Big Issues
Double Double-trouble
Ruby skipped along as she followed her sister and older friends to the Beacon student's garage. While the student's garage wasn't very large, due to the fact that most didn't even have or own a vehicle at all until they would graduate from the academy. Even then, the life of a Huntsman and Huntress rarely provided the need to own their own form of transportation thanks to the high likelihood of any vehicle being unable to traverse the landscape, or destroyed. Not counting that all of the Huntsmen Academies taught their students how to survive in the wilderness and thanks to their aura and training, they were more than capable of traveling faster on foot than any civilian.
That didn't stop Yang from bringing her beloved Bumblebee, a sports motorcycle with supercharger intakes and a high efficiency/high power gearing operation. The yellow paintjob with orange fades and black frame made it stand out in the dimly lit building, or it may have been the flashing red light of her security system chaining the wheels to a small workbench and toolbox, the later painted yellow with the owners Burning Heart emblem in black. Her little workshop occupied the space in the corner to the right of the main door, perfect for keeping an eye on her 'baby'.
However, it was what is parked in the opposite corner that Denko had led them here for. A SUV sat in the space, somewhat boxier than most other cars on the street- similar to a military jeep. Painted a sandy brown, it had a definite militaristic edge to the car. The oddest part about it had to be the pair of arches that ran from before the front tires over the roof a little to end behind the rear tires giving the appearance of a roll cage.
"Are you sure they didn't mess with anything?" Itazura asks her brother as she walks around, inspecting for dents and scratches.
"As far as I can tell, they just parked it here after checking it in from the air-pad. 479er didn't do the same stunt as when she dropped us off."
"That's not a ride I want to be on again. This though… let's go!" The fox girl opens a door and climbs inside. Moments later the engine starts with a soft rumble and the vehicle rolls forward to stop next to the other three with the redhead poking her head out of the drivers' window with a wide grin.
"Alright sis, I'm drivin'." The blonde laughs as he opens the door, the girl diving into the back seat as he climbed in. Ruby jumped at the chance to join her Faunus friend and scrambled to join her leaving the front passenger seat open to her sister.
"Not bad Denko, but with the way you were building this up I thought there'd be more to it." Yang comments as she buckles herself in.
As basic as the seats and the rest of the interior looked, the seats were extremely comfortable and seemed to mold to the occupants' contours. Everything is a light brown, much like stone or sand.
The driver chuckles, "You should know better than to judge things by their appearance." Denko flicks a small switch on the dashboard and a holographic control screen came into existence next to the steering wheel. A few touches of the screen and the exterior shifted from brown to a forest green, a pair of machine guns popped up from under the hood, and the rear end of the vehicle shifted as a turret lifted from along the bumper to lock into place pointing forward over the roof.
"How about the adjustable outside colors, fixed machine guns up front and the rotating turret in the back?" He asks with a knowing smile.
"Oh… wow!" Ruby gasps in amazement as she wiggles in her seat trying to get a better look at everything.
"Alright, anything else?" Yang challenges with a smile. Something that was shared by the owners.
"Enough armor over the key areas to drive through a brick wall without damage, can do zero to sixty in six seconds, carries enough food for a team to last three months, fifty-gallon water tank, adjustable tinting windows, a whole bunch of other features that I'm not going to tell you but it does have heat and AC." Denko smirks.
"Ohohohoho… yeah! You know how to get my motor running big guy!" Yang couldn't wait to see what was under the hood. Her phrasing didn't go unnoticed by the fox behind her.
"You want one of these?" Itazura asks.
"I wouldn't mind if this is half as good as I think it is.""
"Wanna trade it for your bike?"
Yang's eyes went wide. "Oh, hell no! Nobody is taking my Bumblebee! I put too much work into getting her to lose her now!"
"Relax Yang, sis is just teasing ya." Denko laughs as he starts the engine, the low rumble hinting at the power within but surprisingly quiet.
"I would have thought the engine would be louder?" Ruby asks as she watches the guns retracting back into their storage mode.
Denko drives out of the small garage and onto the road. "Two issues with that, Ruby. The first is that this is for Huntsmen, a loud engine would simply announce to any Grimm or bandit that we were coming. And two, I don't like needlessly loud motors on anything."
"Oh. Well… that makes sense." The hooded Huntress admits with a shrug.
Weiss sat back in her chair as she stretched, a small break from reviewing her notes. She didn't know if there was a test coming up soon but Oobleck had a habit of springing small exams on his students, even if they had yet to finish the subject, they were studying just to see how many students are getting ahead of the syllabus. A small series of pops emanated from her back, a result of the time she'd already spent leaning over her desk despite the early hour.
Blake relaxed on her bed with a book, not something that was out of the ordinary, but the cat-girl had taken to using her growing stomach to prop her books to a comfortable level while her hands were only there to stabilize and turn the pages. She was content with the amount of homework she had done so far and had decided to return to her favorite pastime. Or it would be her favorite pastime if she had her preferred book in her hands, instead it was her notebook of everything she could think of involving the White Fang. Her golden eyes scanned the newest entrees, the attempted theft at the docks, as she reread everything and tried to think of any details she might have missed.
Of course, the sisters were slightly delayed from their expedition to go shopping by the weekly checkup at the school nurse. Something they had forgotten about when making their plans for the day. So, the chubby girls had run from breakfast to the nurse while the monochrome duo took their time to follow. So much time that the sisters were done and gone by the time they had arrived for their own physical.
A knock at the door garnered the girls' attention, though Blake barely twitched an ear under her bow, leaving the heiress to answer. Opening the door, she found Team JNPR standing there. "Yes?"
"Um, hi Weiss." Jaune manages to get out, his nerves acting up around the much shorter girl once again.
"Wanna go swimming?" Nora yells into her face, appearing as though she had teleported from next to Ren.
"Swimming?" Weiss clarifies, the conversation was enough to garner Blake's attention enough to stop reading and lay the book page down on her belly.
Thankfully it was Pyrrha who decided to explain. "Yes, we thought it would be a good idea since it would allow us to relax and get some exercise in that we missed due to the weather yesterday."
Weiss leaned back with a hand under her chin to think about it. "I thought the school pool was closed for cleaning?"
Jaune scratched the back of his head a bit with a smile. "We saw them taking down the sign this morning. Maintenance says everything is in the clear from whatever is causing the Issue and even the water has been replaced to be sure."
"You do have a point, maybe some low impact exercise would be good for us all." Weiss mutters.
"ALL RIGHT! The Ice Queen is in!" Nora cheers before zipping back into her teams' room, only to emerge a few seconds later in a pink one-piece with a large heart hole over her stomach, revealing her navel, her twisting showed that there was a matching cutout low on the back as well. Completing the suit were small white ruffles around the arm and leg holes. But the suit was obviously meant for when the hammer wielder was lighter so it was a little on the tighter side- her new weight distribution playing into her favor as the while the body was stretched tight, it was sure to prevent any 'accidents'. Her only issue happened below the waist thanks to her legs taking more than their fair share of the recent cellulite which translated to a larger rear as well, leaving the suit to expose a good bit more than it was intended to behind her and the heart hole only seemed to be acting as an arrow to guide eyes to her rump. Something that a green-clad ninja was having a bit of a problem with.
Weiss was somewhat shocked at how fast Nora had changed out of her pajamas and into her suit but her experience with the hyper ginger allowed her to brush it off quickly. "What time were you planning to go? Ruby and Yang left a while ago for the city."
"Any idea when they'll be back?" the blonde team leader asks, hoping that their idea wasn't in vain.
"Not really sure but I can call them so they know about going swimming, that should be enough to get those two to get their shopping done quickly."
"How about we aim for three o'clock then?" Pyrrha suggests as she holds back Nora as the girl was whining about going now.
"I'll let them know. I guess we'll see you at lunch." Weiss closes the door and returns to her seat, somewhat appreciative that her gains seemingly made the wooden chair a bit more comfortable. Still, she pulled out her scroll and sent the message to both sisters.
Blake had returned to her book but her mind had turned to her belongings. 'Would my swim suit even fit me anymore?'
Talon had found someone else from Vacuo! Granted they had also come earlier than almost anyone else for the Vytal Tournament but she was as well. At the very least it was good to talk with someone from her homeland. Plus, he had no problem chatting with her, especially about his time at Beacon. On a more professional note, he'd been here since before the Issue had started and had a habit of finding unusual happenings.
"And so, I threw a banana at the guy, which sounds gross but it was super awesome!" Sun Wukong was certainly quite the character, happy and easy-going yet perceptive. It also helped that he was apparently friends with Team RWBY, even spending a weekend alone with Blake before helping the Faunus stop a massive theft of Dust by the White Fang, led by Roman Torchwick.
"So, you and Blake actually stopped them?"
"Well, mostly. Ruby and this girl named Penny showed up and helped out. Actually, it was mostly Penny- Ruby kinda got blasted pretty quick. I have no idea how that girl controlled so many swords at once but I can't deny the results, she took out the White Fang goons like it was nothing and even blasted some Bullheads out of the sky!"
"I have got to meet this girl; she sounds like she'd be fun."
"Yeah? Well good-luck finding her, she just kinda disappeared after the fight and nobody's seen her since."
"Nobody?"
"Yeah, not even Ruby. She looked really upset the last time Penny was mentioned." The taller blonde seemed to become withdrawn, clearly, he wore his heart on his sleeve.
"Do you think Blake found the answers she was looking for?" Talon wanted to steer the conversation in a slightly different direction.
Sun ran a hand through his messy hair as his tail twitched. "Not really." He sighs. "That night… it crushed her hopes that the Fang hadn't stooped that low and that was before that jerk showed himself." The monkey boy flopped down onto the grass along the walkway, it was only now that Talon could really see the effects of whatever was in the water was having on the boy. He still had his abs, but they were softer than what she had seen of his team picture. Simply that his chiseled physic wasn't so clear cut anymore.
"Then she got pissed and went in alone. Even caught Torchwick for a while."
"But… what about you?"
"I hung back a bit… had to see what she was doing before I made my move." Sun flopped onto his back, frustration in his voice. "I really shouldn't have. The guy uses explosive rounds, shot the ground under her feet and shot some more while she was getting up. I'm… just glad that she can use her clones to get out of the way. That was when I dropped onto his head and started taking out the goons."
Talon simply sat next to the boy, who seemed to be more upset with himself than the criminal he was trying to stop in the first place. But maybe this is just what he needed, someone to vent to as he had been for Blake.
"Even the two of us together could barely touch him when we were fighting. We finally got a decent hit in, but he dropped a container on us and had his gun at my head. That's when the other two came in."
Despite being the major lead to the scene, the one who dealt the most damage to the operation to that point, he was upset at his own failings of protecting the others. Ruby had gotten hit with one of Torchwick's explosive rounds in the chest- thankfully she had her aura up to take the hit but was mostly taken out of the fight. It was the arrival of Penny into the fight that allowed him to get away from the criminal mastermind and regroup with Blake, Penny drawing all of the attention to herself as she cut down the grunts with ease. Bullheads with mounted weapons didn't fair any better against the Atlesian girl. But it was during that time that Roman had fled.
"Maybe I should have tried to hold onto the guy, keep him from leaving instead of checking on the others…" The Faunus mutters.
Talon laid back on the grass with him, internally marveling at the relatively new experience of laying in vegetation. "Maybe, but I guess that's not who YOU are."
Blue eyes widened and looked at the chubby girl who was paying with the blades of grass in her hands. "Are you trying to get into my head or something?"
Talon shrugged, resisting the giggle of the sensation of the grass on her skin. "Not really, but my teammate does the same thing a lot. Well… one of them will get into your head, the other will listen and comment from his perspective of your situation."
"So, you thought you'd give it a try?"
"Pretty much. How'd I do?" Talon laughs a little causing her tummy to shake.
"I do feel a bit better." Sun admits, stretching his back as he laid there.
"Glad to hear it." Talon smiles as she sits up and watches as the monkey leaps to his feet.
If there was one thing that was bothering Denko right now, it was the fact that he was a teenage boy in a car with three young women. The two in the back seats weren't his problem at the moment but the one next to him. It started not long after they pulled out onto the streets of Beacon, when he drove over a speed bump. It wasn't as though the vehicle couldn't handle the bump- it could handle worse at higher speeds without issue. Instead, it was seeing his passenger and friend jiggle. Said jiggling quickly brought back memories from the day before, when Yang's bra had broken and complained about it being her last one.
Which led to his teenage mind going in directions that he didn't feel comfortable with involving his best friend from his younger years. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from subconsciously staying on the rumble strips along the inside of the loop that took them down the cliff safely. The effects of so many little bumps for so long kept the already busty girl jiggling and he watched from the corner of his eye as he drove.
The Beacon girls were grateful that their upsized combat attire had arrived at their dorm that morning, providing them with something to wear that would actually fit. Unfortunately, their combat gear was all that the school provided which was the reason for the shopping trip in the first place. Yang was hoping that they could find some clothes quickly as she found herself going commando, her last bra had broken the day before and Ruby was using one of hers that she'd outgrown, though the cups were rather spacious. It wasn't exactly a comforting thought that the younger sister had to 'borrow' her underwear since she'd outgrown her own while her big sisters could fit her, given their size difference at their normal sizes. Granted, the garment was barely fitting on the girl but she was allowed to take them due to the fact that she was wearing a skirt and Yang wanted to protect the dignity of her little sister.
Still between Yang's directions and Denko's driving, they had made it to a clothes store relatively quickly. Parking along the curb outside, the four made their way inside of the establishment where they were greeted by an employee.
"Welcome to the Spinning Wheel! Is there anything I can help you with today?" The woman asks politely.
"No thanks." Yang says as she leads the group by. "We've been here before."
The employee showed no reaction to being dismissed so casually but the fact they had repeat customers was a good sign. "If you need any help, don't be afraid to ask." With that she returned to sorting through a rack of dresses by the window.
Immediately, Yang had taken Ruby by the wrist and dragged her off to the undergarment's selection, Itazura trailing behind and looking around for anything that might catch her eye. Denko made sure to keep his back to the section and busied himself with his scroll. Once again, he found himself under unfortunate circumstances, though his eyes were occupied with the device in his hands, his ears were free and trained to keep him aware of everything around him.
"Ah! These are cute!" Ruby seemed happy.
"Maybe but that's only available in your old size. Maybe try this." Yang was definitely the more experienced of the girls and offered her advice.
"You might want to get a few that are bigger just in case. That way you don't have to go shopping again so soon." Of course, his sister would be the one to point out that the other girls were the ones who were piling on weight fast, thus likely to outgrow whatever might fit them now soon.
A small ringing tune broke the otherwise fairly quiet store, Ruby and Yang pulling out their scrolls to check the messages. It only took a second before they went from curious to excited, something that piqued the sole males' interest. Whatever it was, had to wait as he had an incoming message.
Teams are going swimming at Beacon pool. See you there!
Itazura had sent the message to the whole team… why was he not surprised that she'd invited them along on her own? Then again, he never heard the girls talk out loud so it must have been one of their ways to silently communicate that only worked between women and no amount of study by a man would translate it.
At least now he had an excuse to leave the girls… he needed a new suit since his had dry-rotted when they were still back in Vacuo. Not much call for swimming when you were in a desert after all. There were a few oases where it was fine to go swimming but as far as Shade was concerned, teaching their students to swim wasn't about letting them have fun in the water but to ensure that they could survive being in water at all rather than seeing their students drown.
While Denko browsed through the selection of swim trunks the girls eventually found what they needed before moving to find swimwear of their own. Which meant that the girls would have to try them on to ensure a proper fit, including Itazura as her suit had met the same fate as his own. Denko was done with his selection of two pairs and sat in a chair near the changing rooms to play with his scroll again.
Since Itazura hadn't grown much from the last time she'd gotten a suit, she was quick to find something she liked in her size. Which left the faunus to her own devices in the store while the sisters dug through the racks. Suddenly Yang started laughing and grabbed something before rushing into a booth and closing the door. Ruby eventually found something she liked in her current size and followed after her sister, though occupying a different booth.
We have found a likely source.
The message came from Ozpin, vague and nonsensical to those not privy to those not in the loop. Fortunately, he was but yet the message was so vague that the young Huntsman couldn't tell how well the Headmasters investigation truly was going. That would be something he'd have to ask in person.
"What'cha doin'?" Denko had been so preoccupied in his thoughts that he'd missed Yang emerge from the changing room. Now something soft and warm had dropped onto his shoulder with a hand on the other shoulder.
"Nothing to worry about." He says as he closes his scroll to look at his friend as she skipped around to stand in front of him.
"What do you think? It's just like the one I brought from home." The blonde asks with a teasing tone.
Once Denko had looked at the woman in front of him, it was obvious why she'd chosen those words. The suit she had found is a bikini that was meant to cover plenty while giving plenty of visible skin. On her plump form there was plenty of visible skin but the coverage seemed to be minimal as Yang had chosen to squeeze herself into her old size. Squeezing was definitely the right word as the bottoms were pulled tight between her cheeks- she was twisting and turning to give him the full view- the front was pulled taught, the black material combined with the shadows to hide any details from her lower region. The straps around her thick waist nearly vanished under the love handles that were forming. The top wasn't any better, the straps digging into her soft flesh to create deep valleys that lead to the cups. The black triangles held her girls back so much that the flesh was pushed to the sides and around the straps that held them captive.
Blood flooded his face to stain it a deep red, internally he hoped that the extra blood flow was going up and not to somewhere else- especially when the brawler leaned forward to look him in the eye. Blue met lilac as he did what he could to maintain the eye contact to avoid roaming over her curves. Even as she smirked at his reaction, he cursed his eyes as he had issues for a while on actually focusing on something and so had become rather dependent on his surprisingly good peripheral vision.
She seemed to have gotten what she wanted and turned to walk back to her changing room, with far too much sway to her gait to be coincidence.
Now Denko had to deal with that image all but seared into his mind as he tried to calm himself down… all of himself. He took a short walk around the store's men's section to see what was available, Yang taking the time to find a better fitting suit. The sisters had made sure to conceal their choices within the other garments they'd chosen before moving onto the casual clothes and pajamas.
"Ah! Students of Beacon!" The cashier greets them as they brought their chosen to the counter. "Just so you all know; we are offering a ten percent discount to all Huntsmen and Huntresses- even those in training. In addition, there is a further ten percent off for the students as we are aware of the Issue going on at the academies."
"You know what's happening at school?" Ruby was surprised.
"Of course, we do. We were among the outfitters contracted to resize both the uniforms and combat gear." The woman explains before leaning over the counter a bit to get a look at Ruby and Yang. "Ah! I remember those clothes!"
"Wait, you made these?" Yang asks as she gestures to her jacket and skirts.
"Oh yes I did, it's hard to forget such unique looks. Tell me honestly, how are they?"
"They fit pretty good, like if they were our old clothes." Ruby answers as she spins a little to make her skirt flare out briefly.
"That's exactly what I was aiming for. Though, not everything it the same. I chose slightly different materials that have a little bit of stretch to them without losing their strength. Perfect for the growing Huntress-in-Training."
"Um… thanks." Yang was unsure how to take the last comment, even pulling her hair over her shoulder to play with it.
A few minutes later the four were back in the car and driving away from the store and each of them were now missing a few lien, especially Ruby and Yang. That was when Denko's stomach growled loud enough to be heard by all.
"Know any good places to eat? It is getting close to lunch." The blonde asks, prompting the woman next to him to look around for landmarks she'd recognize.
"Hmmm… turn left up here." Yang provides the directions, eventually leading them to a place called Pizza Shack.
"Alright Yang! We haven't been here since last year!" Ruby cheers with a jump, her corset keeping her belly from shaking too much. The same couldn't be said of her leggings as the impact with the ground sent clear ripples up her legs.
"I know and the food here is great, c'mon!" The brawler led them inside.
Once inside they had ordered sodas for them all along with a large three meat pizza to split. The salad bar helped to fill them up as well but there was something else that caught the attention of the students from Vacuo.
"Dessert pizzas?" Itazura stood next to Ruby at the end of the salad bar where the treats were kept warm.
"You have got to try them!" The excitable reaper scoops a slice of apple onto her plate and a second for her friend.
The faunus had gotten used to the lack of fruits and sweets over the past few years in Vacuo but she looked over the food in front of her as she sat in her seat once more, Ruby sitting next to her and apparently going into a world of bliss from the first bite. Slices of apples covered in a thick syrup of apples, sugar, and cinnamon sat on a thin crust that was different than the pizza that they had shared, and the whole slice had white icing drizzled over it.
By the time she'd used her fork to pick up her first piece, Ruby had finished and watching her expectantly. An explosion of sweet and tart filled her mouth as soon as it touched her tongue. Before she knew it, her fork hit an empty plate. That was when Ruby had returned with a fresh slice for each of them, cherry this time. That was followed by a slice of blueberry.
The little fox felt good with what she'd eaten, the dessert pizzas were exactly what she'd needed to finish the meal from the kick of spice from the original pizza- she and Ruby had avoided the dried red pepper flakes that the blondes had added 'for flavor'. The slightly bland salad had been a great palate cleanser while ensuring that they had something more than what most would consider junk food.
"Ah… that hit the spot." Yang leans back as she pats her bulging belly, not caring that her clothes exposed her stomach to the world normally before her weight gain. The boy next to her couldn't ignore the ripples moving across the soft orb in her lap.
"Think you ate enough?" He couldn't stop the comment or the poke to her soft side.
"Normally when we come here with Dad, the three of us will eat two of these pizzas, have a salad, and dessert." She laughs. Denko had noticed that she'd convinced Ruby to do her best to fill up on the greens- if one didn't ignore the fact that they had loaded their salads with cubed ham, sliced eggs, croutons, bacon bits, and a bit of dressing… and had two of them each before dessert.
"I dunno if you remember, but nobody in our family is a light eater." Yang stretched in her seat, exposing more pale flesh, not bothering to straiten her jacket after it had gotten bunched on top of her belly and trapped by her breasts when she lowered her arms.
"Obviously." Itazura scoffs as her ears swiveled to focus behind her. A few Atlas students who'd come a bit earlier had started laughing about Faunus… and she was the only one in the room. She had noticed that three of the kitchen staff were Faunus- one of which was apparently the manager on duty.
Denko had picked up on his sisters change of mood, more than ten years had given him plenty of practice. "Something wrong?"
"Just a few idiots." Now Ruby and Yang had snapped out of their food induced stupors and had noticed the Atlas students themselves. Said students were now pointing and laughing at the four of them but whatever they said to each other was inaudible to the humans.
Denko leans forward and kept his voice low. "Don't do anything too big. We want to be welcomed back here."
Itazura left the table, claiming that she needed to use the bathroom. Having to walk past the kitchen she took note of some of the ingredients that were available as some of the patrons enjoyed watching their food being made. A bright red bottle with skull and crossbones caught her eyes along with the cook turning to help someone in the middle of spreading the sauce for the pizza for the Atlesian students. A small ring near the crust was added before the man returned and immediately began adding cheese, only seeing a fellow faunus looking at the selection and his work.
Denko had no idea what his sister had done but perhaps it was best that he didn't. All he knew was that nothing had happened by the time they had left five minutes later. No amount of prodding and needling from Yang and Ruby could make the fox divulge her actions. That left them to soon give up and enjoy the smooth ride back to school.
After all, they had an afternoon of poolside fun to look forward to.
AN: Reviews are welcome. Also, I'm looking for ideas to call Denko's car, kinda leaning towards Scarab. I hope you enjoyed the shopping trip and Sun bearing his heart. Pool time in the next chapter and a look at our favorite villains.