Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.
Beacon Academy was a school meant to train some of the finest and proudest warriors on Remnant into Huntsmen and Huntresses capable of defending civilization from the terrors that were bearing down on it every day. The Grimm, natural disaster, crime, corruption and cruelty were all things they had to train to be ready for and most did an amicable job of it. Headmaster Ozpin differed from the Headmasters at some of the other academies in that he was willing to let a lot slide, and even allowed his personal judgement to override school rules and regulations, even laws, when he saw fit. The Headmaster for example, was fully aware that Jaune Arc had not attended a lower level academy before coming here, he had not passed the entrance exams necessary to gain a spot at Beacon and he did not even know how to fully utilize his aura. However, he had allowed the boy into the school because he knew that with the right stimulation and training he could become a true force to reckon with on any battlefield.
The Headmaster also allowed his highly ranked students a little more free reign in terms of combat style or recreation time. If they were performing and scoring at the top of the class at Beacon, then they deserved a little wiggle room he felt, and he was happy to give it to them. He could not however, tolerate any sort of unordained combat on campus and it was this fact that struck him as he entered the courtyard to see Cardin Winchester, a low ranked brute of a boy and Nora Valkyrie, a stunningly talented firecracker with a penchant for heavy weapons, squaring up to each other. What was that boy thinking?
The boy had his mace out and over his shoulder, he was lauding about as if he owned the place, throwing insults at the little redhead and swinging his mace about in the air as he spoke like some sort of orator. Nora on the other hand was steaming, pulling at her two male teammates who were desperately trying to hold her back.
"Seriously, you can't control yourself. Do you have ADHD or something?" Cardin turned to her, a devilish grin on his face. He was getting to her and he loved it. Headmaster Ozpin stood his ground at the corner of the building, he leaned against the wall and gripped his cane tightly by the head. If the boy was going to dig his own grave then he may as well let him, it would be interesting to see how this played out.
"Lemme go Ren. I'm gonna crush him!" Nora was struggling against her teammates, pulling hard at them as they restrained her. Each was holding one of her shoulders, forcing her back and away from her insulter.
"He's not worth it Nora. You're gonna get in trouble again." Jaune her team leader was trying his best to hold his composure but even he was growing upset with the insults Cardin was throwing at his teammate.
"Yeah little girl, hide behind your leader and your boyfriend. I'm sure the mighty Jauney boy will protect you." Cardin laughed as he saw Jaune's shoulders slump. Ozpin chuckled lightly to himself watching the scene unfold, it was true Cardin was far superior to Jaune in combat now but the blonde boy had been excelling quickly and had far more potential than the already tapped out mace wielder could ever imagine.
"What? Not gonna say anything China man? Do you even know how to talk? I bet you're as retarded as she is!" Ozpin sighed at Cardin's last outburst, that was too far for Nora.
With a yell that would have terrified an Ursa Major, Nora ripped free of her teammates and charged her attacker. He stumbled backwards a step, startled that she had escaped her friends and attempted to ready his mace but she was on him already. The little redhead grabbed him by the throat and lifted him, armor, mace and all off the ground with one hand. She reared back a fist and glared daggers at him.
"Don't you say a word about my friends or I will-"
"Ms. Valkyrie, Mr. Winchester I believe that is quite enough." Ozpin was standing amongst the group before any of them had even noticed him enter the courtyard. He was standing calmly, both hands resting on his cane and asserting an irrefutable authority over everything around him. Jaune and Ren both snapped to attention standing straight, Nora dropped Cardin to the ground and turned abashedly to the Headmaster.
"Sorry Professor. I'll go to detention with Professor Goodwitch." Nora glumly dropped her head and began to shuffle off.
"That won't be necessary Ms. Valkyrie. I heard what was occurring and I believe you both are at fault here. Therefore, I wish to give you the chance to settle it like the Huntsmen and Huntresses you are striving to become." Cardin picked himself up from the ground and Nora turned to regard the Headmaster with suspicion.
The Vytal Festival hosted a large arena meant for team combat and was able to transform to replicate various biomes and combat environments for the sake of the combatants. The flying stadium was an achievement accomplished only through the collaboration of the four nations and required thousands of man hours and a permanent crew to maintain. It was a sight to behold and cost an extraordinary amount of Lien to keep in the air. It was therefore restricted for use only for the Vytal Festival and even Ozpin's clout couldn't gain him access for a settling of disputes between students.
Instead the students now found themselves in one of the many combat ready classrooms on campus. The auditorium had high vaulted ceilings to allow for aerial maneuvers and large ornate windows which permitted sun and moonlight to filter in. Ozpin had always preferred as much natural lighting as possible and extended his influence to the entire school's architecture. The room had high stadium seating along one side and a raised observation platform at the other from which professors and other guests could view the combat. Above this platform was a large screen which displayed the combatants' aura levels as horizontal bar graphs next to simple images of their face.
Ozpin was seated in the stadium seats alongside Jaune and Ren waiting for Nora to emerge from the locker rooms with her combat gear. Cardin was pacing the floor nervously, confronting Nora when she was unarmed and in her school uniform was one thing. Squaring up with her here, in the ring, in full combat gear and armed to the teeth with her hammer grenade launcher combo Magnhild was a completely different one.
Nora stepped out of the locker room doors wearing her white top and pink combat skirt, Magnhild slung easily over her shoulder and huge grin plastered across her face.
"Now Ms. Valkyrie. This is a duel meant to settle a personal conflict, for that reason I would ask that you do not use dust rounds. Ranged combat is immensely impersonal and carries no emotion." With that Headmaster Ozpin tapped his staff on the floor and the battle was on. Nora and Cardin's aura meters appeared on the screen, full and green.
Cardin charged in with reckless abandon, swinging his mace about behind him and bellowing a powerful battle cry. Nora smiled and met his first strike evenly with the head of Magnhild. The resulting clang sounded off the walls of the room. Cardin did not slow his assault, bring his mace around time and again to meet Nora's hammer. He moved with admitted grace for wielding such a large weapon but Nora met him every time. With each blow Nora retreated a step, getting closer and closer to the arena wall until she was only a few feet away.
Her opponent brought the mace above his head and down with both hands, intending to crush Nora between the wall and his weapon. She hopped backwards, planting her feet against the wall and leaped over Cardin, placing a foot on his mace to launch herself even further. She did a neat flip high above his head and brought her hammer down hard on the ground behind him. The floor split and cracked, one large slab under Cardin buckled and kicked upward launching him into the air.
Nora fired off a single charge, pushing her hammer free of the floor and performed a tight backflip, letting the momentum carry her onto her feet again. Cardin had reached the peak of his arc and was careening back towards the floor. Nora brought the hammer back behind her and stuck her tongue out slightly between her lips, concentrating hard. She swung as her opponent fell in front of her and caught him square in the midsection before he could plant his feet. The force of the blow sent him careening out one of the upper windows and the sound of shattering glass was accompanied by a quite unmanly scream as the boy sailed through the air.
Jaune and Ren looked up to the aura meters and saw Cardin still had enough left that the battle was not technically over. Ozpin smiled and Nora rested Magnhild on her shoulder. A second or two passed and there was another distinct drop in Cardin's aura meter, putting him into the red and ending the match.
"Oh wow. He got more hang time than I thought." Nora laughed obnoxiously and regarded their Headmaster as he spoke.
"Well, I suppose I will have to inform Glynda of what happened." Jaune and Ren turned to the man with shock.
"But Headmaster, I thought you said-" Jaune started but cut himself short when Ozpin pointed at the high window.
"Someone has to fix that window after all."
A/N - So, this was the first piece I ever published and actually is a chunk I ended up removing from my longer piece "Friends and Loved Ones" where originally Cardin and Nora fought in Goodwitch's sparring class. It didn't quite fit there but I couldn't just let it go so I wrote this. If you would like to see the original story (though it's exactly the same as this one) then please check out "He's Outta Here" which I will be leaving up as a little piece of my personal authorial history.
I've decided to compile all of my "Some character beats up Cardin" stories into one big thing. I noticed I had a lot of people following the smaller stories and I appreciated the gesture but seeing as they would never be updated I felt bad. So I will leave this up as a constant stream of all my, "Some character beats up Cardin" type stories.
I don't know how many more I'll write. Maybe none. Maybe one for every character. I really have no idea. But if I do, this is where you'll find them.
Thanks so much for reading.
-Zach