Author's Note: Wassup peoples and non-peoples...like robot people? You know what sucks sometimes, college and finding time. Between studying, homework, clubs,...playing billiards admittedly too much (that last one might be more my fault than anything else). It's tough trying to find time to write, and when I do have time I don't have the energy. Pro-tip for all those still in highschool or below about growing up: don't. Find the fountain of youth, or make a time machine, and just never grow up. You will thank me later. Now read the story while I go over my chemistry notes for my upcoming exam.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Chapter 9: Dating with Mortals Part 2
Jaune was pacing nervously, the carpet was being molded into the shape of his footprints over and over again. Why did he do this? Why did he listen to Giratina? Why couldn't he have just not asked out the girl he had been thinking about since first seeing her at the orientation? Why couldn't he have just let it stew and eat him from the inside out and then leave him a mess of a man for all eternity?
"Why can't he just see that if asked, Pyrrha will rip off his clothes and ravage him right here? Probably right in front of us too."
Rayquaza nearly barfed at the thought, it was one of those rare moments where Deoxys caught him off guard, "I would rather not think about mortal copulation Deoxys."
"Oh what's the matter? Don't like mating rituals? Don't like seeing two individuals deeply in love about to devour themselves?"
The look on Rayquaza's deadpan eyes could probably kill a mortal man as he looked at the prisoner, "Do I look like Meloetta, or Moltres?"
"Who was the male one that couldn't keep his hands off the mortals? You always use the same two examples, who happen to be female so I was wondering if there was a male equivalent."
"Virizion, can't keep his hands, or horns, to himself," the dragon rubbed his eyes thoroughly thinking of all the trouble that one go int. Seriously, he even told the waitress his real name. Who does that? "Besides, something tells me if Pyrrha got her chance, Jaune might become asexual. She seems like the type to get freaky and scare the stuffing out of you, and Jaune's a more cuddle with an open fireplace kind of guy and eat chocolates."
"Ugh, it's so sweet it's sickening," the parasite shuddered.
"Rayquaza what am I gonna do?" Jaune asked as he held his head in his hands still walking about like a madman, "What if she laughs at me or I do something stupid?"
Deoxys snorted, "I thought that was a bygone conclusion."
"Shut it parasite," Rayquaza turned to Jaune, "Arc, listen to me when I say this." He grabbed Jaune by the head, "You. Cannot overthink this. Ho-oh will be more than be able to discern if you're lying to her. She'll probably scorch you into oblivion if you do." The look on Jaune's face was...unpleasant to say the least. "So with that in mind, be yourself. You honestly think Ho-oh agreed to go out with you because you're good looking, or smart?" The moment the words left his mouth, the deity somewhat regretted it. The face on Jaune went from bad to worse, "T-th-that's not to say you have some of those qualities, it's just that your best ones lie elsewhere."
"Yeah, like where?" He asked defeatedly.
"Well...you're kind, honest, always on the brightside of things. You…" Rayquaza looked down at the ground. "What did Jaune have?" "Have a lot of aura, you know what they say about men with large auras."
"No I don't," the innocent look on his face, it was so innocent, so sad.
"Well asteroid chunks, I don't know what they say either. Why must he be useless?" He had to come up with a lie, really quick, "Um...people with large auras tend to...be magnificent lovers...in the sack...like a lot...if you know what I mean." There was a sudden clank of metal almost immediately, surprising Rayquaza and Jaune. The two looked as they saw Pyrrha, gawking at her leader, she had dropped her sword and shield and the door stayed ajared. It was then Rayquaza realized the position he was in. Mere inches from Jaune's face, hands on his body keeping him from moving, and he just said that Jaune would be excellent at sex. Mortal minds tended to jump to conclusions.
"Wow Rayquaza, never took you to swing that way," Deoxys had one hell of a time trying to keep the silent snickering down.
"I might just have to kill you now," he let go of Jaune and pushed him back several feet and turned to the two mortals on his team, "This never happened, what you saw and heard was purely because Jaune was asking me for advice. Speaking of which, don't you have to get ready Jaune?"
He snapped his head sideways and then to a clock, "That's right! I'm gonna be late!"
"You have forty five minutes, how long does it take to get ready for a date?" Deoxys asked.
"Not long enough!" Jaune yelled in response, running into the bathroom to go take another shower. This was his third in two hours.
"Well at least we know he'll be clean."
"Shut it parasite."
"Who is Jaune going on a date with?" It sounded hurt, sounded pained, sounded like the soul was ripped right out of the body. Pyrrha's face looked far worse, her usually calm green eyes were worried and grief was laced in her gaze.
"He didn't tell you?" Rayquaza was actually surprised by that. You would think that Jaune would have told his partner that he somehow, by the grace of Arceus, got someone to go on a date with him.
"No," she appeared even more hurt, "who is it?"
"Ho-oh," the dragon god said, it was simple, plain, meant to get the worst over with.
She didn't take it well, but her face would never admit it, "Oh, oh, I see. Well good for Jaune." The pained smile on her face even hurt Rayquaza who could only sigh.
"Pyrrha I-" the god was stopped by the bathroom door swinging open revealing a fresh and fabulous looking Jaune. How he found a black vest with a white dress shirt with slacks in the bathroom was a mystery to him.
"Okay!" Jaune declared, "I've taken a shower, got a decent plan for this evening, and got plenty of conversation topics in case it gets awkward."
"He does realize that he is the definition of 'awkwardness' right?" Deoxys asked Rayquaza. There was no immediate response, it wasn't like he was wrong about that observation.
Rayquaza instead looked at Jaune with an indifferent stare, as if calculating things. "Stay still for a moment," he told the blonde. Jaune stiffened as his team leader started to pace around him. Several times he went around Jaune's body looking up and down, making grunts and plenty of 'hmms'. "Interesting," he finally said.
"What's interesting?" Jaune nervously stammered out.
"I would say your approach to courting Ho-oh is a unique one, at least to her. I don't think anyone has gone down this route."
"What kind of route?"
"Snivelling cowardice."
"Gee, great," it didn't fill him with confidence.
Stroking his chin Rayquaza kept going around him, "Jaune, every guy has tried every single pickup line, cheesy one liner, and trick to try to get a date with Ho-oh. Every single one of them failed." "And some were burnt to crisps." "The most important tip I could give you is to treat her like a person, she is not some goddess that demands tribute." "Well technically…" "Just talk to her, be nice, honest, and don't be afraid if she refuses to do this again. Getting a date out of Ho-oh says something about your character and determination. Be yourself kid and that's all you'll have to."
"Now, go get out there, show Ho-oh what you got," Deoxys added with a smile. He would love to see this all unfold, if not for his own amusement.
It seemed to help as Jaune's face was lit up, "Yeah! You're right! Thanks for the advice Ray!" Jaune was practically on all the clouds, including number nine, as he stepped out of the room wishing the rest a good day. Pyrrha, however, was not in that mindset. She barely moved as Jaune brushed past her, her eyes never leaving the floor.
Seeing this the sky god sighed for what felt like minutes, if Deoxys could move his arms he would check an imaginary watch. "Why do I even bother?" Rayquaza said palming his face with his whole hand and bringing it down. "I know I'm going to regret this, but Deoxys," the parasite turned to Rayquaza, "I want you to watch after Jaune, I highly doubt Ho-oh will actually do something but you may never know."
"You're trusting me? Oh thank the stars you're learning to like me."
"Remember, if you get out of line I will send you into the moon. It's already shattered enough. You are to watch from afar, and by no means alert them to your presence. Last thing I need is both Ho-oh and Palkia chiding me out for sending you alone."
"And what are you going to do while I go babysitting?"
Rayquaza looked to the literal red head, "I'm going to give Pyrrha a dose of reality."
-X-
While originally confident from the pep talk from Rayquaza, it was in bushels and shovel fulls by the start, had no turned to a pit of nervousness and second guessing. Jaune thought every step might be his last. What if he screwed up so bad Ho-oh would never speak to him again? How could he live after that? Where else could he find a nice redheaded girl with green eyes who would help no matter what? Nowhere! That's where!
"Okay calm down Jaune, it's going to be fine," he assured himself, the door was coming into view. "Just remember what you were taught. Dad always said women like a man with confidence," the door was in line with himself, "Giratina and Rayquaza both said to be yourself." He was right in front of the door now and everything in his body told him to turn away, "Maybe I should turn bac-" His thought was stopped as the door slowly swung open. Behind it was one Kyurem Mir who had that unimpressed, calculative look on his face.
"Jaune," he said expecting him.
"Hey Kyurem," said the nervous teen, "is Ho-oh ready?"
"In a little bit," he told him, "she was getting the finishing touches down for your romantic escapade. Which reminds me…" the air around Jaune chilled several degrees as Kyurem leaned in, "I will not tolerate any advances made on my teammate." Normally he wouldn't do this sort of exchange, but since he was pretending to be a team leader, he had to look protective to play the part, "If I hear one thing that hurts my teammate, you will not live to see another sunrise."
Well if that didn't convince Jaune that this was a bad idea, then nothing else would have. Luckily, or in this case not, it scared the crap out of him.
"Enough Kyurem," came the sound of Jaune's salvation. Ho-oh stepped out brushing her long beautiful hair.
She was gorgeous, not that she wasn't a hundred percent of the time, but even more so now. Her hair flowed all the way down in a sea of red that waved like a field of grass in the wind. A white skirt that fell shortly past her knees, a golden shirt with the edges in shimmering silver. There were no words to describe the feeling in Jaune's heart as he looked at the literal goddess.
"Uhh…" it appeared that his mouth stopped functioning as well. He snapped himself back to reality as he realized that his mouth was hanging open ready for a dastardly fly to ruin any chance of this date going well, "Ho-oh, you look fantastic."
"Thank you," she said graciously, "and as do you." She brushed past Kyurem, pushing him aside, "I'll be off now, I'll see you all later. Enjoy your night with Palkia and his team."
Kyurem gave a sigh and rolled his eyes, "We'll try, and...have fun." "Don't try to kill him, Rayquaza has always had a temper."
"He is more understanding, if anything, his battles with Deoxys quelled his rage a long time ago."
The happy, or at least one of them was happy, the other was still downright terrified, couple walked on through the halls and out unto the unsuspecting town of Vale.
A deep breath exhaled from Kyurem, he turned to his partner. "Well then, what time did Nora want to meet us again?"
-About fifteen minutes later in Vale-
"What do you mean they bailed on us?" Kyurem asked, he stood in the middle of this stupid town only to be told that-
"Apparently they all forgot to do the assignment for Port's class," Blake explained, reading the text from Yang sent conveniently moments before. Something was definitely up.
"All of them?" The God of Peace questioned. "Surely someone's with Dialga's constant need for perfection, and time management, wouldn't let a single mortal assignment slip by him." "And what of Ren? He is our teammate and I haven't seen no semblance of him since this morning."
"Hold on, I just asked Yang," she stared, her face reflecting the blue glow of the scroll, she waited for a few more seconds until it buzzed in her hand. She gave a sigh, and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Apparently Nora doesn't trust Ren being without her in the city, afraid some girl might steal him away and run away."
"If he knew what was best for him, he would," Kyurem's tone made it difficult to decipher if it was a joke, or a serious thought for consideration.
Blake shot him a glance, but soon rolled her eyes as a second buzz went off.
~Enjoy your date~ Yang
Her eye twitched as she finally put the pieces together. That's why Nora had that mischievous look on her face this morning, that's why she asked for Ren to make her so many pancakes this morning. Because she thought she wanted a date with Kyurem.
Blake was going to kill them.
And oh boy would it satisfying.
"Palkia, Dialga, what is the meaning of this?" Kyurem asked telepathically, this was a long distance message so it required more concentration. Luckily Kyurem was full of it.
It took some time but, "What appears to be the problem?" Dialga asked, Kyurem could just imagine the coy smile plastered on the accursed time keeper's face.
"Oh, how about ditching me in the middle of Vale while the next bullhead leaves in three hours."
Palkia spoke next, "I would like to preface this by saying it was all Nora's idea."
"I'll take it into consideration, now speak."
"She thought that Blake, your partner, might have certain...romantic feelings towards you and thought that she might enjoy some 'alone time' with you."
The air around Kyurem plummeted in temperature, every breath could be seen coming from his flaring nostrils. His only hand twitched. "Breathe, breathe," he calmly told himself, the air returned to normal and spoke back to the two sons of Arceus, "Palkia, remind me why you are listening to your mortal companion when you can simply overpower them mentally. Your's especially."
There was a pause, "Kyurem," the tone was short, decisive, demanding, "I am not allowing one of us to use our mental powers over the mortals. We are here to judge them not turn them into mindless soldiers. So if I hear that you have done something, or I suspect it, then I will gladly send you back to my father for questioning. Am I understood, Mediator?"
A displeased frown formed over Kyurem's lips, "Yes, but know that I expect some form of payment in return for being lied to."
"Oh there was never any doubt about that," Dialga said, "we know just how much you love interaction with the mortals."
The ice god kept sneering hearing the sarcasm practically pour from Dialga's words, but Blake decided to be an annoying mortal and interrupt, "Hey Kyurem?"
"We'll discuss this later. And there will be answers." "Yes Blake?" He asked, seemingly changing his whole attitude from annoyed to...slightly less annoyed.
"We have a few hours until the next bullhead comes, do you want to walk around Vale for a while?"
"Insight is always helpful, no such thing as bad information." "Fine, lead the way partner."
-X-
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Pyrrha asked her leader as they entered the arena. All he had said was that he wanted to spar and 'talk' about some things, but stayed silent after that.
He pulled out The Ziz from his backside and started placing rounds of ammunition in the main clip. "Oh not much," he shrugged, "just thought a little practice never hurt anyone."
If there was one thing that she had learned about her leader, it's that he always has some kind of ulterior goal. The more and more she thought about it, everyone of Rayquaza's friends seem to share that trait. Even Deoxys to a degree, and he was mute and restrained, would look like the gears were constantly whirring in the back of his head. There had to be a reason for him asking him for training. They were all competent fighters, some even surprising her like Palkia and Dialga.
The snapping sound of Rayquaza slamming his clip in made Pyrrha jump slightly, it was rare for her to be caught off guard by something like that, but she was finding more and more that her eccentric team leader was always surprising her.
"Are we ready?" He asked walking away to the other side of the ring.
"Yeah," she said still a tad distracted by her thoughts and Rayquaza's crypticness.
Pyrrha prepared Milo and Akuoko while Rayquaza shifted The Ziz into its naginata configuration getting into his usual stance. He stood tall and composed with a single arm behind his back with the blade pointed slightly towards the ground. "You may make the first move," Rayquaza was always one for pleasantries.
Pyrrha charge forward with her sword preparing a swing behind her back and her shield ready to bash to open him up. Her team leader stayed in the same position, the only thing that changed was his eyes as they evaluated the situation. Flipping his hand quickly around the naginata, Rayquaza swung upward throwing off her weapon and almost throwing her shield from her arm had she not had an unnatural death grip on it. With Pyrrha being the experienced tournament fighter she was, she quickly got back her balance and swept at Rayquaza's legs with her blade. The swipe hit his first leg and he was forced to step back. While he recovered Pyrrha charged again with her shield smacking him square in the chest. Unlike most students he wasn't nearly as fazed by the strike only a little bit. She chalked that up to being used to her fighting style, this wasn't the first time he had been facing her in a spar and this definitely wasn't the first time seeing it in use. Her sword went in for three slashes across the chest but the horned faunus quickly shifted the naginata in to block all three, the polearm going in an opposite angle so when the two blades clashed they created an 'X' for fractions of a seconds. After the slashes Pyrrha threw her blade once more for a heavy blow. The two stayed like that, both weapons pushing forward and then going back. Pyrrha, while experienced, was having to give it more effort, her face in a small sneer forced by combat. Rayquaza, had a completely relaxed look on his face, save for his flaring nostrils and deep inhales before he would push. To her surprise she heard a chuckle.
"You're distracted aren't you?" He asked.
She remained silent, she was taught that talk had no place in a fight. It occupied your mind too much, one's mind needed to be focused on the task at hand. Judging your aura, your strength, noticing your surroundings, and judging your opponent. He pressed forward, there was now a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"Oh? Giving me the silent treatment now? I would almost be hurt if this were any other situation. But I'm used to it I guess, spending too long with Deoxys you know. I do wonder why you're distracted though, could it have anything to do with today's events?"
She didn't get to answer as he used his weapon's larger size to his advantage and flipped the bottom end into her waist completely catching her by surprise. With her opened up he swung and delivered a kick to the same side he already attacked at. There was a good distance between them and he flicked a switch on his weapon. Mechanical apparatuses whirred, tabs clicked, and hinges loosened until it formed his bayonet rifle. Taking aim with the iron sights he fired three rounds at the girl with eyes to match the color of his rifle. Her circular shield was brought up with plenty of time as the bullets harmlessly bounced off the golden colored metal. Pyrrha followed suit and switched her sword to the rifle and fired multiple shots at him. Since he had no chunk of metal to defend him Rayquaza ducked under one bullet swiveled past another and swung his bayonet so the shell hit the bladed tip and ricochet away. Sparks bounced off the blade as the casing hit, the metal splintered and went into multiple directions.
Rayquaza took initiative and leaped forward firing more shots while doing so. With the final shot he eased his grip and fully let go with his left hand. The shot flung the gun upward where it quickly shifted back into its other configuration. Rayquaza landed on top of Pyrrha suspended over her shield. The two stayed locked like that for seconds before Pyrrha lifted her shield in a mock throw tossing him back. Rayquaza landed after doing a flip.
"Well I guess being silent does do you some good," he started talking again, Pyrrha came in for a strike but it was blocked by The Ziz. "I can't tell if you're angry or just focused." His face came in closer to analyze her, "probably the latter rather than the former, I would be surprised if you ever get angry. It's like you have so few emotions. You have the obvious ones like happy, but all the others seem to be buried beneath the exterior." More strikes came from the redheaded girl and each one of them was parried with perfect precision. Pyrrha had noticed a change in Rayquaza, gone was his coy smile, now there was only a thin line and a cold stare.
He closed in and swiped at her, the blade colliding with her shield. Bringing her sword, she shifted it into the third form of a lance and was going in for a strike. In a quick movement he grabbed her wrist, the grip was iron and almost unnatural as to come from someone like Rayquaza. It wasn't that he was strong, it just never seemed like he'd be the one to go for such a tactic.
"Pyrrha Nikos," he calmly said, "if you're going to be distracted and not tell me as to why, I must only guess. And I hate having to guess, I never like getting wrong answers."
Pyrrha didn't budge. Was she distracted? She certainly didn't feel distracted, it was probably a trick to fool her. Instead she focused on overpowering her opponent.
"I see, you're going to make me speculate, how rude. Hmm," he leaned in, his stance unwavering, "I had no clue who you were before coming here, and after analysis I really couldn't care less, tournament fighting is nothing like fighting for survival, the latter is more exhilarating. But, you were a prize fighter, a glorified entertainer as it were, what did that really get you? Fame? Fortune? Things that you never really wanted in the first place. What did you want Pyrrha?" He paused, awaiting an answer but alas, he got none, "You're being a real pain about this, but fine. I'm going to assume you wanted friends, people to share the good times with. And perhaps something more than a friend. Perhaps a lover?" Her face finally shifted slightly, a win in the deity's book. "There is nothing wrong with finding love, even at an early age, but I wonder who would be able to step up when most see you as a goddess."
Pyrrha broke the grip that Rayquaza had on her weapon and lunged forward sending multiple strikes to his body, most landing but he was rather unfazed except for the pausing of each hit. He wiped his chin and at the corner of his mouth he grinned. Rayquaza sprinted forward and swung his blade in wide arcs quickly at Pyrrha. After the first one was blocked, he accelerated the movements and the latter two struck her in the side and the leg. The blade raking across her aura. He kicked her in the stomach sending her back.
"Now don't get me wrong, I too know a little about being put up on a pedestal." "A lot actually, you would think that mortals would make painting rather than heavy statues." "I know it's a bit of a burden, so that begs the question as to who could you even go out with and suck face with?" She winced at his wording, he silently snickered. "I for one will not, sorry if that breaks your heart, Deoxys is off the table by my law, Ren is taken by the loud orange haired girl, and I don't think you're a homosexual. So who does that leave us, at least in our little friend group? Oh why Jaune of course!"
His tone betrayed the idea he just now came up with that thought. The dragon saw how her face changed, he noticed something in the air changed as well. "You know as a faunus my senses are slightly improved than a regular human, so smelling...what is that...a hint of pheromone with a twinge of...fear? Why would you be afraid?" He was playing coy, he would not deny he learned from centuries of essentially being tied to Deoxys, "Could it be the fact that Jaune went on a date? Oh, how that little boy is growing up." He stabbed his weapon in the ground.
Pyrrha took this opportunity to charge him. He wasn't even looking at her, perhaps that made it all the more worse. With a swipe of his hands Pyrrha felt a rush of wind attack her side pushing her into the wall violently.
"I mean first, it's a date, then it becomes a second, then a third, then they're going to refer to each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, then comes that faithful day when Jaune becomes a 'man'," it honestly made Rayquaza sick thinking of physical intimacy between mortals, he was no Virizion that was for sure, "and then finally comes that milestone, some call it the day all about them, the wedding day. Where our dear little Jaune marries the woman of his dreams. So I'm going to ask you Pyrrha, are you going to sit idly by while waiting for Jaune to notice you? He doesn't even think of you like that, he's too busy chasing after women like Weiss and Ho-oh, people who make other guys drool ten times more than they ever do for you."
Pyrrha was starting to get annoyed by his words. How dare he talk about Jaune like that? Especially when he's his team leader. She ran in, but this time he appeared done with her. He sent a massive gust of wind into her body which sent her backwards. She was completely surprised by Rayquaza following after, pushing her back as he held her wrists and pinned her to the wall. If someone sneaked in, they might have gotten the wrong idea.
"I'm going to give it straight to you Nikos," the tone was harsh, unrelenting, venomous even, "Jaune will never notice you if you continue the way you're doing. I don't frankly care if you two ever go out, but make up your god forsaken mind. Because right now you're nervous feelings are affecting you on the battlefield. That's going to cost you one day, it may not be tomorrow, or the day after that, but someone's going to do something, where either you or Jaune will get hurt, and you'll absolutely lose it. So make your choice, either ask Jaune out eventually or accept the fact that doesn't harbor the same feelings for you! Do you honestly think he even notices you?!" The last part came a yell straight to her face and in response Pyrrha jabbed her armor knee into his stomach.
He fell back releasing his grip on her and she jumped in slashing with mad fury but with precision. He had no chance to block anything as his weapon was meters behind him. The final strike came as it aimed for his head. The tip of her sword raked across his cheek, cutting it open a tiny seam. A small spurt of blood dropped off and some even ran down the sword. Pyrrha didn't realize what had happened until she saw the blood on the floor, her eyes went wide once it hit her. She dropped her sword and shield.
"I'm so sorry!" She said closing the distance with her hand to touch his face.
He swatted it away with a growl that intimidated her, "You worry about scratches while there is a bigger issue going on. You need to get your emotions in check before it's a whole head that's been removed! Figure it out Pyrrha." Rayquaza turned around and was starting to walk out.
"Why do you care what I do in my personal life anyways?" The teenager asked, finally contributing to the conversation.
"Pyrrha," he said turning back to face her, "what are you going to do after you graduate?"
She paused and gave him a confused look, I'm going to be a huntress."
"That's the obvious answer, if you didn't most would think you're crazy," he replied, "I want to know what you are going to do once you get out of here. You going to fight alone? Fight with others? And if so who? Jaune? Would you be able to do it if he finds some other girl to be with? Do you think he would want you to be around? Four years changes people Pyrrha." "Not nearly as much as thousands of years, but you have such little lifespans that I'll ignore it."
"Well I could just be with you and Deoxys."
"I am not doing this to be a huntsman Pyrrha," the idea was so revolting to him in the first place.
She was completely shocked by his statement, "Well then, why are you here?"
Rayquaza placed a hand near his stomach, "Let's see, this tall, red haired, mute, somewhat psychotic, in a straight jacket." He paused letting her come to his conclusion, "I've had to deal with that damn parasitic symbiote for too long, and this is my only chance to get rid of him. So I would appreciate it, if you didn't screw this . After that, you can go along with your fairytale life of your magical blonde prince rescuing you, I really couldn't give a damn about you and Jaune, but I am forced to. So get things straight, your emotions have no place on the battlefield." "I should know that most of all."
The dragon turned his back to his teammate and walked out of the room, and ignoring the gaze of the girl. When he was out of view of all he looked down at his shirt and removed part of the clothing. A necklace was hidden the green shirt. A simple dark colored chain connected to a ball. It was a beautiful gem colored that of a rainbow, a strange curved symbol in the middle made out of a darker color so that it would contrast with its bright surroundings. He sneered at the thought and sight of it, the memories it brought.
"Stupid parasite."
-X-
"Seven sisters? Really? That sounds like a massive undertaking to be the only brother," Ho-oh said as she sat at the table in a cafe, it was midday almost approaching evening. The goddess had to admit, she didn't mind this at all. Despite being on several romantic adventures, most ending in incineration mind you, this was by far one of the sweetest. He kept that nervous, but trying, attitude as he went on with the date. He opened every door for her, often kept up good conversation, and let her take her time taking in the surroundings. He knew that she was not from around the immediate area.
"Yeah it was definitely...an experience, but I wouldn't have it any other way," the blonde replied happily, throwing away any worry he may have had, "what about you? Got any siblings."
Ho-oh looked far into the distance, "I have a sister, you could say she's a twin."
"What she like?"
"She is more protective than I am, she finds a need to put her foot down on situations. She acts more like a parent at times than a sister."
"She sounds nice, what's her name?"
"Lugia," she replied simply.
Jaune shook his head, "You guys have some weird names, you know that right?"
"Oh and Jaune Arc? Pyrrha Nikos? Yang Xiao Long? To us, those names are equally as foreign."
He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "I guess so."
"Tell me Jaune, what are your dreams?"
"What are my dreams?" He was somewhat caught off guard by the sudden comment, she nodded and motioned him to go on, "Well I've always wanted to be a huntsman."
"And why is that?"
"Umm...well my dad was and my grandfather, and his dad before him. I just wanted to be hero like them. I just wanted to help people."
Ho-oh was silent, she contemplating, Jaune suddenly got worried that he said the wrong thing, she just gave a single chuckle and smiled, "An honorable idea." The blonde let out a sigh of relief internally, and continued chatting up the rest of the night about stories from his childhood, a few caused many light chuckles from her. But at the back of her mind she felt something tugging at her.
"Just what are you hiding Jaune Arc?"
-X-
"...the path to enlightenment is often thought by deep serenity and peace, but it is rather a mix of conflict and quietness."
Blake looked at her partner with a blank stare as they sat in the coffee house, a book split open by her thumb, "What does this have to do with the conversation?"
He lifted up the cup he had been handed, "The barista completely ruined the balance of coffee, to creamer ratio. If I wanted diluted milk, I would go to a cow." He honestly wanted to throw the cup back at the girl who probably majored in the Liberal Arts.
"Can we just get back to the conversation before?"
"What was that exactly?" Kyurem had seen and heard so many mortal conversations, they all ran together at this point.
"What'd you do before Beacon?" Blake asked closing her book and setting it on the table.
"I was something of a theoretician growing up."
"A what?"
"I was a thinker, anything really. Politics, philosophy, gardening, science, mathematics, and the occasional dabble into history." "not nearly as much as Dialga but his whole existence is based around that."
"So wait, how does that lead to Beacon? It's a school to train warriors, not people with that sort of background," the look on Kyurem's face was one of unamusement, she quickly backpedaled, "sorry, just came out."
"She is eager about something, she is trying to claw something out," he thought, looking over her features. He sighed, he hated the damn lie that they all came up with to describe their origins, "Blake, you have heard the many discussions at the lunch table about where we came from yes?" She nodded, slowly still taking things in, "Well Palkia's, Dialga's, and Giratina's father is the...leader we'll say of our society. Has been since I could first remember," it wasn't a total lie at least. "So their father ordered some of the best and brightest, if you would, to travel to the rest of Remnant to see if we should re-enter your society. Now I will admit their father is a smart man, rarely have I seen him make a wrong move, so he just didn't send warriors, that would give him one view of life to go down. Instead-"
"He sent different types of people," she finished, he would have froze her for interrupting him, but Palkia would've had words with him.
"Correct, he sent obvious warriors such as Palkia and Regigigas, intellectuals such as myself and Dialga, humanitarians which is where Ho-oh's strengths lie, and some...less desirable but albeit needed individuals for their unique perspectives."
"Like Deoxys and Giratina?" She raised a brow.
"Completely forgot about Giratina, I was talking about Rayquaza and Deoxys, no one has wanted to associate with them ever since their battles. Well, Rayquaza's two younger siblings do but that's a special case." "Giratina is more of an outlier, you can't really associate him with anything."
"What does that mean?"
"I am in no place to talk about such sensitive issues with the Primus family, they're a real mess. Makes me prefer my own at times."
"You have a family?" Blake tried to appear surprised, she really wanted to know if her dream the other night was true. Kyurem had made no mention of any siblings or parents during their relatively short time as partners.
"Perhaps."
That made her pause. Whenever Kyurem answered a question, it was precise, he always had an answer, he was decisive, never showing ambiguity or even doubt in his responses. Hearing this only made her more curious, she hadn't notice the temperature slightly drop. "What does that mean?"
His eyes narrowed, a small bit of frost was forming along the outside of the cup where his fingers gripped it tightly, "It means that you shouldn't pry into my personal life, I do not enjoy talking about my past."
"And why is that?" Still, she kept going, despite her feeling a slight chill in the air.
By now the liquid in his cup had turned to a solid chunk of ice, his left hand threatening to shatter it. "Because, Blake," he leaned in, "it's a bit bloody, and that is all that needs to be said on the subject." He made like he was going to take a sip.
"But I-"
The cup shattered immediately silencing Blake in a millisecond, "I told you drop it Blake, you have your secrets, and I have mine. Just because you noticed mine, does not mean I haven't noticed any that you might carry."
She looked back at him, her amber eyes large, and he swore he could see them scanning the room. No doubt he had attracted attention of the patrons. With a snort he stood up and threw the cup away, with the same and only hand he had he practically punched the door open. "Come on, the bullhead will be here soon."
Blake looked at the other customers in the room, they were a little scared of the events that transpired rather quickly. There was few worse than a huntsman losing his cool in an enclosed space filled with normal civilians. Grabbing her book she ran out of the shop and caught up with Kyurem. She didn't speak, she only looked at him once and that was when she sat across from him in the air ship, boy was that a mistake. Her eyes went to the ground, but they noticed the twitchy movements of his fingers on his single hand.
"What is he hiding?"
-Hours later, around evening-
"Well I must say Jaune that was more enjoyable than I was expecting," Ho-oh sighed as she and her date walked back onto Beacon grounds, the shattered moon shining above.
"Thanks, I never really had gone a actual date with a girl before," once again Jaune chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head.
"Really?" A small of surprise laced her tone.
"Well my sisters made me a test dummy before they went on dates themselves. Boy that was an experience," his face made him look like it was quite the ordeal.
"I'm sorry you had to endure such torture," she couldn't stop a full giggle to come out of her lips imagining Jaune being forced to play romantic with his sisters.
"Hey it's not funny, they made me sit there and listens to their conversations about school, clothing, and food. I didn't mind the last one too much but they tied me to the chair."
"Well it seems to have paid off, tonight was enjoyable," she smiled, to which he got giddy and hopeful.
"So does that mean we can do this again?"
"Oh, the innocence," she thought, looking into his hope filled eyes, she reached a hand to his chin and stroked it down.
"No."
The word hit him like a freight train, "Wha? But why?"
"Jaune, you have to understand that my life is very complicated. I'm not just some random girl like Ruby, or Yang who get to live my life freely. I'm a bit of a caged bird really.'
"What do you mean?" He looked so hurt, like a puppy who was passed over for adoption.
"I'm expected to take over for my family once I get back, my sister is currently running them but she cannot do it by her lonesome," it was technically true. Lugia had awful of a time trying to quell Ho-oh's emissaries and keep them in line. "I don't want to string you along and then leave you hurting and in pain."
"So why did you agree to go out tonight if you already knew you couldn't?"
"I wanted to know who Jaune Arc was, so I could help you," she kept rubbing her hand over his jawline, "Jaune, you are sweet, kind, trusting, and a rare gem in this world. Any girl would be lucky to have you by their side. Can you promise me something?" He nodded slowly expecting a 'don't ever talk to me again' sort of request. "You will find that you are surrounded by people who care for you. Some are closer than you think, just look around at everything you have." With him being taller than her, she pulled him down and softly planted her lips on his forehead. He reeled back slightly to look back at her, "I hope we can continue to be what we were before, I will always be there for you when you need me." She started walked backwards, they were in the halls no, at the splitting point between their respective rooms, "Good night Jaune."
"Good night Ho-oh," he managed to get out, it hurt… a lot, he had seen so many rejections before. He had gotten a ton too, usually he never got passed the initial asking of the date, so hearing after he had such a great time pained him greatly. He walked away, a pained smile on his face as he wished her a good night.
Ho-oh let out a breath, there was a small bit of guilt pooling in her stomach. She didn't reject Jaune because of the reasons she said, she had no issues with that. What really caused her uneasiness was the hidden guilt of Jaune hiding something from her. It was eating at him, it was something dangerous, she could feel it.
"What are you hiding Jaune Arc?" She asked before entering her own dorm. When she noticed the sudden rush of cool air, she rolled her eyes, "What happened Kyurem?"
Arceus, this was going to be a long night.
-X-
The Team RAPD dorm room door opened slowly, Jaune was expecting all his teammates to be sleeping or at least trying to. But the desk lamp on proved otherwise as the blonde saw his team leader still awake reading from a book, Pyrrha's body could be seen covered by the bed's blankets. Rayquaza probably wouldn't have noticed the dorky swordsman coming in if he hadn't said anything.
"Uhh, hey Rayquaza" the dragon god's head lifted up slightly to meet his gaze.
"Hello Jaune," and he quickly went back to his reading, "how was your date? I see you came back in one piece, so it couldn't have been too bad."
"No it was fine," he sat down on his bed and wiped his hands over his face, this was followed by a groan.
Even though Rayquaza was no expert in social cues and romance, those weren't the correct actions to follow those words. "I'm assuming there's a 'but' coming isn't there?"
"Ho-oh said she couldn't continue to go out with me after this because of her family duties."
Rayquaza was silent for a little bit, "So that's the excuse she's going with. Interesting." "Well I'm sorry about that Jaune, not everything can work out I'm afraid. Life for us is very different than what you have here. Family plays an important role."
When Rayquaza finished the door clicked open, somewhat startling Jaune, but Rayquaza had been expecting it for some time now. He was actually annoyed this didn't come sooner. Deoxys stood in the doorway before stepping in, closing it quietly with his foot, a skill he picked up a long time ago.
"Hello, how are you two?" The destroyer of hundreds of lives asked innocently.
"We'll talk later," Rayquaza said, "Oh, not much. Jaune, we'll talk about this tomorrow, why don't you take a shower to cleanse your mind."
He gave a weak, "Okay," before leaving the two gods.
Rayquaza turned to his 'partner', "Where have you been?" He crossed his arms and didn't look pleased.
"Well after spying on Jaune and Ho-oh for a few hours I started to walk around the city, still keeping them within my sight mind you, I stopped at an ice cream parlour. Did you know you can put gummy bears and they only charge you half a lien for it?"
Rayquaza dismissed it, albeit with a sprinkle of fury in his voice, "I gave you clear instructions to keep tabs on Jaune and Ho-oh, not go around and act like a child."
"Well if it makes you feel any better I met a nice girl while doing so."
"No. Not at all, the last thing I need is some floozy fraternizing with you."
"Awe, come on, we didn't do anything. She's mute os all we did was eat ice cream and send messages to each other."
"How did you even eat, you're bound?" Rayquaza leaned in menacingly, "I better not hear on the news about some telekinetic lunatic on the news. That Lisa Lavender is a conspiracy theorist with a camera."
"Don't worry, she enjoyed feeding me, at times I would sneak in a bite," his tone was almost playful in a way, Rayquaza knew what that meant.
"When are you meeting her again?" Cutting right to the chase, classic Rayquaza.
"Oh I don't know, apparently her line of work takes to places for a long time."
"What's her name?"
Deoxys smiled, it was the unsettling smile that Rayquaza had gotten used to, for better or for worse.
"Neo."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Dun, dun, duuuuuuuun. Oh I love it when I do that. Now if I knew what exactly I mean by 'do that' then I would be prouder. A quick heads up about the upcoming chapters. They will be the 'Jaunedice' ones which will have more focus on RAPD, which was a lot like this chapter. Secondly, something needs to be said about Rayquaza's little outburst there; the gods, and I mean all of them, are a force that is neither good or evil. They merely exist, sure they may be judging whether to keep Remnant alive and what not, but by no means do they have to be nice about it. So because of that, they at times may seem a tad 'evil' especially certain characters. Anyways, see ya later suckers!
