Chapter 28

"In short, the Vytal Festival is a gathering of the kingdoms every two years at a different kingdom." Glynda pointed to the map on the screen. "This is to promote goodwill and unity, the kingdoms come together to compete, and share culture."

'So, basically, it's like the Olympics...'

She stopped and looked around at the bored faces of the students before letting out a sigh. "However I can see that most of you seem to be focusing on only one aspect of the festival...the tournament."

"Yeah!" one of the students cheered, which was followed by whistles and laughter.

"Very well, instead of explaining things, perhaps a demonstration would be more appropriate. Can I have two volunteers for a combat demonstration?"

Jaune stole a look at Weiss who was busy filing her nails, before getting a confident look on his face. 'Gee, I just WONDER what's going on in his head...'

"I'll volunteer!" he happily said raising his hand and standing up.

"Jaune..." I whispered. "Trust me on this...sit down."

"Oh come on Aero, I'll be fine."

"Very well Mr. Arc, please come to the front. Now, is anyone else willing to be his opponent?"

Right on cue, Cardin wore a smug grin and raised his hand. "Sure, I don't mind being the opponent of our little Jauney boy." Upon hearing this, Jaune audibly gulped. Well, can't say I didn't try to warn you.

"Alright, the two of you should make your way up to the stage." Glynda stated, pushing a few buttons on her clipboard. "Now, when you're fighting, your performance will represent Vale. You will be watched by countless people from different kingdoms so I hope none of you have stage fright." There were a few chuckles from the crowd. As Jaune and Cardin reached the stage, the screen behind them lit up, with their names and pictures on it with a green bar behind them. "These bars here represent the total sum of aura the two combatants have. On my signal, the battle will commence."

"GO JAAAAAAAAUNE!" Nora cheered, cupping her hands as a megaphone startling the whole class. "Knock him into next week!"

Jaune turned to her giving a small wave when... "You may begin." Cardin rushed forward, checking the distracted Jaune with his shoulder.

"Guh!" I watched as he tumbled backward several feet before coming to a stop.

"BOOOOO!" Nora called from the stand, cupping her hands like a megaphone. "He wasn't looking!"

Cardin chuckled, standing there with his weapon resting on the ground as if he had all the time in the world. "Ugh...lucky shot!" Jaune quickly scrambled to his feet and charged in yelling and bringing his sword down. Cardin raised his weapon, easily catching the attack. With their weapons locked, he took a step forward, headbutting Jaune and then following it up with a body blow.

"Oh no you-kuh!"

Jaune had raised his sword to guard against the mace, but it blew right through his guard, inflicting damage anyway. "Come on!" Nora yelled. "You got this!" Jaune either didn't hear or chose to ignore her as he pushed forward, growing more frustrated, madly swinging his sword left and right which only seemed to amuse Cardin.

Nora took a break from cheering to sit next to me. "Come on Aero, I shouldn't be the only one cheering him on."

"It doesn't really make a difference, no matter what, Jaune's gonna lose."

"Oh...is this one of your psychic predictions?"

"Yep."

"Even still, Jaune's our teammate so we gotta cheer for him as loud as we can." she stood up, pulling me to my feet before flashing a goofy grin "And that goes DOUBLE for our team leader. So let er rip, let's hear those words of encouragement!"

She might have a point. I looked down at Jaune panting heavily, covered in bruises, with a frustrated look on his face. Even if I know the outcome, just sitting back and watching my teammate get pummeled without a single word of support...that's not the kind of person I want to be. Taking a deep breath, I shouted as loud as I could.

"HEEEEEEEEY!" Jaune flinched in surprise at the sudden racket, both he and Cardin froze before turning to me in the bleachers. "What are you doing Jaune, relax already! Take it slow and control the flow of battle remember?! Stop fighting to impress someone, you're better than that!" Jaune paused for a moment before his frustrated expression softened. Taking a deep breath, he nodded, turning back around to face Cardin.

"Mr. Cairn." Glynda said, adjusting her glasses and, glancing at me with irritation. "Would you and Ms. Valkyrie please refrain from disturbing the combatants any further?"

"Sorry." The two of us sat back down while the match continued.

"You know..." Nora said scrunching her face into a pout. "That wasn't exactly the words of encouragement I was expecting..."

"Haha, maybe, but I told him what he needed to hear, not what he wanted to hear." I pointed to the stage as Glynda signaled for the fight to continue. "Watch this next part." Nora fell quiet as the battle started, this time Jaune didn't rush in like before. Holding his shield in front of him, and his sword behind it poised to strike, he slowly advanced forward.

"What's the matter?" Cardin taunted with a wide grin. "Fear slowing you down?" Jaune's expression flared, and it looked like he was going to say something. However remained quiet, carefully advancing as to leave less of a gap. "In that case, why don't I put you out of your misery?!" Cardin charged forward, bringing his mace downward towards him. Jaune lowered his posture, parrying with his shield, putting his entire upper body into the parry, deflecting his enemy's weapon. "Wha?!" Cardin looked visibly shocked, not having time to react as Jaune took advantage of his deflected weapon to slash upwards at his shoulders. Right after striking, Jaune immediately stepped slightly out of range, taking a defensive posture with his shield once more.

Nora squeed, bouncing up and down in her seat. "Jaune totally got this!"

"Nah, he's still gonna lose."

"Wha!?"

Cardin brought a heavy attack towards our teammate in a feint before sweeping at his legs. Jaune raised his guard, only for the mace to pass right under it and knock him off of his feet. Attempting to end the fight early, Cardin brought the mace crashing down towards Jaune's head. Jaune barely avoided it, scrambling to his feet and taking a shaky defensive stance again.

Jaune's gotten a bit better at fighting in these last two weeks. Not enough to beat Cardin, but at the very least it's enough to make him take Jaune seriously, so that's a start. What I'm worried about however is the lack of Pyrrha. It'd be a little weird asking her to train me and Jaune when we're not on the same team as her. Especially since she's still dealing with her own team issues at the moment. Right now Jaune and I need to become stronger. At least enough so my team can reach the semi-finals of the tournament for my grand plan. I have the real Aero's combat journal, so I'm not TOO worried about myself, but Jaune needs a real instructor. Because when two amateurs spar, the best they can hope for is to become slightly better amateurs...

"Ooph..." Jaune staggered backward working to regain his footing as Cardin menacingly advanced with a sneer, his mace slung across his shoulder.

"Time to end this little joke!" Cardin snarled, bringing in his weapon from the side at Jaune's abdomen. Jaune managed to intercept the weapon with his sword. However, the force of it nearly made his knees buckle. With a battle cry, Jaune raised his sword up from a guard stance to slash at his enemy. Briefly taken by surprise at the unusual act, Cardin stepped back, Jaune's sword managing to slash him once more.

'Wow, not bad...'

Surprise flashed across Cardin's face before it was, immediately replaced by anger. With a roar, his mace sent Jaune's sword completely flying out of his hands this time, causing an explosion that sent Jaune into the air before he crumpled onto the ground. Not missing a beat, Cardin stood over him, anger on his face, the mace raised for the finishing blow, when a bright like flashed onto the two of them.

"Enough." Glynda strolled back onto the stage still looking at her clipboard. "You see class, in a tournament-style battle, the amount of aura reserved in the combatants is displayed on the monitors like so. When one's aura gauge falls into the red, it indicates they are no longer fit for battle." She turned back to the two of them. "You both did well for the demonstration. However, Cardin, I needn't remind you each kingdom will be watching you all as the face of Beacon. So I would expect you to have a good attitude about it, am I clear?"

Cardin for his part merely rolled his eyes. "Yeah sure, as clear as can be."

BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Alright, class dismissed."

Jaune gave a heavy sigh as the rest of the students shuffled out of the classroom. He looked up as I held a hand out to him. "Not bad Jaune, you did pretty well out there." Jaune took my hand, to his feet before dusting himself off.

"Not well enough to win though..."

"Meh, you shouldn't take this loss too hard. Honestly, I don't think I would've done much better against Cardin myself."

Jaune smiled for a moment before his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Wait a minute, did you warn me not to go up there because you knew that Cardin was gonna challenge me?"

"Well that depends, would you be mad if I did?"

"I guess not..."

"Then yes, I did know about that."

"Hurry up you two!" Nora yelled waving at us from the doorway of the class. "If we take too long they'll run out of strawberry milk and you'll have to get the regular kind."

Dropping my backpack, I immediately broke out into a sprint. "I'll go reserve our spots in line, can you put my stuff away?"