The lives we may lead

by slayer king 22

inspired by JC-of-the-Corn and king-mac-11 RWBY crew react to alternate lives and realities that involve jaune arc. i know there's about twenty of these stories but i decided to try my hand at one as my first story because the ideas come to me pretty easily and its pretty funny to think up all these different ideas for a story. rated m for certain worlds i may show.

25. Chapter 22

At this rate you guys will crucify me before I even figure out what to write next.

Gonna say this, I didn't even really think about any other boxing show or manga out there. This is my all time favorite sports anime ever and this being the best fights in the anime in my opinion. Also if you have noticed the poll says recast jaune into a different role. I'm thinking of the first fight in Naruto that really got my and a lot of peoples blood pumping, can you guys guess what it is?

DISCLAIMER: i don't own RWBY or hajime no ippo

"Boxing?" Jinn asked in a confused tone.

"Yep in this world Jaune is a professional boxer. One of the many boxers from a place called japan." Slayer replies

"Japan?" Ghira asked

"An island country with a population of 126.3 million people. And Jaune is going up against the current WBC World Jr. Middleweight Champion Mercury." Slayer informed them, getting a smirk from the silver haired punk.

"Can't wait to see this." he said in a smug tone.

"This ought to be good." Tai yang said with a grin. The lights begin to darken once more signifying the beginning.

The screen shows a large arena packed with people all looking excited for the match.

"And now, the fighters will enter the arena!" an announcer's voice calls out as blue lights pierce through the dark arena.

"Blue laser's cut through the darkness! 16 matches, 16 wins, and 16 KO'S!" another announcer calls out, as we get to see a sweeping shot of the crowd which revealed Sun, Neptune, and Oscar watching the ring with pride on their faces.

"Shit, that's a damn good track record" Roman said with a smile puffing his cigar as the smoke got pulled into a vent above him.

"Why am I there?" Oscar asked nervously.

"Us too?" Sun and Neptune said

"You lot are members of the same boxing gym as Jaune. Actually you could say Jaune was the one who helped you start your boxing careers." Slayer said to them. Getting some nods from the three.

"Oscar is the most recent as a featherweight boxer, Jaune saved him from some bullies. However Oscar passed out and Jaune took him to the Branwen gym. Jaune taught him how to throw a straight and had him hit a sandbag after he drew the face of his bully on it. What none of them expected was for Oscar to hit the bag so hard that the skin on his knuckles would peel off. Afterwards Jaune helped inspire/train Oscar into being a boxer." Slayer explained getting Oscar to smile at the idea that this Jaune was a mentor to him.

"Well that was nice of him I guess." Oscar said with a smile.

"Yeah but the only reason your skin would peel like that from a punch, is if you were a power puncher. Have you ever fought before?" Taiyang asked, receiving a sheepish no from the farm boy.

"The work that version of him and this version does is different. One helped his mother's fishing business, the other helped his aunties farm. Also a different world, different rules." slayer provided before turning to Sun and Neptune with a malicious grin.

"You two knuckleheads got your asses kicked by Jaune because in your first meeting Sun kicked Jaunes face into an arcade screen to which Jaune responded by knocking Sun the fuck out with a wrestling move." Slayer said with a grin still on his face.

"Why a wrestling move?" Whitley asked curiously.

"Because he swore to never use his fist in the street again. So he learns different ways to beat people up that give him grief. He later had to save you knuckleheads from a group of his former classmates and then fought the two of you because you two got angry that he stopped the brawl." Slayer continued as Sun and Neptune began to look even more nervous than before.

"Afterwards you both swore revenge against him, you ended up finding the Branwen gym where you both began being trained in boxing. You trained with the sole goal of beating Jaune, Or at least landing a hit on him. but that changed after winning your debut matches. Since then Jaune has become more of an idol to you rather than a rival." Slayer finished explaining.

"So we got into boxing with the sole purpose of kicking Jaune's ass?" Neptune said with a blank look. Slayer nodded in response.

"And it started because I kicked him into an arcade screen?" Sun asked in an embarrassed tone.

"Yep . you and Neptune were kind of delinquents at the time. So you did what you wanted." Slayer said with a blank face.

" Can we get back to the fight?" Yang asked impatiently

"One last thing Mercury is the world's biggest asshole in this viewing." Slayer said with a somewhat pissed look.

"Ouch… you hurt my feelings." Mercury said sarcastically.

"Oh piss off you legless gimp!" Neo signed at him furiously only to get a blank stare in response.

"She says fuck off!" Roman kindly translated with a grin

" Is that everything?" Raven asked impatiently.

"Yes, now we may proceed." Slayer said with a smirk.

"With an unparalleled perfect record in his home country, Japan's Sunlight now takes flight to the top of the world!" The announcer's voice continued as the screen showed a cloak with a large logo that had a skeleton with a blond pompadour, wings, and holding the world in its hand.

"The crowd is already completely worked up! There has never been a boxer who personifies pure strength so clearly!" The screen shows a boxer wearing the cloak who is tightening his fists as a crowd outside is chanting.

"Wow, they sound really excited!" Saffron said

"It is a world title match in a world without monsters to fight, it's kind of a big deal. Actually based on Pyrrha it's still kind of a big deal in your world" slayer said with a chuckle

"Japan's Sunlight? Why do they call him that?" Ruby asked curiously.

"Oh because Jaune's name translates to yellow in ancient minstralian." Terra answered.

"Yep Jaune was our little ball of Sunshine. But I guess he's the world's Sunshine now." Saffron said happily with a giggling Adrien chirpin happily next to her.

"Unca Jaune!" Adrien shouted happily causing his mothers to squeal excitedly

"Funnily enough this fight is called the battle of light and dark." slayer said getting a chuckle from Salem and Ozpin

The boxer gives a mighty step forward walking out into the spotlight.

"And that man now steps into the spotlight." the announcer says as the lights begin moving to the entrance he was coming from. The screen moves over to show an older Ren with a scar over his nose in the stands. Next to him were Whitley and a young man with greenish-black hair.

"Operative marrow? What is he doing there?" Ironwood asked

"He's a fan of Jaune and a rival to Oscar. Whitley is also a rival to Oscar but Jaune knew him as a boy. In this world Jaques used to be a boxer before having to retire, Whitley took up his style of boxing to make his dad proud." Slayer explains.

"What style?" Whitley asked in an excited but controlled tone.

"You're a counter puncher. You wait for your opponent to mess up or miss, and deal a jab or hook in the targeted areas to make the most out of your punches." Slayer told the boy who grew more excited hearing it. Willow however looked more concerned for him.

"And me?" Oscar asked timidly

"You're an in-fighter. You rush in and deal massive blows at close range. Every win you have is by KO. however there's a major drawback: an out-boxer can take advantage with their better defense and knock you flat if you're not careful." Slayer told him which caused Oscar to get a little excited as well.

"What kind of boxer is Jaune?" Yang asked curiously

"You'll see," Slayer informed, getting Yang to smirk.

"Hey p-money, you don't mind if I teach arc a thing or two about boxing do ya?" Yang asked excitedly

"I think that would be up to Jaune if he wants to learn from you." Pyrrha replied with a hint of concern

"H-here it comes." Marrow uttered nervously watching as the music that was playing began to swell louder.

"H-he's coming out-dani." an old man said nervously.

"Who's that?" Qrow asked

"Your old buddy Clover. You both boxed in your younger days as prize fighters." Slayer said, getting Qrow to pale hearing that word.

"I feel like I might have a heart attack." Neptune muttered out as Oscar watched with bated breath muttering Jaunes name. A light flared to life at the entrance showing that the cloak was gold and white. With a flick of his covered arms Jaune began to walk forward with another old man in front of him.

"Whoa! This silhouette is.. It's an golden figure. The challenger, Jaune Arc, approaches the ring as a golden light, like his namesake implies!" the announcer shouts excited as Jaune makes his way to the ring.

"Really knows how to put on a show, huh?" Terra asked snickering as Adrien was giggling at how silly he looked. Saffron next to her turning red from either embarrassment or holding her laughter in at the ridiculous sight

"I'll give him credit he's sticking to the bit." Sienna said with a smirk.

"With the world title as his prey, Jaune arc boldly strides forward with his arms outstretched! He regally flies across the clouds of smoke as he makes his way to the ring! " the announcer excitedly shouted as the screen then showed Saffron standing to a much younger blonde girl. Both of them held a grim expression on their faces. The screen shows Ren and company watching and Marrow stammering out a point about how flashy Jaune was being, while Ren was giving a large grin to this performance.

"I mean he's not wrong but I'm now curious on how I'm going to enter." Mercury said snickering at the dramatic flare this version of Jaune had.

"Oh cool me and Rouge are there to cheer Jaune but where's the rest of the family?" Saffron said happily

"Not coming." Slayer responded

"What do you mean they're not coming?!" Saffron asked aggressively.

" First there's only you, Rouge, Jaune, and your eldest sister Violet. So Jaune doesn't have seven sisters in this world. Second, Jaune was somewhat kicked from the family because he started a fight at one of Violet's rugby games." slayer told her

"WHAT!? WHY? Why would they go that far?" Saffron asked angrily

"And why did he feel the need to start a fight?" Terra asked with a silent rage building in her.

"He beat the crap out of 20 people because they insulted Violet as a player. Violet, like Jaune, is a prodigy. She was so good that her teammates couldn't keep up with her at all and definitely couldn't catch her passes. So it led to them being crushed badly. Jaune starting a fight got her team banned for the rest of the year. This was also way before Jaune started boxing. Your parents kicked him out and refused to speak to him since he was in middle school. Violet also saw his 'career' as an embarrassment to their family. Your family in this world is a super successful, super rich family." Slayer explained calmly to two, but this only made Saffron even angrier. Not to mention the rest of the audience grew angrier as well.

"His parents sound just like Jaques…" Willow groans pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Sure plenty of kids get into scraps but to throw him out for it." Taiyang said with a hint of frustration.

"I mean I may not like Raven. but I still consider her my sister.. Even if she pisses me off." Qrow said in a rough tone.

"Thanks Qrow; I truly feel the love" Raven replied sarcastically

"I don't think the fight was the real reason he got kicked out… I bet he got into a lot of fights, didn't he?" Summer asked, receiving a nod in response.

"Well then what made this one so different?" Terra asked though ground teeth

"The problem wasn't so much that he started a fight, it was the fact that he hospitalized at least half of them…." Slayer provided, stunning a few of them but only leaving them less angry than before.

"Now shall we proceed." he asked calmly, getting a nod from one or two people. The others were still pretty pissed.

As the music swells Jaune takes a large jump into the ring, a big smile plastered on his face. His costume flaring out making it look like he was flying into the ring.

"And now, in the blue corner...The Sunlight has arrived!" The crowd's cheers get even higher when Jaune's feet land on the mat. Jaune stands to his full height staring up at the ceiling lights.

"So this is the ring for my world title match. I've finally made it." Jaune thought with an inkling of pride. He then clenched his fist and shot it upward giving a powerhouse yell filled with his determination. The crowd was cheering so loud and stomping their feet so heavily that it sounded like raging thunder.

"Damn do they sound pumped." Sun said, looking excited just like his teammate next to him.

"I wonder if he'll live up to his amount of hype." Roman muttered biting down on his cigar excitement Neo grinning maliciously next to him.

The lights go out and red lasers begin to shine through the arena as the ride of the valkyries plays overhead.

"Lasers shine through the arena once more! This time in red! And from this crimson light… It's the WBC World Jr. middleweight Champion! Mercury Black!" a light shines upon the otherside of the arena showing Mercury dressed in armor and his world title belt, surrounded by busty blonde women in bathing suits.

"Wooh now we're talking! This is how you make an entrance." Mercury shouted with a grin.

"I guess there are some girls dumb enough to hang around you." Emerald snarked off at him. Meanwhile some of the other women just deadpanned at this entrance.

The audience didn't take his entrance nearly as well as they took to Jaune. But Mercury ignored them and just kept moving forward giving a smug grin to all the people giving him jeers and glares.

"Quite trying to show off, asshole!"

"Dumbass!"

"Enjoy it while you can!"

"Jaune's going to kick his ass!"

"DIE,MERCURY!"

These were only the one they could sorta make out over the large amounts of boos and hisses directed towards Mercury.

"What did he do to get this level of hatred from them?" Cinder asked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"He doesn't take any of them seriously and has continued to purposely try to make Jaune angry enough to hit him. Doing stupid shit like scheduling his match 2 months after a previous match. Giving Jaune barely enough time to recover and maintain his weight for the weight class. Striking Jaune in a press conference before striking Qrow, who is an old man at this point. Then he left early saying why he likes to piss Jaune off and how he wants all the women in Japan. so that Japan could breed better boxers using his genes." Slayer listed, as the room began to get heavy with anger.

"Wait, how much weight is Jaune dropping for this match?" TaiYang asked in a terse but curious tone.

"Well lets see his average weight would be 195lbs putting him at heavyweight meaning he would have to drop at least 41lbs to be eligible for jr middleweight maximum weight limit. meaning Jaune overcompensated and ended up at his match in october looking like this." Slayer said, showing a picture of a thin wrinkled Jaune looking like a mummy. TaiYang and the other adults looked very serious for a second trying to assess how much strain he's putting himself through just to fight.

"Oh dear lord!" Yang shouted in concern, beside her, Ruby and the rest of their friends seemed just as or even more worried

"He went too far… damn he drops that much for every match? What does he eat?" Ghira asked in a bit of concern, he may not know the boy but his daughter looked concerned for him.

"If he does eat, it's extremely light and won't be filling enough for him; he once used dehydrated shiitake mushrooms to help with his water intake. Popped one in and spat out a regular mushroom. Oscar saw how painful it gets for him during his weight training. But Jaune keeps moving forward and never complains or gives up, because boxing is what he lives for. But eventually Jaune might damage his body beyond repair due to this training regiment. Though it's more likely Jaune will just keep climbing higher in the world of boxing till he reaches his goal." Slayer told them, getting more concerned stares and one or two amused looks.

"And what is his goal?" Raven asked with a slight smirk.

"To win the world title belt in six different weight classes. And this is his first world title bout since he began as a boxer. Jaune couldn't be a heavyweight because those are rare in Japan and even now Jaune is such a threat that he only ever gets one or two matches a year, mostly because everyone is scared to fight him." Slayer told her, causing her smirk to grow even bigger. They're eyes turned back to the screen ready to watch more of this title fight.

"Now in the red corner the world's darkness touches down!" the announcer shouted as Mercury planted his feet into the ring staring up towards the ceiling.

"We will now.. Begin the WBC world Jr. middleweight title match!" a suited man said into a mic, as the two sides stare each other down.

"M-my knees are shaking." said a young man sitting next to Oscar, Sun, Neptune, and Clover. The young man was wearing a headband with dark red hair draping over it.

"Hey that's scarlet! Is he a boxer too?" Sun asked

"Yep but he only had his first match two months ago on the same night as Neptune's latest match and Jaune's ranked match against rank #1. So he's still pretty new. He took a headbutt during his debut match and loss but got pissed when everyone pointed out that if the ref didn't call it then there wasn't a foul recognized. He got over it but is still a bit tender about his debut match." Slayer explained quickly.

"It's intense enough from the match, but…" Oscar started to say.

"...especially after what happened at the press conference." Sun finished

"I've got a bad feeling they might not even wait for the bell. This is gonna turn into a bloodbath." Neptune said all of them looked extremely tense and sweating bullets.

"N-no way. The match is just about to start. I'm sure nothing else could happen." Oscar said nervously.

"Don't get your hopes up kid. the brat over there can be very annoying no matter what time it is." Roman said with a large grin at Mercury's glare.

"I think Mr. Arc will show a side we have never seen before during this fight." Ozpin said to his deputy headmistress.

"I just hope it's a side that can keep up at this level." Glynda responded nervously.

"In the red corner, weighing 151 and ¼ pounds, from America, the WBC world jr middleweight champion.. Mercury Black!" as the ring announcer says this Mercury unlatches the armor he's wearing, letting fall to the floor.

"W-What!?" x5

"H-he had a Jaune t-shirt under his costume!?" Sun asked, staring at the white shirt with the same logo that was on the back of Jaune's costume. Mercury gives a smirk to Jaune before grabbing the shirt he was wearing and ripping it into pieces. Revealing the muscles he had underneath. Everyone in the audience gets pissed at him again for pushing Jaune's buttons even now. Rouge even makes the comment that this would really piss Jaune off, but Saffron said he was too determined to win to do something right now. The crowd however quieted down seeing the build Mercury had. Even Sun and Neptune were stunned at him.

"How can someone who hardly ever trains have a body like that?" Neptune asked out loud

"I'm just that awesome." Mercury said with a smug grin.

"You know what I'm going to root for blondie just to spite you now." Emerald said with a glare on her face.

"To be fair, human. you have joined the majority in this room." Adam said calmly but coldly.

"What! you're even cheering him on now?!" Mercury asked, stunned.

"It doesn't take enhanced senses to see an arrogant prick, even less when it decides to waltz into view like you have." Sienna replied with Adam giving a nod while ignoring Mercury's stares.

"In the blue corner, weighing 154 pounds, from the Branwen gym, the first ranked WBC world jr. middleweight… Jaune Arc!" the ring man shouted as Jaune whipped off his cloak showing off his muscular build along with a claw-like scar on his chest, along with his blond pompadour. The crowd around him erupts in even more cheers.

"Holy shit go Jaune!" Nora shouted happily

"Where did he get that scar from?" Ruby asked

"He fought a bear. In this world with no grim or aura or dust. He fought a bear and won. With his left hand no less!" Slayer stated proudly.

"Why does that matter? Pyrrha asked, confused by that statement.

"What he's saying is that this Jaune's left hand or his less dominant hand knocked out a bear. That's about the same as you using only your shield to kill an ancient nevermore." TaiYang said in an impressed tone, getting most of the students and some of the teachers look gobsmacked at that idea.

"And now the national anthems." The ring man shouted as the screen showed a large flag as a large anthem played over it (the US national anthem). Everyone in the arena stood for the anthem if they were able to, to show respect to the country that was being represented. Sun and the crew complained about how this stuff just made the fight feel even more tense. After the first one ended, the second anthem played, showing another flag (the Japanese national anthem). {an1}

"With the ceremonies completed, all that's left is to wait for the bell!" the ringside announcer said as the crowd began to get rowdy again from excitement.

"Both fighters are called to the center of the ring!" as they approached the ref in the center, Qrow looked at Jaune before speaking.

"Listen, don't make eye contact with him while we're there. there's no telling what he'll try to pull." the old Qrow said roughly.

"Got it! I'll just keep my eyes closed." Jaune replied, shutting his eyes as he walked forward. As they met in the middle the atmosphere got even more intense.

"Just save it for when the match starts. Then pay it back in double. Double it and send it right back at his stupid-" Jaune began thinking before opening his eyes to see Mercury is his face, sticking his tongue out to tease him so more.

"Y-you little!" "Jaune!" Qrow shouted getting in between Jaune and Mercury as Jaune was about to start swinging already. Mercury's second barely grabbed his shoulder and told him to stop. The referee stand in between the two with a stern expression

"Okay now this is just getting plain stupid, what are you five!" Kali shouted, her ears laid back and a glare on her face.

"Jeez, is he that full of himself that he thinks he'll win no matter what?" Whitley asked, annoyed at this behavior.

"Yes he is and no it won't stop." Slayer said while rubbing his temples.

"credit to the referee there. I wouldn't want to be in his shoes when the fists really start flying." Port said boisterously

"A few sparks fly, but the referee manages to break it up! Both fighters are ready to fly into action at a moment's notice. The two fighters face each other down from across the ring as they sharpen their talons!" the ringside announcer exclaimed as both Jaune and Mercury went to their respective corners and glared at each other.

"Stay calm, Jaune! And remember to-" Qrow said as he began to step out of the ring.

"I'm calm!" Jaune shouted before taking his mouth guard and putting it in.

"I am calm. I get it. I'm calm enough" Jaune reiterated in a more relaxed voice. As he watched Mercury roll his joint to get loosened for the fight. As the announcer emphasizes how important this match was not only to the two fighters but to the nations involved as well. The two stare each other down waiting for the bell. {an2}

*BANG*

The bell rings and the crowd roars his cheers. The two begin to step closer before slowly circling around the ring. Both are eyeing the other up not wanting to make the first move. The crowd has become deathly quiet watching in anticipation.

"That's fine… observe how your opponent comes at you. This is your first time fighting in a world title match. use the first round to get warmed up" Qrow thought while watching the ring closely. Then he turned his attention to Mercury's second who stood there grinning.

"The famed trainer, Arthur watts. I'm worried about what kind of instruction he gave." Qrow thought to himself with a bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

"That is watts? He looks so old." Salem said curiously

" Yep, because he was a prize fighter before Qrow became one. When he retired he became a trainer and was the second for Qrows last match as a boxer. Which Qrow won by breaking his opponents ribs while also breaking his own fists." Slayer said with a smirk.

"What the fuck Qrow?" Summer shouted at him.

"Hey chill out. I think I'm kind of a badass." Qrow said with a grin.

"You broke your fist to beat an opponent. Not exactly a standard to be setting for your trainees." TaiYang responded

"Definitely not since Oscar broke his fist while breaking his opponent's elbow. Just to take out his flicker jabs. Oscar won that match by the way." Slayer said snidely

"QROW!"

"Eh that was a life lesson: if your enemy wants to throw cannon fodder at you then aim to break fuckers arms." Qrow said nonchalantly

"You heard him, Renny!" Nora shouted giddily

"Nora, that does not mean you can break anyone's legs just because they annoy you!" Ren shouted while holding her back from hitting Mercury with her chair.

"Hey they're getting closer!" Raven said coolly, getting everyone to look at the screen.

They were moving closer to each other, gradually closing the distance into firing range. As they stare at one another slowly circling each other Mercury suddenly stops and drops both his arms into a slacked position. While Jaune on the other hand tightens his guard up bringing his fists close to his body ready to block any incoming attack.

"That's a textbook stance there… he must be pretty worried about any tricks Mercury might have." Yang said in a serious tone.

" Damn, I'm getting excited just watching from here." Sun said his knee was shaking in anticipation.

"No kidding, I can't believe that something like this can actually be exciting when we fight monsters for a living." Neptune muttered nervously.

Mercury begins to sway and weave side to side in a weird rhythm. Jaune responds by matching his rhythm with stepping into it barely moving but still matching. As they stare each other down once more Mercury goes to move towards him but Jaune sends a quick jab at him. Mercury duck and backed up to the ropes from a crouched position.

"He missed!" Mercury said laughing.

"Where were you looking?" TaiYang responded with a smirk.

Mercury raises his head to show a cut that had formed in between his eyebrows. Not giving him a second to recover Jaune charges in and unleashes a rapid fire assault of lefts with Mercury having to raise his guard and keep it up to block everyone one coming.

"What the hell?" Ironwood said watching this man shoot off at least 3-5 punches per second.{an3}

"His training must have been more hellish than we thought if he can pull that off." Roman said, his cigar dropping in shock.

"Whoo go blondie wreck that arrogant pricks shit!" Emerald cheered, not caring for the stink eye she was receiving from said prick.

Mercury tries to jump away from the assault but Jaune follows him with a glare plastered on his face. Jaune continues to unload a storm of left towards Mercury who only seemed to be able to barely block them. Mercury jumped back into the corner as Jaune kept unleashing the assault of punches. At the last second Mercury dodge out of the way and let Jaune hit the corner, however it left him open to attack as he looked to be falling. As Jaune closed the distance Mercury grabbed the rope and launched a haymaker from below, right into Jaune's unprotected jaw.

"What...what kind of punch was that?" Yang asked in confusion

"I- I don't know. I don't even understand how he could launch it from that angle!" Taiyang shouted in anger.

"It just looked like he was being overwhelmed but instead he was just playing with Jaune." Pyrrha said in a scared tone.

As Jaune was recovering Mercury circled around him so Jaune was now in the corner. With a snarl Jaune unleashed a jab which Mercury dodged by bending backwards to avoid before throwing out another wild swing towards Jaunes cheek. Jaunes back hit the ropes as he staggered to get his bearings. But Mercury wouldn't let him, unloading a barrage of wild swings into Jaune while his guard wasn't up yet.

"Dammit. I can't tell where his hands are coming from. What a screwed up way of punching!" Jaune thought as he bore the barrage let out onto him.

" you need to learn the basics, asshole! Let me give you a lesson on the core of boxing!" Jaune thought angrily, smacking the next punch away from him before performing a textbook one,two combo only for Mercury to bend out of the way and launch another wild swing to his jaw.

"He can fight even with his torso completely bent backwards?" Jaune thought as just got knocked back into the corner. He gave a snarl and began a flurry of punches only for Mercury to dodge out of the way.

"You're supposed to be the champion! Fight properly, dammit!" Jaune thought as he kept unloading the flurry of blows, none reaching their mark. As Mercury kept dodging he dived inward under one of Jaunes punches shocking Jaune, before another wild swing landed into Jaunes face. Jaune's eyes lose light for a second as he begins to collapse, they hear a few people call out Jaunes name. Jaune barely wakes up fast enough to dodge another wild swing.

"That was close. I was totally out of it. If he would have landed that… the corner is bad news. i should run for now" Jaune told himself however then he started hearing the crowd telling him to run and not fight it out. Jaune began to form a bulging vein on the side of his head before bringing up his guard.

" I'm not running!" he shouted in his mind, getting ready for a fight.

"Does he have some kind of plan?" someone in the crowd asked.

"Like hell he does! He's just getting stubborn because everyone told him to run away!" Neptune shouted and was pissed off at him.

"You dumbass! Think about what you're doing!" Sun shouted at him

"Damnit Jaune this is not the time to be a stubborn ass!" Saffron shouted as Terra covered Adrien's ears.

"Is he normally like that?" Emerald asked his team.

"On certain things, yeah." Pyrrha responded, chuckling.

" like who does what role during diplomatic missions, or how much syrup Nora is allowed, or us not interfering with his bullying problem. Just to name a few." Ren said calmly with a twitching brow as Nora pouted, muttering about not being allowed to break some legs.

"You got guts." Mercury thought, staring at him smugly.

"What're you looking so smug about, dammit!?" Jaune thought angrily before throwing out a mean right straight. Mercury tried to block it by catching it but only for the punch to go through and slam into his jaw. Jaune then launched a right to his side only for Mercury to block that one.

"Can't dodge using that crazy stance anymore, can you!?" Jaune asked within his mind as Mercury coughed a bit, looking a bit staggered.

"You dropped your guard from those body blows. next is up top!" He then began aiming for the temple only for Mercury to block him there.

"Good reflexes, but.. If you protect up top, you're open below!" Jaune then unleashed a second body blow to the midsection.

"Fighting back using logic, eh? His power and technique are both excellent. I see… his boxing sense is truly first rate." Arthur thought as he watched Jaune unleash another left to Mercury's face barely grazing him.

"But… you can't win. Not with boxing." Arthur said within his mind watching as Mercury bends away for one of Jaunes punches and begins to unleash another barrage of punches from his tilted posture.

"There's a limit to the types of punches that can be used in boxing. But hawk's punches have no boundaries. And, because there are so many variations, they can't be predicted. There's no way to predict them." Arthur thought to himself as Mercury continued to release his barrage of punches onto Jaune's form the left and right.

"As his trainer, I don't want to admit it, but his punches aren't boxing. They're simply.. Violence." Mercury hits Jaune pretty hard again in the temple and Jaune's eyes lose life as he slips unconscious again. His back hits the corner and Mercury goes in for a killing blow.

*BANG BANG BANG*

The round bell rang as the referee rushed to stop Mercury before he hit Jaune again. Mercury instead grabs both of the ropes beside him as Jaune reawakens to see him sticking his tongue out at him again.

"Y-you!" Jaune growled out ready to take another swing at him

"Stop it! The first round is over! Get to your corner!" the referee shouted getting in between them before anything started up again.

"What?!" Jaune shouted angrily.

"Jaune, hurry the hell up!" Qrow shouted from the blue corner

"The bell rang? Dammit!" Jaune shouted in disbelief. They went to their corners as the arena sat in stunned silence.

"Damn him! He just keeps pissing Jaune off every chance he gets." Ruby said through gritted teeth.

"It's disgusting to think something like this would let a person become a world champion." Pyrrha muttered angrily. Meanwhile, Mercury continued to look smug in his corner of the room.

"He was probably a good streetfighter and Watts just happened on him just like Qrow did with Jaune?" Taiyang asked the host.

"Yep."

"But unlike Jaune, Mercury didn't bother learning the basics and uses this wild style of fighting to take advantage of other boxers. But his punches are wild, meaning he's wasting more energy when swinging." Taiyang concluded with a strained look

"The question now is how long can he fight for?" Raven said calmly. Unfazed by the fight or the atmosphere it was making.

"He ignores all principles and techniques. It's an expanded form of street fighting. Pure and natural strength.'' Ren said grimly, glaring towards the ring.

"The stronger one will win the fight. That's the bottom line." Marrow added with a tense look on his face.

"Are you kidding?" Whitley shot at the two in disbelief

"Boxing exists the way it does today because it evolved past that bottoming. Just brawling won't be enough." he said angrily, grinding his teeth in frustration.

"It's not that simple. This is like brawling alpha+. His manner of dodging and punching… in fact, all of his methods take advantage of and dissect the limitations of modern, scientifically devised boxing. It's generally wild" 'how will you deal with it, Jaune?" Ren told the two, shocking Whitley before looking at Jaune in worry.

"I'm sticking with what I've been doing." Jaune stated firmly as Qrow and two other tended to him in the corner.

"God dammit Jaune! don't be so stubborn!" Terra and Saffron shouted, while covering Adrien's ears.

"Maybe he saw something he could exploit." Weiss nervously offered only to shrink from the glare she received.

"G-good idea. Your left was looking sharp. Instead of trying to match your opponent's quirks try and build your own rhythm!" Qrow agreed nervously before clenching his fist and giving a side glance to Mercury across the ring.

"Dammit, I can't believe it. I don't have any advice to give him! He can dodge and attack at the same time. And to top it off, he has enough power to knock someone as durable as Jaune unconscious!" Qrow shouted in his mind before turning and staring at Jaune who was taking some deep breaths trying to get back some energy.

"I know this fool's boxing can work against the world champion. This is because of my inexperience!" Qrow told himself, gritting his teeth in anger.

"man , they sure have quieted down." Mercury said plainly, getting a nod in response.

"What's your impression of the challenger, Merc?" Arthur asked him. Mercury smirks before giving his glove a good lick.

"He's got the goods. Best I've ever dealt with." he replied cryptically.

"I see." Arthur said calmly.

"I'm both excited and irritated. I'm just genuinely glad that we don't have to come up with a plan to beat him." Arthur told himself

"You were unlucky. Your fighter is incredible, but you should really give it up. He's too much to handle." Arthur thought to himself as he looked over at Qrow and Jaune.

"Don't draw it out too much. Finish him off if you can." he told Mercury firmly

"What, I can end it already?" Mercury asked playfully. In the crowd Neptune, Sun, and Scarlet are all looking down with a hopeless expression. But clover and Oscar start yelling at them that they should still try and cheer Jaune on even now when things look hopeless.

"SECONDS OUT!" the ref called, Qrow slipped past the ropes as Jaune stood for the next round.

"This is no time to curse myself for being powerless. All I can do for him…" Qrow thought to himself.

"JAUNE! Put some soul into it!" Qrow shouted, slapping Jaune into the middle of back leaving a bright red hand mark there.

"Geezer!" Jaune said as a vein on his forehead formed.

"Yeah?" Qrow responded before Jaune grabbed him and started shaking him violently.

"What was that for!? It really hurt, you bastard!" Jaune shouted at him

"Don't you get what I'm trying to tell you!?" Qrow shouted back. Jaune drops him with a huff and moves towards the center of the ring.

*BANG*

Jaune and Mercury meet in the center just like before, swaying to their own rhythm. Jaune hardens a glare as he begins to up his speed with his footwork. The sounds of his boots squeaking against the mat as he increases his speed faster and faster. It increased until he began circling Mercury leaving afterimages behind as he moved.

"You wanna prolong the inevitable?" Mercury thought as he followed him with his eyes.

"Damn his footwork is amazing.'' Ren muttered, watching Jaune closely.

"He's definitely fast but can he out speed Mercury?" Ruby asked in a worried tone.

"What's his strategy in this? I hope it's something good." Oobleck said with a tense look on his face.

"I don't need to be slapped. I know how you feel so much it pains me! Geezer! What you've beat into me… i'm gonna pull it all out, so keep your eyes open! Your boxing will work against the world champion!" Jaune shouted within his mind as he ups his pace and hardens his glare while circling Mercury.

"Using your feet isn't gonna help. It'll end this round!" Mercury thought while licking his lips keeping his eyes on Jaune who kept circling him.

" the basics...use your legs, pivot around your opponent while moving to the left and then… and then… what was it again?" Jaune asked his brain as he stopped moving to try and remember.

"Dumbass!" the schnee family and the xiaolong duo shouted angrily

"Different world, same Jaune.." Ruby and Pyrrha sighed.

"Aren't you supposed to circle around me?" Mercury mentally asked before unleashing a barrage of punches towards Jaune, who tightens his guard.

"Don't get carried away-" Jaune mentally shouted as he continued blocking as best he could. Jaune gets knocked back into the ropes again.

"You're not getting away this time! Now, die!" Mercury mentally shouted as he charged in to land a killing blow. But as he got close Jaune shot out a left jab to his open jaw and then before he could recover Jaune unleashed a flurry of left jabs continuously hitting him in the face.

"Day after day.. I was made to run like a racehorse. Like it was the only thing I was good for. And I was forced to use my left, over and over. What was it for?" Jaune mentally asked as the screen cutting flashes of his training as he pummeled Mercury's face. Launching a heavy blow to Mercury and making a leap forward they switched positions. Mercury not wanting to be against the ropes lunges forward ready to unleash another barrage of wild swings.

"Trying to get away with your little tricks? No way, no way!" Mercury thought as he recovered only Jaune to go back to circling him at his high speed again. He swung a punch but Jaune dodged easily.

"What was it for? For this! "Jaune shouted mentally releasing a barrage of left jabs as he circled Mercury quickly. Mercury could only turtle up as the punches hit him from everywhere.

"He's fast. I can see why Merc said he was the best." Arthur told himself watching what was going on. Ren and the two next to him remarked how he was as fast as someone in their weight class, probably even faster. Whitley remarked that he wouldn't have ever kept up with Jaune if they tried to fight.

"When i met him, i knew he had enough strength to become Japanese champion. I didn't force him to work on his legs, his left, and the other basics to help him conquer the nation. I did it to overcome a greater obstacle. To overcome the obstacle I knew he would run into! It was for this moment!" Qrow shouted mentally as he watched Jaune pummel Mercury's guard trying to break through. Jaune had to stop to focus on the front of his guard, landing a couple good jabs to Mercury's face. Mercury takes a left jab to his face and pushes on through to get into swinging range.
"Left, left, left! You use it to set up your dominant hand!" Qrow's words from one of the first lessons Jaune learned echoed within his mind as he then lashes out with a right straight to Mercury's jaw. But as the blow came close Mercury leaned backwards

"He threw himself backwards to reduce the damage!? But it looks like you can't keep up with my speed! Then welcome to my high speed hell! "Jaune mentally shouted as he began to move even faster than before, making even more after images of himself.

"Damn he is moving pretty fast for someone without a speed semblance." Cinder muttered quietly.

"High speed hell? Maybe you should try that Ruby. You know if you ever lose your scythe?" Nora said, snickering at the sour look she got from the hooded girl.

"Good luck with that, Yang and Tai both tried to teach her hand to hand but she refused to listen." Qrow said in a teasing tone

" I'll feed you so many punches that you won't have a chance to fight back! You'll be destroyed without knowing what hit you!" Jaune shouted mentally getting closer to Mercury going in for the attack.

"He's fast… fast indeed. But what if Mercury… was faster?" Arthur mentally asked as Mercury gave a smirk before dropping into his own high speed sway, creating his own afterimage assault. The two begin to close the distance before Jaune gets a right to the face knocking him back.

Jaune, unable to stop his momentum, fell back until he hit the mat staring up at Mercury breathing heavily. The ref gets to Jaune as Mercury walks off to another corner.

"ONE!" the ref shouts holding up a single finger. Jaune gains a vicious snarl on his face.

"What the hell?" he asks in a tense tone.

"TWO!" holding two fingers now.

"I DIDN'T GO DOWN!" Jaune snarled out jumping to his feet quickly

"He just tapped me a little and knocked me off balance!" he continued grabbing the ref's hand angrily.

"That's what a down is!" Qrow shouted from the ring side.

"A down? Me?" Jaune thought to himself, getting into his fighting pose. Mercury moved from the corner slowly bouncing into his rhythm.

"He scored a down on me while was at top speed? Is he faster than me?" Jaune asked in self doubt not paying attention to Mercury who began to charge at him. Jaune ducked the first two swings before they both began to take off at full speed once more, trading blows while dodging in their top speed. But as the exchange kept going Jaune kept taking more hits then he could even land.

"This isn't the time to doubt your abilities. All you can do right now is punch your way out." Taiyang said in a stubborn tone.

"Damnit, how can this jerk be faster than him? even my footwork isn't that fast." Yang said in a growl

"No, they were going about the same speed… it might be that Mr. Arc isn't used to moving that fast yet, while Mr. Black is." Oobleck said, watching the screen with a keen eye.

"Actually Jaune is moving faster than Mercury right now. So he should have the advantage but Mercury might be used to fighting faster opponents" Summer offered as she looked on at the exchange of punches with a worried glance.

"So it's a difference in experience? That leaves little room for a victory here." Ironwood responded with a hard glare at the screen.

Meanwhile the two coaches voice their thoughts on what was going on confirming what the adults were saying. The exchange continued on as Mercury steamrolled Jaune back into the ropes again. Landing punch after punch to Jaunes face and torso.

"You…" Jaune snarled in his head after taking a mean haymaker to the face ready to throw a punch back. But Mercury had already stepped in and landed another punch making the lights in Jaunes eyes dim a little, right before Mercury slammed another blow to the side of his head knocking Jaune to the mat with a bounce. Mercury smirks before raising both his arms, sticking his tongue out while laughing at Jaune. Ref began counting again.

"ONE!"

"Jaune!" Qrow shouted from the ringside

"TWO!"

"JAUNE! Wake up!" Qrow shouted as he slapped the mat repeatedly to try and wake Jaune up. Qrow looked scared for a second, as Ren and the boys called out to Jaune in worry. Then the crowd began to cheer his name to wake him up.

"THREE!" The crowd kept cheering louder but Jaune didn't seem to move at all.

"FOUR!" Jaune still remained on the mat unmoving.

"Get up ." Ruby muttered weakly watching the screen intently.

"Please get up." Pyrrha muttered softly as everyone else stared at the screen.

"FIVE!" his arms start twitching.

"SIX!" he starts getting up slowly but surely.

"SEVEN!" Jaune had made it to his knee rising up to his feet.

"EIGHT!" Jaune stands up and raises his arms up ready to fight. Mercury sighs in irritation before he pushes off the corner, dropping into his rhythm as Jaune pulls in his guard.

"BOX!" the ref shouts and Jaune pushes slowly swaying before he ducks Mercury's first swing on instinct and slowly makes his way past him.

"He's still unconscious!" Qrow shouted within his mind, staring in shock at Jaune who was hanging against the ropes.

"Monty fucking oum what is this kid? A god damn superhero?" Willow shouted in a stunned tone.

" Well he was in one of the previous worlds." Weiss informed her mother calmly.

"That boy is too damn stubborn." Sienna said in a tense tone

"Something you both have in common." Kali replied cheerfully but you could hear a bit of 'cattiness' in that remark as well.

"Uh maybe he should wake up and notice that Mercury is behind him!" Nora shouted .

"It's not that easy. He's still trying to shake off the damage he got from that last hit." Emerald told her calmly.

The crowd started shouting at him to look out behind him.

"What a ruckus. What's supposed to be behind me?" Jaune thought groggily before turning just in time to duck out of the way of another one of Mercury's punches.

"What the hell? Why is he on the offensive all of a sudden!?" Jaune asked mentally, jumping away from the ropes to escape Mercury. Then Mercury turned to him with a smug grin.

"And what the hell's up with that smug face? You wanna die you little-"Jaune asked as he swung only for him to stagger as he missed.

"HUH? My legs won't listen to me. What's going on?" Jaune asked, staring at his shaking legs.

"Shit he doesn't even know he went down." Roman remarked.

"That's bad right?" Nora asked

"Could be. If he keeps trying to fight like usual." Pyrrha responded in a worried tone.

"I don't know what happened, but I'm so shaky I might collapse. I can't throw a punch with any power behind it! What do I do?!" Jaune thought to himself ducking another one of Mercury's wild swings.

"The WBC doesn't end in a TKO after three still, he'll be in serious trouble if he goes down again!" Ren on the screen says watching Jaune dodge and weave around Mercury's wild swings.

"Squirming around like a bitch… you're not gonna make it to the next round!" Mercury thought angrily, shoving Jaune into the corner with his shoulder. Jaune tries to push Mercury away only to get a strike to his unprotected face. Mercury steps back to slam another wild swing at Jaune. Jaune lashes out before it could hit with a weak left jab and proceeds to throw out jabs to push Mercury back. Mercury just smirks as leans out of the way of the oncoming jabs.

"A perfect example of a textbook left but it won't connect. The very methodology of modern boxing can't beat Mercury." Arthur stated mentality as Mercury kept leaning out of the way with a smug grin.

"You can't touch me with that left. Everybody tries to, but-``Mercury's thought process is cut off by a left to his open cheek as he is leaning back.

" Did I screw up the distance?" Mercury asked himself leaning back again to dodge the oncoming left only for Jaune to step in and string two lefts to his unprotected face.

"My body knew what to do, before I could even think about it, I knew what to do! Because it's a punch I've thrown hundreds of thousands of times!" Jaune told himself with a grin beginning to form on his face as a glow appeared in his eyes remembering all of his training of his left fist. He charges forward as Mercury leans back, jumping and throwing a clean left knocking Mercury to the mat.

"WOOH! Go little brother!" Saffron shouted excitedly, finally seeing Jaune finally get some traction in this fight.

"That is some well honed instinct he's got." Qrow said with a smirk.

" The question is how effective was that punch." Raven asked with a hard glare etched on her face.

"Who cares it's good to see Mercury be taken down a peg or two." Emerald said while snickering.

"Fuck off! doesn't matter if he knocked me down once this fight it's not going to happen again!" Mercury said with a growl.

"DOWN!" the ref calls out pushing Jaune to another corner.

"Because I couldn't throw anything with real power, I threw the easiest punch I knew. I guess this is what they mean when they say the stuff you practice shows it's results when you need it most." Jaune told himself, staring at his gloved fist.

"It's true isn't it old man!" Jaune mentally asked as he looked to Qrow with a determined stare

"SEVEN!" Mercury reared his legs up and jumped to his feet like a performing monkey.

"Can you still fight?" the ref asked as Mercury rubs his neck.

"My neck is killing me." he responds but still nods.

"BOX!" the ref shouts and the two get within firing distance before

*BANG BANG BANG*

They both glare and growl at each other before heading back to their respective corners.

"DAMMIT ALL! I guess he needs me to kick his ass some more." Jaune said angrily.

"Stop talking. Steady your breath. For god's sake, I didn't know what was going to happen after that second down." Qrow said gruffly, wiping Jaune with the towel. Jaune stared for a minute before..

"I went down twice!?" he asked in a stunned tone.

"You didn't notice!?" Qrow shouted at him dumbfounded by his stupidity.

"It's official! I'm working with an idiot!" Qrow shouted, getting some snickers from the crowd around him.

"That second down must have been really serious. It's not surprising. Fighting someone that powerful is a first for him. And seeing him go down because of damage was a first for me!" Qrow thought to himself in worry, starting to get tense.

"What's up? You look like a bumble of nerves. Be a little proud!" Jaune said, getting Qrow to stare at him in shock.

" I showed you, right? That your boxing can work against the world champion." Jaune asked with a gruff tone.

"Jaune…"

"And I saw something else in the second round. You could call it something to target…. The champ's weakness." Jaune said with a determined tone.

"His weakness."Qrow asked in a bewildered tone as he climbed to the outside of the ropes.

"If this goes well, I'll knock him on his ass again!" Jaune said with a grin.

"Good luck with that pal!" Mercury said in a growl.

"I don't know, it seemed like he was on to something you didn't think about." Adam said, trying to figure out this weakness as well.

"Seconds out!"

"They said get out." Mercury said in a nonplussed tone.

"Mercury, that down wasn't because of a lucky punch, be careful in there." Arthur tried to tell him

"Get a move on." Mercury said impatiently pushing him off the side of the ring only being caught by the other two ring hands.

" Be careful? SCREW THAT, especially after the way he pissed me off! He made a fool of me" Mercury rage within his mind veins bulging in anger on his head.

"You made a fool of yourself." Sienna said with a smirk.

"How true and he doesn't even realize it " Salem said with a smirk.

Mercury sat there with gritted teeth as the others around him started agreeing with the two.

*BANG*

With the sound of the bell Mercury rushed forwards ready to end things but Jaune began shooting out lefts once more causing Mercury to dodge and weave much more rapidly.

"Again with that flashy dodging? It gave me trouble at first, but it's your weakness!" Jaune thought as threw out a left to get him to lean back and followed up stepping in and driving another left to his exposed jaw causing him to fall to the mat again

"DOWN!"

Jaune walked to a neutral corner as the two coaches watched in shock.

"So that's it." Qrow thought, staring at the second down Jaune had scored on Mercury.

"That's what I'm talking about, Mercury. Your sway back allows you to dodge much further than most people,but if you take a punch that's thrown with a step-in, then you'll easily be knocked off balance because you lean back so far. Jaune is the kind of boxer who can actually accomplish that." Arthur analyzed but was pissed that Mercury didn't listen to him.

"So what was that about it not happening again?" Emerald asked with a smirk.

"FUCK! OFF! EMERALD!." Mercury growled out grinding his teeth in frustration as the rest of the audience cheered Jaune on.

"THREE!" the ref shouts but Mercury is back standing with a murderous glare on his face. Jaune just looked at him with a smirk.

"I knew you were gonna get up. It may have looked flashy, but I just pushed you down. It didn't hurt much. No matter how many times I do this, you'll always get up. It shouldn't even count as a down. But more importantly, it won't satisfy me!" Jaune thought to himself, narrowing his eyes at Mercury.

"Mercury, take your fighting pose." the ref said before being roughly pushed out of the way by Mercury himself.

"I've gotta feed him a real badass Arc punch that puts him down permanently, or else I won't be satisfied!" Jaune told himself, hardening his eyes into a glare.

"Arc!" Mercury growled out his veins bulging on his face again. But Jaune looked towards Qrow instead.

"Old man, I proved it to you, right? That your boxing can knock down the world champion." Jaune said mentally staring at Qrow before turning his attention back to Mercury.

"BOX!" the ref calls out

"ARC!" Mercury growls out even louder looking even more pissed before rushing towards him quickly.

"I'm just as pissed off as you are. I know you've been bringing it since the first round… So now I will too!" Jaune thought to himself slamming fists together to punctuate the statement.

"It's time for a real street fight , asshole!" Jaune shouted in his mind rushing towards Mercury, fists at the ready.

"Take this!" "I'm putting you down with one punch!" the two fighters said mentally as their fists flew towards each other colliding with a violently shockwave. Jaune disengaged and took a small breath, his stance still in the textbook style before he dropped his guard into a brawler's stance.

"Wait what?" Taiyang asked.

"What's wrong?" Summer responded.

"Jaune looks more at ease like that." Taiyang said in a confused tone.

"Maybe that's his natural fighting stance, you heard what he said.. Thought.. Whatever… he was proving that Qrow's boxing could knock down a world champ." Raven replied

"Does this mean he's been restricting himself this entire fight so far?" Port asked curiously.

"Could be… when you fight using a style you're not used to, you have to fight your instincts in order to match up correctly." Glynda said in a concerned tone.

"Does this mean Jaune intentionally weakened himself just to prove a point to Qrow?" Ruby asked.

"Maybe, who knows how different he'll be like this." Yang replied in an excited tone.

"Coach! that left might not be able to really hurt him, but we were winning out in points! Maybe he should stick to the same plan." a ring side hand next to Qrow said nervously.

"I think he's made the right decision." Qrow responded, shocking the poor man.

"Mercury's a fighter with sharp instincts. I don't think he'd fall for the same thing a third time." Qrow explained carefully.

"B-but it's dangerous."

"It certainly is. But, there's something I want to see. Something I want burned into these old eyes of mine." Qrow said with pride deep in his voice.

"Yeah, I thought for sure he was simple enough to keep using his left. Then Mercury would throw a counter and beat him. I imagined it would end in a KO along those lines, but it looks like my guess was off." Arthur thought as he gritted his teeth staring into the ring.

"You wanna take me head on now? You just keep pissing me off." Mercury thought as he took a step forward

"I'm not gonna settle for just embarrassing you. now..." Jaune thought taking a step forward

"How should I wrap this up?"

"because I'm way too pissed off!"

The two fighters square off with no guard, glaring at each other with all their hatred. Mercury looks like he relaxes a bit before taking a wild swing at Jaune who ducks out of the way. Before Jaune can counter Mercury takes another wild swing at him. Mercury throws another punch which Jaune blocks with his shoulder sending him staggering back. Mercury goes to charge in but Jaune meets him halfway and throws an uppercut which Mercury dodges. Mercury goes to charge in but Jaune meets him with a quick but powerful left Mercury was barely able to block, but still went staggering back from it. The two began to close in on one another before both landing a clean hit to the jaw in a dual exchange.

"FUCK YEAH!" the blonde father daughter duo shouted excitedly standing up with their blood pumping at the sight of this brawl..

"GO JAUNE!" Terra and Saffron shouted with Adrien giving his own shout of joy.

" damn he's really cutting loose." Ghira said in a slightly excited tone a grin starting to form on his face.

"I hope it's enough. I really wanna see Mercury be knocked down a peg or two more." Emerald said happily.

"This is as interesting as a fist fight gets I suppose." Cinder said in a bored tone, but a look in her eyes and you could see her bloodlust start peaking out.

"This is getting me excited." Roman said with a large grin while Neo had a bloodthirsty smile next to him bouncing in her seat. Mercury growling and brooding as everyone cheers on 'the blonde idiot'.

"You proved that my boxing is effective against the world champion! Now, it's your turn! Prove it to these old eyes of mine that your power can conquer the world!" Qrow thought as he watched the two fighters recover, and saw Jaune stare down Mercury before charging in for another blow.

"GO, JAUNE!" Qrow shouted as Jaune swung a devastating punch at Mercury but barely missed him, his fist hitting the mat instead; shaking the entire ring, ropes and all.

" shit that would've been lights out if it hit." Mercury thought to himself, breaking out of his brooding for a minute.

" fuck yeah fearless leader kick his smug ass!" Nora shouted excitedly standing up to cheer on her friend.

"So close." Neptune muttered in excitement as his leg bounced in anticipation.

Jaune recovers and swings a left hook that grazes Mercury just slightly. Jaune rushes in but Mercury lands a punch to his jaw sending Jaune back staggering into the corner. Mercury then rushes towards Jaune throwing a punch towards his head, which Jaune ducks by holding onto the ropes and dropping into a sitting position a couple inches off the mat. Jaune glares up at him and fires off an uppercut from his sitting position. Jaune jumps to a stand, ready to throw another but catches a haymaker from Mercury. Jaune stumbles back but then fires a straight shot to the jaw with a glare. Mercury returns it in kind. Then it just devolves into a straight slugfest with neither one backing down. They both end it on another dual exchange to the jaw.

*BANG BANG BANG*

The ref steps slightly in between them before both walk off to their respective corner.

"How's that, old man!?" Jaune asked, sitting down on the stool prepared for him.

"Looking good! You're not losing out in those exchanges! If anything, you're gradually pulling ahead!" Qrow said with a determined face.

"Damn right! I've never lost in a brawl!" Jaune shouted in an equally determined voice.

"Damn this is intense, how long will this fight go for?" Sun said, leaning forward with a large grin on his face.

"Let's hope Jaune can pull through on this and win soon. I don't like watching my baby brother get beaten up like this." Saffron said, holding onto Terra, who was holding Adrien.

Over with Mercury who just spat out some water into a bucket.

"I guess he's given up on picking at me with that left. I was surprised." Mercury told Watts looking genuinely tired.

"Arc's fighting seems more animated now. His must be his natural fighting style. Just remember, Mercury… remember where you come from. What part of New York, you're from…" Arthur told his boxer cryptically.

"My hometown..." Mercury said, gaining a serious look the screen shows a flash of a dark alleyway before going back to Mercury who looks off to the side in a brooding way.

"He seems to be willing to accept the fight you've picked with him. Teach him what that really means." Arthur says walking out of the ring as the announcer calls for them to leave.

*BANG*

The crowd begins to cheer loudly for Jaune to finish this now. As Jaune rushes towards Mercury, Arthur stands off to the side of the ring, his back towards it.

"Hmph! You can get excited all you want, but you'll cool off soon enough. Mercury grew up in the slums of New York, you can't beat him in a street fight." Arthur thought to himself before turning towards the ring and gasping in shock as Jaune landed a hard left to Mercury's jaw.

"WHAT!?" Arthur shouted. Mercury recovers and launches a wild swing into the bottom of Jaune's jaw. Jaune replies by launching a left to his side, followed by a right to his jaw making Mercury step back. Jaune however chased him swinging some powerful looking blows towards Mercury, while dodging and weaving past Mercury's wild swings.

"Holy shit look at him go!" Nora shouted happily

"Show him what for !" Port shouted standing with his fists raised in the air.

"Damn so this is what you look like when you let yourself go?" Taiyang said with a hint of bloodlust seeping through his excitement.

"Snrk! You haven't seen anything yet." Slayer said amusedly

"Coach, Jaune's taken the advantage!"

"Yes," Qrow replied, not taking his eyes off the ring.

"But why? At first he couldn't deal with hawk's style at all." a fellow corner man asked.

"Hey, that's junior!" Yang shouted

"What do you know, it is." Roman scoffed

"Part of it is that he's gotten used to it after fighting for three rounds. But mostly it's because of his rhythm! after switching to street fighting; his attacking, defending, and even his breathing are all more in line with his natural tendencies." Qrow said as the screen focuses on Jaune and Mercury duking it out in the center of the ring. Jaune movements seem to be more alive than they were before.

"He was already extremely strong when I met him. The reason I taught him to use a boxing style was so that intellectual boxers wouldn't have an advantage against him. But once he's cast off those limitations and unleashes his true potential his strength is something that even I've never seen before." Qrow said with pride, lacing his words. Jaune meanwhile is pushing Mercury back with a flurry of blows.

"Jaune's movement is a lot livelier!" Oscar said in amazement

"You're damn right it is! This is what he's best at!" Neptune shouted in excitement.

"Now that it's a brawl, there's no way he can lose!" Sun shouted happily.

Jaune dodges a punch from Mercury weaving in close.

" That cocky looking mug... I bet you've never lost a fight before, have you? But that's because I've never been to america!" Jaune mentally shouted, getting into a rough slugfest with Mercury. Jaune, seeing an opening between blows, slams a hard left into Mercury's side.

*BANG BANG BANG*

"Damn another close one." Blake grumbles out

"Yeah if he had another ten seconds he could have ended it right here." Ruby said in a disappointed tone.

The ref jumps between the two quickly as Mercury leans on the ropes trying to catch his breath. Jaune walks back into his corner, while Mercury sluggishly makes his way back to his corner. They both sit down panting heavily as the crowd becomes silent watching in intense intrigue.

"SECONDS OUT!"

"ROUND 5!"

*BANG*

Jaune stands and flicks his left arm a little before doing the same with his right. Jaune with a growl throws both his arms up in victory. Getting the crowd to start getting excited once again.

"Trying to wrap it up? You've built up a good rhythm, so it should be fine. Go for it!" Qrow thought, watching his boxer charge towards Mercury quickly. Mercury is still standing trying to catch his breath.

"I'm having trouble… yeah, i've never been in this much trouble. But that's only in the ring!" Mercury thought himself before dashing forward to meet Jaune head on. Mercury begins unleashing a flurry of combos into Jaunes guard, but finding no progress other than keeping him on the defensive.

"I've been in a lot worse trouble outside of it before! In my hometown!" Mercury said mentally having a flashback to him being cornered by a man with a gun.

"Ahh~ the old days of running from idiot gangsters with guns, times were simpler back then. None of this working for a fire witch to worry about." Roman said in a faux nostalgic tone.

" too true" Neo signed to him

"You talk like an old man! Also watch your mouth about Cinder!" Emerald shouted at him.

"They always start smiling like they know that it's all over and they've won. But I survived! Compared to that, fighting in a ring protected by gloves… this is enough to put me to sleep, Japan!" he exclaimed mentally as the flashback shows he beat the man with the gun to death. Mercury slams another wild blow to Jaunes guard knocking him to the right a bit. Jaune however counters with a harsh right that Mercury just barely blocks.

"Not bad! To still be able to fight back after taking that many punches from me! But it's over!" Jaune mentally shouted, slamming a hit into Mercury's exposed jaw.

"I'm gonna end it in this round! In this round!" he thought as he slammed another punch into Mercury's midsection. Jaune then begins unleashing his own flurry of blows.

"There's something strange about this. Until the fourth round, their power seemed to be equal. Like a pair of machines running off the same type of engine. So why is he losing out now? Wait a minute!" Arthur mentally analyzed what was happening in the ring. Mercury tries to jump away from Jaune to get some time to recover but Jaune chases him down with a harsh glare on his face.

"In this round! I'm finishing in this round!" Jaune snarled mentally, as he landed a powerful uppercut to Mercury's unprotected jaw. Before slamming a mean left into his temple.

"It has to be this round!" Jaune mentally shouted, desperation seeping through his thoughts.

"What do you mean it has to be this round?" Terra wondered watching her brother in law swing his fists wildly at his opponent.

"MERCURY!" Arthur shouted, getting said boxer to look at him. Arthur then gives a thumbs down as a type of signal. Mercury's eyes widen by a hair before he swings a debating blow towards Jaune's midsection. It looked to shake Jaune a bit before he recovered and charged forward.

taiyang saw something that made in that moment that made him freeze, not in fear but out of concern.

"You're not going to be able to damage a midsection built like Jaune's in one attack!" Qrow shouts in amusement.

Jaune closes in to start firing off punches but Mercury tightens his guard. Jaune undisturbed starts slamming a furious combo into the guard.

"Fall! Fall, you son of a bitch! Fall! Fall! Fall! FALL!" Jaune mentally shouts slamming punch after punch into Mercury, some slipping past his guard and finding purchase.

"STOP!" the referee yells jumping between Jaune and Mercury quickly.

"Is it over?" Jaune mentally asked breathing heavily as the sound of the bell can now be heard.

*BANG BANG BANG*

Mercury walks over to his corner as Jaune watches him.

"I see… so the bell rang? I guess that's how it's gonna be." Jaune said with a grin breathing heavily.

"Oh well…" he muttered tiredly, walking back to his corner slowly.

"That doesn't sound like the voice of someone he just unleashed a load of whoop ass onto an opponent." Nora said in a concerned tone.

"Maybe he pushed himself too hard this round?" Ruby offered

"He really let you have it. I've never seen you get hit this much before." Arthur said to Mercury in a relaxed tone.

"I'll be honest, he's got good punches. That challenger is strong." Mercury said while panting.

"Indeed he is. I understand that well" Arthur agreed

"Oh, yeah. I understand it too" Mercury said with a grin. Meanwhile in the other corner, Qrow is standing in front of Jaune with a towel ready.

"That was close, but you did well! You've got the lead going into the next round! Keep up this pace!" Qrow said enthusiastically.

"Geezer…" Jaune barely gets out between panting sweat pouring off his body.

"Don't talk! Just rest and build up your strength! I'll wipe the sweat off your..." Qrow as he began wiping away the sweat. But he stops suddenly and stares at Jaune in a look of shock or fear.

"Jaune?" Qrow asked fearfully.

"Well, that's how it is." Jaune said in an accepting tone

"What's wrong?" Saffron asks

" I don't know, maybe it's something Mercury's last punch did to him." Oscar said nervously. Meanwhile all the older huntsmen were contemplating what it could be, all except Taiyang who held a solemn expression on his face.

"What a foolish second. I took him long enough to realize the anomaly in his fighter. The two of you are machines running off the same engine, yet one was pulling ahead. The reason why is simple! Because one of them was blazing ahead at full throttle the whole time." Arthur said to Mercury, watching as Qrow kept wiping away sweat.

"What's wrong?" one of the corner men asked

"When I wipe away the sweat, no more comes out! He's not sweating at all!" Qrow shouted.

"I fucking knew it… he's dehydrated." Taiyang said fearfully

"But how? he was just fine a few moments ago!" Sun replied

"It's because of the weight training." Glynda said calmly.

" What do you mean Miss Goodwitch?" Ruby asked in a confused tone

"It's simple, Miss rose. Usually one trains to maintain or lose weight, however the amount trains to lose would require months of prep work and vast cuts in his diet. In all honesty I'm surprised he lasted this long." Glynda said in a concerned tone

"A vast cut is an understatement. Usually to prepare a match he'll only eat a single tomato a day. But for this match since it was, like I said, two months after his last one; he cut down to almost nothing, refused to drink water, and even refused the banana Qrow offered to him. Jaune wanted to make sure he could make it for this fight but he knew he could never make it past five rounds with this training." Slayer said, causing all of the older huntsmen and the students to become very concerned for how this fight may go.

" Jaune has pulled out wins from impossible situations before in these viewings. I'm sure he can do it again now." Ruby said with a determined glare.

"I figured I'd push it as far as I could at full strength or so I thought. But it looks like I've run out. Bone dry… during my weight management, I realized that as a jr. middleweight, I can only keep it up for five rounds." Jaune told the two of them.

"Don't talk! Hei xiong, water! Pour it all onto his head!" Qrow barked out the order to Junior

"Got it!" Junior shouted, grabbing two water bottles from a bucket of ice. And began pouring them both out onto Jaune.

"When I landed that body blow, the expression on his face twisted up. That's when I figured it out. He's totally out of gas!" Mercury said as he and Arthur grin maliciously at Jaune's corner.

"SECONDS OUT!"

"I'll rip him to shreds!" Mercury said cheerfully as he stood up ready for another round.

"Jaune when you run out of stamina, use your spirit!" Qrow said shakily, trying to encourage him.

"That's what you're always saying, right? Well… I'll see what I can do." Jaune offered tiredly as he walked to the center.

*BANG*

In an instant Mercury landed a heavy blow to Jaunes cheek then unleashed a rush of blows before Jaune could even get his guard up.

"He was a good fighter. If I had been his trainer, he might have become the world champion. But now, he'll be destroyed by merc and never get another chance… because of his worthless second." Arthur thought to himself, staring across at Qrow.

"Hey! uncle Qrow is not worthless!" Yang shouted angrily while Ruby nodded enthusiastically behind her.

"I doubt Watts would have made him half the fighter he is now." Cinder muttered to herself quietly

"I'm sorry, Jaune! This is my fault!" Qrow mentally said, gritting his teeth as he watched Jaune get pummeled.

"I don't want to hear any excuses about your weight control! You know damn well how a street fight works! No matter what happens…. Or how you do it, if you're still standing at the very end…. You Win!" Mercury mentally ranted as he hammered away at Jaune, validating his point by knocking him down with a large grin.

"HE'S DOWN!"

Mercury looks around at the silent and shocked faces of the crowd with a smug face before raising both arms in victory with a large grin.

"You get it now, Japan!?" he mentally shouted from his pose as the referee began counting but before he could get to four Jaune was already getting back up. Even though he did it was clear he was just barely holding himself up right at that moment. His hair wild; no longer in it's signature style, face covered in blood, and his right eye swollen shut.

"Jaune" Oscar out in the crowd said in concern

"It's that damn weight control." Neptune said angrily

"If it wasn't for that… this would have never happened if Jaune was in real fighting shape!" Sun grumbled out looking down out of anger and concern for his friend

"Did he ever complain about that-dani?" Clover asked, shocking the three of them. They all turned to stare at him as he continued.

"During his weight management, did that man ever complain that his weight control was too tough-danika?" Clover asked in a deadly serious tone, when he received no answer he decided to continue.

"I'm sure Jaune knew it all along-dani. That his body couldn't last much longer than five rounds. That's why he raised his hands into the air, to push himself and keep going! He knew how much everyone was counting on him. Even when his pride was wounded, he silenced his emotions and didn't complain. He resolved to use the time that he had to build a body that could survive those five rounds-dani." Clover spoke as flashes of when Jaune raised his fists up, Qrow being struck at the press conference, and Jaune doing his road work went across the screen.

"As a boxer, could you...no, as a man would you be able to do that-danika?! It brings tears to my eyes! Seeing Jaune struggle so brilliantly is enough to make me cry-dani!" Clover told the three boxers with tears in his eyes.{AN}

"Jaune." Oscar's eyes began to fill with tears as he turned back to watch the ring to see his idol fight for his life. Next to him Scarlet, Neptune, and Sun began to cry as well.

"Damn does he know how to give a speech." Qrow muttered gritting his teeth after hearing all Clover said about this Jaune. Team RWBY and JNPR both stare at the screen with tears and looks of pride in their eyes.

"Mr Arc, truly you are a genius of hard work aren't you?" Ozpin said ready for anything to show itself in this bout.

"Damn now I almost feel bad about this, hey is our Jaune like this guy?" Mercury asked curiously.

"He never complains about how much combat training I put him through." Pyrrha said tears welling up in her eyes.

"Or how much muscle training I give him." Nora said holding onto Ren tightly

"Or how many tutoring sessions I force him through." Ren finished off looking at his leader with pride.

"So I got up, but what do I do now? What can I do now? After all this, I bet everyone's still counting on me. Damn, it ain't easy being a super star." Jaune thought to himself as he stared at his hands seeing the glove tense just a bit. Meanwhile, Mercury is waltzing over to him, his guard lowered as if he was going in for the kill on a weakened and exhausted animal.

"As long as I can move one finger… I'll fight back!" Jaune mentally shouted getting into a fighting stance.

"Looks like they've finally shut up. Now, stay quiet and watch this, japan!" Mercury as he stared at the crowd around him before slamming his fist together.

"IT'S A SHOW TIME!" he shouts before rushing towards Jaune, who swings a punch only for Mercury to dodge it.

"What the hell is this!? Way too slow!" Mercury mentally shouted before landing a heavy punch to Jaune's face, before unleashing another flurry of blows.

"His right eye is swollen, so he can't see those lefts coming at all." Ren says with a grimace.

"This is bad. If he keeps getting nailed like that, the match is gonna get stopped!" Marrow said in an angry tone.

"Sadly, that might be for the best. Jr. middleweight punches are more than enough to put an end to a man's life." Ren thought to himself watching Jaune get pummeled from his seat. Whitley punches the floor in front of him in frustration as a snarl is plastered across his face.

"Whitley." "Come to think of it, he's the one who's known Jaune the longest." Ren thinks to himself as Whitley slowly pulls himself off the ground shaking with rage. Meanwhile in the middle of Mercury's barrage Jaune swings back at him but misses and Mercury rushes him once more.

"Looks like Jaune's having a hard time." a woman says as she walks up to Rouge and Saffron. Both turn to see Violet standing there in a business suit.

"Violet…" Saffron say in shock

"I hope he can at least lose with some dignity. Otherwise that post I prepared for him at the company will go to waste." Violet says calmly

"But big bro is still fighting out there." Rouge says angrily

"Everyone in this arena can tell who's going to win. If you're going to worry about him, then worry about his health." Violet responded dismissively

"There's no telling who will win until it's over!" Rouge thought angrily, looking away from her eldest sister. As Saffron stares in concern for her little brother.

"He's on fire. There's no stopping him now. Jaune is going to stay on the defensive… until black loses himself in ecstasy." Arthur thought to himself remembering when he first met Mercury as he was beating a man to death. When Arthur told him to stop, Mercury replied fanatically that he couldn't until he couldn't feel the fire in his skin anymore, so he either beat the man to death or Arthur gave him some money to buy some girls to have them make it stop. Arthur remarked that Mercury's eyes were not that of a man but the eyes of a crazed beast. Then he wondered what would happen if let this monster loose on the boxing world. He made him the offer to be a boxer and Mercury took it as he had a license to kill, which Arthur didn't deny.

"Indeed… he thinks he's allowed to do as he pleases. And unless he settles down, he'll keep beating on his opponent until he's dead. The second in the blue corner… branwen, was it? You may be worthless, but there's at least one thing you can do. Stop the match. Throw in the towel!" Arthur said to himself as he watched Mercury pummel Jaune in the ring.

"Jaune…" Qrow begins to go and throw in the towel, but he stops. Meanwhile Arthur is mentally telling him to do it already. Qrow however instead slams his fist down in anger and watches on teeth gritted and hands shaking.

"Why won't you throw in the towel!? Can't you even protect your boxer!? How useless can one man be!?" Arthur mentally asked, eyes wide staring at Qrow.
"Jaune!..."Qrow gets out through gritted teeth.

"To me… being inside the ring feels great. I'm never gonna lie about boxing" Jaunes words echo through Qrows head as he stares at the fight in front of him.

"You're normally so arrogant, but you're valiant in the ring. You never settle for less when you train and you fight with determination! I love seeing you fight! I want to see what you can do! I can't bring myself to end it!" Qrow thought as he recalled all the effort Jaune puts into his training and into his fights he just couldn't disgrace him by ending the match so early. Mercury lands a heavy blow to Jaunes right cheek, sending him into the ropes.

"D-Damn, that hurt. I can't take much more of this. To think that there was someone stronger than me in the world. It's a surprise. He's really tough. I'll admit it." Jaune thought as he bounces off the ropes and looks up at Mercury.

" You were really tough and you gave me a real good time! I'm close to climaxing.."

"gross" Ruby say in a disgusted tone

"Agreed," Emerald replied in a similar tone.

"So you can leave now! GO TO HELL!" Mercury mentally shouts slamming a right into Jaune sending falling towards the mat

"It's... over." Jaune thought to himself as he could feel the mat closer but then he felt like something was pushing on his back. When he looked there was a golden version of Qrow pushing him back onto his feet. Allowing him to hit the ropes instead of falling to the ground.

"WHAT POWER OF FRIENDSHIP BULLSHIT IS THIS!" Mercury shouted angrily

"The power of pure stubbornness." Yang remarked simply

"He is filled with everyone's hopes and dreams." Ruby said cheerfully

"He's an Arc, we don't know when to quit and we never go back on our word!" Saffron shouted happily, as Adrien cheered loudly with her.

From the ropes Jaune stares back at Mercury with a green glow in his eye. Meanwhile, Whitley made his way over to Oscar and them.

"What the hell are you all doing!? How can you be quiet at a time like this? Some gym mates you are!" Whitley scolded harshly

"Whitley." Oscar said sadly

"Shut the hell up! We're just waiting for his counter attack! We don't think he's gonna lose at all!" Sun shouts at him standing up quickly.

"Jaune! What are you doing?! Hand out a beat down like you normally do!" He cheers loudly.

"Yeah. Stop trying to make us worry!" Neptune shouts out now standing as well.

"GO, DAMNIT, GO!

"JAUNE! FIGHT!" Oscar and Scarlet cheer out together.

"We're boxers too. We know how hard this is for you! How painful! But please don't lose! Keep fighting! You can't lose! We started following you that day because we saw how strong you were!" Neptune and Sun thought as they cheer louder

" If it wasn't for Jaune, I don't know where I'd be. Jaune is my …" Oscar thought to himself cheering louder

"my/our hero!" They all finished together.

"So please don't lose!" Oscar shouts through tears

"You can't lose!" Neptune shouts

"We don't wanna see you lose!" Sun shouts

"Just keep fighting!" they all shout together

"Please win!"

Jaune gets into his boxing pose as Mercury charges towards him once more.

"If you keep being stubborn, I'm not gonna be your friend anymore! Just go down already!" Mercury mentally shouts, punching Jaune hard with a left, sending him flying towards the mat again.

"I know. i get it now. What's keeping me up." Jaune thought as golden versions of the four people cheering him on appeared and helped him back up again.

"The guys who have faith in me! I have to stay strong for them! I can't be allowed to lose!" he mentally said, bouncing off the ropes and rushing forward towards Mercury with a look of determination plastered on his face.

"Even if my heart stops, my soul will keep fighting!" Jaune shouts mentally as he lands a punch across Mercury's face.

"Even if my soul's gone I'll crawl out of my coffin, and beat you!" Jaune lands another harder blow to the other side of Mercury's face. Mercury looks like it didn't faze him till he began to collapse suddenly.

"He didn't expect him to fight back! He took the full brunt of that!" Arthur mentally shouted in astonishment.

"This is garbage! He should barely be standing! How can he throw a living punch!?" Mercury panicked as he backed away from Jaune. The crowd begins cheering him on as Jaune slowly and shakily gives chase.

*BANG BANG BANG*

As the bell rings Arthur gets into the ring but Jaune is the one walking towards him. Before he could make it Mercury grabbed him and shoved him the other way.

"Jaune, Over here!" Qrow shouts hitting the corner loudly to get his attention.

"Y-yeah." Jaune replies in a daze heading towards him.

"Damn he's hurt badly. He can't even tell where he was going." Taiyang said nervously

"How the fuck is he still standing!" Adam shouted in astonishment

"I don't know but I'm making a note about this human." Sienna said in an intrigued tone.

"C'mon kid you got this just need to push a little more. ya already got him spooked. So c'mon and show him what you can really do." Jinn said excitedly

"Ghira, I got a bad feeling something is about to happen." Kali whispered to her husband.

"That makes two of us. But what could it be?" Ghira whispered back .

"Did you see him just now!? He's torn up!" Mercury complained

"Yes."

"He's half dead, dammit! He's half dead! And he keeps struggling! And fighting! I was feeling so good. I was so close. What a pain in the ass. he's a total pain in the ass" he ranted angrily

"Mercury!" Arthur said trying to get attention

"Who gives a damn about this match anymore. I'm gonna end it. I need a woman. Then, I'll feel good again. Arthur!" he shouted, his eyes going crazy. Arthur's eyes widened in fear.

"That license to kill that you gave me...I'm gonna put it to use in the next round. I'll kill him." Mercury said deathly serious.

"Oh great he's gonna try and kill him because the kid is too stubborn to fall down and stay down." Roman muttered angrily

"I still think arc's got this. I can feel it!" Neo signed to him, getting a raised eyebrow in response.

"We'll see about that." Roman said calmly

"Good job standing up! Good job getting up! Way to hang in there!" Qrow shouts, as someone places an ice pack on him and Junior gives him some water.

"Being beaten up this badly… and still, what an amazing man! All I can do is watch! It's infuriating how worthless I am. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Jaune!" Qrow thought to himself mournfully

"I-i almost fell. I … I was hurt real bad." Jaune stuttered out staring up at the lights.

"Jaune…"

"If you hadn't been supporting me… I couldn't have gotten up. You've been holding me up all this time. I get that now." Jaune said sadly

"SECOND'S OUT"

"Here we go." Jaune said tiredly getting up to go.

"Your mouthpiece." Qrow said, holding it up for him from the otherside of the ropes. Jaune looks at him before smiling softly.

"Y'know … I couldn't ask for a better second than you." he said, wrapping his arm around Qrow before taking the mouthpiece.

"All right, I'm heading out." Jaune said calmly walking towards the center slowly leaving Qrow to stare at him as he went.

"ROUND SEVEN"

*BANG*

The bell rang and Mercury charged in with a rush hammering Jaune as brutally as possible. Jaune just barely blocked a few of the punches. Meanwhile the crowd has gotten loud again cheering Jaune on even more voraciously.

"Shut the hell up, Japan! The fact that he's even standing is a miracle! There's no way he's capable of much else! Just die already!" Mercury mentally shouts while landing his barrage. Ending it with a particular hard punch as the light in Jaune's eyes goes out again. The screen goes white for a second before we see Jaune running through a thick mist.

"You've got to win, Jaune!" Ren says in a quick flash of him, Marrow, and Whitley. Before we cut back to Jaune running again.

"Just run his ass over!" Sun tells him in another flash

"Well, I'm not worried at all." Neptune tells him in another

"I'm looking forward to bragging." Scarlet says

"You have what it takes to pull it off-daniyo" Clover tell him

"I have faith that you'll be the world champion once the match is over!" Oscar said with so much determination

"I'm not breaking my promise. But…"

"Water…. I wanna drink some water."

"Why? why do I have to go through this?"

"I'll kill you!" his voice from his memories rings out to him

"Who was it?"

The scene of Qrow being slapped by Mercury played across the screen once more

"Geezer! Why are you bleeding? Why?"

"Who did it?"

Mercury's laugh carried out as his face came closer to the screen.

"Who?"

"Who is that?"

The screen flares white once more as Mercury flings another punch towards Jaune's face.

"The fuck just happened?" Qrow asked in a confused tone.

"We just went on a trip through Jaune's subconscious" Slayer said

"Why now?" Whitley asked confusedly

"Because he is currently standing unconscious!" Slayer said with a manic grin

"Oh shit…" Saffron muttered

"what ?" Terra asked concerned

"I have a bad feeling about what might happen next." Saffron said timidly

"Oh please what could he do now he's out cold." Mercury said snidely

"It's all.."

"It's all.."

"It's all what?" Cinder asked

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Jaune shouts, ducking Mercury's punch and slamming his right fist into Mercury's cheek. With a growl Jaune, he unleashes a flurry of blows quickly and brutally causing Mercury to cough up blood.

"What in the world!" Arthur shouts in fear.

"Jaune" Qrow shouts in concern.

The screen shows a close up of Jaune's face as he snarls and steam billows out of his mouth. His eyes looked feral and unhinged.

"Holy shit!" Neptune shouts as he jumps back in slight fear.

"Okay no! the fuck just happened!?" Mercury shouted.

"I thought Mercury's punch knocked him out! What the hell is going on?" Sun said in an amazed tone

"Maybe something broke loose when he got knocked out, and that caused him to snap." Neptune offered.

"He snapped? Then what happens now?" Oscar asked in a shocked tone

"How should we know!? We've never seen it before either!" Sun shouted

"What happens when he really snaps.." Saffron said timidly hiding Adrien away from her angry and wild brother on the screen.

"I don't even think I've seen Jaune this angry in our world." Ruby said softly.

"It feels like every other Jaune we see can reach to new level of anger." Pyrrha said in a concerned tone.

Jaune surges forward quickly. Even with Mercury trying to back away, Jaune lands a hard blow to his jaw. Mercury retaliates but Jaune dodges everything and gets another shot at his jaw followed up by a shot to his liver.

"If he's unconscious, then how can he move like that!?" Summer asked excitedly

"I can't explain it! I just know it's amazing!" Tai said excitedly

"Dumbass! Like it needs explaining!" Raven shouted with a tinge of blood lust

"This is what happens when you seriously piss him off!" Qrow shouted in excitement

Mercury is still trying to hit Jaune as he ducks and dodges every wild swing thrown his way. Then Jaune lands three body blows that Mercury couldn't even block if he tried.

"He's moving on wild instinct now." Sienna said with a large grin on her face

"It's like he's been a wild animal disguised as a human being." Ironwood said fearfully seeing the feral and animalistic way he moved.

Jaune and Mercury break away breathing heavily, then Jaune dashes forward landing a heavy blow to the liver. As Mercury raises his face Jaune lands a right to his temple before going back and hitting the liver again. As Mercury is reeling Jaune takes a shot at his open jaw.

"The wildness of Mercury's punches makes them hard to read, but because of that they're unfocused. But Jaune's are compact, sharp, and always aimed directly at vital points. That second of his… he taught him something incredible and terrifying. A very sophisticated strategy for beating a man to death!" Arthur analyzed, gritting his teeth in anger.

"Considering that it's wild instinct, I'm amazed how accurate he is!" Sun said in a scared tone.

"Even if he's unconscious, his body remembers it all… the positions of the mitts that he's hit ten of thousands of times." Neptune said in shock.

"It reminds me of what the coach said in the waiting room.. 'Everything you've accomplished resides in your fists' before every fight, he'd always go through harsh dehydration, running, practicing, and then repeat it all over again. Everything he's built up over these years is what's guiding Jaune's fists! He can do it! I know it!" Oscar said excitedly. They all began cheering him on even louder as he landed another right to the temple.

" again at a vital point! He's … trying to…" Mercury thought to himself as he stared at this wild animal in front of him. Jaune charges forward and Mercury tries to lean back out the way only to get hit in his jaw.

"No doubt about it... he's definitely…. trying to… trying to kill me!" he thought as Jaune winds up and lands another shot at the bottom of his jaw making Mercury's eyes bulge. Mercury falls to the mat as Jaune misses his next swing.

"DOWN!" The call was made and Jaune on auto pilot moved to a neutral corner as the ref got into position.

"ONE!" the ref calls as mercury lays on the mat, blood gushing out of his mouth.

"TWO!" The crowd around them started saying there is no way Mercury could get up after that. Meanwhile Oscar and Sun are shouting for mercury to stay down.

"THREE!"

"I can hear a count. Man, did I go down again?"

"Wait, was that Jaune?" Yang asked in a confused tone.

"Isn't he unconscious?" Nora asked.

"It appears he's awake." Blake said nervously

"Huh?" Jaune says as he spots Mercury on the mat and ref counting over.

"FOUR!"

"What happened to him? What's going on here? Did I knock him down?" mercury starts to rise as these thoughts circle though Jaune's head.

"FIVE!"

"I don't remember it all!" Jaune yelled in his mind as his gym mates stare at mercury in horror as he begins to get up, blood still dripping from his mouth.

"He wants me dead. He was gonna kill me. Even in the slums, it was never this bad! I never felt like this!" Mercury thought as he struggled to get up. Jaune's gym mates shout for him to stay down even louder.

"SIX!"

"I'm afraid? But even so, I don't wanna lose. I'd rather die than lose!" Mercury thinks as he slowly tries to rise off of his knees.

"SEVEN!"

"Referee, what's with the slow count!?" Sun shouted nervously watching as Mercury rose up.

"He's going to get up!" Neptune shouts angrily.

"Don't get up!" Oscar shouts desperately.

all their shouts were silenced by the sound a fist meeting the corner. Jaune's outstretched fist bending the pad backwards as a frustrated look has formed on his face slowly turning into fury.

"You've gotta be kidding, I don't remember a damn thing! Not remembering if i took the title with a left or a right, what kinda crap is that!? It's gonna look like I became champion in the middle of a clusterfuck! Unless I take him down with a punch I can remember…" Jaune thinks angrily staring at the rising Mercury.

"EIGHT!"

"I won't be satisfied! SO GET YOUR SORRY ASS UP!" Jaune shouts, winding his arm in preparation to throw another punch.

"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Glynda asked with a twitching brow

"2 parts pride, 1 part stupidity, and 3 parts warrior spirit. All combined into one hell of a fighter." Slayer responded with a grin.

"Not gonna lie, I'm gonna side with this Jaune. I'd be pretty pissed off too if I couldn't remember how I won." Taiyang said with a large smile.

"Same" responded most of the hand to hand specialists, Nora, and Port.

"Dear gods, I'm surrounded by crazy people." Both Whitley and Oscar mumbled to themselves.

Mercury rises to his feet just in for Jaune to begin rushing at him ready to throw a devastating punch.

"Say goodnight!" Jaune growls out closing the distance quickly but then.

"STOP!" the ref shouts jumping in between the two men as the bell rings out. But Jaune's size and momentum carried them back enough to where he nearly head butted mercury. Staring at him with such fury and rage in his one good eye. The two separate going to their respective corners.

"I could have gone my whole life without seeing those eyes stare at me like that, I wish I hadn't ever seen them now." Mercury said nervously.

"That referee deserves some kind of medal for getting in between that." Willow said with an impressed tone

"His stamina is already way past its limits and there's no telling how much longer his mental strength will hold out. But I've got nothing to say, because you understand what to do better than anyone" Qrow thought to himself, wiping Jaune down. The arena is getting deathly quiet once more waiting for the round to begin.

"He was trying to kill me! Why didn't you warn me that I'm not the only one out there with a license to kill!?" Mercury fearfully asked.

"M-merc…" Arthur said in astonishment.

"He's cowering… this man is overcome with fear. During times like this, my daily efforts and training gave me the backbone to keep on going. But he is weak. Hawk doesn't have the backbone of a boxer. He seems so pitiful now. Compared to that, Arc has nerves of steel. The paths they took as boxers couldn't be more different! I was a fool for thinking his natural talent would be enough! It looks like I'm the one who's useless here!" Arthur thought, gritting his teeth in anger at the situation before him.

"Merc… this match" he began to say

"It's okay." Mercury cut him off

"I know I have to win. Up till now, no matter what I said, what I did , everyone let me get away with it. Why? Because I'm the champion! If I lose, no one will listen to me anymore. I'll be worthless. No… no! NO! I DON'T WANNA LOSE! I'M THE BEST IN THE WORLD! I'M THE CHAMPION!" Mercury raved and ranted angrily stunning Arthur.

"His incredible ego is supporting his battered body! We still have a chance!" Arthur thought with a sadistic grin.

" All or nothing, that's how it works in the ring. You're either going to lose it all and go back to America a failure, or win and return home as the champion. It's up to you." he said, hoping to play off Mercury's pride. It worked as mercury released a primal roar of challenge.

"Can't blame them for using this kind of strategy. When facing something like that kid, you should use whatever you have to win." Roman said gruffly as the room became quiet wondering what will happen next

"SECONDS OUT!"

"Hey, seconds out." Jaune says, lazily walking past Qrow.

"Junior, vaseline!" Qrow shouts quickly getting up on the stool they had for Jaune.

"If you don't get out, they're gonna get mad. W-what the hell?!" Jaune shouts as Qrow begins pulling his hair back.

"This is all I can do at this point! At a time like this, we can't have you out there without your trademark look! That wouldn't look good, would it?" Qrow says, getting the hair into the pompadour once more. Once finished he steps down and lets Jaune go.

"Get going." he said, Jaune looks back at him and gives a smile.

"I'll be back once I'm the king."

"You can do it, Jaune." Ruby muttered with excitement brimming in her eyes.

"You got this fearless leader." Nora said excitedly, a manic grin pulling across her face.

"ROUND EIGHT!"

*BANG*

The bell rings and mercury charges, unleashing a flurry of blows to Jaune's guard. He throws an uppercut breaking the guard.

"Look at me everybody! I'm the strongest! I'm the best!" Mercury thinks as he tries to close in with another punch. Before he could throw Jaune hits him with a right to the jaw.

"You're strong all right! But you're unlucky! It's too bad you were born in the same era as me!" Jaune mentally shouts victoriously.

"I'M THE CHAMPION!"/ "I'M TAKING THE BELT!" the two roared as the exchanged blows. Jaune hangs in there but mercury falters a bit

"Arms, legs… I'm begging you… we're almost done. Hang in a little longer!" Jaune mentally begs before rushing towards mercury and unleashing a one two combo to the Merc's jaw. He ducks a wild swing before sending another combo into his jaw again. He keeps up his combo screaming in his mind.

"Just a little more!"

Jaune keeps slamming punches into mercury's exposed face. One of the punches goes wide, swinging Jaune's body with it.

"Now even my punches are swinging my body around. Dammit all! I'm hurting even when I miss a punch! Dumbass, quit worrying about your stamina! He looks like he'll fall if you just push him over! Just a little more! A little more! The belt's right there!" he shouts mentally swinging a punch at mercury's face again, but at the last second mercury leans back out of the way.

"Shit forgot he could do that." Qrow said through gritted teeth

"It seems you lost this one Neo." Roman said smugly but she wasn't paying him attention just staring at the screen in anticipation.

Mercury smirks up at him and throws a punch right for Jaune's face.

It connects as blood spurts out.

But then Jaune shifts his face to the left and has a punch lined up for him staring down at the stunned mercury.

"You were saying?" Neo signed to roman with a grin, said thief's jaw had dropped in disbelief.

"Oh you poor thing." Salem said in sarcastic tone, the one mom's use when dealing with a child's dumb idea.

Only one word escaped Mercury's mouth as he could already see what was about to happen.

"Fuck."

Jaune closed in and slammed his fist into mercury's face smacking into the mat below with a large bounce. Jaune goes to a neutral corner as the count begins.

"ONE!" Arthur stares at his almost unmoving fighter in shock before commenting that Jaune in the terms of boxing was the ideal, a combination of wildness and science.

"TWO!"

"THREE!"

"FOUR!

"FIVE!" Rouge and her elder sisters stare in shock and pride over their brothers impressive showing.

"SIX!" Mercury begins to sit up and uses the ropes to try and pull himself up.

"SEVEN!" slowly rising to his feet staring out into the crowd exhaustedly.

"EIGHT!" he turns and faces his opponent once more much to the amazement of the crowd.

"What the hell? I was having such a good time on the king's throne. Why are you getting in my way!?" he asked meekly not noticing the ref coming over to him.

"Let me see your eyes!" the ref asked before Jaune moved him out of the way.

"If… If it wasn't for you!" Mercury hoarsely got out as both men got into their fighting stances.

"Die!" Jaune mentally commanded, slamming a left into the bottom of Mercury's jaw. Mercury's back hit the ropes bouncing him into a right straight from Jaune, right into the underside of the jaw again. Digging in the punch knocks him away quickly, but when Jaune goes to charge him the referee stops him and sends him to a neutral corner.

"ONE!"

"TWO!" members of the crowd joins in the count

"THREE!" Mercury staggering into his fight pose but still swaying

"FOUR!" Jaune's sisters scream out with the rest of the crowd

"FIVE!" Ren, Marrow, and Whitley shout with them.

"SIX!" Sun, Neptune, Clover, Oscar, and Scarlet run to the ring ready to congratulate their friend.

"SEVEN!" Jaune stares in shock.

"EIGHT!" Mercury's face begins to bulge and he holds something down. His eyes are now cross eyed. The referee's eyes widen as he backs away from mercury's violent spray of bloody vomit.

"NINE!" Mercury weakly steps forward, dropping down wrapping around the referee's waist to try and support himself.

"TEN!" The crowd cheers out as the bell violently rings out victory by knockout. Jaune leans back in stunned silence as the announcers call out his victory and the screen slowly fades to black.

"Wooh!" Ruby, Pyrrha, and Nora shouted in excitement.

"Now that's what I call entertainment" Yang and Tai say with a grin.

"Yeah, pretty sure I could go without seeing my baby bro being beaten to near death." Saffron said, holding a concerned look in her eyes but still grinning at his win.

"I could also go my whole life without seeing snap like that again, but given our host we might see it more often." Ozpin said calmly.

"What's next on the chopping block?" Sienna asked curiously.

"Next will be dealing with… what hell is going on here?" Slayer says, staring at the display that keeps glitching in and out with weird sigils and shadows covering the majority of its surface. Only three words were decipherable to him

"I̸̪͖̞̓̈́ ̶̝̪͓̼̼͖̑̆̓̏̒͘Ḽ̶͑͒͗̎̐͜ơ̸̥̐̀̒̒͝v̷͍̥̪̙͗̀̎́ȩ̵̡̫̘̈́̀͌̎̕̕ ̵̛̻̘̩̾̂͘h̶̼͖͙̟̄̔i̷̧̥͉̒̈́̀͋m̶̙͚̣̐́ͅ" repeated intermittently.

"Um i guess this world is next but i don't know what's happening in it. But before I continue , does anyone want to leave?" Slayer asks cautiously.

"I will. I think I've had my fun watching Mr. arc exploits so far but i believe that maybe someone else should take my spot." Port said jollily.

"I believe I shall retire as well. Thank you for having us." Oobleck said graciously. Slayer opened a door for them and allowed them to walk through before turning to the other expectantly.

" anyone else?" he asked only to receive a negative response.

"Well then I shall bring in two new guests to replace them." he says, closing the door and as it disappears another one forms, allowing two new figures to enter the room.

"Blake is that you?"

"Friend Ruby where are we?"

So I know it's probably not the greatest but still it's really hard to try and transcribe a boxing match and not get lost in your favorite moments.

An 1: the only way i could fit this into their world would either A: have it be arcadia or B: have it be menagerie and then one of the main kingdom like vale or atlas. And both would have worked but it was easier to keep it to just Japan and America.

An 2: Words cannot help me here. I'm pretty bad at describing the tension that was supposed to be felt here.

An 3: yes i did count and no I'm not sure i got it right either. But that at least sounds possible.

AN: why does clover talk like that the character in the manga/anime talks like that i figured it had something to do with his brain damage from his prize fighter days or something that made the character quirky.

one final note: if you noticed i once in awhile gave dialogue from the show to the audience, while still having some of the moments be done by the worlds cast as well. i originally wanted to just leave it fully to the worlds cast but then i got to the bit that i had team STRQ do. well it felt way to accurate to the four of them that i had to do it. hope you guys didn't get to annoyed by this.

See you guys next time!