A/N: Hope y'all enjoy :)

Watching people fight was something Jaune enjoyed, he realized. He cheered team RWBY in their fight against Team ABRN, ignoring Professor Port's talking above.

"Hit 'em hard guys!" Jaune yelled, drowned out by everyone else in the crowd cheering on both teams. His teammates also joined in on the fun, Nora practically bouncing off the walls, Ren holding up a large sign (drawn by Nora, of course), and Pyrrha also standing up and cheering along with Jaune.

The blonde alchemist closed his eyes, relishing the sunlight and the friends that surrounded him.

It was a good time to be alive.

A loud boom echoed through the arena as Jaune opened his eyes, finding three of Team ABRN's members knocked out in a single blow by Yang. Which is why Jaune still tries very hard not to piss the girl off. Jaune stood up and cheered with the crowd, glad to have seen his first Vytal Tournament match.

"Come on guys," Nora said happily, already dragging Ren by the arm, "let's go congratulate them!" Jaune happily followed along, going down the stairs to find the changing room that the team was using, the four of them waiting outside for them to come out.

"Congratz on your win guys!" Yang gave a small scream as Nora tackled her onto the ground, laughing as she got pulled down. Pyrrha approached them much more slowly, giving a blushing Ruby a tight hug and whispered a few things in her ears, making Ruby blush a little harder. Ren chatted idly with a proud looking Weiss and Blake... Well, Blake was just looking at Jaune, as if waiting for him to say something.

"Nice job." Jaune said, smiling at Blake. The girl returned his smile, nodding at him.

"You're up fighting later today aren't you?" The black-haired faunus asked. Jaune nodded. "I'll make sure to cheer you guys on then. Maybe not as... loudly as you guys did though." She smirked, making Jaune exhale a breath in amusement.

"Well, sorry for being so supportive of you guys then." He teased, stepping in a little closer. Blake raised an eyebrow, making sure to stand tall as he got nearer.

"You should be." Blake said, her voice filled with humor. "We could've been distracted and eliminated early with such distractions. Where would we be then?" She shook her head mournfully, her miniscule grin giving away the game.

"I'm sure you guys would've managed." Jaune waved it off, going along with her game. "You guys are the most promising team of first years after all," Jaune said, laying it on thick. Blake rolled her eyes, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. The two of them stood there, smiling at each other until Yang decided to pull a disgusted face and jumped in between the two of them, pulling them both into her arms.

"Alright there, enough of the icky stuff. Your team's coming up later today right?" Yang asked, turning to look at Jaune, both of their faces quite close. Jaune squirmed out of her grip and nodded, smiling at her and Blake, who was still trying to worm her way out of Yang's grasp.

"Yeah, it'll be later this afternoon. I think we'll have some time to eat before then."

"Ooh! I know a perfect place where we can go eat!" Ruby said, jumping up and down in Pyrrha's arms. "They've got great noodles, and the bowls are enormous and they even have a fish bowl!"

"Fish?" Blake stopped struggling for a moment, eyes growing wide as her bow twitched suddenly. You could almost see the drool forming on the corner of her lips. Weiss raised an eyebrow crossing her arms.

"I hardly think going to a noodle shop would be a good idea for JNPR, seeing as how they'll have to fight on full stomachs." Pyrrha waved her off, a small smile on her face.

"I don't mind having a quick bite. Having something in my stomach is generally a good idea before I do something rigorous." The rest of the team agreed, and the eight of them followed the prancing Ruby, who was chattering along the way with Pyrrha, who simply nodded and smiled at everything the girl said, paying close attention.

When they arrived at the rather large food stall, the eight of them found seats and let Yang and Ruby order for them—a mistake, as they soon found out, when each and every one of them were given an extra large bowl topped completely with noodles, and an extraordinary amount of fish in Blake's case. The bill was given out and Jaune didn't even want to see what kind of price would be written on there, knowing that he probably would've had to work day and night to pay it off. Weiss of course, simply grabbed the bill, handing the old man her card without even looking at the price.

How I envy her, Jaune thought to himself, breaking a pair of chopsticks apart to get ready and dig in. He wasn't going to finish the thing, oh no, that wasn't happening any time soon. But he'd probably make some sort of dent in it before it was time to go. Probably. A sudden flurry of movement distracted him enough to look up, finding Weiss looking flabbergasted, and a receipt that read DECLINED.

"W-what? That's impossible, who would—" Weiss's eyes widened as she started to put the pieces together, palming her face. "Oh no." The old man gave a disappointed grunt and started to whisk away the bowls. Blake whined and reached out, grabbing the bowl and practically pleading the man to let her have this one, to which the older man just gave a stern shake of the head, tugging a little harder. It was a comical sight, Jaune thought, watching the old man and teenage girl fight over a towering bowl of seafood and noodles.

"Pleeeeease, just one bite." Blake said, almost crying. The old man shook his head, tugging even harder. Finally Pyrrha decided to speak up.

"It's alright Blake, I can pay for the food, just let me get my—"

A loud crack echoed as the bowl cracked in two, sending the contents outwards, almost exploding and soaking the two. Jaune had to snuff a rising giggle, covering his mouth with his hands as he did so.

The old man seemed to grew furious, gesturing wildly at the shell-shocked Blake, who seemed paralyzed over the fact that her precious seafood bowl was no more.

"…I'll also pay for… the damages, I suppose." Pyrrha said, wincing. The blonde alchemist stood up, putting a hand on his partner's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I can fix up the bowl."

He approached the broken shards and gathered them up into one pile, creating a perfect transmutation circle in his mind, clapping his hands and placing them on the shards. They glowed and started to fix themselves—wait.

No they didn't.

Jaune and the rest of the group stared at the shattered bowl, waiting for it to do… anything. The old man muttered angrily, assuming that Jaune was trying to play a joke on him.

"No wait, I'm sorry, there must be something wrong with my circle…" Jaune apologized, closing his eyes and focusing on the detail in his circle, making sure that it was absolutely perfect before trying again.

Nothing.

"This can't be right." He muttered to himself while biting his thumb. "The circle I did was perfect." As a last resort, Jaune drew out some chalk, actually forming a neat circle and inscribed the necessary inscriptions around it, double and triple checking his work to make sure the circle was absolutely flawless. Which it was. Or should be, Jaune said in his mind.

Moving the shards over the circle, Jaune placed his hands on the circle, gathering his willpower and telling the circle to work. Which it… didn't do.

"I have to be dreaming right now." Jaune said in disbelief, blinking rapidly at the broken bowl. Pyrrha decided to end his humiliation by stepping in, paying for the bowl as well as the noodles. Jaune just sat there in shock, mirroring the body language that Blake was showing as well.

"I don't understand. That's impossibly. Transmutation is as constant as… as gravity." Jaune's eyebrows drew together. "What on Remnant could stop me from using it?"

"Maybe someone turned off your transmutation button." Yang said, shrugging. Jaune glared at her, shaking his head.

"It's not that simple. The only way that could happen is if someone was creating such a large transmutation that the world literally could not sustain another circle. And that's impossible."

"'cause no one's got the time to make a big enough circle?" Yang asked, humor laced in her words. Jaune looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Because no one in Vale knows anything about Alchemy in the first place. Except me." Jaune's talking slowed as he reached the end of the sentence, his mind whirring.

"Well, put that speculation away for later fearless leader, we've got a match to go to!" Nora shouted, pulling Ren and zooming off into the distance. Jaune's eyes followed them for a second before going wide. Oh Dust. The match.

How was he going to fight without using Alchemy?