A Long Way to Go

It was morning in the Arc Household and Juniper Arc, mother of eighth, was busy in the kitchen cooking up breakfast for her family. Feeding a family of ten obviously required cooking a lot of food and the experienced homemaker knew this as she put a whole loaf's worth of bread into a commercial grade toaster, a joke wedding gift from the diner she used to work at, that ended up becoming indispensable in her household now.

While the toast was toasting, she cracked a dozen eggs into two separate frying pans, one for scrambled and the other sunny side up for those who preferred it. As the eggs fried, she tossed several strips of bacon into another pan for the more carnivorous members of her family. Tending to so much food cooking on her own was no easy task but she was used to it. Her family would help sometimes, though it was usually so they could get the chance to sneak a bite.

*Whap!* Like so.

"Oww!" her husband, Nicholas Arc, yelped after she smacked his hand away.

"You know the rules. No snacking before the table is set." Juniper scolded, pointing her ladle at him.

"But it's just one piece." Nicholas whined while rubbing his stinging hand.

"You know these aren't for you. Now go sit and read your papers." Juniper said firmly.

"Yes, dear." Nicholas sighed in defeat as he sat himself down at the head of the table.

Juniper smiled in satisfaction as she put the plate of beowolf shaped nuggets her husband tried to pilfer to the side. She had specially prepared the nuggets for her son since they were his favourite and hoped that they would be enough to make up for what his sisters had put him through yesterday. And for her idiot of a husband for shouting at their son when he said he wanted to be a huntsman when he grew up.

While she agreed with her husband not letting her precious baby boy take up such a dangerous career, she wished that he could have been gentler. Her son ran out of the house crying for goodness' sake! Hopefully having his favourite food will cheer him up.

"Morning, mom. Morning, dad." Coral, her eldest child greeted as she wordlessly got the dishes and utensils from the cupboards to set the table for. Saphron came in soon after, herding the rest of her sisters to the table though their brother was noticeably absent. The sounds of water flushing upstairs told her where he was.

Guess he lost the race to the bathroom to his sisters. Again.

She quickly plated the food and set it down on the table where her children quickly grabbed their portions. They all eyed the nuggets but a stern look in her eyes and the wooden ladle in her hand stopped them from reaching for them.

"Now remember, these are for your brother. You can have some if he says it's okay. Got it?" This way, her children will have to be nice to their brother and given how kind her baby boy is, he'll undoubtedly share some with his sisters. She can't force her children to get along, but bribing them with treats help.

A chorus of "Mhm!"s and "Yup!"s sounded off from her daughters before they all heard the stamping of rushing feet from upstairs. She gave her daughters one last look to make sure they remember their promise before turning around to see her son entering the kitchen.

"Good morning, Jaune. I made-"

"Morning everyone! Sorry but I gotta go!" the boy said excitedly before snatching the slice of freshly buttered toast out of Sable's hand and wolfed it down in one go.

"Hey!" the tomboy shouted.

"Sorry! Just take my share! Bye!" Jaune yelled back before dashing out the backdoor.

"-your favourite?" Juniper finished bewilderedly before realizing what just happened and turned to see her boy run past the swinging garden gate. She wondered what has gotten into her boy and turned to her husband for an answer.

Nicholas simply shrugged his shoulders, equally confused. Though before they could ponder on their son's unexpected excitement, they were interrupted by their daughters fighting over the long forgotten beowolf nuggets. Juniper sighed as she moved to help her husband wrangle her daughters.

A mother's work was never done.

Meanwhile, Jaune Arc, only son of eight children to Nicholas and Juniper Arc, ran down the small hill upon which his home sat on, and towards the woods near it.

'Slow down, Jaune. There's no need to be in such a rush.' a male voice sounded off in Jaune's mind.

"I can't help it. I just excited to finally start my training to be a hero!" Jaune panted as he stopped just outside the treeline. "So, what are we gonna start with, Mr Ozma?" he eagerly asked.

'First off, no need to be so formal, my boy. Just call me Ozma.' the voice replied. The voice belonged to Ozma, the spirit of a self-proclaimed warrior that had mysteriously appeared in the boy's mind the day before.

One would think that Jaune would have been terrified of being haunted by a ghost and he was at first, but he had adapted surprisingly well. Especially after the spirit offered to train the boy to be a huntsman after his own father had refused to do so, 'As for where to start? The basics is often the best option.'

"Okay! So what are you gonna train me in? Swordfighting?" Jaune copied the fighting stance he once saw his father use when training Ansel's militia and swung an imaginary sword at an equally imaginary foe. "Or maybe some martial arts? Hyah!" he exclaimed as he mimicked the punches he once saw on an old mistrali martial arts movie.

'It's a little to early to start off with that.' Ozma advised while keeping his critique of his host's technique or lack of one to himself. He was still a child after all. 'For now, we need to find out what your limits are before I can decide on what kind of training to give you.'

"Great! I'm ready for anything!" Jaune declared, pumping his fist into the air. "Er…so what do I do?" Jaune asked, his hand now hanging awkwardly in the air.

'Hmm, how big are the woods in front of us?' Ozma asked as he looked at the treeline through his host's eyes.

"I think dad said that it's about an acre, give or take. Why?"

'Good, I need you to run around the woods as many times as you can so I can measure your stamina. You may start whenever you're ready.' Ozma would have preferred an actual training facility like a gym but he made do with less before.

"That's it?" Jaune grinned. He raced his sisters to the bathroom every morning so he was used to running so this sounded like a piece of cake while conveniently forgetting that he's never won any of those races. Regardless, he crouched down to tighten his shoes before taking a running position used by athletes he saw on tv, "On your mark, Ozma."

Bemused, Ozma indulged his host and cleared his non-existent throat for effect, 'On your mark. Get ready. Go!'

And Jaune bolted off into a sprint, eager to show Ozma what he was made of.

Ozma also looked forward to see what his host was made of.

(Later)

Ozma was silent as he stared up into the sky through Jaune's eyes. The reason why they were looking up into the sky was because his host had just dropped to the ground from exhaustion. He could hear his host breathing heavily as his little chest rose up and down, showing just how much he exerted himself…

…from finishing a single lap.

He hadn't expected much from his host as he was still just a child though he was surprised at how poorly Jaune performed. It was so far below his standards that he immediately scrapped the training regimen he had in mind. He'll need to think of a different one. Especially one that won't send the boy to the hospital.

"So…how'd…I do?" Jaune wheezed between labored breaths.

'Umm…' Ozma mumbled, unsure how to break it to the boy who was quick to pick up on this.

"Was I really that bad?" Jaune asked curiously.

'I'd rather not say…' With his many lifetimes of experiences, he knew just how sensitive children could be and wanted to spare the boy's feelings.

"Come on, Ozma…I can take it. I promise." the boy insisted.

Ozma sighed as he also remembered how stubborn children can be and relented. 'As you wish. To put things in perspective, as you are now, if you were a student at a combat school, you'd be at the very bottom in the school's rankings and in danger of being expelled.'

"Oh…" was all Jaune could say as he lowered his head in disappointment.

Even though Jaune was the one who insisted, Ozma still felt a pang of guilt for making him sad. 'However, this just means that you will need to work twice as hard to become a huntsman if not more. If you still want me to train you that is.'

"Yes! No way I'm giving up on my dream!" Jaune exclaimed with determination before standing back up. "What do I have to do next?"

'That's good to hear and it seems you've got your second wind so run another lap around the woods.' Ozma smiled wryly when he felt Jaune's hesitation, 'Of course, do stop for breaks if you start feeling tired. No need to push yourself to exhaustion again.' and sensed the wave of relief from his host at this. 'Though before you start, care for some tips that might help with your running form?'

"Yes, please!" Jaune answered eagerly.

Ozma chuckled before he imparted some wisdom upon the boy.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Nicholas Arc quirked his brows as he watched his son running off again around the woods. He wondered what his son was up to but if he had to guess, he'd say that Jaune was probably trying to prove he was worthy of becoming a huntsman through self-training.

The thought of his son still trying after he had refused to train him yesterday made him frown. His son had no idea just how dangerous being a huntsman was. He wanted to make Jaune stop this foolishness but he wasn't good with words as evidenced by his temper getting the better of him and yelled at his son yesterday.

However, after seeing how his son dropped to the ground from exhaustion from just running a single lap around the woods earlier, he decided to leave Jaune to it. Knowing Jaune, he'd give up after realizing how hard training himself was, especially without any guidance. He expected his son to last a couple of days, a week at best before moving on to something else, hopefully something safer. With that in mind, he headed back into the house to prepare for the day, unaware that his son had someone to guide him towards his dream of becoming a hero.

Eat Your Veggies!

It was dinner time in the Arc household and Juniper Arc was confused.

Being the mother of eight, one would assume that she would have a hard time remembering things about her children but it wasn't the case for her. Thanks to her previous experience working at diners, she knew quite a bit about her children and their little quirks, including their eating habits.

Or so she thought as she watched Jaune quietly eating his dinner. The reason she was confused as because Jaune was one of the pickiest eaters among her children and yet here he was, eating his peas and carrots, which she knew for a fact that he hated, without any complaints or urging on her part.

And judging from the faces he was making with every bite, he didn't suddenly get a newfound appreciation for vegetables. She wondered if he was doing this as a ploy to ask her for something later, maybe a raise in his allowance for a comic or a toy he wanted though as long as he ate his veggies, she wouldn't mind hearing him out at least.

'Ozma, you sure I can't do those garbo loading thing instead?' Jaune mentally groaned as he made a face at the grainy yet mushy texture of his peas.

'First, it's carbo-loading and no, you don't need that yet. Right now, you need more nutrition in your diet to build your body up so bear with it and eat your greens.' Ozma had been shocked when he found out that his host was the middle child despite looking so small that he could have been mistaken as the youngest.

Ozma figured that Jaune's picky eating habit might be the reason for his size. Well, that or the boy might be a late bloomer. However, he didn't want to gamble with his host's dream on a guess so improving his eating habits was a good way to start.

Jaune had been receptive to the idea, at least until he suggested adding more fruits and vegetables to his diet. Ozma guessed that no matter the era, there would always be children who disliked eating vegetables.

Thankfully, all it took to convince the boy to change his mind was telling him that eating his vegetables would help him grow and become a huntsman faster. Though it did little to stop the wave of disgust radiating from his host as he eyed the vegetables on his plate. Still, Jaune powered through it and finished everything down to the last bite.

'Finally! I'm done!' Jaune declared triumphantly.

'Very good.' Ozma praised and felt Jaune preening in response, 'Now, go for seconds.'

'But why? I just finished a whole plate!' the boy whined

'And I seem to recall you being able to put away more than twice that amount in sandwiches during lunch.' Ozma countered.

'I…I was just making up for skipping breakfast.' Jaune argued back weakly.

'Very well. Then at the rate you're going, it'll probably take much longer for your body to grow fit enough to train…' Ozma trailed off and let Jaune's imagination do the rest. He didn't have to wait long before Jaune let out a defeated sigh.

'Fine…' Jaune relented as he held his empty plate out to his mother and said, "Seconds please."

"Sure, sweetie!" Juniper said, happy that her son is finally eating more vegetables. She made sure to add extra carrots which Jaune eyed with disgust but pushed it down as he took the plate full of vegetables and started eating.

'Yuck!'

Author's Note: Hello and welcome to this little side project of mine. I had wanted to add this into my main story, Best Laid Plans but was worried I'd bog myself down and burn out before I even get to Beacon. So instead, I planned to make a series of short sidestories of Ozma training Jaune in chronological order for a long-oneshot, a longshot if you will and post it in one go but IRL stuff made that difficult.

So instead, I'll chop everything up into individual one-shots that may or may not be in chronological order so expect time to jump back and forth. Unfortunately, due to IRL responsibilities, my motivation and creativity is rather low lately so I'm asking you, the readers to give me prompts or ideas to inspire and motivate me to write more. I have some rough ideas for what I want to write but I often find myself more motivated when it's done for others.

So give me your best shot and I'll try to write it to fit with the main story's continuity. Just nothing too crazy, okay?