Chapter 5! Yay!
Reviews:
TheBlackWolfOfTheArks - You really improved my mood by writing your reaction to the whole aura and shamans bit(It was the reaction I had in mind while writing that). I think I know what you mean by being more diverse while describing fights. I will try to keep that in mind. Thank you for the idea for furyoku and aura.
X3runner - Good idea although I don't know if I will want to write shorter fights against characters with aura or not in the future. Though I will think about it.
IrishKatana - Plans for the future.
Guest - I could have done some foreshadowing for her before that chapter to make it a bit more interesting but I guess it's alright. I will try to keep it up.
NinjaFang1331, Gamelover41592 - Thank you.
Despite her upbeat and child-like personality, Summer was actually a quite strict teacher.
"Stop unnecessarily moving your legs in the middle of the strike!" Summer's voice could be heard in Vale's Central Park while a young blond shaman was currently repeating somewhat advanced stances and strikes.
After passing the selections and learning about how their Over Soul worked, Jaune and Summer decided that he couldn't keep relying on Summer's combat experience and he had to learn how to fight as well.
Therefore Summer started to train him.
Surprisingly even though he has never trained in combat in his entire life, he actually somewhat knew how to fight thanks to the muscle memory he gained from every fight he used Spirit Integration in.
Unfortunately they both agreed that his muscle memory alone wasn't enough for them to seriously compete in a tournament in which the strongest shamans from around the Remnant would participate.
"We've been at it for three hours already. Can't I catch a break?" He complained while stretching his arms after another long series of strikes at nothing.
Hearing him, Summer narrowed her eyes, annoyed at how early he wanted to take a break.
"Of course not. Now that we know I cannot guide your body through the fights against other shamans, you will need to learn how to fight on your own." Summer said sincerely.
"Besides, we don't even know how far behind the competition we are. Our opponents might have both trained in physical combat and knew about Over Souls before selections." Summer added after a quick thought.
Summer was right of course but that didn't mean he had to enjoy their new several hours long training sessions she informed him about immediately after he woke up.
At least their first session would be cut short because of their meet up with the Ren family they have after the last lesson at Beacon that day.
"For how much longer will we train before meeting with Ren and Nora?" He asked, trying to ignore his tired and aching body.
After hearing his question Summer grabbed her chin and looked at the sky to try to determine the time.
"Based on the sun and the Beacon timetable, I would say somewhere between two to four hours." Summer said with a bit of uncertainty.
More or less three hours then. That certainly was quite a lot of time he was going to be painstakingly training with Summer.
When he called Ren earlier they've already agreed on meeting at Beacon after Ren's and Nora's lessons. At first he wasn't sure if he was even allowed to enter Beacon while not being a student but apparently as long as he was visiting someone and the person he was visiting confirmed his identity he would be allowed to enter without any issue.
"Will their lessons really last for so long?" He said, hoping Summer made at least the smallest mistake when she made her estimation.
Of course he knew they would have a lot of time to train before Ren and Nora end their lessons but he didn't know they were going to train to the last possible moment.
"Yup!" She said making a popping sound at the end before expanding on her answer. "Don't be surprised, not everyone has the entire years of free time like you."
"Hey!" He shouted, quietly so that he wouldn't be seen as weirdo by the living people around him.
"Shaman's work is still an important job and I don't just laze around for entire days." He tried to defend himself while glaring at Summer.
Summer must have expected his answer because the moment he said that she started giggling. Soon her giggles turned into a laugh and after a while he joined her in it.
Their laughter quickly came to an end though as he had to stop himself from laughing after ordinary people started looking at him as if he was insane.
"Yeah, I know." Summer said with a small smile before abruptly changing back her attitude to a strict one to instruct him again.
"Now get back to those strikes you were doing earlier! I want you to do a hundred repetitions before changing your stance and if I hear you complain once more the intensity of your training will be increased tenfold. Understood?" She said while pointing at him.
In response he nodded unnaturally quickly being too scared to say anything before beginning to do the strikes Summer ordered him to. This time he did it without any complaints.
...
Couple of hours later...
...
Beacon wasn't like any other school Jaune has ever seen in his life. It was huge, majestic even and he was certain it could be considered to be one of the most grand structures in the entire Vale.
It looked more like a castle than a simple school.
Sure he might have heard about how impressive school it was from Summer and he certainly saw it from afar before but it was the first time he ever was so close to a building so awe-inspiring.
"See? I told you it was impressive." He heard Summer say with a small giggle next to him but he didn't react as he was too stupefied from seeing such a monumental structure.
To think that if I were to follow in my father's footsteps and try to become a huntsman I would have been studying here right now. He thought while still in daze.
They have just arrived here a moment ago and they were currently standing right outside of the building waiting for Ren and Nora to finish their last lesson so that they could meet with them.
They could have gone straight into Ren's dorm to wait for them as Summer knew her way around Beacon but they together with Ren decided against it as they didn't want to involve the rest of team RLND in any of the shaman activities. They most likely wouldn't have believed anything they say anyway.
"You!" A surprised female voice that he heard got him out of the daze he was in.
"Me?" He asked with confusion in his voice while moving his head left and right to try to locate the origin of that voice.
Fortunately it didn't take long for him to find the person who said that as he quickly noticed a familiar looking blond haired teenage girl casually approaching him with three other girls following her.
"My little roses!" Summer screamed with excitement before rushing towards the girls who were coming towards him.
"Aren't you the guy who scolded me after our fight at the Bar?" Yang asked while carefully looking at him making sure she got the right person completely unaware that a ghost of her dead mom was currently gushing about her and her team.
Summer really set him up for this awkward conversation didn't she?
"Yeah, that's me." He said, narrowing his eyes at the person who was the one who actually scolded Yang.
At least Summer was self conscious enough to look a little bit embarrassed at her past actions.
"To be fair, you deserved it after the mess you left there." He said after a quick second of thinking.
"Hey! It wasn't so bad, besides I had it all under control." Yang tried to defend herself.
He responded by simply raising one of his eyebrows to show his skepticism. Summer reacted similarly, although she seemed to be preparing to once again scold her older daughter.
"Honestly, knowing you Yang. I sincerely doubt you had it under control." White haired girl stated after hearing what Yang said.
She reminded him of Whitley for some reason. Maybe they were related but he had too little information to be sure.
"Really Weisscream? You don't believe I would be able to handle a small bar fight?" Yang asked with fake offense while making a pun to the ire of the white haired girl.
"Weiss is right, Yang. You tend to go unnecessarily overboard during fights." The youngest girl of the group said a bit timidly.
If he remembered correctly she was Summer's youngest daughter Ruby. It was easy to see the resemblance as Ruby looked almost like a miniature version of Summer. It also helped that Summer was currently gushing almost exclusively about her.
"To think that even my own sister would be against me." Yang said with a fake despair.
Even though Yang's acting was a bit over the top It did cause both him and the black haired girl with a ribbon on her head to laugh lightly.
"Thank you. Thank you. I aim to please." Yang said after seeing both of them laugh.
"Anyway. What are you doing here? I thought you said you weren't going to attend Beacon." Yang said changing the topic.
"You thought correctly. I'm here to visit a friend." He answered explaining what he was doing there before specifying. "His name is Ren. From what I heard you guys know each other."
Yang and the rest of her team nodded after hearing his explanation.
"That explains why Nora was being so excited earlier today." Summer's youngest daughter said, recalling the lessons.
From the way the other three girls reacted he could guess that they agreed with her.
"She certainly is an energetic person isn't she?" He asked with a small laugh while scratching cheek.
A quick nod from the team RWBY was enough for him to see that they thought the same.
"We will actually meet with Ren and Nora on our way so we will tell them you are waiting for them..." Ruby stopped her suggestion after remembering they don't know each other's names in the middle of the statement.
"Despite the long scolding you forced me to sit through a few days ago, we never actually introduced ourselves didn't we?" Yang asked while trying to recount everything that happened at the Club.
"I guess you're right." He said before extending his hand and introducing himself. "My name is Jaune Arc, a wanderer with a purpose."
"I'm Ruby Rose, the girl you scolded earlier is my sister Yang Xiao Long, my partner here is called Weiss Schnee and the last one is Blake Belladonna who is my sister's partner." Ruby said quickly with a smile while grabbing his hand before adding with confidence. "We are team RWBY, huntresses in training."
He didn't need Ruby and Yang to introduce themselves to him as Summer already told him everything he needed to know about them when she was bragging about her precious daughters but it was still nice to finally be able to refer to them by their names.
"Thank you for introducing us and taking away our chance to leave the first impressions for ourselves, you dolt." Weiss said starting an argument, slightly annoyed at her team leader.
"I'm sorry!" Ruby apologized and started to defend herself by saying something about how she wasn't the best at socializing. He tuned out of it in the middle because she was talking too fast and quietly for him to follow.
Summer quickly joined in on defending her despite not being able to be seen or heard by any people here except for him.
"Weiss, are you Whitley's sister?" He asked after a second of thinking while looking at Weiss and ignoring Summer.
His question stopped the little fight Ruby and Weiss were having as just after he said that both of them turned to look at him.
"You met my younger brother?" Weiss asked, a bit surprised.
"Yes, although our first meeting ended up with a fight." He said with a small laugh while scratching the back of his head.
Hearing him Weiss widened her eyes while all the other girls merely raised their eyebrows and leaned in to listen being curious about what happened.
"I'm so sorry for his behavior." Weiss apologized with a small bow before straightening up and continuing. "He always had mental problems, often talking to his imaginary friends and telling us he could see ghosts so he probably didn't know what he was doing. I never knew why our mother was so insistent on him being alright."
The moment he heard that his mood worsened. His gaze became downcast and he tightened his fists out of anger.
What Weiss said reminded him too much of how his family would always dismiss his ability, sometimes even calling him mental or abnormal. He truly hated whenever shamans were treated like that.
He was so delighted earlier because of entering the Shaman King Tournament he nearly forgot that if ordinary people were to learn of his abilities he would be branded as either a freak or a lunatic.
"Jaune? Are you alright?" Summer asked him but he didn't react as he was too shaken up from Weiss's statement.
"He isn't mental." He murmured quietly and not clearly ignoring Summer's attempts to get him together.
"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked not hearing what he said.
He was about to loudly repeat what he said but a bell rang from Beacon indicating that a lesson just ended and soon the next one would start meaning that team RWBY couldn't stay as they, unlike team RLND, still had one more lesson that day.
"Sorry Jaune! We have to go! Our last lesson will start soon and the teacher hates people who are late for their lessons. Don't worry we will tell Ren and Nora you are waiting for them!" Ruby quickly shouted as she dragged her teammates with the help of her semblance to get to the classroom on time.
Seeing team RWBY run towards Beacon he slowly breathed in and out to calm himself. He really shouldn't have been affected by Weiss's words as strongly as he has, considering that he somewhat understood where she was coming from.
"Do you want to talk about it? It might help." Summer asked, being worried about him after she saw his reaction.
After he heard Summer he sighed lightly and calmed down. She truly was a dependable person who probably has dealt with many situations similar to this one before.
"Don't need to. Weiss's words simply reminded me of something from my past. It's nothing serious." He quickly said dismissing Summer's worries as if they weren't important.
Thankfully besides giving him a look of pity she failed terribly at hiding, Summer didn't respond in any other way. Though he didn't know whether it was a good thing or not.
He didn't want to share the past he had with his family with Summer yet. At least not until he had the ability to prove to them that people capable of seeing spirits were normal.
After their short conversation ended, Jaune and Summer waited for Ren and Nora in an uncomfortable silence as they couldn't find an upbeat topic to lighten the mood.
Luckily they didn't need to wait for a long time as not even a minute after team RWBY entered Beacon, a certain energetic redhead burst out of the building while dragging the person they came here to talk to behind her with a familiar spirit slowly trailing them.
"Jauney! Summy! How is it going!?" Nora screamed from the entrance while energetically waving one of her hands.
A small laugh escaped his and Summer's mouths after they heard her. It was impossible to be Nora's friend and not find her never-ending energy at least a little bit endearing.
"We are doing great." He answered after Ren and Nora came close enough to be able to hear him clearly.
"That's good to hear. How is the Beacon? Do you also think it looks closer to a castle than an actual school? Did you find anything about that shaman tournament you told us last time we met? How is Summer?" Nora rapidly asked, starting many different topics.
He opened his mouth to answer her questions but he found himself not knowing where to start as he was overwhelmed from the amount of the questions asked.
"Calm down Nora." Ren said while trying to catch a breath from the sudden dash he was forced to partake in after Nora heard that they were already waiting for them.
"We are here. What is the thing you wanted to tell us?" Li asked after catching up to them.
It might just be his imagination but Li seemed to be looking a bit happier than the last time they saw him. Maybe the regained contact Li had with Ren helped with that. Jaune didn't know it for sure but a possibility that he might have been one of the reasons behind Li's more positive attitude certainly improved his mood.
"Yes, the thing I wanted to tell you." He said, slightly shaking his head to recover from the confusion he got from Nora's series of questions.
"This isn't related to any of the questions I asked." Nora said with a bit of confusion before realizing something. "Wait! You are answering the question Ren's dad asked aren't you?" She loudly asked while squinting her eyes as if trying to see something.
"What are you doing?" He and Ren asked at the same time, confused at Nora's action.
Though if the quiet giggle behind his back were to mean what he thought it meant then at least Summer seemed to know what Nora was doing.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm trying to see the ghosts. If I practice then for sure I will someday be capable of seeing them too, right?" Nora answered without stopping squinting her eyes.
"I doubt that." Ren plainly said, knowing Nora's method wouldn't work.
Nora replied with something starting a harmless verbal exchange between her and Ren but he didn't pay attention to that as he, Summer and Li were too busy laughing at the relationship these two had with each other.
"Alright to come back to the previous topic." He said a bit louder than usually to get Ren's and Nora's attention
It apparently worked, as right after he said that both of them turned their heads towards him and looked at him with curious expressions.
"Me and Summer came here today because we learned that there might be a way for Ren to not only become a shaman but to also join the Shaman Fight." He said with a confident smile.
The reaction to his words was nearly instantaneous and he wasn't surprised by it at all. Hearing that something previously thought to be impossible was actually doable more often than not leaves the people receiving the information in the same state he could see Ren be in now.
Disbelief was the word that could describe the state Ren was in perfectly as he was so dazed from the new information he just heard that he didn't even react to Nora who started waving her hand right before Ren's eyes to get his attention.
"Impossible." Ren's father quickly said, shaking his son out of the daze he was in. "How can he become a shaman if he cannot even perform the Spirit Integration?"
Hearing his father speak, Ren slowly nodded agreeing with Li before turning his head towards him and Summer curious what was the method they were talking about.
"Simple. Spirit Integration isn't the only way one can be a shaman, one can also use the Over Soul which even the people with their aura unlocked should be capable of using." He said with a smile greatly confusing Nora who was only able to hear a half of their conversation.
"Over Soul?" Father and son duo asked, first time hearing about such a thing.
"Ability to channel a spirit through the use of an item. I would demonstrate it and explain it in more detail but I think this place is a bit too crowded for that." He said discretely pointing towards other Beacon students present around them.
Ren nodded understanding what he meant before saying. "Then let's go to the Emerald Forest, there shouldn't be any people there at the moment."
He was about to agree knowing that Ren as a student at Beacon should be aware of all the secluded places around the school but he was cut off by Summer instead.
"Emerald Forest is a terrible place for privacy as almost the entire initiation area is being constantly monitored with hidden cameras. If you actually wanted to do something there without being watched, you would have to either travel far from Beacon or enter it from the opposite site than the initiation." She said, remembering her times at the Beacon Academy.
"Really? That actually explains how they were evaluating us during the initiation." Ren said with surprise in his voice. It was the first time he has ever heard about the Emerald Forest being watched.
"Yup. Don't worry though, I know a secret place where certain bandit twins from my team often went to play truant." Summer said with a cheeky smile before gesturing to them to follow her.
After watching Summer fly casually towards a cliff side for a few seconds he and Ren decided to follow her with Nora walking right behind them, demanding them to repeat everything the spirits said to her.
...
Couple of minutes later...
...
The place they've arrived at didn't exactly look like what first came to mind when they thought about a secret place.
When people think about a secret place they would often imagine some thick green forests or a cave surrounded by mountains, maybe even a hidden alley in a busy city but they definitely wouldn't think about an almost flat field right next to a cliff from where one could still see their school in the distance. This was the place they currently found themselves to be in though.
"Is this seriously the place where the person who almost killed me during the selections hid from the lessons at?" Jaune asked with a bit of a disappointment thinking that Summer was making a joke.
"I know this looks like any other flat piece of land but trust me, nobody will see us here. Not only there aren't any interesting things here for others to be here for but it's also out of the range of any camera or road around Beacon so nobody can spot us." Summer explained, probably quoting what Raven told her when she first found out about it.
"These are solid arguments and because it's so flat it also makes it harder for others to spy on us." Ren said while looking around to see if there were any people near them to Nora's confusion.
"See? I told you it's the perfect place." Summer said with confidence after hearing confirmation from Ren revealing she wasn't sure why this was the secret place herself.
Hearing her he shook his head with a sigh. Sometimes it really was hard to remember that Summer was a mature and experienced huntress and not some fresh Beacon graduate.
"Moving on." Li said with a cough to get their attention. He most likely was about to ask them to explain what Over Souls were in more detail but bored from waiting Nora beat him to it. "So what exactly are those Over Soul thingies that will allow Renny to become a shaman you talked about?"
A small giggle escaped his and Ren's mouths after they saw Li's reaction at being cut off by Nora. She of course didn't know she interrupted Ren's father's question so their small laugh puzzled her greatly.
If Ren actually became a shaman then Nora would have to get used to confusing things like that quickly as they would become way more common, especially when the Shaman King Tournament just began.
"Why are you two laughing?" Nora asked, confused at their action.
"For no particular reason." He said dismissing her question and stopping his laughter.
After he said that and calmed down he reached for his wooden staff to present it in front of them to begin his explanation.
When they saw him extend his wooden staff in front of them the Ren father and son duo as well as Nora leaned in to get a better look and to make sure they would hear him better. Curiosity on their faces was so easy to spot that even he could see that without any help.
"As I said before, Over Soul is a way for shamans to utilize the power of their spirits using an item as a medium. I cannot tell you the specifics of it as I only learned of it yesterday myself but I can confirm that having your aura unlocked doesn't prevent you from using it as the person who showed me it had their aura unlocked herself." He said while letting go of his wooden staff with one hand.
He then motioned Summer to turn into her spirit ball form with the hand he just let go of the wooden staff.
"Okay we already know that but how do you actually perform an Over Soul?" Li asked, already knowing he would get the answer after seeing him grab Summer in her spirit ball form.
Hearing Li ask that question he smiled and prepared himself to create his Over Soul.
"How about before I tell you how to do it I will show you how it looks like." He said with a grin before merging Summer with his wooden staff.
"Summer! Over Soul to the wooden staff!" Creating his Over Soul for the second time wasn't as difficult or tiring as it was during the selections. It could have been easier because he already knew how to do it or maybe it was because he wasn't in a life or death scenario like the last time but he wasn't sure.
His furyoku swirled around a wooden staff and Summer in his hands bringing them closer and fusing them together. Wind around him was pushed by his furyoku making a small whirlwind between his hands as a silver spiritual halberd began forming on top of his wooden staff.
Even though the process of creating the halberd was way quicker than it was before it still wasn't something he would consider fast especially if it was meant to be used during fights or dangerous situations. Maybe with practice it would become as swift as the Spirit Integration but at the moment he still has a long way to go until that happens.
After a few seconds had passed, a halberd with a white mantle and a silver blade was being held by him in the place where a simple wooden staff was previously.
The reactions were more or less the same as the ones he was expecting them to have. Ren and his father looked amazed not being able to believe there existed an ability like an Over Soul.
"That's it? All of this swirling wind and huge build up and he is still holding a stick? I'm so disappointed." Nora on the other hand didn't find his Over Soul to be impressive as she still saw only a wooden staff in his hands.
Seeing Nora's disappointment he smiled wryly as he already knew she wasn't going to see Over Souls.
"Wait, you don't see this?" Ren asked with surprise in his voice. He still was shaken from witnessing an Over Soul for the first time so he didn't consider the fact that Nora wasn't a spiritually aware person.
Naturally Ren realized his mistake almost immediately after he asked Nora that question, making both him and Nora laugh a little.
"So an Over Soul is formed by a shaman merging a spirit with a medium allowing him the access to the powers of a spirit through the use of an item. It doesn't look to be difficult." Li thought out loud after recovering from his daze.
Li's statement got both his and Ren's attention, making them quiet down a bit and turn towards his direction with Nora still laughing a little in the background.
"Yes, the theory behind it is rather easy but the process itself is way more tiring than Spirit integration for example." He answered with a small nod of his head before smiling and asking a question. "Do you want to try it now? I can only help you with the basics right now but it's still better than no help at all, right?"
After he asked that, Ren thought about it for a second before accepting his offer.
"Dad, can you turn into the spirit ball form?" Ren asked his father calmly while extending his hand to grab Li after he transforms into a spirit ball.
Seeing that Ren was about to attempt creating his Over Soul Jaune instinctively tried to lean on his wooden staff to observe it from a more comfortable position forgetting that he was currently holding a halberd and accidentally deeply stabbing it into the ground to Nora's amazement.
"I take back what I said about your new shaman power being disappointing. Your walking stick passed through the solid stone as if it was nothing! It's incredible!" Nora shouted with enthusiasm distracting Ren who was about to create his Over Soul.
"Nora..." Ren started a bit irritated before sighing and calmly continuing. "I know that It's incredible as even though it appears like Jaune is still holding a wooden stick to you he actually is wielding a halberd and I'm about to do something similar so can I please have a calm moment to concentrate?"
"Ahh, I'm sorry." Nora said a bit abashed at her loud reaction.
Hearing Nora apologize, Ren slowly nodded before coming back to creating his Over Soul.
After Ren has calmed down and made sure nothing would break his concentration he began repeating every step to create an Over Soul Jaune did.
He first grabbed his weapon Storm Flower with one hand and the spirit of his father with the other. His movements were quick and decisive, it was easy to see that he was trained even if not exactly in the ways of a shaman.
He then extended the hand with his weapon forward. It was a simple motion, there were no wasted actions and unnecessary complications.
Finally using the other arm he tried to push his father into the weapon, merging them together. It was the last step yet even it was executed flawlessly.
"Father! Over Soul into the Storm Flower!" Ren screamed as he pushed his dad into his weapon.
Unfortunately, despite the physical steps being replicated perfectly there was no furyoku to connect the spirit with the item resulting in Li Ren being thrown forward at a considerable speed instead of a weapon being formed or enhanced.
"Ahhh!" Li screamed as he flew past Jaune and Nora.
When Li was thrown forward instead of being merged with Ren's weapon, Jaune became confused. He was sure It should have worked as Raven was also able to create an Over Soul and she had an aura unlocked, even her movements weren't as precise as Ren's were as he didn't even notice her creating an Over Soul.
He was so confused about it that even his own Over Soul broke from the lack of concentration.
"Did he do it?" Nora asked excitedly, being curious about the results.
"He didn't." He said while still stupefied as Summer flew away to check where Li ended up after the throw.
"Why though? I'm certain I did everything exactly like you did so why didn't it work?" Ren asked while getting closer to them.
In response to the question he simply shrugged. He currently had as much idea as Ren had so he decided to think about it for a minute while Nora began to ask Ren how exactly did Over Soul look like.
"I don't know why It didn't work the first time but let's try it a couple more times. Maybe we will find out what is the reason behind it." He said after a while of thinking and just as he said that he noticed Summer and Li slowly flying back to them from afar.
...
Half an hour later...
...
After dozens of tries Ren still didn't manage to create an Over Soul.
It wasn't because he was doing something wrong as he followed every step Jaune showed him correctly. Which made Jaune really concerned as he wasn't sure what was the reason behind his inability to do it at the start.
Thankfully after several attempts they realized what was the problem.
He couldn't access his furyoku.
No matter what he tried, every time he was about to push his furyoku out of his body something would stop it. It almost felt as if there was an invisible field preventing him from pushing his spiritual energy out of his body.
"Agh! How come you have such trouble with using your power Renny while Jauney somehow did that at his first try after he just learned that it was possible?!" Nora asked him in a bored and irritated tone as she sat on the ground watching him fail once again.
"I don't know Nora. It might be because of my aura or my lack of experience as a shaman but it certainly isn't as easy as Jaune said it was." He answered with a sigh, also being a bit irritated he couldn't do it.
After he said that he once more grabbed the spirit of his father to unsuccessfully try to create an Over Soul. At least his dad was understanding enough to allow him to attempt it as many times as he wanted.
I guess he wants me to succeed the most out of every one here. He thought as he watched his father calmly fly to him after his last failure sent him a few meters forward.
"I don't think it's because of your lack of experience as if it was because of it then you would have already done it after so many tries." Jaune said while standing up, tired from sitting and watching him fail for the last twenty minutes.
"So is it because of my aura? I thought you said that using an Over Soul was possible even with my aura unlocked." He said while looking at Jaune with narrowed eyes hoping he didn't waste last half an hour because of his friend's mistake.
"It's because I did say that. The examiner responsible for my selection had her aura unlocked and Summer can confirm that." Jaune said, pointing at Summer with his thumb for confirmation.
After Summer affirmed what Jaune said with a quick nod he added. "Though it might be possible that having your aura unlocked would make it more difficult to form an Over Soul."
"Alright, then do you know how to make it easier for Renny, Jaune?" Nora asked, ignoring Jaune's finger pointing at a person she couldn't see.
Hearing Nora say that he looked at Jaune with a little bit of hope in his eyes. He really wished Jaune knew of any different way for him to form his Over Soul so that he could finally end that boring and repetitive exercise he was doing at the moment.
"Sorry, I don't know any way to make it easier for y-." Jaune almost said while scratching the back of his head only to be cut off by Summer who looked as if she had an idea. "Actually, I think there might be a way using which Ren would be able to form his Over Soul."
"Really?" All of them asked Summer in surprise.
"Yup!" She said, popping the last letter before asking her shaman partner a question. "Hey Jaune do you remember what you said after our search for Chocolove about unlocking dormant shaman power?"
A look of realization appeared on Jaune's face after Summer said that. He also thought there was some nervousness on his face but he wasn't sure as he couldn't quite see Jaune's face from the angle he was looking at.
"Summer you aren't talking about-?" Jaune was about to ask something but he didn't need to as Summer already answered him with a quick nod of her head and a smirk.
After a short moment of silence has passed, Jaune turned towards him with a small grin on his face.
He didn't like that look.
"Ren, before We do this I want you to know that you are one of my best friends." Jaune said after turning towards him before grabbing Summer who turned into her spirit ball form while he was talking.
Jaune then quickly performed his Over Soul forming his halberd before charging at him with a shout.
"Now prepare to die!"
"What?!" He screamed while quickly dodging Jaune's attack.
"What are you doing Jaune?!" Nora shouted after she saw Jaune attack him.
In response to her question Jaune simply smiled wryly before rushing at him again.
This time however, he was prepared for it so he immediately grabbed his weapons and got ready to defend himself the moment he saw Jaune's response to Nora. He may not have had any idea why his friend was attacking him yet but he for sure wasn't going to take it without any resistance.
Thankfully he wasn't alone as the moment Nora noticed that Jaune was about to try to assault him once again she jumped at the young Arc hoping to tackle him to the ground immobilizing him.
Unfortunately the tackle didn't go as planned because the moment Nora was about to knock Jaune down he covered himself with the cloak from his Over Soul before suddenly turning into countless little rose petals and disappearing.
At least that was how it looked to him. Based on Nora's reaction she most likely didn't see the cloak nor the petals and from her perspective Jaune just magically disappeared.
Of course he knew that Jaune wouldn't just vanish for no reason after turning into the rose petals in the middle of his attack so he quickly began looking around him to find where Jaune might be.
Regrettably the only person he saw during his look around was Nora with a confused look on her face.
After doing a brief search around him and failing to find his attacker he was about to ask Nora if she saw their opponent but he stopped himself after he saw a rose petal slowly falling right in front of his eyes.
The moment he saw that he almost instinctively looked up to see the origin of that rose petal.
After doing that he saw a rain of rose petals falling from the sky together with Jaune directly above him with a smirk and a halberd ready to swing.
Seeing this he instantly began to dodge backwards. He saw how that halberd pierced through solid ground as if it was nothing and he didn't want to see how his aura would fare against it.
He didn't pay any particular attention towards the direction he was dodging in as he didn't have time to do that so the moment he regained footing from his dodge and realized he was currently standing right in front of the cliff he certainly was surprised.
He was so surprised that he didn't even realize Jaune actually managed to hit him, creating a small cut on his clothes and chest.
The moment he regained his bearings and saw that Jaune somehow pierced through his aura he took a step back from the surprise.
"Lie, be careful!" His father shouted out of worry when he saw how close he was to falling.
He silently nodded in response without taking his eyes off his opponent. He knew that a mistake like that could even cost him a life in a fight.
"It looks like your back is against wall now, Ren!" Jaune shouted clearly before taking a stance and continuing. "You better create your Over Soul to stop me Ren because I don't want my first human friend to become another ghost only I can talk to."
After saying that Jaune dashed at him with his halberd ready to strike. Nora might have shouted something in the background but he was too focused on Jaune's charge to hear what.
He really was in a terrible situation now.
He couldn't dodge as from one side there was a fall too steep for him to try and even if he were to dodge sideways then Jaune would simply be able to teleport to him the same way he dodged Nora's tackle.
Parrying also wasn't an option as Jaune's Over Soul already proved itself to be too sharp his aura and his weapon were most likely too weak as well.
It certainly looked like forming his Over Soul was the only way to get out of this.
Was trying to kill him and forcing him to figure out how to create an Over Soul really the other way Summer thought of? Because if it was then after surviving it and creating his Over Soul he would have got back at the blond shaman for it.
"Dad! You heard him, right? Spirit Ball Form!" He ordered, having too little time to care about pleasantries.
His dad understood it as well so he immediately turned into his spirit ball form allowing him to grab him and create his Over Soul as quickly as possible.
"Father! Over Soul to the Storm Flower!" He shouted slamming his father and his weapon together hoping they would merge.
When at the beginning nothing happened he was about to lose hope he would survive but after not even a second his furyoku miraculously flew out of his body into his father and weapon creating a small whirlwind between his hands.
As his father began merging with Storm Flower a whirlwind between his hands began growing larger and larger. After a few seconds the wind wasn't just a tiny whirlwind in his hands but a small hurricane around his entire body that pushed everyone away from him.
Unlike when Jaune creates his Over Soul the wind around him didn't seem to be created because of his furyoku pushing and pulling air while gathering in his hands to create an Over Soul instead it looked more like his Over Soul itself was controlling wind around him for protection during its formation.
After a few seconds his Over Soul was finally formed and with it's creation a powerful push of wind around him came as well launching Jaune even further away than he was before.
"You did it!" He heard a cheerful shout belonging to Jaune who was lying on the ground a good few meters away from him.
His Over Soul wasn't a weapon formed out of the spirit of his guardian spirit like how Jaune's was, instead It still looked like his storm flower only now there was a green spiritual flame shaped similarly to his dad's spirit ball form around it.
He lifted his hand right before his face to inspect his Over Soul better. He began turning it around to see it from every possible angle and while doing that he realized that every time he moved his Over Soul wind around him would move as well.
"Yeah, I did." He said with amazement while toying with his Over Soul only for it to break the moment he said that.
His disappointment because of it must have been easily noticeable as Jaune comforted him while walking towards him. "Don't worry the first time I formed my Over Soul it also lasted only for a few seconds."
"You will get better with time. After all, we still have two weeks before your selection test." Jaune said after getting right beside him.
"You are right." He said with a smile, excited for the two weeks of training with his Over Soul awaiting him.
And cut!
Originally I planned for this chapter to have two more segments but after writing 1/3 of the chapter and being at more than 4 thousand words I decided to move them to the beginning of the next chapter and make the previous segments a bit more detailed. I hope that ending of this chapter was still satisfying even if it wasn't what I planned at the beginning.
Side note: From now on I will write "Over Soul" instead of "OverSoul" like it was before. Don't worry I will edit or already edited them in the previous chapter as well.