Time for a battle between blondes. And a little announcement to go with that. CrowSkull, my beta, and I decided to write something together as a sort of chill out story just meant for giggles and confusion. If you are interested, the story is called. "The Little Grimmling" and it has been posted on his profile. I followed and favorited it myself so you should be able to find it off my favorite stories list. Go from there and you should be able to see it. I hope to see some of you there!
Beta: CrowSkull
YBWR
Chapter 10- Blonde vs Better Blonde
"Woah!" Yang exclaimed, leaning back and avoiding the tip of Jaune's sword and backpedaling further toward the back of her side of the arena. Her hands swung up and Ember Celica deployed. She attempted to throw a fist forward but had to transform the punch into a block as Jaune proved to be much faster and more flexible than Yang had initially imagined. One of her gauntlets sparked against a sharp blade as she deflected the counter strike, and jumped back to create some distance between herself and her opponent.
He hopped on his feet, watching her as he warmed up. Yang clicked her tongue and whipped her arms out before her, getting the blood flowing now that the first engagement had been committed.
"Catch you off guard, did I?" Jaune teased, jumping from foot to foot and tossing his sword from one hand to the other. Was he ambidextrous? With a title like 'Champion of Mistral' Yang wouldn't have been surprised if he was able to grip a sword with either hand and fight just as well.
"A little," Yang admitted, smashing her fists together as her yellow aura flashed across her body. "You won't get the drop on me like that again, though. So don't try it."
"You saying that because you genuinely think I can't surprise you or are you bluffing?"
"Oh, we got a bit of a trash talker here?" Yang chuckled, she knew that even if it sounded bad, she and Jaune were friends. They may have just met each other literally yesterday, but they had a common interest in Pyrrha. One of them purely for friendship and the other something a little more than that, if Yang's experience in watching romantic movies when she was younger was any indication.
"Eh, after spending so much time on the other end of the stick, it's a bit refreshing to be the one dishing it out for once." Jaune laughed, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck.
"Are you two going to keep flirting or are you going to fight?" Cinder interrupted before Yang could respond. "This is a fight, not a date. Save such activities for outside of class time."
"Tch," Yang raised her fists and slid one foot back, getting into her usual boxing stance. Jaune looked at her and silently agreed to continue, holding his sword in his right hand in a stance that left it perfectly centered and aiming at Yang. In the split second that they spent sizing each other up again, Yang noted that Jaune still had his shield shifted down and hanging at his hip. At any moment, he could bring that out and surprise her. She would have to keep an eye on it just in case. But the thought that came to her mind that he wasn't taking her completely seriously just yet had a vein popping out of her forehead above one of her eyes. She would make him get serious, she swore that as soon as she made the first move.
This time she was on the offensive. Throwing punch after punch with only half of them barely grazing their target. Jaune moved well, very well, weaving and leaning back from each fist as he dodged, batted away the punches with and even finding the time to strike back with his sword. The thing about being mostly unarmed and up against someone with a weapon was that most of the time you could just continue a barrage of attacks and stick close to them, that way they wouldn't have the wind up they needed in order to actually do damage with their sword. It worked with a less experienced swordsman, at least. Not with Jaune.
Jaune grabbed one of her wrists and twisted her over his body, slamming her into the ground and twisting her shoulder, trying to get her pinned down on her side. Yang didn't allow it, twisting back the way she came and sweeping the legs out from under Jaune. He didn't even hit the ground, instead, he let her go and flipped while in the air and landed on one hand, flipping himself back over and back up to his feet. The fact that he could do that while wearing what looked to be decently heavy armour - even for a huntsman - had the crowd watching him, especially the envious men and lustful girls. Yang spun on the ground and wound up back onto her feet. Crossing her arms above her head as Jaune attacked and tried to cut her in two. She felt her aura flare to increase her strength and durability in order to actually block it the way she did. The ensuing shockwave had their hair blowing back, and for the stone floor, they were fighting on to crack and shatter under Yang's feet.
Yang pushed up and Jaune jumped away before he could absorb the force. He was good on his feet as well, when Yang lunged at him when she thought he was off-balance, he easily weaved out of her way and twisted around her, slamming the hilt of his sword into the back of her head and sending her sprawling back to the ground in a heap of numbed pain.
Yang pushed herself back up and guarded herself, but Jaune feigned and redirected himself, creating distance. The action had Yang scowling, he knew when he was in trouble before he was in trouble and acted accordingly. She would have been more impressed by it if he wasn't running circles around her. It was a tough pill to swallow, but in terms of skill, Jaune was much better. Far better, even.
Not that it was enough to make her give up. She was still the daughter of Raven Branwen, and she was more afraid of what her mother would say if she found out that she forfeited a fight much more than she did losing in front of her sister and teammates. Yang slowly picked herself back up, cocking Ember Celica as she did so. It was deployed before, but she wasn't actually using it during the fight. Jaune noticed it as well and grinned, eager for more of a challenge. Yang would give him one.
Yang threw her fist through the air, this particular attack far out of reach of Jaune Arc. Ember Celica fired off its first shell of the match, buckshot sprayed in his general direction, and no matter how fast he was, he was not Ruby Rose in terms of speed. There was no way he could dodge each of it, and he knew that. Instead, he finally took out his shield to block most of the blast. Which was just as she wanted. With his shield up and protecting his body and face, some of the buckshot pelted into his legs, causing him to look down instinctively to assess the damage. There was none because of his aura, of course, but the action in itself gave Yang the time to shoot off another shell, and three more as she charged at him. With his shield up, Jaune was practically blinding himself.
When she got close enough, Yang jumped into the air and crashed down with the force of gravity giving her even more strength. Jaune noticed her just in time and raised his shield to block.
Yang smirked, letting her arm go slack the moment she struck Jaune's shield and let herself fall past it, she slid around Jaune and to his side, earning a surprised look when he looked over his shoulder to see her. His sword was on his opposite side and his shield arm was still raised over his head. Leaving him completely open to one of her favorite moves; The sneaky liver punch.
She took pleasure in finally landing a good hit, even if all it did was crack against Jaune's steel wall of an aura, but when she glanced up at the aura gauge and saw that his aura dropped ten percent, she couldn't help but smile. Jaune didn't fall, nor did he show any sign that he was in pain. In fact, he looked pleased that she was able to hit him like that.
"Good one," Jaune said, shifting his shield back down and hanging it off his hip once again. "There's a reason I wasn't using my shield against you, and it's exactly for that reason. After seeing you fight in the initiation, I figured you'd be a trickster when you need to be. I didn't mean it as an insult to refrain from using it against you, I just knew it'd put me at a disadvantage."
"Hah!" Yang chuckled. "Is that so? Good to hear I guess, but I know you're still holding back."
Jaune gave her an apologetic smile. "You can tell?"
"Anyone with the title Champion of Mistral is bound to be better than anyone in this room, save for the teacher." Yang pointed out. "And you know it. You don't want to insult me? Don't hold back, I hate it when people hold back on me."
"Very well," Jaune switched his grip again, this time holding it with both hands. Yang narrowed her eyes at the change instance. Holding a sword with both hands, no matter the size of it would always make the following strikes more powerful. "We're still going to be friends after this, right?"
"Yeah, of course," Yang said, still keeping the completely serious look on her face.
"Huh, alright then." Jaune flashed forward as he did at the beginning of the match and Yang blocked the horizontal slash that proved to be much stronger than she originally anticipated. It blew away her guard, and before she could get it back up she felt the tip of the weapon jab into her stomach. The only reason she wasn't completely skewered through was because of her aura protecting her. She reached to grab the blade and try to yank it out of his hands, but the moment she touched it he pulled it back himself, nearly cutting her hands open in the process. She ducked under the next swing and clashed her fist into Jaune's side again, but he didn't falter this time, only shifting his stance just slightly to avoid being knocked down from the follow-up explosion from Ember Celica. His elbow smashed into her forehead and she was knocked down. He jumped up and tried to stab his sword down at her, but she kicked him away before he could do so. He rolled backwards when he landed and ended up back on his feet as she pushed herself up. He was faster, already on his way to swing his sword at her face and forcing her to block in an awkward position. When she got hit again, she rolled over onto the ground and let out a frustrated sigh.
"Okay, serious time!" Yang exclaimed, slamming her fists together as his eyes turned red. She roared when her hair began to glow and her aura caught fire. Jaune saw this and stepped back the moment Yang lunged forward with her semblance now activated. The side of his sword buckled under her newfound strength which she stole from his previous attacks. Even with her semblance activated, however, Jaune was still holding his ground. Not winning, but at that point, he didn't need to win any engagement against her. When her semblance was activated, she was many times stronger and faster, but it depended on the factor of her own opponent's strength and how many times they hit her. In this case, she'd say she was about two to three times as powerful.
Jaune couldn't defend himself as well as before just because of that strength and speed boost. There was only so much you could do when your opponent was in such a state. Yang clashed her fists against his armour and aura countless times, and he put himself on the complete defensive. Two minutes ticked by, and by the time Jaune's aura was cut in half and in the yellow, her own aura was just teetering in the orange about to fall into the red. She couldn't keep her semblance up any longer, and after one final strike amplified by her semblance and Ember Celica, her flames winked out in a final pathetic puff of yellow smoke.
She was sweaty, beaten up, and she could feel her hair puff up in places. She watched as Jaune picked himself up from the floor, but annoyingly without much of a bruise on his own body. If it were anyone else on the receiving end of her semblance, she felt as though she would have been crowned the victor right then and there.
"What the hell is your aura made out of…?" Yang asked as she trembled and dropped down to one knee, utterly exhausted.
Jaune, once again, gave her an apologetic smile. "I don't suppose you know, but I apparently have the most aura ever recorded on a person." He explained. "And a semblance that works perfectly well with that."
Yang and the rest of the class watched on in shock as Jaune took a deep breath, his white aura flashing brightly and admittedly beautifully as his aura gauge as displayed on the screen started to regenerate faster than any aura had the right to. When he was just around half his aura before, he was now practically full on it again.
"Professor, I wouldn't want to end up hurting my opponent." Jaune looked to Cinder, who was watching the entire spectacle with a smirk on her face. "I think this match is over and done with, don't you agree?"
"Hm, I do." Cinder nodded her head. "Jaune Arc is the winner of this spar. Miss Xiao Long," Yang picked her head up to look at the woman, already dreading what kind of thing she was going to say to embarrass her in front of the class. "You fought well, but your skill was inconsistent throughout the entire fight," The professor proved that she had nothing to fear, however. "At first Mister Arc here was having his way with you, but halfway through the fight, you managed to catch him off guard a few times. When he started to get serious and take back control of the match, however, you resorted to your semblance, a powerful semblance that you have been blessed with. You had all that strength and speed, but what you did with it disappointed me. If you had stayed in your right of mind, you may have been able to defeat your opponent before you tire yourself out. Do you understand?"
"Y-Yes," Yang nodded. "It's just hard to control myself when I'm using my semblance…"
"No excuses," Cinder shook her head. "Your semblance is going to be your trump card in any tight situation, if you lose control when you're protecting your sister who broke her leg during a mission, then you might not only put your own life in danger but hers as well. Along with your teammates." Yang hung her head at the thought. "Don't be ashamed of yourself, be better. You know what you need to improve on."
"Yes, mam…"
"As for you, Mister Arc," Cinder's eyes looked to him next, Jaune at least had the common courtesy to look like he was tired. "You holding back against a friend is understandable, but if you want to rise any higher above your own skill level, then you must learn how to fight in a style you are uncomfortable with. I don't want to see you refrain from using your shield anymore, even if you are more exceptional in other styles, you can only better yourself at this point in your life by forcing yourself to learn others."
"Yes, mam." Jaune bowed his head.
"Hm, I only knew how to use a bow and dual swords at one point in my life, now I have much more of a variety to my skill set. You have a sound foundation, build more on top of what you already have, and you may even be able to surpass me in time."
"Thank you, mam," Jaune bowed his head a second time, then made his way to Yang, who was still down on one knee. He offered her a hand to help her up, one which Yang was happy to accept. "Good fight, you actually managed to catch me off guard at the end there."
"Yeah, a fat lot that did," Yang chuckled. "Your semblance is regenerating your aura? That's insane, how are you not already a licensed huntsman?"
Jaune laughed. "It's not just regenerating aura, it has other uses that are most suited for a team. And what challenges would there be if I just skipped everything?" He smirked. "I'd rather enjoy the challenge while it's there for me to accept. That's how I enjoy life."
"If you say so," Yang playfully punched his shoulder. "Good fight."
"Your semblance is strong," Blake commented when she took her spot beside her partner. "Why didn't you tell me that you had such a strong semblance?"
"Because you never asked if I even unlocked it?" Yang said, shrugging her shoulders.
"You never used it in the initiation, I used to think that you didn't even have it unlocked." The only reason they were able to idly chat like this was that Ruby was fighting some boy in the arena and running circles around him, it was actually pretty boring to watch for her, as she'd seen her do that countless times in Signal and was even on the receiving end of it a few other times. It seems that it wasn't extremely interesting to Blake either, as she was spending her time chatting with her more than anything else.
"You never asked," Yang pointed out, again. "Why the sudden interest? Am I more than just a human to you now? Hm?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Blake huffed. "It is completely natural for a partner to want to learn more about their partner's strengths and weaknesses. It would make it easier for both of us to find out ways to work together on and off the battlefield."
"On and off the battlefield," Yang chuckled. "I don't know why, but I like the way you talk."
"E-Eh?" Blake leaned away from her suddenly. "What are you saying? Idiot, I should have never given you the benefit of the doubt."
"Just saying, don't get those cat ears in a twist. How about your match, hm? I didn't know your ribbon could… stretch so far."
"I despise the way you said that."
"Said what?"
"I will not be baited into playing your games, human."
"I don't understand how you two go from hating each other, to being okay with each other, then awkward around each other, to acting like good friends in the span of a few days," Weiss remarked, scowling as she watched Ruby's match. "Just make a choice already, do you hate each other or like each other?"
"I think we're-"
"On perfectly acceptable terms," Blake interrupted. "We are partners, after all, it is natural for us to have varying degrees of amusement for one another."
"She's in a good mood now," Yang whispered over Blake's shoulder. "Don't ruin this for me."
Despite herself, Weiss laughed as Blake rounded up on her partner and berated her for being unprofessional, or something like that. She never really paid that much attention to that part of her team. It wasn't as though that she disliked Yang, but she definitely did dislike Blake. She was holding back on any quips or jabs at the faunus for her leader's and partner's sake, both of whom seemed eager to try and keep the team together.
By courtesy alone, she hadn't been making that a bigger issue than it needs to be. Besides, it wasn't like it was hard to pretend, she's been doing so ever since she left… well, ever since she arrived in Vale. So, Weiss just watched. Watched as her partner beat the snot out of some boy she'd already forgotten the name of, and listened as Yang and Blake commentated alongside it. It was endearing, she supposed. Her teammates were amusing, she just wished that they were a little less annoying.
"Ruby Rose is the victor." Cinder called out once the boy's aura had fallen into the red. Weiss huffed as Yang cheered and Blake clapped politely alongside everyone else. She didn't see the need to applaud for her, she had already proven herself to be exceptionally skilled and impossibly fast with her semblance. The boy hadn't even been able to use his, or it was purely non-combat related. "Miss Rose, I honestly don't have much to offer you in terms of advice, for I wasn't given enough to work off of. Very clearly, your speed semblance gives you a clear advantage over just about everyone in this room in that department. Next time, you won't be given such an easy opponent."
"Thank you, professor." Ruby snorted, bowing her head as she dipped off of the stage.
"As for you Mister Braun… you have neglected your physical training, and any amount of training I imagine as well. I'd suggest for you to find a mentor, whether it be a professor or another student, and have them help you get conditioned to the degree a huntsman needs to be conditioned."
"Yes… Miss Fall-"
"Professor Fall." Cinder corrected sternly.
"O-of course, Professor Fall." The Braun kid stood and moved off the arena.
"Now, we have just enough time for one more bout before the lecture. And there are only two people who haven't been given time to spar, you two know who you are. Do not make me call out your names." Cinder stared directly at Pyrrha, and then at another girl somewhere nearby that Yang couldn't see over her partner's tall body.
"H-Here," Pyrrha gulped, raising her hand. Cinder nodded and looked away to the other person. Before Pyrrha got the mental strength to take the stage, Yang grasped her hand and smiled at her.
"You got this Pyrrha, it's just five minutes of beating the shit out of the other guy. I believe in you!"
"T-Thank you," Pyrrha gulped again. "Someone has to…"
"Come on Pyr!" Ren clapped her on the back, startling her. "Not everyone can be as good as our overpowered damage-slash-tank Jaune here. After the first spar, I don't think anyone is above him! All you gotta do is be better than the worst person, and after Ruby's match," He threw his fist forward, chuckling and smiling when Ruby bumped her fist against his without a moment's hesitation. "I think you're already above that title."
"Thank you, Ren." Nora took his hand off her back. "You'll be fine, Pyrrha. Just end it in a single blow as I did. Smashing stuff into the ground solves all my problems."
"I don't think I am as monstrously strong as you, but I'll try." Pyrrha nodded, now filled with more confidence than ever before. "Wish me luck!"
As Pyrrha made her way up to the stage, another girl, who was somehow even taller than she was and with a slightly heavier build, dragged a large two-handed mace behind her. She was similar to Jaune in a way, only she wore a full suit of dark silver armour save for the helmet and some parts to make it easier to move instead of just the top half that Jaune wore all the time. It had some pretty neat designs on it as well, making Yang rate it about a six out of ten. Wasn't bad, wasn't bad at all. She immediately figured out her fighting style the moment she hefted that big heavy mace onto one shoulder, however. This girl focused on overpowering her opponent and smashing through their defenses with relentless ease. Sorta like her, but bigger, slower, and heavier. If Pyrrha played her cards right, she could easily maneuver around her attacks with superior speed and dexterity. Like how Jaune did to her in their match, if she just danced around her until she got too tired to lift that big thing, she'd win, hands down.
Pyrrha for her part didn't look nearly as confident as she had before. When Yang looked at her, she couldn't help but wince and feel her heart sink. Half the fight was believing that you could win, if you went in a fight half-assed and not really feeling it, you might as well just give up and lie down.
"Pyrrha Nikos," Cinder subtly yawned behind her fist as she announced her name. "And Cassandra Winchester, both are leaders of their respective teams. As I've said before, a team is only as strong as its leader. I expect the two of you to fight as if your teammates' lives depended on it."
"Yes, mam!" Cassandra enthusiastically shouted. Her grin was a little too excited for comfort, and Pyrrha's shout was a lot more forced and without energy.
"Y-Yes," She said, clumsily raising her bronze shield and bronze sword. Yang raised an eyebrow at that, what was she doing!? You didn't try to block a weapon that huge, all you were going to do is hurt yourself or knock yourself off balance trying to stop something as big and heavy and dangerous as a two-handed mace. At least not with the shield that Pyrrha was wielding.
"Good," Cinder didn't look entirely convinced either, but she was a professor, and she had professor things to do. "Begin."
To her credit, Pyrrha was the one who lunged forward first. Her bronze sword stabbed through the air as she closed the distance between her and Cassandra. The only huge problem was that she thrust the attack way too early, and Cassandra, even for her size, was easily able to side-step it and trip her to the floor. Pyrrha yelped as she fell flat on her face and chest, and yelped again as she rolled away from her opponent's follow up attack. When her mace struck the ground, an explosion burst out from it. Creating a small crater in the stage.
An explosion semblance or dust infused weapon like hers? Yang thought it was cool but felt very bad as Pyrrha clumsily threw herself back up and held her sword with way too strong a grip. She was tense and clumsy, downright missing her openings even when they were right there in front of her. It was… she felt bad for saying it, but it wasn't really much of a fight. Cassandra quickly realized this soon after she did.
Pyrrha had no idea how to fight other people.
Her style was a mess, her form was nonexistent, and her fighting sense seemed to only be good around Grimm. She showed none of the good qualities that she showed during initiation, and she couldn't help but compare her to Ruby when she was trying to swing around Mom's sword for the first time when they were younger. Needless to say, it didn't go very well for her. She only ended up hurting herself.
Cassandra didn't have to put much strength into tripping her over, all she had to do was gently nudge her at the point Pyrrha overreached and her weight did the rest of the work. It was pitiful to watch, so pitiful that it even had Cinder seemed to have gotten sick of it.
"That's enough!" She exclaimed, shooting a glass arrow summoned by a glass bow directly in front of Cassandra's feet before she could hit Pyrrha again. "Of all the… have you ever been in a fight before girl? Hm? Because it looks like you've just picked up that sword and shield for the first time in your life after finding it in some trash can." Cinder huffed and shook her head, waving for Cassandra to back off as she stepped down to the stage and over to the redhead as she sat on her butt staring owlishly and teary-eyed at her professor.
"I don't even know where to begin with you, everywhere. Everywhere! You are going to be the last to spar from now on so that you may watch everyone that goes before in some desperate attempt to have you pick up a few tricks. You, Miss Winchester, are going to be her opponent for the rest of your four-year term or until she finally defeats you."
"Hmph, fine by me." The brutish girl scoffed. "She's a free passing grade."
"Do be sure that you convince her that you are nothing but a free passing grade, Miss Nikos," Cinder warned, grabbing the girl by her forearm and ripping her from the ground and back up to her feet. "I heavily suggest you find a mentor, and fast. Because if you don't get any better, then I cannot in good will allow you to go past this semester. Get better."
"Yes, mam…" Pyrrha hung her head, holding back tears as she turned and walked off the stage.
"Got any advice for me?" Cassandra asked with a smug smirk that instantly had Yang disliking her.
"You'll get no such advice," Cinder scoffed. "As if I was able to see your true skills in that bout. Now get off my stage, it's time for the lecture."
Yang watched Pyrrha as she made her way back toward them, only to break away and head toward the girl's locker rooms. Yang made to go with her, but Jaune beat her to it. "I'll go talk to her," he said. "I'm her partner."
"And you think you can just waltz into the girl's locker room while she's getting changed?" Nora cut in, stepping in front of him with an understanding expression on her face. "I know you mean well, but you'd only get in trouble. Allow me to go to her, I'm sure Professor Fall will understand my temporary absence from her class."
"I…" Jaune hesitated, sparing a glance for Cinder and judging her gaze. She was looking at them, Yang didn't know if that was because she heard them talking or because she just knew what Nora intended by looking her once in the eye. Either way, she nodded her head and gave her permission.
Nora nodded back and stepped past Jaune. "I'll be back soon, Ren, don't follow me."
"I wasn't!" Ren exclaimed, stepping away from her.
"Yeah, that's what you said when I went to the bathroom and you went in the stall next to me. Do I need to say what happened when those three girls saw you leaving that stall?"
"I am not going anywhere!" Ren proclaimed, laughing nervously and rubbing part of his face as if nursing a phantom pain.
"Good, I'll be right back. I'll make sure to tell her that you're concerned as well," Nora said, looking to Yang as she made her way past her and through the crowd, following Pyrrha out into the hall and into the girl's locker room. Yang still wanted to go make sure that her friend was okay herself, but she knew that Cinder wouldn't allow another to go after her. Besides, Nora was her teammate, and that alone should give her more of a right to go check on her team leader. Jaune clearly wanted to go after her too, but with his status and gender, he'd never be allowed, and it'd be quite the scandal if and when he was caught.
Oh well, Yang swore that she was going to check on her herself when she had the chance, if not when she got back, then later when they all went back to their dorms. Her team had agreed to decorate it once they get the time to, around that time she'd go knock on their doors.
In the meantime, now she just had to stand there and listen to Cinder talk about strategy and… politics? Oh gosh, she was already dreading it and she hadn't even begun writing on the board yet.
Yes, yes, I am taking the Reverse aspect of this story to higher levels of power. There is going to be genderbending, not so much that it's going to get annoying (hopefully) but there is going to be genderbending in this story. A decent amount of it, in fact. Some characters will get their names changed but stay similar to match their new gender, and others will have their stay the same if it sounds like it can be. This is an idea that came with another idea that stemmed from the original idea. Hopefully, it works out as well as I hope it will.
Also, just a little note. Yes, I took out Cardin's original name and replaced it with his girl name Cassandra. I did originally just make it Cardin, but after a quick change of plans thanks to Mister Beta over here, he convinced me to change it. So there we have it, saying it now, Cardin Winchester for YBWR is now Cassandra Winchester, and he is a girl. Fancy that.
Yeah let's gloss over that we planned together for her to be called Cassandra, and then somehow you forgot. - CrowSkull.
It was never written down. Therefore you have no evidence.
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