Author Note: Hello everyone! I'm happy to bring you another chapter today. I have been thinking of having Ruby have a crush on Jaune as well and it becomes a competition between her and Pyrrha. But right now, we have a certain wizard to deal with. Let's dive in!
Beacon Academy: Mercenaries Room
"MERASMUS!" Soldier yelled, pulling out his Direct Hit and aiming straight at the wizards head. Merasmus laughed and pointed his staff at the weapon and it became a rubber duck. "HAHA, Soldier! Who are still as stupid when I last saw." Soldier growled and threw the rubber duck and Merasmus, which hit him in the chest and bounced off letting out a small squeak. Before either Soldier, Jaune, or Merasmus could do anything else, the door the room swung open and the rest of the group ran in. The mercenaries gaped at the wizard and took out their weapons, while the other students just stared at the old floating man in confusion.
"HAHAH, WELCOME TO YOUR DOOM, FO-" Merasmus cackled but Ruby interrupted him. "Umm, who are you?" This is made Merasmus pause and stare at the girl in disbelief. "Wait, wait, wait what?" he asked making sure he had heard her correctly. "Who are you?" repeated Ruby, raising her eyebrow, "Are you some sort of clown, cause if you are your not funny."
Merasmus gapped, his eyes twitching slightly as the mercenaries began roaring with laughter. Then he straightened up and pointed his staff at Ruby and her head transformed into the Alien Cranium. She screamed and her friends looked at her in terror and tried to help her. Yang turned to Merasmus, her anger levels so high, her hair was up Super Sayian style and literal fire was circling around her, "TURN HER BACK!" she roared at Merasmus, who just regarded her curiously and then turned to the mercenaries. "Why are you with super powered children," he asked. The mercenaries explained how they were transported onto another world and how these children were warriors in training. "Wait, how the hell did you get here?" asked Scout narrowing his eyes. Merasmus took a moment to think then said simply, "I just heard Soldier yelling things about me and came. I can go back to Earth when I want. But you nine have a strange energy keeping you here." The mercenaries stared at him and were about to question him further when Merasmus spread his arms, "Enough! I am here to put you through the usual trials!"
The students looked at the mercenaries as they groaned in annoyance. "Trials?" asked Pyrrha. "Every time Merasmus comes he makes us play ridiculous games and fight each other for his amusement," explained Engineer as he cocked his default Shotgun. The two teams stared at the mercenaries and then looked over at Merasmus, angry at the wizard for doing things to their friends in the past. Merasmus just laughed and the students flared up, especially Yang since Ruby was still wearing the Alien Cranium. Things would have spiraled off into mayhem, if Spy suddenly had an idea. He approached Merasmus and whispered something into the wizards ear. The wizard nodded and then smiled yelling, "Deal!"
He got up and said, "Its time to play Bumper Cars Soccer!" and he twirled his staff and a warp hole and everyone in the room fell through it. They all landed in a strange looking floating soccer field. The mercenaries were on one side and the students were on the other and they were all sitting in small bumper cars. The Alien Cranium had been from Ruby's head, to her relief, and she looked around. Merasmus appeared above them and spoke loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Here's the deal. We are playing two games today. Bumper Car Soccer and Hightower Payload Race. Afterward I will leave. The re-spawn generator has been added so if you die in either games, you will come back to life after fifteen seconds. Is everybody ready?" Jaune looked up at the crazy wizard and voiced the question that all the other students were wondering. "But why are we against the mercenaries?" "Because the deal was that in both games, they will testing you on how much you advanced by facing you in a silly game and then a serious game where you will be forced to kill each other!" said Merasmus gleefully. The students gaped and looked over to the mercenaries who just nodded and a few of them smiled in anticipation. Then Jaune looked up defiantly and yelled across the field, "Well if this is our final test, and that we everyone will be alive after this is over because of that generator, then your on! Who's with me!" the other students cheered and Ruby looked over at him blushing brightly. He really was becoming something. Especially while wearing the Unusual Burning Team Captain, he looked like a real man and war hero. Pyrrha noticed this and frowned slightly. It seems she had competition.
Merasmus spawned a large yellow ball that was twice as large as the bumper cars and dropped it onto the field and the two teams drove straight towards it. Scout was the first one to hit the ball and it bounced of his cart towards the students goal. Nora turned around and hit the ball sideways so it would miss the goal and it bounced off the wall and towards the waiting people who began to smack into each other and push the opponents away from the ball. Demoman was able to hit the ball towards the students goal once again and the students drove over as quickly as they could and kept the ball out once again, but they were being trapped against their own goal. "Pyrrha, Ren, Yang go right and keep Demoman, Scout, Pyro, and Sniper away. Nora go for the ball while Ruby and Blake flank you to make sure you don't get attacked. Weiss, your with me we keep away any stragglers!" Jaune commanded a in a voice that the others had never heard. He sounded like an actual leader. Everyone nodded and did as they were told. The plan worked for a while and Nora was able to hit the ball to the mercenaries side and even followed with Ruby and Blake close behind. But then Scout was able to break away from Yang and crashed into Blake, sending her off the floating field and into the abyss that lay around it. "NO!" Ruby yelled as she watched her friend soar away. Her concentration wavered and didn't notice Heavy come up behind her and bump her off course. She spun around wildly and fell back, leaving Nora to fend off Scout and Heavy alone as she drove after the large bouncy ball. She tried to bump Scout away by turning her car sharply, but Scout was able to veer away and around her and caught up to the ball and expertly turned it back around and launched back to the students side, where the rest began to break apart from their little skirmish and all drove towards where the ball was landing. Weiss went up to meet it but Heavy barreled out of no where and launched her off the field like Blake, just as Blake re-spawned. Sniper was able to smack the ball over the other students and to their dismay it bounced straight into their goal.
"GOAL FOR THE MERCENARIES!" yelled Merasmus as he spawned the ball back over the center of the field and let it fall. "We are playing to three by the way. Did I mention that?"
Weiss re-spawned and joined the rest of her team in the scramble for the ball. Bumper cars smashed into each other and flew back across the field, only to return and rejoin the scuffle. The ball bounced from here to there with no real purpose as it randomly hit a bumper car. Finally Jaune was able to get passed Spy and smacked the ball before Scout could and scored the ball sailed straight into the mercenaries goal. However Scout didn't stop moving and instead of hitting the ball he hit Jaune straight out of the field and his flew into the abyss. "JAUNE!" yelled Pyrrha and Ruby and they turned staring at Scout with fire in their eye. Scout looked over and smiled nervously but soon sped away as he was followed by to very angry girls.
"GOAL FOR REMNANT!" Merasmus announced, once again spawning the ball over the center of the field and the ball was immediately engulfed by sixteen cars. Jaune re-spawned and sped towards the scuffle, yelling to Nora and Blake to cover him and he crashed through Medic who flew right out of the arena and smacked the ball once again towards the goal. But this time Engineer laughed and saved the shot and hit it towards Soldier who sped his cart straight into the ball, power driving it through the students goal.
"GOAL FOR THE MERCENARIES!" Merasmus said over the groans of the students and let the ball fall back into play. This time Pyro went for it but was double teamed by both and Yang and Ren. Pyro tried to keep control but Weiss came up from behind and smashed him out of the arena. Yang hit the ball forward and got it past Engineer who tried to block it but was stopped by Jaune.
"GOAL FOR REMNANT!" Merasmus screamed excitedly as it went down to the tie breaker. The ball fell and Pyrrha took it forward followed by Nora and Ren. They were able to get past most the mercenaries but Scout came hurtling from the side and smashed Ren into Pyrrha causing both of them veer off course. He laughed as he passed the ball back to the students side of the field, avoiding Nora. It flew towards Weiss and Sniper who crashed into each other trying to push one another away. Weiss tried to trick Sniper and flip around and smack him in the side but Sniper smiled and turned his cart three hundred sixty degree's and spun around Weiss who sped past and crashed into the wall of the arena. Sniper hit the ball towards Medic who was near the goal and he bumped the ball in for the goal as Ruby, Yang, and Blake tried to ram into him.
"GOAL FOR THE MERCENARIES! THEY WIN!" yelled Merasmus ecstatically as the mercenaries cheered and the students groaned. Jaune looked especially miserable. He thought he had failed. Pyrrha drove up to him and patted him on the back and comforted him. Ruby watched from a distance with annoyance.
Suddenly, the world around them shifted and the students found themselves in a small room with a white medical cupboard against the wall and an opening leading to a gate that led outside. They walked out and stared around in astonishment. The place was a a large building shaped in a semi-circle. In the middle stood on tower another tower stood further away with a a bit sand and rocks in between. The tower stood over a cliff drop and the students so no way out of this battlefield. There were two railroad tracks, one leading from the side they were on and the other leading from the other side. They crossed each other in the midsection and then went to the opposite ends of the map and went up a ramp and then traveled the inner parts of the semi-circle where a platform stood which would raise when the thing that rode the railway got there. The objects that did ride the railways were two large bombs, one on each railroad.
"Welcome to Hightower!" said Merasmus's voice from no where, "The objective is simple, push the payload too the end of the tracks and stay with it on the platform till it reaches the top. If you are killed while on the platform and it hasn't reached the top, it falls back to the bottom. All weapons and weird funny abilities are allowed. Is that clear?" The students nodded and noticed the mercenaries on the other side nodding as well. "Then get inside your spawn rooms and wait for the countdown."
The students returned to the spawn room and found their weapons scatter around the room, along with some hats. Some of them hadn't been wearing them when they got sucked into the warp hole. Everyone grabbed their respective weapons and hats and waited silently. After a minute Merasmus's vocie sounded again. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1... GO!"
The students ran out of the spawn room and out into the battle field. Ruby turned to a battlement that was attached to the spawn room and went to it and aimed down her scope. The rest of the team jumped to the payload and began pushing it. It was lighter than it seemed and they felt it giving health to them as they pushed it. However they didn't realize they had made a huge mistake. They had all clumped together in one spot. From above, Soldier appeared in the sky, staying airborne by using the B.A.S.E Jumper parachute. He aimed his Beggars Bazooka and loaded three rockets before letting the weapon fire. The rockets flew right down on the seven students pushing the cart and blew up five of them. Nora and Pyrrha were the only ones left and they had barely survived the hit. They scattered and took cover as Soldier landed the beside the now abandoned cart chuckling as he switched his Beggar Bazooka for a Black Box and yelled out, "Go, Go, Go, charge!" Soon the other payload began to move with Scout, Medic and Heavy pushing it. By the time everyone had re-spawned, the mercenaries payload ha reached the crossing point and had begun to approach the opposite side.
Heavy, Medic, and Scout were calmly pushing the cart when Medic's head was pierced with a sniper bullet and fell down dead. Ruby reloaded, chocking back a gag. She still hated doing that, but she didn't have a choice. She aimed again fired at Heavy who also fell dead from the headshot. Scout hid behind the payload and kept pulling it along but barely got a foot before Nora jumped from the rock she was hiding from and slammed him into the ground with her hammer/grenade, Magnhild. She grinned happily that is until a knife sank into her back and she fell. Spy looked over to Ruby who quickly aimed at him but was interrupted when a bullet went through her head and killed her. Sniper waved at her corpse from the other battlement.
Demoman and Pyro approached the cart just as the students who had been blown up Soldier got back to their cart, though this time they separated. Weiss healed Yang as she tried to hit Demoman as he shot his Lock n Load at them. If Yang hadn't been healed by Weiss, should have been dead in seconds. As it turns out she was able to get through the explosives and punch Demo across the map and off the cliff. She cheered triumphantly but when she looked behind she saw Weiss locked in combat with Pyro. It was using the Degreaser and it air blasted Weiss up and using the Degreasers fast switch speed, it quickly took out the Reserve Shooter and shot Weiss out of the air. Yang charged at Pyro but was stopped by Sniper, who shot her head clean off with the Hitman's Heatmaker. He chuckled happily but was then kicked off the battlement from behind by Blake who had been able to sneak up on him. He fell to the ground head first and broke his neck.
Meanwhile Pyrrha had finally come out of hiding and joined Jaune as he went for Soldier who was rocket jumping around the map using the Liberty Launcher. "What's the plan," she asked. Jaune thought for a moment and then answered, "We need Yang to protect the cart as Ren pushes it with Nora. Ruby will be our support from afar. Weiss will keep the people near the carts healed. Blake will try to stay behind the enemy and get as many sneak kills as she can. And you and are gonna be the offense. Or at least you will, I will be the guy that thinks he's doing something but actually isn't and-" he was cut off by Pyrrha leaning and kissing him on the lips. He was in so much shock that when she pulled away he didn't act really cool about. He spluttered and she giggled. Jaune, just do what you did in training," said Pyrrha and then pecking him on the cheek she leapt off to fight Scout who was running over to the cart. Jaune stood still for a second before shaking himself out of the trance and following Soldier.
Ruby had re-spawned and had exited the spawn room just in time to witness the event with Juane and Pyrrha. Her shoulders slumped and she looked at the new couple in dismay. At that moment she wanted to hurt Pyrrha and take Jaune for herself, but the moment that thought came to her head, she smacked herself for thinking like that. "I was late to like him anyway, plus I just realized it when we were playing the Bumper Cars Soccer, Pyrrha has for a lot longer." She sighed but she decided to let it go. She wasn't gonna get in the way. She saw Jaune run off after Soldier, and smiled. "He is a lucky man." Her thought was cut off when she heard a de-cloaking sound behind her and turning she was just able to block the backstab from Spy with her scythe. Realizing that he had been discovered and had a huge disadvangte in one on one, Spy tried to escape but Ruby sliced at him a few times and finally was able to shoot his back as he stumbled away. Happy with her success she turned back to the battlefield.
Ren had been able to push the payload up to the ramp with the protection of Yang and Nora, but when they arrived to the ramp, all three were slaughtered by a level three sentry built by Engineer, sitting beside the ramp. He laughed as he hit the sentry gun with his Southern Hospitality and refilled hit's ammo storage. Behind him, Blake was hiding behind a wall and trying to see how she could take him out with the sentry gun. She held her small sword/pistol, Gambol Shroud in one hand and the sheath for it in the other. She was thinking about waiting for Ren, Yang, and Nora to come again so she could strike when Engie was distracted but then was spotted by Demoman and before she could run, he charged with his Targe an Charge shield equipped and sliced her off with the Persian Persuader.
Pyrrha was having a hard time of her own. She was trying to keep Scout away from the mercenaries payload, but was having little success as she couldn't hit him. He was too fast, weaving around her rifle shots and he got close, spear stabs. Not to mention he taunted her the entire time.
"I'm a freakin blur here."
"Can't hit what ain't there."
"Missed me!"
"Say goodbye to your kneecaps chucklehead!"
As he said this last taunt he lunged with his Boston Basher out and hit her knees. The spikes on the wooden club, not to mention the force that swung with, made her collapse to the ground her he took out his Baby's Face Blaster and finished her off with a shot to the back. This also gave him a small speed boost since the weapon gave him a boost every time he damaged someone with it. He ran off cackling and pushed the payload up the ramp and was close to the platform when Yang came out of the spawn room and slammed him away with a wickedly powerful punch. She had replaced Ruby as guard of the spawn room and stood protectively next to the payload staying out of view of the newly re-spawned Sniper who was scanning the students spawn room for any movement.
Jaune had finally been able to catch up to Soldier on top of the center tower, where he stood tall and held the Direct Hit. "So boy, it's come to you and me," Soldier said gruffly and with out another moment hesitation he fired the Direct Hit. Jaune somehow got his shield up before the incredibly fast rocket blew him up. He staggered slightly as it hit his shield with a lot of force, but held his ground. He advanced from the side and dodged the next rocket. He was an inch away when he finally raised his sword and sliced at Soldier and cut him severly and sent him falling off the tower. He smiled victoriously as he watched him fall, though he was a little guilty. But right before he hit the ground Soldier fired one last rocket and Jaune, who wasn't paying attention got gibbed into a million pieces.
Heavy and Medic were approaching the payload where Yang stood and smiling evilly, Heavy opened fire with the Brass Beast, using the extra damage to quickly pick off Yang. They made their way to the cart and pushed it onto the platform. But before it could start rising, Blake jumped form the battlement landed behind them and stabbed Heavy through the chest, and before the medi-gun that was healing could take complete effect she shot him in the head with the pistol that was part of her sword. He fell to the ground and Blake turned to face Medic, but then felt the Übersaw pierce right through her chest and out the back. Medic had used the Übersaw taunt, instantly killing Blake and fully charging his Übercharge meter. He laughed sadistically and then ran off to Pyro who had just burned Ruby to a crisp with the Pholgistinator and was cornered by Pyrrha, Nora, Ren, and Weiss. He took out the default medi-gun and training the healing beam on Pyro he flipped the Über switch causing him and Pyro to go invulnerable. Pyro also took this convenient time to utilize the "mmph" bar that the Pholgistinator had and gained fully fledged crits to bestow on the poor students who began to run but all of them were burned to ashes, except Pyrrha was able to get away in time but then met her fate by Demoman who was escorting Engie while he moved his buildings.
Every student had been killed and were still waiting to re-spawn. The mercenaries ran to the cart and the platform began to raise as they piled on except for Engie who deployed his Sentry right outside the student's spawn room. The students all re-spawned and charged towards the mercenaries, only for all of them to be gunned down by the sentry gun. Weiss tried to heal everyone but she was to slow and not to mention also being torn to shreds by the bullets of the sentry gun. The payload finally reached the top and the bomb let out a massive explosion killing everyone still alive.
When everyone re-spawned, they found themselves back at Beacon in the mercenaries dorm room. Merasmus appeared in front of them and chucked a little. "That was fun, mortals," he said, "I wish we could do more. But a promise is a promise. I shall leave. But never forget that Merasmus is always-"
"JUST GO!" yelled everyone and in a puff of smoke he vanished.
There was a moment of silence as everyone recollected themselves. Then Scout broke the silence saying, "Well, at least that month of training wasn't for nothing."
The students stared. They felt they had done terribly. They had lost both times, and they didn't feel like they even put up a fight against the mercenaries in the battle at Hightower. Spy read their expressions and said calmly, "Do not think you did badly. You did very well for people doing it for the first time. Im surprised you were able to kill so easily as well. I thought you would be hesitant to kill us." This made the students think. It was true, when they fought they had barely been paying attention.
"Most likely the adrenaline," reasoned Weiss. Spy nodded and they all lapsed into silence once more. This time it lasted a few minutes before Scout interrupted it again and looked over at Jaune evilly cackling, "And it seem's the unusual wearing knight as found a princess!" He laughed loudly as Jaune and Pyrrha blushed brightly. But when they looked at each other they smiled. Jaune reached for Pyrrha's hand and she took it happily. The student's let out "Awwwss." The mercenaries clapped for them happily, except for Scout who was still rolling on the floor laughing. That is until he was approached by Yang. "Something funny skinny stuff," she said threateningly. She had really begun to like Jaune and Pyrrha as good friends and didn't take someone laughing at them lightly. Especially if it wasn't her making the joke. Scout did the Boston Breakdance and straightened up after showing off his flashing moves shrugging. "Hey it's a laugh. Come on! But for real pally's that was a rush, you know?"
The others nodded and he smiled, "See no lets see the lovebirds kiss! I gotta get that on-" he never finished as Heavy locked Scout in a nelson hold. "Anyone want to punch puny boy," he said grinning and Yang smiled as she raised her fists. "NO, NO, NO! AHHHH" Scout screamed as he was punched by Yang. The mercenaries laughed at him. He looked up and scowled slightly before something came to mind. He shouted, "WAIT" and Yang stopped before she could punch him again. "Now I know I have said some things, but what about we forget about this and you know, party?" He half expected it not to work, but to his amazement, Heavy let him go and Weiss healed him with her new cartridge.
They all just stood their. "Umm," said Ruby. Scout rolled his eyes. "Are we still groggy from the fight or something?" Everyone else nodded and he face palmed before saying, "Fine let me start this party for you! Party Theme: Group Dances!" he shouted and began to Conga. Mexican music started to play out of no where and he said happily, "Latin Rhythms? I love Latin rhythms!" The other mercenaries also shook themselves from their stress of the battle and joined him. "S'no problem. I do dis all the time. I could do dis for money, I don't, but I could!" The students at the nine elite fighters doing a conga line. Then Nora and Ruby laughed and ran in, joining the line and having the time of their life. The others eventually joined as well and they were all having a blast. After ten minutes of doing the Conga, Heavy decided to change it up and started doing the Kazotsky Kick. All the mercenaries cheered and joined Heavy in the classic European dance, most notably done by Russians in the Soviet Union. The music also changed to the Kazotsky Kick theme always played when people did the kick. The students tried to do it but it's much harder then it seems, as to do it properly, the person must kick their feet forward while in standing in a sitting position without leaning forward or back. Most of the students fell over. The only ones able to keep balance the whole time was Blake, since she was a cat faunus, and Jaune who had taken many dancing lessons from her seven sisters. Finally they ended of the night with the Mannrobics dance, a very electronic hip hop music played while the mercenaries did awesome dance moves. The students didn't even try to replicate the moves, and just did their own thing while enjoying the party. By the time it was over, it was midnight, and by the time everyone had gotten into bed and fallen asleep, they had forgotten about the adrenaline that had set in they were killing each other.
And thats the chapter. Yes I know the Ruby thing lasted half the chapter but I just wanted to add it in for a bit to show mostly how much Jaune has changed. Now though they lost to the mercenaries, the mercenaries aren't leagues ahead of them. Next chapter, plot and villains from the RWBY series will start to come into play. Until then Reviews are always welcome and I will see you in the next chapter... BYE BYE!