XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Mess
Finally, the semester holidays had ended, the students were all back at Beacon from the holidays. Many had experiences over their days of relaxation that they wanted to share with their fellow friends.
The cafeteria was bustling with life, ranging from students lining to get their food, chatting to each other and just generally having a fun time. This was no exception for the fellow members of team RWBY and JNPR, the two teams seating adjacent to one another.
"Oh, I can't wait to tell you guys what we did when we were gone," one Ruby Rose squealed, excitement oozing off her.
"For the last forty seven times, we know Ruby," Weiss Schnee replied, her eyes lazily trying to focus on the young Rose.
"Oh yeah? Then feast your eyes on this," Ruby said smugly as she dropped a thick notebook out of nowhere, amply titled 'Best Day Ever Activities'.
"Yes, we know. That's what you did for the entire holiday oh wise leader," Weiss commented sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, having sick of hearing the same thing for many times today. And who could blame her, anyone would.
Ruby stuck out her tongue mischievously before continuing, "My dear important, great sister and kind friends...and Weiss."
"Hey. Now that is just going too—" Weiss interjected before the two had a friendly back and forth.
Ignoring the two, Blake kept on studying the book that was placed before her, her eyes never leaving from them. That was until a certain blonde brawler came into the picture and stopped her from what she was doing.
"What cha' doing?" Yang asked before a pea was thrown into her way as she caught it with her mouth, pulling a thumbs up toward Nora who threw it in the first place.
"It's...just notes from last semester," Blake said calmly as she closed the book, not wanting to delve into the topic any further.
"You know you can't pull a wool over my eyes, right? I know you're still worried about the White Fang but remember the last time you tried to hide stuff from us?" Yang questioned, her expression completely different from the cheerful one she had.
Blake's eyes widen, like she was caught in the act before her eyes returned to normal.
"Yes...you're right. I'm sorry, I suppose old habits are hard to get rid of."
"It's fine Blakey. We're all in this together after all," Yang consoled as she wrapped her right arm around Blake's neck, making the faunus in disguise feel more than a bit awkward.
"So, what were you doing during the holidays?" Blake enquired, a bit curious of her partner's activities during their break. She heard aplenty of Ruby's but Yang was strangely more...subdued.
"Oh nothing much, splitting heads, destroying property, making Grimm my punching bags, the usual same ol' same ol'."
Except it wasn't just that, she was secretly training during that period of time, she couldn't wait to put it in practice, especially on a certain faunus.
SPLAT!
Everyone nearby turned their attention towards the source of the sound. A plate of pie, before it was perfectly edible, its creamy surface and its meaty center were now spoiled and splattered, most of its content sticking to a very cold heiress's face.
The one who threw it was Nora, who might have executed the action on purpose, her face filled with smug, pumping her right arm with vigor at her throw.
Weiss simply wiped the pie off her face as she uttered one simple sentence, "This means war."
Outside the cafeteria, there were two individuals walking around, one was Sun and the other a new face to Beacon.
"So we were just running around the city and boom! A pillar of light suddenly shot out of nowhere!" Sun explained, still excited from what he went through that day.
"That sounds cool," an unknown individual said.
That certain teenager walking with Sun was one of his teammates, Neptune Vasilias.
Neptune, now he was a guy who could be described as cool, a stark contrast to Sun's bright attitude. Even his appearance let off as such.
The young teenager had tan skin and light-blue hair. His attire consisted a red jacket over a white shirt, a black necktie underneath it, also sporting a pair of gray jeans as well as black shoes fastened with straps.
To further accentuate his coolness, a pair of goggles was also strapped around his forehead. Not only that, Neptune also wore black fingerless gloves on both his hands.
All in all, Sun considered Neptune a cool person even from their first meeting. Strangely enough, they got along easily, even with their obvious differences. Perhaps the saying opposite attracts wasn't as farfetched as the faunus thought.
"So, please don't blow this for me, especially about the fact she's a faunus. Whoops, that was a secret so you better not tell anyone, got it?"
Neptune simply pinched his fingers together, indicating that he understood.
Thus, the two continued along and set out for the cafeteria.
Originally, they were planning on going there slowly but immediately sprinted as they notice a wave of people running out of the cafeteria, wanting to know what was going on inside.
They both had different reactions to the scene occurring before them. Sun had this wide goofy smile that could make any person with quick temper punch him in the face while Neptune, understandably had a face of concern, looking around the fleeing students.
Well, they could certainly understand the students' reasoning.
There, at the edge of the room lied a castle, a castle that was made entirely out of stacked chairs and tables. Standing on top of it was Nora and at the bottom of it were her teammates, looking like they're prepared for a siege.
"I'm queen of the castle~ I'm queen of the castle~" Nora sang in a happy-go-lucky tune.
On the opposing side was team RWBY, their leader pointing her finger towards their opponents while holding a carton of milk on the other, "A queen? We, the people have suffered long enough and it's time, it's time we realize the queen must be dethroned for all her tyranny! For Justice!"
Ruby crushed the carton in her hand at the last part of her sentence, milk splattering everywhere but she didn't mind...okay, the young Rose minded a little but she needed to continue so she did, it worked just as well as she hoped.
The others cheered on their leader, pumping their hands in the end as they all shouted in agreement.
"Muhahaha! Nobody preaching about justice is ever a good guy!" Nora declared confidently.
Then she jumped down, commanding her teammates as she issued one order, "Off with their heads!"
The war between the two groups began while Sun and Neptune could do nothing but stand there and enjoy the spectacle they were about to be shown.
"I don't know what to do with you children. On one hand, I should have anticipated this...on the other, I'm worried for the future of huntsmen and huntresses everywhere," Professor Goodwitch declared while she waved her whip, the floating tables and chairs gravitated from the air and back in their original positions.
She glanced at the condition of the cafeteria, a bit satisfied as it was certainly better than before, except for the giant multicoloured stain on the wall. That, she couldn't do anything about.
Glynda sighed, recollecting back to a few moments ago.
It was a complete mess when she arrived. Food scattered everywhere, all the furniture positioned in outlandish ways, the students themselves were completely covered from head to toe.
A part of the roof suddenly tumbled on itself, revealing a man-sized hole as the object fell on the ground like a meteorite, which snapped Glynda back to reality.
The woman saw it was Yang, now back on the ground with seemingly no injuries. The young huntress in training had a gleeful smile on her, apparently not caring about the fall.
Oh, they were not getting away with this, Ozpin or not.
Fate seemed to agree with her as another individual walked in, one she was all too familiar with.
"What the—You kids better have a good explanation for this. I went away to buy ingredients for one minute and this is what happens!" the head chief, Milar yelled out in frustration.
This was certainly someone new that the young huntsmen and huntresses had not been introduced to, all except for Yang that was. Considering Yang was the only one willing to step into the kitchen sometimes, it was natural that the two met.
"Nothing much mama Milar. Just uh...redecorating?" Yang phrased without much thought put into it.
Milar sighed; this was going to be more than it was worth. She turned towards the only reasonable sort of explanation, Glynda.
"Glynda if ya would be so kind to explain..."
"Of course. It's exactly what you think, tomfoolery at its worst but don't worry, I have prepared a fitting punishment for them,"
If they weren't worried before they certainly were now, team RWBY especially. Last time they were let off easy with a simple task but this one, they weren't so sure.
"Hoh...let's hear it then."
Glynda stepped forward, eyeing each and every one of them.
"Children, due to today's incident, you will all be punished accordingly."
Those words were enough to send them all to despair, their happy demeanor gone, now replaced with heads facing downward and hung arms, having lost any semblance of hope.
"You will be split into two groups, the boys are sent to catch fish, raw might I add and the girls will be left here to clean up the mess and prepare an extra meal."
Upon hearing her instructions, Jaune had a question.
"Wait. Why do we need to bring back fish and...uh make food?"
It was a valid question Jaune felt, break time was over and there really wasn't anyone around that would want—
A loud voice cut in, echoing through the cafeteria hall.
"Hey guys! Man, I can't wait for the food. Where did everybody go anyway?" Goku came in, unaware of the events that transpired a few minutes ago.
"That Mr Arc—" pointed Glynda, "—is why you're doing all this. Does that answer your question?"
Confused, Goku interjected into the conversation, "What's going on? What happened here?" Goku turned to Milar, knowing she was the one who usually cooked up his meals.
Milar placed her hand on Goku's shoulder, tightening it, "You see Pike, the food...it's all squashed and spoiled so there's nothing left for you."
Goku could feel his eyes bulged out, it was all so sudden to the faunus. One moment he was training happily and awaiting his daily lunch but now there was an empty hole in his stomach, both literally and metaphorically.
"Don't worry Mr. Son. Team RWBY and JNPR will prepare it soon, just for you."
Judging from the conversation, it was clear to the faunus that it was Ruby and the others were the reason for his lunch's disappearance. He would never hold it against them as much as he might starve, it was just not in his nature.
"You alright Goku? I'm sorry we did that, we didn't know…" Ruby spoke out of concern, apologizing. She was starting to feel a bit guilty, she did have a hand in her brother's lack of…anything edible really.
Goku however put on a brave front as he laughed it off, "Ahaha I'm alright. It's not like I can't just wait until dinner right?"
Just after Goku said as such, a growl bellowed out of his stomach, shocking everyone nearby by just the loudness of the grumbling.
"Perhaps food should indeed be arranged for you after all?" Pyrrha voiced out.
"Nah. I'll be fine," Goku waved it off, which was uncharacteristic for them. They had thought he would just yell out disappointingly at having no food, this was not what they had pegged for his reaction. It was so...normal and untypical of him.
"Seriously Goku. Stop trying to be considerate of us for once, just say you want some food and we'll whip it out for you," it just gave Yang a weird vibe when she saw him like this, the Goku she knew would just be upfront about it.
"Yeah~ it's not like it's much of a problem to us, right Ren?" Nora comforted, now face-to-face with Goku.
"She's right. Considering it's our mess, it's only natural we fix it."
"Thanks guys!" a smile now upon his face, it brought comfort to the others as they never wanted to see Goku like that again.
"Aye, that's nice and all but you boys better get your butts cracking, and you lassies are going to the kitchen later," Milar commanded.
"Wait. Why exactly are we cooking? Why can't some of us go and get the fish with them, wouldn't that be faster?" Weiss asked.
The heiress was all up for cleaning up their own mess but she certainly wasn't in agreement with inefficiency.
Milar turned towards Glynda, directing Weiss's question to Professor Goodwitch.
"If you must know Miss Schnee, it's because you girls simply have no delicacy when it comes to taking care of more...fragile matters," Glynda stated simply, readjusting her glasses back in position as she did so.
However, a certain cat faunus disagreed with the older woman.
"I disagree Professor Goodwitch. Yang here at least knows how to cook," in fact, Blake would dare say she was a great cook considering she had a taste of it once.
She had a hidden agenda herself. She simply wanted to taste the fish cooked by Yang. It wasn't like she was going back to her old ways and steal it or anything. She was sure Goku would be more than charitable to give out just one, and one was more than enough.
"Yeah! She's the one fed Goku all those times...most of the time, dad just helps a bit and Yang does most of the work," Ruby didn't want to to berate her dad or anything considering her love for the man. But she needed to make a point and she needed it to get across Professor Glynda.
"Ah...you two are correct. Then if you don't mind Milar, would you mind taking Miss Xiao Long to Ozpin's office?"
Milar obliged, lifting Yang and placed the young huntress in training upon her right shoulder.
Everyone blinked profusely, not believing what they were seeing.
Yang was the only who was not frozen in place, struggling to break free from Milar's grasp as she pounded on the cafeteria lady's back.
"Come on, let me go mama Milar...jeez! Where are you even taking me?"
"It's not a punishment if it's easy now is it? Miss Xiao Long will be helping with Headmaster Ozpin on the paperwork for this little incident."
"You five lassies better have everything prepared by the time I get back or else I'm choosing the punishment and ya really don't want to know what I have in store for ya all," head cook she may be, but her experience was still much ahead of the young students.
"Alright Ren, Jaune. Let's go fishing, I know a great place!" Goku said excitedly, wrapping both his arms around the two young man.
"Mr. Son. You are not allowed to help in anyway," Glynda warned the faunus with an icy stare.
"Aww...but Glynda. If we don't hurry, I might starve to death~" Goku whined, but a hint of playfulness could be heard from the faunus's tone.
"No means no. Now if you would excuse me, I have business to attend to. Milar, I suppose you have this under control?"
"No worries here. Just have ta pop miss hot and tempered and report to Ozpin right?"
The two adults then went their separate ways, Yang still plopped on their cafeteria lady's shoulder.
"Alright guys follow me," Goku beckoned the two.
"You sure about that Goku? I mean won't you get in trouble?" Jaune asked, not wanting to involve the faunus in their detention.
"Yeah, of course!" his excitement never falling off, absolute in his decision.
Jaune turned to Ren, wanting to know what he thought of it.
Ren merely gave a small smirk, telling Jaune that he was on board with the idea.
"Alright then. Hope we can make good time, see you girls later!" Jaune waved to girls.
Pyrrha happily extended back the same courtesy, same could be said for the others. All except for Weiss that was, she was the only one ignoring the three boys and was concentrating on something else.
With a disappointed sigh, Jaune and the others left the cafeteria hall, leaving only the five girls alone to do the task they were given.
As the doors close and the three young men were outside, they were greeted by the appearance of two individuals.
"Mind if we join in?" Sun asked, posing in a weird position with Neptune as they greeted the three, only confusing Goku and the others.
Jaune looked between Goku and Ren, hoping they knew how to react in this kind of situation.
"Sure!"
It was a fortunate thing that Goku was here instead of just him and Ren.
With the boys gone, Weiss slapped both her hands, catching all her friends' attention.
"Now that the nuisances are out of the way, we need to decide who cleans the giant mess on the wall and who makes the meal. Any objections?"
Ruby had and she decided to voiced that out by instantly moving into Weiss's breathing space, "Hey that's my job!" Ruby roared straight into the heiress's earshot, pouting after she did so.
Only just recovering, Weiss responded back not with the same intensity Ruby had but with elegance and grace, a tint of smug on the side, "Well Ruby...do you think you have what it takes to organize something as big as this?"
"What are you talking about? There's like only five people here," Nora chimed in loudly.
There was a brief silence after that.
It broke the moment Ruby caught hold of everyone's attention, puffing her chest proudly, "Alright then. Blake and Nora will handle the stain on the wall—" she circled around the painting on the wall with her finger, "—while me, Weiss and Pyrrha will handle the kitchen."
"Just wait a—"
"Now onwards everyone!" Ruby commanded.
Blake and Nora immediately got into gear as they disappeared, presumably to gather cleaning equipment.
"Come on bestie! No time to lose, we gotta cook up whatever we can!" Ruby said, dragging Weiss along with her, Pyrrha already awaiting the two.
Setting up the ingredients, a question suddenly popped up in Pyrrha's mind.
"Not to be rude but do any of you know how to cook? I myself am not a very good cook so to speak..."
"I can make cookies, I think that's about it..." Ruby said, her confidence plummeting as she tapped her fingers repeatedly.
"How about you Weiss?"
Weiss wasn't completely quite back there just yet. She was still a bit hung up on earlier. She had indeed promised to herself that she would be the best teammate to Ruby but wanting to take chances as the leader were far and few between, even if it was a simple matter such as one like this. Still, there was no reason for her to still be so out of it, she should support her leader after all.
"Umm...Weiss? You there?" Ruby asked once again, checking on Weiss's condition.
For good measure, Ruby knocked on the heiress's forehead just before Weiss could respond.
"Oww...what was that for Ruby? And no, unfortunately I do not know how to cook," Weiss answered, tending to her sore wound.
"Oh. Guess we'll have to improvise then. Don't worry, I've seen Yang plenty of times in the kitchen, it can't be that hard right?" Ruby said, rolling up both her sleeves.
Pyrrha merely nodded in enthusiasm while Weiss's left pinky started twitching; perhaps it was a sign to come for the heiress?
"Lalalalalala~"
It was certainly shaping up to be an interesting day for Blake. First, they had a food war of sorts with team JNPR and now here they were helping one another for a common cause, to survive through detention.
How she wished everything was this easy.
"Hey Blake! Hit me another round~"
Upon hearing Nora's call for assistance, Blake tossed another block of cartridge to the brunette.
Now loaded in her hand, Nora launched the grenade onto the wall, the grenade exploded into a giant puddle of water now spread onto it.
Nora zipped around as she started scrubbing alongside Blake, who was also doing the same thing.
"This thing sure isn't easy to come off...also, sorry about the whole cafeteria thing. It's just when I see good ol' Weiss like that, I just can't help but want to mess her face up so that everyone can have a food fight or something, you know where I'm coming from right right?" truth be told, despite how she acted, Nora did had the slightest bit of worry when she threw that pie towards Weiss, worried that their camaraderie would end just like that and she would be the cause of it.
It was a bit surprising knowing that Nora actually had doubts, anyone would think the opposite with her perky attitude.
"No, it's fine. I had...fun today, it was also nice seeing Weiss getting hit like that," a smirk slowly forming on Blake's lips.
Blake had doubts when she was ordered by her leader to work with Nora earlier, Nora didn't seemed like someone she could get along with but turned out she was wrong. If anything, she had thought her leader had slipped up in her order and Pyrrha was supposed to be here instead.
However, after knowing Nora a bit more, Blake was more relaxed being around the brunette compared to before. She took it as a sign of progression, a good kind.
Upon hearing that, Nora's cheek instantly brighten up as she happily continue to scrub on the wall alongside Blake.
"UGGGHHHH!" Yang Xiao Long moaned, slamming her head on the desk before her, the desk shaking heavily by the force of the blonde's strength.
It wasn't everyday one gets the chance to be in Ozpin's office. Wide space, a giant circular window, a simple table adorned near it and a chair to complement the addressed table. There was no doubt a place of work and work alone.
Yang was not seated at the most obvious place.
She was instead given a new set of tables of chair herself near Ozpin's workplace where stacks and stacks of paper were placed on top of it.
"Now now Miss Xiao Long. We wouldn't want you to be going back late do we?" Ozpin asked, sitting down on his favourite chair, admiring the sight from his window.
Yang grumbled for a while before responding, "Headmaster Ozpin, are you sure all these...papers are about the incident at the cafeteria?"
"Why Miss Xiao Long, I'm disappointed that you would think I would push unrelated paperwork to your side, wouldn't that just be irresponsible of me?" Ozpin cooed, taking a sip from his favourite coffee mug.
"I'm sorry Professor Ozpin. It's just the thought of being stuck here for some time is making me a bit...nuts," Yang said apologetically, though she still had some doubts about the contents of these documents.
Still, it was wrong of her to accuse Ozpin like that but she really couldn't stand sitting around just doing stuff like paperwork and it was making her antsy.
Accessing Yang's condition, Ozpin felt the need to step in but not too much. He placed his mug down as he stared at the young woman.
"Ah yes, I can understand why being cooped up in a place like this would drive one insane. In fact, I myself sometimes wander about even when I'm not supposed to."
This was news to her. Ozpin was the last person she would expect to do something like that seeing as he was the headmaster and all.
"Then why do you stay up here anyway? I'm sure you could just order someone else to do it and get out as much as you want, you're the headmaster afterall," Yang argued.
"Because I have a duty, a duty that I intend to uphold, a responsibility that will be with me until the day that I am unneeded."
"Woah there. No offense Professor Ozpin but don't you think that's a little bit much? I mean, I'm sure you can just let go of it, it can't be that important right?"
"Oh but it is Miss Xiao Long. I sincerely hope that you too would see it that way as well one day."
Duty.
It was something Yang had never thought of much or might have consciously tried to block it out of her mind. As an elder sister, she would always be there for Ruby, whether it be the bad times or the good times but there was just something about that word that irked her.
"Never mind that for now, you children are still young huntsmen and huntresses in training. I believe you should focus on being what you are because you might just lose it forever."
"…Yeah, alright headmaster Ozpin. Thanks for the advice, your little talk did make feel better about doing all this."
A small smile formed upon Ozpin's lips as he simply turned away and continued admiring the scenery, "You're most welcome, miss Xiao Long."
Her mind rested, Yang continued her work, hoping she could get this done because she had a sinking feeling that Ruby and the others would need her assistance.
"Well, this was an absolute disaster," one Weiss Schnee uttered in hopelessness, looking at the wreckage before her.
The kitchen was an absolute mess. Splurges of unknown ingredients here and there, smoke coming out of one of the equipment and even some of the cooking utensils stuck onto the wall.
The trio themselves did not come out unscathed either, their clothes were all dirtied and covered by what they were presumably trying to cook.
"This does indeed look like trouble," Pyrrha agreed with the heiress.
"No way guys! We can still do this," Ruby proclaimed with confidence, forming a fist.
"Ruby. I don't want to ruin your delusion of grandeur but have you not seen what just happen a few moments earlier?"
"It's okay Weiss because if we put our mind to it, I'm sure we can do it," Ruby's spirit flared and was still raring to go despite the recent failure.
"Perhaps what Weiss meant to say is that instead of trying again immediately, we should take a break for now?" Pyrrha put it nicely, trying to convince Ruby.
"Well, worse comes to worse, I suppose we can wait until Yang gets back," Weiss suggested.
"No wait! We can definitely do this on our own!" Ruby yelled out, almost instinctively the moment Yang's name was mentioned.
"Weiss does have a point. Yang's the only one among who has experience cooking compared to the rest of us. She is also much more familiar with Goku's appetite."
There was also Ren, having personally tested his cooking several times already and to put simply, they were quite divine but he was out of the equation considering the person in question was fishing with Goku at the moment.
"Nope. We'll be fine. Yup, definitely fine."
If they weren't suspicious before, they certainly were now. Weiss and Pyrrha looked to one another before facing the young leader once again.
Weiss was the one to speak up, "Just what is the matter with you right now? You were fine until just a few moments ago," she was starting to think everyone was off today, her included.
Ruby turned to the other direction, not facing them in the eye, "Matter? Haha that's funny Weiss, I'm still same ol' same ol' normal knees Ruby," Ruby said, laughing awkwardly, even for Ruby's standard.
"Would you like to talk about it? Perhaps Weiss and I can be of some assistance," Pyrrha said, delicately clasping her hands.
There were never many chances to have activities like this back in Mistral, in fact Pyrrha never found anyone who she could call a true friend until she came here to Beacon. She knew of Goku but that was after they had met.
So even though it was supposed to be a punishment, Pyrrha saw it more as a bonding activity with her friends. And to see one of her friends troubled did not sit well with her.
"I don't know…Weiss is just going to call me a kid again if I tell you guys," Ruby said, her gaze downwards toward the cold kitchen floor.
Ruby's downcast face was suddenly lifted upward as her face was squeezed by two familiar hands, her lips now puffed like a fish.
"Look here! I absolutely will not laugh at you. Do you understand me?" Weiss emphasized those last words in particular, staring at her leader.
"You sure you won't?
"No I won't."
"You promise Weiss?"
"Of course, who do you think I am?"
"Thanks bestie!" Ruby said happily as she hugged Weiss.
Weiss was more than a little surprised of Ruby's sudden jump but allowed it just this once considering the circumstance.
Ruby finally let go of Weiss, pulling a deep breath before she spoke, "The thing is… I don't want Yang to help with this, not one bit."
This puzzled the two. It made no sense Ruby didn't want her big sister's help, they would think Ruby would be more than overjoy of hearing this.
"Did you have a falling out with your sister?" it was unlikely but Pyrrha asked just to be sure.
"What? No, of course not. I love Yang, it's just..."
"Just what exactly?"
"It's just...I want Yang let me go on my own sometimes you know. I just want to prove I don't need her help all the time."
"But Ruby. Yang's your sister, it's only natural that an elder sister would help the younger one."
"Yeah but still—"
Having stayed quiet long enough, Weiss finally spoke up, "But nothing Ruby. If anything, you should be grateful that Yang cares for you like that."
In a strange way, she envied Ruby. Weiss knew Winter loved her even though her sister acts cold on the outside but it would be nice to see her big sister like that one day.
"Indeed. I envy you Ruby, I myself have no siblings to speak of," Pyrrha said, a hint of sadness in her tone.
"Just listen to me! I get why Yang wants to protect me all the time, I get it I really do...but I can't be like that forever, I won't let Yang either."
"What exactly do you mean by that?" Weiss asked, her curiosity growing as the conversation went on.
Ruby hesitated for a moment. Was it right for her to tell them? After all, she only knew Pyrrha and Weiss for a semester. No, they were friends after all. She felt no reason to hide secrets from them. Sure, it involved Yang but she was just as involved.
"You know how me and Yang are sisters?"
"Of course, although never have I seen a pair as stunningly different as you two," Weiss answered.
"We're only half-sisters."
Audible gasps of surprise escaped both Pyyrrha's and Weiss's breathe but soon returned to silence as they continued listening to Ruby's story.
"Me and Yang come from different moms. Yang's real mom disappeared a long time ago and my mom is..." her voice shrinking until she went silent, letting the two understood what Ruby meant.
"Yang's been searching for her ever since she knew."
While the new tidbit of information was a bit stunning and solemn at the same time, one question crossed Weiss's mind.
"I'm sorry but what does Yang's mother have to do with what we're talking about?"
"Well...I don't understand everything but I know I'm dragging Yang down somehow. When I was just a kid, I sometime see Yang just staring beside the window and every time I call out to her, there was always this long pause before Yang even talked to me again."
"Surely that isn't enough to believe you're holding her back," Pyrrha tried reassuring the young Rose.
"It's not...but hearing her say 'mom' every time sure did. She always tried to smile after that and acts like nothing's wrong. I never liked seeing her like that, still don't," her voice trailing off as she went on, tightening her left fist.
Then, Ruby craned her neck back up, a sudden burst of fire could be seen from her eyes, "That's why I don't want Yang to worry. I want her to know that I can do just fine and she can do whatever she wanted even without me...but how can I convince her if I can't even make something as easy as preparing food..."
There was silence after. A long prolonged silence that lasted almost an eternity to Ruby. It broke the moment Pyrrha spoke again as she let out a bright smile while facing Ruby.
"Instead of trying to prove yourself so quickly, perhaps you can make a compromise for now," Pyrrha suggested.
Something about Ruby's problem struck a chord with Pyrrha. While Jaune's circumstances were nowhere near the same as Ruby's, it did reminded her of her budding leader.
"What do you mean by that?" if she couldn't do it now, when would she ever?
"Since we can't make anything difficult like a dish. Why don't we make something small, like rice?"
"But Yang would still have to do most of the work..."
"I don't think that's the point Ruby. The point is, even if it's a little, you still proved it to Yang and even yourself that you .it," Weiss interjected, stepping in.
Ruby thought carefully about what they said. Perhaps what they were trying to tell her had a point. If she couldn't prove it in one go, then she should do it slowly, like making a weapon parts by parts.
"Alright I get it. Thanks guys, means a lot to me...but don't you dare tell Yang!" Ruby yelled in her usually shrilled voice.
Weiss let out a small smile seeing her leader now back to normal, "That's more like it. It's certainly better to see obnoxious Ruby than a brooding one, now let's get to it," Weiss said playfully as she turned away from her leader.
"Indeed. Shall we begin?" Pyrrha said with a knowing smiling.
Ruby simply nodded as the three started their course of action.
The five male teens were trekking through the Emerald Forest. At the forefront was Goku, naturally he was the one leading since he was taking them to a spot for fishing. Jaune was conversing with Sun, having a bit of a kinship considering both were leaders.
"So you guys came all the way from Haven Academy?"
"Yeah! Gotta say, this place has been great so far. I mean that food fight earlier was bonkers!"
"Yeah...except for me that is," Jaune said pessimistically. Realistically, he didn't help much at the cafeteria back there.
"What, you kidding? So what if you got hit a bit, big whoop. I say you did terrific back there!" Sun congratulated, putting his hand over Jaune's shoulder.
"Thanks, I kinda needed that," it wasn't everyday he got complimented from someone he just met, it was uplifting so to speak.
"Hey Neptune! Get your butt over here," Sun called out to his teammate while Jaune awkwardly laughed.
At the back of the group was Ren and Neptune. They had been silent throughout their walk compared to their leaders. Neptune unsurprisingly didn't have much to say to the guy until he heard his leader's call for him.
"Leaders huh? Always barking orders," Neptune would know, recalling back to the day of his initiation.
"Perhaps...but they are the one who guides us and leads us to victory in battle," Ren reasoned back. While Jaune was not on their level in terms of combat just yet, Ren respected his leader even with his obvious faults.
"Heh, can't argue there. Ren was it? You're a pretty cool dude," Neptune complimented; he also really liked the long hair that Ren had going. His leader was right, these guys were pretty fun to hang around with.
"I uh...thank you, you too?"
Their conversation was cut short by a very loud voice.
"Did you hear me Neptune? Get over here or I'll kick your pretty boy face!" Sun called out to Neptune once again, annoyance clearly in his tone of voice.
Neptune shrugged as he gave Ren a nod, the two then sped up.
Once the two caught up with the rest, Goku came to a halt, with the others following suit.
"Umm Goku, why did we just stop?"
Goku placed his finger in front of his mouth, sending a message that they should stay quiet.
Using his tail, Goku pointed towards a bush beside them. The four were confused until the martial artist suddenly sprang into motion as he disappeared into the direction he was pointing towards to just now.
The others quickly followed suit as they passed through a bunch of bushes.
The moment they were out, what they saw stunned them.
A beautiful pond was before them, sparkling water with no hints of dirt, brimming with life by the sheer number of fish they were seeing swimming around.
Bewildered, Jaune decided to ask the martial artist the question they all had in their mind.
"How did you even find this place Goku? This looks incredible! Plus, I don't see any of the Grimm here either. Now that I think about it, we didn't meet any of them at all."
It was strange. Usually, they would have met a Grimm by now but there were no signs of them, not even any call of sorts.
"Hehe, those guys are easy to avoid if you've been here a lot. If you've wondering about this place, I accidentally crashed into the water here when I was practicing my jump this one time."
That had been a boring day for the martial artist so he decided to spice things up by jumping as high as his legs allowed once he positioned himself within the Emerald Forest. The results were what the four teens were seeing before them.
"So, how exactly do we fish here? I don't see any fishing rod..." Jaune asked the faunus, taking a glance at his surroundings for the object in question.
"Fishing rod?" Goku questioned while he was taking off his clothes, piling them on the ground. This caught them all off guard.
"What are you doing?" Jaune asked, covering his eyes as he did so.
"...Aren't you guys going to take off your clothes too? If you don't do that, how are you all going to catch some fish?" Goku asked the four, wondering why they haven't strip yet.
"I like the way you think Goku!" Sun said as he hastily took off his jacket and threw it on top of Goku's own clothes, sporting a cheeky grin.
"This is just as expected of you Goku," Ren reminiscent a bit before following the two faunus as he placed them on top of the pile as well. It was a bit messy of him but it wasn't so bad to do stuff like this sometimes, right?
Jaune looked between the two like they were crazy but soon let out a sigh as he too started taking off his armor.
Finally done, Goku ran towards the pond with excitement and jumped right into it.
"WOOHOO!" Goku shouted as he jumped straight into the pond, a giant splash of water scattered across the area, making the others now entirely wet from the impact.
Coming out from the water, Goku beckoned the others to join him.
"Come on guys! You better hurry before those guys come here," Goku grinned, clearly not worried of any potential Grimm attack.
"Hey Ren, why are we fishing in the middle of a Grimm infested forest again?" Jaune asked his teammate, fully knowing the answer that was about to come to him.
Ren placed his left hand on Jaune's shoulder, consoling his leader, "You get used to it."
The three went off to join Goku while a certain blue-headed teen merely sat down, enjoying everything around him except for the giant body of water nearby.
"And Tadaah! We've done it girls!" Ruby yelled in excitement as she wiped the dirt off her brows.
"Of course we would. Was there ever any doubt?" Weiss said proudly, whipping her hair back in place.
"Indeed. It certainly went much better than before," a very eager Pyrrha said with a genuine smile.
In front of them laid a beaten up but huge rice cooker, some of its content somewhat spilled but certainly still usable.
The three opened the cover, the hot air escaping from the container as they gazed on their own work.
The cooked rice itself was pristine white and from the looks of it, had a certain tenderness that one would enjoy chewing into.
Proud of their work they were, they were not delusional. They knew that the rice they made were very much similar to what they eat every day but it did gave them a new sense of appreciation, Weiss especially.
Having lived a life of wealth, Weiss never found the need to cook considering a certain butler back home. Now that she had, she felt that if she ever gone back, she would really like to thank that person for being so caring of her up until she left for Beacon.
"AAAAAHHH! I forgot!" Ruby yelled out of nowhere, startling the two beside her.
"Yes? What exactly did you forget Ruby?" Pyrrha asked, her ears still ringing from the high pitch scream.
"We need to clean this place up! If the lunch lady comes back anytime soon, we're all dead," Ruby blurted out as she waved her hands around.
"We need to think of a plan..." Weiss muttered, putting on her thinking cap.
Pyrrha looked between the two in confusion before she called out to them.
"Don't worry. I can put everything in place...at least the ones made of metal," Pyrrha assured, pointing towards the equipment scattered about.
A black light appeared around Pyrrha's hands. Moving them around, the utensils started floating in mid-air, causing the other two to stare at her, wide-eyed.
They were still very much impressed by Pyrrha's semblance and were thankful that she trusted them enough to tell her secret considering usage of it was considered a secret to Pyrrha for it was essential in her battles.
Pyrrha then moved her hands downward, causing the tools and utensils to fall down on the spot, now arranged to their original positions.
She released a breath of relief as she deactivated her semblance and turned back to the two.
"Perhaps we should start cleaning?" Pyrrha asked, ignoring what just happened.
Ruby didn't need to be told twice as she turned into a red blur, leaving the kitchen in haste.
"That dolt, always rushing things," Weiss muttered, rolling her eyes at her leader.
Pyrrha chuckled at the twos' friendship, "Yes but she still has her partner to take care of her right?"
Weiss didn't say anything, only blushing at Pyrrha's words.
A small of gust of wind came from the kitchen while Blake and Nora were just sitting on one of the cafeteria's tables.
Noticing the red blur, Nora decided to ask Blake for her opinion on the matter, "Should we go help them?"
Blake thought about it for a bit before coming to a conclusion.
"No. They'll be just fine I believe."
"Ignoring them then, come on Blake let's chat some more—Oh! Maybe we can talk about..." That was all Blake could followed before Nora's words became too quick for the cat faunus to comprehend.
Nonetheless, Blake still listened to her, trying her best to pay attention.
"How do you guys do it? I can't even catch a single one..."
Jaune had thought fishing bare-handed would be easy considering they were training to fight monsters at a combat school. Turned out, he was more than proven wrong as he hasn't caught a single fish ever since they got here.
He glanced at the others, a bit envious of their fishing skill. Goku, Ren and Sun were all having relative ease with the task. Sun was jumping from one place to another, Ren swiped at them with a precision of a scalpel and last but not least the one who brought them here in the first place was holding a giant fish four times the size of a normal person.
"Well, I live off being outside ever since I was kid. It would be weird if I didn't at least know how to fish, you know?" Sun answered his fellow leader compatriot, a small fish held by his tail.
"Yeah don't mind it. I only know how because my grandpa taught me..." Goku said, reminiscing his childhood.
"Indeed...or do you want me to help you learn?" Ren suggested.
If this was the old Jaune who had just arrived at Beacon, he would have laughed it off and tried to figure things out by himself only to end up frustrated. But he wasn't the old him and he owed it especially to one person.
"Sure, why not?" Jaune said, accepting Ren's offer.
The two then went off to the other corner of the lake, leaving the two faunus alone.
"How come Neptune doesn't wanna go fishing with us?" Goku asked Sun as he glanced to the side where Neptune was.
Sun glanced at both sides, making sure of anyone's presence before he gave an answer to Goku, "Don't tell anyone but the guy can't stand water, like at all."
Goku blinked in confusion, "How does he take a bath then?"
"Beats me. The guy doesn't want to ever admit it even when it's plain obvious to see..."
Outside the pond, Neptune was internally debating with himself whether or not he should try playing around with the staff that Goku left him to guard. Same could be said for his pouch and everyone else' clothes. He didn't want to look like a dork, especially in front of such cool people...maybe except for Sun that was.
Still, he was very much tempted to try it. He always wondered how it felt like holding a stick like that. He had his own weapon but he also wanted to get a feel of something like this and considering everyone was swimming in that pool of darkness right now...
Neptune grabbed hold of it and glanced at the others to ensure they were not noticing him before he started swinging it around.
Neptune swung the power pole from left to right before twirling around in a circle, only for it to fail mid-way, causing him to drop it on the ground.
Neptune quickly picked it back up again as he inspected it. Looking at it now, it was a simple weapon compared to their own, no modification of any sorts and there were no cylinders containing dust bullets, it was just a simple pole. Neptune wondered how exactly could Goku fight with this?
Thinking back on it, it looked nothing like Sun's own weapon. Where his leader's was long and complex, Goku's was short and simple. Neptune could understand how his leader's own pole worked but not the martial artist's...
Perhaps there was a mechanism of some sort that allowed it to extend itself? It was just unbelievable to him that Goku could fight with something this unreliable.
Accidentally, Neptune muttered the word "Extend..."
As if coming to life, a red light temporarily engulf the pole before it suddenly started expanding horizontally.
Panicking, Neptune accidentally held it upwards, causing it to place itself firmly on the ground just before the pole could hit on the pile of clothes.
Neptune released a sigh of relief, who knew what would have happen if he didn't stop that in time.
Seconds later, a familiar voice called out to him.
"Neptune! What the heck are you doing?" Sun cried out.
"Everything's cool Sun. You guys just go back and do whatever you were doing. Also, sorry for using your weapon man," Neptune apologized, his face facing towards Goku as he put his right arm above the power pole, holding it in place.
Goku, on the other hand was nonplussed about the whole thing, "It's alright. But if you wanna use the power pole, then ya gotta be careful because—"
Before Goku could possibly finish, Neptune suddenly fell down as he felt the weight under his arm disappear.
This caused the power pole to flip upwards, launching the pile of clothes into the air.
Sun's mouth was wide agape seeing this. There was no way that just happened right?
Recovering from the fall, Neptune looked up and was greeted by the sight of the clothes flying away as they got carried by the wind.
He was starting to think it was a bad idea for him to do this at all.
Heavy footsteps approach him and before he knew it, someone was facing him with a not so happy face.
"NEEEEPTUUUNE! What. did. you. do?" Sun emphasized every one of his words as he shook the teen back and forth while still naked in broad daylight.
Having sick of getting rattled, Neptune gestured his leader to stop and Sun did as followed.
"Stay cool. It's fine," Neptune assured, trying to calm his leader.
Unfortunately, it did not go well.
"Cool? COOL? We just lost all our clothes! There's no way we can even find them in the middle of this huge forest! What's worse, we don't have the time to find them either, arrgggghh!" Sun snapped at Neptune, his eyes twitching from this new revelation.
"Okay look, I...screw up. It was mostly my fault—"
"Mostly?" Sun's eyebrow lifted upwards, scrutinizing his teammate.
"Alright, all of it. I got carried away and...I'm sorry, not just you but to every one of the guys here," Neptune hung his head low, shame evident on him.
Sun let out a sigh and smiled knowingly, "It's fine Neptune. I got a bit too heated myself just now, sorry about that bud."
The others finally got out of the pond and moved towards their location, Goku clearly confused what was so urgent while Jaune and Ren each had worried faces.
"Sorry you guys. I lost all your clothes..."
"Don't worry about it. It's not like they're anything important," Goku said happily, not minding his lack of clothing at the moment.
"Goku, we need those for you know, our dignity," Jaune explained.
"Why would we need those?" Goku was still confused by the importance of what he was wearing.
"Nevermind then. Anyway, apology accepted Neptune. It's not like you did that on purpose, I can think of several worse things honestly," Jaune certainly could considering he himself arguably had.
"I agree. We should not dwell on the past, instead we should look for a solution," Ren wasn't mad, in fact he should have been more careful earlier.
"You guys are really cool, you know that?" Neptune couldn't help but smile at these guys.
"Now, how do we fix our little problem..."
Jaune then noticed the giant fish Goku was carrying earlier and had an idea.
"Almost...there..."
Yang was beat. Who knew doing paperwork was more strenuous than punching people and Grimm alike? Certainly not this huntress in training.
She looked around, scanning her work area. While they were still some papers left, most of it had been stacked neatly underneath her desk.
"You're doing well Miss Xiao Long. In fact, would you like a position in secretarial work in the future?" Ozpin joked. It was relaxing to chat with one of his students from time to time.
"Thanks for the offer Professor Ozpin but no thanks. I think I'll be seeing myself going out there and just being a huntress."
After all, she came here to be a huntress and that's what she'll be when she gets out.
"Hmm...I wonder about that," Ozpin hummed, keeping his thoughts to himself.
Yang was about to ask what was the older man implying until she spotted something out of the corner of her eyes.
At the edge of the desk was a piece of paper with a very familiar picture of someone on it, one particular thief named Roman Torchwick.
After that whole incident, team RWBY had all taken a vow to take on the White Fang together. They hadn't got much of a lead but they did have a plan set later on but if she could get Roman's location, they could get some information from him regarding the White Fang. It would be better than them trying to take a shot in the dark at the very least.
Up until this point, they were well aware Roman was being held somewhere in the school but never knew where his location was. Considering it was under keeps, it was only expected. However, Yang was now presented a choice. She could either take the paper in secret from Ozpin or just let it go and go with their original plan. Yang weighted her options and finally decided on one as she turned to Ozpin.
"Hey Professor Ozpin, you wanna hear a paper joke?"
Ozpin was wary of Yang's sudden cheerfulness but decided to indulge her.
"Go ahead Miss Xiao Long, I'm not one to stop jokes."
"You know what? Nevermind, it was tearable."
Ozpin let out a small chuckle at that, "I see, now you are just tearing me apart."
Yang couldn't help but laugh at that, "Oh man! That was awesome Professor Ozpin! Where did you learn that?" it was nice to know someone appreciate a good pun beside her dad.
"I dabble from time to time..." Ozpin replied, distracted by his thoughts as he thought back to the past.
In her excitement, Yang almost forgot about the paper. Sneakily, Yang quickly tucked it under her pocket, trying not to make a sound.
"Whew, made it..." Yang whispered under her breath.
"What was that Miss Xiao Long?"
Yang turned away from Ozpin and started getting back into gear, "Nothing Professor Ozpin. Just...thanks for the joke, it helps."
"I thank you as well."
The room turned silent once more except for the sound of the pen scribbling on the paper.
"All organized in a timely manner, check. No wasted materials anyway, check. I think this is as much as we can do..." Weiss noted, fiddling with her scroll.
"Wonderful. Now we just have to wait."
Pyrrha was pleased with what she did today. It was nice being so...normal for a change!
"Yup," Ruby stated, having just arrived back from returning the cleaning supplies.
Before, the state of the kitchen could be said to be a tragedy but now, it was in a state of cleanliness that even the janitor would be jealous of. The floor waxed, the kitchen utensils now cleaned, everything was sparkling in their eyes.
"So you guys finally done with your end of the work?" A curious Nora asked as she popped in, followed by a very impassive Blake.
"Everything's A-Okay, well beside the fact we can't cook to save our lives...if only cookies were actually considered a meal instead of a snack!"
Ruby cursed the gods that dictated these rules!
"Ruby, even if they get changed, it would still not be enough to feed our very hungry customer," Blake pointed out.
The young Rose quickly quieted down before the sound of a door slamming was heard.
All five girls got out of the kitchen to see who their visitor was, hoping it wasn't Milar.
"Hey guys! I'm back!" Goku saluted them, a giant fish being carried around his shoulder.
Not only were they surprised by the huge aquatic creature but were also caught off guard by Goku's new attire.
A red jacket and leather just looked weird to them, not that it was bad per say...but it was just strange considering the kind of person Goku was.
It also suddenly occurred to them Jaune and Ren were not with the monkey faunus. They looked around but found nothing.
Curious, Pyrrha spoke up.
"Goku, where exactly are Jaune and Ren? Weren't they supposed to be with you right now?"
"Yeah. What did you do to them? Did you maybe…drown them?" Nora emphasized the last part, trying to scare the faunus.
"Oh? They accidentally fell into the water and got their clothes wet so I told them to go back when we got here. Pretty funny huh?" Goku explained, scratching his head as he did so.
"Speaking of clothing, where exactly did you get that?" Weiss asked the martial artist, pointing out his new attire.
"Ahaha...I always had them?" Goku laughed weirdly, not convincing any of them.
Ruby started pulling the faunus by the arms, struggling to do so by the looks of it.
"Who cares about that? Come on Goku, while we wait for Yang we can—"
Surprised by the sudden pull, Goku accidentally let go of the fish he was carrying, letting it fall right smack on the ground.
Now, it wouldn't be anything unusual as far as a giant fish crashing to the ground was. But in this case however, there was a distinct difference.
"OUCH!"
A voice came out of it and seconds later, four teenagers slide right out of the mouth of the fish.
The girls look in utter shock, frozen by the sight of the boys.
It was as plain as day the four young men were all bare naked, nothing covering and all of it were visible for the girls to see.
Breaking the silence, Sun let out a single word.
"Hey?"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Yang was walking over to the cafeteria right now, having been finally freed from the dread of doing paperwork, something she hoped she would never see or touch again.
Yang had a suspicious feeling that they would need her help, particularly in the area of cooking, an expertise of hers. Knowing how the rest of Team RWBY weren't exactly great with a knife, she didn't exactly have confidence in Pyrrha's or Nora's cooking skill either. They were all great fighters but when it came to something else however...
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"
Yang quickly started sprinting once she heard the collective yell from the cafeteria. It must have been something serious if it was able to make any of them screamed like that.
She busted through the doors and what she saw definitely stopped her in her tracks.
There, a few feet away, was Goku and four others with him. Obviously, it was Jaune and Ren but Sun was also there with someone she was not familiar with.
But that wasn't the main point. The most glaring thing about them was the fact that all of them sans Goku were...naked.
Yang could feel her cheeks redden as she stared at the four. She quickly turned to the others, wanting to know their own reactions.
"AAARRRRGGGHHH! My eyes, it burns!" Ruby yelled out, her vision obscured by covering both her eyes.
The same could be said for the others. They were all covering their eyes, their cheeks as red as a rose, embarrassed by the situation at hand.
However, while they were blocking their views, they were also peeking through the little gaps in their fingers, trying to take a look. All except for Ruby of course, who was still screaming aloud while walking around in random direction.
"Guys, I know what you're thinking but just—"
Jaune's state of mind was not at rest right now. Not only did the girls found out, there was also no way for them to escape. Jaune's eyes kept darting around until he saw Yang pull out a Scroll out.
"Yang, what are you doing?" Jaune gulped, this was not something good, was it?
"Oh. Just taking a picture of you guys and posting it on the school news board, gotta make a killing somehow you know?"
"Goku, don't you have anything to get us out of this situation?" Sun asked in a panic tone, grabbing his fellow faunus by the shoulder.
"Oh! I think I have just the thing. Cover your eyes and run as fast as you can," Goku whispered to them, not letting the girls hear about their conversation.
They followed the martial artist's instruction to the letter, wanting this embarrassment to end.
Standing between Yang and the guys, Goku placed both his hands across his forehead as he shut his eye.
"Solar Flare!"
A blinding light engulfed the area they were in. They had no choice but to close their eyes, trying to prevent themselves from being blinded.
The flashing light lasted only but for a few seconds. Once the light subsided, the girls finally got their visions back.
What was once occupied by Jaune and the others were now nothing but empty space, only Goku left standing.
"Where did they go?" Pyrrha asked, still recovering from the light earlier.
"Whew, good thing we left. Really didn't want my embarrassment to last longer than it should. Really glad Goku bailed us out," a still naked Sun remarked.
The four had run as fast as they could to the nearest exit when Goku gave them the chance. Currently, they were hiding in team JNPR's room, exhausted due to all the running they had just done.
"Yeah…can't believe they all saw us like this…" Jaune said, his breathing ragged as he tried to catch his breath.
"You two know them right? What do you think the chances are of them forgetting any of this happened?"
Neptune didn't want his reputation tarnished before it even started; after all, he was starting to like this place.
"Knowing them, it's going to be a very long time before any of them would ever forget," Ren stated realistically.
"Great….just great."
"You know what? I think we should be optimistic here guys, the girls won't do anything bad to us so…we should just try to forget this ever happened," Jaune tried to cheer them up.
"What makes you so sure?" Sun asked skeptically, not believing in Jaune's words.
"I know so. I mean, that's what friends are for right?" Jaune answered, finality in his voice.
"Jeez, if you say it like that, guess there's no problem then," though, he would like if Blake never mention it in the near future, even once. Knowing the cat faunus's personality, there was a high chance of that happening, an instance where he was grateful for her seriousness.
"How about we change into our clothes first, it's getting a bit breezy," Ren suggested, starting to feel the cold breeze.
"You mind if you lend us some?" Sun asked for him and Neptune.
"Of course not, there's no way we would leave you out like this," Jaune assured them. Who would be so cruel to leave two people naked, he sure wouldn't.
"Seriously? You think you got any extra hoodies cause I really like the one I saw you wear earlier," Neptune asked almost enthusiastically.
Now calmed down, the four decided to stay there for a while before hiding from the girls again, not wanting to meet them in the eyes, at least momentarily.
"Hehe. They escaped when you guys couldn't see anything."
Goku couldn't help be giddy about the fact that his new technique worked. He had gotten the idea ever since they went into the ruins, especially that one particular trial where he was split from Velvet.
"Darn. I really wanted their pictures too."
"Yang, putting it on the news board like that would be too much, even if they...themselves have violated the law," Weiss coughed at the last part.
"Oh please, I wasn't really going to post it there. I was thinking more in lines of...blackmail, like maybe doing my homework?" Yang answered with a cheeky smile.
Blake rolled her eyes at that while Weiss had a face that screamed she couldn't believe what her teammate was implying.
Their attentions were back on Goku when a familiar growl came from his stomach.
"Guess I'm getting really hungry," Goku laughed it off, holding his stomach in tow.
"Hey Rubs, did you guys cook up anything for him?"
"No...not really. We were only able to make some rice," Ruby stuttered as she spoke, afraid of what's to come.
"That's great Rubs! Now you just leave the rest to your big sis," Yang praised her sister, rubbing her cheeks against Ruby's.
"Come on Yang...not in front of Weiss and the others."
Ruby was feeling pretty embarrassed being seen like this by everyone. Still, it was nice that Yang acknowledge her, even if it was the tiniest bit.
"And what do we have here?"
Milar's loud voice boomed throughout the hall, causing everyone to focus on her.
"So are ya all done?"
Being the leader, Ruby decided to speak up.
"Yes mam. Well, except the food..."
"Is everything still a mess?" She asked, glancing sideways toward the wall.
"Nope, everything spick and span."
Milar's stern demeanor turned into a cheery one as she gave a giant smile.
"Good then. Judging from the looks of the pike, it seems he's hungry and with the fish he caught, this will be simple," she claimed confidently as he rolled up her sleeves.
Finally feeling the effects of his hunger, Goku lost strength in both his legs as he finally fell down flat on his face.
Worried, the others huddled around the martial artist.
"Goku, are you...alright?" Ruby asked, worried.
"I...think...so...just...really...hunggrrryy..."
Milar picked up the faunus and put him in the same position she put Yang earlier.
"Well then, it's a good thing you have me here. Yang, you pick up the fish and we cook up something for this fool."
While she could certainly do it herself, having a helping hand in the kitchen would lessen the burden.
"You got it, mama!"
Milar started carrying Goku towards the kitchen with Yang dragging the fish around.
The moment she crossed paths with Blake, Yang quickly inserted the document into Blake's hand. The cat faunus clearly having no idea what it was before she opened it.
Her eyes widen in surprise by the information inside it. She then turned towards Yang, "How did you—"
"We'll talk about this later, all of us got it?"
With those parting words, Yang disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Blake more anxious on what was ahead.
"So that meeting thing is about to begin soon, what do we do without Roman or the Atlesian Paladin?" Emerald asked the two people in the same room as her.
"Good point. Without any of the two, I doubt the faunus will even work with us," Mercury added, limping against a wall.
"Now now, don't you worry your heads about that. I might have said nothing's change but that's not exactly true, at least for the minor details..." Cinder stated, already a contingency plan in mind for a scenario like this.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Too long? Drag too much? Too much fluff? Tell me because you guys are the only one who can restrict me at this point and restriction is not a bad thing.
Originally, I was going to write that darn side story but decided against it due to the length of this chapter, maybe next time…
Dumb note, I used the term Solar Flare for Tien's technique. I think I'm gonna state here I'm probably going with the dub term for anything Dragon Ball related, except Mafuba because Evil Containment Wave is a mouthful and I never like it being call as such. I'm just inconsistent like that. If you have any issues with it, please tell me so that I might consider changing it, thank you.
Thanks for the responses last time, you know who you are you so-and-so!