Chapter 166: Raising

Chapter 166: Raising

DISCLAIMER: This story is NOT MINE IN ANY WAY. That honor has gone to the beautiful bastard Ryuugi. This has been pulled from his Spacebattles publishment at threads/rwby-the-gamer-the-games-we-play-disk-five.341621/. Anyway on with the show...err read.

Raising

"Father?" Autumn said, speaking her first word as she turned her head my way. Her neck creaked slightly with the motion, the green of her eyes faintly luminous even as the silver reflected my face. Her voice had an almost musical quality to it, which made sense given that the voice box I'd constructed for her was reminiscent of an instrument. It was a complicated structure currently housed in her chest, and fully capable of generating complex sounds without the need of lips or a tongue. I'd built it that way intentionally, as I had to account for the variety of forms she could assume, which included things that, logically, wouldn't have the mouthparts needed for human speech, if they even had mouths at all.

So far, there didn't seem to be any problems. Granted, I'd only just started teaching her words, voicing them aloud and then reciting the definitions and usages of them to her mentally using Floral Communion. Right now, I was just building up her vocabulary, but we'd move on to more complex areas some enough; grammar would be a tricky bitch, no doubt, because our language was an unholy mishmash of God only knows how many languages, left to stew for who knows how long. I'd never given much thought to how hard it probably was to teach to a young child, but what seemed like half of the rules had more exceptions then correct usages. It would take time for her to get used to it, to say nothing of sentence structure and the various bits that were context sensitive. Teaching her mathematics would be easy by comparison, when we got around to it.

But that was for later.

"Yes, sweetie?" I asked, looking up from my work. I'd need to be careful with that, because she was going to learn body language from me and apply it to others; I didn't want to be the cause of any misunderstandings for her. Right now, I was using Gossamer to spin thread, which I was sewing into a gift for hera simple, white silk cloak. Depending on the choice she made, I'd likely sew her many more, most of them illustrated with Dust designs that would, hopefully prepare her for any occasion. Regardless of what decision she made, it would be some time before I like her play with Dust, but still, I better start practicing now.

Autumn stretched out a finger, pointing towards the approaching pair.

"Autumn," Gou said, trotting up to her calmly. "It is good to see you in high spirits."

Autumn's expression didn't shiftshe hadn't built it to and didn't have much of a face besidesbut she knelt quietly and reached out towards the dog. I cleared my throat meaningfully and she paused in the midst of the action before her hand shook slightly, barbs and thorns receding beneath the armor of her broad hands. Once I gave her a nod, she finished the motion and touched Gou, simply laying a hand on his back. She was silent for a long moment, searching for the right word before speaking.

"Soft," She murmured at last.

"Hey, kid," Adam greeted, approaching lazily as he put his sword away. "You grew up big, eh? You remember me?"

She turned her eyes towards him before remember to follow it up with another creaking turn of her head, acknowledging him and then slowly inclining her head.nove(l)bi(n.)com

"She remembers everything," I answered for her, setting a reassuring Psychokinetic hand on her shoulder. "Still, now's a good time for formal introductions. Autumn, meet Adam and Gou."

"Adam," She repeated, looking towards the man before turning her gaze back to the dog. "Gou."

"You two finished training?" I asked, glancing towards Adam.

"Mm," Adam hummed, cracking his neck. "Gou said you seemed about finished."

"I suppose I am," I mused, looking back at the cloak that was swiftly taking shape. "You think the time's right, Gou?"

"Unless you believe I shall make further progress tonight," He replied, sitting and look at me. I Observed him carefully and then nodded at him.

"Probably not," I said with a sigh. "We could probably get it higher, but we're approaching the point where it'll take days or weeks to make further progress. It's not worth the timenot when we can put it to better use training. Go ahead."

Gou nodded, status screen appearing before him. To make things easier for him, I lent him my Psychokinesis and he began to place his points where they were most needed.

Adam raised an eyebrow at me, expression inquisitive.

"I asked him to put all his points in Vitality," I explained. "It should protect him from the consequences of using my skills, or at least most of them."

"How many points does he have?" Adam asked.

"Four hundred thirty-five," I answered. "Which should bring him up to nearly five hundred."

Adam whistled, looking back at the dog.

"Damn," He said. "That's a lot of Vitality. Add Aura to the equation"

"Not just Aura," I replied. "I can give him my Adamant Skin, too, as well as Bai Hu's Hide. Armored Shell, Cithaeron Hide, Unbroken Steelif I wasn't so worried about what effect it might have on him, I could even let him use Metamorphosis. It should be enough."

"Enough to shrug off a heavy bombing, you mean?" Adam wondered. "That'swhat? At least a thousand Vitality just from the effects of Aura, and then God knows what from the rest of your skills. He should be able to survive just about anything."

I shrugged.

"One can hope," I whispered with a slight sigh before tilting my head at my friend. "It might be a good idea for you to follow his lead, you know."

"To dump all my points in Vitality, you mean?"

"No, of course not," I shook my head. "Gou can manage it by focusing on nothing else, but that build works because I'm here to reinforce it and shore up his weak points. You already spread your points around some out of necessity. Butyour Strength and Dexterity are already between two fifty and three hundred. You could continue to balance them, or you could pick one to specialize in from now on."

"Maybe," Adam mused. "If I did, which would you choose?"

"Dexterity," I answered immediately.

Chesed (Passive) LV1 EXP: 30.97%

The Mercy that shields the world. As thought gives way to action, Wisdom gives way to Kindness, the power of the right hand. The brother of Judgement, it accepts and shows grace, guarding the innocent from the evils of the world. This ability represents the heightened presence of Chesed within the soul of the user and through its love, gives them the power to heal and defend.

100% increase to the effectiveness of all skills that prevent or heal damage, as well as all skills that directly support the power of an ally.

100% increase to experience gained by all such skills.

At the discretion of the user, all healing skills may also negate the pain felt by the target while restoring damage, as well as suspend the damaging effects of ailments such as poison for the duration of the healing process.

And then, all at once, it stopped. The light clinging to him began to peel away, floating into the air like a swarm of fireflies before finally flickering out of existenceand when they faded, they revealed Gou in his new form.

"Gou" I whispered, moving my hand to his head as I levitated upwards. "Are you okay?"

It was a fair question, I thought; he now resembled the dog I knew so well in only the broadest of strokes. The coloration was mostly the same, but even beyond simple size, he looked like a wholly different creature, like something out of a different eramore heavily muscles and furred, with different proportions to his limbs and snout. I wouldn't say he looked prehistoric, but mainly because I was pretty sure history had never coughed up something quite like himnot on its own, at least. His eyes were the same, at least, if writ large, and they turned towards me at once, blinking as he breathed.

At last he spoke.

"Yes, of course," He said, though he sounded so dazed I wasn't sure I believed him. He paused to collect himself and shook once, several strands of his fur scraping against my skin like they were made of steel. "I am well. Whatwhat happened, exactly? Why is everything?"

"I'm sorry," I answered, healing him again for good measure. "I honestly didn't expect this. Maybe I should have."

"Didn't expect" He stopped himself, looking at me and then down at himself. "Ah. This is different."

Absently, he scrapped a paw on the ground, tearing up heavy chunks by simple virtue of his size.

"Are you" I stopped myself as well, abruptly unsure how to finish. Was he well? What did he think of what had just happened to his body? Was he regretting this yet? I was calm, but that didn't keep me from worrying, especially since I'd been blindsided by the reminder that I still had no idea how my power worked and couldn't just take for granted that it would do what I wanted.

"I'm quite a bit bigger now," Gou mused, oblivious to my worries. "That might make housing something of a corner. Sneaking out to meet you might be a touch problematic as well, though I suppose I could just let people think what they will. Certainly, this should make fighting easier but doorwayshm."

"I'llthink of something," I promised awkwardly, making him return his notice to me.

"Ah!" He almost exclaimed, realization striking. "No need to worry about me, I was just thinking aloud. In all likelihood, Grandmother will be able to resolve this issue somehowI was just concerned that meeting you might be more difficult from now on."

He sat and looked at me seriouslya look he pulled off a lot better now that he was larger than a car.

"Please, do not blame yourself for anything," He continued. "It is not regret that I feel, merely surprise."

I lowered my head, smiling at him uncertainly. He was telling the truth, I knew that, butI still wasn't sure how to feel about this.

Apparently I was the only one.

"Gou," Autumn said again, approaching with slow strides and looking up at him with her silver eyes. She didn't seem to find the sudden change at all unusual, but then, she'd been a shapeshifter since shortly after she was conscious. She probably thought this was normal, an impression that hanging around me was unlikely to break. Instead, she simple extended two fingers, lengthening them until they could wrap around Gou's neck in a very loose approximation of a leash.

"Hello, Autumn," Gou said again, turning towards her. "It seems like you'll be able to ride on my back again."

Autumn didn't understand a word of that but seemed unbothered by it, choosing to hum instead. Her version of humming sounded like someone was playing with a violin, at turns musical and screeching.

"Looks like all that working out has finally paid off, G," Adam mused, approaching as well.

"One would hope," Gou answered. "Though my effectiveness in combat remains to be seen."

"Eh," Adam grunted with a shrug. "You've already won in the way that matters."

"Oh?"

Adam reached up to grab my shirt and pull me down to earth, continuing as he did.

"You're taller than Jaune," He said, smirking. "And Autumn can shapeshift, so she's taller than Jaune in spirit. Which means you're the smallest person here."

That last part was directed at me and I put aside my worries to give him a flat look.

"Really?" I asked. "You're making jokes about my height now?"

"You're right," Adam admitted. "That was beneath me. I'll try to rise above it. You know, grow as a person. Be the bigger man."

I used Levant to make sure Autumn couldn't hear and then told Adam to go fuck himself with a rake.