Author's Notes:
I am posting this chapter a few days early because I will not be in town on the 15th to post the chapter. Enjoy the early release. The regular release schedule will be maintained going forward.
A chapter about the students this time. We'll be seeing more of the general Festival activities and some events before as Papa Lenin put in his Review, "it begins..."
Enjoy the positivity while it lasts.
Enjoy!
"Text/Messages"
"Speech"
Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout, RWBY, or any associated characters
Remnants of a Courier
Arc 4: Chaos Theory
Chapter 77: Red Sun
It felt… Weird. Yeah, that was a good word for it. Weird. Weird being at the Vytal Festival on forged records. Weird that his bully was now his friend. Weird that one of the best future Huntresses in the world was dating him. Weird having the instructor who trained him turn out to be a terrorist? Honestly, he still wasn't sure on that one.
What Jaune was sure of was that his team was going to kick ass. Just like team RWBY had done.
He sat next to Cardin of all people in the stadium stands, cheering her team on. He couldn't help but get excited for the event, even with everything that had transpired.
When Ruby's team won, he felt a hand land on his shoulder as Cardin said, "Figured they'd win. Good, wouldn't want some weaklings going up against my team." To his left, the rest of CRDL agreed with their leader in hoots and hollers.
"Right…" Jaune trailed off. He was never as gung-ho about fighting as Cardin. Sure, understanding how to defend yourself and others was one thing, but Cardin reveled in the violence. He liked nothing better than to be fighting.
A silence descended over their group and Jaune looked to his right for support. Pyrrha looked at him with a sheepish smile and shrugged. Not helpful Pyrrha!
Jaune still wasn't completely sure where he stood with Cardin or how he should interact with him. They were on almost friendly terms but when House disappeared and team RWBY told them what they found, well, Jaune had thought it best to tell Cardin the truth.
Cardin had called him and Ruby a liar, that House wasn't some backstabbing traitor. Then he stormed off to be by himself. Since then, the former bully hadn't talked about it once and Jaune was too scared to broach the subject.
"You know Alex just unlocked his Aura a couple days ago?" Cardin brought up with a smile as he crossed his arms. "Can't believe how fast the kid is growing, ya know?"
He pointed a thumb at himself as he continued, "I've only been training him for two or three months now and he's already well on his way to being a Beacon student. Couldn't make me more proud."
"Yeah, what a scrappy kid," Russel on Cardin's left added.
That smile on the taller student's face fell as he changed the subject. "But then, why wouldn't he, right? I'm just taking what House taught me and giving that to him."
The subject change caused the rest of team CRDL to go silent, they knew their leader was touchy about this subject. And glancing back at his own team, Jaune found little support from the awkward looks they were giving him.
"Yeah… I wish House could've seen the tournament. I think he would've been proud." Jaune finally got that out and couldn't help but think about his former teacher.
House had been strict and honestly kind of brutal. But he gave Jaune a chance, more than that, he gave direction that was sorely needed. He took a more hands-on approach and showed him a different style of fighting that actually worked for him, if even a little. He was going to make House proud today, wherever he was. Even if he was a terrorist, he was the best Gods damn instructor he ever had.
House helped him to be a better Huntsman, stopped Cardin bullying him, helped Cardin actually improve; and while he was definitely ornery, he was willing to help any student that came to him. Even if it wasn't always in the way they expected.
It was obvious Cardin agreed too as he replied, "Yeah, if House was here he would've commented on every little thing team RWBY messed up on during that fight." He let out a chuckle before casting his gaze on Jaune.
"I won't go into it," he said, finally talking about House directly. "Honestly, I'm still not sure if I can believe it. House being the Mimic and all that…"
That was fair, it was hard for Jaune to believe that given Ruby hadn't provided evidence. She said that Ozpin told her to keep quiet about it which made sense. Still, he had to trust her on word alone, which was hard.
"But I trust you to tell me the truth," Cardin added, causing Jaune to turn to him in surprise. At one point, Jaune would never have thought Cardin was capable of saying anything remotely close to that.
That honest moment turned sour when his smile returned. "Well," Cardin began, clasping a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "I believe that you think it's the truth. Even if you are pretty gullible."
Rolling his eyes, Jaune responded, "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. Try not to laugh so hard you lose your fight."
This only made Cardin laugh harder. "Oh yeah… Me? Lose? Please." Cardin's team joined in on his laughter. They really thought they were the shit even if they were second-rate to Team RWBY and Pyrrha.
Doctor Oobleck's voice boomed over the speakers for the stadium. "The next match has been decided. Teams CRDL and JNPR, please report to the staging areas!"
A cold feeling sunk into Jaune. He didn't really want to fight Cardin. They were friends now, at least, mostly. But turning to Cardin, the big student had a wide smile on his face.
"Damn, they're really doing the big climax right at the start huh?" He began as he stood up. "Making the two best teams fight right off the bat." Turning to the smaller student, Cardin teased, "Try not to lose too quick Jaune-y boy."
His pack of hyenas Cardin called a team hooted and howled at that, getting up and following their leader. Jaune could only watch as they left, unsure of how he felt about the match. At least Cardin was happy.
A hand slipped into Jaune's and he turned towards his partner. Pyrrha smiled at him, giving his hand a reaffirming squeeze as she said, "You're more than ready for this Jaune. You've trained harder than anyone else in our grade."
Squeezing her hand back, Jaune steeled himself and forced a smile as he replied, "You're right Pyrrha. Let's win this."
Cardin stretched out his shoulder as he walked out onto the stage. His armor was in place and his gear was ready. With his team at his back, he was ready to give Pyrrha a run for her Lien.
Though he didn't want anyone mistaking his confidence for arrogance, the rest of Team JNPR wasn't exactly a pushover. But if they could overcome the tournament champion, they could win.
"You sure you're fine?" Dove asked from his left. "You were… Kinda messed up for a couple days when all that shit went down."
His teammate had good intentions but now wasn't the time. Besides this would be cathartic for him. Cardin knew he wasn't the smartest out there but he understood fighting, loved it even. The thrill of his own blood in his mouth, of seeing his opponent crumple, nothing got him out of a bad mood like fighting.
"More than good," Cardin answered with a wide grin. All that bullshit about House could wait until after he won the tournament.
"Then we'll need to follow the plan," Russel commented. "You really think you can keep her preoccupied long enough for us to take out her team?"
The leader of team CRDL scoffed. He'd do more than that. "By the time you finish, Pyrrha will already be knocked out of the tournament."
This time it was Sky's turn to laugh. "Shit man, that's what I like to hear!"
The team stepped onto the round platform at the center of the stage. The four quadrants around them had yet to shift into their arena. Wherever they were sent, Cardin knew they'd win regardless.
The massive crowd around them cheered as team JNPR stepped onto the platform at the opposite end. Oobleck and Port began their spiel about the team's statistics and who was going to win, he tuned it all out. He knew what everyone was thinking and he didn't care. It didn't matter if Pyrrha wiped the floor with them as long as Cardin got his enjoyment out of the fight.
As the announcers continued to babble, Cardin laughed and threw his arms out to the side.
"Show me a good time Jaune-y boy!"
The blond gave him a half-smile, so typical. He needed to enjoy himself more.
Cardin took a deep breath in as the world outside of the stage faded away. The quadrants began changing and all he could think about was that moment. That moment before everything started, the clarity that came with it.
House, Alex, all the bullshit at Beacon, it all faded away. Replaced by the urge to fight, to crush!
Opening his eyes that he didn't even realize he had closed, he could see his teammates in position behind him. Trees had spawned on half the field, on the other half, a small desert mountain. Vale and Vacuo huh? Not bad locales.
When the wind was slow, and the air hot with battle, this is what made sense to him. This was how nature was. Survival of the strongest.
A horn blared signaling the start and Cardin couldn't help but let out a bellowing laugh as he charged.
With his mace–The Executioner–in one hand and his tower shield in the other, he destroyed a storm of bullets sent his way. They collided with his shield as his team fell in behind him. Even when the noisy one of team JNPR launched a grenade at them, Cardin reared his shield back before bashing the explosive to the side. A random tree was the casualty of his onslaught as it shattered into pieces from the pink explosion.
Once they had closed in enough, team CRDL split, with Cardin heading straight towards Pyrrha as was the plan.
The Beast took her gunfire in stride since his shield was open from bashing the explosive away. Despite its heavy size, the Beast's strength and Aura allowed him to wield his Mace without issue, batting away the incoming rounds until his shield was in place again.
When he closed the distance, she shifted her weapon into its spear form and attempted to sweep his legs, only for the Beast to slam his shield into the ground and continue running. Sparks flew as he scraped his shield along the floor and pressed onward.
He imagined she backed off when that happened as he couldn't see around his own shield, still, he had another trick. He held his mace behind him as he continued, only to throw his shield to the side.
When he did so, he could see Pyrrha moving in with her shortsword and shield in hand. He swung his Executioner down in a wide arc, making the ground shake as he slammed it down. As expected, she deftly maneuvered to the side and even out of range of the Burn Dust that exploded out of his mace.
She closed back in and he brought his mace swinging sideways at her. She of course ducked under it and closed the distance. She was almost in his trap.
The Beast swung his shield at her horizontally, turning his body towards her. His prey nimbly jumped up and onto his shield without issue. He couldn't help but let his smile turn feral as she was right where he needed her.
Activating the already heated Burn Dust in his mace, the top of it opened and ejected a Burn crystal out of the top directly at her.
But a frown creased Cardin's lips when his shield turned at the last moment. What was that?
The Dust went wide and he felt her shield knock against the side of his head, sending Cardin reeling as he flung his tower shield up to get her off him. One of three Burn Dust crystals in his mace exploded against the mountain behind her, sending chunks of it flying over the arena.
A few bullets pelted his form and he growled before looking up. She was directly above him and firing her weapon in rifle form. Firing another Burn Dust crystal at her, she nimbly twisted in the air before shifting her weapon into a spear and flinging it at him. The Beast of course brought up his shield and blocked the spear that bounced to the side.
But when he brought up the shield, he felt a couple Dust rounds hit his side. Turning, the Beast saw Jaune sweating and holding his handgun, only to be batted to the side by Sky's halberd.
Turning his attention back to Pyrrha, the momentary lapse made him miss the small round shield that bounced off the ground behind him and pelted him in the side of the head again. This shook his stance and when Pyrrha landed on his shield, he damn near fell to the ground.
Instead, the Beast drew on his Semblance and roared. A sudden surge of strength coursed through him as he flung his body and shield back, sending his opponent over his head and away.
He landed on his back and rolled to the side, getting to his feet quickly. It wasn't fast enough as his opponent had landed and already closed the distance between them.
The annoying girl kneed him in the face with a flying kick sending his head rocking back. Then her spear–which was somehow back in her hands–knocked his shield arm down.
The spear jabbed him three times before it shifted into a shortsword and cut at his mace hand's wrist. The Beast hissed as he tried to find his footing, only for the girl to dropkick him and attempt to use the momentum to back up.
But when her feet connected to the Beast's chest, he let go of his mace and raised the inside of his shield to her back. She was now trapped between his chest and shield in an awkward crouched position. The Beast smiled, finally able to land a hit as he brought his fist toward her vulnerable form.
But he again frowned as he felt his vambrace seemingly moved his arm off course, hitting the inside of his own shield instead of his victim.
The Beast growled in frustration as the girl bent at an awkward angle and slithered out of his grip. Only to let out a gasp when she kicked his feet out from under him.
She was somehow changing where his attacks were landing at the last moment. Thinking back, this had happened before as well. Whenever he fought Pyrrha he always lost, even with his team. But House had taught him to fight smarter. She was somehow redirecting his attacks to just barely miss.
A smile crept across his face. What fun! A tricksy little rabbit to corner and smash! He'd just have to use something she couldn't just redirect!
Rolling to the side, the Beast grasped his mace in hand before standing up, only to find a knee in his face again. But he knew this dance, and the outcome would be different this time.
She kneed him in the face, slashed his shield arm, poked him three times, and slashed his mace arm. But he didn't feel any of it because of his Semblance. Only the coursing thrill and energy from the fight!
This was paradise.
When he made the same move and trapped her between his shield and himself, instead of his fist, the Beast raised his mace and pointed the end directly at her.
She looked shocked by his decision to use the mace on not only her but himself as well. That was her first mistake. That was the rule of nature, you had to be willing to do anything to win.
Clicking the button on his mace, the red hot explosion that occurred knocked both of them back. It would have hurt if not for his Semblance, instead he felt a slight pressure along the area it affected. Nothing major.
Having just a second to breathe, Cardin checked on his teammates and status.
Pyrrha's health was in the green if the low green. His was in the low yellow. He had another fifteen, maybe twenty percent before he was knocked out. It had only been a minute so far and he was already reaching his limit. That didn't mean the Beast would stop, no, it only meant he'd fight even harder!
It looked like Dove was pressuring Ren well in the woods, the two evenly matched. The real problem was Russel who was slowly losing against Nora.
The two had transitioned to the mountain and Nora was smashing pieces of it apart, the terrain not giving Russel much room to maneuver and avoid her. The two were slowly climbing the mountain peak, dark clouds swirling around it.
Their best bet was to stall Pyrrha and have Sky eliminate Jaune before helping Russel. Once they were both eliminated, they'd focus Ren down and finally dogpile Pyrrha. That's how much of a massive threat Pyrrha was.
But he didn't know if he was going to last another thirty seconds, let alone long enough for them to whittle Jaune's massive Aura reserves down. The guy was still higher yellow than him!
No, NO! The Beast never just gave up! The smart thing to do would be to use words, to back up, to run and stall her. That was the coward's way. He was no coward.
He roared in defiance and charged at his enemy. She was the prey, not him!
She fired at him again and he brought up his shield. But this time, when close enough, he swung his shield at her instead.
Pyrrha used her own smaller shield to deflect the blow. And what should have been a force too heavy for her seemingly shifted on its own. So he brought his shield around again, only to find her spear poking his chest.
She flipped over him then, and instead of raising his shield, the Beast laughed as he lunged backward and turned towards her. She of course transformed her spear into a shortsword and cut him twice before landing. But when she did, she found the Beast bringing his shield towards her.
She performed a handspring backwards to get out of his shield's reach but that didn't help when he threw his massive shield. The thing sailed through the air at his prey, threatening pain and a weight she wasn't ready for.
Still, it shifted slightly up as she ran forward and powerslid under it. Only to find the end of his mace pointed at her. Again, momentary wariness and surprise showed on Pyrrha's face as his weapon was pushed to the side. But he had expected that.
In fact, his mace was empty of Dust crystals after the third shot, as that was all it could contain. Instead, her redirection put his mace in a newfound position to swing back down at her.
But again it shifted, swinging just too high to hit her as her spear prodded him twice. But to dodge his mace and strike, she had positioned herself poorly at his feet, thus earning herself what the Beast would consider a mild kick.
Pyrrha was sent flying over a dozen feet as his leg swung outward. A hearty laugh escaped him as he glanced back towards the Aura board.
He was low, almost red. One or two more hits and he was out. Still, Pyrrha just hit yellow. The Beast smiled to himself for small victories.
As he stared at the board, he couldn't help but glance at the crowd for a moment and see a certain small individual.
He couldn't make out what the boy was saying, but Cardin felt his heart sore as Alex was on his feet with his arms in the air, shouting his lungs out.
How could he possibly give up now?
Taking stock of his teammates. Ren and Dove were both in the yellow, Nora and Russel were fighting on the mountain's peak now as electric clouds crackled around them, and Jaune was starting to get low as well.
With the distance the Beast just made between himself and Pyrrha, he turned towards Sky and charged towards him. He heard determined footsteps treading after him. Both of the students were moving as fast as possible, faster than any regular person could run.
Sky and Jaune were currently swinging at each other, Jaune's pistol having been lost at some point. Jaune was doing alright but slowly losing as Sky was getting more hits in.
Upon seeing him, Sky brought his halberd down and over Jaune's shield, locking it in place. The blonde looked shocked before turning and seeing him. Then there was only fear. As there should be when the Beast was approaching.
Laughing, the Beast brought his mace up and swung downward at the blonde, only for it to be redirected to the side and miss. Sky had a look of horror on his face but he didn't need one.
Bringing his other fist up, the Beast uppercutted Jaune square in the jaw and sent him flying in the air. The blonde let out a gasp of pain as he flew face-up towards the sun.
"Now Sky!" The Beast shouted as he turned towards Pyrrha and charged at her.
Sky's halberd swung and delivered the final blow to Jaune as Pyrrha ducked under the Beast's mace and narrowed his eyes at him. Oh, she didn't like that? Good. That only made him smile wider.
"You lose," he heard Jaune mutter before hitting the ground hard, bouncing once from the force of the impact. What did he mean by that?
Turning his head, he watched as the dark swirling clouds at the mountain's peak where Russel and Nora were fighting finally discharged. A bolt of lightning traveled and struck Nora and the Beast felt his hope quickly dwindling.
The girl's body crackled with power as she chuckled before swinging her hammer with an almighty crack into Russel's side. His teammate was sent flying off the side and out of the arena with a resounding "boom" like thunder after lightning strikes.
They wouldn't have long before she was back down to them. This must have been their plan as soon as the arena had formed. Damn Jaune and his crafty little plans.
"Sky, work with me!" The Beast shouted as he blocked a barrage of bullets from Pyrrha. His teammate gave him an incredulous look. He knew that Sky and Russel weren't exactly brave, but he needed Sky to be brave now.
"Keep her attention!" The Beast thought he might have a slight idea of how her Semblance worked. She somehow redirected his attacks at the last moment but he imagined she had to be able to perceive them.
His teammate just sighed as he charged Pyrrha who kept an eye on him. Still, she was forced to hop over his teammate's halberd before slashing him across the chest twice and kneeing him away.
In that time, the Beast had positioned himself behind Pyrrha and was waiting for his moment. Sky was already in the yellow and wouldn't last much longer. A scream from behind and a horn indicated that Dove had just been knocked out of the match by Nora and Ren. If nothing else, the Beast was determined to take his prey with him.
When Sky swung at her again and she poked at his defenses, the Beast charged with a roar. This obviously caught her attention as he swung his mace at her. But her brow rose in confusion when that same mace sailed past her.
Her eyes tracked the mace as she easily avoided the thrown weapon. But that was her mistake and what the Beast had learned from Jaune in their bouts, misdirection.
With her eyes on the weapon, he moved in on her before bear-hugging her. She let out a short yelp and struggled but he was stronger than her. And unlike an attack, she couldn't redirect an entire hug.
"Now Sky, both of us!"
"But-"
"Just do it!" The Beast shouted back. There could be no hesitation now and he was proud when his friend swung the halberd with all his might, slamming into him and Pyrrha.
Cardin was sent sprawling with the wind knocked out of him as another horn sounded. Groaning as he turned over, he could see his Aura in the red on the board. It looked like Pyrrha was mid-yellow and so were Ren and Nora. There was no way a yellow Sky was beating all three of them.
Still… It was a damn good run. More importantly, his team was the first to put a dent into that invincible student reputation Pyrrha had. They were the first. He laughed with joy at the idea.
Overall, the match lasted for two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. A short match compared to others but more than adequate when going up against someone like Pyrrha.
As Cardin got to his feet, he watched the crowd cheer.
"A spectacular performance by all!" Oobleck announced.
"Indeed," Port agreed. "While team CRDL lost, they put up a mighty fight! Who would have thought they would end Pyrrha Nikos' no-hit record?"
While their opinion of his team didn't matter, it felt good to be recognized.
"A good fight indeed," Pyrrha agreed as the two teams stood next to each other. "You all performed admirably."
Cardin couldn't help but laugh before replying, "Next time little miss 'you did good but I kicked your ass', next time." She at least looked sheepish at his words.
"And Jaune, awesome plan man," Cardin continued as he turned to the blonde. "The mountain and lightning? I never even thought of it."
Cardin idly wondered if he would've been so okay about losing just a few months ago. Had he changed? Was that a good thing? Bah, this was why he preferred fighting. Not nearly as confusing.
"And you're still an absolute monster in a fight," Jaune complained. "You couldn't have gone a little bit easy on me?"
"Then it wouldn't have been a good show," Sky rebuked. "Besides, you put up a good fight yourself thin-bean."
This earned a good tongue-lashing from Jaune as Dove tapped Cardin's shoulder.
"Check out the stands," his teammate recommended.
Turning his attention towards them, he saw Alex still cheering him on. His arms in the air long after the fight was over.
Yeah, it had been a good fight, hadn't it?
Author's Notes:
There was a review that asked about chapter length going forward for the rest of the arc. Specifically if chapters will be longer to cover the entirety of the Vytal Festival.
First and foremost, I don't write chapters to hit a word number. I write chapters to what I believe is the appropriate length for what needs to be told. I don't like adding "fluff" or "filler" in chapters. That being said, most of the chapters will remain roughly the same length if not a bit longer for most of the arc. During the climax, they will start getting longer as more is happening and needs to be relayed to the reader. We are still building up the climax of this arc for now.
In short, yes they will get a little longer at first. Then during the climax some chapters will get a lot longer.
On a separate note, T0mT0m left a review and asked about something I stated last chapter. I believe I put this in the author's notes of a different chapter but I'll reiterate in more detail.
There was a time period where I went on hiatus in 2023. I can't remember the EXACT timeframe but it was around 9 months if memory serves. This was in the beginning part of this arc. I was a bit burnt out and I had run out of material to upload. But the trick is, my hiatus only lasted a month of me not writing.
Over the next two months I researched and outlined the rest of the arc. I finished that in roughly September 2023 and realized that I had enough outlined that if I started uploading in March of 2024, I'd have the arc concluded in September of 2025 which would be the 7th year anniversary. That is still my current goal.
In essence, I created a two year upload plan in September 2023 to be concluded in September 2025. From there I wrote 24 chapters ahead by the time of March 2024 so I had at least a year's worth of material. That is why some of these chapters date back to over 9 months old. As we get closer to September 2025, we will get to the newest chapters I wrote just a week or two ago.
I also have made a lore error in regards to the CCTV tower. A fairly major one in hindsight but it also won't impact the story much.
The CCTV tower is the main Beacon tower. Ozpin's office is located in the CCTV tower. In this story, the CCTV tower is located to the far side of Beacon. My bad.