War for Ruby
Chapter 37: Video Gaming
It had been about two months since the WBY's and the WGC's trip to the alternate reality, and both groups were finally starting to get back on friendly terms with Ruby Rose. It had been very difficult, to say the least, since the young team leader didn't exactly believe their explanation of alternate versions of them being the cause and everything. Ruby had been very clear with how angry she was with her teammates and the three women, and it took a lot of work to get that anger to die down.
After about a month of trying to make things right, the sniper had finally calmed down enough that she could stand to be around the six older ladies. From that point on, each of the six ladies had started to build back the relationships they had with Ruby, one step at a time. The work was hard and progressing slowly, but both the WBY and WGC felt that it was more than worth it.
It was during this time that the WBY would learn of what they would call their ''opportunity of a lifetime.'' It was Friday and the three older girls of team RWBY were heading towards their dorm after finishing their last classes. The three girls were once again arguing over who had the best chances with their team leader.
''I'm telling you two that when it comes to winning Ruby, I'm the one who is closest to that goal out of all of us!'' Weiss said with a cocky smirk. ''Thanks to me being her partner, she knows that we need to have a good relationship between us! She is such a responsible leader that she is personally going to make sure that we get on good terms again! That's when I'll win her for myself!''
''Oh, so you're just going to be sitting on your ass while Rubes does everything? You really are a spoiled princess, aren't you?'' Yang mocked her teammate with a smirk.
''What!? NO! That's not what I mean!'' the heiress quickly said angrily with a blush on her face. ''What I mean is that despite whatever you two try to do to get back to her good side, I will always have the best chances with her! It's just common sense!''
''Well your pampered, tiny mind is far from common, if that's what you think!'' Blake said with a glare directed at her teammate. ''When you really think about it, I'm the one with the best chances to not only get back on her good side, but to also claim her love!''
''And just what on earth makes you think that!?'' Weiss asked while fuming.
''Ruby is the kindest soul this world has ever known, and she knows about my harsh past and all the bad things I had to go through,'' the cat faunus explained. ''She would never be able to live with herself, if she ever risked leaving me all alone to face my past. I know that Ruby will do everything she can to make sure that she stays my friend and that I won't have to face my past on my own.''
''Relying on pity is pretty lame, kitty cat,'' Yang said, causing her partner to fume.
''Then how are YOU supposed to be the one that has the best chance of claiming her!? You tell us that!'' Blake yelled angrily.
''Oh, that's so easy. We grew up together like sisters, remember?'' the blonde said with a smirk. ''I'm her number one best friend and sister all rolled into one. No way would Rubes ever even dream about breaking the bond between us. I'm just way too important for her to do that.''
''You're just using the fact that you two grew up together as an excuse! No way does that work!'' Weiss shouted angrily while pointing at the brawler.
''Well it's a lot better than your lame theories!'' Yang shouted back at her teammates.
''What was that!?'' the heiress said angrily.
''You take that back!'' Blake demanded.
The three girls were about to start throwing punches at each, when they saw Ruby walking in the distance. The WBY also noticed that their team leader seemed to be deep in thought, like something was bothering her. The three girls immediately all had the same idea going through their minds.
'EASY BROWNIE POINTS WITH RUBY!' the WBY thought to themselves and started to quickly run up to the last member of their team, eyes gleaming with excitement.
''Ruby, is something wrong!? Can I help you!?'' the three older girls asked at the same time, which surprised the young redhead quite a bit.
''Ummm... Nothing's really wrong...'' Ruby answered, still in quite a shock over the way her teammates just suddenly appeared in front of her. ''I was just thinking about something...''
''It could help, if you talk with someone! Like me!'' Weiss said with a big smile.
''Or me!'' Blake added.
''Don't forget about me!'' Yang said.
''...Sure. I'll keep that in mind,'' Ruby said, a bot freaked out over the way the older girls were acting. ''It's just that something came up and I'm not sure of how to resolve it.''
''What is it?'' the WBY asked simultaneously.
''Okay, you three need to stop that talking at the same time stuff right now. It's freaking me out,'' the sniper grumbled, starting to get a bit annoyed. ''Anyways, I recently bought this ticket for contest where they were giving out different prizes. I was personally hoping to get the lifetime supply of cookies, but instead I just got a call that I won something different.''
''What did you win?'' Weiss asked with her eyes full of curiosity. Blake and Yang had the same look in their eyes, as well.
''I won two tickets to a movie festival. Apparently, they are showing a lot of romantic movies there,'' Ruby answered. ''I just don't know what to do with them.''
The moment they heard their team leader's answer, the minds of the WBY started to formulate plans and simulations in their heads. They were all certain that Ruby wanted to go with one of them. The only problem was that the scythe-wielder didn't know who to choose, which was something they would help with. All three girls felt that the one that could get to be the one to go with Ruby to the film festival would surely become the winner over their little ''war.''
'I have to be the one that goes with Ruby!' the three girls of the WBY thought to themselves.
''Don't worry, Ruby! We'll figure out who you can go to the film festival with!'' the older girls quickly said before running away, leaving behind only a dust cloud.
''What? But- I-'' the team leader tried to argue back, but her teammates were already long gone. All Ruby could do was let out a sigh and walk away while mumbling to herself, ''I don't even want to go there...''
Little did any of team RWBY's members know that they had their ''conversation'' right in front of a certain teacher's office. And there were three people right behind the door listening to them.
The WBY eventually made it to their destination, their team's dorm, and immediately started to talk with each other. Despite being excited over their ''opportunity,'' they all knew that they would have to somehow settle who would go with Ruby.
''Alright, you two! I know that we all want to go with Ruby to the film festival with Ruby, but we need to decide it through some form of a contest,'' Weiss stated to which the other two girls agreed. ''Any ideas?''
''How about a simple contest of strength, like arm-wrestling?'' Yang suggested with a smirk. ''That would be a simple and effective way of solving this, wouldn't it?''
''Simple and effective maybe, but not fair,'' Blake argued. ''You would obviously win, since you can wrestle Ursas as a light exercise.''
Before Yang could argue back, Weiss said, ''I agree with Blake. That is completely unfair towards us.''
''Well, do you have any better suggestions!?'' Yang said back angrily, upset that her plan had been foiled.
''As a matter of fact, I do,'' the heiress said with a smirk. ''How about we compete through dancing or singing?''
''That would be something that requires us to get a judge, which I doubt we can do at such a short notice,'' Blake argued, making the heiress fume.
''Yeah, not to mention, you would probably just bribe whoever would act as that judge,'' Yang added.
''WHAT!? I would never lower myself to such a lowly act!'' Weiss yelled angrily. 'Damn! To think that they saw through my plan so easily!'
''How about we have a contest of our minds?'' Blake suggested with a smirk. ''I suggest that we do quiz on literature and-''
''HELL NO!'' both Weiss and Yang yelled at the same time, cutting off their teammate.
''You have memorized pretty much every book in existence, so there's no way we could win!'' the blonde added.
''Well, what are we going to do then!?'' Blake asked angrily.
The three girls stood in the middle of the room in silence, glaring at each other. They all knew that they had to find a way to solve this, but could not come up with a way to do it properly. Each girl could only think of ways where they had advantage over their rivals, which would not be accepted by them.
Suddenly, Yang noticed something out of the corner of her eye that made her grin. She found a way to solve their dispute.
''I think I know what we can do,'' the blonde said as she walked up to their TV with her two teammates looking at her. ''We have just the thing here for this situation.''
''Might I ask what it is?'' Weiss asked, not fully trusting her teammate.
''It's this!'' Yang exclaimed happily as she showed the video game console she had brought with her from Patch. ''We are going to compete in the form of video games to find out which one of us gets to go with Rubes to the film festival!''
''But... isn't that still unfair against us?'' Weiss asked in a confused tone. ''I mean, you are the one who has the most experience with those things out of all of us.''
''Not to worry! I have the perfect solution for all your worries!'' the brawler said as she pulled out one of her games. Her teammates noticed that the game was still wrapped in plastic, meaning that no one had played it yet. ''I just got this brand new fighting game delivered in the mail this morning. It has completely new mechanics when compared to other games I have played, meaning that I am just as new to this as you guys are!''
Both Weiss and Blake looked at each other, still unsure about their teammate's suggestion. While it seemed that she was speaking the truth, they weren't certain if they should go with it. Neither one of them had as much experience with video games as Yang did, so they were not all that confident about their chances of winning. However, they also knew that they didn't have anything better to suggest, and they needed to quickly find a way to solve their dispute. Otherwise, they might risk having someone else come in and take their ''rightful place'' next to Ruby.
In the end, it was their paranoia and need to find a quick solution that had them make their decision.
''Alright, I'm in,'' Weiss said and Blake nodded, showing that she also agreed to the terms. ''But there better be no cheating or other trickery involved, okay?''
''Oh, trust me! This will be completely fair!'' Yang said with a grin while chuckling to herself. While she had been honest about the fact that she had never played the game before, she did have a good amount of experience with fighting games. She knew that a lot of them were basically made from the same mold with some light variations in order to make them different. This meant that she had the best chance at winning by experience alone. ''Well, with that settled, how about we get-''
The blonde was suddenly cut off by the door to their dorm getting kicked open by none other than the three women of the WGC.
''Hold it right there!'' Winter called out. ''You won't be having any contests over Ruby Rose, unless WE are involved with it!''
''What the-!? How do you people know about what we're doing!?'' Weiss asked angrily.
''You should pay more attention to your surroundings,'' Glynda answered with a smirk. ''You were right next to my office while you were talking with Ms. Rose about her tickets. You can only blame yourselves over letting such precious information reaching our ears.''
''You might know about Ruby's tickets, but this contest is between the three of us, so back off!'' Blake threatened. ''Besides, you have no business being in our dorm!''
''Oh? What is this? Are our great rivals perhaps afraid?'' Cinder said mockingly, angering the WBY further. ''And here I thought that we should be worried about competing with you three. i guess you are nothing but cowards in the end.''
''Grrrr! If that's how you want it, then so be it! We'll take you on, too, and show you just who you are messing with!'' Yang yelled angrily with her eyes red.
With everything settled, the six ladies started their contest over accompanying Ruby to the film festival. In order to get done with the contest as soon as possible, both groups had decided that their members would each first compete against their respective rivals. This meant that Weiss was up against Winter, Yang was against Glynda and Blake would face Cinder. When the final three were decided, they would draw lots to see which two of them would face each other first, before going to the final round with the third competitor.
First up was the match between Weiss and Winter. Both of the white-haired looked at each other with contempt as they sat down on the floor and waited for Yang to set up the game.
''I hope you're ready to lose, Winter. Today I will finally beat you,'' Weiss said while letting out a small growl.
''Oh my, what great dreams you have there, little sister. But I suppose it fits a child who doesn't know the real world yet,'' Winter shot back mockingly with a smirk, causing her younger sister to get angrier. ''I'm afraid that your dream is going to stay as nothing more than a fantasy, as I actually have experience with video games, unlike you.''
Before Weiss could say anything more, Yang managed to cut her off as she handed the controllers to the Schnee sisters.
''Look, I don't really care what you feel towards each other, so could you just get started?'' Yang asked in a frustrated tone. ''I really want to get this all settled as soon as possible.''
''Hmph! Fine!'' the heiress said and took one of the controllers. ''Let's get this over with so I can join my partner in her film festival!''
Weiss and the others waited for Winter to take her controller so that their contest could start. However, the older Schnee sister just sat still while staring at the controller with wide eyes.
''What are you waiting for, Winter?'' Glynda asked impatiently. ''Just take the controller and get on with it!''
''I... Just... what kind of a controller is THIS?'' Winter asked, still staring at the controller like it was something completely alien to her. ''There's just WAY too many buttons on it! Shouldn't it only have one button and a stick on it?''
Everyone stared at the white-haired woman with wide eyes. The type of controllers she had just described were decades old already and had not been used ever since.
''How old are you exactly?'' Yang asked, causing Winter to fume in anger.
''How rude! It's not my fault that the only video game console I could ever get my hands on was my father's old one!'' the soldier yelled angrily, her face red from embarrassment.
''Hah! I guess I will be the winner then, since I at least keep up with current technology!'' Weiss said mockingly.
''...How about you say that after you learn to hold the controller properly?'' Blake said blankly. ''The buttons are on the other side, Weiss.''
After getting the two Schnee sisters to hold their controllers like they should, the two of them could finally get their match started. However, it soon became clear to the others that nothing would really come out of the whole thing, as neither of the two white-haired ladies could land a hit on each other.
''Just... wait... I'll get you!'' Weiss said while struggling with the controls. ''Oh, for the love of-! Why is this so hard!?''
''Ha! This clearly shows which of us is the superior sister! I actually managed to take a step towards you! I'll soon-!'' Winter said arrogantly, only to accidentally make her character take two steps back. ''Oh, damn! There goes the progress I've made!''
While the two sisters were locked in their fight against the controls, the other ladies were looking at them with annoyed looks on theor faces. Even if they were trying to defeat the Schnee sisters in their competition over Ruby, it was downright frustrating for them to watch the two white-haired ladies struggle so much with no real progress at all.
''Man, this is just painful to watch,'' Yang said. ''Normally I wouldn't mind watching those two make complete asses out of themselves, but this is just sad.''
''For once, I agree with you, Ms. Xiao Long,'' Glynda said. ''There should be a limit to how badly one can perform in this.''
''Not to mention that we have to wait until one of them actually wins,'' Blake said with a groan. ''How long do you think that is going to take?''
''By the looks of it, the rest of eternity,'' Cinder answered. ''Their round is almost over and neither has managed to land a single hit.''
True to the villainess' words, the time soon ran out in the match between Weiss and Winter, thus causing it to end in a draw. Both of the sisters turned to look at each other, still determined to find out which one of them is better.
''Another round?'' Weiss asked.
''Certainly,'' Winter answered.
''NO!'' the other ladies yelled at the same time, shocking the Schnee sisters.
''B-But we need to-'' Weiss tried to argue but was cut off.
''You two played that entire round without being able to hit either one a single damn time! Even complete amateurs can land at least one hit, so what's your excuse!?'' Yang ranted. ''You two are hereby disqualified, as no one should be that pathetic while playing this game!''
''B-But we deserve to-!'' Winter tried to argue but was silenced by the other four ladies glaring at her and Weiss with absolute fury in their eyes. The two Schnees could only go sit in a corner in shame.
''Now that those two are out of the way, how about we get this really started?'' Yang asked in a cocky voice while looking at Glynda.
''Any time you're ready,'' the teacher answered with a smirk.
With the round between Weiss and Winter over, it was now time for Yang and Glynda to have their match. Both blondes sat on the floor and got ready to play the game.
''I guess we have switched roles, because I'm about to teach you a lesson in losing!'' Yang yelled with a cocky grin on her face.
''I wouldn't go saying such things, if I were you,'' Glynda stated. ''You might be surprised at just how well I play.''
The younger blonde didn't believe the teacher's words at all. She was certain that she would win thanks to her large amount of experience with fighting games. Yang didn't think that Glynda would be able to be much of an opponent at all.
Little did the brawler realize just how wrong she was.
As soon as the round started, Yang charged her character straight at Glynda's, hoping to end their match quickly. However, she was shocked to see that not only did the witch avoid her attack, but she was able to respond with a pretty long and powerful combo. Through the rest of the match, Yang struggled against her opponent, but was unable to even land a hit. In the end, the blonde girl was absolutely defeated, while the teacher was victorious.
Yang slowly turned to look at her opponent, who was casually whistling to herself, and asked, ''Just... how? How are you so skilled?''
''Oh, the poor and naive Ms. Xiao Long. Did it ever occur to you that I might have history with fighting games, as well?'' Glynda asked with a smirk. ''Back in the day, I was a real demon in the arcade that simply dominated the fighting games. I have no idea just how many so-called ''experts'' I sent running out of there crying, but it all earned me the nickname ''Queen of Fighters.'' In short, you'll need a lot more practice before you have any hope of facing me, little girl.''
''...I think you might have one more of those people you've made cry,'' the brawler said in a sad and defeated tone. 'My perfect plan... and my perfect chance for Ruby... all lost in one go...'
With the match between the two blondes done, it was time for Blake and Cinder to have their turn. The two ladies sat on the floor and got ready to face off against each other in the game.
''Hope you're ready for this, because I am,'' Blake said mockingly to her opponent.
''Uh... Sure. Whatever you say,'' Cinder replied, not really paying attention to the person sitting next to her.
The raven-haired woman's response surprised the cat faunus, who had expected her opponent to try give her own cocky remark of some kind. However, it seemed like Cinder wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, almost like she was focused only on the game and not what was at stake. Blake decided to ignore this and simply focus on her match, since a lot was riding on it.
Meanwhile, Cinder had forgotten all about why they were playing video games in the first place. She was too busy being taken away by the excitement of getting to play video games. In all of her life, the raven-haired woman had never even touched such games, let alone played them. To her this was a completely new experience that she had wanted to try out for a long time. Ever since she had seen Mercury playing games in their dorm, she had been having this strange curiosity that needed to be satisfied, and now she would get a chance for that.
The match between the two raven-haired ladies began and they both attacked each other. Even though Cinder was a beginner, she was faring quite well against Blake. The match was very even between the two, but in the end, it was Blake who was victorious.
The cat faunus turned towards her opponent so that she could gloat, but saw that the villainess had a strange look of joy on her face. To be honest, Blake was a bit creeped out by it.
''Uhhh... Is everything... okay?'' the raven-haired girl asked carefully.
''...That was so much fun... THAT WAS SO MUCH FUN!'' Cinder yelled happily, surprising everyone in the room. ''Can I play again!? Please!?''
''Ummmm... Sure?'' Blake answered uncertainly. ''Maybe after we are done with our contest, okay?''
''Wait... Contest?'' the villainess wondered, before eyes went wide with realization. ''Oh NO! I forgot all about our contest over Ruby! DAMMIT!''
''How the hell could she forget about it!?'' Glynda asked Winter angrily.
''Don't ask me. You know as well as I do that she has a few screws loose,'' the soldier answered.
Now that only two contestants were remaining, it was time for the final round. Glynda and Blake took their places on the floor and got ready. They didn't say anything to each other, as they were too focused on winning the match and getting the prize. Both players were set on claiming victory.
The match started and Glynda was the first to strike. She managed to get a couple of hits, but Blake managed to escape from getting caught in the combo. The cat faunus managed to land a special move that evened the situation. From that point on, the match went on very evenly, with both players getting a few hits here and there, and managing to avoid getting knocked out. Eventually, the match evolved into both players trying to get a hit with their opponent somehow managing to dodge. Both Glynda and Blake were very close to losing. Only one hit and either one could go down.
Then suddenly the time ran out and the match became a draw.
All the occupants in the room just looked at each other with wide eyes, wondering what to do. Only the sounds from the game could be heard.
''I think Glynda and I need to have a rematch and decide the victor that way,'' Blake suddenly said.
''I agree,'' the teacher said with a nod.
''Hang on! When Winter and I had our match end in a draw, you guys just kicked us out of the whole thing!'' Weiss yelled angrily.
''Yeah! I think we deserve another chance, if you two do!'' the soldier added.
''You two are so bad it would be a waste of time to have you play again!'' Yang yelled. ''On the other hand, I deserve another chance! I'm sure Glynda only caught me off-guard on our last match, so I can take her on!''
''Does that mean I get another chance, too!?'' Cinder asked, excited that she could get to play again.
''Sure... Whatever...''
Soon the whole room was filled with the sound of the six ladies arguing. The noise only stopped when they heard the door to the dorm opening, causing them to turn around and see Ruby coming in.
''What's going on in here?'' the redhead asked. ''I heard all this noise coming from here, like a war was going on.''
''Uhhh... We were just...'' Yang said while trying to think about an explanation. ''Playing video games! Yeah! That's all!''
''That's right!'' Glynda added. ''We just got into a bit of an argument over our last match!''
''Did you say video games?'' Ruby asked with her eyes lighting up. ''Can I join!?''
''Sure! Go ahead!'' Weiss answered, causing the young team leader to walk up to them and sit on the floor. ''By the way, Ruby, who are you going to take with you to that film festival?''
''What are you talking about, Weiss? I'm not going there,'' Ruby answered.
''WHAT!?'' the six older ladies yelled at the same time, shocking the young redhead.
''Well, you see, I'm not all that into romantic movies, which are the only things they show there. I do like some romance in stories, but I kind of want something more, too,'' Ruby explained.
Both the WBY and the WGC thought about the redhead's words and agreed. Truth be told, none of them were into romantic movies either. Yang and Winter liked action movies, the latter especially liking those that were of the superhero kind. Weiss enjoyed comedies and Cinder preferred horror movies. The only ones that really liked romance movies were Blake and Glynda, but their preferred type of romance was of the more ''adult variety'' so to speak.
''So what did you do with those tickets of yours?'' Cinder asked out of curiosity.
''I gave them to Neptune. He told me he could use them,'' Ruby answered.
''That guy? He's probably going to beg every person that wears a skirt in Beacon to go with him,'' Weiss said with a roll of her eyes.
''Nah. He said that he had someone already. Apparently, he has some sort of a secret admirer or something,'' the redhead explained, surprising the others. ''Don't know who that person is, though. Even he didn't know.''
A couple of days later, Neptune would find out just who his secret admirer was. He had left a message for them with the other ticket, telling them to meet him at the film festival. However, the blue-haired boy soon regretted this decision, once he saw who the admirer was. He had imagined them to be one of the cutest girls in Beacon, who had just been too shy to reveal their identity to him. Not the person they turned out to be.
Neptune would have never guessed that the person secretly in love with him would be team CRDL's Dove.
''I'm so happy right now!'' Dove said in an excited voice as he and Neptune stood at the entrance to the film festival. ''This is like a dream come true to me!''
''Ummm... I'm not sure how I feel about this,'' the blue-haired boy said awkwardly, before the other boy grabbed his arm and dragged him along.
Author's notes: This chapter is essentially dedicated to THB4, who has been very supportive towards me and my writing. He has also sent me a lot of suggestions for this story, including this one. Unfortunately, since I was often busy writing something else and I'm trying to finish this story, I won't be doing any of the other ones he suggested. I hope that he at least finds this one satisfying.
When it comes to the ending, I wanted to end it in a joke. At first, I was thinking of having Ruby give the tickets to Jaune and Pyrrha, but I decided against it. It would have been too obvious and not really funny. Same with Nora and Ren. I also thought about Coco and Velvet, but I didn't like it, since neither one had been confirmed gay in this story, so it would have felt like I was just doing it since the pairing is fairly popular. I decided to go with the ending here because not only did I feel like it was funny and unexpected, but it would also use a character that had been confirmed to be gay in this story. Go to chapter three for confirmation on that.
Anyways, I might take a quick break from this story now. I kind of want to work on something different for a moment before getting back to this.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.