Bustling was one way to describe it, stalls and people littered around an area, specifically for the festival, where most patrons went for some rest and relaxation. Team RWBY was still rounds away from going to another fight, so as per Ruby's insistence, they reached a noddle stall.
"Ughhhhh…"
Ruby was in turmoil, exactly after their fight had her amount of adrenaline die down. Now she was realizing how many cameras were pointed at the fight… and that the microphones could pick up the entire battle.
Which meant one thing.
"There, there, your warcry has only reached a few hundred thousand people, no biggie! I think it's adorable that you say it after a win, I mean look at social media, they're already chanting it!" Yang had attempted in comforting Ruby, more likely she was teasing her while doing it.
Siblings will always be siblings, even if it was half-siblings.
"Yang, you are seriously not helping," Weiss said, slapping a palm over her forehead. "So while we're here… can I get a-" Weiss was cut off by a bowl sliding in front of her. "-oh, I guess this will do."
"Dont, worry, Ruby, be proud of it, in fact, your pronunciation was great!" Tiger complimented, maybe removing a bit of her embarrassment that was just added by Yang. "If it were me, I would've made it angrier sounding."
"That's just all Germans, idiot." Taunts Sherman.
Yang pats Ruby's back in reassurance as she looked at the shopkeep with a grin. "We'll have the same, Rubes can't quite answer since she's in socially awkward mode after realizing her past actions."
It was a recent event for Ruby but she was already having post-traumatic stress from it all. It felt way cooler at the moment but now she kept hearing her words on the internet. Such were the consequences of an era of highly disseminated information.
The internet was unforgiving and cruel, it would forever be known that Ruby said some foreign words while screaming at the top of her lungs. No one knew what the German words meant but in the words of one commenter on a random clip of the tournament 'It sounded cool.'
Blake was next up for her order, with a keen eye on one specific food item on the menu, her drool threatened to become a waterfall at the thought. Wiping away the accumulated saliva, she whispers in a low tone, "...I'll get the good stuff."
Misreading what good stuff meant, the shopkeep goes into the kitchen in a flash. A moment later a bowl of what looked like normal noodles was placed atop the table as Blake eyed the order in confusion.
"This isn't my order…"
Then she took a deep breath and her pupils dilated the instate she took a whiff, her mouth opened wide. Her face buried into the bowl, spooking the others as she shot back up with a reddening face.
"Awawawa~ catnip noodles?!" she squeals to herself, it wasn't her usual order but the shopkeep had two choices; either catnip noodles or tuna… maybe both if Blake was looking for some fun times.
"Blake?" The others asked.
"Oh, uh…" Blake drawls on, looking back at the shopkeep with an urgent expression. "The other good stuff." With another quick trip back to the kitchen, the shopkeep presents another bowl of noodles, this time filled with whole fish.
Weiss raises an eyebrow, were all faunus like this when it came to stereotypes? She quickly takes out a card to pay with. "I'll treat you all today, I feel like Ruby's strategy that led to a win today has given you my favour."
"Can we get some too?" Sagitarrio asked, much to everyone's slack-jawed expression. "What?" he asked, oblivious to what they were even agape to.
"I don't know about tanks and their magic. I have received tea from Centurion before but… how exactly is that supposed to work?" Said Weiss, much to everyone else's common thought.
Yes, Weiss was considering it as a possibility. With magic tanks, who knows what else they can do?
"We're vehicles, Sagittario." Iosif adds in with much less tact than Weiss. "What are we going to do with noodles? Eat them?"
Tiger scoffed at Iosif in support of his ally. "You're a Soviet, you and your collectivized farms probably don't have food to eat in the first place! There are more famines in your frozen wasteland than you could count!"
"Relax, Tiger. We are all here for a good time maybe we could eat it by grinding it down with our gears?" Sagittario responds, making the German regret his decision of trying to support the Italians.
"So you're on their side now? I defended you! And that doesn't even make any sense!" To say Tiger was blowing a gasket would be an understatement. His engines are practically on fire after what Sagittario said.
"Say there, fellas, reckon we oughta let them gals be while they chow down?" Pershing, ever the understanding fellow, tries to keep the volume a tad bit lower.
The shopkeep takes Weiss' card and goes to the register. Soon after, before they could even have an idle talk, her card gets thrown back with a deadly accuracy that even Ruby would be jealous of.
"Declined?" Weiss asks, she was more miffed or annoyed than angry about it. "Use this one instead." She takes out another card, this time instead of the SDC text like her last one, it was labelled with SRCCO.
The payment goes through and Team RWBY could enjoy their food, especially Blake who was creepily playing with the fish like it was a toy while chunks of it were in her mouth. Though, curiosity was still in Yang after that small interaction.
"What happened there?" Yang gave a small gaze at Weiss while slurping a healthy amount of food straight into her maw, the only thing bigger than her bo- ahem… personality was her appetite after a fight.
Weiss was disgusted by the savage way her teammate was eating but desire to answer anyways. "I think Father has cut me off my allowance, too bad I still have another card in a separate name."
Yang shrugged but was happy all the same. "Huh… well, I'm not complaining! How'd you get away from needing to get money from your dad?"
"Probably something about finances, this is why capitalism is so outdated." The Soviet comments, which created a united response from both the Western Allies and the Axis.
""Shut up, Iosif."'
Weiss explained, despite the tanks being loud again. "SRCOO profits, although most of it is paying off the debt it incurred from technically borrowing from the General back then. Still, we're not producing enough just from the well we currently have, they have high start-up costs and not to mention the lack of infrastructure for the construction of fossil fuels and the machinery that didn't exist up until months ago."
The economic explanation went through the blonde brawler's ears, in short, Yang's brain dumbed it down for her. "So it's paying the debt but setting aside a small amount for you, that seems unfair."
"Hey, it is a shared account with Ruby!" Weiss was again being defensive about her spending of money.
"...So you're married?"
"No, doofus! We're joint founders and I decided to let Ironwood make it under Ruby's name so that my father wouldn't know about it. Don't worry about how that works, Ironwood had to pull a lot of strings to push the bank to do it."
Ruby recovered from her distress, hearing Weiss' problem, she stares at the heiress with a concerned look. "Weiss, I could have just paid for the food. I am already employed since Ironwood gave me a job. I'm also being bankrolled by the military for everything I draw up for them."
"Wait but I bought you those scopes that cost a lot before!" Weiss was in disbelief, those scopes cost a pretty penny, especially the limited edition one which was just decorative in nature.
"Uh… you did insist?"
"I can't believe you!" Weiss genuinely didn't think Ruby could do such a horrible act. "This is an abuse of my friendship, Ruby."
"If friendship is measured in that way, I might have the friendliest allies in the world." Tiger's high tone made it obvious to everyone he was sarcastic, Weiss was about to retort but found it hard to deny that she wasn't exactly the most friendly person back then.
"Thank you for acknowledging our efforts, German friend!" Veltro spun his propeller in gratitude, eliciting a disgusted puff of smoke from Tiger's exhaust.
"Of course, you didn't get my sarcasm… classic."
"Hey girls!" A voice called out.
"Nora and the rest of JNPR!" Ruby exclaimed.
Team JNPR walked towards them with varying amounts of enthusiasm. Nora was obviously the one jumping around while Ren was trying to restrain her sugar-infused veins. Jaune was oddly lethargic while Pyrrha was by his side smiling.
They sit down and a few orders come out from them while the eager girl of the group notices something. Nora points to RWBY's side, seemingly out of random as she practically shrills out in enthusiasm. "Oh hey, Neo! You know, you look really creepy in that smile you always wear in public!"
"Neo? But she isn't-" A solid knock on the table made Ruby choke up.
Team RWBY looked to their right towards the source of the noise, including the tanks, who were surprised at the massive vibration of their tracks that came from the knocking.
"Christ! And you thought we were the ones surprising people when we drive out of reality." Sherman exclaimed.
Yang coughed up a storm when she saw a girl with as much black clothing as Blake. "Neo? That's her?!"
"Yang, she has been part of our private Saturday classes all along, have you not noticed?" Pyrrha asked the confused Yang. To be fair, Neo was off to the side playing on her scroll every time they entered the unused classroom.
Yang's subpar deduction finally realized itself. "So Neo was that gothic lolita girl…? Uhh, I just thought Torchwick had a child to take care of, but now that I think about it, he's not that kinda guy to have a child… huh."
The girl that appeared out of nowhere to their side chuckled, her green eyes flashed brown and pink for only a moment as she looked down to where the tanks should be. She wasn't one to ignore clues as to where they currently were based on where Ruby looked when talking to the tanks.
Deciding to expand his 'selectively speak to anyone magic' Maus opens up a conversation with a long and eerie silence.
…
"What are you guys doing?" Yang asked, looking to Neo who kept nodding while Maus' engines rhythmically hummed and sometimes revved.
…
"Neo says she's hungry for ice cream." Ren suddenly translates bits of their conversation. "Maus says the shopkeep should have some because somehow he could get a whole tuna out here and some catnip… that's odd." he mulls over that last part.
"Woah! Renny, you can understand her?" Nora starts rocking the poor boy side-to-side in his seat. "Can you translate this for me 'If you eat Neapolitan ice cream, are you cannibalizing or assimilating it?!'"
It was a good question.
"Nora, you can just ask that, they are silent, not deaf. In Neo's case, she is only mute. Also, it's more like I can get an idea of what they're going to say."
"Cooooool."
And thus, with a glance from Ren, Maus and Neo, they have formed the trinity of the silent but deadly. No, it wasn't official, that's just how Yang thought of it in her mind, which made her chortle a bit.
"Where is Torchwick if you're here?" Ren asked Neo.
…
"Paperwork?"
…
" …May his soul rest easy."
"Are you sure she can be trusted? We did injure Torchwick." Tiger asked his fellow tanks, unheard by Neo but selectively choosing JNPR and RWBY to hear him.
"She's not being hostile, I think," Ruby responds. While that may be true, her wide grin did not look 'hostile' in a normal sense.
Iosif coughed at the awkward situation. "Erghh… I'm pretty sure she still doesn't forgive us for crushing Torchwick's legs, I think Torchwick is the one holding her leash."
"Kinky." Yang once again showcased her way of words.
Blake scolds her with a little slap to the shoulder. "Yang, don't. This is why Ruby knows those words from last time. Explaining what and why it is 'kinky' will only spell trouble."
A few minutes passed of more idle talk, mostly Ren keeping control of Nora while the others ate and ordered more food as seen fit. While eating though, Ruby notices Jaune's tired expression. What was tiring him wasn't known but she was about to find out.
"Jaune? You look… a lot worse."
Sherman turned his turret in surprise. "Ruby, did you just insult him when you tried comforting him?"
Ruby started choking on a noodle before clearing it from her throat and stuttering wildly. "I-I-I didn't mean it like that! I m-mean you are worse looking, not in the 'you are worse' but you are 'worse than usual'."
"So basically, Jaune is the worst?" Yang added, making the blonde boy chuckle a bit from the antics of the sisters.
"Ye- No! I give up."
"Jokes aside, what's popping Vomit Man?"
Jaune's expression came back to a more cheery tone, he wasn't actually worried or anything but he was tired from… something."It's actually nothing this time, just good ol' exhaustion erm… Pyrrha got too-"
"AHEM. I think we can move on with this conversation as we are being called." Pyrrha suddenly stands up pulling Jaune up by his hoodie and dragging him away from the chair as she had an embarrassed expression.
"Our match isn't even next yet-"
"Oh, silly Jaune, I think we need to be early."
That exchange quickly made everyone there aware of what had happened, including the tanks, but ever the innocent child, Ruby was even more concerned. Though it didn't look like Jaune was worried about their fight.
Nora assured her once she saw Ruby quietly looking on. "Oh, don't worry about Jauney, he's just a bit tired from last night. Renny and I are gonna stay here and eat for a while, I heard there is a stall giving out prizes when you make and eat the biggest pancakes!"
"Are you sure that exists?" Tiger asks.
Ren answers in his usual monotone voice. "Nora makes these things up and the vendors are forced to follow what she says or they will get their stall hammered to the ground."
"She can't just do that, can she?"
"She's Nora."
A few seconds later, Weiss taps on Ruby's shoulder, noticing the light from Ruby's scroll flicking open from the now numerous pockets in her skirt. "Ruby, are gonna answer that?"
"Answer what?"
"Your scroll, it's been turning on and off."
Ruby raises an eyebrow and takes out her scroll. "Huh? Oh my Gods! I put it on silent and forgot!" The name displayed was the headmaster's and she panicked. "Wu-oh, It's Ozpin! Crud, I hope I didn't answer too late, I wonder what he wants."
Ruby puts her scroll up to her ear as her team, her tanks, Ren, Nora and Neo listened in. "Mhm… We can head up there after we eat. Now?! Uhh… okay!"
"So?" Yang asked impatiently.
"Ozpin has something to say to us, it's really important and we should go now!"
Everyone within Team RWBY started gulping down noodles as fast as they could, it was a large portion so most of them had to take minutes. If Winter could see Weiss' slurping efficiency, she'd call her a barbarian from the number of decibels Weiss created.
"Alright! Let's head to the office!" Ruby's declaration was accompanied by her taking her tanks and shoving them down separate pockets while being extra careful with the planes.
"But I haven't finished my noodles!" Blake was the type to savour her meal, those fish really made it hard for her to just swallow without making the taste last.
"We can give you tuna later, Blake!"
"I want to finish it!" Unfortunately for the cat faunus, she was hauled by Yang who hoisted her up her shoulders while they ran. In the end, Blake could only see her leftovers go further away. "Noooo…."
"So… are we gonna go too?" Nora nudges the quiet boy's side as he grunted out what vaguely sounds like a 'no'. "Aww… I wanna join in their secret meetings! …Hey! Where's Neo?"
"We're here!" Ruby breathed heavily as she glances at a clock. "Yes, finally!"
Her tanks were then let out of her pockets and placed on the ground, at this point it was an automatic response from her.
Initially, Ozpin was quietly taking in his 6th cup of coffee. "Ah, you're quite early this time, Miss Rose." he now stopped and cleaned his desk filled with paperwork creating a leaning tower of Glynda's workload.
"Why is it so urgent anyways?" Yang asked.
"While you are still waiting for your next match, I decided to… inform you of a development concerning your vehicles. Specifically the one off the coast of Patch as of now." His tone became darker and pauses in his breath made it clear this was no normal conversation.
'Did Ironwood just frown?' Tiger notices, he was always the observing type, a trait inherited from his crew. 'But at what? Or why? Certainly not at Ruby…' Shaking his suspicions away, Tiger listens to the conversation.
"Yamato? …What's going on with her?" Inquired Ruby.
"She's… losing her ability to go away from this reality and she can't shrink."
Their thoughts halted while they got the words through, ""...What?!""
Ruby gripped her hand tight. "But how?"
"That is what the General and many others who have been informed of the true nature of your semblance have been trying to find out. We still do not know the real reason, especially with such a difficult power for you to understand. But… we have a lead that could be the reason why. Oil. Specifically, the lack thereof."
Weiss was not convinced. "Headmaster, while I can acknowledge the efforts of scientists, I think we have enough production from a single oil well to sustain the Yamato when she's idle."
"That was the case back then."
Tiger was getting aggressive, his fellow vehicle from another world was suffering but not even they had known about it. "Back then? You didn't tell us that early? How long has this been happening?"
"Wait, let him explain first, Tiger." Ruby calmed Tiger down since his angry German accent was seeping through.
"I'm afraid I was too hopeful about your father, Miss Schnee." Ozpin turned his gaze to the heiress.
"My father?" Weiss asks. "What did he do?"
"Politics is always a nasty enterprise, your father has seen the usage of oil and there are already talks in Atlas of a revolutionary fuel source that could lessen the reliance on the SDC. Although there is still limited technology that could use oil, businessmen and investors are already taking steps towards it."
Yang asks, "It sounds like it's going well, why is this related to Yamato?"
"Everything, Miss Xao-Long. Jacques sees it as both a threat and an opportunity and when that man tried to communicate with Ruby, as she is the founder on paper, he immediately dismissed talking as a possibility."
Weiss sighs. "That sounds like him. Ruby is still barely going to become 16 this year, he'd see her much as I saw you back then, a child. I'm starting to see how much of a pompous and obnoxious rich person I was."
"I think your father is just a douche." Yang bluntly stated.
"I wish I can tell him that to his face," Weiss admitted.
"Moving on, Jacques has now thus concluded that the only course of action to take over the SRCCO is by his normal means. He's been influencing those around him to instead try to invest in him instead of SRCCO whenever he gets the chance to make his own fossils company. Although, his efforts are being wasted since research has only been accessible through us."
Ironwood added in his words. "That man can only do so much threat when we have a complete monopoly over fossil fuel and its technology but that hasn't stopped him from slandering or doing anything at the edge of the law to make our lives much harder."
"The General is right, we might be okay in a few decades if Jacques tries copying our technology but he's trying to drive you out of business. Since he controls a large part of the economics side of Atlas, he… 'embargoed' you. From air lanes being used to transport material, and from the sea lanes we switched over to, he tries as much as possible to slow us down. He makes false calls to the police that we are carrying something dangerous when we use transports and overall a lot of nuisances that make it harder for us to move freely."
"Not only that but now… he is accusing oil as being a fraudulent way for the military to embezzle money from the government." The general sways his head, such practices by Jacques were always within sight but he couldn't do anything about it.
"That's absurd!" Weiss yells.
"Absurd as it may be, it requires capital for us to fight these cases, with the already limited funds we can publicly use without arousing suspicion that James is the main benefactor of the oil company, we are desperately hanging on."
"Why is Ironwood not publicly available to just… support SRCCO?" Yang's head was bleeding from all the convoluted political manoeuvring.
"Because that would mean Jacques would have every reason to cease all export to the military, it would cripple us. As of now, he only sees it as SRCCO and Ironwood as a company and a customer. Not what it currently is; James trying to break free from Jacques' control over dust."
Ironwood continues. "And because of all that, production is hampered and we can't move a large amount of oil to a random island in Vale because Jacques would be suspicious as to why we are moving it. We have experimental vehicles and field tests going on, so we can still justify to him that the military is just using Vale as a testing ground and that the military is buying fuel to keep our tanks moving."
Ruby was distraught over the news. "Hold on, so what are we going to do about Jacques?! You said that Yamato can't do those things my tanks usually do like hiding from reality and being intangible! What's going to happen to her, I didn't even get to see her yet!"
'Ruby…' Everyone was worried for their leader, especially for the tanks who just this morning had realized Ruby was starting to think of them as family.
Ozpin tried to placate Ruby. "Miss Rose, we can understand your concerns. We might not even know how to deal with it as of now, James is at work figuring out ways to keep Jacques' eye from us transporting oil but we are preparing the Yamato to be moved to somewhere more isolated but it will be inevitable that some would see that massive ship."
"I want to see her."
"Miss Rose."
"I need to see her, I can't just leave my family to be alone like that!"
"I know, Miss Rose." Ozpin sighs, reaching up to the bridge of his nose to rub it profusely. "To tell you honestly, I should have just given you her from the beginning. I was worried you'd be too distracted from the festival. You did once lock yourself out from any academic activity for a week when you found Maus but now I am regretting it, we might not know how to make her get her abilities back, it's wishful thinking that it may be related to you and that it may change Yamato's status once you meet her but we will arrange it today."
"What about the tournament?" Weiss asks.
"I'm afraid you'll have to refrain from moving Miss Rose up to the doubles. We can move shortly after this or a few minutes later if you prefer."
Ruby walked towards the headmaster with a firm gaze. "I'll go now."
While more details were being revealed, Tiger couldn't keep from noticing the times Ironwood was acting more fidgety than before. The German would want to find more, his suspicions from the very beginning ever since Ozpin and Ironwood invited her to become a specialist were rising from his memory. 'I don't think Ozpin is telling the entire truth…'
He would need to discuss this with the other tanks… eventually.
The Americans ain't gonna like this one...