What's up guys! Thank you all so much for your support! You are all Awesome! With a capital A.
SO! Here we go, on to Round 2...
Round 2
"Up next is Cardin Winchester." Glynda Goodwitch nonchalantly paced the combat floor as she contemplated who his opponent should be. "Because Cardin has chosen all of his opponents so far this week, why don't we spice things up a bit? A student will be randomly selected to fight Cardin."
She pressed a few buttons on her datapad, and the scoreboard lit up. The left side showed a picture of Cardin, while the right side rapidly cycled through all the students in the class. A few moments later, a picture of Jaune froze on the screen.
Jaune groaned, "Aw, come on..."
Pyrrha threw a gentle elbow at him and smiled, "You'll do fine, you've been training for this."
Glynda addressed Cardin and lowered her datapad. "Cardin, you will be facing Jaune Arc."
He scoffed, and rolled his eyes, "Can't you get me a real fight?"
She glanced at Jaune, "Be careful what you wish for, Cardin."
He shook his head in bewilderment, "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
Jaune had already made his way down and stepped inside the white circle as Teams RWBY and JNPR cheered from the stands.
"You can do it Jaune!"
"C'mon, BREAK HIS LEGS!"
Glynda turned to face the two combatants, "Are you both ready?" Cardin rolled his eyes. Jaune nodded, a serious look on his face. "Very well." She took a step out of the ring, "Begin." The two charged each other, and the clash of metal rang.
Jaune dove away from Cardin's attacks, using his superior mobility to keep the brute from landing any of his strong blows. He ducked below a sideways swing, and before Cardin could bring his weapon to bear, he delivered an uppercut with his shield directly to Cardin's chin. Stunned, Cardin stumbled, allowing Jaune to sweep his legs out from under him. Jaune took a step back and swung his sword in a full arc above his head, delivering a vicious strike to Cardin's chest.
"Woah! Where did that come from?" Yang was already recording the match since the beginning.
"That. Was. AWESOME! GO JAUNE, KICK HIS BUTT!" Ruby was practically bouncing out of her seat in excitement.
"That was impressive," Blake stated as she closed her book, deciding that this would be a fight worth watching.
Then they all stared at Weiss, who had her arms crossed. She gave them an annoyed look, "What?!"
Yang smirked, "Nothing, Ice Queen!"
Ruby threw a handful of popcorn at Yang, "Shush! Pay attention!"
The fighting seemed to go on for an eternity, and both parties were running out of energy. Jaune became more sluggish, giving Cardin an edge. The fight began to tip in his favor when Jaune's foot slipped as he tried to dodge a swing of the mace. The blow glanced off his shield, but threw him off balance and left him defenseless. Cardin swung a low backhand, knocking Jaune off his feet.
Jaune looked up, dazed, and brought his shield to bear just as a crushing two-handed blow came down. The shield took the brunt of the attack, but the impact squeezed the air out of his lungs. He gasped for air, and rolled to the left as another swing slammed into the ground, sending shards of broken metal across the arena. Cardin recoiled as dust and debris got in his eyes. He took a few steps back and blindingly swung his weapon back and forth.
Jaune took the break in fighting to catch his breath and glance at his aura level on his scroll. The bar was very low, and displayed a dark orange color. Another punch and it's game over.
Jaune looked up into the stands. Everyone was on their feet, cheering the fight on. He scanned the crowd, but felt his heart sink. There's no way I can win... He's bigger, stronger, has better armor, and... The grip on his sword loosened as a wave of exhaustion rippled through his body. I've got nothing left.
If I gave up, what would she think? His grip tightened around the hilt of his sword. If I gave up, then everything she has done for me would be wasted.
For her, I need to finish this.
His gaze returned to Cardin, who was still rubbing his eyes. He brought his arm up, making an "L" shape and swung at the empty air in frustration. Jaune saw an opportunity. His shoulder armor restricts his arm movement, if I can get on top of him, he won't be able to reach me.
For her, I have to win.
Cardin opened his now red and puffy eyes, his face contorted into a snarl. "You're gonna pay for that Jauney-boy." With renewed determination, Jaune took a deep breath to calm his nerves and raised his shield and sword into a fighting stance.
For her.
Jaune unleashed a battle cry and charged. Cardin gave a cocky smile, and swung his mace to the side to swat Jaune out of the way. Jaune slid on his knees and leaned back, the mace passing mere centimeters from his nose. He put his left foot forward and let his momentum carry all of his weight onto his leg, then he twisted to the right and threw his entire body into a shield bash behind Cardin's knee. Jaune heard a crunch, and Cardin yelped as he fell to his knees.
Jaune jumped up on Cardin's shoulders and slashed at his hand. The mace fell to the ground, and Cardin reached up and tried to pull his attacker off of him. Jaune slapped his arm away with the flat of his blade, then relentlessly pummeled the back of Cardin's head.
Cardin jerked forward, making Jaune lose his balance. Jaune felt a hand wrap around one of his ankles. He was torn from Cardin's shoulders, and pain shot through his head as he slammed into the ground. A buzzer sounded to end the match.
Cardin ignored the buzzer and furiously delivered three savage blows to Jaune's head as he raged, "YOU! LITTLE! PUNK!"
"Cardin! Get off of him!" Pyrrha jumped down into the arena and rushed toward them.
"What are you gonna do about it?!" Cardin snapped. Pyrrha slowed to a walk a dozen feet away, and thrust her palm forward. Cardin felt his armor yank backward. He flew several feet before sliding to a stop.
Cardin sneered at Jaune, "Pathetic. You need a girl to end your fights for you." He tried to stand up, but pain exploded from his knee, forcing him to the ground.
Pyrrha glared at him with disgust, "You are a detestable human being. Now get out of here before I break your other leg." Cardin had to be carried out by his team members.
She looked down at Jaune, worried that Cardin's cheap shots had injured him. He was completely unscathed, damaged more by his own shame than Cardin's blows. His head hung low, and he simply stared at the ground between his legs. Her heart broke to see him upset like this.
She knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder. "Jaune? Are you okay?"
His head fell into his hands as he sighed. "I'm not good enough, Pyrrha," His voice was choked up, "I gave it everything I had, and I... I just couldn't beat him."
Pyrrha sat down, facing him. "It's okay, Jaune. You fought well. Extremely well." She gestured up at the scoreboard, "Just look at how close you were." His head rose slightly, and he peeked at the final aura levels of the match. Jaune's aura was red, but he knew there was still enough to take a few more hits. Cardin's aura was a particularly dark orange. Had Jaune landed a few more punches, he would have won.
Jaune shook his head and sighed deeply, "You don't understand."
"Winning isn't everything, Jaune," Pyrrha continued, trying her best to reassure him, "Think of how far you've come. Last year, you could barley scratch him, but today? Today you actually broke one of his legs! You should be proud of-"
"I wasn't fighting for me!" Jaune exclaimed.
She cocked her head, confused. "Wh.. What do you mean?"
He didn't respond. His mouth opened to say something, but the words hung in his breath. "I... I just.. Can we talk about this later? So I can... Think things through?" She nodded slowly, still trying to understand the meaning of his outburst.
"HEY!" Yang's voice bellowed from the stands, "Would you two shut up and kiss already?! I want to go eat dinner soon- Ow!"
Weiss punched the blonde in the shoulder, and put her hands on her hips, "She's trying to comfort her team leader! Why would you interrupt her?!"
Pyrrha's cheeks turned the same bright red as her hair at the thought of kissing Jaune. She shook her overactive imagination from her head and looked up to see Jaune, standing, and back to his normal self. He had a wide smile, and held out a hand to lift her up. "Let's go." She returned a smile and took his hand.
Stay tuned for Chapter 3! I promise there will be feels.
I'd love to hear your opinion, write a review!
P.S. Yes, Cardin was just force pushed by Pyrrha.
