Combat Class with Professor Goodwitch was always a bit of a mixed bag. While sometimes it was fun and entertaining watching two of his fellow students spar, V sometimes got bored by a lack of spectacle in the fights on the stage. Case in point, the current match: Jaune vs. Cardin.
The former was bent over, holding himself up with his sword. Cardin was standing a distance away with his mace on his shoulder, grinning maliciously at his opponents exhaustion. Jaune raised his sword and charged at Cardin, but his swing was easily dodged by the larger student and he was struck on his shield by Cardin's mace. Jaune was sent flying by the blow, losing his shield in the process. The blonde knight recovered and went for an overhead swing. His strike once again failed to connect, this time because Cardin blocked it. The orange haired mace-wielded stood taller, making him tower over Jaune.
"This is the part where you lose," the larger teen growled.
"Over my dead—" Jaune was cut off by a knee to the gut, making him double over trying to catch his breath.
V sighed as Cardin wound up for a strike. Jaune clearly wasn't cut out for this kind of activity.
"Cardin's that's enough!" Professor Goodwitch stopped the match, "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match," she turned to the fallen student, "Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?"
"Speak for yourself..." Cardin grumbled, walking off stage.
"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away!" Goodwitch announced to the excitement of the gathered students, "It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"
The bell rang, dismissing the students from the class.
Hopefully lunch today isn't Mystery Meat, V thought as they left.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
"So there we were in the middle of the night!" Nora began her story.
"It was day," Ren corrected. Teams RWBY and JNPR, plus V, all sat together in he cafeteria. Nora was telling a grandiose tale to the assembled teens. Blake and V were reading together, Yang was very interested in the fantastical story Nora was telling, Ruby and Pyrrha were paying attention to be respectful, and Jaune was dejectedly picking at his food.
"We were surrounded by Ursai..."
"They were Beowolves."
"DOZENS OF THEM!"
"Two of 'em."
"But they were no match, and in the end, me and Ren made a buttload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"
"She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now," Ren sighed.
"Jaune, you seem uncharacteristically quiet. Is something wrong?" V closed his book and looked to the leader of JNPR.
"Huh? What?" Jaune snapped out of his stupor at the sound of his name, "Nothing's wrong. I'm okay!"
"Well you seem a little...not okay," Ruby replied.
"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look!" Jaune faked a smile and thumbs up. Across the cafeteria, they saw Team CRDL surrounding a girl who was a rabbit Faunus and mocking her.
"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said, concerned for her partner's well being.
"Who, Cardin Winchester? Nah, he just likes to play practical jokes!" Jaune tried to rationalize his situation.
"Jaune, Cardin's a bully," Ruby frowned.
"Oh please, name one time he's "bullied" me," Jaune scoffed.
"Well, there's the time he knocked all your books out of your hands," the leader of RWBY said.
"Then he activated your shield while it was a sheathe and got you stuck in a doorway," Blake added.
"And he threw you in a locker and sent you to a random location," Yang followed up.
"And that all happened in the same day," V finished. A moment of silence followed.
"I didn't land that far from the school..." Jaune said.
V smacked his forehead with his hand in disappointment.
"Jaune, you know if you ever need help, you can just ask," Pyrrha offered.
"Oh! I know! We'll break his legs!" Nora exclaimed with an insane grin.
"Guys, really, it's fine! Besides, he's not only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."
"You say that as though it makes it any better," deadpanned V.
Suddenly, loud guffaws were heard from the other end of the cafeteria. Team CRDL was continuing to harass the Faunus girl from before, this time with Cardin pulling on one of the girl's ears.
"Ow! That hurts!" she struggled against him, "Please, stop..."
"I told you it was real!" Cardin turned to his cronies.
"What a freak!" one of his teammates insulted the girl. Cardin finally let the girl go, and she walked away, hiding her face from everyone else she passed.
"Atrocious. I can't stand people like him," Pyrrha said.
V glared across the cafeteria at the bully as Jaune got up. Cardin seemed to be focusing on Jaune as he began to leave. V drummed his fingers on the table in frustration.
One of these days, you're going to get what's coming for you.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
(Next day)
V hadn't been participating in combat class at all this year, mostly opting to read as the other students spared. However, today he was in a particularly sour mood from a particular asshole that was waiting for a challenger to approach. As a result, as soon as Professor Goodwitch asked for volunteers, his hand shot up immediately to the slight surprise of the other students in attendance.
As V stepped to the stage, Cardin seemed to scoff at the boy. After all, he was a fairly lanky fellow, and had a cane for a weapon. What threat could he possibly pose?
"Did you come up here just to get a beating?" the class bully gloated.
V didn't respond; doing so would have just inflated his ego regardless of what was said. Cardin growled in frustration at the teen's silence.
Then V did something unexpected.
He placed his cane on the ground and pulled a violin and bow from his back.
The entire crowd looked at him as though he were insane when he rested the violin on his chin and placed the bow upon it.
Cardin laughed, "Alright, you asked for it."
Goodwitch hesitated, but a small glance from V prompted her to announce, "Begin."
And V began to play as Cardin charged him
(Play Violino Solo - Eine Kleine Nachtmusik [search on YouTube])
Cardin swung his mace in a downward stroke, but the summoner easily dodged to the side on a small cloud of shadows and continued to play mockingly. His opponent swung again multiple times, missing each as V dodged again and again. Finally, as Cardin missed a fifth swing, he was immediately struck by Shadow who leapt from the cloud below and pounced on the armored warrior, knocking him away.
V stepped off his cloud as Shadow continued to assault his enemy. His familiar stabbed at Cardin with spikes repeatedly, but some of the strikes were blocked by Cardin's mace. However, many of the hits landed and chipped away at Cardin's Aura, pushing him into the yellow zone, around 70%.
Cardin spared a glance to the scoreboard above them and found the discrepancy between their Auras. His anger was amplified, and V's deriding violin playing didn't do anything to help his mood. He growled in fury at his humiliation as he slammed his mace onto Shadow, creating an explosion from the Dust crystal in his mace.
V frowned as Shadow was launched back, yet he was otherwise unperturbed. Griffon was summoned to assist his fellow by strafing Cardin with lightning blasts.
Cardin continued to remain on the defensive, as Shadow was once again getting into melee range. He was unable to keep up with the assault from the two. Without any way to defend himself completely, he could only watch as his Aura meter ticked closer and closer to red. In a last ditch effort to turn the march around, he ran past the panther and ignored the attacks of the bird as he charged their master, yet V simply remained calm and unmoving. As soon as Cardin got close, he attacked with his mace in a telegraphed strike.
V deftly avoided the swing, making Cardin stumble and fall as a result of his missed overcommitted attack. Due to his inability to recover, Griffon was able to land one last shot of lightning, finally dropping Cardin's Aura to the red zone. The summoner finished playing his song and bowed mockingly to his fallen opponent to the applause of most of the student body.
"And the winner for today's first duel is V," Goodwitch announced as V left the stage. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cardin get up and shoot a glare at him. Immediately after he returned to the crowd, his friends were upon him.
"That was awesome! I mean, not as awesome as breaking his legs, but still!" Nora shouted.
"At least you have decent musical taste," Weiss commented.
"Nice job V!" Yang gave him a thumbs up.
"You did really well today," Blake added with a slight smile. Similarly to the night before initiation, V saw her bow twitch a little.
Did that bow just twi—
V and his friends' conversation was interrupted by Mrs. Goodwitch announcing, "Our next duel will be...Russel Thrush and Lie Ren."
Guess I'll have to ask later.
VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV
It was finally the last period of the day. Team RWBY had History of Remnant for their last class, taught by:
"Yes, yes! prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution—more popularly known as the Faunus War—humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population in Menagerie," Professor Oobleck rattled off at a million words a minute while sipping about the room every so often at seemingly light speed, "Now! While this must feel like ancient history to many of you, it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why, the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day! Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"
Some of the students in the audience raised their hands tentatively, making V groan in disappointment at the continued prejudice against them.
"Dreadful, simply dreadful! Remember, students, it is precisely this kind of ignorance that breeds violence!" Oobleck continued, sipping his coffee, "I mean, I mean, I mean just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorize to be the turning point in the third year of the War? Yes?"
"The Battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss answered the question with a slightly comfy tone.
Who names their fortification "Fort Castle?" That's completely redundant.
"Precisely!" the hyperactive professor complimented, "And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's forces?"
"Hey!" Jaune shouted on the other side of the class.
"MR. ARC!" Oobleck zoomed over to the startled student, "Glad to see you've decided to finally participate. Excellent! What is the answer?"
"Uuuuhhhhh...the answer...the advantage the Faunus had...over the other guy," Jaune struggled to answer. V leaned on his right arm and pinched the bridge of his nose in disappointment.
"Binoculars!" the blonde knight answered to laugher from the class. V loudly slammed his head on the table.
"You felt that too?" Blake asked next to him.
"I am currently suffering from a severe case of second-hand embarrassment," V groaned into the desk.
"Very funny Mr. Arc!" Oobleck dashed behind his desk, "Mr. Winchester! Perhaps you have some thoughts on the subject!"
"Well, I know it's a lot easier to train an animal than a soldier," Cardin replied, earning a head shake of disapproval from the professor.
"You really go out of your way to be a jerk to everyone, don't you Winchester?" V insulted the bully as he turned around.
"What, you got a problem?"
"If I may interrupt," Pyrrha broke up the brewing argument.
"Ah! Miss Nikos, do you finally have an answer to this apparently difficult question?" the professor shot a look at Jaune and Cardin.
"The answer is night-vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly perfect vision in the dark."
"Lagune was a brash and inexperienced Commander. He attempted to ambush the Faunus as they slept, but his inability to coordinate in pitch black conditions led to his much larger forces being routed and the general himself getting captured," V concluded before pointedly glaring at Cardin, "Perhaps if he wasn't such a bad student he wouldn't be recognized as one of history's biggest failures."
"Why you—" Cardin stood up with his fist clenched.
"Mr. Winchester, please sit down," the professor commanded. The bully reluctantly complied as Jaune laughed at his expense.
"You and Mr. Arc can see me after class for additional reading assignments," Oobleck finished as he took a sip from his mug, silencing Jaune, "Now, moving on! After Lagune's defeat..."
Suddenly, the bell cut into the speedy professor's lecture.
"Oh my goodness! It seems class moved faster than I thought. Remember, there will be a quiz on this material in two days, so study hard. Class dismissed!" the professor yelled, zooming to his desk to refill his coffee.
The students, sans Cardin and Jaune, stood up and shuffled out of the room to go to their next class.
"Alright! Next class is...Port?" Yang declared to her teammates and V as they walked out of the classroom, much to the dismay of them at having to deal with another round of boring stories.
"Let's depart, Team RWBY!" Ruby dramatically pointed in the assumed direction of Port's class with a map in her other hand. V glanced at the map before picking it up from the girl's hand, turning it around to the right direction, and giving it back to her.
"Uh, I mean that way!" Ruby pointed the other way.
"It's been a month and you still don't know how to get to our classes?" Weiss asked incredulously.
"Don't judge me!" Ruby nearly screamed at her partner as she set off towards the actual path to Port's room. Her teammates all gave their own signs of mock annoyance before setting off with her.