Honestly, I didn't think this arc was that bad for Volume 1. In fact Jaune was my favourite character when these episodes came out, so I was happy with them. I thought the last arc with the melodrama was way worse.

If he ever met whatever entity that decided to drag them out of the training room and force them to watch the future, Taiyang would give them the biggest hug he could muster.

Seriously, his life was good. Or will be good. Either way, he had – will – fathered – father – two of the most beautiful and flawless huntresses to grace the Gods' great Remnant. Also Raven Branwen was absolutely in love with him now. A wide grin reached his mouth before he could stop it as images of him and Raven together flooded his thoughts, tiding over every worry he had in life. He could just picture them going on dates in Vale together – they could go a restaurant with an ocean view with Summer and eat a fancy meal or worms if Raven had some serious bird genes and then run away because neither of them could afford it and get scolded by Summer and –

"Calm down Tai!" He slapped himself on the cheek, ignoring the confused stares of his team and teachers. His cheek stung where his palm had impacted.

Qrow snickered, the lights around them turning dim. "Lost your pebbles?"

"My what?"

"Your pebbles. It's a saying," Qrow explained.

"No, it isn't." Taiyang frowned. He was honestly worried about the mental state of his partner sometimes. Scratch that, all the time. "You should get your brain checked, Qrow. Make sure there's nothing wrong up there."

"Maybe you should get your pebbles checked."

"WHAT DOES THAT ME-"

"IT'S JAUNE TIME!" Summer suddenly screeched, flinging herself towards her team. She landed facedown, her legs on Taiyang's lap, her chest on Raven's lap, and an outstretched hand resting on Qrow's thigh. Qrow and Taiyang sat in stunned silence as Summer panted, blushing furiously. "Jaune is… is on…"

Sure enough, the vision had begun without the boys' noticing. They chuckled nervously and apologised to the small redhead before turning their attention to the screen. Satisfied, Summer started making her way back down Raven and Tai, but was quickly stopped by her partner's hand.

Raven scratched Summer's hair fondly, rolling their leader so she faced the screen. Her legs on Taiyang and her head now on Raven's lap, Summer rested on the two.

"Stay," Raven commanded, her voice steely yet warm.

"I'm the one who gives the commands," the leader retorted playfully. "…I'm staying here," she turned to Taiyang, probably sensing a smart comment coming – seriously, how did the girl know? – and added, "now be quiet and watch it!"

A panting Jaune and a fellow student stand facing each other on a stage. The student – Cardin – laughs arrogantly, his weapon hung over his shoulder.

"Come on," Jaune breathes, leaning on his sword for support. He yells, mustering up his strength to deliver a blow to his opponent – and misses. Cardin uses the opportunity to sweep Jaune off his feet with the mace, sending the blond flying.

"Come on Jaune!" Summer cheered.

Yelling, Jaune picks himself off the ground and charges towards Cardin. His strike is quickly intercepted by Cardin's mace. The two clash for a moment, Cardin clearly in the upper hand.

"This is the part where you lose," Cardin jeers.

"Over my dead-"

Jaune is cut off by a hard knee to his stomach and kneels, grunting. Cardin raises his mace above his head, grinning.

"Oh come on!" Taiyang scowled at the screen. "That's a dirt move."

"It's realistic though," Raven pointed out. "Our enemies aren't going to have much honour, are they? Combat should be about defeating your opponent, and emerging from the battle as the victor. If you were to lose such a battle like this, you were simply destined to lose, for – "

Summer pinched Raven's cheeks, squishing them together. "Raven, for the love of gods, shut up."

The buzzer sounds and the lights power off.

"Cardin, that's enough," Glynda says. "Students, as you can see Mr Arc's aura has now dropped into the red. In a tournament style duel, this would indicate that Jaune is no longer fit for battle and that the official may call the match. Mister Arc, it's been weeks now. Please try to refer to your scroll during combat."

"Glynda, come on, you don't have to call out the guy in public," Qrow said. Taiyang guessed that he felt for Jaune – he remembered how confused and out-of-place the twins had seem in their first year. Of course Taiyang had taken advantage of that (who wouldn't, the guy rubbed him the wrong way), but Qrow and Raven's teachers called them out what felt like every lesson because they were doing something wrong.

Qrow didn't even know what a scroll was when he first arrived.

Glynda sighed. "He needs to learn his lesson, Mr Branwen. The leader must always keep track of their team's auras, lest they be in danger during battle."

Taiyang leaned into his team, whispering, "do we use a scroll?"

"Not as much as I should," their leader confessed. "I just guess if anyone is low on aura. Raven will just keep at it no matter what I do." She paused for a moment. "Don't tell Ms Goodwitch, though."

The team nodded.

"Gauging your aura will help you to decide when it is appropriate to attack or when it is better to move to a more… defensive strategy," Glynda explains as Jaune looks down at his flashing aura on the scroll. "We wouldn't want you to be gobbled up by a Beowolf, now would we?"

"Speak for yourself…" Cardin says, walking off the stage.

Team STRQ exploded in anger, screaming and roaring at the screen, with the twins throwing some of the crudest insults Taiyang had ever heard at the boy on screen.

"…I have to somewhat agree with them, Glynda," Ozpin said. "That was, as the kids say, not cool."

"Remember everyone! The Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing!"

Taiyang's face lit up at the mention of the Vytal Festival. He had watched the festival religiously when he was younger, and the tournament was the highlight of his first year at Beacon. His teammates were grinning as well, fondly remembering their time last year.

"YES! We're getting to see another Vytal Festival!" Qrow cheered. "Our girls are gonna kick so much ass!"

"Remember that fireworks display? Oh, that'll be awesome to see again," Summer said, her eyes shining. "The tournament is the best part of the year. Hopefully none of them do anything to get themselves banned." She stared pointedly at Raven.

"Oh, please," Raven scoffed. "We were just banned from a noodle stall."

"YOU TRIED TO STEAL EVERYTHINH HE HAD."

"I WAS HUNGRY."

"YOU HAD LIEN ON YOU."

"I WAS SAVING IT."

"FOR WHAT?"

"…Better quality noodles?" Raven answered, uncertain.

Summer sighed, running her hands down her face. "Sometimes. Sometimes I really hate you."

"Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale."

The bell rings. Pyrrha looks at Jaune worryingly as he hangs his head low, ashamed.

The scene fades to black, as Nora begins to narrate. "So…" Her eyes appear on screen, narrowed. "There we were… in the middle of the night…"

"It was day," Ren corrected.

"We were surrounded by Ursai."

"They were Beowolves."

"DOZENS OF THEM!" Nora stands up.

"Two of 'em…"

"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!" she finishes boastfully.

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

Taiyang snorted.

"Jaune?" Pyrrha says cautiously. Jaune shifts the food on his plate sadly. "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" he says, as if he just noticed her. "Oh, yeah! Why?"

"He's so not fine," Summer sighed.

"It's just that you seem a little… not okay," Ruby says.

"Eh, guys, I'm fine… seriously, look!" He smiles and gives them a thumbs up, laughing nervously. Distant laughter distracts him to Cardin and his team bullying a faunus girl.

"Dickhead," Qrow said.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school," Pyrrha says.

"Who? Cardin Winchester?" Jaune asks, turning back to his partner. "Nah… he just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes!"

Ruby narrows her eyes. "He's a bully."

Jaune scoffs. "Oh please… name one time he's bullied me…"

The scene cuts to a montage of Cardin bullying Jaune, ending with him shoving Jaune into a rocket-propelled locker and typing in the six-digit code.

"They can do that in the future?" Taiyang whistled. "Niiiiice! Not what's happening to Jaune though, of course," he quickly added.

It cuts back to the cafeteria. "I didn't land far from the school…"

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help you can just ask…" Pyrrha says.

"Oh! We'll break his legs!" Nora suggests, grinning.

"…Go on," Raven urged, a sadistic smile on her face. Tai shuddered. His (future) girlfriend could be scary when she wanted to be.

"Guys, really, it's fine!" Jaune says, standing up with his tray. "Besides, it's not like he's only a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."

As if proving Jaune's point, the faunus girl shrieks in pain as Cardin pulls on her rabbit ears. "Ow, that hurts! Please, stop…"

"I told you it was real!" Cardin says.

"What a freak," Russel mocks, the team laughing.

"Professors, could you please suspend Cardin or give him detention?" Summer asked.

"Of course, Miss Rose," Glynda replied, shaking her head. "I can't believe this kind of discrimination is around even then. How disgusting."

Pyrrha turns back. "Atrocious. I can't stand people like him."

"He's not the only one," Blake says.

"It must be hard to be a Faunus," Yang adds.

"All these years later and yet there are people who still can't accept those who are different," Ozpin sighed. "I've been seeing this for far too long."

"And this is the future we're seeing, so we're getting another, what, 30 years of this shit? Bullshit," Qrow snarled.

The others in the room nodded in agreement.

Jaune sighs and walks away as Cardin stares at him, smirking, as the chapter fades to black.

"BOOOOO!" Taiyang yelled at the screen. "You stink, you one-dimensional Ursa dung!"

"Poor Jaune," Summer said. "His first real impression of Beacon is being bullied… how awful."

"I hope that Cardin kid gets what's coming to him," Qrow said, punching his fist against his palm. "Also, marbles."

The room turned to stare at Qrow, confused by his last word.

"What?" Taiyang asked.

"Marbles. I just remembered, I didn't mean pebbles, I mean marbles."

The other three members of the team tilted their heads, frowning in unison. "Huh?"

"Before. When we were talking. I was supposed to say pebbles, not marbles."

Summer shook her head, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, Qrow, we don't remember."

He sighed. "It's fine, Sum…"

"I remember, Mr Branwen," Ozpin spoke up, his tone almost proud. "I remember when you said pebbles instead of marbles."

Glynda placed her hand on Ozpin's shoulder worryingly, whispering in his ear.

"No, Glynda, I'm fine, I just need – ten hours – the machine was broke, Glynda!" the headmaster hissed. "No, I am not drinking that garbage from the teachers' lounge, I have taste!" He began trembling, his eyes wild and wide.

Taiyang glanced at his team, swallowing.

It looked like their professor was cracking.

Next time: Caffeine-deprived Ozpin POV. I've been waiting to do this ever since Players and Pieces.

Thank you all for all the supportive comments last update! They all made me very happy and I love you all so much~.

Also, I do have a discord. Just in case any of y'all want to add me, just PM me or leave a review about it or something. We can talk about RWBY or JJBA or anything, really!

I'm predicting that Vento Aureo will be confirmed this month, on the new JoJolion issue. Anime adaptations are always announced October.