Unwinnable

Chapter 11: Do B**ches Love Canons?

There was no class that Jaune dreaded more in his entire school career than Combat Class. He was fully aware of the irony of it, as if there was one thing Hunters were supposed to be best at, it was Combat, but his issue lied in the fact that one-on-one, he was next to useless. In a team, sure, he was excellent at spotting and taking advantage of openings in his enemies. Against an opponent in single combat though? As he stared into Professor Goodwitch's classroom, he groaned and slumped. It was a cherry on top of the already awkward day that he'd been involved in. Professor Oobleck's class wasn't any better, what with Ruby looking miserable, Weiss looking pissy and Yang looking like she was more and more tempted to deck the heiress by the minute.

"Are...you okay, Jaune?" The concerned voice of his partner caught his ear.

"Yeah, I just…" He paused. He really didn't want to voice his worries about team RWBY to Pyrrha, lest she bring up the idea of him giving any aid. Instead, he sighed, voicing his first concerns. "This is embarrassing…"

"What is?"

Jaune looked to the side and grimaced. "I'm...not the best at single combat."

Pyrrha gave a small laugh. "That's alright, Jaune. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. I'm sure that Professor Goodwitch takes your skill level into account."

"Why can't schools ever do team battles? I'm good at team battles. I can direct people. I just can't direct myself…" Jaune groaned.

Pyrrha gently placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder and smiled. "That's why you're our leader, Jaune." She opened the door with her other hand and gently helped push her despondent leader through the door, amidst a series of groans and sighs. "If you're that unconfident in your skills, we could...erm...w-we could do some practice in the evenings?" Pyrrha finished with a questioning tone, seemingly nervous.

Jaune turned to her and smiled, nodding. "Sounds good to me. Just...have a little mercy?"

His partner giggled. "I'll do my best." Gently, yet forcefully, she led Jaune to a seat, Ren right behind them. Nora, who had obviously been waiting for them, was bouncing up and down in her seat excitedly, teal eyes sparkling.

Jaune's gaze flickered to her and the corner of his mouth twitched upward in an amused smile. "At least Nora seems excited about class."

"I can't wait! I wonder who I'm gonna fight?!" The ginger haired young woman was excitedly shaking like she was mere seconds away from bolting from her seat to the arena below.

"Heh, I feel sorry for whoever has to fight you…" Jaune murmured, exchanging amused glances with Ren.

Other students began to filter in, and mixed among them were Team RWBY. Jaune took a glance over to them, and almost recoiled. Between outside of Professor Port's classroom and the tenseness in Oobleck's classroom, Team RWBY was certainly not looking well. Weiss seemed to be pointedly ignoring Ruby, who was doing her best to try and look chipper, while failing. Yang was looking quite cross with Weiss and Blake was being wise by keeping her distance. To call them a Team would have been a joke.

To make matters even worse, they were making a beeline right towards Team JNPR. Jaune inwardly grimaced. If Ruby or Yang asked for some sort of help or advice, he'd be hard pressed in refusing without making himself look like a jerk in the eyes of Pyrrha. An assholish way of looking at things, but if he was trying to stick to his idea of refusing to stick his nose in anyone else's business, being near the problem was going to be an issue. "Hey." Ruby murmured as she sat down next to Jaune. Wordlessly, Jaune just nodded in her direction and quickly returned his attention to the front of the classroom.

Luckily for him, before Ruby could talk to him any more, the appearance of one Glynda Goodwitch silenced the entire room. The bespectacled blond woman approached the front of the amphitheater-like classroom, riding crop at the ready. "Good afternoon, everyone. I am Professor Goodwitch, and this is Combat Year 1. In this class we will be testing your combat skills and helping to refine your combat styles. To start off, I would like Mr. Cardin Winchester and Mr. Jaune Arc to approach the class."

At first, Jaune was elated. It wasn't like he could be talked to if he was busy fighting. Then he realized he was going to have to fight first in front of everyone and gave a groan. Pyrrha sympathetically patted his shoulder as Jaune slowly stood to his feet. Like a man on death row, Jaune trudged to the front of the class. Opposite him, a towering large student stood smirking at him, obviously in much better spirits. Hm. He's big, tall, carries a mace...he's probably slow. I can use my superior agility to- wait, Goodwitch is still talking. Jaune turned his attention to the Professor. "Both of you will fight until one of you reaches the 15% Aura mark, or until one of you can no longer fight."

The larger student sneered. "At least this will be a great warm-up."

Jaune glowered, but refused to respond. At least my Semblance should give me some help. For once, Jaune had to admit that there was at least one thing that was beneficial about his normally irritating Semblance. He unsheathed Crocea Mors, his hand gripping the hilt in a white knuckled grip. There was a silence, broken only by the slight murmurs of people in the classroom as everyone waited for Goodwitch to start the battle. Said blond Headmistress was busy pressing things on her Scroll, setting up the arena and the barrier to protect the surrounding students from any possible collateral damage. Finally she finished, standing off to the side and raising her crop. "Students at the ready!"

Jaune got into a stance, frowning. He remembered some of what he'd been taught at Vacuo Preparatory School, but not enough to be confident in what he was about to do. No, there was no time to be nervous. His opponent swung his mace in threatening circles, the woosh of the force of each swing being enough to set Jaune's nerves on edge. "Begin!"

Alright, he's slow, which mean he's probably going to try and use his force to his advantage. If I can parry his blows just right, I can throw him off balance. Wait, why hasn't my Semblance kicked in yet? Shouldn't I have gotten a 'combat minigame' message at this point? Do I have to actually start fighting for it to start? Jaune's train of thought was rudely interrupted when he caught the head of his opponent's mace square to the chest, sending him flying backward and onto the floor, driving the wind violently from his lungs. There was a collective wince from the crowd, and a window popped up before his eyes.

[Weiss Schnee's interest has decreased!]

Jaune glared at the message and shook his head, staggering to his feet. His opponent laughed. "Come on now, wake up Jauney-boy!"

Jaune's eyes flickered to the screen, noting that his Aura had been taken down by a good 18%. Bastard Semblance! Evidently I can't rely on it, for whatever reason. Fine. Damn, this guy moves fast for being in such heavy armor. I need to wait for him to take another vertical swing at me and angle the blow away from me. Once he loses his balance, I can take a few swings at his neck. No wait, chances are he'd know of how slow he was and he'd make steps to avoid that. If he chokes up on the haft of his mace he'd-

WHAM!

Another blow to Jaune's side sent him reeling, once again interrupting his thoughts. "Gah!" Jaune stumbled backward, amidst a series of guffaws from Cardin.

[Weiss Schnee's interest has decreased!]

It took every ounce of willpower Jaune had not to look over and affix Weiss with a withering glare. You're not helping! Jaune, throwing caution to the wind, rushed forward and swung Crocea Mors in an admittedly swift slash. Cardin, who'd been too busy posturing for the class, didn't noticing Jaune's sudden movement until it was too late and Crocea Mors managed to slice right at his neck. His Aura prevented the attack from becoming fatal, but the razor sharp Vosnium blade took its pound of flesh, or Aura to be precise. Cardin growled and stepped back himself, putting some distance between himself and Jaune to prevent any follow-ups. Jaune meanwhile had gone back to analyzing, his mind racing.

Alright, a hit! He's put some distance between us, which means that it gives me a little more time to think things through. Now, his armor's tough, but like yours, he's got some gaps. If you can get in a thrust right underneath the breastplate, you can- Jaune noticed in time Cardin's swing and took a slight step back himself to avoid getting hit...only to notice too late that the jewel atop Cardin's mace was now glowing red. He had only enough time to realize it was a Fire Dust crystal before an explosion emitted from the jewel, throwing him backward onto the ground once more with a groan.

[Weiss Schnee's interest has decreased!]

Jaune twitched, furious. It wasn't as though he had any stock in her interest in the first place, but to be constantly reminded of her decreasing interest after every mistake was really starting to wear his patience down. Between that, and her mistreatment of Ruby, and Jaune was having to fight back the urge to snap at the heiress. He rolled out of the way as Cardin's mace fell down again, the explosion barely missing him as he scrambled to his feet in time to dodge a second hit, this one faster than he had been expecting. "This is the part where you lose, Jauney-boy!" Cardin taunted. Jaune bit his tongue, blue eyes twitching with barely contained fury.

Fuck it. Jaune once again threw caution to the wind, Crocea Mors held in a reverse grip as he planned to rush in under Cardin's guard and attack him up close. With as much speed as he could muster, Jaune ran at Winchester...only to receive Cardin's mace right to the sternum once again, tossing him aside. As he hit the ground, a buzzer sounded and Jaune groaned with embarrassment. He'd lost, and badly.

"Mr. Arc." The voice of Glynda Goodwitch was sharp and cold, enough to make him wince. "While planning your actions through is a good habit, you cannot spend too much time overthinking your every move. More than once you were simply sitting lost in your own thoughts; such actions will get you killed in action." Jaune simply nodded, cheeks burning with shame. The only bright side he could get out of the situation was that Pyrrha's interest hadn't decreased at all with the piss-poor performance he'd given.

"Mr. Winchester. Grandstanding in combat is a foolish idea. Mr. Arc managed to attack you successfully because of your platforming. In the future, I'd highly suggest maintaining focus on the fight instead of trying to impress your peers." Glynda continued. Cardin, however, paid her almost no attention. He instead simply rolled his eyes and gave a wicked smirk to Jaune.

"Man, if you're what the Arc family is producing, then no wonder you're all but forgotten nowadays!" Cardin mocked, with the sounds of the rest of his team backing him with jeers.

Jaune's body stiffened. Slowly he turned to Cardin, having been facing away from him. "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly, Mr. Winchester. Care to repeat yourself?" Jaune all but hissed. The students near the front of the class whispered among themselves, surprised at the sudden change in Jaune's demeanor.

Cardin didn't seem at all phased by Jaune's burgeoning wrath. "I said, your family sucks!"

Jaune's hands clenched and he smiled a small, bitter smile. "Right... just wanted to make sure there wasn't some sort of... 'misunderstanding.'" With that, Jaune turned on his heel and walked away, with Cardin's laughter at his heels. He sat down next to his teammates, all whom looked varying degrees of worried.

"Ignore him." Ren replied, "He's just doing it to get a rise out of you."

Jaune was silent for a few moments, but slowly, a wicked grin of his own spread across his face. "Oh, and it worked. He may not know it, but this means war."

Pyrrha frowned worriedly as Jaune steepled his fingers in front of his face, but before she could say anything, her attention was called. "Pyrrha Nikos and Yang Xiao Long, please approach the front of the classroom."

Yang practically leaped out of her seat. "Oh hell yeah! Let's do this!"

Jaune looked up, his attention appearing to be focused on the upcoming fight but a closer inspection would reveal his gaze to be unfocused, his thoughts obviously elsewhere…

[End of Class]

Pyrrha had won. That much didn't come as a surprise to anyone, even to Yang, although the blonde brawler had given her a run for her money. The two were given their compliments by Glynda and Yang was given the advice of becoming a little more focused on her strikes, although it appeared as though the advice had fallen upon deaf ears. Pyrrha approached her team with a small smile. "So, is everyone ready for the next class?"

Nora nodded, jumping up from her seat. "You were awesome, P-Money! That flippy thing you did was so cool! Ooh, could you teach me to do that?!"

With a slight flush to her cheeks, Pyrrha nodded. "I could try."

"You were indeed incredible out there, Pyrrha." Ren added demurely.

Jaune was silent, his blue eyes narrowed on the space in front of him, hands still steepled in front of his face. It was clear that his attention was elsewhere. "Jaune?" Pyrrha queried, tilting her head. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" Jaune, snapping out of his reverie looked up at his partner, blinking. "Sorry, lost in thought. Why don't you guys go ahead to class? I need to stay here and talk to Ms. Goodwitch about something." With that, Jaune got to his feet and shouldered past Pyrrha, his expression still hard, although there was a small smirk on his lips that had the redheaded Spartan frowning.

Pyrrha turned to Ren and Nora, both of whom shrugged and with another, albeit shaky, smile murmured, "Well, we should get to our next class. Professor Peach, I believe." The three began to make their way out of the classroom, but Pyrrha paused before leaving, turning back to look over her shoulder at Jaune who'd approached Goodwitch and drew her lips into a thin line. She hoped that this wasn't some sort of plot to get back at Cardin for his comment. Sure, it was uncalled for and rude, but Pyrrha didn't know Jaune well enough to know how he'd handle that kind of insult. All she could hope for was that her leader didn't take things too far…

Further down at the front of the classroom, Jaune stood before Goodwitch's desk. "Excuse me, Headmistress?"

The emerald-eyed blonde woman looked up. "Yes, Mr. Arc?"

"I had a quick question. I know that combat class here tends to be one on one fights, but I have to ask: will we be doing any team combat? I find that fighting with a team against another team tends to be a very different affair than fighting solo, and while solo fighting is important, wouldn't it be a good idea to focus also on team combat?" Jaune explained carefully, his tone and expression neutral.

Glynda paused in her paperwork, her pen ceasing. A thoughtful look fell over her face. "Actually, Mr. Arc, I admit, I have had no plans for doing such at the moment, but I had been discussing such a thing with some of the faculty. Would I be remiss to assume that you are volunteering Team JNPR to show the differences between team and solo combat?"

Jaune nodded. "That's correct."

Glynda stared at him impassively for a few moments, falling silent. Then; "And I'm assuming you'd be wanting to face off against Team CRDL?"

"You'd be right."

With a tilt of an eyebrow, Glynda added, "And this would have nothing to do with Cardin's comment after your fight?"

Jaune had the decency to blush slightly. "Maybe a little bit. However, I also feel that showing both teams against each other would help to contrast that simply working solo doesn't always help when you're working with others. By having both Cardin and I in the same team fight, it'll help show that difference." His voice was calm, rational, but internally Jaune was nervous. His plans were hedging on Glynda accepting his suggestion, but he had to make it seem as though his desire for revenge against Cardin wasn't the driving force behind it, or at least not the only one.

Glynda didn't respond for a few moments, instead choosing to shuffle some paperwork around and signing a few more. Finally, she spoke up. "I suppose what you say has some merit. Very well. It likely won't be next class, but perhaps the one after that, at the end of this week. I'm looking forward to see if your leadership abilities are as advanced as Headmaster Oswald claims they are." Icy green eyes lock onto sapphire ones and Jaune smiles.

"I'll be sure not to disappoint then." Jaune replied, giving a little half bow before turning on his heel and walking away. As he walked up the stairs to the door of the classroom, a dark smile found itself on his face, and he had to fight the urge to laugh maniacally.

No one insults the Arc family and gets away with it…no one.

Jaune had no sooner exited the classroom, slight smirk resting upon his features, when his thought process, (and simmering anger) was brought to a screeching halt upon one Yang Xiao Long grabbing him and pulling him aside. "Wha-Yang? What's going on?" Jaune noticed the look on his fellow blonde's face was not a pleased one, her expression a little nervous, which seemed off kilter for the usually nonchalant and boisterous bruiser.

"Hey Jaune. Look, we need to talk. I, um…" Yang sighed and ran a hand through her hair slowly, releasing a breath. "I hate to ask for outside help, but I don't really know who else I could turn to. I'm sure you've noticed by now the...situation with our team."

Jaune inwardly winced. No. No, no, no. Do not ask me to help Yang! Please, do not ask me to help! "Erm...y-yeah. I have."

Yang continued, not noticing the strange look passing over Jaune's face. "You've had experience with leading a team before, right? You don't think you could...you know...maybe give Ruby some advice? I'd solve things myself, but…" Yang grimaced. "I don't think beating the crap out of the SDC Heiress would go over well with anyone involved, and she'd probably end up hating Ruby more."

Fuck. Jaune had to fight the urge to facepalm. This was the exact situation he wanted to avoid, but here he was, facing Ruby's sister, asking for help with the problem. Well, he was not going to get involved in this. He'd simply let her down easy and- No! Jaune's train of thought was once again brought to a screeching halt when he noticed that the entire hall in front of the classroom had gone monochrome and Yang was frozen.

"...FUCK!" Jaune swore angrily and as loudly as he could, kicking the wall with enough force to cause him to wince, stubbing his toe even through his school shoes. "Ow! Damn it!" Glaring daggers, Jaune looked to the inevitable holographic window that always followed time stopping, and unsurprisingly found it floating tauntingly before him.

A.) Sure! I'll chat with her as soon as I can.

B.) I'd love to, but a reward wouldn't be amiss, would it? Say...for a date?

C.) Sorry. Ruby's on her own on this one.

D.) Why? Weiss is right, Ruby is far too immature to be a leader.

Jaune would have punched the screen if he didn't already know that it'd probably not only hurt his hand, but select something at random. He was stuck. Sure, he could help, but...he shook his head. No. He was going to stick to his guns. D was right out though, it was just too cruel, plus he didn't agree with Weiss at all, but C just felt too...impersonal? Snippy? Still, it was the only logical option he could pick that would get him out of the situation. With any luck, hopefully Yang would understand. Hesitantly, and with a sense of heavy-heartedness, he pressed the third option, and waited for color to return.

"Sorry." Jaune replied, his mouth moving of its own accord, much to his displeasure, especially with how cold it sounded. "Ruby's on her own on this one."

Yang actually recoiled, and for a few brief moments, Jaune feared she'd lash out at him, but instead she simply drew her lips into a thin line and nodded. "Yeah. I understand. Sorry to bother, Vomit Boy." Yang turned away and walked away, Jaune unable to say anything as he remained in the control of his Semblance. Internally he winced at the look of disappointment on Yang's face, but the real kicker was what popped up right behind her as she walked away.

[Yang Xiao Long's interest has sharply decreased!]

[You are no longer best friends with Yang Xiao Long!]

[Pyrrha Nikos' interest has sharply decreased!]

[Pyrrha Nikos no longer has a crush on you!]

The first two messages Jaune could see coming, but it was the second two that had him frozen in place, eyes widened even after his Semblance had let him go. He quickly whipped his head around, only to see Pyrrha, who'd evidently been waiting for Jaune to leave the classroom standing there, frowning at him. "P-Pyrrha!"

"Why didn't you help, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked, her tone slightly accusatory.

Jaune bit his tongue before answering, "I...I wouldn't have been able to help anyway! I-I've never had to deal with inter-team conflicts before!" The excuse sounded hollow and weak in his own ears, and evidently it must have sounded the same to Pyrrha, who only shook her head.

"Still, couldn't you have at least tried? It seems a bit cold to simply turn Yang away when she was asking for help like that." Pyrrha murmured, turning away from Jaune and starting to walk off down the hall.

Jaune stood there, watching his retreating partner and groaned softly to himself. This day was just getting better and better. Oh well, he could think about fixing things between himself and Yang and Pyrrha at a later date. For the time being, he'd other things in mind, like utterly humiliating a certain egotistical jerk who dared to insult his family...

Clad only in a white button-up shirt, the translucent form of Yang Xiao Long popped into being, cartwheeling through the air before leaning against a wall, seemingly as if she'd planned the whole thing.

"Sorry, babe. You can't fight destiny..."

B/N: Not much to add. Jaune's making some foolish mistakes, behavin' a little selfishly, gettin' hemmed in by his Semblance. All intentional, I assure you.

A/N: Uh oh, Jaune's pissed and not only that, but has refused to help Yang straight to her face. What consequences will this have on Team JNPR and possibly even team RWBY? Will Professor Port be able to help Weiss and Ruby fix their issues in this timeline? How far will our blonde boy go to get revenge on Cardin, and will his reputation manage to remain untarnished after? All these questions will be answered and more next chapter!

So yeah, I know I've been away for a few weeks. I was getting in some winter break so I could have a little time to myself and prevent myself from burning out. Plus, I finally got to start working on my own original work! I'd started writing fanfiction as writing practice for more original work, but got so caught up in keeping up with giving you guys updates that I hadn't started off on anything of my own, but no longer!

Signing off for now, this is Laughing Lefou!