Blaze1992: Feel he should've gotten at least one good hit in.
Re: Jaune did get "at least one good hit in", but Jack used that to teach Jaune what a "counter" could do. Jaune isn't nearly skilled-enough to catch Jack "unawares" in a fight because… Well, it's obvious why Jaune isn't that-good when compared to Jack fight-wise.
Unlike most stories which gloss over this particular shortcoming of Jaune's, here I'm actually taking the time to address it, and have him grow past that.
TM11: Great chapter. As much as I dislike Jaune, seeing him learning from Jack is fun and cathardic. With RWBY going down the path that it is, works like this is all I am really looking forward when it comes to this franchise. Keep up the good work.
Re: Thanks for the compliment. Character Development is part of the reason I wrote this, and admittedly I started this when RWBY was still good. I mean, the Canon is decent… ish. And I use the word "decent… ish" loosely since everything just feels so rushed. There's barely any "down time" between arcs, it's a wonder they haven't had a psychotic break like Men in Black agents who can't adapt to Centaurian time.
LoamyCoffee: Ouch. Ironclad Guild sounds like they typically only take experienced customers.
Still, horrible customer service. I mean I understand treating a novice like Jaune that way cause they don't want to waste resources but then trying to offer Pyrrha a deal? Obviously don't care whether potential customers like them or not.
And now DIRT is back, Jaune vs DIRT next chapter maybe? That or Jack just kicks their a***.
Re: The Ironclad Guild makes the best armor, armored buildings, and weapons in Remnant, they can afford to be testy with their customers; especially when Nepotism is involved. Which is totally what Ozpin letting the likes of Jaune (and Ruby) into Beacon is. Pyrrha can actually bring money into the Ironclad Guild, while Jaune… his reputation -and I use the word loosely- speaks for itself.
No, even Dominic, Ian, and Rudolf are still better than Jaune. It'll be Jack's "Round God Damn Two".
*NEW WORLD*
" . . . Who are you guys again?" Jack asked after a moment, causing his old teammates to flinch as though they were slapped across the face with a dead fish.
"Buh-Wha-How could you forget about us!" Dominic shrieked.
"Well, to be honest you're kinda bland…" Jack said idly as he checked his nails. "Just. Like. A background character," he said glancing up at them without raising his chin.
"OH, SNAP!" Nora whooped, pumping a fist.
"First night of sleep I had that wasn't outside the dorm, I completely forgot about you," Jack went on to say, Teams RWBY and JNPR giving them the stink-eye.
"He's lyin'!" Dominic yelped.
"I can't believe I used to think you were hot," Yang grumbled.
"I am hot!"
"Eh. Seven out of ten," Yang shrugged dismissively.
"I give him a six," Nora huffed even-more-dismissively.
"Probably doesn't help you're all 'DIRT'!" Ruby whooped. "No offense, new guy!"
"None taken," Terrence waved off.
"Fine. Whatever. We challenge you to a re-match!" Dominic rounded, Ian and Rudolf nodding their heads as they clutched at their weapons.
"You guys do know how this went last time, right?" Jack asked with a flat stare. "And this time around, you can't sabotage my weapon, and I have a full night of sleep."
"Oh we're well aware of that," Dominic said as he glanced up at the half-empty scoreboard. "I don't think that'll be a-"
"ORYAAAAAAAH!"
"…problem," Dominic squeaked as Jack visibly charged his energy with a powerful roar, an aura of crimson colored flames roiling around him and whipping the nearby air into a frenzy, his Aura Gauge on the scoreboard shooting upward like a rocket until it was completely filled with a situation-undercutting *pling*
"There. All better~" Jack cooed manically, his eyes glinting evilly as the last of the crimson flames evaporated, his Aura back to full. "Now, you were saying~?" he asked with a manic tilt of his head.
" . . . We're here for a rematch," Dominic said a few seconds later, feeling everyone's glares intently on his back.
*NEW WORLD*
Dominic, Ian, and Rudolph's equipment hadn't changed much since their last altercation with Jack, and they didn't feel any stronger to those who could sense that sort of thing, so RWBY and JNPR didn't have high expectations for them. Sure, Dominic had armed his rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher, Ian had upgraded to a slightly-higher-caliber shotgun round, and Rudolph had two quivers on his back instead of one and a pair of arrow guns at his hips, but their wielders weren't any more impressive than before.
The only one of the four who really looked dangerous was the new guy, Terrence Timber. His battle attire were black steel-toed boots with reinforced plating, dark brown reinforced pants, a red muscle shirt beneath a fur-lined dark-brown/red jacket, a thick belt with ammo pouches, thick protective gloves, and a necklace with various types of animal teeth and claws. Held in his right hand was a matte gray attache case, with a red maple leaf within a brown circle emblazoned on each side.
"Oh! I remember you guys now!" Jack suddenly said loudly. "Didn't I kick your ass before?"
"Don't get ahead of yourself, Braxton! This won't be like last time!" Dominic shouted.
"Yeah, this time its four on one!" Ian added.
'Is that really something you should be proud of saying out loud?' the two Teams in the stands thought.
"Oh really? Because I only count three dead monkeys," Jack smirked.
"I HAVE TO PEE!"
"Terence! WHAT THE FUCK!" Rudolph cried as Jack's replacement on the team bolted from the stage in really exaggerated strides.
" . . . Well then…" Jack hummed as he drummed his claws on the head of his axe. "We doing this or what?"
"We won't let our previous humiliation stand!" Dominic shouted, cocking his rifle.
"I've humiliated your lot plenty of times. You'll have to be a bit more specific~" Jack chuckled.
"RRRRRRRR!" the sum of them growled.
"Oh don't take it so personally. It's just a little dirt-slinging~" Jack cooed as he dangled Terrence's attache case over his shoulder in a very delinquent-esque way. "NORA! Activate… my theme music," he said tossing his Mini-Scroll through the air.
"His what now?" Weiss blinked owlishly.
"Whoopee!" Nora whooped as she caught the Mini-Scroll, plugged in a speaker, and set a song to play.
Cue Killer Instinct S2 OST – I'm Back (to Rise!) (TJ Combo's Theme)
"Ohhh… yeah…~" Jack sighed with a smile on his face, hopping lightly on his feet as he shook out his arms. "Now this… is my jam!"
'Huh. Didn't take him for a Killing Intuition fan. Always figured him for a Fatal Kombatants player myself…' Yang mused to herself.
"SHOOT HIIIM!" Dominic shouted as he leveled his rifle, Ian and Rudolph following suit.
Rifle, buckshot, and arrows sailing towards Jack in flashes of muzzles and snapping of bowstring, the Faunus dropped onto all fours in a flash, projectiles passing harmlessly over his back. The next moment he was blitzing them on all fours, almost -no, definitely, contemptuously as his clawed hands and feet chewed up the distance between them in mere moments.
The Faunus stopping in front of Ian, sunk his clawed fingernails into the ground before swinging his legs underneath him and upwards into a crescent kick. Ian's shotgun/bat sent sailing overhead from the double-soled strike, Jack completed his flip before grabbing Ian by the front of his shirt and flung him into the archer on his left, the top of his skull impacting Rudolph's nose.
The two bowled over leaving their leader to fend for himself, Jack snapped up his shotgun/axe with one hand, Ian's shotgun/bat landing in the other. A contemptuous smirk tugging at Jack's lips as Dominic fumbled to round his weapon on him, the moment he got a bead on Jack he got a slug to the gut and buckshot to the face, the two attacks sending the sniper wannabe reeling.
To his credit the brown-haired teen rolled with the hit, blinking the spots out of his eyes and swiftly taking a knee before firing an under-barrel grenade Jack's way, snapping a new one into place in an instant like a well-oiled machine. Jack on the other hand had dealt with under-barrel grenade launchers before, and thus was already zipping away by the time it flew his way, Ian and Rudolph taking the blast in the Faunus' place.
Dominic, clicking his tongue angrily while Ian and Rudolph wailed in shock and agony, thumbed the firing setting on his rifle before firing at Jack in three-shot bursts. Charging towards him, Jack dual-crossed the two shotguns in front of his chest, the rounds hitting Ian's shotgun more than his own as he closed the gap between them before throwing Ian's bat like a javelin butt-first into Dominic's gut, twirling his own axe before slamming the blunt into his opponent's left collarbone, his arm going numb and his rifle dropping from his hands only for Jack to kick it up into his own hands and deliver a three-shot burst to his opponent's chest, sending him tumbling back.
"Agh!" Dominic winced, his good hand going to the spot below his left collarbone, a lance of pain he'd thought faded shooting through him. "What the hell…? I thought I healed from that!"
"Heh! Like a watermark on canvass, I've left my mark on you. All of you," Jack said with a smirk as Ian and Rudolph got to their feet. "For example…!"
Tossing Dominic's weapon aside and blitzing the recovering teens, Jack delivered a light chop and snap-kick to Ian's nose and Rudolph's knee respectively.
While normally weak strikes such at that would have no effect, the two let out horrible yowling noses, Ian clutching at a nose that'd been re-broken, while Rudolph crumpled to the ground like a wet sock, grabbing at his right knee.
"Do you get it now?" Jack questioned as half of his former team writhed at his feet. "You. Can't. Beat-"
*BANG!*
" . . . Me," Jack finished after biting the rifle round in his teeth in half with a *Crunch*.
Suffice it to say, his peers were left reeling.
"You…!" Dominic whimpered as he fell to his knees, a wave of despair washing over him. "This… It wasn't supposed to be this way… This wasn't how it was supposed to go this time…!"
"Oh? And just what made you think your chances against me were any better this time around?" Jack leered. "That you got a couple mods and upgrades to your shit weapons? That there were four of you ganging up on me instead of three? Your heads are so far up your asses you mistake numbers for strength, and you think growing up in one of the most-powerful countries in the world makes you strong. It. Doesn't," he said with a narrow-eyed glare. "Being Human doesn't make you 'better' than me. All your kind has going for you are you breed like cockroaches, and you can justify just about any atrocity," he said looking down his nose at them. "Now, I'm feeling magnanimous-enough to let you walk away today with what little dignity you have left intact. I'd advise you to take this offer. Otherwise it'll be a repeat of last time."
"Rrrrggh…! Die in Hell!" Dominic shouted as he threw a familiar grenade Jack's way and shielded his eyes, a loud *FWASH-BANG!* following before he brought his eyes back up and leveled his rifle, only for Jack to have vanished.
"You think I'd fall for the same trick twice?" Jack asked from behind, a cold sweat running down Dominic's brow before he felt clawed hands fist the back of his hair, driving him face-first into the concrete floor with a *CRACK!*
"Ngh… No… But I can improvise!"
The next moment Dominic's hands seized Jack by the wrist, his legs locking around one of Jack's own, the Faunus raising an eyebrow as Rudolph gathered a fistful of arrows into his hand and tossed them in the air. The bluenette rapid-firing them at Jack as they came down, the Faunus whipped his long mane of hair into the arrow's path like a prehensile tail, the pointed projectiles bouncing off the keratin-augmented strands and clattering to the floor.
"Good effort, but no cigar," Jack said as his hair reached out, coiled around one of the fallen arrows, and brought it back to his free hand before he stabbed it powerfully into Dominic's shoulder, the teen crying out and letting the Faunus roll away from a follow-up shotgun blast, Ian gritting his teeth and firing off round after round, only the barest slivers of Aura being shaved off as the Faunus slipped and juked out of the way. Rudolph rushed over to Dominic's side, grabbed his discarded arrows from the ground, and began firing them only for Jack to stand his ground and slash them in half with powerful claw swipes.
"Dammit! Stand still!" Dominic shouted as his rifle rounds peppered the surrounding forcefield.
"Sure. Why not. I'm feeling generous," Jack said as he came to a stop, arms at his sides. Dominic, Ian, and Rudolph blinked owlishly at the reply, wondering what kind of trick the Faunus was playing on them.
Deciding a "stupid beast-blood" wasn't capable of playing tricks on Humans, the three of them leveled their respective weapons and opened fire. Team RWBY up in the stands were about to call out for him, stopping short when they realized that Jack had gone still as steel, a metallic sheen glazing his skin as bullets, buckshot, and arrows bounced off his frame, his Aura barely feeling the hit.
"Hold fire! Hold your fire!" Dominic shouted once the flattened rounds began to pool at the Faunus' feet. "It's that steel-skinned trick of his again."
"Well, it's not like he can move while doing that…" Rudolph chuckled with a weak smile, taking inventory of his arrows.
"No. But it's not like I need to against scrubs like YOU!" Jack roared as he rushed them, Dominic and Ian raising their weapons-
*Click*Click*
*Click-click-click*
"Looks like someone wasn't counting!" Jack smirked as he delivered a powerful Superman Punch to the two gun-users, the two whirling on their feet from the hit before he rounded on Rudolph. The teen notching an arrow, Jack whipped his hair up, hardened the tips, and cut the bowstring in two causing the archer to yelp.
"R-Reloading!" Ian cried fishing in his ammo pouch for shells while Jack was knocking Rudolph flat on his ass.
"Oh no you don't!" Jack cackled as he leveled his shotgun at the teen's face and fired it into his cheek from point-blank range, a massive chunk of Aura taken out as he was sent pirouetting through the air. "Don't feel left out. I've got enough deer slug for EVERYONE!" he said blasting Dominic another two times, his Aura dipping below 25%, the teen tumbling to the edge of the stage.
END OST
Normally that's where it would've ended for him, but out of spite, Dominic grabbed for his weapon and aimed at Jack's exposed back while the Faunus was blasting Ian below the losing threshold.
Looking over his shoulder, before Jack could shoot him once more in the face, regardless of how little Aura he had left, a blur of black and purple with an accent of silver swooped in, hauling Dominic by the scruff of his neck into the stands.
"Vincent?" Blake blinked, having barely caught sight of him, the wind whipping around him as he deposited Dominic onto one of the seats.
"That's enough out of you young man," the odd-eyed RA chided as though he were talking to a child. "When your Aura dips below 25%, that means the fight is over for you. Don't make me repeat myself."
"As for you!" the RA snapped turning his attention back to Ian, who was rubbing his sore butt after a 12-gauge slug struck him in the right cheek. "Don't make me chastise two teenagers today!" he growled, his crimson eye glinting ominously.
"N-No, sir," Ian stuttered, grabbing his shotgun and scurrying off of the stage, leaving Rudolph alone with only a pair of arrow guns to defend himself.
"You sure you wanna do this?" Jack asked with a raised brow as he leveled his shotgun at the remaining member of his old team, Rudolph's arrow guns trembling in his hands.
After several seconds he holstered his weapons and raised his hands in surrender.
"Didn't think so," Jack smirked as he turned around.
The Faunus walking away, no longer looking his opponent in the eye Rudolph regained an iota of nerve, raising an arrow gun to Jack's exposed back. Trigger fingers straining, before Jack could act on this provocation-
*WHAP!*
"Ow, geez, the back of my head!"
*WHAP!*
"Ow, the back of my lower legs!"
*WHAP!*
"Ow, the side of my head!"
*WHAP!*
"The back of my face!"
*WHAP!*
"The front of my front!" Rudolph yelped as he was struck on the back of the head, the back of the lower legs, the side of the head, the back of his face, and the front of his front in sequence by a familiar black riding crop, wielded by a very incensed odd-eyed RA, now looming above the literally whipped teen.
"Shooting someone in the back is very bad form!" Vincent said waving The Disciplinarian's twin around angrily.
"I can see why you like him so much~" Yang purred, Blake flushing as the blond waggled her brow suggestively.
"As for you," he said turning to Jack, his hands on his hips as he leveled a look at him.
"Yeah? What about me?" the Faunus bit back.
" . . . Actually, no, I don't really have anything to chastise you for," Vincent shrugged after a moment, waving his hand dismissively. "Good job not killing anybody."
" . . . Thanks?" Jack returned, sufficiently flummoxed at the shift in tone.
"Any time," Vincent nodded as he turned on his heel and walked out, a familiar face bounding into the arena shortly after.
"Hey guys! I'm back!" Terrence said with a smile. "What did I miss?"
"Uuuuugh…"
"Moan…"
"You asshole…"
"So, new guy. You take care of your nervous bladder?" Jack questioned with levity while Dominic, Ian, and Rudolph bitched and moaned.
"Something like that," Terrence shrugged. "Normally I'd pick up where they left off, but I don't want anyone thinking I only won because three guys 'softened you up' for me," he said looking at the scoreboard.
"Well someone's confident in himself," Jack chuckled mirthfully.
"In this business, you have to be," Terrence said patting his attache case. "What say we pick this up another day?"
"Why not this day, after dinner?" Jack groused.
"Well, if you can get back up to one-hundred percent by then."
"It's a date. Hopefully you don't just lie there and take it like a dead fish, like those assholes," he chuckled, jabbing a thumb at his ex-leader who fumed in the stands.
"I hope to exceed expectations," Terrence returned with a wry grin.
*NEW WORLD*
"Well that was…" Ruby paused.
"Hilarious?" Nora groused as they made their way back to the dorms.
"Yeah, sure, let's go with that," Ruby nodded.
"You think they'll be smart enough to learn their lesson this time?" Weiss asked, brow raised.
"Doubt it," Yang shrugged. "Still, it was good for a laugh while it lasted."
"I still think you could've gone with a higher caliber shotgun slug…" Nora pouted.
"Nora, if he went any higher, he would've ripped them in two," Pyrrha chided.
" . . . And?"
"Exactly the response I'd expect from you," Ren hummed with a wry smile.
"Sooo… What kind of weapon do you think Terrence has?" Jaune groused.
"Dunno. With the right T-Cogs, it could be anything in that case," Ruby hummed thoughtfully.
"I'm hoping he's stronger than his peers, but let's be real; that isn't a high bar to reach," Jack hummed.
"Sooo… are you ever going to stop hating those guys?" Ruby asked.
"Would you?"
"I've never had to live life as a Faunus, so I couldn't say in any objective fashion," Ruby hummed smartly.
"Someone sounds like they swallowed a pocket dictionary," Nora huffed, causing Ruby to blush a little.
"Let me guess~ You wanna sound smart for your Playgirl Bunny boyfriend~?" Yang teased.
"Sh-sh-sh-shu-shut up!" Ruby squeaked, the others getting a light chuckle out of it.
*NEW WORLD*
Elsewhile, with Team DIRT…
"Dammit…!" Dominic swore, pounding a fist into the wall. "We had him this time! We had him! So why did we lose?!"
"Maybe… he's just that strong-"
"No! NO, I refuse to accept that!" Dominic cut Ian off. "There's no way a damn beast-blood could surpass us! We're his betters! That means no matter what he's supposed to lose to us!"
"Wow…" Terrence said after a sharp whistle. "You guys are really full of yourselves, huh?"
"Youuuuuu…!" Dominic hissed whirling on him. "Why the fuck'd you bail on us?!"
"That seemed like more of a 'you thing'… And of course I had to pee~"
"Don't give me that crap! I'm the leader of this Team, which means you'll show me the respect I'm due!" Dominic shouted, grabbing the older teen's collar and trying to haul him up.
"Trying" being the operative word, because despite his best efforts, the muscles in his neck drawn taut like suspension bridge cables, Dominic couldn't lift his teammate an iota from the ground.
Before the sniper could ruminate on this however…
*Crack!*
Terrence's attache case was smashed into the side of his temple, the bushy-haired teen sent whirling through the air, one eye dilated and blood dribbling from his mouth as he pirouetted towards the ground.
"Now then…" Terrence said pulling up his case and wiping off the blood with Dominic's clothes. "Anyone else want to try and pull rank?" he asked amicably, Ian and Rudolph frantically shaking their heads as Terrence loomed over them. "Goooood~"
*NEW WORLD*
Meanwhile, back in RWBBY's room…
" . . . Yang, stop it," Blake chided.
"Stop what?"
"Stop pestering him," Blake huffed as Yang waved her hand before Jack's face, the Faunus' legs crossed and his fists pressed together as he meditated, his body almost statue-still, the rise and fall of his chest barely perceptible.
"I was just checking."
"Checking… what?" Blake asked, exasperated.
"Uhhh… I plead the fifth."
"Of course you do," Blake sighed.
" . . . Hey, Weiss."
"What is it, Ruby?"
"Penny for your thoughts?"
"Mine are at least a whole dollar."
"Oh really? And how much are your naughty ones~?" Yang asked, the heiress' cheeks flushing red before she turned her attention back to Ruby.
"What do you want, Ruby?"
"Just wondering…" she hummed. "Looking back on it now, what do you think of my choice inducting Jack into Team Ruby?"
" . . .Team Dirge pushed Jack away, so their loss was our gain," Weiss answered after a few seconds. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, to be fair, you weren't all that thrilled when Jack first joined the team," Ruby answered. "In fact, the two of you hated eachother. You even tried to kill him at one point!"
"Th-That was just a spar that went too far…" the heiress muttered. "Anyway… You stood up for your friend that day, just like you stood up for me when Dr. Stein wanted to dissect me like a science lab frog. If you told me back then that I'd eventually get along with Jack, I'd have gotten you institutionalized."
"Money talks, I guess," Blake shrugged.
"The point I'm trying to make is…!" Weiss piped in. "In response to your question, I shouldn't have faulted your choice."
At this, Ruby could only beam brightly, her smile practically blinding to the heiress.
" . . . What do you think he thinks about?" Yang asked a minute later as the girls turned their eyes toward Jack again, who remained unresponsive despite the chatter going on around him.
*NEW WORLD*
"Uuuuugh…"
"Yeah, there he is!"
"You! Stop right where you are, that is an order! He's getting away! Do not let him get to the re-"
*Clunk*
"D-Don't do it, pal!"
"Do. Not. Do it!"
"Om nom nom nom…"
"Oohhhhhhh, hell…"
"H-h-hey, let's just calm down here! You listening? J-j-just… OH GOD!"
*Thump*Thump*Thump*Thump*
"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GO-"
*Splat*
*Split*
*Splash*
"Ahahahaha!"
"My blood! H-he punched out all my blood!"
*Bif*
*Slap*
"Ow, ow ow ow ow! Ouch, ouch! Ahhh…"
*Thud*
*Snap*
"You call that breaking my spine? You White Faunus ladies wouldn't know how to break a spine if-"
*CRUNCH!*
"AUGHHH! MY SPINE!"
"Eyaaaauuuuugh!"
*NEW WORLD*
" . . . He looks so peaceful," Yang awed, blissfully unaware of the pure hell that was the inside of Jack Braxton's tortured, and possibly dain-bramaged, mind.
*NEW WORLD*
The rest of the day for Team RWBBY went toward completing their homework, though Jack's impending fight with "the new guy" continued to loom over them. Unlike Jack's previous teammates who were all arrogant self-aggrandizing Humans, the stereotype that every Faunus held Humans to, Terrence seemed far more composed. Of course, the teen had had an additional year to mature before being re-admitted to Beacon, so that may've been a part of it.
Ultimately, the girls were curious as to how Terrence Timber would stack up compared to the teammates Jack had left behind after his first week.
They also unironically wonder whether or not Jack would pull any new tricks "out his ass" as he'd done in the past when fighting strong opponents in front of them.
You'd think they were joking, but not having to go to school five days a week frees up a ton of time for training, and thus, time to learn "Ultimate Techniques".
At least as Jack so-eloquently put it.
Certain members of the team *cough*Weiss*cough* are simply amazed that Jack isn't a complete muscle-head like some *cough*Yang*cough* people.
*NEW WORLD*
After dinner that evening, upon leaving the mess hall, Jack and Terrence had locked eyes partway between there and the dorm. An unspoken message exchanged between the two men, they nodded their heads, then moved toward the arena, Teams RWBY and JNPR following after.
Since the dinner rush had just ended, the arena was vacant, as most people would be settling down at that point in the day. This meant the fight to come would remain a private affair, doubly-so because Terrence's team was conspicuously absent as the two fighters stepped into the ring, clad in their individual armors, weapons at their sides.
"I really do need to thank you again for recommending me," Terrence said amicably as the scoreboard calibrated to their Aura. "I had real shitty luck last time."
"Oh? What happened?" Jack asked curiously.
"Oh, the usual. I had Aura pouring out the wazu, so every Grimm within ten miles was gunning for me."
"And what stopped you from coming back this year?"
"Well, I already had a steady job, so it didn't seem that important, but when I got a recall from Ozpin, who was I to refuse?" Terrence shrugged. "Plus, free room and board for four years is very hard to pass up."
"Ah, so you've got working experience, then. Good. Good. I've been itching for a challenge from someone my age," Jack said cracking his knuckles.
"I'm pretty sure they make ointment for that."
"Nora…"
"Moving on…" Terrence said ignoring the peanut gallery as he drummed his fingers on his attache case's handle. "You ready to shake the rust from your gears?"
"Ready when you are!" Jack smirked.
"Oh! But of course, I hope you'll understand if I hold something back," Terrence added with a hopeful nod. "With the Vytal Festival coming up, I'd like to hold onto my trump card as long as I can, and I can't do that if everyone and their grandma knows what it is."
"That's fair," Jack nodded. "To be honest, that'll be the most exposure I've ever gotten. All my other feats are just rumors that started in middle-of-nowhere towns and villages on the Frontier."
"STOP SUCKING FACE AND PUNCH SOMEONE ALREADY!" someone *cough*Nora*cough* shouted from the stands.
"Well… Who am I to refuse my adoring public~?" Terrence asked with a disarming grin, his thumb depressing a button in his case's handle.
The sounds of T-Cogs ratchetting and sliding against one another, Terrence's attache case split down the middle before folding out sideways, a triple-barrel gatling gun extending from the case's confines, the inner workings of the weapon still encapsulated as a secondary hand-hold popped out.
With an incredibly-short spool-up time only possible through chrome-lined bearings, Terrence fired a deluge of rounds at Jack, the Faunus strafing his opponent at a rapid pace, the surrounding forcefield rippling wildly under the bullet storm assailing it.
Cue Red vs Blue Season 9 OST - Extraction
And Terrence wasn't idling with a gatling gun in his hands either, standing in place. The older teen actually ran around in a small circle to keep pace with Jack, the tail-end of the Faunus' long hair jerking violently from the gunshots grazing them. The rush of air at his rear starting to become discomforting, Jack kicked off the ground and spun in mid-air, the vapor trails of Terrence's rounds passing down his face like raindrops.
The corner of Terrence's lip quirking as Jack kicked off the forcefield and launched himself at him like a gunshot, the red-head depressed his middle finger on the inside of his case handle, the sound of T-Cogs ratchetting and meshing once more. The triple-barrel gatling gun retreating into its case as he back-spun, Jack's eyes went wide and he whipped out his shotgun/axe, intercepting the powerful-looking chainsaw blade suddenly protruding in the gatling gun's place.
Angry sparks spilling into the air around them as the segmented blade screamed, Terrence swung the blade upward at Jack, the Faunus leveraging his weapon to mount a hasty retreat, only for the Human to front-step and swing his weapon at the Faunus' midriff before he could land.
"First blood" drawn as a sizeable chunk of Jack's Aura was chewed away, Terrence double-tapped his index finger, burning tongues of fire spilling out of vents at the case's rear as his chainsaw went into overdrive, the segmented blade screaming louder than ever as he swung it out across his body before bringing it down into the ground.
Jack's eyes going wide as the blade was swung underhanded, the Faunus raised his arms in front of his face, narrowly shielding his visage mere moments before he was peppered by a deluge of jagged concrete shards and slivers of molten rebar. His Aura dropping at a rapid pace, the scent of burning hair filling his nostrils, seeing his Human opponent whirl back his chainsaw blade for another concrete kick-upping assault, the Faunus grabbed a long loch of hair from over his shoulder, crimson light spilling out of his mouth before powerful energy fangs sheared through the keratin-reinforced lochs.
Terrence's eyes going wide as the Faunus dove into the path of his blade, low to the ground, the Faunus thrust his severed hair forward like a garotte wire.
Spinning blades latching onto it hungrily, Terrence's chainsaw let out a horrible sputtering noise as it ground to a stop, chainsaw blade stranded mid-swing in a tangle of monochrome lochs.
"Dude…!" Terrence gaped as he stared slack-jawed at his weapon.
The moment he turned his eyes back to Jack, he was suddenly victim to a powerful frog punch to the chin that sent him flying, hands leaving his weapon altogether as he arced through the air before landing heavily on his back with a powerful *THUD!*
Jack shaking his hands from the recoil of hitting such a strong jaw, seeing his concussed opponent on the ground, the Faunus quickly scrambled for his shotgun before firing a round, only for the slug to bounce off the wicked-looking survival knife Terrence drew from his boot.
The blade sailing through the air before biting deep into the barrel, Jack blinked in astonishment before tossing his weapon aside, he and Terrence slowly rising, fists raised as the two fighters appraised one another.
END OST
*NEW WORLD*
"Whoa…" Ruby gawped as Jack and Terrence strafed around one another, the air quiet and discarded weapons forgotten.
"You can say that again," Yang nodded dumbly.
"Did you see that!?" she suddenly sqealed. "He had a gatling gun and a chainsaw in that suitcase!"
"That's what you fixated on?" Weiss gawped.
"Well, what was I supposed to fixate on?" Ruby pouted.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the actual combat?!"
"Hey, you knew what you were getting into when you made her your partner," Yang said crossing her arms.
"Only because she was the lesser of two evils."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Jaune yelped.
"Quiet you. We're still not on speaking terms," Weiss said without looking him in the eye.
"Awww…"
"How long'd that take exactly?" Pyrrha asked while patting the blond consolingly on the shoulder.
"A minute. Two tops," Ren answered, equally impressed.
Cue – Death Battle: Mighty (Score from the Rooster Teeth Series) {0:18}
*BOOM!*
"Ohshit!" Nora yelped as the two delivered a powerful cross-counter that shook the air, Jack's Aura dropping from 70 to 59, Terrence's from 63 to 54.
The two teen leaning angrily into the hit as they dug their heels, trying to power through the blows to their other cheek, teeth gnashing, twin auras of red like blood flared around the two like angry flames, the bits of kicked-up concrete sent skittering out of bounds.
Both rear heels skidding back at once, instead of diving back in the two instead retreated to gain more ground, Jack in a strangely-graceful cat-like flip while Terrence used a powerful back-step. The two locking eyes, the tension around the two thickened to the point the air grew hazy around them.
Terrence taking up a runner's stance while Jack once more dropped to all fours, claws extended, the two shot off like bullets once again, meeting violently in the middle with a powerful shoulder charge. Spiritual pressure rising rapidly around them, the scoreboard overhead began to glitch out as crimson sparks shot outward from the point of contact, the two locking eyes with one another before leaping back once again.
This time however the return to combat was immediate, the two stepping back in and clashing shins with a powerful high kick, once again causing sparks to explode in all direction.
Both their cores flexing with a powerful *BANG!*, it was Jack's legwork that won out in the end as he completed his kick, Terrence's planted leg leaving the ground as he was sent pinwheeling into the air.
"IT'S OVER!" Jack shouted as he drew his right arm back, the crimson aura around him gathering visibly into his clenched fists. "Spirit SHOTGUN!" he shouted as he threw his arm forward, a powerful cascade of Aura granules screaming through the air toward Terrence, the red-head peppered with miniature explosions as he was propelled backward through the air.
A claxon sounding as Jack's attack exhausted itself, all eyes turned to the scoreboard, and all eyes went wide as they saw that Jack's Aura had descended to 24%, whereas Terrence's was down to 26%. Barely any higher than Jack's, but a win all the same.
END OST
"Whoa… What happened…?" Ruby awed. "How'd Jack lose if his was the final hit? I mean, did you see that?! It was like exploding buckshot!"
"Jack must've weaponized his Aura for that final blow, and the strength of Terrence's Aura was simply stronger right then," Weiss said aloud, just as much to herself as to Ruby.
"Have we even seen Jack lose before?" Jaune asked, still blinking wide-eyed.
"I'm sure they were both holding back, just like how Professor Goodwitch was obviously holding back when they fought, so a rule-oriented spar isn't really a strong indicator of 'who's better'," Pyrrha commented as Terrence dusted himself off.
"Whoo! What a rush! Almost had me for a while there," Terrence said running his fingers through his hair.
"Yeah… I'll say…" Jack nodded, shaking out his hand. "You almost had me with that chainsaw back then. Sorry about getting it… you know… Stuck."
"Ah, well… Churning up concrete and rebar the way I did, I was kinda asking for it," Terrence returned as he rubbed the back of his head.
"You uh… You want some help?" he offered.
"Nah," he said fishing for some tools in his pockets. "This wouldn't be the first time I got my chainsaw stuck in something, and it won't be the last," he said with a self-deprecating smile.
"Well, as long as you say so…" Jack shrugged as he bent down to pick up his axe and wrenched the thrown knife free of the barrel, throwing it back to his opponent who caught it between two fingers.
*NEW WORLD*
Leaving Terrence to his own devices, Teams RWBBY and JNPR made their way back to the dormitories.
The fighting had been short, but nonetheless intense, the more-excitable members of the group recounting what had occurred with a slightly-exaggerated play-by-play.
Jack for his part walked in silence, keeping an ear open to his surroundings just in case someone thought to attack him.
Plenty of Hunters had been killed after high-profile tournaments after being "softened up", after all.
"Sooo… It's either really good or really bad that Jack's former teammates have such a strong guy on their team now," Yang hummed aloud.
"Terrence might be strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Jack of all people, but it's obvious he doesn't respect their seniority," Weiss commented.
"Wait! You mean he didn't really have to go pee?!" Nora gawped openly.
"Nora, you're a lady. Please try to show a little decorum," Weiss sighed tiredly before Ren could chastise his ginger friend. "Honestly. 'Pee'. How crass can you get?"
"You said 'pee'," Ruby pouted.
"I was quoting her. And stop saying 'pee'!" the heiress shrieked.
'This is not a conversation I thought I'd ever be privy to,' Jack said to himself thoughtfully.
"You know…" Blake said getting his attention, choosing to ignore as Weiss, Ruby, and Nora bickered back and forth with one another. "I don't think you've ever shown an opponent this much respect before," she said as though she were recognizing a sign of maturity.
"Well, you know the old saying. Game recognizes game," Jack shrugged.
"I don't think it's that old," Yang hummed.
"Says the girl who whips out golden oldies like 'bees' knees' and 'cat's pajamas'"
"Technically it's only one bee's knees," Yang corrected.
"Oh, you know what I mean," Jack returned flatly.
"Still, it's good to know you can show some people respect," Weiss noted idly.
"You act as though I'm a muscle-headed brute who only knows how to give people, and life, the middle finger," Jack said aghast.
"Well, if the shoe fits," Jaune shrugged. " . . . Oh yeah, real mature," the blond deadpanned as the Faunus proceded to flip him a pair of birds.
*Boink*
"AUGH!" Jaune yelped as the two birds suddenly pecked his eyes.
"Heh. The more things change, the more they stay the same," Blake hummed mirthfully.