47

Chapter 47 – The Jaunster

Time passed, as it typically did. It had only taken a few days for Blake to be deemed healthy enough to leave the confines of her sterilised room and return to her form. Back to her beloved bed, her close friends and… Zwei.

The latter was the downside of the whole arrangement, but she'd half-expected she would even be pleased to see him after being stuck in the infirmary for so long.

Blake had been wrong on that front. He was still a blasted mutt and a menace, and what was worse – he had shed all over her bed while she'd left it vacant. The first chance she got, he was going to be fired out of a canon.

"You know," Yang nudged Blake in the side, "If it wasn't for him bringing your bear along with us you'd be in much worse shape." Yang's grin was just on the wrong side of smug. "If anything I think you should reward him for saving your life. Zwei loves belly rubs."

"The only thing I'd rub that demon's belly with is an axe."

Even now the dog was showing just how much of a devil it was by chasing Jaune's ghostly body around the room. As if that wasn't proof enough – what normal creature could both see and interact with dead spirits!?

Other than her, she meant.

"You should be pleased to be out of the hospital, you get to go to lessons again – and train."

Blake spared the blonde a withering look. The lesson had been Professor Port, who had gone into great detail about the Grimm uprising that had taken place in the forest three nights ago and which would have engulfed all of Vale were it not for him. And while she had heard some unusual sounds from the forest on that night, there was no way she was accepting he was the cause.

Training had been cardio in an attempt to build back up the stamina she'd lost in her recovery. And if anyone actually liked cardio then frankly they could go walk off the Beacon cliffs.

"Can't we just ditch the dog and go read in the library?" Jaune sighed. He knew better than to float near her when the dog was in hot pursuit. "I want to hear what happens to Miki after she was kidnapped by the evil shogun."

Hmm, so did she… so did she…

No wait, no distractions. She had more important things to focus on right now.

"Are you sure you'll be okay for the festival? If your health is going to be at risk, then I see no reason why we can't pull out now." Weiss leaned forward as she spoke, and there was something to be said about the fact that the person so inhumanly focused on results and reputation was willing to do that for her. The heiress had come such a long way from the arrogant girl she'd first known.

Or was she always like this and I simply never gave her a chance to show me?

"I'll be fine," Blake said. "There's two weeks left before it starts and we're allowed to bring anything we want into the fight. I can just strap the bear to my side, that is if the Doctor doesn't manage to find a solution before then."

Or if she didn't kill him first. She'd say she wasn't sure what he'd been thinking when he suggested her aura problem came from an STD, but that would suggest he had the capability to think in the first place.

Seriously, in what world did an STD cause catastrophic aura loss – and in what world would proximity to a stuffed toy nullify it? The worst part was, she didn't dare ask what he'd said, because her team clearly did believe it. That meant he was either damn good at what he'd come up with, or her team was utterly gullible.

She might have accepted that were it just Ruby, but with Weiss and Yang there too?

The Doctor must have come up with a pretty weirdly compelling diagnosis. Speaking of which, I just realised I don't even know his name. Other than Doctor Polendina.

"Well we'll need to up our training if we want to have a chance," Weiss went on, "The festival is open to all years and we're going to be at a big disadvantage with how young we are."

"Yeah!" Ruby shouted. It looked like she was fired up, probably because it was twice as worse for her being fifteen. Some of the other competitors could honestly be twenty. Five years was a lot, especially when it was a third of your entire life in extra experience. Blake's eyes were drawn to Jaune once more, not that he noticed.

It would be cheating… in a pretty huge way to be honest. But technically Jaune was part of her aura… or Semblance. Something like that, from what she understood. Maybe they could find some way to use that in the fights.

"I don't like that look you're giving me…"

Oops, he'd noticed. Blake quickly ignored him and turned back to the rest of the team.

"-training and group battles this afternoon," Ruby said. "I wanted to see if we could get Team Lavender to help us out."

"Pyrrha's team?" Yang asked. "Are they even allowed to compete with just the three of them?"

"Nora says they don't know," Ruby said. "I asked her the other day but the teachers haven't decided. Pyrrha's pretty strong and if they get past the first stage then it won't matter anyway. Nora said she'll ask Ren but she's sure he would be up for fighting against us for practice."

Blake sighed but knew better than to argue. Facing off against Pyrrha wasn't a fun experience, and nor was any other member of that team. Ren wasn't so bad, he fought like her and it was a skill match-up for the most part, but the other two were nightmares. You didn't face Nora with skill. If you dodged then she would destroy the terrain around you, the shockwave of which could hurt you too. Pyrrha was worse, since Blake just couldn't match her in close, mid or long range.

Now I really want to escape the the library to read with Jaune, ugh…

"But you'll be okay, right Blake?" All eyes turned to her once more, making her flinch slightly. Ruby repeated the question, a look of adorable concern on her face. Blake smiled.

"I'll be fine. Let's win this tournament."

"Alright!"

"Yeah!"

"Do we have to?"

It was nice to see everyone was on board.

"Thank you friend-Blake," Blake's unusual friend said, "You can come out of the tester now."

Blake took the first opportunity to do so, pushing the glass door back and leaping out into the fresh air. Being trapped in a tube like that was a stifling experience. And while there'd been no intrusions, needles or weird sensations like she had half-expected, it still made her feel like some kind of strange test tube animal.

There was a second tube as well, which Jaune easily phased out of. He looked less concerned, it wasn't as though he could be trapped inside.

"Were you able to find anything out?" she asked of the eccentric doctor who was busy at a computer terminal. These sessions, if one could call them that, had been taking place for the last two days. Her team knew them as medical tests, and Yang had even come to watch one of them. Or rather, Yang had forced her way along – not taking no for an answer.

It had been awkward, with them not able to share any of the secrets with her. But the important thing was that Yang didn't think she was being hurt. She could still remember that story the other girl had shared, of the time Ruby had nearly been killed. That Yang would fear the same for her… it was humbling.

She wasn't willing to belittle that by telling the blonde not to care.

"Well it's official," the elderly man said, "he definitely doesn't give off any aura or readings, even though he uses yours. That means whatever he transforms the energy into, it isn't normal. For all intents and purposes he eats it and then it's just gone."

"Ask him if this means anything for me getting my sex robot?" Blake sighed but passed on the question, with the noticeable omission of that key word.

"It means we'll have to take a little more time working on a power source," the Doctor answered. "Penny's is unique but not infinite. She repurposes and recycles energy that she spends on other things, as well as absorbing some from the atmosphere. If Jaune simply destroys what energy he uses, then he'll either need regular charging or some large batteries. I'll have to think more on it."

"Might I suggest a receptacle on the crotch, a long tube filled with batteries? Say… sixteen inches?"

She didn't pass that suggestion on. Best not to make the doctor's job harder after all. Her spirit friend gave her a betrayed look.

"I forgot to ask by the way," Blake said as they began to pack away. She still had to get to the team's inevitable beating ala Pyrrha Nikos. "What is your name? I can't keep calling you Doctor Polendina."

"Hm?" The old man looked up, eyes narrowing behind his thick glasses. "Well, I suppose you could call me daddy, or father."

"Er…"

"Er…"

"No?" He shrugged, "Then maybe Doctor Polendina would be best. Easier for you to remember after all."

Blake looked at the man with suspicion, "You do remember your name, don't you?"

"When you're as old as I am dearie, you soon stop paying attention to niggling details like that. Everyone calls me Doctor Polendina, and my dear daughter calls me father. I don't have time to remember names."

"Every time I start to think he might be sane…"

"Tell me about it," Blake whispered, thanking the man for his time and letting themselves out. At least he hadn't tried to force a cucumber on her this time, though she had a suspicion if Jaune ever did get his sixteen incher, it would be the green vegetable.

Her scroll buzzed and saved her from such disturbing mental images thankfully.

"Training in five," Blake narrated for Jaune's benefit. "I guess they thought I'd forget."

"Or that you'd hide in the library and pretend you forgot."

And now she wished she'd thought of that earlier. She could have forgotten her scroll too.

"Come on, it won't be that bad."

"Says the man who can't feel anything. If I knock myself out against this wall, will you handle training for me?"

"Nope."

"Typical…"

"I was only trying to make you feel better. I'm well aware of how much you being knocked around by Pyrrha will hurt."

"Thank you Jaune…"

"Or how explosive it will be with Nora. Not to mention the last time when she caught you with the hammer."

"Thank you, Jaune. As always your stellar ability to inspire confidence remains unchanged." His eyes crossed as he tried to figure out whether that was an insult or not. Luckily that coincided with her arrival at the training grounds, which saved the questions to her sanity.

But she didn't think the additional people there were insanity-driven hallucinations.

"Hey Blake!" Ruby chirped as she approached. Blake looked towards the newcomers, silently asking Ruby for explanation. "Oh, I guess you didn't meet them. They helped us out during the breach, while you were unconscious. They asked if they could train with us."

"Heh," Yang laughed. "Train, get it?"

"A pleasure to meet you under better circumstances," the tall woman in front said, stepping forward to shake Blake's hand. "These are my teammates Emerald and Mercury. My name is Cinder."

Blake shook the hand with a nod, unable to control the way the hair on the back of her neck prickled. There was something… something that put her on edge, in the golden eyes that met her own. That somehow reminded her so much of a certain other man she'd once held close.

Something that filled her with unease.

"Ooh, black and lacy." Jaune reported, from his position upside down between the girl's legs. "I approve."

Or maybe it was just that… it was hard to tell.