I don't own RWBY or Bioshock, they belong to their respective owners. ENJOY!

Chapter 15

Impromptu Dates and Cardin's Clarity

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Ruby shouted over the excitement that encompassed the fairgrounds. Her exclamation was followed by a lunge at Jaune and Nora which soon turned into a tight hug. Both recipients of Ruby's gesture felt no surprise nor did they turn away.

"Thanks, Ruby." Jaune said with a chuckle as he and Nora were released from the hug. Jaune looked up and saw that Ruby's team wasn't far behind.

"Hey guys!" Nora hollered with a wave.

"Hey yourself." Yang said as she high fived the bubbly bomber. "Great work out there."

"It definitely could have been better," Ren spoke with a somewhat bitter tone, "But I won't argue with the end result."

Jaune made a mental note to talk to Ren sooner rather than later.

"That was certainly something though," Blake said. "Are you okay, Nora? That cheap shot to the head wasn't easy to watch."

Jaune refrained from showing any emotion as he recalled the sudden and unwelcomed memory of Nora being sprawled across the pavement. He folded his arms and gave Nora a worried look.

"I won't lie and say it didn't hurt," Nora started with a furrowed brow. "But I'm okay. What matters is that we won and we're moving on to the next round." Nora said with an optimistic tone as she put her hands on her hips.

"I agree," Weiss spoke up and earned Nora's attention. "You did really well out there, Nora. All of you did. Congratulations."

Jaune and Nora were puzzled to say the least, but Jaune broke their daze by stepping forward.

"Well, we could have been better as a unit," Jaune started. "You guys had more team attacks. We were kind of all over the place." He turned his attention to Weiss. "You and Ruby worked together really well. Would it be too much to ask for some tips in the future?"

Weiss gave the blonde knight a puzzled look that he and Nora shared moments to go while he gave her a gentle smile in return.

"Perhaps," Weiss replied as she shifted her weight to her left leg. "But, only after the tournament. There's no way we'd give you an edge right now." the heiress gestured to his hands. "Especially after seeing what you can do."

Her remark caught the attention of the rest of his friends as all eyes turned to him. Despite the sudden attention, he didn't feel pressured nor uncomfortable with the topic at hand. It was nothing like before and Jaune couldn't tell if he preferred it the other way with how new the feeling felt so unknown to him.

"Yeah," Nora spoke up. "I remember you used the lighting before."

"Also, the one power you used on Maximus, you used on me once." Pyrrha said, not with prying suspicion, but simply stated a fact.

"Wait," Yang interjected. "When was that?"

"A while ago," Jaune said. "Not too important." Jaune squirmed under the suspicious eye of team RWBY's brawler.

"We can't forget the crows at the mess hall." Ren said in order to stay on topic. "Other than that, I don't recall anything else."

"Well…" Jaune started as he looked at his friends who all yearned for an explanation.

"Jaune?!" the blonde knight in question perked up not at the sudden mention of his name, but at the voice who called out for him.

Jaunes instincts hadn't dulled during their time apart as he turned around and immediately spotted Elizabeth in the crowd due to her crisp white shirt with red fringes giving her the contrast she needed to stand out. Cardin was close behind her clad in khaki cargo pants and a black long sleeve shirt. Jaune couldn't resist the urge to smile as well as wave to them.

"Hey guys." Jaune said as Cardin and Elizabeth approached. Jaune held out his hand for Cardin to shake.

"Congrats man." Cardin said. "Had me worried there for a sec," Cardin started as he grasped Jaune's hand and pulled him in for a quick and strong embrace.

Jaune reciprocated with a chuckle and slapped his friend's shoulder with comradery. "Well, what matters is that we won," Jaune said before he rolled his shoulders and put his hands on his hips. "When do you fight?"

"Soon," Cardin said. "In an hour and a half, I'm up against team CRME."

"Emerald's team?" Ruby asked. "I thought they already went."

"They were supposed to, but their opposing team dropped out of the tournament. One of them had a family emergency I think." Cardin said as he rubbed his chin. "Coincidently enough, the leader of the team I was supposed to fight got food poisoning and is out for the day. So, they decided to pit us against each other."

"I'll definitely be there." Jaune reassured. Cardin only nodded with thanks.

"Congratulations, Jaune." Jaune's attention was turned to the woman who caught his attention in the first place and he aimed his neck slightly downward to meet her gaze.

"Thanks, Elizabeth." Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head.

"I should be saying that to all of you." Elizabeth said as she broke away from Jaune's gaze and faced Jaune's team as well as team RWBY. "I'm sorry, did I interrupt?" Elizabeth smile turned sheepish as she backed away a bit at the several stares sent her way.

"Jaune was just telling us about his semblance." Blake mentioned to Elizabeth and Cardin.

"Semblance?" Cardin asked with confusion.

"Come now, Winchester," Weiss said with a scowl. "You were watching the fight too. His semblance carried the entire match."

"I wouldn't say that," Jaune said. "Everyone had a part in the victory." Jaune looked back at his team with nothing but truth in his eyes. Nora smiled back at him while Ren nodded. Pyrrha on the other hand, looked more conflicted than anything. She tried to speak up before Cardin snapped his fingers with realization.

"You mean the Vigors?" Cardin asked which threw everyone for a loop.

"Vigors?" Ruby asked with furrowed brows.

"Yeah," Cardin said. "Right before the Breach, Jaune and I got into a fight and his hands caught on fire." Cardin couldn't help but feel amused at the subtle shocked reactions he received. He glanced up at Jaune who had a small smirk on his face which caused Cardin to chuckle. "Afterwards, when we cooled down, he told me they were called Vigors." he turned to Jaune for reassurance. "How many did you have, again?"

Jaune cupped the back of his neck and let out a breath. "Eight." he said.

"Eight?!" Yang exclaimed with bewilderment. Jaune looked around to see the rest of his friends with the same reaction sans Ruby who was more confused, and Cardin who already heard the news.

"Yeah." Jaune said. He lowered his hand and put it on its hip. "Back in Columbia, they had these drinks called Vigors, each one has a different purpose, as you all saw back there. Some were used as maintenance for the city while others were strictly for Columbia's law enforcement."

"And you just so happen to stumble upon eight of them?" Blake asked with more skepticism.

"He gradually drank more of them during our time there." Elizabeth chimed in as she gave Jaune a wink.

"I was at a disadvantage most of the time," Jaune said after giving Elizabeth a thankful nod. "So, the Vigors really helped in a pinch."

"Just like during the match," Nora said before she playfully slapped Jaune's shoulder. "Thanks for the little pick-me-up back there."

"Pick-me-up?" Pyrrha asked.

"She's talking about the Shock Jockey." Jaune clarified.

"You used the Shock Jockey on Nora?" Elizabeth asked with raised eyebrows.

"Nora's semblance allows her to absorb electricity and use it to make her stronger." Jaune said to Elizabeth and couldn't help but smile at how wide her eyes were.

"Why couldn't she have come to Columbia?" Elizabeth said jokingly to which Jaune rolled his eyes.

"So that's what the lightning's called?" Nora asked.

Jaune turned his attention toward his teammate and nodded. "Yup. They all have different names. Possession, Devil's Kiss, Murder of Crows, Bucking Bronco, Shock Jockey, Ram, Undertow, and Return to Sender." Jaune finished as he counted the Vigors on his fingers. "I used most of them during the fight just now."

"So those… Vigors, weren't your semblance?" Blake asked as she tilted her head with curiosity.

"Nope." Jaune said with a shrug and a smile. "I still don't know what it is."

There was a pause between all of them as Jaune's friends looked at one another. It was quite a bit of information for all of them and if they were being honest with themselves, they didn't know what to think of it. If all those powers weren't his semblance, then what exactly were they?

"I don't suppose you have any extra Vigors lying around?" Cardin asked with a chuckle. "I could definitely use one given who I'm going up against."

"I think you'll be fine. Given everything we prepped for if either one of us went up against that team." Jaune said as he jovially slapped Cardin's back. "Speaking of your fight, you should go get ready. That armor must be a pain to put on."

"Yeah." Cardin said before his gaze shifted to Pyrrha. "It would be less of one if it wasn't getting banged up all the time." Cardin felt a wave of satisfaction as Pyrrha looked away in embarrassment.

"Well then you better get moving." Jaune nodded in the direction of the colosseum and smirked at Cardin's urgent nod before he turned on his heel and took off. Jaune chuckled a bit before turning to the rest of his friends and gave them a friendly smile. "I'm going to go get some good seats, any of you want to come?"

"I'm actually going to go back to our room." Ren said as he brushed passed Jaune with no hint of any emotion. Jaune would be lying if he didn't say he was shocked, but the blonde knight kept face as his teammate disappeared into the crowd.

"I'll see what's up." Nora said as she placed her hand on Jaune's shoulder for a moment as well as giving him a reassuring glance. "Do you want to come with, Pyrrha?" Nora shifted her gaze to the champion who looked conflicted to say the least.

"I think… some rest would do me good right now." Pyrrha said before she nodded and followed Nora's lead.

Before Jaune knew it, his team had left him to the mercy of the fairgrounds. It was off-putting to say the least, but Jaune tried his best to remain optimistic and turned to team RWBY. "Do any of you want to come with?" Jaune could already see their answers as Ruby almost looked guilty and avoided eye contact with him for a moment.

"We actually planned on spending some time around here." Ruby said almost apologetically.

"It's been a while since we've had some down time as a team, and Yang wanted to try out the carnival games." Blake said with a polite tone. Weiss remained quiet and Yang gave her fellow blonde a comforting smile.

"We'll definitely see the fight on the scroll feed though." Yang said before they all backed up and headed into the massive crowd. "Tell Cardin we wish him luck." Yang and Ruby gave him one last friendly wave before the four of them disappeared in the crowd. The moment everyone was gone, Jaune looked down and let out a short breath.

"Why didn't you tell him when he was here?" Jaune asked to himself before he looked up and hardened his resolve.

"Probably because they still don't like him to some degree." Elizabeth abruptly said and she couldn't help but smirk at Jaune's surprise. "You forgot I was here for a moment, didn't you?"

Jaune paused for a moment before his wide eyes relaxed and put his hands on his hips. "Guilty." Jaune said with some shame before shaking his head and taking another downcast breath.

"That was hard to watch." Elizabeth said as she folded her arms beneath her bosom and looked to Jaune. "Are you okay?" she asked with genuine concern.

"Yeah," Jaune said as the stinging sensation of everyone bailing washed over him. "I'll be fine."

Elizabeth gave him a reassuring grin before she shifted her weight from her left side to her right. "Anyways, you're still going to see him fight, right?"

"Absolutely." Jaune said with a nod.

"Got any room for a plus one?" She asked with a sweet and simple smile. Jaune's toes curled with sudden frustration as they both knew he couldn't resist and it somewhat killed him inside.

"Sure." Jaune said as he turned toward the direction of the bullhead docks. "Cardin's going to need all the support he can get." he was about to head toward the docks before a hand grasped his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

"His fight starts in over an hour, right?" Elizabeth asked as she held him still.

"Yeah," Jaune said with a furrowed brow. "But the airships only take off and land in half hour intervals."

"And one just landed," Elizabeth replied as she let go of Jaune. "We don't have to go right away, you know." Elizabeth broke her gaze from Jaune and looked at the exuberant carnival that was happening all around her. "I've never been to a fair before, and we have some time to kill, so…"

Jaune stared blankly at Elizabeth as he knew exactly what she was doing. Part of him knew how awkward it could be for him, but he took a breath and nodded. "We'll look around for a bit, then we head up to Amity Arena. Sounds good?" Jaune asked as he put his hands on his hips and looked around to see where they should go.

"Yes!" Elizabeth said as her eyes lit up and a smile rose upon her face. "Of course!" before Jaune knew it, Elizabeth's head was on a swivel as she looked all around her. "What to do first? What to do? Those games look fun, or what about a ride? Oh, the food looks so delicious too!"

Jaune looked on at his companion for a few moments and couldn't help but reminisce in her enthusiastic wonder, yet he wouldn't show it as he pointed to a vendor. "Have you had a hot dog yet?" Jaune asked, earning Elizabeth's attention. "That vendor over there sells some really good ones."

"Well, c'mon then!" Elizabeth said with enthusiasm as she grabbed Jaune's hand and pulled him in the direction of the hot dogs. The moment of initial contact made Jaune want to reel back, but his shoulders relaxed as Elizabeth practically dragged him through the fairgrounds.

"Hot dogs! Get your fresh hot dogs here!" Jaune perked up just a bit as he heard the vendor call out to the numerous crowds that came and went. The man was fairly tall and definitely benefited from the summer as he sported a nice tan. He wore a green T-shirt and Khaki cargo shorts, but what stood out to Jaune were the wolf ears that poked out of his messy black hair.

"Excuse me," Elizabeth said, earning the faunus' attention. "I'd like to buy one."

"Of course, Miss!" the vendor said with joy as he brandished his tongs and pulled out a fresh hot dog from the grill behind him before placing it in a soft bun. "That will be two lien please." The man's smile grew as Elizabeth gave him the required amount and in return, he gave her the hot dog. "Condiments are to your left and I hope you enjoy!"

"Thank you so much." Elizabeth said as she walked over to the side where the condiments were.

"And how about you, Sir?" The vendor asked Jaune before he turned his attention toward the blonde. "I'm sure you're hungry fo-!" the man stopped dead in his tracks as he looked on at Jaune with wide eyes.

"Um," Jaune said as he rose an eyebrow at the sudden silence. "Is everything okay?"

"Jaune?" the wolf faunus asked as his lower jaw trembled. "Jaune Arc?" the vendor clarified.

Jaune narrowed his eyes. "Who wants to know?" Jaune asked with an edge that caught Elizabeth's attention.

"Jaune, it's me, William!" the man said with joy as he vaulted over the small foldable table that divided him from Jaune. "William Blanche!"

"Uh…" Jaune trailed for a moment as his mind raced in order to remember who this happy person before him was and how he knew him.

"You were the one we found at The Breach!" both men turned their attention to Elizabeth who had wide eyes and was pointing at the man with one hand while holding her hot dog in the other. "You and your family, the two boys, right?"

Realization flashed over the man's face as he remembered Elizabeth was present as well. "Holy shit! You were there too! I can't believe this!" William said as he put his hands atop his head in disbelief. "HAHAHA! This is amazing!"

Jaune snapped his fingers and smiled as he remembered the time they met. "Of course! Damn, I'm sorry for not remembering sooner."

William waved him off, yet still had his smile plastered upon his face. "It's no worry. That was a pretty intense day for everyone. I understand."

"How is your family?" Elizabeth asked. "Are they okay after what happened?"

"My boys, Joseph and Nick were a little shaken up after everything settled down, but things got better as the weeks passed by. Meryl's doing great too. She's taking the kids around the fairgrounds at the moment." William said as he put his hands on his hips before he turned to Jaune. "They were able to see your fight at the colosseum while I saw it on my scroll. Meryl said it blew the kid's minds."

"Thanks," Jaune said while he bashfully scratched the back of his head.

"Nick and Joseph both want to be Huntsmen now," William said with a proud smile. "After everything with The Breach and your fight, I'm not surprised. Meryl isn't completely on board with the idea and I'm a little worried as well."

"I'm just guessing here," Elizabeth said as she giggled a bit. "But I think you're more exited at the idea."

William rose an eyebrow at the sudden giggling that emitted from Elizabeth. "What's so funny, Miss…" he trailed off, expecting her name.

"Elizabeth," she said as she stifled her laughter. "And I'm sorry, but…" she smiled as she pointed to William's tail that was wagging frantically.

"Ah." William said with a laugh of his own. "Damn thing always gives me away. It's why I never play Poker."

"I'm glad to hear that's what they want to be," Jaune said and decided to end that topic then and there before he looked up and let out a low whistle. "Is this your booth?" Jaune asked, gaining both William and Elizabeth's attention. "Looks like you have a good setup here."

"Yeah," William said with a cheerful nod. "I'm the one of the cooks at a restaurant that my wife and I own in Vale. I come out here to earn some extra cash when the opportunity presents itself."

"I'll have to stop by sometime." Elizabeth said in between bites as she was munching on her hot dog. "This is delicious!"

"Have another on the house!" William said as he vaulted back over the small table and picked up two more hot dogs from the grill. "You too, Jaune."

"C'mon man," Jaune said as he reached for his wallet. "It wouldn't be fair to everyone else."

"Everyone else didn't save my family and I during The Breach reach." William said as he placed the two hot dogs in their respective buns and handed them to Jaune and Elizabeth. "But if you really want to pay me back," William said as he rubbed his chin and smiled at the two. "How about a picture?"

"Sure." Elizabeth said happily as she took another bite.

"I don't see why not." Jaune said before he nodded.

"Awesome!" William said as he pulled out his scroll and opened the camera setting. He set the camera so that it was facing him and he held the camera up high to get Jaune and Elizabeth in the frame as well. "Alright you two, say William's Hot Dogs!"

"William's Hot Dogs!" Jaune and Elizabeth said at the same time and smiled, to which William took a few pictures.

"Thank you both so much." William said as he immediately sent the pictures to his wife. "Meryl and the boys are going to love this."

"It's no problem at all." Jaune said as he took a bite from his complementary hot dog. "Wow… that's really tasty."

"I'm glad you like it," William said with unadulterated cheer. The cheer soon faltered much to Jaune's confusion as he looked on to see William's smile had fallen. "In all seriousness, if it wasn't for you two, I'd probably wouldn't be here today or even worse, my family." William said softly while scratching one of his wolf ears. "So, thank you; both of you for what you did."

Jaune remained silent at William's words and failed to say anything. He tried to say something, but every reply that came to his head sounded too dismissive or even condescending. All Jaune could do was remain silent as Elizabeth took a step forward and gave William a smile.

"Jaune was the one who did the heavy lifting, but all that really matters is that you and your family are safe. I mean, that's why Jaune wanted to be a Huntsman; to protect people." Elizabeth looked to him and looked at him with what felt like pride. "Right?"

"Right." Jaune said with an almost knee-jerk reaction.

"I still don't know if I could even begin to repay you." William said.

"How about a free hot dog every once and a while as well as you enjoying the festival," Jaune offered with a huff of amusement. "Sound like a deal?"

William's attitude went from somber, to baffled, and back to cheer as his enthusiasm returned. "Sounds good! You two enjoy as well!"

"Thanks," Jaune said as he took a step back and took a second to look around. "We'll leave you to it then." Jaune smiled at the man as he waved him goodbye and began to walk away.

"Have a good day!" Elizabeth called out as she waved as well. It took her a few moments to finish her food, but she eventually finished and caught up to Jaune's side. "That was a pleasant surprise," she said while nudging Jaune.

"I hate to say it," Jaune said as he rubbed his neck and looked down with shame. "But I completely forgot about them."

"That was a rough day for a lot of people, Jaune." Elizabeth said with reassurance in her voice. Concern showed itself within Elizabeth once again as Jaune fell silent while they wandered aimlessly through the fairgrounds. Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when Jaune looked at her.

"I mean," Jaune said with an apparent lack of confidence. "My father was the one who took them to the safe zone."

"William definitely doesn't see it that way," Elizabeth retorted without a second of hesitation. Jaune could see her cheerful demeanor had soured a bit at the mention of Alexander. "Neither do I."

Jaune was slightly unnerved by the venom within Elizabeth's voice as she referred to Alexander and his mind went blank for a moment. He desperately looked for the right answer to say, but his mind came up empty as the two succumbed to silence while the festivities all around them were almost deafening.

Jaune perked up seconds later as he heard sharp bangs that sounded almost like gunfire and noticed there was a shooting game not too far from the two of them. Jaune tilted his head a bit with curiosity as he saw a group of people leave the booth, making the game available to play. He turned to Elizabeth whose gaze was straight and rigid.

"Hey," Jaune said as he stopped the two of them. Elizabeth was about to ask him why they stopped, but he got her attention by nudging his head in the direction of the shooting game. "Want to play?" he asked with a new-found confidence.

"You sure?" Elizabeth asked as she folded her arms and gave him a skeptical look. "I don't think I'll be any good."

"You're just saying that because you've never shot a gun before." Jaune retorted with a smirk and grasped her hand. "C'mon, I'm sure you'll like it." Jaune didn't let her respond as he began to walk toward his intended destination. He was a little nervous at how he didn't give her much of a choice, but the unease soon subsided as Elizabeth caught up to his right side with a grin upon her face.

"Just don't rub it in when you mop the floor with me."

"No promises," Jaune said and chuckled at Elizabeth's aghast reaction. He walked up to the person in charge of the booth and waved to the short man. "How much for a game?"

"Ten lien for the both of you," the man said with a nasally tone, to which Jaune nodded and handed the man the required amount. "Alright, you see that star at the end of the range?" he asked Jaune and Elizabeth and they noticed the two small cards that were about fifteen feet ahead of them. "You get a hundred BBs to shoot the star until nothing is left. Take out the entire star and you win a prize." he pointed up to the numerous prizes. The small man turned on his heel and made sure he was clear of either of their sights. "Alright, fire when ready."

Jaune looked up at the rows of prizes and his eyes widened for a moment before a sly grin appeared on his face. "Oh yeah, I'm going to win this." Jaune said as he rose his BB rifle and with a slow breath, he squeezed the trigger. Jaune was no fool when it came to these games and instead of aiming right at the star, he aimed around it and after a few controlled bursts, the star fell off in a sloppy, but complete circle.

"Well damn." the owner of the booth said with wide eyes before looking at Jaune. He eyed the blonde knight before narrowing his gaze at him. "You one of the guys fighting in the tournament?"

"Maybe." Jaune said with a cheeky grin as he set his BB gun down. He couldn't help but revel in the frustration the owner showed on his face before he shook his head.

"Damn Huntsmen," the man said before he looked back at Jaune. "Once she's done, you can choose your prize."

"Will do." Jaune said with mirth that just pissed the guy off even more.

"Son of a-!" Jaune turned his attention toward the sudden outburst from Elizabeth. "Come on, I was aiming right there!" she continued with a frustrated growl as she aimed her weapon once more. Jaune looked at Elizabeth's target and succeeded in keeping a straight face. Her card was peppered with holes, but only a few reached the edge of the star. Elizabeth fired off a prolonged burst of BBs at her target, only for a few to hit close to her target.

"Dammit," Elizabeth grumbled as she set her gun down, knowing all too well she wasn't even close to winning a prize.

"Better luck next time, Miss." the short man said with an almost machine-like tempo, as if he had said that over and over again.

"You did good for your first time," Jaune said with a friendly smile and chuckled when he saw Elizabeth roll her eyes at him.

"How did you do?" she asked while she shifted her weight to her left hip and rose an eyebrow at him. Her eyes narrowed further as Jaune's smile never left his face.

"That one," Jaune said as he pointed up to one of the prizes that were strung across the top of the booth. "That one right there." Jaune clarified as the short owner grabbed his ladder and reached for one of the prizes.

"Oh, come on!" Elizabeth said with disbelief as Jaune received his prize, which was a fairly large plush of Pumpkin Pete. It was as wide as Jaune and it reached up to his shoulders, but what pissed off Elizabeth even more, was the stagnant look of frozen happiness upon the damn bunny's face.

"I'd say I did a little better than you." Jaune said with optimism apparent in his voice.

"I hate you."

"Hey, I'll trade my shooting skills for your tears any day of the week." Jaune said as he lifted the arms of the stuffed animal up and made the motion of opening a tear. "Or maybe your lockpicking skills?" Jaune followed by making Pumpkin Pete act out the motion of picking locks.

"Hardy har," Elizabeth said as her words dripped with sarcasm. "I'm pretty sure mine was rigged anyway."

"You're really going to use that excuse?" Jaune asked as he tilted his head to the side before setting his prize on the table and pulled out his wallet once more. "Tell you what, you can use the gun I used." Jaune waved over to the owner and held out five lien. "One more game for my friend here, please?"

"Sounds good," the owner said as he swiped the money from Jaune and replaced Jaune's card with a new one. "You know the rules." he said before clearing the range and nodded for Elizabeth to start shooting.

"Fine," Elizabeth said as she begrudgingly lifted the BB gun and fired a few rounds at her target, only for her to miss completely. "Son of a bitch!" she shouted.

"Hey, hey!" Jaune said as he put his hands up an attempt to calm Elizabeth down. "There are children present. You don't want to be responsible for their new vocabulary." Jaune joked and couldn't help but revel in her frustrated glare aimed right at him. "Would you like me to help you out?"

"Fine," Elizabeth grumbled as she aimed once more at her target.

"Alright, that's pretty good," Jaune said as he circled Elizabeth and assessed her stance. "Are you lining up your sights?"

"Yes." was the only reply he got as he could feel the edge within her voice.

"Both of them? Your front and rear sight?"

There was a pause between the two of them before Elizabeth shifted the rifle a bit all while grumbling. "Yes." she finally said.

"Good," Jaune said with a shit-eating grin. He continued to look at her positioning and sighed a bit.

"Elizabeth," Jaune said as he placed his hands on her shoulders, "You need to relax a bit, but keep the stock close and tight against your right shoulder. You don't want the thing flying out of your hands."

"It's a BB gun, Jaune." Elizabeth said flatly.

"You want my help or not?"

Elizabeth looked away for a moment before she reluctantly nodded.

"Okay, so treat it like it's a real one," Jaune said as he pointed to her target. "Take the shot when you run out of breath."

"Run out of breath?" Elizabeth asked.

"When you exhale and run out of breath. Imagine when your lungs are empty. Don't hold it in," Jaune said. "When you do that, slowly squeeze the trigger when you feel like you're ready. Jerking it back won't do you any good." Jaune said while he stood behind her. Although, he would be lying if he said his heart wasn't racing at how close she was to him, yet he didn't really understand why.

Elizabeth paused for a moment as she took slow breaths and squeezed the trigger when she exhaled. A flurry of BBs erupted from the barrel of her gun and her shots were much closer to the center of the star.

"See?" Jaune exclaimed as he gestured to her handiwork. "You got the hang of it." he soon stepped back as she nodded and proceeded to shoot her target some more.

A minute passed until she ran out of ammunition. The owner took the card and handed it to Elizabeth. "You were close, but there were a few spots you missed."

"Dang it." Elizabeth said as she took the card and looked at it with a mixture of frustration and pride. "I guess joke's on me for getting my hopes up, huh?" she looked up from her card and turned to Jaune, only to see the face of Pumpkin Pete only a few inches away from hers. "Eep!" she yelped before jumping back a bit.

"Self-deprecation doesn't look good on you, Elizabeth," Jaune said as he held his prize close to his chest and gave her a shit eating grin. Before she could give him a frustrated retort, he held out the prize to her. "Here, it's yours."

Elizabeth's eyes widened at the sudden offer before she looked at the blonde knight. "Jaune, you won that."

"And you improved greatly after shooting for the first time," Jaune retorted as he shook the Pumpkin Pete plush up and down. "I'd say you earned it."

"Jaune," Elizabeth said as she grabbed the surprisingly heavy plush with both hands. "Thank you." she gave him a soft smile while Jaune chuckled.

"Also seeing you mad was a reward in itself," Jaune said with a mischievous grin.

"You're the worst," Elizabeth said as she playfully slapped his shoulder with the stuff animal's arm. The two walked away from the booth and proceeded further into the fairgrounds "Were you this good with a gun before we met?" she asked as she examined her new prize.

"Not at all," Jaune said as he scratched the back of his head. "I told you before, I hadn't even shot a gun until I arrived to Columbia."

"Then how were you able to do that?" Elizabeth gestured to the booth that was now behind them and Jaune shrugged his shoulders.

"A month of non-stop practice?" Jaune said with doubt in his voice. "I mean, I sometimes use a trick when I'm struggling." Jaune said as he rubbed his chin.

"And that is?" Elizabeth asked.

Jaune chuckled before he shook his head. "I picture my dad's face and I can't seem to miss." he said with another shrug and smiled at Elizabeth.

"I should give that a shot," Elizabeth said as she smiled and nudged Jaune again with the Pumpkin Pete prize.

Jaune couldn't help but groan at the pun. "First Yang, now you." Jaune place his hand atop his forehead and took a deep breath. He focused his attention on Elizabeth gazed at her curiously, "And by giving it a shot, do you mean picturing your father, or mine?"

"I'll try both and tell you which one works more." Elizabeth said with cheer that unsettled Jaune for just a moment.

"Attention everyone!" both Elizabeth and Jaune perked up at the sudden voice of Doctor Oobleck that came from the countless speakers all across the festival. "The next fight in the tournament will begin in about forty-five minutes, if you would like to see it in person, I suggest making your way to the docks now. Other than that, I hope you all have a good day."

"Huh," Jaune said as he looked to Elizabeth. "Want to try and beat the crowd?"

"Sure," Elizabeth replied as she hoisted her big plush prize up and followed Jaune to the docks. "Are you excited to see his fight?"

"Of course," Jaune replied with a smile that soon faltered, "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried."

"You don't like his chances?" Elizabeth asked as she matched his pace.

"No." Jaune said as his gaze hardened at the thought of Cardin's opponents. "I don't trust who he's up against." his gaze turned sour as they continued onward. "His relationship with his team doesn't help him in the slightest either, but I do have faith he'll win."

"He mentioned that before," Elizabeth said with the same distaste Jaune shared. "It's a little sad."

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked.

"You saved his life in the… Emerald Forest?" Elizabeth asked. Jaune could see the uncertainty written all over her face which caused him to chuckle.

"Forever Fall." Jaune clarified. "Close though."

"Right." Elizabeth said before she and Jaune arrived at the Bullhead docks and began to wait in line. She rocked back and forth on her heels while looking at her prize. "You risked your life to save his."

"What's so sad about that?" Jaune asked as he leaned against one of the railings that lead to an airship.

"He returned the favor not too long ago and it feels like nobody wants to remember it." Elizabeth said. "It's like no body can even process what he did and they're just ignoring him now." Elizabeth's frustrated tone was apparent to Jaune as he fell silent. She was right and the proof showed its ugly face not too ago.

"Huh." Jaune said before there was a pause between the two of them. They stayed there as the airship was coming closer with each passing second and neither knew what to really say next.

"I mean," Jaune said as he gazed at Elizabeth. "He has us. That has to mean something, right?"

"You aren't wrong." Elizabeth said. "I may not have known him long, but I'm glad I have; especially after what he did for both you and I during The Breach."

"Likewise." Jaune said and the two shared a smile before their attention shifted to the airship that had just landed and opened its doors to let the passengers it was holding to exit.

"I'm guessing this is how you felt about Columbia at first?" Elizabeth asked.

"Hm?" Jaune rose an eyebrow as he gave Elizabeth a quizzical gaze. "What do you mean?"

"Being in a different world," Elizabeth clarified. "I've been here for almost a month now and Remnant never ceases to amaze me. I mean look at that," Elizabeth gestured to the airship. "It would have taken any of Columbia's airships more than a half hour to land, refuel, board, and take off again. Yet this takes what, ten minutes? Fifteen at most?" her gaze turned to Jaune with excitement evident in her eyes. "Even the little things like how small portions of ice dust are used in ice cream parlors or being able to find a specific book in a library within a matter of seconds," she looked at her Pumpkin Pete plush and couldn't help but smile. "It never ceases to amaze me."

"Yeah." Jaune said as his focus shifted to boarding the airship and finding seats for the two of them. "I understand."

"Did you ever have any of those moments when you were in Columbia?" Elizabeth asked as she set her prize down next to her before the two of them sat down along a bench with their backs toward one of the many windows.

Jaune closed his eyes as he thought back on any times similar to what Elizabeth experienced, and despite all the horrible memories scurrying across the surface of his memory, his lips curved upward into a smile.

"Using the Skyhook for the first time comes to mind." Jaune said as he looked at Elizabeth.

"That was quite exhilarating." Elizabeth matched Jaune's small smile and tilted her head. "Anything else?"

"The carnival games I played before the raffle were fun," Jaune said before he winced. "Oh man, I never realized how bad they were until just now."

"What were they? I wasn't with you then." Elizabeth asked with curiosity intertwined within her words.

"They were mostly anti Vox Populi games." Jaune morbidly chuckled at another thought that crossed his mind. "You got a bonus if you shot the target of Daisy Fitzroy."

"Really?" Elizabeth asked with bewilderment.

Jaune nodded. "Oh yeah. Looking back on it, parts of the carnival were pretty messed up."

"Huh." Elizabeth said as she looked down and placed her hands over her lap. "Daisy Fitzroy…" she fell silent and Jaune knew exactly what she was thinking in those brief moments. Her hands balling up into fists gave it away for the blonde knight.

"Meeting you was high point." Jaune said abruptly.

"Hm?" Elizabeth asked as if she didn't hear anything he had just said.

Jaune blinked and cleared his throat to hide the blush that warmed his cheeks. "I said walking around the boardwalk with you was a high point." Jaune said as he met Elizabeth's gaze. "The music, the dancing, choosing the bird over the cage when the twins offered the two pendants to you."

Elizabeth was silent for a moment as she fiddled with the bird pendent "I forgot how fun that was." Elizabeth said softly.

Their attention was ripped away from their conversation as they both jumped at the sudden thrust of the airships engines and before they knew it, they were off the ground.

"Still haven't gotten really used to that." Elizabeth said as she took a slow breath and relaxed in her seat.

"The airships in Columbia can't be too different, can they?" Jaune asked as he relaxed as well.

"You were there too, you tell me." Elizabeth retorted with a satisfied smile upon her face.

Jaune couldn't help but frown and rub the back of his neck. "You got me there."

Elizabeth nodded and folded her arms. She snickered at Jaune for a moment before her smile fell as well as her gaze.

"Do you think he even stands a chance?"

"You mean Cardin?" Jaune asked for clarification as he leaned forward to see Elizabeth's concerned gaze.

"Yeah." Elizabeth said as she nodded. "I know it's all friendly competition, but I don't know, something about the team he's up against rubs me the wrong way."

"Welcome to the club." Jaune said as he placed his right thumb under his chin. "Cardin and I both have our concerns. But we planned for them just in case."

"Wait," Elizabeth said with a quizzical gaze. "What do you mean by plan?"

"We didn't just train and talk about you, Elizabeth." Jaune said with folded arms and a sly smirk. "We knew one of us would have to face them in order to win, so we prepared for them."

"What does Cardin have planned?" Elizabeth asked. "Is he planning on cheating?"

"Nope," Jaune said. "We had his new… arsenal registered before the due date, so his weapons are within legal bounds." he paused for a moment before looking down. "It won't make it an easy fight though." he said as the two fell silent for a moment. Jaune took advantage of the silence and thought back on his interactions with Cinder's team and he couldn't help but let out a short snort of laughter.

"What's up?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't think I told you I fought Mercury not too long ago. He's the guy with the silver hair." Jaune said as he stifled his laughter.

"Is his hair naturally that color, or does your world have some sort of product that makes hair different?" Elizabeth tilted her head in confusion.

"I don't know about him, but there are hair products that let people change up their style." Jaune clarified as he looked up to recollect what he experienced during his fight with mercury. "It was the first fight I used the skyhook Ruby made me."

"That was quite the weapon," Elizabeth said as she playfully nudged Jaune's left arm. "Although, I don't think it would work well on the sky rails."

"Good thing Vale isn't a flying city." Jaune playfully said before he focused his train of thought on Mercury. "He sticks to using his legs in combat and tops it off with gun boots."

"Wait, gun boots?"

"I don't know the technical term, but I know he has weapons on his boots." Jaune said as he couldn't help but snicker at Elizabeth's blank stare aimed at him. "Hey, I didn't invent them." Jaune continued as he put his hands up in a surrendering gesture.

Elizabeth responded by closing her eyes and letting out a long sigh. "Did you at least win?"

"Nope." Jaune responded and reveled in Elizabeth's wide eyes. "He threw me out of bounds."

"From the short time I've talked to him, he sounds like the type of person to do that." Elizabeth said.

Jaune's eyebrows rose at that sudden bit of information. "When did you talk to him?" Jaune did his best not to act concerned, but even with the short time they spent apart from each other, Elizabeth knew better.

"Jealousy isn't a good look on you Jaune." Elizabeth said with a playful tone before giggling at Jaune's sudden shift in mood.

"Never said I was jealous." Jaune grumbled as he broke eye contact with Elizabeth and looked down at his feet.

"You never needed to say it." Elizabeth said before she shifted in her seat and looked behind her to see the entirety of the kingdom of Vale. "He stopped by the library a few times when everyone came back to Beacon and picked up some books for his team." Elizabeth let out a huff of amusement and folded her arms. "He didn't look too happy about it either."

"Was it just that, or did he try to talk to you?" Jaune asked almost urgently.

"My, my," Elizabeth's gazes shifted from the view and back to Jaune. "Aren't we eager to know."

"Just answer my question, Elizabeth." Jaune said with hints of frustration in his voice. "Please."

Elizabeth paused for a moment and broke eye contact with Jaune and closed her eyes. "From what I can recall, he asked me where a few books were, two were from the fiction section, and one was a book on mechanical engineering."

It was Jaune's turn to be amused as he rose an eyebrow. "For someone who helps out a lot of students during the day, you sure do have a good memory."

"I don't like him either, Jaune." Elizabeth said and Jaune's posture became rigid at the sudden serious tone in her voice. "You didn't see him and his team when you were trapped down in the tunnel." Jaune looked down at Elizabeth's hands and noticed that they had a tight grip on each other. "It was only for a moment, but they looked almost smug as to what was happening." Elizabeth looked up from her lap and over at an electronic advertisement that showed profile pictures of Cardin and his team going up against team CRME "I don't like the idea of those type of people fighting our friend."

"Me neither." Jaune said as he looked on at the advertisement as well and he would have been lying if he said he didn't feel a surge of anger when he saw Cinder's smug face. "But Cardin and I have both been training for this. We knew we would most likely end up fighting one or all of them, so we prepared for this." Jaune leaned back and put his hands in his pockets. "All we can do right now is trust Cardin to win and never trust Cinder or her lapdogs ever. I'd even recommend never talking to them again."

Elizabeth's downtrodden gaze shifted to playfully suspicious as she eyed Jaune, "Team CRME altogether? Or just Mercury?"

"You know what I mean." Jaune grumbled.

"Do I?" Elizabeth asked before giggling at Jaune's dismay.

Jaune looked away from Elizabeth with a grumble and folded his arms. His gaze shifted seamlessly to the view behind him and he couldn't help but marvel at the view before him. The sun was waning into sunset and the amber glow the sunshine had on the clouds was something to behold.

"It's really beautiful," Elizabeth said. "Remnant, I mean."

Jaune nodded at her remark. "Columbia had some amazing views as well."

"Well, it would have been better if we weren't getting shot at the entire time."

"Remnant isn't perfect either." Jaune replied. "You have power crazed prophets and bloodthirsty extremists; I have creatures of darkness and terrorist organizations."

"Touché," Elizabeth said as she turned away from the view while Jaune continued to look on. Jaune's eyes gazed upon the elaborate details of each cloud and the countless warm colors that swirled into a breathtaking melting pot of color.

His attention was ripped from the beauty before him as he saw a black dot dive in and out of the clouds and his eyebrows furrowed at the sight. Jaune's breathing shortened a bit as his gaze narrowed at the small blip of movement before him. The dot swooped up and down within the warm clouds and after a few moments of tracing it's movements, the dot disappeared beneath the clouds.

"Huh," Jaune said as his shoulders began to relax. "I wonder what that was."

"Hm?" Elizabeth looked over to Jaune and noticed his focused gaze. "What's going on?" she asked.

"Just saw something." Jaune said as he continued to eye the area where the dot plummeted. "It's probably no-!" Jaune was cut off as the dot emerged from the clouds, but it was much closer to the airship.

"Woah!" Elizabeth said as she looked with both amazement and fear. "That's a big Nevermore." her gaze focused on the Grimm with more intrigue than anything. Its black wings flapped with a smooth motion and any trace of ferocity was not notable as it was focused on a different destination entirely.

"I've read a bit about them," Elizabeth continued as she saw the Nevermore fly away. "But I've never seen one in flight." She turned back around in her seat. "That was interesting to say the least, right Jaune?"

Any and all pleasantness in her demeanor were wiped away as she was only met with silence. "Jaune?" she asked as she turned to her friend and noticed his focus was still fixated on the Nevermore. She could see Jaune's breathing was slow, but short and his jaw was clenched tightly. "Jaune, are you okay?" she asked as she put her left hand on his shoulder.

He was startled at the moment of contact, but soon calmed down at the sight of Elizabeth. "Sorry," he said quickly as he looked away from her. "Thought I saw something else."

"What did you see?" she asked as she looked back in the direction of the Nevermore. "I mean, it was a pretty big Grimm, but were safe within Vale's bord-!"

"Are you sure you shut that tear?" Jaune suddenly asked. "The one during The Breach?"

Elizabeth was stunned at the sudden question and wanted to scoff at first, but the moment she locked eyes with Jaune, she could see the raw fear she saw that day when they all saw Songbird through the tear. His terrified screams rang in the back of her head while she sat there.

"Yes." Elizabeth said gently, but carried a serious tone. "I'm sure, Jaune. He can't hurt you."

"Okay," Jaune said as he nodded before he propped his elbows up on his knees and rested his head in his palms.

"You thought you saw him?" Elizabeth asked. She was met with a minute of silence before Jaune nodded once again.

Before Elizabeth could say anything else, they both looked up as they felt the sudden pressure of the airship landing and before they could react, the passengers stood up and waited for the doors to open.

"Thank God," Jaune said as he stood up and joined the crowd that began to exit the airship.

Elizabeth stood up soon after and followed Jaune's lead as the two of them exited the platform. Once they were clear and in the open lobby of the colosseum, Jaune paused and looked at Elizabeth.

"I'm sorry," Jaune said as he shamefully scratched the back of his head. "For what just happened."

"It's okay, Jaune," Elizabeth said as her lips rose into a relieved smile. "I understand." There was a pause between the two of them before Elizabeth's curiosity got the better of her. "Has that happened before?" she asked.

Jaune nodded before quickly glancing at her. "A couple of times."

"When?" she asked. Jaune refused to look at her, but he could tell from the sound of her voice that she was sincere with her question. Jaune felt as if it was the polar opposite of how Pyrrha would question him.

"One happened during my match in the tournament. When Nora got hit in the head." Jaune explained. He looked back at Elizabeth and could see her concern grow by the second. "It didn't involve Songbird, but it wasn't pretty." Jaune fell silent after, not wanting to go further.

"Okay." Elizabeth said as she took a step closer to him. "Do you still want to see Cardin's match?"

Jaune nodded and without a moment of hesitation, Elizabeth wrapped one of her arms around her Pumpkin Pete plush and used the other to wrap around Jaune's right arm. The two walked toward the stadium that was beginning to fill with people and Jaune could feel the snug grip Elizabeth had around his arm. While her grip wasn't loose at all, it wasn't too tight either and the speed of which she walked matched his as well and he couldn't help but feel his tense shoulders ease up a bit.

"I don't think I said this yet," Elizabeth said as she quickly glanced up at Jaune before looking forward. "But you were amazing out there." she nudged her head toward the arena as the two of them arrived at the stadium. "So was the rest of your team."

"Thanks," Jaune said before he led Elizabeth down the stairs to the front row seats. He looked back and noticed her confusion. "Participants of the tournament get good seats, considering none of my team is present, I'm sure you can join."

"Cardin and I sat up a bit higher during your fight." Elizabeth commented as she looked for the seat she had not too long ago.

"Probably because he didn't want to be with his team," Jaune commented with an almost sour expression before they took their seats.

"These are much more comfortable," Elizabeth said with pleasant surprise before she set the plush down. Her satisfaction turned to concern when she saw that Jaune's expression hadn't changed. "Is his team going to be an issue when the fight starts?" she asked.

"I really don't know about that." Jaune said as he rubbed his chin and eyed the arena. "I hope he wins. It would be disappointing if I didn't get to face off against him at least once."

Elizabeth said nothing as she looked at Jaune. He was definitely nervous for his friend, but there was an excitement within him that couldn't be contained. Elizabeth looked back to the arena and wondered how much time and effort her two friends put into training for this.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Jaune and Elizabeth blinked at the sudden voice of Oobleck that overcame the arena. "If we could have your attention please, the match will begin shortly, we ask that you all take your seats now before we begin."

"You know," Elizabeth said before she tilted her head and folded her arms. "You rarely talked about your professors when we were in Columbia. If I knew about Doctor Oobleck when I arrived here, I would have sought him out sooner."

"Have you talked to him since The Breach?" Jaune asked. The blonde leaned back and relaxed a bit more in his seat.

"Not much, but he has made it clear he wants to talk to me about your time away from Remnant." Elizabeth said before she looked to Jaune with some concern. "Can I trust him?" she asked.

Jaune had no need to look back on the times Oobleck had helped him and supported him as he nodded with assertion.

"Yes." Jaune said. "He's a good man."

"That's a relief." Elizabeth said with a sigh of relief. "Not too many of those…anywhere really."

"You definitely are onto something, Elizabeth." Jaune chuckled before he focused his gaze on the arena.

"Jaune? Liz?" a voice called out that sparked confusion within both of them, but more within Jaune as he had never really heard Elizabeth been called that before.

The two in question looked to their left to see Team CFVY standing before them with Coco in front. Jaune looked to the others and saw Velvet wave at them while Yatsuhashi and Fox gave friendly nods and smiles.

"Coco!" Elizabeth said with cheer as she got up from her seat and gave the huntress in training a quick hug. Jaune didn't react to the friendliness, but it didn't go unnoticed either. "How are you?"

"Good and ready to see some action." the huntress in training said before she stretched her arms and sat in the empty seat next to Elizabeth. "How about yourself,"

"Not too bad," Elizabeth replied. "I saw Jaune's fight and met up with him at the fairgrounds not too long ago. We decided to watch Cardin's match."

"Congratulations on winning, Jaune," Jaune perked up at the deep voice of Yatsuhashi, who he and Fox gave him a thumbs up. "The fight looked like a difficult one from here, but we're happy you won."

"Thanks, you guys," Jaune said and reciprocated the gesture by giving them a thumbs up as well. "I'm not gonna lie, I'm surprised to see you all here at Cardin's fight."

Coco tilted her head down and made Jaune sure she was making eye contact with him. "Believe me, Jaune," Coco said with apparent dread. "It wasn't my idea."

"Then whose idea was it?" Elizabeth asked.

"Ours, actually." Fox said as he gestured to Yatsuhashi and Velvet. "Velvet wanted to see the fight and Yatsu and I agreed with her."

"It was three against one and my word isn't law for our team." Coco said as she folded her arms. "Pity too."

"Coco," Yatsuhashi said with a stern tone. "Remember what we talked about."

"Yeah, yeah." Coco said as she waved her hand dismissively. "I just hope they mop up Winchester quickly."

"I don't think it's going to be that easy for them," Jaune interjected with some bite of his own. "We trained together for the duration of the break and if what I experienced is anything to go by. An easy win for Team CRME couldn't be farther from the truth."

"Whatever you say, Jaune," Coco said dismissively, much to everyone's dismay. "If it makes Velvet happy to see her boo win, then I'm not going to complain any further."

"Coco, I talked to you about this," Velvet said with an almost piercing gaze. "From what I've seen, he's changing for the better. That doesn't mean anything else."

Jaune and Elizabeth were both surprised at how sour the faunus' mood became and decided to stay quiet. The rising volume in the massive crowd soon drowned out any stray thoughts as everyone's focus was aimed at the center of the arena.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Port jovially spoke through his microphone and out to the crowd. "It is time for the third match of the day!" cheers and whoops echoed around the entire stadium in response, causing Port to chuckle.

"This fight will between Team CRME," Oobleck announced before taking a theatric pause. "Led by Cinder Fall!" the crowd gave an adequate cheer at the four students who emerged from their tunnel.

Jaune couldn't help but glare at the four of them. One of them was a complete unknown to him. Her pitch-black hair was up in twin tails as well and her monochromatic outfit were a new sight to see, but she wasn't his greatest concern. He eyed Emerald and Mercury for a few moments and gritted his teeth at their smug faces, but he let them be for now as his focus shifted to Cinder, who was clad in a tan vest, bandages around her midsection and chest, and green pants. She was also staring right back at him.

It was off putting for Jaune to say the least, but he refused to let her see any reaction from him. There was uncertainty within the blonde knight as he wondered if she was looking at him and no one else, but that notion was thrown out the window when he held up his left hand and waved at her, only for her to wave back. It was odd to say the least and the constant churning of his stomach wasn't helping his demeanor at all. Cinder's smirk taunted him for what seemed like an eternity before her focus shifted elsewhere and Jaune noticed that she and her team were getting ready to fight.

"Versus Team CRDL," Oobleck continued once the cheering died down just a bit. "Led by Cardin Winchester!" respectable cheers were made, but Jaune and Elizabeth were the outliers as they both stood up and cheered their friend on. Jaune's gaze zeroed in on Cardin and the blonde couldn't help but feel respect for the man as he stood confidently and waved towards the crowd.

Jaune let out a loud and sharp whistle that barely caught Cardin's attention, but once Cardin looked at him, Jaune gave him a strong thumbs up. "You got this, Cardin!" Jaune shouted over the crowd with a confident smile.

"You can do it!" Elizabeth followed with a hearty cheer before clapping for her friend.

Cardin smirked at Jaune and Elizabeth's antics and gave them a confident nod before his focus shifted to Cinder. Jaune took the opportunity to sit back down before clapping a few more times.

"The stages have been set!" Port said as the big screen above the center of the arena showed two environments. Within mere moments, Team CRME's side the basic arena shifted into a jungle setting that was lined with trees laced with countless vines, while Team CRDL's side consisted of a vast plain with grass that stretched above their heads. "Are both team's ready?" Port asked and both teams sans Cardin got into their fighting positions. "Alright, Three! Two! One! Begin!"

The moment Port's words boomed over the arena; Cardin's team was already sprinting towards their opponents. Dust rounds were exchanged between the two teams, but Dove, Sky, and Russel refused to let up on their pressure as the three of them had made it over into CRME's territory. Cinder and her team had opted to take cover behind the trees and the dynamic foliage of the vines as well as the low branches gave them optimal cover.

This was the advantage Cinder needed as she and the rest of her team waited for Dove to exhaust his ammunition. The three huntsmen in training made an admirable effort to flush out their enemies, but it was over for them the second they stepped foot in team CRME's domain.

Jaune winced as he got a full view of the slaughter that transpired before his eyes. Emerald made the right move to climb up one of the trees while Russel was laying down suppressing fire and when the time was right, Emerald's chain sickles found themselves around Russel's neck and she proceeded to hoist the poor student up into the foliage. Jaune didn't need to see what happened next as Russel's aura quickly drained into the red before he fell out of the tree completely unconscious.

"Team CRME has taken the lead with the quick and dare I say vicious defeat of Russel Thrush" Port said as the crowd winced at what they could only imagine what happened in the jungle canopy.

Jaune couldn't help but smirk at the winced look Elizabeth had toward CRDL's first defeat. He turned back to the fight at hand and saw that Sky was next on the chopping block as he was desperately attempting to get a hit on Mercury, who was effortlessly dodging every strike Sky threw at him.

"Damn, I hate to be dealing with that," Jaune said as he folded his arms.

"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked with a curious drive. "Sky seems to have more reach with his weapon, how's that unfavorable?"

"Watch." Jaune said as he gestured to the match at hand and as if on cue, Sky attempted to maneuver his Halberd by spinning it over his head, only for his weapon to be snagged on a stray vine. Sky's body jerked forward in response and Mercury took advantage of the situation to the fullest as he closed the space between the two of them and landed a spinning hook kick to Sky's jaw. While Mercury's powerful strike Cut Sky's aura in half, the finishing blow was when Mercury charged at Sky and landed a powerful forward kick on his sternum that sent Sky out of bounds.

"And another victory for Team CRME by ring out!" Oobleck commentated. "Things aren't looking good for Team CRDL."

"Can't agree with you more, Bart," Port replied. "Although I can't help but wonder what CRDL's leader is up to."

Port's comment was the cause for Jaune to look over at his friend to see him down on one knee. Confusion overtook everyone sans Jaune as they looked on to see that Cardin's eyes were closed and both his hands were stacked atop the pommel of his weapon, The Executioner, which balanced perfectly on the arena floor. Emerald's dust rounds would occasionally pass by him or ricochet off his armor, but Cardin remained completely still.

"What does that idiot think he's doing?" Coco said with almost disbelief as she looked on at the abysmal fight before her. "He's just letting his team get creamed out there."

"There not his team." Jaune commented which earned the attention of all of Team CFVY. "There only a team by name and nothing more."

"Do you know what he's doing?" Fox asked as he was more confused than anything. Velvet's giving me a play by play here, but I don't really see why Cardin's acting like that." Fox soon grumbled at his unintentional pun, much to Coco and Elizabeth's amusement.

"At this point, none of us can see what Cardin's up to." Coco quipped as she leaned back in her chair.

"Do you really know what he's doing?" Elizabeth asked Jaune with enough concern in her voice for Jaune to notice.

"He's taking inventory of what he has while preparing to attack." Jaune said, much to everyone's confusion. He kept his gaze fixated on the fight or more accurately, on Cardin.

"And in a matter of minutes, Cardin Winchester is the only combatant remaining on team CRDL," Jaune perked up at Oobleck's voice and looked at the arena where Emerald and the black haired girl had just finished off Dove with a vicious clothesline attack that was repeated in slow motion on the big screen. Jaune winced at the excruciating detail of Emeralds sweep kick, only to be followed by a ferocious stomp on behalf of her teammate.

"Mr. Winchester may be at a disadvantage, but I still have hope that there is more to this match than we think." Oobleck said with a reassuring tone and Jaune wanted to desperately believe him as he saw Cinder and her team slowly closed in on Cardin's position like hungry pack of hungry Beowolves.

Elizabeth's heart raced with anticipation as Cinder and her lapdogs drew ever closer to her friend and her heartrate only escalated as Cinder stood right in front of Cardin. In some ways, it looked as if he was a servant kneeling before her, which gave Elizabeth an unsettling feeling in his stomach. The suspense had everyone at the edge of their seats as Cinder lifted her leg up to stomp Cardin's face.

"Here we go," Jaune said calmly as he smiled at the sight before him.

"What is he doing?!" Elizabeth asked almost frantically as she looked on at the immediate slaughter.

"About to exploit most of their weaknesses." Jaune calmly replied.

"Which are?!"

Jaune glanced at her and smiled. "Dust."

#

'Gotcha, Bitch.' Cardin thought as he pressed down on the pommel of The Executioner and tilted it right at Cinder. Cinder nor any of her teammates could react in time as the fire dust crystal within Cardin's mace ignited beneath them. He let go of his mace and aimed right at Cinder, who didn't have any opportunity to dodge as it rocketed right into her chest and sent the opposing leader across the arena.

Cardin stood his ground and shielded himself from the sudden blast before his eyes darted to his other opponents. He smiled at the shock he had over them and turned on his heel before he dove into the massive field behind him.

"What a stunning counter on Mr. Winchester's part!" Cardin could hear Port's voice boom over him as he smirked at the sudden cheer that erupted within the crowd. He wasn't a betting man, but he would bet everything he had that Jaune was the one leading the cheering. A short huff of amusement escaped him before he took a breath and focused once more.

Time slowed to a crawl for Cardin as he remained crouched and far within the field while he listened for any type of movement. His opponents weren't like his teammates, they didn't rush in after him, but took their time as he could softly hear three pairs of footsteps creep through the field. Cardin slowly inhaled through his nose and softly out his mouth. If he was to keep an edge in the fight ahead, he couldn't panic for even a second. He needed be the one in control for his plan to work. The Winchester knew he would probably be pitted against Cinder and her team at some point, and he came prepared. His gear he spent weeks on was tailored specifically to fight them, but victory hinged on his ability to stay calm.

Cardin's focus shifted as the heavier footsteps grew a bit louder and he turned to his right. While he couldn't see his target, he took another breath and pinpointed exactly where they were. He remained low to the ground as he inched forward and heard the footsteps only grow closer. While caution reigned in any and all aggression within Cardin, he couldn't help but feel confident as the two other pairs of footsteps faded out of his hearing.

Cardin slowed down to a halt as he could see his prey through the thin strands of tall grass and grinned at the confusion and frustration that practically radiated off of Mercury. His pacing was slow and steady, which was to be expected, but what caught Cardin's attention was how heavy his steps sounded despite fighting with a speed that outmatched him.

'He's leagues above me in speed. Dammit they all are.' Cardin thought while he remained still and held his composure. Mercury was only a few feet away and walked right past him, much to Cardin's relief.

'That only leaves one option.' Cardin ceased all thought as he pulled a device that resembled a detonator from his belt lunged from his position with hardly any sound and used the element of surprise to land a powerful left hook right at Mercury's temple. Cardin's aura quaked under the intense strength of his strike, but the Winchester refused to let up as he barreled forward and grasped Mercury in a tight embrace. There was no room for Mercury to even knee his opponent as Cardin closed his eyes and pressed the button on top of the detonator.

"NRRRRRRGGH!" Mercury convulsed as his eyes nearly bulged right out of their sockets all while unrelenting currents of electricity rocketed through him. His body convulsed and contorted in rigid motions as Cardin refused to let go. Saliva spewed from Mercury's mouth as he was able to unhinged his clenched Jaw and felt his kneecaps begin to burn. "AAAAAGH!" Mercury screamed as the snapping of metal echoed around the two of them and sparks emitted from his legs, much to Cardin's shock.

Thankfully, Cardin's shock only lasted a mere moment as he got up to his feet and grasped Mercury by his collar. With an almost primal growl, Cardin took a strong stride forward and used his momentum to hurl a legless Mercury out from the field as well as out of the ring, much to the crowd's horrified surprise.

"It appears Mr. Winchester is slowly gaining a lead on Team CRME with the elimination of Mercury Black by low aura and ring out!" Port boomed with exuberant surprise. The crowd's horror soon subsided as they cheered in response to the sudden turn of events. Cardin remained low and quiet, knowing he wasn't even close to finishing the fight.

"While a bit on the conniving side by electrifying his armor like that," Port said "It worked out for the young man in the end, I just wonder if he knew that his opponent had prosthetic legs to begin with."

"Either way, Bart," Oobleck replied with a chuckle. "It was clever to weaponize his armor, and I'm sure we are all relieved to see that Mr. Black's biggest concern will be his repair bill and not something much… messier."

"Prosthetics huh?" Cardin said as he eyed the fried device that gave him the win. He knew it was a one-time deal when he had the lightning dust embedded in his armor in the first place. Still, he thanked whatever deity out there for the under armor that prevented any harm in his risky attack.

"That explains some thi-WOAH!" Cardin wasn't able to finish his sentence as green blade swiped right above his head and sliced his cover in half.

The armored student turned his gaze toward the source of the attack and saw a very angry Emerald Sustrai readying for another sweep attack. Cardin's eyes widened, yet he said nothing as he scrambled to his feet and bolted from his position toward the center of the arena.

His actions proved fruitless as he was halted in his tracks due to the sudden image of a foot invading his peripheral vision. Cardin did his best to dodge, but he still felt an adequate amount of power come from the surprise kick as his vision blurred for a second. With another breath, Cardin focused and found himself face to face with the woman responsible for the surprise attack who was a much shorter than he was. If he was to guess, the monochromatic imp met him at his midsection.

'Small, quick, and hard to hit,' Cardin thought as he inhaled from his nose and slowly out of his mouth, 'Alright. Just need to…. Wait, what?" Cardin paused for a moment as he blinked a couple times at his opponent whose colors began to flash differently. Cardin said nothing, but her hair flashed from a complete pitch black, to a combination of brown and pink.

Relentless confusion flooded his mind as he looked at his short opponent, but it was replaced by a sharp fear as he realized she wasn't his only opponent a moment too late. Cold chains found themselves around Cardin's neck and with a sudden jerk, he was pulled back, yet not brought to the ground as intended as he gripped the chains with both hands and put up an adequate amount of resistance.

Shorty decided to give Emerald the push she needed to get Cardin on his knees as she rushed toward the Winchester and readied her foot for a forward kick. Cardin answered her advance in kind as he took a large stride forward and felt the chains around his neck slack just enough for him to let him release his left hand from the grip it had on the chains.

With his left arm free for just a moment, Cardin quickly leaned to the right and barely dodged her forward kick. He used his little opponent's forward momentum against her as he wrapped his left arm around her thin leg and seized the opportunity to release his right hand from Emerald's chains by grasping his enemy by the front of her shirt.

GRRGGLLLERRRRRAAAAGGGGH!" Cardin ignored the crushing pain around his throat for a few moments as he roared and lifted the little huntress in training over him before he hurled her towards Emerald. Cardin felt satisfaction rise within him as he saw the fear flash across Emerald's face due to the fact that she couldn't move much if she wanted to keep her grip on him.

"AGH!" Emerald cried out as Shorty collided with her with a devastating force and releasing Cardin from her crushing grasp.

Cardin gasped for air as he fell to one knee and placed his right hand on the arena floor while his left was on his neck. Despite the aching need for rest, Cardin looked up to see his two opponents were recovering from his retaliation and he decided not to take the chance to take them both out when they were down and focused on running toward the jungle environment. The prospect was tempting, but he had to stick to the plan.

Cardin's heartbeat pounded rapidly in his chest and all the way up to the back of his head as he ran deeper and deeper into the jungle. "C'mon," Cardin said in between breaths. "Just a little more." Cardin gritted his teeth and pushed further until he found himself in a circular clearing that was devoid of any vines. The canopy gave him cover, but his muscles couldn't help but tense up at how out in the open he was.

Cardin took the opportunity to reach into his back pouch and found the first part of his plan to get rid of Shorty and smiled. He pulled out the small moderately small capsule that had a purple center. He peeled off a layer of sticky paper from the bottom before he pressed the top of the capsule and hurled it out of the canopy all the way to the edge of the arena. He smiled as he saw the capsule stick to the edge of the arena , but any satisfaction was extinguished within him as his instincts screamed at him to move.

"Crap!" Cardin said as his instincts screamed at him to duck, but he was too late as Emerald pounced onto him and Cardin found himself on his back with Emerald straddling him. There was no time to react as she swung the butt of one of her weapons right in the center of his face.

"AGH!" Cardin cried out as he felt the blunt force slam down on the bridge of his nose, yet he didn't hear nor feel anything break. Despite being a bit dazed, Cardin came to his senses and grasped Emerald's mint green hair tightly before violently pulling her towards him into a crushing headbutt; getting a much more satisfying result than Emerald's attack.

"SHIT!" Emerald exclaimed as she stumbled back while clutching her head.

Cardin took the still moments to regain his composure again and noticed that despite her state of pain, Emerald was giving him a glare that only wished for his death. Cardin simply responded by spitting a wad of bloody saliva in her direction. "That all you got? C'mon." Cardin said with a vicious grin.

Emerald kept her glare set on him as she gently placed a hand on her tender face. "Fine," she growled before she took a step back.

Cardin remained silent as he narrowed his eyes at hers and noticed that the crimson hue of her irises shimmered for a moment. Before he knew it, his head began to ache beyond belief, but he did his best to not show it. Hiding the pain was growing only more difficult as he tried to stand up, but he was only met with another piercing sensation within his mind.

"What…the..." Cardin said as he kept his focus on Emerald and grasped his head. He couldn't help but blink after a few moments before she completely disappeared. Confusion grasped Cardin once more as he tried to breathe through the pain, only for it to worsen.

"Fuck." Cardin closed his eyes once more and fell to one knee before grasping his head with both hands. "C'mon, Cardin," he said as he seethed between his teeth. "Breathe. Just Breathe." Cardin began to do what he instructed and stood up with a little bit of ease. "You gotta win this. You have a plan for this. You have a plan for her." Cardin said as he took one last breath and opened his eyes.

'That had to be her semblance.' Cardin thought to himself as he got into a basic fighting position. 'Jaune warned me about this. Trying to fuck with my head? Be my guest. I'm ready now.' Cardin closed off the rest of his thoughts as he focused on his breathing and searched for some remnant of peace within himself.

He knew his enemies were out there in the jungle, but he couldn't let that scare him. He wouldn't let them scare him, and with the help of his own semblance, he would be the one they feared soon enough.

With on final slow exhale from his mouth, Cardin noticed with his peripheral vision that Emerald had appeared from out of nowhere. Every fiber of his being wanted him to look toward her, but he remained still and focused his vision in other directions. From what he could see in that split second, she believed she was still invisible to him as well as her little companion who was now circling around him as well. Phase two for Shorty was now in play and he refused to be phased by either of them and continued to play the blind fool who looked up at the canopy for any threats.

His heart raced as his two opponents slowly closed in on him, yet he remained successful in not giving away his cover. 'Just a little closer,' Cardin thought. 'Just a little more.' those two thoughts repeated over and over within his mind as Emerald was now in front of him and Shorty was at his six o' clock.

Emerald's gaze was furious, yet Cardin could see the satisfied smirk she wore as she rose her green sickle above her head. Cardin's instincts were screaming at him to move out of the way, but he knew the time wasn't right. He just needed another second.

Cardin's patience paid off as he saw Emerald slice her weapon downwards and he responded by quickly diving to the side, much to Emerald and Shorty's shock as the green sickle carved its way all the way across the short student's chest.

"Wha-what?" Emerald stuttered as she and her teammate were both stunned at the situation before them. Cardin prohibited any other reaction from either of them as he pulled out the second part of his plan that consisted of another purple capsule.

Shorty turned to him with stunned silence and didn't have the time to dodge Cardin's attack as he peeled off a piece of paper on one of the silver lids slammed the capsule into her left hand. Confusion overtook her as Cardin back-pedaled and gave her a grin. She looked down at her hand and noticed that she couldn't let go of the capsule. Frustration overtook her for a few moments as she realized he must have used some sort of adhesive to make her hand stick to his little gadget. That frustration was extinguished only a second later as realization set in and her eyes widened at what the capsule was.

"Gravity's a bitch." Cardin said with a sneer and before Shorty could move even a milimeter her body was violently pulled toward the edge of the arena. Cardin's large stature shrank in a second as she was hurled out of the jungle canopy, through a couple trees that splintered on contact, and finally out of bounds. The short huntress in training wanted to groan at the aching in her shoulder as it felt like it was ripped from her socket. She blinked for a few moments and realized she was out of bounds. Shorty silently cursed as she looked up to see the purple capsule in her hand was stuck to another capsule that was stuck along the arena wall.

"And just like that, Roxanne Porcelain is out of the fight!" Port boomed with excitement.

"That was a very clever way Cardin Winchester used gravity dust," Oobleck said with intrigue. "Risky considering the chance the adhesive not sticking, but clever nonetheless."

Emerald didn't hear what was said over the speaker as she was still stunned at the situation before her. 'How could have this happened?' she thought to herself. 'This was supposed to be an easy win for us. Cinder chose his stupid team because this was supposed to make things easier! How is he doing this? How did he even see me? Where's Cinder?!'

Emerald's train of thought was derailed as she realized she was still in the middle of a fight. She looked away from the sight of her downed teammate and toward the charging tank that was Cardin Winchester.

"RAAAAAAGH!" Cardin let out a guttural roar as he crouched a bit and slammed his shoulder into Emerald's midsection, knocking the wind out of her in the process. Cardin refused to let up on his assault as he carried her with his forward momentum and slammed her into a nearby tree.

"AGH!" Emerald yelped as she felt her back slam against the rough bark of the tree. Cardin released her from his hold and she fell to her knees. Any breaths she intended to take were cut off as she felt something tighten around her neck. Her eyes darted frantically in every possible direction before she looked down and noticed the thick vine around her neck.

"How does it feel?" Cardin growled as his grip on the Vine he picked up tightened, drastically shortening any and all breath Emerald had left. "Scared yet?" Cardin sneered as Emerald's movements became much more frantic. Her arms reached out for Cinder to help her, for anyone to help her, but she was left with the soul crushing fear that no one would come.

Before her vision could fade into darkness, the tight grip around her neck released and she fell to the ground. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she coughed for air and right when she looked up at her assailant, she was met with an armored boot to the face.

"I don't need you scared though." Cardin said as he looked down at Emerald's unconscious form, "I just need you out." Cardin said as he dusted his hands and looked up with a bit of triumph stirring inside of him.

"What a comeback!" Oobleck's excitement intertwined with the entire crowd as their cheers only grew louder. "Cardin Winchester single handedly turned the tide of the battle by taking out Emerald Sustrai!"

"What a comeback indeed, Bart, despite how brutal was," Port said as he shared his colleague's enthusiasm. "But this fight isn't over just yet."

Cardin nodded in agreement with his long-winded professor as he rolled his shoulders and focused on the task at hand. "Three down, one to go." Cardin said to himself as he took a few steps forward into the jungle and tried to pace his mind due to the fact it was racing a mile a minute.

'Calm down.' Cardin repeatedly thought to himself as he took slow steps through and looked all around him for his opponent. Out of all the opponents he fought in such a short amount of time, Cinder was the greatest of concerns. 'Panicking is something I can't afford. She may be their leader, and she may have her team by the balls twenty-four seven, but you and Jaune planned for her too. It just so happens to be the riskiest plan out of the four of them. It doesn't help that I also don't know what weapons she uses or her semblance,' Cardin took a deep breath at his situation and stopped dead in his tracks.

"I'm screwed, aren't I," Cardin asked himself as he stopped in his tracks.

"You said it, not me." Cardin quickly turned around and saw Cinder Fall standing before him. Her stance was relaxed, but ready for anything and Cardin couldn't help but grit his teeth at her smirk that he swore never left her face. "I have to say," she trailed on as she walked around him at a leisurely pace "Using your teammates like that to buy you time to come up with whatever plan you had was a nice touch."

"They're not my team," Cardin growled as he stood still, yet never let Cinder out of his sight. His glare subsided for a moment as he let out a tired breath and put his hands on his hips. "And unlike them," he paused before he blinked with realization. "And apparently your team as well, I actually had a plan."

"Those little tricks of yours were clever," Cinder said as she snickered at the misery her team just endured. "But you'll have to do better than that if you want to win." she then tilted her head to her left side and snickered once again. "I will say though, I admire a man who shares my views."

Cardin shuddered with disgust at the borderline flirtatious remark. "Sorry, you're not my type."

"Yet we both used our teams to get the upper hand." Cinder said. "You used yours to see what we could do and I used mine to see what you could do."

"Like I care," Cardin snapped back with sudden amount of aggression. "Are you going to start monologuing, or are we going to fight?"

"Very well," Cinder said before rolling her eyes. There was a pause before she gave Cardin a vicious grin and charged right at him.

Cardin's breath hitched at the sudden blitz and he was able to bring up his arms up to defend himself. Cardin realized his mistake far too late as he felt Cinder kick him square in the stomach. The impact was much more powerful than he expected and the Winchester couldn't help but stumble back.

"Dammit!" Cardin cursed as he swung a roundhouse kick and landed a pretty solid hit on Cinder's left thigh.

Cinder refused to react to the hit she just received, but she could still feel the aching within her leg as she closed the distance between the two of them and slammed her palm into the bridge of Cardin's nose. Her opponent didn't have the chance to stumble back before she landed a gut blow to Cardin's lower torso. The lack of armor in that area only added to his pain as he quickly gasped for air.

This was the opportunity Cinder needed as she proceeded to break down Cardin bit by bit. She targeted his joints with powerful punches and kicks and showed no mercy as she exploited every weakness she could find, which included a few knees to the groin.

"GAAAH!" Cardin cried out as he swung wildly at Cinder's head, only for her to easily duck beneath it and landed a successful uppercut. "GUH!" Cardin let out groan as his back slammed down into the dirt.

"Color me disappointed," Cinder said as she circled around Cardin and stomped on his stomach. She looked up to see his aura levels and snickered, knowing all she needed was one last hit to win. "For someone so big, I'd expect more than cheap tricks and sneak attacks. Your team had more courage than you'll ever have."

Cardin refused to look at Cinder as his hands balled up into fists. Clumped mud squeezed out of his hands as the rage and humiliation overwhelmed him. He looked at Cinder for a moment despite his best efforts not to and he couldn't even hear what she was saying anymore, all he could hear was the constant ringing in his head. All he really heard was that he had no guts and he tried lying to himself, but the truth stung.

Cardin slowly shifted his gaze from Cinder and craned his neck upward for any way out. There had to be something to help him. His mind raced into overdrive as his eyes darted all around the foliage that was only a few feet away from him and before he could wince at Cinder's heel digging deeper into his stomach, his eyes widened as he saw his ticket to win.

"I'm just doing what your team did," Cardin coughed as he shifted his gaze toward Cinder. "I used what I got. Not my fault that they're dirty tricks and surprise attacks." Cardin grinned as he planned out exactly what he needed to say. "Just like how Mercury used his metal legs," Cardin reeled back any satisfaction he felt rise within him as Cinder's smirk fell.

"Or how Emerald's semblance lets her fuck with people's minds," Cardin spat at Cinder and gave her a toothy grin at the fact that she wasn't calling his bluff.

"Shorty used her size and speed against me, so I nipped that in the bud. But that thing with her hair," Cardin kept his grin apparent as his heart raced, knowing it the time to act was screaming toward him. "I can't tell what it was, but pink and brown don't mesh well."

Cardin's heartbeat skyrocketed as he saw Cinder's eyes widen with shock before they narrowed with malicious intent. She lifted her leg up and aimed it at his face and in those moments, Cardin quickly rolled over to his stomach, avoiding Cinder's thunderous stomp. He ignored the pain that ignited all over him and reached into the foliage to find exactly what he was looking for. Cardin couldn't help but smile as he quickly turned onto his back and reveled in every millisecond of shock he saw slowly form on Cinder. She was too late to react as Cardin's long-lost mace slammed directly into the back of her head.

"GAH!" Cinder cried out as she stumbled forward and grasped her head on instinct. The ringing was constant and relentless as she slowly opened and closed her eyes. Her aura was working frantically to get her back into the fight and once she had a portion of her senses, a wave of fury washed over her and ignited the moment she opened her eyes.

Her fury was extinguished in an instant as her eyes widened at the sight of Cardin's mace mere inches in front of her face while his fire dust crystal glowed to frightening proportions.

The explosion that took place rocked the arena violently and the any trees in the vicinity were blown to splinters before they were engulfed in a raging inferno. The crowd gasped at the sudden explosion and their shock only continued to skyrocket as Cinder's limp body was hurled across the arena and tumbled for a few moments before she came to an abrupt stop. The crowd looked on at Cardin Winchester who had stumbled out from the tree line and fell to one knee while grasping his side. Everyone soon looked up to the scoreboard and saw that Cinder's aura was completely depleted while Cardin's was barely above the red zone.

"THAT IS THE MATCH!" Port boomed with an unbound exuberance. "CARDIN WINCHESTER RALLIED BACK AND DEFEATED CINDER FALL! TEAM CRDL ARE THE WINNERS!" the crowd erupted with such energy that nearly deafened all who were present.

"Incredible," Oobleck could barely be heard over the endless cheering. "Simply incredible. To snatch victory from the jaws of defeat like that. What a match."

Cardin was stunned by the overwhelming cheers that were sent his way and he couldn't help but let his breath hitch at the sudden realization that he won. He bested his opponents, and he won. His voice was caught in his throat, his entire body ached despite his lack of aura trying to heal him, and his mind was fried, but he couldn't help but smile and raise his arms up in triumph.

"WOO HOO!" Cardin perked up at the cheer that broke through the crowd and turned towards the source. His smile rose even further and a short laugh escaped him as he saw Jaune and Elizabeth dwarf everyone else when it came to their celebratory cheers. Another huff of laughter came over Cardin as he saw Jaune had one arm wrapped around Elizabeth's shoulder. Cardin couldn't really see from his position, but he just knew Elizabeth was blushing.

'Bastard doesn't even realize it,' Cardin said as he lowered his mace and aimed it at Jaune before giving him a determined smile. 'I just might have to knock some sense into him.'

Cardin reveled in the cheering that engulfed him for a few more moments before setting his arms down and headed toward the exit of the arena. While his victory was ever so sweet, he couldn't help but feel the several glares sent his way that originated from the sidelines.

He looked over to his team to see they were dismissive as ever, which didn't bother him in the slightest. It was the three remaining members of Team CRME who were circled around Mercury Black who was resting on a hospital gurney. They weren't looking at Cardin like sore losers would. They were looking at him as if he were their prey and their anger was anything but subtle. What bothered him even more was the fact that Roxanne's hair was now pink and brown and didn't flash back to black.

Cardin's shoulder's tensed at the sudden pressure he felt within his head and a twisted feeling within his gut screamed for him to run, yet his pacing remained calm and consistent as he exited the arena and found himself in the locker room. As much as he wanted to change out of his armor, he decided to skip the need and exited the locker room.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" was the first word he heard erupt in front of him as he was face to face with an elated Elizabeth, Jaune, and oddly enough a huge head of Pumpkin Pete.

"WOAH!" Cardin yelped as he stumbled back into the locker room and tripped backwards. "AGH!" he let out a sharp yell at the pain that ached all over.

"You okay, Cardin?" a voice called out and Cardin looked up to see Jaune holding out his hand for him to grab. Any and all anxiety of what the other team thought of him washed away at the sight of his friend and Cardin grasped Jaune's hand.

"Yeah," Cardin said as he rubbed his head. "Give me a warning next time, alright?"

"I'm sorry." Elizabeth said as she made sure she had a good grip on her huge plush. "It was my idea."

"We had to nearly trample over some people to make it here before you did." Jaune said with an embarrassed chuckle.

Once the shock washed over Cardin, he couldn't help but chuckle at his friend's antics. "It's alright, Elizabeth." his laughter was soon stifled as he held his head up high and smiled at both of them. "Thanks for coming to see the fight."

Jaune said nothing at first. Instead, he held up his hand for Cardin to grasp. Cardin obliged and the duo came in for a quick bro-hug while Jaune slapped Cardin's back. "Of course," Jaune said before he chuckled. "You had us worried there for a bit."

"Intense is how I would describe it." Elizabeth commented. Cardin and Jaune nodded at her remark before Cardin's expression turned sour.

"Hey, can I talk to you two about something?" Cardin asked as he looked behind him to make sure no one else was in the locker room.

"Sure," Jaune said with a sudden tone of concern. "What's up?"

"Not here," Cardin said as he hoisted his mace and began to head to the docks. "We need to go to the dorms."

"What's going on, Cardin?" Elizabeth asked with the same amount of concern.

"It could be nothing," Cardin said as he kept his head on a swivel. "But I saw some things during the match that didn't add up. I couldn't tell if it was my semblance messing with me after I overused it, but I got to make sure."

"Wait," Jaune said as he looked at Cardin wide eyed. "Semblance?"

"He didn't tell you?" Elizabeth asked Jaune, which made the blonde knight even more confused.

"I wanted to keep a secret for our fight," Cardin said as he remained alert. "But I call it Clarity. Basically, it takes a lot to shake me and I can keep a cool head in extreme situations. My senses are also heightened, but it takes a lot of mental prep time to activate and I have to keep my breath steady." Cardin explained as he rubbed the back of his head. "It's why I stayed back while the others fought." his shame only grew before he looked to Jaune. "I also talked to Goodwitch about it and she said it probably remained dormant until it developed during The Breach."

"Wow, okay." Jaune said as he made sure to retain that bit of information. "So, what does your semblance have to do with your fight?"

"I think Emerald or someone else was trying to mess with my head and I don't know. I think my semblance fought back. I saw some things that didn't add up." Cardin explained. "And something else doesn't feel right."

"Alright." Jaune said. "Don't say anything else about it until we get to the dorms."

"Alright." Cardin said before he rubbed his head. "Dammit."

"Hey," Elizabeth said as she placed her free hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be okay."

Cardin stayed quiet for a moment before looking to Jaune, who shared Elizabeth's reassuring grin. Cardin let out a breath and couldn't help but shiver at the glares he received not too long ago. "I certainly hope so, you guys. I certainly hope so."

There we go. Story isn't dead, just taking a really long time to work out the kinks. Anyways I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. We got a lot going on, Jaune and Elizabeth moments, Cardin's fight and the discovery that his semblance prevents anyone from messing with his head. That's not going to bode well for Cinder. Shoutouts to Noble4259 for helping me out with this as well. Anyways, Favorite, follow, and review if you'd like and if any of you have any questions, feel free to PM. As always, BE COMPASSIONATE AND BE FIERCE!

SPARKYDAPPERDAB19 SIGNING OFF!