RWBY: Different Soul

A Shopkeeper's Thanks

The morning sun crept through the window, its rays slowly pulling Oscar from sleep.

Oscar stretched and sat up, feeling better than ever. In fact, he felt he had more energy than Ruby after being handed an entire jar of cookies.

Climbing out of bed, Oscar began getting dressed. He managed to put on most of his clothes, except for his shirt, courtesy of Nora's accidental destruction the night before.

As he pulled on his pants, however, he immediately noticed something was wrong.

"What the...?" Oscar muttered, tugging at the waistband. The pants felt far too tight, as if they had somehow shrunk two sizes overnight.

'Looks to me like you had a growth spurt,' the voice in his head remarked.

"Orion, you're back!" Oscar exclaimed, nearly jumping for joy.

'Yeah, yeah. Missed you, too, kid,' Orion replied with amusement. 'Now, about that growth spurt...'

"It's great! I already feel taller." Oscar paused. "Wait... is something wrong?"

'Not exactly. It's just that you're growing unusually fast, much faster than your counterpart ever did. You're already taller than Ruby, and now you're nearly as tall as Ren. Your counterpart never even reached Ruby's height. Maybe it's because of me. Maybe not. Honestly, I'm not sure.'

While Orion sounded concerned, Oscar seemed delighted.

Walking over to the mirror, Oscar examined his reflection and grinned.

"Whatever the reason, I'm happy about it. I used to get bullied at school for being so short."

'Fair enough,' Orion replied. 'Anyway, grab that bedsheet and turn it into a cloak. We need to get you some new clothes.'

Later that day

Oscar stepped out of a clothing store wearing a fresh new outfit.

The design was similar to his counterpart's usual attire, but with a few changes. The jacket was navy blue instead of green, the shoulder patches were black instead of orange, and he had a brand-new pair of leather boots.

All courtesy of Orion's choices.

Oscar adjusted the collar of his jacket and smiled.

"Feels nice."

'Good. Now head over to that weapon shop,' Orion said.

Oscar blinked.

"A weapon shop?"

'Yep. I want to take a look around.'

Oscar shrugged and started walking toward the store Orion had pointed out.

The weapon shop was empty.

Well, kind of empty.

The shop was filled to the brim with weapons, and it was surprisingly difficult not to get poked by one.

After a few accidental stabs from various swords and spears, Oscar finally made it to the counter. Standing behind it was an old man with a bald head, a bushy white beard, and a bulky build. He wore a leather apron and was busy polishing a sword.

The old man turned and welcomed Oscar. "Hello, son. I'm Gerard. What brings you in today?"

"Oh, uh, just looking arou-"

Oscar suddenly stopped talking and stared off into space for a moment. Gerard raised an eyebrow. It looked as though the boy was listening to someone else, despite nobody else being in the shop.