Part thirty of my RWBY series "Pollination: The Bumblebee and White Rose"
It's a cool and crisp day. Fall temperatures are just now hitting our region, and the grey sheets of clouding have rolled in. The leaves have begun their spiral down into decomposition, leaving the trees yellow and red. Best of all, there aren't that many birds out today. I cannot stand those wretched animals.
"Of all days," Yang scoffs as she swings her left hand, intertwined with my right, back and forth. Ruby and Weiss have come to mimic us as we walk about in public. It was quite adorable at first with their constant glow of aura and blush. "Of all days to run out of Blue Cows, it just HAD to be the day they refuse to serve us breakfast." She grumbles, glaring down at the concrete walkway as if it would grant her a bowl of grapes.
"In their defense," I offer with a smirk, unaffected by the hunger due to foresight. "They did let everyone know a week in advance." Her scowl only provokes a giggle out of Ruby, who skips alongside Weiss.
"Cheer up, sis!" Ruby laughs. "The hunger will make you hunt better!"
Weiss adds, "And you really should stop buying those atrocious cans of sugar you call a drink." I happen to agree with her on that. Those things have caused us enough trouble.
"Team RWBY." Glynda announces as we come up to a small booth manned by her and Ozpin. The aroma of coffee fills my nostrils. "You're the last team to report in." The lack of surprise in her voice is just depressing.
"Sorry about that." Ruby apologizes as she shakes extends her left hand, refusing to let go of Weiss. "We had an incident this morning." She informs the two as they shake.
"Yang ran out of Blue Cow." Weiss states with a smirk on her face. Yang's aura flares.
"She thought she was a consul of Rome." I add, failing to conceal a smirk of my own. Yang's grip on my hand tightens.
"It was hilarious!" Ruby finishes.
Ozpin chuckes, "I'm sure it was." He looks to my girlfriend. "Oh, don't be like that, Miss Long. I've seen and heard far worse caffeine withdrawal stories." He slowly brings his steaming coffee mug up to his lips and slurps. Extending the mug towards her, he asks, "Want some?"
She immediately seizes the cup. "More than life itself!" She gasps as she brings it to her own lips and begins to down the liquid in an attempt to sate her addiction.
Unfortunately, she also immediately spits out the contents of the cup. At least she turned her head to the right, only spraying the grass.
"Aaageeew!" She sticks her tongue out. Handing the mug back to Ozpin, she asks, "You call that coffee?!"
He laughs, "I call it decaf, Miss Long!" Even Glynda preforms an unladylike snicker. What a sight.
"You're evil." She grumbles with a pout.
"My job can be very boring at times, Miss Long." He explains as he withdraws a piece of paper from behind the booth. "I have to find unique ways of entertaining myself."
I peck her on the cheek, not so much as to make her feel better, but more so as to keep her from punching his face in.
"Please refer to the school's code on PDAs, Miss Belladonna." Glynda gently reminds me.
"Let them have their cake, Glynda." Ozpin scoffs as he hands the paper over to Ruby. "Now, since you're the last team to report in, you get the most unwanted location to preform the assignment." He explains with the utmost seriousness.
Ruby groans, "Right, right. First come, first served." She looks down at the paper. "The ocean?" She looks up at Ozpin. "The nearest ocean is the city docks!"
"You said it yourself, Ruby." He smirks. "First come, first served."
Yang's aura flares again. "AAAAAAAARGH!" She screams into the sky. Maybe 'flares' was an understatement.
"Just be grateful that all you have to do is catch at least fifty pounds of meat." Glynda states, adjusting her glasses. "The fishing poles are in the Salmon Amateur Shop, aisle four." She smirks. Evil woman.
We nod and turn to leave.
"Oh, Miss Long!" Ozpin calls out to us. We turn back to see the two beginning to unpack the booth. "I have been known to marry the infrequent student couple!"
Glynda actually slaps her knee laughing.
"And I do it for free, too!" He laughs, "But you have to officially graduate first! Just keep that in mind!"
Yang calls back, "I have absolutely NO idea how to respond to that!"
"You could try, 'Thank you!'" Ozpin shouts back with a laugh as we get further away from those two evil, evil fiends.
"Weiss?" Ruby asks, ever so innocently after a few minutes have passed.
"TO THE DOCKS!" Weiss instantly shouts, leaping ahead and dragging Ruby along with her.
Hmmm. "Yang?" I ask ever so innocently as we continue to stroll along, taking our time.
"Not unless I get to keep my Blue Cows." She immediately replies.
I scowl. Those things will rot her bones out.
She chuckles, pecking me on the cheek. "It's never a dull moment with you, kitty cat." She pecks me on the cheek again.
I cannot help but smile, burying my head into her shoulder. We're in no rush to get there. The day is young, and so are we.
Yang groans. "Okay, no offense, Blake, but I stand corrected."
"Hey!" I look to my right, glaring at her. She's not even looking at me. She's just sitting there, legs dangling off the edge of the dock with her fishing pole held in both hands. "What do you mean by that?"
"Kitty cat, it's fishing." She deadpans. Staring up into the grey sky. "It's literally THE definition of boring!"
Ruby yawns. I look to my left, past Weiss.
"See?!" Yang laughs, kicking her legs. "Boring!"
"All the other teams are hunting in the woods, taking on the potentially fatal wildlife." Weiss groans as she taps her fingers against her fishing pole. "We were the last team to get assigned. Everyone else has probably started eating at the feast." She slouches. "And they probably got some of the good stuff like an Ursa Major."
It's an annual student feast. It's supposed to be a grand gathering of hunted meat cooked with an exotic variety of vegetables and other dishes. "And all we're bringing back is fish at best." I sigh, leaning my head into the palm of my right hand. "Talk about humiliation."
"Maybe we're using the wrong bait." Ruby murmurs.
"That is possible." I nod in agreement. None of us are very experienced at the art of fishing. Although, at least we have two hours of experience under our belts now.
"That would explain why none of us have caught a single-" Yang's line goes taunt, and she just barely manages to keep herself from being dragged into the water. "-FIIIIIIISH!" She screams, scrambling to her feet and pulling on the pole with all her might.
I immediately drop my fishing pole and place my hands around the pole as well. "What tremendously convenient timing!" I observe as Ruby and Weiss add their strength to our cause, trying to reel this apparently massive fish in. I think we're losing ground.
"AAAGH, Hold your ground!" Ruby orders as we begin to slowly slid forward. "Hooold your grooound!"
Four feet before we take a dive. "I think we've caught something too big to handle!" I observe with concern as we slid down to three feet of distance between us and the water.
I really hate water.
"Haha, that's what she sa-" The pole goes flying out of our eight hands, much to everyone's surprise. "Aaaw!" Yang cries out in disappointment. "Come on!"
"Better the pole alone than it with us." I breath a sigh of relief.
A massive explosion echoes from the ocean as water blasts at least a hundred feet up into the air.
We all go still.
"What was that?" Weiss asks, gripping Ruby's arm.
"Maybe it was a fish?" Yang asks.
"How big of a fish are we talking?" Ruby asks.
Grotesquely crooked spikes slowly rise up from the water.
"Sweet lord." Weiss whispers. "Yang, what kind of bait did you use?"
"Um," She nervously yanks on her scarf. "Maybe a dust crystal?"
Oh no. The spikes are getting larger... or closer... No, I think it's both.
Massive waves are starting to role in, splashing against the dockside. We're showered in salt water, but I think that's the least of my worries right now.
"YOU WHAT?!" Weiss gawks at Yang.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time!" Yang yells back.
Two hundred feet out, a massive tail comes out of the water and slowly comes crashing down, sending even more waves out.
The thing emerges. It's monstrous in size. It's green. It's huge. It's got spikes growing out of its back. Holding its head up, it spits something out.
A few seconds later, a blue dust crystal smashes down, drilling into the concrete inches in front of Yang.
"See?! It didn't even like it!" She shouts, pointing to her bait of choice. We all look up at the creature.
It roars.
The windows of the Salmon Amateur Shop behind us shatter, as does everything made of glass around the dock. At some point we stuck our fingers in our ears, but because I have two pairs I've just sat down out of sheer horror.
"See?!" Yang screams over the thing's roar which is still ringing in my unprotected set of faunus ears. "The thing didn't even like it!"
"That THING is coming our way!" Weiss shrieks, pulling her fingers out of her ears.
Ruby asks, "Do you think it takes virgin sacrifices?"
Yang reminds her, "None of us are virgins, Ruby!"
I wonder if Jaune qualifies.
Ruby steps forward, Crescent Rose locked and loaded. "Then we have no choice!" She declares, "Let's go fishing!"
"ARE YOU CRAZY?!" Weiss screams at her.
The creature roars again. Huh, the ringing's only twice as loud now.
"Oh, he's a fast one." Yang murmurs. "I think we've got about thirty seconds to make up our minds." She readies Ember and Cecil. "I vote we go fishing!"
"And I vote we don't go DYING!" Weiss votes passionately.
The three of them look to me.
"I'll marry you." Yang offers. A stable offer.
"I'll buy you your own continent." Weiss pleads. A VERY stable offer.
"I'll do that thing with my legs." Yang counters. Sold.
"I vote we stay and fight." I declare, withdrawing Gamble Shroud and readying myself for combat.
"Sweet lord!" Wess exclaims as she joins the three of us.
The creature's spikes begin to glow red hot.
As we get into formation, we aim our weapons at the massive creature.
Ruby orders, "Open fire, girls!"
Team RWBY unleashes a storm of gun and dust fire upon the creature's torso. It stops briefly to roar again. I'm guessing we weren't very effective.
As Yang reloads, she deadpans, "If we do manage to bring this thing down, we're going to need a lot of mashed pota-"
A massive geyser of flaming red fire comes spewing out of the creature's mouth and directly at u-
Beep... Beep... Beep... Beep...
"And so, after the creature surfaced, we believe that it must have rampaged through the docks, and subsequently charred the four of you to a crisp at some point during said rampage." I hear Ozpin announce through my body cast which covers me from head to toe. Again.
And again, it's all Yang's fault.
And again, I can already feel my rage against her declining.
"We believe that it must have somehow detected the power of a dust crystal and thus surfaced." Ozpin continues, "And thus was drawn to Beacon." Oh no.
"The good news is: Everyone's alive." Glynda chides in. Huh, I guess that's what one would call a miracle.
"The bad news is: Beacon has been reduced to a pile of ash." Ozpin sighs. Huh, I guess that's what one would call a super miracle.
"And what's interesting is a certain piece of video footage from an airship news camera." Glynda adds. I can feel the frown burning into my soul.
"Quite so," Ozpin agrees. Clearing his throat, he states, "It appears that the creature was provoked into attacking by a sudden barrage of dust and gunfire."
Team RWBY, despite the full-body pain, groans simultaneously.
"Naturally," Ozpin continues, "The four of you are to report to my soon to be reconstructed office the moment you all have fully recovered."
"But for now, we will let you four rest." Glynda adds, "You can hear what the rest of the student body has to say about their feast being ruined." I sense the two auras leave the confines of our hospital room.
Confound it, Yang.
1. Happy Thanksgiving! Hope it goes better for you than for Team RWBY.
2. I wasn't sure if I wanted RWBY to win, eating Godzilla for Beacon's "thanksgiving" feast. I put it to a vote in VnixxiR's chat, but decided that I just couldn't kill the King of Monsters.
3. It sucks for RWBY, because they were winning the vote...