So, I'm back in the game. You lot were probably wondering why I just decided to dip for a really long time. The answer for that is incredibly personal and one that I'd rather not share. Though, I hope my return was appreciated. Well, onto the next Chapter.
("Sup, Jaune") Squire smugly greeted the sour faced boy as he lazily floated in a horizontal position above the luscious green grass that padded the landscape. Left leg rested over the right, and both gloved hands supporting the back of his none-existent head, Squire's demeanor oozed smug mischief. It was not the kind of mischief that Sun had radiated a few moments back, but a dark and malicious kind that foretold of a great an oncoming disaster. Jaune could only grimly stand before the dick of a deity in distaste for his current situation.
He was enjoying a perfectly tranquil moment of rest, one that he desperately needed and desired after the ridiculous events that have transpired today. Events that were directly caused by said deity. The boy straightened his back and crossed his arms in irritation before proceeding to quickly unravel them so that his hands may meet his face at quite velocity. And audible *Smack* being the result of his actions as a red outline shaped around his fingers.
"Uuurrrghh..." His voice struggling to pass through his gloved palms, the muffling of his incomprehensible garble gave away all that Squire needed to hear to determine the young blonde's mood after being ripped away from such an invaluable time of relaxation. Then, Jaune began to speak. "Aww C'mon, Squire! REALLY!?" He spontaneously displayed his hands in front him in a way that could only be interpreted to something alike to that of a plead. "I was taking a nap! Do you have any idea... ANY IDEA how many times I fell on my own face trying to carry all those groceries?"
Jaune brought his hands up to head level, clawing the air as if trying squeeze a pair of invisible stress balls . He hunched his back to express his irritation, ruffling his hoodie and stretching the leather straps that allowed his meager amour to cling onto his lanky body. His knees bent down to further emphasize his complaint. "Not to mention all of the crazy things you put me through and NO-" He snapped himself into a straight posture and held up a single finger. "-talking about trebuchets don't make up for any of it!"
('What.') Squire honestly didn't expect that last bit.
In his straightened position, Jaune looked down and faced his palm to his face. "I got in a spar with Weiss. I woke up in the infirmary feeling like my head was being roasted from the inside out because I got smacked around by her because YOU somehow humiliated her by somehow possessing me and worst of all,-" A single finger sharply jabbed it's way towards the direction of one Squire. "-YOU gave me the responsibility of somehow SAVING THE WORLD!" His words violently flooded through his mouth and filled his words with hostility. "You can't just tell someone that and just expect them to chill, man!"
After his outburst, the blonde boy slumped in defeat. The features of his face drooped down with resignation and exhaustion. "Can't you just give me a break? PLEASE!?" His beseeching words were filled with sorrow and longing. Longing for just a sufficient moment of unwinding. His begging eyes looked up to the god in hopes for a compromise, one that involved him fulfilling his desperate request. One second passed, which then turned into two and then three and finally, Squire spoke.
("Nah.")
"..."
With that, Jaune's mind turned blank. Nothing but empty pondering swam within his skull before a rush of emotions began flooding in as he attempted to process Squire's answer. First, It was confusion. Second, it was irritation. Third, it was anger. Fourth, it was resignation. Then, it was clarity, and finally, came despair. Worn denim jeans met the ground as a pair of knees smashed into the grass padded soil, and soon, both metal and flesh met the same fate.
Jaune lied there, motionlessly. Squire deadpanned at the pathetic sight as his normally sphere-like 'eyes' morphed into half-ovals to emulate the appearance of person looking on in disappointment. He floated without care and provided Jaune with a half lidded stare. ("*Sigh* Alright, Jaune.") Placing his hands on his sides between the point where his brigandine vest tapered and splayed outwards, Squire briskly floated above the poor boy and leaned downwards to his head to ensure that his words were clearly received. ("I'll let you rest, lad.")
Suddenly, Jaune's head darted up from the grass. His face littered with green damp blades and revealing moist bloodshot eyes as though he was about to cry. The blonde boy's features were still, for a moment, displaying emotions of despondency, but soon shifted into that of hope and relief. ("Tonight.") Only for that hope and relief to be shot down as his face was overcome with perplexity. ("You can rest tonight. Not now. I've got some plans cookin' up that involves you breaking some sweat.")
Jaune's neutral features were an attempt to hide his true feeling. Feelings that Squire could obviously decipher according to the aura of absolute resentment that the boy was currently emitting. Squire bellowed a quick "HAH!" as he floated away from his unwilling company.
("Aww. Chin up, lad. You'll be fine. Besides, you won't be doing much here any way. I just wanted to have a little chat.") Squire enthusiastically stated. Grabbing the boy by the hood of his hoodie, the amroured entity lifted up a very unenthusiastic Arc with his left arm like an owner lifting up a lazy puppy by the scruff of their neck before plopping the boy back down onto his own two feet.
"So, nothing crazy... Nothing crazy at all? 'Cause I don't think I can take anymore of what you're about to say." Jaune groggily inquired with a rising brow that spoke of his skepticism.
("I mean, you're still technically napping.") Squire floated up to raised both his arms in a displaying manor as he gestured to the psychological landscape that they occupied. ("This is The Mind Scape after all. This place exists in the far reaches of your subconscious and is accessed via dreaming.") Jaune already knew this from his previous conversation with the eccentric entity. They had talked for what had felt like hours in his dream, mostly about the way of how this realm of dreams work...and trebuchets, of course.
Squire splayed a hand towards the young Arc before placing it back down. ("You'll be right as rain when you wake up. Don't worry. It'll be as if none of this had ever happened at all.") Casually shrugging at the statement in an attempt to quell Jaune's irritation and fear of becoming even more so exhausted, Squire floated back down to meet the boy's eyes, face to face.
Jaune stood there in contemplation and decided to finally voice his opinion after Squire curbed his enthusiasm, and pressed his fingers against each other. His pair of index fingers touching the tip of his nose. "So, I won't feel like I got thrown into trash compacter as soon as I wake up?" His inquiry was met with a swift and short answer.
Squire shook his...head? Cap? ("Nope.")
With scowl, Jaune proceeded to bring his face closer to his unappreciated stalker without breaking eye contact with the him. "And I also won't feel like just lost several minutes if not possibly hours of sleep?" Just like before, Squire gave the same answer along with some additional information.
("Nope, not at all. In fact, you're technically just dreaming, which is very good for you in terms of feeling rested after rising from the ol' sleeping matt." Squire jovially swing his right arm to the his left, like some sort of cheesy mascot attempting to teach young some simple life lesson. ("Your real body is still on the bus on the way to Tukson's.") Squire stated with up most honesty. His gleaming blue beads suddenly took a darker hue which caused Jaune take startled step back.
("In fact, that's exactly what I've been wanting to chat with you about.") Squire's voice distorted hissing whisper rippled through the air around him. It scratched and echoed across the empty vast space in a way that Jaune can only describe as incomprehensibly unpleasant. The darker tone that Squired had suddenly carried enforced Jaune's initial thoughts when he arrived to this realm of dreams and asshole gods.
Jaune slowly backed up again and instinctually placed his feet apart in a seventy degree angle with the left side of his body slightly facing the less than benevolent eternal entity. "I- Wha-... What? Why?" He timidly spoke, attempting to make himself as less provocative as possible "...What's up with Tukson's?" It was an honest and harmless question. A question that prompted an unusual and honestly unexpected reaction from the ever eccentric Squire.
("THEY'RE GOING TO BE THERE, BABY!") The sudden and explosive response from the armoured writer scared the absolute Aura out of Jaune. Squire zipped and zapped in several directions, performing energetic poses and overenthusiastic ("YEAH!")s.
"What...the...heck?" The gleeful god was essentially reaching Nora levels of excitement. ("They're going to be there! They're going to be there. THEY'RE GOING TO BE THERE and YOU-") "AH!" Squire unexpectedly came face to face with Jaune again, which cause the poor boy to jump in surprise, letting out a girly scream and promptly land on his ass. ("are going to be there, too!") An greenish-azure glow soon engulfed Squire as pixel like particles emanated form his physical form. His body became unstable. Twitching and glitching in such an unnatural manner.
Squire zipped and zapped all over the place again, stretching his changeful body to reach for the sky, causing the metal plates behind the canvas layer of his gambeson vest to stretch apart. ("THIS IS PERFECT!") He hunched over and squeezed his leather wrapped fists close to what most people would consider to be his face and spoke in a way as if he was growling through his also non-existent teeth. ("This. Is. PERFECT! AH-HAHAHAH-HAH-HAHAH!") Crazed distorted laughter not to dissimilar to the same laugh thst Squire once did during Jaune's first time in The Dream Scape filled the subconscious terrain with the cackling of a mad man.
Jaune slowly backed away from the now manic god. 'Oh, Crud. This is bad. This is really bad.' He didn't know what Squire was going at, nor did he know who 'They' were. And honestly, knowing Squire, he probably didn't even want know. Though, seeing that Squire was still laughing and continued to energetically babble about things that Jaune wasn't willing to endure listening to. The blonde boy, motivated by his impatience, decided to muster as much courage as he can from the depths his soul and decided to push his luck in order to gain some semblance of clarity through this ridiculous situation.
He took a deep breath and filled his lungs with as much 'air' as he possibly can in hopes of getting through the manic god's manic state.
"Who's 'they'!?" Jaune yelled in vain. Squire only to continue to ramble on in a way in which the boy could not decipher his rushed and stuttering enthusiastic words. So Jaune tried again, this time with more volume.
"WHO'S 'THEY'!?" Unfortunately, no results. The boy's temper began to flare as all sense of reason where thrown away due to a combination of exhaustion, stress, and impatience. He filled his lungs once more with a heavy and deep breath and bellowed a mighty roar... well... as mighty as Jaune can get.
"WHOOOO'S 'THEEEYYYY'!?" Jaune vigorously emptied his lungs as he expelled the air from within his body in order to fuel his voice. Unfortunately, the action provided the desired result. Though, Jaune would soon wish that he kept his mouth shut.
Stopping dead in his tracks, Squire floated with his back straight. His leather boots hung above the ground and his arms limply hung from his shoulders with the same attitude. An ominous and frightening cloud of malice surrounded Squire and in that moment, Jaune realized that he had made terrible, terrible mistake.
("Jaune... Remember when I said that I just wanted to have a simple little chat with you?") Squire's question came out as an excited growl, one that intimidated Jaune to the point where he fearfully lowered his profile to seem less provocative. "Uh...Yeah?" A deafening silence found it's way between the two. Mortal and Immortal found themselves in an intense stare down that lasted seconds, until-
("Yeah. I lied.")
Squire broke the silence.
The following events that transpire involved Jaune falling through a large hole that had spontaneously manifested onto the floor beneath him. The Arc screamed for dear life as he was swallowed up by the ground, where soft green grass and colourful flowers used to stand, and into what appeared to have lead down towards a dark and eternal tunnel of lightless oblivion. He fell and fell and fell, screaming all the way until...
*THUD* "OOF!" He landed face flat on top of something akin to bare soil. "Ow..." Jaune attempted to pick himself up from the ground, rubbing his sore face as he peeled himself off the floor "Owww... AH! *Hiss*" The entire front section of his body, despite the scarce amount of upper armour, was in mild pain from the fall. He pushed his knees up to dig against the ground, with his elbows already in the same manner to support the rest his body.
Clutching his hands into a fist, Jaune painfully opened his eyes to find himself in the middle of what he recognized to be a barn... a very familiar barn. "What..." His voice barely pushed past his lips as he attempted process the sight that greeted him. "Is this...? No..." He whispered. It was the barn from his home. His home back in Arcadia. This barn was where he would sneak away to when his family had all fallen asleep. He used to pick up random sticks that he would find in order to pretended that they were swords, so that he may 'train' for several minutes until he got exhausted and waddled his way back to bed.
Granted with harrowing compulsion, Jaune quickly pushed himself off of the ground and onto his own two wobbly feet, and drank it all in. The sight of this piece of his home. Guilt and regret hollowing out his heart. 'I never even said goodbye or told them where I was going. I didn't tell them anything at all.' His Melancholic thoughts ate away at him as he remembered the night when he picked Crocea Mors for the first time and his Uncle catching him red handed.
The same Uncle that then unexpectedly giving him a ride to Vale on an old horse, and leaving him with nothing but the clothes on his back, the family heirloom and pouch full of Lien. He never understood why his Uncle took such an action. Come to think of it, Jaune never thought much about that moment at all considering that he's just been so busy playing 'catch up' with everyone else at Beacon.
The Barn was massive. The sheer space available was enough to hold a small squadron of bullheads. It was ridiculous how massive the agricultural structure was, but as far as Jaune could remember, there was a very good reason for that.
Tall and thick wooden red walls atop cobblestone foundations separated the interior from the exterior of the building. The massive triangular roof protected the contents within from the seething harshness of the sun, the heavy downpour of great rain, and the biting frost of snow. Two small windows from both ends of the structure allowed golden sunlight to beam through into the structure, illuminating the surroundings with soft glow. Eight individual great pillars which were cut down from large and strong trees supported the weight of the building. And beneath it all was nothing more than a patch of even, soft, bare soil.
There were no pens for animals. There were no Storages for wheat and farming equipment. There wasn't even a single shovel or hammer anywhere in the barn. It was completely empty aside from the eight great pillars that stood strong and tall and a pair stairs that lead up to small balcony above the entrance of the barn. This place may have seem nothing out of the ordinary, but Jaune knew better. He knew exactly what this place was truly meant for.
This was no mere barn, this was a sparring ring.
His Mother, Father, and Sisters would spend most of their time here in this place. Sweating and pushing themselves to the brink of their abilities everyday. He was rarely, if ever, allowed inside in fear of the possibility of him getting hurt while his family conditioned themselves to become slayers of beasts and monsters alike. His initial reaction when arriving to this environment of familiarity were of guilt and regret, but now, the barn induced nothing but envy and shame onto the young Arc scion.
'Wha-... How... Why am I here? How-? How did I-? How did you you-!?' Jaune's mind scattered for a plausible answer, only to find nothing but confusion. A flash of white and the appalling chime of that same distorted bell that scratched against his ears a good while back, rung from behind him. Reacting from the sudden disturbance in ambience, Jaune spun around to face whatever was behind him. He spun too fast though, and quickly found himself tripping over his own feet and planting his face onto the floor once more.
("How graceful.")
Squire casually looked down onto the grounded as the blonde's mop of golden hair where accented by grains of brown dirt. ("Well... That was honestly kind of embarrassing. Hah!") Squire's voice rippled outwards in a casual remark regarding to the young boy who laid face flat on the ground. ("You literally just tripped on your own two feet... That's like slap-stick comedy levels of clumsy, lad.")
Right after Squire's malign remark, Jaune wobbled his way back from the floor, again. How many times is this poor boy going to land on his own face today? Both in the real world and this dream one that was oh so kindly provided by the kind and understanding Squire.
"What the heck, Squire!?" The Arc scion groaned as he frustratingly dusted himself of dirt and grime, tilting the iron plates of his own armour and smacking off any dust that may still be clinging onto his metallic shell. "Could you PLEASE not do that? That scared the bajeezus out of me!" Jaune continued to dust himself until he finally removed the last particles of soil off of the hood of his hoodie. "Seriously, 'come on. I can't remember how many times I've faceplanted today. It's bad enough that Weiss wanted a rematch after what you did!"
Squire simply crossed his arms and look on towards the blond boy with silent amusement as he continued to search himself for any remaining filth. ("Well. If only you would stop being such a twitchy little lout, then maybe you wouldn't be so bloody jumpy") Floating above a clearly unamused Arc, The interdimensional Entity continued to disregard the boy's irritation with the delicacy of a steamroller.
Jaune continued to bite back though. "Well. Maybe my guard wouldn't be down if I had enough of a break!" The balls on this blonde idiot were incomprehensibly huge. Throughout the day, the team leader of team JNPR had been arguing with a being that could make him regret even the smallest display of disrespect, tens time over with methods that the boy could never imagine, yet here he was. Talking back against a literal god. "I'm Stressed OUT, Man!"
Squire defensively brought his hands up and spoke. ("Alright. Alright. You're tired, I get it.") Observing the boy for a desired reaction, Squire raised a glowing finger to grab his attention. ("But, We are here, because I'm here with an offer that you'd definitely wouldn't skip on.")
Jaune gave the metal hat wearing deity a half lidded expectant stare that oozed fatigue. "And that is...?"
Squire proceeded to ignore his lack of enthusiasm and vigorously explained his intent.
("I'm Going To Teach You To How To Fight, Baby!") Flamboyantly and bombastically revealing his announcement, Squire manifested a cluster of miniature fireworks around the both them. The many different colours emitted from the tiny decorative explosions filled the desolate building with a rainbow of light as the sounds produced by them bounced against walls, creating echoes upon echoes throughout the barn.
"What." It was more of statement than a question. Jaune's monotone remark stopped Squire dead in his tracks, again, as the fireworks halted to a stop as if frozen in time. The result was visually beautiful, but appreciating beauty provided by an omnipotent dickhead was not the current mood of the room.
Squire was honestly baffled from the boy's lack of enthusiasm towards the proposition. So much so that he had to take quick second to mull over his words. ("What?") Squire, like many times before, descended onto eye level with Jaune and reduced the space between them, leaving only a few couple inches between the two. ("What do you mean by 'what'?") Squire's interrogative tone gave way to his genuine confusion, which in turn, also confused Jaune.
Jaune furrowed his brow in both genuine contemplation and continued irritation. "Why are you so surprised? Couldn't you like read my mind or something, since you're always in my head?" He hissed at the last four words.
("Well... You're a lot less stuttery when you're pissed...Hmm.") Squire crossed his arms and and explained ("*Tsk* What's stopping me from reading your mind is because of yourinsistence of me not doing so during our conversation in your dorm's kitchen")
This little explanation filled Jaune with blatant surprise. He thought the eccentric god cared little, if outright not cared at all when it came his own woes and problems, but here, revealed to him now was a rare instance of the ethereal entity actually respecting him in some, even if it was small, way. "Huh? Wait. You stopped reading my mind?" The Arc straightened his posture just a little to meet Squire with wide astound eyes.
("Well, specifically, I stopped reading your mind all the time. I'll still pop into your head every now and then, though.") Squire smugly stated with a tone that simply yelled 'Get Fucked!'.
Jaune's face proceeded to elongate. The specification killed a lot of his rising opinion on Squire but at least the interdimensional writer wouldn't be listening to his thoughts twenty-four/seven now. "So, you're still gonna to be snooping around inside my head anyway, but...just not as much?"
Squire uncrossed his arms and allowed them to hang loosely towards the floor. He uttered a single word that confirmed Jaune's hypothesis. ("Yes.")
"Aww, man..." He softly groaned. Jaune slouched ever forward. His arms hung loosely form his shoulder and his knees bent with disappointment. The one moment where he though that he may have finally regain total privacy over his own thoughts was chewed up and spat out by the less than benevolent god. With the snap of a gloved finger, said god then removed the paused Fireworks from the space of the barn / well-disguised sparring ring.
Squire's 'eyes' flashed for a brief moment. ("...I just picked at your dense as shit brains for a bit and apparently, ...the reason why you're so unexcited is because you think I'm going to teach you how to kill someone.") The careless analysis that he provided made the blonde Arc react with fear. That was the exact reason why he was so unexcited for this. Squire wanted to get Jaune to take lives when all he wanted to do was to save them.
Noticing Jaune's currently quiet behavior and overall long face, Squire came to the conclusion that Jaune genuinely thought that he was about to spill his first drop of blood. He couldn't be any farther away from the truth. ("Jaune... Lad...") Squire's words carried a rare apologetic tone, grabbing Jaune's attention. ("You won't be killing anyone anytime soon. That bridge is very, very far down the road and besides, honestly, I don't think you have the guts for something like that right now.") Squire ended his sentence with a reassuring tone in order to calm his chosen catalyst.
Jaune collapsed onto his knees in unimaginable relief. "OH THANK OUM!" He screeched. "Oh my- *wheeze*- Hahah! Oh my- *Inhale* Oh my gosh." A massive portion of the stress that had been weighing down on him since he had arrived here were quickly dropped and allowed the emotionally strained boy room to breath. Though, not all was well. Squire still planned on him dropping human or faunas blood one day. A day that Jaune dreaded for.
The blonde boy scooted against the soil, parting and folding his knees in a way similar to how Ren would while meditating. A half lotus pose if you will. His Jeans rubbed against the ground and were caked with fine dry soil. Though, this was not a problem to Jaune considering that he was in a dream world that existed in his own mind, according to Squire. Finding comfort from no longer standing on his legs and potentially landing on his face... again, Jaune rested on the floor as he expected his conversation with Squire was going to be, just like before, a very long one.
"So ,you said you were going to learn how to fight. I already know how to use Crocea Mors, kinda, and plus, I've got Pyrrha's training." Jaune placed a finger on his chin contemplate his words for a brief second. "I mean, at least I know the basics." He placed his finger away and rested his hands together in top of his bent legs to look up and meet a very odd expression on the faceless god's...face. "I can already handle myself. I'm not as good as everyone else in Beacon but I can take on a Beowulf or two."
The steel bevor that acted as the lower portion of Squire's head actually smooshed and stretched in a way similar to that of rubber. The result was the bevor crinkly in way similar to that of a 'frown' of sorts. The only instance of something similar to this occurring, as far as Jaune could remember, was when Squire floated down the hall to meet him. His entire form like stretched like wet taffy and drooped down to the floor like soggy bread. 'Oh what the heck...' It was still an odd sight. Jaune interpreted Squire's reaction to that of a 'grimace', which was really bad considering that any strong emotion from Squire is usually followed by the god doing something chaotic or uncannily weird. His conversation with him during the afternoon in his nap after waking from the infirmary was still fresh in his memory.
("Trust me, lad. You don't know jack shite about real combat.") Squire chuckled through his words, the steel bevor molded itself back into it's previous sleek shape. Jaune was about to speak up about his training with Pyrrha. "But-" Squire shot down his protest by continuing to explain.
("Jaune, you may have Pyrrha's training but that's useless against the absolute insanity I'm about to put you in the ring with.") Squire explained. This caused the boy to sharply widen his eyes in fear as dread coldly clutched his chest. ("Huntsmen perform in a very specialized manner. The way huntsmen 'fight' is more akin to that of dancing than actually fighting.") Squire, to Jaune's utter surprise, dropped to the floor and sat with him.
With heavy *poof*, Squire dropped to the floor like a rock. The sound of clanking metal, padded by canvas and heavy cloth, reverberated as the soil made way for Squire's impact. Jaune's torso shot back in surprise, a single left hand to support the leaning weight of his upper body. This was the first time Jaune had ever seen the ever hovering Squire actually touch the ground. Squire assumed a full lotus position, mirroring that of Ren's exact pose during mediation. The bottom of his leather boots faced upwards towards his head as he laid his hands onto his bent knees.
Squire, was...well... a lot shorter than Jaune in his seated position. The tip of Squire's golden feather only reached the bottom of the chest plate that poorly hid the Pumpkin Pete logo on the boy's hoodie. Jaune never did manage to properly gouge the god's height relative to his own, due to a number of factors. The most prominent one being that the writer often floated from the ground, high above the blonde during their interactions.
"Wow... You're uhhhh..." Jaune's cobalt peepers bounced up and down to observe the now grounded entity.
("What?") His monotone interrogation granted Jaune with a touch of nervousness.
"You're uh - You're a lot shorter than I... *Ahem*, than I thought." It was an honest observation, an observation that he faint heartedly said out loud, much to the metal hat wearing gremlin's ire.
("Yeah, so what?") Squire's brim and bevor both drooped like clay, completely ignoring the fact that those two pieces that made up his armour were supposedly made of metal. ("My overall, size is irrelevant to this conversation, lad. Besides, I can shift my form in any way I bloody please.") At that, the metal bevor and brim molded their way back into their pervious states as if they did not violate their physical properties to act like dough.
"Ok. Ok. Fine, but still! How in the world is Pyrrha's training useless!?" Jaune argued, his voice rippling with slight hostility. "Also, what the heck are you talking about? Huntsmen and Huntresses are the greatest warriors on Remnant! They're Heroes!" Jaune stressed the last word and leaned forward and gestured with open palms to further emphasize, his bias towards the top warrior class of man and faunas kind showing as he continued to argue. " Are you sure that they aren't just so good at fighting that they make it look like they're dancing?"
("Ok, Mr. Not-the-immortal-being-with-boundless-bloody-knowledge.") Squire removed his hands from his knees and placed them above his hips as his mocking voice was accompanied with the sarcastic side to side rocking of his hat. ("First of all, Huntsmen usually fight in an incredibly over flourishing manor that requires little to no technical skill when it comes to weaponry manipulation or biomechanics.")
("Due to the glaring fact that these anime rejects are specialized to fight monsters instead of people, with oversized impractical weapons that look more like crude works of art than efficient tools of death and combat, training for these dead fantasy rip-offs are more general and incredibly loose.") Squire's condescending tone gave Jaune the impression that he didn't think very highly of the huntsmen. The words that Jaune interpreted as 'insults' only enforced this idea. He didn't know what an anime reject was, nor did he know what dead fantasy rip-off even meant, but it didn't take much of a genius to understand that they were less than kind words. ("Which means that Huntsmen and Huntresses in general are actually shit fighters, technically speaking, and would often improvise once pitted against a foe of equal physical prowess.")
Jaune's back shot up straight in indignation. He wouldn't sit by (pun intended) and listen to the Heroes of Remnant, which involved his family and friends at beacon, be bad mouthed by anyone. His emotions whirling out of control and overpowering his critical thinking, Jaune snapped up to stand and argue against the being who objectively knew more than he did. Today has among the most frustrating days of his life and his patience had all but dissipated.
"What do you mean that they're... bad fighters? Do you have any idea how strong and fast they all are!? They trained for years, ever since they were LITERAL TODDLERS!" Jaune searched his memory to watch instances of incredible feats of strength, speed and skill performed by those he personally knew. He couldn't believe what he was hearing form Squire. Huntsmen? Bad Fighters? It was preposterous to the ignorant teen.
"I've seen Ruby slice up all sorts Grimm like they didn't even exist! Yang and Nora constantly wrestle with Ursa Majors as a form of exercise! Blake and Ren are literal ninjas that can lift twice their own weight! Weiss had never lost a match against anyone in the school who wasn't someone from her team or Pyrrha until you somehow beat her by POSESSING ME! And Pyrrha's the single best fighter in the entire academy! She bodies anyone that faces her! Oh, and not to mention - !"
Jaune's rant went on and on. Squire prompted to inactively endure the blonde idiot's tirade. Still in his full lotus position, Squire supported his head from leaning any further with a single closed fist. Jaune started talking about his family and in how in a few instances where he managed to peek into the barn while they were sparring and how he couldn't believe a quarter of the moves they were doing and how they seemed unstoppable. Squire couldn't be bothered to correct Jaune, 'cause he knew that the boy wouldn't listened until he exhausted himself. Squire started drawing sword and shield guards on the floor with his right index finger to pass the time as Jaune continued to yell his lungs out.
('Guess all those years of bottled up annoyance finally got to him. His sisters were so merciless. Hehehe.') Squire internally chuckled at the thought. Jaune's sisters often caused inconveniences for him after training for entertainment. Teasing him, making him wear make, putting him dresses against his will and even would steal snippets of his food when they were at the table, but he always bottled it all up to ensure that he wouldn't be the target of some demented prank that would result in him being embarrassed in front of his parents. He was emasculated enough, thankyou very much. Now, Jaune's life long patience, tested by the countless shenanigans, caused be his sisters and, currently, his own teammates, had finally broke.
Squire continued to draw poses that implied a chain of action. Each pose presented a humanoid with simplistic drawings of a sword and shield. There were three main chains, each starting from a different guard. Movements that implied cuts, thrusts and shield bashes were arranged in ways for the human body to perform with biomechanics in mind. He continued to draw, adding detail and arrows to clearly show how to chain these poses in a natural way, ignoring Jaune's continued rambling.
('Maybe I should add some adjustments. Jaune can move far faster and farther when he springs on his heels, compared to a normal person. Not to mention, thanks to his aura, he'll be able to swing like a maniac. If only his edge alignment and footwork wasn't so doo-doo water.') The drawings were now more detailed. The humanoid now had Jaune's exact body proportions. Long legs, short torso and all. It still lacked all the features that Jaune bared, but to Squire, it was good enough.
There were now new drawings that also began from the first three poses, but these ones deviated and took their places above and and bellow each of the main chains. One implied a parrying action, while the other implied deflection and/or dodging a specific strike. Two of the six new chains each sandwiched the first main three. At some point the doodles that Squire created to pass the time had finalized into a manuscript of arming sword and heater shield techniques.
Each drawing showed the humanoid in a steady and solid stances that leaned forward in most cases. Powerful and quick movements from both the sword and shield were employed in some striking poses. The strikes were simple and direct, sparing no extra movement what so ever. Avoiding any form of telegraphing or delay. But the most striking thing about these poses where that in every drawing, none of them portrayed any jumps. Both feet never left the ground.
This form was grounded, quick, and raw. There were no portrayals of acrobatics or large winding movements. There were no fancy kicks or stylish twirls. There were only flesh rending cuts, organ piercing thrusts, and bone break bashes. These were the moves of a fighter, not a dancer. And these were the exact moves that Squire had brought to teach Jaune for his first life-or-death encounter.
('Those backflipping bastards won't know what hit them.') The two metal pieces on Squire's head shifted down in a sharp and angular manner, imitating a malevolent grin. He looked up from his creation to see Jaune pacing back and forth, still unaware that Squire had been ignoring him for quite some time to draw on the floor as he continued to ramble on about how at some point in time, Nora activated her semblance to pick up a a whole garbage truck to squash a large number of Grimm.
Squire couldn't care less, because he already knew about that whole fiasco. Jaune was starting to breath heavily and his throat was becoming more strained with each syllable. He started to quiet down, taking short breaks to regain his breath before continuing to rant. But it was quite obvious that he was starting run low on examples to yell at Squire.
" - so yeah... Mom just picked up the deathstalker and flipped it on it's back, dad just chopped it's head off with his giant axe and my sisters though it would be funny to blow it up before it could disintegrate. So please, ...*Inhale* ...tell me how huntsmen are not good fighters." With baited breath, Jaune walked back to his previous place of rest, sat down and folded his knees once more. He slouched at exhaustion both physically and mentally. That shouldn't be possible, considering that this was all in his head. But Squire spent the extra effort to make this place feel as real as it can. Even having it where it can emulate the many different states of the human condition, such as exhaustion.
Squire, didn't even look up to meet Jaune. His gaze still fixated on his scribbles, which made it where all Jaune could see was the front top portion the god's rivetted metal hat. ("...You done?")
Emotionally exhausted and suffering from a dry mouth, Jaune had just realized what he had just done. "Uhh... Yeah. Yeah, I'm... Yeah I'm done." He said quietly. 'I just blew up in his face... I'm so screwed!' Jaune's thoughts were laced with apprehension, he was essentially sweating bullets at this point. The fearless leader of team JNPR had just exercised his Nora-imposed title on a being that could take over his body at any moment. Jaune stayed quiet and waited for Squire's reaction, anxiety coldly brushing against him.
("Alright, then. Let me answer your question.") Squire swiftly looked up from the ground and up above Jaune. With a flash of light and the sound of chimes, a pitch black two-dimensional circular object manifested from nothing and looked down on Jaune. Jaune rapidly scooted away from the screen-like object before remembering that this was one of the crystal-like screens that Squire had used to explain the reason on why he was so often picked by beings beyond his comprehension. He soon relaxed. Exhaling a sigh of relief before making himself comfortable once more.
The screen soon filled with static. The light of the two-dimensional board illuminated an eerie and unnatural light against the soft golden glow of the sun beams that flew through the two large windows of the barn. Chaotic black and white peppered the flat screen. Then, Squire clapped his hands twice, and the once messy and distorted view made way for a clean and clear picture. And that picture revealed none other than the one and only, Ruby Rose.
Snow blanketed the land and contrasted pitch black sky. The moon above observed the land with it's solemn presence. It's bright glow providing a ghostly mood as it's pristine pearly face hid it's shattered half. Trees and rocks stood tall, attempting to stretch through the snow to reveal themselves to the stars. A large empty clearing and cliff, separated by black and nearly lifeless trees, were focused on by the screen. And in the middle of it that large and lonely clearing, stood Ruby Rose.
"Wait. What's going?" Jaune asked, mind swimming with thoughts and possibilities. "Why's Ruby here?" He leaned forward, curiosity weighing on his shoulders. Ruby's stood in center of the clearing. Several Beowolf-like creatures emerged from the tree line, completely surrounding his friend. Not that he was worried, of course. To him, Ruby was more than capable when it comes to fending off Grimm. Though, he still had one question in mind. "Hold on. What even are those things?"
("This specific event occurred quite some time ago, before you and Ruby even met.") Squire crossed his arms, staring at his own side of the screen which mirrored the image that Jaune himself had access to. ("She came to this place to visit... someone important to her.") The alien sadness that dripped from the god's voice made his blonde company react in peculiar shock, considering that the only disposition that Squire displayed before now were often insensitive and uncaring.
"So, who was she visiting?" The Arc pressed on. Dying to know what could cause such a reaction from a guy who doesn't seem to care much about what he himself thought.
Squire still kept his arms crossed as he looked on ("Well... that's a question that you should ask her yourself. It's a very personal topic and one that she most definitely wouldn't be so open about.") He continued. ("It's one of the very few things that she'd rather not speak of. So you'll have to improve your relationship with her if you want wring anything out of her.")
Jaune kept silent. Ruby was usually such a happy and optimistic person. He never would have expected her hiding something so serious that it would upset Squire's mood. 'Hmm... Friend? maybe someone from her family?' He questioningly thought. Now, come to think of it. Ruby nor Yang had ever struck conversation about their family with him or any of his team, at least as far as he knew. 'Who was she visiting?'
Squire's mood suddenly shifted back into its usual self. ("Oh. And those things are essentially baby beowolves, fresh out of the tar.") Squire placed an introspective finger up to support the bottom of his bevor. ("Tough..., they seem a bit too fresh. They haven't grown out their bones and their teeth are still behind their stretched out gums.") The observation made Jaune take note on the fact that the beowolves bared red teeth within their mouths. He took a look closer, eye lids growing closer to each other, and found that the red that covered their teeth were actually just gums.
"Huh..." To Jaune, the fact that the teeth looked fully developed but still barely pushed out of the gums made him feel an odd sort of infuriation. It was like something that wasn't supposed to be. The were supposed to be out, but they weren't. And this fact made Jaune's deep and dormant OCD very angry.
("Ok, Shh! Shut up. It's about to start.")
...
Ruby stared down the large group of premature Grimm, waiting for the right moment. Her bright red cloak sweeping away from her to, trying follow the beckoning of the wind.
Three Grimm charged forward to overwhelm her but, in a flash, she was gone. Petals floated around the trio before disintegrating back into nothingness. The humanoid monstrosities looked up to the moon and found their target once more, her cloak gave way to the rest of her body. Her primarily black and red accented outfit contrasted the moonlight as her hood and cloak, fluttered off of her.
Suspended in the air, Ruby performed a stylish twirl and then, with a single hand, brought out her beloved Crescent Rose in it's sniper form. A powerful shot rang through the snow filled air as a gust of cold wind made way for the heavy bullet to travel. One of the Beowolve's upper skull was utterly destroyed by the shot. It fell to the floor as it oozed red 'blood' and began to slowly disintegrate. This Beowolf was not the first to meet it's fate, nor would it be the last.
Ruby plummeted to snow padded ground. More Grimm were rushing her and so, she she took action. Shifting her focus from beowolf to beowolf, Ruby decimated each and everyone with a single shot. She jumped and rolled around the battlefield like an artist before expanding her weapon into it's true form. A massive double bladed scythe with a vicious single beak morphed outwards in bloodthirsty glory.
The pack of underdeveloped Grimm stood by as a single one of their numbers charged forth, only to be caught by Ruby herself. She hooked the Grimm around it's neck and fired. The beowolf, not realizing the gravity of it's circumstance, attempted to reach the little red rose. Said Rose simply flashed a cheeky smirk. Another heavy shot blasted behind the beowolf, generating the necessary force for the scythe to slice the creature in half. The move separated the upper left portion of it's body, including it's head, and the lower right portion. A grim end for a grim creature.
It's upper right half fell with a heavy thud, prompting an immediate reaction from the rest of the pack. They charged after her again. Cocking the bolt action, Ruby stabbed the ground with the beak of her scythe. The Grimm pack continued to charge, but their numbers were once again cut down. More powerful shots ripped the monsters apart, a single bullet reserved for each of those she shot down.
One got near though, just barely missing her as she jumped. It's attempt was rewarded with a face full of dust. The recoil pushed Ruby further back. The Crescent Rose's beak bit into the ground once again, slowing the velocity in which both it and Ruby were travelling. The Rose stood atop her weapon, Silver Eyes scanning the land. Her eyes revealed an even larger group of the black creatures rushing from the tree line.
One of them leaped at the young Huntress-in-training, but found it's momentum redirected as it crashed without harming a single raven hair of her pale fair face. Ruby fired again. The bullet striking a Grimm that followed suit, recoil allowing her to dropkick the one she had redirected behind her. More Grimm followed suit as she prepared herself for the oncoming slaughter.
Their slaughter.
Ruby shot, chopped, stabbed and more. Jumping, rolling and dodging pass her foe with great grace. Grimm limbs and heads were separated from their bodies as Ruby Rose dominated the skirmish. Hooking onto any of them before using the recoil of a bullet to reap through them. Ruby descended down from successful combo of jumping attacks, but then, beowolf leap up to her and successfully landed a strike on her precious Crescent Rose.
The strike knocked her back. She lammed the tip of the scythe into the ground once again to bring her to a stop. The remaining group of Grimm eyed her with malice, preparing for another foolish charge. But Ruby made her decision first. She dropped the empty magazine of dust cartridges and reached her pouch for a fresh one. A mag with a symbol that was synonymous with that of gravity dust was fed into the chamber. And so, Ruby Rose aimed Crescent Rose behind her ... and fired.
The powerful dust infused shot propelled her at an insane velocity. Her boots hit the ground as she ran with the momentum, taking another shot for an increase of speed. Her Scythe transformed once more into a from that Jaune had never seen before. A War Scythe. The blade pointed up the shaft like a like sickle shaped spear, increasing it's range and effective cutting capacity.
Like a homicidal Beyblade, Ruby spun around with Crescent Rose. Large and quick circular cuts, fueled by face ripping momentum provided by gravity dust rounds, cleaved through numbers of Grimm without issue. Limbs, heads, torsos and bullet casing flew into the air in a display of lethal chaos. Ruby spun like an unstable tornado, with rose peppered winds. A Hurricane of death.
With a final shot into a diced up group of Grimm, Ruby Rose backflipped into her finale. Red cape fluttering in the wind as bullet casings shortly rained from above.
...
Silence filled the barn as the screen showed the static image of Ruby Rose in her victory pose. Nothing but the sound snoring (Squire) and fish like gasping (Jaune) filled the empty space of the building. The two dimensional circular screen still peered down at the boy as his mouth figuratively reached the floor. Eyes wide, back slouched and moth completely agape, Jaune's expression was quite telling of his thoughts. Thoughts that busted their way throw his mouth.
"OH SWEET MONTY! DID YOU SEE THAT!?" Jaune shot up to stand and clutched the top of his blonde head with both hands. His mind was bombarded with awe and amazement. He knew that Ruby was an exceptional fighter that despite being the youngest student in Beacon, she already among the top ten best in the academy in terms of combat.
("*Snoo-* HUH!?*) Squire's dim cyan robs suddenly surged in intensity as he was interrupted from his rest. ("WHAT!? WHAT IS IT!?") He said, shooting up from the ground and levitating high into the air in unwanted surprise. ("JAUNE! WHAT THE HE-! Oh...") What greeted Squire's eyes was a very fanatical Jaune Arc. His mouth babbling words that barely made it out and his eyes were filled with uncontainable wonder. ("I take it that it's done?") Squire groggily asked.
Jaune couldn't give straight answer. His mind was still like fireworks. The sheer amount of AWESOME that he had witnessed was unfathomable. He couldn't believe the god-like prowess that had just been shown to his very eyes.
"I- I- DID YOU SEE- AND- AND- SHE JUST FREAKIN CHOPPED THEM UP! AND-AND I- *Unholy fangasm induced screeching* I COULDN'T- I COULDN'T- I COULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT SHE JUST DID THAT WITH THE GRAVITY DUST! DO YOU HAVE IDEA HOW COOL THAT WAS!? Do you!? DO YOU!?" Jaune pointed, screeched and crouched. He was acting like lunatic fan that had just seen his favorite Idol call out his own name.
"I mean...how can you look at THAT-" He pointed at the the single frame that presented Ruby Rose in her pose. "-and say that huntsmen are bad fighters!?" Jaune took a few sharp breaths in order to bring oxygen to his already taxed out brain. "Seriously! HOW!?" His nasally voice screeching at 'HOW!?' "Ruby just absolutely annihilated those things!." His smile was bright, the brightest it's ever been in a really long time. His perception of huntsmen were already in high regards but this had launched it straight through the stratosphere. Ruby Rose, Huntress in training, not even a huntress, did THAT. Imagine what fully trained huntsman can do. Imagine what his parents can do!
Squire, on the other hand was mostly passive towards this whole fiasco. He straightened up his kettle hat from it's previously crooked position, straightened his back, and levitated in front of the Screen. ("Well, Jaune. I have to admit, what Ruby did was pretty damn cool. I would say that it was probably among the coolest things I've ever seen!")The god's normal sphere-like eyes had shifted in a way where the bottom half had disappeared, emulating smiling eyes.
Jaune explosively shot his arms outwards, face still beaming with awe. "I know, right!? And you said they were bad fighters!" The rare smugness of his tone was indeed a sight to behold. Jaune rarely had anything to be smug about, but this was an opportunity he would take. Though, he failed to intercept the sarcasm that grinded against Squire's words. "Hah! Says the guy who thought he knew it all. How in Pumpkin Pete's wheel barrel was that supposed to explain why huntsmen were bad at fighting?"
Squire clapped twice. The screen shifted as the 'video' reversed all the way back to the very beginning as diagrams and symbols appeared at different points of the still image that it had halted at. His sarcastic enthusiasm cutting into Jaune's ears.
("O.K! Let's breakdown everything that just happened and explain why every single thing that Ruby did here was fucking stupid!")
Decided to compensate with a long as shit Chapter for being dead for months. Hope you lot enjoy it. Please leave a review if you can. I want to know if I've gotten a bit too rusty since I've been gone and if you enjoy the direction I'm taking this story to.