Jaune stretched his body as he felt some satisfying cracks as he sighed and looked at the punching bag that he had just used. It seems to show some wear and tear, probably from the constant use by students in the academy.
'Just how strong do they have to be to make a reinforced punching bag reach this state?' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at the bag.
The first month is about to end, after all, after tomorrow the second month will start for him and his friends and if what he had learned was anything, then they would be going on a field trip as well. He also has to do some homework and assignments, but he managed to do them pretty quickly and so he managed to workout in the gym again.
Remembering his childhood memories also gave him a sort of boost in morale as well, as he became more fired up to become stronger so that he could attain some of the power than his grandfather had.
He decided to stop for the day as he went and sat on the bench as he used the towel to wipe his sweat as he drank some water from the dispenser before he leaned on the seat and looked at the empty gym. 'If I remember it right, then Yang will probably come here soon. But she could also not come here, it isn't like Huntsmen actually needs to go to the gym to get stronger after all.' Jaune thought to himself as he sat there.
He could feel his Aura healing his body and getting rid of his fatigue, well, it was always active and healing him so it worked every time he trained in the gym.
He had also given the thought about buying a gun for himself. It wasn't like he was blind to the fact that having a long or mid ranged weapon in his hand to use would be good. Especially if he had to use it on enemies who are out of his reach.
But right now he didn't have the luxury for that so he has to make up for it by making himself stronger. He had browsed through the network to learn more about fighting styles that he can use.
His own armor, sword and shield, were the ones that had been used by his grandfather during the Great War that had happened 80ish years ago. And the fact that the two can still be used to this day showed the quality of the weapons.
But he knew that he wasn't exactly using it the way that his grandfather had used in his prime. Now, people might think that using the sword and shield that his grandfather had used before is quite disrespectful, Jaune wasn't an idiot who needed to be told that.
But he was told by his grandfather that he can use the weapons and armor if he so wished and so he took it, though that was without accounting for the fact that it is also a family heirloom due to the fact that it is a weapon used by him.
The thing is, his grandfather was much larger than he is, and while the sword might have appeared big in Jaune's own hand, his grandfather's hand would envelope the entire grip, while his own hand only reached a little more than half. Even the heater shield was used like a sort of gauntlet or glove to hit, as his grandfather had told him.
Even the armor, he had to change it so that he would be able to wear it for his own use and he was pretty sure that compared to the rest of the students, he was underdressed for the lack of a better term. And he was one of the minority who used plain armor, instead of having clothes with woven defences into them.
Though he can't be blamed for that since they have to be custom made and it would take lien for him to do so and so he opted for the good old armor to use. And it also made him look more like a knight as well, so he wasn't about to change it so quickly.
Thankfully Beacon makes sure that its students get their necessary nutritions, and he had also looked online for things which are good to eat and he has taken advantage of the food here to get the things he needs to eat. And if he didn't have much, then he would get more to eat apart from the food from the cafeteria.
Not to mention, he has also gotten a lot more used to feeling the aura in his own body, as whenever his body gets damaged from the training, his aura immediately repairs, which he is able to feel, and soon with repeated exercises, he managed to be able to sense his own.
Regrettably, he still isn't able to call forth his own aura for some reason that still alludes him. That and he was not getting any headway on how to repair his own relationship with Pyrrha. And did he mention the fact that Cardin was most probably going to give him more work to do as well.
Jaune groaned in place as he knew that he didn't have the time to complain about it. He had put himself in such a position by his own actions and now he has to find a way to get out of it as well. And he was going to make sure that he did actually get out of this, cause he can't keep on catering to Cardin's demands as well.
'Though I think it would take a while for me to do that though.' Jaune thought to himself as he shook his head.
"Now that I think about it, I seem to always think while I'm at the gym. Probably because it's always empty when I come here, well except for when Yang comes at least." Jaune muttered to himself as he stood up.
'Probably best if I don't talk about weapons with Ruby. She will be too excited and I want to get some rest anyway.' Jaune thought to himself as he left the gym with his things as he hummed a tune to himself to psych himself up.
He got to his room and walked inside and saw Ren watching her scroll as she looked at him and smiled.
"Hey, had a good workout?" Ren asked as she smiled at her leader.
"You can say that, I still have a long way to go though." Jaune said to her with a shrug.
"You'll get there Jaune. You're steadily getting better." Ren said to him encouragingly.
"Yeah well, it would be much better if miss Goodwitch didn't give me her glare." Jaune said as he shivered in place.
"Well, at least your work in stopping Nora at the cafeteria helped." Ren said as she knew that the deputy was less harsh on Jaune.
"Yeah. Nora didn't get any sugar did she?" Jaune asked her as he was very worried.
Not for Nora, no, that girl is far too chaotic for anything to happen to her. He worries for anyone who is around her when she is on her sugar rush and he prayed to whatever deity that heard him that they would be safe. He didn't want to be punched to get her out of her state.
"Don't worry, I made sure of that." Ren said as she waved her hand.
"Great. Well, I'll be taking a bath." Jaune said as he went to the bathroom.
"Sure. Just make sure you don't push yourself. Aura does take some time to refill after use after all." Ren said as she focused back on her scroll. "I know." Jaune said as he smiled nervously at her words.
Ren didn't know that he was actually training without Aura unlike other hunters and Yang also didn't catch up onto it, though he did finish his workout most of the time whenever she did come for it.
He decided to just quickly get a bath and get the sweat off of him so that he can get some time for him to relax before it is time for dinner. And so he took a refreshing bath and got dressed as he went and plopped down on his bed as he looked at Ren curiously.
"What are you looking at?" Jaune asked her as he sat on the bed.
"Oh nothing much. Just some tea recipes." Ren said to him with a smile.
"Ah, you do like tea." Jaune said with a nod and a smile.
"Yep. Nora hates it though. But at least you like drinking it." Ren said with a smile as he smiled.
"As long as it's not too strong a taste and it is healthy. You know that some tea are not good." Jaune said to her as she shrugged.
"To each their own. Anything with Pyrrha?" Ren asked him after that.
"No. I'm working on it." Jaune said to her as she nodded.
"Well, I believe in you Jaune. You're our leader after all." Ren said as he nodded at that.
Jaune laid on his bed as he closed his eyes and thought about his weapons, the weapons of his grandfather. He can't just say that they are his when it was used by someone amazing like his grandfather. He wants to become worthy of using his weapons, but he had no idea how to do that.
He has to get control over his aura and also get better in combat while also figuring out his own fighting style, because from what he had seen, every single veteran Huntsmen and Huntress have unique fighting, and he only has the basics, the bare basics for it.
'I will become worthy of Crocea Mors, you can count on it.' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at his weapons beside him.
He decided to just rest on the bed as he decided to read some of his comics to calm down. Things were really stressful for him and it has only been a month.
And so he stayed in his dorm room before it was time for dinner as he went to eat food as Ruby and Yang sat on his left and right respectively as he looked at Pyrrha who was sitting and eating quietly.
Nora was talking Ren's year off but the girl wasn't bothered by it and was really serene as she ate her good as she nodded from time to time.
'You know, she really is very good at her acting.' Jaune thought to himself as he was watched the two girls.
"So Jaune, are you excited for the field trip in a few days?" Ruby asked him as she gulped down her food.
"Eh, I guess. I just hope it isn't too difficult." Jaune said to her as he ate his food.
"Don't worry vomit boy. I'm sure you will be fine." Yang said to him with a smile as he bit down on her steak.
"Yeah." Jaune said as he looked at his food which had equal amounts of vegetables, meat and some eggs for him to eat.
He had increased his diet with more food that was healthy for his body, though it wasn't like he didn't indulge from time to time. But he knew that he needed to eat the necessary things if he wanted to become a good Huntsman.
"Seriously though vomit boy. You need to get better at fighting." Yang said as she looked at him.
"Well, I'm getting better right?" Jaune asked a bit nervously.
"I guess. Honestly, whenever I watch you fight, it's hard to believe that you have graduated from a hunter school." Yang said to him as she laughed a bit.
Jaune became more nervous when he heard that as he chuckled and put more food in his mouth so that he doesn't have to say anything. He briefly glanced at Pyrrha, but she was completely ignoring him as she focused on her food as he felt a pang in his chest at her ignoring him.
"That's not true Yang. While Jaune doesn't have the same strength and skill like the rest of us, he is a great strategist and is quite tactical. I'm sure that was considered when he was admitted here." Ren said to her with a nod.
"Huh. I guess you're right about that." Yang said with a shrug at that.
'Thank you Ren!' Jaune thought to himself as he felt immensely grateful for her saying that.
Not that he believed that he was that good at it, he was just a bit better than most. And he felt that he was very lucky that such talented Huntsmen and Huntresses were there with him.
'Actually, there were only Huntresses alongside me at that time.' Jaune amended his thoughts as he looked at her.
But even so, Jaune still felt pretty nervous about the field trip as he didn't know what they would be doing, and he was fairly certain that he would have to do Cardin's work in the coming days as well, which is really working against him.
He himself only trains some time after classes and he needs time to complete the assignments, which means that he has less time for himself, and he can only train in his fighting at his room or during combat class, other times he has to work on schoolwork, which isn't helping much in the fighting department for him, and it shows when he is the only student who hasn't won a single fight.
He decided to just eat his food as he watched his friends talking as he also conversed with Ruby and Yang to the best that he could and he was quite happy that he was able to keep up with them.
"Didn't you give Crescent Rose maintenance yesterday?" Jaune asked her as he looked at the reaper as she had said that she had given her weapon maintenance to it today.
"But I have to make sure that she is okay." Ruby said with a pout as he smiled at that.
"Well, I'm sure she can stay fine for a few days without maintenance Ruby." Jaune said to her as he was almost finished with his food.
"Yeah, vomit boy is right Ruby." Yang said with a nod as she knew that he is correct.
"Well, don't blame me when your weapons break due to not giving them enough attention." Ruby said as she crossed her arms and pouted as he chuckled.
"Sure Ruby, sure." Jaune said as he chuckled as he gave her a cookie and a strawberry as well.
She eyed the two things before she quickly swiped it from his hand and ate them as he chuckled at her actions as Yang just smirked.
Pyrrha glanced at the three of them and looked at where Yang was sitting as she looked away with a gloomy expression as she looked at the other students, missing Jaune who was also looking at her.
Ren stayed silent as she watched it all happen as she wondered what was happening between the two partners. She didn't pry but she hoped that her teammates would be able to work through their differences as she doesn't want them to have problems with each other.
And so the dinner ended and they all went to sleep, and the next day it was mostly the same for Jaune. Attend classes, ate foods at correct times and he managed to go to the gym, but he was interrupted by Cardin who wanted him to do some work as he begrudgingly went to do it.
At their dorm room, Pyrrha is looking out the window feeling quite gloomy, especially since she had seen what had been during dinner yesterday.
"How come Jaune gets home so late?" Nora asked as she felt a bit worried.
There was also the fact that tomorrow was their field trip and he was coming late some days, which worried her.
"He's become rather scarce since he started fraternizing with Cardin." Ren said as she agreed to her friend's words.
'Well, fraternizing isn't what I would use but Jaune has been talking with him more.' Ren thought to herself as she decided to not speak out loud.
"That's weird... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" Nora said as she twirled in midair as she fell on her bed.
"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." Pyrrha said with an undertone of anger and some bitterness.
Ren and Nora looked at each other when she said that but didn't say much more.
And so he stayed in his dorm room before it was time for dinner as he went to eat food as Ruby and Yang sat on his left and right respectively as he looked at Pyrrha who was sitting and eating quietly.
Nora was talking Ren's year off but the girl wasn't bothered by it and was really serene as she ate her good as she nodded from time to time.
'You know, she really is very good at her acting.' Jaune thought to himself as he was watched the two girls.
"So Jaune, are you excited for the field trip in a few days?" Ruby asked him as she gulped down her food.
"Eh, I guess. I just hope it isn't too difficult." Jaune said to her as he ate his food.
"Don't worry vomit boy. I'm sure you will be fine." Yang said to him with a smile as he bit down on her steak.
"Yeah." Jaune said as he looked at his food which had equal amounts of vegetables, meat and some eggs for him to eat.
He had increased his diet with more food that was healthy for his body, though it wasn't like he didn't indulge from time to time. But he knew that he needed to eat the necessary things if he wanted to become a good Huntsman.
"Seriously though vomit boy. You need to get better at fighting." Yang said as she looked at him.
"Well, I'm getting better right?" Jaune asked a bit nervously.
"I guess. Honestly, whenever I watch you fight, it's hard to believe that you have graduated from a hunter school." Yang said to him as she laughed a bit.
Jaune became more nervous when he heard that as he chuckled and put more food in his mouth so that he doesn't have to say anything. He briefly glanced at Pyrrha, but she was completely ignoring him as she focused on her food as he felt a pang in his chest at her ignoring him.
"That's not true Yang. While Jaune doesn't have the same strength and skill like the rest of us, he is a great strategist and is quite tactical. I'm sure that was considered when he was admitted here." Ren said to her with a nod.
"Huh. I guess you're right about that." Yang said with a shrug at that.
'Thank you Ren!' Jaune thought to himself as he felt immensely grateful for her saying that.
Not that he believed that he was that good at it, he was just a bit better than most. And he felt that he was very lucky that such talented Huntsmen and Huntresses were there with him.
'Actually, there were only Huntresses alongside me at that time.' Jaune amended his thoughts as he looked at her.
But even so, Jaune still felt pretty nervous about the field trip as he didn't know what they would be doing, and he was fairly certain that he would have to do Cardin's work in the coming days as well, which is really working against him.
He himself only trains some time after classes and he needs time to complete the assignments, which means that he has less time for himself, and he can only train in his fighting at his room or during combat class, other times he has to work on schoolwork, which isn't helping much in the fighting department for him, and it shows when he is the only student who hasn't won a single fight.
He decided to just eat his food as he watched his friends talking as he also conversed with Ruby and Yang to the best that he could and he was quite happy that he was able to keep up with them.
"Didn't you give Crescent Rose maintenance yesterday?" Jaune asked her as he looked at the reaper as she had said that she had given her weapon maintenance to it today.
"But I have to make sure that she is okay." Ruby said with a pout as he smiled at that.
"Well, I'm sure she can stay fine for a few days without maintenance Ruby." Jaune said to her as he was almost finished with his food.
"Yeah, vomit boy is right Ruby." Yang said with a nod as she knew that he is correct.
Well, don't blame me when your weapons break due to not giving them enough attention." Ruby said as she crossed her arms and pouted as he chuckled.
"Sure Ruby, sure." Jaune said as he chuckled as he gave her a cookie and a strawberry as well.
She eyed the two things before she quickly swiped it from his hand and ate them as he chuckled at her actions as Yang just smirked.
Pyrrha glanced at the three of them and looked at where Yang was sitting as she looked away with a gloomy expression as she looked at the other students, missing Jaune who was also looking at her.
Ren stayed silent as she watched it all happen as she wondered what was happening between the two partners. She didn't pry but she hoped that her teammates would be able to work through their differences as she doesn't want them to have problems with each other.
And so the dinner ended and they all went to sleep, and the next day it was mostly the same for Jaune. Attend classes, ate foods at correct times and he managed to go to the gym, but he was interrupted by Cardin who wanted him to do some work as he begrudgingly went to do it.
At their dorm room, Pyrrha is looking out the window feeling quite gloomy, especially since she had seen what had been during dinner yesterday.
"How come Jaune gets home so late?" Nora asked as she felt a bit worried.
There was also the fact that tomorrow was their field trip and he was coming late some days, which worried her.
"He's become rather scarce since he started fraternizing with Cardin." Ren said as she agreed to her friend's words.
'Well, fraternizing isn't what I would use but Jaune has been talking with him more.' Ren thought to herself as she decided to not speak out loud.
"That's weird... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" Nora said as she twirled in midair as she fell on her bed.
"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing." Pyrrha said with an undertone of anger and some bitterness.
Ren and Nora looked at each other when she said that but didn't say much more.
"Mmmm... I guess so." Nora said as she laid on the bed.
But the three of them were unaware of the fact that Jaune had heard them through a small creak in the door which he slowly closed as he sighed to himself as he sat on the ground and leaned on the door.
"Hey Jaune. Long time, no see! Did you lock yourself out again?" Ruby said with a smile in her pajamas as he jumped a bit at her sudden appearance.
"Oh, uh, nope! Got it." Jaune said as he produced his scroll and showed it to her.
"So! Where have you been lately?" Ruby asked him with a tilt of her head.
"I, uh... I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me, and... I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea." Jaune said as he decided to come clean with her after not being able to come up with excuses as he exhaled through his nose.
He felt frustrated with it all and he didn't find any fault in telling Ruby about it, at least not the surface information anyway. And Ruby is very trustworthy as well.
"I-I feel like I am a failure at this Ruby." Jaune said as he looked down as he felt dejected.
"Nope!" Ruby said immediately with a smile.
"Nope?" Jaune parroted as he looked at her in confusion.
"Nope! You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure." Ruby said with a smile and confidence.
"And, what if I am a failure at being a leader?" Jaune asked her as he looked at her in confusion.
Ruby adopted a thinking posture as she thought about it before she smiled at him.
"Nope!" Ruby repeated with a smile on her face.
Jaune blinked at her words and her face before he snickered and then he laughed out loud. Ruby also joined in the laughter before she sat beside him as she looked at him.
"You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff." Jaune said to her with a grin on his face.
"Nope! Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid... and you might've even been a failure the first day we met!" Ruby said as he groaned as he sank lower into the ground and lower as she continued.
'You don't have to say that to my face Ruby. I know it already.' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at her.
"But, you can't be one now. You know why?" Ruby asked him with a smile.
"Why?" Jaune asked her in confusion.
"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us." Ruby said as she stood up with excitement as she smiled down at him.
Jaune just looked at her as his focus was now on her.
"We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you." Ruby said with a smile as she walked towards her room.
Jaune looked at her in surprise and he was also a bit more motivated by her words. She opened the door and waves at him as he watched her.
"Have a good night, Jaune!" Ruby said as she closed the door after going inside.
Jaune chuckled after she left as he looked at the door.
'Ruby is pretty good at talking sometimes huh.' Jaune thought to himself as he felt better about himself due to that.
He felt fired up when she said that and he could agree with what she had said. As the leader of team JNPR, it is his duty to lead his team and as such he has to make them his top priority as well. It just isn't about him anymore, it's about his friends and the three girls who are in his team, and as their team leader, he has to learn to become a better one.
"Ruby's right. I can't be acting like this. I'm the team leader and I have to pull my own weight." Jaune said to himself as he got up from the ground with more energy.
He turned to the door and was about to grab the knob to face his team with renewed resolve... until his scroll started to ring which caused him to pause. He looked at the ID of the message and groaned as he saw that it is from Cardin as he took it.
"Hey! It's your buddy Cardin! I know you're probably busy with that Dust project I gave you, buuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps. And make sure they've got some really big stingers! It's important, so don't screw this up!" Cardin's voice said from the message as he shuddered a bit at the order.
"Rapier Wasps. Well, at least I do have aura now." Jaune said to himself as he sighed before he looked at the door to his room and then went to do the thing he was told to do.
CHANGE LOCATION
POV
Team RWBY, JNPR and CRDL were walking through the Forever Fall forest as the students were in awe of the scenery around them, with Glynda leading them all from the front as she turned to face her students.
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful. But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so." Glynda said as she addressed her students with a stern gaze.
The group stops as they hear her words as Jaune, who was following behind while carrying a large case with six empty glass jars on top. Due to the training that he has done, even though he doesn't have the ability to call forth his aura, he is able to carry the case and glasses relatively easily, though he did have some difficulty in balancing them all.
But when he did see Cardin stopping in front of him, he purposefully bumped into him, causing the bully to scowl at the blonde as said blonde whistled soundlessly to the side.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!" Glynda said as she instructed her students while holding up a jar filled with the sap that they are required to bring. "Yes miss Goodwitch." The students said in unison as Jaune simply nodded.
Yang and Ruby smile at each other as Jaune watched them as he wanted to go with his own group and friends. But Cardin already saw the look on his face and he wasn't about to lose the guy he is planning on using so soon.
"Come on buddy, let's go." Cardin said as he grabbed his hoodie.
Jaune looked at his team as Ren and Nora looked at each other before they went to do their job. Pyrrha just stared at them with a sad look on her eyes, though Jaune knew that he can't do anything about it, considering his situation.
He sighed to himself as he turned around and followed after Cardin and his group. Pyrrha let out a sigh as she felt disappointed as she saw him walk away from them before she decided to focus on her own task as well.
While the rest of the two teams fulfilled their own tasks as Glynda stayed in the area from where they dispersed, Cardin and his team put Jaune up with the task of completing the work that they had to do.
And so Jaune ran around with the jars as he slowly but quickly filled all six of them up. The four members of the team were relaxing as they left him to do their jobs. After Jaune was done with that he brought the six jars and placed them on the ground as he let out a breath as he decided to sit on the ground to catch his breath as the team gets up in response to the boy.
"Hey, great work, Jauney boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin said with a smile on his face as he felt pretty smug.
"I don't want to do that again." Jaune said as he didn't like getting so much sap all alone.
"Greeeeat, great, great. So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect six jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?" Cardin said as he shared a grin with the rest of his team.
"One of the many questions I have been asking myself today, and for the past few days." Jaune said as he sighed as he knew from the bully's tone that it was going to be some more work.
"Well, come with me, and you'll find out." Cardin said with a grin as Jaune felt a bit uneasy at seeing that.
Jaune got up and followed after the bullies as he noted one jar of sap in Dove's hands as they walked as he followed them with reluctance.
After walking for a while they reached a cliff and the group of five Huntsmen in training were now looking down at the others who were filling up their own jars with the sap needed. Jaune was in between Cardin and Russel as he felt more nervous as he watched his team down there.
He noticed how Ren had given a full jar to Nora as she grabbed the next one to fill it, only for him to see the bomber girl lick up the sap in the jar Ren had just filled. Ren turned to look at her friend when she heard the noise, and she found Nora with an embarrassed smile on her face while she held the now empty jar and face covered in red sap.
Jaune could almost see the judgmental stare that the green clad girl is subjecting the ginger to, but he was worried for the group of four surrounding him as he lamented his own situation.
"Cardin, why are we looking at my team?" Jaune asked the guy on his left as he felt worried.
"Payback." Cardin said with a sharp look at the team.
It took Jaune only a second to realise what the bully was talking about.
"Pyrrha?" Jaune said as he looked at the guy in surprise as the girl continued collecting sap without knowing about what is happening.
"That's the girl. Red-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. Alright, boys..." Cardin said as he pounds his first on the ground.
The guy then grinned as he pulled up a box with a large "W" written on its sides and Jaune heard the familiar buzzing from it as his eyes widened slightly as he recognised what was inside the box.
"Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work." Cardin said with a smile on his face.
Russel grabs Jaune's shoulders as the blonde felt pretty nervous as he was starting to put together what the guy wants to do.
'Wait a minute.' Jaune thought to himself as he cooked up the scenario in his mind.
"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets. I'm thinking it's time we teach her a thing or two." Cardin said as he looked at Pyrrha as she had just finished her own sap collection as the girl.
CRDL gets up from their position as Jaune hesitantly gets up, but he is yanked up by an impatient Cardin as he looked at the boy.
"And you're gonna do it." Cardin said as he grinned at the boy.
"Do what?" Jaune asked with an uncomfortable face even as he knew what the bully alludes to.
"Hit her with the sap! Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon." Cardin said as he glared at the boy with a triumphant grin on his face as he looked at the jar of sap in Jaune's hands.
Cardin is pretty sure of himself at the fact that Jaune would do this, as he is certain that the blonde would not want to have his chance at Beacon be squandered so quickly, because he wouldn't be able to become a licensed Huntsmen if his transcripts were revealed. Jaune looked at the jar of sap in his hands as he then looked at the grinning faces of CRDL as he knew that they were enjoying this situation and obviously found it amusing as he looked back at the jar.
'Even if I did what they told me to do, I'm sure that Pyrrha is strong enough to take care of the wasps. While it is true that these wasps are quite problematic, for a Huntress like Pyrrha, they won't be much of a problem. Which means that even if I do throw it, it wouldn't matter much as she would be able to deal with it easily. I could guarantee my safety in Beacon and Pyrrha will also be fine.' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at the jar.
It honestly made complete logical sense. Even if he did throw it at Pyrrha, it wasn't like they would lose anything. Pyrrha would be fine and Jaune would've done what Cardin had told him to. It was a situation that benefits him and honestly, it's a decision that is simple to make as logically, he doesn't have any losses.
'But, if I do that, then I would just be staining my own friendship with her. I would be breaking her trust even more. Even if this will help me and keep me safe, and I know that Pyrrha won't be hurt by the wasps. If I do that then I...' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at his partner.
Jaune knew that he could get out of this relatively safe if he did that. Pyrrha won't be hurt and he would also be safe from having his secret revealed, but he knew that if he did that, it would mean that he would damage his relationship with Pyrrha even more than it is now.
His grandfather's face flashed in his mind as he gripped the jar in his hand, as he knew what he was going to do.
It was a stupid, illogical and idiotic decision that he is making, but he doesn't care about that. He can do what Cardin wants him to, but he would make someone else suffer for it, especially someone like Pyrrha, his partner, and he will not hurt her in any way, even if it meant that he could be expelled from the academy.
"No." Jaune said as he made his decision as he raised the jar.
"What did you say?" Cardin asked in slight surprise.
"I said no!" Jaune shouted as he turned and threw the jar away.
Only for the jar to hit Cardin on his chest as it covered his breastplate with the red sap as the team looked at it.
'Oh, that wasn't what I was going for but uh, that works.' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at the man.
Cardin looks at himself and then laughs darkily as he glares at Jaune.
"Oh you've done it now." Cardin said as he glared at the blonde.
Jaune laughed a bit as Dove and Sky grabbed him by his shoulders and picked him up and then the team went inside the forest with the blonde in their grasp. They dragged him into a clearing and then threw Jaune to the ground as he groaned from the rough treatment as he turned around and saw Cardin looming over him.
The bully picks him up and grins before he punches him to the ground as he fell and groaned a bit at the attack.
"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy. I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces." Cardin said as he picked him up while the rest of his team watched.
"I honestly don't care about what you will do to me... But you are not messing with them." Jaune said as he glared at the larger boy with his head held high and a tone of anger.
Cardin is momentarily shocked at the words said by the normally meek student before he glares at him.
"What? You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?" Cardin said with a glare.
Jaune just smiled in turn which only served to further enrage the larger boy as he punched Jaune, but this time Jaune didn't turn his head away as he kept his eyes on Cardin. The larger boy is surprised at the audacity of the guy at his mercy as he reeled his fist back to give one more punch.
Cardin punched Jaune as a bright light shines from Jaune as Cardin then cries out in pain as he held his hand as Jaune himself is surprised at what had happened.
'Was that my Aura?' Jaune thought to himself in surprise as he looked at the bully.
Jaune looked at his hands which were faintly glowing in a white colour. But before he could ponder on it more Sky kicked him from behind as Jaune fell on the ground due to that.
'Well, at least their attacks aren't that painful for me.' Jaune thought to himself as he wasn't hurt by Cardin's attacks aside from that last punch, which was healed pretty quickly by his Aura.
He raised his head and glared at Cardin as he approached with a glare of his own.
"Let's see how much of a man you really are..." Cardin said as he prepared himself to attack the downed knight.
But then the group of five heard a low growl and looked towards where the sound came from. The eyes of the students widened when they saw a paw emerge from the bushes before it revealed itself to be an Ursa.
It leaped forward and landed in front of the students as it raised its head and stood on its hind legs as it sniffed the air as it got the whiff of the sap on Cardin before landing on its fore legs. It roared at Cardin as the rest of his team immediately fled in fear.
"That's a big Ursa!" Russel shouted in fear as he fled with the DL of his team.
Cardin was rooted in place by fear as he was swiped to the side by the larger Grimm , which revealed Jaune who was looking at the Grimm in fear. But the large bear reject was uninterested in the human on the ground as it moved towards Cardin.
Jaune watched as the Grimm towered over the student as Cardin got his wits back as he pulled out his mace to fight, only for the Ursa to swipe the weapon away as I landed near Jaune's feet. Jaune looked at the weapon and then at Cardin as he felt conflicted about the situation.
At this time, teams RWBY and _NPR were busy with their tasks when they heard the roar of the Grimm which caused them to stop.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby asked as she looked up in concern.
But just as she asked that the rest of CRDL came running through the forest from the direction of the roar. Yang was completely unfazed by the collision as he just grabbed him and pulled him up.
"What?! Where?" Yang asked as she looked at him while she lifted him into the air.
Russel however didn't seem to realise that as he was still running while in air with a look of fear.
"Back there! It's got Cardin!" Russel said as he kept on running.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha cried out as she dropped her jar as she realised where Jaune is.
Ruby also understood where her best friend is as she became serious.
"Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby said as she gave the order to her teammates.
Yang dropped Russel as she and Blake nodded to their leader before they ran towards their teacher.
"You two, go with them! There could be more!" Pyrrha said to Ren and Nora as she and Ruby activated their weapons.
"Got it." Ren said as she and Nora ran with the other two.
Pyrrha, Ruby and Weiss then ran in the direction of the roar as they quickly made their way through the forest. After running for a bit they saw Cardin running away from the Ursa in the distance. But the Grimm jumped over its prey and clawed at him as he fell on the ground and tried to crawl away.
"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Cardin cursed as he tried to crawl away.
"Oh no!" Pyrrha shouted in surprise as she, Weiss and Ruby reached the scene.
But then Jaune rushed into the scene with his weapons ready as he glared at the Grimm and slammed right into it. The force of the strike causing it to stagger back as the knight positioned himself in front of Cardin.
"Jaune?" Ruby said in surprise.
Weiss lifted her rapier as she got ready to help him which Pyrrha saw.
"Wait!" Pyrrha said as she raised her hand stopping the heiress as she looked at her in surprise.
The Ursa roared at Jaune as it attacked him but Jaune just crouched and angles his shield in a way which caused the claw to just bounce off of the shield as he got back into position.
'Do not be hasty.' Jaune thought to himself as he doesn't want to make a mistake.
The Grimm became annoyed as it raised its body and slammed its paws on Jaune, who immediately jumped back before he dashed forward and slammed his shield straight onto its face causing it to flinch as it cried out.
Jaune reeled his right arm back as his fist became covered in white light as he sent an uppercut straight to its jaw. The force of the attack caused the Ursa's head to be thrown up and its front legs to be in the air as it cried out in response.
Pyrrha, Weiss, Ruby and Cardin watched it happen with wide eyes as Jaune Arc, resident wanna be knight and weakest student at Beacon, punch an Ursa with enough strength to lift its upper body into the air. Remember Jaune, a Huntsmen's,... a Knight's duty is to protect people, whether they are human or not. Our duty is to protect those in front of us and those we can. That is what we are. Guardians of Life.' Magnus' words echoed in Jaune's mind as he looked at the Grimm with steel in his eyes.
The Grimm roared in anger as it landed back on the ground as it charged at Jaune who jumped to the side and used his sword to slash on its side as he managed to do a clean cut on its shoulder as it roared in turn.
It quickly turned around and slammed its left paw at him as he immediately put up his shield, causing him to be sent flying back as he landed on the ground as he skidded to a stop as he glared at it.
The Ursa roared at him in anger as it glared at him with its red eyes shining as Jaune also got ready. He roared as he ran towards it with the Grimm swiping its right claw at him. But Jaune managed to move to the side and swung his sword up and sliced off its right arm.
"Yes!" Jaune smiled at his strike.
But the Ursa immediately turned around and hit Jaune's right arm, causing his sword to fly out and stab into the tree behind him as his eyes widened.
"Oh no." Ruby said in fear when she saw that.
Pyrrha and Weiss' eyes also widened at the sight as they prepared to help Jaune as Cardin was also watching with surprise.
But contrary to how they thought he would act, Jaune instead stepped forward as he got into the space under the Grimm as his aura flared as it covered his entire body as his will was made as he got ready.
He slammed his left foot down as the ground cracked as he reeled his right fist back as he tensed his muscles and his aura flared as he sent a powerful uppercut as the fist hit it clean.
The force of the punch managed to tear its head clean off of its shoulders and some of the area around its neck as its lifeless body fell backwards as Jaune stood in place as he breathed deeply while the four students were looking at him in shock as the Ursa's head fell behind Jaune.
"He did it." Ruby said in surprise.
"I can't believe that dolt actually did that." Weiss said in shock at the sight.
Pyrrha was also looking at him in surprise before she smiled at the sight as she turned around.
"Let's go. We can tell miss Goodwitch that it was taken care of." Pyrrha said to the two girls as they looked at her.
"But..." Ruby asked a bit confused as she wanted to go to Jaune.
"It's fine. There are no more Grimm here." Pyrrha said as she smiled and walked away.
Ruby looked at Weiss as the whitehead shrugged her shoulders before she smiled and followed after the redhead and then Ruby did the same as she knew that Jaune was safe.
'Jaune was really cool.' Ruby thought to herself as she remembered how he punched the Grimm as she giggled and walked after her friends.
Jaune took a few moments to collect himself before he went to Cardin and offered his hand to help him up. Cardin smiled as he takes the hand and gets up with the blonde's help.
"Holy crap, Jaune!" Cardin said with awe in his voice as he looked at the boy.
"We're Huntsmen in training Cardin, transcripts or not. Protecting others is our duty." Jaune said to him seriously.
"I guess you're right." Cardin said with a nod and some respect in his voice.
"Cardin, I don't care much about how you treat me. But never mess with my team and my friends, got it." Jaune said to him with a resolute tone.
Cardin was surprised by his words as he had never expected that from Jaune.
"Got it." Cardin said with an apologetic and respectful tone in his voice.
Jaune nodded as he then went to retrieve his sword from the tree as he wrenched it from it as he looked at the blade and smiled to himself at the fact that it was still fine. He looked at his shield and his sword as he then shook his head as he sheathed the blade and then walked back.
Cardin was picking up his weapon as Jaune walked towards the area where Glynda is as he hoped that nothing more will happen.
And to his relief, nothing happened when he returned other than an inquiry. After he had told Glynda that the Grimm had been taken care of, she decided to end the trip as she had deemed it finished.
After Cardin joined them Jaune and the rest got on the bullhead as he decided to take a moment to rest. Ren sat beside him as he looked at her.
"You okay?" Ren asked him with a smile.
"Yeah. I'm fine." Jaune said with a smile of his own.
Ren narrowed her eyes a bit as Jaune blinked in confusion.
"There is something different about you right now. Did something interesting happen?" Ren asked him with a curious look on her face.
"Nothing interesting Ren. I just fought a Grimm, there wasn't anything special about that." Jaune said with a small laugh.
"Hmm. If you say so." Ren said with a smile and a shrug as she sat in her seat comfortably.
Jaune smiled slightly at that before he decided to take some rest as well as he leaned on his seat with a small smile. Thereby missing the smiles on Ruby and Pyrrha's face while Weiss just looked at him for a moment before she scrolled through her... scroll.
(A/N: Who decided to name it like that?)
The trip back was silent and peaceful as Glynda made sure that her students were safe. After which they went through their normal routine and had lunch. And Jaune, wanting some time alone for himself after what had happened at the Forever Fall Forest, went to the roof of the dormitory in his uniform as he looked at the stars.
'Thank you for telling me that grandpa.' Jaune thought to himself as he smiled at the memory of his great grandfather.
"No Cardin tonight? I thought you two were best buds?" Pyrrha said as she walked to his side as he looked at her.
"Best buds. No, he just had a leash on me." Jaune said with a chuckle as he remembered what had happened.
"Leash?" Pyrrha asked in confusion at his wording.
In response, Jaune told her about how Cardin had learned about his transcripts and was using it to blackmail him. Pyrrha was shocked when she heard that as she remembered every interaction between the blonde and the bully and she felt some guilt as she remembered that she was the one who brought him to the roof.
'If I hadn't brought him here then Cardin wouldn't have known about it and Jaune would'nt have been forced to work for him.' Pyrrha thought to herself as she felt even more guilty as she didn't want him to be blackmailed.
"Jaune, I'm sorry. It's because of me that—" Pyrrha said as she now understood why her leader was acting like that.
"No no. It's fine. It wasn't your fault Pyrrha. If I hadn't gotten in with fake transcripts then this wouldn't have happened." Jaune said to her with a small smile.
"Still, if I hadn't acted like that then this wouldn't have happened. I... I felt angry that you rejected my help and I shouldn't have done that." Pyrrha said as she looked down with guilt as she fiddled her fingers as he blinked a few times in response.
"I mean, I know that I was pretty rude and it wasn't a good way to reject your help but, why would you become angry at me Pyrrha?" Jaune asked her in confusion.
"It's just... Jaune, you know I'm famous, right?" Pyrrha asked him after a moment.
"Yeah, Weiss made sure I knew that." Jaune said with a chuckle as she chuckled as she remembered it as well.
"Well, because I'm so famous, people put me on a pedestal and see me as some kind of unapproachable person. Because of that I didn't have the opportunity to make any friends and those who did try, were people who just wanted to get close to me due to my status and reputation." Pyrrha said as she sat beside him.
"Pyrrha." Jaune said in surprise when he heard that.
'I didn't think she would be feeling like that.' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at her.
"So I was very happy when you talked to me. You didn't treat me like I'm some kind of star or someone important, just a normal girl. You didn't even know much about me and I was happy. And during initiation, I knew that you were the kind of person I was looking for, someone who looked at me for me, instead of the Four Time Champion." Pyrrha said to him as he couldn't help but smile at that.
"Oh." Jaune simply said at the new things he was learning about her.
"And when you rejected my help. Well, I was upset. You were the first person who treated me like I wanted and you acted like that so I became angry at you. I know that I shouldn't have, and when I saw you with Cardin, I thought that you didn't want to be friends with me anymore." Pyrrha said as she clenched her hands around each other.
Jaune's eyes widened when he heard that as he was surprised at her admission.
"I shouldn't have acted like that. It was still your decision of whether you wanted to accept my help or not. My actions weren't exactly rational, I understood that after sometime. I'm... I'm sorry Jaune." Pyrrha said as she bowed to him.
"Hey hey, you don't have to do that Pyrrha. Please." Jaune said as he raised his arms.
Pyrrha looked at him with some doubt before she nodded and sat straight as she looked at her lap.
"Honestly, I shouldn't have reacted like that as well. You just wanted to help me and I blew you off like that. Anyone would be angry if I acted like that. So, both of us kind of had a hand in it." Jaune said with a goofy smile on his face.
Pyrrha blinked before she laughed a bit as she smiled back at him as has liked the expression on his face.
"I guess so. I'm not that knowledgeable about friendships." Pyrrha said with a smile on her face as he smiled as well.
Jaune stayed silent for a few seconds before he looked at Pyrrha.
"Hey Pyrrha, I know that I had rejected it last time but... Can I ask you to help me in becoming a better fighter?" Jaune asked her with a smile.
Pyrrha blinked at his words before she laughed lightly as she smiled at him, feeling very happy at his request.
"Of course Jaune. As your partner, it's my duty to help you become a stronger fighter after all." Pyrrha said with a smile on her face.
"Thanks Pyrrha. You're the best." Jaune asked as he rubbed the back of his head.
Pyrrha smiled at his words as she blushed before she decided to be bold and hugged him as she buried her face on the crook of his neck as he was surprised. But he also wrapped his arms around her as she liked the feeling of his arms.
"Thank you Jaune, thank you for being my... friend." Pyrrha said as she tightened her hold on him.
"And thank you Pyrrha, for being my partner and giving me a chance." Jaune said as he liked the hug as the two partners enjoyed each other's company under the starry sky.
CHANGE LOCATION
POV
Two days have passed since the incident at Forever Falls and Jaune can say that things have been looking pretty good for him, all things considered.
Cardin was a man of his word, as he didn't reveal anything about his fake transcripts and also stopped blackmailing him as well. And in these two days, he hasn't heard anything about the big guy doing anything bad or bullying Faunus.
He has also started to train with Pyrrha and it was a good decision. She decided to start with the basics and he decided to follow her lead, and it was the first time that he is getting any actual lessons on fighting as well. And in the last two days, he can say that his relationship with Pyrrha has recovered, and perhaps even deepened after the ordeal if he was being completely honest with himself. Pyrrha was pretty new to friendships and from her own admission, this is the first time that she has had actual friends.
He wondered what her life was before coming to Beacon academy, but he is happy that she is able to find more friends in the academy. She also seemed very happy when she was teaching him combat as well.
And his defeat of the Ursa in the forest also gave him a boost in confidence as well. Though there was still the problem with how he is unable to fall forth his Aura during a fight.
He was able to call forth its power and used it to defeat the Ursa, but after that he was still unable to use it. He had tried again for the last two days and the results are the same, as he still doesn't have any idea as to why this has been happening.
He has talked about it with Pyrrha, but even she didn't know why this was happening, especially after he had been able to use it to defeat the Ursa before. As it stands, Jaune has only been able to call forth his Aura when he is in battle and when it is a serious battle, but that isn't exactly how he wanted to be able to use his Aura.
The only times his Aura appears are when he needs protection and healing, and other times it just stays dormant in him. He has tried to find a reason for it but something like this hasn't been documented and even Pyrrha doesn't have much of an idea about it.
Even if she is a four time champion, she is still a student, and considering the fact that every Huntsmen is able to use their Aura easily, his situation was kind of unique to her.
Pyrrha reasoned that it might be because of the fact that he only recently had his Aura unlocked. So he might need some time before he is able to consciously use his Aura.
Jaune just hoped that he would be able to use Aura soon, because being the only Huntsmen-in-training in the entire school to be unable to use his Aura consciously is not a label that he wanted to have.
In any case, aside from his troubles with his Aura, things have been going the way he wanted to. He has been able to have some peace, and also focus on his classes and do just how own classworks, which gave him more time as well.
And it also seemed like doing CRDL's works seemed to have made him much more proficient and faster in doing his own work, as he is able to complete his class works very quickly in comparison to his speed before.
Right now he is about to have breakfast with his team and RWBY as he had filled his tray and made his way to their shared table as he took his seat. Pyrrha on his left and Ruby on his right.
Ren and Nora were sitting on Pyrrha's left, while Yang sat between Weiss and Blake with a grin on her face. Jaune also noticed that there seems to be a slight tension between the W and B students of RWBY, and wondered why they were acting like that.
"So Jaune, I heard that Pyrrha is training you now?" Ruby asked him as she stuffed her mouth with food.
"Yeah, something like that. She is helping me become a better fighter." Jaune said to her with a smile on his face.
"Jaune has a good base, he just needs some more practice with his style." Pyrrha said to the reaper as she ate her food.
"What about his Aura?" Weiss asked as she gave a short glare to Blake.
"I am, still not able to use it." Jaune said a bit dejected at the words.
"It's fine Jaune, I'm sure that you will be able to use your Aura soon enough." Pyrrha said to her leader as she comforted him.
"Yeah, don't worry Jaune. You're pretty strong as you are, I'm sure you will be able to use Aura on command very soon." Ruby said with a smile as she glared at her partner for a second.
"I hope so." Jaune said as he decided to eat.
'Without Cardin making me do his chores, I have a lot of free time now. Actually, I should talk with Velvet now that I'm no longer under him. Wonder what she thought I was doing with him and his team.' Jaune thought to himself as he smiled at his friends and ate his food.
He had a good breakfast with his friends, after which he went through his classes without worries as it was soon time for lunch. Though, he did feel a bit bad that his friendship with Blake and Weiss aren't as good as it is with the other girls.
But he didn't do anything about it at the moment as he first wanted to meet with Velvet, so when lunch break started, he informed his team about it before he went to find the Faunus.
He had sent her a message through his scroll and he got the location as he found her outside the building as he went to her side. Velvet had already noticed him as she turned to look at him as she smiled at him.
"Hey Velvet, long time no see." Jaune said to her with a wave and smile.
"Yeah, it's good to see you too Jaune." Velvet said to him with a smile.
"So, we haven't talked to each other for a while, ever since I started to hang out with Cardin. So I wanted to talk with you again." Jaune said to her as she nodded.
"Yeah. I was surprised when I heard that you had started to hang out with Cardin. And considering how he is, I didn't feel like meeting with you again." Velvet said to him as he sighed at that.
"I know. I don't fault you for that, and I also didn't try talking to you." Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head for that.
"Can I ask why you became friends with him?" Velvet asked him after a moment.
"We didn't become friends exactly. It was more like, well, Cardin was kind of blackmailing me." Jaune said to her as she looked surprised.
"Cardin was blackmailing you?!" Velvet said in surprise as her ears stood straight in response.
"Yeah, he found out a secret of mine and was holding it over me. He made me do his chores and his team's homework and pretty much anything he wanted me to do." Jaune said to her as Velvet gasped.
Velvet had seen how Jaune would be bringing things for Cardin, and would sometimes hear the blonde muttering about finishing CRDL's homework when she happened upon him. She thought that he was doing all of this because he was now friends with Cardin.
But she never expected that he was being forced to do all those things. She had been saved by Jaune when she was being bullied by Cardin, and considering how he had acted with her, she should've thought something was fishy with their new friendship. Though considering how different people can become friends, she thought that he had actually become his friend and so she kept her distance from him.
Velvet frowned as she felt guilty for not looking at his situation with a bit more scrutiny. Perhaps she should've beaten the entire team to make sure that they wouldn't try anything like that with her or any other Faunus. At the very least, it would've probably stopped them from messing with Jaune if she had done that.
"I'm sorry Jaune. I didn't understand what was happening and distanced myself from you. I should've known you weren't the type of person to spend time with a group like Cardin's." Velvet said in an apologetic tone.
"Hey, I don't blame you for keeping your distance. I mean, we only met a few weeks ago and we weren't exactly close so it was a valid reaction. Besides, I managed to take care of that so I'm free now. Though, I also heard that Cardin and his team haven't harassed you or any Faunus since we returned from Forever Falls." Jaune said to her as she smiled slightly.
"Thank you for forgiving me, Jaune. But yes, Cardin and his team haven't done anything to me. He also didn't insult any Faunus, but I'm not sure since it's only been two days." Velvet said to him with a grateful smile.
'At least he managed to get out of it.' Velvet thought to herself as she looked at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But, I have to ask you something." Jaune said to her as she looked at him curiously.
"What is it Jaune?" Velvet asked with curiousity.
"I mean, considering what happened, I wanted to know if we're still friends. Since you know, we weren't exactly that close." Jaune asked her with a nervous tone and smile.
Velvet's ears twitched for a bit as she heard his question. As a rabbit Faunus, she has really long ears, which also helps her hear things much better than other Faunus. And she was able to pick up a slight tone of fear in his voice as he said that, something that she would've missed if she wasn't focusing on him.
'Does Jaune think that we are no longer friends because he hung out with Cardin? I mean, I guess we both avoided each other, but that doesn't mean our friendship ended.' Velvet thought to himself as she looked at him.
"Jaune, I admit that I avoided you after learning that you hung around with Cardin and his group. But that doesn't mean we are no longer friends. I was just confused about your actions, but now after learning why you acted that way, I don't see why we should stop being friends." Velvet said to him with a gentle smile on her face.
"Oh, thanks Velvet." Jaune said as he blushed a bit.
Velvet giggled at how he acted, finding his actions cute and she also blushed slightly as she looked at him. Finding Huntsmen who acted like this are rare, especially someone like Jaune, and he had already proven that he is a good person before, so she didn't want their friendship to sour. It's hard to find such honest people after all.
"I am very grateful that you came to my help that day. And I'm happy that you told me why you were hanging out with Cardin. I don't want to lose this friendship with you Jaune. So yes, we are still friends." Velvet said to him with a smile on her face as she blushed slightly.
"Thanks. I'm really happy to hear that. I don't have many friends in Beacon so..." Jaune said as he laughed nervously.
"Well, I'm sure you will be able to make more friends, Jaune. You're a good guy after all." Velvet said with a giggle.
"I hope so. So, are you eating at the cafeteria? We can go together, and I can introduce you to my friends." Jaune said to her as he gestured to the place. "Not today. I need to meet up with my team, we have our own plans for today." Velvet said with a shake of her head.
"Oh, okay then. I hope you have a good time with your team. I should also go so that I can eat my fill. I need the energy for the combat class." Jaune said with a smile.
"That you do." Velvet said with a nod.
Then Velvet decided to be a bit bold as she gently grabbed his right hand with her hands which surprised the blonde as he looked at her as she gave a gentle smile.
"If you have any problems, don't hesitate to ask me for help Jaune. I'm not as brave as you are, but I will help you with everything I have." Velvet said to him with a smile and blush on her face.
Velvet had never said anything like that to anyone before, especially to a boy. Being a Faunus is difficult, and she had often felt that she was fortunate to have been in her team in Beacon. But she knows that Jaune is different, and is a very kind person.
He might not be the strongest, smartest or even the bravest student in Beacon. She is fine even if he is the student at the lowest ranking in the school. She cared much more about the fact that he is a good person who saw her as her own person and didn't judge her for her appearance, and even stood up to Cardin to help her.
It is hard to find people like him on Remnant, and especially people who you can trust to have your back aside from your team. She has observed his team and their sister team RWBY, and she can say with quiet confidence that they are pretty good people, well, except for Weiss and Blake cause they have a sort of air around them, though perhaps the former might be a bit biased.
"Oh, thanks. I really appreciate it. The same goes for me too. If you or your friends need any help, then you can ask me and my team for it. I promise you, we will come to help you no matter what. Arc's promise." Jaune said with determination and resolution in his eyes as he placed his other hand on hers. Velvet's blush deepened when she felt his other hand on her own as her ear twitched as she looked at him. Her heart was beating faster as she kept her cool.
"Y-Yes, thank you as well. N-Now I should g-get back to my team. Have a great time at lunch Jaune!" Velvet said as she pulled her hands back as she fidgeted in place before she smiled and ran away.
Jaune blinked when he saw that before he chuckled and smiled.
"Yeah, have a great time with your team!" Jaune shouted as he was sure she heard him.
Velvet's ears twitched when she heard that as she ran out of his vision as she leaned on the wall as her ears fell in front of her face as she blushed red as she placed her hands on her face.
'I can't believe I actually managed to say all of that.' Velvet thought to herself as she was a bit shocked.
She felt embarrassed at the words that she had said to Jaune, but she also felt happy that she was actually able to say what she wanted to him.
And after the talk with him, she was glad that she didn't do anything rash after seeing him hanging out with Cardin. She however frowned as she remembered the bully as she stayed in place.
'That Cardin... I can't believe he would actually blackmail Jaune. Well, it looks like he isn't doing anything after coming back from Forever Fall, but if he tries anything then I won't stand by like I had done before.' Velvet thought to herself.
She isn't someone who is willing to use violence on others, but after learning about how Cardin treated Jaune, she is more than willing to use force if it means that she can teach him a lesson. She might not have much confidence when dealing with other people and is very shy, but she won't stand by as someone like Jaune gets bullied.
"Right. I should try to talk to Jaune more. W-Well, maybe not every time, maybe once a day at the least?" Velvet said before she blushed at her line of thought.
'Uh, I really am too shy. I managed to talk to him like that because I thought that he was with Cardin, but now that I know that's not the case. Oh brothers...' Velvet thought to herself as she blushed as she covered her face with her ears using her hands.
While the rabbit Faunus was blushing up a storm a girl wearing beret and sunglasses watched her from a distance as she observed the girl and then looked at the cafeteria as she tilted her head down as her sunglasses followed the motion, allowing her to see the building unobstructed.
"Jaune Arc huh." The girl said with a contemplative tone as she decided to watch the Faunus. Jaune, oblivious to what had happened with the rabbit Faunus, ate his lunch with his friends and had a pleasant time and soon the rest of the classes went by. He wasn't called for combat class so he just opted to observe his fellow students.
He also found that he felt more relaxed without the blackmail as he was able to analyse and observe the students much more calmly and clearly as he saw how they fought. Their Aura, their techniques and use of weapons as well.
He was particularly interested in the fight between Weiss and Blake that's about to happen right now, and he can't say that he was surprised by their choice to fight each other due to the tension between them, he didn't have a particular idea about why they would be like that, but perhaps it might be related to the White Fang, since that is the subject which Blake takes very seriously.
"Begin." Glynda said as the students moved immediately.
Blake immediately charged towards Weiss as the heiress has a haughty look as the girl reached her. Weiss pointed her rapier in front of her and shot fire with the use of her fire dust.
But Blake wasn't troubled by it as she quickly changed her trajectory and dodged the attack, only to find a glyph right in front of her which caused her eyes to widen as the heiress smirked slightly.
The glyph sent the girl flying, or rather the clone which she made immediately as the real Blake was launched to the left by the creation of her clone as she landed on the ground and glared at Weiss.
"You're quite predictable Blake. You might want to change your tactics during battle." Weiss said in a nonchalant tone.
"We'll see." Blake said as she dashed towards her opponent.
Weiss was no slouch as she sent an icicle towards her teammate as Blake narrowly dodged it and kept up her pace as she sent a clone right towards Weiss. The heiress noted the change in colour of the clone as she created a wall of ice in front of her as the clone hit it.
Blake had used fire dust on the clone which caused it to explode on impact as Blake used this moment to jump over Weiss as she used a clone to launch herself towards the heiress location as she slammed her weapons down, only for her weapons to meet the floor to her confusion.
Her senses flared as she leaned back to dodge the rapier which thrust towards her from her right as she Weiss dashed towards her as she sent out quick and precise attacks at the girl. But to the heiress frustration, Blake is pretty quick and flexible, not to mention very fast as well. As such she is able to use her Gambol Shroud to block and redirect the attacks of the Schnee without losing any of her momentum as sparks flew from their blades meeting each other as their attacks were a blur.
But Weiss decided to fire lightning dust alongside the thrust as Blake created a clone at the last moment to launch her back as it took the attack and disappeared.
"Oh no you don't!" Weiss shouted as she launched herself towards the girl with her glyph and also started skating on the floor to catch up with her.
Blake responded by sending a slash of Aura at the Schnee as the heiress jumped into the air with additional help from her glyph as she dodged the attack and created a glyph in the air as she started to run around with the help of her glyphs.
Blake followed the erratic movements of the Schnee heiress as she waited for the right moment to attack, as she wanted to preserve her bullets as Weiss ran around her and then shot ice at her.
Blake immediately moved out of the way as she dodged a glyph that appeared beside her as Weiss shot towards her as the black haired girl had moved to avoid the glyph. A time dilation glyph appeared under her causing her to be slowed down a bit, but Blake managed to angle her weapon to block the rapier as she was flung back from the attack.
Blake stabbed the sheathed weapon into the floor as she stopped herself as she unsheathed it and decided to use her two sword style as Weiss leveled her rapier at her. The two had a stare off for a few seconds before they lunged towards each other.
Weiss swung her blade as Blake avoided it and twirled around it and swung her sheath and sword together, only for a glyph to block it as Weiss held Myrtenaster in reverse as Blake's eyes widened.
She was hit by a blast of fire dust as Blake grunted as she rolled on the floor and corrected herself as she took damage to her aura as she growled as Weiss stood in place with a smirk on her face.
"Need to take some time to rest Blake?" Weiss asked in a fake concerned voice.
Blake snarled at the expression as she swung her weapons, sending two aura slashes at Weiss as her eyes widened as she was forced to move to the right, only to see Blake right in front of her as she hastily brought up her weapon to block.
Only for Blake to not attack with her sword, but to kick her on her right side as Weiss was flung to her left. Weiss rolled on the floor as she righted herself in the air as she used a glyph to stop herself as she looked at her attacker.
"What's wrong Weiss? Feeling tired?" Blake asked with a provocative smile on her face.Weiss grit her teeth at that as she narrowed her eyes as she shot ice at the girl as Blake dodged it as she then decided to use her gun as she shot at the heiress.
Weiss immediately started to skate on the floor as she used her glyph to dodge the bullets while using her dancing moves in tandem with her glyphs as she closed the distance with her opponent. Blake realised that her bullets weren't doing much as she stopped shooting and charged at the heiress.
Weiss smiled at that as she met the girl blade first as they started to trade fast blows as Weiss used her Aura to boost her power and speed as she sent rapid attacks at the girl as Blake used her sword and sheath to block the attacks as she is also looking for an opportunity to counterattack.
In the stands, Jaune and his friends were watching the two fight it out as he looked at Ruby who was looking really nervous at the sight while Yang leaned on her seat and watched the two go at it.
"Did something happen for them to fight like that?" Jaune asked the sisters after a few moments.
'They are also very skilled in their use of Aura.' Jaune thought to himself as he looked at the aura levels as the two have used up a decent amount of their Aura now.
"It was because of a talk about the White Fang. Apparently, the group raided some supply trucks heading for Vale which had things that were needed for our markets. Thankfully, veteran Huntsmen were stationed on the trucks due to the increasing attacks from the Fang, so they managed to repel them." Yang said as she saw that her sister is really nervous about what was happening.
"That's good isn't it." Pyrrha asked in surprise.
"Yeah well, Weiss made a comment about the Fang and Blake didn't like it, which kind of spiralled out of control. Even though the conversation happened yesterday at night, I guess you can see that they are not over it." Yang said as she crossed her arms and looked at the fight.
"Wow, they're really going at it." Nora said as she watched with a grin on her face.
Jaune and Ren glanced at each other and hoped that Nora wouldn't become too excited by watching the fight to actually want to battle someone. Brothers knows that her opponent would need every bit of prayer they can get to survive with their kneecaps intact.
Blake sent a fire clone as Weiss shot lightning dust at it causing an explosion which sent the two flying from the force as they corrected themselves and charged at each other.
Blake shot at Weiss as she ran towards her as she held her sheath ready for attack as Weiss zigzagged to dodge the bullets as the two got close as they glared at each other.
They strengthened themselves with their Aura and attacked each other, with Blake swinging her sheath as Weiss thrust her rapier at her. Both weapons met and due to the force from the attack, the floor beneath them cracked from the impact as they were pushed back from the shockwave created by the clash and the recoil of their strikes. But Blake used a clone to launch herself towards Weiss as she closed the distance as the heiress was unable to stop her as Blake sent an Aura slash with a roar. Weiss was hit face first with the attack as she lost her grip on her weapon as she cried out as she was sent flying out of the ring by the attack as she slammed into the wall and gasped as it cracked.
Weiss fell down as her aura shimmered and broke as Blake panted and stood up as she bent forward a bit from exhaustion as Glynda raised her right arm with her riding crop.
"Miss Schnee is out of bounds. Miss Belladonna wins the match." Glynda announced as the students congratulated the winner.
Blake smiled at the words as she stood straighter, as she felt quite proud at the fact that she was able to fight and defeat Weiss like that. She looked at the heiress as she slowly raised herself up from the floor as she groaned.
Weiss glared at Blake as she smirked in response, though the girl heard the clacking of heels as she turned to see Glynda standing behind her with a stern expression as she used her semblance to pick Weiss up and placed her beside her teammate while also giving her rapier back as well. "You have done quite well in the fight miss Schnee, miss Belladonna, I believe that this is the first time that you two have fought, yes." Glynda said as the two girls nodded.
'I suppose it's high time that RWBY, JNPR and other teams start fighting each other. These two teams have the most talents of their year, but experiencing defeat once in a while would be good for their growth.' Glynda thought to herself as she looked at the two.
"I see. Well, can you two look at the aura levels." Glynda said as she gestured to the screen.
Blake and Weiss looked at the screen and saw that Weiss' Aura had completely depleted, while Blake's was red and was almost depleted which surprised the two. The other students also noticed this as well as they looked at the deputy headmistress.
"The both of you fought with great skill and capitalised on the speciality of your combat style to fight each other. Miss Belladonna used her semblance to evade and attack and her control over her aura and her use of her weapon is good as well. Miss Schnee was also quite proficient in the use of her glyphs, dust and her rapier in battle. And both of you have good control over body movements as well." Glynda said as the two girls felt satisfaction at her words.
Blake more so than Weiss as the black haired girl sent her a smirk which irked the Schnee as she knew exactly why she acted like that. Though Weiss felt herself go stiff as Glynda leveled her with her infamous glare.
"However, you two also made some reckless decisions. Miss Schnee could've destroyed the clone instead of creating a wall of ice. While launching a surprise attack is a good strategy, blinding yourself is not something that you should do. You also used your Aura extensively for the use of your glyphs to stay in the air, which decreased your reserves, even if it had some help in your attack on miss Belladonna. You cannot rely too much on your semblance, especially due to the fact that it's very easy to notice and avoid since you are still learning its intricacies. And you also have to improvise during battles and not follow a rigid plan that you had thought up beforehand. You have to be flexible in combat, lest you be bested by your opponent as miss Belladonna had done. The extensive use of your semblance has left you with some Aura which you could use to attack and protect yourself with, so I hope you will be more careful in the future, Miss Schnee." Glynda said to Weiss with a stern gaze. "Yes, miss Goodwitch." Weiss said with a nod as Blake smirked at that.
Though that smirk immediately vanished when Glynda looked at her.
"And as for you miss Belladonna, while you have made good use of your semblance, you often have a habit of moving in a predictable manner which others can pick up on after watching you battle, as miss Schnee had pointed out. The act of rushing to attack miss Schnee after she created an ice wall was also quite reckless as it had allowed her to launch a surprise attack due to obscure vision from the smoke. You also employed the uses of aura slashes, and I am sure you know that while they are quite effective, they also need your own aura to use, and as we can see, you used a lot of your aura for those attacks. The clash between you and miss Schnee at the end had almost put your aura in red and the use of your semblance and the last Aura slash had resulted in you almost reaching the end of your aura reserves. The only reason you had won was because miss Schnee was out of bounds, otherwise I would've made it a draw, understand." Glynda said to the girl as Blake gulped.
"Yes miss Goodwitch." Blake said with a nod.
"Good. Now please vacate the space so that I can fix it and the next students can battle. Make sure to learn your mistakes and build upon them." Glynda said to the two girls as they nodded and left the place.
JNPR, Ruby and Yang watched the two go out of the arena as they looked at each other.
"Do you think they will get along?" Jaune asked aloud for the five to hear.
"Nope." Yang said with an exasperated look.
"I hope so." Ruby said nervously.
"Maybe?" Pyrrha said with a nervous smile.
"I think they will be alright." Nora said with a wide grin.
"Debatable. Things have a chance to escalate as well." Ren said calmly as she sat there.
"Yeah, I guessed as much." Jaune said as he looked at his fellow leader as she has a very nervous expression.
"Hey, it will be alright. I'm sure that Weiss and Blake will be able to find some way to make it up." Jaune said to her as Ruby looked at him.
"They will?" Ruby asked as she felt a bit unsure.
She is after all the leader of her team, so the responsibility of her teammates falls on her shoulders and she doesn't want to disappoint her friends so she is feeling really nervous and scared at the prospect of failure.
"Yeah, they're part of the same team, so they will have to get together at some point. Besides, they have you with them, if nothing, you can make them talk to each other as their leader. I'm sure that you will be able to help them Ruby." Jaune said to her with a bright smile.
Ruby saw his smile as she couldn't help but blush in response. "Th-Thank you Jaune. I will do my best." Ruby said as she smiled back as she felt some confidence and reassurance from his words.
"Of course, we are team leaders after all. We have each other's backs." Jaune said as he raised his fist with a grin.
"Right." Ruby said with a giggle as she raised her fist.
The two did a fist bump and laughed as their teammate smiled at the interaction. Yang watched her sister laugh as she leaned on her seat while Pyrrha saw the smile on her leader's face as she felt her heart beat as she blushed slightly.
Ruby herself was slightly blushing as she laughed with her first friend as she felt happy that Jaune trusted her so much, and she wanted to make sure that she lived up to his words as well.
'I am happy that you are my first friend at Beacon, Jaune.' Ruby thought to herself as she looked at him, feeling grateful for his presence and support.
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TO BE CONTINUED