War for Ruby
Chapter 38: Cookie Contest
It had been a few days since the WBY and the WGC had their video game contest. Things were still pretty much the same with the two groups competing over Ruby with each other and among themselves. The only thing that had changed was that Cinder had begun spending a lot of time in her dorm playing video games. It seemed like her having experienced gaming for the first time had a big impact on her.
Currently, the two groups of WBY and WGC were once again caught up in an argument over the young redhead they all loved. The ladies were arguing over which group could spend the next weekend with Ruby, as both groups had their own ideas of what the young team leader would like more.
''Get this through your thick heads, you old hags!'' Yang yelled angrily at the WGC. ''WE are taking Ruby to the movies on Saturday! There's a new Studio Ghibli movie coming out and she loves them, so she is coming with us!''
''Who are you calling old, you snotty brat!?'' Glynda yelled back at the WBY. ''Besides, WE are the ones who will be taking Ms. Rose with us on Saturday! There is a new karaoke cafe opening in the city and we know that she would love to go there with us!''
''Yeah! And after that we can take her to the arcade!'' Cinder added happily, causing her two comrades to give her blank stares.
''Cinder, we know that you're currently obsessed with video games, but could you at least try to control it a bit?'' Winter asked the raven-haired woman.
''What!? It's a good idea!'' the raven-haired woman argued.
Before anyone could say anything more, a sweet smell suddenly came and caught the attention of the six ladies. They all started to follow it and eventually ended at a kitchen area that the students could use for making food for themselves, if they wanted. Once they arrived there, they were treated to the sight of Ruby making cookies.
''Oh! Hi, guys!'' the redhead cheerfully greeted the six ladies. ''What brings you here?''
''We smelled something delicious and decided to investigate. It seems we found it,'' Blake answered before muttering inaudibly, ''And I'm not just talking about the cookies.''
''What made you decide to start baking suddenly, Rubes?'' Yang asked. ''I mean, if you wanted cookies, I'm sure you could get them from the cafeteria.''
''I could, but I was just... thinking about mom and I... remembered how she used to make these,'' Ruby answered, causing the six older ladies to go wide-eyed. ''I kind of just wanted try it out a bit. To live some good memories.''
While the young team leader was explaining her reason for baking cookies, both the WBY and the WGC were deep in thought. They all knew that their beloved rose liked sweet things a lot, especially cookies. However, they now realized that cookies meant more than simply tasty treats to Ruby. They held dear memories of her mother, something that probably made the treats that much better for her.
All six ladies saw a great chance and they were going to use it.
''Anyways, do any of you want to-?'' Ruby began to aske but noticed that her friends had suddenly disappeared. They had left so fast that she never noticed it at all. ''That's weird... Oh well! More for me!''
Meanwhile, the WBY and the WGC had run all the way from the kitchen to team RWBY's dorm, knocking away anything and anyone that got in the way. One of these poor victims was Jaune, who got run over by the group of women, causing Pyrrha to cry from horror.
Once they reached team RWBY's dorm, the group of women went inside and got into a big circle in the middle of the room. They were all eager to discuss their new discovery about their beloved rose.
''Okay. I'm certain you all just heard what Ruby said, right?'' Weiss asked the other women, who nodded. ''Do you all know what this means?''
''I suppose it means that our next competition over Ms. Rose has been chosen,'' Winter answered. ''Whoever can make the best cookies for her is sure to win over her heart.''
''Which means that I'm going to finally win this war of ours!'' Yang suddenly stated with a cocky smirk, causing the others to look at her. ''Unlike any of you, I actually helped Ruby's mom in the kitchen when she was making cookies! I've still got the skills, so you all might as well back off! No need to get yourselves embarrassed by trying too hard to beat the impossible!''
''To hell with you, Yang! I'm not going down without a fight!'' Blake yelled angrily at her partner with others voicing similar thoughts.
It didn't take long until the group of six women were once again arguing with each other over who was the best among them. They all had their own reasoning for why they were the best, such as Weiss claiming that her high-class upbringing had her prepared for anything, Yang saying that her bigger amount of experience with Ruby would be the deciding factor and so on.
However, while the arguing was going on, one of the ladies realized something very important.
''Ummm... Guys? Can I ask you all something?'' Cinder asked.
''Cinder, if it has ANYTHING to do with video games, I swear to all that is holy that I will personally throw you out of the window!'' Winter practically growled in response.
''No. I was just wondering about something very essential in what we are arguing about,'' the raven-haired woman said. ''Does any single one of us know how to cook at all?''
Everyone went completely silent over the villainess' question. Due to their excitement over finding out about why Ruby liked cookies so much and the opportunity it presented for them, all of the ladies had forgotten about the one important thing in the matter. Would they be able to make the sugary treats their beloved redhead liked?
''W-Well, I have been so thoroughly trained in every possible way, so I'm certain that I should be able to make a few cookies,'' Weiss mumbled in an unsure voice. She wanted to be all confident and show the others that she was the one who would win, but knew that she had no experience in the kitchen.
''Oh, please! The only training that was even remotely related to food was how to ''eat like a proper lady!'' You and I both know that our father viewed cooking as something a servant should do, so you have absolutely no idea on how to make cookies!'' Winter yelled at her younger sister, causing said girl to blush in embarrassment from getting caught. ''At least I have some experience in cooking! The Atlesian military helped me in learning such skills to perfection!''
''Isn't the Atlesian military's idea of culinary skills to heat up field rations?'' Glynda asked with a raised eyebrow, fully knowing what type of ''cooking skills'' the white-haired woman most likely possessed. ''I'm pretty sure that's not exactly something you can boast about.''
''Well it's better than nothing!'' the soldier argued back with an embarrassed blush on her face. ''Besides, I doubt YOU can do any better!''
''Are you joking? I'll have you know that back when I was studying to become a Huntress, I learned to cook for myself,'' the blonde teacher said with a smirk. ''I am fully capable when it comes down to cooking.''
''Oh really? This ''cooking'' of yours wouldn't happen to consist of those instant foods that even a monkey with brain damage could do?'' Winter asked sarcastically, not believing what the witch had said.
''It requires at least some skill!'' Glynda yelled back.
''Well, unlike all of you, I'm willing to admit that I have no such skills,'' Blake stated, thinking back how all of her meals had been prepared for her by someone else, like her parents or someone from the White Fang. ''What about you, Cinder?''
''I'm no better. I have always had someone do it for me,'' the raven-haired woman answered, thinking about how her servants would make her meals. ''Unless you count Cooking Mama as practice.''
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as all the ladies realized that they none of them seemed to possess the skills they needed. If none of them knew how to cook, then there was no way that they could win over Ruby's heart through such means. However, there was still one person in the group who felt like they could win easily through this way.
''Well, I certainly know what to do!'' Yang stated proudly with a grin. ''Like I told you all, I used to help Ruby's mom when she was making cookies! It looks like this is my victory for sure this time!''
The others were about to respond angrily at the blonde girl's boasting, but they noticed something. Yang's voice didn't sound as confident as it should and there seemed to be sweat falling down her face. It was like she didn't fully believe her own words.
''Are you sure, Yang?'' Weiss asked, her voice full of doubt. ''You don't seem all that confident for some reason.''
''What!? Nonsense! Why wouldn't I be confident in what I just said!?'' the brawler said and tried to hide her nervousness with an obviously fake laugh.
None of the other women believed Yang at all. In fact, now they doubted her even more and were staring at her even more intently. The staring from all of her rivals at the same time caused the blonde girl to start sweat even more, until she finally couldn't take anymore and broke.
''Okay, okay! All I did when Ruby's mom was making cookies was try my best to snatch some chocolate while she wasn't looking! Happy!?'' Yang yelled, finally revealing the truth.
The other five ladies were satisfied to hear the truth and left it at that. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as they all started to think about the situation they were in. While they had found out something useful about Ruby, it seemed like not a single one of them would be able to use it to their advantage.
''So it seems that none of us have any real experience in this area,'' Winter stated thoughtfully, breaking the silence. ''Which means we are on equal ground now.''
''Indeed. I think it's safe to say that whichever one of us is able to make the best possible cookies for Ruby, is most likely going to be the winner,'' Weiss said.
''How about we have a little contest then?'' Cinder suggested, getting everyone's attention. ''We will all try our best to make cookies for Ruby and the one who makes the best ones gets to spend an entire weekend alone with her.''
''Agreed!'' the other five ladies said in unison, liking the idea. It was going to be another contest between them once again.
It didn't take long until both the WBY and the WGC were in the kitchen together, readying themselves for their cooking competition. Each one had prepared a spot for themselves with all the necessary tools and ingredients, along with a cooking book to keep track on what to do. Unlike before when it was one team against another, now it was each woman for themselves. No one was going to assist anyone this time.
''Everyone ready!?'' Winter asked, to which the others nodded. ''Then let's start!''
Upon the white-haired woman's declaration of the competition starting, all the ladies went immediately to work. They all started to throw their ingredients in their bowls, beginning to make the dough for their cookies. While they all started at the same time, there were two people who seemed to be on the lead, due to being naturally faster than others. These two were Blake and Cinder.
'Yes! I've already got the lead!' Blake thought to herself happily as she continued mixing her dough. 'I just need to keep up the pace and I'll win for sure!'
Weiss and Yang had noticed their teammate's progress and didn't like it. Even if they had agreed to determine the winner through cooking alone, they would still use any possible means to help their chances at winning. Luckily for them, Yang had an idea on how to put a temporary stop to Blake's work.
''Ah! Zwei, don't go to Blake! She's too busy to play with you right now!'' the blonde girl yelled with a smirk, knowing what her words would do to her partner.
Upon hearing the corgi's name, Blake immediately went on alert with her body tensing up. And when Yang said that the dog was going towards her, the cat faunus' fight or flight instincts flared up. She threw her bowl of dough in the air and jumped up to the table, hoping to escape the terror that was Zwei. However, she was confused as she looked around and couldn't find the corgi anywhere.
''Oops! Sorry, Blake!'' Yang called out in a clearly fake apologetic voice, causing the raven-haired girl to look at the blonde. Yang had the most evil grin on her face at the moment, as she looked at her scared partner. ''Guess I mistook something else for Zwei! My bad!''
''GODDAMMIT, YANG! THAT WAS LOW, EVEN FOR YOU!'' Blake yelled at the brawler, her face red with fury and embarrassment.
Back with the women of the WGC, Glynda was just about to try and ruin Cinder's progress by using her Semblance to pull dishes from cupboards above the villainess and then dropping them on her. However, that became unnecessary, as the bowl Blake had thrown in the air had landed right on Cinder's head, knocking her down face first into her own bowl of cookie dough.
''Well, that was convenient,'' Glynda said to herself with a chuckle. ''That almost makes up for what Ms. Belladonna did to back when I tried to get Ruby on a date with me.''
After that little incident, the women all went back to work. Blake and Cinder had to start over with their bowls of dough, since all of their previous work had been ruined. Right now, Weiss and Winter were the ones in the lead and they had actually managed to finish making their dough for their cookies.
''One set of perfect cookies coming right up!'' the older Schnee sister said cheerfully as she put her cookies in the oven. ''It seems like I'll be the winner of this competition! Now I just need to wait a while and I can claim Ms. Rose for myself!''
''Aren't you forgetting something?'' Cinder asked the soldier. ''Don't you think you should clean yourself up a bit before taking your cookies to Ruby? I highly doubt that she would appreciate getting cookies from someone covered in dough.''
''You're right! I have to be presentable in front of Ms. Rose!'' Winter said in a shocked voice and dashed over to a nearby sink to clean herself, not alarmed at all by the sudden kindness from one of her rivals.
Cinder smirked as the Atlesian soldier's attention was away from her oven, allowing her to sabotage her opponent's work. The raven-haired woman went and turned up the oven's heat, causing the cookies inside to start burning. Winter only noticed what had happened to her cookies by the time smoke was coming out of the oven.
''What the-!? AAAAAHH! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?'' the white-haired woman screamed in horror as she tried her best to save the treats, but was too late. She could only sob in defeat as her cookies had been burnt so bad they were inedible.
''Heh! Back in the day, I never thought I would be able to beat Winter in anything, but I guess things are different now,'' Weiss said arrogantly as she was putting her own cookies in the oven. ''All I need to do is finish these and-''
The heiress was cut off by her cookies suddenly exploding as soon as she put them in the oven. Luckily for her, she had her Aura protect her from any serious injuries, but the blast still sent her flying into a wall, where she was then stuck in a daze.
''W-What happened?'' Weiss asked while still stuck on the wall. She was completely dazed by what just happened to her.
''Careful there, Weiss,'' Blake said with a smirk while twirling a small empty container of Dust between her fingers. She had put it's contents on Weiss' cookies while she wasn't looking, causing them to explode upon getting heated up. ''Cooking can be dangerous, especially with the wrong ingredients.''
Now that Weiss and Winter had been sabotaged, Yang and Glynda took the lead. Both ladies had actually managed to not only finish making their bowls of dough, but also to cook their treats in the oven without any problems. Both blondes soon had a whole set of freshly baked cookies at the ready.
''Ha! Looks like I'm winning this one!'' Yang said with a wide grin. ''Guess you losers can already start practicing congratulations for the time me and Ruby get married!''
''It's Ruby and I, Ms. Xiao Long,'' Glynda corrected her student, who was angered by it. ''And I don't think you should get all confident just yet. After all, I think I have way better cookies prepared for Ms. Rose right here.''
''Shouldn't you two try your creations before giving them to Ruby?'' Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow. ''You shouldn't give her those before properly testing them. You might end up killing her otherwise.''
''WHAT!? How dare you say that to me!?'' Yang yelled angrily at her teammate, furious that the heiress would say something like that. ''I'll have you know that I took absolute care in making sure that these would be the best damn possible cookies Rubes could ever get!''
''Oh? Then why don't you try them out and show us just how good they are?'' Weiss asked with a smirk. ''Or are you too afraid to do that?''
''You wanna see me do it!? Fine!'' the brawler yelled before taking one of her cookies and putting it in her mouth. ''See? Nothing wrong at-''
Yang suddenly stopped talking as her face suddenly turned green and she had to spit out the cookie she had in her mouth. The blonde girl fell on her knees as she coughed up every last bit of the horrible treat that had been in her mouth.
''Well, well, well. Guess it wasn't as good as you thought it was, huh?'' Weiss said with a smirk, knowing fully well what had happened. After all, she herself had switched the blonde girl's sugar with salt at the very beginning of the competition, causing her to make cookies that tasted awful.
''Hmph! Just as I would expect of Ms. Xiao Long!'' Glynda said arrogantly as she put one of her own cookies into her mouth. ''At least I knew what I was-''
The blonde teacher was unable to finish her sentence, as her face suddenly turned red and she started to scream in pain. She dropped her cookies on the floor and ran to the sink, where she opened the tap and started to drink as much water as she could.
''What's the matter, Glynda? Too spicy for your taste?'' Winter asked with a laugh, as she knew what was wrong. She had put chili powder into Glynda's dough when she hadn't been looking.
''You... How could you do this to me!?'' the witch screamed in anger as she threw an empty bowl towards the white-haired woman in an attempt to avenge her ruined treats. However, Winter ducked under the projectile, causing it to fly over her and hit Cinder on the head instead, who fell into her own bowl of dough again from the impact.
''That's the second time that's happened to me! SECOND! Someone's gonna pay!'' the raven-haired woman yelled in fury with her face covered in dough, as she started to throw whatever she could get her hands on towards Winter and Glynda.
Weiss started laughing at how the women of the WGC were fighting among themselves. Unfortunately for her, she didn't notice how Yang had gotten up and taken a big bag of flour to use as a weapon. Not until the blonde had smashed it on top of her head, at least.
From that point on, the kitchen was turned into a war zone, as the ladies were throwing and hitting each other with anything they could find. The whole place quickly became a mess of ingredients and broken kitchen tools, as the battle became heated. It soon ended, however, because one of the combatants realized something very important.
''Hang on! Hang on! STOP!'' Blake screamed at the top of her lungs, stopping the fighting at once. ''We have been throwing around the ingredients for Ruby's cookies! How much do we have left?''
As soon as the redhead's cookies were brought up, the ladies panicked and started to look up how much ingredients they had. Much to their disappointment, they only had enough ingredients for two batches of cookies.
''So... how do we divide this among the six of us?'' Yang asked.
''We split it evenly between our two groups,'' Winter answered. ''Whichever group makes the better cookies, gets Ms. Rose for them for a weekend. Or they can decide between themselves which one of their members gets to spend the weekend with her. Does that sound good?''
All the other women nodded in agreement to the soldier's suggestion and went on to divide the ingredients. Once that was done, both the WBY and the WGC went on to make their cookies for Ruby.
It seemed like this time the women wouldn't be resorting to any dirty tricks in order to sabotage each other. However, Cinder had a plan on how to ruin the work of her opposing team. She suddenly excused herself from her group and went to make a call on her Scroll, before coming back.
As both groups kept working, Cinder was thinking about what her next move would be. She had almost made all the necessary preparations, except for one thing. In order for her plan to succeed, she needed to distract the WBY. The raven-haired woman just couldn't figure out how to do this.
Suddenly, Cinder's wish was granted, like some higher power had listened to her. The distraction for the WBY came in the form of a sudden ruckus that could be heard from outside the kitchen's window. The WBY ran to the window to see what was going on, causing Cinder to smirk.
''Hey. Shouldn't you be concentrating on making your cookies?'' Winter asked the team of younger ladies. Cinder cursed her comrade mentally for possibly ruining her plans. ''What's even going on over there?''
''Ruby's fighting team CRDL!'' Blake answered in an excited and happy voice. ''It seems that they were bullying Velvet again, but she stepped in to defend her!''
''WHAT!? I have to see this!'' the white-haired woman said excitedly and ran up to the window with the other two member of the WGC. Even they wanted to see their beloved redhead in action, despite the fact that some of them shouldn't be thinking like that. Glynda shouldn't have been allowing her students to fight among themselves, and Cinder should have been more focused on her plan. However, all such thoughts were pushed aside for the sake of seeing Ruby beating up a couple of bullies.
While both the WBY and the WGC were busy cheering for their beloved rose, a certain green-haired girl sneaked into the kitchen. Cinder had called her servant, Emerald, to come there and sabotage the work of her enemies. The thief quietly made her way to the cookie dough the WBY had prepared and got ready to fulfill her orders.
''Honestly, why do I even bother anymore?'' Emerald muttered to herself as she dug through her pockets. ''I decided to join Cinder's group in order to conquer the world, not so I could help her chase some stupid brat. What's the point in all of this?''
The green-haired girl found what she was looking for and pulled out a small bottle from her pocket. The bottle had a strange, green liquid inside of it and the picture of a skull on it's side.
''I swear, the things I do out of respect and love...'' Emerald said to herself as she tried to open the bottle. ''She better start noticing MY good points or-''
''What do you think you're doing?'' a female voice said behind the thief, dripping with malice and hatred. Emerald slowly turned to look behind her to see Raven standing there, holding her sword and giving her a downright murderous look. ''Those are the cookies of love being made by my daughter! I won't allow you to ruin them and therefore her chance at happiness! You must pay for this with your life!''
The green-haired girl barely managed to dodge a swing from the raven-haired woman's sword that was aimed for her head. She was soon running away from a very angry mother, who was intent on ending her life.
However, despite the fact that Emerald avoided Raven's attacks, they still did damage. Just not on the thief.
Almost as soon as the green-haired thief had ran out of the kitchen with the murderous mother right behind her, the ladies of the WBY and the WGC started to walk back to where they had been making their cookies. The women were talking happily among themselves about how ''cool'' and ''magnificent'' Ruby had looked when she had been beating up team CRDL, only for all that happiness to disappears as soon as they saw the state the kitchen was in. The whole place looked like a war zone, as Raven had destroyed practically everything while attempting to cut down Emerald. But among all the destruction there was one thing that broke the hearts of both WBY and WGC. The cookie dough they had been making had been ruined, as well.
''Wha-... What happened?'' Yang asked as she was trying her best to hold back her tears. She was currently looking at the ruined cookie dough she and her teammates had made. ''Who could do something this horrible?''
''This is inhuman,'' Cinder said as a sob escaped from her mouth. ''All that work we put our love into. All completely wasted.''
Since all of their ingredients had been used, it seemed like the WBY and the WGC would be forced to give up on their attempts at making cookies for Ruby. However, little did they know that their salvation would soon appear before them.
The women continued to mourn over their losses, when a new person walked into the kitchen. Everyone turned to look towards the entrance to see Pyrrha Nikos standing there while holding ingredients for cookies in her arms.
''Oh. It's you people,'' the amazon said with venom dripping from her voice, as she was still angry at the six ladies for injuring her beloved Jaune earlier that day. ''What are you doing here?''
''We were attempting to make cookies,'' both the WBY and the WGC answered in unison while staring at the redheaded girl with dumbfounded looks on their faces.
''That explains why the place is such a mess,'' Pyrrha said as she went to put her ingredients on a table. ''Hope you can keep your insane mayhem to yourselves for a while. I would like to be able to do my work without any of you ruining it.''
''Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you going to be making?'' Yang asked while eyeing the amazon's ingredients along with the other ladies.
''I'm going to make some cookies with chocolate chips,'' Pyrrha answered. ''I thought that since you people ran over Jaune so badly that he's in the infirmary, I should make something nice for him.''
The members of WBY and WGC looked at each other for a moment, before turning to look at the redhead again. They then suddenly charged at the amazon girl and tackled her to the floor. Pyrrha was then quickly and efficiently tied up and gagged by her attackers, who had decided to take her cookie ingredients for themselves.
''We are terribly sorry about this, Ms. Nikos,'' Glynda apologized as she and Yang carried the captured amazon to a nearby closet. ''It's just that we are in a very desperate situation and have to do this.''
Pyrrha could only let out muffled noises, but it was clear that she was very upset. She obviously didn't care about the blonde teacher's excuse at all.
''Yeah, you know what they say, right?'' Yang asked before she and Glynda threw their captive in the closet and close the door. ''All is fair in love and war!''
With Pyrrha dealt with, the group of six women could go on with making their cookies for their beloved Ruby. Since they would only be able to make one batch of cookies, they decided to present them to Ruby as gift from all of them. They would all be satisfied this time with simply learning how to make the sweet treats and being able to make their favorite redhead happy.
With everyone in agreement over working together for now, the group of six ladies were able to progress very well in making the cookies. However, they would soon be distracted from their work by a certain hyperactive girl from team JNPR.
''HELLO EVERYBODY!'' Nora yelled at the top of her lungs as she ran into the kitchen, scaring everyone in the room. ''What are you all doing here!?''
''Uhhh... Nothing!'' Yang quickly lied, knowing how fond the ginger was of sweets. The brawler did her best to hide their cookie dough behind her along with the other five ladies, hoping to keep it out of Nora's sight. ''Just... Cleaning! That's right! We are here to clean this place! And nothing else!''
''Cleaning?'' the hammer-wielder asked.
''Yes. Cleaning,'' Blake said. ''You know that boring thing, where you get rid of all the dirt and trash? That boring thing.''
''Man, that sounds LAME!'' Nora said like a spoiled child. ''I was hoping that you guys would be cooking something yummy and that I could get a taste of it or something!''
''Oh, trust us. Nothing yummy here,'' Weiss nervously lied as she and the other ladies did their best to hide the cookie dough. ''Anyways, did you come here just for something tasty or did you need something else?''
''Oh! I did have a reason to be here! It's just that the thought of sugary sweets made me forget about it! How crazy is that, am I right!?'' the ginger explained while the others could only wonder how bad the girl's memory was. ''Anyways, I'm looking for Pyrrha. Has any of you guys seen her?''
The six ladies' faces went pale upon hearing the amazon's name. They needed to find a way to send Nora away and fast.
''W-W-Why would you be looking for Ms. Nikos, Ms. Valkyrie?'' Glynda asked nervously, praying that the ginger wouldn't find out what happened to her teammate. Not right now, at the very least.
''Ren said that we should all go together to see Jaune at the infirmary. He said that it would probably cheer him up pretty well,'' Nora explained. ''So, any of you guys seen her?''
''Now that you mention it! I think I saw her heading to the OPPOSITE DIRECTION from here!'' Yang quickly said. ''Yes, I'm certain that I saw Pyrrha going to the EXACT OPPOSITE DIRECTION! You should absolutely go THERE and NOT HERE!''
''Okey-dokey! I'll go look for-!'' the hammer-wielder began to say, but suddenly stopped. She was sniffing the air, like a dog.
''Nora? Is something wrong?'' Weiss asked, worried over what the ginger might be smelling.
''I smell something sweet,'' Nora answered, causing both the WBY and WGC to turn pale. ''There is something sweet and tasty here. I want it.''
''NO! There is DEFINITELY nothing sweet over here, so you can just-!'' Winter tried to lie but was quickly cut off.
''LIES! I CAN SMELL THE SWEET SUGAR IN THE AIR! YOU HAVE LIED TO ME!'' the hyperactive girl yelled angrily. ''FOR THE LIES YOU HAVE TOLD ME I DEMAND THAT YOU LET ME TASTE WHATEVER IT IS YOU'RE HIDING! I WON'T BE SATISFIED OTHERWISE!''
The six ladies were backed into a corner, where they couldn't find a way out. It was clear that Nora wasn't going to believe anymore lies from them, so they couldn't fool her anymore. However, they couldn't just let the ginger have a ''taste'' of their cookie dough. It was clear to anyone that her idea of taste would end with the whole bowl empty, leaving nothing for the one they truly wanted to make the cookies for. They could have tried to physically restrain Nora, but the aura the crazed girl was giving at the moment was quite honestly terrifying them all. None of them dared to attack her at all.
In the end, there was only one way out of this whole situation. That was bargaining.
''Nora, we can't really give you what we have here, but I'm pretty sure that we can offer an alternative,'' Weiss said, causing the hammer-wielder to turn angrier, scaring the six ladies. ''H-How about we buy you the biggest pile of pancakes instead!?''
''...Pancakes?'' Nora asked.
''Yeah! I'm sure the cafeteria has them!'' Yang said, hoping to help convince the ginger to take the deal. ''I'm sure you would enjoy them a lot more than what we have here!''
''How many pancakes do I get?''
The question brought an uneasy silence to the kitchen as the members of both the WBY and the WGC looked at each other awkwardly. They all had realized a flaw in their plan.
''How much money do you guys have?'' Yang whispered to the other ladies while digging through her own pockets. ''I'm afraid that I don't have much. I haven't got much left from my allowance.''
''Same thing here, I'm afraid,'' Weiss answered. ''I've been spending a bit too much recently.''
''I don't have much either,'' Blake said before looking at the WGC. ''How about you? Any of you got any money?''
''I've used up most of my paycheck and I haven't gotten my next one yet,'' Winter said while looking at her wallet.
''Same here. If there's one thing Ozpin is bad at, it's remembering to pay us in time,'' Glynda muttered.
''I have... also been spending. A lot,'' Cinder stated, thinking about all the stuff she had bought to help her new gaming addiction.
The six ladies took out all the money they had and were relieved to see that they all had just enough to buy Nora her pancakes. They decided to all go with the ginger, so that they could make sure nothing went wrong and they could get rid of her.
Unfortunately, this meant that they left their cookie dough unguarded, which would soon prove to be a big mistake.
Soon after the six ladies left the kitchen with Nora, Emerald came back to the room. The thief was breathing very heavily and panting, having just been running for her life from a very angry Raven. She had managed to get away from the sword-wielding mom, but it had taken a lot of effort and stamina from her. Right now, Emerald just wanted to finish the job Cinder had given her, so that she could be done with the whole thing.
''Holy crap... Who... was that... psycho!?'' the green-haired girl said to herself while panting. There had been many moments where Raven's sword had almost hit her, and she was hoping that she wouldn't have to go through anything like that again in her life. ''I swear... I don't... get paid... enough... for this... shit!''
Emerald swayed from exhaustion as she made her way to the bowl of cookie dough, hoping to end her mission. Once she had made her way to the sweet dough, she pulled out the small bottle again and poured all of it's contents into the bowl.
With her job done, the thief started to make her way back to her dorm, never realizing the error she had made.
It didn't take long for the WBY and WGC to finish their cookies for Ruby, and they were soon presenting their treats for the young team leader. Ruby's eyes were practically glistening from the sight of freshly baked cookies just for her.
''Are you serious!?'' the redhead asked excitedly. ''These are all for me!?''
''Sure thing, Rubes!'' Yang answered with a big grin. ''You have been such a great team leader and have treated us all so well that we decided you deserved a little prize! So we made these for you!''
''Go ahead! Hope you like them!'' Winter said happily as she held up the tray of cookies for Ruby.
The scythe-wielder happily took one of the sugary treats and put it in her mouth. Her smile immediately went bigger from the sheer delight that came from the taste. It looked like she had just tasted heaven itself.
''Mmmm! These are really good!'' Ruby exclaimed in pleasure, making the six ladies extremely happy. ''There's a nice extra taste there, as well! What is that?''
''Extra taste?'' Weiss asked. She looked at the others and saw that they were just as confused. ''These were supposed to be normal chocolate chip cookies.''
''Really? That's weird, because I can taste something-''
''OH MY GOD, RUBY! ARE YOU OKAY!?'' Blake suddenly yelled out of horror, cutting off the redhead. Weiss, Yang and the WGC also noticed that something was terribly wrong and became very horrified.
''What are you-?'' Ruby began to ask, but noticed something. Her nose had suddenly started to bleed. A lot. ''Huh? What's going-?''
Before the young team leader could finish her question, she suddenly threw up blood and fell to the floor.
''RUBY!'' the WBY and WGC screamed in terror over seeing the girl they loved in such a state.
Some time later, Mercury walked into the dorm room he shared with Cinder and Emerald. As soon as he stepped inside, he saw Emerald laying on her bed while looking like she had just escaped from hell itself. The gray-haired boy couldn't help but be curious over what had happened to his partner.
''What happened to you?'' Mercury asked the thief. ''You look like you've been through a war or something.''
''Worse,'' Emerald answered. ''I had to help Cinder with her attempts at wooing that stupid, redheaded brat of hers again. I just can't understand what she sees in her!''
''Well, they say love is blind, you know?'' the kicker said as he went to sit on his bed. ''Besides, are you really one to judge, when you're admiring someone who is clearly interested in another person? Especially when that interest goes way beyond sanity?''
''Shut up!'' the green-haired girl grumbled. ''Anyways, I think I have finally put an end to this nonsense.''
''Oh? And how did you do that?''
''It's simple. Cinder was apparently in some sort of a cooking competition against the teammates of that brat, so she asked me to come and ruin the cookies they were making by adding something into the dough. So I decided to go and straight up poison the dough, so that damn brat will probably die from the first bite!''
Silence fell over the room, as Mercury stared at Emerald with wide eyes full of shock. While the thief was smirking at what she had accomplished, the gray-haired boy knew that things wouldn't go as well as she thought they would.
''Ummm... Em? You do realize that you've just made the biggest mistake of your life?'' Mercury asked.
''Huh? What do you mean by that?'' Emerald asked in an annoyed voice.
''Well, you do know how... obsessed Cinder is with that Ruby girl, right?''
''Yeah, so?''
''And that Cinder was the one who asked you to go and ruin that cookie dough, correct?''
''Okay, where are you going with this?''
''Well, once Ruby starts to experience the effects from that poison, what do you think Cinder is going to think? Don't you think that when Ruby gets poisoned, she's going to figure out that it was because of you?''
''Uhhhh... That's a... possibility...''
''And once she figures that out, what do you think she's going to do to you? Remember, she is VERY obsessed with that girl.''
''...I have made a terrible mistake,'' Emerald said with wide eyes, realizing her error.
''EMERALD!'' Cinder's voice could be heard screaming in fury near the dorm the two villains were currently in, causing both to turn pale from horror. ''I HAVE COME FOR YOUR HEAD!''
Upon hearing the downright demonic voice of the raven-haired woman, Emerald did the only thing she could. She jumped through the window in an effort to escape the wrath of her master. Even Mercury hid under his bed in fear, even though he wasn't the target of Cinder's fury.
Almost as soon as Emerald had jumped through the window, the door to the dorm was blown up by a fireball from a certain very angry villainess. Cinder's face was twisted into one of pure fury and her body was surrounded by an aura of flames, burning everything around her. She stomped her way to the window, intent on chasing the one who had dared anger her.
''YOU CAN'T HIDE FROM ME! I'LL CHASE YOU TO THE ENDS OF THE WORLD!' Cinder roared as she destroyed the wall with the window and chased after Emerald.
Once the furious raven-haired woman had left, Mercury slowly crawled out from under his bed.
''Note to self. Never harm Ruby Rose in any way,'' the gray-haired boy mumbled to himself.
Author's notes: This was a chapter that I had decided to do for a long time. I'm pretty sure that even back when I started this story, I always knew that there would be a cooking contest chapter. However, it took me a while to get to it, since I always felt like I needed to do some of the other chapters first.
By the way, before anyone asks, Ruby is NOT DEAD. There wouldn't be much of a point to continue this story if she were to die now, after all.
Anyways, with this chapter done, I'll be moving to the final chapters of this story. The next chapters will all be part of the finale for this story, so I'll essentially be working on this story's ending now. While I'm not certain of how many chapters it will be, I'm currently thinking it will be three chapters. Maybe more or maybe less. I have to work on them first to know.
Also, some of you seemed to misinterpret the author's notes of my last chapter. When I talked about characters that were confirmed gay, I was talking about this story, as in War for Ruby. Those characters being the members of team RWBY, Winter, Glynda, Cinder, Emerald and Dove. I wasn't talking about the actual canon of RWBY, where Ilia is the only confirmed gay character. I just wanted to quickly correct this misinterpretation.
Until next time.
RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth.