Chapter 56- Standardized Testing
Last chapter, yes I know there is a deleted scene. I could not find it anywhere. No transcript or video. Also I hope you all wash your hands and generally practice safe hygiene like decent human beings. You are not immune to the Coronavirus :) Stay safe and don't spread it if you can help it.
"Would you ever use us as bait Jaune?" Nora asked with a grin showing she supported the idea.
Jaune frowned, "No! Of course n- ...well, not in a way that would put you in danger."
"That sounds like boring bait." Nora sagged.
Ren chuckled and raised his eyebrows at Jaune, nudging his head in Nora's direction.
Jaune sighed, "I can come up with a plan where you're the bait."
Nora grinned, "Yes! I can make a really good bait impression."
"What?" Pyrrha leaned forward.
Nora grinned, "Puppy dog eyes"
Yang jammed a thumb in Ruby's direction, "Nora I'm sorry but I think she's got you beat in that."
Ruby nodded, "I use it on my Dad all the time."
Ren smiled, "Nora uses it a lot too."
Ruby huffed and opened her mouth to speak
"No no no!" Weiss cut her off, "I can see where this is going, we do not need a childish competition to see who can do it the best."
Ruby blushed while Nora grinned, "Does that mean I win by default?"
"No one won." Blake explained.
"Standardized Testing" appeared on the screen with the theme.
The room let out a collective groan, even Ren.
"I can go on a very long rant about tests." Yang grumbled. "But I'd rather watch this."
Fade into the ice base. where Tex has killed 3 soldiers and is standing in the middle of them.
"I can already guess this episode will have a more serious tone." Blake grinned.
Weiss smiled, "Good."
Church: "Wow, you took all those guys out at once? Was that really necessary?"
Tex: "Mah, they'll live."
Yang raised an eyebrow.
Church: "No, they won't."
Tex: "Oh, yeah I see your point. Come on, let's get inside."
Yang shrugged.
Church: "Okay. Man, those guys got fucked up."
Yang and Nora turned to look ag each other, giving knowing grins.
They head toward the base, but Church stops short
Church: "What? Wait a minute…"
Tex walks towards the base entrance but it shifts to look like she's walking into Valhalla's blue base.
Church: "Oh no. Tex hold on a second!"
Ruby squealed, "More serious moments with Church!"
Blake laughed, "I enjoy these too."
Yang nodded, "I love Tex's and Church's story, I have since the end of season five."
"It's interesting, out of the other Reds and Blues he's the one I can tolerate the most. Besides Lopez, I love him." Weiss commented.
"Is it a he? They're a robot." Nora asked.
Ruby's eyes went wide.. for no particular reason of course. Is Penny a girl?!
"A he, everyone refers to him as a guy. And his voice is a mans." Weiss explained.
Ruby nodded at the explanation and relaxed. That makes sense. She thought.
Tex: "What's wrong?"
Church: "Uum yeah, don't know if I mentioned this before but I've kind of had psychic visions about this place? Yeah I thought it was Valhalla at first but I guess it turns out it was here. Probably should have told you this earlier."
Tex: "Yes, you should have told me this earlier."
"Like an old married couple." Yang laughed.
"Like Qrow and Dad." Ruby giggled.
Yang grimaced, "Yeaheh, but a little more civil."
Church: "Well I'm telling you now, does that count?"
Tex: "Do you think it counts?"
Church: "Nah, probably not."
Tex: "You're not psychic, genius. You're just remembering. You've been here before."
"He has?" Ruby asked.
Jaune shrugged.
Tex leads Church into the base
Tex: "We all were. This is where they moved Alpha. After a few of us Freelancers went rogue, we compared notes and pieced together what they were doing to him. I convinced them to come back; break him out. The Project moved him here to try to protect him, so that they could keep experimenting on him."
"Wait Tex was with the people Wash talked about?" Ruby asked.
Blake nodded, "It sounds like she led them."
"Makes sense." Jaune added.
Church: "Whoa, you were in charge of the break-in?"
Tex: "I couldn't just let them destroy him; he was being tortured. The Director even started to use some of the other A.I. against him. Think about that: turning his own pieces against him? It's sick."
The camera cuts back to show a terminal similar to Gamma's when he masqueraded as Gary.
Ren perked up, "That's Gamma's computer."
Tex: "Gamma and Omega would fabricate scenarios where he was designed to fail. And they made it seem like his failures were hurting all of the people he cared about, and there was nothing he could do about it. It drove him mad. Broke him down even more."
"That's...atrocious." Pyrrha growled.
"That shines a much darker light on Gamma." Ren sighed.
"And Omega." Jaune added
Ren nodded, "Gamma was the Alpha's deceit, it would make sense that he fabricated scenarios."
Yang shook her head, "Making him feel powerless, I can't imagine that."
Ruby nodded, "Alpha is Church, they tortured Church. From what Wash said in season six, Church lost his memory because of it."
Nora sagged, "I wish the show wouldn't get like this."
"Look on the bright side." Jaune smiled, "These sad moments make the happier ones more special."
Nora smiled, "Thanks, but they're always special to me!"
Church: "But you came back. You saved him."
Tex: "No, I didn't. It was too late. By the time I got to him, he was already long gone. I don't even think he recognized me. I failed. Only in my case, it really was my fault."
Ruby sighed, "He couldn't recognize Tex."
Nora resumed pouting.
"It's...weird seeing Tex like this." Yang commented.
Blake nodded, "I like it, I love the growth of the characters."
"I hope we see some with the others." Weiss added.
Cut to Wash overseeing the Meta beating some poor alien sucker's carcass senseless
"I can't tell if he's trying to move the body or beat it because he's mad." Jaune squinted.
"Probably beating it because he's mad." Weiss suggested.
Washington: "Doc, do you have a second?"
Doc: "I'm a prisoner Wash. I have nothing but seconds."
Pyrrha frowned, "He seems more down than usual."
Washington: "Right, good point."
Doc: "I mean you don't even need to ask. You can just be like 'Hey, Prisoner Number One, come over here 'n' talk to me, rrr-I'm a Freelancer-rrr.'"
Pyrrha chuckled, "Never mind."
Washington: "Okay, I get it."
Doc: "Yeah, you really need to step up your hostage-taking skills."
Washington: "Stop lecturing me, or I will shoot you, and feed you to the Meta."
Doc: "Does he eat people?"
"I would not be surprised." Yang laughed.
"He may be a crazed lunatic addicted to A.I. but he's not a cannibal." Weiss pointed out.
Washington: "Do you really wanna find out?"
Doc: "No. Maybe. If we used another person sure. Looks kinda interesting."
Washington: "You've spent some time with him now. What's your diagnosis?"
Blake and Ren leaned forward.
Doc: "Of who, the Meta?"
Washington: "Yes, pay attention to what's being said."
Doc: "Testyyy... Based on what you've said he's just under powered. He has a bunch of equipment and he can't use it now."
Blake sighed, "I was hoping for a psychological diagnosis."
"I would say he's an Addict. Like Weiss said, he's addicted to A.I. and Freelancer equipment. He's lost his fix and is willing to do anything to get it." Ren explained.
Blake hummed, "That's a great diagnosis."
Ren smiled, "Thank you."
Washington: "That's because he lost all his A.I."
Doc: "Wohw, if I had all those cool fighting gadgets and I couldn't use them, I'd be pretty mad."
Washington: "Yeah…"
"Oh yeah he still has his equipment, I forgot about that." Nora commented.
Doc: "What happens if he uses them without the help of the computer program?"
Washington: "Let's just put it this way: it ain't pretty."
Pyrrha's face fell, "Grif."
Nora began to laugh, "Yay! No more depressing stuff this episode!"
Cut to Simmons meddling in Grif's backside
Grif: "All hooked up?"
Simmons: "Yeah, installation was easy. You ready to turn on?"
Grif: "Ready."
"Grif is excited to do work for once." Weiss smirked.
Simmons: "Now listen, you don't have an A.I., so nothing's gonna help you make the calculations you need to use this thing. So just take it easy."
Grif: "I was born to take it easy. Fire it up."
"He sounds like an action movie character." Jaune commented.
"Spruce Willis?" Nora asked.
Jaune nodded, "Of course, he's like the only action movie actor out there!"
Simmons cranks it and Grif drops his gun
Simmons: "Okay, it's on. Do you feel any different?"
Grif: "No, kind of energetic, am I invisible, hm? Am I? Am I can you can you see me?"
"He sounds like Ruby after eating too many cookies." Yang commented.
"Or Nora normally." Jaune chuckled.
"Heehuheehee." Nora laughed innocently.
Simmons: "Calm down. No, I can still see you. Try jumping."
Grif jumps really high, and talks progressively faster
Grif: "Jump! I jumped, did that work Simmons I can do it again? Please, let me do it again, want me to jump again? I'll do it right now, I won't even stop, let me jump let me jump let me jump! Why aren't you answering me when I talk with my mouth?"
"He's super energetic now." Nora commented, "Ohh! Like a sloth!"
"Not like a sloth." Ren smiled.
Simmons: "Hmm, walk over there. I have a theory, this one is either super healing or super-"
Grif takes off
Grif: "Woohoo! Pashooo!"
Simmons: "...speed."
Ruby began dancing in her seat, "Super speed! I should have known! I was like that too!"
Yang nodded, "Your semblance was a mess, almost as bad as mine."
"I only wrecked the house, never anywhere else." Ruby grinned.
"W- oh." Yang growled, "The barber's shop."
Cut to Caboose and Tucker talking
Caboose: "Yeah, so then Church said I love you forever?"
Grif: "Yahaa!"
"Here he comes." Nora laughed.
"Just like Ruby." Yang chuckled.
As Grif runs you can hear his feet tapping rapidly.
Tucker: "That didn't happen."
Grif turns to Tucker
Grif: "Hey Caboose!"
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow, "He turned to Tucker?"
Jaune looked at her and shrugged with a smile.
Tucker: "Whoa, what the hell was that?"
Caboose: "What was what? ...Hey Grif."
Pyrrha laughed, "Ah I love Caboose."
Cut to Sarge admiring the forklift
Sarge: "That is one fine piece of machinery."
Grif runs by.
Sarge: "...Huh. Why am I so angry all of a sudden?"
Nora burst out laughing, uncontrollably.
"Does that mean Grif's physical presence even unnoticed, makes Sarge angry?" Blake asked.
Yang chuckled, "There are some people that can do that to me."
Weiss nodded, "I know the feeling."
"That's unhealthy, you two are angry people." Jaune commented.
"Stick you in a room with Cardin, would you be angry?" Yang asked.
Jaune frowned, "I don't know, it'd probably just be awkward."
Cut to Simmons
Simmons: "Slow down, slow down, slow down hey Grif slow down, slow down!"
Grif: "Yeeh-ow!"
Grif runs headlong into a steel wall, he slowly slides off.
Yang burst out laughing as Ruby blushed furiously.
Weiss instantly took notice, "Is there a story?"
Yang nodded, "Long story short, she ran into a lot of walls when she first discovered her semblance."
Simmons: "Hey asshole, are you dead?"
Grif: "Ow, whoa Simmons hey did you see that, did you see? I saw it, I saw it totally did you see? I hit that wall. Man, that was fast, that was super fast, I'm so fast, God, so fast, why's it so hot in here?"
Ruby nodded, "Yeah, I felt super hot too. Burning up and I felt like I could smell everything."
"Smell everything?" Jaune asked.
Ruby nodded, "My guess is the wind opening up my nose."
Simmons: "Grif, calm down."
Grif: "I'm calm, I'm totally calm you be calm. Why would you say to be calm when you know I'm already calm? Isn't it obvious that I'm calm? That doesn't even make any sense, you should make some sense, why's it so hot in here?"
Sarge: "What in Sam Hell is all the racket?"
Nora grinned, "Every time Sarge comes in it makes me laugh, his voice is so funny."
Pyrrha chuckled, "I feel the same way for Caboose."
Grif: "Hey Sarge, what's up Sarge, Simmons is doing some experiments and I'm helping him Sarge. Right now we're doing one where everyone talks slow and the lights are super bright and I can smell clouds and man is it so hot in here!"
"Could you smell clouds?" Jaune asked Ruby.
Ruby shook her head. "No I could smell the grass really well though, and I don't know why the lights are bright to him. And everyone talked normal."
Simmons: "We installed a speed unit on Grif and it's sort of... malfunctioning right now."
Sarge: "Well turn him off."
Simmons: "I can't, they run on timers. We're just gonna have to wait it out."
"They run on timers? That's bad." Ruby frowned.
Nora nodded, "Yeah! Especially for bombs."
Ruby nodded back, "It should be activated whenever they need it. What if they need to go slow?"
"Or you need something to blow up now!" Nora added.
Nora and Ruby chuckled.
Sarge: "How long?"
Grif: "How long, what's long? I like long stuff, I knew a giraffe once, I think it was in a book, a giraffe book, the book wasn't long but the giraffe totally was, because of the neck you know. You know what I mean, do you? Do you? The part that connects the head... to the... body. I'm gonna go to sleep now."
The screen faded to black.
"I also felt really tired." Ruby nodded, "I probably slept for a whole day after I unlocked my semblance."
Jaune sighed, "Wish I knew that feeling." He mumbled under his breath so no one could hear him.
Blake hummed, "Long neck? Like a Ziraph-"
"Oh professor Port talked about those!" Weiss cut in.
"You listened?" Yang asked.
Weiss sighed, "We've been over this before, Professor Port is a better teacher than he appears."
Blake shook her head, "If you say so."
I feel like Nora's feelings on wanting the show to be happy and not depressing describes the Steven Universe Future fanbase right now.
Are the characters still in character? I dearly hope I don't get OOC. Be honest, it helps as always. Thanks!
