold back, did she?
"We're not–"
"Wait, wait, wait! Before you do anything, I'll take him under my wing! I'll have him ship-shape in a week with a special training course where every time he screws up I'll break his kneecaps, then he won't dare to do it anymore!" Nora grabbed her team leader by the shirt and demonstratively placed her hammer near his knee, making Jaune go completely white at the threat. Thankfully Ren interrupted the energetic valkyrie before she could actually do anything.
"Maybe we should listen to Ms Cross first? It doesn't sound like Jaune is getting kicked out."
"Oh, okay then!"
I snorted at the little comedy show but pressed on. "Ren is right, we aren't kicking Jaune out. First off, I'm only an assistant teacher so I don't have the authority to make that decision and one of the professors would have given you a warning if that was a possibility."
"Second off, if you were getting kicked out, you would be talking to the Headmaster, not me. So relax a bit, okay?" I smiled at them to help them lighten up.
"What is this about then?" Pyrrha asked, raising her hand slightly.
"Well, just because Beacon isn't kicking Jaune out doesn't mean there aren't concerns about his progress. He's definitely improved and we haven't seen the same mistakes during field exercises, so we know he's putting in the effort. But what you do in the classroom is what you're graded on, so why don't you tell me why you're struggling?"
"I don't know." Jaune slumped. "Pyrrha's been trying to teach me and I can do it during practice or when I don't try to think about it, but as soon as I'm in class it's like there's just too much going on in my head and I just forget everything she told me. I guess I'm just not a good learner."
"...Jaune." His partner placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring look.
It was cute, not that Jaune seemed to notice – caught up in his own frustrations.
It also gave me a hint about what Jaune's issue might be.
"It sounds to me like Pyrrha might not have been the best person to teach you the fundamentals – and that's not a slight against you, Miss Nikos." I rushed to placate the offended redhead. "But it sounds like you've been pushing Jaune to the point that he knows how to use a stance or technique, but he doesn't understand them. So when he needs to actually think about doing something, he freezes up."
"And to be blunt Pyrrha, you are a prodigy at combat. You probably barely need a week of practicing something new before you can seamlessly integrate it into your fighting style, but Jaune obviously isn't like that. So even when you try to take things slowly only part of the lesson is sticking."
"So how do we fix that?" Ren asked.
"We find a method of teaching that sticks better." I shrugged.
"How do we do that?" Jaune asked.
I gave the blonde a raised eyebrow. "Well you could always ask a teacher for help. That is kinda what we are here for."
"O-oh, well I wouldn't want to waste your time or anything. I mean, I kinda thought I'd need to figure this out on my own…" Jaune sheepishly rubbed the back of his head as I just stared judgementally at him.
He really wasn't getting the hint, was he?
"Jaune, it's literally part of my job to help out if you ask for it. As long as we schedule a time for individual instruction you can't waste my time."
"I don't want special treatment or anything like that?" He tried.
"Three other teams have already asked for private instruction." I countered. "The option is covered in the student handbook which I know you've all read because it was mandatory." All four of them sheepishly looked away, not that I was expecting otherwise. NO ONE read the handbook. "But since you seem to be having trouble asking, I'll just tell you what we're going to do. This weekend I'll take you down to Forever Fall and work on a method of hammering the basics into you."
"Eeeee, does this mean we can get more sap!?" Nora squealed and latched onto Ren. "This is just GREAT! Jaune can get a training montage and we can get more of that tasty, sugary goodness!"
I took out my scroll and entered in the private instruction time while reserving a Bullhead for the trip. "Well you're free to invite who you want to a private session but if you do show up I will be putting you to work alongside Jaune so it isn't a field trip. That said, you're all set. I'll see you at the airfield in the morning, Mr Arc."
-o-
I stared blankly at the assembled students when it was time to leave for Jaune's training trip.
This… was not what I had in mind…
"When I said you could invite who you wanted, that was supposed to mean anyone from your team." I deadpanned at the leader of Team JNPR while ignoring the awkward waves from the four girls of Team RWBY.
"Well, uh, the more the merrier?"
I rubbed my forehead at the not-answer, but decided to let it go. There wasn't anything actually wrong with Jaune inviting another team along and it wouldn't affect his training.
"Alright then. Well, if you're coming load up on the Bullhead. As soon as Leona gets here with the supplies we'll be heading out."
"Ooh, what kind of supplies?" Nora exclaimed, ignoring the slightly tense and awkward atmosphere to bounce between me and several others. "A swarm of robots that will shoot lasers from every direction, some sort of super android training dummies, or are we going straight to the good stuff – the rumoured super serum created by Dr. Tsune, made from the suffering of every student that enters the infirmary?!"
I smirked at her. "No, just normal medical supplies and energy supplements. Jaune will need them for what I have planned."
"...and what do you have planned?"
"Simple. We're going to walk through the Forever Fall and cull some of the Grimm. Once we clear out an area, Jaune is then going to have a full contact spar with me. From what I can tell Jaune is more of a tactile, kinesthetic learner, so in order to get him to stop thinking about how to do the fundamentals," a sharp smile crept over my face that had seven of the eight students taking a step away from me. "I'll just beat the proper form into him until he no longer has to think about it…"
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