So the party continued, even after Immortal Badass got done playing, people still dancing and socializing, Professor Port laughing at something Professor Oobleck had said. We now see Ozpin and Goodwitch standing together, when suddenly the general came up, tapping her on the shoulder and holding his hand out. To my surprise, she actually took his hand and danced with him. "Well, that was unexpected. I thought she hated him." I said.
"Right?" The guys said.
We now see Ruby hiding at the punch bowl when Jaune walked up to her. "I see you're hiding at the punch bowl, too." He said.
"Yep." She said, stretching out the Y and popping her mouth at the P (pause? It sounded like a pause moment).
"To the socially awkward." He said, holding his glass out, to which she giggled and toasted with him.
"Aww." Team BDSS said.
"Sorry things didn't work out with Weiss." She said.
"Eh, it's fine. Neptune's pretty cool. I get why she went with him." He said.
Ruby turned and looked at him at this moment. "What do you mean?" She asked.
"Well, come on. Not many people can pull off BLUE HAIR." He replied.
"No, I mean- Weiss came to the dance alone." She said as he took a drink.
He chocked a bit and wiped his mouth before speaking. "What?" He asked.
"Yeah, she said she had too much to focus about to worry about boys." She said as they looked to the Schnee heiress, who was trying to raise a wilted rose and not succeeding. They then looked over to see Sun and Blake laughing at whatever the hell Neptune was doing... Seriously, someone tell me what he's doing in the reviews, because I have NO FUCKING CLUE.
Jaune growled at this, holding out his drink to Ruby. "Hold my punch." He said slowly and angrily, walking over to them. But as soon as she was sure he couldn't see her, she took a drink (Ew, Ruby! You don't know if he's got a cold and germs and stuff or if he's been backwashing! That's nasty!). He walked through the crowd. Suddenly, he saw Neptune go to the roof and followed him (I know it was Pyrrha, but I changed things because remember, Sai asked Pyrrha to the dance). Neptune looked out over the railing, turning when he saw Jaune.
"Hey, uh... Jaune, right?" He asked.
"Yeah." Jaune said angrily.
"This party's pretty lame, right? I mean, ballroom dancing. Pfft." He said.
"Yeah..." Jaune said, trying to remain calm, but was clearly angry.
"Cute girls, though, huh?" He asked.
Jaune growled at this, stepping closer. "Is that ALL you think about?" He asked.
"Huh?" Neptune asked, confused.
"Do you even care about the girls you're hitting on? How they feel about you?" He asked.
"Whoa! Where's this coming from?" The Bluenette asked, raising his hands defensively.
"How could you just turn her down like that?!" The blond continued.
"Wha-? Who?!" Neptune asked.
"Weiss!" Jaune replied as if it were obvious.
"I, uh... It, uh... It just didn't work out. You know?" He said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"What? You think you're too cool?! Too many other options?! Weiss Schnee asked YOU to the dance. What in the world could POSSIBLY keep you from-!" Jaune continued.
"Can't dance." Neptune replied meekly.
"I beg your pardon?" Jaune asked, not hearing him.
"I can't dance, man." Neptune said in a squeaky, weak voice.
"But you're... SO cool." Jaune said.
"Thank you. I try really, REALLY hard." He said (pause).
"You would break a girl's heart and go to a dance alone than just admit to everyone that you can't move in rhythm to music?" Jaune asked (hey, I only really noticed this now, but have you guys ever noticed all the hand movements going along with their speech? It's like GTA: San Andreas!).
"...That about sums it up, yeah." Neptune replied quietly.
"Oh. Well, I certainly feel a lot better about myself." He said.
"PLEASE don't tell anyone. Look, if you want Weiss, she's all yours. I don't want to get in your way." Neptune said.
Jaune sighed at this. "Do you like her?" He asked.
"Yeah. I mean, I don't know her too well yet, but... She seems pretty cool." The blue-haired guy said.
"Then go talk to her. No pick-up lines, no suave moves. Just be yourself. I've heard that's the way to go." The blond replied.
"Yeah, but I-" Neptune started.
"Hey, you don't have to look cool ALL THE TIME. In all honesty, if you could look a little LESS cool, I'd really appreciate it." The swordsman said (still wouldn't improve your chances much).
"Yeah. Okay." Neptune said, nodding.
"Go talk to her. I guarantee it'll make her night." Jaune said.
"Thanks. You're a really cool guy, Jaune." The trident-wielder said, walking up and holding out his fist.
"Alright, don't lie to my face." The blond replied, walking up and fist-bumping him as he walked off.
"Alright. Only one thing left to do." Jaune said, taking off.
Meanwhile...
Ruby walked up to Yang and Damion as they were chilling on an upper level. "You know, I think we really needed this." Yang said.
"I couldn't agree more, babe." Damion said, kissing her, before they looked down at Blake and Sun dancing together and, then at Nora and Ren, who were all over the place. We then see Penny, who starts to dance a little, but not really fitting with the type of music and one of the soldiers with her tapping his foot, but stopped when the other one looked at him. "It's nice to get out and be with friends and hang out together, forgetting our worries. Sai really needed it. He may not have shown it, but he was REALLY upset when he saw that something from his company had been stolen." He said.
"Yeah, we did need it. You did a good job planning it, too." Ruby said to her sister.
"Aw, thanks!" She said, wrapping an arm around her sister's neck and pulling her in, much to Ruby's discomfort, as she began to struggle, waving her arms violently. "It wasn't all me, though. Weiss did a lot, too." She admitted.
"Once in a while, she can do something beneficial for everyone." Damion said. They then looked down to the heiress as Neptune walked up, taking a seat next to her.
"Tomorrow, it's back to work." Yang said.
"Well, I'm sure we can handle whatever gets thrown at us." She said.
After a while, Jaune came up to Pyrrha and I. "Mind if I borrow her for a moment?" He asked.
"As long as no touchy-feely stuff happens." I said, letting her go so she could go to him.
"Ren! This. Is. HAPPENING!" Nora said excitedly.
"Wait, what is happening?" He asked as the two of them followed their teammates. The 4 of them then put on about as good of a show as we did, doing a really cool dance to what I THINK is their team's theme song.
"I had NO idea you were a dancer!" Pyrrha said as he and Jaune danced a little further away from their other 2 teammates.
"Yeah, well these things tend to happen when you grow up with 7 sisters." He replied simply.
"Bullshit! I have 12 sisters and I couldn't dance for shit!" I said.
"Now we just need team RWBY to have their own little team dance." Draco said.
"One word, my friend: filters." Nicolas said.
"I... don't know if that is the right word, but he's right. People with good animation skills can just edit the dance scene to make whoever they want dance. Hell, they even did that for the teachers and the bad guys." I said, showing them the video where different teams did JNPR's dance. Torchwick, Cinder, Emerald and Mercury, then team CRDL, next Ozpin, Goodwitch, Port and Oobleck, then the general, Penny and two soldiers, followed by Adam, Junior and the two chicks who work at Junior's club and finally... REALLY? The last team to dance was a beowulf, an ursai, a boarbetusk and a mini-Nevermore. "Wow, they have everyone EXCEPT the team the show's named after dance." I said.
"That reminds me, I'm hoping we'll see more of the other teams in Volume 3." Nick said.
"I agree, but more action in general would've been nice. I'm the guy you hook with one of 3 things: gratuitous comedy, gratuitous nudity or gratuitous violence." I said, to which Damion rolled his eyes.
"Amen." Draco said.
With Weiss and Neptune...
"So, what made you change your mind?" Weiss asked.
"Huh?" He asked.
"You said you were embarrassed at first. What made you come talk to me?" She asked.
"You're looking at him." He said, looking to the dance floor where Jaune and Pyrrha still danced together. "You've got some good friends looking out for you." He said.
People started joining in on the casual dancing as Mercury and Neptune looked on. "It appears all the dancers have partners." She said.
"How long do I have?" Cinder asked, presumably over an earpiece.
"You should probably be home by midnight to be safe." Mercury replied.
"I'll keep my eye on the clock." She said.
Back with us...
"I gotta get some air." I said, walking out to the balcony, along with- "Hey, Ruby, how's it going?" I asked, walking up to her.
"Oh, hey, Sai. It's going good. I haven't had to dance yet, so that's a plus." She said.
"Before this night, I would've agreed with you completely." I said as we walked to the balcony. Suddenly, we saw someone walking across the roofs of the buildings across from us, jumping out of view. "You saw that, right?" I asked.
"Yeah. We need to go check it out." She said, to which I nodded, both of us going after her.
Cinder crouched near the entrance to Beacon's intelligence headquarters or something, behind some kind of wall. She rushed from one side to the other like a blur. The guard saw it and took a few steps forward, at which point she snuck up behind him and chopped the back of his neck... Why the hell's he smiling? He just got knocked the fuck out! And little nitpick here, but his neck is CLEARLY protected by armor, as when Cinder hit him, we heard the metal clang. She then dragged him to a bush and dropped him in it. She then simply strutted inside as a guard was making his rounds. He then saw her, turning to her. "Excuse me: no one's allowed in this area. Stop!" He said, reaching for his gun as she advanced.
She then rushed forward, dodging the bullets, wrapping one arm around his and delivering a powerful palm strike to the side of his head. Another one rushed in from behind with a baton, but she simply threw a rear kick, kicking him in the balls and taking him off his feet (cue Vegeta screaming in slow-mo with opera in the back). Some form of energy blast then sent the poor bastard flying. She then kicked the one she had trapped in the back of the leg, bringing him down to that knee, before flipping over him, grabbing him and throwing him into the railing of the stairs in the middle of the room as two more guys came at her with batons. Her clothes then lit up as she stepped back and spun into it, fire coming to her hands and when it vanished, she now had two swords. She slashed at the first guy, taking him off balance, before slashing the next guy to the same effect before sweeping his feet out from under him. The other guy came back at her and attacked, but she easily defended herself and elbowed him in the face, staggering him before did a double punch to his chest and blasted him back. Surprisingly, he still got up one more time, so she did a flipping axe kick and took his head off.
Meanwhile, there were two more soldiers in the elevator. "Hey, man, do you know the wi-fi password?" The one on the right asked.
"It's 'Beacon', but replace the 'e' with a 3 and add a pound symbol on the end." He said. The other one nodded and they looked forward as the elevator door opened, jumping in surprise when they saw Cinder there. The one of the left noticed some of the other soldiers lying on the ground. At which point Cinder just walked into the elevator with them and turned towards the door as it closed... Wow, these guys are terrible at their jobs. They didn't even try to stop her and now she's in the elevator with them with her back turned. PERFECT time to shoot at her. We now hear the sound of fighting inside the elevator.
Back with Ruby and I, we walked up to the building and were shocked to see the guard laying on the ground. I rushed up and checked his pulse. "He's alive, just unconscious. And kinda stupid-looking." I said, referring to the dumb smile he still had. She then pulled out her scroll and called her jet locker to bring Crescent Rose. It landed pretty close to us and she grabbed her beloved scythe.
"What are you gonna use?" She asked.
"I've been looking for a chance to use this baby." I said, summoning my newest weapon: a red greatsword the same size as me with a golden handle in the shape of a dragon's head, the blade in the shape of a flame with words of power etched in black on it, resonating with powerful black and red energy. "I call it Brimstone. Because it's going to send it's victims straight to hell." I said, walking ahead.
"Whoa..." She said, following me.
Back in the building...
Cinder checked her scroll which began to beep as she stepped out of the elevator, the guards inside also knocked out. "That's handy." She said as she continued. She then reached a terminal and accessed it.
"A party guest is leaving." Emerald said over the earpiece.
Cinder sighed at this. "Which one?" She asked.
"Ironwood." Emerald whispered, looking over Mercury's shoulder as the general started to leave the party.
"I guess the general's had enough fun tonight. Should we intervene?" Mercury asked.
Whatever Cinder was doing, she either accomplished it or failed, as a Queen chess piece appeared on her screen and went to every other screen.
"No. We're done here." She said, getting up.
"Indeed you are." I said loud enough for her to hear, as I heard her inside the elevator, which arrived and opened, Ruby and I stepping out. However, once we did so, she was gone.
"Hello?" Ruby asked, stumbling a bit, as she was still in heels.
"Careful. It'll be hard to fight in those." I warned her.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" She asked. At that moment, Cinder then rose up from behind a desk and stepped out in front of us, wearing a mask.
"Well, well. If you're trying to be a ninja, you aren't a very good one, since you just got caught." I told her.
"Yeah. And it's not a masquerade party. So why don't you take off that-" Ruby started before Cinder pulled something out of nowhere and swung it, a white mist forming in the air that became several shards of glass, which she sent flying at Ruby. I jumped in the way and held Brimstone out in front of me, the glass easily shattering against the sword. I then moved out of the way as Ruby fired at her, at which point I lunged just after the bullets, she simply deflected them with her hand and spun backwards again, her clothes lighting up as she summoned her swords and used them both to block my attack, getting sent skidding back a few feet. Ruby then fired the gun of her scythe again to launch her into the air, executing a downward spinning strike at our opponent, who backflipped out of the way and jumping back, her clothes lighting up again as she combined her swords into a bow, aiming at Ruby again, but once more, I easily moved in front of her and held Brimstone in front of us to block the shots.
Unfortunately, I hadn't counted on the fact those would be explosive arrows and we were blasted back, using our weapons to bring ourselves to a halt. "She's not bad, but I've barely begun myself." I said, gripping Brimstone tightly and preparing to rush in, but then we heard the elevator door open, looking to see the general walk in. "Well, it looks like you've been caught in the act-" I said, turning back to see that she was gone. "Fuck." I said. I took a deep breath and sighed, dropping Brimstone and holding up my hands.
Elsewhere...
Cinder somehow used magic to completely change her clothes and walked into the ballroom, quickly followed by two guards, who completely missed her mask (I reiterate they're horrible at their job) and bursting in as well, but were unable to find her. Suddenly, as we see Mercury and Emerald still dancing, someone tapped the green-haired girl on the back. They then turned to see Cinder wearing a black dress similar to Pyrrha's with a sash hanging off her waist on the left side. "May I cut in?" She asked with a hand on her hip.
"Of course." Emerald said, stepping away. We now see Cinder has some weird heart-looking tattoo on her back. Just a little fun fact to fill a little more space.
"And how's your night been?" Mercury asked as he embraced his new partner.
"Hm... A little more exciting than expected." She said.
"Should we be worried?" He asked.
She chuckled a bit at this. "Hardly. They'll be scratching their heads long after we finished what we came here for.
"So what now?" He asked.
"Enjoy the rest of the night. After all, it is a party." She said.
We see Jaune and Pyrrha sitting around in silence, Blake and Sun dancing in their own small styles, the soldiers who got knocked the fuck out going in different directions to look for the culprit and now we finally come to Ruby and I, sitting far away from our weapons with the general standing in front of us. "I didn't do it! I'm innocent, I tell ya! Innocent!" I said in a Brooklyn accent. And finally, we zoom in on the screen of the terminal Cinder used, a Queen chess piece popping up again. "This does not bode well." I said.