Standard Disclaimer: All rights belong to those whose rights they belong to, primarily the glorious minds at Rooster Teeth, though quite namely not me. Don't own a thing.
Beacon Academy
One Week Prior To Finals
It had started out as a rather small affair, but it didn't take long to escalate.
Beacon saw its first snowfall of the season, several inches worth that blanketed the grounds of the prestigious academy. Most looked out at the picturesque landscape and saw the pristine beauty. There was, however, a certain mischievous couple who instead saw opportunity.
Yang and Nora had teamed up to ambush Ren and Jaune while the latter worked on building a snowman. Like any mission, they had meticulously planned their sortie. The perfect vantage point was found, ammunition was secured, and stealth was maintained at all times.
Once the pair had a rather large pile of snowballs stacked up behind their sheltering hedge, they stood up, a snowball in each hand, and let fly.
"Ambush!" Nora helpfully announced as the first hit knocked Jaune's hat off his head.
Ren turned, avoiding the first snowball by sheer happenstance, but Yang's follow-up got him square in the chest, knocking the lithe hunter-in-training back on his rear.
"This means war!" Jaune hollered, abandoning the snowman effort and instead quickly switching gears over to a snow fort. "Ren, distract the enemy!"
Ren rolled his eyes as he crouched behind the meager shelter of the partially-built snowman. "This is becoming a habit," he grumbled mildly. Scooping up a handful of snow, he took off in a run at an angle towards the sheltering hedge. Powerfully-thrown snowballs whizzed by his head with inches to spare as he cranked his hand back and let fly, only to have his projectile hit in midair by another one. The resulting cloud of snow temporarily blinded him, causing him to stumble. Three impacts later he was out flat on his back, gazing up at the grey sky and wondering if Yang and Nora needed another member on their snowball team.
Defection was not out of the question at this point.
"Mission accomplished," he called out weakly, not bothering to sit up.
"Aha!" Jaune yelled, leaping to his feet and flinging a snowball in the general direction of the hedges. He was immediately pelted with several more, popping his shield out to lend him cover as he scampered back behind cover again.
"Ren, we need a plan!" the blonde leader of Team JNPR called out.
"I've got one," Ren replied calmly from where he lay out of sight. "I'm good right here."
"Ugh," Jaune groaned, unwilling to accept defeat. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Team CVFY strolling by and giving him curious stares.
"Coco!" he called out gleefully. "Requesting assistance here!"
"For what?" the brunette asked wryly, swathed in a stylish dark brown cashmere overcoat.
Jaune poked his head out, only to duck back down to avoid another pair of projectiles. "For a snowball fight!"
Coco glanced at her teammates. While both Velvet and Fox wore eager grins, Yatsuhashi was as imperturbable as ever, simply shrugging to indicate his willingness to go along with her decision.
"Alright, then, time to add a little caffeine into the mix," Coco smiled anticipatorily, slipping her gloves on and marching forward.
The flanking maneuver was noticed by the entrenched blonde and orange-haired girls, who quickly switched targets to begin pelting the newcomers with vicious throws. Velvet giggled and skipped to the side, tossing a snowball of her own with her innate Faunus accuracy. Yang let out a yelp as the hit scored home.
Taking advantage of the momentary lull in suppressing fire, the defenders quickly shifted onto the attack. Yatsuhashi scooped up a large armful of snow to send it arcing over the hedge. Both Nora and Yang squealed from the artillery strike, jumping to the side and receiving several accurate throws from Coco and Fox once they'd been exposed.
"Yang!" the pinkette yelled as she scampered back under cover. "We need reinforcements!"
"I'm on it!" Yang yelled back, pulling her scroll out with numb fingers and dialing up her sister as she crouched behind a hedge. "Cover me!"
Up in Team RWBY's room, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Pyrrha were all snuggled up together on the floor to watch a seasonal movie. Ruby's scroll began to vibrate, and she pulled it out to answer the call. Before she could speak, she had to pull it back away from her ear, wincing from the volume.
"We need help!" Yang was hollering. "Outside courtyard, stat!"
"What is it?" Weiss asked, concerned, as Ruby leapt up to peer out the window. "Grimm? White Fang?"
"Nope," Ruby smirked. "Snowball fight."
Weiss let out an irritated sigh. "That oaf. I suppose she and Nora got in over their heads."
"Welll…" Ruby said slowly, craning her neck. "Looks like they're pinned down by Jaune, Ren… and all of Team CVFY."
"Wow, that's impressive," Blake commented. "So, do we help or sit it out?"
"Are you kidding me?" Ruby grinned as she turned. "Of course we help!"
"How did I know she was going to say that," Weiss grumbled, accepting Pyrrha's help in getting to her feet.
"Well, you are her partner," the redhead smiled as she headed for the door. "I'll get my winter gear on and meet you in the hallway."
Within a few scant minutes the pair of couples were creeping forward around the edge of the building.
"Weiss, you scout ahead," Ruby whispered.
"Why me?" the heiress objected.
"Because you're dressed all in white and will blend in," her partner replied. "Besides, they won't be expecting us, it's safe."
"Fine," Weiss replied grumpily, stalking forward. "I'll let you know if the way is clear."
The other three waited anxiously as Weiss rounded the bend. All that was heard were several muffled whumps, and then Weiss calmly walked back around to rejoin them, covered from head to toe in snow.
The heiress spit out a mouthful of the white substance. "The way is most certainly not clear," she stated flatly. "I do believe they are expecting us."
"Will we let this affront stand?" Ruby demanded as a smiling Pyrrha carefully brushed the clinging snow off of her girlfriend's torso.
"No!" Blake replied with a feral grin.
"Then let's get 'em! Banzai!"
"Banzai!" the others returned, though Weiss' cheer was notably muted. With snowballs in hand, the four girls rounded the corner and flung themselves into action.
Weiss concentrated on getting to her beleaguered teammate and her girlfriend, maintaining a black glyph to the side that absorbed any snowballs flung her way. Ruby took off in a flurry of rose petals, flinging a pair of snowballs as she went. Velvet went flying backwards from the speed-assisted hit, her bunny ears flopping when she hit the ground, while Yatsuhashi simply batted the incoming strike away with his hand.
Fox and Coco held their fire until they saw Ruby skid to a stop, then let fly. Both snowballs hit her in the stomach, sending her to the ground. Yang quickly reached out to pull her sister to safety.
"Glad you could join the fight, sis!" the blonde said cheerfully.
"Happy to help," Ruby wheezed, trying to get her breath back.
Meanwhile, both Blake and Pyrrha were steadily advancing, pelting Jaune and Ren with hits while deftly avoiding the return fire. Jaune eventually resorted to simply hiding behind his shield as he made for his previous shelter of the partial snowman. Ren took advantage of the cover afforded by his team leader and would pop up every so often to keep their opponents on their toes.
Eventually, Weiss, Blake, and Pyrrha made it to cover with the other three.
"Right," Pyrrha said, her cheeks rosy and an excited twinkle in her eyes. "What's the plan?"
"Well, we're six on six now," Ruby started, gathering up some more snow into her gloved hand. "I say we go on the offensive and overwhelm them."
"That's your plan of attack?" Weiss asked skeptically. "Attack?"
"I can get behind this plan," Nora stated eagerly.
"It has the virtue of being nice and simple," Blake added.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Fine, let's do this."
Once everyone had a snowball in each hand, they shared a look. "Ready?" Ruby asked. "Then, let's go!"
The six girls leapt to their feet, ready to let fly. They were unprepared, however, for the barrage that assaulted them.
"Retreat!" Ruby yelled before getting a snowball right in her open mouth. She fell to the ground, gagging slightly as she crawled back under cover.
"What was that?" Yang asked worriedly.
"That," Blake said calmly as she shook the snow off of her hat. "Was at least three more teams."
"Those sneaky little buggers!" Nora exclaimed. "They countered our reinforcements with reinforcements of their own!"
"Well, only one thing to do," Yang sighed.
"Surrender?" Weiss asked hopefully.
"Nope! Call for more reinforcements!"
Fortunately both Sun and Neptune were still in town, and they dragged a less-than-enthusiastic Scarlet and Sage with them. Also, since both of Team RWBY's friends had started dating members of Team NDGO, who were visiting from Shade Academy as their winter break had already started, the entrenched girls were soon fortified by Nebula, Dew, Gwen, and Octavia. Gwen in particular was grinning eagerly in anticipation, though the undergarbed Dew knelt by her new extended team, shivering slightly.
"If I'd known a snowball fight was on today's agenda," the dark blonde Vacuo native complained, "I would have dressed warmer. It's not nearly this cold back home."
"Don't you worry, gorgeous," Sun grinned. "I'll keep you warm afterwards."
Blake snorted and slapped her monkey Faunus friend lightly on the arm. "Ease up there, lover boy. We have a fight to win first."
"We got everybody?" Ruby asked the crowded area behind the hedge. Yang, Nora, Neptune, and Pyrrha were busy tossing out random snowballs to make sure their opponents didn't approach too closely. "Right. Here's the plan, then…"
"Is it a better plan than just 'attack?'" Weiss asked humorously.
Ruby smirked and flicked her partner lightly on the forehead as she used to do to her so often. "Yes, it is. Team SSSN has the left flank, Team NDGO has the right. Keep them occupied and engaged until we reveal our secret weapon."
"Wait, secret weapon?" Nebula objected. "What secret weapon?"
"Well, silly, if we told you," Nora giggled when she dropped back under cover. "Then it wouldn't be a secret."
Yang by this point had dropped back and begin to roll balls of snow back uphill towards their impromptu fort, creating snowman-sized ammunition. Once she had four of them, she grinned and gave her sister a thumbs up.
"Okay guys, this is it," Ruby said anticipatorily. "Go! Go! Go!"
The pair of teams broke out from cover, laughing and giggling madly as they engaged the enemy.
"Ready Weiss?" Ruby asked.
The heiress clutched her left hand in her pocket. "I don't have all that much," she warned. "These four might be the limit."
"It'll be enough," Ruby assured her. "Nora, Blake, Pyrrha! Cover fire!"
The three girls popped up from cover and began to toss their meager snowball supply towards the advancing enemy, now looking to be perhaps a good quarter of the entirety of Beacon academy as their ranks swelled with eager participants. Yang crouched down and lifted up the first of the giant-sized snowballs.
Weiss flicked her wrist and a large white glyph came to life at Yang's feet. "Just drop it straight down," the platinum-haired girl advised, twirling her fingers to get the angle right. "Team CVFY first?" she asked Ruby.
"Yep!" the diminutive redheaded leader replied, scanning the battlefield. "Let loose whenever you're ready!"
Without further ado, Yang dropped the armful of snow onto the glyph and leapt back to grab another. As the snow arced over the heads of Coco, Velvet, Fox, and Yatsuhashi, Weiss pulled her other hand out and twirled it, using some of the dust she'd stashed in her pocket several days ago. The giant snowball increased in size tenfold, covering the entire area that Team CVFY occupied.
"Oh," Yatsuhashi intoned.
"My," Fox breathed.
"Kittens," Velvet squeaked.
Before any of them could move, they were blanketed under a good three feet of snow.
A stunned silence fell over the courtyard, broken after only a few seconds by Nora's maniacal laugh.
"Ahahaha!" she cackled. "Flee while you still can, puny mortals!"
Two more enormous projectiles were sent out in rapid succession, one towards each flank, quickly growing in size again and blanketing the opposition in deep snow.
Jaune struggled to emerge from the wintry prison. "Retreat!" he called out in panic. He finally got himself freed, only to be hit in rapid procession by his teammates, Nora and Pyrrha.
Weiss let the last artillery strike fly at the fleeing backs of the other students, just for good measure. Soon enough, the only ones left standing on the field of battle were the victors.
"Woohoo!" Yang cheered, pumping her fists into the air. "Now that was an epic snowball fight!"
"P- p- p- please," Dew chattered as Sun rubbed her arms from behind. "C- c- can we g- g- get some hot c- c- coco now?"
"Yep!" Ruby grinned. "Hot coco courtesy of Yang and Nora, the instigators of this whole mess!"
"Fair enough!" Nora laughed.
"To the cafeteria!" Yang called out. Her announcement was met by cheers as the extended group gratefully made their way into the building in question.
Ren pulled himself upright, brushing the snow off of his torso. "Knew I should have defected," he grumbled.
"Was that an option?" Velvet asked, carefully wringing the wet snow out of her fluffy ears.
"We'll keep it in mind next time," Fox laughed. "Hey, Coco, you okay?"
The brunette team leader shook her head solemnly. "Defeat leaves a bitter taste in my mouth."
"Hmm," Yatsuhashi rumbled as he draped a friendly arm around her shoulders. "I know just the thing to wash it out and warm us all up at the same time."
Fox and Velvet grinned at each other. "Coffee," they sighed in unison.
The team made their way to follow the victors, Ren trailing in their wake.
Eventually Jaune poked his head out, having finally dug his way back out from the second snow bank he'd found himself buried in. "What, everyone left already?" he snorted. "Typical."
The blonde glanced up to see a softly smiling Ren standing next to him.
"Ren, you came back!"
"Let's go, Jaune," his teammate said, offering him a hand up.
"Hot coco?" Jaune asked hopefully as he regained his feet.
"Hot coco," Ren agreed. The two boys walked off of the field of battle together back to the warmth and laughter of the cafeteria.
A/N: Hey, look, it's a holiday special! Whee! I'm actually leaving this one open as I intend to add two more chapters to it, one each day before Christmas Day. I thought originally I'd just do one chapter from each couple's perspective, starting with Yang and Nora, but their activity in this first chapter sort of snowballed out of control. (See what I did there? Eh? Eh? Hmm, tough crowd.)
Couple of extra items to note. For starters, if you haven't yet picked up 12 Days of Shipping by the very talented Solora Goldsun, please do so. It's wonderful. They're writing one chapter for each day of Christmas, and a different pairing each time.
Also, I'm kinda leaning towards a Jaune and Ren ship here. (Why are they called Lie and Cheat?) Problem being, I can't write yaoi. (EDIT: Also I can't seem to keep yuri and yaoi straight. No pun intended, and apologies for the earlier typo.) My daughter, the lovely Live to anger the World, is on winter break, and I'm trying to convince her to co-author a piece with them in it to add to the Lemonade collection. We'll see how that goes.
So, anyways, thanks as always for reading. This can be considered the sequel to Trifecta, and the eighth story in the Lemonade series.
Stay shiny!