Author's Note: For returning readers, I cleaned up every chapter and changed Chapter 6 to focus more on Blake's reaction to the rumours rather than some anonymous students.

Chapter 14: Back to Basics

After two weeks of training hard and growing up, Ruby was ready to cap off their school break with a day full of fun. First item on her agenda? Deposing a queen: Nora Valkyrie, herald of lightning and thrower of food.

Her devious grin and confident pose on top of stacked tables and vending machines wouldn't do anything to stop her team from taking her crown off her orange hair.

This false queen had the bluster, the temerity, the audacity, the gall to throw an apple pie at Ruby's face, wasting tasty food just because Ruby said her team was going to win the Vytal Festival and no one was going to stop them.

Apparently, Nora begged to differ. Ruby wouldn't let this insult go unchallenged. They didn't have their weapons, but they had everything they needed all around the lunch hall: food. Lots of food.

Normally, food shouldn't be wasted, but Nora threw the first pie and tossed grapes and apples at Yang's open mouth. She started it, she wouldn't surrender and wouldn't listen to reason, so Ruby would respond in kind. This wouldn't be a fight, though. This was war.

A food war.

Team JNPR was going to be cooked, served with a side of mashed potatoes and sour grapes.

While their rivals assumed their formation at their fortress, Team RWBY huddled behind an overturned lunch table and went over their plan. It wasn't going to be a walk in the park, since so many students got pelted and smeared, but that would make their victory that much sweeter.

Ruby thrust her fist into the middle of their huddle; Yang, Blake and Weiss did the same, and together, their fists formed a circle of unity.

"They can't surprise us, guys," Ruby said. "We know their tricks, and they know some of ours. Stick to the plan and never forget: all's fair in love and war!"

"We won't let this injustice stand!" Blake said.

"That's right! Nora made a big mistake throwing that pie in my face, and we're going to make her pay!" Ruby shouted. "Justice will be swift!"

"Painful!" Yang said.

"Absolute!" Weiss said.

"Delicious!" Ruby's silver eyes flashed. "Let's do this!"

"Yeah!"

Blake darted out of hiding and went straight at Pyrrha, breaking through the barrage of watermelons with hard loaves of bread, without breaking her stride, but there were way too many watermelons at Team JNPR's disposal. She stood no chance against the onslaught.

At least, her clone didn't.

The real Blake slid over a lunch table and sprinted low, nabbing long sausage links under cover. Jaune was the first one to spot her and in an instant, he was airborne, sausages wrapped around his chest. Blake threw him towards their table, forcing his team to stop pelting melons.

Yang bounded over the table, got a running start and leaped up high, but Jaune wasn't idle, turning in mid-air and thrusting both feet out.

"Blake!" Yang shouted.

On cue, Blake yanked and Jaune went low, too low to dropkick Yang. Ruby saw Yang wink as she punched Jaune in the gut, planting him through hard wood and onto an unforgiving floor.

He groaned, but didn't stand, twitching. Yang didn't have time to gloat: Pyrrha was on hot pursuit, steeled by determination.

"Now, Weiss!" Ruby said.

Weiss tossed the can of grape soda Ruby had prepared directly at Pyrrha, but it swerved just to her right. That didn't matter, because it was supercharged with Aura. It exploded, surrounding Pyrrha in a fizzy purple mist.

Ren charged at Blake, armed with leeks that he used to cut Blake's sausage links turned lasso turned whip into pepperoni slices. Ruby and Weiss shared a nod, and split up.

Yang stumbled out of the soda mist, touching her jaw. Pyrrha rushed out too, but Yang lifted her up with a gut punch and sent her sailing with a heavy haymaker. That would have put a normal person down. Pyrrha grabbed a loaf stained with watermelon juice and cartwheeled onto her feet, charging forward... just to slide on a trail of ketchup that Weiss sprayed on the floor, barely keeping her footing.

As Weiss aided Yang, Ruby ran on top of the long line of lunch tables, skating towards Blake on a metal tray. Nora tossed melons and soda cans at Ruby, but they didn't stop her; Ruby just batted them away with her tray. The fake monarch stabbed her last melon with a giant metal rod, frustrated.

That could wait. Ruby was too busy ramming her tray into Ren's head. To his credit, he blocked with both leeks, but once he buckled, he fell over himself. Ruby kicked off the tray, curling up and finding out that Nora had caught up, swinging for the fences with her makeshift hammer.

"Got you!" Nora sang.

This was gonna hurt. What made it worse was that there was nothing she could do.

A sausage hit Nora's chest, launching her straight into the glass window, melon hammer and all. Ruby touched the table on one knee bent as Blake swung and spun her shortened whip, ready for another shot.

"That was awesome!" Ruby said, grinning. "You really saved my bacon, Blake!"

"Just..." Blake stifled a laugh. "Just doing my best. You okay?"

"Yeah. Go help Yang and Weiss. I've got Ren."

Blake nodded. "Be careful."

Yang and Weiss were holding their own with turkey gauntlets and swordfish rapiers, but Pyrrha was a woman possessed, fighting them off with a carrot and an eggplant, sliced bread at her feet. Ren spared a worried glance at Nora. The window hadn't broken, but Nora was dazed.

Perfect.

The sooner Ren went down, the sooner she could help her team. Ren discarded his leeks and raised one hand, twitching his fingers twice. So, that's how he wanted to play it, huh?

Ruby jumped off the table and entered her fighting stance: fists at her shoulders, elbows bent.

"Hit me with your best shot! If you can!"

The wind whistled in the lunch hall as they squared off.

She struck first, but Ren blocked her punch like it was nothing. In and out Ruby went, using every bit of her speed to dodge Ren's lightning-quick jabs so she could strike whatever gaps he left open. It was the only thing keeping her in the fight.

Her big problem was that she had just under two weeks of training while Ren had years of experience. He was taller, stronger and blocked or deflected almost everything she tried like she was moving through sludge. One wrong move and Ruby would be seeing stars at lunch.

When Ren went for a straight cross, Ruby dodged and countered with a kick to his shin, fully expecting that it wouldn't land.

It did.

Ren grunted, bearing the pain with dignified poise. Ruby didn't wait for him to recover, jumping backwards onto the nearest lunch table, picking up a milk box. She'd lose an ordinary hand-to-hand fight, so instead, she'd turn the tables and make him fight her fight before Nora came to join him.

Then Ren planted his shoe in her face with a flying kick, almost knocking her loopy. Now, Ruby was hopping from table to table instead of circling around on flat ground. Good thing the tables were all set together. She did have a plan, though. Nora was heading towards them, hammer still intact, but she passed the vending machines first.

Now! Ruby thought.

Ruby squeezed the box, squirting perfectly good milk in Ren's eye. The second he covered his face, Ruby kneed his groin and dived off the table, swirling into her semblance. Nora swung as hard as she could, augmenting the watermelon with her titanic Aura, and she hit the red tornado that was Ruby Rose.

Their clash made a shockwave that crumpled Nora's fortress and sent its pieces flying, while her watermelon hammer exploded. Ruby fell on her feet, drenched in watermelon as Nora collided against a vending machine and slammed against the opposite wall, still clutching her metal rod.

There was a manic grin on Nora's face as Ruby approached her.

"I'll never surrender!" Nora said, prone on the floor. Somehow not dirty.

Ruby crossed her arms. "Can you even get up?"

"You'll see. I'll have your head on a pike, Ruby, mark my words! Mwa hahahaha!"

She coughed once, then her eyes closed. The queen was dead, long live the queen. Ruby made her way to her team.

Pyrrha was still standing in the centre lane, but Blake was out, covered in eggplant, while Yang and Weiss were on opposite sides of the long table. Weiss jousted at Pyrrha, slicing through carrot with her swordfish, but she couldn't avoid a soda can striking her sternum and collapsed. In the process, Pyrrha had left herself open, and Yang charged in for a finishing blow.

Only for Jaune to catch it.

He bashed Yang's face with the lid in his hand, rocking her back. He went for another smash, but Ruby grabbed olive seeds from a discarded salad and threw them at Jaune's head, ignoring the chance that they'd probably been in someone's mouth. They bounced off one, two, and even though they didn't hurt him, he got distracted.

Distracted enough for Yang to toss him over her shoulder and through another table. The lid Jaune was holding vaulted itself into Yang's face, and Pyrrha ran towards Ren. Ruby ran towards her sister, but there was no need to worry: she was still standing, dusting off her hands.

Yang flashed Ruby a thumbs-up, one Ruby returned with gusto. It made her wonder where her turkeys went.

Now, Pyrrha and Ren were the last members of Team JNPR left standing. Ruby wasn't scared. Their teamwork was the best it had ever been. Compared to them, Pyrrha and Ren were out of sync. Not only that, Pyrrha was on shaky legs. Ren was still raring to go, though Yang was more than a match for his fists.

They could do this. Together.

Then the hall's huge doors flew open. Professor Goodwitch marched in, furious, and even if they could, they couldn't hide the evidence of their food war.

"We can explain –" Pyrrha said, covered in ketchup stains and soda and who knows what else.

Professor Goodwitch raised her crop and gave it a crack. The whole room bent to her will and in less than a minute, it was just as pristine as it should have been: the tables had been put in the place and the garbage had been cleaned and sorted.

"Do not play with your food!" Professor Goodwitch said. Shouted, really. "As Ruby can tell you, you're more than welcome to fight in the arena!"

"Yes, ma'am," Ruby said, looking at her combat boots.

While Blake, Weiss and Jaune picked themselves up, Nora made a beeline for Ruby, skidding to a stop right in front of her.

"Ruby!" Nora screamed.

Ruby flinched. "Nora?"

Nora beamed. "Great match! But you won't get so lucky at the Vytal Festival. Just you wait, we're gonna win! I'll see you at the top!"

She raised her hand. Ruby shook it, smiling wide.

"You got it, Nora!"

It was a little disappointing that they couldn't finish their fight, but at least she beat Nora. Somehow, Nora was the only one who avoided getting dirty even though she threw the first pie. At the end of the day, they were still friends. Both of their teams were smiling and shaking hands, exchanging compliments and complaining about their dirty clothes.

Honestly, Ruby never expected that she'd be in the thick of a big food fight. It was going to be a real hassle to clean everything out of her school uniform. Still, she didn't regret taking part. She wasn't a sitting duck without Crescent Rose. She could adapt on the fly and use all sorts of tricks to get ahead. Her tactics and teamwork worked like a charm.

She felt more like herself than she had in months.

Professor Ozpin had joined Professor Goodwitch, calming her down with a few words. When they made eye contact, he gave her a warm nod, not seeming to care that she looked all filthy. She smiled at him, so grateful that he gave her the chance to be at Beacon.

Their second semester was starting tomorrow, and it would bring more homework, more tests and more training. Not only that, the Vytal Festival was coming up, the White Fang was still haunting Vale and her stockpile of Dust was running short.

It was going to be challenging, but if she was afraid of that, she would've stayed at Signal.

Now, she was Team RWBY's fearless leader. Together, they'd take the second semester by storm.