"Umpphhh..." Derrick groaned from his chair. "Whrr haam hi?"
What happened?
He was sure he had Ruby in my arms and...
He was sure he tasted... strawberries...
So why does his mouth taste like recycled plastic?
"You might wanna take that off him first..." Someone suggested.
"Right." another said as Derrick felt something being taken from his mouth.
"Ugh..." One groaned. "Gross!"
"Nasty shit, where did you even get it from?"
"Borrowed it from Scarlet from team SSSN."
"What is that man into- Nevermind, don't answer that."
The voices sound muffled with all the ringing in his ears but...
These voices... Derrick thought. They sound... somewhat familiar.
"He's still half conscious."
"Well, you did hit him... pretty dang hard with that tray."
"Would he be able to answer proper-"
"Ugh... Psycho Smile is not happy, not happy at all." Derrick said as his vision cleared as 2 shadowy sillouethes in pure clarity stood there as a bright line shone in his face.
The sillouethes looked at each other, and laughed aloud.
"A- are you fucking kidding me?!" Louis chortled hysterically.
"Y-y-you didn't give that name to Cinder did you?" Evans said, putting both his hands to his mouth.
Derrick just looked at us confused. "Psycho Smile is my name... fear me, for I am terror itself."
The two looked at each other, and burst out laughing once more.
"Y-Y-YOU'RE FUCKING K-KIDDING ME RIGHT?! YOU USED YOUR STEAM IGN AS YOUR REAL NAME?! WAHAHAHAH!" Louis roared with laughter.
...
...
"What do you mean?" Derrick looked at us, confused. "Psycho Smile is my name."
"Come on man, HA! WOooh, d-drop the act." Evans chuckled, wiping the tear from his eye and turning his scroll's flashlight off. "You have a horrible sense of humor, and that hasn't changed for the 2 semesters we've been here."
...
...
"Psycho Smile is my name." Derrick repeated. "And you are my enemies."
...
"Wait..." Evans faltered.
"No, your name is Derrick." Louis reassured.
"Der...rick?" He asked.
"Yeah." Louis said, raising a brow as he looked to Evans.
"What kind of dumb name is that? I would call myself errick, the D is silent."
"Oh, your D is anything but silent." Evans stated. "But seriously, you can drop the act now Derrick."
"How much did you tell them?" Louis asked with a cold tone.
"I told you, my name is Psycho Sm-"
WHACK
SLAM
...
"Dude!" Evans complained. "What did you do that for?!" He asked as he held Louis back.
"Something isn't right, was trying to fix him." Louis said calmly after shaking his knuckles.
"Fix him?! What do you think he is? An old TV?! He's not a delicate piece of technology that needs a little bit of violence to fix.
Here! Use my knuckle dusters instead."
"Uuurgghhh..." Derrick groaned.
...
"See? He's still conscious."
"L-Louis? E-E-Evans?" Derrick mumbled as light filled his eyes, along with a few trickles of blood from a newly opened wound. "Why does my head hurt?"
"And I fixed him too." Louis huffed as he rubbed his knuckles. "Nailed it."
"Derrick?" Evans asked as he grabbed a towel to wipe the blood from his face.
"Yeah, who else would I be?"
"Oh I don't know, fucking Psycho Smile?" Louis chortled.
"Why would I be using my Steam name? That's dumb."
He then struggled as he tried to lift his arms to his head.
"And why am I tied up?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" Louis asked.
"Uhh..." Derrick muttered as he appeared deep in thought. "I... remembered going to that mountain trip with you guys... and then... nothing?"
"Right, he was too busy playing either Fate Grand Order or Battle Cats in the rear seats." Evans pointed out.
"Too busy to listen to us screaming for our lives too apparently." Louis facepalmed.
"Nothing else?" Evans asked.
"No... nothing else." Derrick admitted as he thought hard.
"Great..." Louis mumbled. "Back to square one, with extra dead weight."
"Fuck off. Can we like... untie me first?" Derrick asked.
"Right..." Evans mumbled as he walked up to D.
After untying Derrick...
Louis's POV
"Why'd you guys even tie me up in the first place?" He asked as he rubbed his wrists which has red marks all over.
"Look, You're not gonna believe us if we told you where we are right now." Evans started.
"Huh...?" Derrick asked as he looked around. "We're in a dorm room... but this doesn't look like anything like our dorm rooms..."
"That's because it's not." I replied.
"So... where are we exactly?"
"You have to promise me you won't freak ou-"
"Louis... you there?" A meek and cheeky voice asked from outside.
FUCK!
What was Ruby doing here?!
Without second thoughts I slammed by body on the back of the door as the black haired leader was partly opening it.
"Uhh..." Ruby muttered from outside. "Louis?"
"Yeah Ruby, I'm here." I replied.
'You forgot to lock the door?' Evans mouthed to me.
'What are you talking about, it's your dorm room you klutz!' I mouthed back.
"Wait... Ruby?" Derrick asked as he raised a brow.
"Anyways, what do you need Ruby?"
"It's been about 2 hours that you've been away, and the rest of the team couldn't really sleep so... we were wondering if you wanted to join us for dinner?"
"Yeah Ruby, I'll meet you in the cafeteria so-"
"Ruby... as in Ruby Rose?!" Derrick asked as his eyes shot wide open, and got up.
"EVANS! HOLD HIM DOWN!"
Evans complied without a second thought, grabbkng Derrick, preventing him from ever meeting her.
For extra reassurance, Evans tapped on his scroll so the doors clicked and locked shut.
"Evans?!"
"Ruby, get out of here! Just get something to takeaway something for me!"
"Louis! Evans? Everything okay in there?!"
"Yeah we've got it under control!" Evans replied.
"Go now!" I shouted.
Putting my ears to the doors, I heard her bursting into rose petals.
Whew...
...
...
"So..." Derrick muttered after calming down. "We're in Remenant..."
"Yeap." Louis sighed.
"Pretty much." Evans said.
...
"We're in Remenant..." Derrick repeated.
"You said that already." Evans pointed out.
"Anyways..." I sighed. "You've been on the bad guy's team for a while now, even planting their virus in for them."
"What?! I missed Volume 1 and 2?! Bullshit!"
"Hey, we should be the ones saying bullshit, you've been exposing them to info about our world even though you don't remember anything about it." I growled, shooting him a glare.
"But it looks like not much slipped." Evans pointed out. "If it did, she would've gone down to the vault about now, and claimed the maiden's powers, so probably he hasn't revealed the plot at Vol 3 yet."
"Ugh..." Derrick groaned as he held his head. "I really don't remember any of this."
"Probably Torchwick used his brain scrambler." Evans pointed out.
"It's a possibility..." I sighed.
"What do we do now though?" Evans asked.
"What can we do?" I replied. "We'll just have to keep going."
"Also D." I said as I glared at him. "You will not put your lolicon and or siscon hands on either Ruby or Neo. Coupish?"
"How did you-"
"Don't think I didn't look through your browser history."
"Not to mention the sounds we hear passing by your room." Evans pointed out.
"Hey..." He mumbled as he crossed his arms. "We all have preferences."
"I didn't hear a yes."
"Okay..." He grumbled. "I won't."
"Promise?"
"I...promise."
"Good..." Evans sighed.
"Let's just... play it cool alright?"
The two others nodded as Evans unlocked the doors.
Without much else to do, I decided to head back to team RWBY's room.
Later...
My hands trembled as my hands reached for the doorknob.
Just how much info did he slip out...
And what would Cinder and her goons do now...?
Things are becoming slightly unpredictable, and that's fine if it's Vol 1 or 2 but... If it's 3...
...
"No use overthinking about it right now." I sighed and opened the doors. "I'll just... call it a night and think more about this tommorow..."
"Louis!" Ruby greeted cheerfully as she burst into rose petals from her bed and towards the doors.
"Ruby." I smiled as I greeted back. "Sorry I couldn't make it to dinner guys."
"It's alright," Blake said as she flipped a page on her book. "There wasn't anything good anyways."
"By the way, why aren't you guys asleep? I thought you all said you were dead tired."
"Well... I guess we're just waiting for the food to settle in right now." Yang said as she laid on her back while playing with her scroll.
"Oh, speaking of food... here!" Ruby said as she handed out the packaging from behind her back.
"Thanks, I'll pay you back la-"
"No need." The leader said cheerfully.
"Uh..." I muttered as I looked to Yang, who shrugged back.
"O...kay... thank you Ruby."
"No problem." She said as her cheeks flushed, and leapt up to her bed.
"By the way." Yang said. "You're not heading back this semester break either?"
"Nope." I replied as I unboxed my bento.
"Why?" Yang asked, raising a brow. "I can get why Weiss and Blake doesn't want to head back,"
Do you now?
"They stay quite far away."
Figures, you don't.
"but you?"
"Nah, I think I'll be staying in the dorms this semester break as well, I have stuff to do."
"Define stuff." Weiss asked, raising her brow from her beauty sleep.
"Sorry, did I wake you up princess?" I said in a low chuckle. "It's nothing you guys should concern yourselves with."
"Yeah, sort of, and why?"
"Weiss is right. Whenever you said we shouldn't be concerned, it's definitely stuff we should be concerned with." Ruby said from her bunk, poking her head down.
"How can we help?" Blake asked as she looked up from her book.
As if they could help...
"It's... training."
"Training?" Yang asked as she looked down from her scroll.
"Yeah." I replied as I finished my food.
"I'm not as good as you guys, and probably will never be unless I trained on my own. Gotta train for the Vytal festival, am I right?" I yawned as I stretched my arms.
When I opened my eyes, I found the 4 exchanging uneasy looks at each other.
"What?"
"It's just that... we've been talking about it..." Blake said.
"And..." Yang continued.
"And...?"
"Well, we're thinking you... sit this one out." Weiss finished.
...
Did I just heard them wrong?
"Excuse me?"
"D-don't take this the wrong way." Ruby trembled from her bunk, sensing the rage in my tone. "B-but we don't really want to lose..."
"So, victory is all that matters to you?"
"N-no!" Ruby quickly stated. "But..."
"You can't even keep up with us in terms of team attacks, or when we spar, what makes you think you could have a chance in fighting in the tournament?" Weiss asked.
They're not wrong.
In terms of combat experience, I've lost by a milestone.
But...
If I don't participate...
I won't be able to mitigate the damage done.
"One month." I clenched my fists and grit my teeth.
"I beg your pardon?" Weiss asked, raising a brow.
"Give me time until semester break ends, test me then."
"One month?" Yang asked. "You can't even catch up with us in one semester!"
"And you don't have a sembelance yet." Blake pointed out.
"Like I said, just give me the required time, and then test me to see if I'm worthy then. If I am, I won't take no for an answer."
The 4 girls exchanged uneasy looks once more, and then settled on a slight nod.
"Okay..." Ruby muttered. "But don't push yourself too hard."
"No promises." I said as I pulled the sheets. "Go get some sleep Ruby, Yang, you're both heading back tommorow remember?"
"Ugh, okay dad." Yang rolled her eyes as she pulled her sheets.
"Zwei, lights." I commanded, as the team dog barked in response, and leapt.
...
...
"I wasn't finished reading my book you know." Blake mumbled.
"Oh shut up, you have nightvision." I chuckled.
...
"Doesn't mean I prefer to read this way..."
"Goodnight, Blake."
The next day...
"Alright, I'll see you guys when Vytal starts!" Ruby waved with Yang as they got on their bullhead to head back to their house back in Patch.
"Hey Ruby," I started.
"Hm?" She asked as she turned around with Zwei in her backpack.
"Send your mom my regards."
"Of course I will!" She cheered. "I'll tell them about Weiss and Blake too!"
The engines on the bullhead roared as the doors lifted, and clicked shut.
...
...
"Alright, onto training." I sighed with a smile.
"You sure you don't need our help?" Blake asked. "If it helps we could-"
"Thank you Blake, but I'm fine doing this on my own."
Well, I got Evans with me, so I technically won't be alone.
"Alright." The heiress sighed. "Best of luck. We'll be in our dorms if you need us."
"I know, just like last semester break." I smiled as I rolled my eyes. "I'll be sure you're the first to know when I'm ready."
Later...
"You know, when you said you wanted to train, this was not what I had in mind." Evans admitted as we walked on a certain familiar looking ledge with launch pads.
"A month in the Emerald Forest. What could go wrong?" I shrugged.
"A lot of things." Evans muttered. "Considering the thing they faced on the cliff were Nevermores and Deathstalkers."
"Hey come on." I chuckled as I tapped the 4 digit code on my scroll. "This is Vytal for the tournament."
"Yang really got to your head now didn't she?"
...
"Yeah, I guess she did." I replied as I looked over the ledge to the dense green foliage that lays below us.
"Alright then." He sighed as he tapped the 4 digits on his locker as well. "If you're sure this would help, I'm in."
"Too bad D couldn't join though." I sighed back. "He's just gonna break his legs without an aura."
"The idea of him flailing his arms like a cartoon character isn't any less amusing though." Evans chuckled.
We were so invested in the idea of camping for a month that we didn't notice the shadow that crept up behind us.
"And where do you gentlemen think you're going?" The person asked as he grabbed our shoulders, causing us to jump and yelp.
"U-uh... nowhere Professor?" I said with a nervous laugh.
"Y-yeah, what he said." Evans gulped.
"You two are about to sneak out to go to the Emerald forest, weren't you?" Ozpin asked as he raised his brow.
Me and Evans looked at each other, and with a defeated sigh, we both nodded, knowing this plan was busted.
...
"How long are you planning to stay?"
"A... A month." I replied.
"Hmm." He said, rubbing his chin. "The whole semester break? Are you certain?"
"Yeah..."
...
"Well," The old man chuckled while sipping his coffee. "I guess I can rearrange re supply drops every half a week or so to aid you in your cause."
...
...
"Wait..." I asked, raising a brow.
"We're not... in trouble?" Evans asked.
"Well, I would be somewhat concerned if you were to go into the Emerald Forest alone, however, with the 2 of you, I believe that you could handle low level Grimm such as Beowolves and Ursa's. You've proven that during the breach on the wall. Just be sure to avoid places where higher level Grimm lurk."
"Okay..." I smiled. "Thanks for the tip."
"And you're sure you don't need any assistance?" Ozpin asked, raising his brow. "I could always appoint a teacher to guide you in-"
"Thank you but no thank you Professor." I said politely. "I believe, this is a journey we have to do on our own in order to advance, improve, overcome, and break some limits."
"I...see..."
"Okay." Evans said, snapping out of my thoughts. "We should head out now, before it gets dark and fighting Grimm becomes harder."
"I'll be monitoring you, but don't expect backup to arrive so soon."
"Wouldn't dream of it." I waved off.
"You would be a bad headmaster if you weren't." Evans smiled. "Thank you Professor."
With that, we crouched on the launch pads,
Prepared to get launched as we stretched a little.
"On your marks..." Ozpin said as he took out his oversized scroll.
I feel like we're forgetting something...
"Get se-"
SLAM
SLAM
THUD
We both looked back and saw Ozpin crushed underneath both our lockers, with his arms sticking out.
I looked to Evans. "Dude... I think we've killed him." 'earlier then he's supposed to' I mouthed afterwards.
"I'm alright." Ozpin sounded from beneath, muffled but otherwise okay... somehow.
"Are you sure?" Evans asked, as we rushed over to his side.
His arm that was holding his mug of coffee that somehow remained untouched gave a thumbs up.
"Chibi?" I asked.
"Probably." Evans shrugged as the locker doors popped open.
"Rose Nasty?" He asked as I took out 2 silvery katana hilts, quite different from the semi rust covered Bloody Berry, with crimson, metallic guards.
"Yeah." I replied as I tied both hilts to my belt. "Been working on it all semester. Didn't think I was gonna stick to Bloody Berry forever did you?"
"I thought you were." Evans shrugged as he took out a box of highly saturated dust spikes, and stuffed roughly 30 into his brown duffel bag.
"I mean, sure it's a nice weapon and all, but it loses power after a few good swings, it's impractical."
"And Rose Nasty is different... How?"
"Charges after 2 quick shakes or flicks instead of 10 violent ones, and it's definitely longer in terms of its blade length. Not to mention it's more of a dual wield style, which is better in both defense and offense. Also they're definitely lighter in terms of weight, so I can swing them faster."
"Do you even know how to dual wield?"
"Nope." I smirked. "But that's why we're training in the Emerald Forest in the first place."
"You sure that's wise? You don't wanna ask Blake for the basics?"
"Nah, I'm good." I stated. "I think..."
...
"See you soon Professor Ozpin!" I shouted as I got launched.
SWISH
"Thanks for aiding us!" Evans waved off.
SWISH
"Hmm..." Ozpin smiled as he sipped more coffee. "They're just like young miss Brawnwen and miss Rose back then..."