Chugga-chugga-choo-choo! Everyone, welcome back aboard the Ren's Dare!

I know we're a bit off schedule, but please forgive. We had to make several pit stops along the way, but service will be continued without further delay!

Now then, punch your ticket and let's be on our way!

WAIT, NO NO NO! DON'T ACTUALLY PUNCH THE TICKE-

NORA SMASH!

Yang's Arc P.3: Beat me once...

"This is a trial?"

"Yeah!"

"Yang... at this point, I really cannot tell if you're joking with me."

"Dude, I'm serious."

Ren was skeptical for good reason. They were standing in front of a 'haunted' house, which in reality was a series of hallways attached by curtained walkways. Nothing impressive to look at, and Ren hypothesized that it wasn't much inside or out.

"Is the worth of a haunted hallway not diminished by the fact that we are in broad daylight?"

"Nope."

"Or that it's simply not the season for… this?" He gestured to the doorway, 'spookily' entrancing possible visitors with the promise of a reward at the end with ghosts and other stereotypical halloween themed items.

"Nah. It looks fun, so let's do it!"

"Fun." His mind went back to the festival yesterday. "Hm."

"What, scared of a few jump scares?" She put on that same teasing smile, nudging the slightly taller teenager with an elbow.

"Yang, I simply don't see the point of this."

"So you're scared."

He knew what she was trying to do; she was trying to aggravate him on purpose. Afraid not this time, friend.

"No, I simply see no reason-"

"Scared."

"Yang, there's-"

"Chicken."

"If you could please stop interr-"

"Buh-cawwww!" She started flapping her elbows like a bird. Ren just twitched an eye, immediately seeing some similarities between this flamboyant blonde and a certain orangette that he's known for all his life.

"You and Nora really would go well together," he muttered mostly to herself.

Yang heard him, though. "I know, right! I'm even saving some awesome jokes for her. Wanna hear some?" A grin went the end of that sentence, knowing that Ren wouldn't. Sure enough, he just waved his head and hands vehemently. "But still though, you're scared."

"Yang, I can assure you that this won't make me scream."

"But…. I don't know that until you try it!"

"Can you not take my word? Have I ever gone back on a promise to you?"

"Other than that time that you promised to keep Ruby away from your pancakes to save some for me a few days back, no."

"Your sister is far too fast, even for me. That was an unfair promise from the start, and you knew that, Yang."

"Well, it was a promise and you broke it." She trailed a fake tear from her eyes with her index finger. "Facts are facts, Ren."

"I'm well aware of that," he sighed. Looking into the entrance, the doorway was supposed to convey dark and foreboding. It just looked terribly dull to Ren; he's taken down killer-monsters of ginormous size, fought horrors that many would never see thanks to his efforts, and Yang thought a haunted hallway would scare him?

"Ren, I'm gonna have to pull out my trump card if you don't go in there."

Raising an eyebrow, he pushed the topic. "And that card would be?"

"If you don't go in the hallway, I'm telling Nora that I had a bad time."

He looked at Yang in surprise and horror. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, yes I would. Remember what I said... " She batted her eyebrows and flicked her hair over her shoulder; there was no doubt seduction was another one of her tactics for obtaining what she wanted if need be. "Xiao-Long's always get their way, flower-boy."

"..."

He couldn't tell what he was more irritated at; the new nickname, the blackmail, or the fact that he was getting manipulated so easily. I can't fail this dare though. I've never gone back on my word unless it was out of my power, and I've lived by that code since I was born…

And I would have to spend another weekend with Blake and… He almost shuddered. Yang. I haven't even finished a full day with her and she's almost intolerable...

He settled for addressing the ridiculous nickname first. "Please don't call me that."

"Then get in the hallway." Her voice was sweet, but there was something laced in there like poison in a drink.

He never broke eye contact as he kept talking. "Yang Xiao-Long. This is blackmail."

"Mhm."

"I will never forget this."

"Mmmhm."

"I will get you back for this."

She just smiled. "Course you will, dude. Offfff course you will."

Looking in the hallway, he just sighed. "It's like I'm spending another day with Nora…"

"Isn't that good?"

"You were the one to tell me this morning that I should try to not worry about her."

"Eh, I lied." Ren just drooped his shoulders slightly. "Now go!" She pushed him forward, not making him lose his balance but making him move enough to walk onwards.

"And why am I the one to enter first?" He asked as he was walking forward, the light rapidly making itself less prominent as darkness induced by curtains filled their vision.

"Cause."

"That's not very good reasoning."

Yang didn't get a chance to respond as they were greeted with a rather bored-looking attendant dressed messily in what looked like a witch's costume.

"Hello and welcome to the spooky mansion. Passes please?" Her voice was dull, and it was obvious that she wasn't really interested in the job.

Makes sense, Ren thought. It's just not the season for things like this.

They handed her their passes, she glazed over them with lazy eyes, and handed them back.

"Prepare to be spooked." The woman went to the effort of giving small jazz hands. She then returned to the darkness-which in reality was just walking behind the curtain- leaving Yang and Ren in the dark with red neon lights guiding their way.

"Wow." Yang scoffed. "She was really sellin' the act there."

"Mmm."

"So, buddy!"

"Please don't call me that."

"Aw, I can't call you buddy? Well, I've still got all sorts of nicknames. Lotus-boy, flower-boy, flower-kid, pancake-man,"

"Yang."

"Yo."

"Please stop." She just grinned at him, but thankfully didn't say another word about ridiculous nicknames as she just shrugged, her task completed.

"Alright. Let's get in this hallway and make you scream!"

"Yang, out of context these phrase sound very suggestive."

"Only if you want them like that…" She trailed off and raised her eyebrows a few times again, prompting Ren to cross an arm over his chest and prop an elbow on it.

"That is not what I meant, Yang. And again, too blunt."

"Oh, you know I'm joking with you, bud." Ren resisted the urge to correct his nickname, knowing that it was no use. "C'mon! Let's go!" She gestured for him to go first.

"Are you putting me in front merely for the higher probability that I will become startled?"

"That, and I accidentally punched a prop off the wall when it popped out when I was little." Ren gave her a skeptical look, and she returned. "What? It had it coming..."

He just shook his head and walked forward into the dark hallway. Dimly lit save for the red lights, the mood was surprisingly eerie, quiet and dark even though the only thing stopping the light from entering was a set of heavy curtains save for the light behind him.

Light behind me? He turned around and saw Yang holding up her scroll, transparent screen showing that it was recording.

"Say hi to the folks at Beacon, Ren!"

Raising an eyebrow, he didn't speak a word. The look said it all, and he just turned around-

Right into a pop-out ghost.

Time slowed down.

Yang's face was one of wide-eyed excitement, camera already primed to capture the moment of Lie Ren, partner of THE Nora Valkyrie, scream for his mommy and run 'till kingdom come.

It's finally happening! Those were the words she thought to herself.

On Ren's side, the ghost in front of him... didn't faze him.

In fact, it just smelled really bad.

Like... paint, he thought as his mind was filled with the putrid aroma of paint instead of fear.

He already knew it was coming anyway; he was trained from an earlier age than most to hone his aura and feel his surroundings by means other than touch, sight, or hearing. Danger was never one to sneak up on him as long as he was focused.

However, the visible indicator of a motion sensor did help, he thought to himself, thin red line barely contrasting against the darkness.

So when time finally returned to normal, he just looked at the 'spooky' ghost with a scrupulous eye. It was cardboard with paint slathered on in lazy, uncoordinated strokes, and the dust-powered mechanism made the slightest whirring noise behind the curtain that he strained to hear. Just blinking a few times at the ghost in front of his face as it slowly receded, Yang ran in front of him, still recording. When she saw that same, stoic expression on his face, she just frowned.

"Huh. I thought that would've worked."

"I told you before that this will not work, Yang."

"Yeah, yeah, that's what you think. She pressed a button, and the camera faced her. "Alright, so the first try didn't work. Moving to the secondary scare."

"You do know that I can hear you."

She just turned the camera back to Ren, obviously not hearing his statement. "Right! Let's keep goin'."

Shaking his head at her antics, he kept walking. Yang fell right in step behind her partner for the day, scroll still recording their (not-so) magnificent escapades through the haunted hallway. Time after time again for the next five minutes, terribly staged mummies, fake buzzsaws, and witches popped out of the hallway to no avail. At one point, Ren simply kept moving past the 'scare' instead of walking, dismissing it at first sight. He couldn't help but smirk at what Yang's reaction to each of these attempts must be, not wanting to look back lest he come face to face with a scroll recording again.

She must be sorely disappointed, he mused to himself.

The system itself had proven itself to be rather sizable. While from the outside, the haunted hallways looked like they would require but a minute to clear. In reality, twists and turns make the most out of the space given, and keep the hallway going in a slithering fashion. They did not run into any other people on their way, which was to be expected, and they had 'escaped' the hallway with little fuss, Yang silently frowning at her failure while Ren resisted the urge to look back and savor the expression on her face. The exit was lit by a sign, and they stepped out into the light, blindingly bright contrasted to the dark, night-time atmosphere that they were just in.

The same, dull woman came up to them, and handed them a certificate good for one free ride on the Ferris wheel. "Good job. Take it."

Walking off, Yang and Ren just looked at the tickets.

"Jeez, not only is she dull, but she's got attitude too."

"Perhaps it's just not her day, today."

"None of our business anyway. So, what'dya think of the spooky hallway?"

"You know very well how much I cared about that, Yang. I'm afraid you've lost this battle."

"Ah, ah, ah! But I still have a war to win! And the day's not over, buddy..."

"I'm well aware of that. However, consider the following. I am not afraid of heights, nor am I afraid of horror elements. What else would you be able to scare or startle me with?"

She rose an eyebrow and smirked. "Are you actually challenging me to find something to scare you with?"

"I do believe that was your original goal... so, no?"

"Alright, Ren. Then you're gonna make me pull out the big guns." She punched her hands together, cracking each hand's knuckles, battle stance reminiscent of when he first caught a glance of her capabilities at Initiation.

However, he didn't let this faze him. Stoic and calm got him through thick and stormy before... it would do it again. "So be it."

Sun and Neptune were the best of bros.

The bro-est bros of the bros.

Bro-iest bro-ing that a bro could find in a bro.

But a bro was missing another bro today.

And bro wasn't happy.

"Nep? Where are you, bud?" Wandering the hallways of Haven was strange alone, as he always had at least one team member with him at all times, offering company, jokes, and teases galore. But Scarlet was in Sun's native land of Vacuo, and Sage was gone visiting family in Vale for the long weekend that Shade was offering. All that was left was Neptune, and now he couldn't find him.

"I swear to Oum, Nep, if you ran off with another girl I'm gonna pummel you so hard," he muttered under his breath. Other than being the bro-iest bro-bro of all time to Sun, Neptune was known as a womanizer, his demeanor and appearance nearly radiating cool. Sun knew this from being his wingman at countless bars that they shouldn't been in at the time, or concerts that Sun might have stolen the tickets for.

It's not like they needed the tickets anyway, they were wasted already, he thought to himself.

Sadly, this meant also that he knew his best friend's capabilities. He fell head over heels very quickly, and more often than not he thought he was infallible. Charm didn't always work for the blue-haired goggled teen, and more than once he had come home rejected, with things other than his pride battered and broken. Asides from enduring the teases of his teammates though, he was a good person. He occasionally knew when he was out of his league, and if he were to choose between a babe and his teammates...

Well, Sun was pretty sure he would pick him and his teammates.

Shaking his head off of the doubts, he kept looking. "I leave you alone for five minutes dude! Come on, this isn't funny man!"

All you had to do was stand by the main gate and not wander off without me. It's like I'm your babysitter, he thought. Naturally, he attempted to use his faunus senses, and found that Neptune's smell - a harsh mix of cologne that he went through faster than water in a Vacuan desert - was leading indoors. After walking back towards their academy, he had trailed his slowly fading scent through the cafeteria, bathroom, and dorm. After exiting their four-man home, he lost the scent and went the way that the scent had trailed off at, that being the many hallways of Haven Academy.

"Echo!" He shouted, and the hallway shouted back at him, voice resonating in the high ceiling hallways. "Nep, come on!"

Where Neptune Vasilias was not a place where he could hear his best friend.

Mentally, at least.

He was already outside again, mind and eyes glazed over as he just... went wherever, dude. As far as he could tell, everything was just... the definition of psychedelic. The lush, green trees and bushes of the temperate climate in Mistral were replaced with multiple images of everything from booze to girls, and even though he didn't realize it, if someone were to see him at that very moment, he would never live it down.

He was literally pulling branches from a leafy bush and putting them in his mouth.

Of course, he didn't see it as a bush. He just saw it as a platter of appetizing snacks that ranged from multi-colored cookies to little balls of green stuff that he didn't know the name of; but hell, they tasted great!

By the time he was done with his 'snack platter,' he walked away, bush thoroughly destroyed and mouth covered in leaves.

It took Sun thirty more minutes to finally give up. Throwing his hands up at the empty air, he shouted, exasperated. "NEPTUNE! COME ON! I'M TIRED OF LOOKING FOR YOU!" At this rate, the monkey faunus was actually getting concerned. While it's not the fact that he didn't trust Neptune alone for long periods of time...

Alright, I'm just lying to myself. I'm f'ing panicking about him being alone on his own, he thought. Among other things like charm, ego, and a small nerdy side, he wasn't the brightest of the bunch when it came to making logical decisions. Their team never let him out of their sights after he 'accidentally' blew up their campfire because thought that his laser gun could start a fire while they were all collecting tinder and twigs during a mission.

Sighing, he looked outside to calm himself down, collect his thoughts.

He was greeted by an image of Neptune licking a pillar. Eyes opening wide, he ran to an exit and bursted through, Neptune standing still as the monkey prince called out his name.

Holy crap, this ice cream tastes sooooo goood...

As Sun Wukong was chasing after his stationary friend, Neptune was still in dreamland. The cobblestone pillar that he had taken a sudden interest in was, in his eyes, a delicious roasted strawberry sundae. He didn't even know how he was eating it; whenever he licked the ice cream, the flavor just rushed into his mouth, and he just kept licking the pillar.

He was already there for five minutes before his partner had found him, and now that he reached his partner, he shook him like crazy.

"DUDE, WHERE WERE YO- Nep?" Sun backed up slightly as Neptune just looked at his partner lazily, eyes relaxed and neck muscles not moving an inch as his head lolled. "Dude, what's wrong with you?"

"Hey Shhhhun. Hhhow arrrre you?" His words came out in a near-incohesive bundle, words slurred together. Sun was about to accuse him of getting drunk (and worst of all without him), but when he smelled his breath, it still smelled like Neptune. Mint breath fresheners, mostly, emanated from his mouth-hole.

"Nep, what'd you do? Why are you acting like this?"

"Hhhhey Shun, you should try shum of dish... ice creeeeam..." He turned back to the pillar and hugged it, opening his mouth before Sun pulled him away and slapped him on the face.

"DUDE! Snap out of it! That's not ice-cream, and my name isn't 'Shun'!" I've gotta get him some help, Sun thought to himself. Shaking his head, he spoke again. "Alright Nep, looks like Sunny's gonna have to get you outta here."

"Shunny? Whozzat?"

He rolled his eyes. "Your best friend who's getting your ass outta here."

Neptune flailed up an arm and barely landed it on Sun, who just looked at him strange as the words came out of the suave teen's mouth. "Thhhanks Shunny. I'll have to tell Shun about you."

Taking his arm over his shoulders, Sun started to guide Neptune back inside towards the infirmary. "Yeah, sure you will, bud. Sure you will."

A bit of Sunflower, and a bit of Sea Monkeys friendship. (if you consider Neptune making poor life decisions and having Sun bail him out of his rut a friendshippy type of thing.)

I wish I could just stay here forever and write friendshippy fluff forever, especially between those two dorks from SSSN, but I've got homework to do.

Have a nice day, everyone!