A/N: Chapter 8? Shit. Well let's get this show on the road Oni. Anything to add for our readers at home?
Oni: Not really, just read the chapter and have fun. Or don't, I'm not your dad, I can't force you to do shit.
Chapter 8
A Rough Knight
Once everyone had fully settled into their daily routine, both in terms of day to day activities and their class schedules, most of them had found their places in the school. These places ranged from class clowns to top students, all of them learning much from their teachers here at Beacon.
Except for Jaune. Jaune still sucked pretty bad.
This was made incredibly evident through his failures in mock battles, most recently being locked in combat against Cardin Winchester, the poor idiot Orion and Gwyn had gotten detention for on the first day of school. Good times.
Anyway, as stated previously, Jaune was busy fighting Cardin, and he was having… less than desirable results. These results consisted of Jaune getting blocked or dodged basically every time he tried to attack and then getting absolutely manhandled by his opponent. This was made evident by Jaune propping himself up with his sword and Cardin smugly heaving his mace over his shoulder as he laughed at the scraggly leader of JNPR before him.
Getting up, Jaune did his best to take another swing at Cardin, only for Cardin to effortlessly dodge. Surprised, Jaune looked around for a moment only to see Cardin swinging his mace at him. He was able to block it, but sadly Jaune's combat stance sucked and he was knocked flat on his ass, his shield having been blown from his hands. That didn't stop him though, as he now stood at the ready, armed only with his sword.
"Hit 'em in the dick!" Orion shouted, though it was unclear whether he meant it as a joke or an actual strategy.
"No, that's too small, you'll miss! Aim somewhere else!" Gwyn shouted, more or less trying to help Jaune while still taking a dig at Cardin.
"Don't listen to these idiots," Tabitha mumbled, genuinely trying to help Jaune while still expressing her disdain for Orion and Gwyn's shenanigans. Sure, they were her leaders, and she had a great deal of respect for them by this point, but their antics were at times too much for her.
Keith really didn't care; he simply sat there and munched on a burrito he'd snuck in. Never change, Keith.
Ignoring the cheering from REKT (or maybe listening to Tabitha), Jaune opted to charge Cardin with his sword at the ready, getting easily blocked by the larger student that was his opponent.
"This is the part where you lose," Cardin said as he pressed down onto Jaune, forcing him to his knees.
"Over my dead-!" Jaune shouted, only to get cut off when Cardin kneed him in the gut, winding him and causing him to drop his sword. On the ground, Jaune could do nothing as Cardin rose his mace to finish Jaune off, thankfully being saved by the buzzer, the lights flashing back on and Glynda walking out, scroll in hand.
"Cardin, that's enough!" she shouted, Cardin grunting and walking back off the stage. "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," Glynda explained whilst Jaune pulled out his own scroll to check his aura levels in comparison to his team, sighing before he put it away. "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 mumbled, rolling his eyes as he went back to his seat by his team.
"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! 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!" Glynda shouted, looking around the room as students nodded in agreement, many pumping their fists in anticipation for the tournament. "With that said, would anyone else like to spar for the day? We still have plenty of time."
"Why don't you give it a shot, Keith?" Tabitha said as she turned to her partner. "I'm sure Gwyn or Orion would love to have a go with you."
"No way man, I'm not putting myself through that again," Keith said, shaking his head.
"Why not?" Tabitha asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Their Semblances are just cheating bro, fighting them sucks," he explained, grabbing another burrito from his pocket. "Like here, lemme explain…"
Flashback
"Yo Keith, wanna spar?" Gwyn asked, Keith munching on a few chips for a moment before swallowing and nodding.
"Yeah sure, I'm down," Keith said, the two heading to the sparring hall and preparing, each taking their place at either end of the arena.
Gwyn moved first, sprinting in and taking a series of fast paced swings that Keith had a hard time keeping up with, being forced to phase through a few as they came. If he was being honest, Keith had underestimated how fast Gwyn moved when he fought; he only really remembered him fighting the T. Max, he had no idea how he fought people.
Luckily for him though, the speed advantage hardly mattered, as he had the strength advantage, taking a widened stance and pushing hard when Gwyn's sword came by, knocking him off balance and setting him up for the second blade of Keystone to come by. However, as he swung, he found that Gwyn was no longer there, instead being replaced by an active Holy Grenade, detonating in his face and blinding him for a moment. Disoriented, Keith was forced to keep Phantasm active in order to avoid getting hit while he was gathering himself. 'When did Gwyn even ready that bomb?', Keith wondered, having a moment to think due to his intangibility. He felt that his aura was starting to burn at an accelerated rate, meaning his moment of reprieve was almost up, but just as well since his senses were nearly normal again. Deactivating his Semblance, he started spinning Keystone as wildly as he could, hoping to catch his opponent with a strong enough hit to put him down for the count, but Gwyn weaved through the attacks rather easily.
Running out of ideas, Keith then wound up for a punch immediately after another failed attack, finally catching him and knocking him back. Sadly, Gwyn was able to block it with Great Escape, sliding back and immediately swapping to rifle mode, having previously loaded a magazine of hollow points to ensure he didn't hurt Keith if he hit him wrong. Firing away, Keith tried to block the first round, but found that rather hard to do since they were such high caliber. No, he instead decided to try to remain intangible whenever Gwyn fired such to avoid any damage, but was now unable to do any damage himself. Swapping Keystone to bow mode, he drew an arrow and aimed at Gwyn, who was still moving around him quickly in an attempt to confuse him. He kept his cool though and fired while Gwyn was reloading, figuring he now had his chance.
This, however, was the wrong move.
The moment Keith released his bowstring, he was forced to become tangible in order to properly fire, Gwyn capitalizing on this fact and trading places with the arrow the moment he could, landing a powerful two-handed hit onto the back of Keith's head. This hit was made all the worse due to the momentum Gwyn gained by swapping with the arrow, throwing Keith to the ground and taking a significant portion of his aura with him, both from Gwyn hitting him and his face hitting the floor.
Gwyn hopped back a bit, giving his teammate some breathing room as he finished properly reloading. Keith, however, held a finger up as he propped himself back up, rubbing his nose in pain as he got back to his feet, shaking his head as he looked incredulously at Gwyn.
"I'm sorry?" he said, Gwyn shouldering his sword and chuckling.
"Not used to being hit, I take it?" he asked. "I don't blame you. But you've got to be solid in order to attack. I just waited until you were to attack back."
"I think I'm all good here then," Keith said, now rubbing the back of his head. "That hit gave me a headache like you wouldn't believe."
"Dang, really?" Gwyn asked, sheathing his sword and sighing. "Oh well, it was fun at least. Lemme know if you ever wanna fight again though!"
"No offence to you, but I don't think I wanna fight you again, this sucked…" Keith groaned, putting Keystone away.
"I get that a lot," Gwyn said with a chuckle. "Come on, let's go get some food, my treat."
[-0-]
"Man, I'm bored," Orion groaned, leaning back in his beanbag chair. "I feel really awake, but I've got, like, nothing to do. Shit sucks."
"I'm in that boat too, I'm all out of snacks and homework didn't take me long…" Keith lamented, sighing to himself from his place on the couch.
"Ah, fuck it, wanna go spar? I haven't really been able to since everyone else I ask says no," Orion said, remembering the people who'd vehemently denied his challenges. "No idea why though…"
"Oh, sure, I'm down to spar," Keith said, Orion smiling and rising from his chair, the duo getting ready and heading to the sparring arena.
The two took a moment, Keith moving first and taking a few swings with Keystone that were easily blocked by Duality of Man. Orion fired back with a quick right hook that Keith attempted to block. I say 'attempt' due to Orion blowing through his guard and knocking Keith back, though he was able to mitigate the damage by activating his Semblance midway through the punch. Orion pressed on and tried to stomp on Keith, though he remained intangible upon seeing his leader approach. Rolling away, Keith rose back to his feet and tried to attack once more, though Orion blocked Keith's blade with his own attack, once more ignoring Keith's attempts to attack him. Now, Keith knew Orion was strong, that much was made clear during their fight against the T. Max, but exactly how strong he was had clearly eluded him until now.
Phasing once more through the devastating attack, he was forced to go back onto the defensive as Orion opened fire with his left gauntlet, the rate of fire of the series of machine guns proving too high to simply phase through the individual rounds. No, he had to actively block them, which luckily wasn't too huge of an issue due to the rounds not being of a massive caliber. Pressing forward, he got close enough to try and take a swing at Orion, though he simply parried the blow and went for a left uppercut that was once again phased through. He tried to take another swing with the second blade on Keystone, though Orion caught it in his bare hand and turned to throw Keith, who only managed to go intangible partway through the throw. This meant he still was cast aside, but he thankfully managed to mitigate most of the damage he'd take.
Spinning Keystone as quickly as he could, he hurled it at Orion before immediately going intangible and chasing after his weapon. Orion very easily blocked Keystone as it came at him, though Keith anticipated this and went for a punch from the other side, though he was shocked when Orion caught that as well. He was hoping he would have used both hands to block, but due to Orion's strength he could very easily block a weapon of such size with ease, especially if there wasn't someone on the other end putting force behind it. Realizing he was not in a good position, Keith decided he was going to use his Semblance to slip out of Orion's grip and reclaim his weapon before putting some distance between the two of them.
Orion, however, had other plans.
Before Keith had the chance to use his Semblance to escape, Orion used his own to catch his opponent in his moment of vulnerability. With Keystone in one hand and Keith himself in the other, Orion figured the next best course of action was to wind up for a headbutt. Headbutt him he did, prematurely deactivating his Semblance and watching as Keith basically flew to the ground, his chin making great friends with the floor below him.
Releasing Keystone, Orion took a step back and squatted down to get a better look at his teammate to make sure he didn't hurt him.
"You good?" he asked. "I didn't hit you too hard, did I?"
"Ah sink ah bih mah poungue…" Keith mumbled, his tongue throbbing after he slammed his jaw on the floor. "Ih hurs…"
"Oof, my bad my good sir," Orion said, helping Keith back up. "You wanna keep going?"
"Nah," Keith said, sliding his tongue back into its proper place. "I think that's all I've got right now…"
"Ah shit. Well, alright, I won't force you," Orion said, patting Keith on the shoulder. "All this fighting made me hungry. Wanna head back to the room and see if Tabitha will cook something for us? Her food is waaay better than what they serve in the cafeteria."
Present
"...and I have since decided that I don't wanna do that again. It's nothing against them, but their Semblances just aren't fair bro," Keith said, finishing his rationalization. Remembering the beatings they'd given him made his head and tongue hurt just thinking about it…
"When you put it that way, yeah, I see your point," Tabitha said, nodding to herself as she thought over what he'd told him. "Going through that again does not sound fun."
"In our defense," Gwyn said, having heard their conversation due to sitting right next to them, "it's not like we got to choose our Semblances."
"Ye," Orion said, nodding at Gwyn's words. "If I could choose though I'd probably stick with fuckin' with time, shit's funny."
"I'd stick with mine too, I like trading places with stuff," Gwyn said as he leaned back in his seat. "Both for the memes and for how I fight, I think it suits me."
Tabitha nodded, though her attention was drawn back to the stage after hearing Glynda call her name.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that Professor Goodwitch?" she said, Glynda nodding for a moment.
"I asked if you'd like to try a match for yourself. We do have time for one more, and you haven't been able to get a chance recently," she repeated.
"Oh, sure, I'd be willing to face someone," Tabitha said, rising and dusting herself off. She may or may not have stolen some of Keith's chips earlier.
"Now, would anyone like to fight Ms. Ostrum?" Glynda asked, looking around the room, finding one student who met her gaze and refused to turn away. "Ms. Belladonna, are you up to the challenge?"
"Oh, I guess," Blake said, rising from her seat and heading down to the sparring arena. The girls went to either side to prepare, but there was one more thing than needed to be done before they could begin.
"Um, Mr. Arc, if you would be so kind to mope elsewhere? I understand that you may not have gotten the results you wanted, but you can consider what you may have done wrong in your own seat rather than in the middle of a battle," Glynda said, acknowledging the fact that Jaune was still kinda just sitting there.
"Yeah…" Jaune said, finally picking himself back up and sleeping back into his seat, Pyrrha looking concerned beside him.
"Thank you. Now, Ms. Ostrum, Ms. Belladonna, the floor is yours," Glynda said, moving out of the way and dimming the lights back down. "You may begin."
The moment their aura was displayed and Glynda told them they could fight, Blake flipped Gambol Shroud to pistol mode and took a few shots at Tabitha, though she was able to reliably block the rounds due to their low caliber and single shot fire rate. Due to this, Blake knew she wasn't going to be able to simply shoot Tabitha, so she instead flipped her weapon around in her hand and fired once more, instead opting to launch the kusarigama-like weapon at her foe. Tabitha was more than ready and flipped to the side, but the ribbon on Gambol Shroud being pulled taut meant she had to deal with the weapon coming back. Landing, she quickly did the splits to duck under the weapon and swapped Violet Grace to gun mode, unleashing a few short bursts of gunfire at Blake before she hopped back to her feet.
Despite not having the main portion of her weapon in hand, Blake was able to ready the bladed scabbard in order to block the bullets headed her way, using it as a shield as she started to move around Tabitha in an effort to get closer. However, the moment she got close enough, Tabitha snapped her fingers with her free hand, a burst of purple flames appearing on Blake's form. Responding quickly, Blake freed herself from the fire via the usage of a clone while simultaneously propelling herself forward in an attempt to attack Tabitha. Tabitha was able to switch back to sword mode and intercept the attack, however she needed both hands to do so and as such couldn't try to use her Semblance again. Pushing Blake away, she took a quick uppercut slash at the raven-haired girl, though Blake was able to angle herself such that it missed, pushing herself off of Tabitha's back and knocking her off balance. Rather than waste time trying to catch herself, Tabitha instead opted to commit to it and try to roll to a stop, preparing to fire once more at Blake, unleashing another small burst at her. With both weapons in hand again, Blake was very easily able to defend herself as she moved back in towards Tabitha.
Seeing that this wasn't quite going to work, Tabitha quickly aimed towards Blake's feet in the hopes of tripping her up, but once again she used her Semblance to avoid damage, this time veering off to the side and throwing her kusarigama once more. This time she was able to hit Tabitha in the side, taking a rather sizable chunk out of her aura. She held fast and grabbed Gambol Shroud, pulling as hard as she could and pulling Blake to her. The moment she got close, she superheated her sword and went for a backhanded swing, Blake once again using her get out of jail free card. After having seen it so many times, however, Tabitha had planned ahead and used her momentum to pull off a powerful spinning heel kick that smashed Blake into the floor and allowed Tabitha to vault over her, landing nimbly and aiming at her in case she had used her Semblance to dodge it again.
She didn't. She'd hit the real Blake this time, a fact reflected by her severely reduced aura score.
"Holy crap, she can kick that hard?" Gwyn said after Tabitha pulled off that stunt. "Maybe all those guys in my comment sections talking about her legs were onto something…"
"Those simps better be careful what they wish for, if she stepped on them it looks like it might kill the poor fucks…" Orion said in agreement, wincing at the thought. He may have a lot of aura, but he feared for his boys in the off chance his boys had to feel the wrath of that boot.
Keith simply cheered. He was proud of his partner, as he should be. Good old Keith.
Blake recovered after a moment, narrowly rolling out of the way of more sustained gunfire from Tabitha as she tried to get back to her feet. Doing just that, she fell back and fired back, hitting Tabitha in the shoulder as she dodged through the gunfire. Swapping back to sword mode and heating it up, Tabitha chased Blake down, blocking and cutting through any and all rounds, slowly closing in on Blake until she was able to take another swing which was of course dodged via Blake's Semblance. Once again though, Tabitha had accounted for this and followed up with a straight kick to the real Blake's stomach that knocked her back. Tabitha hadn't stopped with just a kick, however, and had preemptively coated her leg with her flames, hoping to ensure she caught the real Blake with them. With Blake successfully burnt, Tabitha took a step back to catch her breath, as her lack of stamina was really starting to catch up with her, especially due to how much Blake was forcing her to move.
Stomping her foot to put out the fire on her leg, she looked at Blake who also seemed to be having a hard time keeping up the pace due to how hard Tabitha could kick combined with the effects of her Semblance. Rising to her feet, she staggered for a moment, falling to her knees, seemingly at her limit. Luckily for her though, Tabitha was as well, the prolonged use of her Semblance taking its toll as her aura continued to drop, with her falling to her knees as well, using her sword to keep herself up. The two looked at each other once more, Blake wincing due to the pain the fire incurred whilst it sapped her of her strength and Tabitha sweating heavily and panting as she tried to keep it up.
She didn't have to though, as soon thereafter the elimination buzzer rang. But who for? Did it ring for Blake, who was being ravaged by Tabitha's Dead Flame? Or did it ring for Tabitha, who was pushing herself to her absolute limit to keep the pressure going? Welp, both of those are wrong, because surprise surprise, both girls' aura dipped into red at the same time.
Putting Blake out, Tabitha looked to the board and smiled to herself, a little disappointed she hadn't won but still glad she hadn't embarrassed herself and lost. She'd definitely take it, especially after watching Jaune get clowned on by Cardin.
"Well done you two, that was an excellent display from the both of you. However, as I'm sure you noticed, both of your auras have gone into red, meaning this fight is over," Glynda said, turning the lights back on and returning to the stage. "Feel free to return to your seats."
Tabitha was going to merely return to her seat, but she noticed that Blake was having a harder time than her to rise back to her feet. After all, Dead Flame didn't just burn the opponent's aura, it also sapped their strength. No wonder she was having a hard time getting back up. Forcing herself back to her feet, Tabitha approached Blake and offered a hand to her, Blake seeing so and accepting the help, Tabitha pulling her back to her feet.
"You did very well," Blake said, huffing as she stumbled for a moment, Tabitha ensuring that she didn't fall back to the floor. "Thanks."
"You and I, we've gotta stick together," Tabitha said, she herself still trying to catch her breath. "More than anyone else here."
"What do you mean?" Blake asked, Tabitha simply winking at her.
"You'll figure it out soon enough," she said, giggling a little. "Love your perfume, by the way."
"Oh, uh, thanks," Blake said, Yang coming down to help her partner back to her seat.
"That was so cool!" she cheered, pumping her fists as she came up to Blake. "Your Semblance is so pretty, Tabitha!"
"Are you just saying that because it matches your eyes?" Tabitha asked, looking Yang in the eye.
"Well, no, I just think fire is cool," Yang said, putting Blake's arm around her to help lead her offstage. "I honestly hadn't even thought about that."
"At least you're honest," Tabitha giggled, stumbling back. She would have fallen too, but Keith had done the same as Yang and came down to help Tabitha off stage.
"I gotcha, I gotcha," he said, noticing that Tabitha tensed up as he caught her.
"Keith, your Semblance makes you impossible to detect, a little heads up next time would be nice!" Tabitha shouted, Keith smiling nervously.
"Yeah, I'll make sure to do that next time," he said, Glynda chuckling at the students before her for a moment.
"Well, that was all the time we had, and thus will conclude class for the day. Remember to keep up both with your studies as well as your own personal training, and I will see you next time," she said, the bell ringing right after she finished. That woman was punctual. While most students began to pour out on their way to their next destination, Jaune simply sat there, still hung up over his resounding loss to Cardin. Despite her best efforts, Pyrrha was unable to console him, and instead just sat there, wondering how to convince her leader to get back up.
[-0-]
After the collective failures and successes in sparring class, the day eventually led to lunch, our loveable teams all sat at a table and munching happily on their food.
Especially Keith and Nora. Because, you know, food.
"So!" Nora shouted, apparently having been in the middle of a riveting tale of heroism and awe. "There we were, in the middle of the night…"
"It was day," Ren clarified.
"We were surrounded by Ursai..." Nora continued, clearly ignoring Ren. She seemed to be telling the story mostly to Blake and Yang, with only Yang really paying attention. Blake was more focussed on her food and book, taking small bites between pages.
"They were Beowolves," Ren said, sipping from a coffee mug.
"Dozens of them!" Nora screamed, jumping up on the table the three teams were sat at. Tabitha made sure to scoot her food away from Nora just in case she started dancing or whatever else she decided to do. Honestly, who knew with her? Weiss didn't seem to care much, simply filing her nails whilst her leader and partner sat there listening politely.
"Two of 'em," Ren clarified once more.
"But they were no match…" Nora continued, though she seemed to be losing her audience, namely Ruby and Pyrrha, the two seemingly more focussed on Jaune as he sulked and poked unenthusiastically at his food. "And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"
"She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now," Ren said with a sigh.
"Hasn't she had that dream before?" Orion asked, leaning back a little to ponder what he'd heard. "Shit sounds familiar."
"Jaune?" Pyrrha said, scooting closer to her leader. "Are you okay?"
"Huh?" he said, clearly not having been completely there at the moment. "Oh, yeah! Why?"
"It's just that you seem a little…" Ruby said, trying to think of the right words, "not okay..."
"Guys, I'm fine," Jaune said, looking around and finding that everyone had stopped what they were doing and instead opted to look at him, clearly in disbelief. "Seriously! Look!"
In the hopes of changing the subject, or at the very least try to make it seem as though he wasn't in this predicament, he smiled at the others to throw off suspicion. He failed, of course, but yeah he tried. He would have continued to try, but his attention was drawn to CRDL, the team gathered around a Faunus girl as they took turns taunting her, doing various expressions to mock her long bunny ears.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha exclaimed, trying to get her leader to open up.
"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah... He just likes to mess around! You know, practical jokes!" Jaune laughed, trying once more to wave off their questioning.
"No, I do practical jokes, not…" Gwyn said, glancing over to Cardin and his team, "Yeah, not those idiots."
"He's a bully," Ruby said, Jaune scoffing once more.
"Oh, please!" he said, laughing nervously once more. "Name one time he's 'bullied' me."
Flashback
The first instance of our dear Jaune getting 'bullied' by Cardin was between classes, the leader of JNPR carrying a large stack of books as he headed to an extra study session. Passing by Cardin, he was freed by his burden of books, not by the good graces of the leader of CRDL though, but because he shoulder checked him and forced him to drop his books onto the floor. Jaune turned to Cardin, the larger boy holding his arms out as if he was challenging Jaune to do something about it.
Jaune didn't of course, simply muttering, "Ah, come on!" as he scrambled to pick back up his books.
[-0-]
The second instance was when the two of them were walking through a rather narrow doorway, Jaune armed with Crocea Mors. It was likely he was heading to classes focussed on swordplay, considering the vast differences in student's fighting styles and the necessity to nurture their different needs.
When Jaune passed through, Cardin quickly knocked on Jaune's scabbard, causing the shield to fold out and get lodged in the doorway, and by extension Jaune himself. It also blocked off the doorway, preventing him from getting out and to his class.
"Come on...!" he grunted, trying and failing to wrench the shield free.
[-0-]
The most recent incident consisted of Glynda going through and explaining the special lockers they had on campus and how to use them.
"Each of you will be assigned one rocket-propelled locker to store your weapons and extra armor," she explained, gesturing to a few lockers as she did. "Additionally, your locker can be sent to a custom location based on a six-digit code."
Naturally, this gave Cardin quite the nasty idea. Subtly positioning himself next to Jaune, who now stood between Cardin and an open locker. When no one was looking, he quickly turned around and slammed him into the locker, punching in a random code and taking a step back to examine his fine handiwork.
"What?!" Jaune shouted, both surprised and distressed at his place in the locker. "No, wait, wait! You've gotta get me out of here! Please! Don't! Don't! Don't do it!"
Cardin did it anyway, standing back and admiring his handiwork as the locker began shaking before launching upwards into the sky. Golly, he sure was proud of himself.
"Ahhh, coooome oooooooon...!" Jaune screamed as he flew away
Present
Naturally, upon the revelation of the extent of Cardin's bullying shenanigans, everyone at the table looked expectantly at Jaune, who tried once more to simply laugh it off.
"I said name one, you named three. B-but I didn't land far from the school!" he said, Pyrrha sighing at him.
"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask," she said, Nora suddenly sitting up straight and slamming her hands on the table.
"Ooooh!" she shouted, having come up with a devious plan, made obvious by her sinister grin. "We'll break his legs!"
"Fuck yeah, I'm in," Orion said, smirking at Nora.
"Maybe we can finally focus on legs that aren't mine…" Tabitha muttered, Gwyn shaking his head.
"Sorry, those comments haven't gone down yet, they still talk about them no matter how much I try to hide them," he said, sighing. "Some people just slow the video down when you're in the background to look at your legs… They tell me."
"Well I don't need you to tell me!" Tabitha shouted.
"Guys, really, it's fine!" Jaune said, hoping to take some heat off of himself, especially since Tabitha seemed to be shifting the heat to Gwyn. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."
As if on queue, the laughing from Cardin's group grew louder, now with added cries of pain from the poor Faunus girl, as now CRDL was tugging on her ears.
"Ow! That hurts!" the girl shouted, and knowing she couldn't overpower the four of them at once, she stopped struggling. "Please, stop..."
"I told you it was real!" Cardin jeered as he continued to tug, turning to his teammates and laughing.
"What a freak!" one of his teammates shouted. This teammate was Russel Thrush, one of the poor souls who'd gotten detention immediately upon arrival.
With the group of teams now watching as Cardin and the rest of CRDL taunted the Faunus girl, Gwyn and Orion couldn't help but notice that Tabitha looked incredibly uncomfortable, as well as Pyrrha and Blake glaring at them.
"Atrocious," Pyrrha said. "I can't stand people like him."
"He's not the only one..." Blake added.
"It must be hard to be a Faunus..." Yang lamented, leaning her head on her hand.
"You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?" Orion whispered, leaning over to Gwyn.
"I think I'm thinking what you're thinking," Gwyn whispered back.
"My Semblance lets me do something cool, so when I say go, do the thing to Cardin," Orion said, turning himself around and freeing his legs from the cafeteria table.
"Consider it done," Gwyn said, quickly finishing the rest of his food and rolling his neck.
"3… 2… 1…" Orion whispered, Gwyn focussing in on Cardin and only Cardin such to ensure he didn't take the girl with him. "Go."
Gwyn was surprised to see everything slow to a halt around him, but he didn't bother asking about it now since he had better things to do. Trading places with Cardin, he was now sat where the leader of CRDL used to be, Cardin now next to the angry Orion. Gwyn watched as Orion picked up and threw Cardin at a window about as hard as he could, seeing Cardin just kinda float there for a second before time seemed to pick back up. Cardin quickly accelerated towards the window and smashed through it, causing Gwyn to chuckle as the rest of CRDL looked around in confusion since their leader had been replaced with the leader of a different team.
"Where did-?" one of them began, though Gwyn held up a finger to cut him off.
"Don't worry where he went," Gwyn said, sounding a bit angry. "Worry more about apologizing to the poor girl you've been taunting before you join your buddy."
It was at this point where people really started to pay attention to the person sized hole in the window, and Orion was trying to do his best to act like it was random chance a person flew from where he was. And of course when we say try we mean fail, as he was laughing at the dazed Cardin as he struggled to his feet outside.
"U-um, thank you," the girl said, taking note of Gwyn's efforts to defend her.
"Don't mention it, I don't like bullies, and neither does my partner," Gwyn said, patting the girl reassuringly on the shoulder. "Hell, if those guys pick on you again, feel free to ask either of us for help, we'd be more than happy to lend a hand."
"Oh, I don't think that'll be an issue," the girl said, waving it off as the other members of CRDL scattered due to Orion's approach.
"Huh? Why's that?" Gwyn asked, a little confused. Did something change while he was sitting there?
"I'm on a team of second years. Once they hear about what CRDL was doing, I don't think they'll want to try it again," she explained, a devious smile on her face.
"I like her," Orion said, smirking back. "What team tho?"
"CFVY," she said. "Name's Velvet."
"CFVY… CFVY CFVY CFVY…" Gwyn muttered, trying to remember why the name was familiar. "Oh! Isn't your leader's name Coco?"
"You're right! It's no wonder you've heard of her, she's quite popular here," Velvet explained, a smile on her face.
"She's a fan of his, actually," Orion said, gesturing to Gwyn.
"Oh?" Velvet said, a little taken aback. Coco? A fan of a first year? Why this first year? "What's your name?"
"Gwydion Elgin, call me Gwyn though," said our favorite e-boy.
"Oh!" Velvet said, realization hitting her. "A couple members of my team watch you! They tell me you're pretty funny, and I guess you could say you've made a good first impression."
"I try," Gwyn said, Orion shrugging.
"He doesn't really try, people just either love him or hate him," Orion mumbled, Gwyn nodding.
"Weiss," he said, Orion nodding along.
"Yep, Weiss," the brute said in agreement. Weiss apparently overheard them and was about to give them a piece of her mind, but Keith chose this moment to remind people he existed and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"C'mon, they did a good, let them have this," he said, only startling her a little bit.
"Oh, Keith," she said, remembering that Keith was there. Him and his weird ass Semblance. "I suppose I can let it slide. But just this once."
"It's a fair trade," Tabitha said, visibly relieved that Cardin had been ejected from the premises. "I just hope they don't need to keep making that trade."
"I've known Gwyn for a long time, he's always been one to help people who need it," Pyrrha said, Nora grabbing her shoulders and shaking her.
"Orion too! He'd help break his legs!" Nora shouted, Pyrrha struggling to make her teammate release her. "And his arms!"
"She means Cardin," Ren clarified, just in case anyone thought she meant Gwyn for some reason.
Now that their attention was drawn somewhere else, Jaune took his chance to slink away such to avoid any more questioning. Because he didn't like that, no sir. Taking a glance back at his friends discussing how much Orion liked to hurt stupid people, he didn't see Cardin having finally gotten back up, glaring at him through the him-shaped hole in the window.
He probably wouldn't forget about this any time soon.
[-0-]
Somehow, Jaune was able to evade further questioning throughout the past couple of days, something which held true up to today's lecture from Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck. The hyperactive teacher zipped around the room at a speed that honestly made Gwyn, Orion, AND Ruby jealous, which was truly a feat in and of itself. Our favorite teams (and Cardin) sat there more or less listening intently to the zooming professional on today's topic of Faunus history.
"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution-more popularly known as the Faunus War-" he said, zipping around the room in instants, "-humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie." Pointing at the map on the board, he made sure to highlight said continent before zipping back in front of his desk. "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day! Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"
Several students with blatantly Faunus traits raised their hands, Velvet from Team CFVY looking around for a moment before raising her hand as well. Gwyn and Orion both subtly turned to Tabitha, the poor girl sighing for a moment and gently nodding. This didn't sit well with the leaders of REKT, each one looking at the other and nodding before scooting a little closer. Tabitha could tell what they were doing, and honestly it was a bit comforting.
"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Oobleck said, taking another sip of the coffee he definitely needed less of. "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to the White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War?"
Oobleck then took a rare moment to pause and examine the room, seeing a hand raise.
"Yes?"
"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss said, being the student whose hand was raised.
"Precisely!" Oobleck said, very happy with the answer, as it was correct. "And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"
Cardin didn't really seem to care about the lesson, rather he cared more about finishing his paper football which he shortly thereafter flicked at Jaune's head. This caused the previously sleeping Jaune to wake up, startled by the object bonking him.
"Hey!" he shouted, accidentally making Oobleck think he was going to answer his question.
"Mr. Arc!" he shouted as he more or less appeared in front of Jaune's face. "Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?"
"Uhhhh... The answer... The advantage... that the Faunus..." Jaune mumbled, looking around the room in the hopes of finding some kind of hint, seeing Pyrrha mouthing the answer to him, "...had over that guy's stuff..." he continued, unable to make out what she was saying. Finally, Pyrrha cupped her hands around her eyes, Jaune going with what he thought was the most logical choice. "Uhh... Binoculars!"
Jaune, oblivious to the fact that he was quite wrong, sat there looking rather proud of himself. Pyrrha, however, did not, slapping her hand to her face in disappointment.
In the midst of Jaune's dumb moment, Orion took this chance to lean over to Gwyn, a question on his mind.
"Yo," he whispered, "is that not the right answer?"
"No Orion, that is not the right answer," Gwyn replied, absolutely deadpan.
"At least you didn't say it out loud…" Tabitha muttered. She had respect for Orion as a leader and a fighter, but as an intellectual? Not so much.
Oobleck had returned to the front of the room by this point, sipping his coffee as Cardin hit his hands on the desk, laughing.
"Very funny, Mr. Arc!" Oobleck said, now turning to Cardin, as he seemed to have input at this point. "Cardin! Perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject!"
"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier," Cardin said, both meaning as a joke and saying it seriously.
"If that were true, you'd have higher grades than most of our classmates, not the other way around," Gwyn said, Orion struggling to keep himself from laughing to his side. Tabitha and Keith snickered as well, as did plenty of the other students. Cardin was getting ready to do something about Gwyn and his stupid mouth, but Pyrrha speaking up caused him to stop for a moment.
"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" she asked, Cardin's rage now directed at her.
"What? You got a problem?" he said, rising in what would have inevitably wound up as a futile attempt to shut her up. She spoke once more though, and once again she stopped him in his tracks.
"No, I have the answer!" she said, attempting to avoid having to floor the poor boy in the middle of class. "It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark."
Cardin growled, clearly more angry than before, but Blake decided to speak up and infuriate him even further.
"General Lagune was inexperienced, and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep. His massive army was outmatched, and the general was captured," she said, now turning to Cardin directly. "Perhaps if he'd paid attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure."
Needless to say, Cardin was very angrier than before, finally deciding to rise in order to do something about his insistent torment. Oobleck spoke up this time, hoping to spare both whoever Cardin was attempting to pummel as well as Cardin himself from any more taunting from the other students.
"Mr. Winchester! Please take your seat," Oobleck commanded, Cardin begrudgingly obliging as Jaune laughed at his bully's predicament. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."
"Oohhhh..." Jaune sulked, now having to do extra work. Cardin looked even more angry than before, and Orion decided he was going to throw more gas onto the flames.
"Bro, just take the L, you can only get roasted so many times and walk away from it," he said, Cardin looking at him and sadly realizing that he was smaller than his heckler, figuring that he couldn't shut him up by force.
Damn.
"Now!" Oobleck said, zipping around the room once more. "Moving on!"
[-0-]
After the lesson, everyone started flooding out of the room, first of all being most of the members of Team JNPR, minus Jaune, as Oobleck was still chewing him and Cardin out inside.
"You go on ahead. I'll wait for Jaune," Pyrrha said, Ren and Nora looking to her and shrugging before waving at her before turning to leave. Gwyn and Orion then left too, turning to Pyrrha and laughing.
"Y'know, I expected this kind of behavior from Orion, but not you, Pyrrha," Gwyn chuckled, Pyrrha smiling meekly and waving it off.
"I may try to be tame outside of combat, but protecting my team comes first," she said, Gwyn and Orion nodding. "Cardin tends to be more… direct in his harassment."
"Breaking his legs is still on the table tho," Orion mumbled, Gwyn nodding alongside him.
"I'll help. We've been friends for a long time, so I'd be more than happy to lend a hand to you and your team," he said, Pyrrha smiling awkwardly.
"I'd rather refrain from doing any permanent harm for the time being," she said, the trio hearing Oobleck within the classroom chewing out Jaune and Cardin.
"You two have been struggling in my class since day one! Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest, or just your stubborn nature, but whatever it is..." Oobleck said, taking a deep sip from his mug. "It stops now! You've worked hard to gain entrance to this school, and we only accept the best of the best, so I expect you to act like it. History is important, gentlemen! If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it. Pages fifty-one to ninety-one! I want an essay on my desk by next class! Now! Run along."
Finishing up his mini lecture, Oobleck zipped out of the room at incredible speed, the trio blinking a few times at his alarming pace.
"He needs to lay off the caffeine…" Orion muttered, Gwyn and Pyrrha nodding in agreement. Dude could stand to put the mug down, for sure.
Janue followed Oobleck out, though he certainly lacked the speed or energy he had when he left, instead sulking out. Cardin came out behind him, shoulder checking him as he passed him by and knocking him to the floor, a quiet 'Ow' coming from Jaune as he fell.
"You know, I really will break his legs," Pyrrha said, finally warming up to the idea after seeing his blatant disregard for Jaune, even in front of her and the leaders of REKT.
"His pride seems more fragile…" Gwyn said, nudging Orion. "Do the thing."
"Ye," Orion replied, using his Semblance and tripping Cardin before running back to where he was standing previously to make it seem like he didn't do anything, even managing to keep a straight face as Cardin picked himself up. The bully turned to see Pyrrha helping Jaune up and Gwyn and Orion smirking at him as he stumbled to his feet and turned to leave, a little embarrassed.
"I have an idea!" Pyrrha suddenly shouted, grabbing Jaune and tugging him along with her. "Here, come with me!"
"Well, uh, see you later!" Gwyn cheered, waving at the members of JNPR as they ran off.
"Wanna catch dinner?" Orion said, Gwyn nodding and pulling out his scroll.
"Sure, lemme ping Keith and Tabitha in the group chat," Gwyn said, doing just that and following his partner over to the dining hall.
[-0-]
Pyrrha had ended up leading Jaune to the rooftop of one of the dorm buildings, Jaune stepping to the edge of the roof and looking at the lights around Beacon before looking to the ground below, sulking as he did so.
"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not that depressed," he said, leaning over the railing to look more closely at the ground. "I can always be a farmer or something..."
Pyrrha was confused for a moment, but then she finally understood what Jaune was getting at.
She didn't like what he was getting at.
"N-n-no!" she shouted, dashing forward and pushing him away from the edge. "That's not why I brought you up here!"
Unbeknownst to the two of them, they had another set of ears listening in on their conversation from his room below, the bully listening closely and smirking.
"Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class and that you're still not the strongest of fighters, so…" she said, taking a breath and smiling to Jaune. "I want to help you!"
"Wh-what?" Jaune stuttered, a little taken aback.
"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!" she reiterated, smiling as she did so. She thought she was doing something good for Jaune.
Jaune, however, didn't see it that way.
"You think I need help?" he asked, sounding a little offended.
"N-no! No, that's not what I meant," she shouted, waving her hands in front of her.
"But you just said it," Jaune mumbled, still sounding offended.
"Jaune, everybody needs a little push from time to time," Pyrrha said, trying to make her stance clear. "It doesn't make you any different from the rest of us. You made it to Beacon! That speaks volumes of what you're capable of!"
"You're wrong," Jaune muttered, still facing away from Pyrrha. "I-I don't belong here."
"That's a terrible thing to say!" Pyrrha shouted, taken aback. "Of course you do!"
"No, I don't!" Jaune shouted, now angry as he turned to face Pyrrha. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon..." he muttered, turning back away from her, a bit ashamed of himself.
"Wh-what do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, Jaune taking a deep breath and just letting it all out.
"I mean I didn't go to combat school, I didn't pass any tests. I didn't earn my spot at this Academy!" he shouted, his voice getting higher and higher as he vented before turning back to Pyrrha. "I lied! I got my hands on some fake transcripts, and I lied!"
"What? But…" Pyrrha said, trying to wrap her head around what Jaune was telling her, "why?"
"'Cause this is always what I've wanted to be!" Jaune shouted, turning away from Pyrrha once more. "My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one, too. I was just never good enough."
Pyrrha, not wanting to see her friend struggle with himself like this, chose to step forward and place a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Then let me help you!"
"I don't want help!" Jaune shouted, turning back to Pyrrha as he shoved her hand off of his shoulder. "I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"
"Jaune, I-" Pyrrha began, though Jaune cut her off.
"I'm tired of being the lovable idiot, stuck in the tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you understand? If I can't do this on my own…" he said, trying to find the right words, "then what good am I?"
Pyrrha attempted to console him again, but he leaned away from her, looking to the ground once more.
"Just... leave me alone," Jaune said, sighing. "Okay?"
"If that's what you think is best..." Pyrrha said, reluctantly turning to leave her leader be. Jaune, more stressed than he'd ever been before, stayed there and paced the roof until Pyrrha's footsteps went silent and were replaced with a loud laugh.
"Oh, Jaune..." said a new voice, Jaune turning to see Cardin, the bully having climbed his way up to the roof.
"Cardin!" Jaune shouted, shocked to see him there.
"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room," Cardin said, starting to slowly circle Jaune. "So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I gotta say, Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel!"
"Please, Cardin, please, don't tell anyone!" Jaune begged, only to be met with laughter from the larger teen.
"Jaune, come on!" he said, almost mockingly. "I'd never rat on a friend like that!"
"A…" Jaune mumbled, now trying to wrap his head around what Cardin was saying, "a friend?"
"Of course!" Cardin bellowed, catching Jaune in a headlock under his arm that he couldn't seem to escape no matter how hard he tried. "We're friends now, Jauney boy! And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." Releasing Jaune, who gasped for air for a moment, Cardin continued to speak, though his tone was now noticeably darker. "That being said, I really don't have time to do those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. Think you could take care of that for me, buddy?" he asked, rustling Jaune's hair and knowing full well what the answer was. "That's what I thought. Don't worry, Jaune; your secret's safe with me."
With that, Cardin turned to drop back into his room, Jaune simply sitting there and rubbing his neck in pain.
He'd made a huge mistake, he knew that much for sure.
A/N: Another chapter another day. On to the next boys. Let's get it. Also sorry for the delay on this, shit goin on and whatnot. Anyway.
Oni: Ye, stuff be happenin, we be doin things, the usual. Anyway, next chapter will be out… whenever we finish it, we don't run this on a schedule. That shit's stressful.
OniHelix out!
'Till All Are One!