Ruby Rose's POV:
I stretch out my arms behind me and let out a long yawn.
Right now, I am walking back towards the cliff that overlooks the Emerald Forest where my Initiation took place several months ago, reflecting on everything that has happened since I have become a student here at Beacon. I am now the leader of the team my big sis is a part of, along with my new friends Weiss and a Faunus by the name of Blake. Just because she's a Faunus doesn't mean I hate her like many other jerks on Remnant do. Together we make team RWBY and when we truly learn how to work together, we will be the greatest team of huntresses the world has ever seen!
Today, we took our final tests and have finished our first semester. Tomorrow, we all have a choice of either going home or staying at Beacon for the winter break. So, before I go back home with Yang, who is the best sister ever, I decided to get out of the stuffy Academy uniforms and the endless hours of studying for my classes, and just go to the Emerald Forest to beat up some Grimm.
When I finish walking towards the edge of the cliff, I reach towards the slot of the back of my ammo belt and pull out the special Dust crystal Weiss had. The purple crystal glowed slightly in my hands as I examine it without Weiss breathing down my neck and shouting about boring safety procedures. As I look at the crystal, I recall the conversation I was part of hours before, about an hour after the last test for this semester was finished…
Past Time!
"And whatever you do, don't touch this crystal!" Weiss shouts, shaking the deep purple Dust inside a silver vial in her hand. She had pulled it out of a box that she was given after the White Fang tried to rob the Schnee Dust Company a few days ago.
"Whoa, Ice Queen. I would tell you to chill, but you should already know how to do that." Yang replies, lying on her side in her bunk.
"I'm serious, Yang. This is a piece of experimental Dust. My father sent this to me when I told him that I would not be coming home since it's so far away and he asked me to experiment on its properties. And don't call me Ice Queen." Weiss retorts bluntly, looking down at the crystal. I raise an eyebrow at hearing her explanation; judging by how uptight she's acting, there's more to the story than just 'being too far away from home.'
"Well, then you better hope to get down and dust-y." Yang answers, grinning at Weiss's and Blake's groan of annoyance.
Present Time!
So now, while Weiss is sleeping, I will figure out how it works in a fight so we can truly be the best friends ever.
A sudden screech of a Grimm pulls my attention away from the smooth, diamond-shaped Dust crystal and look to the sky. My heart sinks when I see that a Nevermore, even larger than the one I fought with my friends at the Initiation. I start charging up my Aura as I begin putting the crystal in my pocket. I freeze, however, when I hear a faint humming nearby and feel my left hand vibrating. I roll to the left, avoiding the Nevermore's attempt to eat me with ease, and look at my hand in confusion. The new Dust crystal is glowing brightly inside my palm, energy flying off of it in waves.
"A super bomb. Excellent! Let's charge it up and see what happens." I mutter under my breath and channel more Aura into the crystal. The result is the crystal lets loose a blinding flash of light that makes me shut my eyes and shield my face from the light. Every nerve in my body starts screaming in pain before I lose consciousness from the pain.
I have no idea how long I am unconscious, but then feeling starts working its way through my body, I realize that I am lying on my back and that the ground underneath me is moving. Oh, am I going to get an earful from Weiss. Deciding to just get it done, I open my eyes and stare up at the ceiling in shock. The roof is curved upwards and a dark grey. I sit up, groaning slightly.
I freeze, however, when I hear my voice. It sounds…softer, than I have heard it in a long time. Almost dreading what happened to me, I sit up and look at the window, and am shocked at what I see in the reflection. I'm wearing my usual attire, but I definitely look like I'm 10 years old again! Another odd thing is that I can't feel my Aura at all, like it's been locked again. Okay, maybe I should have listened to Weiss's safety procedures after all.
"Well, look who's awake." A young male voice asks. I sit up and look up at the seats. Sitting in the seat is a boy with light skin, the bushiest brown hair I have seen in a while and light blue eyes. He is wearing a dark yellow t-shirt, red jeans and white running shoes. Judging by the look of his face, he is a complete nerd. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah. Who are you and where exactly am I?" I ask, a little startled by my voice also confirming that I'm 10 again.
The boy's eyes sparkled brightly as he answers. "I'm Neil. We're taking the bus to Science camp right now."
My eyes widen in surprise for a split second. I already think that Beacon's homework is boring, so I don't want to fathom how boring a Science summer camp is going to be for me. But I have to hide my horrified look and I give a small smile. "Nice to meet you, Neil. My name's Ruby. So how exactly did I get put on a bus to go to Science camp? I wanted to go to…Engineering camp." Hey, I like to build weapons for a living, so why not?
"Weird choice. Well, we found you lying on the ground out cold. Our driver said that you were asleep and hauled you onboard." Neil responds, then looks down with a thoughtful look on his face.
I slowly back away from him and walk to the other side of the bus, looking back out the window. The bus is currently driving…into a forest? Something tells me that we aren't going to a science camp at all. "Oh yeah. This is going to be the most awesome summer!" A more feminine voice says. I look in the direction of the voice and see literally the only other passenger on this bus: A girl who looks about 10 with odd turquoise hair, pale skin and purple eyes like mine, only lighter. She is wearing a yellow shirt as well, but it is covered by red overalls.
"Hi. Who are you?"
"I'm Nikki. I don't know where you think we're going, nerd, but I'm ready for some adventure time." She says with an enthusiasm that only Nora Valkyrie could match. But I can't help but raise an eyebrow at hearing that statement; doesn't she know where we are heading, or this is a summer camp with serious variety?
"Alright, kids. We're almost there." A deep, grumbling voice calls from the front of the bus, before honking the horn.
As the bus keeps driving, however, I hear a voice that makes me freeze. "Hello! Welcome to Camp…" Before the bus stops, and the man screams in pain.
"Did you just run over my friend?" I mutter incredulously. This voice may have sounded a lot more cheerful than Jaune Arc's voice ever did, but it sounded too similar to his voice to ignore.
As I walk to the front with Nikki and Neil at my sides, I get my first good look at the driver; a man with wrinkled, one of his eyes shut, grey hair and a long grey moustache, and wearing a red flannel shirt under a brown jacket, with jeans, knee-high boots and a green trucker hat. The thing that makes me slightly wary is that shiny metal hook hand. Honestly, if I get a prosthetic hand one day, I don't want it to be a hook like that. The doors open up to reveal the vast forest around us. "Kids are here." He says, taking his hook hand off the wheel.
"Ha!" Nikki shouts, jumping off the bus and letting in a long inhale. Next to her is another boy about my new age with bushy black hair, dark tanned skin and green eyes. He is wearing a yellow shirt under a blue hoodie, jeans and red shoes. "Oh yeah, smell that nature. Oh, that's the stuff!" Nikki says, squatting a little. I snigger lightly at her overly-enthusiastic attitude while the other boy stares at her with an apathetic look.
The man who got hit by the bus a few seconds ago stands up, shaking off the hit. He is a man who also has pale skin, fiery red hair and green eyes. He sounds like Jaune and looks like he could be Pyrrha Niko's father; what a disturbing series of coincidences. He is wearing a yellow scarf that looks similar to my own around his neck, a brown vest over a green shirt with the picture of a tree on the front and brown shorts. "Well, hello there, little lady. You must be Nikki. My name is David, your camp…" David says, lowering his hand to Nikki in a way that he wants to shake her hand. However, that was a huge mistake, since Nikki literally bites David's outstretched hand.
My stare in surprise and amusement at David screaming in pain, frantically shaking it around in an attempt to make Nikki let go. Okay, with her as a fellow camper wherever we are, this could be a fun summer. "Excuse me. Is this Science Camp?" Neil asks, his certainty that he is at the right place dissolving.
"No, silly." Nikki answers, letting go of David's hand and dropping to the ground. "This is Adventure Camp. Ad-ven-ture! My Mom said so; unless she was lying. Again."
'Um, OK?' I wonder incredulously. Seriously, how would they not know what they are signing themselves up for from summer camp?
Nikki then looks up at David as he massages his hand. "Sorry about that hand, by the way. Just exerting dominance. You know how it goes." I crack a wide smile at Nikki's nonchalant attitude. She reminds me quite a lot of Nora in several ways. Oh boy, will we have some fun times.
"And you must be Neil." David says, taking notice of the bushy-haired nerd. Then David notices me and raises an eyebrow. "Huh. Your name's not on my list. Can I ask who are you?"
"I'm Ruby, and I am really confused right now. I thought I was going to engineering camp."
David stares at me a little surprised, then a sparkle in his eyes that kind of reminds me of myself when I was 10; I ended up eating all of the chocolate chip cookies and stole Yang's super-soaker. I don't regret it, though the mess I had to clean up made Dad nearly throw a fit. "We got an unannounced camper! Well, Ruby, I hope you will have a wonderful time this summer! Now, to answer your question, you will be happy to know that Camp Campbell is all of…" He gets interrupted again when the bus, lurches forward violently, slamming him back to the ground screaming in pain. I wince, already feeling sorry for all the pain this camp counselor has already been through. But something tells me that he will go through so much more before the summer is over. Before I can figure out why David is so unlucky, I hear a different voice come from inside the bus.
"Stupid prepubescent legs."
'Is that Sun?' I wonder incredulously, remembering the blonde monkey Faunus who befriended Blake I met briefly before I came to this bizarre place. The grey-haired driver walks onto the bus with its doors still open.
"Not today, child. The only one driving this bus is me." The man says, turning around and hoisting the darker-skinned boy up by the hood on his hoodie as they boy desperately tries to grab the wheel before giving up. What is with this place and people sounding exactly like other people I know?
"Uh, thank you, Quartermaster." David says, smiling kindly at the old man.
"Don't thank me. You're on your own now." 'Quartermaster' says, pointing his hook hand at David's face, making his eyes widen in slight horror. He then reaches into his jacket pocket and pulls out a grey bottle with a skull and crossbones on it, with 3 X's underneath. Using his other hand, his pulls the small cork off the top, resulting in a sickening bubbling sound and large purple bubbles flying out of the top. "Going on break. Be back for the bus at noon." With that, he walks away from us and towards a smaller wooden cabin to do Oum-knows-what. I can only stare in horror at the creepy man walking away. He acts like a stereotypical serial killer from every movie I saw with Dad! That only begs the question further; where am I?
I am interrupted from my thoughts when David frowns then looks down at the dark-skinned boy who tried to make a break for it and kneels to his height. "Max, you are not leaving my side for the rest of the day."
"We'll see about that, Camp man." Max answers, his arms crossed over his chest. I cross my arms over my chest and narrow my eyes at the cold tone in his voice.
"So, what's your deal?" Neil asks, walking up to Max.
Max just sighs in frustration and slight sadness. "I'm just a kid trying to survive out here, Neil." He says, patting Neil's shoulder.
He then looks at me, but before I can talk to the cynical boy, David interjects. "Let's go check out the camp, kids." With that, he walks towards the large log cabin with a dark red roof and a wood panel that has the words 'Mess Hall' carved into it above double doors. On my left is a giant wooden flag pole with a…face carved into the top? A green flag with the words like 'Camp Campbell' and 'Campe Diem' printed in gold. So, this summer camp is called Camp Campbell. That's a rather funny name. But on my right is a table with a glass cage in it and a brown hamster inside it with the inscription 'Larry the Hamster XI: Camp Mascot.' "The first stop on any good tour is the flagpole. I can't help but give it the official Camp Campbell salute every time I see it." David adds, saluting the flag with his pinky fingers and two index fingers.
I look around to get a better view of the camp, noticing the large lake in the middle of the forest, another log cabin that is noticeably smaller with large white tents in the distance. "This place looks so awesome! Too bad my sister isn't here; she would have made some lame pun." I then look down at the ground slightly, wondering when I might get back to Yang.
"Ah yes. So many good memories here from when I was a Campbell camper. Anyway, beside the flagpole is our Mess Hall, which…" David stops when he sees the flag and gives the salute once more. "Oh, sorry. Saw the flag again. Beside the flagpole is our Mess Hall, which is connected to the Quartermaster's store. It's here that we serve meals, hold announcements and occasionally take part in camp activities. Tell 'em just how much you love it, Max!"
A moment of long silence passes as I stare at Max's downcast face and deep scowl, with Neil and Nikki doing the same, frowning and smiling respectively. "See, that's the sad thing. He still actually thinks that I love it." Max says, making Nikki's smile falter. I can't help but scowl a little at Max's attitude but given his view of David and that he was probably sent here against his will, I can understand.
"And who wouldn't?" David asks, his grin spread across his face, walking to the Mess Hall's front doors. "Now, let's step inside and meet my co-counselor, Gwen. She's in the middle of a camp activity right now! Oh man, you're going to love her."
"I don't know about that." I mutter under my breath. No matter how much I listen to David's voice, I can't get over how much he sounds like Jaune.
David doesn't hear my comment and pushes the door inward, saying, "Good morning, Gwen!"
"Motherfucker!" Came the furious feminine response. I tilt my head in confusion, wondering what a 'motherfucker' was.
David walks into the Mess Hall looking terrified, with Max, Neil, Nikki and I following close behind. My eyes go from one end of the room to another, taking in the vast array of campers; the blonde teen listening to music, one bushy-haired kid working with a deck of cards while another is doing…whatever he's doing with that skull, a dark-skinned girl with fake ears pushing a pink ball by blowing on it, and the shortest boy there with sky blue eyes is flying a paper airplane. The last two are a large boy with red hair and green eyes and reminds me of Cardin Winchester, the stupid jerk who got into Beacon by brute strength alone, while the only adult supervising them is a woman with darker skin, purple eyes more like sis's, with the same green shirt David is wearing and short shorts. What confuses me, though, is why they are staring at the ceiling, and the woman is throwing forks. "Go ho ho ho ho!" A young boy's voice shouts. Realizing why they are looking at the ceiling, I look up and see a boy of short stature wearing a brown suit and a blue helmet over his head, spinning around and around in the same direction as the ceiling fan, held to the fan by his yellow cape that reminds me of my beloved cloak. "Crank it to high! I can take the G's!" The boy shouts with an almost deranged enthusiasm. Is he really enjoying this?
"Nerf, you won't crank shit! Get down from there, Space Kid!" The woman, who I think is Gwen, shouts up at Space Kid.
"Language!" I say, but with all of the noise around me, I doubt anyone heard me.
"Oh dear." David adds with a little panic in his voice, then runs to Nerf and the switch on the wall.
"What is going on in here?" Neil asks, looking around with a look that shows his ever-increasing anxiety.
"Neil, if we leave now, I can hot wire that bus." Max says, grabbing Neil's arm and desperation on his face. Right now, I'm not sure if I want to stay or get out of here and try to find a way back home.
Nikki, on the other hand, has a different view. "This is amazing!" She shouts, literally bouncing up and down with a wide grin on her face.
My attention is drawn back to David, who pushes the bully-looking kid Nerf aside and flicks the switch down. The ceiling fan stop instantly and Space Kid continues flying for a brief second before his helmet smashes into the wall and he crashes down to the ground. "I'm okay." He says, dazed from the impact. I grin widely at the sight of the poor kid sprawled out, impressed that he managed to take a hit like that.
"What the gosh darn heck happened?" David asks, concern in his voice.
"Ugh. Space Kid's just, you know, pushing me to my limits again." Gwen answers, sounding absolutely exhausted.
"I will achieve space flight!" Space Kid shouts, recovering from his hit. Gwen rolls her eyes in frustration at hearing him say that.
"As my sister would say, it sure sounds like you'r space-ing out." I remark, a wide smile still spread on my face. Although Space Kid's antics make me think about something that I have never thought of before. Has this dimension or wherever I am managed to achieve space flight? While dimension-traveling sounds much too awesome to be real, I think that I'm right on this one since no one seems to have any Aura. Gwen looks at me with an angry look, then looks between me, Neil and Nikki.
"Who the fuck are they?" Gwen asks, confusion in her voice and written across her face. Though, what does 'fuck' mean?
"Well, they are the new campers we have to introduce and orientate." David says, reaching into his pants pockets and pulling out 3 red badges with the words '1st day Camper' printed in gold coloring and puts them on Neil and Nikki's right side and then he puts it on the right side of my black blouse.
"Ow." Neil pipes up in protest.
"Jesus, that's right. Okay, let's…show them the video." Gwen says.
"Actually." David answers, pulling a guitar out from the case on his back that I somehow missed. "I was thinking I could play them that camp song I've been…"
"I'm gonna stop you right there." Gwen interrupts, pressing against David's chest. "No. I'll get the laser disk." She then walks off to a set of side doors.
"OK!" David replies, somehow maintaining his attitude. "All you campers head over to the activities field for your afternoon sessions." A bunch of campers grumble in protest but start walking towards the front door anyways. Max tries to do so as well, but David grabs his hoodie. "Uh-uh. Not you, Max."
"Damn it." Max mutters, scowling at the ground.
"Will someone please talk to me about science camp? None of those kids looked to science-y." Neil asks, starting to sound scared and desperate.
"What about that astronaut kid?" Nikki asks.
"Astronauts? The wannabe jocks of the scientific community? Please." Neil answers dismissively. I have to fight to hold down a laugh at how much Neil is acting like one of those goofy nerds I hung out with.
Suddenly, the doors to the store open up and Gwen walks in, holding a huge disk in her hands before breathing on it, clearing the dust off of it and handing it to David. Man, that thing looks like it got ripped out of the pre-historic era! Not even grandma's old house had as outdated technology as the thing in Gwen's hands. "Don't you worry, kiddos, this video will explain everything." David starts, as Gwen pushes a stand with a small TV with antennas on the top to David, then fiddles with it. "It was put together by our founder, Cameron Campbell, back when I was an eager young camper just like yourselves. He was-sorry-is, an absolute legend."
As David continues talking, I completely tune him out when I notice a ladder probably leading to the attic lowering and an old, burly man with grey hair walks down in his tank top and boxer shorts. He suddenly realizes he is still in his sleep wear, Gwen looking at him with a concerned look before he climbs back up the ladder. Several odd creaks come from the attic before he climbs back down the ladder, wearing a different white shirt under a brown jacket, a yellow scarf around his neck, long pants and thick brown boots. Once he's all the way down, he pushes the ladder back up to the attic, sealing it again. "…like the man always said; we're here to have a great summer, and Campe Diem!" I shake my head and try paying attention to David again. "Oh, if only he were here now." He adds wistfully. I never take my eyes off the man in case this guy tries to attack us at all.
Before I could tell him to look at the stranger behind him, the man hits David on the shoulder. "I'm here now." He says, a calm tone in his voice.
David suddenly drops the disk, shattering it, and gasping in shock. "Mr. Campbell!? Wha- What are you doing here, sir?" He asks, the ecstasy practically radiating from him. I can't help but giggle a little at his awe of this man.
The man, Mr. Campbell, laughs in amusement. "Well, I'm certainly not hiding from any authorities if that's what you're asking." His tone suddenly becomes more nervous.
"Wait, what?" David and I ask simultaneously. This guy is so definitely hiding from the local authorities. Campbell then wraps a hand around his shoulder.
"Come on, Davey! You'd think I'd miss the opportunity to welcome our new Campbell campers to Cameron Campbell's Camp Campbell?" He asks, giving David a smile.
"…You have for years, sir." Gwen states with a bored tone.
Campbell just wraps his other free arm around her neck. "Oh, Grace, you slay me!"
"It's…Gwen." She corrects, trying to take in oxygen. Reminds me of Yang's bear hugs, really.
"What did I say?"
"Hey, brawny guy?" Nikki asks, catching all of our attention. "This is Adventure Camp, right?" She asks, now suddenly sounding unsure herself if she's in the right place as well.
"Yeah. So far, every attempt to answer our questions just raises more questions." Neil realizes, looking even more confused than ever. To be honest, I am feeling more and more confused as well as to what the heck is going on.
"Hey, good for you. You're starting to catch on!" Max says, sneering widely. It was the first time I had seen him smile and it certainly fits his icy personality that could rival Weiss's when we first met.
Campbell just laughs in amusement at our question. "Don't you worry, kids! These two will you on a tour of our great camp and answer any questions you might have." Just then, I hear a car driving closer and closer to the cabin, prompting Cameron's grey eyes to widen in horror. He walks over to the window to look out, along with the rest of us. I watch as a black car with red and white lights on the front pulls up and tops, allowing two shady-looking men wearing dark suits and sunglasses to step out, and look around while pressing two fingers against some device embedded in their ears. Cameron's eyes widen even further before he roughly grabs the green curtains on either side of the window and pulls them together. "In fact, we should go on that tour now, all of us, together, away from this spot." Cameron says, then starts pushing us to the front doors while maintaining a wide grin.
"Sounds like someone's in trouble." I remark, grinning widely.
"Shut up." Cameron mutters under his breath, sounding very on edge.
Eventually, we walk out of the dining hall and reach what I believe is the main camp grounds. If so, I'm going to have the summer of my life. "Here at Camp Campbell, we pride ourselves on the variety of our curriculum." David explains with enthusiasm.
Somehow, Gwen ignores David's enthusiasm and looks at the clipboard and rambles off the list in a very half-hearted tone. "There's extreme sports camp." Just then, the rad girl gets on a skateboard and rolls down a half-pipe, only for the opposite to give away and she crashes right through it, making me wince a little. "Magic Camp." The boy with the bushy hair I saw earlier who is wearing a top hat, black vest over a yellow shirt and black pants along with shoes somehow makes a bird appear before it flies away. As the bird is flying away, the bully-looking kid pulls a tomato off the vines in the middle of the field and throws it at the wannabe magician, resulting in his depressed expression and the bully's chuckling. "Space Camp." Space Kid is sitting in a cardboard box with Challenger II written on the side with a cone on top and facing towards the sky before he falls backwards and face-plants in the process. "Theater Camp." A boy wearing rather old-fashioned clothes holds a skull up near his head and does his very best to hold that position like he did in the mess hall until the bully-looking kid once again rips off a tomato and hits the actor in his face. "Art Camp." Here, the small boy is painting a dog with a red armband in its arm. He then looks away from his work and declares that 'It's a dog!' "Other Magic Camp." Suddenly, as the magician boy is walking around and rubbing the tomato off his face, a dark-skinned girl with those blue eyes behind her round glasses who is still wearing those silly-looking fake ears ambushes the boy, knocking him to the ground with her fake sword and hitting him with… whatever those are while shouting 'lightning bolt!' I just stare at her in shock; aside from the braces, she sounds almost exactly like sis? And why do I feel like she's going to start choking on her own spit any second now? "And lots more. Lots of stuff."
Well, wherever I am, I am far from home. As long as they have a cookie supply, then I might be happy here. "How much more stuff?" I ask, unintentionally stealing the words right from Nikki's mouth.
"Well, I'm glad you asked, because I have a little song that I can sing…" Davis suggests, only for Gwen to protest. "When Gwen's not around."
"By the way, Mr. Campbell." Gwen adds, looking up at the burly founder. "Now that you're here, maybe we can discuss just how exactly how we're meant to operate at this scale…"
Before she can finish her boring statement, Campbell interrupts. "Hey, is that kid trying to escape?" He then points to Max who is running as fast as he can from us. I look at the spot where Max once was, and I only see… a hand-knit double of Max? Where was he hiding that?
"Why is Max running away?" I wonder, seeing him going as fast as possible; though I can beat him easily. David then picks up the double and starts running at such fast speeds that I feel somewhat impressed with, though I could best him any day.
"Looks like knitting camp wasn't as stupid as some said; huh, Max?" David asks kindly.
"You are the bane of my existence." Max replies angrily.
"Alright, now. Let's go." David answers, carrying Max back to our main group. While I wish Max could just scowl less, he does have the right idea on escaping this strange place.
"Excuse me." Neil interrupts, heading to a table filled with utensils that are either completely wooden or half-melted. "What the hell is this?"
"Ah, I see you found that. That, my friend, is Science Camp." David replies happily, only for one of the wooden table legs to fall over.
"But, this isn't what I signed up for. I wanted science camp! Not Science Camp and more. I don't want more!" Neil protests, waving his pamphlet for science camp in front of David.
The founder of this wacky place then walks up and pats Neil on the head. "And that's why you should read the fine print, sport." He then grabs Neil's pamphlet and holds a 'microscope' over it. "See? 'And More…'" I can't help but giggle slightly at how Neil get shown up like that. "Now you can't sue us!" While I have no idea what 'suing' is, I get the feeling that's a rather common thing around here.
Nikki looks down at her own pamphlet. "So, what? It's some sort of…camp camp?" I look down at the pamphlet, and also notice the fine print. Man, this guy is sneaky.
"I wouldn't call it out like that, but yes." Campbell answers, grinning widely.
"Uh, mister?" I ask hesitantly. "I don't know where…"
"This is bullshit!" Neil shouts loudly, catching all of our attention towards him out of pure surprise.
Max, however, looks deeply impressed. "Well, check out the balls on the new kid."
"Where?" Nikki asks, looking down. I honestly have no idea why she did that.
"I don't know what kind of operation you think you're running, but I won't stand for it! I'm a man of science! Do you think you can just throw together some outdated equipment and call it a laboratory?" Neil then points towards the rickety science camp structure. David looks slightly upset over Neil's outburst while I scowl at how mean he's being.
"Neil, you're being a little rude right now." I say out loud, not really liking his attitude.
"Look. Kid, I know it's not…" Gwen starts speaking, but Campbell steps in.
"Stand down, Gretchen. I shall speak to the children. Kids, I am going to be blunt and honest with you. When I opened Camp Campbell all those years ago, I had one goal and one goal only; create the most popular and successful summer camp in the world! But times have changed; things like the internet, video games, and the Affordable Care Act are ruining this great country of ours, and the children of today just aren't interested in a traditional summer camp. But America isn't a traditional country. SO why should we settle for anything else?" I give a silent applause to his short monologue while David wipes a tear away.
"You've got two acceptable counselors, one hell of a quartermaster, and endless possibilities here at Camp Campbell. And by God, as long as I'm here…"
Campbell is then interrupted by the black car from earlier smashing into the clearing. After smashing through the painting of the poor dog, the two shady agents then step out and start firing their pistols at Campbell. In a moment of wide-eyed shock, Campbell grabs Space Kid and holds him up. What really shocks me is that the bullets just bounce off of Space Kid's helmet. Note to self: Steal Space Kid's helmet and study how it works.
"Code black. Code black." Campbell speaks frantically into a comm device built onto his watch. Suddenly, a large black helicopter flies into view. The hatch is pulled open and a ladder is thrown down. Campbell throws Space Kid aside, causing him to shout in triumph slightly, and grabs the ladder. "Well, look at the time. Got to go."
"Sir!" David says frantically, "Where are you going?"
"The nearest international waters, Davey!" Campbell answers as the helicopter lifts back up higher into the air, but not before shouting, "Have a great summer, kids! Campe Diem!" Now that is a phrase I probably might need to commit to memory. Meanwhile, the secret agents get back into the black car and start driving away to give chase. Why do I get the feeling I might be at the receiving end of their hunt soon?
"Well, he seems nice." Nikki says nonchalantly, breaking me from my train of thought.
"Oh, god. It's coming back; the crippling anxiety and regret." Gwen nearly shouts, grabbing her head and trying to run away.
"Well, time to get that there bus back to that there city." The elderly man, who I'm guessing is the quartermaster, mutters as he walks by.
"Neil, that bus is our only chance out of here. Do you want to spend the rest of your summer at this god forsaken hell hole, or do you want to enjoy the sweet taste of freedom?" Max asks, shaking Neil's hand frantically.
Neil then looks at Gwen as she's too busy shouting, "Why did I get a liberal arts degree?" He then makes his choice. "Let's get the fuck out of here."
I shrug slightly, realizing that escaping this weird place might be the only way I can see Yang again. "I'm coming with you."
"Making a break for it?" Nikki asks, walking towards us. "I can make a distraction for you."
"Why would you help us?" Max demands sharply.
"I'm an agent of chaos." She then turns to the red-haired counselor. "Hey, David!"
"Yes?" David asks, dropping Gwen.
"How about you pick up our spirits with that camp song you won't shut up about?"
"Why, what a wonderful idea, Nikki." David then pulls out his guitar and starts singing his camp song.
As I'm listening to the catchy and beautiful song, Max pulls out a pair of needles, and lots of multi-colored buttons, then realizes he doesn't have any silver buttons on him. "Oh, fuck this." Max mutters, throwing them aside. He then starts running as fast as he can towards the bus. I chase after him, with Neil and Nikki also following.
I could have sworn I heard Quartermaster mutter, "No runnin'" as we pass by.
But as the bus finally makes into our view, I look back and notice Gwen and David gaining ground, slowly catching up with Max. "Max, get back here! You are being a bad influence on our new campers!" David shouts.
"Never!"
"Max, hurry." Nikki calls out, before she gets a determined look in her eyes. She then rips her red and yellow '1st day Camper' badge off her overalls and throws it like a frisbee at David. The badge smacks him between the eyes, knocking him down. Gwen trips over David, smacking her forehead hard.
I can't help but smirk at Nikki's stunt. Looks like she's a lot better at fighting than I guessed. We all jump onto the bus, with Neil getting into the driver's seat, Nikki pushing the ignition peddle, while Max gives one last taunt to the counselors before shutting the doors before laughing like a crazy person.
Once he's done, Max then turns around and looks at me. "You know, I've been wondering. Who the fuck are you exactly?"
"Ruby Rose, at your service. You know, you could not be as mean to people. You can make more friends that way."
"Uh, guys?" Neil asks sharply. "We don't know how to drive this thing."
"Yeah. And why are there six pedals down here? I thought we can only go four directions." Nikki comments.
I then look around frantically for anything that might help, then I notice the bus fast approaching a tree. "Aw, shit." Max says. Then the bus comes to a sudden stop and we are all knocked off our feet.
I get up, looking around and notice a phone that was lying under the seat, with a cracked screen. Neil then sits up, groaning. He looks down and notices a large red splotch on his shirt. "Crap! I'm bleeding! Fucking call someone already!"
Max looks frantic, then notices a sticker on the opposite side. 'In the case of emergency, call 1-800-MAGIC.' "Here." I then give him the phone.
Max dials in the number and waits while the phone rings and is on speaker. Seconds later, a grouchy man's voice answers. "Tech support answering. What's your situation?"
"I'm fucking bleeding to death inside of a filthy bus!" Neil whines, holding the red spot on his shirt tightly.
"Okay. No problem. I'll triangulate your position and send some officers to help. Until they arrive, what I want you to do is to place a hand on the wound and hold it for 60 seconds. Six-zero. That should reduce the chance of you bleeding to death." My face pales considerably; this man honestly thinks Neil could die!
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Max demands harshly.
"Well, I can see your line is busy, so I'm letting you go. Toodles."
"So I'm just supposed to sit here and wait for help? I'm going to…"
"Oh, hey look!" Nikki says, lifting up a squashed ketchup packet. "I found this under the seat."
Neil then looks down at his 'wound,' then lifts up his shirt. "Let me get this straight. I thought I was going to die for nearly two minutes now, only to find out that I've got ketchup all over me?"
"Yup," Nikki replies, then smells the squished packet. "Why does it smell like old bacon?"
Within minutes, several police vehicles roll into the pathway. Once the policemen get out of their cars, they pull the doors open and push us out. David and Gwen are already standing next to the police cars, looking really embarrassed.
"I'm getting real tired of coming up here, David." The lead officer, apparently the sheriff of some county called Sleepy Peak, says with deep exasperation, handing David a pink slip of paper.
"I know, Sal." David answers, taking the paper.
"Damn it. We were so close!" Max mutters angrily, looking at his hands.
"No, we weren't. And language." I speak up, resulting in a glare from Max.
"I agree with Little Red Riding Hood here. Honestly, Max, how far did you expect to make it, Max?" Gwen asks.
"Yeah. I mean, in hindsight, none of us really knew how to drive." Neil admits, looking calmer than he was a second ago.
"To be real, I just always wanted to drive a bus." Nikki adds, grinning.
"Well, kids." David says, looking down at us as the police cars and the secret agents I saw earlier get back into their vehicles and leaving. "I hope we all learned something today."
"Oh, no." Max shouts angrily. "I hope you learned, David. I hope you learned that before today, you only have one little bastard to deal with. But now, you've have four." He then wraps his arms around all of us. I can't help but grin slightly at the sight of Max actually starting to make friends. "Let's go, guys. I'll take you to our tent."
"Woohoo! This is going to be awesome!" Nikki shouts, bouncing up and down with excitement.
Neil lets out a long groan. "This is going to be fucking awful."
"You know, I've been wondering. What exactly is 'fuck'?" I ask suddenly, hearing that word a lot today but not knowing what it is.
Max, Neil, and Nikki look at each other incredulously. Then a wide smile makes its way onto Max's face. "Well, Ruby. Looks like you've got a lot to learn here at this pit of a camp."
I then hear loud Jaune-like screaming and notice Gwen standing over a beaten David, holding a smashed guitar over him. Yeah, it looks like I'm going to be stuck here for a long time.
AN: Well, that's the first chapter of my summer special.
I hope you all liked it, and now to explanations. I tragically have to say that I will not be able to do Ruby going through every episode of Camp Camp; there are only so many weeks in summer. Thus, I will only have Ruby take part in my favorite Camp Camp episodes.
Don't worry; there will be lots of slightly changed moments in it so it's not just a 'Ruby Rose reacts to Camp Camp' fanfic, along with some original content. And yes, I will include the new Camp Camp Season 3 into the mix.
Finally, this is going to be my ultimate tribute to Rooster Teeth and the dedication they put into their work changed my life. Thus, I am going to try and reference every Rooster Teeth show that I can.
I will see you all next time for when Ruby is getting settled into the Camp Campbell lifestyle.