[5/14 - Afternoon]
With every one of his teammates gathered around him, Clerval took a moment to meet their gazes before lifting a hand and waving them off, signaling for space. They hesitated before shuffling back in an awkward half-circle, and while they did, he let his gaze drift across the gym.
As expected of Beacon Academy, they didn't spare any expenses. While the gym room that they occupied was on the larger scale, it was more than three thousand square feet in the shape of a rectangle, split into two sections.
The smaller of the two sections was an area for physical training with gym equipment catered to Aura users. Normal equipment wasn't effective for people such as himself, with how Aura amplifies their natural strengths by a degree.
The other section, however, was an enclosed area with similar barrier technology seen in their combat class, meant for students to train, spar, or even practice their fighting styles. By his estimate, it had enough space for two teams to spar and train their teamwork freely without any space limitations.
Once everyone took a few steps back, Clerval snapped out of his thoughts as his arm moved to the barrel of his Evoker, causing a few members of Team Ruby and Juniper to flinch slightly.
With the draw of his summoning medium being the signal for the nearby people around him to get ready, he raised his Evoker up to the side of his head in a smooth motion. He closed his eyes as he focused his concentration on the power within his psyche.
A wave of force surged through his body as he squeezed the trigger, the image of his other self firmly fixed in his mind.
"Odysseus."
The sound of shattering glass erupted from the space beside his head, fragments spilling outward before freezing in midair. Twisting and fusing, they slowly assemble into a blue-hued entity. One by one, motes of light cracked away from the being, peeling back the glow to reveal a towering robot, his own face behind with the seams of its horse mask.
It stared down at the wide, shocked eyes below before its gaze snapped toward the streaking red blur just as Clerval was suddenly ambushed. His collar was seized and violently shaken, his head snapping back and forth in a blur of motion as Ruby squealed earnestly.
"Itdoeslooklikeyou! Iknewitlookedfamiliarbehindthatmask! Whatcanitdootherthan SHING! CRASH! SLASH! Oh, andshowustheotherones;showtheotherones!"
S-She had a lot of power behind that s-small frame of her-rs. He-e'd show her if she'd j-just stop sh-haking his brain into a-a mush.
Salvation came in the form of an arm snagging Ruby's cape and yanking her back. Clerval staggered slightly, vision swimming, as Yang hoisted her little sister up with ease, giving her the long-suffering look of a lion staring down an unruly cub.
"Ruby, we've told you about this; not many people can understand when you speak so loud." That was not the point. "Hehehe, sorry Yang!"
"Solid metal." Blake noted to herself as her fingertips knocked on Odysseus' leg, echoing out an audible clang.
Weiss, however, was just staring at his Persona with an indescribable look.
"First a summon with an ice elemental ability, and now a massive metal construct? I had my doubts when you told us you possessed multiple of these Personas, but... a Semblance capable of summoning several unique, fully distinct constructs is extraordinarily rare." She folded her arms, brow furrowing. "And you said you have two more?"
Clerval rubbed at his temples, trying to massage the migraine away, and gave a tired nod.
Meanwhile, on the other side...
"Go, my steed! To victory!" Nora roared, climbing up onto Odysseus' head and striking the pose of a knight rallying her horse to war. Below her, Lie Ren stood with a hand over his face, urging her to get down from the massive robotic summon before something inevitably went wrong, with Pyrrha giggling at her antics. And Jaune had stars in his eyes as he gushed at the Persona.
"This is totally a Hunter from Pacific Edge! That is so cool!"
["Wanderer, thine soul is weak from summoning us repeatedly in such short succession."]
["It is ill-advised to continue with this display."]
Angel whispered as he was about to let Odysseus fade out in turn for the mask of Pixie, making him briefly pause before nodding his head. He was feeling a bit weak after the spar, and summoning Odysseus is risking total exhaustion. He'd have to train his endurance on another day.
Relaying his spent Spirit to the group, they begrudgingly dropped the idea of seeing more of his Personas go for the day. Instead, the rest of the afternoon was spent in relaxed conversation, gossiping and discussing the many spars that had taken place earlier that morning.
Clerval felt that his relationship with them had risen somewhat as they parted ways after their time in the gym ran out.
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A/N: There'll be a few short chapters for a few uploads, these were written at the start of my internship back in December when things were swamped.
NEXT UPDATE: 7 March, Saturday
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