Mixed Martial Arc

Round 1

Jaune wasn't running away.

He liked to think of it as a tactical retreat. You see, running away implied fear, thus giving the power to the villains. No, absolutely not. In actuality, it was all a part of his plan. He was totally in control and the retreat was only the first step. Jaune just needed to find out what came next.

Jaune was taking the high road and avoiding direct confrontation. If it so happened the high road ensured his face didn't get pounded into a fine paste, well, that would be strategic genius.

It all started as a noble gesture. Save the girl from some bullies, feel heroic in doing so, head home for the day knowing he did a good deed, and give himself a pat on the back.

So when he stumbled on the giant of a man pulling on the ears of a girl who looked agonized and frankly terrified, Jaune pushed himself to act. He tossed his bagged lunch at the lead bully's head and took a moment to be proud of himself, but Jaune forgot to account for a very important detail.

He had no idea of what to do when he became a target. Sure, he was bullied in high school, but it never got physical. There were always teachers there or some type of security, if not, he could always escape to the counselor's office. When the remains of his sandwich dripped off the leader's face, the look on the bully's face told Jaune it was about to get very physical.

That's why when the four bullies started advancing towards him, he followed his time-honored tradition of facing bullies, by booking it out of there.

What else was he supposed to do? All the lessons he learned in school were on how to handle himself in the workplace, a professional setting. Teachers never taught him how to defend himself and his family didn't believe in perpetuating violence. If the group caught up to or cornered him, he wouldn't know how to handle the situation.

Jaune didn't know how to fight.

With that thought in mind, he focused on pumping one foot in front of the other, as the shouting bullies chased him. As he turned down the corner of a side street he allowed himself to snag a peek through his blonde locks. He was relieved to see that the racists had let the girl be. Mission success.

That relief was short-lived when the very red, and very angry face of the lead bully popped into view. The chase was still on and the bullies were gaining ground. Jaune ran faster. When he faced forward again, he came face to face with every hero's worst nightmare, a brick wall. Juane felt his manly rep wouldn't hold it against him when a whimper left his lips.

The back door to a shop provided the only exit and when Jaune tried the handle, it was locked.

Of course.

Could he ram the door down? No, but maybe he could scale the wall, or hide in the dumpster and hope the bullies wouldn't find him.

Jaune chewed at his lower lip as indecision prevented him from picking any option.

The sounds of multiple footsteps behind him coming to a stop told Jaune his time had run out. With a shaky laugh he turned towards the group, raised his palms, and proceeded with his last option. Diplomacy.

Time to put the Arc charm to work.

"H-Hey fellas, how's it going? Name's Jaune, funny situation we're in isn't it?" he said, eyes darting around as he looked for any way out.

"Very funny situation. I'm practically rolling in laughter, Jauney boy," said the leader of the group, definitely not laughing.

The leader of the group was huge, a walking tank of a man, who stood dead center in the alleyway. The other three members of the group slowly surrounded Juane and closed off all angles of escape. "You and I have a problem," said the lead bully, as he pointed a finger to Juane and jerked his thumb towards himself.

"What, problem? There's no problems, I just thought we could be friends you know?" Jaune began as he backed up. For every step the group took towards him, a sharp and stilted laugh bubbled from his lips, "I like to think of it as a small prank."

"Oh, friends of course we can be friends. Right Russel?" asked the leader to a skinnier member of the group with a large mohawk.

"Yeah, Cardin. Best friends," Russell answered as the group continued to close the distance.

"Great, best friends it is. That was even a good prank too Jauney, so let me show you what our group does when we're 'pranked'," Cardin said with emphasis on the last word. His large frame looked to take up the whole alleyway from where Jaune stood.

Jaune gulped once and tried to take another step backwards, only to find it impossible as his back came into contact with brick. Plan 'tactical retreat' had failed and now he had to deal with the repercussions.

"C-Can't we talk about this? Cardin, Buddy, why don't we let bygones be bygones, you were bullying a girl you know? I won't tell anyone so let's call it even," he said as he leaned against the wall, not trusting in his shaking legs to support him.

"Ha, the Faunus, that's why you tried to be a knight in shining armor? For something that doesn't even stand up for itself. That whole mess wasn't even worth my time, but it bumped into me and I couldn't let that thing get away with dirtying me right?" Cardin said both to Jaune and his lackeys, who snickered along with the large man.

Jaune didn't laugh.

The large man closed the distance to where Jaune could feel Cardin's breath on his face. Cardin took one moment to look down upon him, reared his hand back and said, "I had to teach it a lesson, and Jauney boy, it looks like you need one too."

Jaune would have been ashamed at the scream that peeled from his lips, but he'd need the brain processing to feel that. At the current moment, pain was the only signal exploding from his brain.

Cardin swung his meaty fist. Juane, frozen against the brick wall, caught Cardin's fist with his face. A wet smacking sound echoed in the alleyway, as his teeth rattled from the blow.

His head lurched to the side and would have dragged his body to the floor if it wasn't for Cardin's other hand grabbing him by his black hoodie.

Cardin balled up the material, twisted his fist, and hoisted the smaller boy up in the air and against the brick wall. The first hand was quickly followed by the second as they both grabbed fistfuls of material and slammed Jaune once, twice, thrice against the cold unrelenting brick.

Jaune could taste blood as his vision flickered. He tried to focus, do anything to protect himself; and strike back or defend against Cardin; but his brain simply was overloaded and it took all his effort just to bring his hands up in front of his face.

Cardin slammed him once more for good measure and released him, but before Jaune could fall into a heap, a fist buried itself in his gut.

Mercifully nothing followed, he fell to the ground, and curled into a ball as he cradled his stomach. The blow had knocked the breath out of him, and in combination with the prior damage, couldn't formulate any plans other than to shell up and protect his more important bits.

What followed next was inaudible to Jaune as his head was still ringing from the blows, but he did get the mocking tone of the group who drew closer to see his misery.

Jaune felt a wet smack when a glob of spit hit him on his cheek. He would have thanked Cardin if that was it, but soon after a boot slammed into his arms curled around his stomach. Cardin continued his assault.

The others soon joined in, stomping and kicking at Jaune who lay among the refuse in the alley.

Jaune wanted to be a hero; he had wanted to be one since he was little, when he read comic books and watched films about superpowered people protecting innocents against the forces of evil. He used to play pretend back then. He would of course be the hero who swooped in, beat the bad guys and saved the day.

At that memory, a sour taste rose up his throat. That or bile spilled from his lips when Cardin found an open spot and slammed a kick into his abused stomach. Some hero, he thought as he lay in his own vomit.

If someone was listening to the commotion they would have heard screams, pleading, begging, and eventually whimpers as the beating continued. The group must have been holding back or measuring their strength as the abuse continued on for minutes.

They flaunted his uselessness in his face and took pleasure in dominating the blonde.

Jaune hoped for unconsciousness to take him, but thankfully it did not, as he would have missed what happened next.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?!" A high-pitched voice echoed in the alleyway, causing the group of bullies to pause as they turned to see the owner of the voice.

Through one teary eye, Jaune was able to make out the new person.

The person who caused Cardin and his crew to pause in their beating would only be chest high to Jaune if he was standing. Though small, she seemed uncaring about being in an alley with five unknown men. The diminutive girl wore a ruby-red hoodie that partially obscured her face. Her silver eyes burned holes into the group standing above Jaune.

Cardin, unfazed by the slip of a girl, used Jaune as a welcome mat, as he stepped and grinded his boot into the boy's shoulder. He cocked an eyebrow at the girl and said, "We're just teaching our buddy a lesson. Isn't that right, Jaune?"

Jaune wished for someone to save him, but he couldn't involve someone so frail looking. With a grimace at the idea of a continued beating, he reluctantly nodded.

Cardin took that in stride and stepped heavily on Jaune as he said, "See, so why don't you scram kid."

As the girl pulled her hood down, revealing short cut black hair with a bit of red on the tips, her glare grew in intensity and said, "Leave him alone."

Cardin's lackeys slowly drew closer to the girl, intending to surround her like they did Jaune. As they advanced, Cardin just laughed, "Nah, I don't really feel like it."

That must have been the trigger of a starter pistol, as the girl shot off at the nearest lackey, the guy named Russell.

The athletic wear she wore allowed for ease of moment, as she effortlessly twisted to the right side of the mohawked boy.

The brunette spun around the groping hand of Russell and drew her own hands up to rest firmly on each side of her cheek. While Russell overshot his approach at his opponent's quick change of direction, the girl drove her right palm into the boy's face.

Russell fell, but the girl had already moved on to the next member of the group. She didn't see Russell collapse in a heap nor did she see that he did not get up.

There was a brief pause as Cardin and his group stood slack jawed at how a girl had knocked out one of their own with what was essentially a slap.

In their shock the girl shot forward to meet the nearest standing group member, a hazel-haired boy.

The brunette took a short hop towards the boy, twisted in a movement Jaune missed, her left hand staying glued to her cheek as her right fanned horizontally across the air. At the same time, her right leg shot up, and with a crack, slammed her shin into the hazel-haired boy's neck. Much like Russell, the boy fell to the ground and did not stir.

The shock of losing two members of their group to a girl much smaller than all of them wore off, as Cardin stepped off Jaune and approached alongside the last standing lackey.

At this, the girl took a few quick steps backwards to create distance from the bullies. Both arms were up, bent much like before, but now her palms faced the advancing men.

Cardin and the last boy, not wanting to give the girl space, charged forward with grins on their faces. They had her out numbered and the bullies knew it.

Their grins did not last long as the girl shot forward, meeting their charge.

This startled the two men as one rushed a grab and the other a threw sloppy punch.

Both missed. The girl side-stepped to the left, placing herself on the side of the last lackey, and stood in a position that placed the lackey and Cardin in line. The girl shot forward and brought her leg up in a skipping motion, but instead of jumping for joy, she kicked her foot into the chest of the still recovering boy.

The boy gasped as he flung into Cardin's chest, pushing back both of them.

The girl took advantage of this, slid forward, and drove her right palm into the bridge of the last lackey's nose.

A wet crack sounded off as the boy collapsed, clutching his face. Cardin now warily watched the girl as he held his arms wide, as if waiting for an opportunity to subdue her.

The girl, not even breathing hard from the explosive activity, eyed Cardin back as a stand off occurred.

The stalemate broke when Cardin charged forward with a shout, his burly arms spread wide now closing towards the girl, intended to use his size advantage and grab her.

The Brunette, unfazed, used her left hand to push aside Cardin's right hand towards her right side, off balancing the boy.

Next, using her right hand, she grasped his right wrist, and pulled his arm as she spun in a twisting maneuver too fast to understand.

The girl turned in a way that her shoulder now touched Cardin's and completed her movement by bringing her left elbow horizontally across the man's jaw. Still off balanced from the quick movements Cardin wasn't prepared for the unexpected blow.

From the floor of the alley, Jaune saw Cardin's eyes roll back into his head as the large man joined his group slumped on the floor.

What felt like an hour of intensive action likely only took a minute, an explosive, chaotic minute. The alley drew back into silence.

Jaune was able to push himself into a sitting position against the brick wall as he watched the girl check over each boy and turn them onto their sides.

Her silver eyes met his blue, and the girl's fierce expression turned into a tender smile.

"Are you okay?" she asked, as she crouched down near him.

Jaune eloquently inquired about what just had happened when he said, "Bwuh?"

The girl laughed as she started running her fingers over his appendages.

Jaune felt heat creep up his neck when he stuttered out, "W-What are you doing?"

The silver eyed girl continued her ministrations, her hands roved up his calf towards his thigh, and paused to wrap her fingers around his knee for a moment before continuing higher.

Jaune felt an awkward tightness in his pants when he shrilly said, "I-We just met, don't you think you're moving too fast?"

The girl's eyebrows drew together, with a tilt of her head, as looked up from her work with an odd expression. "I do move fast, it's kind of my specialty."

The pain of being beaten by Cardin and his gang quickly became secondary to the hysteria building up in him. Before he turned into a blubbering lump he said, "I just think that now isn't the right time to grope me."

Jaune watched the girl's eyes drift off in thought before she glanced down at her hands, that were now on his thigh, and then looked back up. This repeated a few times, growing rapidly in speed, until she appeared to teleport away from Jaune and stood several paces away.

Her face was as red as her hoodie when she cried out, "T-That's not what I was doing! I was checking you for injuries, making sure you hadn't broken anything!"

Realization dawned on the blonde as he cursed his hormones and his stupid, rattled brain. He mumbled, "You can finish the job and kill me now. It would honestly be a mercy killing. End my suffering."

A few moments of silence passed where both members used the time to calm down.

Jaune spoke first hoping to not embarrass himself a second time. "Thanks for helping, what's your name if you don't mind me asking?"

The girl answered, smiling even with a slight blush, "Ruby Rose."

Jaune gave Ruby a warm smile and reached to shake her hand. He replied, "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. The ladies love it."

"Do they?"

"No, not really."

Ruby atleast giggled at the lame joke and asked, "Nice to meet you Jaune, are you alright?"

"I am. Probably will be hurting tomorrow, but I think I'll live."

"Yeah, your bones seemed alright. You might want to ice, well, everything when you get home and stretch if you can."

"Thanks for saving me by the way, you're pretty amazing."

"Nah, I'm pretty normal. You should see my sister," she said with a snort.

Soon after, her eyebrows scrunched together and she asked, "What was going on in the first place? Why were you guys fighting?"

At that, Jaune shrugged when he said, "It wasn't much, they were just bullying a girl and I stepped in. Though I wouldn't call what happened a fight. When they cornered me, they just started wailing on me."

The scrunch was back as her brows furrowed in confusion. She asked, "You didn't fight back?"

"How could I? They're way bigger and stronger than me."

"You can't just do nothing Jaune."

"Yeah, but I don't even know how to defend myself, I'm not some super awesome ninja like you."

At that, Ruby broke out into a grin. Cheerfully she said, "I can teach you."

"Huh?"

"Well, maybe not me since I'm still learning too, but maybe my sister or my Uncle. They're the ones who taught me how to fight," she said, while making chopping actions with her hands.

"I don't think-"

"No, no, no. It'll be awesome! Oh, Oh, you could come join our gym! You'll love it! We have an awesome sauna, a pool, all these weights, and we even have our own cage!"

"Wait what, a cage?"

"Yeah duh," she said with a snort. "How else would you train to be a fighter, silly."

"A fighter?!"

"Yeap," she said, making the p sound pop. "You're looking at Vale's best professional fighter. Well, soon to be, once I get my license."

Jaune paled a bit thinking about being locked in a cage with people like Ruby. "Uhmmmm, I'm not sure."

"What! No, pleaseeee Jaune. It'll be great, just give it a shot," she said with her hands clasped together, her eyes leaking small tears as she pouted.

"No, Ruby I can't fight, it's not something I can do."

"Sure you can, you just have to try. No one starts off great. Jaune, pleaseeeeeeeeeee," cried Ruby, her pout intensifying in power until Jaune had no other choice, but to give in.

That pout could likely be weaponized.

"Alright, Alright, Ruby can I at least think about it?"

"Yes, thanks Jaune!" Ruby said, as she cheered and twirled in a circle. After a few more rotations in her impromptu celebration, she bent down and offered Jaune a hand up.

When he was finally up she handed him a velvety soft card embossed with the symbol of two hatchets crossed over each other. When he flipped the card, he read the name and address to "Beacon Academy for Martial Arts".

While Jaune stared at the card, Ruby stood proud, pointed a finger at him and said, "I promise you won't regret it. To make it even better, the first class is free!"

Not being able to resist her cheer, Jaune chuckled, but was cut short due to pain. He said "Thanks again, Ruby. I think I'll sleep on it."

"Ok, bye Jaune I'll see you at Beacon," Ruby said as she skipped out of the alley.

Jaune took one look around himself. There was his vomit splattered on the concrete, splatters of blood and the still unconscious bodies of Cardin and his gang.

All this was done by a girl who barely reached the height of his chest, and she wanted him to train with her? To be a fighter?

Not wanting to be here when Cardin woke up, Jaune limped his way out of the alleyway still pondering what happened.

As the rush of adrenaline faded away and the aches and pains became more prominent, his fingers trailed over the card Ruby gave him.

Did he want to do it? His family always preached how violence wasn't the answer. Something everyone in his family followed, even all of his seven sisters. Could he bring himself to actually learn how to hurt someone, and be the first to break the family motto? With a sigh, Jaune headed home with the question still bouncing around his head.

Could he be the first ever Martial Arc?

Wow there goes my very first chapter. Please let me know what you think in the comments suggestion! I did this mostly as practice for some writting lessons I am taking, but at the nudging of some friends I decided to share it with others.

Yes the theme is a MMA AU where your favorite RWBY characters will face off against each other in brutal caged combat.

Yes I do have a story so it will not just be shorts on specific fights.

Yes I do have background in MMA and palms strike are very much real and effective. A punch thrown wrong would result in a broken knuckle while a slap is much safer and just as effective. This will be discussed later anyways.

Other than that look forward to ch2 in a week or two, same day.

~Mkspotlights