Bullying Is Not OK.
Cardin Winchester, the school bully, was standing with his weapon The Executioner perched on his shoulder and Jaune opposite him with Crocea Mors drawn, leaning on his weapon as if exhausted, in the spotlight shining on the Beacon Academy auditorium stage.
He looks at Cardin, who laughs at his opponent's tiredness, and Jaune gathers his strength to charge forward and swing his blade at Cardin, only for him to jump out of the way. Jaune looks back, surprised, as The Executioner sends Jaune's shield and himself flying back. Now only armed with his sword, Jaune continued to try and attack, but is blocked by the mace's hilt. Their weapons locked, Cardin forces himself up, towering over a struggling Jaune.
"This is the part where you lose" The tall bully said with a smirk.
"Over my dead-!" Jaune is cut short as Cardin knees him in the gut, making Jaune drop his sword and fall to the ground in pain.
Cardin raises his mace and is about to slam it down on a worried Jaune just when the buzzer rings, the lights come back on, and Glynda's voice causes him to stop "Cardin, that's enough!" He relents and walks away as she comes onto the stage, tapping her tablet "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match" She explains while Jaune still lays on the floor in defeat and Pyrrha looks sad, Glynda turns her head to look at the losing warrior as he pulls out a smaller tablet with his low, blinking stats and that of his entire team "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?".
"Speak for yourself..." Cardin said, earning a glare from those who heard him
Glynda turns to the seated and standing students "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away!" She began as Yang punches the air in anticipation; Weiss shakes her fists with an excited smile and Ruby, shaking her entire body with enthusiastic energy while squealing softly. At a different spot Lyre let out a meow in exitment, Severa smirks as she cracks her knuckles, Lucina smiled, clearly looking forward to it, while Bernadetta was more nervous "It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!".
The bell rings, and students start leaving while Pyrrha continues to frown sadly. Jaune, still sitting on the floor, hangs his head in shame.
Later they were all gathered in the dinning and Nora tells an unbelievable story to her audience.
"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." She began.
"It was day" Ren corrected.
Nora looked at Blake, who paying no attention as she is lost in her book, and Yang, who is hanging on her every word with her hands cupping her face, and Severa who looked mildly interested "We were surrounded by Ursai..."
"They were Beowolves" Ren corrected again.
"Dozens of them!" Nora screams this as she stands at the table, Weiss is ignoring Nora and filing her nails, Lucina, Ruby and Pyrrha are listening politely, Lyre listened closely, Bernadetta was to scared to listen, and Jaune is messing with his food.
"Two of 'em" Ren corrected once again.
"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 finished.
Ren sighs "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now".
"Well it made for a decent story" Severa said with a shrug.
Pyrrha looks at Jaune in worry "Jaune? Are you okay?".
Jaune snaps out of his far away state before turning back toward them "Huh? Oh, yeah! Why?".
"It's just that you seem a little... not okay..." Ruby said.
"They're right Jaune. You've been more down than normal" Lucina said.
"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously! Look!" Jaune holds up a thumb while laughing nervously until his attention is focused on the members of Team CRDL, standing around a girl with brown rabbit ears. Her name was Velvet and she is jutting from her hair as Cardin laughs at her and Sky holds up his hands to his head in a mock interpretation of her unusual features.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said.
""Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!" Jaune tried to deny.
"He's a bully" Ruby said with a disapproving look.
Jaune scoffs "Oh, please! Name one time he's 'bullied' me".
"Hmm, let's see. He knocks the books out of your hands every time you walk by him in the hallway" Lyre began.
"He made your shield get stuck in a doorway" Lucina added.
"And let's not forget the time he pushed you in to a locker and sent you flying out of school" Severa finished.
Jaune attempts to laugh it off "I didn't land far from the school!".
"Jaune, you were almost eaten by an Ursai until one of the teachers found you" Lucina said.
"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask" Pyrrha said.
"Ooooh!" Nora gets up from the table and presents her diabolical plan with a not-entirely-sane grin on her normally innocent face "We'll break his legs!".
"Sounds like a plan" Severa said in approval.
Jaune stood up "Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone".
They all looks over as the laughing grows louder, mixed in with cries of pain from the rabbit girl when one of her ears are tugged on by Cardin.
"Ow! That hurts!" Velvet stops struggling and grimaces as she says "Please, stop...".
"Oh that does it!" Severa said as she got up, ready to march over and break Cardin's neck for such a horrible treatment towards the poor girl.
"Severa don't! You already got detention once for attacking him!" Pyrrha said, worried that her cousin would get herself in to trouble again.
Severa still looked ready to risk detention again, but stopped and smirked before sitting down. The others looked confused but they soon realized why she was smirking. Before Cardin knew it, a large hand grabbed him by the head and slammed his face in to his tray, splattering som of his food and forcing him to let go of Velvet's ears.
"Picking on girls are we? We can't have that" Came a deep voice.
"It's Balthus!" Yang said with a smile.
Many knew who Balthus was, since he was very hard to miss. He was one of the tallest and strongest students in the entire school, having already beaten Yang in arm wrestling with little effort, which inspired her to work out more. He was also a third year student and safe to say, few were stupid enough to mess with him. He may be a gentle giant for the most part, but piss him of, and he could very well break you in two.
"There are few things I hate. But bullying is one of them. So let me make this clear punk. If I catch you doing crap like this again, I will hang you from a tree and use you as a punching bag... and I always break my punching bags" Balthus warned before glaring at Cardin's team "Any of you wish to join him?".
Cardin's team backed up a step. They were not loyal enough to mess with Balthus to save their leader. Balthus nods in approval and finally let go of Cardin who struggled to catch his breath after nearly suffocating on his food.
"You ok?" Balthus asked the shaken up Velvet.
"Y-Yes, thank you" Velvet said.
"If any jerk messes with you again, let me know. I do need someone to practice my new grappling moves on after all" Balthus said with a strong smile.
Velvet giggled a little "I'll remember that. Thank you again".
"No problem. Come on, I'll help you find your team" Balthus offered.
Velvet nods and allowed the now gentle giant to accompany her. The other teams watched them leave, and many had approving smiles, enjoying to see the bully get put in his place. Something that needed to happen more often.
"That felt real satisfying" Severa said.
"And he saved you from detention" Pyrrha said.
"Hey, I would gladly get detention again if it means teaching him not to pick on my partner" Severa declared before looking at Bernadetta "He hasn't picked on you again, has he?".
"N-no, he hasn't" Bernadetta answered.
"If he does, you let me know right away, ok?" Severa said as she rubbs Bernadetta's shoulder.
The shy girl leans on Severa "I will, I promise".
The others smiled at the cute moment between the two partners. Ever since Cardin picked on Bernadetta, Severa had been acting like a protective older sister for her tiny teammate. And no one had forgotten what happened 1 week ago.
Flash Back.
Bernadetta was on her way back to her dorm after borrowing a book from the library. But she didn't get far before an arrogant voice was heard "Hello there".
Bernadetta stopped and looked "H-Hello, C-Cardin".
Said bully walked over to her "Whatcha got there?".
"J-Just a book" Bernadetta said, getting more scared.
Cardin snatched the book from her and lazily flipped through the pages "Wow what boring crap. There isn't even any picture in it. Why waste time on something this lame when you could have more fun?".
"I-I like reading" Bernadetta said.
"Boring people normally do. But I know a way to make you more fun" Cardin said before putting a arm around Bernadetta's shoulders, pulling her close and scaring her "Why don't we go on a date? I bet you will be heads over heels for me in no time".
"N-No thanks! I-I need to head back to my dorm!" Bernadetta said, feeling ready to panik and tried to break free.
Cardin pushed her against a wall and slammed a hand next to her head "Oh come on, I insist".
"Nooo!" Bernadetta cried.
Severa who happened to be nearby, noticed the situation. And when she saw what was going on... and how close Cardin was to her partner... rage flared up in Severa's eyes like raging fire. Cardin barely had time to react before a fist sent him down on the ground.
"YOU DIRTY SON OF BITCH! KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OF MY PARTNER!" Severa screamed as she grabbed Cardin's chest armor and began punching him in the face over and over again.
Bernadetta was to scared to do anything, so Severa continue beating Cardin's face until someone finally pulled her of "Severa Tiamo! Stop this at once!".
It was a teacher named Seteth a strict teacher that can rival Glynda in the scary level. He had to pull Severa away who was still to angry to listen. Cardin looked shocked, not expecting a girl to just show up and beat him down like that. Had Seteth not show up when he did, Severa might've broken something.
End of Flash Back.
Severa got detention for 3 days after that. But she never even once regretted what she did, and Cardin hadn't messed with Bernadetta ever since.
"Severa, I'm not saying you shouldn't help those who get bullied. But your grades could suffer from this" Pyrrha said, trying to talk her cousin out of her impulsive habits.
"Yeah yeah, you already gave me an earful for that" Severa waved of, much to Pyrrha's annoyance.
"Normally I do not condone such behavior. But with Cardin, I'll make an exception and say you did good" Weiss said calmly, earning a smile from Severa. Things were awkward between them for a while, but both had forgiven each other and were on good terms now.
"Yeah, and honestly, I would've done the same if I was there" Yang said, hating the thought of someone so innocent like Bernadetta would be bullied by that slob.
"Still, try not to get yourself in to trouble to much" Blake said, though the smile on her face made it clear she did not feel sorry for Cardin at all. Severa had a toothy smile as she giggled a little embarrassed.
"And as your team leader, I order you to tell the teachers next time you see someone being bulled" Lucina said.
"Whatever you say, boss lady" Severa said.
Everyone laughed in good nature, even Jaune. But he soon got up and walked away, not liking to be close to Cardin, for obvious reasons. He doesn't realize that Cardin is watching his walk of shame with a sinister grin.
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A shorter chapter but I wanted to focus a little on the friendly bonds between the characters. And I got several concerned reviews in on the earlier chapter about Bernie's safety, so I wanted to make a chapter that I hope puts a smile on your face. Seeing bullies get put in their place is always satisfying. And I took the chance to introuce more characters who will play a larger role in the future.
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Tell me what you think.