Your Next Move Is!
A fun little fanfic I wrote just for the fun of it and to have a little break from writing serious stuff, which may or may not blossom into something more. And also, this is just one big reference to an anime I like. If the title isn't obvious enough, then you'll know as you read on :)
As usual, most of my disclaimers from other RWBY fanfics apply, only very loosely based on RWBY world and characters. As in, stuff not mentioned is, well, not here.
Without further ado, enjoy!
If she were to be truly honest with herself, Pyrrha felt that her partner was a little weird.
Just a bit, though! It wasn't anything she could put against him, at any rate. Jaune was still a good person, one who smiled, joked, played around, cared for his team, and despite evidence to the contrary, didn't see her for just the Champion. He saw her as just a normal girl. As Pyrrha, and she appreciated it with all her heart.
But still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was slightly off every time he interacted with someone.
The first sign of the oddity came back in Initiation. They were launched to the Emerald Forest, at speeds that honestly caught even her slightly off-guard. She couldn't think of what Jaune imagined back then, but on the other hand, she knew he was probably expecting it.
And then, when she launched her spear at him and pinned him to a tree, he didn't act surprised one bit. When she came over to him and asked for a spot in his team, he merely smiled at her knowingly and said "Sure! I don't think there's any problem with that!"
The rest of the story indicated many signs that came up once more. When she unlocked his Aura, he genuinely thanked her but almost expected her to do so. When they wanted to go into that dark cave, instead of being adventurous like she had expected, he instead had cautioned her against going into the unknown, and saying it was just better to walk away and find another clue. She had obliged, and then they met Team RWBY, and the rest was history.
He was chosen to be the leader of Team JNPR, and that was the first time she ever saw any hint of nervousness on his face. But still, Pyrrha without a doubt thought he had deserved the position. He showed happiness, almost borderline cockiness when they fought against the Grimm. Like he knew every move it would make, every attack they should do, and every risk they should avoid. In initiation, As a team, they defeated so many Grimm that Pyrrha lost count. And yet, they did all that without Jaune ever lifting his sword a single time.
And when it came to team relations, though he always had that little twinkle in his eyes, he was still as genuine as they came.
But then, that didn't explain the downright abysmal performance she was seeing right now in combat class.
"YEOUCH!" Jaune yelped as he felt himself being slammed to the ground by Cardin's mace, falling flat on his back. He barely managed to slide back and avoid another smash from Cardin, kicking up dust in the air and giving him some time to gather his thoughts.
He held his sword and shield in his hands, shoulders tense and feet slightly apart. As the dust cleared, he saw Cardin heft his mace over his shoulders. He had the smuggest smirk on his face.
"C'mon, Arc, don't tell me that's all!" Cardin beckoned Jaune forth. "There's gotta be a reason you got to Beacon!"
But instead of rising to the bait, Jaune smirked and relaxed his stance. "Just like you managed to get in with your thick head? To be honest, I didn't think a jock like you could get through the written test!"
Cardin growled as he heard the beginnings of a snicker through the crowd. He gripped his mace tight, "Just for that, Jauney. I'm gonna make this one hurt extra."
Jaune chuckled mockingly. "Come on, then, Cardin! If you can't do that to me, then what does it mean for you?"
"RARGH!" Cardin lunged at Jaune with all his speed, and Jaune didn't move one bit.
Pyrrha grimaced as the following beatdown was the harshest she had ever seen. But still, even through the slams and smashes, Jaune kept his smile up, enraging Cardin even further.
Ding!
"Mr. Winchester, that is quite enough." Such sounded the voice of Professor Glynda. She waved her riding crop and stopped both Cardin and his weapon mid-swing. "Mr. Arc's Aura has already well entered the red."
Cardin relented and stepped back from the prone Jaune, who was flat on his back on the training floor. The Deputy Headmistress relinquished her control over Cardin, brought Jaune up with her semblance, and adjusted the glasses on her face.
With an exhausted breath, she delivered her judgements of the match to both the fighters and the rest of the class.
"Mr. Winchester, your battle capabilities are satisfactory as always." Cardin smirked, "However." Glynda stressed, and his smile dropped. "It would do understand how to control your emotions better. You may have won the fight, but it was not in a way I deemed fitting. Do you understand?"
"But I-!"
"Mr. Winchester." Glynda interrupted sternly.
Cardin bit his check and swallowed his pride. "Fine." He forced out.
Glynda nodded, and as Cardin returned to his seat, she turned to her remaining student.
"Mr. Arc." She sighed and pressed a hand to her temple. "Do I even need to say it to you today?"
Jaune stretched the soreness out of his body after the beating and turned to look at his professor. "Well…" He trailed off, expression conflicted.
"Please train your combat abilities, Mr. Arc. Though you showed exemplary promise in Initiation, you still have a long way to go." Glynda opened her eyes and looked at Jaune harshly. "And stop goading your enemies! It's already starting to come back and bite you."
"I understand, Professor." Jaune said and nodded his head, but she still had the distinct feeling that it was at least partially mere lip service. "I'll try to do better."
"…" Glynda sighed and shook her head. "It's the best we could hope for, I suppose." She murmured. "Go on, then. Get back to your seat."
"Of course, Professor." After giving her a very slight bow to show his thanks, Jaune walked back to the stadium and took a seat beside her partner.
"Ah…" Jaune plopped on his seat, and Pyrrha could hear several bones cracking back in place. "Oh, that feels nice…"
"Why do you do that?" Pyrrha asked.
"Hm?" Jaune turned to his partner. "What do you mean, Pyr?"
"I mean…" Pyrrha gestured wildly with her hands. "Why do you antagonize him like that? He's beaten you every time, right?"
"Pfft. It's not like he's a good guy or anything." Jaune crossed his hands and leaned back on his chair.
"Well, you're not wrong there." Pyrrha muttered. "But still, until you can beat him, you're really planning on getting beaten every day?"
"Eh. Doesn't really matter to me." Jaune smirked. "He'll get what's coming soon enough, don't you think?"
"Careful, Jaune." She advised. "Sometimes it's not that easy."
Jaune nodded, and Pyrrha could honestly see her words sinking in to his head. But still, for whatever reason, he turned back and gave a wink at Cardin.
A wink that turned Cardin's is hole-burning gaze into nothing short of an audible growl.
Jaune chuckled to himself again and turned back to watch the arena, successfully taunting his opponent.
Pyrrha sighed and slumped on her seat. Damn it, he was kind, he was nice, he was sincere, but for the life of her, when these kinds of things happen, she just couldn't figure him out. It's like he had this little game all to himself, planning for something she just couldn't see.
"Hey, look, Pyr! Another match's starting out!"
"Yes… I suppose so." Pyrrha shook her head and smiled, focusing on watching the fight alongside her partner.
Still, this part of Jaune only came out a few times. Nothing she couldn't put at the back of her head for now.
A long time ago, Jaune came to a conclusion that changed his entire approach forever.
It was when he was a mere 11-year old boy. He had begged his father to train him, the 7th consecutive time he asked for it in a day. But his father had shrugged him off as he always did, and without anything else to do, Jaune was left to sit in his room alone and stew his thoughts.
'Why's dad so stubborn?!' Young Jaunehad thought, 'I just wanna be strong like him! Like a Huntsman!'
But the fact was, he realized, that no matter what he'd do, his father would never train him. The elder Arc was a head-strong man, bound by code and honor and gentlemanly conduct. But he was also pragmatic, and would never see the appeal of sending his son to die pursing the career of a Huntsman.
Eventually, the next day rolled around, and Jaune woke up with this new knowledge printed firm in his mind. He didn't ask his father to train him, the first time such a thing had ever happened, but if his father noticed, he didn't say a word. Maybe he didn't wish to tempt his son, but whatever it was that day, Jaune now thought it happened for the best.
With nothing to do once more, the young boy had strolled around the village with aimless purpose. It was then, by a stroke of chance, he saw two Huntsmen brawling against each other, one yellow and the other blue.
They threw punches and kicks like Huntsmen usually did, but what struck Jaune the most was the resourcefulness of the yellow one. He kicked up the dusty cobblestone streets to obscure his opponent's vision, dodged around the surrounding infrastructure to let his opponent harm himself played mind games which infuriated his opponent even further, used Dust (and not the boring kind!) to enhance his body and weapons, and even mixed some of that Dust on the fly to make all sorts of reactions Jaune had never seen. It was all so magical!
And most impressive of all? The yellow one was smaller and weaker, and yet he was winning!
Eventually, someone (if he remembered right it was a rather older Huntsman) came over and knocked them by the heads, saying they had to keep appearances and that they were drawing a crowd. Everything was a blur after that, Jaune's father coming over and asking him if he was alright, if he needed anything for the day, but honestly? For the rest of that day, Jaune had switched to autopilot.
Because he had realized one thing.
It didn't matter if he wasn't strong enough. It didn't matter if he lacked training. You had to fight, sure, but it wasn't brute strength that won the day. Nor was it training, or how good your weapons were.
It was planning and knowing.
And because of that, Jaune turned to himself and stopped asking his father for any more training. The elder Arc, thinking his words had finally sunk in, was happy with the condition. The matter of Huntsman training was never brought up ever again in their family.
But in reality, Jaune had decided to expand his knowledge. For six straight years, he devoured any source of information he had. Libraries. Books. Magazines. Pamphlets. The Internet. If he were to be a Huntsman, then he had to be prepared, had to be able to whip out a plan in a moment's notice, had to be able to be read people and be close to them, had to be able to win with as little risk as possible. Had to know how to overcome his physical weakness.
And for all of that, most importantly, he needed to know.
And so he walked his path. Read as much as he could. Discreetly practiced his knowledge on both himself and other people without his father noticing as much as he could.
As such, when the time was right, Jaune slipped out of the Arc household with none the wiser. His head was packed with all the knowledge it could ever store and ever need, and with his escape, he knew he had successfully read his own family like a book and his plan succeeded.
He had felt guilty after that, but he bit his cheek and cats his guilt aside. They had expected great things for him, just not the great things he wanted.
When he came back, they'll all see. As for now, he'll make sure to carry the Arc name with pride and honor his father always did.
Jaune smiled to himself. So far, after initiation and four months in Beacon? Jaune didn't think his plans lacked anything one bit, and his family's honor was safe and sound.
He opened his heart to his teammates, though he couldn't let them in to his plans just yet. Nora and Ren didn't mind, but Pyrrha…
Jaune felt guilt build up in his heart, but he brushed it off. She'll see. Once he beat Cardin in the long game, she'll see. After all, what good was a plan if someone else knew it?
And besides, he even already found his Semblance! Though he hadn't revealed it to his teammates yet… Aura Amp still had many more applications than just people, and he wanted to know it all before putting it to good use.
But that aside, his plans to have friends and become a true Huntsman had gone swimmingly. Even everything with Cardin, though the Winchester didn't know it yet.
Team RWBY and JNPR sat in a table, all eating their respective breakfast meals.
As they sat, Pyrrha realized that tonight will mark four months. Four months since they've arrived at Beacon. Four months since they became a team, and four months since the best time of her life began.
However, there were things that greatly dampened that mood. First and foremost, her leader and partner's constant state of being bullied by Cardin Winchester.
And worst of all, he wasn't even doing anything about it! He just kept goading and goading Cardin every match, bullied around campus, and he didn't seem bothered one bit! Did he not realise he was being played with, that it didn't make sense to him? Jaune never said a word about Cardin to her, and yet she can't just sit around and watch him be knocked around! It's like he had this- this sense of being above it all that she just couldn't seem to grasp.
Dammit, not understanding a thing was starting to get to her nerves.
"So!" Nora said suddenly, and with her tone, Pyrrha and everyone else's attention shifted to her. "There we were, in the middle of the night…"
"It was daytime." Ren said calmly as he took a drink.
"We were surrounded by Ursas…"
"They were Beowolves."
"Dozens of them!" Nora stood up with her arms wide.
"Two of them."
"But they were no match for us! Ah, and in the end, Ren and I got a boatload of Lien for killing them all!" Nora sat back down with her hands on her hips, nodding to herself like she had just won a grand competition.
Ren sighed. "She's been having this dream for almost a month now."
"Oh?" Jaune turned from his breakfast and shot Nora a concerned glance. "I think that could be a sign, Nora. You haven't been eating anything weird, have you?"
Nora scoffed. "Pffft, I'm fiiiine, Jaune! …Well, besides Ren's smoothies that is."
"My smoothies are perfectly healthy and provide an excellent balance of nutrition." Ren put a hand to his heart, feeling offended.
"I mean…. She does have a good point, Ren." Ruby said, munching through her cookies. "I mean, if you ask me to drink that with this?" She pointed to her cookie. Then, she immediately took another bite. "Mfmff…. No way!"
Ren sighed dramatically. "Why am I the only one that can see the benefits…"
"Well, Rubes isn't gonna be giving up on cookies anytime soon." Yang said, "And I doubt she ever will! It's Ruby, after all."
"It wouldn't hurt for you to check a little bit better on your diet though, Ruby." Weiss said to warn her partner. "Eating that much sugar can't be good."
Ruby gasped. "Cookies? Bad?!" She shook her head vigorously. "NEVER!"
Jaune chuckled and took a sip from his glass of water. 'As expected from Ruby…'
He felt a sharp elbow in his ribs from his partner. Water almost splashed out of his cup, but he managed to keep it under control to put it back down.
"Ouch!" Jaune whispered, and shot an offended glance to his partner. "What was that for?" He whispered.
Pyrrha felt uncertain for around a second, before steeling herself and casted her doubts to the winds. "Jaune. How are you doing with Cardin?"
"Huh? Cardin?" He gave Pyrrha a smile. "Nah, everything's fine, Pyr. Nothing out of control!"
"Well, it's just…" Pyrrha motioned with her hands, struggling with her words. "It's not healthy, you know?"
"How so?" Jaune tilted his head.
"Well… he's been picking on you since the first week of school!" Pyrrha said.
"Hm… true." Jaune said. "But-!"
"He's a bully!" Ruby shouted.
Jaune shook his head. "The word 'bully' means I'm disturbed by it. Fact is I'm not, so I don't think I should do anything about it." 'Yet.' He added the last part in his mind.
Ren lifted a finger. "Well, he's made you drop your books. Plenty of times."
"Messed with your weapons!" Nora shouted.
"Trapped you in your locker!" Ruby followed up heatedly.
"And overall, embarrassing you in combat class and disturbing you every time you meet." Pyrrha finished calmly. "So tell me, Jaune, how is that not bullying? Why aren't you doing anything?"
And in that instant, she saw Jaune falter. His eyes shot to everywhere but her and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I mean, seriously guys, everything's fine. Trust me! I've got everything under control…"
Pyrrha narrowed her eyes and Jaune flinched, chuckling nervously again. She was about to open her mouth again-!
"Ouch! Stop it!"
All conversation on their table stopped. Everyone's gazes, even Jaune's and Pyrrha's, moved to the source of the cry of pain.
It was from the center of the cafeteria. Cardin stood tall before a whimpering rabbit Faunus, pulling her ears and mockingly showing it to his friends.
Cardin gave the ears another pull and laughed when she whimpered.
"See?" He said to the rest of his team, Team CRDL. "I told you it was real!"
"That hurts, you know!" the rabbit girl whimpered. "Please, stop…"
Russel laughed along with his leader. "What a freak…!" He said between laughs.
"Disgusting." Blake growled. Her bow twitched ever so slightly. None of them seemed to notice, all except for one.
"Agreed." Pyrrha bit out. "How people like them can stand themselves, I can't even begin to wonder."
Yang leaned on her arm with a sad sigh. "Must be hard being a Faunus…"
"She's just trying to be a Huntress." Ruby murmured sadly. "But she's being treated like that… how's that fair?"
Pyrrha closed her eyes and let out a sad sigh.
Jaune saw this as well, and it made his guilt increase tenfold. It was here, he realized, that what bothered her the most was this ever happening to him. It was making her worried…
To top it all off, someone else was suffering. Suffering under Cardin, when Jaune knew his father would never stand for such a thing.
So what did it say about his plan? What did it say about being a Huntsman if he stood by and continued playing the long game?
What did that say about his family's honour? About him?
Screeech!
Suddenly, their entire table lurched towards Team RWBY's direction, making a loud sound and giving extra room for the JNPR side. Before they could realise it, Jaune had stood up from his seat and taken his hands off the table after pushing it.
"Jaune…?" Pyrrha looked up to her partner. "What're you-?"
"Pyrrha." Jaune said solemnly. It was here that she saw a shadow cover his eyes, and the muscles in his hands tensing ever so slightly. Hands which had unconsciously balled into fists.
"I'm doing something to stop it right now." Jaune shot her a glance, for just a moment before it switched back to his target. "You're not gonna stop me now of all times, are you?"
Pyrrha looked to her surroundings. The rest of RWBY and JNPR were surprised, but somewhat intrigued. The rest of the cafeteria had fallen silent too, watching them, except for Team CRDL and the poor Faunus girl.
Pyrrha let out a breath and leaned back. "Go on. Just make sure not to act rashly."
"Heh, rashly? I don't know the word." Jaune chuckled, right before walking off and calmly storming to Team CRDL.
His words were genuine again. He did plan to defeat them, had something up his sleeve. However, Pyrrha noted the undercurrent of one emotion she never thought she'd hear from him. Rage. Pyrrha put a hand to her chin. Hm, perhaps…
Could this be the key to his weirdness? How bizarre he is?
Jaune finally reached Team CRDL and the rabbit Faunus. He ended his last step with a loud stomp. With it, all five sets of eyes turned to him.
"Hey there, buddy." Jaune said. The twinkle in his eyes returned, paired with a fake smile, though the shadow over his eyes still remained slightly.
Cardin growled, instinctively tightening his grip on the Faunus' ears.
"See, this girl here's my friend." Jaune continued without a care in the world, and his tone was practically dripping with fake saccharine. "So I'd appreciate it if you let go of her. That's not too hard, right?"
Cardin smiled menacingly. Then, he chuckled as he tightened his grip.
"Owowowow!" The girl shrieked.
"Oh, this freak's your friend, is she?" Cardin mocked. "Well then. Mind telling her name for me, Jauney?"
The rabbit Faunus looked up and looked at Jaune. She had never seen this guy before… and she was confident that he didn't know who she was, so recent the initiation was. She stammered out a response, "M-my name is-!"
"Oh, that's easy!" Jaune smiled. "She's Velvet Scarlatina! A 2nd year that just came back from a mission."
"Oh? Is that so?" Cardin said, ignoring Velvet's shocked expression.
'W-what? He knows?' Velvet thought. 'He must've read through Beacon's files, then! B-but I-!'
"Well then, how come I never saw you hang out with her, hm?" Cardin mockingly asked.
"Oh, we've met each other here and there." Jaune said nonchalantly. "I'm sure my team can testify."
"Don't lie to me, buddy." Cardin smiled and let go of Velvet, casting her aside to some random team's table. But more importantly, out of the danger zone of Cardin and Team CRDL.
"Ah!" Velvet groaned as she crashed, but that random team immediately helped her up and made sure she was okay.
Jaune's eyes flitted to her ever so slightly, seeing her now safe. Good.
He quickly shifted his vision back to Cardin. The bully was starting to march closer and closer to Jaune. 'As easy as reading a book.'
"We've been hanging out together practically the whole semester, Jauney. Don't you remember all the fun we've had?" Cardin said menacingly as he approached.
As he came closer, Jaune saw the difference between them more and more clearly.
Cardin was bigger and taller, towering over his rather short height. He was more muscular, a sharp difference from Jaune's own scrawny (yet still somewhat trained) build. And most different of all, the way they held themselves.
Cardin had his chest puffed out in arrogance. Jaune kept himself slouched with his hands in his pockets.
Jaune waved a hand dismissively as his other approached, the rest of CRDL not that far behind him. "Well, it's not like we have to be together all the time, don't we?" He said, "You probably just missed us."
Cardin scoffed. "I find that hard to believe." He finally reached Jaune and towered over him, leaning ever so slightly to look down at the Arc. "So I kinda have to ask, why go out here for just some random girl?"
"Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet!" Jaune waved a finger cheerfully in front of Cardin's eyes. "That's what my mother used to stay. Funny, I think it applies in real life. What about you?"
"That's a weak-ass saying if I've ever heard one." Cardin mocked. He leaned down even more to Jaune.
The Arc's eyes twinkled, and that's when Pyrrha knew he was up to something good. She felt herself being excited at the prospect. 'Wait, is he really…?!'
The gears in Jaune's head turned rapidly as Cardin leaned down. 'That's it…'
"You know what I think? I think you've got something wrong up in here." Cardin tapped the side of his head. "Up in the head, get it?"
Jaune stayed silent, but chuckled mockingly at Cardin. 'His next move is…'
All this did was cause Cardin to lean down even more, now practically at a 90-degree angle to look down at Jaune condescendingly.
'Just as I hoped.' Jaune smiled at Cardin's actions. To Jaune's smile, Cardin guwaffed.
"Ah, see? That's what I don't get!" Cardin shouted to the whole cafeteria, still bending down to look Jaune dead in the eye. He leaned close to Jaune. "You wanna know what's gonna happen?"
Jaune tilted his head innocently, "Hm?"
"I think we're gonna have even more fun from here on out, you get me Jauney?" Cardin said in a low tone. "Obviously you're asking for it, since you got up to see me right now."
Jaune still smiled, though his mind was still whirring. 'Wait for it…'
"I mean, someone has to take care of you, right?" Cardin laughed while still bending down, now right at Jaune's face. He was so close they could both see the details of each other's skin.
Jaune noted the distance. 'Now if he could just lean a bit more-!'
But alas, with Cardin's next words, Jaune didn't need to finish that plan at all.
"It's obvious your parent's didn't teach you right!" Cardin mocked loudly for the whole cafeteria. "Since you're here like a total idiot, that must mean they're dumbasses too-!"
SLAM!
"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHHH!" Cardin screamed as he felt himself fly back, no room to react since he was so close to Jaune. And, with him bending down so far, he immediately lost his footing and fell flat on his butt.
Jaune held his smoking fist right where Cardin's face used to be, anger now clear to see on his face. A tick formed in his forehead, and any twinkle that was there had been exchanged with hot raging fury.
"DON'T YOU TALK ABOUT MY FAMILY, YOU UTTER BONEHEAD!" Jaune roared.
Cardin quickly attempted to get up. Why that dirty little trickster-!
Jaune didn't give Cardin even a chance to breathe and stomped on his foot hard.
Cardin howled in pain, but Jaune didn't stop there. Before Cardin could stop his screams, Jaune lifted his foot forwards and stomped down on Cardin's face.
SLAM!
The back of Cardin's head crashed against the floor, pressed even further by Jaune's shoes. Without another breath, Cardin's body turned limp as he went unconscious.
The entire cafeteria flinched. It seemed the word 'fighting dirty' didn't exist in Jaune's vocabulary either.
"H-hey! What'd you think you're doing?!"
Jaune looked up and saw the rest of Team CRDL huddle together and face him with their fists up. The Arc wiped his lips and opened his arms.
"Come at me, if you want!" Jaune challenged them all. His eyes analysed their stances and Jaune tried hard to remember how they usually fought in combat class.
Ah, that's right. He remembered now.
Russel used daggers, so he preferred fast moves. Ambidextrous.
Sky used axes. Large, telegraphed swings were the norm.
Dove used swords. Balance, not much speed but not much strength either.
But more on their psychological profile…
Jaune smirked as the gears turned in his head, and he in turn saw the ones in theirs turning as well.
Jaune pointed to the Russel and spoke loudly enough for the entire cafeteria to hear.
"Next you'll say 'Come on, it's three of us and one of him! We can do this!'. To you, Russel!"
"Come on, it's three of us and one of him! We can do this -HUH?!" Russel shouted.
'I've still got it.' Jaune smirked. He pointed his finger once more at the trio. "Bullies usually seek security in each other. When no one does anything, they'll feel even more powerful. Isn't that why you're here? Because Velvet's alone and you can look strong in front of so many people?" Jaune tsk'ed as he shook his finger, shaking his head with fake pity. "My my, what a pitiful pastime, isn't it?"
"Grr…" Sky grit his teeth. "Why you-!"
"Next you'll say 'Being a smartass isn't going to save you from a beating, Arc!' To you, Sky!"
"BEING A SMARTASS ISN'T GOING TO SAVE YOU FROM A BEATING, ARC!" Sky rushed forwards at Jaune.
Jaune smirked and merely opened his arms. "Come on, then!"
"HAHHHHH!" Sky grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and slammed him to an empty table. Making sure Jaune had no room to move, he raised his fist and began pummeling Jaune's head.
"HYAH!" Sky slammed his fist down and he felt something crack beneath his fist. However, blind with rage, he punched more and more without ever stopping. "HAAAAAHHH!"
SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM!
He felt the hard construct beneath him have its Aura reduced to zero. More punches, and he felt it being destroyed to mere mush. Its sticky red bits stuck to his hand, and Sky pulled his fist back. That oughtta teach the dunce a lesson-!
"Hey! Where've you been looking, Sky?"
'What?!' Sky turned around and saw Jaune standing smugly with his arms crossed.
"Heheheh…. Take a good look at what you've been pummeling, buddy!"
Sky turned back with shock. Indeed, he hadn't been pummeling Jaune at all! Instead, he had pummeled a watermelon that was just as large as a head, and had crushed that too itsy tiny bits!
But that felt so hard, the texture felt just right, and he even sensed it having Aura! Then how did it-?!
"HYAHHHH!" Jaune roared and lunged forwards. With Sky confused, he had no time to react as Jaune smashed his fist across the bully's jaw with a brightly glowing fist.
"Agh!" Sky tumbled back and crashed into the rest of his teammates, all of them falling into a heap.
The crowd clapped and roared in approval, and Jaune smirked as he lowered his fist.
In her seat, Pyrrha had realized something important. All of it, absolutely all of it, was planned.
Jaune had provoked Cardin, and that had caused him to lean down and come too close, messing up his footing. So then, when Jaune hadhit him, he had no time to react and immediately fell to the floor. Jaune's stomps had this as well, though much dirtier than she would've liked.
The same went with Sky. He blinded him with rage, literally, and when he began pummeling, Jaune had grabbed a watermelon and switched it with his own head. And even so! She saw his hands glow as he switched with the watermelon. That meant he had infused the watermelon with some of his Aura, to make its shell harder and feel that much more like an actual Huntsman's head. Perhaps his Semblance…? He 'Amped' up the watermelon's Aura…?
Jaune's eyes turned to her and Pyrrha smiled. In turn, he couldn't help but smile at her too, genuine and a tad bit forgiveness for putting her through so much worry.
Pyrrha gave Jaune a small nod with her smile.
It seemed she didn't have a reason to worry after all.
SLAM!
The doors to the cafeteria opened, and in stepped in The Deputy Headmistress. "What's going on over here?!" Glynda shouted.
Time froze and the cafeteria fell silent, and all eyes turned to her in shock.
Glynda's piercing gaze shot around the room. And of course, she saw the three members Team CRDL groaning and starting to get up, their Auras flashing from a fight, all the while Jaune stood tall above them with a glowing fist.
And of course, their leader unconscious not far from Jaune's feet.
"Mr. Arc…?" Glydna narrowed her eyes as she stared Jaune down. Her voice dropped to a low tone, "Care to tell me what happened?"
Instead of speaking, Jaune merely lowered his fist and held his hands to the side near various objects of food on a table. But also, positioned it just near his legs.
Jaune's eyes shot to Pyrrha for just a moment and her mind immediately went whirring. Jaune was planning something. But what was it? 'Give the food some Aura? Toss the table into the sky? Splash everyone with Aura and water?!'
"Well, Mr. Arc?" Glynda raised an eyebrow. "I'm waiting for an explanation."
His eyes shot to Pyrrha again, as if saying 'I've got a plan.'
Pyrrha smiled. 'And that is?'
'My greatest one yet.' Jaune turned back to the professor and broke out a wide smile.
Then, he turned tail and ran.
"RUN FOR YOUR LIVESSSSSS!" Jaune screamed, hotfooting it out of there as fast as he could.
Pyrrha sputtered, as did everyone else.
"OY YOU, MOVE! GET OUT OF THE WAYYYYY!"
Of course, Jaune never got very far. But still, he managed to embarrass CRDL enough to teach them a lesson. And since then, even with his weird behavior, Pyrrha learned to wholly trust Jaune. And at the same time, Jaune learned to actually tell his partner how he felt.
Next you'll say, "This is a Jojo's reference!" To you!
Thanks for reading!