Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
Please give feedback.
Chapter 7: Clash of an Arc and Winchester
The dining hall of Beacon academy was a spacious room with gothic decor. Four long tables stretched through the length of the room. Each side had benches for students to sit. In the very forefront of the room, was the pickup area where students would select their meal for the lunch period.
Teams JNPR and RWBY sat together, socializing as they ate. Jaune for one was quite happy. With all the food available, it was nothing less than a feast for his palette. The greatest joy for him was that he wouldn't have to take food out of anyone's mouth if he pigged out a bit. Every chew was in bliss, and he gushed in sheer happiness, while occasionally saying delicious. Students, of both genders, were enamored by his almost contagious merriment.
Nora was attacking her plate with a gusto. Next to her Ren was slowly sipping his tea, his eyes closed. Pyrrha was lightly picking away at some noodles.
The trip to the library had been a fruitful affair. He had gotten a light grasp of the geography of the land. There was Atlas to the north, Mistral to the east, Vacuo to the west , and Vale in the center. None seemed to be the location he would need to reach. Kingdoms were home to humans and tentatively, Faunus.
"The cave was the freakiest thing we ever saw right, Ren?" Nora asked in her typical bubbly fashion.
"It was a little more unnerving than I expected." Ren agreed. The pair was in the midst of describing their adventure in the initiation.
"You can say that again, Renny. They were these drawing of little people carrying other little people to this scary monster with sharp fangs and glistening eyes. My favorite picture was the one where all these warriors charge the beast. That must have been so epic!" Nora exclaimed loudly.
This was an alarming tale for Jaune to hear, because it sounded like the cave had been an ancient place of human sacrifice. Even back home, when a beast became too great for the mightiest to overcome, people tended to shift quickly to appeasement. A few sacrificed here and there and the rest of the populace was 'safe', never a nice situation.
"Ren how far did you get into the cave, was there anything of interest?"
"Sorry, not long after, we met with our mutual friend there. We were quick to leave after that. Are you perhaps interested?"
"A little. Where exactly was the cave?"
Nora hummed a little bit before answering, "Pretty sure that it was a mile or two from the cliffs. Can't really miss a big hole on a mountain."
He gave her his thanks before he continued his thoughts.
Are you planning on investigating?
'Looks like it, Mors. This could give some good insight about the Grimm. The books didn't have a lot of information on the arrival of the Grimms. Considering the archaic cave paintings, the huge Grimm was ancient and further information down the cave is a real possibility.'
A clatter was heard and the two teams turned towards the source. Cardin and his team of bullies were surrounding and bullying a brown haired rabbit Faunus. Said girl appeared to be timid to the harsh words.
"Look what we have here guys. A little freak with freaky ears."Cardin roughly tugged at the girl's ears, as she struggled to free them.
"Th-They're not freaky", the girl mumbled lowly to the amusement of her tormenters. The scene was infuriating to Jaune and he glared harshly at the scene.
Russel took his hands away from the girl and whistled innocently when he noticed Jaune watching.
"I can't believe he's doing that." Ruby stated.
"People like that are disgusting", Pyrrha finished with a disapproving tone.
Blake merely watched on in silent fury.
To his expectation Weiss didn't seem all that appalled. At best, she was fairly apathetic to the whole scenario. It was to be expected of someone with such a frozen heart. Feeling especially mischievous he chuckled and took his glass of water.
Coating his fingers in KI he dipped his finger into the water. Swirling his finger, the water formed into water orbs. 'Water Sphere Flick', the blond swordsman intoned. With a flick of the finger, he had the spheres go flying. The first orb slammed into Cardin's gut knocking him away from the Faunus.
"What the...", Cardin groaned in pain as he clutched his stomach. Another struck his knees and he buckled. The final sphere slammed quickly into his forehead, sending him rocketing off. Before he reached the wall, he knocked over a variety of foodstuff before his head met floor.
Student all around looked for the source of the assault, but they found no one.
The male Arc whistled lightly and innocently. None at the table were convinced. Seeing their deadpanned expressions, he humped and turned his head around.
Pyrrha smiled in admiration and touched him on the shoulder, "That was thoughtful of you."
"That was so cool. It's just what that creep needs. I mean I would've just thrown my hammer at him, but it's your choice."
Cardin's team went to their sprawled leader and tried to fix him up. Seeing a chance, the downtrodden girl took her lunch and made a hasty retreat. Before she goes too far, she's called by familiar voice,, "Hey Velvet."
Hearing his voice, she turned towards him and smiled. Walking up to him, she returned the greeting, "Hello Jaune. Enjoying campus life?"
"Yup. But are you alright? I hope that jerk didn't hurt you too badly." The feminine swordsman looked enraged on her behalf.
"It's... manageable. After a while you get used to it."
In response to her statement, Jaune wore a complex expression. Looking at her nervous eyes, he sighed and moved on. One could only help so much. "Any Velvet, these here is my team, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren. Across from us is Team RWBY, Ruby, Blake, Yang, and... Weiss. Watch out for the ice queen, she's just plain mean spirited." The last part was said in a stage whisper.
Said girl's apathetic mask cracked in twitches and anger, "Hey!" The rest of the group laughed at her expense, even Velvet cracked a smile.
"So I want to ask a favor"
Velvet huffed in mocked annoyance, "Go ahead." The rabbit Faunus tilted her head downwards.
The cheery blonde gently caressed her ears. He started at the base of the head and stroked him way all the way to the tip. There he lingers a bit, fondling the softest bit. At last, he gave them the lightest of tugs from the tip, careful to not cause any discomfort. It felt as though he was filled with energy from the simple action.
"Are you finished?"
Jaune nodded. "We have some room here for you."
She smiled at the consideration, but shook her head, "I already have a seat saved, but thank you. I'll see you later." Saying her goodbyes, she left the two teams.
"It's good to see you not letting prejudice stop you from making friends", Pyrrha said with pride etched in her tone.
"She was one of the first people that was willing to be part of my scrapbook."
Interested, Blake turned towards him, "Scrapbook?"
Taking a delicate bite of his meal and swallowing, he answered, "I have a couple going on right now. This one is for Faunus friends or any Faunus willing to take a picture with me. Honestly, they've been the nicest folks I've met here. Who knew taking pictures could get me so many friends, it's awesome."
"I'm happy for you." It truly looked like she meant it.
The rest of the lunch period finished in a comfortable silence, sans Nora of course.
...
Jaune was now in Professor Bartholomew Oobleck's class. With an hyperactive attitude, the teacher talked about the Faunus Rights Revolution. "So which one of you youngsters can tell me about the turning point in the third year of the War?"
Weiss rose her hand and was called out. "It was the battle at Fort Castle. "
As this was going on, Jaune was flipping through his scrapbook. While enthralled in the book, Cardin took the moment to throw a paper ball at him. It smacked him on the side of the face. "What was that for Cardin!? That wasn't funny."
The teacher coughed at the interruption, "Why thank you for volunteering Mr. Arc. So tell me, what advantage did the Faunus have over General Lagune's forces?"
Jaune thought for a moment and snapped his fingers, "First of all, the morale was on the Faunus side, they had to protect their home, thus inciting fiercer fighting spirit. Second, the human general was green and arrogant. Instead of scoping his foes and showing patience, he acting rashly. He acted as though Faunus were just above average intelligent animals. Third, the formation of the attack was beyond sloppy and had been used repeatedly throughout the entire war. The Faunus also had access to the dust mines, food, and all other available covers, besides the fort of course. The Faunus General, Woest Liht was also adept in enclosures and penetrating enemy lines and was far more experienced. Last, but not least, Faunus had spectacular night vision. "
The Faunus members of the class appeared very interested in his answer. Their teacher applauded his thorough answer. His attention turned to Cardin, "Anything you would like to add?"
Cardin simply snorted, "It's simple, animals are easily to train."
"That kind of poor mentality does not do you any good. I'm going have to ask you to stay behind after class." The professor scolded.
Pyrrha had an offended look, "He's very narrow sighted."
"You know what, Cardin, you're right. Animals are easy to train, we call them cannon fodder. Why don't you do the world a favor and stick to your job as a meat shield. Thinking is obviously not your strong suit."
Cardin got red in the face as the rest of the class laughed at his expense. One could almost hear him grind his teeth.
"Ah I hurt little Cardin's feelings. Shame on me."
...
Cardin and Jaune stood across from each other in Professor's Goodwitch's class. Above the stage they were on, there was a screen with their aura levels and their images.
Cardin was armed with an axe. A cocky smirk on he taunted the feminine swordsman, "I'm about to beat your face in, you dirty animal lover."
The male Arc scrunched his face. Cardin practically reeked in ignorance. Admittedly he hadn't put forth much effort in befriending or understanding Cardin, but the guy was a creep. No worst, a racist creep. "Animal lover? When did I ever say I liked you?" Jaune questioned with an innocent face.
"Whatever pull out your weapon and take your beating."
"Maa, there's no need to be so hasty. I don't believe I would be needing it." An aggravating smile found its way to his face.
"Match begin." The teacher announced.
With a roar, Cardin raced to Jaune and swung his axe. Like a well oiled machine, Jaune proceeded to dodge every single swipe. The blade of the axe always a few centimeters off target. The erratic movements that Cardin used did little to intimidate or confuse the blonde Arc.
Despite his whimsical appearance, Jaune never lost track of the axe and focused on dodging every blow, somehow combining utility and beauty.
Frustrated, bellowed and slammed the axe down. Smirking, Jaune flipped into the air and landed onto the flat side of his enemy's weapon. Capitalizing his foe's shock, Jaune slammed his foot onto Cardin's shoulder blade. His strike met the resistance of his aura shield. Undeterred, Jaune charged Ki into his foot and struck the brown haired teen in the chest. With a crack, some of his armor cracked.
That had been interesting. It appeared that aura didn't recognize Ki as harmful until the damage was done. He would have to look into that later.
Before Cardin could counterattack, Jaune closed the distance between them and caught his head in his legs and locked them. Cardin chocked as Jaune's legs tightened. Jaune leaned back and threw Cardin over him and straight into the wall, making a fine indent in the wall.
Slowly, and groaning, the young Winchester yanked himself from the wall. A lot more weary, he looked on the deceivably slender form of Jaune. Then he noticed his feet. Jaune was shuffling his feet in increasing speeds. Cardin focused to prepare for any attack. In doing so, he left himself open from a harsh kick unimpeded in the face. A crunch could be heard as his nose cracked.
Now seeing red, Cardin threw out what little technique he had and charged the other teen for revenge.
With a dash, Jaune broke right into Cardin's guard and pulled a spinning kick at his hand and sent his weapon flying. Before Cardin could reach the ground, Jaune unleashed a fury of kicks, throughout the attack his left foot was no longer visible. The cracks in Cardin's armor increased. One last kick and Cardin nearly reached the ceiling of the classroom. When he finally fell back down, he was caught on Jaune's outstretched leg. He had lost consciousness before falling back down.
From the crowd, Nora yelled, "FINISH HIM!"
"That is quite enough. " Their instructor warned. She was eying him carefully, as though seeing him for the first time.
With a refreshing smile, he got one last taunt in, "Now think about what you've done and reflect on your life decisions."
...
Late into the afternoon, Jaune and Velvet were practicing with instruments. Velvet was on the keyboard, while Jaune was messing around with a white guitar.
"Just watch Velvet. Once I master this, Pyrrha will be eating out of the palm of my hands. Women just can't keep their hands away from a musician."
"Whatever you say, Jaune. I still think you should just sit her down and talk out your feelings. Pyrrha seems nice, I don't think she would intentionally hurt you."
"Nah, let's go with the music plan."
Velvet gave an exasperated sigh at her friends antics. She went back to playing some tunes on her instrument. "Thank you for earlier. I had no idea how to resolve that incident. It's shameful, I'm an upperclassmen and I still getting bullied."
He responded with a cheek smile, "What are friends for?"
Smiling brightly, she nodded in complete agreement. "Well we need to finish this song. Can't woo someone like Pyrrha without a rocking song."
"Oh yeah!"
The two friends continued practicing into the night.
Author's Note
Short chapter this time around. What are your thoughts on the fight scene? Please leave a review.
