Disclaimer:
The works of Rooster-Teeth and their characters are their own and that of the mighty Oum. The only thing I own are the one-shot ideas that popped into my head and whatever OCs I would create for them. This is a work of pure fiction made solely for fun, constructive reviews will be welcomed, flames will be ignored. Any references to characters in real-life or fiction are purely coincidental. If I could make money out of my ideas, it would be nice...
Oum Damn It!
Date Published: 9th December 2018
Chapter Title: Lessons Part 2
~~ Scene 1 ~~
"Hmm..." A certain Doctor Bartholomew Oobleck hummed as he lightly brushed away some dirt from a pillar with a brush, pausing every so often to get a better look at the etchings made on it and taking notes. He had been at this for close to an hour now but he was meticulous to keep his excitement back to ensure he did not damage the pillar by accident. This was after all the first crypt in a long time to be found near the capital of Vale and he would be damned if he damaged something under his watch.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" Oobleck paused in the middle of brushing some earth off a symbol he suspected to be proof of a compass pointing to a settlement around Mountain Glenn and turned to find a fellow huntsman and historian hobbyist looking around with a keen eye. "I am so glad you brought me here, it has been some time since I have been at a dig."
"Indeed, I feel that this is something I would need some help with." Oobleck answered with a nod. He was a well-known historian, trekker and occasional explorer in Vale, but he also knew that hubris was a sin in the eye of relic restoration, so he was not ashamed to get extra help for excavations, and for something that could lead fill in the blanks for Vale's history books, this was one matter he was not taking a lot chances with. He would have the final say on it of course, but he would need whatever help he could get.
"And you said it was two students who stumbled upon this?" The huntsman peered at a skeleton with a cursory eye, not carrying for the centipede that appeared out of an eye-socket and crawled to the ground.
"Yes, Mr Arc and Miss Nikos were undertaking their initiation when they came here and found the Centipods." Oobleck shivered at the memory of the Grimm when he first made contact with it upon their arrival. There were many different types of Grimm that could easily qualify for the 'Boogey-man' group as coined by some of the students, but the Centipods held a special place in his heart as the creature that haunts nightmares since they were known to make their prey suffer and in the case of humans, often left them just barely alive for them to lay their eggs in them so that the young could hatch and devour them. Yes that was right, of all the Grimm in Remnant, the Centipods were perhaps the only known species to actually eat humans, if not for nutrition then perhaps for sadism.
Honestly those two teens were lucky to find an actual weakness to them before they got overrun, he should consider giving them higher grades if they had one less than satisfactory essay.
"I have to say, they must have the luck of the devil to not only deal with the Grimm but to find this catacomb. Are there any other levels or hidden treasures?" The huntsman turned to him.
"It has been slow going, from what we could tell the Death Stalker that used to live in these caves tore down quite a fair of bit of the rocks to get out of the mountain, and the Centipods also destroyed a fair bit of the supports over the years and later finished the job when they went after the students." Oobleck answered as he finished writing down the notes and dusting himself off. "What I can say is that the catacombs around here are a lot bigger than anticipated, and early scans of the area suggest that there may be at least three more levels underneath us and that these span a lot further than we originally expected."
The huntsman let out a soft whistle at that tidbit. "That sounds quite extensive."
"Exactly, I am hoping this does not take too much time, I do need to get back to the academy to do my teachings, even if I am reluctant to leave this in the middle of the excavation." Oobleck sighed as he considered the timing. Normally Ozzpin would give extensions if he were overseas or in excavations deemed too important to leave, but in this case he was already pushing the deadline a fair bit and if not Ozpin, Glynda would likely be the one chasing after him.
"Tough luck." The huntsman shook his head in good humor. He then frowned before pointing a finger behind Oobleck. "Erm, what are those guys doing with those chains?" The historian turned to find a few of his students dragging a thick chain into the chamber, each with determined expressions on them. It took Oobleck a few seconds to realize their intentions and made him shake his head in slight amusement and exasperation.
"They are trying to pull out the hammer."
"Hammer?" The huntsman looked to him with a raised eyebrow. Oobleck chuckled while motioning to him to follow the students. They walked a few feet before pausing at the entrance to the chamber where it was a lot larger to have an open floor and where the ground was evidently littered with the skeletons of the past and the weapons that were strewn all over the area. And this was perhaps the most perplexing to the historian slash huntsman.
Oobleck has been into many excavation sites and had seen some relics that had been well-preserved in time, but this was the first time when he had laid eyes on weaponry that dated roughly to the time of the Great War to be in pristine condition and still functional as seen with Jaune Arc's newly acquired Crimson Blitz. There was also an unusual matter where the vast majority of said weapons would not be removed from their resting places by any means. He had removed a few himself but those were 'degraded' from the ravages of time, but the rest resisting the attempts to move them still have their sharpened edges or shifting mechanisms intact.
One such weapon was a certain war hammer that had been hindering a bit of their excavation efforts due to its placement. It was half buried in the bedrock and what little that could be shown revealed it to be covered in symbols Oobleck recognized to be a mix of old cultures from Mistral and Mantle before it became Atlas. Initial scans failed to pick anything up much as something from it kept frying out the circuits in the devices, but one of those scans gave the indication that there was possibly a big ore of Lightning Dust embedded inside, something that surprised him as the amount of Dust inside had to be enough to power a building ten times over, and the fact that its power has not degraded with time suggested it was a very high grade Dust ore, something that attracted the attention of quite a few of the students and made them try to remove it from its placement.
What did get their attention was the amount of resistance it was putting up to not let anyone get it out; the rock around it seemed immune to their hacking or controlled blasting, and one with a strength enhancing Semblance ended up breaking his Aura and tearing the muscles of his arms. This sparked what appeared to be the start of a very odd competition where the students would take turns trying to lift the hammer with the same results and with differing injuries to each student. A total of ten had to be sent back to Beacon for a stay in the hospital wing. It then started getting more ridiculous with a few getting machinery to extract the hammer only to have that break into pieces while the hammer remained its place, the shine that came off it seemingly mocking them. At one point one of the few females tried an acid-based solution to melt the rock around the hammer to loosen it, but that only got the ground around it eaten with the rock still in place.
That was 2 days ago, now it seemed to be a matter of pride for the young huntsmen in training to get the hammer out by any means necessary. Oobleck watched them wrapped the chains around the handle and the rock itself while a few others put up steel partitions to ensure that if it did come loose, it would not damage any of the other relics or skeletons. That much was point to them and he was curious himself if this matter would work.
"Why are they doing that?" His friend asked watching the students putting what had to be an absurd number of chains around a mere war hammer.
"Let's put it simply that there are some relics here that are proving quite resistant to our excavation efforts." Oobleck could not help the amused tone in his words as he checked the measures taken to ensure the other items were not going to be damaged. It seemed that some of the students were not letting the issue get to their heads too much as they made sure that the partitions were reinforced with Earth Dust to ensure that any sudden release would not damage the other items.
That said, he was also getting rather frustrated with some of the resistance that the relics were putting up from getting removed. He had to wonder what happened here to give this type of response.
"Are you sure they should be doing that?" The huntsman had to stare at one student placing Dust grenades around the rock with the type of precision and determination normally meant for B-rank Grimm extermination missions. Were they taking this a little too far?
"Come with me, then you know why." Oobleck made his way back to the entrance of the entire catacomb system with the incredulous huntsman following suit, pausing to deal with the glare of the sun above him after a few hours of darkness in the cave. A few feet from the entrance, some of the students were attaching the other end of the chain to a pickup truck, securing it tightly to the flatbed of it.
"We are done on this end. How's the other end?" A second year student of his class called out as he dusted his hands off.
"They just got it done. We are ready to go!" A third year answered after checking his scroll.
"Alright let's get this started!" The second year motioned to the driver who was an old man with a beard and a mustache wearing a cap to start up the engine. The truck started to move forward, making the chain go taut before the truck started to stay in one spot while the tires spun wildly, throwing out smoke and gravel as the driver tried to give more power to the vehicle and the students cheered him on.
'CRNK!'
… At least until the flatbed completely ripped itself off the truck and got pulled back from the force, making the others go back a few steps to avoid getting hit by the oncoming flatbed as it crashed to the ground. The truck stopped a few away before the driver looked out of his window. "Did it work?"
That question set everyone off into laughing, with a few trying to get a hold of the others inside with limited success due to the hilarity of it all. Oobleck had to let out a chuckle at this point, it seemed nothing would budge the hammer, let alone the other weapons.
"Shit!" The huntsman swore as he looked at the scene. "You telling me this has been going on like this?"
"That is unfortunately correct, we just can't get any of those weapons out of the way." Oobleck replied. "At the rate it is going, we may as well cordon off the area so that we can consider converting it into an open-air exhibition for people to view. At the very least, we will make sure to clear the area a bit so that other historians can come along to examine."
"By Oum..." The huntsman scratched his head at the information. "So there is absolutely no way or no one who can remove them?" Oobleck was about to reply when he paused at that question. There was after all one who did remove one weapon that was in good shape and from the odd chatter he had heard, the weapon seemed to have an odd issue where people wound up getting small cuts from it.
Perhaps he could get that person to come and make the attempt to remove it, and in the process see if there is anything else that was hidden from them?
"There might be someone..."
~~ Scene 2 ~~
"Jaune, is something the matter?" Jaune turned to Pyrrha who asked.
"I am not sure, I suddenly felt chills down my spine." Jaune let out another shudder as he felt another chill running down in a manner that reminded him of his elder sisters when they planned to dress him in their dresses, worse since Anita Arc was the fashion designer of the family and often used him or the younger sisters as her personal dress-up dummy.
Oh the horrors, don't say that they have planned a new dress for him to wear!
"Jaune-Jaune, you looked like you are heading to the gallows." Nora poked a finger into his cheek.
"I might be in the future..." Jaune remarked in a dead tone.
"Hey guys, what's up?" The team turned to find Ruby and her team coming over to their table to join them for lunch. Jaune looked at how Weiss was interacting with Ruby since the previous day and from the looks of it, Professor Port was able to fix the problem or at the very least, get Weiss to channel her energy elsewhere. At least that helped.
"Jaune-Jaune is getting chills down his spine, I think he is getting sick." Nora said before turning to Ren. "I think he needs your special pancakes to get better Renny!"
"Nora, first of all he is not sick, he is just getting bad premonitions of what's to come." Ren spoke while looking to Jaune with a look that spoke of his understanding of his situation. "Two, he does not need special pancakes to get better."
"But Renny, pancakes can make anyone better!" Nora raised her arms high as she looked at him. It was a sort of a testament in the few days they had been in Beacon that the people around them were starting to ignore Nora altogether, chalking it up to her usual madness. "Pancakes can likely save humanity from the madness of vegetables!"
"Aha, sure… In the meantime." Ren placed a healthy dosage of salad onto her plate. "Eat your greens."
"Renny~" Nora whined while slumping against the table. Team RWBY looked at her for a moment before looking to her teammates who looked used to her behavior.
"Well, is everyone ready for the next lesson?" Yang tried to ignore the craziness that was Nora and looked to them. "This is after all our first real lesson for combat by Goodwitch."
"I think we are looking forward to it." Pyrrha answered as she took her coffee. "It has been quite a while before she was prepared to give us this lesson. We only ever gotten lectures from her on ethics and other matters not normally covered in the past."
"But doesn't Jaune here gets some 'private' lessons with you and Goodwitch the past few days?" Yang pointed a thumb at Jaune while wiggling her eyebrows. "Must be a very intensive lesson for Jaune if he needs you and Goodwitch to 'manage' him."
"Yang!" Ruby whined while Jaune and Pyrrha did their best to resemble tomatoes with their faces and Nora laughed like a mad woman.
"It's not like that. Jaune was given different instructions for his fighting style before he came here and his instructors were unable to complete them so Professor Goodwitch was given that task to ensure he completed them." Pyrrha answered that. Jaune merely nodded while privately thanking Ozpin for that excuse.
"You have not completed your training before coming here?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.
"My grandfather and uncle are a little old fashioned." Jaune explained while mentally apologizing to his uncle and grandfather for stating they were old. "They prefer the old-school method of fighting and training as you can tell from my weaponry, and sadly I just got my aura unlocked recently. Add the fact that I don't know the necessary techniques means I am a little out of depths right now."
"Phew~ damn, your gramps and uncle must be something since you had to go through the Initiation with that much of a handicap." Yang remarked at that tidbit of information.
"They are, but at least they gave me some tips alongside my eldest sister." Jaune nodded his head.
"Yeah, the eldest of seven sisters~" Yang shook her head in disbelief while Ruby, Blake and Weiss nodded in acknowledgment. "Still trying to wrap my head around that."
"I know, Jaune's mum is a supermom!" Nora gave the proclamation while Jaune placed both hands to his face to hide his embarrassment.
"Ouch! Stop!" The pained yell stopped the conversation and drew their attention to a group of four surrounding a rabbit faunus who was protesting under duress as the biggest guy in armor yanked on her long ears.
"Oh great, those guys again..." Yang growled as she clenched her fists. The others had their own expressions of agreement and resentment towards the group with Jaune mentally sighing at this point.
Team Cardinal (CRDL), a group of guys led by one Cardin Winchester who seemed to have the ego the size of an Ursa, was a group that quickly established themselves as a bunch of troublemakers going around harassing other students. Jaune was one of their targets partly due to him looking the weakest of their two teams and his weapon cutting Cardin, which somehow translates to it being Jaune's fault despite Cardin being the one to grab Crimson Blitz without permission. But so far their efforts were not successful as Jaune seemed to have the devil's luck as Yang would put it. What did she mean by that?
First time Cardin tried to bully Jaune, he wanted to push him into a locker, but Jaune slipped on some oil and fell backwards, his leg tripping Cardin into the locker which sent him flying out to the forest.
Second attempt was CRDL wanting to dump expired milk on him, but he stopped to tie his shoelaces that came loose at the last second and they ended up dumping it on Goodwitch who happened to walk a little behind Jaune at that time. The woman had an apocalyptic expression as she assigned them detention in the form of cleanup duty for two full months while writing essays on disrespecting teachers.
Third attempt was them trying to hose him down with a lot of water, but that failed when Jaune was fiddling with his sheath and it accidentally configured itself into the shield which deflected the water back at them.
Since then, they had been very persistent in getting him or the others into some form of trouble, but have been less than successful either from his odd luck or from his team's watchful eyes. Nora for one was most insistent on breaking Cardin's legs and it said something about their persistence that Ren looked like he was considering the offer alongside Pyrrha since they kept harassing her for her looks and her partnership with him.
That 'leg-breaking' part was terrifying for him.
"It must be hard being a faunus." Yang was clearly trying to control her temper as she watched Cardin laugh loudly as he continued pulling on the girl's ears.
"It is despicable." Pyrrha answered with narrow eyes. "We should be fighting alongside one another yet it is people like Cardin that is giving reasons for others not to work together." Jaune was about to say something when his vision changed again and he found himself alone in an old decrepit castle at night. Based on the opening at the wall, he was in an area that had a lot of snow, likely Mantle or perhaps Vale during the winter period.
'Oh great, not again?' Jaune groaned as he looked around him slowly. He had gone to the hospital wing to talk to the doctor about the visions, edited to a certain extent, but it was not very helpful since there was not much to go on. It was a little embarrassing at the start as the doctor assumed he was 'pent up' and needed release. He barely held back from yelling at the doctor when he denied that, made worse when the doctor actually asked if he was given 'The Talk' by his parents.
He was so glad that no one, especially his team or Team RWBY was around to hear that. He did not want to know what Yang would say.
After a few false starts, the doctor told him he should watch himself if these continued further and also to consider watching his actions as others might notice. What little he had gathered from the visions that happened in the day, the environment suited the situation of sorts so he could get away but he was mindful just in case.
'So what type of situation would this be?'
Jaune got that answer when he looked ahead where he last saw CRDL bullying the faunus and what he saw made his blood go cold with dread and hot with rage at the same time.
In front of him were four soldiers dressed in dark old-age armor lined with fur to keep out the cold, on top of which fur cloaks were draped on for further protection. In front of them was a young human woman who looked a lot like the rabbit faunus with her long brown hair but in a more distressing state than her. Her light green dress was torn up in many places, showing off more skin than what she was clearly comfortable about given her bruises and her tear-streaked face. Her arms and legs were restrained by three of the men while the fourth who was clearly the leader leered over her with lustful eyes lingering around her chest that was barely covered by the strips of torn cloth.
"This will teach you to treat your betters with respect, girly." The man spoke as he leaned over to place a finger on the woman's face, the action causing her to flinch and the other men to laugh cruelly at her. "Maybe we can make this a regular event." Jaune's blood was practically boiling at this point, but when the woman turned to look at Jaune, something changed and his heart stopped when he suddenly saw his eldest sister in their clutches.
"Jaune..." She weakly called out to him as the leader lowered his hand to the piece of clothing on her chest. "Run..."
"Let's have a little more fun shall we?"
"Jaune!" That shout broke the vision and Jaune found himself clutching the arm of Cardin away from the rabbit faunus and away from his friends. It seemed that in his state and haste to stop the men violating his sister, he ended up leaving his team and ran forward to grab Cardin's arm away from the faunus, thus breaking the vision.
He really got to have a handle on these visions. Right now though he must as well stop this.
"That is enough." Jaune spoke stiffly as he looked at the teen who was a lot bigger than him and was now sneering at Jaune like he was dirt underneath his booth.
"Oh look at that, Jauney boy thinks he can be the knight to save the maiden!" Cardin jerked back his arm as his teammates surrounded him, the entire cafeteria now going silent at the confrontation. In the distance, Jaune could see the staff coming around from their kitchens with a few closer to the side entrances in case they needed to get help from the professors.
"Why are you even doing this? Can't you see your actions are hurting her?" Jaune motioned with his arm at the faunus who was now outside the ring.
"What's it to you? She is just a freak." Cardin's derogatory words made a few faunus nearby bristled at him and earning him a few glares.
"She is a young woman, not a freak. Also she is a fellow huntress in training." Jaune answered back in a rough tone.
"She is an animal that is in need to be culled or at the least, be trained." Cardin sneered while other people started to add their glares at him and his team. "Maybe you should train her since you appear to be some freak-lover. Bent her over and make her scream."
"It is people like you that gives the White Fang the type of ammunition to attack us all the time." Jaune growled while a few people nodded in agreement.
"Really? Well perhaps it is the other way around, it is freak-lovers like you who keep giving those animals reasons to keep pushing us around when we should be exterminating them instead." Cardin got up close to Jaune's face and leered at him. "Then again weaklings like you make it difficult to keep the population down." Those words merely fanned the flames towards him as many of the faunus in the cafeteria were getting very agitated and the teammates with them looked ready to deck Cardin with whatever they have at hand. Before that could happen, someone came along to interrupt the impending fight.
"What is going on here?" Glynda's strict voice cut through the tension and directed everyone's attention to the blonde headmistress who looked ready to fire off detentions at everyone as she directed her glare at them.
"Nothing, professor." Cardin attempted a smile at her while trying to wrap an arm around Jaune. "We are just having a discussion. Right, Jaune?" Unfortunately for Cardin, Jaune was still running on high with rage and his Aura was responding to that, so Cardin's attempt to squeeze his neck for a subtle reply got repelled violently and he got pushed back for his troubles.
"I am going to get my friend to my table, that's all Professor Goodwitch." Jaune replied before turning to the faunus and offering a hand to her. The girl looked at him with wide eyes before taking his hand slowly. Jaune merely tightened his grip softly and smiled as he led her away. Not without a parting remark by Cardin.
"We will settle this later in combat class, weakling."
~~ Scene 3 ~~
Pyrrha lightly sucked her thumb as the combat classroom filled quickly with students not just from their year group but also from the second and third year cohorts. The news of the confrontation in the cafeteria spread quickly within the hour and it seemed that the faunus bullied by Team CRDL was a second-year from one of the stronger teams so people were interested to keep an eye on the situation. But Pyrrha did not care about that too much, she was more worried for Jaune.
She had known that something was odd for Jaune since that lesson with Professor Port, especially when he went to the hospital wing briefly to talk to the doctor about something and returned with a thoughtful look. He had been oddly spaced out a couple of times before, but the incident today brought something up that made her feel a little afraid for him. She was about to ask Jaune's opinion when she saw his expression changed from nervous to shock then to a cold fury that honestly made her flinch back. Before she could respond, Jaune got up from his table and stomped his way towards Cardin, grabbing his arm and forcing him to release his arm off the girl.
Make no mistake, she was pleased that Jaune was willing to stand up to the troublemaker when no one else did, but there was something uncharacteristic in his behavior for Jaune to do so as he seemed to get confrontational with Cardin. Furthermore there was that odd figure again standing behind Jaune, his face still not shown but the glowing eyes were directed at Cardin with a glare that seemed ready to cut him down. Pyrrha was getting very worried at this point and the timing could not be worse with the lesson. There was no doubt in her mind Cardin was going to use this lesson to hurt Jaune.
Pyrrha did not really listened much to Goodwitch's lecture as she kept throwing nervous glances at Jaune, who himself looked nervous but had a look of determination in his eyes as he clenched his fists. He was clearly psyching himself for the fighting that was to come.
"Now that introductions have been done, I will now be conducting a series of sparring matches to help assess your abilities. I want you to pay close attention to them as they could help you in your own strengths and I will be asking you for comments later." The woman spoke as she looked at each and everyone of them in the eye, many looking away unconsciously from her glare. Pyrrha was at least glad that she held her eye even if she twitched without meaning to, Goodwitch just has that effect on people. "Now I will be selecting people at random..."
"Actually Professor." Everyone turned to look at Cardin who raised his arm. "May I have the first round?" Glynda raised an eyebrow at him before nodding.
"Very well then, now who should we have for your opponent? Let's have..."
"Actually professor, I would like to choose my opponent as well." Cardin interrupted her again to the shock of the other students who were probably thinking that Cardin had a death wish to keep interrupting Goodwitch, enforced by the glare that was directed at him. She later adopted a resigned look, knowing what he must have planned but still wanted to deal with it.
"You may choose an opponent as long as you have not faced them before, AND that person is of adequate level. I will not have you turn this into some sideshow to show off." Glynda emphasized on it but Cardin merely sneered and turned to look at Jaune.
"I choose Jaune Arc." Her partner in question sighed as he shook his head. Pyrrha could only lay a hand on his shoulder in sympathetic support while directing a glare at Cardin who merely widen his sneering at her.
"Do you accept the match-up, Mister Arc?" Glynda called out to him.
"I do professor. I'll be right down." Jaune got up from his seat and made his way to the locker rooms, pausing for a moment when Nora and Ruby offered their supports. Pyrrha could only wish him her own support privately as she looked down at the stage, getting that odd feeling she normally had before a fight that she felt could go wrong.
And that feeling was really bad right now.
~~ Scene 4 ~~
"Well, in for a penny, in for a lien." Jaune muttered as he made his way out of the locker room and towards the stage where he would face Cardin. He had both Crocea Mors and Crimson Blitz equipped so at least he had options, and he knew based on previous interactions that Cardin had a huge mace with a big Fire Dust Crystal inside. Said mace had been upgraded a couple of times to be bigger and longer each time alongside Cardin's boasting.
As Yang so aptly put it, Cardin seemed to be overcompensating for something.
Jaune shook his head and considered the odd vision and induced rage he had experienced earlier. Those visions were getting a little more frequent now but this was the first time his sister appeared in it and the state she was in made him feel angrier than expected. Not that he was supposed to be emotionless or anything, anyone who dared to lay a hand on his sisters would answer to him one way or another. That much he demonstrated for his younger sisters when they got bullied; he may not have aura but he did have a head for thinking up weird punishments that would leave them humiliated if his elder sisters cannot get to them first. But he was still feeling more rage than normal as though he was experiencing another person's anger besides his.
He would think about it later, for now he need to deal with his first combat lesson.
Jaune soon made it out to the practice area where Cardin was standing making a few swings to test out his latest upgrade with a big smile on his face. Jaune felt his blood boil again and forced himself to take a few deep breaths to calm himself before unsheathing Crocea Mors and expanding his shield. His grandfather had emphasized the need to have a clear mind to avoid injuries and having a lot of anger was not helping.
"Good Mister Arc, now we shall commence." Professor Goodwitch turned to face the other students watching them. "This match will be conducted under tournament settings, meaning the match will continue until one's aura has gone to the red, one is incapacitated or surrenders. At which point an alarm will sound and you will cease fighting." Glynda looked to them at that last statement with her gaze lingering on Cardin. "You will not try to continue if I say so. Are both fighters clear on that?"
The both of them nodded, with Jaune's being the most noticeable with a bow while Cardin seemed to shrug her warning and focused on sneering at Jaune.
"Very well, fighters to your positions!" Jaune and Cardin got into their stances and awaited the signal.
"Three..." The students leaned forward in anticipation of the match, some more so than others.
"Two.." Jaune shifted his footing to get better traction while Cardin tightened his grip on his mace. If he was right with his assumption, Cardin was going to attack first.
"One..." Pyrrha clasped her hands together as she made a silent prayer for Jaune's protection.
"Begin!"
As Jaune had predicted, Cardin exploded forward with his mace raised high and aimed for his head. With a loud roar, the bully sent his mace swinging at him, clearly hoping to hit Jaune out with one hit if not intimidate him. Thankfully Jaune had considered that attack and had training from Nora on that aspect, and showed it by raising his shield and angling it enough to deflect the mace. The mace slid off the shield harmlessly and Cardin was briefly left defenseless enough for Jaune to make a quick strike to his sides, drawing 'first blood' so to speak as the aura indicators above them showed.
Cardin growled at that and went for a low blow, swinging the mace to the side where it would make a heavy impact around Jaune's hips if not his family jewels. Jaune managed to move his shield in time to block it but underestimated the amount of force behind the swing and got pushed back a few meters for that. Cardin tried to capitalize on it and went for a body blow, but Jaune dodged to the side in time to let the mace strike the ground hard and make a big crater. Getting into a crouched position, Jaune swung hard and managed to nick Cardin by the leg, bringing his Aura down even further.
At this point Cardin seemed to have realized that Jaune was not as big a pushover as he had hoped and opted to keep his distance and tried a bit of trash-talking.
"Not bad runt. Too bad you are too weak, always going around like a pussy." Cardin tried to make Jaune angry, but a week's worth of Yang made Jaune somewhat immune.
"At least cats are able to dodge attacks properly, while you are like a raging bull that keeps charging at the target." Jaune shrugged with an easy smile. "Then again you look a little like an ape which might explain your behavior patterns."
"WHAT WAS THAT?!"
Okay~ apparently Cardin had something against apes or he hated the comparison as Cardin charged forward and activated his mace to reveal the Fire Dust while swinging. Te explosion that hit Jaune's shield was enough to rattle him to the point of making him stumble. Jaune tried to block with his sword and was semi-successful to blocking and striking Cardin at the same time but ended up getting hit in his arm.
"Aha!" Cardin let out a whoop only to get a Crocea Mors shield bashing to the face, lowering his aura even more. Jaune took the opportunity to sweep the leg underneath him and bring it down hard on his chest before cutting him a few more times for good measure and then making distance away from Cardin.
'I must remember to thank Silvia for the idea.' Jaune thought about his youngest sister who was eight years old and was the darling of the family. She also tends to say out random things that at first glance were thought to be the imagination of a young child but when applied to some situations were actually useful. In this case Silvia had seen one of his training sessions with their sister and had voiced out using one of his dancing moves for them. The fact she said that while doing a cute rendition of one of his motions made it a memory that he would now treasure.
By hook or by crook, he would make sure to bake the best chocolate cake for Silvia to eat by the next weekend for this idea!
Cardin glared at Jaune with a bloodied nose before he suddenly switched to a sneer which got Jaune wary.
"Couldn't help noticing you have two pretty girls in your team, shame a runt like you don't know how to deal with them, it takes a real man to satisfy women like them."
"Aha~ sure~ let me know when you know a real man. I am not sure if I want to learn facts from someone who is clearly compensating with his mace." Jaune talked back to much cheering and laughter on Cardin's part. Yang could be heard in the background shouting "BURN!"
"Nah, I think I am quite capable of handling it." Cardin mocked as they walked around one another. "In fact, I have been keeping an eye on your cute partner for some time now. She seems so high and mighty, but I am sure that a few good knocks would get that out of her. That sounds fun, don't you think?"
Jaune's blood went cold at that statement, and he barely registered how silent the classroom went or how the weapon on his back seemed to vibrate with a bit of agitation. Even Crocea Mors felt oddly cold for some reason when Cardin said those words.
"She goes training at the training rooms or does her running around the campus in the morning a lot, doesn't she?" Cardin gave a leer at that and for a brief moment Jaune's visions switched to the same man dressed in armor and fur wielding a battleaxe, looking at Jaune in the same manner.
'Attack him...'
"What's it to you, Winchester? Do you really think Pyrrha would give you the time of day?" Jaune barely kept the bubbling rage back but it seemed something was building it up quickly. Not to mention the odd voice that was telling him something.
'Cut him down...'
"Well, she could use an attitude adjustment or two..." As soon as those words left his mouth, Cardin rushed forward to take advantage of the distraction, forcing Jaune to take another blast of the explosion with his shield, but this time Cardin reached forward to grab his sword, and with a big yank pulled it away and threw it to the side. With a quick move that Jaune was not sure he had before, Jaune managed to collapse his shield, grabbed the leather strap and swung hard to land it straight into Cardin's face before finishing the move and opening up his shield again. Jaune glanced at where the sword was thrown and winced at the distance. There was no way he could get to that in time.
Just as well he came prepared. Jaune reached behind to grab Crimson Blitz while turning to look at Cardin.
"Lucky hit..." Cardin wiped the blood of his mouth. "Then again with that stuck-up bitch on your team, you had to learn some things."
'Hurt him...'
"You know what though? Beacon does have a lot of empty and out-of-the-way spots that don't have cameras checking them all the time. Plenty of areas for me and the boys to get… 'acquainted' with that girl of yours. She may act all proper and nice, but deep down she is a whore like every other girl out there." Cardin kept talking while the figure from Jaune's vision appeared behind him and in the same position. Jaune could almost hear the blooding pumping in his ears as his vision changed once more back to the snowy castle at night, but this time they were outside of the castle in an open snowy plain, and both Cardin and the figure leered right back at him while the bodies of the young woman, his sister and Pyrrha laid on the ground with clothes that were torn and blood-soaked, their eyes glazed from whatever trauma.
"We will make her respect her betters..."
'SLAY HIM!'
Jaune dropped his shield and pulled Crimson Blitz out hard, the blade singing for the promise of blood on its body. With a roar, he leaped forward and started to slash wildly at Cardin, all thoughts of strategy gone from his mind and replaced with the desire to hurt the person before him. Crimson Blitz made short work of Cardin as it sliced through his aura and armor to make deep cuts, drawing a bit of blood in the process.
"What the?!" Cardin clearly did not expect the ferocity that Jaune was displaying and was forced into a defensive state using the mace as a makeshift barrier while trying to take a few shots at Jaune. Jaune ignored some of the blows as he continued laying on the attacks, his vision seemingly alternating between Cardin in the classroom and the robed figure in the snowy plains as they kept trying to attack and dodge Jaune.
He just wanted to make Cardin regret his actions towards the rabbit faunus…
He wanted Cardin to pay for those remarks towards Pyrrha…
He wanted the robed figure to suffer for harming the woman in the vision…
He wanted them both to suffer...
He wanted to kill both Cardin and the robed figure…
Cardin at this point took the chance to swing the mace and activate the Fire Dust, pushing Jaune back a few feet so that Cardin could get a chance to get away from Jaune. The knight growled at the action taken, to him it proved that Cardin had made a big mistake but was not paying the price enough.
He would not let him leave!
Seemingly in response to his rage, Crimson Blitz reconfigured itself to extend its blade and the edge started to glow a deep red with small traces of electricity. With a yell, Jaune swung hard and unleash a hailstorm of crimson blades that flew across the stage and bombarded Cardin with no mercy. Cardin tried to block the blades only to have his mace cut down into several pieces and to be struck down at the legs. Jaune took that opportunity to close the distance, grabbed the handle with both hands and swung it hard to end it all.
'KILL HIM!'
"Cloud / Jaune / Mister Arc!"
Crimson Blitz stopped just before Cardin's neck, lightly nicking the skin and drawing a bit of blood from it. Jaune's mind went blank as the vision cleared away, revealing a beaten Cardin who looked at Jaune like he was about to meet the Grim Reaper. Jaune's rage was almost extinguished but it was still there, smoldering but ready to become a blaze while his heart was pounding in his ears. But Jaune could not help the dread that was encroaching on his heart; he almost lost control of himself, letting Cardin get the better of him with his words. He actually wanted to kill Cardin over words, granted justifiable words but still...
He had to be better than that.
Briefly closing his eyes, Jaune took a deep breath to center himself before opening them again to look at Cardin in the eye.
"You are a pathetic worm who dares to harm women for your sick pleasures. I do not know how you got here with that attitude." Jaune pulled back the blade and stood straight while maintaining his glare at the bully. "You will apologize to the young lady, and don't even think of laying a finger on Pyrrha. If you do..." With that Jaune stepped back a few steps and looked to Goodwitch who had her crop held up, likely about to intervene when he held back. Jaune took a quick glance around and winced inwardly at the stares he was getting. With another deep breath, he bowed his body towards Goodwitch.
"My apologies for losing myself to anger and displaying a bad side of the fight." Jaune held his head down as he awaited his judgment. After a while he heard the heels clicking across the stage and stopped before him, making him slowly look up to find the professor looking at him with a gaze that was checking him. Seemingly finding no fault, she nodded.
"See that you do, Mister Arc." Glynda then turned to the students around them. "Winner by Aura depletion and incapacitation by injuries, Jaune Arc."
There was a pause, then like a tidal wave the sounds of applause came about with a few cheering. Jaune looked to where his team was and was a little relieved to find them and Team RWBY cheering him on, although Blake and Weiss were a little subdued. Well he would have to cross that bridge later.
"Well students, as you can see Mister Winchester has lost by Aura depletion..." Goodwitch started her lecture based on the fight while Jaune went to pick up his shield. He just picked it up and looked up to his team when he saw Ren's expression tightened and Pyrrha's transition from joy to fear, followed shortly by Ruby, Yang and Blake.
"Jaune, watch out!"
"Mister Winchester!"
Jaune turned his head to find Cardin having jumped in the air and raising the ruined mace above in an attempt to blindside him and take him out. His vision switched once more to the robed figure who had his battleaxe aimed at his head, his face having an expression of rage, glee and madness as he swung it down.
For the last time of the day, Jaune reacted instinctively by swinging Crimson Blitz, the blade singing in the process…
'Shring!'
… And at long last, it had tasted the blood of its owner's enemies on the battlefield.
0-0-0-0
Le Gasp~ a cliffhanger?! Say it ain't so! XD
Hello there, here's the latest chapter for this story. And oh dear, our dear knight is certainly in a bit of a pickle. Let's see what will be the fallout huh?
Now as one imagine, having these visions come out randomly would definitely have be problematic. Ask anyone who suffers from hallucinations and majority of them will say it sucks. For Jaune's case, having a certain entity only increases the issue. And don't forget the title of the story, Jaune has Crimson Blitz for now...
Hope you like the certain shout-out to the man who has sadly left us for a better world, may that place have his heroes to welcome him...
Also just to let you guys know, I have currently debuted one of my other story ideas, 'the Arcadian Code' inspired by Dan Brown. I am hoping to get the next chapter out around Christmas or at the latest before the New Year. Also to let you guys know, my alternate account so that you can visit and view some of the stories is on profile.
So as always, please R-&-R and hope you stick around for another chapter.
And I put my pen down for now.
