I DON'T OWN RWBY!
I also don't own the backstory that made this story progress from the first chapter, that honor goes to Jauneforever's Precipe of Madness. With a little twist from me, of course.
"In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take." -Unknown
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking as bored as one could possibly be, his eyes seemed to hold that and only that emotion altogether. The boy opposite of him was...well...what the direction implied, exactly the opposite - in form, posture, mood, just about everything really. While Jaune made calm and calculated steps, his were more agressive, loud, with the accompanying clank of his metal armor.
Jaune had ditched his armor not too long after he had awoken; why would he need armor when he could literally make his own? He still used his weapon, he wasn't that cocky. He knew for a fact that he needed his weapon for those dire occasions, one's that the grimm anatomy wouldn't help with.
He didn't bring his weapon to this fight because...it was looking completely one-sided from the beginning - the Winchester heir couldn't even place a single blow on Jaune, much less a multitude of shots at once. Every swing was always accompanied by a duck, sidestep, or roll from the blonde boy, which infuriated him to no end. If you could describe Cardin in one word - besides racist - it would be prideful, and the Arc was damn well flipping off his pride during is match.
Cardin swung his mace for an underhand sweep that Jaune skillfully jumped over, weaving through the air to dodge another follow-up swing; honestly, his moves were so predictable.
It was swing, miss, another swing, miss, and yet another swing, miss, repeat.
He sighed in boredom, he thought he would've gotten some fun out of this, but apparently his opponent broadcasted his moves for everyone to see. He couldn't even fathom how this piece of shit was able to beat him up in the first place - with relative ease, he might add.
Though, it didn't come off as too much of a surprise, seeing as he was one of the weakest students Beacon had to offer...seconded only by someone named Michael - who, wierdly enough, called himself 'Michael J. Caboose', which honestly didn't make sense to him.
But today was going to be different, he could already tell a lot of stares were directed at him in disbelief or awe, maybe even both at once for some people. Point is, today was the day people didn't remember him for his awkward attitude or his combat skills - well, lack thereof - or his inability to get a girlfriend, which quite frankly, was the leats important thing on his mind. His mouth - once etched into a thin line with boredom - soon grew into a devilish, maybe even a sadistic smile.
His hands now finally out of their somewhat leather confinements, he let his feet plant themselves on the ground firmly, intent on becoming the equivalent of an unmoving wall. What was the saying?
When an unstoppable force meets and immovable object?
Though, in his mind, only the former applied in this situation. He looked at Cardin with a shit-eating grin, waving his hands in the air as if to say 'Come get me...bitch', which only served to anger the boy even further - going so much at to look practically seething. He hefted his mace up into the air, finger itching towards the trigger that caused explosions in his wake, and brought it down in an instant.
His mace seemed to collide with something, and he wasted no time with hesitation to pull the trigger multiple times and cause explosions to seemingly pepper his opponent. Smoke snake it's way onto the battlefield, obscuring everyone's view of the fight before them.
It was Cardin's turn to grin malicously, his mace had scored a direct hit with his gut - and even if it hadn't, the explosions would've been enough to bring his aura down to a good enough amount so it would be easy enough for Cardin to beat him to a pulp. He grimaced, he shouldn't be having this much trouble with a wimp like Jaune, it just wasn't possible, even so much as inconceivable in his eyes.
But that was what he was able to percieve.
In reality, Jaune had yanked his mace forward, jabbing a sharp knee into his gut, causing him to double over in pain and clutch his injured stomach. Jaune took a quick and subtle glance at the aura meters, and happily threw Cardin's mace aside when he found out that had only done about 10% to his aura reserves.
It gave him more time to beat him up.
He picked Cardin up by the arm and threw him into the air, rearing back and landing another devastating strike to the Winchester heir's stomach, returning the pain in full force two times over. He duly noted some of the students were inching backwards in fear, the few that didn't were Pyrhha - she was insitent on getting back his friendship, probably - and Ruby.
If there was anyone, it was Ruby who understood what he was going through, and he couldn't have asked for someone better. It was like her childish views of the world had vanished after she was attacked; probably due to the fact that she had experienced firsthand that the world wasn't as safe as it seemed. Even more so that she was faced with trauma none of the students had faced before, a near death experience.
Another quick glance at the aura bars displayed on the large TV screen above them, informed Jaune that Cardin was hovering just above the 68 percent mark, sitting closely, about a pixel away at the 69 mark.
Heh, 69. He snarked to himself.
Walking to the staggering form of his opponent, he deftly sidestepped a weak left hook, and ducked under a follow-up straight. He spun around and used his legs in a sweeping manuever, knocking Cardin off of his feet and giving him the oppurtunity to land a spinning back kick sqaure on his chest. Air was forced out of Cardin's lungs as he was sent flying back towards the wall behind him, dazed and confused.
Cardin forcefully stood back up, frantically searching for his mace once more, only to find it resting comfortably in the palm of Jaune's hand, said boy was twirling it around in his hand mockingly, one hand stuffed in his pocket with a devilish smirk on his face. He sweatdropped, there wasn't much he could do at the moment. His weapon was in the hands of his opponent, Jaune had gotten a lot stronger then Cardin would've liked, and on top of that, he wasn't even able to land a single hit on him.
But...he wouldn't let this loser make a fool of him, Cardin Winchester, heir to the house of Winchester and strongest compared to all of Beacon academy. Losing to Jaune would make him seem weak, and he sure as heel couldn't have that.
With a snarl he ran up to his opponent and launched a right hook, aimed towards his face with hasty perception, which Jaune was able to clearly see.
Okay, now Cardin was just making a fool of himself without even knowing, it was...pathetic, really. His punches lacked everything but pride - for lack of better terms, they were weak, like he hadn't really had any hand-to-hand training prior. Like, Ruby, if he had to take a wild guess. Relying too much on his weapon like many hunters and huntresses seemed to do these days, which made him scoff.
Though, he shouldn't really be complaining right now...it was honestly amusing to watch.
He weaved through a series of weak jabs, stopping a - somewhat - powerful roundhouse kick from making an impact with his face using the back of his hand. Jaune threw the mace back at his opponent in amused pity, watching him scramble to pick up his weapon, holding back his laughter from echoing through the arena.
It was a bad idea, for any hunter worth their salt, they knew they shouldn't underestimate an enemy and give them back something that could potentially make or break a match - or in some cases, their lives. The only people who aactually did this, were fighters that had huge egos, and massive skills to back them up; or weaklings who did it to look cool.
Jaune definetly fell into the former.
He side-stepped a bulky mace swing coming overhead, watching as Cardin switched direction and swung sideways, aiming for his unprotected ribs. Jaune took a step back and let the mace fly by him, duly noting that Cardin had used the momentum to go for another overhead swing. He smirked as a thought came to mind, rolling forwards, dodging the attack while getting close to his opponent...
And punched him right in the sweet spot...hard.
He heard Cardin whimper and snickered, subtly looking around the stands and witnessing some students hold their baby makers as well, fearing for the safety of their most vulnerable body part. He watched, amused, as Cardin grabbed hold of his balls and fell to the ground, biting his lower lip and willing away tears. Though, he felt like this was overeacting - he'll admit, if someone punched him very hard in the dick he would probably be in immense pain right now.
But Cardin was crying; surely he didn't punch them that hard...right? Not that he was complaining, the more pain he was able to dish out the merrier - it was just a bit of a cause for concern. If he had no idea how hard he punched, how would he be able to control his strength against the people that actually mattered to him, if he was pitted against them, that is.
Cardin shakily stood up still clutching his balls tightly with his left hand, his right occupied with the grip on his mace. His eyes screamed with pure and utter rage, his hate towards the blonde boy doubling, if not tripling from this one action alone. He looked at the aura meters for the first time in this match, and grimaced when he saw the 50% he had - most likely from both the hits he took, and reinforcing his swings with aura.
Moving his peripherals ever so slightly to the left, they soon widened when they came across the massive 100 percent of aura Jaune still contained - from getting peppered by explosions, to moving swiftly around a battlefield, and even landing hard blows, he had used 0% of his aura!?
He scowled, just how strong had the few months off made the scrawny boy!? Though he had to reluctantly admit, he wasn't exactly scrawny anymore - hell, if he didn't have an inflated ego, he would say he was even more bulkier then him. He looked at the stands and growled with ferocity when he heard a few students snicker at his current predicament. He would show them! All those blows were nothing but lucky shots!
He ran towards him for the umpteenth time this match, mace below him poised for an upwards swing, which Jaune was - unsurprisingly - able to calculate with practiced ease. Moving back a single step and letting the air woosh atop him, fluttering his air while it did so.
It was the same process. Stand, swing, get kicked down, but get back up again and repeat said process over and over. It was honestly getting a bit annoying this time around.
He sighed, then used the back of his palm to block an incoming strike from colliding with his face, watching as Cardin visibly struggled to move his mace even an inch forward. He pulled back angrily and struck again, but was met with the same opposition, the same hand, and what was the most infuriating of the three, the strength that surpassed his own.
Again.
And again.
And again.
You could see the looks of shock on his former friend's faces, wether it be awe, or fear, you could tell this wasn't the Jaune they had began to take a liking to - the goofy blonde that somehow always managed to make light of a dark situation, the one that could be friends with anyone if not for his social awkwardness, and the one that was able to lead peacefully and with the least amount of violence possible.
This Jaune, was completely the opposite.
Cocky; with a smirk plastered on his face while he beat his opponent to the dirt. His intentions weren't friendly, far from it, they were with incentive to kill - albeit a little more reserved, but it still differed from how he used to fight. Heck, he couldn't even fight at all until now. Instead of going for the least amount of pain, he looked for a way to maximize it against his enemies, punching Cardin in the balls proved that even further.
He grabbed the mace after the...20'th-is time, and yanked it out of his hands, not too differently then at the beginning of the match. He turned it in his hand and activated the dust crystal within, expertly putting on pressure and compressing energy into one, final strike.
"I-I yield!" Cardin cried, shielding his face from the bright light that shone from his mace.
He smirked, before setting the mace's tip back on the ground. He grabbed the hilt with his second hand, and released the energy that had been fused together, swinging in a massive arc and knocking Cardin into the ground in an unconscious pile of limbs.
He duly noted that he was sent flying back by purple energy that surrounded him; if he remembered correctly, that was Glynda's semblance.
Said blonde sighed - she should've expected as much, from what Ozpin had said the boy had been through literal hell on earth. Still, that was no excuse for such conduct against his peers, especially violence like this. If he did this on his first match back, she feared she would have to ban him from any other matches with students in the future.
"Mister Lark, take Mister Winchester to the infirmary, now." she commanded.
He obliged, scurrying down to the arena floor and heaving one of Cardin's heavy arms over his shoulders, walking off towards the infirmary while exchanging words of what was probably something horrible directed at Jaune, the person who caused all this in the first place.
"As for you," she turned on her heel and looked at the boy currently pinned to the wall, courtesy of her semblance. He looked a bit sheepish - despite his rather...eccentric display, he still had lots to fear, and a furious Glynda Goodwitch just happened to be one of those things.
"We're going to give you a fitting punishment."
Jaune gulped, and he only hoped Ruby prayed for his safety.
AN:Such a long delay, writing this while forcing myself awake by drinking sprite - which is why the ending is a bit rushed, but otherwise the fight scene was mediocre, in my eyes at least.
Jaune didn't use his grimm form because...well...he isn't stupid, he wouldn't waste something that could potentially make or break people's viewpoints on him forever on someone like Cardin, it's just immoral.
Don't worry, Jaune is definetly going to recieve fitting punishment, as am I, for getting this chapter out so late. Also, just a heads up, Short-Lived will not be getting updated anytime soon, the posting of the first chapter was only to get a general view on how it would progress later on.
Honestly, I'm not used to writing this kind of Jaune, Heroes and Villains and Imitatio have personalities I'm comfortable with, while A Grimm Fate is still something I'm working on getting used to. So I'm sorry if this seems like filler.
Again, Cardin will play roles later on.
Love it? Hate it? (Again, I do) Leave a review!
Cya!