Chapter 55 (Jason) - Questions and Decisions

As Jason opened his eyes slowly, he felt the heat from the sun touching his skin while lying on a bed. As Jason sat up, he had felt pain coming from his head and remembered how he was saved by his old teachers. Jason continued to groan at the pain, and shook his head to get rid of the blur in his vision. As he looked towards his left, he saw a bright yellow haired girl, sitting on a wooden chair, with her head lying her onto the same bed as Jason. "Yang!" he exclaimed. "Wuh…", as Yang lifted her head from the bed, she stared at Jason for a minute, then wiped her eyes and stared at him again until she came into realisation that Jason had woken up. "Jason!" yelled Yang as she lunged herself towards the helpless teenager. As Yang released her hug from Jason she questioned him, "How'd you get here?" Yang asked. "That's...a long story. What happened was….", as Yang sat quietly, Jason told Yang from the beginning how he met up with Mia, but was separated because of Weiss' father's plans for her, and now wishes to meet up with Weiss and Mia, but he never mentioned his future self to Yang.

After Jason shared his story with Yang, he had then questioned her on why was she here, "I live here." Yang replied. "You what!?" yelled Jason, acting surprised. Jason questioned Yang further, "So...is Ruby and the gang around here too?", "They…went to Mistral." Yang responded before giving a sigh. "Oh…", Jason noticed the lack of Yang's arm and began to comfort her, "How've you been?" questioned Jason, "What do you mean?" responded Yang. Jason didn't answer but looked at Yang's stumped arm. "Oh, this? This is nothing." Yang continued, "In fact, I've got something to show to you. Follow me.". As Jason left the bed, he followed Yang into the living room and saw a robotic arm, "Don't tell me…", "Yep. This is my new arm." replied Yang while popping the robotic arm onto her shoulders. When Yang had inspected her new arm, "Ironwood gave me this." she told Jason. "That looks...badass." he responded.

A man came through the front door that Jason didn't recognise. The man had blonde hair with blue eyes and wore brown cargo shorts with dark brown belt, black shoes, red bandana on his left arm and a brown leather vest over his shirt while he had one metal shoulder pad on his right shoulder. "Ahh, so you must be Jason. My name is Taiyang." he said, "Yang told me a lot of things about you.", "What kind of things?" wondered Jason. "Well, for starters, she told me that you're quick on your feet, though I don't think that speed alone can help you all the time.", he continued to lecture Jason, "I've seen your fight in the Vytal Festival, and although you did good on your own, there is still room for improvements. When you're fully healed, I can teach you a thing or two.". "So… Where's Professor Port and the rest of the teachers?" questioned Jason, "They're back at Vale, trying to take it back. Now I have question for you. What was you doing back at Beacon?" said Taiyang. "It was my home so I wanted to see what was left of it." Jason responded. "Do remember that it is a scary world out there. Kids like you shouldn't be venturing out in the wilderness." Taiyang added. Jason glared down at the ground and said "I've been entrusted with a child's life. I will do anything necessary to protect her…even if it means going through Hell.". "Then we got a big day ahead of us. Get some rest. I'll start training you first thing in the morning.", as Taiyang had finished his talk with Jason, he went upstairs. "Sorry about that." said Yang. "Sorry about what?" replied Jason, "My dad can be... you know... weird at times.", "It's fine. And besides, a fight against your dad could be a great opportunity for me." responded Jason.

The next day arrived, and Jason was outside with Yang and Taiyang. While Yang was sitting on the floor with Zwei, Jason and Taiyang were beginning their training. "Now, try attacking me without your semblance." yelled Taiyang, as Jason rushed towards Taiyang with his weapons, but Jason was instantly disarmed and thrown towards the ground. "You see how slow you are without your semblance. I know how your semblance works. What if your aura was gone and you couldn't run fast because of it?", "I don't know..." replied Jason, "Use your head." ordered Taiyang. Taiyang went back into position, "This time, fight me without your weapons, hand to hand combat. You're gonna need to learn how to fight with your fist instead of relying on your swords. Now, show me what you can do.". As Jason made a direct charge towards Taiyang, he jumped into the air and made a jump kick towards Taiyang. Unfazed, Taiyang waited for Jason and swiftly evaded Jason's kick, but before Jason could land, Taiyang grabbed his leg and threw him towards the tree. "You need to do better than that if you want to survive without your weapon!" shouted Taiyang. As Jason stood up and went back into position, he charged towards Taiyang again but with a different method. Instead of doing a jump kick, Jason ran in with a quick left jab but was soon blocked by one hand from Taiyang while Taiyang had locked his hand, "Cmon, if tha-". Before Taiyang could finish his sentence, Jason forced his right knee and aimed it at Taiyang stomach but it had yet again been blocked by Taiyang's right knee. "Hey, now you're getting the hang of it.", Taiyang praised Jason for his efforts, "I'm not done just yet." said Jason. When Jason's left hand was still gripped by Taiyang, Jason lowered his knee and pulled Taiyang towards him by using his left hand. Within range, Jason engaged Taiyang again with a right elbow. However, Taiyang blocked the elbow with his right hand while giving a smirk.

After hours of training in the morning went by, Jason was lying on the floor, gasping for air, and Taiyang went back into his house. As Yang made her way towards Jason, she dropped a towel over his face while sitting down next to him. Offering him a bottle of water, Jason instinctively grabbed the bottle off of Yang's hand and drank all of the water in a matter of seconds. "Can I ask you a question?" said Yang, "What's up?", "Where do you plan on going?". Jason answered Yang, "My plan is to go to Mistral and find Mia. I want to make sure that she is safe, so I'm thinking of leaving today.". "But you said she's with Weiss, she should be safe with her. Don't you believe in Weiss?", "Trust me. I do. But I've been told that a storm is brewing in the future. I just want to make sure that she is safe.", "Then I've made up my mind." said Yang. "I'll tag along with you. My sister is at Mistral, and me being the older sister, I have to make sure that she's safe." she added. "So I guess that means we're partners." he claimed. When Yang stood up, she offered her hand towards Jason, "Partners.". As Jason accepted Yang's hand, she had then threw Jason a few metres away from her, "Watching you fight my dad got me fired up.", "Wait! What?" Jason moaned, Yang had then wrestled Jason until it had been time for dinner.

Before Yang and Jason set to leave in the afternoon, Yang wrote a letter for her dad to let her know that she will be gone. When she had finished writing the letter, she left the letter in her room while Jason had waited outside her room. After Yang had exited her room, she took on a new appearance, she wore a tan jacket with orange lining and gold edging, unzipped halfway which exposes an orange top. The coat that she was wearing was dark brown with short sleeves as well as a thick collar that circles her neck. Also wearing black pants, she had a brown belt that has two pieces of brown material with a gold outline attached to it. "You ready?" Jason asked. "Give me a minute, I want to do something before we set off.".

As the duo made their way outside, Yang brought a yellow spray can with her, alongside her was her weapon, Ember Celica, and the robotic arm. After spraying her weapon and robotic arm, the two went inside the garage where a white sheet was covering something. With Jason being unsure what was under the white sheet, Yang removed it and revealed her motorbike. "I don't remember saying that you were ready." stated Taiyang as he stood at the entrance of the garage. "Oh yeah? You gonna try stop me?" said Yang. Giving a slight chuckle before replying to Yang, "No. I think I'm still too sore after our last fight. I just wanted a better goodbye than a letter." he added. "And, I also have a question for you. Where are you going?" he asked. "I'm going to Mistral of course, with Jason." replied Yang. "So you are not going after your mother? I know Qrow had told you where your mother's been these days. I know how much you wanna see her. I stopped you in the past, but I won't anymore.", "It's like I said, I'm going to Mistral with Jason.", "If that is what you want, I won't stop you." responded Taiyang.

As Yang took her motorbike outside, Jason followed her, but after Yang had exited first, Taiyang grabbed Jason by the shoulder and asked Jason a favour. "Will you protect my daughter? Please. She can be…stubborn and hot headed. But when she's in danger, I want you to be the one that protects her.", "She's a very close friend to me. I'll make sure that I'll protect her with my life." replied Jason. "I know you got a lot of things on your plate so I just want to say thank you." responded Taiyang. "It's no problem." Jason replied. As Jason faced towards the garage entrance, he saw Yang giving a smile towards him. When Jason had approached her, "I heard what you and my dad was talking about. And if you think that I can't take care of myself, you're wrong." Yang said. "I know, but from my experience, there have been a lot of Grimm stronger than me out there.", "Then maybe I should be the one protecting you." mocked Yang. "Well aren't you the funny one. I can handle myself." said Jason. When Yang and Jason got on the motorbike, Jason was unsure on what to hold onto. "Just hold onto my waist." said Yang. "I never rode a bike before, this is kinda new to me..." Jason claimed.

When Jason held onto Yang's waist, the two drove off, leaving Taiyang waving at them. "So do you know where we headed?" questioned Jason. "Yeah. We should make it to the docks and get a ship to Mistral. It hopefully won't take too long." she added. "So...are you with Weiss then?" Yang said, making conversation. "What? No." he objected, "We're just friends, that's all." Jason added. "Sure…" she jested. "I'm telling the truth. Me and Weiss are not like that.".

As Yang continued to tease Jason, they managed to reach the docks without any Grimm following them. As Yang boarded her motorbike, Bumblebee, onto the ship and placed it at the side of the ship, Jason followed. Becoming tired, he was sitting on the side of the ship with the motorbike and instantly fell asleep. Yang then sat next to Jason and placed her head onto his shoulder.

After the journey to Mistral had came to an end, Jason woke up first and felt a slight weight on his shoulders. Looking to his left, he saw Yang sleeping peacefully, "Yang..." he whispered. "We're here.", Jason had continued to whisper to Yang, "Five more minutes." she said. Yang began to wake up and looked at Jason, within seconds, she moved back away from him, "Sorry." she blurted out. "Sorry for what?" he questioned. "Nothing. Looks like we made it to Mistral. We should get going now.". As Yang had brought Bumblebee out of the ship, the two got on and made their way away from the docks and into the forest. Upon entering the forest, Jason questioned Yang, "Do you know where we're headed?", "Haven right?" she answered. "But do you know how to get there?", "Nope. I'm just following the signs." she responded. But as time passed, Yang put the brakes on her motorbike to find two paths and a sign in between the paths. The left path said 'Kuboyuri' but was crossed out and said 'Bandits' while the right path had said 'Mistral'. "Well that's definitely Ruby for ya." said Jason. "She's in so much trouble when I find her." said Yang. And so, the duo had took the right path and began their own adventure to meet up with Ruby.