Hi Everyone! Sorry this Chapter took so long but in the craziness that is the first couple weeks of college it took a bit. This is also my first extensive action scene so hope that goes over well! Your reviews are ever appreciated and without making you wait further, here is the next chapter!
It has been a week since Jake and Chance had started their education at DWMA, for the past week they had been going over the basics of souls and today they were beginning the topic of soul resonance.
"All right class, how many of you have heard of soul resonance?" Sid posed the question to the entire class
Chance was fiddling with a pencil until he heard the question,to which he promptly raised his hand.
Sid smiled at the sight of one of his more attentive students; he, Jake, Callie and Felina answered about 50 percent of the questions he would pose to the class. It was a good thing that the four sat together and were friends outside of class."Yes, Chance what is soul resonance?"
Chance quickly cleared his throat, "Soul resonance is when a meister and their weapon's souls connect. When this happens the meister and weapon are in just about full-synch and can think and act as such. In this state a meister and weapon can even share each others energy."
Sid smiled, "Damn, almost text book. When I was in your spot I would answer with almost as much fervor, but that's the man I used to be. Anyways, you're absolutely correct Chance, now how does one achieve soul resonance?" This time Jake's hand shot into the air,making Sid smile even more so, "I should have figured you'd be next Jacob! Go ahead."
"Soul resonance can be achieved when the meister and weapon share a bond of sorts assuming the two are compatible. Soul resonance can't be done if the two mutually dislike, for lack of a better term, each other, as an example. It can be achieved between family members, friends, lovers, etc. as long as there is a mutual respect." Jake answered
Sid nodded, "I bet you and Chance would know all about the friendship portion by now, wouldn't you?" Jake was about to answer, until Chance wrapped his arm around Jake's shoulder and pulled him in suddenly, causing him to choke for a second.
Cough cough "Yeah, Cough let's go with friendship" The entire class laughed and Chance and Jake only smiled at each other.
"All right class that leads into today's main lesson." The class focused back to Sid, "Most of you have by now found partners, for those of you whom haven't, don't worry there is still plenty of time. Anyway, for today I want to hold an exhibition match of sorts. Before I get into those details I want to demonstrate soul resonance. Nigus!" Sid shouted to his partner, a kat wrapped in bandages. Jake had recognized her as the one who hauled Spirit-sensei away after Shinigami-sama's deadly chop. This made him giggle. Nigus promptly turned into her weapon form, a small sharp knife in a sheath. "All right first you need to synchronize, usually you wont have the time to slow down and do this so you'll have to learn to do it on the fly eventually." Sid stopped in place, closed his eyes and concentrated for a second until, "Tamishii-no-kyoume!" he screamed. A rush of air wafted through the room...but other than that there wasn't much to be seen. Many of the students seemed confused, however...
"Whoa!" Jake exclaimed
"Hunh, what is it?"Chance asked. Callie and Felina turned their heads toward Jake with confused looks
"You guys don't see that?" Jake asked looking back and forth from his friends.
"You mean his soul?" Felina questioned
"His what?" Jake answered
"Aha, so you can see souls just like Felina-chan!" Sid stated
"Wha?" Jake exclaimed with just as much confusion as previous, Chance and Callie were still in the same boat
Felina laughed, "I guess that's your first time seeing one hunh?"
"Tell me Jake, what did you feel when I used soul resonance?"
"Well besides that rush of air, I was in sheer awe. And then I saw the huge blue-sphere thing. That was your soul?" Jake answered, now even more awe struck
Sid smiled, "Yes. Well it's good to know that I have at least one other student in the class with soul-perception. Until now I thought only Felina-chan could do so. Can you only see my soul Jake?" Jake looked around and nodded toward Sid. "Alright, try taking your focus from me and putting it instead on Chance, since you two are close it should be easier for you to sense his soul."
Jake nodded and turned toward Chance, who put his hands behind his head and said "Should I strike a pose?" Callie giggled at the wonton picture Chance made.
"Alright Jake just take a deep breath and try to sense Chance's soul. Remember the feeling when you sensed mine and try to replicate that." Jake did just that, he closed his eyes and began to breathe deep, a few moments passed with nothing, until Jake felt a sudden surge of sorts. He couldn't describe it but he felt it and focused on it, "This has gotta be Chance" he thought, "It feels...just as warm as his personality." Jake promptly opened his eyes, and he saw his partners soul sitting in front of him it looked round and blue, just like a normal soul, or at least what he thought would be normal based on Sid-sensei. Jake sat for a few seconds in silence, until he started giggling.
Chance blushed in response to his partner, "What!? What's so funny?" He quickly pulled his arms down and glared at Jake
"It's got your ears...and your tail." Jake stammered through his small laughter. The class joined in his snickering, only causing Chance to blush even more so.
"Haha, good Jake-kun. Just practice that a bit more and you should be able to sense souls with ease. Alright so the main lesson for today is bonds. Being humans …. and kats you can share bonds with each other that will strengthen your abilities during battle through soul-resonance. Today I want to have two of our partner pairings have a friendly exhibition match to possibly demonstrate a bit of soul-resonance. I dont expect them to actually be able to perform it like myself and Nigus did, but even being able to think alike is a product of soul-resonance. So..." Sid dawned a mischevious grin .." Chance, Jake, Felina and Callie would you do us the honor?"
The group looked at eachother with hesitation until Chance spoke up, "Uh sensei, I have a slight problem with fighting a girl"
"What? If you're afraid of losing you can just say so." Felina said fiendishly
"What!?" Chance slammed his raised hand down on his desk
"It's okay big tiger, me and Callie wont spank you too hard" Felina retorted as if she was talking to a baby
"Okay fine! Sid-sensei It's on!"
Sid nodded and smiled.
Sid lead the class out to the forested area near the school where Jake and Chance had first trained. He brought them deeper into the woods than Jake and Chance had previously gone so that the duel wouldn't be restrained to a small area.
"Alright," Sid said when he felt that they had gone deep enough in, "I want both of you to assume weapon form" he said to Jake and Felina, who both nodded. Jake and Chance went through their usual weapon transformation, which had the class ooo-ing and ahh-ing. Felina then went to assume her weapon form, she simply stood there and was soon enveloped in a bright light. Felina assumed the form of a gun, a pistol to be precise. She had a green sight with a red reticule atop of the gun itself. She was almost completely black in color, aside from a single white stripe that went down the side of the gun to the trigger, almost like her hair style. The class responded to Felina and Callie similarly as they had done to Chance and Jake.
"Alright, the winner will either be decided by performance or if one team can put the other into a losing situation." Sid stated. Chance cocked his head in confusion. Sid walked over to Callie and walked her up to Chance, then placed her gun to his forehead. "A losing situation.."
Chance gulped "Oh..." The class giggled in response
"Come on Chance..." Jake's image flashed across the blade "if you're thinking is that off we'll never win!" Chance answered by glaring at Jake. "EEP, I'll be quite now" Jake sarcastically answered.
"Alright on my mark!" Sid held up his hand, Chance and Callie entered fighting stances "...GO!"
Chance immediately lunged when he heard the start, he made a broad slash at Callie, which she easily avoided with a simple jump backwards. Chance easily recovered and jumped at Callie a second time making an upward slash. Callie sidestepped the slash, but Chance was prepared for it this time and he used his momentum to get a fast kick at Callie. Callie ducked under the kick, when Chance had his back to Callie as a result of the kick she pushed him away from her with her foot causing Chance to stumble away. "Now it's my turn!" Callie said. She readied her pistol and pulled the trigger. The shot flew right at Chance and hit him dead center of his back.
"Owwwwwwww!" Chance jumped up at the sudden pain. "FUCK! What the hell did you just shoot me with?" Chance yelled while jumping around attempting to hold the area that had been hit.
"That was a bullet from Felina here. The bullet is made from my soul wavelength, Felina compresses it and fires it forward. In other words..infinite bullets!" Callie explained with a bit more enthusiasm than normal
"Callie, that is the same method one of my students used from a while back, it's good to see that someone else implores that same tactic."
Callie simply nodded, as she didn't want to break her concentration on Chance, who was now facing her again in full fighting stance. Wasting no time, Callie began her assault on Chance, firing a volley of bullets at his feet. Chance dodged the bullets by jumping to the right, but Callie had predicted that and began firing where Chance would be, forcing him to jump back with a start, and landing on his butt. He was given no time to recompose himself either, Callie was relentless. She continued firing. Chance's only capable reaction was to back up along the ground as the bullets neared him. "Oh fuck, oh fuck..." Chance thought as he continued to back up, sweat forming on his forehead. Chance had come to a sudden stop when he felt his back hit something, he looked up to see that he hit a tree. Callie's bullets were just about at Chance, his eyes widened as they drew near.
"Chance!" Jake yelled out
"Fuck!" Chance exclaimed as he put his arms up to block the incoming bullets. He sat there for a few seconds waiting for the assault, but it never came. Chance lowered his arms and peaked out to see Callie looking exhausted. Callie was still pulling on the trigger until she realized that no bullets were firing.
"Callie, you've used to many shots you have to recover!" Felina said aloud
"Chance that's our cue to get outta here!" Jake said, his image flashing across the blade, pulling his friend back to the situation
Chance shook his head and stood back up and bolted off toward the trees just as he saw Callie regain her breath somewhat. Chance broke into a full sprint away from the battle ground.
"Wait!" Callie called after Chance to no avail, "Sensei is that alright?"
Sid nodded, "Yes Callie-Chan, I actually brought the battle here so that you could use the environment. I may not be able to see you, but Naigus can sense your souls so we have an eye on you at all times, in a sense." Naigus nodded at her mention
Callie nodded in response and headed into the woods herself
"Chance! I think we're in the clear. Stop here." Jake told Chance who had been running through the woods for a short time. He wasn't too far from where they started, he made a smart decision in doubling back toward the starting point but taking a slightly different route to evade Callie.
Chance stopped and was breathing hard. Jake turned back into his kat form and Chance placed his hands on his knees while he bent over slightly trying to catch his breath. "You think hah we have hah enough time to figure out something." Chance said through his breathing
"I hope so, here let me check where she shot you on your back."
"Alright." Chance turned his back to Jake and pulled his shirt up over his head. Jake quickly saw the large bruise forming through Chance's fur. Jake prodded at it slightly and pulled back when Chance winced.
"Sorry, it looks like that'll heal up fine though, it's just a bruise. Good thing you don't exactly sleep on your back hunh." Jake joked. To his surprise, it elicited a chuckle from Chance. He thought Chance would be much more stern in this situation, but he was just like he normally acted. "Stress isn't a factor for you hunh?" Jake thought
Chance put his shirt back on and turned to Jake. "So, any plans for taking down trigger happy?" Chance asked as he leaned against a tree.
"Hmm, nothing yet. The only time we were able to get close was right away. After that we were on defense. And let's be honest she would've hit you again if she didn't over-exert herself."
"Yeah, she would've." Chance said with a sagged expression
"In terms of one on one she definitely has the advantage." Jake continued
"Wait! That's it!" Chance jumped from his position on the tree toward Jake
Jake jumped at Chance's sudden enthusiasm, "What?"
"You have some martial arts skills right?"
"...Yeah, brown belt tai-kwan-do actually."
"Awesome! I've got a blue belt in jiu-jitsu!"
"So what does this have to do with anything?"
"If we split up..come at her with you in weapon form then split...she'll have two targets to deal with instead of one! Besides you can even use your blade when your in kat form, so we can get her into a losing position if I get her off balance!" Chance said, obviously excited
"Hmmm, not a bad plan, but we won't exactly be able to communicate what we're going to do otherwise she can just counter it." Jake retorted
"Ohh...you're right" Chance said, his expression once again sagging
"...wait. There is one way we could probably do it!" Jake chimed
Chance's ears perked up, "What?!"
"We could..." Jake stopped for a second, thinking about whether he should even suggest what he was about to. He decided it was worth a shot, "We could try soul-resonance. That would allow us to think on the same page"
" Have you forgotten that we have only been at this for a few weeks? I don't think we're quite ready for that yet Jake. Besides I don't think it works that way"
"Well in theory it's simple, we just have to sync up to each others soul. For us that shouldn't be too hard. Besides my soul-perception might help!"
Chance still looked unsure and was doubtful. "But what other plan do we have?" Chance thought. "Alright, we'll give it a shot!" Chance said with a smile.
"Alright! It might be easier if I'm in weapon form.." Jake didn't need to say anymore, Chance already had his hand extended. Jake clasped it in his hand and instantaneously was in his weapon form. "Alright, just breathe Chance. Try to sense my soul in any tangible way. That is probably the best way to start." Chance responded with a nod. He was already trying to concentrate on finding even a hint of Jake's soul and didn't want to break that. He stood in silence just breathing. Jake had done the same trick he did earlier to find and lock onto Chance's soul. It took him only a few seconds, it really did get easier with practice. It felt the same as it did earlier, warm, and Jake was fairly sure that it would be slightly different when Chance could sense Jake in kind. Jake wanted to offer advice, but he feared he would only break Chance's concentration and thus slow him down. Chance was left with only his thoughts as he searched for even a thread of what could be Jake's soul.
"Come on, you should be able to do this! He's your goddamned best friend and yet you can't even sense he's there?" Chance thought. "I guess it doesn't help that I don't even know what I'm trying to sense. I mean am I looking for his energy? His aura? His..." Chance's thoughts were cut off as he began to recall some of the memories he had made with Jake over the last few weeks. "Maybe that will help!" Chance then began to recall everything from the memories that had come up; when he and Jake had first hung out and ended up talking late into the night, when they met Maka and Crona... A smile played across Chance's face. Then the memory of when Jake helped him deal with his mother's death came up. He didn't even have to try to recall all that happened in this one. He remembered how Jake just held him as he cried and provided him with all the comfort he could have needed. Without Jake's support and kindness where would he have been? It was then that Chance sensed something out of the norm. "Is that?" Chance thought. "It feels ...warm, but...not like heat. I don't know..." Chance tried to make sense of what he was feeling, "it also feels...safe..." Jake was right. As Chance started to grasp what he was feeling his soul seemed ever more prominent to Jake. He could feel all the warmth that he did when he sensed Chance's soul, but even more greatly.
"Come on just a bit more buddy!"
"I think...I know what this is." Chance thought more. "This is...how my best friends soul feels hunh? ...No. This is how my brother's soul feels!" Chance had a firm grasp on the feeling and promptly opened his eyes, now overflowing with resolve. Jake was astounded, he could actually hear Chance's thoughts! They had definitely locked onto each others souls! And now..."Tamishii!"
Callie's ears perked up when she heard the sudden outcry. Sids attention turned in the direction Chance was in the forest.
"No Kyome!" Chance yelled. A sudden rush of air came from where Chance was standing.
"What?!" Sid questioned
"No way!" Callie exclaimed as she ran off toward the noise.
"This feels almost like soul-resonance...but it isn't" Sid thought
Chance walked out of the area of the woods he was in back to where he started in front of the crowd that was Sid-sensei and his fellow students. Callie was right behind him. She came out of the forest at range from Chance.
"Your just trying to play with us aren't you?" Callie questioned. "There is no way that you can already pull off soul-resonance, so I think..." Callie aimed Felina at Chance "This is where it will end!" She promptly fired off a shot. But to her surprise Chance just side stepped it! Chance broke into a full sprint toward Callie. She tried to fend this of by firing at him, thinking that he would have to break stride to evade. But he didn't, Chance nimbly dodged all of the bullets coming at him and was still moving toward her. "What the!" Callie said just before Chance made a slash at her. She moved nimbly out of the way, just as she did earlier. She readied herself for another one, but was instead met with Jake flying toward her in blade form! She ducked and let him fly past her. "Did you think that just throwing him would.."
"Callie behind you!" Felina yelled
Callie quickly turned to see Jake darting at her with his arm in blade form. She gasped and jumped away as he swiped at her. What she didn't know was that Chance was waiting for her. When she had landed right in front of him, Chance swept at her feet with a kick, causing her to fall flat on her back. Jake hadn't broken his sprint and was right next to Chance as this happened. He quickly grabbed onto Chance's hand and reverted to full weapon form. Callie tried to sit up, but when she did she was met with Chance pointing the end of Jake at her. "Sorry Callie, I think we won" Chance said with a cocky smile. Callie was at a loss for words, as was the rest of the class.
"The winner is Chance and Jake!" Sid called. The class responded with a few cheers. Chance turned his attention to them and blushed. He rubbed the back of his head and Jake reverted to kat. He and Jake looked at each other. Both smiled broadly and then reacted in the same way, they both jumped in the air and said "Yeah!"
Callie was sitting up now, and Felina had turned back into kat form. Chance turned and offered his hand to Callie, she smiled and accepted it as he helped her up. Sid walked over to the winning duo. "Congratulations, you two performed excellently! That soul-resonance you did..."
"Impressed sensei?!" Jake perked up and put his arms put up behind his head in a confident pose
"It wasn't actually soul-resonance." Sid said flatly
Chance and Jake both looked startled, "What!?" they both exclaimed
"It looked like soul-resonance but it didn't make you two any stronger. You were able to think on the same wave length but that was all."
"So what did we do then? I was so sure that I sensed Jake's soul" Chance remarked
"I don't doubt that at all. Hmmm, let's call this an incomplete soul-resonance. Don't be disappointed you two.." Sid stated as he placed his hands on their shoulders, who both responded by meeting his gaze, "It is amazing that you were able to do this! You two have only been at it for a few weeks but your bond is simply amazing! How long have you two been friends again?" Sid questioned.
Chance and Jake looked at each other and began to laugh profusely. Sid made a puzzled look and Chance and Jake both explained their relatively short friendship
"WHAT?!" Sid yelled causing the birds in the trees to fly away from being startled
Chance and Jake were in the lunch room talking to Maka and all of their other friends. They had done this every lunch period, and the gang were each quickly becoming good friends.
"Oh yeah! That's one thing I've been wondering." Chance broke the conversation they had all been keeping
"What?" Tsubaki asked in her usual kind tone
Chance smiled, Tsubaki always talked like that and he couldn't help but be happy around her. He didn't see anything romantic happening between them in the future though. "All of you look really young, how old are all of you?"
"Oh yeah, I had been wondering that too!" Jake chimed in. Chance smiled, Jake had definitely become more comfortable with people in general. He could talk to a lot of people with his usual enthusiasm, and without shying behind Chance.
"Oh well I'm 16" Maka said
"Me too" said Soul
"I'm uhh, I'm ….. 16 I think" Crona stammered
"I am too!" Blackstar said almost too enthusiastically
"I'm actually 17" Tsubaki said
"Me and Patty are 17 too" Liz chimed
"I'm 16" Kid coolly explained
"We're both 17!" Callie and Felina had said in unison. Both of them were in an unusually cheery mood, despite having lost the fight earlier
Chance hung his head at the new found information. "Damn I feel old now, I'm 18."
"Hah don't let that bother you buddy! I'll be 18 in just over a week." Jake said trying to cheer his friend up.
Chance smiled "Well I guess as long as I have some one else in my age bracket I'll be good!" Chance responded
Jake smiled back, and then stood up "I'll be back I gotta use the restroom." Jake said and walked off toward the hallway"
After Jake had gotten out of earshot Callie turned to Chance with a smirk, "You know you can be PAINFULLY coy."
Chance perked up then rubbed his head as he blushed and smiled his toothy grin, "You caught that did ya?"
"So that makes Jake's birthday next weekend sometime, right?" Soul questioned.
"Yup, I was wanting to throw a party for him..."
Jake was in the restroom washing his hands. He was drying his hands when...
"Well, look at this kat." A familiar voice said in a cold, malicious tone.
Jake turned around to find two people he hoped to never see again. It was Sky and his stocky cohort Drake.
"So.." Sky stated as he walked a couple of steps toward Jake. "Does big bad kat think he can take us without his meat head friend?"
Jake said nothing, instead he answered Sky with his fist straight into his nose. Sky cried out upon getting hit and staggered back a few steps while he held his nose. "Don't you EVER insult him!" Jake replied
"Mother fucker!" Sky spat. "Drake!" Drake was surprised by his friends outburst and jumped slightly, "Weapon, NOW!"
"But...Sky you kinda...he didn't even..." Drake was met with a fist to his cheek.
"I SAID NOW!" Sky yelled
Jake was surprised to see how this so called friend treated the other. Drake had obediently turned into his weapon form and now Sky sat poised to lunge at Jake.
Chance had finished eating and was waiting for Jake to return. Most of the gang had left aside from Blackstar and Tsubaki. Mostly because Tsubaki was reading her book and Balckstar had decided to take a quick nap.
"It's been over 10 minutes!" Chance thought. "Jake never takes this long...is it creepy that I know that?" Chance stood up, "Imma go check on Jake, I'll be back."
Tsubaki smiled and nodded
Jake was jumping backward, evading a stab from Sky.
"Sky don't hurt him!" Drake said
"Shut it!" Was his reply
Sky made another leap at Jake and was caught by Jake placing his now blade form arm between two of the blades on the spear head.
"Hah! You really are weak without him aren't you?!" Sky yelled
Jake narrowed his eyes at sky and quickly broke the hold he had him in. Jake made a slash at Sky, who narrowly avoided the cut to his abdomen. That was not Jake's ultimate goal though. He rushed at Sky before he had time to recover and shoulder checked him. Sky grabbed his stomach and hunched over "You fucking, bitch!" he screamed
"Now who can't defend themselves?" Jake questioned
Sky's eyes flooded over with anger and he wildly lunged at Jake. Jake wasn't prepared for this, all he could manage to do was put his blade up in hope that it would block him. Jake waited for the impact and felt nothing.
"Hunh?" He looked back up to see Chance! Chance had pushed the attack away and diverted the spear into the wall with his arm. Chance's eyes were ablaze with anger.
Chance walked up to Sky and picked him up by the collar of his shirt and threw him down onto the floor. "Don't you EVER FUCK with my brother again. Or next time, I'll do more than throw your sorry ass on the ground."
Drake had returned to his kat form and was kneeling beside Sky to check if he was alright. Sky grimaced and quickly got up and ran off. "Sky!" Drake called after him. Drake turned and bowed to Chance and Jake in apology, "I'm so sorry!" was all he said before he ran off after his "friend."
Chance's anger had dissipated. For Jake it was weird to see Chance angry, if he ever did it was only a couple of seconds when he stubbed his toe or something, but nothing like this. Chance turned to check on Jake, the anger that was in his eyes was now replaced with genuine worry. "Are you alright Jake. Did he get you?" Chance began giving Jake the once over. The memories of when they ad first met began to flood over Jake, making him smile.
"No, you think I'd let a punk like him get a shot in?" Jake answered. Jake's smile had vanished when his eyes fell on the arm Chance used to divert the spear. "Oh, Chance!" was all Jake managed to say as he held up the arm to observe the cut.
Chance turned his attention to the now blood covered arm. "Oh I didn't even notice it." Chance winced, "And maybe it was better that I didn't."
"Come on! Let's wash it off" Jake hurried his friend to the sink. As he was washing it up Blackstar entered the restroom because Tsubaki had asked him to go and look for Chance and Jake.
"I'll go get Naigus sensei!" was all he said before running off down the hall.
Jake was lapping water onto the wound and removing all of the excess blood. After he had done so he grabbed a few paper towels and put them on the wound to try and mitigate some of the bleeding. The two sat in silence for a bit until Jake and Chance's eyes met awkwardly, making Jake turn his head away and blush. "So uh...you really think of me as your brother hunh?"
Chance's ears perked up and he blushed slightly. "Uh yeah, well, I mean." Chance sighed, "With all of the things we've gone through already and how well we get along it is almost like we are brothers. I don't usually believe in all of the usual fate and destiny stuff but..." Chance turned his gaze onto Jake now, who returned the look, "...I think we were supposed to be friends from the get-go Jake."
Jake blushed and was about to say something. Out of pure heat of the moment he was gonna tell Chance how he felt. But, just then Naigus came rushing into the restroom with Blackstar in toe. Jake snapped from his stupor and moved away from Chance to let Naigus inspect the wound. During the time Chance was getting patched up Jake filled Naigus in on the situation, she suggested that she tell this to Shinigami-sama, but Jake decline saying that the situation was under control. Naigus finished patching Chance up with a wrap-around bandage and she said it was only a light cut and would heal up soon. After she left Chance, Jake and Blackstar made their way back to the lunch room.
Jake and Chance had their arms wrapped around each other and Jake began to think this would be how they walked if they were dating. "Wait a second..." Jake thought, "DID I JUST GET FRIEND ZONED!?"
P.S. Next chapter should be more on time but that depends ;P