I know some of y'all were probably expecting me to go into details of the Maidens this chapter and see what interaction I would do with Pyrrha meeting Sarge and The Director. And normally I would hate to disappoint and go through the effort of finding the script thanks to fandom.wiki, seriously that has helped for facts and other things. But I wanted to just to buy sometime and give Caboose a sort of training arc. Who doesn't love a training arc... So let's get to it.
[The Next Day: Early in The Morning]
Caboose was dreaming peacefully in his bed while, not a worry in the world nor any bad dreams. Not even his challenge or words from yesterday plagued his thoughts, allowing him to sleep without anything to mess with him. That was until he was woken before his alarm had went off to wake him up. It was his best friend, teammate, Church shaking him out of bed at 5:39 am, earlier than the sun even.
"Church... what's going on?" Caboose yawned groggily, just barely getting a shape of him.
Church almost yanked him out of bed, "Get up, follow me."
Caboose didn't question it, he didn't argue, he just listened to his friend as they were about to leave. From one of the beds Doc had brushed his hand against Caboose's, causing the big man to become more awake and focused. The slight brush of Doc's hand sent chills running up Caboose's spine, and sent something else crawling up his nerves. Something, but now the feeling was gone, for Doc that feeling was permanently gone.
The two big men made their way out the door just as Emerald was about to leave her room as was her usual routine. To her delight, she got to see Caboose, but rather than disturb him or Church she simply observed their them as they walked the other way. Seeing that Church's usual walk and stance had changed she could only assume that something was very off about the setting. Given that information she made her way back inside and woke up the twins for some help.
[Outside the dorms on a clear field on campus]
Church had stopped and began pacing back and forth as he hadn't slept due to the thoughts that plagued his mind. He didn't speak a word, nor do any gestures, just had his head down as he pieced together what exactly to say to Caboose. So he stopped pacing and turned to Caboose to finally tell him exactly what he wanted to tell him from the beginning.
With a deep breath and a straight face he squared up in front of Caboose to tell him what he felt was needed to be said, "Okay... you wanna know how to survive against Carolina in the upcoming match?"
"Yeah Church, I'm feeling pumped up just thinking about it." Caboose proclaimed as he made his aura levels rise at the thought of it.
Church tossed a white towel to Caboose, sending the bigger man into a confused state, "Throw it on the floor or wave it, whichever you prefer."
"O...Kay?" Caboose, still unsure what he had meant he didn't resist, he simply threw the cloth on the grass.
Church walked over and picked it up once it hit the ground, "Good... you just forfeited the match. Now you don't have to fight."
"But Church, I want to fight... I want t-"
"It's not gonna be a fight, it'll be a massacre! She won't hesitate to beat the hell out of you. Considering how pissed she would be at the challenge she might not stop until you're a bloody bruised mess." Church loudly explained as the fear in his eyes was leaking out.
Caboose didn't say a word for a moment, but then stepped forward and looked him in the face, "Why does she hate you?"
"She doesn't hate me Caboose, she just has some issues." Church started to break down, "After our Mom... after she passed she began seeking that attention that she lost with her. Dad focused on me for a bit when we grew up. Carolina was only five at the time, I was around three when Mom never returned from her mission. So she went to Dad for a long time. I was fine, I grew up quick and I grew tough. But when the...White Death... incident happened and I came back home for a bit... she wasn't too pleased."
"Did she try to attack you?" Caboose asked.
"Yeah, she actually got a few hits in... lucky some people helped my Dad pull her off of me." Church went on remembering the day, "Then I left... but she vowed to become the best there was. She wanted to prove that she was the best and the only one worthy of Dad's attention. Kinda childish if you ask me."
"How can I beat her?" Caboose demanded to know.
Church shook his head as he explained how it was impossible, "Her semblance is an accelerator. She moves fast like Ruby and uses that to her advantage. I don't even know what that armor can do... but from what I hear it's nearly indestructible and boosts their deadly skills. It can even use dust to make them even more powerful."
Caboose remained silent for a moment and looked at his friend, "So how can I beat her?"
"Did you not just hear me? She's unbeatable. She's number 1 in that place, there is no way on Remnant you can win!" Church exclaimed.
Caboose let another silent moment pass as he thought of his words, "Church... How many fights have we been in?"
"A lot..."
"How many times did we all come back?"
"All of them."
"The odds weren't always in our favor, were they?"
"No... but these are impossible odds."
"I'll beat them..."
"Well if you're that determined... we got some work to do." Emerald called out from behind.
Caboose smiled as he turned to see her but, smiled wider and almost teared up at the sight of his friends being there. All of them he has made, Tucker, Teams RWBY, JNPR, DRFL EMMM, Sun, Neptune, the group from Chorus, all of them came for him. The sight left Caboose speechless for a while as they all stood back smiling at him.
"This isn't going to be easy." Yang said.
Weiss counted the hours on her scroll, "The games start at 6:00 pm sharp. We'll only be able to train until 5:30 pm, so we only have a few hours."
"Ohh please... this is gonna be epic. Let's get a montage going!" Nora yelled as everyone got ready to help Caboose train.
Coco stepped forward as she admitted that her minigun only grazed Carolina when they fought, "She's too fast."
"I'll be faster." Caboose declared.
Yatsuhashi walked up and told the truth as he remembered she hit him so hard that it felt as if his soul left his body, "She is too strong."
"I'll be stronger." Caboose added.
Before he finally began his training Church warned him one last time before heading off to help him with something else, "Caboose, her drive is just like her armor, she's never going to quit."
"Neither will I..." Caboose finished as his friends got him ready to start training.
Church smiled as he knew now That Carolina was in for a fight for her life. He just left to make sure that fighting Caboose would be even harder.
(Y'all know when I was going to make this awesome crossover that I was gonna make an epic music moment. So if you have the means... Play: Grit, Sweat and Love by: Brother's Bright)
Time; 6:07 am...
Blake and Ruby started Caboose off with a quick lap around the school for starters, being the fastest members of the team and all. They made sure that Caboose would follow them as they set the route. At least that was what the plan was for them, when they started running.
Despite Blake being extremely light on her feet and Ruby using her semblance to make her practically zoom around in a mess of roses. When they started to take off at a good speed they looked over their shoulders to see whether or not Caboose could keep up or not. Not only was he able to but he was actually passing them by, when they turned forward to see him ahead of them he was far ahead of them. Breaking through branches, bushes and random trees, he just mowed through everything in his way, without slowing down.
He cleared the whole lap in 6 minutes and 27 seconds, while Blake and Ruby managed to come about 20 seconds behind him. He was clearly fast, but would be fast enough with Carolina?
6:28 am...
Next Nora ordered Caboose, "Alright Big Bear, drop and give me pushups until I tell you to stop!"
"Ok..." Caboose replied and started to push some weight on him.
Up and down he went in perfect form as he had a huge smile on his face, not even showing any sign of pain or slowing down after what seemed like the first hundred or so. As Nora became more and more bored she sat on Caboose's back to add weight, after another hundred went by. She then had Jaune and Simmons join in, but he still kept going with a smile on his face and no pain in his arms. Knowing this would probably never end Nora stopped him after thirty minutes of consistent pushups.
6:59 am...
Just as Caboose was gonna go for a different workout, he was summoned by Church and Ren, "Eating time." The western faunus called out.
Everyone who was training or helping in the combatants' training rushed inside at their usual spot in the cafeteria to find what some would consider a beautiful sight. There before them laid a feast fit for Kings and Queens, or in this case, Remnant's best fighters, for an up and coming match. In no particular order was every item that would be featured on a breakfast menu and some that might not be too well known to be associated with breakfast. In front of them was: scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, hashbrowns, biscuits, muffins, grits, Remnant cut up and fried SPAM, biscuits and gravy, donuts, sausage patties, sausage links, chorizo and eggs, tortillas, waffles, fresh fruit, and pancakes.
The spread was so lovely it actually brought to someone's eye, "Grif... are you crying?" Militia asked.
Grif sniffled back some tears as he looked at the table, "It's just so fucking beautiful..."
"Eat up, everyone... I'll be back with coffee, milk, tea and juice." Church said as he and Ren went to get said items. Church took this time to talk to Ren, "Hey, Ren, ya mind covering me for lunch, I gotta get some stuff ready for Caboose."
"I will handle everything." Ren nodded as Church went off to another location.
The teams took their time eating, from the fatty bacon and sausage meats from wild boar among the farmlands. The fresh eggs that were prepared so fluffy and soft seasoned with just salt/pepper. Fruit, chopped up like cantaloupe, melons, grapes, oranges into perfect sized slices to pack on forks. The moist and squishy pancakes that required no butter or syrup, because it was made into the pancake. Creamy grits, biscuits and gravy that would warm you up with every mouthful you could take in. The salty yet pleasing crunch of the hashbrowns along with the equal salty taste of the SPAM went well with whatever was on the table.
8:34 AM
Now after time to let a well deserved meal digest in their systems they went back to a more intensive part of their training. Specifically the part where Weiss got more involved in the training. On Church's request, he had her use her glyphs for this one, in order to make it harder on them.
"What's happening again?" Caboose asked.
Weiss rolled her eyes after she already explained it, "I told you, I'm using my glyphs to increase the gravity on you, while you do a normal workout."
"Ohhhhh..." Caboose nodded as he sorta understood what that meant.
Mercury raised his hand, "Is that safe?"
"Yes it is, you can tap out whenever you want." Weiss said, "I'm only going to double the gravity, so it won't crush you. Just do a usual workout."
"Alright, we can do this... right people? 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, and 100 squats sound good?" Yang suggested.
"I'm up for it if you are." Pyrrha agreed.
"Si." Lopez confirmed.
"Yeah, let's do it!" Caboose cheered.
As sweat poured down their faces it was only a matter of time before one of them would give in and fall first. Luckily with their grit and determination, they managed to get push through the full workout. That's when Weiss smiled as she was about to stop, but Caboose wasn't tired.
"Uh... Weiss... do you mind increasing the gravity a bit... I'm not tired yet." Caboose asked.
Weiss nodded, not thinking about what the worst that could happen, "Sure, wanna try 3x?"
"Sure, then we'll add more right?" Caboose wondered.
"If you can keep up." Weiss replied.
11:01 AM
Ren was finished with making lunch with the use of Donut's help, they walked outside to let everyone know that their meal was made. At the same time Church had finished with one of the projects he was making to help Caboose and only needed to go back to his storage unit to grab the last item. The three met on the way outside where Caboose was still training on his squats like normal but saw Weiss struggling to keep her glyph up.
Church rushed outside to see why everyone had a shocked, almost terrified looks on their faces as they gathered around Caboose. Just going up and down, not breaking a single drop from any of the workouts. Church walked forward as he almost approached the glyphs above and under Caboose.
Yang stopped him, "WAIT!"
"Damn Yang, The Hell?" Church questioned as he stopped before the circle.
"He's been there since we started. And he's increased it after every rep." Pyrrha added.
"So what's he on now?" Church quizzed.
Weiss still struggling to keep her hold answered, "If I've been counting correctly, and I have... I think I increased it tenfold."
"10! Are you crazy?! Cut it off!" Church demanded as she dropped the glyphs and caught her breath.
Caboose stopped as he looked at Church, "What's wrong? I was working out."
"Are you alright?" Church worried over the big guy.
"I'm fine, are we done working out?" Caboose tilted his head.
Church nodded but still was confused, "Caboose you were experiencing your body weight at tenfold the normal gravity."
"Ohhh... What's a tenfold?" Caboose cocked his head.
Church still confused by the unfazed Caboose couldn't help but ask questions, "You haven't noticed."
"No... I haven't noticed what a tenfold is." Caboose responded, "... Can I take a break now?"
Church had the same expression as everyone else did, "Uhhh... y-yeah... take a break before we have lunch in a bit."
"Okay... I'm gonna take a quick nap..." Caboose said as he went over to one of the trees and rested his back against it.
Leaving Church in a trance of bewilderment, amazement and an intimidated state as Caboose was unaffected by 10x the gravity. Even two times gravity would mess up anyone, especially if they weren't prepared or strong enough to begin with. Which begged the question, just how strong was Caboose? To be so strong that you aren't effected by something as heavy as a tenfold of you're body weight.
The thought still rattling his brain forced Church to bounce the idea back to his friends, "So are we going to ignore the fact that Caboose quite possibly defied the laws of biology and physics?"
"No... we're just still processing it." Emerald answered.
Church then proposed an idea, "If Caboose is that strong... without even trying... then I think he could fuck us all up, right?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, let's not get crazy." Yang was about to correct.
Weiss the fact checked her teammate, "Yang, you and Nora tapped out at 6 times the gravity."
"I stand by my statement, there is no doubt that Caboose will absolutely wreck everyone's shit." Church defended.
The team had a choice now, let the idea that Caboose, the "baby boy" among them was in fact stronger than all of them, quite possibly combined. Or... eat a very delicious meal that Ren and Donut had taken time to make for them... The option was clear.
11:32 After Caboose's Naptime.
Just as from before with breakfast, there was a wide a beautifully delicious spread before them to choose from. There was a major theme with the meal though, that theme being... Mistral based food style. (Mistral food seems to be very similar to Japanese cuisine) Just as mouth watering as the first time they saw it.
Different bowls, each varying in size and by what was in the bowls to be exact. Again, in no particular order: smoked salmon, teriyaki chicken, fried pork cutlets, beef steak, tempura shrimp, several sushi rolls, fried rice, steamed rice, grilled zucchini, onions, beansprouts, mushrooms and some store bought fortune cookies. Oh yes, these cooks were extra.
(Alright remind me not to include food in future chapters because I am getting hungry just typing this.)
After another well made meal Caboose was about to go and start up his training one more time. Until he was stopped by Church getting in front of and gesturing for Caboose the follow him. So Caboose silently agreed and followed behind Church as the two went back to Church's storage unit.
Arriving at their destination, the two looked at each other and began to speak, just among each other. No one else around Church finally spoke freely, "Ya know, even if you are stronger and faster than her, I still have very little faith you can take her..."
"I know..." Caboose sighed.
Church tried to shake that thought from his head, "But... that doesn't mean we're just giving up, especially when we're putting up one hell of a fight." He finished as he pulled up a wooden box, with his Alpha symbol burned into it.
Caboose examined the box, went even as far as to sniff the box to determine what it's contents could be. A present from Church couldn't be a new toy, but something very useful that Caboose was sure to treasure no matter what. Opening it made Caboose only say one word, or phrase, "WOAH!" Until he found the words to ask a question, "Church... is this... one of yours?"
"No... it's bigger." Church responded, "That... is a Magnum .500, shoots a bigger round than my .308 revolvers. I gave the barrel some rifling, polished the cylinder, even made frame stronger. Added some specialized rubber for the grip, that way you can hold on tight and you won't hurt your hand because of recoil. This will put a fucking hole in anything... take care of it."
"I will." Caboose said as he closed the box and grabbed the holster Church made for him.
Church then lifted up a suit bag, hanging it up on an overhead bar, "That's not all I got for you. Unfortunately I don't have the tech to make their advanced armor, but hopefully this will be better than going in nothing but your shirt."
Caboose unzipped the large bag to have a look inside and smiled nice and big, "It's perfect, because you made."
"Kiss ass today."
"You got, best buddy."
The two walked away, while someone was still active among them.
[Elsewhere: Abandoned Warehouse in Vale]
Cinder, for the first time in her life felt conflicted about what she had wanted to do. If she went with her plan that would mean someone who means a whole lot to her would be a victim to her plans. If she didn't then everything she fought for would be for nothing and she would have to face the wrath of, HIM.
She then found an alternative to her plans, she could go into hiding. She made a few contacts who owed her some favors and she could finally collect on them. Her mind was made up, this was her plan.
As she was about to step outside she almost bumped into Ivan as he entered, with more of his real team. Demoman, Dr. Pill, their Sniper, the Minigun Twins, Kiss, their up close specialist, and finally Sharkface. They all surrounded her as they had their eyes set on her.
"What's going on? I didn't send for any of you." Cinder declared.
Darius or Dr. Pill was the first one to answer her, "Oh don't worry... ya see, the BIG man has other plans in mind."
"What are talking about?" Cinder/ Tex ordered to know.
Dr Pill kept waving his finger near his head as he spoke, "He doesn't think it's fair that you have that kinda of power in ya. Says, maybe you should hand it over. To us."
"Even at full power with an army you couldn't take me on... so what makes you think you can take it." Cinder taunted as she balled up her fists.
Darius smiled as he shifted his eyes, "We have her..."
Like lighting, Cinder whipped around to grab someone by the throat, CT, the other member to Carolina's team CCS4. Luckily Cinder was quicker than her, but unfortunately she grabbed the wrong one.
CT's semblance is somewhat similar to Donut's and Wyoming's... In the sense that she leaves behind a sort of copy of herself that can take the hit for her. And she used that to her advantage for this moment. As she stabbed Cinder with something, something that looked like a really big needle rather than a knife or other bladed weapon.
"Took some time to make that, but luckily Connie sure was lucky she could get her hands someone who could absorb stuff, am I right?" Darius mocked as he looked her in the face, "This won't kill you, but you get to watch as you go back to being helpless on the sidelines..."
"AAAARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!" Tex screamed out, but no one heard her cry...
[To Be Continued]
Alright Y'all know the drill, my own personal deadline for something is less than a month away. Once I get to it, I will inform what it is exactly I am doing. Hopefully y'all will also pick up on what it is before hand. Now to explain this chapter. It's gonna take some time to make the Battle at Beacon so this is just delaying the inevitable. Don't worry, the wait is worth it.