#but we're still a LONG way away from a dr purified au fic because i still have all the other seasons to get through

[saline-coelacanth]

A Discussion on Spinjitzu (Purified Au)

(I wanted to write this short fic about Oliver while the ninja are training with Rontu and Egalt and also wanted to post if before part 2 comes out)

Summary: Despite succeeding at the training course, Oliver is struggling to figure out spinjitzu, and Rontu starts to wonder what it is that's holding him back

Word Count: 1946

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The merged realms were all in danger with the Blood Moon quickly approaching, and the only way to stop Lord Ras was with the Rising Dragon technique. The ninja had been doing the best they could to learn, but it was difficult for them to get the hang of it. While Egalt tried his best to lecture the older ninja through the ways of motion, Rontu had been teaching the younger ones the basics of spinjitzu.

Sora was making great progress. She had struggled with the obstacle course at first, but she eventually got the hang of it. Riyu was struggling as well, but after a little more effort, he managed to make it through the obstacles. Out of Rontu’s three students however, the one who seemed to be doing the best was Oliver. He had successfully jumped through the hoops multiple times, yet he was still unable to pull off a successful spinjitzu tornado. He kept brushing it off, but Rontu had suspected something else was going on.

Oliver landed on the ground after jumping through the highest hoop of the course. “That’s what, the fourth time in a row I completed that?” Oliver asked.

“Yes, you’re doing quite well, Oliver,” Rontu praised.

“Cool, so does that mean I can stop now?” Oliver responded.

Rontu shook her head. “I told you before, you can only stop training once you successfully perform spinjitzu.”

Oliver immediately frowned. “I’m telling you, I don’t need to learn spinjitzu! I’m perfectly capable without it.”

“You didn’t look so capable when we fought those wolf guys,” Sora commented.

Oliver turned and gave her a frown.

“Look,” Sora quickly replied, “all I’m saying is that we need to get stronger if we wanna stop Lord Ras and his wolf army. Egalt and Rontu say we need Rising Dragon, and we can’t do that without learning spinjitzu.”

“Sora is right,” Rontu agreed. “Rising Dragon technique is the only way to counter Shatterspin.”

“Yeah, but the ninja can do all of that,” Oliver argued. “They’ll learn the technique and they’ll be able to handle it.”

“I think the ninja need all our help, Oliver,” Sora tried to convince.

Oliver crossed his arms and looked away. At first Sora assumed he was angry, but then she noticed the look on his face. Oliver seemed more uncomfortable than he did angry.

“Oliver, why don’t you go take a break,” Rontu suggested.

“Ok,” Oliver agreed. He began to walk away, the rest of the group watching as he left.

“He is a strange one, isn’t he?” Rontu said after Oliver was gone.

“Yeah,” Sora agreed. “I’ve been trying to figure him out since I met him. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good guy, but sometimes he says things that just make me confused.”

“I thought I overheard one of the other ninja teasing him earlier,” Rontu pointed out. “I thought I heard him say that Oliver has done spinjitzu before.”

“I don’t know,” Sora replied. “I’ve never seen him use spinjitzu.”

Rontu began thinking. Oliver was definitely a perplexing student and she was having trouble trying to figure out what his problems were.

“You two continue practicing the course,” Rontu directed. “I think I’m going to have a chat with Oliver.”

“Ok,” Sora replied. “Riyu, you wanna go next?”

Riyu gave an excited nod before turning around to attempt his first jump. Rontu gave one last glance at the two of them before she flew off to find where Oliver had gone.

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“This whole thing is stupid,” Oliver complained. “Why do I need to learn spinjitzu when I can already kick butt perfectly fine without it?”

“I hear you,” Wyldfyre agreed. “Spinjitzu is totally lame and we’re too good for it.”

“We are too good for it,” Oliver replied.

Oliver had immediately gone to Wyldfyre to complain about the training. And since Wyldfyre was forced to sit out due to her injured leg, she was completely ready to complain with him.

“Like, we’re both already awesome as is!” Wyldfyre continued. “Why do we need to learn new techniques?”

“Exactly!” Oliver responded. “We’ll totally wreck those wolf warriors the next time we see them! We were just caught off guard the first time.”

“Yeah, who needs that super cool dragon spinjitzu,” Wyldfyre said.

“Yeah, who needs- wait what?” Oliver questioned. “It isn’t cool! It’s lame, remember?”

“Yeah, totally lame,” Wyldfyre reassured. “It’s totally lame how Rontu had like, a dragon aura and she flew into the sky like it was nothing! And I bet if Rontu was fighting Ras and those guys, she’d squash them in an instant!”

“Wait, Wyldfyre, that’s not- We’re supposed to be complaining, remember?” Oliver tried to reel back the conversation. “Spinjitzu sucks and we hate it!”

“Yeah, we hate spinjitzu,” Wyldfyre agreed. “Spinjitzu is for losers and we don’t need it.” Wyldfyre crossed her arms and tried to subtly glance towards the training course, although it was very obvious where she was looking. “Anyway, I’m gonna try to sneak back onto the training course!” Wyldfyre decided. “You know, to watch the totally lame training that we don’t need because we’re already so awesome.”

Wyldfyre grabbed her crutch and started walking away, much to Oliver’s annoyance. He crossed his arms as she left and let out a disgruntled sigh. His eyes quickly went wide as he heard a faint gust of wind.

“I have a feeling you don’t mean all of that,” Rontu said, making herself known as she landed on the ground.

“Rontu?” Oliver questioned. “I thought you were busy training Sora and Riyu?”

“They’ll be fine without my supervision for a while,” Rontu assured. She sat down, getting comfortable as she crossed her front legs. “I wanted to come check in on you.”

“I’m doing great,” Oliver replied, although his tone indicated the exact opposite. “I’m just taking a quick breather before I get back to the training course.”

Rontu nodded. “That is what I told you to do.” She glanced up at the sky before looking down at Oliver again. It was clear that he was still agitated about something. “So tell me,” Rontu said, “is it true that you’ve used spinjitzu before?”

Oliver blinked, taken off guard by the question. “Wh-what?” he replied. “No, er, I guess yes I have, but that was a long time ago and the circumstances were a lot different so I- why are you asking me this?”

“I believe it was Kai who mentioned something earlier?” Rontu explained. “Didn’t he mock you for using spinjitzu in the past but not being able to replicate it anymore?”

Oliver responded with a groan. “Kai was just teasing me,” he replied. “It’s nothing important…”

“I feel like it is important,” Rontu insisted. She quickly picked up on Oliver's discomfort. He had his arms crossed and he refused to look in Rontu’s direction. She could tell this was something he didn’t want to talk about, but she also knew it was important to figure out what was going on. “I know you’re uncomfortable,” Rontu replied with a soft voice, “but if I know what the problem is, then I’ll know what I need to do to help teach you properly.”

Oliver was quiet, not wanting to respond at all. He seemed to shrink away more, tensing up ever so slightly and his face scrunching up a little.

“You knew the First Spinjitzu Master, correct?” Rontu asked.

Oliver blinked again, but he was able to respond this time. It was a simple enough question after all. “Yes,” he replied, “I knew him.”

“So you’re much older than you appear,” Rontu commented.

“Technically yes,” Oliver replied, trying to keep his answers simple. “But you know… we didn’t really get along. Me and the First Spinjitzu Master that is.”

“I’m sad to hear that,” Rontu said. “I always heard he had a very kind soul.”

“Yes! Everyone says that!” Oliver erupted abruptly. “Everyone thinks he was so great! And maybe he was, but I don’t care! I always saw him as nothing but-” Oliver suddenly went quiet when he looked up at Rontu and saw her shocked expression. “I mean… it’s nothing.”

“You have a lot of history with him it seems,” Rontu expressed.

“You could say that.”

“Is that why you are so adamantly against learning spinjitzu?” Rontu asked. This question made Oliver grip tighter onto his arms, but Rontu continued. “At the very least, you don’t seem upset about the other ninja using spinjitzu.”

“It’s… complicated,” Oliver admitted. “I just… I just can’t do it… I used to be able to do it, but I had a different mindset back then. Things are different now, and I’ve tried, but I just can’t do it.”

Rontu gave Oliver a sympathetic look as it was clear to her that this was something Oliver had been upset about for a while. She closed her eyes for a moment as she pondered. “Perhaps what you’re dealing with is some sort of mental block,” Rontu suggested.

“A mental block?” Oliver asked.

“I won’t pester you about the specifics,” Rontu continued, “but from what you told me, it sounds like something happened that involves using spinjitzu. And whatever it was that happened to you, it’s preventing you from performing it.”

Oliver stared at Rontu for a moment before he looked away to think over her words. “I guess that would make sense…” he admitted. “But I don’t know, it still just seems like…” Oliver went quiet as he struggled to finish his thought. He then angrily buried his face into his hands. “Agh! Why can’t anything just make sense?!”

“Life is confusing,” Rontu admitted. “Answers very rarely show themselves. It’s up to us to find those answers on our own.”

“But what if we never find the answers?” Oliver asked.

“That happens sometimes,” Rontu replied. “But we must learn to make the most of it, even without all the answers. It’s hard, but nothing in life is easy.”

“Things used to be easy…” Oliver mumbled. “But everything’s become so much more complicated since then…”

“Since when?”

“Since I joined the ninja,” Oliver replied. “They’re like my family and I’d do anything for them, but some days, I don’t know…”

Oliver’s vagueness was not easy for Rontu to decipher. But still, she could pick up on how he was feeling. “Family like that is always worth protecting,” Rontu said. “And it can be just as hard as everything else in life. But it’s worth it to protect the ones you love.”

“Yeah,” Oliver agreed. He slowly began to perk up. “Yeah, it is worth it.”

The two of them sat together for a while, taking a moment to appreciate the calmness around them. Eventually, Rontu began to stand back up.

“You can come back to the training grounds whenever you’d like,” Rontu informed.

“But what about the mental block?” Oliver asked. “If I’ve got some stupid mental block preventing me from figuring out spinjitzu, then what’s the point of training?”

“Even if you can’t use spinjitzu, you can still practice on the course,” Rontu explained. “There’s no reason you should be left out if you are fit and want to participate.”

Oliver remained confused, but eventually he smiled. “Thanks, Rontu,” he replied. “I’ll be back in a little bit. I just need a few more minutes.”

“I understand,” Rontu responded. She opened her wings and began to fly back towards the training course. 

Oliver watched her fly away. He let out a long sigh and smiled, glancing over towards where the other ninja had been training with Egalt.

“It may be difficult, but it’s worth it to keep them all safe…” Oliver repeated to himself.