"Blonde vs Yellow."
7 days later.
Beacon academy, old training room.
"What's with those lefts Jaune? I didn't ask you to kiss the heavy bag, I asked you to drill it."
Blonde wiped the heavily dripping sweat over his eyes, breaths deep, almost desperate, the left shoulder being in pure agony from the long session of relentless training.
"Shut it….old fart…..I'm just…little tired…that's all." He barely retorted back.
Old Arc frowned in irritation "If you have enough energy to waste on meaningless talk, better use it to show me some good lefts." He pointed to the heavy bag.
Through the nasty sweat and tiredness, blonde made a smirk "Okay." He would settle with that and using the last spurts of energy, made some bullet fast jabs before his shoulder gave out with a sharp pain. Traces of suffering engraved in his tired features, blonde nearly collapsed on his knees. Yet at the back of his mind was a joy filled cry as this sensation was missing if nothing else.
"Finally….we're done." Jaune barely stumbled the words out with a relief.
Great Arc flashed a nasty smile "Of course you are done….with indoors training."
As much as it would surprise and discourage others, blondey felt almost indifferent. Only a little, daring smile curved into his lips.
"You'll have to...try better than that...to impress me...how much?" He lifted his gaze off the ground.
Old pops turned innocent "Not much...just 20 miles."
Blonde nodded in an understanding.
"With ankle weights."
Jaune froze for a second. Of course it wouldn't be that easy.
"Alright, I'll try to manage-"
"In 20 minutes."
And there he goes in full retard mode. Like always.
Jaune tried to show a daring smile but it cracked under the reality. Then, he went to the nearest stool to change the footwear. Dragging the process out as much as he could, blonde was eventually ready.
"Give me the ankle weights."
Old pops did.
Jaune took his sweet time to put them on as well.
"Okay, I'm ready." He declared.
"Then don't waste any more time." And old Arc pointed to the exit.
"Fine, fine." Jaune said as he went on his way. "But I can take a few breaks in between right?" Blonde wanted to pull his grandfather's nerve as a farewell.
"What was that? You want to do 1000 push-ups by the end as well?"
Jaune waved a good bye. "Sorry Old pops, but I don't feel like dying yet so I'll pass." And blondey was on his way for good, his grandfather lecturing him as he did.
Just 10 minutes in and Jaune already knew that his legs would be very upset with him in the morning. Very, very upset.
'Go hard or go home' though was the mentality blonde had to follow from now on. At least it wasn't anything new to him so hey, that's something. (The sight is pretty as well.) Jaune thought. One, because the late evening streets of Vale were genuinely beautiful, two, keeping his mind preoccupied with something helped to deal with the ever growing pain.
(9 and a half minutes left) Blonde saw in his scroll. Increasing the temp despite the screaming of his legs, Jaune had to preoccupy himself for nearly 10 minutes. If so, then he simply decided to run over of what happened during a full week after he decided to start over with boxing. Not surprisingly, but the first who come to his mind was Pyrrha. As old pops promised, she needed only couple of days before getting back on her feet strong and solid. Though her jaw hasn't completely healed even till today, but that was a small price to pay. On a completely different matter though, blondey wasn't pleased with the fact that he hadn't confessed his feelings to her yet. Even if Jaune didn't believe that he deserved his partner just yet, he did want her to know his true feelings. But with the whole unexpected duel raising up, knight's plans messed up quite a bit. Oh well, he'll have to figure something new about that one.
Like…stop being such a pussy and just letting her know how he felt. Yea, something along those lines. Anyways, since Jaune was thinking of Pyrrha, his thoughts soon crossed over with his dear teammates, Nora and Ren. As he promised, blonde told them the whole story with boxing and anything else and to his mild surprise, they took it really well. Though Jaune was glad that they did. It's not like blondey didn't have faith in them. They truly were one of the best friends he ever had. But Jaune didn't expect them to take the news as good as Pyrrha did. Yet the pair proved him wrong and Jaune felt even stronger connection and bond between them as the result.
(Nora was really funny though.) Knight remembered but didn't dare to chuckle. 5 minutes left yet 7 more miles to run. At least the oncoming flashback would help him deal with that.
"Whoaaaaaaaa!" Nora screamed in awe and joy, her body teleporting next to the window. Opening it up in a hurry, she took out her grenade launcher and started to fire missile's in the sky. Few screams of panic and horror already hearable as students and other by passers witnessed the sight.
"Ren…..isn't that dangerous?" Jaune asked in a worry.
Ren shot a calm look to the leader "She's crazy, but not dangerous crazy."
'SOMEONE, CALL HELP!'
'MONTY OUM, HAVE MERCY ON OUR SOULS!'
'I CAN'T DIE AS A VIRGIN!'
"I think." Ren shrugged his shoulders before trying to stop her "Nora, there are students around so-"
"Jaune, you have to see this!" Thunder girl exclaimed, her body teleporting over to Jaune.
Her leader didn't even open his mouth properly before he was already standing next to the open window. With a gleeful smile, Nora pointed to the days, clear sky which showed nothing at the moment.
"See what?" He raised an eyebrow.
Yet literally few seconds later, a trail of loud explosions was heard, each one being followed with a flash of bright, beautiful light beaming for a few seconds. And as they all went off, Jaune could suddenly make out a sentence written there.
"You're awesome!" Is what it said.
"This!" Nora leaned on her toes.
Jaune flashed a joyful smile. It was silly, it was random, it was dangerous, but he loved it.
"Thanks, Nora." And blonde gave her a friendly hug.
"But you really are awesome," she said in a rather unusual tone. One which was not tinted with her trademark goofiness but displayed genuine joy and care. "And remember, if you need someone to pull you out from the bad past or mood, I am the right girl for the job! Just ask me and I'll put a smile on your face!" Nora posed a goofy salute, though her tone was as sincere as before, the grin afterwards carried the same message.
Blonde nodded a strong yes. Soon turning his head to the side as he felt weight on his shoulder.
"I'll have to agree with Nora," Ren said as he gave blonde a pat on the shoulder "Not many can claim such achievements as you can. So be a little bit prouder about yourself. After all, you really are a beast in a fist fight." And he showed a friendly smile with a rare, proud thumbs up.
Jaune blushed in bright red as he couldn't have asked for a better response than that.
"Thanks guys…" Jaune said with utmost appreciation.
The pair smiled back.
"Though I have to say, hearing the story really does explain why you were so hesitant to speak about it. Considering everything."
Nora's eyes beamed dangerously. "Which reminds me that-" She took out her grenade launcher "Jaune, would you mind if your mom would say 'hello' to my little friend-" She loaded it "With her face?" And she pressed the tip of the barrel to blondes chin.
"Whoa, calm down a bit." Jaune carefully pulled down her gun. "There's no need for that. I promise." He tried to reason with her.
"Just a few shots maybe." Pyrrha raised her voice but laughed it off soon after. She was joking. Or not. She wasn't sure yet.
Ren placed a reassuring pat on the thunder girl's shoulder "Let's just believe in Jaune. We don't know the whole situation so it would be hard for us to judge. But if he says that there's no reason to do that, then let's trust in him."
Nora wasn't too happy about that. But some moments later she did calm down.
"Well, if you say so." And she slowly retreated the gun herself.
"Just couple of shots!" Though she soon declared, the tip again being pressed against Jaune.
"Nora, why are you pointing the gun at my face anyway?" Blonde asked, being more annoyed than scared now.
She snapped in realization. "Oh sorry." And she pressed it against Ren's chin.
"How did I end up like this?" He questioned, though was hardly surprised.
Now it was Jaune's time to calm down a friend "Listen, I really do understand how you feel. I really do, but me and Lilianna…while we still have a lot to fix and all, we are starting to get along well. I think." He didn't really know how to describe his bond with her yet. "Anyways, you don't have to trouble yourself over this. Even with small steps at a time, me and Lilianna are heading for the right path. So you don't have to worry, I promise." And knight truly meant it.
Nora pouted unsatisfyingly. She still didn't like it. But seeing how genuine her leader was, her weapon did go down, and for real.
"If you say so, but-"And evil grin was curved into her lips "If you ever change your mind, just let me know." She leaned herself to his ear "I'll even let you fire a few rounds." She leaned back. "Kay?" Her face now decorated with unsettlingly innocent smile.
Jaune made a thumbs up "I'll let you know, I promise."
And with that, Nora was settled. Now she could move onto something more to her liking.
"Okay, but now tell me some more of your matches. Some really cool ones! Please!?"
Jaune scratched his head. He still wasn't used to talking about his boxing side but…oh what the hell. He had plenty of awesome matches to talk about and since it was a dear friend asking, Jaune could mind as well share them.
"Okay Nora, but I warn you, be ready to be blown away by my awesomeness."
Girl accepted the challenge with an enthusiastic nod. Even Ren found himself listening to whatever Jaune was about to tell. And as the blonde leader began his tale, Pyrrha got up and moved herself to the open window to check something out.
"….I knew that this would be my moment. The fate told me so." Jaune began, lowering his tone to sound cooler. "No matter how mighty my opponent was-" Jaune flashed a dramatic pose "I knew that I was faster, stronger and better. Because the fate told me so."
"So awesome…." Nora was already mesmerized and drawn in. Images of her leader standing like an unfazed action hero flashing in her mind.
"Inhaling some fresh air into my lungs, I locked my determined eyes into his. He got spooked, I knew. Because my cool gaze already warned him that this would be his loss. And there was nothing he could do about it. 'Just accept this as your bad luck.' I quietly declared to him as I made a step forward and-"
"Guuuuuys….." Pyrrha suddenly interrupted, her tone twisted in concern.
"Not now Pyrrha, the cool part starts here. Anyways, as I stepped-"
"Guys please…."
Jaune frowned in a light irritation "Pyrrha, I'm trying to tell Nora and Ren a cool story here if you haven't noticed."
"Jaune, I really don't wish to interrupt but all of you should check this out. Now."
"Awww man. Fine, fine, we'll have a look." And blonde signaled to his teammates to do as redhead said. In a united fashion, they all peeped through the open window and….
….
….
Oh.
Was their first reaction. Each ones eyelids slightly wider now, the sight under their dorm window was intriguing if nothing else. But not in a good way. Several cars were parked, blocking the street completely, about 20 men and 10 robots all stood nearby, armed to bare bones, their guns already locked and loaded on our heroes. And two military aircrafts occupied the sky as well, their deadly turrets and rocket launchers and laser rifles and anti-tank rifles and poison bombs and anti Osama Bin Laden rifles, all aimed at the 4 young adults.
"What is going on?" Jaune asked, his face straighter than a proud loli's chest.
Silence. Of course no one knew.
As it turned out though, amidst the group of Special Forces, two rather casual looking heads popped up. A mother with a child. As soon as the mother noticed Nora, her face creeped in horror and she hid herself and her child behind a man build as a mountain.
"T-that's her. I am s-sure of it. That's the psychopath who started firing missiles in the sky."
So, as it turned out, as the mother was just casually walking around the Beacon academy with her child, she noticed Nora firing her grenades in the sky suddenly. In a panic and shock, she fled from the place immediately and called out armed forces to deal with the situation. And now we're at this point.
The man turned his cold, harsh gaze to the group, Nora especially. Bringing up his speaker, he declared the following "Surrender peacefully and we can settle this down with-out using force!"
"Nora, I think they're talking about you," Ren said, trying to be calm and rational.
A rare, nervous smile found its way on energetic teammates face "I guess they are…..ha ha."
"If you will explain the whole situation, it should go down peacefully." Pyrrha shot a gaze at the armed group and gulped "I think."
"I'll try," she tried to sound reassuring. Though suddenly, an unnerving chill ran down her spine right till the tip of her toes. Turning her head anxiously, she saw that Jaune was holding his hand on her shoulder. His cold, deadly hand.
"There is no trying for you. You will explain. And apologize." Jaune declared, eyes so cold even ice queen would pale. "You will Nora. You have no choice. I can't go to jail right after deciding to start anew with my life." And his cold fingers like nails pierced poor thunder girls flesh. "You will sort this out."
Being so terrified she couldn't even talk, Nora shook her head as an agreement. She had to sort this out. Because Jaune said so.
Blonde barely held back the laughter. Of course, at that exact moment it didn't seem funny. Especially how angry those people were afterwards. But since everything was sorted out peacefully, in the end, Jaune would remember this with strange fondness and a goofy smile visible. Unfortunately, a beep in his pocket reminded him that there was only one minute left, one more mile to run and almost no strength to spare.
(Even so….I…..have to…..give it my best.) Jaune thought to himself with inspiration. Building up as much oxygen as he could, the so needed air was transported all across his tired muscles and gave them a second wind. With his eyes now straight ahead, blonde took that one, final breath and dashed forward with everything he had.
50 seconds left he guessed.
The pain was something else. Each new step felt like a struggle on its own.
40 seconds.
Lungs felt like they could collapse at any given moment. But under the will of Jaune's fire, they kept doing their best.
30 seconds.
His whole body was in pain.
20 seconds.
Jaune wanted to stop. So badly he wanted to stop.
10 seconds. His goal was in sight.
Jaune could reach it in time. He believed. Trying to force his legs to move faster, he failed to do so. It was impossible. If so, then Jaune simply did his best to sustain the current speed he had.
Just 50 meters left.
He wanted to make it. Jaune had no idea what so ever how much time was left, nor did he care. He just wanted to reach the goal in time.
20 meters.
(I can, I can, I can, I can, I-)
A sudden beep. The time was up.
As the sound ringed, blonde's body gave up and he collapsed on the ground. And as Jaune fell down, the scroll in his pocket flipped out and crossed over right where the imaginary finish line was.
1 second late. No. Even less than that.
First few moments blonde was almost motionless. The only movement being made from the hard breathing. Though eventually he did roll on his back. Gaze now turned to the late, evening's sky.
(I failed.) Jaune realized with disappointment. Then, forcing his tired limb up, Jaune reached his hand to the sky. Moving his palm so that it would look like he could grab onto the shining star, knight closed it with determination.
(Next time….I'll try a little harder…..and will reach in time.) He thought to himself and closed his eyes. Enjoying the slightly cold breeze cooling off his body.
Next day.
As Jaune had predicted, his legs were indeed very upset with him.
"Even if aura can heal the damage and protect you to an extent, the pain is still a problem." Jaune would say to himself in the morning as he had to endure his legs relentless protests. So much to the point that blonde could almost hear his legs scold him for being so reckless.
"Sorry, but you better get used to it. Just like in the old, good times. Please!?" And as if hearing the plead, his body made a weird twitch and Jaune could swear that the pain became slightly more endurable.
Besides the rough morning start though, the rest of the day went rather peacefully. So far. "And I hope it will stay that way to the end," Jaune wished to himself since he knew how his 'luck' cooperated with him. But the hope was all he had as he and his team strolled down the hallway, and were on their way to the dining hall. There, they met up with RWBY gang and all sat at their usual table, each one having a meal by their side. Blonde didn't waste any time before stuffing his face as the appetite skyrocketed since he started training. But Jaune took it as a good sign. Meant that he really was giving it his all. So with a rather delightful mood intact, blondey kept happily eating his meal out. His partner who sat right beside him, also looked rather happy as it somehow amused her seeing the goofy leader deal with the food faster than ever before. Though she of course knew the reason and actually wanted to know how her partner was dealing with the new training regime.
"Jaune." She whispered to his ear since the redhead didn't want anyone else to hear. Not that she had anything against it but maybe her knight did.
"Yea?" Blonde turned his gaze to her, already done with the meal.
"How's it going with boxing?"
"Tough." Jaune quickly admitted with a stressed tone. Though soon after snickered back.
Pyrrha chuckled as well "But you don't regret it, right?"
"Of course not. In fact, it feels nostalgic. Besides, it's cool to get stronger, faster and better you know." He reassured.
Pyrrha smiled seeing how truthfully pleased her partner looked "I know it's rather early to ask but when do you plan your comeback match?"
"Old pops said that I first have to revise the very basics for a month. Only then I will be ready for the first fight. "
Pyrrha adjusted a few strands of hair a bit timidly "You wouldn't mind if I were to watch it, right?"
Blonde shot a surprised look "What are you saying? You'll be the first one to be invited. To all of my matches." And Jaune grinned brightly, his hand now on top of Pyrrha's. Redhead flashed a bright grin herself, moving her body closer to his, forgetting that her meal was half finished.
"Awwwwww, look at those two love birds going at it again. I think I'm gonna melt just watching ya two." Yang couldn't help herself but to tease them a bit. Making some air kisses for better effect.
Upon hearing, Jaune's cheeks turned bright red and he wanted to retreat his hand back, but before he could, Pyrrha crossed her fingers.
"Something wrong with that?" She calmly asked back, completely unfazed by the brawlers comment. Sure, at first these could get to her but after enough time, she was able to get used to them easily. Besides, redhead was fairly confident at this point that RWBY gang knew her true feelings to the leader. And even if they didn't, she could always just play the overly 'sarcastic' role anyways.
"Won't even deny it anymore, are you?" Yang lightly jabbed back.
"Have I ever?" Pyrrha asked back, still calm and composed.
Even brawler felt slightly surprised at how well redhead handled it. But no matter, just meant that she had to be more persistent is all.
"Must be nice to spend your time with the 'shining knight in armor'. Being embraced in his 'strong', 'manly' arms as both of you watch a sunset go down. And he would tell you about his 'glorious victories' and countless foes he has 'defeated'. And then melt your heart away with 'beautiful', 'mesmerizing' poetry. Then, your lips would meet and love would flow in the air. Countless girls watching from behind, 'jealous' that they would never meet a 'shining knight in armor' like yours in their life." Yang finished but then cringed uncomfortably. (Damnit, I think I went a bit too far.) Brawler felt a slight guilt in the gut as she by no means wanted to offend blondey. She knew he had enough problems as it was but her tongue slipped in a rather ugly way.
"Sorry blondey, I tried to make a joke but came off as an asshole." She apologized rather sincerely. Though it's not like she had a choice as the brawler literally felt her little sister's intense glaring with-out even looking.
"It's alright." Jaune shrugged it off, only few traces of pain visible in his features as he wasn't too offended by it. Just slightly hurt.
But that was his reaction. Pyrrha's though, was a bit different. Redhead felt how something twitched deep within her. It's not like she snapped but something, or you could even say someone moved a bit in her inner chains. A certain part of herself which even Jaune didn't know about from how well she was restricting it. But with Yang's mean comment annoyingly lingering around her heart, a rather unusual thought crossed her mind. (I'll let you loose, but only very little bit.) She still kept it cool and composed like always. Almost that is.
With an uncharacteristic beam in her eyes, Pyrrha filled a spoon with the soup.
"It is nice," She suddenly said, raising her hand.
(Just a little bit.)
"Since I don't have to spend every Friday night with my little sister to fill in the hole in my love life."
And she gulped the liquid down.
Even Blake almost choked on food as she hid her face behind a book, her muffled laughter still clearly hearable "It's kind of true." She even added after regaining her composure.
"That was a pretty damn good one, I'll admit." Yang scoffed under her breath, one mean vein popping on her skin.
"Guy's, let's not get too hasty here, okay?" Jaune immediately tried to get things under control as he had a bad feeling about this.
"I agree with Jaune." Ruby declared with a strong tone.
"But everything is under control." Pyrrha replayed calmly.
"For now, but let's make sure it stays that way. Please?" Blonde wanted this day to be one of those rare ones where nothing went wrong.
"I'm not gonna start a fight ya know," Yang said in her defense. It pulled her nerve, sure, but she wouldn't start trading blows over something so petty. Most of the time anyway.
"O-oh. Then it's all good," Jaune said with a sign of relief.
"But I would want to know what you were talking about looking all lovely, dovely like?" Brawler still decided to ask since she was bored.
At first, Jaune showed slight reluctance. It's not like he tried to keep it a secret. It just so happened that nobody in school had noticed, or at least payed much attention to the fact that Jaune and his grandfather, who would travel back and forth from home, occupied the old training room at later evenings. Though that didn't mean that Jaune would be esthetic to spread the news. He did feel somewhat uncomfortable to talk about it outside of his teams circle, but knew that others would find out eventually so it was better to clear things out right away, given this chance.
"We were just…talking about my boxing training," He said, stumbling on his words a little bit.
Whole RWBY team paused for a second.
"What?" They asked in a united fashion.
"We talked about my boxing training," Jaune said clearly.
To the sudden revelation, each member reacted differently. Weiss raised her eyebrow skeptically, Blake simply looked surprised while Ruby beamed in excitement. But Yang snickered harshly "Blondey, you don't really look the boxing type."
"I know, right?" Blonde scratched his head. But as he did, Jaune suddenly felt how Pyrrha poked his side. Turning to her, blonde saw that she was smiling though could immediately tell that there was something more behind her smile. At first he couldn't tell what but after he crossed his look between Nora and Ren, it quickly dawned to him since they showed the same gesture. With a reassuring nod, Jaune turned back to RWBY gang.
"Well, believe it or not but I'm decent at it."
Pyrrha poked his harshly.
"Okay, fairly good, maybe."
She poked him again.
"Well….maybe you could even say that I'm slightly above the average."
And again.
(Pyrrhaaaa….) Jaune glared at her uncomfortably, though right away could see that she would not give in. (Okay, okay.) Jaune gave up and turned back to others.
"I mean….maybe, though that's only a possibility but….y-you could even say that I'm really, really good at it."
Amazon wanted to poke him again but settled for now.
"Oh my gosh, that is so cool!" Ruby beamed brightly as even if it came off as a surprise, she still believed none the less.
"And what would you regard as 'really, really good' by your definition?" Weiss asked in a snarky tone.
Just be honest.
Jaune could literally feel how his teammates drilled their eyes in him.
"I have won a fair amount of cups and diplomas in amateurs."
"And what about your record?" Blake asked, her eyes just above the book.
"It's…167 fights….."
…
…
"And?"
"165 wins with 135 of them being early stoppages." He admitted.
Ruby's mouth went the widest from the news.
"That's so frikkin cool! I would have never guessed!" She exclaimed and offered Jaune some chocolate cookies as a sign of respect.
"Thanks Rubs." Blonde gladly took a few.
"That's impressive," Blake said, offering a smile of acknowledgment.
"You could say so." Jaune felt a warmth in his cheeks.
"That is seriously your record?" Yang asked, both intrigued and skeptical.
"I know it's hard to believe but yea, it is." Blondes chin started to go slightly higher.
"Were all your opponents, I don't know, scrubs or handicapped or something?"
"No, not like that it's just…"
If you could stand up to Lilianna, then you can do it right now.
Jaune pushed his chest forward "Even with all the talent I got, I still worked really, really hard for every single match. Never did I settle with anything but my best. Always exceeding the limits I had and then pushing forward even past that." He clenched his fists "I didn't win by just sitting on my ass and doing nothing. I worked for every victory I earned. And that's why Yang-" He daringly locked his eyes in hers "You have no right to call them 'scrubs' or 'handicapped'." He declared with unquestionable intensity and conviction.
Everyone at the table went quiet. It was the first time they had heard Jaune stating something so boldly. Yang herself was the most impressed but quickly came back to her gears. "Now, now, I didn't mean to offend you or your opponents Jaune, I just found it hard to believe."
"It's okay." Jaune replayed, coming back to his usual self.
"If you find it that hard to believe, I can assure you from my own experience that Jaune isn't someone to be taken lightly," Pyrrha suddenly proclaimed.
RWBY gang raised an eyebrow.
"You have sparred with vomit boy?" Yang was the one to ask.
"Just once. But once was more than enough from how brutally I got knocked out."
"Oh….wait….what?!" Yang would have to be hard pressed to believe in something like that.
"Hell yea our leader did!" Nora exclaimed with her fists in the air.
"What Pyrrha says is true." Ren decided to confirm as well.
After that, everyone drilled their eyes into Jaune. He would be the last one to approve this seeming blasphemy.
Jaune shifted nervously in his seat from how direct everyone was with their gazes. A pretty damn good sign that there was only one way out of this.
Conformation.
"I…I mean…we…." He took a breath "Yes, I did knock Pyrrha out."
Ruby dropped her last cookie on the ground, Blake flipped a page with-out even reading it, Weiss rolled her eyes in different directions and Yang's hair became so straight even spoiled princesses would pout in jealousy.
Just what the actual hell was Jaune Arc really about?
Obviously, after everyone came back to their senses, each member had a different out-burst of emotions. Though the one who stood out the most was Yang. From how quiet and seemingly calm she was. Did she fully believe in Jaune's victory over Pyrrha? Much like Weiss, she too found it incredibly hard to believe. Even with all JNPR members approving of it. But brawler couldn't flat out deny it as well. And that in return intrigued her to no end to it. After all, she herself favored boxing over any other martial art, hence the reason of her weaponry. She of course studied others for the sake of variety, but boxing always had that special place in her heart. And if Jaune truly was as good as he and others claimed to be.
(Then it should be really interesting.) Yang felt how her blood started to boil, eyes changing the color from how wickedly excited she was. Especially so since wild brawler knew, what would come after the lunch time was always the same.
Combat class.
And for this one, she was really looking forward to.
"Please students, settle down as the combat class is about to begin." Goodwitch gestured for everyone to get ready.
All of the rustle and commotion in the arena did quiet down soon after as the students took their seats, ears open to whatever their teacher had to say. Each one having a certain level of anticipation for what could happen. Being satisfied with the obeying silence, older woman started to run her eyes over the countless faces, deciding which to choose for today's lesson. Her finger tapping as she did so.
"Would anyone like to volunteer freely?" She decided to start with that.
At first, no one seemed all too interested until a single arm flew straight up.
"I would!" Yang declared.
"Ms. Yang I see. So today it would seem that you're fairly excited." Teacher confirmed as with the brawler, you could either expect her to be completely disinterested, or really hyped to fight someone.
"Yep! And I even know a perfect partner for today." She didn't try to hide the excitement.
"And who would it be?"
Yang simply pointed to her prey who was sitting not far away. Following her finger, Goodwitch soon understood who she meant. A slightly unusual choice she would admit, but mattered very little.
"I see. Very well, you and Ms. Nikos will compete today," She said.
The arena erupted in excited whispering and such while the redhead readied her trusty combat arms.
"Seems that today it will be quite rough." Pyrrha said as she was ready to go.
"Good luck!" She heard her team say. With an appreciative smile, she waved them a good bye and was ready to go. Yet after just half a step her tracks stopped as Yang suddenly proclaimed "I didn't mean you Pyrrha, I meant Jaune."
Arena quieted down to a dead silence. Even Goodwitch's glasses slid down her nose from how ludicrous the statement was. Though the one who was most effected by it was obviously Jaune himself as he was in a state of crippling surprise.
Adjusting her glasses back, Goodwitch made an almost audible scoff before saying "Ms. Yang, I don't know what made you say something so…..rash, but you should know that Mr. Arc isn't on the level required to compete with you evenly. I of course have no ill intentions to you, Mr. Arc, but I believe that you would agree as well."
Jaune strongly nodded, not feeling offended one bit as it was genuine truth. Plus, he didn't feel like dying just yet as well.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Yang pushed on confidently.
"On what assumption, I might ask?"
"If he can knock someone like Pyrrha out, he's more than ready to compete with me." Yang declared, though with minimum hints of embarrassment as she perfectly knew how stupid that sounded.
And again, everyone went silent for a moment. Though as soon as a single laughter broke out, the whole arena erupted in the pits of laughter and comments.
"What the hell Yang? Where did you hear that?"
"Are you serious?"
"Stop messing around!"
Such and other comments filled the space. Even Goodwitch's lips twitched in a quick flash of a smile.
"Ms. Yang, where exactly did you get your information from?"
And as brawler was about to open her mouth, Pyrrha was the first one to speak "I in person can confirm that it's true."
Upon hearing, the older woman was at the loss of words. She truly didn't want to accuse such text book student like Pyrrha of lying, but it was very hard to perceive a statement like that as a truth. Though soon Ren and Nora too, confirmed that it wasn't a lie. Goodwitch started to massage her nerve. Fine, so be it. Let it be a truth for today. That still didn't change the fact that she had to know what Jaune thought of this.
"Mr. Arc, would you want to accept Ms. Yang's challenge?" But she sincerely hoped he didn't. For his own sake.
Fortunately though, Jaune definitely wasn't fond of the idea and wanted to flat out deny it, but before he could, blonde felt how Pyrrha took his hand and squeezed it tightly, demanding his attention.
"Pyrrha, you know I can't do-" But his sentence got short as amazon covered his lips with her hand.
"Yes Jaune, yes you can," She said it firmly and clearly, her hand gently sliding across his face. Her smile showing the unquestionable trust and belief that Jaune Arc could take care of this. Not only Pyrrha though did. Ren too offered a smile of 'good luck' and trust while Nora had a huge grin accompanied with two thumbs up. His team, trey truly believed in him. And it made Jaune gulp even harder. He wasn't ready, he knew. Winning was not even a perception of illusion. It just flat out wasn't possible. He also felt scared and nervous, sweat coming down his forehead, heart racing painfully. He wouldn't accept this challenge, no matter what.
If he was alone that is.
But if blonde's team trusted in him so much, he had to answer to those hopes back. He had to at least try. However embarrassing it would end, which he knew it would.
"Guy's, I can't make any promises but I'll try." And Jaune hoped that he sounded if at least slightly reassuring.
His team nodded in an agreement. That was all they asked for.
"Jaune, I could hold onto them for now." Pyrrha offered. Blonde at first didn't understand what she meant but it soon clicked. (So that's what they truly meant.) Jaune thought as he handed over his weaponry. And then, with steps drenched in uncertainty, made his way to the fight plat. His opponent doing the same, only she stepped with ever growing cockiness, her smirk seemingly wicked one. And as they walked down the stairs, students kept whispering all sorts of stuff and speculation.
"What the hell is going on? Did Jaune really knock Pyrrha out?"
"Are you retard? Of course he didn't. How in a world would a wimp like him do it?"
"But Pyrrha and the rest of the team confirmed it. How will you explain that?"
"They probably just hate him and arranged some good ass beating with Yang."
"Would make sense." Another voice joined in "Think about it, all of JNPR cast is frikkin damn strong, everyone except for Jaune. It must be humiliating for them to call a weakling like that a leader."
"I don't know about that. He has gotten a lot stronger and they all seem really friendly with each other." One more person added.
"It's a façade I tell you!"
And plenty of other comments disrupted the air in arena. Very few believed that Jaune had beaten someone as skilled as Pyrrha. Majority was left thinking that this was some sort of a setup and they already started to speculate how long blonde would last. So far, the favorite seemed to be 10 seconds.
All of this commotion around Jaune sure as hell didn't help him to raise the barely existent motivation and drive. With Cardin at least, blonde could always hope to win if he tried hard enough, but this case was just down right insulting. To both him and Yang.
(Just…..do something and that's it.) Jaune said to himself as he and Yang were standing at the center.
"Mind I ask you, why in a world are you bare fisted?" Goodwitch asked.
"Because I won't need them," Jaune said with-out even caring.
Goodwitch sighed frustratingly "Do it to your liking then." She would just write it off as one of his miserable attempts of being a hero.
"Are both of you ready?"
Yang popped her knuckles, eyes flashing from lilac to red, her wicked grin even wider than before "Sure as hell I am." And she smashed her fists together. Deep, alarming sound breaking out as she did so.
Jaune on the other hand didn't respond. He wasn't ready. Everyone knew that. But he couldn't back away now. Oh well, to be honest, all he had to do was get knocked out nice and easy and be done with this stupid, meaningless-
'Yes Jaune, yes you can.' He suddenly remembered her words, his other teammates trust backing it up tremendously.
Blondes sweaty palms turned into stone hard fists.
"I'm ready." He reassured, the beam in his eyes being quite different from before. He wasn't a prey who was afraid of his destiny anymore. He became a one who fully embraced it.
"If so," Goodwitch glanced at them one more time. "Then the fight begins now!"
Blonde vs Yellow!
Someone excitedly shouted as the unexpected duel began.
Who do you trust to win this one?
Authors note: Sup everybody! Back again with a new installment to the story. As you can see, our favorite pair is back at Beacon. For how long and how will this affect the story? I can't really tell and you'll just have to see for yourself. A shitty answer, I know. But hey, at least we get to see a bit more of canon characters interact with each other, so that's something. Besides that, wanted to express that I am really satisfied with this chapter. Somehow I feel that I made it better than I first expected it to be. But hey, those are only my thoughts and yours, I'm sure, will differ. But with that out of the way, I'll just move onto answering your reviews, so he it goes-
Mo Eazy- So first of all, yes, calling the chapter 'stupid' didn't offend me nor tainted my perception of your review. But that's how it should be. After all, the rest of the review was solid and wasn't aimed with ill intent. And that's how it should be. As long as you're honest but stay respectful, I have absolutely no problems with your points. They after all, were solid and made me think a bit. So that's that.
Also, glad to hear that the 8th chapter was to your liking. And yes, Jaunes awkward glory is truly amusing. As for his aura, I know that it's unlocked in the present time. But it wasn't so back a few years. That's what I meant in that particular scene. But still, thanks for bringing that up. And as for how massive of an advantage his aura being unlocked gives him, that to be honest, I still have to figure out. I mean I know it does, I just have to put it in some sort of boundaries. Which I can admit that I haven't and it is quite a glaring flaw, needed to be fixed. So really, thanks for pointing out that one.
And with that, I think I can move onto the more personal part, the one where you let it out on how you too, have somewhat similar situation as Jaune. Now, since I don't know much about your situation, I won't run my mouth like I do but still, I would like to at least wish you luck on your meeting with your father. I mean it isn't an easy task now is it? As I mentioned in the chapter, burdens like that are heavy to carry around. But what maybe you should do, is do what Jaune did and face the situation with the best courage and determination you have. I mean there isn't much more than that what you can do, is it? But still, I truly wish that your meeting will go well and maybe, you will even reconcile with your father to an extent. Though all of this is prominent only if you haven't met him yet, I mean you mentioned you would meet him this October but weren't pin point about it. So just in case your meeting is already over, I hope that things went well with your father and the answer to your question 'Do I hate him?' was hopefully a no.
And that would be the end of that. Thanks for the review and hope I will see more.
anon- First of all, glad to hear that you're liking the story. That's always a sentence able to bring joy in me. As for the fact that why Jaune doesn't hate his mother? Well, honestly, it's a question which would be hard to be answered in couple of sentences but I will try none the less.
Because relationships can range from being really simple, or down right impossible to understand. At least fully. Now, just like Mo Eazy, I won't get too personal here but I myself have experienced, and even still am experiencing complicated relationships. There are times when I think that I don't want to have anything to do with certain people, because of what happens between us, yet there are other times where those same people can truly bring me joy and happiness. Maybe moments like those don't happen too often, but you still treasure them and they hold you together somehow, despite everything else. Now I know it sounds very vague and more like some bullshit, but I truly don't want to go in greater details here. Ultimately, the characters I create and write, are a certain part of me and on a subconscious level I believe, are molded by my own experience and beliefs. Again, very vague and if this ends up not answering your question then sorry for wasting your time.
So the summary-Relationships can be a pain in the ass. Especially when you try to truly understand them. Things sometimes make no sense and you end up confused with even more questions than before. And if I were to even try to give out a reason as to why it is that way? Then maybe because our emotions sometimes don't exactly want to cooperate with our minds. They sometimes cling on to something so desperately that it makes no sense at all. Or maybe, they cling on to those things so desperately because you deeply inside know that that something, is something you truly want because of any other reason, such as because it is so missing in your life. Making it even more precious and dear to you in the process.
But those are just my thoughts. If you think differently then by all means so be it. Anyways though, thanks for the review and hope that I at least somewhat answered your question. Or made it even more confusing, I dunno.
Crazyguy55- It is slightly funny that you point it out as that is exactly how Jaune felt by the end of the chapter:D Just sayin. Besides that, if you want to have a bit more detail on that, then maybe the response just above could help you out. Or not. I'm not sure:D
Anyways though, thanks for the review and peace out;)
Jaune hater-Awww, that's a bummer. You hate Jaune? But, but…..he be my one of my favorite characters there! Awww, damnit.
Also, I know this will sound retarded, given your nickname especially, but do you truly hate Jaune? Because at first you stated that yes you do, but then later said 'All joking aside' and continued on your review which made me slightly confused whenever you truly hate him or not:D Though since that isn't that important I'll leave this at that.
Hajime no ippo, yaaas, I frikkin love that anime! But no, I never intended this story to cross over with that awesome series. For better or worse.
As for Jaune's weapons, since I'm not the type of guy who likes to spoil, I will only say this so far, I heavily lean on the idea of him changing his combat arms. But how will it happen and when? Well, that I can't say…because I am not entirely sure myself:D But still, the future chapters should answer that nice and easy for you.
As for his relationship with father and sisters, I can admit that I have planned, so far at least, only to address it briefly in some future installment. It won't play a huge part in the story, at least right now so I believe. And if I were to spoil it a little bit, all I can say that his relationship with them is a fair cut better than with his mother.
And now, onto your last point. The switching between son and grandson. Now here, if I were to be honest, the reason why it switches from time to time is a really stupid one. And I mean really, really stupid one. It's because sometimes I was too lazy to write grandson, so I just wrote son. That's it. I'm being dead, fucking serious. But hey, everyone can be lazy from time to time, right?...Well maybe not to a degree as I have, but I'll fix it, I promise. Maybe.
And I am glad to know that you think that it's an overall, good story. Truly appreciate to hear that.
So thanks.
And that would be the end of that. As always, hope that you enjoyed the newest chapter and as always guys-
Have a nice one;)
