Chapter 9. Beacon Games
Another weekend has arrived. Which means another one of the Odd Jobs' adventures. It all started off in Team RWBY's dormitory.
"It's so boring!" Ruby said while rolling around the floor.
"Don't you have anything to do?" Weiss asked. She was on her scroll looking through the news while holding a history book in her hand.
"Nothing…"
"Like really nothing at all?" Yang asked. She was busy shadowboxing.
"Nope…"
"Well, technically you are doing something; rolling on the floor." Blake said as she glanced over her book.
"But it's still boring!" Ruby shouted. She was now rampaging across the room with her barrel rolls.
Suddenly, Shimaru came crashing through their window and rolled as he landed, causing the glass shards of what used to be a window to fly and spread across the floor and also catching Team RWBY's attention, their eyes and ears completely focused on him.
He slowly stood up and pulled out a sketch pad and a pencil that was hidden in his uniform. He opened the sketch pad to a clean page and started writing some words on it, saying: "Come to the courtyard at 10:00 AM sharp. The Odd Jobs have prepared an activity for all of us."
Shimaru ripped off the page with the message and left it on their desk. He opened the door and left the room, meeting together with Elizabeth in the corridor, who just came out of Team JNPR's dorm and left the same message. The two silent-types walked down the corridor, staying silent as ever.
"Hey, use the door like a normal person or at least clean up your mess!" Weiss shouted at them.
"So that's how he communicates…" Ruby said as she got the broom and dustpan and started to sweep the glass shards. "He's pretty cool, don't you guys think?"
"Oh, I get it now little sister…" Yang nudged her and wiggled an eyebrow. "You're not into cute, adorable Sougo, but you're into the shy, silent and anti-social Shimaru!"
"No! It's nothing like that!" Ruby protested.
"Aww, Ruby likes the type of guy whose anti-social like her, so that both of them could understand each other's feelings." Yang continued to tease her. "It's just like Romeo and Juliet!"
Blake covered her face with the book she was reading. She was blushing really badly at the thought of it. Her face was so red, her head felt really warm and she felt that she was about to faint.
"Stop it already!" Ruby attacked her older sister, using the broom and dustpan as her weapons. "And like I said, I just find him cool, nothing else!"
Weiss looked at Blake and observed her. She was pretty silent for quite a while now, and there was no way that she was so fixated on a book that made her ignore the sound of the windows crashing. Weiss slowly approached her and saw her cat ears twitching violently.
"Aha!" Weiss shouted out as she grabbed Blake's book and revealed her tomato face for Yang and Ruby to see.
"Blake…" Yang stood beside Weiss. "Why are you so red?"
"Are you embarrassed because that Shimaru guy outshined you in being a nin-" Ruby gasped. She whispered into Yang's ear, who then whispered the same message into Weiss' ear.
All of them turned to face Blake. Their eyes all locking onto their only target- Blake. And then they all let out a big smirk.
"You like him, don't you?" Yang teased.
"No… I just don't feel well…" Blake said. She didn't want to say the truth that she was blushing at the thought of a Ruby x Shimaru ship. And hell, as the author, I disapprove of that. I hate romance, you guys should know that.
"I'm telling Sun!" Ruby ran out of the dorm and start dashing down the corridor, searching for Sun.
"And I'm telling the Shimaru guy!" Yang also rushed out the dorm, pursuing the silent ninja.
Weiss stayed and gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I believe you." She said. "I'll go tell Sun and Shimaru that it was all a lie, and I'll go scold Ruby and Yang as well."
"Thanks a lot Weiss." Blake replied.
Weiss left the dorm searching for the two sleazy sisters on a mission of avenging Blake. Seriously, let Blake rest from all the teasing would you?
Blake could finally relax, and go back to reading her book in peace.
Later that day, at exactly 10:00 AM, everyone who was invited were all waiting at the courtyard for this activity that the Odd Jobs had planned out. The trio arrived pushing a cart filled with different kinds of sports materials and equipment.
"So what's all this for?" Sun asked as he picked up a baseball bat.
"We're gonna be having…" Gintoki spun around and pointed at the sky. "Beacon Games!"
"Beacon Games…?" Jaune asked, completely clueless.
"It's something like the Rio Olympics 2016, but it's held in Beacon and it's our version." Shinpachi answered.
"Our first game is baseball!" Kagura dragged along a little whiteboard that showed the list of games that they were going to play.
"Baseball…?" Yang asked, also clueless.
"Right, let me explain." Hijikata pulled out a sketchbook from the cart and started doodling on it.
"So… You basically have to hit the ball and run around the whole court. If a person runs around the whole court, you get a point. If the person is tagged by the person with the ball, the ball is caught in mid-air without it bouncing or steps on these markers." Hijikata pointed at the corners. "Then that person is out. Now if the ball spins into these areas." He pointed at the Foul zone. "That's a foul, and you'll have to re-bat. That's basically all you guys need to know."
"Thank you, prince Mayo." Gintoki said teasingly. "Now, here are the teams." He grabbed the sketchbook from Hijikata and flipped to the page where the teams were already finalized.
Team 1: Gintoki, Shinpachi, Sougo, Shimaru, Kondo, Ruby, Blake, Nora, Pyrrha, Sun, Qrow, Elizabeth, Mercury, Emerald.
Team 2: Kagura, Hijikata, Yamazaki, Weiss, Yang, Ren, Jaune, Neptune, Winter, Ironwood, Otae, Sacchan, Katsura, Cinder.
"Woah, Winter-melon and Iron Narwhal is here too?" Qrow asked in shock.
"I was starting to think they were feeling left out, so I invited them too." Gintoki responded.
"Cinder's team too?" Neptune asked.
"Come on, Forgive and Forget." Kondo said.
"This is just gonna be a demo, you play baseball like this;" Gintoki signaled Shinpachi to throw the ball at him. He batted it sending it flying and Kagura caught it before it landed into the ground.
"Oh, I see now. Then you have to run around the field right?" Pyrrha asked as she raised her hand.
"Yup. That's basically it." Sougo concluded.
"Whatever, let's start the game!" Kagura said excitingly as she raised her fist out. "Gin-chan, let's decide who goes on the offensive first!"
"Alright… Rock,"
"Paper,"
"Scissors!"
Gintoki's team lost. They were first to be on the defensive. Shinpachi must've forgot to warn everyone that Gintoki's luck was really bad when it came to gambling and betting.
Sougo was the pitcher. Nora was assigned on first base, Gintoki on second, Qrow on third and Elizabeth on home base. The first batter on the enemy team was Ironwood, who was still confused on the mechanics of the game.
The game was now underway.
Sougo threw quite a half-assed pitch, easy to hit. Ironwood swung the baseball bat randomly, letting the ball fly towards Ruby.
"I got it…!" Ruby shouted out, confident that she would catch the ball, but Nora suddenly appeared on front of her, jumped and smashed the ball down with her hammer. The ball flew directly at Gintoki, who flew at Qrow, who flew right into a concrete wall. It was the perfect meaning of 'hitting two birds with one stone'.
Ironwood effortlessly walked around the whole court and was able to make it back to home base. That was one point for Team 2.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Shinpachi shouted at the proud Nora. "You're supposed to get the ball and tag the runner, not smash the ball into your own teammates. You're not even supposed to leave your post!"
"Oh… Woopsie." Nora giggled.
"We need to at least out them three times to switch to the offensive…" Kondo said.
"It's ok chief, I got this." Sougo replied reassuringly.
The next batter was Hijikata. As soon as he got onto the home base, ready to bat, Elizabeth stepped away from him. What the hell is going on? This obviously wasn't good.
"Oi, Sougo if you try to-" Hijikata dropped the cigarette in his mouth and the bat he was holding when he saw his junior firing his bazooka at him. Luckily, he was able to dodge the missile. "Odd Jobs, what the fuck?! This is obviously not in the rules!"
"What are you talking about Hijikata?" Gintoki looked at the official baseball handbook. "It doesn't say that we can't use deadly weapons in here."
"Because you were supposed to make special rules!"
"Fine, here's a special rule; if anyone complains about the game, they are instantly out."
Outplayed. Now that was one out in Team 2.
Next was Katsura, who conversed with Elizabeth first before picking up the bat.
"Elizabeth, please, let me pass this one out." Katsura begged his partner-in-crime.
Elizabeth raised a sign: "Sure thing, pal."
Katsura smiled and picked up the bat. He turned to face Sougo, determined to hit a homerun. But while Katsura wasn't looking, Elizabeth pulled out another sign: "Kill this bastard!" Sougo nodded and threw the ball at full speed, making it land right into Katsura's manhood.
Two out. Just one more to go.
Yang was the fourth batter, even more determined than the unfortunate Katsura. Sougo pitched a time bomb at her, only to punch it back at him. He ducked on time, and now the bomb was flying at Gintoki, who then pulled out his sword and batted it up in the air.
"I won't let you pass!" Ruby shouted out as she blocked Yang's path.
"Try again next time lil' sis!" Yang simply slid under her, then continued her run.
The time bomb started it's descent towards Mercury. If he didn't catch it and threw it at third base, then the enemy team would get a point.
"I got it!" Mercury called out as he gave the time bomb a flying kick, launching it directly at Yang. But Qrow, having that defensive fatherly instinct activating within him, blocked the impact of the time bomb as it blew up on his face.
"Why?!" Shinpachi and Mercury shouted at him.
"Because she's my niece…" Qrow whimpered.
"Aww, uncle Qrow!" Yang gave her drunkard uncle- druncle- a big hug.
"Who cares?! We're at war here dammit! Now they have two points!" Gintoki raged.
"Not really boss." Sougo appeared behind Yang and pulled out a baseball and tapped it on her. "There, now that's three outs."
And on front of every member from Team 1, Sougo appeared to look like a saint, with a heavenly glow coming from the sky to fall upon him. While Team 2, on the other hand, looked at him like he was the devil himself.
It was team switch, the score was now one to zero. Team 2's pitcher was Otae, first base was Neptune, second was Winter and third was Katsura. Team 1's first batter was Kondo, the infamous gorilla that was completely well-known in two different worlds.
"Otae-san, I'll do anything for you! I'll make a homerun, to win your heart!" Kondo shouted out passionately.
"Anything right?" Otae let out her evil grin and brought out her special weapon- dark matter. "Then die for me!" She pitched her strongest throw and threw the dark matter with deadly, scary accuracy that it flew right into the gorilla's mouth. Just tasting it could kill. Imagine what would happen to poor Kondo now that he swallowed the inedible object.
"Sorry dude, you're out." Gintoki and Qrow walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder with faces that pitied him.
"Hey… This isn't bad, right? I won't die, right? Right?!" Kondo panicked as he was escorted back to the bleachers with an open coffin just sitting around, ready to be occupied.
"Nice one boss lady!" Kagura complemented Otae's good work.
The second batter for Team 1 was Sun. Otae pitched with half-strength and Sun hit the ball right in the center of the bat, making it fly far. He started running towards first base, where he would encounter his best friend Neptune.
"You're not gonna pass!" Neptune cried out as he stood on front of the base.
"Really now?" Sun pulled out a bottle of water and uncapped it, causing Neptune to run away. Now that the first base was unoccupied, Sun was able to occupy it.
"So wait, his name is Neptune, and he's afraid of water?" Shinpachi looked at Ruby, who only nodded.
"Ironic right?" Ruby said.
Next up was Blake. The pitcher threw the ball right at her and Blake tried to hit it with all her strength, but it only caused the ball to fly not that far, but it was able to bounce and roll. She started her run towards first base.
"I got it!" Yang said as she used her shotgun blast to boost her forward and pass the ball to Winter. She was able to catch it successfully and used one of her Glyphs to freeze Sun's legs in place, then casually stepped on the marker.
"Out." Winter glared at him.
The fourth batter was Mercury, confident as ever. He took up his bat and pointed it at Cinder.
"Come on granny, you better catch my homerun!" Mercury teased.
Did he just call Cinder 'granny'?
Cinder was enraged at being called a granny. She snapped her fingers, causing Mercury to combust into flames and making him run around the whole field on fire.
"Oh my god, Cinder!" Emerald cried out. "He was just joking!"
"Well he should know best not to call me that." Cinder replied.
Third out. Team switch again.
Team 1 still had the same arrangement. Team 2's fifth batter was Sacchan.
"Oi, Sougo, let's switch just this once." Gintoki ordered him.
"Okay boss." Sougo followed.
Sacchan's eyes widened as she saw the pitcher was her one and only true love.
"It's Gin-san! I must hit a homerun. Hit the ball, and you get to have Gin-san's balls." She was now deep inside her own fantasy, until Gintoki called her attention.
"Oi, Sarutobi." Gintoki said, aiming a rocket launcher at her. "Catch this." He fired, the missile directly hitting her.
"Uh… She'll be okay right?" Pyrrha asked.
"Yeah, she's always fine after something like that. Somehow." Kagura answered.
Gintoki and Sougo switched places again. That was barely three minutes and there was already one out.
The sixth batter of Team 2 was Weiss. Filled with pride, determination and confidence, she was completely sure she could win another point for her team. Until Ruby caught the ball in mid-air before it landed on the ground.
"That's so unfair!" Weiss ran back to the bleachers. Her older sister tried to comfort her.
Two outs.
Ren was the seventh batter. Sougo let out a normal pitch and Ren successfully hit it. Nora jumped into the air to intercept it and send it back at Ren.
"Sorry Ren!" She swung her hammer, launching the baseball at a deadly speed. And to add onto that, Kagura added even more force to push the ball even faster, but Ren used his Semblance to redirect the ball at Elizabeth, who was caught off-guard and was directly hit at the stomach. Elizabeth couldn't handle the pain. He fell onto the ground coughing out blood.
"Elizabeth!" Katsura ran to him. "Hang in there! We'll get you to a doctor!"
Elizabeth struggled and raised a sign: "It's okay… I'm fine… Go on without me…"
"No Elizabeth! I don't want to accept this!"
Elizabeth raised another sign: "Just… go…" And with that, Elizabeth closed his eyes and dropped his sign onto the ground.
"Noooooo!" Katsura shouted at the sky, almost as if he was cursing the heavens for what has happened to his beloved pet / friend / partner in crime.
Meanwhile, Yang and Winter were throwing punches at each other, protecting their little sisters.
"How dare you hurt Weiss' feelings!" Winter screamed as she threw another punch at Yang.
"Ruby did nothing wrong!" Yang shouted and returned with another punch at Winter.
"Now calm down ladies," Qrow intervened. "You two will lose your beauty if you continue to be angry at each oth-" But Qrow was interrupted with a punch from both sides of his face, one from Yang and the other from Winter.
In another part of the field, Emerald, the Shinsengumi and Otae were all crying at the graves of the three severely injured people. One of the graves said 'Kondo', the other said 'Mercury' and the last one said 'Sacchan'.
"Oh, Mercury… You were such a good friend…" Emerald sniffled.
"Kondo-san, you were such a good leader." Hijikata covered his eyes, trying to hold in the tears.
"Chief!" Yamazaki and Sougo cried out, bursting with tears.
"Sarutobi, you were pretty persistent, but I'm glad to have called you a rival." Otae said with a smile.
"You guys, they're still alive…" Jaune tried to tell them and pointed at three people who were covered in bandages. "They're over there."
Somewhere in another part of the field, Ruby, Weiss and Kagura were all arguing about whose dad is better. Yes, that really childish arguement that one would experience back in pre-school.
"My dad's cool, he's part of Team STRQ, one of the strongest Huntsman teams ever!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Nowhere near my dad, he's really famous and rich because of his very successful company!" Weiss proudly proclaimed.
"Well, not sure if this is worth bragging…" Kagura lazily said while picking her nose. "But my dad is the strongest in the universe."
Little Red and Ice Queen stared at the Edo's Kabukicho Queen.
"Are you serious?" Weiss asked.
"Yep. Not gonna lie, but he is." Kagura said.
And in another part of the field, there stood the three ninjas; Blake, Shimaru and Ren. Okay not entirely ninjas, but agile fighters. Giving each other the death glare. It was the most intense staring contest ever.
"Gin-san… I don't think we can continue the baseball match any further…" Shinpachi reported.
"Alright, quiet!" Gintoki shouted out. "Instead of baseball, let's have another game."
"And that is?" Cinder walked up, asking a question.
"Cart racing." Gintoki answered.
Everyone was divided into their own teams; The Odd Jobs, Shinsengumi, Joui rebels, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Team Grown-ups, Team Cinder… thing… I forgot the name. Each of them given a cart.
"Wait, I just wanna ask you a question." Gintoki raised his hand.
"What is it?" Cinder asked.
"If every Team consists of four members, then wheres you're fourth member?"
"She isn't here at the moment. Her name's Neo."
"So your team name is Team CMEN?"
"No, dammit! People in the internet just call us that!"
"Gin-san," Shinpachi reminded Gintoki. "Care to explain now?"
"Oh, right. Anyway, the game is simple; first team that circles around the entire Beacon Academy two times win. One or two people can push the cart, and the rest can attack or defend the cart." Gintoki said. "Alright, start assigning your roles."
For Team RWBY, Yang was assigned to push the cart, and the rest of her teammates was left to do the attacking and defending.
Team JNPR assigned Nora as the cart pusher. Ren would focus on the attack and Jaune and Pyrrha were the defense.
The Odd Jobs assigned Kagura as their engine, and the rest would have to do the attack and defense.
The Shinsengumi all decided that Kondo and Yamazaki should push, and the remaining three would all focus on offense.
"Kondo-san, I don't think my stamina can keep up." Yamazaki anxiously said.
"Don't worry Yamazaki," Kondo reassured him. "With the drive to do it, you can accomplish anything!"
Team Grown-ups consisted of Qrow, Ironwood and Winter. The three of them drew lots to see who would push the cart, and Ironwood was the unlucky one.
Team Joui was just a two-man army, but it was easy for them to decide, since Katsura was always the one throwing the bombs and Elizabeth was always the one assisting him.
Finally, Team Cinder just decided that Mercury should be the one pushing the cart since he has good leg muscles among all of them.
"Alright everyone, the race starts… NOW!" Gintoki shouted, and the race was underway.
"Pyrrha cover our left!" Jaune ordered. "Ren start shooting at the Odd Jobs!"
"Got it Jaune!" Pyrrha followed and set her shield down on the left side of the cart. Ren used his pistols to start shooting at the Odd Jobs cart.
The Shinsengumi cart suddenly appeared right on front of the Team JNPR cart. Shimaru stood up and engaged Ren on a dual-blade close combat fight, with each of them delivering quick attacks to one another.
Team Grown-ups was having a hard time deciding on who was attack and who was defense. The race was already underway, but Winter and Qrow were still engaged in a petty argument.
"You two, stop it! We must win this race!" Ironwood shouted at them.
"No, I'll be attack! I got Glyphs that can help us win!" Winter suggested.
"Then use those Glyphs to actually protect us! I'll handle the attack!" Qrow objected.
"Seriously you two sto-" Ironwood was cut off as he was pushed away by one of Weiss' Glyphs.
"Uh oh." Qrow and Winter said, screaming and hugging each other as the cart they were riding on ran downhill and charged into the downtown district.
Team Grown-ups was out.
"Cinder what do we do?" Emerald asked.
"Isn't it simple? We just burn their carts." Cinder smiled and snapped her fingers, setting the Odd Jobs cart on fire. Then started to laugh hysterically.
"Ah! Gin-san, our cart's on fire!" Shinpachi screamed.
Otae glared at Cinder with her eyes wide open. It was a bad omen. She grabbed one of her dark matter and threw it at Cinder with precision that it hit her right in the face.
"Crap, Mercury! Cinder's down!" Emerald screamed, clueless of what to do now that their leader is unconscious.
"Wha-" Mercury was also shot down by one of Otae's dark matter bombs. Now the only thing Emerald could do was continue screaming as their cart ran into the fountain.
Team Cinder was also out.
"Yang, push the Shinsengumi cart!" Ruby cried out.
"Got it little sis!" With a punch, Yang was able to push the Shinsengumi cart, throwing it off balance. And also punching Kondo in the face in the process.
"Guys! The chief is down!" Yamazaki shouted, his legs and arms shaking as he continued pushing the cart with all his might.
"Hang on a little longer Yamazaki!" Hijikata said.
"Hijikata-san, what's that?" Sougo asked, pointing at a weird iron ball with a timer on it.
"Oh cra-" The Shinsengumi cart blew up into smithereens. Now they were out of the race as well. Only four carts remained.
Katsura and Sacchan were laughing valiantly, now that they downed Edo's mighty police force. "We are unstoppable!" Both of them cried out as they continued throwing bombs at the other three carts.
"Pyrrha, use your Semblance!" Jaune ordered his teammate, who nodded in reply. She used her Semblance to control the metal balls- the bombs- to fly back into the Joui rebel cart.
Elizabeth pulled out a sign: "Uh oh." And then their carts were blown up into smithereens, meeting the same fate as the Shinsengumi cart.
"Alright, just two more carts guys!" Ruby said. She trembled when their cart suddenly shook violently. They saw Kagura and Yang engaged in a fist fight, while Shinpachi prepared for a special attack.
"Special Attack; Rise of the Shining Glasses!" Shinpachi cried out as he raised his glasses into the sky, creating a bright flash of light blinding anyone who saw it.
"What was that…?!" Weiss shouted, only to realize she had been pushed off of their cart by Gintoki, together with Blake.
Kagura was able to win the fist fight, by cheating. She kicked at Yang when she least expected it and caused her to drag the cart with her, making the Team RWBY cart tumble and roll over.
Two carts remain.
"Nora, hammertime!" Jaune shouted out.
"Finally!" Nora hopped onto the cart and blasted at the ground with her grenade launcher, causing the cart to go forward even faster. She jumped up into the air switching into hammer mode and started her descent towards the Odd Jobs.
"Kagura!" Gintoki called.
Kagura kicked their cart forward to keep it moving for a few more meters without her help and engaged Nora in mid-air, only for her thick head to meet the blunt warhammer, causing her to flat-spin back into the courtyard floor.
Nora shot a grenade, changing her course back into the Odd Jobs. She pulled her hammer over her head and let it down right in the center of the cart, causing it to break in half and then into smaller parts.
Team JNPR won the fierce Mad Max race of Beacon.
"Good job Nora!" Jaune and Pyrrha gave her a thumbs up.
"Thanks guys!" Nora saluted.
"Uh, guys… We might wanna have to clean this up before Ms. Goodwitch sees this." Ren said, pointing at some burning grass, broken pieces of wood everywhere and cracked concrete.
"Wait, have any of you seen Sun and Neptune?" Pyrrha asked, her teammates shrugged, also clueless of where they went. Where did they go?
Somewhere in the dormitory, Sun was trying to apologize to Neptune after what he had tried to do back in the baseball game.
"Dude, I said I was sorry!" Sun said.
"Still, you know that I hate water!" Neptune replied.
"That's what I don't get! You're Neptune, named after the god of the sea, and you're afraid of water!"
Neptune did not respond.
"Look, as your friend- no- best friend, I'll gladly help you overcome your fear of water."
"Really?!"
"Yup."
And the Sun and Neptune duo was once again reformed after another wild day.
Alright, sorry about Jaune's misfortune in the last chapter. Didn't know there were many Jaune fans. I promise to make him cooler in Chapter 10, somehow.
Also, Chapter 10 will be mostly focused on action. And maybe a life lesson...?
And don't forget to leave more replies. I seriously need it. Badly. To me, Reviews are like:
Ruby's cookies
Gintoki's parfait
Nora's pancakes
Hijikata's mayonnaise
Shinpachi's glasses
Well, you get the point.
