"Now why don't you tell me why you were taken to the police station?" Yang demanded as she looked down on the both of them.
It made sense for her to demand information like that as they had accidentally let slip that they were arrested the night before and Yang naturally wanted to know exactly who her little sister was friends with. Although he probably should have known it would be like this when she told them she was looking for an empty classroom or similar place as they were carried away. He opened his mouth to answer but Ruby beat him to it breaking down in a panic, protesting her innocence while claiming she was stopping a robbery hopping it would somehow make her sister less angry than however she thought Yang was.
'Now's my chance!' he realized when Yang turned her back to him.
He quietly got off his chair and tip-toed to the door, internally thanking Ruby for providing the best distraction currently available to him. He squealed as he felt something grab his hood and pull him back causing him to flail unexpectedly.
"Where do you think you're going?" Yang asked as she pulled him in front of him.
"Somewhere other than here. Naturally." He said trying to resist the rising urge to punch her.
"Oh? You're not going anywhere until I get what I want." She declared.
"Get out of my way Yang, do not make me hurt you." he warned.
"Ruby, why don't you leave us for a bit." Yang ordered causing Ruby to zoom away.
'That's interesting.' he noted as he saw rose petals in the wake of Ruby's trail.
"Hey, pay attention to-." Yang started but was interrupted as something she didn't see striked her.
Jaune smiled as his stand merged back into his arm, realizing to his distinct pleasure that his stand had activated and struck Yang for him. He shifted his stance slightly, he had to thank Yang for bringing him here, an empty classroom like this was the perfect spot for an unrestricted fight. It was isolated from the student body who would no doubt draw the attention of Miss Goodwitch or any of the other staff members who in turn would stop them almost immediately leaving everyone unsatisfied and would prompt Yang to corner him again first chance she got.
"Oh, you're going to pay for that." she said as she popped her nose straight, eyes blazing red while her gauntlets expanded.
Normally he would have apologized for that and do his best to de-escalate the situation but given the way she treated him since they met he figured she deserved it, he found he wanted, no craved this and Yang had provided him the perfect opportunity for the fight he desired so much.
He gracefully moved out of the way as color faded allowing him to effortlessly dodge Yang's meteorite strike, giving the impression that it was a near miss and focused his vision on her as she spun around to face him. Her eyes had a degree of deep focus and seemed to forget everything else as they locked onto him, her face bare save a slight scowl as her gaze traced his movements looking for a weakness. Apparently finding none she went with her normal tactic of trying to pummel him into submission. He almost pitied her, in the color drained world around him she appeared to move slowly almost sluggishly for him allowing him all the time he needed to dodge or retaliate each of her strikes.
'This is good practice.' Jaune couldn't help but think as he allowed time to speed up enough for the strikes to come closer to hitting their mark forcing him to put more effort into dodging, only for him to dodge at the last second enraging her further.
Taking a few 'moments' to study her attack patterns he seemed to notice her attacks becoming less organized and wild the more he enraged her. She had unintentionally revealed a glaring weakness in her fighting ability, she would get more frustrated and loose more of her composure and co-ordination the more he dodged her, something he could easily exploit this to the fullest. As she swung again he adjusted his head slightly one more time allowing the no doubt devastating blow to miss him by only millimeters, smiling as her face twisted further in anger before willing time to slow down again and strike at her face with all the strength he could.
After she recoiled he took a few steps back and analysed Yang's expressions, if he was right about her than after her composure should nearly be broken, unless she took a moment to compose herself she would become little more than a feral unthinking beast attacking him only because her pride, rage or some delusion promising a chance of victory demanded that she not back down until either she was victorious, incapacitated or worse.
To his surprise he found Yang's composure had already broken as her face had twisted into one of absolute hate and anger as almost all the muscles around her mouth, nose and eyes had bulged and contracted noticeably as her expression promised to deliver retribution of almost godly proportions from the frustration of not being able to hit him. The anger of evidently being used like a toy for his amusement as well as the fact that she evidently believed -correctly- that he did not think she was a threat. He had a momentary lapse in concentration as her face matched the bandit lady from Mythbay almost perfectly causing a bizarre sense of deja vu, for a split second he was back at Mythbay facing her again in the ruined store as she came swinging at him with her blood-red katana. He reached for his shield as Yang closed the distance and swung her attack into his unprepared guard.
"Muda!" he yelled out as his left arm reflexively spun around and pushed Yang's fist harmlessly away from his body at the last second as his shield followed suit to smack her across the face while still in it's sheath form. The force of the impact rippled through her aura as she twisted her body to give her next strike the extra force she wanted. His vision of her was blocked a second later when his stand's arm materialized and reached out to press the button on his sheath expanding it into it's shield form causing it fly off his arm into the space between the two. Fearing an unexpected attack he darted to the side just as Yang pushed the shield aside leaving her flank exposed to him, he responded by slamming both fists down between her shoulder blades causing her to slam her fist into the chalkboard decimating it.
He cautiously stepped foreword, picking up his shield as Yang didn't seem to move from her partially hunched pose, cautiously reaching for her he lurched backwards as Yang unexpectedly grabbed his shield with one hand and pushed her fist into his guard. He brought his other arm up as Yang's fist came down upon his breast plate. Twisting his block to allow the extra power provided by Yang's muscles to cause her fist to slide off his forearm without doing too much damage to his aura, he winced as the initial force still rippled through his limb dissipating across his arm and body knocking him off his feet and into the desks and chairs of the classroom.
"MUDA!" he yelled out as the arm of his stand materialized to punch her in the jaw as he blocked her and smiled as she recoiled. As he got to his feet he took note of Yang using one hand to wipe blood from her lip and the other tensing up ready to deliver the pain she hopped to deliver.
'It's having a visible effect.' he realized as a sense of satisfaction blossomed across him, in response he pulled out his sword from the sheath part of his shield in a way that seemed unnecessarily dramatic but cool.
Yang screamed as she rushed straight at him, he responded by slashing horizontally at her shoulder which she blocked with her left gauntlet. She countered by slamming her shotgun gauntlet into his shield which later he would claim he took like an tank or a Goliath. He smiled and twisted his sword trying to catch her across the throat forcing her to blocked by moving her arm and shift to keep her balance. His leg twisted outward catching her by the back of the knee knocking her off balance, seeing his plan work he willed time to a near halt and let go of both his shield and sword. As she began tumbling in slow motion, his shield and sword falling just as slowly with her as he brought his hands into a standard boxing stance inhaling sharply in a way that made a sharp almost whistling sound.
"MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA! MUDA!"
He roared over and over as he pummeled her over and over and over at what to him was a normal and comfortable speed, but to her was probably faster than light as she barely moved a centimeter in any direction before he finished. He smiled and moved out of the way as time sped up enough for her to fall backwards and tumble to the podium where the professor would lecture their students from.
"3, 2, 1." he methodically counted.
True to his prediction Yang tore the podium from the floor and threw it at him, he willed time to slow down enough for him to dodge then retaliate by rushing up to her and slamming the pommel of his blade over her head. As he backed up he smiled smugly challenging her to attack him again if she dared as she wore a face of unfathomable fury while her hair seemed to resemble a bonfire, her eye twitched once and she leapt towards him.
'An all or nothing gamble.' he realized 'She's on her last legs.'
Feeling confident in his victory he didn't even bother to move as the flaming berserker closed the distance, the right arm of his stand emerged for a split second to deliver a strike to her gauntlet directing it upwards. His right hand twitched as pain exploded through his knuckles into his wrist before something else moved in his vision and Yang was sent flying past him into the desks on the other side of the classroom. He slowly and methodically turned as Yang struggled to pull herself up, one hand clutching her lower back, something was not right here she was visibly injured despite the protections offered by her aura and yet her stand had not revealed itself. He walked into punching range again and she twisted, flying off her feet as his stand took another swing at her.
'Does she not know how much danger she is in? Where is her stand?' the more he wondered the more paranoid he gotten.
Despite the confusion he couldn't help but smile as Yang tried and failed to fend him off, with his stand he had surpassed her in speed and strength, when she tried to get some distance to recuperate he slowed time down and closed the distance. Each of her strikes had missed their mark, thanks in no small part to his ability to slow time while he and his stand hit her over and over. This wasn't a fight, it wasn't even remotely challenging anymore, he didn't even need to move as his stand did all the work for him which Yang either couldn't see or chose not to respond to. That made no sense, if she was a stand user like every real opponent he had since leaving Sino than it would have either shown itself to try to protect it's master or he would have seen it when he focused his vision on her. That was unless of course she didn't have a stand. He paused his onslaught and willed time to a near halt, focusing his vision on anything that might resemble a stand, the more he examined her physical form and recounted what little he knew of her the more he was forced to conclude that she indeed did not have a stand to call her own, that or it had not awakened fully yet.
He couldn't help but smile as he dodged her next attempt at an attack and responded to her foolishness with a strike from his stand at full force breaking though the protection provided by her aura and sending her several meters away from him. She got up and started a new swing before almost freezing midway as almost all color in the room faded away. He couldn't help but admire her determination, even with a broken aura she was still coming at him, not realizing that all the next strike would kill her.
'The fool.' he thought.
With the power of his stand he would no doubt become the top student in combat class. His stand could easily punch at strengths far exceeding that of any steroid-jacked person, his ability to slow down time gave him the ability to react to anything his opponent would try and do while the 'speed' gained from it allowed him to both avoid and retaliate. He hefted his sword onto his shoulder, despite all this people like Yang still dared to defy his superiority and needed to be taught their place. He casually walked until he was in front of her, her rage filled eyes meeting his even in the nearly stopped time.
'Nobody will stand against me, nobody will make fun of me, nobody will surpass me.' he thought as he swung his sword towards Yang's neck intent on ending her sad annoyance of an existence once and for all, then probably mounting her head somewhere as an example to others.
'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' a familiar voice suddenly yelled out in his head bringing with it a bizarre sense of motion sickness and despair. He froze just before the swing could connect as color rapidly returned to the world around him, Yang gasped as the edge of his sword kissed her neck causing her to freeze up involuntarily. Almost by reflex he slammed the pommel of his blade into the side of her head recoiling a bit as his stand emerged one last time to add the force necessary to knock her out.
/===Yang Xiao-Long temporarily retired===/
As she collapsed he folded his shield, sheathed his sword in it then hosting his weapon at his side. He paused to look at his right hand and clutch it with his left hand. It was sore from bare knuckle boxing and the feedback he had gotten from his stand but that was not what concerned him. He had nearly killed her and he was going to enjoy it too, in that moment she wasn't Yang, she wasn't a person, she was merely an annoyance to be killed without remorse or a second thought like one of the many insects that flew around his face before he crushed them between his palms. This went beyond mere adrenaline highs, mere instinct reflexes, or the nerves and ticks that may come from getting into a fight. It was a drive to commit cold-blooded murder and move on with is goals as if the act itself were something as simple and relatively meaningless as eating a loaf of bread for breakfast. That wasn't him or at least he hopped it wasn't, it was something only a monster would think and/or enjoy. This fight wasn't life threatening, it wasn't kill or be killed, even then he did not seek to murder his opponent with that disregard for life.
"What have you done!" a voice yelled out.
He turned his head suddenly as fear rippled through him almost instantly only for it to dissipate when he saw that it was Ruby who spoke.
"You destroyed the classroom!" she barked at him.
"Well that's-" he started hopping that his eyes wouldn't betray his sudden inner turmoil as he tried to read her expression.
Ruby was looking at him with a face he couldn't quite recognize while she walked up to him, she wasn't smiling, nor was she flustered and didn't seem shocked, although he couldn't be sure if she wasn't angry at him or not. A moment later he realized something worrying, he couldn't read her expression. It was one thing to miss-read her expression and interpret it as something contrary to how she feeling at the time, but at that moment he was deaf and dumb to any and all the signals, signs and more, both conscious and unconscious that hinted at what she was feeling, thinking and more.
He wasn't sure if it was caused by the mental shock that came with nearly killing Yang in cold blood and hopped that whatever it was would pass quickly and that he would still be able to accurately read expressions soon enough. He glanced back to Ruby who had went to check on Yang before getting up to look at him with a face he thought was one of calmness or apathy. Did she think he was some kind of monster since he had nearly killed her sister and would laugh about it if he did? Would ether of the sisters come to that conclusion due to his bizarre lapse in control? He wasn't sure how much of the fight Ruby saw and hopped that whatever it was that she did see wasn't his apparent joy at the prospect of murder.
He winced as another jolt of pain shot from his wrist. He was an idiot, in combat he was exceeding at the physical part of it but apparently was lacking the discipline and willpower needed to maintain control of himself. He needed to improve those or risk loosing himself to another murderous state and potentially kill his future allies for nothing else than the good feeling that may come from it. It seemed like it was also necessary to controlling his stand as well as it knocked Yang out rather than outright kill her because he willed himself and by extension it to do so, if he couldn't improve then it would only appear and do whatever it wanted rather than what he wanted it to do. Thankfully it was currently content to appear whenever he perceived himself to be in extreme danger so he did not have to worry about it just yet. He also guessed that a stronger will would also help him potentially resist any non-physical attacks from other semblances or stands, perhaps helping him to resist the voices and hallucinations that seemed to be getting worse and worse as time passed by, even though that was video-game logic it still seemed to hold a merit to his real life situation.
"We need to clean up and get out of here before someone comes in." Ruby said returning his focus to reality.
Only then did he notice the extend of the damage they caused. The wall Yang's fist slammed into had the remains of the chalkboard scattered at it's base with the majority of the structure behind it broken revealing the electrical wiring and other supports that made the architectural skeleton and the veins of the building. The desks and seats they had crashed through were all completely destroyed being little more than wood ships and strips of wood held together by synthetic fabric where the floor they were on seemed warped by the heat of Yang's hair or something like his stand punching it into a shape that would do less harm to him when he landed on it. The podium Yang threw had broken through the door to the classrooms back room fully exposing it's contents which were demolished beyond his current ability to identify them.
"How do you expect to clean this up?" he barked and gestured to the whole room "Do you have some ability to alter time or restore everything?"
"No but we can remove any and all traces of our involvement." she said with a smile he couldn't properly read.
"Yeah, we probably should." he responded with an awkward smile. He did not want to find out what would happen if any of the staff learned they had an unsanctioned fight on Beacon's property and practically destroyed a whole classroom when they weren't technically students yet.
/-/
He sighed blissfully as Ruby finished stuffing Yang's unconscious form in her sleeping bag in the still empty ballroom. For what seemed like the thousandth time he checked for cameras and the wandering eyes of whomever may be passing by, even though they had avoided all those 'threats' all the way from the classroom to here he still didn't feel safe. It was still relatively early in the evening and the others hadn't taken to retiring here for the night just yet, allowing Ruby to claim a corner for herself and Yang.
"How is she?" he asked 'Please be alive still.' his mind echoed.
"She'll be fine, nothing a good night's sleep can't fix." Ruby responded.
"You seem awfully cavalier about this." he said.
"I know my sister, I've seen her take worse hits. Besides it's not like you intended to kill her or something." Ruby responded.
He felt a chill run down his spine at that comment "No, no. I didn't."
"It would be nice if we could take her to the infirmary though." Ruby said looking at Yang who to anyone else appeared to have decided to go to bed early and was fast asleep.
"Yeah it would." he commented offhand.
"If we did though, they would start asking questions, probably write a report or something then Miss Goodwitch would know." she shuddered at the name "Once she finds out what happened to Yang, she would then find out what happened in that classroom and we would get expelled or something."
That fear of what might happen to them as a result of their confrontation had forced his co-operation in this harebrained scheme. Ruby would likely be given a relatively minor punishment because she tried to cover up the whole incident while he and Yang would probably be forced to leave Beacon or worse. In light of that Ruby's plan to cover up their involvement and pray the staff never learned the truth had seemed the better choice even if it came with the constant fear that they would be discovered and ousted at any moment.
"All this because she wanted to know more about some raven haired woman." he sighed leaning back on the wall.
"Oh, her." Ruby said, apparently knowing something he didn't. "I can't believe she dragged you into her crusade."
"What do you mean by that?" he asked.
"That's not really important now. I'll talk to her and try and get her to leave you alone. In the meantime can you tell me what you know about her. I will tell Yang when wakes up and it would help smooth things over if I can tell her something she doesn't know."
He sighed and told her everything he knew and saw in regards to the woman being sure to exclude his apparent time slowing powers. If it would get Yang off his back once and for all he had might as well tell Ruby everything. If the information came from Ruby than it would likely guarantee that Yang dropped the subject and stopped harassing him. Once she was satisfied with the extent his knowledge he asked why the woman was so important to Yang and literally fainted when Ruby told him that the woman who tried to murder him in Mythbay was named Raven Branwen, Yang's estranged mother.
AN: I have been building up to this. I have methodically planned this. Surprisingly, several of you were craving this. And I have delivered the fight we all wanted since chapter 5; Jaune vs. Yang! Will it have consequences and what will come of it? Find out in later chapters of Jaune Arc's Bizarre Adventure.
