A/N: WHERE THE FUCK HAVE I BEEN, DAMN. Already 2022 huh? Anyway, we back with another chapter, with some more things to enjoy our bois fuck with and gorl have to deal with, and yeah no spoilers in the note go read the chapter.
Oni: Yeah work do be like that sometimes. Oh well, go read.
Chapter 9
Cardin's Bullying Arc
Once Jaune had let his secret slip, namely his fake admission into Beacon, he'd found that Cardin made liberal use of the dirt he had on him. This led to Jaune suddenly finding less and less free time with his friends, something they came to realize soon enough.
"How come Jaune gets home so late?" Nora asked, jumping on her bed.
"He's become rather scarce since he started fraternizing with Cardin," Ren pointed out as he loaded his weapons in preparation for the coming days.
"That's weird... Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our rest!" Nora shouted back, pulling off a backflip and landing cozily in bed.
"I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing," Pyrrha said, clearly a little upset. Ren and Nora were a little unsure of how to take that, so they just kinda looked at each other for a moment.
However, surprise surprise, Jaune was technically present for this conversation, Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Scraggly peeking in through a crack in the ever so slightly opened door.
"Mmmm... I guess so," Nora muttered from within, agreeing with Pyrrha.
Jaune, despite lurking just outside his own room, didn't have time to head inside and wind down. No, he still had things to do for Cardin, so he instead closed the door and prepared to leave again, a voice interrupting him.
"Hey, Jaune!" Ruby called, startling Jaune. He turned to see her standing there in her pajamas with a smile on her face. "Long time, no see! Did you lock yourself out again?"
"Oh, uh, nope!" Jaune shouted, fumbling for his key for a moment and holding it up. "Got it!"
"So!" Ruby shouted after checking to make sure it was the right key. He'd made that mistake a few times. "Where have you been lately? Orion and Gwyn have been trying to coordinate team activities with us but you haven't shown up to any of our meetings!"
"I, uh..." Jaune mumbled, trying to come up with some sort of excuse for his recent scarcity.
He couldn't, as I'm sure you had guessed.
Lowering his head, Jaune conceded. "I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin has me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me, and..." he said, taking a deep breath through his nose. "I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea. I'm a failure."
With that he pressed his back against his door, sliding down hopelessly to the floor.
Ruby, however, had other thoughts.
"Nope!" she said.
"'Nope?'" Jaune asked, a bit taken aback.
"Nope!" she said again, Jaune looking surprised once again. "You're a leader now, Jaune. You're not allowed to be a failure."
"But…" Jaune mumbled, "what if I'm a failure at being a leader?"
Ruby thought about it for a moment before shaking her head, proudly proclaiming "Nope!" once more.
"You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff," Jaune chuckled as Ruby came over and joined him on the floor.
"Nope!" Ruby said once more, Jaune leaning a bit more into the door. "Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid... and you might've even been a failure the first day we met! But, you can't be one now," Ruby said, all the while Jaune sank lower and lower to the ground. "You know why?"
"Uhhh, because...?" Jaune asked, not entirely sure where Ruby was supposed to be going with this.
"Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! Gwyn and Orion too. And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us," Ruby said, rising to her feet and heading back towards her door. "We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you. Have a good night, Jaune!"
With that, she waved and went back inside, Jaune feeling a bit more enthused than he did before. Right as her door clicked, Gwyn's flew open, the e-boy scrambling out.
"I didn't realize you two were out here talking, let's get some team activities figured out!" he shouted, only then realizing that Ruby wasn't there anymore. "Where'd Ruby go?"
"Not now, Gwyn, it's late!" Ruby shouted through her door. "I need sleep too, you know!"
"Ah, whatever," Gwyn said, slumping over. "Good seeing you, Jaune."
"Y-yeah, you too, Gwyn," Jaune said, admittedly a little startled by Gwyn's sudden arrival.
"You catch them?" Orion asked from within REKT's doorway.
"No, Ruby's going to bed already…" Gwyn lamented, Orion sighing in response.
"Bro you have like radar with your Semblance, how did you not catch them sooner?" he asked, Gwyn throwing his hands up in defeat.
"I can tell how many but not who," Gwyn replied. "Just because there were two people in the hall didn't mean it was them. Could have been Coco for all I knew."
"Yeah yeah, we'll catch them next time," Orion said, moving so Gwyn could get back inside.
"Ruby's right though," Gwyn said, catching Jaune's attention again. "As a leader, it's your job to do what you can for your team."
"Even if literally any of them would beat your ass in a fight, you gotta protect them in ways that only a leader can," Orion said, closing the door and leaving Jaune alone in the hall once more.
Thinking about what his fellow leaders had said, Jaune rose to his feet and turned to head into his room and speak to his team. Right as he was about to do so, however, he noticed a message on his scroll. Pulling it out, he saw it was a voice message from none other than his bully, Cardin.
"Hey!" said the message. "It's your buddy Cardin! I know you're probably busy with that dust project I gave you, buuuut I'm gonna need you to go out and get me a bag of Rapier Wasps. And make sure they've got some really big stingers! It's important, so don't screw this up!"
Upon completion of the message, Jaune once again hung his head in shame, turning to walk away from his room.
"Yeah you called it, there he goes," Gwyn said, peeping at Jaune through his peephole. Y'know, since that's what that's for.
"We both knew he'd do it, he's a fickle bitch," Orion said from his bed.
"Considering how much Cardin bullied him, I sincerely doubt Jaune is hanging out with him of his own free will," Gwyn said, turning away from the door. "But why then?"
"No clue," Orion said as he shook his head. "I don't like it though. I've always felt that Cardin is a gigantic asshole, and Jaune suddenly being buddy buddy with him is fuckin' weird."
"I agree, Cardin has always come off as headstrong but… Oh, what word do I wanna use?" Tabitha wondered, racking her head for the answer.
"Prejudiced?" Keith asked, taco in hand.
"Oh yeah that's right, a racist dick, thanks Keith," Tabitha said, nodding contently to herself.
"Glad to, uh, to be of assistance," Keith said, blinking a few times. He could have sworn that wasn't the word he'd offered…
"Well regardless, I wanna figure out what's going on here, some way or another…" Gwyn said, thinking about how to go about figuring out what was up. "Oh well, I'll come up with something eventually. I need to, it's the least I can do for Pyrrha after all these years."
"Yeah, Ren and Nora and I go waaay back," Orion said in agreement. "If their leader is having some issues, there's no reason for me not to punch that reason in the face."
"No punching Cardin yet, we have no idea what's going on," Gwyn said as he sat in his chair.
"I'll gladly help figure it out," Tabitha shouted from her bed. "If it gets Cardin punched quicker then I'll lend a hand."
"If my partner is in, then I'm in too," Keith said. "Plus I've probably got the stealthiest Semblance here. If I just hang around Jaune long enough I'm sure he or Cardin will let something slip."
"Well, REKT, it looks like we've now got a mission!" Gwyn cheered, looking over to Orion for his co-leader's input on said mission.
He was, of course, already asleep.
"Of course he fell asleep…" Gwyn lamented as he went to shut off the lights. "Oh well, we can get started tomorrow. We'll figure out what's going on with Jaune and Cardin soon enough at least."
"We've got a field trip tomorrow anyway, a bit of extra sleep won't hurt…" Tabitha said, really looking forward to catching some Z's.
"I agree," Keith said, only now taking note of the multiple taco wrappers strewn around him. "I ate a lot, gotta sleep it off."
"You have fun with that," Gwyn said as he too hopped in bed. "Just don't forget to clean up down there."
"You got it, chief," Keith said as he did just that.
With that, all of REKT settled into bed and off to sleep, their mission in mind for tomorrow; figure out what Cardin is doing with Jaune and put an end to it.
[-0-]
As for the aforementioned field trip, it ended up being Glynda taking our favorite teams (and CRDL) out to Forever Fall forest on behalf of another professor. Leading them through the forest, she quickly ran through the purpose of their field trip.
"Yes, students, the forest of Forever Fall is indeed beautiful," Glynda said as she led the teams. "But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I'm here to make sure none of you die while doing so."
The group stopped, Jaune doing his best to keep up due to his carrying of a whopping eight glass jars. He clearly struggled with them, doing his best not to drop them and make a mess, his struggles leading him to bumping into Cardin. Cardin was less than pleased, scowling at Jaune before noticing that some of the others had turned towards the noticeable glassy clink. He quickly looked around aimlessly and whistled an innocent tune to try and seem like he'd done nothing.
REKT, however, took note of it due to their secret mission.
"Each of you is to gather one jar's worth of red sap. However, this forest is full of the creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay by your teammates. We will rendezvous back here at 4 o'clock. Have fun!" Glynda explained, setting the teams free yet keeping a close eye on them in case they need any help to avoid dying in the future.
While the others grabbed their jars in preparation for their tasks, many even smiling and joking to each other about finally getting away from boring classwork and papers and all that jazz, Jaune tried to slip away from Cardin. Cardin quickly caught on due to Jaune's loud clinking and grabbed him by the hood.
"Come on, buddy - let's go!" he said, dragging him away with the rest of CRDL.
Jaune looked helplessly at the rest of his team as Cardin dragged him away, eventually giving up and turning to follow along, upsetting Pyrrha as she sighed and turned away from the scene.
"Hey," Gwyn said, nudging Keith. "There they go. Follow them and don't get caught. And keep your scroll on silent. We'll get your sap for you."
"I may get some extra too, this stuff is super sweet…" Tabitha said as she dipped her finger into what she'd as of yet gathered and tasted it. "I'm not sharing."
"You got it," Keith said, silencing his scroll and casually following Jaune and CRDL, the group having already forgotten he was there. How convenient.
Keith did exactly as he was told and trailed Jaune and CRDL, being careful to not let them notice him. He didn't need to try hard, of course, but it's CRDL, what did you expect? He continued to go unnoticed as they forced Jaune to collect their sap for them, a task made all the worse by both the volume, a whopping eight jars, and the circumstances; it seemed Jaune had some sort of allergy to the stuff.
Eventually Jaune came back to the spot where CRDL was getting cozy, still completely unaware of Keith just sitting in a nearby tree and giving updates in the REKT group chat.
"Hey, great work, Jauney boy! Now that wasn't too hard, was it?" Cardin jeered, chuckling to himself as Jaune tumbled over.
"I think I'm allergic to this stuff..." Jaune mumbled, sounding a bit dizzy. It seemed his eyes were having a hard time focussing, too.
"Greeeeat, great, great," Cardin said, either choosing to ignore Jaune or just not really caring for what he had to say. "So, Jaune, I bet you're asking yourself, 'Why did my buddy Cardin ask me to collect eight jars of tree sap when there's only five of us?'"
"That is one of the many questions I have asked myself today, yes," Jaune said with a nod, starting to at least attempt to get back on his feet.
"Well, come with me, and you'll find out," Cardin said, his tone noticeably darker than it was before.
Jaune was a bit worried by this but followed anyway, as did the rest of CRDL.
And of course, none of them had yet noticed Keith just chilling in the tree.
'Looks like they're heading back your way.' Keith said in the chat, Orion replying with a thumbs up and a picture of a jar with Keith's name on it full of sap.
The picture also depicted Tabitha trying to drink it, but that's beside the point.
"Oh nice they got my sap," Keith said, one of the members of CRDL looking around in response. Keith then just sorta sat there for a second with the member of CRDL forgetting about it and continuing to walk.
Good old Semblance.
Once they'd gotten far enough away, Keith hopped out of the tree and started following them as he'd been told.
Good old Keith.
He continued to follow until they reached a ridge looking down onto the clearing that the other teams were resting in. Of course, Ren was pulling double time to get more sap, as every time he handed a jar back to Nora he was handed an empty jar mere moments later.
"Ok, even I'm not that bad," Tabitha said, having opted to take the occasional sip from her own jar. Sure, it's annoying, but she at least doesn't feel bad drinking her own sap. She made sure to refill Keith's all the way, too.
…after having a few more sips. That stuff was really good.
Jaune continued to look through his friends having fun and doing their assignments, turning to see Cardin glaring at them instead.
"Cardin, wh-what's going on?" he asked, Cardin refusing to turn away from the others down below.
"Payback," was all he said, now focussing on a group of three.
"Pyrrha...? Gwyn, Orion…?" Jaune muttered, figuring out who he was glaring at and realization dawning on him. "Wh-what are you-?"
He was cut off when Cardin slammed his fist on the ground, startling him. "That's them, those three. Red-haired know-it-all, thinks she's so smart. Black-haired doofus, thinks he's so big and strong. And that white-haired idiot, thinks he's so cool since he can use the internet well. Alright, boys..." he said, grabbing a large box with "W" written on both sides. "Last night, old Jaune here managed to round up an entire box of Rapier Wasps, and now, we're gonna put him to work."
Another member of CRDL grabbed Jaune by the shoulder, making him even more nervous than he was before.
"Now, according to one of the essays you wrote for me last week, these nasty things loooove sweets," Cardin said, taking another look down at Pyrrha, Gwyn, and Orion. "I'm thinking it's time we teach them a thing or two."
Keith, still within earshot, couldn't help but chuckle. That was his big plan? Some wasps? As if a little bit of aura wouldn't keep them safe. Not only that, but Tabitha's Semblance or Gwyn's grenades would clear them out no problem. Either way, the worst they'd do is piss off three of the most capable students there and make them do some extra laundry that night.
So yeah, he was feeling pretty good about his friends' chances.
Cardin, still not noticing Keith, stood up and yanked Jaune to his feet, rather painfully too. He then turned and grabbed one of the three spare jars of sap and jammed it into Jaune's hand, pointing at the group below them.
"And you're gonna do it," he said, Jaune hoping to feign obliviousness and get away from this.
"Do what?" he mumbled, Cardin completely dodging the bait and pointing at the trio.
"Hit them with the sap!" he shouted, leaning in closer and trying to intimidate Jaune. "Either that, or I'll have a chat with Goodwitch, and you'll be on the first airship out of Beacon."
"Out of Beacon?" Keith mumbled, unsure of what he was talking about. Just in case it was relevant he mentioned it in the group chat, Gwyn sending back a quick thumbs up to show he got the message.
Jaune looked at the jar in his hand and then to CRDL, the group smiling in anticipation as Jaune shakily turned towards Pyrrha, Gwyn, and Orion, raising the jar and aiming between the three. He hovered over each person, debating in his head who he should hit first.
'Should I sap Pyrrha first?' he thought to himself, quickly shaking his head. 'N-no, I couldn't, she's like my best friend here… Gwyn…? No, he just gave me advice the other day, plus I don't even know if I can hit him with his Semblance… And, well, I guess I could hit Orion, but… I think being on Cardin's bad side is way better than being on Orion's bad side…'
Mulling over his options, he grit his teeth and took a deep breath.
"No," Jaune said, Cardin looking at him incredulously.
"What did you say?" Cardin asked, Jaune still looking away from him.
"I said…" Jaune said, gripping the jar more tightly. "NO!"
As he shouted, he turned and threw the jar, inadvertently smashing it against Cardin's chest, the thick sap dripping down him. Cardin looked down for a moment before looking back up at Jaune, laughly darkly at him.
"Oh, you've done it now..." he said, watching as Jaune tried to laugh it off, members of his team grabbing him by the shoulders and dragging him away.
Down below, the group was none the wiser towards what was going on on the top of the ridge. Pyrrha looked up for a moment after hearing a few birds flutter by, glancing at the ride for a moment. Ruby noticed Pyrrha's prolonged glance, coming over to see if she was ok.
"Oh, I'm quite fine, Ruby, though I appreciate your concern," she said, her attention being drawn to the sound of slurping, turning over to see Nora drinking from her jar. "Nora!" she shouted, Nora simply laughing and running off to get more from Ren.
Ruby chuckled and went to go back to her team, Gwyn and Orion seeing their chance and jumping on it.
"So," Gwyn said, making sure no one was in earshot, "what's up with Jaune and Cardin?"
"O-oh, um, well, Jaune has found that Cardin has calmed down in recent days, so he's simply spending time with him," Pyrrha said, trying to explain away Jaune's recent 'friendship' with Cardin.
"Pyrrha, come on," Orion said, doing his best to cross his arms. But, you know, chunky gauntlets. "It's fuckin' Cardin, he isn't 'calming down' any time soon. So what's up?"
"Um, I don't really think I'm at liberty to say…" Pyrrha said, trying once more to dodge the question.
"Pyrrha, come on," Gwyn said. "You can trust us. We won't tell another soul."
"W-well…" Pyrrha said, taking a deep breath. "Jaune… Faked his admission into Beacon."
"Ok, I know that's supposed to be a surprise, but like yeah that makes sense," Orion said.
"Orion!" Pyrrha said. "That's awful!"
"Yeah yeah, but you get my point," Orion said. "He's not the strongest person here."
"I-!" Pyrrha started, though she took a deep breath and conceded. "Well, no, but…"
"Ok, that's all beside the point," Gwyn said, changing the subject back to the topic at hand and sparing Jaune's pride any further damage. "I don't think it's really a coincidence that Jaune tells you that he faked his way in and suddenly he starts spending a ton of time with his bully. And as far as Keith figured out, that's what's going on here."
"Keith figured out… What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked, Gwyn holding up his scroll and showing her the messages Keith had been sending regarding his mission.
"We had Keith trail them in case they let anything slip. And, well, they did," Gwyn said, letting Pyrrha scroll through the messages.
"Seems to me like Cardick is threatening to get Jaune expelled if he doesn't get us stung by bees," Orion said. "I don't know what he thinks some bees will do though, it's not like we don't have any aura or anything…"
"That's what I'm saying!" Gwyn shouted, calming himself down and getting back on topic. "Anyway, yeah, Cardin knows."
"This is awful…" Pyrrha said, the gravity of the situation truly settling in.
"So, what do you wanna do?" Gwyn asked.
"I'll gladly break Cardin's arms," Orion said, cracking his knuckles. "Legs too. And the rest of CRDL isn't off the table either."
"No, while I'm certainly confident in our individual abilities to defeat CRDL, that wouldn't do us any good," Pyrrha said, thinking. "Violence on our end may well solidify Jaune's expulsion… As much as I hate to say this, I think the most we can do is wait. We'll see how things progress from here and decide what to do from there."
"If you say so," Gwyn said, shrugging to himself.
"If I get the chance to spar with any of them, I'm throwing them through a wall," Orion said, Gwyn sighing and patting him on the shoulder.
"Oh, I don't doubt it," he said with a chuckle. "Just let us know if you need anything, ok? We'd be more than happy to help."
"I appreciate it, truly I do," Pyrrha said, sighing. "This is just… a difficult situation, to say the least."
"I completely get it," Gwyn said, stopping for a moment and taking a deep breath. "They left the ridge a little while ago."
"Hm?" Pyrrha said, not quite catching on.
"Oh, Jaune and CRDL were on the ridge looking at us. I think Jaune was gonna try to hit us with a jar of sap, but he chose not to, which was the smart decision," Gwyn said, shrugging.
"Oh, where are they going?" Pyrrha said, looking back up to the ridge.
"No idea," Gwyn said, shrugging. "Keith is following though, so I can just follow his location."
"Oh, I'd like to check on him if that's ok," Pyrrha asked, Gwyn and Orion nodding.
"Ye," Orion said, the trio following Keith's location.
As the three started making their way over, Jaune was having a rather… well, a rough time. And by rough time, we instead mean Cardin was bashing Jaune's face in while his team held him up. With another punch, he actually knocked Jaune from his team's clutches and onto the ground, Cardin then grabbing Jaune and lifting him up once more.
Before immediately striking him back to the ground.
"You know that wasn't very smart, Jauney boy," Cardin said before picking Jaune back up and lifting him into the air. "I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny tiny pieces."
"I don't care what you do to me..." Jaune said, glaring at Cardin despite his bruises. "... but you are not messing with my friends."
"What?" Cardin said, clearly taken a bit aback by Jaune's sudden boldness. "You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?"
Jaune simply smiled in response, making Cardin even angrier than before. Raising his fist once more, he swung as hard as he could, though once his fist connected, something strange happened. Once Cardin hit, Jaune seemed to glow for a moment before Cardin dropped him back onto the ground and cried out in pain, now holding his hand in pain. Jaune, however, was completely healed on the ground looking around in mild surprise, then looking down at his hands as they glowed white for a little bit. As he looked, however, another member of CRDL kicked him in the back and put him back on his stomach. Glancing back up he saw Cardin, now over the pain in his hand, coming towards him, angrier than before.
"Let's see how much of a man you really are..." Cardin growled, though to his surprise something else growled in response. With everyone present, Keith aside of course, now scared, they turned to see a massive Ursa Major, covered in spikes and charging directly at them. Leaping at the students, it zeroed in on Cardin, who stood there in fear as the Ursa sniffed at the sap on his armor. With the Ursa outright roaring this time, Cardin's teammates fled almost immediately.
"That's a big Ursa!" shouted Russel Thrush as he sprinted away.
Cardin was a bit too afraid to really do anything at this point and instead just stood there as the Ursa swiped at him, all but blowing him away and revealing Jaune still laying there. The Ursa didn't really seem to care about him, however, and continued to sniff around to find Cardin once again, attracted by the sap coating his armor. Cardin, finally snapping out of it, drew his weapon in preparation for combat, only for the weapon to be immediately blown from his hands. The large mace tumbled on the ground for a moment before landing in front of Jaune, who looked rather conflicted; did he flee, or help his bully?
Keith, a little taken aback but otherwise keeping his cool, quickly sent a message to his teammates that there was a large Grimm in the area, and it was unlikely to be alone.
'We're on our way.' -Gwyn
A little relieved that his team was in bound, he turned to see more Grimm on the way, attracted by the fear of Cardin and his team. Quickly glancing back over to make sure none of them would notice him were he to fight, he silently drew his weapon and began picking off the smaller Grimm.
"Hope they can get here soon, I doubt CRDL can handle that big one on their own…"
Meanwhile, the others in the clearing heard the sounds of the Ursa's roar, scrabbling to their feet and looking around.
"Did you guys hear that?" Ruby said as she rose to her feet, her hand instinctively resting on her weapon.
As she said this, however, the members of CRDL aside from Cardin came running through the forest, occasionally glancing behind them in fear of something behind them.
"Ursa! Ursa!" Russel shouted, accidentally bumping into Yang. Since it's, you know, Yang, he bumped off of her and onto the ground and left Yang unfazed.
"What?!" she shouted, having barely even noticed him bumping into her, only taking note of him shouting 'Ursa' over and over. Grabbing him by the shirt, she easily picked him off the ground and raised him back to eye level. "Where?"
"Back there!" Russel shouted, still attempting to run despite Yang holding him in the air, pointing back the way he'd come the entire time. "It's got Cardin!"
"Jaune!" Pyrrha shouted, Gwyn looking down at his scroll and seeing the message from Keith.
"I doubt it's alone, we've gotta move!" Gwyn shouted, readying Great Escape and loading in some full metal jackets, fully anticipating a large Ursa. Orion and Tabitha got their own weapons ready.
"Yang! You and Blake, go get Professor Goodwitch!" Ruby shouted as she switched to leader mode, Yang and Blake nodding and going to do just that.
"You two, go with them!" Pyrrha shouted to Ren and Nora as she and Ruby prepared their weapons. "There could be more!"
All the while, Cardin was running from the Ursa at full speed, though it leapt over him and clawed at him once more with Cardin being unable to dodge it. On his back once more, he quickly rolled over and tried to roll away, muttering the entire time.
"Crap! Crap, crap!" he shouted, crawling the entire time as Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, and the rest of REKT showed up on the scene.
"Oh, no!" Pyrrha shouted at the sight of the scene. Less so that Cardin was in danger, as she truly didn't care all that much for the bully. No, she just didn't want to watch him die, because that would be in poor taste.
The group watched as the Ursa leaned down over Cardin, raising its paw and bringing it down onto the helpless bully…
Only for the blow to be blocked by our favorite dingus.
Struggling to hold the beast back, Jaune was unaware to Cardin's shocked expression as the beast continued to roar at him and push down, though he refused to let up and held fast.
Weiss spun the chambers on Myrtenaster and prepared to kill the beast alongside Gwyn as he raised his own weapon to take it out, though Pyrrha raised her arm to stop them.
"Wait!" she said, the two of them stopping and looking at her a little weird before lowering their weapons. Orion and Tabitha would have aimed in the first place, but their weapons were just a bit too 'spray and pray' for situations like this.
They watched on as Jaune pushed the Ursa back and took a slash at it's exposed stomach, angering it further than before. Rolling out of the way as it tried to crush him, he got back on his feet and tried to leap onto it with his blade at the ready, but the Ursa caught him midair and knocked him away. He got up quickly though and dashed past Cardin to defend him once more, opting to try again for a jump attack, getting knocked behind it this time. Rising, he glanced at his scroll on his shield to see that his aura was dangerously in red. Enraged, he rose to charge the Ursa once more, the Ursa charging back in response.
As the two got close, Pyrrha took note that Jaune left himself completely open to attack the same way he'd done with Cardin a while back in sparring class. Holding her hand forward, she did something odd as her aura condensed around it as a black glow formed around Jaune's shield. The shield then seemed to position itself between Jaune and the Ursa, surprising him as it took the hit for him and giving him a chance to counterattack, taking its head clean from its shoulders and leaving both parts to dissolve on the ground the same way they always do upon death.
"Uhhh… What?" Ruby mumbled, knowing that Pyrrha had done something yet not knowing what it was.
"How did you...?" Weiss muttered in equal shock as Pyrrha smiled and lowered her hand.
"Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs, and Gwyn has his trading. My Semblance is polarity," Pyrrha explained, clearly blowing Ruby's mind.
"Whoa, you can control poles..." Ruby said in awe, Weiss looking at her incredulously.
"No, you dunce!" she shouted, Ruby looking at her in surprise. "It means she has control over magnetism!"
"Magnets are cool, too..." Ruby whispered, still more than impressed.
"Yeah, her Semblance is honestly one of the best counters to mine I've ever seen, really," Gwyn said as he put away his weapon. "She doesn't have to worry too much about where I am or what I can trade to if she can control them as well."
Pyrrha gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder before turning to leave, Gwyn and Orion turning to follow, though Weiss was a bit confused by the choice.
"Wait, where are you going?" Weiss asked, Ruby nodding beside her.
"Yeah! We gotta tell them what happened!"
"We could…" Pyrrha said in thought before looking back at them with a smile on her face. "Or perhaps we could keep it our little secret?"
With that she turned to walk away once more with her friends in tow, Ruby and Weiss finally getting it and leaving as well.
"I'd have let him take the hit," Orion said as they walked, Pyrrha patting him on the shoulder.
"I'm fully aware, Orion, hence why I stepped in," she said with a smile and a sigh. "I'm just hoping this experience will give him something to think about."
As they walked, Keith ran back to them, huffing a bit.
"There were a bunch of smaller Grimm, I took care of them though," he said, earning a thumbs up from his leaders.
"Good old Keith," they said in tandem before patting him on the back. Good old Keith indeed.
Jaune, a little worse for wear but otherwise fine, sheathed his sword and turned to help Cardin up, the bully looking at him in shock from his sap-covered spot on the ground.
"Holy crap, Jaune!" Cardin said with a smile as he took Jaune's hand and was lifted to his feet.
Jaune, however, was not feeling as jovial as Cardin was, to say the least.
"Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again," Jaune said, glaring Cardin down the entire time, his tone making it clear that it wasn't a suggestion. "Got it?"
Cardin, surprisingly, looked a bit intimidated by Jaune's sudden prowess and anger and simply stood there for a moment as Jaune walked away. His team quickly came to join him, and he really didn't have much to say.
"I need new pants…" he muttered after a moment, Russel looking him over for a second.
"Sap?" he asked, Cardin standing still for a moment longer.
"Yeah, let's go with that."
[-0-]
Later that day, once the sun had fallen under the horizon and the stars came out, Jaune had found that he suddenly had a lot more free time due to Cardin actually heeding his words. So with newfound freedom, he went back to the rooftops and contemplated what had transpired, as he had a lot to think about.
"No Cardin tonight?"
Surprised by the sound of another voice, Jaune turned to see Pyrrha there making her way towards him, a warm smile on her face. "I thought you two were best buds?"
"Pyrrha…" Jaune said as he fully turned to face her. "I'm sorry. I was a jerk! You were only trying to be nice, and... I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head-"
"Jaune! It's okay!" Pyrrha said in order to cut him off. "Your team really misses their leader, you know. You should come down! Ren made pancakes! No syrup, though - you can thank Nora for that!"
With that, Pyrrha turned to head back inside, though Jaune raised his hand and called out to stop her.
"Wait!" he said, Pyrrha doing just that and turning to see Jaune looking rather sheepish. "I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"
To Jaune's surprise, Pyrrha instead turned away from him, seemingly in thought. However, she was actually smiling to herself, glad he'd finally decided to take her up on her offer. Turning back around, she looked over Jaune for a moment before pushing him to the ground, catching him off guard.
"Hey!" he shouted, clearly taken by surprise, only for Pyrrha to put her hands on her hips and look over him, seemingly thinking.
"Your stance is all wrong. You need to be wider and lower to the ground," she said, offering him a hand to help him back up. He took it and she quickly helped him up, the two smiling at each other for a moment longer than they probably should have. "Let's try that again."
For a while longer, she walked him through different forms and techniques, and well and truly they probably spent longer out there than they should have. They had plans to do it again soon, too, so they'd probably have a few late nights per week.
But at least they were having fun, and doing it together no less. What a bargain!
Meanwhile, REKT was in their room winding down for the night, feeling pretty good about themselves. After all, they'd succeeded in their mission without so much as a hitch. That mission of course was seeing what was up with Jaune and Cardin and then help put a stop to it.
And, well, as you saw, they did both of those things.
"Glad Jaune has his life back," Tabitha said, flipping through a packet she had for another class. "And that Cardin learned his lesson. Hopefully he doesn't try that with any of us…"
"He can try, I'll break his arms and legs," Orion said, listening to music on his scroll.
"I'll record it for posterity's sake," Gwyn said from his computer, playing a game. "Speaking of which, latest video dunks on Cardin."
"Oh, sweet," Keith said, coming over to Gwyn's desk to take a look.
"Pyrrha really helped him look good, it was huge for me when I was able to take down my first Ursa Major, so some people are really hyping him up," Gwyn said as he played the video.
"It was definitely the biggest thing he's done since he's gotten here," Tabitha said from up in her bed.
"Biggest thing he's done, period," Orion said, starting the next song.
"Well hey, he managed to stand up to his bully, that's pretty big too," Gwyn said, the others nodding in agreement. "But regardless, taking down an Ursa Major is still a big deal for him."
"Well, I took down a bunch of other Grimm today," Keith said, hoping to get some praise.
"You're really strong though Keith, it's not as big of a deal when you do it," Gwyn said as he pulled up some more footage he was editing. "That being said, the video of our combat highlights are still in, like, my top 5 views right now. They're not gonna forget you anytime soon."
"I'd hope not, my Semblance does it enough as is…" Keith muttered.
"On a side note," Tabitha started, looking up from her now nearly completed packet, "when do you guys think Pyrrha is gonna ask out Jaune?"
"Wait what?" Keith said, turning around in surprise.
"She'll never go for it," Gwyn said, shaking his head but still facing the screen. "She fights like a demon but she's never been assertive. Honestly, Jaune's probably gonna ask her first."
"Like he'd do it either," Orion said with a snort. "You saw how he was with Cardin. Sure, getting expelled from Beacon would be a big deal, but landing someone like Pyrrha? That shit'd be nuts."
"Pyrrha is quite an incredible girl, I can't even lie," Gwyn said in agreement.
"She really is," Tabitha said in thought. "Her hair and makeup is always on point, to say the least."
"Where's all this coming from?" Keith asked, a bit lost. To be fair, he wasn't around for the whole incident.
"Come on, you have to have seen the way they look at each other, there's no way there isn't a little bit of something going on," Gwyn said with a chuckle. "I won't say anything though. Don't wanna ruin the magic."
"Ye," Orion said in quick agreement. Clean and concise.
"Hope they make a move soon…" Tabitha said with a warm smile. "Jaune took Cardin down a peg and Pyrrha helped him do it. They helped a lot more people than they think. They deserve a little extra happiness."
"Ma's being wholesome agaaaiiin," Orion moaned before getting domed by one of Tabitha's many pillows. "Never mind, there's the Ma we all know and love."
"Well, I think that's pretty good for the day, I'm calling it," Gwyn said, shutting off his lights and hopping into bed. The others quickly settled into bed as well, in surprising silence no less.
At least at first.
Yes, tonight was yet another night plaquing Tabitha with the cursed Midnight Poopies™, a fact that continues to plague her each and every night.
Maybe someday she will be freed of her suffering from this curse? Who knows!
A/N: Once again, sorry everyone for taking so long, we do be livin' life out here. But with that said, the story will continue. Until one of us dies maybe. Probably. I don't know. On a brighter note, I do believe Oni has one more 2021 surprise for you all. Oni?
Oni: Indeed. For those of you who've read my own RWBY story, Vale is for the Valiant, I'm sure you've gotten used to seeing a bonus chapter every once in a blue moon.
This will be no different.
REKT Chibi
Episode 1
A Very Merry REKTmas
'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the dorms,
Not a student was stirring, for Glynda had warned;
"If anyone causes trouble, you'll answer to me."
So no one said shit, for reasons easy to see.
Yes, it was Christmas for our favorite fuckers, but their shenanigans seemed to have been discontinued due to an order from Glynda.
Or at the very least, their usual shenanigans.
After all, it was Christmas! Yes, though they were up to something, they weren't up to their usual brand of something, instead opting for a nice, wholesome Christmas celebration in REKT's room. Since, you know, that was their usual place to hang since it was the biggest room.
Gathered in REKT's room, everyone couldn't help but notice the large bags each other person had brought in.
"Wait, what's up with all the bags?" Yang asked, looking around at the others.
"We could ask the same thing," Ren said, taking note of the bags that REKT and RWBY were carrying.
"We thought we were the only ones that had gotten everyone gifts…" Tabitha groaned before perking back up immediately. "Oh well, more gifts for everyone! …and me…"
No one heard the last part that Tabitha muttered, but that didn't matter, as it was Christmas and there were plenty of gifts to go around, and plenty from her for the others. So, more excitement than greed.
"I love gifts! Giving and getting!" Ruby cheered, holding up the large bag she'd dragged in with her. "RWBY is giving out their gifts first, so sit back and deal with it."
"Ope aight," Orion said, sitting up as much as he could in bed without bashing his skull in again.
"Ok, here's what I got everyone!" Ruby shouted as she pulled out a bunch of ammo canisters and passed them around. "Sorry Jaune, I know you don't shoot so I got you some whetstones."
"Hey, I will take it," Jaune said, opening the can and looking them over.
"Wait, this isn't regular .50bmg, this is my custom version," Gwyn said, taking a few rounds out and looking them over. "How'd you manage this?"
"I went through the range one day once you were all done shooting and grabbed some of your empty casings to figure out what calibers you all use," Ruby said, rubbing the back of her head. "From there I just made some more! Yours was the most fun, Gwyn. Big calibers are suuuper fun to work on."
"Wait, you made all of these?" Tabitha asked as she looked through the can, surprised to see a multitude of silver-cased 9mm, perfect for Violet Grace. "This is a looot of ammo."
"Tabitha, I'm a weapons nut, I had a blast loading these," Ruby said, Yang chuckling to herself.
"Literally," she laughed. "You accidentally set off more than one."
"SHUT!" Ruby shouted, turning aggressively towards her sister.
"While you and Yang argue," Weiss said, "I'll pass out my gifts."
Weiss did just that, reaching into the bag and pulling out a series of fancy envelopes and passing them around, each closed by a wax seal from the SDC.
"I almost don't wanna open this, it's too pretty," Gwyn said, looking over the elaborate envelope. "Only almost though, here we go."
Gwyn and the others opened their envelopes, pulling them out to see a voucher for a rather hefty sum for SDC products.
"I figured as combat students, you'd be using dust more than most. So, I pulled some strings and managed to get everyone a gift card for any SDC store and subsidiary," Weiss said nonchalantly. "You're all welcome."
"Wait why is mine less than the others?" Gwyn asked, having looked at the vouchers his friends had.
"Oh, maybe there were some communication issues," Weiss said, playing it off as though she didn't just dislike Gwyn. "I'll see what can be done."
"Oh don't worry about it, I can get dust easily enough," Gwyn said, waving it off. "I appreciate it though."
Orion looked around and took notice that his voucher was the slightest, slightest bit more than the others.
Score.
He was taken back to the real world from his mental victory when Blake brushed past, pushing a book into everyone's hands before sitting back down.
"I figured out who your favorite authors were and got you some of their books," Blake said rather nonchalantly. "I got the ones signed that I was able to. I'd be more than willing to get the others signed when the chance arises, however."
"You just want them signed so you can get your copies signed," Nora mumbled through her taco. When did she even get that…?
"So?" Blake said, giving Nora the side eye, only to look to Tabitha in surprise when she squealed in joy.
"How did you get this?!" she shouted, clutching the book to her chest. "I thought this book wasn't even out yet!"
"I have friends at a few bookstores, they were able to get me a copy early," Blake said, twirling her hair in her fingers.
"Alright, enough book talk, time for my gifts!" Yang shouted, grabbing the final things out of the bag and holding them up. "Fireworks, baby!"
"Yes, let's go!" Nora shouted, running up and grabbing a box. "The good stuff too!"
"Come on Nora, you know me, I'm not settling for anything less than the best," Yang said, chuckling to herself. "At least, nothing short of the biggest bang!"
"Please do not use them inside," Blake said, looking around the room.
"Agreed," Tabitha said, she and Blake looking at each other for a moment before looking back at Ruby as she spoke.
"Anyway, there it is for Team RWBY's gifts!" she cheered while offering a salute. "Merry Christmas to all!"
"Uh, I'd like to do JNPR's gifts next, if that's ok," Jaune said, doing his best to hold up the bag he'd helped drag in. "I'll start with mine."
Reaching into the bag, he pulled out a series of knit coasters and passed them around, Yang taking hers and looking at it in awe.
"Whoa, how'd you get these?" she asked as she looked it over. "It's a perfect replica of my emblem!"
"I made them myself," Jaune explained, handing his teammates their own. "I had a lot of free time after the whole Cardin thing."
"Wait, you made these?" Keith asked as he looked his own over.
"Yep!" Jaune said proudly. "You learn a thing or two when you grow up with seven sisters. Some things more useful than others…"
"No moping, more gifts!" Nora shouted, pushing Jaune out of the way and reaching into the bag, ripping her gifts out. "I went back to the forest and got more sap, then with Ren's help I made it into syrup for everyone! Extra sweet, too."
"Nora I love you," Tabitha said, accepting the gallon jug of syrup Nora handed her.
"I am very loveable, I know," Nora said.
"I suppose I'm next," Pyrrha said while reaching into the bag, pulling out some picture frames. "I managed to go through Gwyn's social media and found the best pictures of everyone, as well as our best group photo and got them framed. I left a note for everyone too."
"...'To my favorite rival'... Yeah, sounds about right," Gwyn said, looking at the note she'd left on the back.
"'Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Scraggly'… Pyrrha!" Jaune shouted, turning to his partner.
"Weiss told me what name she'd given you back on the first day and I couldn't help but immortalize it!" Pyrrha said with a laugh. "I left you another note on the other photo, however."
"...Ok, this one is much better, thank you," Jaune said with a warm smile, keeping to himself that the note simply said 'My hero'.
"That means I'm last," Ren said, grabbing his gifts from the bag. "It ends up that our rooms tend to smell mostly of sweat, weapon oil, or dust, so I've taken the liberty of getting incense for everyone."
Passing the incense around, everyone checked to see what scent they'd gotten, everyone pleasantly surprised to see it was actually a series of scents they really liked.
"Oh, this is quite nice," Blake said, taking a few deeper sniffs.
"There is no need to thank me," Ren said, offering a small smile and holding his hand up. "I do quite enjoy this season of merriment."
"I guess we're up," Orion said, grabbing REKT's bag and rummaging around for his gifts, pulling out a bunch of different gifts, an oddity for the night. "I couldn't think of one good gift for everyone, so I got a buncha other random shit. For instance, Ruby."
"Hm?" she muttered, looking up from the photo Pyrrha had chosen for her, being she and Gwyn standing atop the cliff during initiation.
"Cookies," he said, offering forward a large jar of chocolate chips.
"YES," she shouted, a red blur passing in front of Orion that quickly took the cookies, the blur of course being Ruby. "I'm not sharing."
"Anyway, Gwyn," Orion said as he offered his co-leader a box. "Noticed the other night that your headset is getting kinda worn down. I'm gonna fix that."
"Oh sweet, it's the newer model too," Gwyn said as he took it, fiddling with the rgb settings to match it to his personal colors.
"Keith, I know how much you love food, so I've made food easier," Orion said as he produced a box for an air fryer.
"YOOO," Keith shouted, running forward and accepting the gift. "I'm gonna use this tonight!"
"I had a feeling," Orion said, producing a makeup set and handing it to Tabitha. "Here, some smell good and look good shit."
"Oh, it's the brand I use too," Tabitha said as she took the box and looked over its contents. "Their stuff is cheap but goes a long way."
"And for everyone else, I have lotto tickets," Orion said as he passed them around. He kinda lied though, as he had an extra gift for Weiss.
"What is this?" the Schnee Heiress asked, as this gift had been wrapped, unlike the others so far. Opening it up, she saw it was a box of rather high-end chocolate. "Oh! This stuff is nearly impossible to find in Atlas!"
"Hard to find here too, that stuff is sold out almost anywhere that would actually sell it…" Gwyn said as he looked the chocolates over. "That stuff goes extra quick."
"You found some of the rarest chocolate in the world for me?" Weiss asked, looking at Orion with an admittedly adorable expression. "That's so kind of you."
"Ye," Orion said, winking at Weiss. Smooth.
"...Wait. Wait wait wait…" Jaune said, having already checked his ticket. "Guys… I think mine's a winner…"
"Yo, really?" Gwyn said, coming over and taking a look. "Oh. Uh, Jaune? It's like… 15 lien…"
"What, that's it?" Jaune said, groaning in defeat. "I can't catch a break…"
"Sure you can!" Gwyn said with a smile. "After all, you've still got some gifts coming!"
Taking the bag from Orion, he went through and got a multitude of cards, passing them around the room.
"Whoa, what are these…?" Ruby said as she looked the cards over, as Gwyn managed to get a few per person.
"I pulled some strings and got some gift cards from a few of my sponsors, so if any of you think any of my gear is cool, you know where to get it!" Gwyn said, pulling up the website of one of the companies. "In custom colors, too. I'm sure you'll all be able to find something to match your wardrobes pretty easily."
"Oh oh oh, these guys have some shades that I've been eyeing but couldn't afford!" Yang shouted as she held one of the cards up. "Elgin, you are the best!"
"I try," Gwyn said, noticing there was another card in the bag. "Oh, right, I only managed to get one of these… I suppose my final gift shall be gifted from one member of the Sniper Gang to another."
Handing the final card to Ruby, she was shocked to see it was a lifetime subscription to a high-end weapon magazine, one that even offered promo codes to deals online.
"NO WAY!" she shouted, leaping into the air and all but tackling Gwyn. "This is my favorite magazine, but I've never been able to get a subscription!"
"Yes, you're welcome, now get off!" Gwyn managed to squeak out, as in her efforts to examine her card she ended up sitting on Gwyn's chest.
"Come now, little sis, we don't sit on people," Yang said, lifting Ruby off of Gwyn by her hood.
"Sorry, sorry!" she cheered, taking responsibility for her mistake. "I'm just really excited!"
"Anyway, Tabitha and I didn't get anyone individual gifts, so to make up for that we teamed up for your gifts," Keith said, heading over to the minifridge. "I figured out what everyone's favorite dishes were and got the ingredients, then I asked Tabitha to cook it all since Tabitha's cooking is literally the best. No offense, Ren."
"None taken, I must agree; her dishes are nothing short of immaculate," Ren said, admittedly a bit excited. Her cooking was really good.
"And I got a bunch extra of everything, so everyone should have more than one serving. Except for you, Nora, no one can afford more than one serving for you," Keith said, passing out the pre-prepped meals.
"You still have plenty more than usual though, and I made sure to make it extra sweet for you," Tabitha said, taking the one she'd made for herself from Keith.
"PANCAKES!" Nora shouted, not being able to wait and see what food she got. Afterall, Nora and food are a terrifying yet permanent combination.
"Well, looks like that's it for gifts," Orion said, noting the bags were now all empty. "What's the plan now?"
"I got a few game codes from my brother and sister, and they should be just about done downloading," Gwyn said as he gestured to his computer. "Who wants to play?"
"You already know I'm in," Yang said, whipping her scroll out.
"Oh, oh, me too! Me too!" Ruby cheered, getting her scroll out as well.
"I wanna see some heads roll!" Nora shouted, she too readying her scroll.
"But first, everyone gather 'round!" Gwyn said, grabbing one of his nice cameras. "I want to take a picture to send back to my family. I'll make sure I send it to all of you too so you can do the same."
"Good idea!" Ruby added, Yang nodding beside her.
"Dad would never let us hear the end of it if we never sent him any pictures with our friends," she said, Gwyn putting an arm around her shoulder and holding up his camera.
"Good thing I take good pictures then, huh?" he jeered, Yang quickly shoving him off.
"Less talking, more clicking."
Knowing when he'd been beat, Gwyn relented and took plenty of group photos, sorting out later which ones he'd send to everyone. He even took photos as they played games, such as Pyrrha cheering following her defeat of Blake, and Yang getting ready to tackle Jaune with her Semblance active after he got lucky and cheesed out a game. All in all, he had plenty of photos that he could have shared.
…buuut…
Instead, he opted to keep those between him and his friends. Sure, he was an internet personality, but you don't always need to put your social life on blast 24/7.
And that made all the moments he shared with his friends all the more special.
REKT WISHES YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS 2021
A/N: Ah yes, our first of the chibi sideline stories, they are considered non canon to the main REKT story, but they are fun and let us meme a bit more than usual. Not that we need to, just fun. Next chapter may take a bit, but hopefully not as long as this one. With that, I'll let Oni take it away.
Oni: Yes, bonus/chibi chapters will be rarer than the real chapters, but that's mostly just to keep the magic alive. Wouldn't be as fun if they were here every time. Anyway, we'd be willing to hear you guys out if you have any ideas for future chibi chapters, just make sure they're good. If they're bad we won't do them. Oh well, back to the old grind.
OniHelix out!
'Till All Are One!