Call Me V (being rewritten)

Part 5: Jaunedice

Combat Class with Professor Goodwitch was always a bit of a mixed bag. While sometimes it was fun and entertaining watching two of his fellow students spar, V sometimes got bored by a lack of spectacle in the fights on the stage. Case in point, the current match: Jaune vs. Cardin.

The former was bent over, holding himself up with his sword. Cardin was standing a distance away with his mace on his shoulder, grinning maliciously at his opponents exhaustion. Jaune raised his sword and charged at Cardin, but his swing was easily dodged by the larger student and he was struck on his shield by Cardin's mace. Jaune was sent flying by the blow, losing his shield in the process. The blonde knight recovered and went for an overhead swing. His strike once again failed to connect, this time because Cardin blocked it. The orange haired mace-wielded stood taller, making him tower over Jaune.

"This is the part where you lose," the larger teen growled.

"Over my dead—" Jaune was cut off by a knee to the gut, making him double over trying to catch his breath.

V sighed as Cardin wound up for a strike. Jaune clearly wasn't cut out for this kind of activity.

"Cardin's that's enough!" Professor Goodwitch stopped the match, "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," she turned to the fallen student, "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?"

"Speak for yourself..." Cardin grumbled, walking off stage.

"Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away!" Goodwitch announced to the excitement of the gathered students, "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!"

The bell rang, dismissing the students from the class.

Hopefully lunch today isn't Mystery Meat, V thought as they left.

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

"So there we were in the middle of the night!" Nora began her story.

"It was day," Ren corrected. Teams RWBY and JNPR, plus V, all sat together in he cafeteria. Nora was telling a grandiose tale to the assembled teens. Blake and V were reading together, Yang was very interested in the fantastical story Nora was telling, Ruby and Pyrrha were paying attention to be respectful, and Jaune was dejectedly picking at his food.

"We were surrounded by Ursai..."

"They were Beowolves."

"DOZENS OF THEM!"

"Two of 'em."

"But they were no match, and in the end, me and Ren made a buttload of Lien selling Ursa skin rugs!"

"She's been having this reoccurring dream for nearly a month now," Ren sighed.

"Jaune, you seem uncharacteristically quiet. Is something wrong?" V closed his book and looked to the leader of JNPR.

"Huh? What?" Jaune snapped out of his stupor at the sound of his name, "Nothing's wrong. I'm okay!"

"Well you seem a little...not okay," Ruby replied.

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look!" Jaune faked a smile and thumbs up. Across the cafeteria, they saw Team CRDL surrounding a girl who was a rabbit Faunus and mocking her.