Chapter 10
It's Time to Dance! Part 1
It's been about a week since our heroes did battle with Shockblast. Naturally, the others had questions about him, but Optimus and Megatron told the truth. Well, mostly anyways. They said that he was a Decepticon, but defected ad tried to kill Megatron. However, he was destroyed by Unicron, or so they thought, many years ago. But this only resulted in more questions about Unicron.
"So, what exactly is Unicron?" Ruby asked as she and Optimus walked into the classroom.
"He was an all-powerful being, capable of destroying worlds," Optimus answered.
"Wow," Ruby said in awe, "how did you ever beat him?"
"We were aided by an ancient warrior, who held the power to defeat Unicron."
"What was his name?"
"His name was Omega Supreme," Optimus said as he and Ruby sat down next to each other. He thought back to when he first met Omega and how they combined into Optimus Supreme. But it also reminded him of Shockblast's supposed 'death'. He remembered how Shockblast was being consumed by Unicron's power from the inside out. He tried to save him, but failed.
"I bet he was pretty powerful," Ruby guessed.
"Indeed he was. He and I were unstoppable when we joined forces. Together, we had the power of a bright, burning sun!" Ruby's eyes seemed to glimmer as Optimus said that last bit in a sort of heroic fashion. They continued to talk for the remainder of the class, ignoring the sparring matches taking place. Currently, Pyrrha was fighting the whole of team CRDL, and winning. But that didn't stop their conversation.
"Ruby," Optimus said.
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about your weapon. I know it meant a lot to you." Ruby's expression went from a cheerful smile to a sorrowful frown. After Shockblast destroyed Crescent Rose, Ruby was so devastated that she held a funeral for it. And, while Weiss and Megatron found it time be a waste of time, team JNPR, as well as the rest of team RWBY, Optimus and Leobreaker attended.
"My poor baby!" Ruby whined, "why did this have to happen?"
"Hmm, tell you what," Optimus said, putting his hand on her shoulder, "give what's left of your weapon to me and I'll see what can do to fix it." Ruby's eyes lit up when he said that.
"You… you mean it?" she asked, anticipating the return of her beloved scythe.
"Absolutely. Think of it as a gift, from me to you." Ruby couldn't contain her excitement any longer. She squealed as she wrapped her arms around Optimus, catching him off guard.
"Thank you thank you thank you!" She exclaimed. However, this caught the attention of literally everyone else in the room, including Glynda.
"Is there a problem?" She asked sternly. Realizing what she was doing, Ruby let go of Optimus, her face turning red as a tomato. Optimus' face turned red as well, but not as much as Ruby's.
"Sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again," Optimus reassured. Glynda gave him a serious look before continuing with the session.
"As I was saying," she continued, "we have time for one more sparring match. Any volunteers?" The students stayed silent. "Ms. Belladonna," Glynda said, catching Blake's attention, "you've been docile for the past few classes. Why don't you-"
"We'll do it." Glynda was unable to finish her sentence as one of the other students volunteered. It was one of the exchange students that Ruby met the other day, along with his female companion.
"Mercury and Emerald, was it? Very well, let's find you two a couple opponents."
"Actually," Emerald stepped in, "we wanna fight… them." She pointed to Optimus and Leobreaker, who were also sitting next to each other.
"Alright then," Glynda said as she turned to Optimus and Leobreaker, "come on down and face your opponents." A grin formed on Leobreaker's face, since he's been itching for a battle all day.
"Finally!" he said, excited to fight.
"Don't get to overconfident," Optimus warned as they walked onto the sparring platform, "we don't know how powerful they are, so keep your guard up." Leobreaker nodded in response. The two transformers faced Mercury and Emerald, who had already gotten into their fighting positions.
"Don't hold back," Emerald suggested.
"Are you sure you want to make that request?" Glynda asked, remembering how Optimus had obliterated that Nevermore during initiations.
"Absolutely," Mercury added.
"Then so be it," Optimus said, his and Leobreaker's bodies starting to glow white. "Leobreaker, it's time to powerlinx!"
"You got it boss!" Leobreaker responded enthusiastically.
"Wait, what?" Emerald questioned. However, the response she got was rather shocking. Optimus' armor formed around him, and his arm folded backwards. Leobreaker's own arms detached from his shoulders as his head tucked into his chest. His legs linked up, allowing his arms to attach to them. Leobreaker connected to Optimus' right shoulder and a large, metallic hand assembled on the new lion arm. Finally, Optimus' signature jetpack latched onto him, completing the combined form.
"SAVAGE CLAW MODE!" Prime shouted as he pointed his enormous hand at his opponents. "CYBER KEY POWER!" Leobreaker's cyber key inserted itself into his now-giant wrist, flipping out his golden claws. "Still want to fight me?" Mercury and Emerald charged towards Optimus, with Mercury preparing a kick-blast with his ankle guns, and Emerald aiming her weapons at Prime. A look of determination formed on Prime's face as he flew at the two at breakneck speeds. He slammed his fist into his opponents, causing a flurry of red explosions. The impact was so great that Mercury was sent flying into the wall, and Emerald was hurled into the ceiling. Every student, aside from team RWBY and Megatron, of course, was left speechless at the spectacle. Even Glynda was shocked, and she'd already witnessed Optimus' great power.
"Since when could he do that!?" Jaune questioned.
"I've never seen anyone so powerful before," Pyrrha commented in awe.
"That's Optimus for ya!" Ruby said, still excited about receiving a new and improved weapon. Leobreaker detached from Optimus' shoulder and transformed back to route mode.
"Still wanna fight us?" Leobreaker asked, putting up his fists.
"No, we're done," Mercury responded as he and Emerald got back up. Suddenly, the buzzer went off, signaling that class was over.
"T-that's all for today," Glynda said, regaining her composure, "and remember, the dance is this weekend, but you all have your first mission on Monday. I will not accept any excuses." As teams RWBY and OMega walked out of the classroom, Mercury and Emerald watched carefully from a distance, having a hard time believing what just happened.
"Who knew learning would be so painful," Mercury complained.
"We'd better report back to Cinder," Emerald suggested.
"Right." Meanwhile, as our two main teams were walking outside, Ruby found that it was a good time to ask Optimus a very important question.
"So, um, Optimus," she began timidly, walking closer to her comrade, "who are you gonna ask to the dance?" Optimus put his hand on his chin, pondering on that thought for a moment,
"Well, I haven't really given it much thought," he answered. Ruby grew a bit disappointed.
"O-oh, ok. Well, just let me know if you need some advice asking someone out or anything," Ruby said halfheartedly.
"Will do," Optimus responded, giving her a thumbs up. However, they weren't the only ones talking about the dance. Team CRTT was trailing a few feet behind, with Thunderblast rating on about how Megatron would take her to the dance.
"Of course Megatron's going to pick me to go to the dance," Thunderblast boasted, "I'm the obvious choice."
"Oh yeah? Well what about blondie over there?" Ransack said, pointing to Yang, who was walking beside Megatron.
"Like my Megatron would ever go for a filthy human like her," Thunderblast scoffed, only to eat her own words shortly after Thundercracker pointed out something intriguing.
"Oh yeah? Look again," the seeker said, turning his team's attention back to Megatron and Yang.
"So, Megs," Yang began, resting her head on his shoulder, "you gonna take me to the dance this weekend?"
"Hmm, I don't see why not," he replied, receiving a wide grin from the fiery blonde.
"Sweet!" she exclaimed as she jumped on Megatron's back and wrapped her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him over. "I guess this could be our first date, huh?"
"Y-yes, well, I suppose so."
"HA! I knew I'd get you eventually!" Yang exclaimed her joy once again. This did not go unnoticed, especially by Thunderblast who, to no ones surprise, already had her rocket launcher pointed at Yang.
"Jeez, calm down, it's just a stupid dance!" Crumplezone said, holding back one of Thunderblast's arms. Ransack and Thundercracker followed their comrades lead and grabbed hold of her legs, trying desperately to avoid a devastating incident. But their efforts were futile as Thunderblast merely threw them off her and into the wall. She dashed in front of Megatron and Yang, who was still hanging onto Megatron's shoulders.
"HOW COULD YOU ASK HER TO THE DANCE AND NOT ME!" She shouted, seemingly looming over the two. Yang was so startled at Thunderblast's sporadic outburst that she lost her grip on Megatron and fell to the ground. Megatron, however, still retained his stone-cold scowl."
"Technically, she asked me to the dance," Megatron explained, not wanting to deal with yandere-con over here.
"But why did you say yes!?" Thunderblast questioned, her tears literally forming into waterfalls.
"What, you thought is was going to ask you?" Megatron said, realizing why Thunderblast was so pouty. She nodded frantically, drying her tears.
"Listen, Thunderblast, you're just not my type. Now quit being a kiss-up and get back to your team. I have important matters to attend to, such as finding something good to wear for this event. I can't exactly go wearing what I am now."
"Sorry, you snooze, you lose," Yang said as she and Megatron walked passed a very depressed Thunderblast. Her cat ears drooped down as she watched them walk away.
"I hate this game of emotions we play!" she said, falling to her knees.
"Tell me about it." Thunderblast looked to her left and saw Jaune standing next to her.
"What would you know about this kind of thing?" Thunderblast sniffled as she stood back up.
"I've been trying to get Weiss to go out with me, but she's just rejected me at every turn," Jaune explained, to which Thunderblast raised an eyebrow.
"Why Ice Queen? Wouldn't that red-haired girl be the better choice?"
"What, you mean Pyrrha?"
"Yeah, that's the one."
"Oh, come on," Jaune said, starting to walk away, "like someone as famous as her ever go for someone like me."
"Even though she's been dropping hints every now and then about this specific topic?" Thunderblast pointed out, walking beside Jaune. He'd never noticed this before, but now that he thinks about it, Pyrrha has been dropping a few hints here and there. But he shrugged it off for now and continued on about Weiss.
"But I'm head over heels for Weiss!" he said, hunching over. "I know I can win her over. Besides, I'm sure Pyrrha already has a date to the dance. I'm probably not even her type." Thunderblast was getting frustrated.
"How dense can you be?" she remarked.
"Hey, I am not dense," Jaune retorted, "Pyrrha and I are just friends and I'm going to ask Weiss to the dance. And nothing you say can stop me." It was then that Thunderblast grabbed Jaune by the shoulders and began to shake him violently.
"She's clearly into you! Now wake up, dangit!" As this was happening, the other three cons all merely facepalmed at the sight before dragging Thunderblast away.
"Sorry about her," Crumplezone apologized, even though he didn't mean it.
"Yeah, she can be a few handfuls, trust me," Ransack added before walking off into the distance. Once they were gone, Jaune began to think about what Thunderblast had told him.
'Does Pyrrha really like me?' he thought, scratching his head.
(…)
Later, inside one of the dorms, Mercury and Emerald had just finished telling Cinder about Optimus and Leobreaker during class.
"So, what Shockblast said was true," Cinder said, recalling how Shockblast told her about Optimus combining with a lion Faunus, "interesting."
"What should we do?" Emerald asked.
"We'll see how this plays out. I'm sure Optimus and Megatron won't be a problem. For now, we'll wait for Shockblast to report in person to us."
"Isn't he supposed to be here today?" Mercury questioned curiously. And as if it were fate, a large, mechanical hand grabbed onto the windowsill. Shockblast pulled himself through the window, although, there was something off about him. He had a brown cloth covering the left side of his body.
"What's with the cloak?" Emerald asked. Shockblast stayed silent. Instead of using words, he just flared his green eye at her, showing that he was in no mood to talk.
"Dearest," Cinder said, walking over to her partner in crime, "you wouldn't be hiding anything from us, would you?" Shockblast closed his eye tightly and gritted his teeth. Emerald and Mercury were surprised to see their co-boss acting in such a manner. Cinder put her hand on his cheek, to which he opened his eye, the glow in it dying down.
"I've failed, this time," he said, disappointment in his voice.
"You told us that," Cinder said, grabbing his cloak, "now, let's see what you're hiding." She pulled off the cloth hiding Shockblast's cannon. Or, rather, what was left of it. Mercury and Emerald were shocked to see that Shockblast's arm had been reduced to nothing more than a hunk of scrap. Cinder examined his broken arm for a few seconds, but instead of lashing out in anger, she kissed him on the lips and sat him down on one of the beds.
"What happened?" Mercury asked, but Shockwave didn't give him an answer.
"That doesn't matter," Cinder answered for her lover, "what does matter is that we get Shockblast a replacement." Shockblast clenched his mechanical fist in anger. He stood up, walked over to the corner of the room, and smashed it up against the wall. Luckily, Shockblast had made sure that the blow wasn't so severe as to break the whole wall down.
"Someone's a little moody today," Mercury whispered to Emerald. Unfortunately for her, Shockblast had tremendous hearing abilities.
"Care to repeat that?" Shockblast said coldly, looking back at his comrades, his eye flaring with anger.
"S-sorry sir," Emerald said, not wanting to face her co-boss' wrath.
"So," Mercury stepped in, "what should we do about Optimus and his pal."
"We'll let them have their fun, for now," Cinder said with a sinister grin, "besides, we don't have to worry about them now. They won't find out about our little operation."
"And you picked just the right time, too," Shockblast said, "while everyone's busy at their little shindig, you can execute your mission impossible homage." Shockblast smirked evilly as he began to walk back to the window. "Until then, you know where to find me." He then transformed and flew out the window, leaving Mercury, Emerald, and Cinder in silence.
(…)
Meanwhile, down at the courtyard, Optimus had decided to take a late-night stroll. He'd been thinking lately, about the dance, and whether or not he would go. He wanted to, really, but he had other things on his mind, such as Torchwick and what his next move will be. But the thought that surged through Optimus' head more was Shockblast's recent appearance.
"How are you still alive, Shockblast?" Optimus thought out loud. Suddenly, Optimus stopped dead in his tracks. He looked slightly behind him and crossed his arms. "I know you're following me. Come on out." For a few seconds, there was no response. But, from out behind the statue in front of the school, Ruby walked into Optimus' view.
"H-hey, Optimus," she said as she waved nervously.
"Why were you hiding?" he asked.
"Uh, well, you see, the thing is, uh," Ruby was having a hard time speaking, she was so embarrassed. Optimus walked over to her, to which she took a step back.
"Is something wrong?" he asked further. Ruby looked up at him to speak, but rather than just spouting out nonsense like earlier, she took a deep breath, looked him in the eye, and spoke.
"Optimus, remember when we started this whole investigation thing, and I asked if you had a crush on anyone, and you said no?"
"Yes, I do."
"Well, remember when you asked if I had a crush on anyone and I said no?" Ruby's face started to turn red.
"Where is this going, Ruby?" Optimus raised an eyebrow at his companion.
"*Sigh* You see, I might have, kind of, sort of, um… lied." Ruby began to tap her index fingers together, obviously flustered.
"I see," Optimus said, "and just who exactly do you have feelings for?"
"Uh, well, it's someone I met when I first got to Beacon," Ruby's face started turning more red.
"Uh-huh."
"A-and he helped me out when I first came here," Ruby continued, dropping hints about as to who she was referring.
"Go on."
"And he saved my life during initiations. And he's brave, smart, loyal, handsome," Ruby rambled, putting her hands behind her back and swaying back and forth.
"Does this person have a name?" Optimus asked, seeming as if he was catching on.
"I think you'd find him familiar," Ruby said, stepping closer to Optimus, "I've been wanting him to ask me to the dance for a few days."
"Does he know that you like him this way?"
"Uh, well… no," Ruby said, hanging her head.
"Then why not tell him?"
"W-what?"
"Tell him that you have feelings for him. Maybe then, you can get him to ask you to the dance."
"But, I thought that, oh I don't know, maybe he could ask me to the dance tonight. You know, out in the courtyard. All alone." The answer of who she was talking about was becoming a lot more obvious.
"Well Ruby," Optimus said, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder. She blushed at his warm touch, and her silver eyes started to glimmer.
"Yes Optimus?" She said, eagerly anticipating what Optimus was about to say.
"Sorry this guy didn't ask you to the dance," he said. Ruby deflated.
"Y-yeah… me too," she said sadly. "I think I'm gonna go to bed," she said quietly before walking to the entrance of the academy.
"Good night," Optimus waved at her, but she didn't even look back. Once Ruby closed the doors, Optimus stood there in the silence. He sighed to himself, thinking as to why the person she was talking about didn't show up. Perhaps he was late? Or maybe he was too nervous? However, his thoughts were interrupted when a familiar blonde dashed towards him from behind and punched him in the face as he turned around.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!" Yang shouted, obviously furious. Optimus made a quick recovery and sprang back onto his feet. He rubbed his face, the feeling of that punch still lingering on him.
"Ow! What was that for? And what are you doing here?" he asked, surprised to see Yang out here.
"I was following Ruby out here. She told me she was going to talk to you about the dance, and I followed her. So," Yang yanked Optimus by the collar and pulled his face closer to hers, "why didn't you ask her!?"
"What are you talking about?" Optimus replied, pulling himself from Yang's grip.
"Why didn't you aske her to the dance!?"
"I- Wh- That's what this is all about!?"
"What else is there to talk about right now?"
"Yang, right now, Torchwick's out there plotting his next move, and now Shockblast has returned from the dead. I don't have time to attend any festivities at the moment, not until we catch Roman and his cohorts," Optimus said calmly, yet sternly. This just made Yang angrier.
"Ugh, you're starting to sound like Blake!" she exclaimed, her eyes turning red. "Ever since we've started that investigation, Blake's done nothing but work her but off for days trying to find out anything about Roman and the White Fang. I've tried convincing her to rest, but she won't, and now, I've got to do the same with you! Didn't you ever take a rest from fighting Megatron back during the war?" Optimus was about to say something, but stopped as he thought back to when the Autobots decided to have a race on one of Alpha-Q's planets. If he recalled correctly, he eventually joined in on the fun. Not to mention the time when he, his Autobots, and the Decepticons participated in that tournament. He had fun then, even if he was disqualified from the final round due to 'ridiculous rules' as he put it.
"You're right Yang," Optimus sighed, "I need to take a break from all this."
"Wow, that went easier than I thought," she said, her eye returning to their usual shade of purple.
"But there's still one thing I don't understand."
"Which is?"
"Why would Ruby want to talk to me about the dance?"
"Man, you really are dense when it comes to things like this, aren't you?"
"Now wait just a-"
"Listen," Yang interrupted, "Ruby wanted you to ask her to the dance." Optimus looked surprised.
"But, why me of all people?"
"You're joking, right?" Yang said, not believing what she was hearing. Optimus shook his head, signaling that he was serious. "You… you really don't know?"
"Know what?" Optimus persisted. To his surprise, Yang just laughed, "what's so funny?"
"Optimus, I would tell you, trust me, but right now, I think it's up to you to figure out."
"*Sigh* alright," Optimus sighed heavily as Yang put her hand on his shoulder.
"Look," she began, "Ruby really wants you to aske her to the dance. Again, I'll let you figure out why, but you should ask her out. I'm sure it would mean a lot to her." Optimus thought about this for a moment. He and Ruby had become good friends since they met, and Optimus didn't want to ruin that friendship.
"You're right Yang," Optimus said, "I'll ask her to the dance tomorrow."
"Sounds like a plan!" Yang said enthusiastically, giving Optimus a thumbs up.
"However, I don't have anything nice to wear to the dance."
"I think I can fix that," Yang said as she grabbed Optimus' arm and had her follow him, "c'mon, let's head into town. I've been meaning to get Megatron a suit, too."
"Thank you, Yang."
(The Next Day)
It was the day before Sunday. Just about everyone had a date for the dance and almost all the preparations were made. Teams RWBY and CRTT were finishing setting up decorations for the big dance tonight. However, Ruby was looking rather depressed sitting at one of the tables alone. But her moping was interrupted when Weiss handed her two sheets of paper that seemingly had the same color.
"I need you to pick a tablecloth" she said.
"Aren't they the same color?" Ruby asked, trying to find the difference in the two sheets of paper, to which Weiss crumpled up the papers and grunted in frustration.
"Ugh, I don't even know why I asked," she said before walking away. As Ruby went back to her sulking, Crumplezone walked up behind her and set down two massive speakers, with Ransack sitting on top of one of them.
"Jeez, what's got you so bummed?" he asked as he knocked Ransack off the speaker he was sitting on.
"Hey! Not cool buddy!" Ransack said in anger, trying to keep himself from pummeling his so-called friend.
"I wanted Optimus to ask me to the dance, but he didn't," she sighed, burying her face in her crossed arms.
"Optimus? Really?" Crumplezone questioned.
"Eh, it would never work out between ya anyways," Ransack added, making Ruby feel worse than she already was, "besides, I doubt a flower like you would have a shot with that truck." But Ransack shortly realized his slip of the tongue and covered his mouth immediately. He and Crumplezone looked at each other nervously, hoping Ruby wouldn't have noticed. Luckily, she was too busy self-pitying herself to catch on.
"Well, he's certainly built like a truck from what I've seen," she said, her cheeks turning a light red. But the red faded when she put her head back down, still feeling miserable. "And just to add insult to injury, Blake's not going to the dance either." Now this peaked the cons interests.
"Oh yeah?" Ransack said, putting his hands on his hips, "just you wait, Blake's gonna be all over me, wanting a date tonight!"
"Hate to break it to ya, Ransack, but I doubt she'd go for a guy like you," Crumplezone said smugly, to which Ransack gave him a sneer.
"What, you think she's gonna go with you? You have as much of a chance with her as Ruby does the Big O!" The short-tempered motorcycle retorted, only for ruby to sigh in further sadness.
"Oh, come on Ransack! Your too short for anyone to date you!"
"Short!? Some friend you are, Wideload!"
"WIDELOAD!?" Crumplezone and Ransack then proceeded to pound each other into submission. Fortunately, their fighting strayed away from Ruby and Yang, who was now at Ruby's side.
"What great friends they are, huh Ruby?" Yang said sarcastically. Ruby was unresponsive. "Oh come on, Rube's, you can't be sad about Optimus not asking you to the dance forever, y'know."
"That doesn't mean I can't be sad now!" she said, her voice slightly muffled in her arms. The two were silent for a few minutes. After a while, Ruby spoke up again. "Why didn't he ask me, Yang."
"Wow, you really like him, don't you?" Yang asked. Ruby looked up and nodded in response.
"I kept hinting at things like this for a while, but he just doesn't see it," Ruby whimpered.
"Maybe that was the reason he didn't ask you out. Maybe it was because he didn't know that you liked him this much."
"Maybe you're right" Ruby sighed, looking up from the table.
"Oh, don't worry Ruby," Yang said, patting her sister's head, "you'll be happy to know that yours truly convinced Optimus to ask you a certain question tonight before the big dance tomorrow." Ruby's head then shot back up from the table.
"REALLY!?" Ruby squealed, not even trying to suppress her happiness. But Yang grabbed hold of her in return and held her still.
"Sure did! Optimus is gonna sweep you off your feet tomorrow. Well, if he knows how to dance, that is," Yang said, to which Ruby screamed internally, "heck, I even helped him pick out a suit. He'll be here, and so will Blake. Don't sweat it." Ruby then gave her sister a tight hug, excited for the big dance tonight. However, this moment was interrupted when Yang noticed Weiss' questionable decoration methods. "Weiss! I thought we agreed, no doilies!" she shouted.
"If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!" Ice Queen retorted. Luckily, their argument was cut short when Sun and Neptune came in.
"Your dance is gonna have fog machines?" Neptune asked.
"We were thinking about it," Weiss replied.
"That's pretty cool," Neptune complimented in his usual 'cool guy' manner.
"So," Sun stepped in, "you ladies excited for dress up?"
"Well Ruby, are you excited?" Yang asked smugly, looking at her sister. Now that she knew Optimus was probably gonna ask her to the dance, Ruby was ecstatic.
"Oh, fine! I'm excited for the dance," she admitted, looking forward to going with Optimus.
"And I'll be turning heads tomorrow night," Yang added.
"Tch, yeah right," a certain female Decepticon said from another end of the room."
"Excuse me?" Yang said, slightly insulted by Thunderblast's remark.
"Sorry, sweetheart," Thunderblast mocked, walking up to Yang, "but Megatron's going with me tomorrow."
"But, he already said he'd go with me. He even told you that, remember?" Yang pointed out, making Thunderblast angrier by the second.
"if you think you can take away my Megatron, then you've got another thing coming sister!" Thunderblast and Yang were now glaring daggers at each other, as if they were trying to blow up one another using only their minds. Luckily, Thundercracker, as well as the two Velocitronians, stepped into the fray.
"Anyway," Thundercracker interjected, " what're ya'll gonna be wearin' tomorrow."
"Uh, this?" Sun said, referring to his current attire of a jacket and jeans, no shirt included.
"Ignore him, for he knows not what he says," Neptune cut in.
"Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo," Sun butted in, "It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place."
"I think that was established long ago pal," Ransack said as he and Crumplezone looked over Sun's apparel.
"So, what does Blake think of all this?" Sun asked, changing the subject, "Is she still being all, you know, Blakey?"
"Obviously," Weiss said.
"I still can't think of a way to change her mind," Ruby said, just about ready to admit defeat on the matter.
"Just leave that to me." Just outside the ball-room, Leobreaker was leaning up against the door frame.
"You sure you can handle this?" Yang asked.
"How long have you been standing there?" Weiss asked, to which everyone ignored her question.
"I've seen how she's been acting. I've been though a similar phase. Don't worry, I got this." Leobreaker then exited the room, confident that he could talk some sense into Blake.
(Time Skip)
Later in the school library, Blake was busy doing research on… something. Well, whatever it was, it was interrupted when Blake noticed a glowing red dot on the monitor screen. It motioned in a circle, then up and down for a bit, Blake's eyes following. The dot then moved down to her hand, making her a bit frustrated. Little did she realize that Leobreaker was behind these shenanigans nearby. After a few seconds of waiting, Leo aimed the laser-pointer at Blake's hand again. The ninja cat was getting more frustrated. However, she was able to calm herself momentarily. That is, until the dot showed up again on the screen, then onto the floor. Now, she'd had enough.
Blake stood up from the table and eyed the dot with anger. She followed the dot as it slowly moved to in between two of the bookshelves. Once she found its source, Blake was surprised to see both yang and Leobreaker standing in front of her.
"You don't know how much I wanted to chase that dot!" Leobreaker said.
"What are you-"
"We need to talk," Leobreaker said as he forcefully dragged her out of the library.
(…)
Meanwhile, Optimus and Megatron were staying in their dorm room, with Megatron trying on the suit Yang picked out for him and Optimus looking over Ruby's destroyed scythe. She had given it to him yesterday, before the incident late last night. Megatron had just finished putting on his suit. It bowtie.
"Prime, be honest," Megatron said, getting his nemesis' attention, "how do I look?" Optimus looked over Megatron in his new suit, carefully examining it.
"Well, it fits your style," Optimus complimented, "but there's one thing I don't understand."
"Oh? And what would that be, Prime?" Megatron questioned as Optimus went back to examining Ruby's weapon.
"Why are you interested in this? I would've expected you to be plotting your takeover of Remnant. But instead, you're worried about a dance. Why?" Megatron thought about it for a moment.
"You see, Prime," Megatron said, fixing up his bowtie, "even I need to take a little break from war. I may be evil, but at least I know how to have fun every once in a while."
"You mean besides dismantling Autobots and destroying planets?"
"Yes, aside from that," Megatron's eyes glowed for a brief moment, "besides, we've been waging this war for too long. I think we can both agree on that matter."
"You… have a point," Prime said reluctantly.
"Say, weren't you supposed to ask Ruby to the dance today?" Megatron pointed out. Optimus face palmed and stood up from his desk, which he had installed a few weeks ago.
"Argh, you're right! I'll go talk to her now." However, to both Optimus and Megatron's surprise, there was a knock at the door. Optimus was even more surprise to see Ruby standing in front of him as soon as the door was opened. "R-ruby?"
"Hey Optimus. Um, how's it going?" Ruby asked timidly.
"I'm doing fine. I was just looking over your damaged weapon to see what I can do to fix it," Prime responded.
"Oh, cool! Again, thanks for doing this."
"Yeah, no problem." Before Ruby and Optimus could continue their conversation, Megatron stepped through the doorway, blocking the two.
"I think I'll leave now," he said, fully stepping out of the room, "I wouldn't want to spoil the moment." Once Megatron was gone, there was an awkward silence between Optimus and Ruby. The supreme Autobot commander didn't know what to say. Neither did the huntress in training.
"So, um, Optimus," Ruby said, breaking the silence.
"Y-yes, Ruby?"
"Um, is there something you want to ask me? You know, about a certain event tomorrow?" Ruby asked, half expecting Optimus to have o idea what she was talking about. Fortunately to her surprise, Optimus said exactly what she wanted to hear.
"Actually, I do have something I want to ask," he said. Ruby's eyes seemed to glimmer. "Ruby, will you- *ahem* will you go to the dance with me? Yang told me how much you wanted to go with me, so I decided to heed her advice and ask you to the dance." Ruby tried her best to contain her excitement, as only a grin and a small hint of red formed on her face.
"Optimus," she said, leaning in a bit closer to Optimus, to which his face also turned red beneath his mask, "I would love to go." Both she and Optimus smiled at each other for a few seconds. Ruby staring into Optimus' yellow eyes, and Optimus staring into Ruby's silver ones. But after realizing just what they were doing, they quickly looked away from each other, and both their faces turned red.
"Well then, I guess I'll see you tomorrow night," Optimus said, suppressing the redness in his cheeks.
"Y-yeah, see you then Optimus," Ruby replied, the shade of pink still visible on her face. "Bye for now," she said before walking away. But before she turned around the corner, she looked back at Optimus and did something almost uncharacteristic. She winked at him, then walked off into the hallway! 'I can't believe I just did that!' she thought, incredibly embarrassed. But Optimus didn't find it odd or embarrassing, no. He actually found it rather cute.
"Until tomorrow, Ruby Rose."
(…)
Back with Leobreaker and Blake, the three of them had gathered in Professor Port's classroom to talk.
"Leobreaker, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well just save your breath," Blake suggested, not wanting to deal with anything Yang or Leo have to say.
"Listen, we don't wan you to stop," Leobreaker explained, "we just think that you should slow it down a bit."
"We don't have the luxury to slow down," Blake retorted.
"This is a necessity, Blake."
"The necessity is to stop Torchwick!"
"And we will," Leobreaker reassured, "but first, take a seat and hear us out." Reluctantly, Blake sat down across from Leo and Yang on the table. "Blake, listen," Leo began, "back home, with Optimus and the other Autobots, I was really stubborn and unwilling to give up. Like you at the moment." Blake frowned at him. "When I first became an Autobot, I could only think about one thing: taking down Megatron. And I wanted to do so alone, with no help, and no rests. I dedicated my life to trying to bring Megatron down myself and-"
"Wait," Blake interrupted, "isn't Megatron on our side?"
"For now, he is. But back home, he was the bad guy. Didn't Optimus tell you?"
"I wasn't really interested at the time."
"Well, anyway, when I was fighting the Decepticons, I gave it everything I had to defeat them. I became one of the toughest fighters in the Autobots!"
"Is this going somewhere?" Blake questioned.
"I'm getting there," Leo then continued his story, "as I was saying, I was the toughest of the tough back home. And the reason why was because I wouldn't stop fighting for the Autobot cause. I refused to res, or at least, get help from others. You see, before I, er, changed my name to Leobreaker, I was called Overhaul. I was tough, too tough for my own good. I thought that, if I did things on my own without taking a rest, then I could beat Megatron. I was so wrong. But that all changed when I met three of my best friends."
"Who were they?" Blake asked.
"Their names were Cobi, Laurie, and Bud. After spending some time with them, I lightened up a bit and thought, 'hey, maybe there's more to life then just fighting.' They showed me how to have fun and relax. And because of that, my bonds with my friends grew stronger than steel."
"What are you trying to say, Leobreaker?" Blake persisted to ask.
"What I'm trying to say is… is that if you only focus on catching this Torchwick guy all your life, then you'll never get to enjoy the fun things in life. And to make things worse, your friends will grow distant from you and, eventually, they'll leave you alone forever. You'll be left with a burden that one person alone can't handle, and the weight of it will crush them."
"Leobreaker, I understand hat you're trying to tell me," Blake said, giving Leo a shred of hope that he'd gotten through to her, "but this is different." Guess not.
"Listen Blake, don't go down the same road I did long ago. It won't turn out well," Leobreaker advised, but his advice was ignored.
"Leobreaker, I'm not like you were, ok? Unlike you, I can do this! I'm the only one who can do this!" Leo began to clench his fists.
"You think that you can fight a war by yourself? You think you can singlehandedly save the world? No, as long as you continue to push others away and think about this non-stop, you'll live a life off misery! From the looks of it, I doubt you can even hold your own against Torchwick if he walked into this room right now."
"Yes I can! I've been preparing for months to fight him again. Day and night, nothing hut training and research!"
"And that's exactly my point! You've been doing these things so much that you haven't given your body time to recuperate! Your tired and fatigued! I Roman walked into this room, he'd kick your butt!"
"I can still beat him!"
"You couldn't even fight me!" Leo snarled, showing his fangs, "every good warrior knows when to take a rest."
"You're right Leo, I do know when to rest, and now is not the time!"
"Alright then," Leo said, getting himself in a fighting stance, "prove that you're still able to fight like this." Blake grunted and took a fighting stance as well. She didn't have her weapons, so hand to hand combat would have to do for now. Blake as the first to attack as she sung her fist at her fellow Faunus. However, Leobreaker evaded the attack in time. But his evasion was slow, just as Blake's punch was. "Pathetic!" he mocked, "I could see that attack from a mile away!" Blake was getting angry.
She leapt into the air and aimed her foot at Leo's head, but he blocked it with his arms and lung her to the other side of the classroom. When she landed, she had trouble keeping her balance. "You're shaking right now, I can see it. Your knees are trembling from the strain of this fight, and you're sweating a lot." He was right, Blake's body was incredibly sore from the constant training and lack of sleep, but she refused to acknowledge it. She dashed at Leobreaker, intending to finish this once and for all. But she made one huge mistake: she didn't factor in the cyber key.
"CYBER KEY POWER!" Leobreaker shouted. His cyber key inserted itself into his wrist, which caused a set of golden claws to flip out on both of his gauntlets. He sprinted at Blake, who reeled her arm back for a punch. Leo slashed his two claws forward, sending Blake flying into the wall. She fell back to the ground with a thud, extremely exhausted from a quick fight such as this. "See what I mean?" Leo asked, offering her his hand. But Blake just scoffed and got up on her own. She stood up for a few seconds, but fell to one knee shortly afterward.
"*Huff* I'm fine, *pant* I'll be fine," she said, not wanting any help.
"If you say so," Leobreaker said as he walked towards the door. He didn't even look back as his body was halfway out of the room.
"Wait!" Leobreaker turned around to see Blake panting heavily on the floor, her cat-ears drooping over. Feeling pitiful, Leobreaker walked over to her and helped her to her feet.
"Still think you're the only one who can do this?" Leo asked, hoping Blake would change her answer. She remained silent. "Well, if you consider taking a break, let me know. Oh, and tell the rest of your team too. They're really worried about you." That being said, Leobreaker showed himself out of the room, leaving Blake in thought and silence.
(The Next Day)
Finally, the night of the dance. Everyone in the school was gathered into one room, most of them with a dance partner. The only ones who weren't present were a majority of team RWBY, half of team JNPR, and team OMega. Right now, Yang was standing at a pedestal in front of the entrance, taking not of all who were attending the dance. The next person to walk through thee doors was none other than Ruby Rose. Her dress resembled her usual outfit in terms of color, but more elegant and dress-upy. The opposite was for Yang, however, as her dress was plain white, and significantly less revealing than her usual clothes.
"Oh, you look beautiful!" Yang complimented. And while Ruby agreed, she found part of her outfit a little awkward: the dreaded heels.
"Ugh, can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?" Ruby asked, referring to her high heels before stumbling over. As Ruby tried maintaining balance, Yang simply laughed at her.
"Say, where's Optimus?" Yang asked, curious as to where her sister's date was. Same went for her own date for the dance. "He did ask you to the dance, right?"
"Yeah, he did. He just had to do something first," Ruby replied.
"Which was?"
"I don't know, but he told me that he'd meet me here."
"He'd better, or else he's gonna have to deal with me!" Luckily, just outside, Optimus and Megatron were both walking to the entrance of the ball-room. Megatron, of course, was wearing his purple and black suit Yang got him. Optimus was also wearing the suit Yang picked out for him. It was made up of light blue pants, with a white shirt and a red coat. He was also wearing a blue tie, and his faceplate was removed for the occasion.
"Are you nervous?" Megatron asked, noticing a few drops of sweat on Optimus' forehead.
"Who, me? Of course not. I've just never done something like this before," Optimus said, trying to cover up the fact that he really was quite nervous about this. Once they walked through the doors, Optimus was left paralyzed when he saw Ruby, and the same thing happened to Ruby once she saw Optimus. But it wasn't the suit that stood out to her really. Instead, it was the flower that was in Optimus' hand.
"Optimus, you made it!" Ruby said as Prime walked up to her.
"Of course, I never go back on my promises," Optimus said, "oh, and I, uh, got this for you." Optimus then handed Ruby the flower, causing her to blush.
"I-it's a rose," she said, flustered at Prime's gift to her.
"Naw, isn't that poetic," Yang said before grabbing Megatron's arm. "C'mon Megs, let's give these two some privacy." And so Yang and Megatron went off to dance, and Optimus and Ruby did the same shortly afterward.
"So, I guess that's what you meant when you said you had to do something before the dance," Ruby realized, taking the flower from Optimus.
"Yeah, what do you think?" he asked, hoping she'd like it.
"I love it," she said. Her face turned red, as did Optimus'. Only this time, there was no mask to hide it.
"*Ahem* uh, care to dance?" Optimus asked, taking Ruby's hand. Ruby put the rose in her hair and smiled at Optimus.
"I would love to dance," she said, blushing heavily. And that's exactly what they did.
