Ch 60: Jaunedice (1)

*Hah hah ugh* Jaune panted as he stood on shaky legs on the arena stage, using his sword as a walking cane while trying to catch his breath.

*Hehe* On the stage with him, Cardin stood relaxed with his mace resting comfortably on his shoulder and a dismissive smirk on his face.

"Hah hah, come on, hah. HHHRRRRAAAAAAAA!!" Jaune rallied himself and stumble charged towards Cardin. With a huge overhead swing, he brought his sword down towards his nonchalant opponent. Barely even glancing at Jaune's desperate attempt at an attack, Cardin dodged with a small sidestep. Wide-eyed, Jaune turns around and is greeted with the rapidly expanding sight of Cardin's mace just before it slammed into his face sending him flying across the arena in one direction and his shield in another. After bouncing across the ground a couple of times, Jaune rolls back to his feet and regains his footing.

"HHHRRRRAAAAAAA!!!" Mustering all of his remaining energy, Jaune gripped his sword with both hands and put all his weight behind one last overhand chop. Holding his mace horizontally, Cardin catches Jaune's attack. The two struggle with their weapons locked for a brief moment before Cardin starts using his superior height, weight, and strength to push Jaune back and loom over the poor blond wannabe hero.

*RAH!* "This is the part where you lose." Cardin growled as he forced Jaune's sword back till it was almost resting on his shoulder.

"Over my dead- *gah*" Jaune's rebuttal was cut short by Cardin's knee driving into his gut. Jaune's eyes dilated into pinpoints from the blow, and he dropped his sword to grasp his stomach as he crumpled to the ground, curled up like a shrimp. As Jaune laid there helpless in the dirt, his mouth working like a fish out of water, he looked up. Cardin was towering over him, a cruel smile on his face, with his mace raised high above his head prepared to deliver the coup de grâce.

*Buzzzz* "Enough!" Ray's authoritative voice rang out as a buzzer signaling the end of the duel sounded. Cardin faltered at the sound of his voice just as he was beginning his downward swing, his eyes dilated in fear, and he stumbled back a few steps. He was still more than a little traumatized after the detention he had endured under Ray the day after their first hell training almost five weeks ago. Ray had had him clean all the toilets and bathrooms in Beacon Academy for his detention. A harsh punishment, but not a traumatizing one. At least if it hadn't been for the fact that Ray had required him to do it all under +100% gravity, and he would deliver an 'encouraging' jolt of 'motivation' if Cardin ever tried to stop or missed a spot. The experience from having his head dunked into a toilet bowl because his arms and waist suddenly gave out on him while cleaning it was something he would not soon forget. Ray had even 'motivated' him to stop slacking off while Cardin was trying to pull his head out of the water, but had done nothing else to help the drowning young man. It had taken him eight long agonizing hours to complete his task, and he hadn't been able to step into a bathroom without turning pale since. He never wanted to go through something like that again.

"Mr. Arc, while your skills may have improved over the past few weeks, your fighting style is still reckless and short-sighted. And remember," Glynda sauntered up between the two boys, tapping on her tablet scroll. On the screen above the arena, the two's Aura levels were highlighted to emphasize that Cardin's Aura was still full, while Jaune's was down to the red. "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. Learning how to judge the situation and adapt in the middle of combat is an important part of becoming a capable Huntsman." Jaune pulled out his scroll from his back pocket to look at a screen showing his portrait with a red, blinking health bar beneath it and his teammate's portraits with accompanying health bars below that.

Ray sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in mild frustration as Pyrrha watched Jaune climb to his feet with a sad look on her face. They both had been trying to help Jaune improve, inside and outside of class, but he wasn't willing to accept additional help yet. Ray had decided to wait till Jaune hit rock bottom before offering his assistance again after Jaune had told him point-blank that he didn't want any 'special treatment', but Pyrrha hadn't given up on the stubborn dreamer yet.

"We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?" Glynda gently admonished the young man as he walked shamefully back to his seat.

"Speak for yourself." Cardin scoffed, but his words were covered by the ringing of the bell signaling the end of class, and nobody heard him. Ever since Jaune had gotten out of sparring in their second sparring class by avoiding being picked, Cardin and his team had been challenging him at the end of every sparring class.

As all the students scrambled to collect their things, Glynda called out a last reminder to all of them, "Remember, students, the 40th Vytal Festival is being hosted at Beacon this year! At the end of this semester, students from the other kingdoms will start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing! Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament next semester will be representing all of Vale!"

At Glynda's announcement, the volume of discussions increased among the students as they all began talking about what their plans were for the festival in 3 months. The Vytal Festival is an international festival to celebrate the ending of the Great War 80 years ago. It is held every two years in one of the Kingdoms of Remnant, with the hosting Kingdom rotating each year. During the festival, the world's various cultures are brought together and celebrated with dances, parades, and a combat tournament. The combat tournament is a significant and beloved part of the festival and is open to all students studying at any of the four Huntsman Academies. Though, traditionally only first and second year students compete as third and fourth year students typically have missions to attend to, including providing security for the event, and it has become considered to be bad form for seniors who have gone through the tournament before, or worse failed to qualify previously, to bully their juniors by participating.

Yang couldn't help but throw a few practice punches as the thought of fighting with some of the best Huntsmen and Huntresses of her generation made her blood boil. Next to her, even Weiss was struggling to maintain her lady-like disposition as her hands shook with excitement and her face almost split in two from her smile. Of course, next to Ruby, her minor actions looked very restrained and poised. Ruby was squealing and wiggling and shaking her whole body from being unable to properly convey the excitement bubbling up inside of her in simple words and feeling the need to try and use her entire body to express herself. Everyone was excited for the festival and their chance to participate in the tournament and win glory and honor for themselves and their school. Except Jaune.

As everyone's attention had been absorbed by thoughts of the Vytal Festival and tournament, nobody paid attention to the blond-haired young man who was the first to leave the arena. Except Pyrrha. As he trudged out the door, Pyrrha ran after him to try and talk to him about the fight he had just had. Her attempts to help just made Jaune hang his head lower and walk faster, ashamed of his lack of ability.