Authors note:
Just a fun little thing me and Shinigamisparda decided to do! Considering the small casting of RWBY as a whole, there will be some roles that won't exactly be filled up, at the very least for the Yakuza series. I remember seeing "RWBY watches classic movies" where they are characters in said movies and I thought "what if we did that, but with video games?" So hopefully you all enjoy the ride!
The sound of the door could be heard opening rather calmly, with the sound of a light yawn, the door closing a moment later.
"Phew...a moment to relax from my usual work." a male voice stated, taking a sip from something. "Ah, the fresh taste of black coffee, it is...a perfect morning beverage." he stated, taking another sip as he went to go sit down at his chair.
… And at that moment someone else burst through the door, landing on their face, slamming it open. He then got up, turned around, closed the door and locked it… slammed into it again, smashing the whole thing off its hinges and landed on his back.
"I HAVE AN IDEA!" he shouted. The other one gave a somewhat amused hum at the wackiness, taking a sip from something and smacking their lips. This however, did not make the other man flinch, if anything, he just stared at the man that burst through the door like a maniac.
"Is it another marathon of playing all the Crash Bandicoot games all in one go to get all the items for the platinum relics?" spoke the calmer voice, sounding interested and outright friendly overall, despite the fact at how rambunctious the other individual came into the room.
"FUCK NO! Never doing that again. No, I was reading fanfics and I got the idea… MAKE CHARACTERS PLAY GAMES!"
"...Should I be worried?"
"YES! But that is irrelevant. I got the idea for reaction fics, but I wanted a new spin. And making them play games is something that wasn't often done. Also, another twist."
"Is it having them play a game where they themselves act as characters from said game, therefore questioning how it was possible they were in the video game to begin with?" there was silence for a brief moment.
The other being did an exceptionally long gasp… then stopped, then kept gasping. "What flavor of cheese am I thinking of?"
"Camembert."
"WRONG! IT WAS BRIE! But yeah, that."
The calmer being hummed in thought, though it was an odd idea, he would be lying if he said he wasn't at least intrigued at the concept. "Hm...I might have the perfect game then...and I believe I know what characters you are referring to...and the question is, would it work considering there aren't quite a lot of characters to choose from?"
"Meh, we just won't fill in every role. Maybe save some for future games, too."
"Fair point," the calmer being said, placing down his drink as he stood up from his chair. "Hm… quite a game we are giving them, what with the variety of story plots and changes in tone… however, with experience of playing it myself, I'd say they would enjoy it regardless… of course, we can tweak it a bit-" just then, something was slapped roughly on the table, interrupting him.
"Already ahead of you!" he said, revealing the game case on the table.
"...How did you managed to switch out the actual characters-"
"YOU'D BE SHOCKED...at how multi-universe theory-majig works."
"... So how are we gonna make this work?"
"Through my duties as a man who plays and reviews video games for a living, and you forming a way to complete the game to its full standards, I have ONE solution to do this!" the being then leaned in slowly, a large smile written on his face as it was deathly silent for a good minute. "...We use our ULTIMATE, GLAMOROUS, WORLD BENDING POWERS…to have them play VIDEO GAMES!"
"... Because that's an effective use of them."
"Oh please, when has anyone ever used characters effectively in a fanfiction?" The image of Hardened Souls was slowly starting to come up, but being casually and slowly pushed it back down with a wide smile. "That one doesn't count."
"... Fine, I guess it would be amusing to see their reactions… We are gonna have to keep them from killing each other."
"What better way to strip their weapons and give them a valid reason NOT to do that!"
"And what's your idea of doing such? Considering the relationships with the group as a whole, it wouldn't be good if they were in the same room..."
The other being slowly stretched a smile across their lips, each muscle making a sickening cracking sound. "Oh… I've got ideas…"
"... Can you stop that please?"
"... I think it's stuck."
[an hour later]
Without much time really wasted, the sound of loud pops could be heard, which were then followed by the multiple sounds of people giving a yelp from falling, which finally ended with one loud THUD shortly after.
"Gh...gods dammit!" a brash sounding female voice said, the room they were currently transported to was just filled with darkness. "Now what?"
"I feel very lightheaded right now- does anyone else feel lightheaded...?" a male voice said, sounding a little dizzy from the fall.
"Jaune, we are all lightheaded." a more deeper male voice said.
"... Jaune?" a female voice asked. "Isn't that the name of Little Red's blonde loser?"
"Hey! Insult our fearless leader again and I'll smash your face in!" a more hyper sounding female voice spat out.
At that moment they all stopped, processing what they heard… and then scrambled up into fighting positions, the lights turning on the moment they did.
"You!" Cinder spat, glaring at Ruby.
"Is this some trick by Salem!?" Ruby demanded, only to realize she didn't have her scythe. Yang tried to use her mechanical arm, but it was not budging… like it was somehow deactivated, while everyone else was more of the same without weapons. Before anyone could do anything at all, they all froze at the sound of someone's throat clearing.
"Now now." a… voice was heard, sounding calm, yet also charismatic in some regards. "Let's not get too hasty now, hm? Try to relax..."
"Oh, a random sky voice! Great! As if things aren't weird enough!" Raven said in the background, clearly not exactly thrilled in this situation.
"...Mom!?" Yang blurted out in shock when she turned around.
"Ahem. Random sky voices thank you very much!" another voice huffed, sounding offended.
"Alright. I'll bite the bullet here," Qrow said, walking up a little bit, hands in his pockets as he glared up. "As weird as this is, what the hell are we doing here? In fact..." it then zoomed out to show everyone, Ruby and co on one side, while Cinder and the others were on the other side. It was a rather spacious room, filled with sofas and chairs, along with a 4k 75 inch television flat screen on a stand. There was also a walk in the kitchen in the back, filled to the brim with snacks, and a fridge filled with drinks that seem to be filled with endless supply.
"Want to play a game?" one of them said in a deep, disturbing voice. "... No? Too bad! You exist for our amusement! Enjoy the free food and beer," the voice changing back to it's normal, less mature sounding tone.
"...What." both Mercury and Blake said in a deadpan tone, clearly unsure of what they were hearing.
"Basically… we simply brought you here so you can enjoy yourselves, play some video games... with a catch of course." the more calmer one said, his voice sounding informative and rather intrigued at the same time.
"No catches! No games!" Cinder shouted. "You have no weapons, so I'll finish you a- HRGH! MRRPH!" she was cut off by her cheeks puffing out, like something was coming up. A moment later she doubled over and heaved, vomiting out something onto the floor.
"Cinder!" Emerald shouted out, immediately going to her aid as she went next to her, a hand on her back as she looked worried.
After a few moments it finally stopped, Cinder looking pale.
"... Are… Are those pens?" Ren asked. Everyone looked and sure enough, what sat in a pile at Cinder's feet was not digestive liquid or food, but fully intact pens.
"What the-?" Mercury began, only for Yang to take advantage of the distraction and run to attack him, only for her to double over in pain, clutching her stomach.
"OH GODS, WHAT THE- GAAAAH!" she screamed before running to the bathroom and closing the door. From inside they heard screams of pain… and then angry quacking. Yang opened the door and tripped, her underwear barely on as a duck angrily pecked at her head before flying off and exploding into confetti.
"Yang?" Ruby asked, horrified.
Yang panted before getting up and pulling up her pants at the same time. "... I just… pooped… A live duck…" she said, rather traumatized.
"...Okay, one- ew..." Weiss said with a visible look of disgust on her face. "Two… HOW?"
"MWAHAHAHAHA! FOOLISH MORTALS! DEFY OUR RULE OF NON-AGRESSION, AND BE PUNISHED WITH CARTOONISH PAIN AND HUMILIATION!" the less mature voice laughed.
"...Apologies, my friend here is the… eccentric type." the more mature one said. "But it is true… disobey the rule of no attempting to maul each other to pieces… there will be consequences. So unless you want something even more humiliating that my friend can think up, I'd suggest calming down."
Oscar was looking up in the sky for a moment, a bit confused at this situation, but regardless also had a look of understanding. "...I guess we don't have any other choice in the matter then." he then looked to Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald. "Think you can do the same?"
"...Yeah," Mercury said with a nod, though he crossed his arms, trying to ignore the idea that they were all at the mercy of. "We'll be cool..."
"Tch!" Cinder was clearly not happy being in the same room with a specific person. "And all of this for a video game? To waste our time with such trivial things?"
"Not quite. We just thought it would be… interesting to see how you would react to the different aspects of stories, the mechanics of them, including the structure of each level or chapter." the more mature voice said with motivation, and clear excitement in his tone despite remaining calm all together.
"I personally think it's a waste of time..." Raven said with crossed arms and a half lidded furrowed brow.
"That's rich coming from you, Raven." Qrow chuckled with his hands in his pockets. "I remember you pulling an all nighter on some platformer when we were still in Beacon." this made Raven visibly flinch for a moment, a small blush forming on her face.
"Sh-shut your mouth, Qrow!" she blurted out with a harsh glare. "I do not even like that video game crap!"
"Quarter circle punch is-?"
"Fireball… sh-shut it!" Raven shouted, realizing she had just said that without thinking it.
"W-wait a minute..." Yang said, a small amused smirk forming on her face as she pointed at her mother. "You were a gamer?"
"I-I...uh..."
"And this whole time I thought I got my skills from dad."
"Your dad doesn't even know how to do a super combo right!" the room was silent as they looked at the Tribe leader. "...Shit."
"Don't worry Tribe Leader Branwen, the amusing part is that everyone here has either fully played games, or dabbled. Some are obvious..." then a random spotlight appeared over Cinder. "Some are not."
"... No," Nora just said, dumbfounded.
"... What? They looked fun, so I stole one. Are you surprised?" she huffed, crossing her arms, trying to look dignified.
"...What the hell did you even play...?" Yang asked, equally dumbfounded.
"... Cart racers. And the occasional beat 'em up."
Jaune blinked at this as he just scratched his head. "H-Huh..." he mumbled out, clearly not expecting such a thing as he blinked. "...Wait, what about Ren?"
"Well, I-"
"RPG's and RTS's, duh?" Nora butt in.
"... Not surprising," Blake noted.
"No, but yours quite surprising to some, but very obvious to others." the voice said, everyone looking to Blake.
"What...?" she then slowly widened her eyes as she blushed. "W-wait a moment, don't-!"
The screen turned on showing the title screen for… "Ninjas of Love Simulator".
"NO!" Blake shouted, leaping at the screen and knocking it over.
"... Did she just break that?" Qrow asked.
"Nope," said the immature voice, and suddenly the tv was intact and upright and Blake was on the couch.
".. How-?" Emerald began.
"Fuck you, that's how," the voice cut her off.
"...So...Ninja's of Love Sim-" Yang tried to joke out with an amused furrow brow.
"DO NOT! SPEAK! ANOTHER WORD!" the cat faunus blurted out, heavily blushing. Mercury then glanced over to Emerald, who took notice of him.
"...What?" she asked, glancing around a bit awkwardly at his staring.
"Well, since we are doing share and tell, I play mainly the racing games, fighters, and some superhero games, what about you?" Mercury decided to ask.
"...Platformers and puzzle games..."
"...Wait, really?"
"What, did you expect something else?"
"I was kinda expecting you to say games where you get to steal stuff."
Emerald scoffed. "Wow, I'm not that predictable like you." Ruby suddenly appeared near her, seemingly looking down in her shirt pocket.
"What's this though?" she said, reaching over and pulling out a keychain with… a portable device attached to it, along with a green colored screen. This made Emerald widen her eyes and quickly snatch it.
"No! Do not touch Mr. Fluffy Button!" she blurted out… then looked shocked, followed by heavily blushing. Ruby blinked at her with a stunned look herself as the thief glanced around. "...I-I...I always wanted a pet, okay...?" she muttered out, holding the electronic close.
"... Well, Ice Princess?" Qrow asked, smirking at Weiss.
"Ahem… well you have to understand, it's very stressful being the heiress to a major company, especially under a person like my father. Stress tends to build up and-"
"Just say it," Yang cut her off, smirking.
"... Shoot 'em ups, rail shooters, and the occasional FPS."
"Hm...fascinating...looking into all the games you all played, I am surprised there is a lot of variety..." the voice said, the spotlight going to Ruby next. "Ms. Rose is the most interesting since she has played almost all types of genres."
"U-Um, uh...well I mean...I dabble?" Ruby said meekishly, being put on the spotlight making her slightly embarrassed.
"Even so...perhaps you'd all like a chance to relax and enjoy yourselves now?"
"...Alright, I'm down." Yang said first, since there was small silence for a moment. Slowly, everyone was starting to agree, Cinder only hmphing as she crossed her arms, looking away.
"Warning: theimpactofthegameisrelevanttotheaverageamountofhoursofplayablecontent,seriouslybackthefuckup,thisisgonnabebig," the immature voice said quickly.
"Wait, wha-?" was all Raven said before something fell out of thin air and smashed into the floor, cracking it. "FUCK'S SAKE!" the thing about the game itself was that it was… gift wrapped? Jaune decided to take the initiative to pick it up, looking over the wrapped game as he furrowed his brow. Everyone, minus Cinder who was more in the back, went to gather around Jaune, wondering what game that just meteor's its way into the room. Jaune was about to open it, until the sky voice spoke up again.
"...Ah almost forgot," the voice was then silent for a moment. "Bring her in, my fellow."
Somehow a claw from a crane game materializes from the ceiling, big enough to carry a person. It dropped, passing through the floor like water… and then came back up with someone in tow…
"... Hello again?" a familiar voice said, looking very confused. Jaune widened his eyes as he dropped the game. Mercury, being the closest one, quickly caught it. Cinder's eyes widened, clearly shocked to see Pyrrha Nikos, who was currently still levitating from the claw by her outfit as she blinked.
"PYRRHA!" Nora said with stars in her eyes, zooming over to her as soon as she was dropped by the crane claw, getting literally tackled to the ground.
Cinder meanwhile was somewhere between stunned, nervous, and angry. A kill she had made the night she had taken the full Fall Maiden powers, the powerful opponent who almost had her once or twice, and an enemy she'd very much enjoyed destroying… was somehow back. And in such a ridiculous manner, too. 'To think these beings have this much power… and to use it for such things.'
"U-Um...Nora? You're uh...c-crushing me...!" Pyrrha said, albeit a bit strained since Nora was hugging her right around the neck tightly, said person also nuzzling her head into her with a comical amount of tears. Ren and Jaune were there just as quickly, Jaune looking stunned but also happy and so was Ren… though he was kinda busy trying to pull off Nora so she didn't choke her out.
"Just so you know, we told her ahead of time what we were doing, and thus she knows what this is," the calmer voice stated as Jaune kneeled down to caress Pyrrha's face, purely out of instinct when the champion fighter sat up. "We also gave her the knowledge of… current events in your world."
"... I'm sor-" she tried to say before Jaune cut her off by kissing her. She was surprised but closed her eyes to enjoy it.
"Um… Feels like we're invading here," Weiss muttered, looking away with a blush. Meanwhile, everyone else either looked surprised, or some were warmly smiling.
Jaune and Pyrrha broke their kiss. "... You don't have to apologize for anything. I wasn't strong enough to help you then," he said, holding her gently. She smiled at him warmly and they shared a look… which was then followed by Pyrrha lightly giggling. "...Wh-what?" he asked nervously, wondering if what he said was cheesy or something.
"I see you did some work on your hair, Jaune…" she said in a slightly teasing tone as she was helped up by him a moment later, now on her feet, her hand feeling his new shortened spiky hair. "...It looks good." Jaune only smiled at her as he chuckled. Ruby eventually walked over to Pyrrha herself, still in a bit of shock, like she was seeing a ghost as Jaune stopped embracing her as he noticed her approach. Now, she stood right in front of Pyrrha...her friend that she witnessed die before her by the hands of Cinder, the two staring at each other.
"... Sorry I wasn't fast enough," Ruby said, tears in her eyes. Pyrrha only looked sad at this, frowning at her for saying that before she lightly smiled, placing her hand on her shoulder.
"Ruby, there was nothing you could've done...Don't blame yourself for the choices I've made," she then pulled the young Rose into a hug. "Besides… I can tell you've grown so much already, making the hard decisions to try and help everyone… I'm just glad I met you when I did." Ruby hugged her back as she felt a little entranced by her friend's words, both hugging tightly for a moment before breaking off, Pyrrha wiping off some of Ruby's tears. "You make a great leader."
"I hate to intrude on the reunion, but are you all done?" Cinder said with crossed arms, clearly not liking that someone came back from the dead that SHE killed off in the first place. Pyrrha only looked over to where Cinder was as she had a small glare towards. "It doesn't help that they decided to let you cheat death for their own amusement. I have better things to do then sit here."
The Amazon warrior only growled as she turned around and was stomping over to Cinder, her fists clenched tightly as she kept a glare locked on her. As for the Fall Maiden, she only smugly looked at her, grinning widely while her guard was down as she was wondering how the sky voices were going to stop her… only for Pyrrha to pull a fist back and punch Cinder right in the face, making her stumble back while her hand instinctively went to the area she was punched at, directly on the nose.
"What in the-!?" she shouted out, Pyrrha's hand shaking, her expression not changing as Emerald's eyes widened in shock at the punch.
"The dead get one… only one." the more immature one said as the red head only hmphed as she walked back to the group, feeling at least a bit satisfied she got to punch the person that outright killed her.
"Uh… guys?" Mercury began, someone being more interested in the "gift" they had received. "Noticing anything… odd about this?" he said, holding the case so others could see it, having unwrapped it. As soon as everyone looked at the cover anything that happened earlier was pushed aside. What they saw was a cover to a Playstation 4 video game that had the name "YAKUZA 0" on the bottom of it, the "0" dark red with the word "ZERO" right under it, having a half red circle right between Yakuza and 0 as well. The cover itself had some type of currency currently falling from both sides of it, along with a variety of characters in the background, four of them being… oddly familiar.
In the back was a woman, only visible from the shoulder up, but it still showed her green eyes, red short and curly hair, and her pink bow. To her left was another recognizable figure, dressed in an expensive looking suit and with his left arm raised out in front of him, his skin noticeably tanned and with black, slicked back hair and hazel eyes. The most noticeable figures however, were the two characters up front. On the left it showed a woman, dressed in a fancy black tuxedo, a white button up shirt, and a black bowtie. She also had an eyepatch over her left eye while her right eye was the color of amber, her hair braided to the side as she gave off a more neutral like look. As for the right side, it showed another woman, wearing a white pinstriped suit over an orange, chain-patterned dress shirt. She had unkempt hair that was slicked back, having some single strands poking out from it like she grabbed some gel and ran it through her fingers only one time. The most noticeable thing however, was that her eyes were a familiar color of a familiar person… silver. Her expression also looked… quite intimidating with her rather stoic, yet also cold glare.
"... Explain," Cinder demanded, looking up.
"Basically, we thought it would be interesting to reach into the depths of multiple universes involving multiple versions of any of you, to see different versions of yourselves and to see how they dealt with the situation dealt to them," the calmer voice explained.
"AND ALSO BECAUSE ITS FUN!" the immature one said both quickly and excitedly.
"So… in some… other part of this multiverse thing…" Yang started, grabbing the game out of Mercury's hand to look at the cover herself. "...We are in video games?"
"Video games that are very much different in many other different universes. It can also be said to take the role of others in say, movies, or just different outcomes as a whole." the calm one spoke. "It's quite a fascinating thing due to multiple possibilities that it presents."
"Or maybe just don't think about it. Whatever helps you get through the day," the immature one replied.
"...So…I certainly look different here..." Ruby mentioned, looking at her other self with both curiousness, and slight concern due to her more "mean" look. She also took notice of a familiar android friend next to Oscar's counterpart, making her look even more curious at what Penny was like in this world.
"I can say the same about myself...I guess I'm an adult in this universe." Oscar pointed out, looking at his version. '...I honestly don't look that bad with long hair.'
"Ruby Branwen, the 'Legendary Dragon of Dojima,' is a more...let's say a more grim version of you to a degree."
"...Ruby Branwen?" Raven asked, absolutely baffled at the no hesitation in the sky voice's tone. "What do you-?"
"As much as we want to exposition everything, we want to keep SOME surprises! Now go forth! PUT IN THE GAME!" the immature one shouted out.
"Well, I guess we can give it a shot...not like we have much of a choice." Blake said as everyone went over to the television as Yang looked over the game curiously. Meanwhile, Pyrrha was kind of getting crowded by her teammates, including Ruby.
"Sssso…" Nora started out, making Pyrrha glance over. "Considering we all shared, what games have you played, Pyrrha?"
"Well...I played almost all the arcades I could find from within my childhood." she responded as she tapped her chin. "I also believe no one could beat any of my records either…"
"Little Miss Perfect again, I see." Cinder muttered with an eyeroll, going to sit not as close to the others as possible while the others went to the system… which just happened to be a giant black brick that rested right in the center of the Television shelf below it.
"...I do not believe I've seen this system before…" Weiss commented, everyone else giving a small look of agreement as they just stared at the brick there.
"That would be thanks to my friend here, who thought it would be a more convenient idea to just create a console out from scratch to play any game from any system...and I do mean every game system."
"BEHOLD MY GREATEST CREATION! THE SEGA NINBOXSTATION TURBO-3200! I kinda figured it mattered less how it looked and more that it worked," the immature voice said.
"Sounds lazy," Yang snarked.
"Oh?" The box then flashed, blinding everyone. After a moment the light faded and everyone saw it had taken a new shape.
"How's that? Definitely not lazy now, huh?" the voice said. The console was now… shaped like Yang… dressed in nothing but a towel and with a very provocative pose spreading her legs. If that wasn't bad enough, the disc tray opened… from between its legs.
"CHANGE THAT FUCKING THING BACK RIGHT NOW!" Yang screamed, her face red with both rage and embarrassment. Within another flash, it was back to the big black brick from earlier.
"...I do not know if I wish to unsee it or laugh uncontrollably." Mercury said with widened eyes, a mixture of traumatization and a half-assed smirk. Ruby, Oscar, and Jaune were frozen like statues, blinking a couple of times as their minds were racing at the same time, processing what they just saw. Qrow and Raven, on the other hand, were trying their damndest to not laugh loudly as they snickered loudly. Meanwhile Blake… filed that image away for later. Yang had to take a moment to calm down, her red eyes turning back to Lilac before she just muttered to herself, opening up the game cover, pulling out the disk as she walked to the system.
"Um… just to ask…" Ren started out...then looked to the controller of it, everyone looking over as well. "...Why does the controller look...glitchy?" The device that was used to play the game in the first place... was either stretched out to different sizes and shapes, showing a more low quality static effect as it looked blurry as well, changing along with quick static noises.
"Ah right," the matured voice said. "Once you put in a certain console game in the device, the controller will become the form needed for the game inside the system."
"Um, excuse me? Couple questions. First, what do we call you?" Oscar asked, realizing they never really asked them for it to begin with.
"Oh, excuse our manners. I was too thrilled to have you all experience this I almost forgot to introduce myself." the calmer voice said as he cleared his throat. "Back at my home, I am called the 'Perfectionist,' I make informative documentaries of the games I review and give out my thoughts on it as a whole, and the quality of completing the game to its fullest."
"And I am known as… THE SUPER-POWERFUL ALL-ZEN!" the immature one announced dramatically.
"... SPAZ?" Nora asked, making an acronym out of his name.
"Yeah sure, why not?" SPAZ replied, not caring about the name.
"... Right, and second," Oscar continued. "I think I remembered something about you saying this game had a large amount of playable content? How much are we talking here?"
"Good question," the TV turned on, showing a progression line. "The game's story is split up into chapters. There are 17." 17 numbered ticks showed up on the progression bar. "Do not be surprised if this happens." The bar filled up to Chapter 2… With an arrow pointing to it saying "10 hours of playtime".
"... We're gonna have to come up with a system for this," Qrow sighed.
"W-wow, that is… quite a lot of time just to go to chapter two." Jaune said in absolute shock.
"The beginning chapter is more… story driven. Not to say the other chapters aren't story-driven themself, but not to the extent of chapter 1 to 2." Perfectionist explained. "As for the other content, it has quite a lot of side quests you can initially run into throughout the story, most of them being light hearted, while others are… quite out there."
"Let me put it this way," SPAZ began. "In this game, you can go from this," the tv screen showed Cinder slamming a man's head into the wall repeatedly. "To this," next it showed Ruby singing karaoke in a rhythm game. "To this," Cinder doing disco moves on a dance floor. "Back to this," Ruby slammed an entire motorcycle onto someone's face. "And this," for some reason an old fashioned arcade shooter was on screen. "Within a few hours. You. Will. Not. Get. Bored."
"...I am lost, yet somehow intrigued at the same time." Emerald admitted, her eyes glued to the screen after seeing that.
"...Ruby can lift a motorcycle?" Pyrrha asked just as intrigued. Everyone else just blinked at the different tones it gives out, going from beating up people in a brutal fashion… while also having wacky minigames at the same time.
"Oh, now we gotta try this game out!" Nora said in excitement, pointing to Yang. "Put it in! Put it in!" Yang gave a chuckle at her electrifying friend as she pushed on the eject button, opening up the tray to insert the disc and pushing it in. Emerald looked over to Cinder as she looked over to her.
"So um… what do you think, Cinder?" Emerald decided to ask, wondering what she thought of it after seeing what she just saw earlier.
"... Well, we're stuck here... This will hopefully be interesting at least," she sighed, taking a seat.
When Yang put in the disk, it took a moment to load in as everyone got seated, the controller taking the form of a PS4 controller, to which Yang picked up and looked at the group.
"Any of you wanna go first?" she decided to ask, see if anyone wanted to be the first person to try out the game. Everyone looked at each other as she asked, the blonde fighter just looking at them to see if anyone would offer to try it out first. Ruby glanced around for a moment before just raising her hand slowly.
"Guess I'll go first...if no one else wants to." she said somewhat meekly as Yang sat next to her, giving her the controller.
As the game finally started up, it did what the usual game would do, presenting logos of the companies that help make it, some being more flashy than others. After they appeared for a brief moment, it switched over to the Opening of the game, starting out with a guitar riff that continued to play on into a full on guitar song, with a bit of drums playing along.
"Violence and sex, looks like this gonna be a good one," Mercury smiled.
"I do like that guitar though… I'm just shocked I'm seeing Ruby throwing haymakers." Yang commented, watching it with interest. "I think I just saw her get hit by a pipe while another guy was riding on a motorcycle…"
"Okay, as cool as this, it basically explains nothing?" Jaune noted.
"Duh, supposed to make you hyped to find out more and keep playing," Nora said excitedly.
"What's with them being shirtless though?" Qrow asked though, a leg crossing over his. "I mean, they have some sort of wrap around them but...kinda out there."
"I believe it's more of a Yakuza thing," Perfectionist explained. "From what I can understand, the tattoos that are given to them on their back basically tells the story of them as a whole, and is widely seen as a sign of honor."
"IT IS MORE THAN THAT, IT A SYMBOL OF WHO THEY ARE, WHAT IT MEANS FOR THEM TO BE A YAKUZA! IT'S BASICALLY TATTOOING SOMEONE'S FAVORITE T-SHIRT ON THEIR BACK!" SPAZ declared.
"... That's an… interesting way of describing that," Raven noted.
After the opening, it gives the title card, which was a white background, the title showing up while giving a brief shine of it, with "Press any button" on the bottom of it. When Ruby pressed a button, it proceeded to cut to an alleyway of some sorts, while it also showed the provided list of a "New Game" or more of the multiplayer selections like 2-player vs Minigames, or Online. Considering the rest didn't really matter, minus Ruby doing a quick rundown in the settings to at least put in subtitles, she pressed "New Game." Once she did, it provided three difficulties: " Easy, Normal, and Hard."
"...Well we obviously aren't picking Easy…" Emerald said scratching her head, clearly wanting to have somewhat of a challenge in the game.
"What about Hard?" Oscar suggested, seeing if people at least wanted to go full throttle on the game, despite not knowing much about it.
"...What do you guys think?" Ruby asked while looking up, directing to the voices. "How is the difficulty in this game?"
"Well, it's the usual concept of any other game. Easy is… easy, more for if you just want to focus on the story rather than a challenge, or what SPAZ likes to say: 'For filthy casuals.'" Perfectionist explained. "As for hard… I'd like to imagine it more like it kind of treats every enemy like they are a boss… at least, in the beginning of the game it feels that way considering the enemies are more ruthless on that difficulty alone."
"Hm… considering we know nothing of the game, just go Normal then. Rather not have the game be a pain in the ass if we want to progress." Raven suggested. Everyone at that gave a sound of agreement towards the suggestion as Ruby nodded, picking the normal difficulty in the process.
As soon as the button was pressed it went straight to a cutscene, the group was already met with the sound of pained grunts, the screen darkened for the time being as it continued for a brief moment. Then, it showed what seemed to be from a first person view of someone opening their eyes, a little blurry in that matter… and the first thing they see is the main character on the box, Ruby, standing right in front of the vision with a mean and harsh glare. Her outfit was different from the box cover however, being a black suit and white button up dress shirt, the bottom part unlatched from the clip while it was fully closed, along with black dress pants and black shoes. She also had a golden chain around her neck, her hair still unkempt and slicked back. The brief sound of sirens could be heard in the back as the first person view showed it getting blurry back and forth.
It then eventually cuts to the person it was showing… who was clearly roughed up. It seemed to be a middle aged man, who had a small dot of a birthmark right on his forehead and had a bowl haircut, wearing average businessman clothing. He currently had blood coming out of his left nostril, and blood coming out of the right side of his mouth, along with some of the blood splattered onto shirt, tie, and suit jacket. It cuts to a side shot of Ruby, slowly panning up, her posture looking a bit thuggish as she stood there like a statue, staring down at him with eyes that can pierce like daggers. The beaten up man's dizziness eventually turned into a more afraid look as he struggled to even try to sit up, his body clearly not responding too well.
"Stop...P-Please...No more…" the subtitles read as the man spoke in Japanese, speaking in a whimper as it showed an overhead shot of where they were, which seems to be some sort of small patch in a small rectangular shape.
"Oh… Oh gods… Did I…Did she-?" Ruby asked, looking at her other self and what she'd done.
"Well well, little Red. Looks like you're quite the mugger," Mercury smiled.
"N-now hold on...we don't know her reason just yet…" Jaune tried to interject, while most of the people there, minus Emerald, Mercury, or Cinder, were a bit shocked at what the counterpart was doing.
It then showed a sign on the ground briefly in Japanese, the translation being "PRIVATE PROPERTY; NO TRESPASSING." Cutting back to Ruby, it showed her hand balled up into a fist, which she tightened it enough to hear a faint cracking sound. The beaten up man gave a louder whimper of fear when she started to walk towards him slowly, stopping right in front of him as he weakly tried to shimmy away from him. Painfully, while gasping for air, got to his knees, and tried to crawl passed her. However, as soon as he tried to do so, Ruby merely bent over, placing a hand on his shoulder...and roughly tossed him back, giving a loud pained grunt as he landed on his back, following it up by slowly putting his hands up to his face, the pain catching up to him.
"I'm sorry...Sorry!" he whimpered out again, cutting back to Ruby who just kept the same glare throughout the whole thing, no sense of changing emotions, no sympathy either. In fact, she only harshened her glare as she walked towards him again, now that he was getting back onto his knees again. As soon as he looked up, his eyes widened as the woman gave a small shout, kicking him right in the face to send him right back down on his back, knocking him unconscious. It showed him on the ground again, giving pained grunts in his knocked out state, but also showing a rectangular brown wallet that seemed to have come out of his pocket from inside his jacket.
"Jeez… That was brutal…" Nora said. Ruby was stunned, seeing someone with her face so viciously taking down what looked like an innocent man.
"...God damn sis, you got one hell of a brutal way of doing things… I won't say anything until we find out the reason though… apparently she is a gang member in this so…" Yang shrugged out, very much hoping there is a… reasonable explanation to this brutality.
It cuts back to Ruby, her expression once more, never changing at all. "When you pick a fight in this town, you'd better pick carefully." she said rather coldly, her voice sounding a little deeper, but still sounded young… more of a young adult than a teenager. "...Especially when you're carrying a wad of cash." it cuts to an overhead view of her staring down at him, before leaning forward and grabbing the wallet, flipping it open and taking out a wad of cash, tossing the now empty wallet on the ground next to his head. Without saying another word, she then turned around and started to walk out of the alley, aggressively pushing away the man's leg in the way with her foot, the camera showing her retreating form. It then cuts to her feet walking over a puddle, then over a newspaper as it cuts to what she stepped on, the headlines saying "Kamurocho 21st Century Redevelopment Plan Begins."
"So… firstly, Ruby is an adult in this one…" Blake started out, getting a grasp of this. "Secondly, I assume that the Redevelopment plan is important if the game shows it. And lastly….w-wow...that was...I don't know how I feel about that…" she said the last part, wondering why Ruby's other self was being this stone faced, so brutal and...cold.
Cinder meanwhile was enjoying her enemies struggle to comprehend their innocent and goodhearted leader doing such a thing, and personally wondered what would've needed to happen to make this Ruby turn out like that.
'Damn, I wouldn't mind hooking up with a brutal woman like that…' Mercury thought to himself as he smirked, rubbing his chin. Emerald seemed to read his mind as she gave a small disgusted "blegh" sound to herself.
After lingering on the newspaper for a moment, it cuts to a view of some neon-lights, a timeframe on the top right showing up that said "December 9, 1988; Kamurocho, Tokyo" as it panned to another Neon-light that said "ALOHA" on it, followed by it cutting to street level of civilization going around at night time, showing people walking down the sidewalk. Some were just walking to their destinations while others were standing on the very edge, smoking. Not to mention the women wore...quite the dresses from what was seen, while most of the males there were either students, college students, or businessmen ready for a night of their life.
"Japan. the 1980's was a period of great economic boom for the island nation. More money flowing, more people willing to spend… and take," Perfectionist did some clarification.
"Also, in case you're wondering, the internet is barely in existence, mobile phones are barely out and the size of bricks, text messaging is a far off dream that right now exists only in the form of pagers, and both are rare enough that people still use phone booths regularly. And definitely no video chat," SPAZ added
"Huh...looking at what we have now, things were much slower back then…" Weiss noted in thought.
"It is interesting to see how things worked in the past...makes me like the fact that we grew to make things better as we progress." Pyrrha added.
"On another note...that is quite a flashy town there...I wouldn't be surprised if bad stuff usually happened there though." Qrow said as he leaned back in his chair. "Reminds me of that one place I visited in my travels to another mission, place was both a wonderland, and an absolute money trap for those who recklessly spent it on either booze, women, or gambling."
"Didn't you say it was run by a small ex-bandit clan that had decided to settle down?" Yang asked.
"Unofficially, but yeah. Decided it was easier to pretend to be legit than rough it out in the wilderness against the Grimm. Wouldn't be surprised if it was something similar here."
It eventually cuts to a group set of people, a few males, currently around a few women, one of them up front who was clearly drunk off his ass as he stumbled about. From what he wore, he looked to be a college student, or someone off their hours at work.
"Emi-chan~! You can't bail yet!" he said playfully, stumbling a little bit back and forth. "Besides, you could wave cash around forever and not find a taxi at this hour!" he exclaimed, going over to grip her shoulders, the girl only smiling.
"Oh, hush you!" she returned the playfulness with a light push before waving him off while slightly smiling. "If you really cared, you'd pay my cab fare!"
"Aw, why don't I book us a suite at the Plaza instead? You and me can get it on till the break of dawn! Eh? Eh?" he spoke as he gripped her arms, a smile on his face as the girl seemed a little flustered. Around this time, the familiar silver eyed woman started to walk past them, the man unfortunately in the way as Ruby walked right into him, but didn't budge, knocking him right over onto his ass as his friends looked surprised. "What the hell!? That friggin' hurt, man!" he spat out angrily, looking over to see Ruby just continue walking without stopping.
"Yo, get your ass back here!" one of them said, wearing glasses as the remaining four jogged up to block her path which forced her to stop...only to change from pissed off to fear by the drop of a hat as they backed up slightly, all looking shocked and afraid.
"Hey, asshole," the man who got steamrolled earlier said, roughly placing a hand on her shoulder, but still didn't budge as she stood there. "You gonna just walk away after plowing into me like that?" it paused to show Ruby again, looking forward while saying nothing. "I believe you owe me an apology! Get down on your knees, punk!"
"Hoo boy…" Jaune said in exasperation, seeing that he doesn't quite get it yet.
The one with glasses looked on with dread and nervousness when looking at his friend. "Yoshio, don't. Not this woman!" he whispered, causing the drunken man, Yoshio, to look at him confused.
"Huh?" Ruby then decided to turn around to look over her shoulder at the man, her piercing, glaring eyes looking right at his, the most noticeable feature was that there was some blood splattered on her cheek...it was quite clear she was not in the mood from how she glared at him. This instantly made him look on, now frightened. "Oh...Well, uh…" he muttered nervously, glancing away from her gaze, now fully understanding the situation, backing off instantly. She stared at him for a brief moment before turning back around to continue walking, the other four quickly moving out of the way as the one in the brown jacket bowed down.
"Sorry to bother you, ma'am." he apologized, Ruby not even stopping as she continued to walk off, the group of men watching her leave in either bafflement or frightened.
"Well.. At least other me doesn't beat people up just because she can," Ruby noted.
"...I still need to get used to Ruby acting like this...this is clearly not normal…" Weiss said as she blinked. "But...it does seem like she does hold back...to a degree."
"We still don't really know her objective on the money thing...I doubt she really just mugged a guy for no reason...unless she absolutely had to get his money." Oscar chimed in.
It then cuts to Ruby walking on a checkered floor, more near the outskirts of Kamurocho, towards the main streets as it showed the time on the right side: 10:43 pm. She stopped near the sidewalk of it, the street empty at the moment as she was near a bike rack full of bikes, a fancy black car slowly coming to a halt right next to her. The window was rolled down as it showed a man with short hair and black-rimmed glasses, in a nice blakc suit with white stripes, black dress shirt, and red tie, while also having a peach fuzz.
"Hey," he greeted casually, looking at him with a small smirk, his title card being "Loan Shark". "How'd it go, huh?"
"It's done." Ruby replied briefly, her cold expression somewhat softened, but it was more of a stoic look now as it showed her own title card as just "Ruby.". It then showed her handing the money towards him, her arm extended out. "Pardon the loose change. I didn't bring an envelope."
"Don't sweat it. Cash is cash. Spends just fine without an envelope." it cuts to him counting the yen that was given to him. "You Dojima folk work fast. Sure makes my life easier." It then showed him pulling out three 10,000 yen bills and extending it to Ruby. "Anyway. Here's your cut. Ten percent, as promised." It shows Ruby taking the yen from the Loan Shark.
"Thanks."
"Huh… I just realized I don't recognize those bills. Not surprising since this is basically another world and another country," Ren noted.
"Okay sky voices, what are we looking at?" Emerald asked.
"It's called Yen. Each one of those bills is 10k," Perfectionist explained.
"That… sounds like a lot, but it seems odd to have a number that high on a single bill," Raven noted.
"Qrow, how much do you pay for a glass of whiskey from an inn?" SPAZ asked.
"About 20 Lien? So how much would that be in Yen?" he replied.
"I'd say about 2,000 Yen," the Perfectionist answered.
"Ah, so each of those bills is about 100 Lien. That makes more sense."
"Also...so Ruby was...doing a money collection run for a Loan Shark?" Jaune asked, scratching his head.
"Looks like you're the go to girl for people who don't pay their debts," Cinder smugly "complimented" her.
"That, or the higher ups in her Yakuza gang wanted her to do the job." Mercury added.
"Also, here's a little bonus from me." he smirked at her, holding out a few more 10k bills.
"That isn't necessary…" Ruby replied.
"Most heavies take half these days. I've got you working at a cut-rate. Getting real yakuza at this price? You're the one doing me a favor here, trust me."
"Still…"
"Look around you. Other kids your age are waving 10G bills at cabs. A proper yakuza's got to keep up appearances." Ruby remained silent as she stared at him. "Consider it a gift to commemorate our first job together." he gave a brief chuckle, still willing to hand her more 10G yen bills. "Here. Take it."
"...Thank you." it cuts to the Loan Shark then lights a cigarette with a plated flip-open lighter, then cuts to him holding it out as the smoke rose from the tip of it.
"Heh...Just don't make my mistake and lend it to an idiot." it cuts to an overview vision. "300 grand's a drop in the bucket, sure...but if I don't collect, it sends the wrong message, right?"
Nora was quickly doing the math on her fingers before giving a wide eyed look. "You mean the guy that Rube's beat the shit out of was just wasting three thousand lien and wasn't even trying to pay it back…? That's a big yikes right there…" she said with widened eyes.
"So she was dealing with a guy who didn't even bother trying to pay back 300 grand after getting loaned to it...and tried to pick a fight with her when she went to collect it." Blake noted, seeming to slowly understand Ruby's counterpart more.
"She probably wouldn't have beaten him up so badly if he wasn't being stubborn about it." Oscar added in.
"I guess so."
"Lend money in this town long enough, you learn a thing or two. The world these days…" he leaned back in his seat a little bit. "Hardly anyone knows what money's worth anymore." he then looked at her. "You may not have book smarts kid...but knowing the street'll get you further in life than a fancy degree. Am I right?"
"I really couldn't say...Will that be all then?" she asked, already opting to leave considering the job is done. It showed Ruby about to leave, before it cuts back to the Loan Shark.
"Hey...Why don't you come work for me, girl?" it shows Ruby glancing over to him as the man leaned over towards the window. "A woman with your skills could really rake in the cash. And a lot easier than on a yakuza payroll." He then leaned against the window with both arms sticking out. "Every meal a feast, every night an orgy...and that's just the beginning. Money makes the world go 'round. It can even buy happiness, if you spend it wisely. Ruby only glanced at him over her shoulder. "...It takes a long time to make it as a yakuza, but money's a good shortcut. Come work for me, and you'll get places quicker."
The yakuza member was fully looking at him now from the side. "Three years ago, I might have taken you up on that offer," she spoke, one of her silver eyes looking at him. "But once you're yakuza...There's no turning back."
"... Dang. Ruby sounds like she wants this life," Raven noted, looking somewhat impressed.
"...I think I am slowly warming up to this version of Ruby." Jaune admitted.
"It...doesn't help that I still have blood on my face- how has she not noticed?" Ruby asked, kinda feeling awkward at her counterpart not wiping off that blood on her, it made it feel not right to her.
"Well other than that...I kinda wanna see her in action." Yang said with an interested smirk, crossing her arms as she continued to watch.
"That's your answer, then?" the Loan Shark asked with a furrowed brow.
Ruby fully faced him now. "I wonder if being a yakuza can lead to a fulfilling life too…" she thought in a more...optimistic like tone, despite it not changing all that much.
"Heh, beats me. I've never been a yakuza. I couldn't tell you." he leaned back for a moment, before looking towards Ruby again. "Well, call me if you change your mind. See you around." with that, he rolled up his window as Ruby watched him ride off.
She gave a small tsk. "What an asshole…" she spoke once he was gone, taking out a cigarette and a lighter. "Waste of my time." it then cuts to the lighter, focused on it before she lit it, cutting the scene to black.
"Heh. Smart enough not to speak her mind to a client," Qrow chuckled. "That's a skill you have to learn to pick up in the field."
"To be fair, the guy kinda acted like a prick with how smug he was, I don't blame her." Mercury commented, leaning back as he draped an arm behind the couch.
"Though I will have to get use to her other selves...attitude, I will compliment that she is a lot more...bolder than usual." Weiss said calmly, trying to be dignified herself, trying to sound professional too.
"I would say in confidence that this Ruby is at the very least a good person...brutal, but perhaps good of heart." Pyrrha claimed, giving a smile towards Ruby, who gave a smile back in appreciation, giving the young leader at least some hope that her counterpart wasn't so bad.
"Heh… We'll see," Cinder scoffed.