A/N: For the people expecting the story to be uploaded yesterday... sorry about that XD I probably should have set this in the last chapter so that y'all wouldn't be confused but... I forgot. Sorry. XD From now on, AAA will be uploaded on Fridays, which'll give my beta some time to actually look through the story. Sorry about all of that XP Hope y'all enjoy!
Beta: Prince of Austria
Jaune felt his heart beating like someone was shooting into a metal drum, his hands so clammy that he was wiping them on his shirt repeatedly, making him look like he had too much caffeine. The rest of his team looked at him worriedly, to which Jaune just smiled and said that he was fine, even though his mind was screaming at how stupid it was going to be fighting without the use of Alchemy. The ancient art was all he really knew, and it was what he had trained to fight with. He wasn't the greatest swordsman around, but whenever he was brought into any trouble he couldn't finesse his way out of with swordsmanship, his alchemy and quick thinking was able to bring him past the finish line, even if it was kicking and screaming.
Calm down, Jaune thought to himself, breathing out slowly. It didn't really help as much as he thought, his heart still going at a speed that would envy Ruby's sprint, but it helped clear his mind enough to think. Alchemy isn't the only thing I'm good at, Jaune tried to remind himself. Just because I can't use any transmutation circles doesn't mean I can't think about what to do. Remember, I'm the leader of this team. They depend on me. Jaune gave another sidelong glance at his teammates, seeing them all calm and collected. Even Nora wasn't hopping around excitedly, only wearing a joyful grin, hands tightening and loosening slowly.
"—and on the other side, a Vale favorite, Team JNPR!" The booming voice of Professor Port called out, signaling the team to step forward as the doors opened for them, the screams and cheering slamming into the four of them. Jaune actually took a step backwards, eyes growing wide at the sheer volume of the noise, seeing Ren wince as well. Nora was, well, Nora, and simply cheered with them, jumping up and down excitedly while Pyrrha took a calm step forward, a practiced smile on her face.
They gathered in a straight line and pulled out their weapons, looking at the other team, Team BRNZ. Jaune even pulled out his shield for extra insurance. All four of them looked calm and collected, ready to fight against team JNPR.
"3… 2… 1… Begin!"
Jaune screamed and rushed forward, startling his teammates, who took off behind him, just half a second late. BRNZ did the same except for their girl falling back, turning around and heading into the trees behind them.
Okay… three on four doesn't sound so bad.
Jaune crashed into a guy with saws on his forearms, the teeth buzzing angrily against his shield. The force with what they hit each other with was strong enough to stagger Jaune, making him take a step back to keep his balance. Roy was his name, and he roared, pressing his advantage and slamming one of his saws into Jaune's shield again, making him fall onto the ground.
Panicked, Jaune let go of his clunky shield and scrambled back onto his feet, ducking immediately and narrowly dodging another saw that whistled above his head. Trying to take advantage of Roy's open defenses, Jaune swung sloppily, not even touching the dark-skinned boy as he took a step back, before going on the offensive again. Now without a shield to protect himself with, Jaune relied on his ducking and weaving, making sure that nothing hit him. The exchange went back and forth without anyone gaining the upper ground until Roy missed his footing, allowing Jaune to slam his shoulder into the guy, sending the boy flying.
Jaune grinned giddily in his mind, reassured that he could put up somewhat of a fight, and advanced, before something whistled past his ear, an echoing crack reaching him not even a second after. He froze, not knowing what that was until another shot rang out and dinged against Pyrrha's shield to the left of him, sending him into a sprint to cover.
"Jaune! Sniper!" The Amazon cried out, pointing into the trees. He nodded, and shouted for everyone to run into cover, falling back towards their playing field, a mountain of rocks. Shots continued to ping around them, most very close to hitting them, the few that did getting chunked by their aura. The rest of team BRNZ didn't just stand there idly either, taking off after them, smiling viciously as they knew how much ground they were gaining off of Jaune's team retreating like that.
"Nora, distract them for a second!" Jaune shouted. The orange-haired girl saluted and pulled out Magnhild, letting off a few grenades that slowed the advancements.
"What do you think we should do?" Jaune asked Pyrrha. The girl had a face of concentration on her, her eyes flicking back and forth to figure a solid plan for them to beat BRNZ. Pyrrha shook her head, a frown on her face.
"We need to take out that sniper before we do anything else." Pyrrha sighed, pointing at the tree line, before ducking down as a bullet ricocheted off of a stone near her hand. "As long as she's in the picture, we can't do anything but get pushed back by the rest of the team." Jaune nodded, head popping up briefly to survey the landscape, before ducking down again as another shot echoed.
"Okay Pyrrha, how long do you think you can hold off two people?"
"At the same time?" Pyrrha asked, an eyebrow raised. Jaune rolled his eyes at the question.
"No, one at a time, that's why I asked if you could hold off two people." He snarked, to the displeasure of Pyrrha.
"It was a valid question." She protested, shaking her head. "I should do fine for a little while. It'll depend on how long I'll need to fight them." Jaune thought for a little bit, trying to calculate it out in his mind.
"Not for long. A minute? Two, tops."
"That should be fine." Pyrrha answered back, nodding confidently. The alchemist nodded, clapping her on the shoulder.
"Then have at 'em."
Without another word Pyrrha vaulted over the outcrop and deployed Miló, firing off a few shots at the closest members of Team BRNZ. Jaune called out Ren's name, bringing his attention over to him.
"Help Pyrrha out!" Jaune called, pointing to the group. The pink-haired boy nodded, sprinting off towards the direction of fighting. The blonde turned to Nora, who was already smiling next to him, eyes twinkling.
"Tell me I get to blow something up." She whispered excitedly. Jaune grinned, teeth showing.
"Oh yeah. A whole forest."
The girl squealed in excitement and hopped out, merrily blasting away with her grenade launcher, felling trees over with every blast, as well as making it difficult for May to really spot anything with so much debris and smoke flying everywhere from each of the blasts.
And with everyone distracted, Jaune took off, not in a straight line, but circling the arena, going the opposite way where Pyrrha and Ren were fighting and heading into BRNZ territory while May was still blind and taking potshots at Nora in hopes one of them would land. As Jaune entered the trees, he clapped his hands once, placing them on the ground briefly in hopes that it would do anything.
Clicking his tongue in disappointment when nothing happened, Jaune stood back up, taking off again towards May, hands ruffling through his pockets.
"Where is she, where is she, where is she…" A shot rang out, slamming into Jaune's metal arm as he raised it to protect his face. Lowering it revealed the red-haired girl standing on one of the branches, gun aimed at Jaune. "There you are."
"Not another step." May said calmly, chambering another shot into her rifle, her aim steady. Jaune raised an eyebrow and held both of his hands open in the air, before chucking one of his slim metal bars at her while running towards her. Without any thought, almost like it was second nature, May fired at the moving target first, hitting and blasting aside the metal bar before cursing and jumping to another tree, cocking her weapon again. Another shot hit his arm again as Jaune protected himself with the automail, continuing to get closer and closer, before jumping and cutting the branch that May was on, who had dropped onto the ground as a response, chambering another round and firing almost instantly. Jaune's aura flared up to protect him as he ignored the pain, throwing what was left in his hand as hard as he could, the projectile heading straight towards May's face.
The speed that was needed for the sniper to bolt another shot and shoot almost wasn't enough to make it in time, but with a cry of victory, May was able to take one more shot, blasting the speeding object into pieces almost two feet away from her face.
And was promptly blinded as chalk dust exploded and hit her face.
The next thing she saw was Jaune striking her as hard as he possibly could with the flat of his blade, once, twice, three times, her aura breaking after the third heavy-handed hit, Jaune knocking her out with the pommel of Crocea Mors, the loud buzzing sound above the arena signaling the fall of May.
Panting, Jaune kneeled down briefly, rubbing his side where the bullet bounced off of his aura, knowing that it would be pretty tender for a few hours at the very least. A resounding boom a little too close to where he was standing brought him back up to his feet, remembering that Nora was still systematically trying to knock a forest down with her grenades. Following the noise and actually heading towards the direction of the grenade launcher, Jaune found himself coming out of the forest, waving his arms frantically at Nora to stop her from blasting at him, to her complete disappointment. She perked up again quickly when Jaune pointed at the rest of BRNZ, pantomiming a grenade blast at them, which she happily obliged.
Unfortunately, it was also a little close to Pyrrha and Ren, who flew back just as much as the other three did, leaving them all dazed and confused.
But there was another two from the JNPR lineup that was ready to fight, Nora and Jaune jumping in, ready for battle. Or, Nora jumped into battle, transforming Magnhild into hammer form and swiping the weapon once, twice, and knocking two people straight out of the ring, the arena buzzing twice for the two ring-outs. Brawnz shook his head and looked around, seeing a bloodthirsty Nora backed by Pyrrha and Ren, Jaune trying to wield his sword menacingly and failing.
"We, uh, surrender." He said meekly, another buzz electrifying the crowd, making them all stand up. Jaune looked around to see them all up on their feet, impressed by Team JNPR, deafening them with the sheer amount of noise. The blonde spotted Pyrrha waving and traced her sight to find team RWBY, Ruby jumping up and down in her seat, screaming something that couldn't be heard over the crowd. He spotted Blake too, who wasn't going crazy like the rest of them were, but stood there with a small smile on her face, clapping slowly while looking at Jaune.
That was enough for him.
Cinder looked over the fight in a special VIP booth, something she was allowed to do as a reward for providing so much dust for the Festival. Her eyes bored into the lanky blonde down there, one of her fingers tracing a glass beside her. Emerald stood beside her, waiting for orders.
"… How goes the preparations?" Cinder asked, turning to look at Emerald lazily. The green-haired girl snapped to attention, trying not to stammer as she told her Boss.
"We finished it a little after Team RWBY was fighting. It should be ready to go any minute." The black-haired woman nodded, a slow smile spreading across her face.
"Good. I think we'll wait a little longer." She said lazily, her eyes traveling across the whole of the Amity Collosseum, noting the crowd. "After all, I'm sure as it gets closer to the finals, there'll be… so much more rewards to be reaped."
"O-Of course, ma'am." Emerald responded, wincing at the slight stutter.
Cinder chuckled lowly, bringing the glass up towards her lips.
Everything was going exactly as she planned.
Everything.