Jaune decided to not go to the rest of his classes. He wasn't sure what had gripped him to do so, or why he had decided instead to go ahead to delve into the depths of the library, tucked away into the depths of the shelves. He eventually got a little bored of the pages that surrounded him. Poetry, Theology, Politics, Language. Tales and spinning of love, humanity, and the ever evasive questions. He had also tried to help some . He pulled out his scroll, typing in a familiar number.
"Hey nora." he greeted into the microphone. Nora's face on the tiny screen light up at his voice.
"Jaune Jaune!" Nora greeted exuberantly, grinning from ear to ear. "You called!"
"Of course I called. I missed you." Jaune said. "And besides, it's been something of a day. I think you would be… interested in hearing." He admitted as he sat down. Propping the device on the spine of a book so he didn't have to hold it.
Nora's face brightened up, smiling coyly at the promise of a good story. "Ohh? I hear the promise of a story? Of a tale? Of a spinning of fine proportions?" She cooed. A cheshire grin on her face. It was oddly cat like, Jaune thought.
"Well, i got to hit someone with a fish today." He shrugged. Nora sputtered, dry coughing. Her laugh was interrupted by the sudden attack of laughter.
"Ok, this is something you have to tell me, Jaune." She smiled. He couldn't help but smile back.
"I suppose I do. But first, I have to tell you about my wack ass professor-" And so Jaune relented to his friend, telling her of the small things that happened that day. His meeting with Jim, the flowers he had seen and the books he had read. He spoke of his rather random teacher, Dr. Cortez. He spoke of his manic demeanor, his seemingly random shifts from jubilant to insane to dead serious.
"I think you would like him, Nora. You two are kindred spirits." The ranger laughed.
Nora just rolled her eyes. "Jaune Jaune. I was promised Fish slapping. There has been no fish slapping. Where fish slapping?" She slammed her fist into the table. "I demand Fish slapping!" The force of her table assault sent her scroll tumbling, knocking her out of his screen and giving him a fantastic view of the dorm ceiling.
Had that crack always been there, or is that new? He wondered as Nora scrambled to get the device back into position.
"Ack! Sorry." The Storm bringer said as she rightened the scroll back. "So, fish slapping. Now."
Jaune shook his head. Never change, Nora. He thought as he was about to start.
Storm bringer.
That was new. Jaune shook off the title, ignoring the premotional thought. "Right. Fish slapping. So, ya boy, ya boy being me, was walking around the town and decided to get a bite to eat." Nora just 'ahumed' as she listened, leaning forward with rapt attention. "And I go into this Courtyard. Seedy place, you know? There's like three carts run by these grizzled dudes who you wouldn't trust with a pocket knife, much less cook your meal. So, it's three guys with vats of oil and their collective homeless person teaching a random rat how to solve a rubix cube."
Nora interrupted. "Is the rat, like, his rat?" Jaune shook his head.
"What? No, it's just a random rat." he corrected. "So, I get lunch from these guys. I sit down, and four punky dudes come up and start making a mess of the place. You know, coming in and going "ayy, ayy, we a run this joint. Give us your money, I'm a bad 50's mobster." " Jaune went with a corny impersonation of a 50's mafia member, giving his shoulders a shimmy. Nora snorted again, struggling to keep herself quiet.
"And I'm like, Really? Right in front of my Hakatrabu?" He gestured with his hands, as though the plate of Hakatrabu was in front of him. "I mean, come on! So, anyway, these four guys start causing trouble, and I stand up to them. I don't think they liked that much." he admitted.
Nora was thoroughly invested at this point. "What did you do?"
"Well, they jumped me first. So I just kind of hit them. I'm fairly certain I broke one guy's kneecap. I know, I know, you re immensely proud of me." he couldn't help but smile at the teary eyed look Nora had on her face.
"My boy is growing up. He's already popping knees." She sniffled. Jaune rolled his eyes, continuing with his story.
"Anyway, I'm absolutely demolishing these guys, and I end up grabbing a fish. I see the prime opportunity to just give the mother of all smackdowns with a fish. How could I not take up the offer?" He was smiling wide, or at least what was wider than Jaune felt he had smiled in some time. "So, how are things over there?"
Nora made a teetering motion with her hand. "Things remain the same." She sighed.
"Why don't you tell me about it." Jaune said, leaning back.
After playing therapist for Nora, Jaune decided it was time to go to bed. He of course got distracted by a book of ancient art and art history, and spent some time admiring the pictures within. By the time he actually made it back to his own room, the moon was hung in the sky and the halls were dark. Just as he liked. His blinkets were on the floor, folded neatly into a kind of mattress. He laid down, letting out a long breath. He mused on his day. He had decided on meaning, but had he found it? Meaning was one of those little strange things in life. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
The Dream was as gray as he remembered it to be. Walls infected with the omnipresent ashen plaster like growth, like a calcified mold. Jaune idly wondered what had lead to its ever present position. Perhaps it was a byproduct of the dreamborne disease? He wasn't sure if he wanted to know, because the answer might be far worse than the secret behind the spirits. He looked around the mechanically adorned halls of AFDA Prime's sector of the mountain. He started to map out this new actor. And by map out, he ment wander around and letting that magic map of his do all the work. It really was rather handy in places like the Mountain's maze like tunnels. One thing he missed about being in a place that was not a cave. You could see landmarks. There were no landmarks underground. Jaune marched onwards through the tunnel, hoping to find that it went someplace useful. The tunnel did lead somewhere, eventually the mechanical inlay faded into the standard form of stone. He could see a slightly golden hue at the end of the tunnel.
Is this heaven? Have I finally passed on from purgatory? Jaune mused sarcastically. A gave him a scalding look.
Don't joke. He said with a bite. The world's not that kind, nor that cruel apparently.
Jaune conceded silently. He walked down to the end of the tunnel, crouched sightly as to not hit his head. At the end of the tunnel he saw the source of that golden light.
He had returned to the dragon's hoard. He couldn't help but let out a deep sign.
"Alright then. This world's chosen violence today." Jaune sighed as he drew Glassvain.
This world chooses violence every day. B sighed with a shake of his head. Is this really a fight we have to take?
Jaune crept through the mounds of gold, doing his best to be as unnoticeable as possible. Hopefully not. He admitted, almost gliding along the hills of coins and metalwork. There was a sound like a waterfall as the dragon shifted, sending cascades of the glittering metal skittering. Jaune sucked in his breath as he watched the dragon move, hoping he was not noticed.
"I can smell you, little thief." The dragon snarled as it raised its head. It turned to face the dreamer, snorting smoke out of it's scaly nose. Jaune's face fell into one of usual disgruntlement.
"Well, shit." He said. The Dragon reared up to his max height. It towered before him, bowing to get a better look at the man.
"So it is you who is the thief, little man." The dragon growled. Jaune looked up at the massive lizard.
'I ain't playing you no horn, man." Jaune said, crossing his arms. "Not without no bread, brother." The dragon just tilted it's head at him, narrowing it's eyes.
"My, you are audacious." The lizard snorted, breathing a ring of smoke into the dreamers face. He coughed, blinking away the airborne ash.
"My dude, have you tried nicotine patches? Your lungs can't be in good health man." He wheezed as he waved away the smoke with his hand. The dragon chuffed again, taking in a sniff.
"You are unlike any thief I've seen before…" it trailed off, looking curiously at the dreamer. "You are of man, correct?"
Jaune only shrugged, grinning slightly. He was enjoying this little break before he would likely have to cave in the lizards skull. "It's a shame you're so amusing. A thief is a thief after all."
Ahhh, there it is. Jaune thought as he readied his blade. The dragon reared up, filling with gaseous flame. The dreamer dashed forward, willing the winds under his feet to give him the speed to escape the cone of fire. The flapping roar that came from the jet of flames was surprisingly loud. It made his ears pop as he engaged the beast. Glassvain collided with the dragon's scales. The resounding clang told Jaune everything he needed to know about dragon hide.
I need to make some armor out of this shit. The dreamer mused to himself as he changed weapons. Pulling out Nora's favorite weapon type, he hefted it into the lizards massive knee. Not like he could hit much higher up on the beast than that. The thing was on a scale that Jaune couldn't even begin to fully appreciate, much less describe. Jaune could have seen this thing curling around a decently sized skyscraper with ease.
The dragon clearly did not like him being so underfoot. The massive claw was about as long as Jaune was tall, and moved with surprising swiftness for such a large digit. It flicked forward, catching Jaune squarely in the lower chest. It also sent the armored man flying backwards, colliding and scattering a pile of gold.
"Not the softest landing." Jaune grunted as he picked himself off. The dragon chuckled at the gnat before him.
"That might have even tickled me." The deep voice rumbled. Another jet of fire spewed forward. There was nowhere to run for this one, Jaune knew that much. He was too far away to get under it, and too close to outrun it. Focusing himself, he reached deep into the energies with and around him. The room temperature dropped as ice rapidly formed in front of him, large thick sheets of the stuff layering over each other like some canyon wall. It wasn't as hard or draining as it normally would have been. There was tons of magical energy here just waiting to be cryomancerfied. Patient, desperate, eager to conform to the will of the dreamer.
Jaune found that it was unlike in the waking world, where the natural powers there resisted his call. This world bent to him so much better.
The ice wall shot up as a great barricade against the torrent of flames, melting away as they absorbed the heat. Jaune looked through the thin, clear, melty sheet of glass at the dragon. He shook his head, tisking at the serpent.
"Man, and here i was hoping that scheechat filters would help with that ugly mug of yours."
The dragon flared its nostrils at the backhanded insult.
"You would be wise to not provoke what you cannot handle, ignorant pest." it hissed as Jaune convoked another spell. He blew into his hand, making a ring as though he was blowing a bubble. Instead of a round soft bubble forming between his fingers, a long sharp icicle a little over a half meter long. The ice wall collapsed under its own weight, letting Jaune throw his ice pike unhindered. The javellelin flew forward, shattering with mighty force against the breast of the dragon. The dragon blinked as it actually felt that shred of magic. The tiny human in front of him, more akin to an insect when compared to the majesty of the lizard, seemed determined to surprise him. First with his sheer rude ignorance, then with his just slightly strange visage, and then with his cryomancy. It almost made the dragon wonder what else he could do.
Jaune dashed forward, a hammer in hand to bruise and batter the dragon into submission. It was smaller than his maul, probably only three pounds heavy. It made it much easier to wield with a single hand. Jaune spun the hammer in his hand, focusing the arcing electrical energy from deep inside his soul. He commanded it to come forth, letting it coat the metal weapon he held. It sparkled and crackled as he made his advance towards the dragon. It swept at him with a claw, hoping to catch him with the massive swing. The dreamer upon what should have been devastating contact just exploded into a scattering of gold dust and small bejeweled clumps. The dragon's eyes widened in a stunned shock.
"Wut." It snarled, blinking at the spot that it's prey should have been slammed by his limb. There was a telltale crackle from above it. It looked up to see Jaune falling, rearing the charged hammer back. "Surprise, bitch!" He yelled as he let the hammer fly. It fell like a thunderbolt, shooting through the space between jaune and his foe. It struck with a thunderous force, snapping the dragon's snout shut. Quickly, before the opportunity passed, Jaune pulled out the massive butcher blade from his collection quiver, snapping it into its single blade form. He fell with the blade, aiming towards the dragon's head. The sharp edge of the blade, at least whatever constituted 'sharp' for that particular lump of sheet metal, made contact with the side of the creature's jaw. It howled as the blade just barely scuffed past its thick scaly hide. The vicious red blood seeped through the cut. The sound was deafening to Jaune, forcing him to cover his ears. Once the massive beast had ran out of breath, or had calmed itself down some, it glared at Jaune with a hatred he had never seen before.
"You-you…YOU!" it roared, spewing fire at him. Jaune went wide eyed, partially that he had managed to firstly cut the dragon. And if it bleeds, you know the rest.
But what was a little more pressing was the gout of fire heading towards him. He didn't have enough time to throw up another ice wall, and highly doubted he could run away from this like he ran away from his family problems. So he went with the first hairbrained thought that popped into his head. Digging his blade into the unstable surface of gold coins, he used the metal wall as an impromptu shield. He spun open Reeds Regret to provide him another layer of protection, crouching behind the walls of metal. The heat increased as the blaze blasted past him. Some of the flames licked at his figure from around his defenses. A quick flick of his wrist and a steady breeze of wind pushed it away, giving the dreamer some greatly needed breathing room. The flames died out after what felt like an eternity, letting Jaune stand up. He cocks his head from side to side rapidly, popping his neck vertebrae. And with a mighty leap, he jumped at the dragon, fueling his miraculous distance with some wind magic. In reality, he had just farted and used a little bit of magic to multiply the force of its propulsion. And by multiply, he really meant expenotlize.
B wondered just exactly how much force he actually multiplied his fart by in order to send him flying forward as though he had a rocket attached to his ass.
Is now really the time to work on physics problems? Jaune asked mentally as he soared through the air. He landed in front of the dragon, already swinging. It attempts to rear up on its hind legs as much as it can, avoiding the blade that has already cut it. The dragon turned, creating some space by scattering up a wall and having its long tail thrash at Jaune. With a sigh, he switched over to something with a little more range. A short bow that he had taken an immeasurable amount of time ago. "Woah!" Jaune said as the tail slammed into the ground, sending him flying across the gold covered floor. He could only dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge at this point, hoping for a good opportunity to fire off a couple pot shots.
Wait, you said dodge twice. A pointed out as his physical body did a running slide, using a bit of ice magic to keep the ground in front of him both solid and slippery.
That's because dodging is twice as important as the others. Jaune responded as he readied his bow. He finally had an opportunity, and fired off shot after shot of magically charged arrows. Focused energies he would attribute to ice, lightning, earth, air, fire, whatever mana he could force into the projectiles. They exploded in a shower of multi-colored explosions. White, blue, red and orange, sandy brown and deepstone grey. The dragon did not appreciate that much at all. Turning its long neck to aim its snout at the ranger. The cracks between its scales started to glow with the telling sub orange glow, letting Jaune know what was coming. Closing his eyes, he mustered all his power. He could feel his own fire building in his gullet. Breath in, and the heat flared. Breath out, and the heat relaxed, grew, filling out to a hotter burn. He could feel his blood turn like lava, creeping up from his gut and through his veins. He could taste the smoke in the back of his throat.
By the time the dragon had started his breath weapon attack, Jaune had condensed a small start within him. The dragon's bright orange, almost yellow flame shot forward to incinerate the dangerous and annoying pest. Said pest sent out his own spout of flame to meet the dragons. The two rivers of fire clashed, halting the others momentum forward. The combatants just stood there, screaming fire at each other. Jaune could feel his lungs burn as he released his dragon's breath. It was the largest casting of the spell that Jaune had ever done by what was several orders of magnitude. But he couldn't keep it up forever, and he knew he was coming up on his limit. The star was starting to shrink down, its intense heat being pulled away into the world. Looking for a way to come out on top, the dreamer noticed a rather convenient stalactite above the dragon. With a quick tuning of his energy, he twisted his hand as though he was detaching the stuck rock protrusion. The solid earthen energies reached forward, snapping the stone from its roots in the mountain.
The stone fell, almost as silent as the grave it would deliver. The dragon only had a moment of notice before the pointed growth fell upon its tail, severing the attachment. The dragon screamed in pain, thrashing and twisting as though it could escape the poor fight of what had already happened.
Seeing an opportunity, Jaune rushed forward to capitalize on the precious moments of uncontested space. Reeling the heavy blade back, he delivered a devastating blow into the dragon's limb. The dragon, upon the rude reminder that it was still out here fighting this dangerous foe, stomped down upon the dreamer. He just exploded once more into a glittering puff of gold and gems. Jaune quickly set in motion another swell of ice, this time to immobilize the fire breathing lizard. It started as a frosty layer of rime on the scaled limb. The dragon didn't notice until it was too late. It had reached out, pining for the ground like some kind of yearning algae or slime. Pinning the limb in place, Jaune proceeded to hack at it from under the Dragon's breast. His blade slammed into the frozen limb, cutting deeply this time. Rewinding his limbs, straining to repeat the action, Jaune started to pump energy into the metal. At first it was a small charge, average and miniscule in comparison to what Jaune would force into the metal. Jaune knew he was starting to push it when the blade started to glow with a pale yellow light. But it wasn't enough.
Screaming like a mad man, or some Dragon Ball cosplayer, Jaune turned that blade into a lantern that seemed to outshine all the luster of gold and all the glows of the forges. A light that blinded, a light that pushed the eyes to sleep. Once he could feel the radiation coming off the blade start to rock him, the vibration from the barely contained energy shaking the very air around its edge, a high pitched tone emanating, he decided he could swing. With a mighty grunt, the blade fell upon the frozen limb. And it cut clean, the magic energy exploding in a blinding light from the impact. Jaune could feel the blade pass through scale, skin, flesh and bone. It passed through them all like butter or mallow, the arcane and mystical energies propelling the blade beyond the normal physical ability of the dreamer. It finally lost momentum a little over three fourths of the way through the thick leg of the lizard. Well past the point of keeping the limb usable. Jaune shifted his stance, moving to the other side of the handle. With a grunt he forced the blade through the rest of the limb, completely severing it from the rest of the dragon. Jaune was already deafened from the sheer high whine from the magic. But even with that he could hear the dragon screaming in pain. It fled up the mountain, taking flight up through the hollowed out mountain. Jaune watched it fly out, escaping through a large crevice in the top. He let out a breath, then a laugh.
"Ha! Boom baby!" He cackled, doing a little dance on the gold covered floor. "Flawless! Solo! Boss fight! And they said it couldn't be done!" Jaune was on cloud nine. He had managed to not die a dozen times to learn some annoying attack pattern. He had managed to not have to spend several nights of trekking through the barren underground to get back to the fight. He had managed to solo a boss fight without dying.
"Alright, where's my emblem, Dream?!" he called into the heavens. What, most video games gave him a cool little banner when you flawlessly completed a boss or something. Why couldn't he get one here?
Because we don't have a HUD, dumbass. B shot in. Also, the dragon's not dead. We cut off one limb.
Jaune rolled his eyes. "Potato, tomato. New boss arena, new boss fight." He argued as he bent down to pick up some gold coins. And to think that all this treasure has just been sitting here, untouched by anything but that dragon. He let the coins fall to the ground, listening to them clatter. It was a rather pretty sound.
So, are we going dragon hunting? Please tell me we are going dragon hunting, that would be so freaking cool! A said as he bounced circles around the mind couch. Jaune laughed at the thought. A reminded him of Nora sometimes, he really did.
Yeah, sure. He assured him. But first I want to look around at my new found ill gotten goods. There has got to be something like a magic sword or something down here. He thought, starting to paw through the gold coins. He would have to sort all this out eventually. But he had an infinite eternity to do so. He could take his time for once.
Jaune had moved what must have been ten of thousands of coins, gems, and other precious artifacts before he had to take a break and walk off. He had found some really cool things in the treasure hold, beyond the endless wealth of beautiful and unique gems. A silvered blade inlaid with opal and flawed diamonds, etched with fine carvings of conquest and royalty. A harp made of mother of pearl, gold and shell craft. A telescope etched with magic and lapis lazuli that could see what was mostly something on the electromagnetic spectrum.
Is this what shrimp see? Jaune wondered as he blinked away the streaks of light. He would have to fully explore that later, after he had prepared himself for being blinded.
There were other things of particular interest to be delved into as well, but Jaune didn't think he could stand to look at another gold coin for quite some time. Heading back through the main entryway, the one that had the amazing stone tapestry. Jaune walked up those stairs with a reignited sense of passion, he had climbed the mountain, he had slain the dragon-
Again, no. You did not slay the dragon. You messed him up badly. B reminded him. Don't conflate the two. That's dangerous.
Moving on. Jaune had mortally and massively wounded the dragon. He was on top of the world. He knew that it wouldn't last, but who cared? The past was history, tomorrow was a mystery, and today is a gift. That is why it is called the present.
A gave him a long hard stare. Did you just quote master oogway? From Kung Fu Panda? He asked his brain space lord. Jaune shrugged. He had watched it several times to satisfy his younger sisters. They went through that phase of childhood, as many children do. It wasn't like it was a bad movie either. Jack White did a great job with the voice acting in that movie. Jaune would continue to move with that purpose for some amount of time, at least until he had found a gravesite to find rest at. He was looking forward to being awake in a way that he hadn't in a long time. It wasn't going to be just an escape this time. Jaune settled down, resting his back against the cold stone. He looked back at the name on the stone. He still couldn't quite figure out the name, but he could swear that it was growing clearer. A different problem for a different day. He mused, shelving the thought for later deconstruction.
So, Sorry for taking so long with this one. I ended up going on vacation (yay) and didn't really have the time or energy to write. it's been a hectic season for me with lots of travelling for various reasons. That and I lost count of how many pages I had written for this chapter and almost gave you guys a 30 page chapter. So i am in the process of breaking that up into two and a half chapters.
Jaune finally gets a dub. We all saw this fight coming, and part two will follow within the next couple of chapters. Beyond that, we get to see a real call between Jaune and Nora. As for cool things in the hoard? well, Jaune's only scratched the surface
if you saw my reddit post regarding the near smut, I after sleeping on it decided that Jaune and Arslan were not there in their development as characters. So now I get to rewrite some four or five pages instead. So the next chapter may be in a little bit.
Regarding real world things being in this story: Give me a break please. I don't have the time or creativity to come up with an easily recognizable equivalent for everything. some things will be changed slightly to fit in the world, like the origin of Hawaiian shirts. others won't be changed at all, particularly things like books, authors and games that could conceivably exist in Remnant. Just accept it as it is, much like you have to do with a lot of this story.
That's all for now. I will see you soon, and please leave your support, theories and thoughts in the reviews!