The Vytal Tournament Chapter 2: Jaune takes the lead

Through the magic (dust?) of sleep, it was suddenly the next day and Pyrrha was no less anxious then she was the day before. At least that’s how she felt on the inside, on the outside she looked pretty calm but only because no one at this school can actually display a range of emotions. She was eating breakfast with the rest of her team, all of whom were acting rather unconcerned with the ridiculous scenario they were about to be shoved into. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the breakfasts themselves save for Nora’s consisting of 3 large chocolate cakes, 2 of which were double layered. She explained this with “I figured I should try eating healthy for the tournament.” Team RWBY was sitting next to them, arguing about something annoying again. It sounds like White Rich had decided to start being a Bitch to Red Leader; Again. Black Quiet was scowling at them and Yellow Tits had tits; she was probably doing something too, but Pyrrha couldn’t figure out how to look at her directly at her face to find out.

 

A sharp tone rang through the cafeteria, the school bell, announcing that the grand event was about to begin, and all the gathered students started to make their way towards the schools designated combat (and apparently also funk) arena. The general mood wasn’t nearly as panicked as Pyrrha felt it should be, everyone must’ve just accepted these strange circumstances. But yet for ever every apathetic face she saw, she felt her heart drop a little deeper into her chest. But the time they were in the arena proper Pyrrha’s heart had dropped so deep into her stomach that it was practically clipping through her pelvis.

 

The crowd fell to a hush when Ozpin came to address his little thoughtslaves.

“It’s an honour for our school to see you all gathered here today” Ozpin began, discreetly referring to the fact that most of the students actually decided to show up for this farce instead of just giving up. Glynda owed him 20 bucks. “I know anticipation for this moment has been great and although recent events might have thrown your original plans into disarray, I’m sure you will all do your utmost to represent your respective schools. So without further ado I’ll get things started. Could all the first competitors from the entered teams please come to the arena for the first round?”

 

 Jaune turned to Pyrrha with a wry smile and said “Well, Nothing to it but to do it, it’s time for us to make JNPR an awkward acronym to remember.” And with that he confidently strode towards the improvised stage, taking Pyrrha’s self-control with him as she was left behind slightly watering at the mouth. As the poor lost souls, mostly composed of the shadow people, all arranged themselves arbitrarily around the area, not quite sure what to do with themselves due to the lack of actual explicit instruction. When suddenly the music started, a strong, peppy and upbeat tune accompanied by lyrics that made Pyrrha certain that somehow someone somewhere was going to die. Most of the students seemed confused by how to proceed (At least Pyrrha assumed so, most of them didn’t actually have faces to display emotion) until a few figured they should probably start groovin’ ASAP. But not Jaune, somehow Jaune had the situation entirely under control. He moved with the music, his body flowing to match the rhythm. The way he was moving he may as well have being the only one up there, the other dancers looking painfully incompetent and background-character-esque in comparison. By the time the song came to a close Pyrrha’s mind was racing, the whole thing seemed to have gone all too quickly, a flash of rhythm and him gyration. Pyrrha found herself unsatisfied and wanting more, like a heroin addict that just watched Jaune Arc dance.

 

Soon all the students exited the stage after standing around for five minutes after the music stopped, once again without any instruction; almost as if no effort had actually gone into planning this “long-anticipated” event. Jaune approached his team with a small grin.

“So guys, how’d I do? I didn’t really get a chance to look at the other contestants” Jaune said with the casual confidence of someone unaware he’d just made several people feel grossly inferior (and possibly develop eating disorders as a result) Pyrrha was unable to form actual words and slurred some gibberish that vaguely translated to “I would lobotomise my firstborn son with a rusty harpoon just so I could hear someone describe your genitalia through a language barrier” But Jaune was unable to understand it due to the powerful combination of the lack of comprehendible sounds in her statement and Jaune’s natural “Anime protagonist oblivious-to-romantic-interest” powers. Nora was also unable to comment, because this wasn’t a fight and thus she had no purpose. Luckily Ren was still a main character, kind of.

“That was rather unexpected Jaune, I was unaware you could dance” Monty said as Jaune sat down beside them.

“Well you know how I never went to combat schools and learned about aura and semblances and all that? Well when you guys were doing that, I was going to normal schools and taking part in normal social activities. My people know many secrets thought lost to the world; such as dancing, holding conversations NOT about fighting things, not wearing one fucking colour all the time and not putting a gun in every single fucking weapon.”

 

Pyrrha and Ren stared at Jaune in wonder and confusion for a moment until Glynda’s voice came in through the speakers.

 

“Well that was unexpectedly enthusiastic, I honestly didn’t think any of our students would actually give a da- Uh, I mean; give such a thrilling performance. I mean it when I say I can’t wait to see how this concludes. I guess the next dancers should probably go up now, I think.” With that, Ren stood up “I’ll take this one, wish me luck”

“Oh, good luck Ren” Pyrrha stammered, only barely regaining her ability to use simple sentences. Hearing this Ren turned away and stared into the distance at nothing in particular, his hair flying in a convenient breeze.

“I don’t need luck” He assured them as he walked in slow motion towards the stage-rena.

 

The second round seemed slightly more organised than the first, which had set a precedent for this “prestigious tradition”. Now that the students weren’t wracked with confusion and anxiety they all seemed to have come into a sudden understanding of how stupid this was, most of the competitors idly chatting to each other. All except for Ren, who stoically stood in the centre in a strong but very unnecessary stance. Unlike Jaune, who danced with a look of serenity, Ren face was the very picture of emotionless focus (crazy right), the kind of commitment he usually reserved for especially difficult fights.

 

As the music began, a strong a fiery rhythm, Ren burst into action. His legs became a flurry of movement, his upper body... less so. His feet flew across the floor to the beat in complicated patterns somewhat reminiscent of those dance things that bees communicate with, you know the thing I’m talking about right? Yeah that. His eyes were plastered to a screen only he could see; the arrows would guide him to victory. There was no denying it was pretty impressive. His feet kept up with everything to song threw at him, even the weird out of place rap portion, though his moves seem fairly restrictive after having watched Jaune. Once Ren approached his team Pyrrha had fully regained at all her mental faculties, and was going out of her way not to look at Jaune to keep it that way.

 

“Wow Ren, where’d you learn to do that” Nora asked, secretly pissed that Ren appeared to have a life outside of her.

“I found a training machine at the Vale convenience store, Dance Dance Resolve-ution. It’s very handy for burning excess energy for when I’m not working” Ren explained, using up his word quota for the entire month

“That thing? I’ve never seen you use it”

“You’re always passed out in the confection aisle”

“Oh yeah.” Nora realised and started laughing, reflexively scratching her syringe scars. The rest of her time ignoring her silent cry for help and turning towards the stage to see what happens next.