Hey guys, chapter 11.
Jaune hit the ground with a grunt, gasping for air. Cardin stood over him, grinning with a controlled anger.
'You know that wasn't very smart Jauney boy. I'm gonna make sure they send you back to mommy in teeny, tiny, pieces.' Cardin picked Jaune off his feet, holding him by the collar. Jaune, now battered and bruised, groaned in response.
Jaye, still in the trees, dropped his crosshairs onto Cardin's head. He placed his finger on the trigger, but didn't pull it. Dropping the gun onto his lap, Jaye clenched his teeth.
'No. Jaune does this on his own, or not at all.' He told himself, observing the fight quietly.
'I don't care what you do to me.' He said, staring defiantly into Cardin's eyes. 'But you are not messing with my team.'
Cardin laughed. 'You think talk like that makes you tough? You think you're a big strong man now?!'
Jaye cringed at Cardin's words, rolling his eyes.
'You're just laying your own insecurities out on the table Cardin. God, you idiots are all the same, picking on people just because you can't stomach how pathetic your own damn self is.' Jaye thought, raising the gun again. He paused as the underbrush rustled.
Jaune chuckled weakly, only serving to piss Cardin off even more. Cardin flashed a forced grin, raising his fist. The instant his fist made contact with Jaune's face, a bright light flashed out, and Jaye was blinded for a moment, instinctively turning his face away. Cardin dropped Jaune, clutching his hand in pain. Jaune, now on the floor, touched his now fully healed face in surprise. He stared at his glowing hands, astonished, before Sky Lark kicked him to the floor.
Cardin, growling with anger, stepped on Jaune's outstretched hand. 'Let's see how much of a man you really are!'
Cardin raised his foot to stomp down on Jaune's face, and Jaye levelled his gun at the boy. He settled the cross hairs on Cardin's raised leg, but before he could pull the trigger, he was interrupted by a heaving growl. With a resounding crash, an Ursa Major emerged snarling from the trees. Sniffing, the Ursa set its sights on Cardin, and Jaye realized why. The sap on the boy's chest was drawing the massive beast to him. Cursing, Jaye shifted through the trees to a better position.
'Stupid idiot, taking so long, fragging stupid ridiculous…' Jaye muttered a string of cuss words under his breath as he jumped between trees.
'That's a big Ursa!' The members of team CRDL yelled, making a break for the trees, leaving Jaune and Cardin behind to fend for themselves. Cardin screamed as he was swatted away by the hulking beast. Pawing the ground, the Ursa ignored Jaune, following the scent of the sweet sap. Jaye paused for a moment, watching as Jaune's head darted between the Ursa, and a clear escape route behind him.
This was the deciding moment for Jaune, Jaye thought, putting down the gun. Should he run, or save Cardin, the decision was up to him. He had no place interfering with it.
A Short Distance Away
Ruby looked up from her jar of sap as a distant roar rang out.
'Did you guys hear that?' She asked, and jumped as the three remaining members of team CRDL came charging through the trees.
'URSA! URSA!' Russel screamed with wild abandon, running into Yang in the process. She grabbed him by the collar, picking him off his feet.
'What? Where?!' She yelled, and Russel pointed behind him.
'Back there! It's got Cardin!' Pyrrha dropped her sap jar, her hands shooting up to her face.
'Jaune–!' She gasped, and Ruby grit her teeth.
'Yang! You and Blake go get Professor Goodwitch!' Ruby ordered, and Yang threw the struggling boy aside, nodding in acknowledgement.
'You two go with them!' Pyrrha told Ren and Nora. 'There could be more.'
Back In The Clearing
'Crap crap crap!' Cardin cried, crawling desperately away from the beast. He screamed in terror as the beast swatted him into the air again. The Ursa bore down on the terrified boy just as Pyrrha, Weiss and Ruby came bursting into the clearing.
'Oh no! We have to help him!' Ruby cried, flipping open her scythe. The beast growled again, swinging its giant paw, and Ruby leveled Crescent Rose to fire.
Charging out of nowhere, Jaune dived between Cardin and the Ursa, absorbing the blow with his shield. Struggling to keep it up, Jaune groaned as the grimm pushed down. Weiss spun Myrtenaster up, ready to charge in, but Pyrrha held out her hand.
'Wait!' she cried, and Weiss stared at her in confusion. Jaune, finally gaining some leverage, slashed at the grimm's head. Stumbling back, the creature roared to the sky. Jaune dived to the side, avoiding its follow up strike, leaping over the next one, but grunted in pain as he failed to evade the third one. The blow sent him flying backwards, nearly landing on Cardin. Jaune rolled to his feet, charging desperately at the beast. Leaping for a flying strike, the beast knocked him out of the air, and Jaune hit the ground, gasping for air.
'That's it, I'm going in.' Weiss spun Myrtenaster into a combat stance, and started as a bullet impacted the ground in front of her feet.
'Wha–? Who fired that?!' She exclaimed, before noticing a glint of light amongst the trees. Looking closely, she spotted Jaye, crouching on a branch. He stared back at her, shaking his head, before returning his attention to the fight. He stared at Jaune, noticing the boy's scroll through his scope. His aura had dropped into the red. One more hit, and the boy would be done for. His grip tightened on the trigger, and he glanced at Pyrrha. The red head nodded at him, and he took aim at the Ursa.
Jaune charged in desperately, dropping his shield as he did. Pyrrha raised her arm, her hand glowing with a mysteriously dark light, and Jaye noticed. Turning back to the fight, he saw Jaune's shield move up, the dark glow surrounding it, and the Ursa's paw glanced off the hard metal surface, dropping the boy onto a knee. He saw the Ursa's other paw move, and he pulled the trigger.
The bullet cut through the air, striking the Ursa's paw as it was raised, halting the movement. With a tremendous effort, Jaune pushed the paw off, swinging Crocea Mors with all his might. It whistled towards the beast's neck, and moments later the massive head crashed to the ground. Jaune froze in place, as if stunned by what he just did, staring down at the severed head in shock. Pyrrha let her outstretched hand fall, and the two girls stared at the redhead.
'Uh, what?' Ruby said, utterly confused by what just happened, and the heiress stared at the redhead's hands.
'How did you–?' She questioned, and Pyrrha gave her a small smile.
'Well, Ruby has her speed, you have your glyphs, my semblance is polarity.' The redhead answered, turning her gaze back to Jaune.
'Ah…you can control poles.' The hooded girl replied, staring in awe and still confusion.
'No, you dunce! It means she has control over magnetism!' Weiss admonished the still awestruck girl.
'Magnets are cool too.' Ruby whispered, and Weiss threw her head back in frustration. Pyrrha turned to leave quietly, and the two girls looked at her, surprised.
'Wait where are you going? We gotta tell them what happened!' Ruby called, and Pyrrha smiled at her.
'We could…' She mused, watching the blond boy put away his sword. 'Or, perhaps, we could just keep it our little secret.'
The three smiled, turning to leave. Jaune approached the stunned Cardin, who was still lying on the ground, and offered him his hand. Pulling him to his feet, Jaune pulled the boy closer, glaring straight at him.
'Holy crap, Jaune…' Cardin started, and Jaune cut him off.
'Don't ever mess with my team…my FRIENDS…ever again. Got it?' He told the bully, and without waiting for an answer, turned, and left. Jaye smiled in satisfaction, returning his shield to his back, and hopped out of the tree, passing silently between the bushes.
Some Distance Away
'Ah!' The three girls jumped as Jaye popped out of the bushes next to them. Weiss glared at the dark-haired boy, and Jaye offered her an apologetic grin in return. Pyrrha turned to him, smiling.
'Thank you for your help Jaye.' Pyrrha told the grinning boy, and Jaye nodded, waving a hand dismissively.
'Don't mention it.' He replied, shoving his hands into his pockets. Weiss and Ruby stared at the two of them in shock.
'Wait, you two planned this?!' The heiress yelled accusatively, and Jaye laughed.
'Well kind of.' Pyrrha said, smiling nervously.
'Well not so much planned it, more like the pieces just fell into place.' Jaye admitted, twirling a dagger in his hand. 'We definitely didn't plan the Ursa, we were just planning to watch over Jaune until an opportunity arose to help him settle his demons.'
'The Ursa showing up and attacking Cardin just so happened to be a grand opportunity that presented itself, so we took it.' Pyrrha finished, smiling at the two girls.
'Wow, I really didn't know you'd go this far Jaye. This is seriously out of character for you, it's creepy.' Weiss told the boy, and he shrugged.
'Whatever you say Ice Queen.' He shot back, putting away his dagger. The three girls turned, heading for the rendezvous point. Once the girls' backs were turned, Jaye chucked a small vial into the trees beside him.
The vial popped open as it hit the floor, a red liquid spilling out from it. It was the tree sap that had drawn the Ursa to Cardin earlier. Unbeknownst even to Pyrrha, let alone the other girls, Jaye had done extensive research before they'd come to the forest.
He'd overheard Cardin's orders to Jaune the previous night, having bugged Jaune's scroll, and guessed what the Rapier Wasps were for. The Ursa Major finding them had been no accident, Jaye had gone to find one, laying a trail of sap for it to follow, tracking Jaune via his scroll. Jaune throwing the jar of sap at Cardin had only made his life easier, as he didn't have to use the special bullet he'd made the previous night, filled with a scent that was known to attract Ursa.
It was far stronger, and would easily capture more attention from the Ursa than the sap. The plan had actually been to shoot Cardin with the scent, and see what Jaune did, but things worked out in his favor this time.
'Jaye, pick up the pace!' Ruby called back, and Jaye jogged to meet them, quietly grinning to himself.
At The Rendezvous Point
'By the way, how did you know what I was going to do?' Pyrrha asked Jaye, and he looked up at her in confusion.
'What are you talking about?' He asked quizzically, and Pyrrha looked about warily for the blond boy. Leaning closer, she whispered.
'How'd you know I was going to move Jaune's shield?' She asked, and Jaye laughed.
'Oh that? I already knew what your semblance was, and the guy wasn't defending himself, so the logical thing to do that would save him and not bust you at the same time would be to just quietly move his shield.' He reasoned.
'Besides, I wasn't sure what you were going to do. In the end, I just thought that if you did something to save him then I'd shoot the Ursa, and if you didn't, I'd shoot it anyway.' Pyrrha stared at him, mouth agape.
'But I never told you about my semblance!' She whispered furiously, and Jaye grinned at her, a mischievous glint in his eye.
'I pride myself in figuring things out about my opponents you know. I fought you before, so of course I'd have figured out what your semblance was. Why else do you think I'd forfeit for? Your semblance is kind of unfair.' He told the astonished girl, taking in the shocked look on her face. He laughed, walking off, leaving Pyrrha staring after him.
That Night
Jaune stood on the rooftop, staring at the CCT tower in the distance. He sighed to himself, thinking back on the events that had transpired, and wondered how he was going to fix things. In the end, he had no idea how to approach Pyrrha after what happened, and he wondered if he was ever going to be able to do it.
'No Cardin tonight?' Jaune started as Pyrrha's voice rang out behind him, the redhead seemingly appearing out of nowhere. 'I thought you two were best buds?'
'It's now or never.' Jaune thought to himself, steeling his nerves. He turned to face the redhead, trembling slightly.
'Pyrrha, I'm sorry. I was a jerk, you were only trying to be nice and–…I–I had all this stupid macho stuff in my head and–…' He blurted, nervously staring at his feet.
'Jaune. It's okay.' Pyrrha cut him off, smiling. 'Your team really misses their leader, you know.'
She turned to leave, calling over her shoulder.
'You should come down! Ren made pancakes~ ' She sang, swaying her hips. 'No syrup though, you can thank Nora for that.'
'Wait!' Jaune exclaimed, flinching slightly at the sound of his own voice. He took a deep breath.
'I know I don't deserve it after all that's happened, but…' He looked away, and grit his teeth. 'Would you till be willing to help me? To help me become a better fighter?'
Pyrrha turned away from the boy in mock deliberation, smiling to herself as she did flips in her head, nearly going giddy in excitement and happiness. Turning back to the boy, she quietly walked up to him, and shoved him to the floor.
'Hey!' Jaune exclaimed, staring at her. Then again, not like he didn't deserve it. Pyrrha smiled down at him lovingly.
'Your stance is all wrong, you need to be wider and lower to the ground.' She told him, a big smile on her face, and offered him her hand. Jaune took it, grinning back. She pulled him to his feet.
'Let's try that again.'
Meanwhile
Jaye sat on the other side of the roof, hidden from their view. He smiled to himself quietly, and deliberated if he ought to go down and steal some of their pancakes. He had syrup in his own team's larder. Unfortunately, the only way down was the staircase, and going down that way would mean being seen by the two of them.
'But seriously though, can't the two of them flirt somewhere else? I was here first, this is my roof.' Jaye mused to himself, peeking over the edge to see if he could climb down. Not seeing any other way out, he resigned himself to being stuck there till the two were done with each other.
'Ah…kids these days.' He mumbled to himself, closing his eyes. In a few moments, he was asleep, snoring quietly. Above them, in the night sky, a mass of stars stared down, blinking at them.
Hey, so this is the end of Jaune's development arc, and now we move on. Hopefully there will be more opportunities for fight scenes later on.