Chapter 40

Qrow, Weiss, Blake, and Yang stood in shocked silence as Ruby Rose continued hugging the giant robot's leg. Weiss finally lifted a finger. "So-" Only to prompt the machine to aim it's cannons at her. "Nevermind!"

"Uh, Ruby?" Qrow spoke up in spite of the robot now aiming at him. "Uh, tell us again; where did you find this… robot?"

"Hey! Don't be rude!" Ruby snapped. "He has a name! It's Freckles."

"Well, that's a stupid name." Yang remarked, prompting the robot to turn its attention to her. "Stupid cool name, I mean! Great name! Freckles is the greatest name, ever, that there ever was! I wish that were my name! Ha ha ha! Please, don't kill me…"

"Technically, it's an Atlesian Paladin-290 battle suit." Qrow corrected.

"Why 'Paladin?'" Yang asked, curiously.

Weiss rolled her eyes. "Yang, isn't it obvious? The armor plating resembles that of the old paladin knights that guarded Atlas."

"Not really." Blake arched an eyebrow. "It's bigger."

"Wha-? Well, of course it's bigger!" Weiss spluttered.

"Yeah, well, I call him 'Freckles' because of the spots on his nose." Ruby pointed to the four red triangles painted on the corners of the machine's canopy.

Yang tilted her head and rubbed her chin in thought. "Huh. Well, shit, I actually gotta give it to Ruby on this one. Robot definitely looks more like a 'Freckles' than a Paladin."

Qrow sighed, tiredly. "Fine. Where did you find… Freckles?"

Ruby looked down at Rose Thorn, sadly, as she told the others her story. " Well, I was walking on the beach, and I was feeling sad, because I missed Penny."

"This is the greatest story of our generation." Weiss muttered, sarcastically.

"Quiet!" Qrow snapped.

"And then I heard a noise on the beach."

"Seriously, it's like I was there."

"Weiss!"

"And then I found this poor little guy buried under pieces of rock and metal!" Ruby smiled and hugged the robot, again. "But I just moved those out of the way, and fixed whatever was broken, and now here he is! And now, we're best friends forever! Right, Freckles?!"

"Affirmative, Ruby Rose." Freckles deactivated his weapons as he looked down at his liberator.

"Oh, great." Blake's ears dropped in anxiety. "Girl meets dog, dog turns out to be a giant murdering robot."

"Uh, Ruby… y'know, a pet is a lot of responsibility-" Qrow began, only to be cut off by his niece.

"Don't patronize me!" Ruby snapped. "Freckles is not a pet! He is my best friend and I love him very much!"

"Okay, this is officially the most fucked up thing I've ever seen." Yang remarked in a concerned tone.

Qrow arched an eyebrow at this. "Didn't you give birth to a half-Grimm baby not too long ago?"

"Hey! Let's not bring children into this!"

"Okay, we're getting off track here," Blake declared, looking towards Ruby as she did. "Look, I'm glad you made a new friend and everything, but...well, no offense to 'Freckles', but is he actually capable of helping us survive on this island?"

"Oh, yeah, definitely." Ruby said with a nod, before looking to Freckles. "Freckles: fetch." She threw a rock as hard as she could through the air, prompting Freckles to open fire with a round of lightning dust until the rock was reduced to a pebble. "See?! He can totally protect us!"

"Uh, okay…" Blake whimpered in fear. "That's not quite what I meant."

"Yeah. Something tells me that Freckles can definitely rock our worlds!" Yang smiled in spite of the groans. "No, wait, how about this? Freckles can be our rock - no, that's stupid. Uh…"

"Oh, my gods! If you put half as much effort into your training as you do with your shitty puns, you could beat Freckles at arm wrestling by now!" Qrow snapped.

"Don't be stupid! Freckles doesn't have arms!" Yang replied. "He has guns!"

"And paws!" Ruby gushed. "Cute, widdle paws! Hey, that reminds me; I taught him a new trick! Watch! Freckles, shake!"

In response, the semi-sentient machine stomped so hard that the ground shook beneath everyone's feet. "See?! He can shake!" Ruby laughed.

"Ruby, normally I would give you the proudest hug and kiss for a pun like that." Yang said with a small smile. "But we're trying to be serious, here."

"Really? That's funny. Because you never try to be serious." Qrow remarked.

"Excuse me?! You haven't exactly been such a perfect leader!" Weiss snapped. "Ever since we got here, you've done nothing but treat us like cannon fodder soldiers under your boots! But why would we even listen to you in the first place?! Especially when you went and teamed up with Cinder after she had already tried to kill all of us!? Honestly, I would rather go back to following Ruby into battle than you!" Weiss snapped.

"Yeah! I would gladly give up leadership of my team to her if it meant I didn't have to listen to either of you!" Jaune added.

"I agree! This is bullshit!" Coco finished.

"Oh, really?!" Qrow growled. "Well, then why don't we all just put her in charge and see how that goes?!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Ruby smiled. "Well, I humbly accept the nomination and look forward to leading you all."

"SHUT UP!" Everyone shouted.

Freckles aimed all of his weapons at the large collection of huntsmen and huntresses. "Do not talk back to your commanding officer!" He bellowed.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Yang growled."We are having an argument with Qrow! We will be talking backto him! That's how conversations work, you fucking toaster!"

"Agent Gray is not your commanding officer!" Freckles replied, much to everyone's confusion. "As per the unanimous decision made by representatives of Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY, Ruby Rose has been promoted to the superior commanding officer of this camp site! She is your commanding officer! Do not talk back to your commanding officer!"

Weiss couldn't help but blink here. "Wait, when did we…?"

"Beginning playback."

"Oh, really?!" Qrow growled. "Well, then why don't we all just put her in charge and see how that goes?!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Qrow paled. "Wait, then that means...I've been demoted?!"

"Apparently," Weiss admitted, before sighing. "I give us a day, three max, before we run out of supplies."

One Week Later

"Hey, Weiss, where did Ruby have us place the fishing poles again?" Blake asked.

"Two doors to the left of where we store the dust." Weiss said with a smile, honestly impressed that Ruby had managed to, with some advice that she would request from her and the others every now and then, actually managed to arrange them to have a surplus of supplies. "Any particular reason why you asked?"

Ruby chose this exact moment to enter the room and answer for her sister-in-law. "Blake and I were talking about maybe gathering up some of the others to try and catch something for dinner, but first…" ...and that was all the warning Weiss got before Ruby brought her in for a kiss. "I'm sorry I haven't been the most attentive girlfriend lately. How about after I get back we…?"

Weiss could only blush at what Ruby had suddenly whispered into her ear. "I...I'd like that." she admitted as Ruby hopped onto Freckles' back.

"Assistant Commander Best Friend Freckles, initiate piggy back sequence!"

Weiss gave a happy sigh as Freckles carried her girlfriend off into the distance. "I hate to say it, but this whole situation is nearly perfect."

"Nearly perfect?" Blake asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Hey guys!" Jean called out via the Manta's speaker systems as she and her teammates attempted to find a place to land. "Did somebody call for a rescue?"

Weiss smiled. "Now it's perfect."

Unfortunately, the former heiress spoke too soon as the Manta crash landed on the beach. Fearing for their friends' lives, the groups rushed off to help in any way they could. Luckily, the scarlet-clad farmer climbed out of the wreckage without a scratch. She had just finished pulling Mikhail and Jean out of the smoldering remains of their ship when the group spotted them. "Svetlana!" Everyone cheered, running over to the Rushland girl.

"Aw, you guys must have really missed us." "Rachael" declared with a smile. "So, how'd you get stranded in a remote area of Menagerie, anyways?"

"Wait, this is Menagerie?!" Velvet couldn't help but ask.

Blake had the decency to blush. "In my defense, there are some areas of the island I've never been to."

"Ah, who cares?" Raven asked with a grin. "What matters is that we finally have a way to check in with Blake's folks and then get back home. So when are the other Mantas coming?"

Mikhail blinked. "Other Mantas? What are you talking about? We only brought the one."

"That's right!" Svetlana nodded. "You said to bring help, so I brought the best help that money could buy!"

"You didn't pay me." Jean corrected.

"Wait, so you're saying you heard our distress signal, grabbed your husband and Jean, came in a tiny plane that can not carry all of us, and that's your way of bringing help?!" Qrow fumed.

"No, of course not!" Svetlana waved, dismissively. "I also brought Ciel."

As if on cue, the French girl climbed out of the wreckage, muttering and swearing in French as her android double helped her up. Upon noticing her savior, Ciel couldn't help but grin. "Could I get a name to go with the pretty face?"

The robotic duplicate could only give a look that indicated that she would be blushing if she were flesh and blood. "Appelez-moi Carrie. (Call me Carrie)."

Ciel blinked. "Nice as it is to have another French speaker around here, I have to ask: why Carrie?"

"Would you rather we went with Yatsuhashi's suggestion and called her Ciel 2.0?" Coco asked, tilting her sunglasses down.

"Carrie's fine." Ciel sighed before turning to her double. "Alors, vous ont-ils déjà brisé? (So, have they broken you, yet?)"

"Que voulez-vous dire? (What do you mean?)" Carrie arched an eyebrow.

Ciel let out a long, tired sigh. "Vous allez vouloir vous asseoir pour ça. C'est une longue histoire. Et j'ai seulement envie de lui dire cinq mille mots à la fois. (You're going to want to sit down for this. It's a long story. And I only feel like telling it five thousand words at a time.)"

"Okay, nobody panic." Jaune declared, trying to get everyone back on track. "We now have two broken down Mantas and between that and the inclusion of a little extra manpower and skill, not to mention a little elbow grease, we should still be able to cobble something together to get us back to civilization. In the meantime, let's see about fixing up the radio: see who else is in the area."

Pyrrha gave a bliss filled sigh. "There's the man I love."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Wait I just realized," Ren suddenly declared with a frown. "Couldn't Raven have just portaled us out of here when we first crash landed? All she'd need to do would be to swing her sword and we'd all be out of here!"

"You mean, this sword!?" Raven growled out, showing that her weapon, Omen, had seen better days - the sheath a broken mess and the blade itself nothing but a nub without Dust to boost it's strength - much to Ren's embarrassment/sympathy. "It's been like this since the crash, and even if we had the tools we'd need to repair this thing, Velvet and Ruby haven't exactly been available for me to ask them to do so, what with everything that's been going on."

"...and my brooding towards the beginning of everything probably didn't help matters any," Ruby said with a wince before clearing her throat. "If I got some assistance from Velvet and the others, I might be able to create an improvised forge to rebuild your sword...or at least give you something you can use to properly defend yourself with until we get back to civilization."

"I'd appreciate it." Raven said with a grin.

Meanwhile, Ciel was still telling Carrie about her misadventures with the other huntresses and huntsmen. Needless to say, the android was horrified beyond belief. "Ils t'ont laissé dans une grotte?! (They left you in a cave?!)"

Ciel shook her head in disappointment. "Sans oublier que Jean a utilisé un outil étrange sur ma puce de localisation pour me transformer en esclave. C'est un miracle que je n'ai pas de tétanos. (Not to mention Jean used some weird tool on my locator chip to turn me into a slave. It's a miracle I don't have tetanus.)"

"Hey, Carrie?!" Pyrrha called, suddenly. "Could you go fetch the toolbox, please? I think something is wrong with the water pump, and I'll have to get down on my hands and knees to check all the pipes."

"Oui, m'dame. (Yes, ma'am.)" Carrie was just about to carry out Pyrrha's request when Ciel stopped her.

"Attendez. (Wait.)" The French girl smiled, choosing to completely forego her English. "Il y a une chose que j'aime à être la seule personne qui parle français autour de ces gens. (There is one thing I do like about being the only person who speaks French around these people.)"

"Que voulez-vous dire? (What do you mean?)" Carrie asked, tilting her head.

Ciel demonstrated by cupping her hands around her mouth as she called out to Pyrrha. "Oy, Pyrrha! Pourquoi êtes-vous si impatient de vous mettre à genoux?! En espérant que Jaune prendra enfin un indice et te baisera brutalement?! (Oy, Pyrrha! Why are you so eager to get down on your hands and knees?! Hoping Jaune will finally take a hint and fuck you raw?!)"

Much to Carrie's surprise, Pyrrha merely laughed. "Oh, Ciel, you're right. I do look a little worse for wear, don't I? But when you don't have a washing machine on the island, what can you do?"

Carrie looked back at Ciel, who crossed her arms with a smug smile on her face. Intrigued, the android turned back to the "invincible" girl. "Oy, Pyrrha! Vous êtes… surfait! (Oy, Pyrrha! You are… overrated!)"

"Oh, it is a lovely day, isn't it?" Pyrrha replied.

"Le lapin Faunus est le seul à comprendre ce que nous disons. (The rabbit Faunus is the only one who understands what we're saying.)" Ciel explained, giddily. "Les autres n'ont aucune idée. Parfois, ils inventent simplement des conversations complètement différentes dans leur tête. Votre mère est si grosse qu'elle doit se peser avec une balance Richter! (The others have no clue. Sometimes they'll just make up completely different conversations in their heads. Your mother is so fat that she has to weigh herself with a Richter scale!)"

"Et c'est une putain! (And she's a whore!)" Carrie giggled.

"Aw, it's so cute that you finally have someone to talk to, Ciel." Pyrrha smiled. "Well, whenever you're done talking, I still need that toolbox."

Ciel proudly stretched her arm over Carrie's shoulder as they went to find the toolbox. "Restez avec moi, fille, et tout ira bien. (Stick with me, girl, and you'll be just fine.)"

Meanwhile, Qrow had been observing everything since the remaining members of Team CPPR had arrived. But the failed rescue attempt wasn't on his mind; he just needed to finish collecting all the pieces of the peace offering he would give to his niece in the hopes that she would stop acting so cold towards him. But as he collected the last scrap of metal, he spotted his eldest niece punching something on the radio tower and decided to investigate.

"What're you doing?"

Yang barely even gave her Uncle a glance. "I'm fixing the radio!"

Qrow merely blinked. "... by punching it?"

Yang shrugged. "Do you have a better idea?!"

"Try connecting the transmission coil to the antennae outlet. It might improve the frequency range and boost the signal-"

Yang groaned. "All I'm hearing are words that, were I that type of person, would prompt me to beat up nerds in school."

Qrow growled. "I'm being serious!"

Yang gave a mock gasp. "Oh, my gods. Stop the fucking presses; 'Uncle Qrow is Being Serious.' Is this what you're always like when you haven't had booze?"

Qrow shook his head in frustration. "Yang, I know that you can do this!"

"Well, I don't want to do this! Did you ever think of that?!" Yang yelled out. "All I want to do is hang out with my wife and watch my little sister be happy with her best friend! But Penny's gone now, and all she's got is you! It's fucking bullshit!"

Qrow merely sighed as those words sunk in, before deciding to try a different tactic. "Did your dad ever tell you that I was the worst Huntsman on our team, if not in the whole school? Everyone on the team had a specialty, something that made them stand out. There was your dad, our sharpshooter and brawler. Your mom, our scout and swordmaster. And Summer was... well, you know Summer. Meanwhile I was remembered for wearing a skirt to the prom."

Yang scoffed. "Cool story, bro, but where are you going with this?"

Qrow shrugged. "From what I gathered, when Penny joined your team, Ruby took to her almost immediately, and you and your teammates have been together for a long time. You know each other inside and out."

Yang couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "Blake definitely knows me inside and out."

Qrow rolled his eyes. "But I'm new to all of this. I've always kept my distance from people. I've never had to be in charge of anybody. I just don't want to get anyone hurt."

"Well, there's your problem: you were trying too hard." Yang declared. "I mean, sure, Ruby's never been the best leader, but she never made us run laps. She just came up with a bunch of strategies to practice, and often took the blame whenever stuff went wrong."

Qrow sighed. "Well, we're shipwrecked, low on food, and we all have to do what Ruby says, or we'll be killed by a robot."

Yang nods. "Sounds like you really fucked up." She then sighed. "But then again, I guess I was the one who convinced Mom to use her portal to try and get us to Menagerie, so we can't really blame you for the plane crashing and starting this whole mess in the first place."

Qrow couldn't help but look away with a nervous expression on his face.

Two Atlas soldiers were seen working on some equipment when the lights suddenly faded.

"Whoops!" Qrow ran in with a nervous laugh. "Sorry! Knocked a cable out of the wall. Hope that wasn't too important."

No sooner had he said this, a siren went off, indicating that the ship was about to crash.

"Eheh... I'll go ahead and take some of the blame." Qrow replied, tugging at his shirt collar.

"Whatever." Yang rolled her eyes and turned back to the radio.

"So, how are the repairs going?" Qrow asked, standing next to her.

"Well, I managed to get a signal out a while ago, but now it's just… not working."

"Sounds like you really fucked up." Qrow teased.

"Don't be an ass."

"Sorry. You really are a competent woman, Yang. And a great huntress. You just need to… try."

Yang took a deep breath and squinted at the radio, looking over every minute detail. Suddenly, her eyes widened and a small blush of embarrassment flushed her face. "Oh…" She reached over and flipped a switch. "It was just turned off."

"Hey, Yang!" Ruby called. "I know we said it was really important that we fix the radio, but we caught this really big fish, and Blake's kinda freaking out about it, and we could use your help to make sure she doesn't eat all of it!"

Yang glanced over at Qrow before cupping a hand over her mouth. "I'll be right there, Rubes!" She yelled, before turning back to her uncle. "Ruby isn't a perfect leader. But look how far she's got us. We have good shelter, we can find our own food, and now, we have the radio working. That should tell you something." With that, the blonde brawler used the zipline to head down towards the beach.

Qrow glanced over at the radio before looking down at the bag in his hands. "I'm sorry, Ruby…" He sighed.

To Be Continued.