Chapter 42: In with the Old

Sitting in the backyard of Pyrrha's home, I took a slow, deep breath and let the cool morning air wash over me. Last night had been one hell of a rollercoaster that had taken up all of my time. It was only now, in the early morning while everyone was asleep that I had a moment to myself.

I'd finally had the chance to see just what I'd learned yesterday, which led me to realizing something… I was an idiot.

I'd been so focused on mastering Sun Breathing that I hadn't even realized I'd begun learning an entirely different set of techniques until after I'd seemingly learnt half of them.

…

Iron Body
Due to mastering Total Concentration Constant, your body now works on a level above what was thought to be possible. Your body has become resistant to blunt force trauma. If you should ever lose consciousness, your body will respond to threats automatically.

Finger Pistol (Active) Lvl 1/10
Through hardening your fingers, you're able to deliver a devastating jab with the power to pierce through solid objects like a bullet. The few fingers that are used, the greater the piercing power is. Warning, using this technique without Aura could result in a broken finger.

Moon Walk (Active) Lvl 1/10
Through the use of a superhumanly powerful kick, you're able to kick off the air, giving you the appearance of flight. Using both legs is recommended as it will lessen the physical strain.

…

The Six Powers… And I'd apparently learnt one of them after mastering Total Concentration Constant… Although it was odd that it didn't have a level indicator next to it.

Much like my breathing techniques, this had the potential to massively change things. I'd unintentionally stumbled across another technique that… In theory, anyone should be capable of… With a lot of training of course.

The first order of business was learning the remaining three powers which shouldn't be impossible now that I knew what I was learning. After that, I would have to see if I could replicate the secret seventh technique. If not, that would likely mean I would need to fully master the Six Powers first.

Learning all of this did leave me with a few questions. The Six Powers were simply superhuman physical techniques from One Piece… I had to wonder what else I could learn. It seemed that I was limited to learning things that everyone was capable of, but… Jumping off the air seemed like something that was impossible.

Hearing the door behind me shift open, I decided to drop my musings for now and turned around to see a tired Yang dressed in a tank top and shorts, holding a pair of cups in one hand while the other quietly closed the door behind her.

"Thought you might need this," Yang hummed, offering me a hot cup of coffee, before sitting down on the stairs next to me. "So, what brings you out here so early? Got something on your mind?"

"A few things," I nodded. "But nothing I can't figure out… Thanks for the coffee by the way."

"Anything you wanna get off your chest," She pressed, taking a sip from her cup. "Like say… Pyrrha?"

Seeing the eager look on Yang's face, I shook my head, chuckling. While Pyrrha and I hadn't really discussed what happened last night, we didn't need to… We both knew how we felt about one another… The kiss made that very clear.

"I'm pretty sure that I'm good on that front, Yang, but thanks for the offer," I murmured into my coffee. Sitting quietly for a few moments, I suddenly sat up as an idea struck me. "Actually, there might be something that you could help me with. I've been… Practicing some techniques and I could use someone that can fight without a weapon."

"You wanna spar?" Yang realized. "Look, I'm flattered, but I don't think that I'll be much help. You're kinda out of my league… When it comes to fighting," She specified.

Humming, I rubbed my chin in thought. "What if I showed you something that could potentially make you as fast as Ruby?" I wasn't sure if Yang would be able to learn any of the Six Powers without first learning Total Concentration Breathing, but it was worth a try.

"The only ones I know that are capable of going that fast are my uncle, Pyrrha and you," Yang noted with a raised eyebrow. "You really think you'll be able to help me move as fast as Ruby?"

"…Yes."

"Well okay then," Yang hummed, downing her coffee as she stood. "How are we doing this? Should I get my gauntlets or…"

Placing my half finished up on the stair beside me, I stood and clipped my sword off my belt, leaning it against the railing. "No, I'd prefer if we didn't wake everyone up." Stepping down onto the grass, I stood in the center of the garden. "This isn't going to be anything too serious, we're just going to be practicing a few techniques."

Shrugging, she followed me down into the garden. Standing opposite me, she raised her arms and was just about to throw a kick, before I held my hand up, stopping her.

"One second," I said. Deactivating my Aura, I took a low stance and tensed all my muscles. Taking a deep breath, I nodded. "Okay, I'm ready."

Lashing out with a kick, Yang's leg barreled towards me.

Watching as it neared my body, my instincts screamed at me to do something. Activate my Aura… Evade the kick… Counter it, but I ignored them.

Feeling Yang's leg hit my chest, a dull thud sounded through the garden, but not much else happened. Looking down, I momentarily accessed the Transparent World in order to see if I'd taken any internal damage, but found none.

Pulling her leg back, Yang launched herself forward and smashed her fist into my gut. Failing to get a response from me, her eyes flickered red before she proceeded to punch, kick and even elbow me. Nearly a full minute passed, before she finally stopped.

"I thought you said you wanted to spar," She panted lightly. "Why aren't you fighting back."

"Actually, I said that I wanted to practice a few techniques," I said, breathing easily. "This is one of them."

"No offense, but getting your ass kicked isn't exactly a technique."

Is that what it looked like? From where I was standing, it appeared that I was tiring Yang out without expending any energy whatsoever. I'd never really had the chance to test the Iron Body status effect, mainly because I always fought with my Aura active, but now I could see just how useful it truly was.

Not that I was going to be using it that much more often. It just gave me another way to protect myself if I ever ran out of Aura.

Having caught her breath, Yang rushed forward once more. Her leg smashed into my stomach only to find that, like before, she was unable to get me to budge.

"There's more going on than what you're seeing right now," I hummed. "Would you believe me if I told you I wasn't using Aura?"

"What?!" Pulling her leg back, Yang shot me a disbelieving look. Grabbing my arm, she squeezed it, looking for any signs of Aura use, but found none. "What the heck?! This… This shouldn't be possible."

"It is," I replied, relaxing my stance. With Yang's help, I now had a decent understanding of the minimal amount of damage I could just shrug off with Iron body. There was no real point in continuing. "And anyone is capable of it… If they train hard enough. All I'm really doing is tightening my muscles, making them as hard as iron."

"That's just insane," Yang muttered, wiping the sweat from her head. "So if anyone can do that… Do you think you could teach me how to do it?"

"I'll show you the basics," I nodded. "And I might even show you a few other things, if you can keep them secret." Now that she was aware of Salem. Yang should understand the value of keeping things like this a secret.

"I will… I promise."

Compared to everyone else who had bladed weapons, Yang's weapon… Ember Celica relied heavily on ammo. If she ran out of ammo, she'd pretty much be left fighting Grimm without a weapon… Even Weiss would be left with her sword if she ran out of dust.

Outside of Total Concentration Breathing, the Six Powers were perfect for Yang to learn. If she could even learn a single technique, it would go a long way to evening the playing field for her.

"Then I suppose I can start you off with the Iron Body technique," I said. It was the most straightforward technique of the Six Powers, amounting to flexing. I still wasn't sure if Yang would be able to learn any of these without using Total Concentration Breathing, but it was worth a shot.

Showing Yang how to use the technique, she soon stood in the same stance I had been in earlier, straining heavily as she flexed her muscles.

"Am… I… Doing it right?" Yang asked, huffing as she struggled to maintain her form.

Observing as her muscles contracted, it was plain to see that her muscles hadn't hardened enough. Sure it would help ease a blow, but it wouldn't be able to nullify damage quite yet.

"You're going to need a little more practice before you've mastered that," I hummed.

Now that I was thinking about it, this might not be the best technique to start Yang off with. If I was remembering correctly, the easiest technique was the one that augmented your speed. I hadn't learnt it yet, but that was easily fixed.

Taking a slow breath, the world seemed to slow down around me as I brought my leg down, kicking the ground. Bringing my leg up, I repeated the process nine more times and found myself launched high into the air.

…

Ping!

A new technique has been created:

Shave (Active) Lvl 1/10
By kicking the ground a minimum of ten times within a single instant, you're able to launch yourself at high speeds in the direction of your choosing.

…

Falling back towards the ground, I spread my limbs out, slowing my descent, before landing on the grass with a soft thud.

"The heck was that?" Yang asked, looking bewildered. Her attempts at learning the Iron Body technique were forgotten thanks to my sudden jump.

"That was something else…" I trailed off. "I'll show you how to do it… I have a feeling that you'll find it easier than the Iron Body technique." Moving back to the center of the garden, I stopped in front of Yang. "Okay, so this one's pretty simple. All you have to do is kick the ground ten times."

"That doesn't sound too ba…"

"Within one second," I continued.

"Alright. Maybe not so easy."

Letting out an exasperated sigh, Yang mimicked how I had been holding myself earlier and attempted to use the technique, only managing a few kicks before she stumbled forward.

"Damnit," She cursed, before trying again.

From my understanding of Shave, it was extremely similar to Godspeed, albeit, it was also slower. When using it, the first nine kicks are used to build up a massive amount of momentum, before releasing that momentum on the tenth kick.

Godspeed worked in a similar way as it was basically condensing all ten steps of Flash down into one massive burst of speed.

I was a little tempted to see what would happen if I combined the two techniques, but decided to leave that for a later date. If I tried that out in a city, I might just accidentally kill someone.

"Like this, Yang," I said, demonstrating the kick slowly. "You can't just go full force with each kick, you need to build up speed and force, before releasing it in the tenth kick."

Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Yang copied my movement. Going over the one second mark, she let out a surprised yelp when she was suddenly launched forward.

Much like how I'd done with Pyrrha before, I caught Yang and pulled her into a spin, bleeding the momentum from the technique before finally coming to a stop.

"That was a lot better," I noted. Loosening my hold on Yang, she stumbled slightly as she regained her balance. "You just need to work on doing it a little faster and figure out where you're going and it'll be perfect."

"That… Was awesome," Yang grinned, excited to have used Shave, even if she hadn't used it perfectly. "I'm gonna go even faster next time."

"Before you do that," I said, holding my hand up. "You might want to try and control your speed. I don't think Pyrrha's mom will be happy if you wreck her garden."

Looking around, Yang grinned sheepishly. "Yeah… You're probably right about that. I'll be extra careful. Do me a favor and catch me if I lose control, okay."

I agreed to her request. It wasn't like there was much else I could do. I was going to need a larger space if I wanted to practice the Six Powers… Especially if I was going to learn Storm Leg. That would definitely end up destroying Thetis' garden.

Taking a slow, controlled breath, I watched Yang, preparing for when she inevitably lost control of her speed.

…Breathe…

Humming, I looked up at the doors to Sanctum Academy. It had truly been a long time since I'd last been here, actually… The last time I was here, I had been studying for the Huntsman exam.

Looking over to Pyrrha who appeared worried, I grabbed her hand. "Are you doing alright?"

Calming down, she nodded. "I'm just a bit nervous. Sanctum has helped me so much in the past and now… I feel like I'm letting them down."

Ah… Right, that was partially my fault.

"We could always stay and you could officially complete your year," I suggested. "It shouldn't be too long before your graduation, right?"

"NO…" Pyrrha coughed into her hand, masking her outburst. "I mean… No. That's alright. With everything that I've learned… With my training… I don't think I would be able to concentrate in class."

There was that. That was also one of the reasons why I preferred to train with Maria instead of joining an Academy. All that time wasted in a classroom… Waiting for the day to end so I could start training seriously would have frayed my nerves.

Tugging me up the Academy's steps, Pyrrha stopped in front of the main entrance. "Let's just… Huh?" Attempting to open the door, she found that it had been locked. "That can't be right, it's the middle of the week. Why is Sanctum closed?"

Peering through the glass door, I spotted a figure sitting behind the desk. Tapping on it, the figure seemed to jump, before rushing over. Fumbling with the keys for a moment, they unlocked the door and pulled it open, revealing a familiar head of blue hair.

"Pyrrha? Coal?" Nicole muttered, her eyes widening in surprise. "I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting to see the two of you, least of all today. Please, come inside." Ushering us in, the secretary took a few cautious glances outside, before closing the door behind us, locking it.

"Um… Ma'am. Could you tell us what's going on?" Pyrrha asked respectfully.

"You don't know?!" Nicole breathed. "But how? You were th…"

"I'll take it from here," Jasmine said, interrupting Nicole.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Nicole shot a grateful look towards Jasmine, before heading back to her desk. "Thank you, ma'am."

Silently leading us to her office, Jasmine sat down before gesturing for us to do the same. "It's been a while, Coal, Pyrrha. Tell me, what brings you here at this time?"

Taking a deep breath, Pyrrha steeled herself. "It's because of me, ma'am," She answered nervously. "I wanted to thank you for all the time and effort Sanctum has put in to training me, but… I will be pulling out of Sanctum."

Blinking, a confused look came to Jasmine's faces as she looked over the both of us. "I can see why Nicole was so confused," She muttered under her breath. "Pyrrha… haven't you been checking your messages?"

"I, uh… I haven't exactly had the best signal recently and the moment I returned to Argus, my Scroll's was flooded with messages from my sponsors," Pyrrha explained.

Covering her mouth, Jasmine let out a soft snort, her shoulders shook with restrained laughter. "I'm sorry, it's just… You've obviously put a lot of thought into this, but you don't know." Recomposing herself, she cleared her throat. "I'm sorry miss Nikos, but withdrawing from Sanctum will be quite impossible for you to do."

That was odd. Jasmine wasn't a cruel person, so she wouldn't just deny Pyrrha's request. At least not without hearing her side of the story first. Something was up here.

"What?! But why?" Pyrrha asked.

"Because I can't withdraw a student that's already graduated," Jasmine continued. Reaching down into her draw, she pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it across her desk for Pyrrha to view. "Everything's already been uploaded, but I do like to keep a physical copy for my favorite students."

Looking over the paper, I glanced at the heading.

Diploma of Graduation
This certifies that
Pyrrha Nikos
Has graduated from
Sanctum Academy

Skimming the rest, I looked up to see Jasmine watching us with a highly amused look on her face.

"After returning from Atlas, your mother arranged with us to have you graduate early… Not that it was difficult, you were a model student after all," Jasmine added. "We sent you a message, but it must have been buried under all those messages from your sponsors."

"Then that means…" Covering her face, Pyrrha let out an embarrassed groan. "I've been so worried about withdrawing from Sanctum and it was all for nothing."

Patting her on the back, I couldn't help but feel amused.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a waste," Jasmine noted. "You two still have the whole day ahead of you. I'm sure you have better things to do than be stuck in a stuffy office all day. Why don't you go out and have some fun for once?"

"I do still need to sort things out with my sponsors," Pyrrha muttered.

"I wouldn't worry too much about them," Jasmine waved her off. "You could always contact them a little later."

"Well…" Pyrrha trailed off. "I suppose you're right."

Nodding, Jasmine slipped her Scroll into her hand. "Despite the fact that the academic year is over, I still have a job to do," She reminded us.

"Right, I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time," Pyrrha apologized before pausing. "But… aren't there still a few weeks left?"

Sighing, Jasmine leaned back into her chair. "Between the Ancient Grimm and the recent Leviathan, it was decided that Sanctum Academy would finish early this year. The students were all graded on their overall performance throughout the year instead of needing to write an exam."

"Oh," Pyrrha muttered weakly as the realization hit her. "Then I really didn't need to speak with you. I would have graduated regardless..."

Smiling, Jasmine shrugged.

Consoling an exasperated Pyrrha, we said our goodbyes to the Principal of Sanctum Academy. Clicking the door to her office open, I paused when I heard Jasmine hum loudly.

"Oh and Coal," Jasmine called out. "It's good to see you doing so well… especially after what you've been through."

"Thank you," I smiled. "And thank you for all the extra help. I probably would have failed the written test for the Huntsman exam without your help."

…Breathe…

"So, what do you want to do?" I asked.

Walking down the street with Pyrrha at my side, I looked around at the various shops. While I had lived in Argus for a time, I hadn't exactly gone sightseeing. I was always focused on the next big thing, whether that thing was a Grimm or some new technique. It was nice taking things slow for once.

"I don't know," Pyrrha mumbled softly. "I've never been in a relationship before, so I don't really know what to do for a date."

Spotting a park, I slowly steered us towards it. "There's no real set guide for how a date should be," I replied. "I think that the main thing is that we just enjoy each other's company. There's an old expression that I remember reading, it says that love is friendship set on fire, so a date shouldn't be that much different from hanging out."

Taking another step, I stopped when I realized Pyrrha wasn't moving. She had a look of surprise on her rapidly reddening face.

"Are you al…"

"Love?"

Ah… I had inadvertently told her that I loved her.

As it turned out, that had been more than enough to fry her brain. Well damn. And to think the most I had to worry about this morning was Yang potentially destroying Thetis' garden.

Grabbing her shoulders, I directed her to the park. Looking around, I found an ice cream vendor and led us there.

"Hey, you look familiar… Don't I know you?"

Damnit! I knew I should have worn a hat today.

…Breathe…

"Do try and be careful when you're shifting all of that debris," Watts snarked as Hazel lifted a large metal beam over his head before throwing it to the side. "We're trying to find anything that might have survived the fall of Mount Glenn, not destroy whatever remains."

Grabbing a large boulder, Hazel gave a heavy shove, pushing it out of the way. "If you want this done to your liking, then you can clear all of this rubble."

"Trust me, nothing would give me greater pleasure," Watts replied. "I could have stolen a few of Atlas's droids, but that blasted nation is now on high alert. I wonder who's fault that was, hm?"

Ignoring Watts, Hazel instead focused on his current job of clearing out all of the debris. Shifting an especially old piece of machinery out of the way, he grabbed the next piece of metal that he could see and attempted to tug it out of the ground, only to find that it was stuck.

"I think I've found it," Hazel said in his usual calm tone.

"Let me see."

Climbing down into the pit, he tapped the large piece of metal and smirked when a metallic clank sounded through the underground city. He wiped some of the smaller bits of rubble out of the way, revealing a hatch.

"Well don't just stand there, open it!"

Grabbing the lever, Hazel grunted as he tore the hatch off its hinges, revealing an unlit stairwell. At Watts's insistence, he entered first, lighting up the untouched bunker with his Scroll.

Slowly making their way deeper into the bunker, Watts suddenly stopped after looking down the flight of stairs.

"That's impossible."

Hurrying past Hazel, Watts nearly sprinted down the stairs before coming to a stop in front of an access door. A glimmer of light shone from the small window on the door.

Prying the door open, he took a step inside the well lit laboratory. Instead of ruin and debris, it had been in surprisingly good condition.

"What's got you in such a rush?" Hazel deadpanned.

"Did you trade all of your brains for your brawn?" Watts snapped. "Look at this place. It's supposed to have been abandoned for decades and yet it's still operational. This isn't natural, the dust generators should have burnt out long ago and yet everything is still working. What does that tell you, Hazel?"

"Someone's been here recently," Hazel answered.

"Yes," Watts nodded. "They must have used a different entrance than us, but someone's certainly been here."

Finding a dated computer terminal, Watts struggled to connect his Scroll to the outdated piece of equipment. A few moments passed before he finally managed to connect the two very different pieces of technology. The symbol for Merlot Industries appeared on his screen.

Building a better tomorrow.

"Now, let's see what secrets you hold, shall we?"

Poor Pyrrha, anxious about something that doesn't even matter only to get hit by an indirect "I love you."

Yang gets to learn one of the Six Powers and Thetis' backyard suffers for it. Pyrrha and Coal have an impromptu date while Watts and Hazel have their own... WITH SCIENCE. It won't be long now before things move over to Vale.

Anyways, I'm up to chapter 47 on the P word website.

P
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I go by the name of ThatKircguy. Just copy the name and paste it in the Patty Rio On search bar. It'd help me out immensely, but don't worry if that's not your style. I will be uploading weekly, so it's not going to be stuck there permanently.

Also, I post my original stuff there as well. It's nothing much, just two short stories for now, but I'll post more as I write them.

The next chapter will be posted on the 17th of February.
See you all then dudes and dudettes.