Within the forest, loud bangs and clangs were heard. This was due to Jaune and Jaune-II sparring. Jaune wasn't using any special weapon against Jaune-II. He was only using the Sword of Vishanti. Meanwhile, Jaune-II was wielding a silver radiant and brilliant royal sword. This was Clarent. Jaune got this in the Gacha months ago but never activated the card as he was in no need of a sword since he has Excalibur. Instead, he gave it to Jaune-II.
The sparring of Jaune and Jaune-II has been going on for an hour. Jaune is not in the least bit serious even when his strength is sealed. Jaune-II struggled to keep up with Jaune, but he was giving it his all to show that he was worthy of Clarent. But eventually, Jaune-II's Aura shattered as he overused it with Aura Burst.
"You did great," Jaune said. "Now, rest. We'll continue your training later".
"You…call…that…great?" Jaune-II asked as he gasped for air. "I couldn't…even give you a solid hit…The only time…I got you was…when you let me…".
"Be that as it may," Jaune said. "I'm not exactly a normal person you'd be fighting against in your Remnant, even though there is an Immortal Witch you'd need to stop".
"That's true," Jaune-II said. Finally, no longer gasping for air. "But it's a bummer that even with Clarent boosting my parameters, I still couldn't match up to you. Then there's the True Name activation. It didn't even scratch you. What the hell is your body made of?!".
"A Dragon, or did you forget?" Jaune said. "If you like, I can remind you of my Dragon Form? And beat you senseless".
"Heck no!" Jaune-II said. He was scared. Jaune-II remembers the time he was nearly killed by Jaune's Dragon Breathe. "Stay away from me with that Dragon Form of yours! I'm traumatized by what you did a few weeks ago".
"That reminds me, we only have a week remaining, and we can return to Remnant," Jaune said. "Your Remnant".
"Are you all sure of coming to our Remnant and helping?" Jaune-II asked. "It's not a very good place right now".
"You idiot! That's why we're going to your Remnant, to help," Jaune said. "Plus, Willow, Winter, Weiss, and Whitley already decided to join in".
"Oh, yeah. I remember you discussing it with them," Jaune-II said. "You know, it's quite weird seeing Whitley act not so snobbish. I remember the first time I met him in my world. It was like meeting Weiss for the first time".
"It was quite a bit of work to get him to be himself, but as you can see, it paid off," Jaune said. "It just shows you how horrible of a Father Jacques was".
"By the way. I've been meaning to ask you this for a while now,' Jaune-II said. "Why did you agree to be the sperm donor for Saphron and Terra?".
"Hmm… That's a very simple question to answer," Jaune said. "Because I didn't want some random donor from taking advantage of Saphron and Terra in the future. Besides, now, I have an adorable son".
"I guess you're right," Jaune-II said. "The reason why I denied being the sperm donor is that I was afraid of being a father. I was 16-years-old when they asked me, so I denied it".
"A fair reason to reject it," Jaune said. "At least when you get back to your Remnant, be Adrian's male role model or father figure".
"I can do that," Jaune-II said. "But I'll have to speak to Saphron and Terra about it".
After speaking to each other, Jaune and Jaune-II headed back to camp. They would never spar near their camp since it would cause a ruckus and attract predatory creatures to them. When they arrived, Weiss and Weiss-II were showing off their best summon. Weiss-II was smug with her wyvern, but when Weiss showed her Teostra and its abilities, Weiss-II was gobsmacked, and creatures around their camp area ran away.
"Pretty cool, right," Weiss said. "It took me a while to take this Elder Dragon down on my own".
"On your own?!" Weiss-II said. "Does this mean that you're as strong as Jaune?"
"What? No, there is a massive difference between Jaune and me," Weiss said. "I've never once beaten Jaune, even when RWBY, NPR and Haruhime work together. He's simply above us. Although, Scáthach might be able to beat Jaune. But then again, Jaune beat Scáthach as well, so who knows".
"Have you ever seen Jaune at full power?" Weiss-II asked. "Because I always feel like he's holding back".
"For sure, Jaune is holding back," Weiss said. "As for me seeing him at full power? Never. Jaune can use Magic, but when we spar, he never uses it. And let me tell you, we've seen him using a multitude of different magical abilities. Not even the Maiden of legend has abilities he has".
"You know, I understand now why you weren't shocked when you learned about the Maiden's existence," Weiss-II said. "I mean, you have someone that is far more shocking than the Maiden in your proximity".
"Ha-ha-ha! Yeah, Jaune is a mysterious individual," Weiss said. "However, he is a friend. Not once has he done anything to harm us. In fact, Jaune has been helping us get stronger and get through our hardships in his own way. Like when he bought the S.D.C. and got my father arrested. Ever since then, my relationship with my family has gotten better. He's weird, but he is our weirdo".
"Didn't you say that you died multiple times in your training session?" Weiss-II said. "Isn't that bringing you harm?".
"Not intentionally," Weiss said. "He thought that we would be able to handle his way of training, which we were not able to. When his wife found out about our lack of mental strength to deal with that sort of training, she stopped".
"Still," Weiss-II said. "I can't imagine what it's like to die".
"Well, if you want to know," Weiss said. She was trolling Weiss-II. "You can always ask Scáthach or Jaune to bring you inside the training room and die a few times".
"Hell, no!" Weiss-II said. She then saw Weiss laughing. "You were messing with me?".
"I was," Weiss said. "In fairness, you still have some of that stick up your ass. I thought this would help you remove a bit of it".
"Ha! Ha! Ha! Very funny," Weiss-II said, a bit annoyed. She then got to thinking. "Then again, you're not wrong".
"Can I ask you something?" Weiss-II continued. "Are you okay with Jaune dating your mother? I mean, it's kind of weird, isn't it?".
"Jaune is weird, remember," Weiss said. "Nothing wrong with him dating mom. I mean, have you seen how happy she's been? I'd rather her date Jaune, and it be weird than let her be unhappy".
"I guess," Weiss-II said. "It's just so weird! Seeing mother date a younger man".
"Technically, Jaune isn't a young man per se," Weiss said. "Jaune explained that he is chronologically 49-years-old, so the age difference is negligible. Plus, Scáthach is like 2000+, I believe".
"You girls seem to be having fun," Jaune said. "Anyway, I'll go ahead and make lunch for everyone. You all seem to need it".
"That we are," Weiss said. "Summoning can be exhausting. I don't know how mom can summon a multitude of them without a sweat".
"Ha-ha-ha!" Jaune laughed. The thing is, he found out from Scáthach that those whose life force is intertwined with his can access his True Magic. They cannot perform Magic or have his talent, just that they no longer require energy to execute things, such as Semblance or Primordial Runes. "I'm going to go and cook us something".
One thing that Jaune has been working on since he received (Master Potion Maker) is a way to enhance people's Aura, like the Aura enhancer that he got from the Gacha years ago. It proved challenging since the soul is such a complex thing. However, Jaune's getting closer.
At least for now, he was able to make a few potions that stimulate muscle growth without backlash. Jaune even made a potion that makes one's muscle compact rather than bulky. He loved making potions. It was like cooking for him.
With Jaune-II, he was heading to where his friends were. They were all looking at him since he looked like crap, which Yang-II had to voice out.
"Sheesh! You look like crap," Yang-II said. "What happened to you? I thought you were going for a light spar?".
"It was light for the other me!" Jaune-II said. "Even with Clarent boosting my strength and other parameters, I was still not even able to do a clean hit. When I hit him, it's because he wanted me to get close".
"That bad, huh?" Yang-II said. Jaune nodded at her. "Well, good news for you. You're not the only one suffering. Scáthach earlier made us all do some 'light' exercise. I don't even know how Weiss has the energy to show off her summon".
"By the way, other Weiss' summon is scary," Jaune-II said. "Have you guys seen it? I wanted to run when I saw the damn thing".
"Oh, we have," Blake-II said. "You should be glad you didn't see Willow's summon. Those things are scary, especially the Safi'jiiva and Fatalis. I thought the Dragon we fought was strong, but nope".
"Hey, at least those things are summons, right," Jaune-II said. "Because, earlier, other me brought out a freaking wyvern! A living breathing wyvern that's very protective of him".
"I don't know," Ruby-II said. "Willow's summon didn't look like the Schnee Glyph. It didn't have the blue colouring. Instead, it looked corporeal".
"Yeah, I noticed that too," Blake-II said. "I thought it was just because Willow was more experienced, but then I remembered that the Willow from our world had a blue colouring with her summoning".
While conversing with his friends, Jaune-II removed his armour to relax. And then he thought about something. Jaune decided it was time for them to know what had happened to Penny. It wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation, but it had to happen before they returned to Remnant. Would the others be angry about what he did? Of course, but he would do his best to explain, even if explaining it would never rid the guilt he felt when he took her life.