Author Note: Hello everyone! I am back from celebrating my birthday and ready to continue the series. This chapter is going to be like holiday chapter in between the end of Volume 2 and the beginning of Volume 3 and the Vital Festival. Now before we begin I do want to address something that has been mentioned more than once. I understand that my paragraphs are quite long and even have dialogue in them and I will try to make them a little shorter, but this is how I write and how I'm comfortable writing. But once again I will try to make them a little shorter. And now, without further ado, lets jump right in.
Streets Of Vale
"I don't think this is necessary," said Juane as he, Pyrrha, Spy, Engineer, and Demoman stood inside a liquor store, the three adults browsing the shelves in search for a good wine.
"Of course it is necessary mister Arc," replied Spy as he read the labels of different elaborate wines, "We are going to be guests at your residence. We must bring something to show our appreciation and wine is always a good way."
Jaune sighed and thought to the that morning. He had woken up as usual and done his morning duties, such as showering and brushing his teeth, when his scroll buzzed. He had picked it up to find an message from his parents. Since coming to Beacon, Jaune had been messaging his family about the events that have transpired, such as the mercenaries arrival and his getting together with Mistral Champion, Pyrrha Nikos.
The message read,
Dear our lovely son Jaune
Hello Son! How are you this week? We heard about the commotion in Vale and the White Fang coming in from Mountain Glenn and were dead terrified for you, until we found out your directly involved with helping stop the evil doers! We are so proud of you! As you know, you have a one week break before the Vytal Festival begins and more importantly, the Vytal Tournament. In the week that you have off, we are proposing that you, your team, Team RWBY, and even the new other world friends come and spend the week at our place. As you know, we have enough room. Its no mansion, but its certainly a large place since we had to accommodate you and your seven sisters. Some may have to sleep in the living room, but we can make it comfy. Ask them if they are willing and message us back as soon as you can to tell us what the verdict was. Your sisters really miss you and for once are all at the house together as Huntsman missions have been put off for the week.
With lots of love, THE ARCS!
Jaune had stared agape at the message for a few minutes, rereading it to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Before he could do anything though, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find his girlfriend looking at him with concern.
"Jaune? Is everything alright?" asked Pyrrha as she looked into his shocked face. He tried to respond but her eyes moved to the scroll in his and, gently taking it from him, she read the message on it. There was a short silence before she broke into a wide smile.
"Jaune this is amazing!" she said joyously, throwing her arms around Jaune's neck, "everyone will be so happy to go! Nora has wanted to go on a vacation and Team RWBY have agreed with her. It isn't even that far. Just a few hour airship ride to the south of Vale. And I bet the mercenaries would not find the break as well."
She stopped to catch her breath. She was not usually this excited and loud but she couldn't help it. She looked up into Jaune's eyes and her she calmed down a little. "That is unless you don't want to go."
Jaune looked at her for a minute before asking, "Aren't you nervous about meeting my family?"
Pyrrha let that sink in, but then smiled a warm and gentle smile. "I am, but at the same time I am excited. My family were always secluded from others due to our famous nature of being legendary warriors. I have always dreamed of meeting a different family. And which one would be better than yours," she finished and kissed him on the nose softly before asking, "So what do you say?"
Jaune looked into her eyes and couldn't help agreeing. Not to mention, he missed his parents and his sisters a lot and wanted to seem them once more. He smiled and kissed her on the lips saying, "Sure."
After that they had gone around asking their friends if they would be willing to come. Ren and Nora agreed, with Nora basically bouncing off the walls in excitement. Team RWBY were all for it. Even the mercenaries looked genuinely excited. Besides Medic, they hadn't outside the city of Vale and to see another part of the kingdom would be fun and interesting for them. So with that, Jaune messaged his parents that they would over to them that day and they all got to packing their things for the week long visit.
Once they had all packed, which had taken a surprisingly short time, they had left to the airship docks at the other side of Vale. However, Spy insisted that they stop by a liquor store and bring over some wine as a gift. Which is where Jaune found himself in now, wondering if this was a good idea.
He glanced outside to see everyone else waiting in front of the store. Most them were chatting, except for Scout who was showing Yang and Ruby a complicated trick he could do with his bat where he twirled around at high speeds in front of him and them bounced on the tip of his finger a few times while yawing (The Battin a Thousand Taunt). Yang and Ruby were clapping and Ruby asked if she could try. Scout gave her the bat and she tried twirling it only to have it hit her in the chin and fall to the ground. Medic healed her why Scout said he was sorry, but Yang angrily stormed up to Ruby and berated her for being so foolish.
Jaune sighed. It was going to be a long week. He felt his hand be interlocked with another and turned to see Pyrrha smiling at him while holding his hand. "Everything will be alright," she said and his worries disappeared. She really was something.
"Ah here we go," said Spy grabbing a bottle and taking it to the counter, "Gentlemen, I have found a good one."
Engineer came out and inspected the chosen bottle before nodding approvingly. Demoman, however, came out holding four bottles of strong whisky. The four others stared at him with shocked looks.
"Demo!" yelled Engie a little angrily, "the hell you think your doing boy!"
Demoman looked at his fellow mercenary and grinned. "Aye, who said whisky was bad as a gift. Besides, some of these are for me self."
Engineer and Spy looked at him annoyed, but didn't argue and purchased the whole batch along with the wine. Then the five people walked out onto the street and met up with the rest of the group.
"What's with the large bag mates?" asked Sniper as he eyed the large shopping bag that held the five boxes, each with one bottle of alcohol inside.
"Demo decided to get some for himself," replied Spy. Sniper nodded, understanding the situation and the group began to head off to the airship docks.
"So Jaune," began Weiss as they walked, "tell us more about your family."
"Well my parents are two Huntsman that trained at Beacon academy and were on the same team. They fell in love with each other in their final year and got married two years later. They got a large wood house in a small town south of the city of Vale and they both went on with their jobs as Huntsman and Huntress. While doing so, they gave birth to eight children. Lara, Cortana, Kidman, Me, Ripley, Leia, Chell, and Alyx."
"Lara is twenty one and the oldest of us all. She immediately took the instincts of our parents and aspired to become a Huntress. But she also loved to explore new places as well. She went to Beacon and was top of her year. She left and continued her career as a Huntress, seldom coming home due too her long missions that involved exploring. Besides that she's a really upbeat sort of person, though a little serious at times. Its rare to see her at home. You guys will like her."
"Cortana is the second oldest at twenty. Unlike Lara, Cortana was more of the brainy type and took on the realm of science and technology. She delves into how technology works and is even inventing new improvements to the scroll such as a voice that speaks back to you when you ask the scroll to do something for you such as calling someone. She went to one of the most prestigious schools in Vale and got a job at Atlas for her extremely impressive credentials. As for her personality, she's really kind and helpful to anyone who needs it. She too is rarely home however."
"Kidman is eighteen years old and the third child. She didn't want to be a Huntress, but she did want to do something to help society. In the end she decided to become a detective and went to law school and got a high degree. Here reason for becoming a detective besides helping society was because she was really good at investigating things. She is able to discover things about people really quickly, which both annoyed and was helpful to the rest of us. She enrolled into the Vale police department and rose up the ranks. So far she is still only a junior detective and as been paired up with the two famous Vale detectives Sebastian Castellanos and Joseph Oda. In terms of personality, she isn't the most fun loving person, but she's caring in her own way and appreciates a bit of chaos. She is the only other person that isn't at home most of the time."
"Then there was a twist where my parents gave birth to twins. One of them was me. The other was Ripley. Obviously like me she is seventeen but unlike me she didn't have dreams of becoming a Huntsman or a protector. She wanted to become and engineer due to her great skill of crafting complex items with little more than scrap metal and other items. Once, when she was ten, she crafted a pipe bomb out of some scrap metal, ethanol, two blasting caps, a sensor, and an SCJ injector. I remember our parents freaking out and throwing away the pipe bomb into the forest and it exploded. After that she promised not to craft dangerous items at home but still crafted stuff such as medkits, smoke bombs, noisemakers, flash bangs, Molotovs, and even an EMP Mine. Needless to say she was a reckless person at times. While I went to Beacon she went to an engineering school. She has a strong will and even sarcastic at times but when there is a task at hand she will not stop till it is completed. She, like me is coming home for the week."
"After me and Ripley, the ages of the rest of my siblings become a lot younger. Next is Leia at twelve. She is by far the most mannered of us all. She is always very polite and never gets angry. She loves stories about kings, queens, princes, and especially princesses. Her dream is to become a princess or at least a royal diplomat at Atlas. Its quite cute actually. She would always be the voice of reason when we all had arguments and once she set up a court case for the trial of Lara taking the last biscuit, we love biscuits, and being accused by Cortana and her lawyer Ripley. I was Lara's lawyer. Kidman was the witness of the crime while my parents, Chell, and Alyx were the jury. Now, she's in charge of the house while everyone is gone which is basically everyday."
"Next is eight year old Chell and six year old Alyx. Its best to describe them both at the same time since they spend always spend time together. Its not just because they are the youngest though. When Chell was born, a strange medical mishap happened and the doctors discovered that she was a mute. At first, it was really hard to raise her since we didn't get what she wanted. She didn't cry so we couldn't figure out if she wanted to sleep, eat, or poop. Then our youngest child came along. Alyx was a talkative and excitable young girl. However, the biggest charm with her is that she somehow understood Chell completely and made taking care of her so much easier. Especially when they became five and seven. Then it became a breeze. So far, we really don't know what they want to do when they grow up. Alyx once mentioned that she wanted to become a Huntress but thats about it so far."
Jaune finished his descriptions and looked towards the others, who were pondering these sisters, wondering they would get along with his very different sisters. Their thoughts were interrupted when Ruby bumped into a girl and they she and the girl fell to the floor.
"Oh, I am so sorry," stammered Ruby as she got up and went to help up the other girl. She was a teenager, maybe around seventeen, with short curly orange hair with a pink bow on the back of her head. She had bright green eyes and freckles on her face. She wore an old fashioned blouse with feminine overalls and matching stockings. She looked up at Ruby and smiled a very wide smile, especially for someone who had just fallen to the ground.
"Oh it is quite alright," she said in a cheerful voice. Behind Ruby, the others looked at each other in surprise. She was really strange. Engineer was scanning the girl closely and behind his goggles, his eyes went wide.
"Um, would want to get up," asked Ruby holding out a hand. The girl looked around her as if just noticing that she had fallen. "Why yes, I would."
She took Ruby's hand and with surprising strength pulled herself easily to her feet. She then smiled around at the group who were still regarding her with confused gazes.
"My name is Penny," she said and then looked at the group, "Whats yours?"
Everyone hesitated for a second, except for Ruby who introduced them all before they could stop her. Penny shook hands with each person as they were introduced and everyone noted how powerful her grip was. The last person she shook hands with was Engineer and shook his Gunslinger hand. Engineer shook her hand back more willingly then the others and as Penny tried to release his hand, he gripped it tightly.
"Umm Engineer?" asked Ruby as they all stared as held Penny in place. There was an awkward pause before Engineer laughed a little and released Penny's hand. "Sorry, I just wanted to confirm something," he said smiling.
"What?" asked Ruby as Penny continued to smile a little creepily. Engineer grin grew a little wider. "That she is an android."
Once again an awkward pause followed as they looked at Penny who's smiled faded slightly as she stared at Engie. Her cheerful demeanor faltered and she looked at his Gunslinger hand, which was still covered with a his working glove.
"Your an android too," she said slowly. Engineer laughed a little and removed his glove to reveal his robotic hand. "Nah missy, just have a synthetic arm. But you are a extremely well designed android. You even have your own aura."
Everyone was staring at the two with silent curiosity and surprise. Penny nodded and responded, "Yes. Atlas made me to be the first non living being to have an aura. This is actually super secret but, my signs say that you would be able to figure it out anyway. Its sad though. I would like to have friends like a regular girl." She looked down dejectedly. There was a third silence, this time though it was a sad silence. Then Ruby went up to Penny and took her hand in hers.
"I'm your friend, Penny," she said smiling up at the robot girl. Penny looked at Ruby and she smiled once more and pulled Ruby into a bone crushing hug. Ruby squeaked a little and looked at the others for aid. Heavy obliged and helped her out of the vice grip of Penny. Once free Ruby looked over at Penny and was about to say something when Spy interrupted.
"Pardon me ladies, but our airship leaves soon we do not have time to chat for now," said Spy. Penny nodded and turned to Ruby and Engineer. "I hope to meet you guys again," she said happily and then walked off. They all stared after her before Spy coughed and they all snapped out the trance and continued to make their way the the airship docks.
They made it to the docks and boarded the airship that was heading to the docks in the south of Vale that is nearest to the town that Jaune came from. For the whole journey they stayed mostly quite as they sat in the comfy seat that commercial airships had. Despite that, Jaune still was very queasy and only survived with Pyrrha doing small circles on his back and whispering comforting things.
After two hours they arrived at the docks and walked outside to a snowy covered landscape. It was mostly forests around the docks and for someone who didn't know their way around, it would have been very easy to get lost. But Jaune knew where to go and lead the group through a path way in the forest. It was quiet as they trudged through the snow. After another hour walking, the forest opened out to a small village with wooden houses.
The group walked into the town and followed Jaune as he lead them through the town and they took the time to look around as they walked. It was a cozy little town that looked liked it had been taken straight out of a fairy tail. The people they saw wore large fur coats to protect themselves from the cold and every house had a chimney that had smoke coming out. The smell of freshly made foods such as bread and meat wafted out of some of the stores they passed and their mouths watered a little, but they continued on. Jaune was just telling them that they were almost there, when a loud obnoxious voice rang out.
"I don't believe it! Its little Jauney!"
Jaune groaned and they turned to see three twenty year old boys lounging on a bench and leering at Jaune. The one how had spoken was in the middle of the other two and was a little larger. He was grinning in a very mean way as he got up and approached the blonde knight.
"So it's true. You did go to Beacon," he said, "Well no wonder your back already! They must have realized how much of a loser you are." He laughed a little and behind him, his other two cronies guffawed behind him as well. Jaune kept his cool and responded evenly.
"I'm just here for the week Biff. So if you don't mind we will be on our way now."
Jaune made to walk on, but Biff stopped him and asked in a sneering voice, "And who are these people and especially these lovely ladies." He eyed Nora, Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang hungrily. The girls in question shot him angry looks and Pyrrha was about to step up and get him off her boyfriend, when Demoman came up to Biff, his one eye showing a look of rage.
"Lad, I think ya better leave us, before I have your head as a trophy for me shield," the Scottish cyclops said as he took out his Eyelander, and brandished it in front of the bully. Biff looked at the sword in fear and backed up as Demoman advanced slowly. Before Demo could say anything else Biff ran turned on his heel and ran towards his cronies and together the three of them sprinted away in fear. Demoman put away his sword laughing.
"AHAHAHA, All yah dandies prancing about with ya heads full of eyeballs!" he jeered, making a few passing civilians look at him in fright and speed walk away. The other mercenaries just face palmed and pulled Demoman along as they continued to walk.
"Sorry about that," said Jaune apologetically, "Biff and his cronies have bullied me since I was six. I thought maybe he would become more mature but it seems not."
"Its fine," said Pyrrha, taking his hand and saying, "Now where is your place."
Jaune smiled a little as they turned a corner and the rest gasped in awe. In front of them was a massive wooden house with three stories, a large front yard and back yard, and a gate surrounding it.
"I thought you said it wasn't a mansion," said Weiss staring at the house. It wasn't nearly as big as hers back in Atlas, but still very impressive. Jaune shrugged. "I still said it was large. Plus how did you expect for all of you to fit in one of those tiny house back there. Anyway lets go inside."
He opened the gate and led the group up to the front door and knocked the large wooden door hard. Then he turned to the others. "If you guys have any questions please don't be afraid to-"
He was cut off as the door flew open and two small bodies launched out and tackled Jaune to the snowy ground. She followed by a few other larger blurs as they piled onto the poor teenager, hugging him. The group looked at the site with mixed states of happiness and slight concern for the health of Jaune. Then a mature voice sounded from the doorway.
"I think we should let him up girls."
In the doorway stood a young girl in white clothes that looked more like royal robes. Her hair was short and on both sides curled into vertical buns. Her face was serene for a twelve year old and her voice was mature for one as well. Next to her stood an older girl in a dress shirt that was rolled up at the elbows and long blue jeans. She had a serious yet kind face. They were both smiling as they watched the other five girls extract themselves from Jaune and stand up.
The oldest one wore a brown tank top, shorts, and combat boots. Her long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Her face had sense of adventure and her clothes seemed like they had been through many adventures as well. Next to her stood a slightly younger woman with full blue atlas attire. She had long blue shoulder length hair that was cut short at the back. She expressed a smart nature about her but at the same time her face was caring. Then there was a girl at Jaune's age. Despite being twins, they didn't look that similar. She had long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail and a communication headset on her head, complete with microphone and ear piece. Her face was hard and strong. She wore a sort of flight suit with zip pockets over a vest and tank top. Then there were two smaller girls, the youngest of the bunch. The older one of the two also had brown hair that tied up into a ponytail. She wore a orange jumpsuit, except the upper part was tied up at the waist. She wore a white tank top with a strange symbol on it. Her face was passive and emotionless. The other one was the opposite. She had brown hair with a headband on her forehead. She wore a leather jacket and brown jeans. Her face was excitable and kind.
Jaune got up and smiled happily at his siblings. Then he turned to the others behind him.
"Everyone I give you the Arcs!"
He pointed to each one individually and introduced them one by one.
"This is Lara," he said pointing to the oldest one with the brown tank top, "Cortana," he gestured to the women in Atlas clothes, "Kidman," he pointed to the girl with the dress shirt and long blue jeans, "Ripley," he gestured to the girl in the flight suit, "Leia" he pointed to the mature looking girl, "and Chell and Alyx!" He gestured towards the two youngest ones. They all smiled and waved at the newcomers. Before anyone from the group could talk, Alyx spoke up.
"And you don't have to say who you are, Jaune has told us enough. Let me guess!" She looked around at the group her hand on her chin in a very adorable fashion. The group laughed as her face turned into a pout and then she lowered her head. "Ok I forgot."
The group introduced themselves one by one and the sisters acknowledged each one. Alyx went up to each, dragging Chell along with her, and shook hands with each one, kinda like Penny did. Once all the introductions were done, Leia spoke up.
"You guys must be dreadfully cold out there. Why are we all standing out here. Come on in."
She and Kidman stood to the side and allowed everyone to walk inside the cozy entrance hall and she shut the door behind them, causing the cold to disappear and the warmth of the house fill the hearts of the guests. They took off their coats and shoes and were led to a large living room that contained a sofa and many arm chairs as well as a TV. There was a kitchen alongside it that looked out on the living room as well. Everyone found a spot to sit down, with Chell, Alyx, and Ruby sitting on the floor and began to socialize.
After around an hour of talking, and making fun of Jaune. There was a knock on their door and they Leia went to open it. It revealed two middle aged adults who joyously walked and found their only son. They hugged him tightly and released him to look round at the guests.
"Thank you so much for coming," said Jaune's mom, who's name was Ellen. She was a tall woman with curly brown hair and a face most similar to Ripley's. "We have wanted to meet Jaune's friends for a really long time now."
Spy got up and produced the wine bottle they had gotten and gracefully gave it to the women. "Oh my," she said a little flustered as she took the bottle and she led Spy to the kitchen to discuss matters. Jaune's father, a strong burly man with a wild beard by the name of Barbossa scoffed.
"Psshh! Wine! I need some whisky or something."
Demoman jumped up and took out the whisky's he had bought earlier. "Aye would ya like to drink with me lad?" Barbossa's eyes light up and he cheered leading Demoman away to drink and discuss alcohol and other things.
The sisters laughed a little at their crazy and hilarious parents. Then Ripley walked to Engineer and engaged him in a conversation of engineering. Engie gladly talked with her and they were soon talking like old friends.
Lara began to talk with Soldier about battle aliments and adventures. She had heard about his love for war, and wanted to see if she could get some tips out of him.
Kidman was talking with Blake about faunus rights. Blake had been very interested in what a junior detective that had gone through the ranks of law enforcement thought about the rights of faunus.
Cortana was having fun with Yang, Scout and Chell who were playing a racing game on the TV. Apparently Cortana, despite being a highly intelligent technology person, she loved gaming a lot.
Leia was conversing with Weiss about Atlas politics. Weiss was surprised to find a girl so young know as much about the ways of Atlas and other kingdoms as even herself and soon has having an actual blast talking with her.
Finally Alyx was entertaining Pyro, Heavy, Medic, Sniper, Nora, and Ren by hosting a poker tournament. Some how, when she had found a deck of playing cards, she had found out about poker and became a master of it. She herself wasn't playing at the moment but judging the game and looking out for any cheaters.
While this all went, Jaune and Pyrrha sat next to each other. Before going off to drink alcohol, Jaune's parents had introduced themselves to Pyrrha specifically and had told her that they were happy to accept her as Jaune's new girlfriend and that she could always ask them for help if need be. She lay her head on Jaune's shoulder and asked, "So, is this a good break?"
Jaune looked around the room to see his family mingling with his friends and smiled.
"Yes."
Author Note: And we will call that a chapter. Yes a little shorter than usual, but this was more of a holiday special, which is why I didn't drag it on to long as any events here would not pertain to the next upcoming chapters. Speaking of them, I may not post another chapter till around January 2nd or 3rd. I know I already took a break, but writing chapters everyday for two weeks straight has drained me a lot and I also want to play Team Fortress 2 some more. Now before I go, this chapter was also a fun way bringing in a TON of references from many different movie and game franchises. If I'm correct ten characters in this chapter all references different movies and games. Type in the reviews the ones you can figure out or if you can recognize all of them. Anyway next chapter will be the beginning of Volume 3 and my usual long winded writing will return instead of the quick writing in this chapter. Other than that, Reviews are always welcome and I will see you in the next chapter... BYE BYE! P.S. Has anyone noticed that the way I end a Author Note at the end of each chapter is a reference to a certain YouTuber? Type in the review if you know it!