"Just hit them with the hammer?"
Chifuyu's question was purely rhetorical. While team JNPR did won the first round of the tournament, they did in the most awkward fashion possible. Sure, people was talking highly of the one hit kill Nora performed, but also the impromptu team meeting they pulled out. While their opponents utterly failed to use the opportunity to attack, some considered the events disrespectful, and that team JNPR played with their opponents when they could have won easily with Pyrrha and now with the demonstration from Nora. And now that explained why Jaune was under her vicious grip on his head while Pyrrha worriedly tried to calm down the situation.
"I believe it was our fault. Jaune did tried to create names for our combined attacks and I think during the excitement of our first battle we might have forget it." The champion tried to save the situation.
"I still want to know why we would have flour..." Ren not helped, prompting Pyrrha to shake her head at him to shut him up.
"The faults at a team always can be tracked down to the leader. Now what should I do with you, Arc?" Chifuyu tightened the grip and Jaune flailed more.
"It was better this way!" He shouted to the surprise of everyone one.
"Oh?"
"Pyrrha might be that good, but he need to preserve her for the other rounds, and now everyone need to worry about the rest of us! Now Nora and Pyrrha can go to the next round and our opponents will have to deal with both instead of focusing on one!" With this Chifuyu let go of her grip and Jaune hurried to hide behind his partner.
"Well, I don't care that much about the beauty of a fight, that's more Nero's thing. But remember you all represent Beacon here, so try to keep focus next time. Now you can go." She dismissed them and the group walked away, Jaune a little dejected while Nora was the very opposite.
"Don't worry, fearless leader! We'll give them a show next round! Ginger power!" She stated and Jaune laughed a little.
"But are you sure it should be Nora and me in the next round? We still don't know who our opponent will be." Pyrrha asked and Jaune shrugged.
"If it's someone I believe Nora will have difficulty dealing with, I'll change arrangements accordingly. But for now, our little comedy routine also put everyone wary of Nora and her mighty hammer..."
"All fear the hammer girl!" Nora celebrated again and they laughed it up.
"I'm just happy I didn't throw up with all the ramen we ate. What do you say if we go check team SSSN battle and them meet with the girls for dinner? In fact, I feel like cooking tonight, something light this time." Jaune offered and both Ren and Nora stared at Pyrrha signalizing they wanted Jaune's cooking.
"That would be grand, Jaune." Pyrrha conceded with a bright smile.
"You know what would've be awesome? If Jaune-Jaune had indeed vomited at the enemy!" Nora said and Jaune groaned while Ren and Nora suppressed a laugh.
"I don't know what was funnier. JNPR's team meeting or discovering that Neptune is way more of a dork than expected." Yang said between cheery laughs, then they saw Ruby and Weiss rushing outside the stadium. "Hey, where are you going?!" They didn't answer, already out of reach. "Where are they going?"
"I don't know. Maybe our little princess is going to see if she can solve her little credit problem." Blake suggested as she walked with her partner. "You know, it's funny seeing people cheering for the Faunus. After this, many will go back to ignoring our existence at best."
"You know you can always count on your friends, Blakey, especially when you decide to get rid of your little bow." Yang offered in support and Blake smiled a little. It felt nice to her to have actual friends that wanted to support her instead of using her. "On the other hand, lots of people decided to use the day to show their fetishes."
The comment was aimed at the people carrying several posters they made to cheer for their favorite competitors, including Sun's abs and Yang's chest. It irked Yang in special the number of fans Ruby somehow get, and the fact many had 'let me be your princess, Jaune' posters. Blake simply rolled her eyes at those.
"Let them. They don't know our friends like we do."
"Well, it did take time for us to really know each other." Yang said playfully as she hugged Blake. "And now we're best friends forever!"
"Yang!"
"Come on, Blakey, don't you want to hyang out with me?"
"Boooo!" Nora manifested her opinion as they met each other.
"You guys are my heroes!" Yang said as she laughed and put Jaune in a headlock. "Flower Power? Arkos? Really, that was awesome! And you didn't do bad yourself, Jauney."
"Then why are you trying to murder me!" He protested as he tapped her arm and she let him go. "Anyway, we were wondering if you girls would join us for dinner. I'll cook."
"Fish?" Blake asked hopefully.
"You know there's more than fish in the world..." Jaune started but shut it up over the menacing glare Blake gave him.
"I think fish would be nice. Light and full of protein for the rest of the tournament." Pyrrha offered in support of both her friends. "Where's Ruby and Weiss?"
"We don't know. Maybe back at Beacon already, having fun." Yang suggested.
"I can't believe you did that." Glynda hit Qrow with her weapon several times as they walked through the momentarily empty corridors of Beacon. "We already had this talk all the way back in Arcadia and you insist in being as troublesome as possible. What are you trying to prove?"
"I'm trying to make Jimmy perceive he's putting too much faith in his might military while underestimating the enemy. Those tin soldiers of him won't suffice." Qrow justified himself as he sipped from his flask.
"All you got from him is the notion you can't be trusted. The Tournament is on its way, a good distraction for the people and they don't need someone pulling stunts like you did. Hopefully there won't be any issues until its end and we can move to the next step without more troubles."
"Ozpin's guardian… any idea who he chooses?" Qrow asked now in a serious tone.
"No, he didn't tell me yet. He… he knows what he's going to ask for is not something lightly. In fact, what he's asking for is possible..."
"I know what you think of this, Glyn. But what other options we have? Let that power fall in wrong hands? Whoever attacked Amber knows of our little club while we barely know who those people are. I couldn't get a glimpse of them and there was a trick hiding their faces." Qrow said and Glynda calmed down a little.
"I know what we stand for. I just..."
"Unfortunately one thing Jimmy was right. This is war, even if in a smaller scale. And while I'd rather to keep this war in shadows while our brave general would rather fire his big guns, we'll have to make some sacrifices to win." The man explained and Glynda stared at him.
"Except that we're sacrificing our morals. What will the person chosen to be Amber's successor be sacrificing?" She affirmed and to that Ozpin had no answer.
Ruby was blowing the straw on her drink as Jaune cooked with Ren's help and the girls waited for the food. Weiss ditched them to hang with her sister, apparently a precious and rare chance for her partner, so the red reaper was very understanding. But she still wasn't that happy about it as she felt Winter also dismissed her as unfit to be team leader. She was working her hardest to prove herself and even Weiss was accepting of her position nowadays. She even praised the younger girl plans during their first match!
"Dumb ice queen senior..." Ruby muttered under her breath.
"Hey, if you won't gonna drink it, can I have your milk-shake?" Sun asked as he invited his team to join the others.
"Don't touch my strawberry and cookies shake if you want to live!" Ruby answered as she clung into the drink and slurped on it way too fast. "Gah! Frozen brain!"
"Talking about frozen stuff, how's the ice pack there Scarlet?" Neptune asked the poor boy as he used an ice pack after a coconut met his nuts. The boy just groaned.
"You know, that's the number one video from the Tournament on Dust Tube. Second is Yang's best B&A shots and then we have Nora's Hammer Time." Sun commented as he checked his scroll.
"Oh for..." Yang complained as she checked the video. "I don't know who made this videos, but I'll find them and castrate them."
"I'd wish I could relate, but my abs have its own channel and I find it nice." Sun answered and Yang rolled her eyes.
"By the way, who are you guys sending for the second round?" Neptune asked innocently enough.
"We're going to send Yang and Weiss. A more tactical fighter and pure muscle." Ruby said.
"Hey! I'll let you know I'm more than a beautiful face that can pack a heavy punch!" Yang protested and everyone went silent. "Jaune, help me here!"
"While I do agree you're way more than just a beautiful face, I think you tend to jump in the battle and go with the flow instead of planning ahead." Jaune chimed in as he started serving the food, including grilled salmon for Blake's happiness. "I'm understand you get more powerful when angry, but you need to learn how to focus."
"Yes, daddy." Yang said while she frowned and crossed her arms.
"Oh, you're dating already? You all owe me a ten." Sun said while everyone stared at him questioningly. "What? We had a bet prince charming there would get a princess and I bet it would be one of the blondes!"
"Wait, what do you mean 'one of the blondes'? What other blondes?" Blake asked and Sun was to answer when Glynda entered the mess hall and as everyone turned to look at her there was a moment of silence.
"Usually when you all are so quiet it means more work for me." The blonde teacher said as she crossed her arms under her chest. "Is there anything I need to know?" A series of smalls 'no' followed. "Very well. Aside a little bit of a comedic act you all performed well. I hope though that all of you take the next round very seriously as your opponents will be tough."
"Sure we will!" Ruby said happily. "It'll be us at Beacon that will end up winning this Tournament!"
"Don't be so sure! I'm fighting too!" Sun said as he put a foot on the table and another on the chair, but it was yanked down by Neptune as the blue haired boy pulled him by the tail.
"Sorry everyone, but the winning blonde of this year will be me, Yang Xiao Long, brawler extraordinary and master of puns!"
"Bad ones." Blake deadpanned and the blonde girl make a mock hurt gesture towards her friend but Yang laughed it out and turned to Jaune as the boy served everyone. "So, how about you? Betting on winning?"
"I'm betting on Pyrrha. She's that awesome." He said and Pyrrha smiled lightly at him, since to her his opinion mattered the most. "Anyway, we should not bring rivalry to the table. Now we're all friends, so let's leave the fights for the Arena."
"Hey, talking like a real prince now! Hey, tell me, you don't have a promised fiancée back home, do you?" Neptune asked the blonde boy and now all eyes were cast upon him, making him chuckle nervously and scratch the back of his head.
"Jaune, do you have a fiancée?" Yang asked as her eyes flicked red.
"What? No! My family don't do those things! It's just that I remembered my first crush and we did talk about when I got older we could marry." He explained.
"Awww… A puppy love! And by the way you talked I bet she was an older girl too! So who it was?" Nora asked as she jumped on her seat.
"Glynda Goodwitch." They all turned to see Chifuyu was seating and sipping a beer at the table they were, causing the blonde teacher to blush all shades of red.
"Chifuyu!" The teacher shouted in indignation as everyone traded stares between Jaune and the teacher.
"It was the day Glynda ended her time in Arcadia as babysitter for my nieces and nephew, and Jaune didn't wanted her to go. So he asked her to marry him, but of course he was just a child at the time, so she made him promise he would grow up to be a good man and if both were single and met again they would talk about marriage." Chifuyu explained and them they turned between Jaune and Glynda, both blondes all shades of red and wishing to kill Chifuyu and run away.
"Oh really now?" Yang finally spoke with a smile that only promised an endless teasing.
"How they could be so fucking happy all the time?!" Emerald questioned again as she returned to her room after spying on the opposition. She couldn't believe how happy and clueless they all were and deep down envied their carefree lifestyle. But she knew that wouldn't last, and convinced herself that was for the best.
"You know; you sound like you're envying them." Mercury said as he fixed one of his metallic legs after their battle. "You can always join them."
"Yeah, right, and we can all die together. I know were my allegiances rest, Merc, and it's not with a bunch of kids that thing the world will always spin for them."
"It pleases me to hear that, my dear Emerald." Cinder made her presence known, gaining a surprised jump from the green haired girl, a smile and a faint blush. "But now our dear 'teammate' Mint will tell us of her findings in her spy mission."
[It won't be as informative as you expect.] Neo, in her Mint disguise 'said' through her scroll. [I was quite lucky I got that temporary job in the palace, but I'm sure the head maid was keeping an eye on me, so I wasn't able to enter most of the sensitive areas.]
"I see. So apparently the young prince might be oblivious, but not the country as a whole." Cinder mused.
[Oh, I would say he took it from the father. The queen's husband is as oblivious as the son. They do suspect something is up on Vale, though, and Chifuyu and Jaune being here is one of the ways they are trying to figure out what we're doing. They are unaware of our existence though. On the bright side, they don't trust Ozpin or Ironwood.]
"You would expect them to be all friendly considering everything." Emerald chimed in.
"Ah dear Emerald, the problem with old people in a position of power is that they don't like to share it. Keeping the Arcadians in the dark might make them feel in control, but it does give us an advantage." Cinder explained with a devilish smile.
[I don't think we need to worry about them interfering. The big cloaked ship apparently can't move fast, so in case of an emergency they can't send it or their fleet against us. The only fast ships they have are bullheads. The best they would do is sending a rescue party for the prince and his friends after the fact.]
"Excellent. So after we reach our objectives here, what do you think they would do?" Cinder questioned her underling.
[They'd do what everyone else will. Think of their own first. Though they might try to offer help, they won't send anyone if the other kingdoms don't allow them.]
"Mostly excellent. Our plans will then keep going as expected. I'll use the prince to play with the heart of the champion so when time comes we can strike against her. I also want to mess up with Qrow's family so we can give them something else to worry about." Cinder said as she got up and fixed her school uniform.
"What do we do?" Mercury questioned as he finished with his leg.
"Nothing stupid or that get unwanted attention towards us. I suggest you all to stay here for now." Cinder finished and left the room.
"Great, stuck with you and the ice-cream addict." Emerald said as she started checking her scroll.
"You just want that Cinder was giving as much attention to you as she's doing to the prince. I don't know why such interest, royalty is all a bunch of snobs." Mercury said as he started doing push-ups.
"Is that jealousy? Because no one in their right mind would want anything with you?" Emerald smirked as Mercury groaned at her, then they heard the door opening and Neo leaving in her Mint disguise. "Hey, Cinder said for us to stay!"
[First, she suggested for you two to stay. Second, she's not my boss, Roman is. Third, I want ice-cream and there's none here. Back there in the palace they gave me as much as I wanted, and I was just inches away from staying there, even as a maid.]
"So why you came back if you liked there so much?" Mercury questioned.
[Where is the fun in a boring calm life?] She concluded and left the room.
Jaune found himself staring at the statue in front of Beacon. Ozpin said they would change it when possible, but by what we understood it would take a little time and a budget Beacon might not have at the moment. He found odd that now he thought about his family line, how in all their story they fought for what felt right, and while not everyone in the family found themselves in the right side in History, he wondered if they ever knew the mark they would leave in the world after their death.
In one way or another every generation did something important, and he wondered if he would be able to do the same, like his mother did and like all his bloodline apparently did. But now, in front of the huge statue he felt small, and that didn't felt so bad, just conflicting. He was just Jaune Arc, he repeated in his mind, and everything he can be will only come by his own effort. But currently he finally felt the weight his name carried.
"What a pleasant coincidence finding you here." He turned to see Cinder approaching him, walking with a sway of hips that felt almost like a predator walking into prey. "Taking a walk?"
"Just using the cool air of the night to cool off. By the way, congratulations on your victory." Jaune said a little nervous, but trying to be polite. While indeed Cinder was a beautiful woman (despite probably being the same age as him) there was something on the way she behaved that ringed a warning bell on Jaune's mind.
"Congratulations on yours too. Everyone was expecting for your team to seat back and let Pyrrha Nikos do her magic, but you all surprised us… in more than one way." Jaune groaned, eliciting a giggle from the brunette. "So, who's going to the next round?"
"We're keeping it a secret." Jaune answered, deciding to avoid giving a possible competitor an advantage.
"Wise. After all your next opponents will be chosen at random." A knowing glint crossed her eyes with a smirk. "But I bet the Invincible Girl will be there, after all she won't be able to go to the finals otherwise."
"We'll see." Jaune answered with an unconvincing smile.
"So, how about a friendly bet? I believe my team will win no matter who the adversary is. So if we do, how about you pay me dinner?"
"And if my team wins?"
"I'll allow you to pay me dinner." She said as she rested a hand on his cheek, making him blush and jerk back slightly. Somehow that didn't felt right, the way she was coming on him, considering they barely knew each other. It wasn't like Yang's playful flirting, Pyrrha's gentle caring or Blake's shy approaches. Once again the boy felt like a bunny in the presence of a wolf.
"Jaune?" Pyrrha's voice came and he turned towards it, moving away from Cinder.
"Hey, Pyr..." He said with a nervous glance, making his partner spend a moment to look at the brunette. The champion's face changed to an inquiring and displeased one as Cinder smiled at them.
"I was just talking with the prince about the Tournament. Albeit next time I want to speak about our dinner." She winked and left, leaving Jaune aghast and a distraught Pyrrha behind. The redhead stared at her partner for a moment before speaking.
"So, it seems you got yourself a fan." She said in a low, almost hurt voice.
"I'm not so sure about that. Something about her is… creepy." He said as he turned to his partner, that gave him a puzzled look. "You know how some obsessive fans sometimes try to get too close?"
"Yeah, though they haven't dared since that time Nora pursued one. I'm glad she didn't actually break his legs." Pyrrha said as now both walked together when a dark thought crossed her mind. "Do you think that woman wants your throne?"
"We don't actually have a throne, more like an old chair. But there's no way she can get into power through me anyway. That's why she creeps me out, because I think she do want something." He said and Pyrrha shivered at the idea of some evil woman taking the most important person on her life. A light blush graced her cheeks at the thought, then she felt Jaune's put a hand on her shoulder and bring her closer. "Feeling cold?"
"Not anymore." She answered as she smiled and rested her head on his shoulder. "Jaune… I want you with me in the next round, no matter what."
"But..."
"No buts. I know you might think Nora and I can win no matter what, but you're my partner, I dare say the best friend I ever had… I want you by my side." She said with determination and Jaune scratched the back of his head. He didn't want to compromise her chances of winning the tournament, but also didn't want to simply say no to her. "Jaune, please?"
"Yeah, I'll be by your side." He said and she smiled brightly, hugging his side.
Unknown to them, that moment was documented by a sinister figure in the shadows.
"'Is Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc together? We have exclusive pictures of the champion and the prince in a clear romantic date!' The nerve!" Weiss said as the group was eating breakfast the next morning before the doubles rounds.
"I'll find whoever stalked you guys and make him or her eat the camera!" Yang supported, angrier than everyone else. In fact, Jaune and Pyrrha were quite calm about it despite being the subjects of the rumor.
"Just ignore it. Soon they'll find something or someone to prey over and all this will be forgotten." Pyrrha explained as she checked the pictures. She was bothered someone inside Beacon did it, but also found some of the pictures were worth saving on her scroll.
"When you're where I am, even walking side by side with someone can trigger rumors. I mean, if I was just eating cookies with Rubes they would say I was flirting with her." Jaune added and the group relaxed a little, except Yang.
The blonde girl was trying to find her chance to confess and it felt that everything was conspiring against her. From this rumor to the fact Jaune and Pyrrha seemed closer to each other. Sure, she was busy with the tournament as much as everyone else, but now Pyrrha had a lead on her by actually being by Jaune's side all the time.
"Yang?"
"What?" She answered a little angrier, surprising Ruby.
"Something is bothering you?" Her sister asked and Yang noticed everyone was staring at her worryingly.
"No, it's just… We have the Tournament and this is distracting me." She said as she closed her scroll and tried to calm down.
"We need to focus on what's important, and right now is the Tournament." Ruby said while nodding sagely, eliciting a few smiles towards her.
"She's right. And we'll be late to our turn if we don't get moving right now." Ren prompted and the group finished eating (in Ruby and Nora's case, absorbing the food) and moved to the airships taking them to the Arena.
"The bimbo sure took it harder than the prince and the poster girl." Emerald whispered to Mercury and Cinder as they sat close to the table teams RWBY and JNPR used.
"She does have a temper. The other day she punched another student because he spilled grape soda on her hair." Mercury added.
"Then she might be useful in more ways than one." Cinder said as she checked her scroll and messed up with the Tournament random selection software. "But first, let's give the crowd something to cheer about."
"And today's first match starts with Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc from Beacon fighting against the twins Bianca and Maroon Spader from Atlas!" Oobleck announced as the two pairs waved at the crowd to a loud cheering.
"Well, well, well. The couple of the moment. I was eager to test our chances against the famous Pyrrha Nikos. I think we do have a good chance considering her partner skills." Bianca, a tall, black haired girl with glasses and wearing a uniform from Atlas said.
"We better don't underestimate him. The general said the famous Orimura Chifuyu trained him." The boy that was most a gender bent copy of Bianca answered.
"Now let's choose today's battlefield!" Port said and the wheel started spinning.
"Well, here we go." Jaune said as he prepared his sword and shield.
"Let's do our best." Pyrrha supported as she got ready for the fight, but the four teens kept an eyes as the roulette kept spinning.
OMAKE
Neo, or Mint as she was currently known, was feeling positively giddy, she was over the moon in fact. She had always thought that nothing could beat the taste of Mistralian ice cream. Oh wrong she'd been. That was before she'd gotten to taste Arcadian ice cream, all of the flavors she'd tasted so far from the kingdom had been heavenly.
Neo was currently on a break and had acquired the Arcadian ice cream flavor that was her namesake and was walking down the street with a large smile on her face with a cup of the ice cream in hand. Her happiness was not to last however, as tragedy struck, someone bumped into her causing her ice cream to splatter all over the floor.
"I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going! Are you OK?" The offending person asked in a panicked voice.
Normally, anyone foolish enough to do this would find themselves on the receiving end of Neo's displeasure, be they White Fang thug or one of Roman's lackey's. However, this time the idiot was none other than Jaune Arc, the prince. As much as the ice cream themed girl may have wanted to make Jaune scream like a little girl, she knew that doing anything too early would blow her cover.
Luckily, Neo knew Jaune and a devilish plan formed in her mind to both make up for her ice cream and make the blonde pay.
Jaune began to panic as tears began forming in corners of the green eyed, black haired girl's eyes.
[You'll take responsibility won't you?] She asked through her scroll app. [You've ruined it, so you have to take responsibility.]
Jaune panicked a little (or a lot) as that made it sound they were talking about a nine-month problem into making in the middle of a busy street. Sure he didn't care about his reputation as a prince, but he did care about his reputation as Jaune Arc, and he feared what the six girl friends and seven sisters would do with him if weird rumors started spreading.
"Don't worry! I'll buy you another ice-cream since I just made you drop yours! I know a great place where they do fresh ice cream, I'll buy you as much as you want to make up for this I swear." Jaune stated as his chivalric nature that he got from his father kicking in. And as loud as possible to people understand what they were talking about.
Hearing this a devilish glint entered Neo's eye, as she smiled victoriously.
[Alright, I'll accept your offer, by the way my name is Mint.] Neo introduced her fake self.
While Jaune did indeed feel bad for what he had done to 'Mint', there were times when he cursed his chivalric nature. This was one of them. He and Mint had been at the ice cream parlor for a while and nearly thirty large and different flavors of ice cream later he was still apologizing as Mint helped herself to a thirty first flavor.
He internally cried as the girl opposite him who looked happy as one of his sisters on their birthday began digging into more ice cream, and began eating what was surely the last of his monthly allowance. And then he cursed when she gave him her spoon and demanded to be mouth fed. He knew he wouldn't hear the end of it once back home.