We start this chapter off between the leaders of a so-far pretty good team and an unimportant team nobody likes nor cares. It was Jaune against the leader of team CRDL, Cardin Winchester. Sadly for the blonde underdog, he's on the losing end, visibly exhausted and having to put a good amount of his weight on his sword while Cardin hadn't seemed to have broken a sweat, chuckling arrogantly and easily shouldering his mace. Jaune then rushed in and swung, but Cardin managed to avoid it, causing Jaune's strike to hit the ground. Cardin then swung and hit Jaune with his mace and in spite of hitting the smaller boy's shield, sent him flying and losing the shield.
"There goes his toy." I said as we're watching this.
"He needs to balance his offense and defense better. And he doesn't have many defensive options to begin with." Stated Sai.
Jaune then quickly got up and swung down at Cardin, but he easily held him back after blocking the strike, forcing him back as well, despite Jaune's best attempts to push back. "This is the part where you lose." Cardin told him.
"Over my dead-" Jaune started, but then Cardin hits a low blow, kneeing him in...
"Ooh, nut check!" I winced and crossed my legs.
"Damn, that's gotta hurt!" Nicolas said, also wincing.
"Seriously?" Damion said, finding as much distaste towards Cardin's tactics.
"Oh, come on! That's just a bitch move right there! At least fight him fair! Seriously, against Jaune, even YOU shouldn't have to use pussy-ass moves like that to win!" Sai criticized.
"He has the size AND power advantage. Why go for such lowly tactics?" Brandyn added.
Jaune fell to the ground after this, holding his crotch and chest, Cardin raising his mace above his head as if he were going to smash Jaune like a bug. But as he was getting ready to swing, a buzzer sounded and the dramatic lights turned off, revealing this to only be a sparring match that was now over, Cardin obviously the winner. "That's enough." Glynda said, stepping in between the two combatants, pulling out her scroll. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's aura has now dropped into the red." She explained.
"After a trip to nut shot city, I'm not surprised. I'd probably be in the red zone, too." I said, with the guys nodded in agreement.
"In a tournament style fight, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and the official may call the match." Glynda explained, Pyrrha looking concerned.
"Screw aura readings, I keep fighting until either I go down or my opponent does." Damion said.
"And since it's your we're talking about, it's normally that second one." Sai said.
Glynda then turned back to Jaune. "Mr. Ark, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat. Guaging your aura will help decide when it is appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy." She explained.
"Screw defense, I say give me more ways to hurt people." Sai said, with us nodding.
"That... Is not a good idea." Selene said.
"We're ninjas, we focus less on blocking hits and stick more to our speed and offense to focus on not getting hit at all." Serena explained.
"Sounds like my style of fighting!" Azure said.
"Huh. That's actually a great-sounding strategy." Umbra said considerately, nodding.
"I always thought it's best to balance everything." Naomi said.
"For me, the best defense is the better offense!" Brie boasted as she flexed her biceps.
"Pretty sure it's the other way around." Brandyn said.
"I know what I said." Brie said.
"Hey, whatever works, stick to it." Damion said.
Jaune looked at his scroll and sighed. "We wouldn't want you to get gobbled up by a beowulf, now would we?" Glynda asked in a somewhat lighter tone.
"Well, he was able to hold up against a Deathstalker's assault, so I think he could at least handle a beowulf." Sai said.
"Wow, thanks, Sai-" He started.
"A beowulf." Sai emphasizes. "As in a singular one. More than one and you'd be in a whole lot of trouble." He added.
"Speak for yourself." Cardin said to Glynda, referring to when she said we wouldn't want him eaten by a beowulf, shouldering the mace again and walking off.
"I really hate that guy." Sai said.
"Yeah, he's prick." Damion agreed.
"No kidding." I said. "Someone needs to teach this jabroni a lesson. By someone meaning us." I added, with the guys nodded in agreement.
"Remember, everyone! The Vytal festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students in other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing!" She said, all of us getting excited: Yang punching the air a couple few times, Weiss shaking her fists with anticipation (not in an angry way like normal), Ruby fidgeting out of control, Pyrrha looking excited, Naomi having a similar reaction to Weiss, Umbra letting out a quick howl, Selene and Serena locking hands and looking at each other excitedly, I was fist-pumping, Nicolas rubbing his hands together in anticipation, Damion sporting one of his rare smirks and Sai briefly triggering and pulling his fist back. "Those of you who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale." She finished, then the bell rang.
"And if there's one thing we know about the tournament and the one who wins-" Sai started.
"~It's gonna be me~!" Nicolas sang like the Backstreet Boys.
"... One of us 4, yes." Sai finished awkwardly.
Later, in the cafeteria at lunch...
After listening to Nora's story, we looked at Jaune, who seemed to be depressed. "Jaune? Are you okay?" Pyrrha asked him.
It took him a minute to respond, but then he did. "Huh? Oh, yeah, fine. Why?" He asked.
"It's just that... You seem a little... Not okay." Ruby said.
"Yeah, man, you've been moping and barely even touching your food." I said.
"You didn't even notice Nick taking most of it." Damion said.
"Huh?" He asked, then looked at Nicolas, who scraped the majority of Jaune's food onto his plate while he was playing with it absent-mindedly.
"My bad." He said, scooting away from the depressed blonde.
"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look!" He said, striking a fake-happy smile, laughing nervously.
"Doubt." Sai said while pressing the X button on a Playstation controller.
"Yeah, that's as fake as a 3 dollar bill." Damion said.
"A blind person could see that." Brandyn said.
"Stop the cap." I said.
We then heard laughter and looked over to where team CRDL was picking on a bunny faunus girl named Velvet: Cardin laughing at her, Sky pointing his fingers near his head as if he had bunny ears and the other two simply glaring at her. "I am GOING to kick that guy's ass. VERY soon." Sai said.
"Just give the order, Sai and we'll be inducting these jabronies to the hall of pain." I said, pounding my fist into my palm.
"If he does, I'll be more than happy to help him." Umbra said, glaring at the asshole and baring her teeth a bit.
"I'll gladly join." Ari said, glaring as well.
Jaune clenched his fist at this until Pyrrha spoke up. "Jaune, Cardin has been picking on you since the first day of school." She said.
"Who? Cardin Winchester? Naw! He just likes to mess around, you know! Practical jokes!" Jaune said dismissively.
"You mean like being a racist bastard to the faunus and caves in your scrotum?" Sai asked.
"He's a bully." Ruby said, Serena pointing to her with her thumb.
"Name one time Cardin has 'bullied' me." Jaune said.
Sai looked at him with a deadpanned face, like he wanted to say something, but instead turned to me. "Draco, you know what I'm thinking, say it for me, please." He said.
I nodded, then looked at Jaune with an equally deadpanned expression. "Really, nigga?" I asked.
Flashback...
Jaune was walking down the hall with a book in his hand and Cardin was walking up it, then when he was passing Jaune, Cardin made it look like he'd hit Jaune, causing him to flinch and allowing Cardin to smack the book out of his hand. "Oh, come on!" He said as Cardin shrugged and continued up the hall.
"And then..." Damion said.
Second flashback...
Cardin was walking out of a classroom Jaune was walking into, the two either fist-bumping or some form of hand maneuver, but when they passed, Cardin pressed the button on Jaune's sword sheath, causing it to turn into its shield form and got lodged in the doorway. "Oh, come on!" He grumbled as he attempted to free his shield until I showed up and kicked it into the classroom, freeing it and sending it flying into the faces of the other 3 members of team CRDL.
"And let us not forget..." Nicolas concluded.
Final Flashback...
We were all standing around, listening to Glynda's instructions as we were getting assigned lockers. "Each of you will be assigned rocket-propelled locker to store your weapons and extra armor. Additionally, your locker can be sent to a custom location based on a 6 digit code." She explained. All the while, Cardin and Jaune were standing next to an open locker, Cardin looking at it and Jaune with a devious grin when Glynda reached the word "Additionally". When she finished, he shoved Jaune into the locker and entered a 6 digit code as Jaune protested, the locker going flying.
"Oh, come on!" Jaune screamed from inside the locker.
End flashbacks...
We all looked at him as if to say "well?". There was a pause for a moment before he said something that made me facepalm. "I didn't land far from the school." He said.
"Bruh." Brie said as she throw her hands disbelief.
"Can you be anymore of a pushover?" I asked looking straight into him. "I bet if you were pulled into a red light and a man jerks your door and tells you get out and he's taking it and you'll let him and pleas not to hurt ya." I then make my hand in a gun motion, pointing at the blonde boy's forehead. "Had it be me, I'd pull out the glock, put it on his forehead and spill his brains all over the concrete." I said.
"For real, dude. Grow a freaking backbone. And while you're at it, learn to fight." Sai agreed.
"Jaune, you know if you ever need help you can just ask." Pyrrha said.
"Ooh!" Nora said, standing up. "We'll break his legs!" She said.
"I FUCKING LOVE THIS GIRL!" Sai said, holding his arms out to her, an anime background making her look like a goddess.
"I like the way she thinks. I say we cripple him so badly that his kids are gonna be born crippled." Brie said, brandishing her axe.
Jaune then grabbed his tray and stood up. "Guys, really, it's fine. Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me. He's a jerk to everyone." He said. We then look over to see him pulling on Velvet's ears.
"Draco, if you would?" Sai requested.
"You didn't have to say please." I smirked before snapping my fingers making Cardin and his three stooges tangled and hanged by my blood webs like a pinata.
"What's going?! Get us down from here!" Cardin demanded while he and his goons were struggling to break free.
I then looked over to my siblings' and Sai's sister's teams. "You guys want the first crack at 'em?" I offered.
"You betcha! Look everyone, a pinata! Hope there's candy!" Brie joked as she, the rest of Team BABS and SUSN started whacking away at the four cringe carnival members, making them plea for their lives.