Greetings again!
Appreciate the reviews that were left and the emails about Follows/Faves. To be honest, I'm not very confident in my writing. I'm in the health field and this is just something I do as a hobby (obviously). So, any words of encouragement or criticism are more than welcome here. Okay! Going forward, I'm going to try and do the best I can to live up to those who have decided to stick around.
RiggyMinus – Thanks for being my first review! I hope you stick around and enjoy it for what it is. It won't be an especially long story (at least that is the plan), so I hope you get a cheap laugh or two.
DeinoHunter – Thank you! And trust me, from personal experience, it won't be pretty. HAHA.
Anyway, here is chapter 2. Again, full disclosure, this is primarily a LANCASTER (JaunexRuby) story. So, if that is not your cup of tea, you've been warned. Hope you enjoy!
Italicized – Inner Thoughts
BOLD - Speaker
GodRealm
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Chapter 2 – Flip of a coin
Jaune stood up from the seat on the couch without a word, panic written all over his face. The others stared at him as he began making his way towards the exit of the apartment. He moved with haste and determination. Unfortunately, while reaching for the knob to make his escape, he felt a strong grip on his shoulder. Without turning around, he continued to try and reach out for the knob, knowing full well who was behind him.
"Woah, buddy." Neptune stated. "Where's the fire?"
"No. Hell no. Not gonna happen. Nuh huh." He gave as a stern response.
"What's wrong with you?" Neptune asked.
Jaune halted his attempt to leave and dropped his arm to his side. Neptune released the grip on his shoulder as a response to this. Jaune turned around to face Neptune who had a look of further confusion on his face. Jaune kept somewhat of a scowl on his, with fear still evident.
"Do you have ANY idea what you're about to do? I want no part of it!"
"What are you afraid of?"
"You seriously want to piss off four of the strongest women at our school?"
"No."
Jaune paused for a moment and raised an eyebrow to Neptune's response. Neptune face turned to expressionless as he continued.
"It would be six including Nora and Pyrrah."
Like a flash, Ren had moved in the same fashion as Jaune had just moments earlier with Sun being the one to catch him before exiting, grasping his shoulder tightly.
Jaune just stared at Neptune, now dawning a blank expression. Was he insane? Was he suicidal? Did his parents not hug him enough as a child? Jaune always regarded Neptune to be a smart guy, or an "intellectual" as he often referred to himself as. So, surely, he couldn't be this stupid.
"Do you need a hug?" Jaune asked.
"What?" Neptune replied.
"Bring it in, big guy." Jaune continued, opening his arms and motioning for an embrace.
"Jaune... I don't know how to say this... I like girls."
"What? No, I'm saying... Never mind." Jaune replied, flatly.
Ren was still attempting to escape, giving Sun a run for his money with the amount of tugging force he was applying to try and reach the door. He was fingertips away from reaching the knob but could not overcome Sun's strength keeping him in place where he was. Damn it.
"Look." Neptune started again. "There comes a time in every man's life when he has to make the tough decisions. He has to look at himself and say, 'Yes, I can do this.'"
"What the hell are you even talking about? This is certain death if they find out we're spying on them. I don't know if you've ever been on the receiving end of a Yang punch-"
"Or a Nora hammer strike." Ren interjected, still struggling to get free of Sun's grip, seemingly now in a headlock.
"But they are not fun." Jaune concluded.
Neptune waved his hands in a dismissive manner. The cockiness. Jaune thought.
"There's a simple solution to that, Jauney boy." Jauney boy? Jaune though again. "We don't get caught."
The two boys shared a few seconds of staring. Jaune gave a look of further annoyance as Neptune kept his carefree, expressionless face as a rebuttal. The blue-eyed blond knew that he had offered poor answers to solutions in the past himself. Hell, he knew that he wasn't exactly the smartest guy, but this was just negligent. Neptune offered no kind of actual plan.
Meanwhile, Ren had finally stopped resisting Sun's grasp. He was catching his breath and fixing his shirt while Sun stood there with a triumphant look on his face.
"Don't get caught?" Ren asked, out of breath.
"Yeah, that's what I said." Neptune replied.
"And HOW can you guarantee that this will work out as you want?" Jaune answered back, placing emphasis on the question. "No offense, but you're not offering much in terms of an actual 'plan'." He continued, offering air quotes at the end of the sentence.
Neptune let out a sigh and walked away from the other three men he was standing with. He made his way back over to the paper he had pulled out of the drawer earlier and placed on the coffee table. He scooped it up and motioned for them to once more come to his side in the living room. Ren and Jaune offered a raised eyebrow in response.
"Gentlemen come sit again. I have more to show to you about and explain." Neptune stated.
"Were you in on this already, Sun?" Ren offered, finally regaining his composure.
The blond Faunus was already making his way back over to the couch and plopped back out and laid out as he had previously.
"No way." He responded. "But Neptune has never had a bad plan. I may be the leader of Team SSSN, but he's always been the brains behind the operation. I just have more charisma... and I'm not afraid of water."
"Could have done without the last part." Neptune replied, mumbling. "Anyway, just hear me out and we'll talk after that, okay?" He asked the two men from Team JNPR.
Ren let out an exasperated sigh in response, but, none the less, made his way back to the living room. Jaune watched as his partner made his decision to listen and figured he could at least do the same after all he had been through since arriving here earlier. With a half-hearted attitude, he also walked over to the couch he had previously occupied and sat down again next to Ren.
Neptune left out a sigh of relief as well.
"Thank you." He spoke again. "Now then, I'll go over what I have here in my hands after another short video I have saved on my scroll from the camera."
He placed the paper in his back pocket as he made his way back over to the television pulled out his scroll again. He pulled up his video library again and pressed PLAY once more.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU" Cardin continued.
"Oum damn it!" Ren immediately let out.
Neptune paused the video again, quickly.
"S-Sorry. I forgot we left that up. I just have to speed up the video to what I wanted to show you all." Neptune explained and began fast forwarding afterwards.
Cardin's part of the video lasted nearly another 5 minutes, which, thank Oum, was only a few short seconds thanks to the fast forward option. No wonder he paid up. Jaune thought to himself. Eventually, video switched over to the car driving away from the disgusting scene and driving back towards the courtyard.
"Here we go." Neptune said while smiling.
OOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
The video showed the vehicle driving over to meet Neptune who was waiting for it, operating the controls, on the edge of the courtyard, hiding amongst the bushes. The camera revealed he had tactical paint on his face and what appeared to be a helmet. A poor attempt at camouflage as he still wore his red jacket.
He was wearing what appeared to be a headset, no doubt what was allowing his voice to come out through the speaker on the video. The car arrived at his feet and he picked it up, again checking it for any damage while admiring it as he had come to do. He had placed an invaluable amount of time to put this little hobby of his together.
"Well, I think our friend will be pay quite a bit for this little show. Jaune, I hope you can appreciate this." Neptune's voice bled through the speaker one last time before he turned his head set off.
"Now, time to head back to the apartment and make the edits for Cardin's copy." He stated, while laughing, now with the speaker off.
Neptune stood up from his crouched position and began walking down the pathway in the courtyard towards the exit of the school grounds, video obviously still rolling. It was a silent stroll for the most part. He offered a 'hello' to a few of the school's women as he walked, but nothing more than that.
Finally, as he approached the gates of the school grounds, he noticed something interesting. Just beyond the gates were three students of Beacon waiting against a tree in the clearing. Not just any three students, though. Team RWBY members Blake, Weiss and Ruby.
"Well, maybe I should go say hello." Neptune announced out loud. "Hey, la-"
"I GOT THE STUFF GIRLS!"
Neptune paused for a second after hearing the loud call out coming from a fourth party. He looked over and saw a group of three other girls walking towards the original three. He took this time to move towards the closest bundle of bushes with haste, nearly falling over with his new toy. He peaked over the hedges to see Yang, Pyrrah and Nora walking over to the other Team RWBY members.
The shout had belonged to the blond member of the team, Yang Xia Long, who was waving at her teammates while making her way towards them.
"Stuff?" Neptune murmured loud enough for the audio on the camera to pick up. His gaze fell onto Nora Valkyrie, who was carrying a box that was making a rather loud rattling noise, even from the distance he was at.
"It's about time, Yang." Weiss stated, crossing her arms. "We've been wondering when you would all get back."
"Can you keep it down? This isn't exactly allowed." Blake asked her two teammates while looking around the area to make sure no one was watching them. Neptune was glad he had taken the initial leap into the bushes at this point, as to not be seen by the group. Whatever they were up to, they didn't want anyone knowing about it.
Nora brought the box to the ground, letting out an exhausted sigh. It rattled again slightly, but not nearly as loud as when it was being carried over to the group. The six girls were now together, next to the tree in the middle of a clearing outside the school grounds.
The video then showed Neptune placing the car on the ground and placing his headset back on. He grabbed the controller out of his pocket and shortly after, a switch was heard.
"Stealth mode time." Neptune stated.
After saying that, the car made its way out of the bushes and into the clearing at a slow pace. He made sure to keep a decent distance but made it close enough to start picking up the conversation the group of friends were having.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I had to flirt pretty hard with the guy at the store to let us walk away with everything without any questions asked." Yang offered as a response to what Weiss had said earlier. "We got a lot too!"
"Well, that's good." Blake responded, smiling. "If we're going to have a good time while everyone's out on vacation, we might as well be stocked for the weekend."
"I'll say so!" Nora nearly yelled, stretching out her back after clearly carrying something that was on the heavier side.
Pyrrah began walking away from the group with holding her arms close to her chest, almost with a scared demeanor on her face.
"I don't know, girls. Are we sure we want to do this in the school? If we get caught, we might get in some serious trouble."
Yang walked over and slung an arm around the red-headed girl's shoulder, sporting a smiling face.
"Aw, come on, Pyrrah." She started. "We just went through all the trouble of getting it and getting it here. We'll have a good time this weekend, I swear."
Pyrrah still had a look of discontent on her face.
"I-I know we did. I just don't want to risk graduation over something like this. I mean, I know girls our age and students before us have done this, but I don't want everything we've done over the last few years to be for nothing."
"Pyrrah." A voice called from near the tree, causing her to turn and drop Yang's arm off her shoulder at the same time.
The voice resonated with Jaune as the first friend he had made when he had made it to Beacon all those years ago. Ruby.
The red-hood wearing, huntress-in-training offered a smile to the Team JNPR member while walking over to her.
"I don't have much experience with this stuff either, but I think this is an opportunity for us to have one last girl's night and one last friend experience before we graduate in a few months." Ruby finished, before standing in front of her.
"I know, Ruby. Maybe, I'm just being overly cautious." Pyrrah replied.
"You don't have to worry about a thing, Pyrrah. We'll be cautious. I mean, even Weiss is okay with it. Doesn't that say something?" Yang added, giving a small chuckle.
"Psh. Whatever." Weiss interjected.
"Besides Pyrrah, students get caught doing this stuff all the time. We wouldn't be the first and we definitely won't be the last." Nora also added, hugging her friend from behind, sporting a smile of her own.
The six shared a small laugh with each other as Nora backed off and Pyrrah regained her normal smile that she usually carried with her. Ruby began walking past the group, garnering their attention as she stopped at the edge of a hill near the tree they were standing at.
"I don't want to have any regrets." She spoke. "If we can have the chance to have a good time as a group before graduating, I'm all in for it."
"That's the spirit, sis." Yang replied, offering a thumbs up.
"Okay. Okay." Pyrrah replied. "I'm still in."
"Awesome!" Nora yelled again, launching her arm in the air in a celebratory fashion.
"Just one question, though." Weiss announced. "Where are we going to keep this stuff before next weekend? We can't just waltz on into the academy with it. We have to wait until the other students leave and it's just us and the other two idiots left from Nora and Pyrrah's team remaining."
'Idiots?' Jaune and Ren thought at the same time while continuing to watch the video.
"I've got that part covered." Blake responded.
She made her way back over to the box near the base of the tree. From the camera's angle at the top of the clearing, the viewers could see Blake push the box into a hollow opening that was around the side of the tree. The box took a little bit of effort to push on Blake's end, but it fit into the crevice none the less.
She then grabbed a few loose, frail branches off the tree that had a decent amount of leaves on them and used them as camouflage to cover the hole where the box had slid into. She then wiped her hands on her pants to get any dirt or debris off.
"Done." She stated.
"All right, looks like we're all set." Yang said.
"Hey." Ruby started, causing the attention to be on her again. "Should we invite the boys to join us you think?" She asked, raising her hands inquisitively.
The other five just looked at each other and laughed.
"Yeah, okay!" Nora yelled again. "Ren's a party-pooper. If anything, he'll bring the party down before it even gets going. I love the guy, but he could fuck up a wet dream when he wants to."
"Wet dream?" Ruby asked.
"I'll tell you when you're older." Yang replied, patting her sister on the head.
"I'm almost 18 now!" She replied, pouting in a cute fashion.
The group shared another laugh, this time at the leader of Team RWBY.
"Well, what about Jaune?" She continued, still embarrassed by the group's teasing.
"Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you?" Blake said, sporting a smug smile.
It was no secret that the Team leaders of RWBY and JNPR had grown close over the last few years. Hell, all eight of them had grown close, but those two were always having their side conversations inside and outside of class.
They read the same comics and played the same games. And recently, they had been spending more time together sparring, trying to improve Jaune's combat ability along with Ruby's hand-to-hand techniques. Of course, Ruby had the experience advantage on her side, so she rightfully won most of the matches. That isn't to say he wasn't getting better and better with each spar.
Pyrrah had also offered him training when Ruby was unavailable. She had even given over her old equipment so that Jaune could use it to create a new set of armor as well as upgrade Crocea Mors. She had received several endorsements and sponsorships from companies and upgraded her own equipment, so she was happy to help her leader out.
"W-Whatever!" Ruby replied, defensively.
"In any case, that doofus would get us caught or destroy something like he usually does." Yang added, waving her hand dismissively as Weiss nodded her head.
"Hey, it's getting kind of late. We still need to get lunch before the cafeteria closes." Nora interjected. "I don't want to miss the Friday special."
A chill went up the spine of the four boys watching, knowing how that had worked out for Cardin earlier who was probably still wrenched over in pain.
"That's fine. We're done here anyway." Blake responded as the others nodded their heads and began walking off towards the school grounds together. Once they were out of distance, the vehicle began moving, once Neptune figured the coast to be clear.
"Now then... Let's find out what this is all about." He spoke over the speaker.
The car remained motionless as footsteps were heard approaching it. A button being pushed could be heard and the car was once again picked up. Slowly and cautiously, Neptune made his way to the tree with the camera angled up at his face. He could be seen looking all around as to make sure they were not turning around for any reason and no one else was around.
Once he approached the tree, he stared down at the hole. He had to admit, Blake did an admirable job hiding whatever was in the box. For anyone passing by, they wouldn't think anything of the cover up. Unfortunately, Detective Neptune was at the right place at the right time.
He began removing the branches from the area slowly, keeping his eyes in the direction the girls had left in not too long ago. Before long, he had removed the shrubbery that covered the hole. He then looked inside the hole and pulled the box out slightly, still hearing the "clanking" noise coming from inside. Once it was out far enough, he placed his hands on the opening at the top to pull to cardboard edges apart.
"All right, let's see what's behind box number one." He said, silently.
With that, he pulled the edges of the box apart and the contents were revealed thereafter. The video was then paused as the eyes of all the men watching in Neptune's apartment went wide with surprise, except for Neptune, himself who was probably shocked in his own right during the actual recording.
"Booze." The three watching stated in unison.
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Neptune looked at the three saucer-eyed boys in the room before him. He knew they were as shocked as he was when he had first discovered what the girls were hiding. Sure, girls their age had dabbled with alcohol and even he had a few times, but this was surprising to all of them. Team RWBY along with Nora and Pyrrah were going to get drunk?
Jaune relaxed a bit and leaned back onto the couch and began chuckling. The whole idea was crazy.
"Now do you all understand why we have to do this?" Neptune asked them, placing his scroll down on the table and pulling out the paper from his back pocket again. "We may never get an opportunity like this again."
Ren shook himself from his thoughts and looked over at Neptune.
"So, you want to record them getting drunk all weekend?" He asked.
"Absolutely." He responded. "Even if we don't use it for blackmail, this will be worth a laugh, don't you think?"
Ren thought about it for a second. He still wasn't too pleased with the idea and the thought of being caught still stuck in the back of his mind, but then he had to think back to Nora's rude comment. Normally, he wasn't one to think of revenge, but maybe it was time he did something carefree as well.
"I'm in." Sun said, raising his hand from the other couch. "Drunk Blake sounds like a good time."
Jaune and Ren looked over at him.
"Me too." Ren announced. This came as a surprise to Jaune who then had to look back at him. Even Neptune went a little wide-eyed at the ninja's change of heart coming so quickly. He thought Ren would be his hardest buyer.
"R-really?" Jaune asked him.
"Yes. They're going to do something that's unthinkable and plan to have a good time, so maybe I should step out of my comfort zone as well."
"That's the spirit!" Neptune exclaimed as he ran over to shake his hand violently.
Jaune looked back to the screen in front of him. He was still doubtful, but even Ren was joining the dark side on this one.
"Besides, it's like they said." Sun said, causing the others to look at him. "They want to have one last experience together before graduating, so we should do the same." He finished..
"Exactly." Neptune followed up.
Jaune let out a sigh before speaking. "I'm still not completely sure."
Neptune looked at Jaune before walking in front and crouching before him, putting a hand on his leg. He had one more play up his sleeve to convert the blond to his side.
"Even after those rude comments they made?" Neptune said. Take the bait.
"Comments?" Jaune asked.
"Yeah. What they said about you and Ren. They called you a doofus? Idiots? Remember?"
The comments flooded Jaune's head again as he remembered them. He had to get over the shock of the alcohol in the box before he could go back to what was said about him and his partner. He was used to being called those things before and was never able to retaliate against his "friends" with force.
A look then came over Jaune's face. A look that he didn't sport very often. It was a look of determination. He knew that if he couldn't retaliate with force, then he would do the next best option.
Got him.
"Okay. I'm in." Jaune said.
Neptune offered a smile and stood back up as the three in the living room watched him. He unrolled the paper in his hand and once again placed it on the coffee table next to his scroll. He cleared his throat before speaking again.
"Great. Now that we're all on the same page, we can go over how we're going to start this. After all," He pointed at Ren and Jaune. "You two are our most important pieces."
The two looked at each other with a confused expression before looking back at Neptune to see what he meant.
"I'm sorry, what?" Jaune asked.
"One of you two are needed for the very first task on this list." Neptune replied, pointing at the top of his list for planning. "One of you need to get into Team RWBY's room and hide this camera car somewhere."
Again, they looked at each other before going wide-eyed, letting out a "WHAT?!" at the same time.
"Sun and I aren't from Beacon, so it'll look really suspicious if we're in their room let alone on the grounds right now. And in case you forgot, this video is from a week ago, so today is Friday. That means, this needs to be handled today." Neptune stated.
Ren was rubbing the sides of his head as Jaune sat there with a 'How-are-we-supposed-to-do-that' expression on his face.
"Just act like you need to borrow something from them and hide the car somewhere when they let you in." Sun said, shrugging.
The plan wasn't the worst idea. In fact, it was pretty good for Sun. The only problem remaining was... which one of them would have to do it? Jaune and Ren exchanged a look, knowing what the other was thinking. This was something they had picked up after working together for so long.
"The usual idea?" Ren asked.
"Sure." Jaune replied.
Neptune and Sun looked at the pair inquisitively. They watch as Ren reached into the right pocket of his pants and pulled something out. He opened his hand to reveal a coin.
"Call it in the air." Ren stated, as he flipped it.
"Tails." Jaune said.
The coin fell onto the coffee table so that all four boys could see it land. It spun around before coming to a stop to reveal what the outcome was.
"Best two out of three?" Jaune asked.
"...No."
Fuck again.
OOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
There you have it. I know it was another set-up chapter, but it will help with the transition to the actual plot in the next chapter. Sorry if the scenery wasn't as descriptive as someone reading would want, but I'm still working that out the best I can with the help of my friends that are involved. My stories tend to be very dialogue heavy as you can tell above, so hopefully that helps with a little more substance.
Hope you all enjoyed Chapter 2 of the story and I am already working on Chapter 3. I hope to have that up for all of you soon. In the meantime, going to crack a cold one open myself. Please review and give me any positive or negative feedback that you might have!
GodRealm
