Alright guys, here's The Great OC Ruby Race, as promised! No preamble this time, let's just get right into it!
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Rosey's POV
She wasn't expecting the gunshot, and for a moment her old instincts kicked back in and propelled her forward in "flight mode". Fortunately reason prevailed before too long and she calmed down enough to remember the race. She glanced behind her and saw the others- Cress, Sister, Ruby, and Rubin -following close behind her. She refocused on the road ahead and increased her speed, weaving through the crowds of people that occupied them.
Growing up in the slums of Vale and later Menagerie had the side effect of making her really good at evasive maneuvers, especially when every other day consisted of running from the soldiers and the Huntsmen who commanded them; the situation wasn't nearly so urgent now, though, and she as much more aware of the path she needed to take through the crowds without the threat to her life driving her.
"'Scuse me! Pardon me; girl on a mission coming throu- sorry about your kid, ma'am!" Cress shouted from behind, bumping into more than a few pedestrians by the sound of things.
Ahead of her there was a roadblock set up, probably for that parade Blake's friends had mentioned. It didn't seem too difficult to jump over, but that wasn't how she was planning to get around it; she ducked down and stretched her body as flat as it could go and rolled underneath on her side, fluidly jumping back to her feet once she was on the other side.
It was a maneuver that had practically be one second nature to her.
She repeated the maneuver for the blockade on the other side of the cordoned off street and continued running towards her goal.
This is easy, she thought as she juked between people, actually allowing herself to enjoy the race with her other selves. I can do this!
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Ruby's POV
Like Sister and Rubin next to her, Ruby hadn't been expecting the gunshot Crimson fired to go off quite as soon as it had, and because of that she was near the back of the group when they finally started in earnest, with Sister being the only doppelgänger still behind her.
She didn't have to do that? the young Huntress in training thought as she vaulted over a roadblock, It doesn't make any sense! I mean, she was already counting down, she didn't need to scare Cress and Rosey like that! Ooh, when I win this thing in going to give her such a piece of my-
Then she realized something.
...oh my gawd, I'm turning into Weiss! No, bad Ruby; no turning into Weiss! Focus on beating all your other copies!
After the roadblock there was another avenue crowded with even more people than the last. It didn't look too bad, but she's have to slow down a bit if she didn't want to keep bumping into people like Cress was. (Her declarations of "'scuse me, pardon me!" rang out every couple of seconds.)
"Out of my way!" Rubin barked, actively shoving her way past people with little regard for how gentle she was being.
Ruby ignored that and focused on avoiding the people as she tried to catch up with her doubles.
After a few minute things got even harder when she noticed vendor stands popping up on the sides of the road, creating pockets of even denser crowds around them.
OK, this might be a problem…
Ruby actually passed Cress because of this, the loving weapon having trouble finding spaces to slip past people. Rosey continued to weave through the crowds with ease, and Rubin continued to muscle her way ahead, which actually worked in Ruby's favor as she slipped through the gaps Rubin made before the closed.
Alright Ruby, this isn't so bad. You just need to wait for an empty street and then I can use my Semblance to take the lead!
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Rubin's POV
I really wish I brought Eidlerote with me! griped Rubin as she shoved her way past a rotund man about to take a bite out of something that didn't look the slightest bit healthy. Just a little bit of cyan Dust and I could have had a nice little corridor to run through! And if a certain version of me who happens to be a Faunus gets caught in the blast, well, it's her fault for not getting out of the way.
She ducked under a woman's arm before she was accidentally clotheslined. She shook her head, No, that wouldn't be sportsmanlike; it would be better to win through superior skill than dirty tricks. And Crimson would probably know somehow if I tried that. Not like I could if I wanted to, I don't have my-
"Oof!" she squeaked as she collided with a wall of people packed together as tightly as possible. She was about to yell at them to get out of her way when she saw why they were like that; there was a platform set up in the middle of the street were a pair of men were "performing" for the densely packed audience, with large speakers set up on either side of the stage.
This pretty much left the débutante standing at a dead end.
Dammit! she cursed, Now what a I supposed to do, fly over it?
She meant that as sarcasm (not that she said it out loud), but it got the wheels in her mind turning, and soon a solution presented itself.
It's not impossible for everyone else to do, so it's not cheating, she rationalized, setting about circumnavigating the street concert, and a few well place "air steps" later she was running along the rooftops.
She briefly looked back down to see how the others would handle the obstacle: the "weapon" was still trying (unsuccessfully) to weave through the crowd, the Faunus was doing the same (only with better results), the her this world belonged to (sort of…) was attempting to climb up a building the hard way, and Sister was, impressively, wall running over the crowd, leaping from building to building whenever she started to lose momentum.
Rubin turned back to the roof and jumped over the edge, using her glyphs to make it safely to the next rooftop.
If she wasn't so intent on winning this silly contest, she would probably be a little impressed at her competition.
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Sister's POV
Sister was playing this smart. Not to say the other doppelgängers weren't clever in their own right, but they weren't taking into account their own physical limits. To put it simply, they would most likely exhaust themselves long before the end goal was in sight.
Perhaps they will learn something from this, she mused.
She always thought like this, especially since Yang was accepted into Beacon. Her younger sister could charitably be described as "introverted", "a wallflower" if one wanted to sound poetic, so she'd taken it upon herself to help guide the blonde as best she could, teaching her how she could improve after each failure and urging her to step out of her comfort zone.
Her copies weren't nearly as hesitant as her sister, but they were still young, and if she could impart wisdom to that that would make their lives a little easier in the long run then all the better.
As for her, she was saving her energy, letting the others wear themselves down until the end was in sight. She felt a tad ashamed at herself for taking advantage of "herselves" like this, but she also wanted to win, a trait she shared with her younger counterparts that she never really grew out of.
She was often called a prodigy, and she would do her best to live up to the label.
Do not make this too easy for me, she silently pleaded to her doppelgängers, I will try my best, and I expect nothing less from you all!
She glanced upward and saw Rubin running along the rooftops, using her glyphs to cross the gaps between buildings, followed closely by this world's native Ruby, who used small bursts of her Semblance to assist her leaps.
Well done, both of you!
She looked ahead and adjusted her path so she safely passed by a deer Faunus pushing a coffee cart in front of her. She was only just behind Rosey, the young Faunus reflexively threading her way through the crowd; this meant that Cress was still bringing up the rear.
She had a soft spot for the girl, one similar to her sisterly affection for Yang outside of the obvious connection they and the others shared. She looked back just as Cress emerged from the concert audience, allowing herself a small bit of pride for the Living Weapon.
Best of luck, Crescent Rose; do not lose heart!
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Cress's POV
"*gasp*!" Cress gasped as she finally emerged from the mass of people, stumbling for a bit before she regained her footing and continued on.
Good grief, that was brutal! she mentally sighed, Seriously, why were there so many people there? The music wasn't even that good! She shook her head in bewilderment as she tried to purge the experience from her mind. And have any of these people taken a shower recently? It was like going through The Vacuous Swamp in there! ...he he, Myrty took, like, twenty showers when we got back from that mission!
She chuckled as she ran, memories of the mission in question replaying in her mind. She was SO miffed, going on about 'These were my best shoes! I'll never get this stench out of my hair! How are none of you bothered by this?'. And Ember was laughing the whole time! And Shroud was all 'It's your own fault for not watching where you were going'. Heh, I don't think I've ever seen Myrty so mad befHELLO!
There was a random rock in the middle, and because Cress was getting lost in thought she didn't notice it was there until she was already tripping over it. She stumbled forward for a few steps before regaining her balance.
The heck did that rock come from?! ...alright Crescent Rose, time to put on your 'Serious Face'!
With her brow furrowed the living weapon put on more speed, charging full steam ahead. She leaped on the top of one stands and started jumping from stand to stand, forgetting the sweaty, stinky crowd altogether. I should have done this years ago!
She was still behind everyone else, now she was actually gaining ground. Occasionally she came to a gap too large to jump over normally, but a quick transformation into a gun took care of that easily.
Awright! Back in the game!
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"Look, I'm sorry about your motion sickness," Crimson apologized. RJ was on her knees by the edge of the dock they'd stopped at, moaning and occasionally dry heaving as she leaned over the side. Crimson was standing behind her, "but in my defense, it never came up in all the time I've known you, even if that time only amounts to one day!"
RJ groaned again and talked over her shoulder, "It's fine, it doesn't really come up normally for me anyway; it only ever becomes a big problem on long trips." She took a deep breath and exhaled it somewhat laboriously. "Can we take the bus back when this is over, please?"
"Eh, that's fair," the warrior woman shrugged. She peeked over RJ's should, wincing slightly as she noticed the teenager's newly acquired sickly parlor. "You gonna be OK?"
RJ nodded weakly. "It usually goes away once I have a good purge," she explained, "so...eventually."
"I could help that along, if you want?"
RJ raised an eyebrow at the offer. "You're not going to punch me in the gut, are you?"
Crimson shook her head. "No no," she assured RJ, waving dismissively, "I'm not like Yang; I know how to be subtle." She sat down next to the nauseous teenager, swinging her legs over the side. "So let me tell you a little about life in the Robot Apocalypse…."
to be continued…
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And they're off! Rosey takes an early lead and it seems like it's her race to lose! Rubin's coming up strong in second place, though Sister looks like she has something up her sleeve. And though starting out weak, Cress is finally starting to hit her stride; it could be anyone's game!
For those wondering, that was done in an old timey horse race announcer voice.
Anywho, next time will be the conclusion to the race, plus something a little special suggested by one of the last batch of reviewers. (Keep suggesting stuff! This fluff period is still going to go on for another few chapters, so get your suggestions in now!)