Forever Fall, Parts 1 & 2
A hero's defining moment.
"I don't care what you do to me... but you are not messing with my team."
— Jaune Arc
In Part 1, Team JNPR is disquieted by the amount of time Jaune is spending with Cardin.
In Part 2, Jaune decides to stand up to Cardin's bullying.
Tropes in these episodes include:
- Callback: Ruby's talk to Jaune is similar to Ozpin's own speech to her.
- Dirty Coward: Once the big Ursa shows up team CRDL high tails it, sans Cardin.
- Magnetism Manipulation: This episode reveals that this is how Pyrrha's Semblance manifests itself. By manipulating the polarity of Jaune's shield slightly she's able to raise it high enough for Jaune to block a blow from the Ursa's claw before he cuts its head off.
- Multiple Reference Pun: Played for laughs. When Pyrrha reveals what her Semblance is, Ruby interprets the name "Polarity" as the ability to control poles. An impatient Weiss points out that "polarity" is the ability to control magnetism. Magnetism does, of course, have completely different kind of "poles".
- Off with His Head!: When Jaune defeats the Ursa, he does so by decapitating it in a single stroke of his sword. This leaves Cardin, whom he saves, stunned and ends Cardin's bullying of him. While Pyrrha secretly manipulated his shield to block the Ursa's claw strike, the decapitation was entirely Jaune.
- Oh, Crap!:
- When pushed to throw the jar of sap at Pyrrha, Jaune decides to stand up for himself for the sake of his team. He throws the sap at Cardin, but his anger quickly changes to nervousness when he sees how angry his four bullies are.
- When Team CRDL sees the huge Ursa coming for Cardin, they're all terrified. Russel, Dove and Sky all flee in panic, while Cardin is reduced to a terrified huddle on the ground. It's left to Jaune to save him.
- This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: Other than using her Semblance to raise Jaune's shield slightly to block a death blow from the Ursa, Pyrrha deliberately prevents Ruby and Weiss from interfering with Jaune's fight. He successfully decapitates the Ursa with a single strike, and is visibly more confident after that, which is implied to be what Pyrrha was hoping for.
- Took a Level in Badass: Jaune definitely in this two-parter. First when he finally stands up to Cardin and refuses to throw the jar of sap at Pyrrha (especially since this leads to Cardin beating him up) and secondly, and much more impressively, by saving Cardin's life from the Ursa that attacks him and ultimately killing it (with a little help from Pyrrha). Judging from the awed (and somewhat frightened) look Cardin sends Jaune's way afterwards its pretty clear Cardin isn't going to be messing with Jaune or his team anytime soon.
- What You Are in the Dark: So far as Jaune is aware there's no one around to help or know if he runs, and he's barely trained and not likely to win against a bear Grimm that a better fighter like Cardin was knocked down by. Plus the one in danger is a bully who was planning on throwing the sap on Pyrrha. Jaune still decides to risk his life to protect Cardin.
- Worthy Opponent: When Cardin witnesses Jaune beheading an Ursa he couldn't fight with a single strike, he's stunned and can only say "Holy crap, Jaune". When Jaune tells him to never bully him or his team again, Cardin accepts the demand submissively.
"I know I don't deserve it after all that happened, but... would you still be willing to help me... to help me become a better fighter?"
