A week had passed since the last time we saw our semi-beloved idiots, in that time every member of the TIG gang had become model students according to everyone who isn't Glynda Goodwitch.
It was lunchtime at the moment and teams RWBY, EYSM, DDRT, and JNPR were seated at the largest cafeteria table, with everyone having a different conversation.
"So wait, you're telling me that you have a sniper rifle so powerful it can send you flying built into Crescent Rose? How did you even manage that? I don't...I can't even." DJ said to Ruby, who was drinking a rather impressive amount of milk.
"Well first I had to design the rifle itself, then I had to find a way to build a Scythe around it while letting it work properly so I-" Yeah this might go on for a while...
(((Beep Boop)))
"Hey...listen I'm sorry about punching you through that wall last week. I just couldn't muster up the courage to apologize for some reason. I don't know what came over me. I ju-"
"Smash it's alright. I've already forgiven you. If anything I'm impressed you were able to beat me! I do have to ask though...How did you manage to paralyze me? All you said was 'no'. Was it your semblance?" Pyrrha asked Smash, who let out a low chuckle.
"Ah Pyrrha...let me introduce you to the wonderful world of weaponized words. And by that, I mean I have no idea how I did it or how you were paralyzed. That was all you. I was just expressing my disagreement with getting kneed in the crotch."
(((Beep Boop)))
"YUKI! Can you tell me something? Where do you keep those mouse bombs of yours? How did you make them? Can I have some? Tell me!" Nora yelled all in one breath as Ren talked to Dylan about the habits of the people they take care of.
"I could tell you. But I think I'll choose not to." Yuki stated, a hint to a smile on his face as he ate his lunch.
"C'mon! Tell me tell me tell me!"
"Nope."
Yuki later found his bed drenched in syrup.
"rip bed."
(((Beep Boop)))
"So what really is your semblance? Magic isn't real. You must just have something similar to it. Or something entirely different that you just call magic." Weiss said to Eagle.
Eagle facepalmed and moaned. This had been the fifth time she had been told this in the week since school had been in session.
"But. It. Is. I really don't understand why you people can't accept this. You have a mystical substance that channels the power of the elements, something mostly used by black mages, and you all have a special power that draws on your personality. Why is magic so far out of the realm of possibility for you?" Eagle said tiredly.
"Because it's Magic. Pure fantasy! Everything else can be explained! Your Magic can't!"
Eagle head-desked.
(((Beep Boop)))
"So you've basically acted like a mom for Ruby? That's pretty fucking impressive considering the 2 year age gap between the two of you. Must have had to mature fast." Trash said as he started chugging orange juice.
"Look I've told you like 4 times already, I don't want to talk about this. At least not when Ruby is around. And you've ONLY asked when Ruby is around. If you ask again I'll get physical." Yang said threateningly, her eyes slowly changing color.
"OW THAT HURTS!" A voice yelled from behind half the table and in front of the other half.
"I agree! Wait what are we talking about?" Smash asked, before catching up with what was said. "Oh. That." He said as he saw a Rabbit Faunus getting her ears pulled by the resident bully, Cardin Winchester.
Like all bullies, he and his posse mocked the rabbit faunus until eventually letting go and laughing as she speed walked away, one hand holding the ear that was being tugged.
"Atrocious...I can't stand people like him." Pyrrha said.
"That may be but you can apparently sit people like him...I'm not sorry." Ryker said before having Team RWBY and JNPR glare at him.
"Why are you all glaring at him? None of you did anything to help." Yuki stated. "It's not like it would have been that hard to stop him. He has the strength of an ant! If an ant was...This big!" Yuki said before spreading his arms out wide.
"Psh. Cardin isn't that weak...I speak from experience." Jaune said, looking at Yuki skeptically.
Yuki spread his arms out a fraction wider. Jaunes eyes widened.
"He's THAT strong? I never had a chance in the first place! No wonder he gets away with what he does!" Jaune yelled.
'This seems awfully familiar...' The guys of the TIG gang thought.
"You know...that reminds me. Jaune, Cardin's been bullying you too right? Something about you being the worst fighter in the year?" Smash asked, watching as Weiss facepalmed.
"Do you have any tact whatsoever?" Weiss asked exasperated. Smash let out a small laugh.
"Not the first time I've been asked that. Yes I do and I know how to use it. I just don't because being blunt is the right way to do things. The way I see it if someone can't handle the truth then they...fuck how do I put this...ah fuck it. I just like being blunt"
He never did figure out the answer while they were at the table.
"You also seem to enjoy swearing..." Weiss muttered.
"Okay, back to the problem at hand, Jaune we all know that you suck at fighting. Very, very much. So, me and DJ have an idea. Your shield can obviously mecha-shift. So I had the brilliant idea to turn it into a 'Dust-Boomerang' Which I have the power to do...with your permission. I don't want to go dicking around with something that might be a family heirloom or something of the sort." Smash offered, catching on to a look Pyrrha had on her face. Slight sadness that was trying to be held inside.
Jaune stared at Smash for a minute before speaking. "Guys, thanks for the offer but I think I'll be fine...without the training. The Dust-Boomerang sounds freaking sweet! How soon can you make it?" Jaune asked, Excited. He could be like that comic book hero! Captain Remnant!
"Tomorrow okay?" Smash asked. Slightly bewildered at the change in Jaune.
"Sounds great! See you guys later!"
Everyone just stared at Jaune leaving.
"Okay...just putting it out here, I have no fucking idea what just happened. But I'm pretty sure that he just doesn't want to talk about the bullying thing. Somebody should talk to him." Ryker said.
Everyone heard an "I got it!" And suddenly Ruby was gone. And with the burst of speed that accompanied her leaving, knocked over Smash's Diet Coke.
The 7 members of the TIG gang who weren't Smash were suddenly gone. With screams for everyone to "RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIVES!" Accompanying them.
Rebuilding the cafeteria after a sudden explosion was expensive.
Somehow the Diet Coke in the fridge was left unharmed. Much to Smashs delight.
(((Beep Boop)))
It only took a second for Ruby to catch up to Jaune.
"Jaune wait!" Ruby yelled, stopping before she crashed into him.
"Ruby? What do you want?" Jaune asked with a small frown on his face.
"Jaune, we know you're having trouble in class. We can help!"
"Thanks for the concern Ruby but I already said I don't need it." Jaune stated before attempting to walk away.
Ruby put her hand on Jaunes shoulder and pulled him back slightly.
"Jaune, there's no shame in asking for help and training with the two of them...I'm doing it. After I lost to Dylan on Day 1 I asked if Smash could help me after he found me sulking after class." Ruby said, feeling bad about lying. She would have to ask about actually receiving training. Sounded like a good idea. And she would get to see more of the D Glaive. And ask about him feeling like a weapon...She had forgotten about that.
"You? Need training from them? Ruby you're amazing! Why would you need training from them?" Jaune asked, surprised that one of the best fighters in the year was receiving training from another student.
"Jaune I'm here to talk about your problem. Not mine. Please we don't want to see you get bullied because you're too stubborn to get help! Please...Just come train with Smash and DJ." Ruby pleaded, sadness present in her eyes as she thought about the things Cardin had done to Jaune.
Jaune looked at Ruby for a second before sighing.
"Alright Ruby. I'll do it. I give you my word. And an Arc never goes back on his word!" Jaune finished proudly as he watched Ruby's frown turn into a smile mid-sentence.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM
"What the heck was that!" Jaune and Ruby yelled as they looked towards the source of the explosion and saw everyone who was in the cafeteria lying covered in soot in the hallway, with the wall and cafeteria demolished.
"…"
"…"
Glynda Goodwitch came around the corner closer to the cafeteria and loudly demanded to know "WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?"
(((Beep Boop)))
"So let me clarify this...you blew up the school cafeteria...because your diet coke was spilt." Ozpin asked, a look of confusion on his face.
"Yep. Before we go any further with this I just want to say that the cafeteria has already been repaired and the broken outlets have been fixed by Mandi and Dylan. But yeah, I blew up the cafeteria because my diet coke was spilt. I don't remember doing it, I just know I did it." Smash clarified to Ozpin and Glynda. Who was going through every stress relief exercise that she had ever learned just to avoid throttling the Reploid.
"Okay, this is going better than I had planned for...may I ask HOW you managed to blow up the cafeteria?" Ozpin asked. Downing his cup of coffee before pulling out another one and downing that one as well. The stress causing him to stress drink his seemingly infinite amount of coffee.
"Well, I'm a robot of sorts. All robots have power supplies. So I blew mine up." Smash explained.
"You blew up your power supply."
"Yep."
"How are you alive? Wouldn't that have killed you and everyone else in the room?" Ozpin asked. Now continuously drinking his coffee.
"Ozpin please stop chugging your coffee, you're spilling it on those papers on your desk, and minorly annoying me." Smash said, not really paying attention to the conversation and more focusing on everything around him. This was ignored however.
"Alright you won't stop...anyways, I have no clue how everyone else survived, I blame aura, but the explosion isn't powerful enough to hurt any part of me. And I have 4 special devices that can restore any part of my body. So there. Can I leave now? I've missed my class with Oobleck and I have a shipment of computers and game consoles I need to be at the front of the school to receive." Smash said, standing up.
Glynda finally chose to speak up. "No you may not leave! We still have to discuss your punishment!"
Smash narrowed his eyes at Glynda. "Look I'm sorry that I blew up the cafeteria but I am more than twice your age Glynda. Do not attempt to punish me as if I were a child. I will gladly work to pay off the non-existent damages as payment for the stress and pain I caused you and the students respectively, but I will not be punished like one of your students. I believe we're done here." Smash said, walking out and finally putting his decades of experience to use.
He quickly walked back in.
"Oh, before I forget, Can you not hit on Yuki? I know you were really drunk but I'd appreciate if you tried not to hit on my friend." He said before walking out once again.
Ozpin chuckled and looked towards Glynda. "Hitting on students Glynda? I didn't think you were that type of person." He said, the chuckling growing louder.
Glynda simply glared.
"I was incredibly drunk when it happened. I didn't recognize him and we were at some shady club in vale so I wouldn't be recognized by anyone. Smash was there as well and I recognized him immediately."
Ozpins chuckling grew into full laughter as he spilt his coffee.
He looked at it for a minute.
And then the office exploded.
(((Beep Boop)))
Smash was out in vale with Ruby, who had climbed onto Smash's back and refused to leave until he let her come. The main purpose of coming out was to get materials for the Dust-Boomerang Shield Upgrade that was planned for Jaune.
"You know, despite you forcing your way out here with me to pick up materials, I'm kinda glad you did. Despite my immense knowledge of everything ever, I don't know much about dust. So I'd probably be spending money on every dust type and seeing what they do." Smash explained, joking around and trying to get a laugh.
Ruby smiled as she pulled him into a dust store in the middle of Vale.
"Well there's another reason why I wanted to come out." Ruby said before she started speaking at a speed that even Smash couldn't pick up.
"Mind repeating that a bit slower? It was cute and animeish but I kinda want to know what you said." Smash said as he took a look around, focusing on the small hats section of the store sitting in the corner. It reminded him of the old convenience shops back in his home world.
Ruby blushed heavily at being called cute. And started speaking fast again until Smash put a hand on her shoulder. "Ruby, I need you to stop talking fast. Okay? I like it, it's you, and if we were talking about something else I'd let you keep going for the sheer entertainment. So calm down." Smash said as Ruby took a deep breath.
"I made a mistake with Jaune earlier today. I said that I was training with you after I lost to Dylan. And I can't think of a way to get out of being thought of as a liar...I was wondering if you could help me get out of this." Ruby asked shyly, looking down. Smash smiled.
"Is that all? Don't worry about it I'll take care of it. Just don't get into the habit of lying. It does more harm than good. Trust me, I've lived it." Smash said, thinking back to a time when he used to lie very frequently.
"Listen, I know what you lovebirds are talking about is probably important, but can you hurry up? I do have a business to run after all." The shop owner said, tapping his foot behind the counter.
"Sorry!" Ruby Squeaked.
"How the hell...Sure thing sir, sorry for making you wait so long. C'mon Ruby, let's get the dust." Smash said, nodding his head towards the dust in the counter. Ruby nodded and began explaining how each bit of dust could be used in the way Smash had planned the Dust-Boomerang to be built.
"Huh. Only the fire dust can do what I had planned. Thanks for the help Ruby!" Smash said, collecting a sufficient amount of fire dust and placing it on the counter.
"Yeah...no problem." Ruby said looking anywhere but at Smash.
"Alright, will that be all you're purchasing?" The shop owner asked.
"Yeah we should be fiiiiiiiiiiii-"
"Smash? Are you okay?"
"TOPHAT!" Smash yelled before running over to the hat corner of the store and raising a perfectly normal tophat above his head as if it were the greatest thing ever created.
"WE'RE BUYING THIS. THAT WILL BE ALL. HAVE THIS MONEY." Smash continued yelling before giving the exact amount of money to buy the Tophat and Dust and running out of the store, dragging Ruby with him.
The shop owner just stared at the door.
"Alrighty then." He said, before taking out a book and reading from the middle.
(((Beep Boop)))
The Team DDRT dorm was empty, well unless you count DJ as a person. In that case the dorm had one person in it.
He was diligently doing the homework Oobleck had assigned as he had absolutely nothing better to do. Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
He got up to open the door and was surprised to see Pyrrha standing there.
"Hello DJ. May I come in? There's something I'd like to discuss with you." Pyrrha asked. A look of worry on her face.
DJ noticed the look and motioned her inside. He motioned to a bed and sat down opposite to it. "What did you need Pyrrha?" He asked. Concerned.
"I wanted to talk to you about training Jaune. Our team has been having some...problems. And I think the first step on the road to fixing that problem would be forming bonds. So that's why I would like to request that you allow me to train Jaune instead of you." Pyrrha asked DJ. Not sure what he would say.
"Done."
Pyrrha blinked, surprised at how easy that was. She expected a struggle of some kind to get him to let her train Jaune.
"Don't get me wrong, Jaune's a good guy. But I've never trained a person in my life and the only reason I agreed to do so was because I owed Smash a favor. If you want to train Jaune, good job. You're doing something I approve of." DJ explained. Smiling as Pyrrha's face lit up at the genuine praise she was receiving for something that was not fighting.
"Thank you DJ. You have no idea how much this means to me." Pyrrha said as he stood up smiling.
"Well...I kinda do. Something similar has happened to me before." DJ said, thinking back to when he still lived with Ike.
"Really? Do tell! I would love to hear some stories!" Pyrrha said as she sat down once again. The slightest feeling of giddyness welling up inside of her.
"As long as you tell me some stories in return. I like to know as much as I can about my friends."
"Of course."
(((Beep Boop)))
Yuki and Blake were sitting in the library, Blake reading some mystery novel that Yuki didn't really care to learn about, and Yuki...playing a visual novel that involved Cat Faunus. On a newly shipped laptop. You know, the ones that Smash had to be at the front of the school to receive? They were engaged in a quiet conversation so they wouldn't disturb the rest of the library.
"-So basically if you scare them about 50 of them will come out of nowhere and start pecking at you. It's actually fatal in severe cases. But those almost never happen. It's actually pretty entertaining to watch."
"How do peaceful creatures have such an advanced defense?" Blake asked, turning a page
"Pfft. Fuck if I know. I'm too lazy to learn about them." Yuki said, not looking away from the screen, turning it away slightly as a more...provocative scene came up.
This went on for some time. Each time a provocative scene came up, Yuki would turn it more.
Small talk was achieved today.
(((Beep Boop)))
The Beacon gym. Filled with comically oversized weights, a multi-mile long track, and several million lien worth of equipment, decoration, musical selection, and vending machine snacks.
Yang was lifting weights, with Ryker spotting for her. It was apparent that there was no need to do this but the rules state that every weight lifter must have a spotter.
"-And that's how I turned down 82% of my city in a single night." Ryker finished the story he was telling as he watched Yang lift a ridiculously large weight.
"Did you really...have to...interrupt the major football game...to do it though?" Yang said through grunts as she was reaching her limit. 3452 reps currently.
"No. Not really. But I did it anyways because Jack Atlas pissed me off."
"Who's...Jack Atlas?"
"An asshole with an ego complex and a passion for long ass coats. And a fetish for childrens card games..." Ryker said, thinking back to his time before arriving here. He always did wonder why Jack carried a deck for a childrens card game around at all times.
"And...3500. Your turn Ryker." Yang said, getting up and taking a seat. With Ryker replacing her on the stand.
As he started to do reps, he told Yang to put on more. But it wasn't enough to take effort.
"More." And Yang put more on. It wasn't enough.
"More!" It still wasn't enough.
"Ok, just put every single weight on. Every single damn one."
It took some time but eventually every single spare weight in the gym was on Rykers bar. Everyone had stopped what they were doing and just watched Ryker.
"Ok you know what? I give up. This thing isn't heavy enough." Ryker said, attempting to put the weight back on the rack. Big mistake.
The moment he let go of the weight, he was flung through the walls of the gym and Beacon. Flying for miles before landing in the middle of vale and skipping through alleys. He didn't hit a single building oddly enough.
The weight that he let go off fell through the floor due to the extreme weight. There was a huge weight shaped hole in the gym. Beacon had to hire people to fill in the floor with concrete. Which took several hours. The hole was ridiculously deep.
Ryker was retrieved sometime in the future.
(((Beep Boop)))
"Hey Smash, can I ask you something?" Ruby asked. They were sitting in a park eating Ice Cream after Smash calmed down from his Top-Hat induced craze and was now calmly wearing it.
"Yeah sure go ahead." He said. Making an audible 'nom' sound as he bit his chocolate cone.
"You...feel like a weapon to me. Er...What I mean Is that I get the same feeling from you that I do from Crescent Rose. Powerful. Like a weapon. Do you know what it is?" She asked, blushing because she thought she sounded incredibly awkward.
Smash 'nommed' the last of his ice cream and sighed. "You know what? I trust you. I'll show you." He said, rolling up the sleeve of the shirt he was wearing.
"Nothing out of the ordinary right? Watch this." He said, Ruby watched in fascination has his arm morphed into a tube with a hole at the end of it.
"I'm mostly metal Ruby. I'm more robot than I am human. my other arm can do the same thing and my legs aren't human either. My dash 'boots' are just my legs. I don't use my buster cannons because in my experience, people don't trust something different. That and I'm pretty sure I'd have the military after me." Smash explained. A sad look adorning his face as he thought back to his first life.
"ha...Jesus christ I want my body back." He said, turning his arm back to normal.
Ruby just watched the arm turn back, her mind trying to come up with something to say.
"Well...I think it's cool." Ruby said. Smash let out a single 'ha'.
"Of course you would. I'm a walking weapon. Why wouldn't a weapon lover like you like what I am?" Smash said, looking at the shattered moon that was rising slowly.
"Smash I mean it. You don't have to feel the way you do. I mean...you're still human right? Human heart, brain...I think that's what matters most. Not all these other parts of ours." Ruby said in an effort to cheer Smash up.
These words only made Smash feel worse. He didn't have those either, but he didn't want to come out as some soul-less robot.
"…...Thanks. Ruby. That means a lot to me." He said putting an arm around her and pulling her close without realizing that he did so, or that Ruby's face was the same color as her hood.
Smash is a very touchy person.