Cowboys of Remnant
A RWBY Fic by AndrewJTalon
DISCLAIMER: This is a fan based work of prose. RWBY is the property of Rooster Teeth and WB Animation. Please support the official release.
Weiss and Jaune test out Jaune's new weapons... And there's a problem.
Another chapter by Insomnius!
Weiss skated across the dueling ring, carried by her glyphs, as staccato rifle fire tore through the air behind her. Pirouetting, she raised Myrtenaster and conjured additional glyphs, charging them with dust and launching sharp shards of ice back at her opponent. Jaune chose to crouch down and deploy his shield, weathering the assault with admirable fortitude. Unfortunately, he'd made a mistake.
He'd taken his eyes off of Weiss.
By the time he'd looked up from behind his bulwark, it was too late, she was already upon him. Skating around, she struck his flank once, twice, thrice, before retreating, conjuring another glyph to deflect a return shot from Crocea Mors. None of the follow-up shots managed to touch her either, and the gunfire cut off as Jaune paused to reload. He kept one eye on Weiss through the whole process, staying light on his feet and dodging out of the way of a few ice spikes she sent hurtling towards him. After the last cartridge slammed home through the lever-action rifle's loading port, he swung the cocking lever out with one hand, letting the momentum of the action flip the rifle around the backs of his fingers and land firmly in his palm. He took aim once more around the edge of his shield but with an almost resigned air.
This duel was going... sub-optimally for the cowboy. The idea had been to let Jaune test out his new weapon and get a feel for its workings, but it hadn't exactly been going to plan. The gunslinger just wasn't meshing with the modified Crocea Mors. His rifle fire had lacked his customary inhuman accuracy and his sword strikes, while much improved by Pyrrha's tutelage, had been slow and awkward.
The Heiress really shouldn't be as happy about that as she was, but it was just so satisfying seeing Jaune not appreciate Ruby's gift. The cowboy's frustration was palpable as Weiss danced between strikes that had been much more coordinated in previous bouts. His attempts at integrating the rifle's shots in between slashes had resulted in him almost losing his grip on the weapon more than once.
Deciding to test her opponent up close, Weiss darted in and began striking from a variety of angles, taking advantage of Jaune's unfamiliarity with his modified sword. Myrtenaster's agile form was too fast for the pronged sword to parry effectively and Jaune was still too inexperienced with his shield to guard efficiently. Despite this, he put up an admirable fight, even as she needled his aura into the yellow.
In a fit of frustration, Jaune gave up on his sword entirely and switched over to battering her with his shield incessantly, which proved to be an extremely effective strategy, much to Weiss's chagrin. The shield bashes possessed too much mass and momentum for her to defend against effectively and Jaune's physical strength ensured every strike took a chunk out of her aura and rattled her bones. She chose to retreat rather than suffer more under the onslaught, back-flipping away to create distance. Jaune decided against pressing his advantage, instead sheathing the modified Crocea Mors and collapsing the shield. He grasped the hilt of the blade with both hands, giving the still encased blade some experimental swings before nodding to himself and taking a middle guard.
"That's an interesting technique, Jaune." Weiss called out across the ring, her sword held in front of her at the ready.
Jaune gave her a sheepish grin, setting her heart aflutter, before responding. "I'm jus' havin' some difficulties an' decided to fall back to somethin' tried an' true." His accent had a tendency to grow stronger when he was emotional, Weiss had noticed.
"Hmm, the longpoint guard popular among practitioners of the Pendragon School of Swordsmanship," She mused out loud. "Are you certain that's the wisest choice?"
His grin grew wider, "I reckon' we're about to find out, Miss Schnee."
She give him a smile of her own. "It seems so." And then she was upon him.
Now this exchange was much more like it! While Weiss was certainly faster than Jaune, his guard was admirable, and the sheathed blade of Crocea Mors often found its way into the path of Myrtenaster. Oh, there certainly remained some imbalance between the blade and its wielder, but it appeared that utilizing both hands allowed Jaune to minimize any issues. His return strikes remained powerful, the blows ripping through the air around Weiss as she dodged them all. A single one of them landing would spell disaster for her Aura levels and the force behind them could knock her flying.
The duel continued for quite some time, neither combatant willing to disengage from their melee. Weiss was truly enjoying herself as she crossed blades with Jaune and the wide grin on the cowboy's face seemed to indicate he felt the same. But all good things had to come to an end eventually, and this one came to a close due to inexperience and mechanical error.
The heiress saw the exact moment that Jaune lost. How an adjustment of his grip upon his sword triggered the shifting mechanism. How the collapsing crossguard and twisting blade caught him off guard and left a hole in his defenses. One that Weiss was compelled to exploit ruthlessly. Myrtenaster darted out, catching Crocea Mors on the hilt. With a forceful twist of her wrist, Weiss wrenched the sword out of Jaune's hands and sent it spinning across the ring, landing with a clang out of bounds. She brought the tip of her rapier to the empty-handed man's throat.
"Yield," she demanded triumphantly.
Jaune froze, frustration crossing his face for a moment, before taking a deep breath and smiling at her. "Well played, Miss Schnee."
She returned his smile with a genuine grin of her own as she lowered her blade. "Thank you, Jaune."
"Awww, come on!" Came a cry from outside the ring. Weiss and Jaune both turned to look at the source, one Ruby Rose. She cradled Crocea Mors to her chest and wailed. "My baby! Abused so heartlessly by my partner! How could you, Weiss?" She glared at the white-haired girl through eyes full of tears.
"Ruby, weapons are expected to hold up the stresses of intense combat," Weiss replied pointedly. "And we were testing out the sword in a combat scenario after all."
"But you didn't need to fling him across the ring. That was emotional abuse!" Ruby cried, holding the sheathed blade up. "Apologize! Apologize to Crocea Mors!"
Weiss flushed with indignation. "I will do no such thing!"
With a burst of rose petals, the little red reaper appeared right in front of the heiress, waving the sword into her face. "Apologize!"
The white-haired girl ducked and weaved out of the enthusiastic thrusts of her partner. "I!" Dodge. "Will!" Twist. "Not!" Duck.
"Ruby, while I appreciate your enthusiasm, I don't think Crocea Mors would care all that much. He's certainly been through worse. Much worse," Jaune intoned as he stepped forward to separate the two girls.
"Oh, fine!" Ruby acquiesced with a pout. "I guess that's not all that important right now." She turned to hand the blade back to Jaune. "So, how'd he do?"
Ruby was an intelligent girl, with a knack for fighting. Judging from the expression on her face, she already knew the answer, but Jaune's wince still drew an answering one from her.
"Everythin' worked flawlessly, Ruby," Jaune replied, taking the sword from the girl's outstretched hand. "But I just... can't seem to get the hang of it. The balance of the sword is off, I just can't seem to aim the rifle right, and switchin' modes in the middle of combat is just plain awkward. I'm sorry, Ruby, I know you worked really hard on this but I think I'd rather just have my regular sword back."
"Sure!" Ruby chirped with a smile.
Weiss and Jaune blinked. "You're... not mad?" The white-haired girl asked incredulously.
"Pfft, of course not, Weiss!" Ruby laughed. "I didn't expect to get it right the first time! There's a process to these things! You have to iterate and test and redesign and more! That's what makes it so fun, the process!" She patted Crescent Rose, folded at the small of her back. "It took years to get my baby to where she is now and I'm still tinkering with her!"
She turned to address cowboy, "We've still got a lot of options to fix your range switching issues. I'll can start getting Crocea Mors back to normal right now if you'd like and maybe we can talk shop?"
"I'd love to," Jaune replied with a smile and Weiss felt her eyelid twitch.
So, what kind of cowboy weapon should Jaune add to his arsenal to address his inability to switch from ranged to melee combat quickly?