Huzzah! It is I, Solemn! Anyways, this chapter will now focus on the bond of JNPR's resident males. We once again stray away from the canon plot, reason being the same as last chapter's.

Now, that being said, let us soldier on now shall we?

Chapter 23: Green Brotherhood

The sun was slowly rising over Vale once again, and at Beacon, specifically Team JNPR's dorm, we find all four members preparing for today's fights.

It was now the doubles round and they have opted to let Jaune and Ren fight for them. Right now, the two were doing equipment checks and warm ups to ensure that they would be victorious.

"Magazines!" Nora listed off.

Ren showed several of his green magazines while Jaune simply shook his cartridge pouch.

"Here." The Stoic Ninja said.

"Blades!"

The two boys drew said weapons and made sure that they were sharp enough.

"Here." Jaune nodded.

"Breakfast?" Pyrrha asked as she tended to Jaune.

"Pyrrha, relax. We had breakfast awhile ago and we're confident that we could fight whoever it is in the duo's round." Jaune reassured as he sheathed his sword.

"Alright, I believe we can go now." Ren said as he finally escaped Nora's grasp. Jaune turned to him and nodded.

Amity Colosseum, Vale

"Think you're ready Ren?" Jaune asked as he checked his rifle for what was like the 78th time.

"You know I am Jaune." He replied.

"And how can you be sure?"

"Because we literally prepared together for this."

The Rifleman smirked "Good."

The two of them were walking towards the arena's entrance where they waited for the fight before their's end.

"Sharpe-"

"Jaune. Ren, please, I've said this more than enough times to not call me by my old name." The Blonde corrected.

"Right, sorry. As I was saying Jaune, I know this may seem out of the blue, but do you ever wonder why you were reincarnated?"

"Hm? Well, I've asked myself that once or twice during my new youth, but after sometime, I stopped."

"But why? Does it bother you?"

"At first yes, but like I said, I stopped questioning it. As far as I can tell, the cosmic forces or whatever substitutes as a god here, decided to redirect my soul," Jaune explained as he raised a finger ", was redirected here. At Remnant." He finished as he pointed to himself.

Ren nodded in understanding "I see... if you're okay with answering this one last question, if you had the chance to pass on in your old life, would you have taken it?"

Jaune smiled "Well, if I was Richard Sharpe, I would certainly like to. Old and fullfilled in life, so the afterlife did sound nice. However, Jaune Arc, me right now, would still be good here on Remnant. As far as I'm concerned, I'm Jaune Arc, with Richard Sharpe's experiences and skillset."

Lie Ren smiled back and replied "I see..." he paused when he saw Jaune stiffle a laugh before continuing "We both sound like a broken records don't we?"

"Mostly you, I switched up my answer time to time, but yes, I guess you could say we are." The Blonde chuckled.

"And that ends the match, winner team RWBY!" Port's voice echoed.

"Hm, well, RWBY's already gotten a headstart... again. Let's not fall behind. Shall we?" Jaune asked Ren to which the Ninja nodded.

Then, the doors to the arena began to open up, sunlight slowly creeping in their area.

"What an impressive display from Team RWBY's chosen fighters!"

Port spoke once again.

"I agree old friend, but her sister team JNPR, might have the possibility to perform at the same level, if not more!" Oobleck says in a speed that makes Ruby's blush.

"We'll see my good friend! We'll see! Now, to introduce the fighters for the next round, representing the Haven Academy, from team SSSN, please Welcome Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias!"

The crowd cheered loudly as Jaune and Ren waited on the other side, ready to step out when they were introduced. It didn't take long as Oobleck began to announce the Beacon representatives.

"And their challengers, representing Beacon Academy, from team JNPR, please give a round of applause to Jaune Arc and Lie Ren!"

In response to this, the crowd cheered even louder than before as the two boys stepped on to the arena grounds. Looking at them were the two boys that Port mentioned just a few seconds ago. Jaune remembered Sun's involvement in the docks and their battle with Torchwick during their attack on his warehouse. His partner also had the same history, as him. It was safe to assume that this battle going to be hardfought.

His moment to think did not last as Port's voice boomed again "Now, fighters ready..."

Jaune watched as the spinners began to select their environment. He tightened his grip on his rifle as the spinner began to slow down.

Then, they stopped on a mountain and oasis environment.

"BEGIN!" Announced Doctor Oobleck

The second Oobleck said the word, Jaune and Ren ran for cover as Sun and Neptune began to fire upon them.

They soon began to return fire with Jaune taking persice shots while Ren kept them both supressed with his two SMGs. After Jaune reloaded his rifle, he shot right near Neptune's head to daze him.

It temporarily worked as he was forced to take cover. The Rifleman grinned as he prepared to reload again, but was forced to defend himself as Sun used his semblance to get his clones to attack Jaune. The Arc in question barely dodged the attack before using the butt of his rifle to swing at them. However, before he could hit one of them, they disappeared, only for Sun himself to charge at him. With his rifle not able to block it, Jaune was forced to use his Aura to take the blow from Sun's bo staff.

Jaune then went with a counter by drawing his pistol and aimed it at Sun. Before he could squeeze the trigger however, Sun moved his head slightly to the left to dodge the bullet. Dodged it he did, however he did not expect the loud BANG. That came from the heavy revolver.

"Aargh... dude... that hurts..." he muttered.

"That's the whole point of a fight is it not?" Jaune smirked before holstering his pistol and letting his rifle go.

"Besides," he continued as he drew his sword ", I'm just getting bloody started."

Sun reacted quickly as Jaune slashed at him. He smiled with confidence as he spun his bo staff "Is that so? Well so am I!"

Then, he swung at Jaune who in turn parried with his sword.

Meanwhile with Ren and Neptune, the fight between the two had been locked in a stalemate as Neptune's wide attacks with his trident were countered by Ren's quick reflexes, but that also meant he had to move quickly as the attacks were hard to dodge. Deciding to break the stalemate, Neptune rolled back while changing his weapon into gun form. Ren knew what he was about to do and tried to find the nearest cover. Just as he did, Neptune began to open fire on him.

Pinned down, he looked towards Jaune only to see him duking out with Sun. With Neptune still pinning him down, Ren aimed his weapons at Sun and sprayed him with multiple bullets, stunning the monkey Faunus for a short while. Jaune, not wasting the opportunity, swept Sun off his feet and ran farther back. Upon getting into position, he aimed at Neptune and fired. The ball went streaming into Neptune's right hand, making him let go of his weapon as he felt the sudden pain in his hand.

Ren took the opportunity as he decked Neptune right in the face.

"Dude..." he groaned as he recovered from the blow "...not the face." Then, he went straight for Ren again, grabbing his weapon quickly in the process.

Jaune was about to line up another shot, but suffered a blow to the head courtesy of Sun.

"Back on your feet so soon?" Jaune asked as he fixed his sword bayonet to his rifle.

Sun smirked as he twirled his staff "You sound disappointed man."

"Nah, just wondering what took you so long." Then, he swung his rifle towards his opponent.

The two were evenly matched as neither couldn't break the other's defense without risking leaving themselves open.

As this fight on, the rest of JNPR and RWBY watched with interest as the 4 boys duked it out.

"Gotta hand it to you P-Money, you sure shaped Dick into a fine fighter." Yang commented as she took some popcorn to her mouth.

"There is no doubt Fearless Leader and Renny will win this match!" Nora cheered.

Weiss was skeptical as ever "We'll have to wait and see Nora. So far neither are gaining the upperhand."

"And just who are you rooting for then Weiss?" Ruby asked, with the rest of their friends looking towards the Heiress.

"Why are you all looking at me like I'm some sort of traitor? Of course I'm rooting for Jaune and Ren." Weiss scoffed.

"What about Mr Blue Hair?" Yang teased.

"I'm simply stating that I support Jaune and Ren because they are skilled and experienced enough." Weiss replied.

"Keep telling yourself that. What about you Blakey? Who're you rooting for? Team Green or Team Playboys?"

Blake raised an eyebrow at her partner "Why haven't you asked Pyrrha?"

Yang grabbed more popcorn before replying "It's obvious she's rooting for her boyfriend."

Blake could only conceed defeat "Fine. I'm rooting for Sun and Neptune!"

"AUDIBLE GASP! Blake! How could you!?" Ruby exclaimed.

"What? He fights well."

Yang could only smile in amusement "I don't blame you Kitty. Blonde and abs really do sound appealing. Pyrrha should know."

Said Spartan looked at the blonde with a blush that could compete with her hair.

Weiss could only facepalm "You're all insufferable."

Back at the arena Ren and Neptune had finally reached the end of their stalemate. First one to break was Neptune as Ren was too manuverable for him to land a decisive hit. Due to this, he managed to leave himself open to his right. Ren didn't allow this opportunity to go unnoticed. With Stormflower, he struck Neptune's right side. This caused Neptune to show more openings. These were all exploited by Ren as he went all out. In seconds, Ren dismantled Neptune in a flurry of blows and soon, the anticipated announcement of Neptune's fate finally echoed.

"Neptune Vassilias has been eliminated!" Quite an impressive display by Mr Lie Ren with his prowess in Martial Arts!" Port's voice echoed.

"Indeed! Despite his weapon's ability to keep him at bay, Mr Vassilias couldn't keep up forever, which unfortunately lead to his eventual defeat!" Doctor Oobleck explained in his usual manner.

Seeing his friend's demise, Sun pushed Jaune away and held him back with his clones. Then, he set his sights on Ren.

"Hey! You're gonna pay for that man!" Sun shouted as he transformed his staff into their nunchuck shotgun form as he began to empty what was left in the chamber.

Under normal circumstances, Ren would have been able to avoid the attacks, however, after that intense match against Neptune, he didn't have enough Aura nor energy to do anything about it as his orange Aura went into the red, thus eliminating him as well.

Jaune, who had finally fought off the clones, approached from behind, rifle now loaded and ready to fire. Just as he was about to pull the trigger, the ground beneath them trembled. Then, without a second to wonder what was happening, both he and Sun were launched from their ground and found themselves landing in the waters of the oasis.

As they recovered from the fall, both Jaune and Sun rushed to aim their weapons at one another to finish the fight. The gyser that had flung them to the oasis in the first place had taken a huge chunk of their Aura, with Jaune at 29% and Sun at 24%.

As both had their weapons aimed, Sun went ahead and take initiative.

Click

"Ah nuts..." Sun sighed as he realized his weapon was out of ammo.

Jaune smiled as he lined up his shot and aimed for the chest. He then squeezed the trigger and the pan soon snapped back.

Click

"Wha- Oh son of a bitch. Wet powder." Jaune cursed.

The battlefield was now silent, as the two blondes got ready to engage in one last charge.

Sun once again went first as he went for a head strike, one which will almost certainly stun Jaune.

Not wanting to be stunned, Jaune drew his sword and parried the blow before attempting to slash to Sun's left. It was blocked quickly, and Jaune had to move out of the way.

The two began to fight like it was a fight for their lives. Both were wet from head to toe, and neither seemed to be holding back. It looked like Sun now held the advantage as he had Jaune pinned, and just as he was about to deliver the blow that would finally send Jaune's Aura into the red. He himself was almost at that point, but he was caught up in the moment that he didn't expect what came next.

Suddenly, he felt a sudden pain in his crotch. It crept up to his spine and finally registered in his mind on what had happened.

What also registered was his Aura which finally went into the red. Thus eliminating him.

"And Jaune Arc has eliminated Sun Wukong via Aura depletion!" Port shouted as the crows cheered or jeered.

It was fairly obvious on what Jaune had done as he finally removed his knee from Sun's crotch.

"Dude... uncool..." Sun uttered before passing out.

As the crowd cheeres, Jaune walked over to where Ren was. Upon looking over his friend, he was relieved to see that he was simply exhausted and not in anyway seriously hurt. Their respective partners soon came to their aids

"Are you two alright?" Pyrrha asked, concern clear as day.

Jaune waved her off "Nothing a good rest can take care of. Ain't that right Ren."

Ren could only let out a muffled sound in agreement as he was being smothered by Nora's hugs.

"Don't worry Renny! Nurse Nora will see you right!" Nora smiled as she carried him out of the arena.

"Joy..." Ren said, too exhausted to fight back.

Honestly, a chapter this short shouldn't take too long to write, but a lazy ass like me really can't seem to keep up with such a deadline.

Well, no promise on when the next chapter comes out, but to keep you hyped, it might or might not involve the final stages of V3.

See you in the next battle! -Solemn