Sent To Protect and Serve Humanity

Chapter 6: Friends and Fiends

3rd POV

Cardin stood tall with his mace perched on his shoulder and Jaune stood opposite of him with his sword and shield drawn, leaning on his weapon as if he were exhausted, in the spotlight shining on the Beacon Academy auditorium stage.

He looked at Cardin, who laughed at the blonde boy's tiredness, and Jaune gathered his strength to charge forward and he swung his blade at the mace wielder, only for him to jump out of the way. The blonde boy looked back, surprised, as the mace sends his shield - and himself - flying back. Now only armed with his sword, he continued to try and attack but is blocked repeatedly by the mace's hilt. Their weapons locked, Cardin forced himself up, towering over a struggling Jaune.

"This is the part where you lose." Cardin proclaimed.

"Over my dead-"

Jaune was cut short as Cardin kneed him in the gut, causing the blonde to drop his sword and fall to the ground in pain. The mace wielder raised his weapon and was about to slam it down on a defeated blonde just when the buzzer rang, the lights came back on, and Professor Goodwitch's voice causes him to stop.

"Cardin, that's enough!" She bellowed as he relented and walked away while she came onto the stage, tapping her tablet. "Students, as you can see, Mr. Arc's Aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament-styled duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle, and that the official may call the match."

While Jaune still laid on the floor in defeat, Pyrrha looked upset with the outcome. Glynda turned her head to look at the losing warrior as he pulled out a smaller tablet with his low, blinking stats and that of his entire team.

"Mr. Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your Scroll during combat. Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?" The professor lectured.

"Speak for yourself..." Cardin muttered from the sidelines.

Glynda turned to face the crowd of ambitious students in front of her. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away! It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale!"

Right after, the bell rang, getting students to start leaving while Pyrrha continued to frown sadly. Jaune, still sitting on the floor, hung his head low in shame.

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Timeskip

Teams CANA, RWBY, and JNPR sat at the same lunch table in the large, grand cafeteria that would be able to rival some North American churches in size.

"So! There we were, in the middle of the night..." Nora began her tale.

"It was day." Ren quickly corrected.

Nora leaned in to tell the three girls who sat in front of her a daring and inspiring story. "We were surrounded by Ursa..."

Yang and Courageous carefully listened to every word, believing every word while Blake was paying more attention to her book.

"They were Beowolves." Ren corrected again, a coffee mug in hand.

"Dozens of them!" She screamed as she stood at the table, where Weiss was ignoring Nora and filing her nails, Ruby, Pyrrha, and Oklahoma are listening politely, Jaune is messing with his food, and Valorous and Onwards are simply enjoying their meals.

"Two of 'em." Ren corrected once more.

"But they were no match... And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!" Nora happily exclaimed.