Disclaimer: I hereby declare that Roosterteeth studios RWBY production crew may freely use any ideas, characters, or events written in this story free of charge and without any threat of lawsuit for any production, though it would be preferable to inform me of the use of the idea if used.

Temple of the spirit dragon ch 3

Lan and the spirit stared at each other from opposite sides of Lan's small and cramped room. The little ones were attempting to play with the spirit as it floated through the air, avoiding their grasps.

"Well, that happened" said Lan.

"Indeed" said the spirit.

The awkward silence continued between the two of them. An hour earlies Meng had locked them both in the room and had said that they would not be let out until they learned to cooperate. This was pretty essential though, since they were incapable of being to far away from each other.

"I guess we have to start learning to live with each other." Said Lan,

"Indeed" said the spirit again.

A moment later a grate opened and a trey with a bowl of cereal and a bowl of pet food was pushed in. "Here's your meal dude" said Trey, who then proceeded to whisper "I'd let you out, but I know there are people here watching me…I can sense them in every crack in the walls!"

"Thanks Trey." Said Lan, who ignored Trey's paranoia "See you later." He then closed grate as Ignis pounced on the food and devoured every crumb before George and Edel could get there.

"Well, now that we're apart, and you're able to warn me, you should have less concerns about me accidently releasing another demon." Said Lan who ate a spoonful of cereal as George punched Ignis in the stomach and forced him to throw up what he had scarfed. The spirit grunted in response as it watched the little ones begin eating Ignis's puke with a disgusted look on its face.

"So, are you going to tell me what you've been hiding now?" said Lan.

"That is completely unnecessary" said the Spirit.

"Little guys, fart on him!" commanded Lan. In response the little ones perked up, and then joyfully bounded over to the spirit.

"Ack! Don't you da—" before the spirit could finish, the little ones surrounded him on all sides with their rears and instantly covered him in an almost visible stink cloud.

"UUUUuuurghhAggghhh!" screamed the spirit as it recoiled from the stench and began coughing.

"So, you can smell, fascinating." Said Lan, who after living with Byakko for 10 years had such a high resistance to stink that a smell of this level didn't bother him at all.

"Alright, alright" said the spirit as it escaped downwards to escape the stink cloud. It then let out a sad sigh and turned to face Lan "Not really much point in knowing it though" he said.

"I'm all ears" said Lan who put down his empty bowl of cereal.

The spirit grunted, and began to speak.

"When we began our rebellion against the gods, the battles weren't as glorious as I made them sound…in fact after the first few conflicts, we say how powerless we truly were. Every attack we made, the gods brushed them off like flies. Our greatest feats of technology, less than toys in their eyes. The only reason we survived is because the majority of the gods were merely curious in seeing what our rebellion would lead to. There were some who wished to punish us for our deeds, but they were held back the ones who wished to be merciful to us. In fact, by the time that we activated the device that banished them, we personally believe that they had all unanimously decided to just go along with whatever we did. If I were to liken it to a household, it would be as if the children had pushed their parents out the door and locked it. But a locked door can easily be opened if one is determined enough. The gods could have forced it open, picked the lock, perhaps even removed the seal altogether, but no, they left the seal there as it was. We personally believe that the gods continued to watch our universe, like parents watching through the window as their children made the home into whatever image they desired. The children would certainly create many creative and fantastical things as they tried to make the home better, in our case our great empire…." The spirit paused for a moment, and then let out a sigh "But children do not know how to properly maintain a home, or in our case our universe. Eventually the house begins to break down and decay without them realizing it, and horrible things begin to slip in through the cracks…and they made us pay for our mistakes"

Silence filled the room as Lan felt waves of sorrow radiate off of the spirit's form.

"The gods are probably still in the place where we sent them, watching us." said the spirit after a long pause "After all, we cannot sense their presence, but we are surprised that no new demons have appeared in your world. 'Heh' perhaps the gods have gone on to fix the world in ways we have no way of knowing, or perhaps new gods have come into the world and taken their place…In the end, our downfall was ultimately caused by our own stupidity and hubris, we guess after all this time we are finally able to admit that…Twas very very lonely, wandering the empty cosmos hoping that we would find even a spark of our people, so very lonely and empty…In fact, we think…the real reason we wanted your body was so we could start interacting with this new beautiful world we have come to know…we truly are tired of being alone."

"…Well you got me now" said Lan, who gave the spirit a smile "So we can go around and see the rest of the world, side by side."

"We believe so" said the spirit with a low chuckle.

Lan raised his fist, and the two did a fist-head bump.

"Well, I guess for now we should try to find out more about your physical body" said Lan, who stretched and then folded his arms.

"Agreed, we suggest we start with—" before the spirit could finish, Ignis, who stood up on his legs to do so, crammed the spirit into his mouth.

"Agh, sharp!" said the spirit as it struggled in Ignis's happy mouth, "Get this infernal mutt to release us this instant!"

"Alright, Alright" said Lan, who laughed and stood up "But could you stop talking in the royal "we", yes I finally read up on it, it's getting kind of confusing talking to you like that.

"…Fine" said the spirit, through what sounded like gritted teeth.

Over the next few weeks, Lan started training in the temple in earnest while continuing his weapon experiments and learning how to properly use his true semblance.

One of the temples main greatest training options was to train in one of Meng's greatest abilities, spiritual resonance which allowed the user to use the untapped potential within their own soul as well as the environment around them.

During the first stages of spiritual resonance training, Lan and the spirit learned how to quickly merge and split so the boy could make use of the abilities that he was used to using. He also quickly picked up the method used to dive within his own soul so he could better understand himself and manage his spiritual power. The spirit also learned how to use a limited version of his spiritual powers, he refused to call them semblances, that would allow him to hold his own in a basic fight. He and the spirit also discovered that they were able to communicate with each other almost telepathically, to both of their delight and chagrin.

During this time, he learned one of the basic technique of spiritual resonance: to use his own soul's power to strike at the essence of things transcending their physical bodies, he had yet to achieve anything close to mastery though since the damage he was able to do with it was often inferior to what he could do with a normal well-placed punch. Thankfully, Meng also taught Lan martial arts skills, such as how to divert a blow with vastly superior force. These training sessions revealed to Lan the similarities between Meng and Byakko. The sessions usually involved Meng teaching the Lan the concept and proper forms, followed by him throwing large and painful objects at Lan until the boy could successfully divert their trajectory.

He was also kept on his toes with frequent sparring matches that he had with other disciples and adepts in the temple. He found that there were few among his age range who could keep up with his physical ability, but the more experienced adepts who had mastered higher level techniques could give him a good run for his money.

To his delight, Lan soon discovered that his semblance was well suited to one of the key aspects taught at the temple, harmonizing one's spirit and energy with that of the world around them. Once he was able to sense the spiritual presence that existed within something, he was able to use his harmonization semblance to make the first connection with that energy and enhance resonance.

This was essential to spiritual resonance techniques, because it allowed one strengthen both the earth they stood on and the air that they breathed, and in return the spiritual elements within the earth and air would respond by granting the practitioner greater strength.

It wasn't all successful though, during Lan's weapon testing he found increasing evidence that his aim was completely hopeless when it came to projectiles that weren't at the very least indirectly launched with his own muscle. Sadly, many of these tests resulted in him having to patch up large holes in the wall that he had made.

He also found himself incapable of performing the feat that Byakko had shown before back in Dust Hole, where he was able to take a sample of someone else's aura and adjust his own physical characteristics based on it. Meng informed Lan that that ability was an extremely advanced technique that only masters were able to perform. Ironically though, Meng also informed Lan that Byakko proved incapable of learning the most fundamental of spiritual resonance abilities, only picking up some abilities that he found fun here and there.

"How that man works, I'll never know" said Meng.

The little ones and Trey also made advancements of their own, increasing their physical abilities and combat techniques. During this time, Trey also had his aura unlocked, though he had yet to discover his semblance.

Every day at the temple was fruitful and fun for the boy, but as we have come to expect, the peace did not last long…

Lan walked down the hallway reading through the latest weapon blueprint he had written up, hoping he could find some way to incorporate his newly discovered semblance into its design. Trey was off receiving training of his own, the spirit was keeping watch to make sure Lan didn't walk through a wall again, and the little ones were…around.

"Gottabeadaptable" he muttered quickly "environmentwillalwaysbedifferentasaresultthespiritualenergiesI'llhaveaccesstowillalwaysbyquitelimited."

"You are nearing some individuals" said the spirit "You had best cease your mutterings lest you be subject to strange glances again."

Lan clamped his mouth shut and looked up from his blueprints to see 3 acolytes huddled in a corner. They hadn't seemed to have noticed him yet and he could make out the odd word they were muttering here and there.

"Bowl 'mutter''mutter''mutter' Shrine 'mutter''mutter''mutter' tonight 'mutter''mutter''mutter'"

"Hey guys!" yelled Lan as he got close "What's going on!"

The three acolytes nearly leapt out of their boots, as they turned to face Lan. They were three individuals that Lan recognized, a boy named Cyan, a girl named Taodse, and a girl named Vert. They were around Lan's age and from what he observed when they were all training together in the halls possessed of average skill.

"Uh hello sir!" said Cyan standing very stiff.

"Nice to see you today!" shouted Taodse, who had begun visibly sweating.

Their sudden upright decorum confused Lan. He had yet to realize that due to his great physical strength, the fact that he kept blowing holes in the walls, and the fact that Byakko was his grandfather, there had been rumors going around that he was a volatile and destructive person, nicknamed "The Destroyer" by those in his age group.

"Uh, yeah, nice day." Said Lan "What were you guys talking about."

"Oh nothing important" said Vert who had quickly calmed down but remained stiff "Just talking about some of the nice shrines around the temple, right guys." Lan noticed quick twitches of her eyebrows which she was using to signal her friends.

"Uh, right!" said Cyan "they are so relaxing, so we thought about having some tea and black sesame buns over there later."

"Oooh, that sounds wonderful" said Lan, who decided to play along "Room for one more?"

"Oh, uh no no, we don't have enough buns for everyone" said the Cyan, who suddenly went stiff and looked very afraid "N-not that we're saying you can't have any, of course you can have some. I-it's just, the ones we have are o-old and stale."

"Yeah that's right!" said Taodse as she saw her friend begin to falter "We'll bring you a fresh batch tomorrow instead!"

The three stood staring at Lan with awkward smiles plastered all over their faces, while Lan gave them all a pokerfaced smile.

"Oh would you look at the time" said Vert, looking at a watch on her wrist, "Time for our training session with master Mifan, we really better be going now. Bye!"

The three of them then darted down the hallway as fast as their legs could carry them. Lan watched their forms get smaller and smaller as they got further and further away, and then pulled out a whistle. He gave it a quick toot, and a moment later the three little ones arrived in front of them.

"Each you, follow one of them, and if they do anything suspicious contact me" said Lan.

The little ones chittered in acknowledgement and then dispersed to follow their quarry.

"Do you really need to do this?" sighed the spirit "People are allowed to have their secrets."

"Sure" said Lan, whose face spread into a grinch like smile "But when they try to hide it like that, it gets me far too curious to do nothing."

The spirit sighed "You truly grow more and more like your grandfather with every passing day."

Lan would then go about his day normally while the little ones tailed the three acolytes. There were times when they were almost caught due to the acolytes' heightened senses, but the many years of living with Byakko had trained the little ones to hide their presence especially well lest they invite mischievous mischief upon themselves.

Later that night.

Cyan walked up to a stone door, not noticing a dark shape darting from column to column behind him. He knocked on it quickly and a moment later, Vert opened it.

"Were you followed?" she whispered.

"I don't think so" said Cyan

"Ok, the get in quick quick."

She opened the door to let Cyan in, and shut it not noticing a dark shape run in.

Taodse was already there and was standing in some kind of mystical circle on the floor.

"Did you bring it?" she asked

"Yes" said Cyan who pulled out a small metal bowl. "I think we can probably finish opening it tonight."

"Ok, just put it in the circle already" said Vert "The spiritual resonance waves, could alert one of the masters if they come near."

Cyan placed the bowl in the circle, and then each of them took a seat around it.

"Let's go" said Vert. They all reached out their hands and began synchronizing their aura and spiritual energy with the bowl. Little did they know that there were three dark shapes in the rafters above, three shapes who had just nodded to each other, and pressed a button on Ignis's collar.

Far away in his own room Lan was writing up a blueprint with one hand while reading a manga with the other, the blueprint being for a weapon from the manga he was trying to recreate. He felt his communication device buzz in his back pocket, pulled it out, and turned it on.

"Pet tracking active" stated the device "Showing location."

It pulled up an arrow on the screen which pointed in the direction of Ignis.

"Alright, let's see what they were hiding." He said, getting up and dashing out of his room.

Navigating with only an arrow on a screen, it took Lan a little while to arrive at the room where the three had setup, and when he arrived, he found the little ones asleep in each of their laps.

"Note to self" said Lan as he chucked his device into the corner "Get better tracking software. Okay, let's see what we got here."

He walked to where the three acolytes were sitting and took stock of the situation.

"Ok, if I remember that's a spiritual resonance enhancement circle, and it is enhancing…" he trailed off as he saw what was at the center of the circle.

"Hey spirit! Wake up!" he shouted through spiritual telepathy.

"'Snort' Huh, uh what? What is it?"

"Does this bowl look familiar to you?"

The spirit looked out through Lan's eyes, and Lan could feel his eyes widen in alarm.

"That is a bowl that is found in all of the demon sealing shrines! What is it doing here?!"

"No idea" said Lan, who sat down in the circle, "But it looks like these three have used it as a medium to enter the spiritscape. So we gotta go in after them."

He turned to the little ones "Keep our bodies safe while we go in there." Said Lan. The little ones stretched after waking up, then gave noises of acknowledgement.

Lan then placed his hand on the bowl, activated his semblance and melded into the spiritscape. The spiritscape is a mental landscape resembling the inside of a bright nebula, it is formed from the lingering spiritual energy and aura of all things and is near impossible to navigate without a sort of spiritual anchor.

"Where do you think this leads?" said Lan as they rocketed through the spiritscape.

"I can only think that it leads to the shrine where a demon is sealed. I can only hope your fellow disciples aren't doing something incredibly stupid there."

A moment later they arrived at a glowing shrine surrounded by a ring of glowing stones, and the acolytes…were bashing the shrine with essence strikes.

"Me and my big mouth" said the spirit.

"I think we almost got it open." Said Vert, as she went to town on it with her fists.

"I hope whatever's inside catches the grand master's attention" said Taodse.

"Wait!" shouted Lan, who flew forwards. But to late, with a resounding crack, the top of the shrine broke open and a glowing orb shot out.

"Nice!" said Cyan "Now we just needs to get it back to—"

Before he could finish, the orb expanded, the glowing outer shell was torn off, and revealed a dark nebulous sphere. It paused for a moment, as if looking at the people in front of it, and then burst outwards like a sentient explosion. The three acolytes were caught in it almost immediately and it seemed like Lan would be next. Just then the spirit shot out of Lan, and quickly absorbed the glowing strands that formerly surrounded the dark sphere and were strewn about the area.

"Quick!" it shouted as it shot back into Lan "Trigger the new power!"

Lan did so and was covered in an azure-white light a moment before he was caught in the dark storm.

"Getting really tired of passing out" thought Lan, as he returned to consciousness. He felt cold hard ground beneath him, and he slowly opened his eyes.

He saw the spirit's physical orb-like form on the ground a few feet away from him. He sat up and then nudged the spirit.

"Wake up man" he said.

The spirit slowly rose from the ground and opened its eyes. It looked back and forth, and then let out a sigh.

"So it was that demon. Thankfully we recovered my mental shielding spiritual power so we avoided being swallowed up. We had best get our bearings befor—why are you looking at me like that?"

"So, it looks like other people can unseal the shrines as well" said Lan. "I don't like rubbing things in other people's faces, but—"

"We are not having this conversation now!" said the spirit, angrily "We are in the domain of the Dream Eater now, and we will need to keep our wits about us if we are to survive!"

"Alright" said Lan, getting up. He took a look around and found that they were in the middle of a black dirt clearing surrounded by dead, gnarled trees. Above them was a dark overcast sky, almost as if smog had blocked out the sun.

"So since it's the dream eater, does that mean we're in a dream now?" asked Lan.

"I suppose that would be reasonable" said the spirit.

"So, in that case" Lan focused on his palm, and a moment later a small light appeared and illuminated the surroundings. "Seems we can control things a bit with a combination of spiritual resonance and lucid dreaming, that should be use—"

He paused as he heard a faint sound.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like…" Lan perked up his ears "Children crying!"

Lan darted in the direction of the sound, as the spirit stared after him, alarmed.

"Stop young Lan!" it shouted as it started to chase after him "It could be a trap!"

Lan ignored him and weaved through the trees towards the source of the sound, until finally he stopped on the top of a tree's limb.

Below him were two shadowy monstrous shapes, they were dragging a cage with a red glowing orb and an orangish-yellow glowing orb inside. Lan could hear the crying coming from them. "Are those souls?!" thought Lan.

"Lan, you don't know what those things are" said the spirit as it finally caught up "You shouldn't—"

"Release them!" shouted Lan as he jumped from the tree, and performed a diving kick on one of the shadows. He was surprised, but not really surprised, to find that he passed through it.

"Of course" he thought, as it grabbed his leg. It threw him across the clearing and he crashed into a tree.

"Ok, can't hurt them with normal blows" he said getting up, rubbing his "How about this."

He focused his aura and spiritual energy into his palm, and reached out with his spiritual resonance to sense the world around him. He felt 2 disgusting presences approach him, and let loose his gathered energy into a swift blow. It struck the shadow closest to him, which let out an unearthly scream as it dissipated.

"Ok, essence strike works" said Lan. He then charged forwards and drove another blow into the second spirit, which also dissipated into smoke.

"Oh man those take a lot out of ya!" said Lan, as he felt his head spin for a moment.

He quickly shook it off though, and turned his attention to the two orbs in the cage. They were quivering in the corner farthest from him, giving off waves of terror.

"It's OK" said Lan who tore open the bars, knelt down, and reached out his hand. "you're safe now."

It took a moment, but the spheres cautiously came forwards bit by bit, until they finally tapped Lan's hand. He felt them pull a small portion of his spiritual energy and a bright flash of light filled the clearing, forcing Lan to cover his eyes for a moment. After he sensed the light had faded, he uncovered his eyes. Standing in front of him where the orbs had been were two little girls wearing dresses, one with dark blue eyes and messy blonde hair, and the other with gray eyes and hair that gradiated from black at the top to red at the tips. The girl with the blonde hair looked to be slightly younger than Lan, while the girl with the black hair seemed to be around 6-7 years old…and was absolutely adorable.

"Hello" said Lan, who gave them both a smile "what are your names?"

The two looked at each other nervously before answering.

"I'm Jaune" said the girl with blonde hair.

"I'm Ruby" said the girl with black and red hair.

Ok, I hope that I didn't rush this chapter too much. I've never had any feedback on pacing, so I've never really been able to work on it. Also, yes, I know Jaune is a boy, but remember that he had 7 sisters, that's all I'm going to say.

Once again, I hope that the writers of RWBY will one day read this (and possible contact me). And I am open to any and all criticism and suggestions.