'Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap!' is all Jaune could think as he sprinted towards the direction where Cardin was, who was covered in sap with an Ursa nearby. He was running faster than he thought he could ever manage. He could hear branches snapping under his feet and leaves being stirred up into the air by the gust left behind by him.
After a minute and a half of non-stop running, Jaune could smell just how close Cardin was, and how the Ursa was much closer to Cardin than he was. 'Please let me make it in time to save that dumb bastard!' he screamed in his mind, motivating his legs to move faster. Jaune could finally see the clearing ahead of him. The sun was shining too much for him to see the situation in from of him. As he broke through the tree line, his mind began to quickly process the situation ahead of him. Cardin was standing still, most likely out of fear and shock, with no weapon and his guard lowered. Cardin was face to face with, unfortunately for him, an Ursa, more specifically, an Ursa Major. The Ursa Major itself was twice towered over Cardin, covered in multiple layers of bone plating. From the looks of it, it was an older Grimm, meaning it had some experience with fighting other creatures, or hunters. Cardins eyes grew wide with fear. The great Grimm was stood on its hind legs and it was bringing its right arm back with the intent to kill Cardin.
"My team… just left me," Jaune could hear Cardin mutter as he got closer. Time seemed to slow down for Jaune as he tried to consider his options. His hands gripped tightly to his sword and shield as he sent his mind into overdrive to think of a way to save Cardin without getting them both too injured.
'Dammit! I don't have enough time for a ranged attack!' Jaune was directly in between Cardin and the Ursa Major, and the only plan he could think of wasn't in his favor, but it was the only one he could work with at the moment. Jaune brought up his shield in front of him, facing the Ursa Major while he kicked his legs into Cardins chest, knocking him down. The Ursa Majors claw connected into Jaunes shield with immense force, sending him flying over the fallen Cardin, who was dazed about what just happened. Jaune recovered after tumbling across the ground several times. He was on one knee, holding his shield in front of him and his sword to his side. He was in pain, but not enough to keep him down.
The Ursa seemed to be more interested in Jaune now, seemingly to have forgotten about Cardin. Jaune pushed himself to his feet with the help of his sword. "What are you still doing here asshole?! Get out!" Jaune yelled at Cardin. Cardin blinked a few times before Jaune's words truly registered in his mind. Instantly he stood back up and ran into the woods, looking at Jaune once more before leaving him to deal with the Ursa Major.
"Okay big guy, I'm not having such a good day. So if you could just die, that would be great." Jaune said as he readied himself. The Ursa Major got on all fours and charged towards Jaune. Jaune poked his head out from behind the shield, "White Dragon's Roar!" He yelled as the white laser left his mouth. Jaune immediately noticed a problem, the laser wasn't as big as it normally was, it was actually quite pitiful. Once the laser connected to the Ursa's protected head, it faded away, barely leaving a scratch on the bone plate.
"Oh shi-!" was all Jaune could say before the Ursa's head connected to Jaunes shield, forcing him to slide back. Jaune knew that if he tripped, he would have been trampled, so he held his ground against the beast, refusing to fall. Jaune looked back and saw that they were quickly getting close to several trees. Jaune had to make a decision, either move away from the Ursa pushing him, or see how many trees he could be crashed into before he dies. The latter not being the most desirable of decisions, Jaune stabbed his sword into the back of the Ursa and pulled himself over the Grimm. Unfortunately, once he was above the Grimm's back, he lost his grip on his sword. So now he stood behind the Ursa Major with only his shield.
Before the Ursa could turn around, finally noticing the lack of his target not in front of it, Jaune attempted to use his 'White Dragon's Fist,' but once his aura surrounded his unarmed hand, it flickered and vanished. Jaune cursed and began to think of why his power was so low. His mind kept coming back to the woman he had met only a few minutes ago, and how he lost control.
"That damned bitch, she made me lose my power," he whispered, remembering when she had brought his restraint to its peak, but even though he didn't attack her, his reserve power had leaked. That shouldn't have even been possible. That power was sealed, but that woman had forced that power open, now leaving him fatigued.
The Ursa Major growled before charging towards Jaune again. Jaune quickly opened the capsule compartment in his shield, thankfully taking the Ursa's charge directly filled up one of his white dust capsules. He opened the capsule and swallowed the white dust. He could feel his power returning to him, giving his energy back.
"Let's try this again, White Dragon's Roar!" Jaune yelled once again, firing another laser, this time with much more power. The laser shattered the skull plating of the Ursa Major, leaving its head exposed. Jaune brought back his unarmed fist, building up his power and waiting for the right moment.
'I don't have enough power to use Holy Nova, but this'll have to do,' Jaune thought as he used one of his favorite moves.
"White Dragon's Claw!" Jaune yelled as his fingers connected with the Ursa Major's head. As soon as his fingers connected, Jaune rolled to the side, avoiding momentum of the now frozen Ursa Major. Jaune causally walked up the side of it and pulled his sword out from its back. He then walked over to look at it directly in its eyes.
"You were lucky to have survived this long. If I was having a good day, you would have lost much sooner." And with one quick swing, Jaune decapitated his opponent, letting its body fall to the ground with a loud 'thud'. Jaune inhaled the air again, smelling his comrades close by. 'Cherries, Roses, and snow eh?' Jaune thought to himself while smiling.
"You can come out now, no use in hiding from this nose," Jaune said as he pointed to his tool of smelling. He heard the rustling of leaves and looked towards the direction of the noise. Ruby, Weiss and Pyrrha all stared at him with wide eyes. Truth be told, they got to Cardin and the Ursa's location before he did, but he arrived only seconds after.
"Enjoy the show?" Jaune asked as he spread his hands over the battlefield, as if to present his 'show.' The three girls didn't know what to say. They were actually surprised at what Jaune had done. They saw him go from near death to good as new just by swallowing something.
"How on earth did you pull that off? You were so exhausted a second ago, we thought we had to jump in to save you!" Weiss yelled. Jaune tossed the empty dust capsule towards Weiss, who caught it clumsily.
"I've already told Ruby this before, but I don't mind doing it again I guess. My sword and shield produce dust out of the energy they deal with a strike or block. I am technically the only person who can make and use this dust, known as White Dragon Slayer Dust, or just white dust. So I have a type of dust your family couldn't ever hope to use," Jaune said teasingly while sticking his tongue out at the heiress. She in return, tried to freeze him with her ice dust, but he jumped out of the way and started to run away from the girl attempting to turn him into a Jaune-sickle.
"What is going on here?" The girls and one guy turned to see Glynda with the rest of the students in tow. Nora and Yang gave the group a worried look from over the teacher's shoulder. Ren and Blake seemed indifferent to the situation. Jaune looked at the group and saw team CRDL bringing up the rear. Cardin was both ashamed and pissed at his team. His team could easily sense their leaders move and felt guilty in return. As Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha started to explain the situation to Glynda, Jaune approached Cardin, who already saw Jaune coming towards, steeling himself for whatever Jaune was about to say.
"Hey Cardin," Jaune said with a wave, Cardin just looked at the ground. Jaune decided to make things brief. He knew Cardin's pride was already hurt, Jaune knew that feeling, so he sympathized. But what he was about to say would become important for the future of Cardin.
"All I'm going to say is… respect your fellow student. They might just end up saying your ass, like I did. Next time it could be Velvet. Think about that." And with that, Jaune walked back towards his team and friends, who were finishing their explanation of the dead Grimm. Jaune snuck back into Glynda's view as she nodded towards the three that saw the situation.
"Good job Mr. Arc. As for the rest of you, this trip is over. Let's return to Beacon before more Grimm appear." The students nodded or mumbled in agreement as they began to walk back towards the school.
