Hello everyone!
This chapter is gonna feel kind slow, but it's the warm up for the incoming mess.
I'd like to thank Astray-Tech for reading all the chapter from the first one and I hope to have his support for many more.
Enjoy!
Chapter 91: Don't forget the training montage
-o-
In a way, Oscar looked cute sleeping peacefully. We had spent part of the night talking and sharing stories. Telling him all my crazy things left him open-mouthed and he telling me about his life in his aunt's farm. I was wrong, he already had some combat experience, even if it were with small size Grimm.
It was a shame to have to do the following.
I took a deep breath and blew my whistle. With a frightened scream, the boy woke up and fell to the side of the bed.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty. We'll start with the training. Wash your face, get dressed, and see me on the backyard in 10."
"I thought we'd start after breakfast," Oscar looked at the alarm clock on the nightstand.
"And I thought you told me you woke up early on your farm to work."
"But we are not on the farm."
"No, we are in the kingdom of Mistral and we have a month to get you ready in case Salem attacks. Now, move," I replied authoritatively; maybe something I inherited from my dad.
Reluctantly, the boy stumbled toward the door, hitting the frame, and headed for the bathroom. 15 minutes later, he barely made it to our meeting place.
"You took another 5 minutes."
"Sorry, I had to use the toilet."
"Ah, fine. On the ground and give me 20."
"20 what?"
"20 lien... 20 push-ups actually. Start."
Grunting, Oscar got into position and began to descend and then ascend flexing his arms.
What started as a moment that allowed me to enjoy the power of being an instructor soon faded when I saw Oscar's difficulty in doing the push-ups, so I stood next to him and positioned myself to do the exercise.
"Keep your back straight and your arms steady," I said. "Slowly descend and take a deep breath before going up."
Oscar seemed to have no trouble following my directions, inhaling and exhaling at a steady rate as he rose and fell until he almost touched the ground. During that time, I did the same, although by the time he had finished 20, I had already done several more.
"I thought we were going to work on huntsman stuff," he gasped as he caught his breath.
"We will go step by step. First we will strengthen your body before unlocking your aura and working on using it to protect yourself."
"And will we do that in a month?"
"We will do what we can. The good thing is that you have Ozpin and us to help you. If what he said about recovering muscle memory is true, it'll be a matter of time until you can defend yourself enough to not be beaten down in less of a minute."
"Yes, that's what he told me."
"Who? Ozpin?"
Oscar nodded, "He said I could trust you."
It felt good knowing that Ozpin counted on us to make sure everything was okay, even after the failure we had at Beacon.
"So what's next now?"
"We will do a few laps about 30 minutes to exercise the legs."
The morning was already in all its glory by the time Nora called us for breakfast. Oscar was already on the verge of fainting after a series of squats, pull ups and doing the push-up for about 30 seconds while I had barely sweated, so I gave him my turn in the bathroom to clean up before eating.
When I entered the kitchen, my mouth started to water as I felt the delicious smell that filled the place and it was no wonder, since Ren had to cook that morning.
"Good to see you here," Ruby said leaving a stack of dishes in my hands. "Set the table."
"How did Oscar do?" Nora asked curiously while preparing the orange juice.
"Despite having no training, he has a lot of stamina."
"That's good," Ren exclaimed as he turned off the stove. "Before releasing the aura, the body must be in good condition to avoid complications."
"Then tomorrow we could unlock it and move on with training," Jaune proposed bringing a plate of chopped fruit to the table.
Everything was ready when Oscar arrived.
"How you feel?" I asked him, serving me some sausages to accompany my scrambled egg.
"Good, although that routine was somewhat intense."
"Intense? I started doing that routine since I was 8 years old."
"Really? Then I still have a long way to go."
"You will get used to it," Jaune assured him. "I started a year ago and have had no problems since then. Now eat, you will need energy and Nora almost eats all the food already."
We looked at the redhead, who had a mouthful of food and still served herself even more.
"I'm leaving," Qrow warned us, having finished drinking his cup of coffee. "I'll let you know if I'm coming for lunch. Good luck with pipsqueak's training."
"And you with the recruiting," Ruby responded energetically to her uncle.
"Surely you don't want me to come with you?" I asked. "I'm done giving hell to Oscar."
"Ozpin said to train. To find a way to control the Overdrive for you. Also, the places I go are not for children," Qrow replied before leaving the door.
"Is it okay for him to go on his own?" Jaune asked concerned. "You know, because of his semblance."
"I don't know, but let's hope he finds huntsmen to support us. He's really sensitive when it's about his bad luck," Ruby replied. "In the meantime, we have issues to deal with."
"I can help with hand-to-hand combat training," Ren offered, leaving his tea on the table. "It would be good if you join us, Ruby, since Ozpin is right: you have to learn to fight without using weapons."
"Good," the girl grumbled.
"I can handle the weapons training," Jaune offered. "The advice Pyrrha gave me will be very helpful. Kaiden, will you help me?"
"Sure."
"I can be emotional support!" Nora said before running to Oscar's side. "EAT WELL, PINE! FILL UP ON THOSE PRECIOUS CALORIES! FILL UP ON POWER!"
The boy seemed more frightened than inspired.
"So will we continue to exercise more today?"
"Among other things," Ren explained. "We'll also explain the basics to you before moving on to more advanced topics. For now, it's up to Nora to train you."
Nora stared at the boy with a crooked smile, "We're going to have a lot of fun."
Oscar just looked at me fearfully and muttered, "Help me."
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If the exercises from before had not been enough, Nora left Oscar on the verge of collapse. It was to be expected, since Yang was the only living being who could keep up with Valkyrie and still be alive. Even when drinking water, I felt sorry for him and got him a long straw to drink the water, since his arms couldn't even get up.
"Nora, I think you broke him," I said, watching Oscar breathing heavily on the ground.
"I only applied the rookie level."
"The rookie level also had 30 push-ups with you on top?"
"It was going to be 50, but I had to make time to do the crunches."
"Jaune, have you seen anyone vomit blood?"
"What?! No!"
"Then pay attention."
"Hey... I'm still... here..."
"Barely."
"Kaiden, do you want a round in the meantime?" Jaune asked.
"Very good, Arc, show me how much you have improved."
As we got into position, my intrigue grew to know how much the blonde had progressed in that time that we had not seen each other and how he had done since Pyrrha was no longer to train him.
I unsheathed Requiem and wielded Samaritan in its knife form. Jaune took his sword with his shield. We both waited for the other to make the first move. I assumed he was still focused on defense, so my hand moved quickly and I threw the knife, which Jaune blocked with the shield, bouncing off the metal surface. I took advantage of that moment to approach and retrieve my blade before attacking now with my sword. Jaune parried the attack with his blade and thrust his shield at me. My head rang like a bell as I looked closely at Arc's emblem, getting me to be stunned for a few seconds that Jaune used to counter-attack.
Jaune's attacks had become stronger and more precise. Several flaws he had had at Beacon were now covered and refined. Even the sloppy movement of his body when swinging his sword had been corrected, leaving me with fewer opportunities to land a hit.
"Alright, the vomit boy is already a weathered warrior."
"I have had a good teacher."
"Yes, a great teacher," I couldn't help but smile. Somewhere, Pyrrha must be proud.
"Let's make this more interesting," Jaune declared, folding his shield and sheathing his sword inside, then wielded the sword as the edges of the scabbard sharpened, becoming a broad sword.
The increased weight of the weapon encouraged the movements, but the attacks became more powerful, making me stumble the first times I blocked it. Even wanting to surround him, I couldn't find an opportunity to land a hit, since at that moment he waved the weapon in a wide arc that made me recoil from the impact. I charged once more against him as he traced a descending swing. Our blades collided so hard that it numbed my arms. We both struggled to gain dominance, but Jaune seemed to be the victor as the weight of his sword fell more heavily on me to the point that I could see my face reflected on its blade. Perhaps it was instinctive, but suddenly I stopped breathing and felt my aura burning, channeling my energy to my blade and suddenly releasing it. Jaune was thrown through the air several meters before hitting the tree hard, remaining immobile.
"Jaune!" Ren's alarmed voice brought me back and I felt the energy that I had released take its toll on my body, but I still ran towards my friend, who was beginning to open his eyes, surrounded by the others.
"Jaune, I'm so sorry," I apologized in fear at what I had done. "It didn't go deliberately. It just happened without thinking."
"I'm fine," he assured me slowly, standing up. "I'm glad to hear that I've progressed enough to be worthy of being knocked out by the Overdrive."
"Seriously, Jaune, I don't know what happened to me."
"I think I have an idea," Oscar spoke, but his tone of voice was pure confidence in his words, so Ozpin should have taken the wheel. "Apparently, your body has been getting used to using the Overdrive that uses it as an emergency resource against any threat. That is why I think Kaiden should work on controlling it better."
"If I could just go back to Aztlan and check Alice's annotations, I might know a little more about it."
"Actually, the Overdrive is a variant of a ritual used by an ancient cult that idolized the God of Darkness," Ozpin explained. "A pact was made to have greater power and feel close to their deity as their aura was consumed. If they managed to move to the other side and return, they considered themselves worthy of such power. I have no idea how that knowledge came to Edward Noir, but it goes without saying that, even then, such a practice was prohibited as it had a death rate of 99%... so you have been 1% in returning alive. "
"But amnesiac," Nora added.
"You don't have to remind us of that," Ruby groaned. "It was a headache to teach him everything again."
"However, now Kaiden's body has assimilated an unprecedented ability that he now has to learn to control. Unfortunately, even I am not aware of anything like this having been accomplished, making it uncharted territory for us."
"Wait a minute," I interrupted the explanation as a memory came to mind. "Is that why you warned me not to use it this time against the Soul Reaper? Why did you already know about it?"
Ozpin nodded, "I just wanted to protect one of my students. But the important thing is that you are here with us right now and you have a great responsibility to control that power."
Ozpin was right. I had searched for ways to control the Overdrive on my trip with various methods, but nothing worked except for holding my breath and forcing my aura to catch fire, but even so I barely lasted 3 minutes and that took more time when I had to be in move and attack. I even tried variants of breathing at the same time, but without success.
I knew there was a way to gain more control and not have to worry about passing out from lack of oxygen. I had accomplished something similar when I finished with that tribe of bandits. If only I could know that last piece of the puzzle, using it at will would be easier.
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The following days were divided into one part to train with the others, while the other would be to unravel the mysteries of the Overdrive.
Thinking of new ways to use the skill took longer than putting them into practice. Each one was like trying to accelerate a race car from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds and hoping to achieve stability, which was impossible for me. Once I got tired of it, I used the same technique of holding my breath and studying my movements to make them more efficient and reduce the amount of effort required that could cost me seconds of stamina. The latter became an advantage that was reflected in my combat practices by having greater control of my movements and attacks.
Oscar was improving at a rapid pace as Jaune gave him his first lessons in brandishing his weapon. Seeing him while he was teaching filled me with nostalgia as I remembered the times in Beacon, when Pyrrha did the same with him. Time does pass in the blink of an eye.
Not all was going so well, however, since Qrow had been unlucky to find allies who could be on our side the moment Salem and his entourage made their move. From what he was discreetly telling me, all the hunters on his list had gone on missions and none had returned alive... or had not returned at all. That made me feel hopeless. Time was running out and I didn't believe that with just 7 of us, even with Oscar in a position to fight, there would be an opportunity to face an attack. Shit, even in Beacon we had a huge number of professional huntsmen and trained students, and still they beat us up. We couldn't let Ruby and the others know about the unusual circumstances of the disappearances, so Qrow only said that they were still on a mission. They were excited about the training so we didn't want to spoil the mood.
It was a quiet afternoon when I had another failed Overdrive ignition. Having my aura burning, I took a little breath and everything dissipated. The tiredness wasn't significant since I was only holding the air for a few seconds. Still, I leaned back on the mat in the training room and stared at the ceiling for a while, as if the rafters were going to give me the answers I was looking for.
I closed my eyes and let myself be carried away by the silence in the room, with the sound of the breeze reaching the mountain as my only companion. I felt at peace. My mind felt calm. My breathing in a gentle rhythm with my chest rising and falling filled me with fresh air.
It was then that I could hear footsteps approaching on the wooden floor. When I opened my eyes I noticed that it was already getting dark and Oscar was going down the stairs that led to the place.
"Oh sorry. I thought no one was using the training room."
"It's ok," I said, jumping to my feet. "I was already leaving."
"Thank you."
Once the space was clear, Oscar began to do reps, brandishing his staff at various angles as if fighting an invisible enemy. His posture was improving, although his attacks still needed to be polished further.
"Put more firmness in your biceps," I advised placing myself next to him and performing the same movement with my sword. "Feel the weight of your weapon and make it a part of you. Exhale with each attack."
Oscar did as he was told. It was not perfect, but it was progress.
"Balance your weight on your legs," I stated, slashing a cut forward, taking a step and backing away with another. "That will help you to shorten the distance with your opponent and also to distance yourself if you can't bear the heat."
I stood in front of him with my sword raised and launched an attack. Maybe it's because of his size, but Oscar was agile in the legwork, moving forward and backward quickly. He evaded each attack with agility and responded with another that I blocked. When he finally grabbed the trick, we tried lateral evasions and blocks.
Truth be told, I liked teaching the boy. The feeling was complicated, but it felt good to teach the next generation of huntsmen and pass on my knowledge so that they can be shared in the future. Maybe that's how Alice felt with me.
"Don't stop," I indicated parrying a strike. "Hit and move. If you stay in one place after attacking, you only risk being vulnerable and a counterattack."
I set the example by sweeping one leg behind Oscar's, knocking him to the ground, and placed the Requiem tip in front of his face.
"Also be aware of anything that can make you lose your balance and become vulnerable."
"Understood."
"He's gettin really better, huh?" Ruby watched from the bottom step of the stairs. "Are you two hungry? It's almost dinner time."
I turned to Oscar, "Are we done for today?"
"Uh, yeah. That sounds good," Oscar replied.
"So, you never fought before?" Ruby asked him.
"Just the occasional small Grimm," the boy replied, sheepishly. "Nothing like this, though."
"You'll get used to it," I patted Oscar's back and sheathed Requiem.
"It's strange," Oscar exclaimed as he gazed on his cane. "I've only had this cane for few weeks, but it feels I've had it a lifetime. Longer, even. I know it sounds like a crazy person."
"Well, yeah, just a little," Ruby said. "But, at this peace, you'll be combat ready in no time."
When Ruby said those last words, I could see the glitter on her face fade to shadow. I felt the same way, since, when saying "combat ready", I could only think of Penny and the last time I saw her; lying in pieces on the arena of the Amity Coliseum.
I walked with a firm step towards Ruby, taking her by the shoulders and looking her straight in the eyes, "Go ahead and make sure that Nora doesn't eat all the food, okay?"
Ruby smiled at me slightly, just nodding and walking back up the stairs without saying a word. The air in the room felt heavy.
"She is fine?" Oscar asked, concerned.
"Yeah, it's just that we're still dealing with some bitter memories."
Oscar remained silent, gazing at the floor.
"How can you handle all this?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm... scared. More scarred than I've ever been before." Oscar walked to the weapon rack and put down his cane. "I knew I wanted to be more than a farmer, but, this? Who'd ask for this?"
I could see that a tear ran down his throat and fell on the wooden floor. I didn't blame him, since there were times when I had felt this way.
"I didn't ask for this either, you know? My dream had always been to leave Aztlan and go to Beacon to become a huntsman, like my mother, Alice. But then I carried the brand of a Soul Reaper, so my days were numbered and I was just waiting for the moment to face the Grimm. It was then that I met Ruby and all my friends and felt what I had been looking for so much: a reason to live. I will not go into details: I faced the Soul Reaper, I won, I died. For more information, ask Ozpin. However, when I thought that now I would have the rest of my life to enjoy it, I discovered all this mess of maidens, relics and magic. I thought I could handle it all, but that night at Beacon proved to me how wrong I was. But there is no other option but to keep going on."
"How can you say all that and be so calm? People have tried to assassinate you! The world is going to war again! How can you be okay with it all?!"
I could relate to Oscar's anger. I have been asking myself the same questions for months. How could I bear those years of loneliness and my journey on my own throughout Anima with those thoughts. It was simple: I had learned that all that had already happened. For better or for worse, those experiences were already part of me and could not be changed, just as they were learning not to make the same mistakes.
I took a deep breath and stared at Oscar, "Many lives were lost in Beacon, as it changed for all those who survived. I saw my friend Blake being stabbed by Adam Taurus, who cut off Ruby's sister's arm. I lost two friends that night: Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos. They were those people you could trust your life with, even if you had only recently met them. I failed to save them. They both died in front of me without being able to do anything about it. They were part of my family, and I failed to protect them."
"Kaiden, I… I'm sorry."
"You said you were scared. I feel the same, too. The way we were taken by surprise at Beacon was coldly and precisely thought out. They hit us where we least expected. But I can't afford to hesitate because of fear. I just I can accept it and use it to get up to fight.
"I won't lie to you. I still feel that urge to grab my things and go to Aztlan and stay in that cabin, but, the last time I left Ruby, it ripped me apart. But I won't, knowing what's at stake."
When I looked at Oscar, I understood that I had exceeded myself. He was fearful, standing next to me with his hands clenched into fists and trembling. He was just a 14-year-old boy in a cosmic level mess because an immortal elder had chosen his body for a desperate vacant on AirBnB for souls.
"But rest easy. I am optimistic about what awaits us. We will make sure you are ready to fight when the time comes."
"Really?"
"Yup, you're part of the gang. You're safe while you're with us."
"Thanks," Oscar replied a little calmer.
"Go ahead and eat. I'm going in a moment."
"Are you sure? Because I think Ruby was serious about Nora."
"As long as Ren can stop her, I have faith that everything is fine."
"Ok, I'll still put some food aside for you meanwhile."
"I appreciate it."
Oscar walked up the stairs, backpack on his shoulder with his compacted cane inside. He turned to see me for a moment, so I gave him a confident smile before continuing to climb, leaving me alone in the room.
I exhaled deeply once there was no one. I didn't know which one was more tired, training or keeping control of my emotions while talking to Oscar. I felt my wounds throbbing as I remembered Penny, butchered in the middle of the colsover, and Pyrrha, being struck by the arrow Cinder shot him that night. I had already accepted that I would never see them again and that this pain would be part of me for life.
Failure wasn't a option anymore. This time I would be ready for whatever came along and we would protect Mistral. And, looking at the bright moon that shone that night, I vowed that I would not allow anyone else in my family to be taken from me.
