Jäger Chapter Five: Team JÄGER versus Team CRDL
MorgothII: Hello everyone! Wanted to get ready for chapter six so I moved heaven and earth to finish chapter five and in record time for me when it comes to a chapter over two thousand words! Chocolate chip cookies to whoever gets the fighting reference from one of my favorite movies. Also, Anser Soranonokoribi is an OC of Lord Adhes who asked if she could make a cameo. Anyways, please enjoy! I own only Jake/Jäger.
The shrill cry of a whistle causes a sleeping Jake to rouse. He raises an eyebrow when he hears several voices shout "BANZAI!" from the room next door. "Why the hell does Ruby Rose have a whistle?" wonders an irate Jäger as he starts to change into his school uniform. He stares at his cloak, mentally debating whether or not to put it on. While it is a source of comfort for the young teen, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to wear it to class. So with that thought in mind, he reluctantly decides to leave it behind. He buckles on his saber to his belt. The Jäger then places the sword bayonet and its leather sheathe across his chest as part of his bandolier, which also carries fifteen bullets for his rifle.
Having finished his preparations, Jake slings the rifle over his shoulder and silently exits his room. He activates his semblance out of habit. Personally he never liked large crowds. Well, other than if he needed to throw off anyone trying to track/chase him in the past. He wanders around aimlessly, having about an hour before he has to deal with one of his two capturers, Professor Port about Grimm. After that he has a free period for some reason, history with Doctor Oobleck, and then lunch. Finally, he has a combat class taught by Ozpin's apparent second-in-command, Professor Glynda Goodwitch.
The Jäger suddenly pauses. Up ahead the hall turns to the right. But it is not the section of the building that he is traveling through that has brought his walk to a halt. Rather, it is the sounds he hears from right around the corner. He grits his teeth when he recognizes what the kind of situation must be occurring to create those sounds. He creeps forward silently, the sounds of deriding laughter and cruel words, as well as the sounds of a single person trying to fight back. Jake pokes his head out slightly, eyeing the scene before him.
A very small girl is forced up against the wall by four taller boys. The source of her distress is the fox tail and ears that give away her status as a Faunus. Jake growls under his breath as he swiftly recognizes the members of Team CRDL. Russel Thrush, Lark Sky, Dove Bronzewing, and their mace-wielding leader, Cardin Winchester. Jake and the rest of the first-year students had swiftly discovered their disgust for Faunus, and thus going out of their way to torment them for something the poor boys and girls had no choice in being. The Jäger hates bullies and bigots with a passion that is only (slightly) suppressed by his hatred for criminals.
"Freak!"
He quickly makes up his mind upon hearing Cardin's insult, refusing to be a useless bystander. While he can't kill the four jackasses, there are other effective methods at his disposal, including one provided by Beacon itself. He addresses the four idiots with his gruff tone, his face maintaining his typical stoic expression.
"Oi! You lot of bumbling bunch of baboons! Stop trying to impress that girl with your micro-dicks!"
Despite the situation, the small teen barely succeeds in hiding her smile as her four tormentors all wheel about with flushed faces. Inwardly, Jake is also smirking. If there is one thing he has learnt that bullies such as Team CRDL and profession criminals like Roman Torchwick have in common, it is that they have a sensitive ego. And the assassin has just delivered a massive bruise to the bigots. Cardin's eyes burn with anger as he addresses the newcomer.
"What was that?" The burnt orange-haired teen snarls. Jake doesn't even flinch.
"You pansies heard me. Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Like me. Or are you afraid of being beaten by a single student?" asks a sneering Jäger in a gruff, taunting tone.
The girl's grin grows behind her hand as her former tormentor starts to splutter, his anger rapidly demolishing any attempts at cohesive thoughts. The sound of a gun being loaded ends her mirth, as well as silencing the mace-wielder and his teammates. With speed that would have probably impressed Ruby Rose, the Jäger had un-slung his single-shot rifle and loaded in a bullet. The barrel is pointed towards the floor just in front of the bullies. Jake then breaks the verbal silence, his gruff tone even and bearing not even a minute trace of hesitation.
"Here's my offer: You leave the girl and this area alone with your bodies intact and can try to beat me to a pulp in Goodwitch's class this afternoon. Or the staff has to clean off of the wall four splattered brains. Your choice. You have three seconds."
The four boys quickly leave, shooting death glares at the rifleman as he lowers his rifle. Once he is sure they are out of range to hear him, Jake operates the lever underneath his gun's stock, lowering the large metal breech block and allowing the non-lethal training round to eject. Before it can hit the ground he catches it and slides it back into his vest. After closing the breech and shouldering the firearm, he looks at the small girl.
"You ok?" He grunts. She nods her head. The white color of her hair from the tips to halfway to her head, where it turns jet black, reminds him slightly of the annoyingly haughty Dust heiress Weiss Schnee. At her sides are two daggers. She nods her head, watching him with an analytical gaze. After a half minute, she answers.
"Yeah. Thanks. Were you really going to shoot them if they didn't leave?" Jake snorts at this.
"Sadly, no. I will be enjoying an afternoon of kicking their asses, however."
With that being said, the 17-year old resumes walking, this time towards his first class of the day. He doesn't turn around when the girl addresses him again.
"I'm Anser Soranonokoribi. Who are you?" Jake continues to walk, throwing the answer over his shoulder.
"I'm the Jäger."
That afternoon…
Jake stands on the right side of the arena in Professor Goodwitch's classroom, facing the four boys of Team Cardin who are standing in a line straight across from him. To the side stands the blonde Huntress, eyeing the reluctant student with an unreadable expression. Teams RWBY and JNPR had decided to move towards the right to cheer on the Jäger, along with a number of students and most of the Faunus in the class. And of course, Anser. The rest of the Faunus students, and a third of the class, sit in the middle of the class, refusing to be anywhere near the anti-Faunus CRDL, but unsure of the solo assassin. The rest of the human boys and girls are near the end overlooking the Jäger's opponents, either fans of the bigot team or simply wanting to see the captured vigilante beaten up.
News about the morning incident in the hallway between JÄGER and CRDL had spread like wildfire within the hour. By the time of lunch, the entire student body of the school had known of it. Rumors of bets and predictions of the battle were tossed about. Ruby had given him a look conveying good luck, which received a single nod of thanks from the challenger. Jake had weathered through the day with his typical stoic and gruff manner, speaking only when addressed by his unofficial partner (usually) or by teachers. He had also ignored the glares of the four bullies.
Jake had left the cafeteria a few minutes early. With some reluctance, he approached Goodwitch and informed her about the fight that would happen under her watch. After pretending to listen to a brief spiel about not threatening to kill his fellow students and maybe some other uninteresting (at least, in regards to him) topics, she had agreed to allow the fight as the first one of the school year. Once everyone was seated, she announced that Team JÄGER had challenged Team CRDL to a 1v4 fight.
A challenge that had been eagerly accepted.
There had only one unexpected stipulation. Cardin had demanded that no bullets would be used. Aside from Dove's longsword, none of the bullies had ranged weapons. To the surprise of every save for RWBY and JNPR, Jake had agreed to it without missing a beat. He had left all fifteen training bullets on his desk, and operated the lever of his gun to show Goodwitch that he hadn't pre-loaded his gun. Once this fact had been confirmed, Cardin, Russel, Dove, and Sky grabbed their weapons and also entered the arena.
Goodwitch went over the rules with a brisk tone. Then had the aura levels for the five teen boys appear on large holographic feeds for the audience. People quickly picked the side they wanted to root for and moved accordingly. The blonde then addresses the two sides.
"Jake, are you ready?" Jake doesn't answer verbally, instead choosing to simply nod his head. His gun rests on the floor right in front of him, the muzzle pointing to the roof as he holds the barrel near the iron sight attached at the end. Goodwitch then looks at his opponents.
"Cardin, is your team ready?" He also nods, a cocky smirk on his face as he addresses his opponent.
"This is going to be easy! Painless, too…for us. Lark, teach that punk a lesson," The armor-wearing bully says, pointing a finger at the Jäger as he mimes several strikes with his mace. Lark Sky nods, readying his halberd as he moves across the floor.
Jake merely smiles at the approaching Lark, his face a mask as he places both hands over the muzzle of his gun, the wooden butt still resting on the floor. As the rest of his team, along with several of the other non-Faunus students as well, start to cheer the blue-haired bully, his caution quickly turns to confidence, expecting a quick win. Once he is in range, he gears up to swing his halberd with all his might. Aside from a silent Anser and a curious Ruby, no one notices the slight tensing of the Jäger's upper body.
Just as Lark is about ready to strike, the statue-still assassin becomes a blur of movement. Jake tosses his beloved rifle into the air slightly, grabbing the barrel while doing so before reversing the gun so that he was holding it like a baseball bat, with the solid wood butt of the gun being the top. He effortlessly swings the gun-turned-club at the unsuspecting member of team CRDL. Lark's weapon goes flying out of his hands as he stumbles backward slightly, stunned by the impact to the head. Before he can even shake his head, Jake strikes again with the wooden butt. This time the blow is to Lark's stomach. He groans slightly as what air he had left after the first strike is driven from his lungs. He bends over, his hands on his knees. With a final strike, Jake slams his rifle across the back of Lark's head, knocking him to the ground, unconscious. On the screen overhead, it is shown that Lark's aura has taken a huge hit, the red blinking showing that the bully is out of the fight.
Everyone falls quiet, eyeing the sole member of Team JÄGER. He calmly places his rifle on the floor, stepping over the limp bully. "Next," is all he says, his hands resting on the hilts of his saber and sword bayonet, but not drawing them just yet. Cardin is the first of the remaining trio to recover his wits.
"Russel, Dove, rush that bastard," the bigot bully hisses, trying a different tactic. The green-haired Dust dagger-wielder with a horrific Mohawk and the light brown-haired sword-wielder charge Jake. Due to his heavier armor, Dove lags behind just enough that Russel ends up attacking the assassin on his own.
The lone wolf takes a fighting stance, having still not drawn either his saber or his bayonet. A slight ghost of a smirk touches the corners of his mouth as he waits for the lightly-protected knife-fighter to strike. The teen makes a rapid series of strikes, both stabs and slashes. Against most opponents, Russel would probably have eventually overwhelmed their defenses. But the Jäger is far from most opponents. And they made the mistake of assuming he needs his rifle to fight and only at long distances. They have failed to consider him being capable in hand-to-hand combat.
For the opening series of strikes, Jake simply moves his body backwards, narrowly dodging the daggers while appearing to having been forced to give ground. This eggs on Russel, causing him to continue his onslaught with greater energy, not realizing that his foe isn't struggling to avoid his strikes, that the close calls are actually an act, and that he is rapidly tiring himself out.
With Dove almost within striking range, the Jäger strikes at another member of Team LAME (Sorry CRDL).
First Jake hits Russel in the throat, making sure to put in enough strength only to disable the idiot. If he hadn't wanted to kill the sorry sack of shit, he would have hit the same area harder, thus crushing the fragile windpipe and causing the victim to suffocate. When the green-haired bully stumbles, Jake follows up with a quick barrage of punches to the gut, bending the boy over. The brown-haired teen coldly places a hand on either side of Russel's head and quickly smashes his left knee into the boy's forehead three times. What was left of his aura is gone as he falls limply to the floor, twitching sporadically.
Jake doesn't get a moment to relax, however, as Dove finally enters the fray. With a hoarse yell of fury over the humiliation of his team so far, the bully swings his longsword at the seemingly insolent assassin's neck. At the same time that Dove began to swing, Jake's right hand went to the hilt of his well-maintained saber, gripping it firmly. With a steady hand and expression, Jake pulls the hilt.
With a shrill ring, the saber is freed from its protective sheathe.
With a clang of steel, the swing of Dove's blade is brought to a halt by Jake's. Dove swings again, and once more Jake deftly deflects it. Dove knows he is good with his sword, but he also knows that he isn't great with it, never having a duel where he won on his own using solely the sword, and not firing any bullets.
Despite having this in mind, Dove still tries to defeat the Jäger. To his credit, he puts up a better fight than either of his two fallen teammates did. But not much. After thirty seconds or so of parries and failed strikes, a panting Dove is unaware that he has loosened his grip on the hilt of his sword. Jake doesn't fail to notice this, however. With a fierce slash, he uses his saber, now slightly notched from the various impacts the steel had received while parrying his opponent's longsword, knocks the blade clean out of an exhausted Dove's hand.
The brown-haired bully doesn't have to worry about retrieving it right away, however. As the boy looks down at his now empty hands with a stunned expression on his sweating face, Jake takes a step forward and slams the hilt of his sword against Dove's right temple hard. While not lethal, it does have the desired effect. The boy's eyes roll up slightly as a faint groan escapes from his lips. Then he falls onto his back, out cold. His aura is now in the red as well, indicating that Dove Bronzewing is also out of the fight.
"And then there was only one," Jake thinks to himself as he looks down at the fallen swordsman. A few seconds later, Jake realizes he made a slight mistake.
Cardin Winchester is many things. Lazy, racist, a jackass, closed and narrow-minded, a bully, arrogant, but he is certainly not weak. At least, not physically. He is, however, an opportunist. While his last teammate had been distracting the normally-cloaked rifleman, he had managed to sneak up on the Jäger. Once he sees that the 17-year old is distracted after defeating Dove, Cardin strikes.
The next second Jake finds himself a few feet away from where he had been standing, his saber knocked out of his hands. His chest is also hurting. "Damn. Nothing broken, thankfully, but that lumbering oaf probably bruised a rib or two. Note to self: Look at making armor for yourself." He looks at a grinning Cardin as he approaches the fallen assassin, his mace resting against his shoulder.
"You may have given us a tough fight, brat, but now it is time to say lights out. Anything you want to say?"
To Cardin's pleasure, the boy nods. He approaches the kid, stopping right before his feet, raising his mace over his head. He smirks at Jake, already tasting victory.
"So what is it?"
"You got balls of steel?"
As Cardin raises an eyebrow at this seemingly absurd comment, he doesn't realize that Jake's right foot has just moved backwards.
"What do you-"
Cardin never finishes that sentence as Jake's foot slams forward. His eyes widen and bulge as he drops his mace. A high-pitch squeal that would be better suited to a girl escapes his lips, making Jaune's screams from yesterday sound very manly. Every one of the males winces in pain as Cardin drops to his knees. His hands clutch at the area between his legs, his head hanging down. Before he can even look back up, he suddenly feels one hand roughly grasp the hair on the back of his head. Before he can protest at the further pain, a cold sensation presses down against his throat.
"You should yield while you still can," Whispers the gruff voice of Jake as he holds his bayonet against Cardin's throat. He makes sure to keep the edge away from the skin, nodding at Professor Goodwitch to make the call on if Cardin is still in the fight. She nods her head in understanding before clearing her throat.
"And I believe that ends the fight. The winner is Mister Jake of Team JÄGER. Next time, though, I would advise you to try restraining yourself from that last maneuver. You all may return to your seats. Team JNPR, could you help Cardin escort his team to the nurse's office?"
As the requested team departs with smiles on their faces at the defeated pricks of Team CRDL, Jake silently retrieves his saber and rifle, placing his weapons away as he returns to his seat. He is showered with congratulations but ignores them. He knew what he is capable of. In fact, he would have been immensely surprised if he had lost that match, with or without his bullets. Anser rushes up to him, wide-eyed. The slightly winded teen eyes her with slight interest. While she appears to have something akin to surprise on her face it isn't shocked surprise. Rather, it is impressed surprise.
"You fight well," She says, her tone indicating that she would like to know how he did so well. He sighs, giving a vague answer to get her off his back for a while.
"Show no fear, but also have no fear to hold you back. Value your life and your weapons. And fight for what is right."
With hat, he parts ways with the small girl, unsure if they will cross paths again. Not that he is bothered one way or the other.
Suddenly he is confronted by a red cape-wearing speedster with silver eyes that gleam with awe. "Holy cow, that was AWESOME!" Ruby says excitedly. Inwardly sighing, Jake does indeed give her a nod of thanks once again. As she heads back to her team, he shakes his head slightly at her. "I swear, that girl is really starting to grow on me. Not sure what to think about that. At least I got to smash some skulls today. Got stay ready for when Torchwick makes his next move."
And done! Hope you enjoyed! Next chapter will take place a couple of months later, and you better be prepared for the ending of chapter six! As always, enjoy, favorite, follow, review, or simply leave your thoughts/opinion down below! See you in Chapter Six: Revelations!