I must admit I was utterly surprised to wake up and see my mailbox flooded with your faves and follows and the 2 "interesting" reviews, I wasn't expecting much as I discovered it wasn't a generally original idea, but my muse was acting up so much that I couldn't help it.
If at all possible, do leave a review on how I can improve fight and battle scenes, it's not my first time but it's not an often occurrence that I write such scenes.
Enough talk, do enjoy.
"Jaune Arc and Cardin Winchester!" Glynda Goodwitch announced.
"Dammit." Jaune swore quietly.
"Good luck Jaune." Pyrrha gave him an encouraging smile as he made to get his equipment.
"Thanks." Jaune gave a weak smile
I'm going to need it. He thought.
After gearing up both stepped into the arena, Jaune had decided to go with the longsword this time, a blade sheathe for the sword half of Crocea Mors extending the overall length of the blade by a significant amount.
"Ready for a good pounding Arc?" Cardin gave a smug grin.
Jaune did not grace that with a response and kept quiet as he unlocked the sword from its magnetic clamp and held it in front of him.
Inhale, count to ten, exhale, count to ten, inhale, count to ten, exhale Jaune breathed deeply and got ready.
"What's the matter Arc? Getting cold feet?" Jaune rolled his eyes.
"No, it's just that your pre-fight banter sucks." He replied.
Cardin growled at him.
When the fight started, both combatants circled each other threateningly.
What was it that the fightmaster said about hammer and mace wielders again? Jaune tried to remember.
Something about them not being able to reverse their weapon swings because their weight is concentrated all away from the point of control. Jaune thought, he was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost missed Cardin suddenly charging forward, Jaune slashed his sword to deflect the blow and then reversed it to thrust at Cardin who leapt backwards to avoid it.
It continued this way for some time, testing each other's mettle, ratcheting up the tension, deflecting and counterattacking but not following up.
Hard to believe I can fight him with only two years of training, maybe they just didn't have it as intense as I got? Jaune wondered.
Then Jaune had an idea.
Cardin swung his mace again, Jaune stepped back just enough to avoid the blow, and at the same time he turned his sword in his hand so that now he was holding it by the blade. Jaune raised his sword up and brought it down; Cardin raised his mace to block it.
Allowing the guard of Jaune's sword to hook onto it.
Jaune gave a hard pull, the mace flew to the side and left Cardin completely open, Jaune allowed himself a small smirk as he reversed his pull and thrust the pommel straight into Cardin's face. There was no way for Cardin to dodge, the pommel hit him full force in the face and sent him stumbling back.
Jaune dashed forward, rolling under another wide sweep and giving a quick slash at the back of Cardin's legs. Cardin spun back wildly, with no time to parry, Jaune had to force a static block as Cardin's mace came swinging in and did something Jaune had not expected at all.
It exploded as it hit his sword.
The explosion threw Jaune back a few meters, and made his ears ring painfully.
What the hell was that? His mace can explode?! Jaune managed to think, as he tried to collect himself Cardin came back swinging again, still disoriented from the blast Jaune could not bring his sword up fast enough.
"Bollocks." Jaune was just able to force out.
Cardin swung his mace and smashed Jaune right in the head with an explosion, sending the knight flying back and crashing into the ground, by some miracle his sword remained in his hand. Jaune's mind whirled in pain as he struggled to move; he turned his head and could just make out Cardin advancing on him threateningly. At the same time he could dimly hear Pyrrha screaming for him to get up while Professor Goodwitch was shouting at Cardin. His vision flashed and suddenly he found himself not in the arena, but on a strange dirt road in a forested area. He found his body moving on his own as he struggled to his feet slowly using his sword to prop himself up, in front of him a burly man with his face hidden behind a helmet wearing padded armor and a large mace was advancing and was almost on top of him.
Jaune had no idea how, but his arms started moving automatically as if he was a puppet being controlled by someone else, as the mace came down on him, Jaune felt his hands hold the sword in a reverse-grip with one hand holding the blade and one hand on the grip. As the mace came down, Jaune popped the sword up with his foot, using the guard to deflect the swing to one side, he felt his legs shift backward as he did so, and his other hand guided the blade and slashed the man across the chest, a painful cry rang out…
And then Jaune was back in the arena, stumbling back, trying to get his footing, his mind spinning in circles. Across from him Cardin was holding one arm across his chest, glaring daggers right into Jaune.
"You'll pay for that Arc!" He shouted in anger.
Jaune was still trying to recover and understand what had just happened as Cardin was suddenly on him again. Jaune barely raised his sword in time to block another powerful blow that sent him sliding across the floor of the arena; he jammed his sword in to the ground, slowing him to a stop. As he gripped his blade tightly and stood up, he was back on the road watching the other man stumble back from the slash, beaten but not dead.
He suddenly knew exactly how he could finish the battle and kill his opponent. He did not know how he knew; the knowledge of 'how' had simply planted itself inside his head, it was really simple, charge, parry the inevitable wild swing that would come while sidestepping, cut the opponent's arm down to disarm him, bash him with the pommel to force him back and then tackle him down and finish him off with the dagger at your side.
The man gave an angry growl and ran at Jaune, Jaune responded with a piercing cry and a charge that made the man falter for just a second. With the sword following his every thought with precision, Jaune deflected by letting the blow slide off his blade as it came down and then sidestepping and continuing the strike, leading it right onto the arm of his opponent, cutting deeply into the arm though not slicing through it. The man cried out and released his mace; Jaune pulled the blade back and used the momentum to slam the pommel right into the man's face, as he stumbled back Jaune dropped the sword and tackled the man to the ground. Straddling the man's torso with his hand on the man's face, Jaune reached to his side, pulled out his dagger, raised it high and was mere inches from slamming it into the man's face when a sharp voice rang out.
"That's enough!" Glynda Goodwitch's harsh voice brought Jaune back to reality, and he was now back inside the arena, he was surprised when he found his own body would not budge no matter how hard he tried to move, below was Cardin with his eyes squeezed shut, Jaune's dagger was hanging right above his face.
All of a sudden Jaune felt himself get thrown back by an incredible force and he gave a cry of surprise as he landed heavily on his back.
"For knowingly performing a lethal attack, Jaune Arc is disqualified from the match." He heard the professor announce. Not that he really cared, he was too busy trying to find his balance as the room spun round and round, he stumbled and shambled like a zombie to where his sword lay and picked it up, sheathing his dagger first on his right side, he tried to unlock the magnetic clamp fitted to the shielth half of Crocea Mors and lock his blade sheathe on it.
"Mr. Arc." Professor Goodwitch called out.
"Stupid thing, can't be arsed for shit, should've gone with the double-sided sticky tape instead…" Jaune swore quietly as he ignored the approaching professor.
"Mr. Arc!" Glynda called out more forcefully this time.
"WHAT?!" Jaune railed and glared at the professor, it took him a moment to realize what he did as Glynda "terror of Beacon" Goodwitch narrowed her eyes at him.
Inhale, count to ten, exhale, count to ten, inhale, count to ten, exhale Jaune closed his eyes and rubbed his throbbing forehead for a moment before he put on his best smile and said.
"I mean, you were saying ma'am?" He put on his bravest smile even as he continued massaging his forehead and inwardly noted that he was doomed.
"Mr. Arc, I don't know why you did it, but this is a training match, attempting to kill one of your fellow classmates is generally frowned upon and in a real tournament, you would have not only been disqualified, but automatically barred from participation for any number of years. I expect greater control from you Mr. Arc." Glynda explained.
"Understood ma'am." Jaune nodded.
"That said, that was a brilliant counterattack and comeback you made with your aura level already approaching the threshold, although you stumbled initially, you held fast and won the day, as to be expected of a student of fightmaster Hans." Glynda smirked at the last part; Jaune could only give a nervous smile.
"Keep up the performance; just remember to keep your dagger back when your opponent is already down, wouldn't do to have any training accidents now would we." Glynda raised an eyebrow.
"Of course Professor." Jaune nodded.
"Is that it? That bastard just tried to kill me!" Cardin shouted.
"And Cardin! Besides ignoring my call for you to stand down, your last attack was wild, you need to control yourself more, if you had pushed into Mr. Arc's sidestep you would have unbalanced him and the match would be yours, and you also underestimated Mr. Arc's capacity to fight, leading you into the position you are in now." Glynda explained flatly.
"But he tried to kill me!"
"And his punishment is his disqualification followed by the resultant grade and that is all Mr. Winchester!" Glynda stated firmly, ending any argument.
"Class is dismissed for today." She announced. As the students made their way out, and as team CRDL helped their still shaken leader out, Jaune approached the professor as she moved off.
"Ms. Goodwitch wait!" Jaune called out, the professor turned to regard him, "I'm really sorry for what happened today ma'am." Jaune apologized.
"Well if you're really sorry then perhaps you should explain why you tried to kill one of your own classmates?" Glynda cocked an eyebrow.
Jaune was stumped, how was he supposed to explain that he had received some kind of vision about a man trying to kill him in a similar way to Cardin and that he had retaliated with his body moving almost of its own accord.
"I apologize, I…" Jaune tried to come up with an explanation, "lost control of myself." He stated.
"Excuse me?" Glynda cocked the eyebrow, "lost control?"
"Yes." Jaune bluntly stated, there was nothing else he could go on at the moment, to his surprise Glynda seemingly gave a sigh of resignation.
"Apology accepted your highness; just make sure you don't do it again." Glynda said.
"It's just Jaune here ma'am, I'm no prince here." Jaune meekly noted.
"No…you aren't." Glynda deadpanned.
As he walked out of the arena, he found his red-headed partner leaning against a wall waiting for him, on seeing him she rushed over.
"Jaune! Are you alright?" She asked worriedly.
"Yeah, it just feels like Nora is playing whack-a-grimm on my head." Jaune answered as he rubbed his forehead.
"What happened back there Jaune?" She asked.
"What do you mean what happened?" He eyed her.
"What do I mean?! Jaune you nearly killed another student!" Pyrrha exclaimed, "I know Cardin is a jerk but that's no excuse to murder him like that!"
"So how would you prefer I murder him then?" Jaune smirked and received a hard punch to the shoulder, "that really hurt." He muttered and clutched it.
"Stop joking Jaune this is serious!"
"Ok I'm sorry I lost control ok?" Jaune held up his hands he made to walk away, but Pyrrha roughly grasped his arm as he did.
"That wasn't 'losing control' Jaune, it was like you were a completely different person just then." Pyrrha insisted, Jaune could see her shudder just a little at the memory.
A completely different person huh… Jaune thought, as he looked away, refusing to meet Pyrrha's eyes.
"Jaune you're my partner, you know you can tell me anything right? That's what partners are for." Pyrrha urged.
"I…wish I had an answer for you…because I don't know either." Jaune finally turned to look at her. Pyrrha looked utterly forlorn as she let her hand drop to her side and hung her head.
"You wanna go eat before they run out of food?" Jaune jerked his thumb in the direction of the dining hall.
"And that was what happened." Jaune finished.
"Interesting, so…you saw a vision of someone killing another person, and then you used the vision to figure out how to beat Mr. Winchester, am I right?"
"Yes that's more or less it, so apparently my semblance is good for killing the present with the past." Jaune flatly noted.
Ozpin gave a light chuckle, "that aside Mr. Arc how are you getting on with the rest of your team? I hear you are close with team RWBY, although I suppose you would be considering what happened at initiation."
"...We...eat our meals together." Jaune took a moment to answer.
"That's all?"
"Which reminds me, Cardin is a real pain in the ass."
"Oh…?"
"Yeah, that time…"
Jaune munched on a sandwich slowly and sipped from a cup of tea, he was still holding his head in his hands as he thought back to the match.
What the hell was that? Seriously what was that? It was like one of my dreams but it happened when I was awake? A waking dream? A vision? Jaune wondered as he absentmindedly stirred the tea with the teaspoon, he was broken out of his thoughts by Nora shouting.
"Dozens of them!" Nora stood up waving her hands excitedly.
"Two." Ren corrected.
"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora cheered.
"What happened? Sorry I haven't been paying attention." Jaune asked.
"She's been having this recurring dream for a month now." Ren sighed.
"Oh…ok." Jaune nodded in acknowledgement before going back to his tea.
"Does it still hurt? Your head I mean." Pyrrha asked.
"Well I can tell you it's gone from Nora playing whack-a-grimm with Magnum-held to Yang busting another punching bag with Ambrosia Cecelia."
"It's Magnhild!" Nora corrected loudly.
"And it's Ember Celica! And are you telling me Nora hits harder than this?" Yang interrupted, her eyes flaring crimson as she waved her fist threateningly at Jaune.
"I didn't say that…well ok I did say that but…err…" Jaune struggled for an answer.
"Would you like me to hit you so hard you arc through the air?" Yang smirked.
Well shit, how do I get out of this one? "Tell you what Yang, next time we have combat class you go up against Nora, and then we'll see who hits harder." Jaune quickly stated.
Before Yang could continue, a cry of pain brought their attention to a certain team standing around a brunette with rabbit ears; Cardin had just tugged on one of her ears.
"See I told you it was real." Cardin remarked.
"What a freak." Russel laughed.
"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha growled.
"Hey where'd Jaune go?" Ruby asked, pointing to the empty seat.
To everyone's surprise, Jaune had somehow disappeared from his seat and was now approaching team CRDL.
"Oh no…" Pyrrha gasped.
"You don't think he's going to…?" Ren interjected.
Before anyone could do anything else though, Jaune was already at the scene, RWBY and NPR held their breath to see what Jaune would do as he tapped Cardin lightly on the arm.
"What do you- Jaune?!" Cardin was startled.
"Indeed, I wanted to apologize for my actions earlier today Mr. Winchester, I was out of the line and I went too far in my match against you, I hope we can put this behind us?" Jaune stretched out a hand, a smile on his face.
Cardin eyed him suspiciously before he skeptically took Jaune's hand.
"What's that dunce doing?" Weiss stared at the scene.
"He seems to be going for a diplomatic approach." Even Blake looked very interested.
"Right sure, now beat it Jaune, I've got other business to take care off." Cardin turned back to the rabbit Faunus before Jaune caught hold of him and turned his attention back.
"Y'know Cardin if there is anything I can do to make it up to you do tell." Jaune continued smiling.
"Yeah sure Jaune-y, I'll get back to you." Cardin growled with irritation in his voice and turned back to the Faunus before Jaune pulled him to the side again.
"I'm serious Cardin, I'm a man of my word, you don't need to hold back." Jaune continued smiling.
"Ok here's something you can do." Cardin turned away with his back to Jaune.
"Of course." Jaune nodded.
"Fuck. Off." Cardin growled and spun around, using the additional momentum to punch Jaune right in the face, sending Jaune crashing onto the bench. His vision flashed one more time, he was now in a bar, seated, and several armed men were standing around him. He was knocked out of his vision by a yell.
"LET'S BREAK HIS LEGS!" Nora yelled as she leapt over the table, swiftly followed by Ren and Pyrrha.
"Agreed, no one messes with my blonde pun-ddy but me!" Yang shouted while standing up waving her fists angrily.
"Yeah!" Ruby stood up as well.
"Oh for crying out loud…" Weiss rubbed her temple, "at least there is one other sane…Blake?" Even the normally quiet and aloof book-reader had gotten up from her seat with a scowl on her face.
"What is going on here?!" The voice of Professor Glynda "Horrorwitch" Goodwitch echoed across the dining hall.
Team NPR were just one table away from CRDL, R(W)BY were just behind them, most of the other students had scattered to make room for them, and Jaune was lying down on top of a bench right in front of CRDL.
"It's all good Professor!" Jaune gave a thumbs-up from where he was lying down, Glynda eyed him suspiciously.
"Is that so Mr. Arc? First you attempt to murder Mr. Winchester during my class, and now you seem intent on wiping out his team with your own team."
"I can explain." Jaune sat up.
"Please do so Mr. Arc." Glynda directed a glare at him.
"I was just apologizing to Cardin here for my aforementioned actions, wasn't I guys?" He looked around to CRDL, (J)NPR and RWBY hoping they would all get the hint.
"Yeah sure." Cardin nodded.
"Of course he was." Yang agreed.
"Yep." Ruby popped the 'p' at the end.
"Nothing wrong here." Pyrrha smiled.
"We're all good." Ren deadpanned.
"We're a-ok!" Nora grinned while making the 'ok' sign with one hand.
Jaune breathed a sigh of relief, "See Professor? Nothing's wrong at all! We're all best buddies aren't we? hehe…" He gave a nervous chuckle at the end, glad that no one was interested in detention.
"Sure thing buddy." Cardin did his best to hide his grimace.
"Course we are!" Yang folded her arms and nodded.
"Definitely!" Ruby nodded along.
"Best friends…forever." Pyrrha's voice cracked at the end.
"Bonded like brothers and sisters." Ren dryly remarked.
"We're all in this together…just not together-together!" Nora continued grinning.
"Good job your highness, not only did you certainly save Mr. Winchester there but you also managed to save us money on a potentially destroyed dining hall and medical fees for team CRDL."
"I had to learn to save my own skin a lot back home…you should see the Crown Prince when he's really mad." Jaune sighed and gave a wistful look out one of the windows.
"I'd rather not Mr. Arc." Ozpin shuddered a little, quite a bit of their funding could potentially dry up if the Crown Prince got upset at Beacon for whatever reason.
It was a good plan to ensure that all the major Beacon staff know about Jaune, god forbid something happens to him and the Crown discovers it, it'll be off to the Tower of Vale with our heads in no time flat! Ozpin thought to himself quietly, he noticed Jaune was still staring out the window with a somewhat longing look.
"I suppose you must miss them a lot." Ozpin said.
"Yeah I do, all of them, the servants who took care of me, my siblings, my uncle, Amy…even the old fightmaster." Jaune trailed off, "you know I never wanted to be here to start with, it was all dad's idea to provide a 'safe haven' for me in the aftermath of the attack. And somehow he got uncle to agree with it, even though the two almost never agree with each other."
"And of course here you are now."
"Here I am now, I thanked you before already but I wanted to thank you again for essentially giving me refuge here."
"Not a problem your highness, besides it is always interesting to see the potential in others being developed through the most remarkable of situations."
"In this case…?"
"In this case, your talent for leadership and command your highness…and it seems in the future…your skill in combat, being able to tap the skills and memories of your predecessors gives you a wealth of potential."
"You really think so?" Jaune chuckled darkly.
"Quite so your highness, I and the other professors saw it during initiation."
"Oh…hah, yes…initiation…"
And that's that for the second chapter, I hope you enjoyed it.
Kudos to you if you know where the title of this Omake comes from, and if you do know where its from then you should already guess what happens next.
Ending him Rightly
"Ready for a good pounding Arc?" Cardin gave a smug grin.
"Yeah yeah, just give me a moment." Jaune leaned his sword and his shoulder and began unscrewing the pommel.
Everyone began whispering quietly to each other, wondering what Jaune was doing while Cardin tapped his foot impatiently.
"Hurry up! We don't have all day Jaune-y!" Cardin growled.
"It's done." Jaune smiled as he finally released the pommel from the sword.
"Alright, take up your positions." Glynda announced, 'In 3…2…1…Begin!" And then Jaune did something absolutely amazing.
He threw the pommel at Cardin.
Cardin merely lifted an eyebrow as he watched the pommel sail through the air, as it neared him though it suddenly released a fine cloud of red dust particles right in his face. He just had time to widen his eyes before the entire cloud promptly detonated right in his face. The explosion was deafening, a shockwave expanded out from the initial explosion and knocked over the students closest to the arena. Cardin was thrown to one end of the arena and hit the floor.
He did not get up.
"Winner…Jaune Arc." Even Glynda looked utterly gobsmacked.
"And that ladies and gentlemen, is how you end a person rightly." Jaune Arc explained as he faced the other students.
And that's all folks, I appreciate all reviews, faves and follows.
