Chương 72: R&R2 Ch. 11 — A Bit of Advice

Jasmine looked up at the stars, wondering if today could have been better. She guessed it could have been actually coupley instead of them pretending to be coupley, but she wasn't that picky. And she wasn't sure if she and Nicholas actually were going to be that kind of end game. It was easy to guess that they would be friends, though even that she couldn't be sure of. It wasn't like they had much knowledge about the long-lasting effects of a soul bond.

But regardless, the day had been good, and the stargazing was lovely. She didn't have any complaints. If they were actually going to be coupley, they would have cuddled up and started trading kisses underneath the starlight, but Nicholas didn't seem to be the type, and she knew from their bond he was content already. It was actually an odd feeling to get from their bond. He was always hungry, always pushing, but right now he was just going through the motions. She was the one who wanted more.

She had hoped that Nicholas asking her about the dating thing meant he had fallen for her and somehow kept it a secret from their bond, but that had not been the case. To him, it was entirely practical, and he figured there were decent odds of him falling for her and vice versa. Might as well try if their souls were bound. She didn't disagree with that thought process, but it wasn't exactly the declaration of love she had been hoping for.

Though she knew for certain that she was the one with plenty of relationship experience. But even if today hadn't been the romantic gesture she had planned, it had been a great day with her best friend, and nothing was going to belittle that aspect.

"Thanks for doing this for me." Jasmine said with a content sigh.

"Thanks for asking me out; it was fun."

"My feminine wiles convincing you to fall head over heels for me?" Jasmine asked with a giggle.

"Not sure we can go that far, but progress was being made today." Nicholas said as if he wasn't being like vaguely romantic. He said that the same way she would talk about the weather, but in actuality, she said that she was winning over his heart.

"You're making progress at winning over my heart too." Jasmine said primly.

"Guess that means I gotta step it up too. Want to go out at the next city? I'll plan?" Nicholas asked.

"I would love to." Jasmine giggled. They sat there for another hour, just enjoying the company of one another, before they decided it was time to go. Though they didn't take the walk through the city fast. While there weren't any roses for them to stop and smell, they took it slow, enjoying somewhere that was so similar but different. This was another city that had been set up by Equilibrium, so the overall structure of everything was the same.

But what filled all the shops was different, not that Nicholas and Jasmine had spent a lot of time in the previous city. If they weren't saving the day, then they had mostly hung out at the base. And during the wave, if they weren't on the wall, they had been asleep. Jasmine realized that this might have been the first time she actually took the time to just explore a town. Had she really just become a shut in who only trained and did hero work? That couldn't be? Could it?

"You good? You seem off?" Nicholas said, glancing back at her. Jasmine squeezed his hand before pulling him into a hug.

"Thanks for doing this for me today."

"I didn't do anything; you're the one that planned it all." Nicholas said, looking up at her but not trying to escape the hug.

"But you still came with me." Nicholas let the hug last for another few seconds before he escaped and started walking back to the train. Though he was nice enough to let them keep holding hands. They had skipped steps and Jasmine really doubted they were going to have an end of the night kiss, but she was going to call today a success. The next morning things were entirely back to normal, with Nicholas making breakfast for the two of them as they waited for Rend to pop out of nowhere. He would. They both knew it.

Today they were going to be hitting the ground running, so he wouldn't let them go without any comments. Jasmine was beginning to suspect that Rend didn't know what to do with them. He wanted people who could keep up and were strong on their own. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. But teaching them was counterintuitive to his own goals, since they would want to rely on him. So he just made cryptic statements before letting them loose.

"Normal setup?" Nicholas asked, placing her food in front of her.

"That's what I am thinking. Part of the problem I will have is as I get stronger, my armors are going to look wildly different. So having a main one most people associate me with is nearly required." Jasmine said between bites. Nicholas nodded.

"I was thinking about mostly relying on Playroom today. There are several ideas I want to play with, but I'm good to do something else," Nicholas said. Jasmine considered it for a long moment. If they were going back to basics, it would be good for them; they had experienced a lot of growth on the train while fighting in ways they wouldn't normally get to do. But was this actually the time to fight like normal?

Jasmine wasn't sure, and they would get a lot more done and be flashier if she had him use the dragon command and they fought like two demons possessed, burning their way across the battlefields.

"Use Playroom; we should be the heroes we want to be, not the flashiest ones." Jasmine said finally.

"I would prefer that we didn't have to take this tour as a show every city, type of heroes." Nicholas grumbled. She could agree with that, but she didn't bother to say anything, focusing on eating to give her as much power as possible. They wouldn't be getting lunch. Or dinner. Rend had told them that much; they would use the supply of snacks Jasmine kept in her soul forge to keep them going.

That was going to suck, but not as much as the lack of sleep for all of this, but Jasmine couldn't help but admit she was a little excited. This was the kind of hero work she wanted to do. She would save everyone under her aegis, no matter what happened to any of them. Nicholas remained silent through the rest of their meal, shoveling food into his mouth as he prepared as well. She hoped everything was going to be fine. Their powers encouraged certain styles, and Jasmine was great at long, drawn-out engagements.

Nicholas? Less so.

"Don't worry about it," Nicholas said, looking up from his water.

"And Rend, we'll be done eating in five, so if you could stop lurking in the pantry and just tell us whatever you want, that would be great."

"I wasn't hiding in the pantry," Rend said, walking into the room. He was holding a stack of pancakes that had to have come from a dining car.

"Right," Nicholas said with an absolute lack of belief.

"I was just going to remind you two that you are the new kids on the block, so don't piss anyone off. You're not baby F-Ranks anymore. And with a recent wave and a shipment, the city is going to be crawling with new supers and Beyonders. Stay on your toes." Jasmine stared at him incredulously. His warning was that there would be lots of people to fight and they should stay on their toes? What kind of advice was that? It was the equivalent of saying don't underestimate your enemy, everyone knew not to do that.

"Anything else for us?" Jasmine asked hopefully.

"Remember to keep extra costumes in Retribution's forge; it can get funky if you don't clean them regularly." Rend said as if that was the most important piece of advice he could. It wasn't bad advice, but Jasmine was still less than impressed. She got the soul-bond equivalent of a resigned sigh from Nicholas, and he stepped back up to the plate for questions.

"Oh wise, helpful, and not at all biased against teamwork mentor, anything you would suggest us working on in the next few days? This is our first chance in a while to practice." That, that was actually a good question Jasmine hadn't thought about. It wasn't like they had a chance to practice on the train. Not really. Hordes of enemies rushing at you wasn't great training for anything beyond combat. Highly destructive and effective combat.

They would both be playing nice just on the nature of being in the city for the fights and not wanting to destroy everything. Rend looked to take a drink of straight maple syrup as he thought.

"Retort, you need to decide what your role on the team is. Originally, you were just playing backup dancer to Retribution. Now you can do more. Your team isn't a heavy hitter and a support unless you two decide to go that way. So, think about what you want to do." Nicholas stared at their mentor for a long moment, deep in thought, before nodding. It was a good point in both of their estimations, and it had echoed some passing thoughts they had both had before.

Jasmine schooled herself and focused herself to listen if she was going to get actual advice; she couldn't get distracted.

"Retribution, you make your armors depending on what's cool and you make sets or loadouts for you to work with. That's fun and great; it lets you, with a bit of time, be any type of hero. But you don't always have time. Make a generalist armor and hordes of weapons compatible with it. You won't always have the time for a full switch, and outside your spear that consumes souls, you don't have any crossover, not really.

Double buffing from your soul item and Retort to use the swords while in another armor build doesn't count." Rend said, staring her down. Jasmine wilted, not because he was wrong but because he was right. She had never thought about it that way before.

"And as a team? You two need to know when there's no reason to work together. You should be stronger than most people at your own rank because of your skills and experience. Sometimes it is overkill for the two of you to work together. It would be better at times for one of you to go for the finish while the other conserves energy or gets a head start on the next task." Rend finished. Nicholas gaped. Jasmine gaped. Rend glared at them in return.

"What do you think you two are doing? I am your mentor; here's me mentoring you."

"I didn't think you were capable." Rend glared at Nicholas, who shrugged.

"You good to go?" Jasmine asked, standing up.

"Let's go get you in your armor," Nicholas said, following behind her. They had been working together long enough that getting into her suit of armor wasn't that hard a process now. It was now just a ritual they did that she could honestly admit she enjoyed. It was a part of their day that she wouldn't say she looked forward too but it felt wrong to do hero work without it.

Now, each fully in their superhero personas, they rocket into the air, Nicholas on a flying sword and Jasmine flying on the might of her armor and hammer.

"No standing calls for help, so regular patrol pattern," Nicholas said through their telepathic connection. They split up, staying in range to react to anything the other called for, but enough they could cover a bit more area than they had been right next to one another. Jasmine ran through her plan for the day. Stop crimes, showboat so she got more Karma and Belief, and do it cleanly. Sounded easy enough for her to manage.

The bullet slamming into her helmet knocked Jasmine off course, along with her plan for how the day was supposed to go.