Blake Reacts to Music Standoffs: The Rematch, Part 1!
A/N: Welcome, one and all, to Weiss Reacts! This will (possibly) be the day you've waited for (no pun intended), as this is the long-awaited and long-demanded rematch between team RWBY and Hokuago Tea-Time! This is it! It's happening! And now with 100% more interaction from the other side, as you guys asked for it!
Very well, without further ado, let us begin this totally not hilarious chapter.
DISCLAIMER: RWBY does not belong to me, otherwise Weiss would have actually sung every song from the soundtrack in series (come on, who doesn't want to hear Weiss sing 'Time to Say Goodbye' or 'Gold'?).
K-On! belongs to Kyoto Animation.
All mentioned franchises and characters belong to their respective owners.
Vale Shopping Plaza...
"That was a nice lunch you treated us to." Ruby commented, hugging Weiss' arm tightly. The heiress blushed slightly.
"Y-you could afford to be...a bit less...affectionate in public..."
"I'm just showing my girlfriend some love~"
Yang sighed, chuckling. "Weiss, you've got to be a bit less uptight about it. She IS your girlfriend now. Being all tsun-tsun about it isn't going to change anything."
"Old habits die hard." Blake noted. "She's spent three years acting all tsun-tsun to Ruby, she's not about to stop just because she's bit the bullet.
Give it two months."
"I-I'm just...I'm just a little flustered and unused to this!" Weiss snapped. "It's not like I've had a girlfriend before...or any lover, for that matter..."
Yang chuckled. "Then you should've asked good old Yang! I'm not inexperienced in the field of love, you know..."
Ruby held a finger up. "Yang, you always told me you've never had a boyfriend or girlfriend before..."
"W-what?!"The brawler was taken aback, blushing. "D-dammit, she doesn't need to know that!"
Weiss smirked. "So you're just as bad as me!"
"N-no way! R-Ruby's spouting complete-"
Blake's ears twitched rather suddenly. Her calm expression suddenly changed into one of anger.
"I hear...a moeblob. No...a group of moeblobs."
She started seething and breathing very deeply. Ever since her defeat at the hands of moeblobs multiple times- by Vivi, Winter, Isara and most infamously Hokaugo Tea-Time, a famous foreign band banking on the appeal of moe- the catgirl had gradually grown in anger towards them, with a stronger desire to prove her manliness once more.
Yang raised an eyebrow. "Huh? I don't see Norn here. Or Winter. Or Isara. Or-"
"No, no, those three aren't that cute." Blake waved her off. "Not in this way. I sense...disgustingly moe moeblobs."
She sniffed the air, before cringing. "A-and...strawberry shortcake. This can mean only one thing-"
Weiss facepalmed, interrupting her quickly. "Oh come on, this is the third time this month! For the last time, there is no way Hokuago Tea-Time is here! You did NOT see Yui or Mio or whoever walk past you!"
Yang sighed, putting a hand on her partner's shoulder. "Yeah, Blake. Come on, what are the odds of those guys hanging out in Vale? Last I heard, they were in college now. They've got the same stuff we have to do."
Ruby nodded in agreement, patting the catgirl on the back. "That's about as likely as Squid Girl showing up in the middle of Vale, Blake.
You're probably smelling something completely different."
Several meters away...
"Eikooo!" A girl, looking about eleven or twelve, with what seemed to be blue squid's tentacles for hair and a white squid's head for a hat, screeched as she was dragged out by an older, red-haired girl, with her prehensile tentacle hair flailing at a plate of shrimp on the table they just vacated. The whole restaurant had deigned to watch the madness going on.
"HOW MANY PLATES OF SHRIMP DID YOU ORDER?!" The other girl yelled. "THAT COST ME MY WHOLE SAVINGS FOR THE MONTH!"
"N-not that many! P-Put me down! P-Please! A s-squid can't survive without her shrimp!"
The older girl ignored her protests, shaking her head and muttering under her breath. The squid-like girl was carried out, and Ritsu closed her eyes, sighing.
"This place is weird." The drummer rubbed her temples. "Really, really weird- and for a moment, I thought Azusa was the one being carted out or something.
Mugi-chan, why did we go here again?"
"I thought it might be a good experience." The aforementioned heiress chuckled, taking a calm sip of her tea. "Besides, now that we've finished our college exams and Azusa's finished her first year of college, we deserve a little break, don't we?"
"I don't think she's having too much of a break." Ritsu remarked drily, as she pointed over at the aforementioned girl, who was currently being glomped by Yui.
"Azunyaaaaan~" Yui giggled happily. Azusa struggled in the vice grip of her elder, squirming.
"K-kyah! Yui-sempai! T-this isn't the place for t-that!"
Ritsu sighed fondly. "It seems Yui's made a habit of glomping you in every place known to man..."
Mio remained silent, just chuckling at the antics of her group. Unbeknownst to her, Mugi was secretly taking pictures of Yui's affectionate hugging, giggling.
'This pleases Mugi.' The heiress thought deviously with a hint of lust. 'This pleases Mugi very much...'
Indeed, Squid Girl was spending a day trip in Vale. On a lesser note, the well-known band Hokuago Tea-Time; all five members, frontman and guitarist Yui, bassist Mio, drummer Ritsu, keyboardist Mugi and second guitarist Azusa- was indeed gathered in Vale for a holiday.
Ritsu rested her head on her arms. "Hey, you guys. After we're done here, let's go check out that one place we were invited to by that weird ad a couple of months ago."
"Beacon Academy?" Mio chimed up. "Oh...I did a little research on them. Apparently, they're a combat academy. They train to fight giant monsters."
"What, like in those cool shows?" Ritsu's eyes started sparkling. "I-I want to go there now!"
Mugi smiled.
"You know, Ritsu, you have to do a very rigorous test in addition to years of physical training." The heiress noted teasingly, counting the requirements to get into Beacon. "And in addition to that, you have to do years of studying on the types of Grimm that plague this land, and make your own weapons, and-"
Ritsu had already collapsed on the table, looking horrified.
"Who knew fighting monsters and looking awesome was that hard..."
"YOU!"
Suddenly, a piercing shout, full of anger and fighting spirit, pierced the hubbub of the restaurant. All of the girls looked up, and the other diners were silent.
Ritsu looked up, confused. "Huh? What's going on?"
"I'm talking to YOU!"
A black-haired girl, with a black ribbon in her hair, slowly approached the girls. Three other girls- a tall, blonde girl, a slightly shorter black-haired girl with red tips on her hair, and a short white-haired girl- were trying to hold her back unsuccessfully.
"YOU! ME! REMATCH! NOW!"
Ritsu blinked, confused. "What? Who are you?"
"Who am I?" The girl glared at her. "WHO AM I?! I AM BLAKE BELLADONNA! JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM?!"
"Blake, quit yelling!" The short white-haired girl tugged on her sleeve. "Come on!"
Yui looked up from Azusa, staring at Blake.
"Are you a catgirl?"
"I am a cat FAUNUS! AND I WILL HAVE MY-"
The other black-haired girl cupped her hand over her mouth and pulled her back as the blonde girl ran over to them.
"Listen, guys, I'm really sorry about Blakey, she's just a bit...insane-"
"I know you four!" Mio snapped her fingers. "You four were the ones who put out that advert months ago, right? And we came over and did that thing?"
"Oh my Dust, you really are Hokuago Tea-Time!" The girl squeed happily. "I'm such a big fan! I'm Yang, by the way- you remember us, we invited you guys over here, you beat us..."
Mugi chuckled, placing her hand over her mouth. "It seems Blake here was disappointed with the results of our last match."
"A rematch?" Ritsu thought carefully, rubbed her chin. "I dunno. I'm pretty pooped from exams-"
"Are you a chicken?!" Blake roared tauntingly. Suddenly, even Yui's head shot up.
"Blake!" Yang yelled. "D-don't be so-"
"What did you just call me?" The drummer shot Blake a glare, cutting Yang off and making the other girls present jump with her tone. Mio made a movement to grab her, stopping her.
"R-Ritsu, she's just-"
"Let go of me, Mio! I want to know what she just called me."
Blake breathed heavily. "You heard me, a chicken!"
"I'm not a chicken! I'm not scared to beat you! You, me, right now!"
Mio stood up, flailing frantically. "H-hey! T-this isn't the time, Ritsu! This isn't the-"
"GOOD!" Blake leaned in, glaring at her opponent. "LET'S GO, RIGHT NOW! MANLINESS VERSUS MOE!"
Ritsu returned the gesture, glaring equally intensely. "THEN WE'LL SEE WHO'S REALLY CHICKEN!"
Azusa stood up. "Ritsu, you shouldn't be baited so easily! Calm down!"
"Yeah...you're really scaring me, Ritsu-chan..." Yui pouted, shrinking away from her.
Mugi stood up, smiling at both parties with a cup of tea in hand.
"Alright. So you want a rematch with us?" The heiress offered to the catgirl.
"OF COURSE! THEN WE WILL PROVE THAT OUR MANLINESS IS SUPERIOR TO YOUR MOE!"
Yui tilted her head, curious. "What's moe? Is that some sort of cake?"
"Good god, Yui." Azusa facepalmed, exasperated.
Mugi closed her eyes. "Very well. We will decide on it as a band."
With that, Hokuago Tea-Time huddled together, looking between one another.
"Nobody calls me chicken!" Ritsu muttered. "I say we go for it!"
Yui giggled. "And besides, won't it be fun to play a little music for our fans? Gitah looks lonely sitting there without being played..."
"I say no to that." Mio shook her head. "We came here to relax! Won't it be a little stressful to play against them?"
Azusa nodded in agreement. "It's a bit too sudden. We're a bit out of practice, too."
"So we're at a tie?" Mugi sighed, looking between both sides. "...very well, it's left to me to decide."
She turned to the other girls.
"We'll do it."
"WHAT?!" Mio and Azusa yelled in unison, taken aback.
Blake clapped, enjoying the prospect of a challenge. "Excellent! When do you want to do it?"
"An hour would be fine." Mugi stated with a smile. Even Ritsu was taken aback.
"M-Mugi?! We're not that awesome!"
"Relax. We never did that much practice to begin with." Yui pointed out happily. Azusa looked down, exasperated.
"That's not a good thing..."
"Because I spent all my practice time eating cake and hugging you~" The affectionate girl leapt onto her partner, who began squirming.
"Yui-sempai! Q-quit that!"
"Excellent." Blake rubbed her hands. "Weiss, you know what to do."
The white-haired girl glared at her. "You're not seriously asking me to call my father to ask him to set up a play off now, right?!"
Blake nodded. "Exactly what I'm asking. Glad we can see eye to eye."
The white-haired girl pinched her nose, closing her eyes and pulling her phone out. "Fine. He'll probably say no."
"Your father has some clout here, doesn't he?" Ritsu noted. The other girl who had not spoken raised a finger.
"He owns the mall."
"WHAT?!"
"It's the Schnee Shopping Center! And this here is my girlfriend Weiss! I'm Ruby!" The girl waved at them as she planted a quick kiss on her partner's cheek.
"...what?" The heiress sighed. "...seriously?! But...
Fine, Father, I'll be sure to give her your regards." Weiss put down the phone, turning to Blake.
"We have clearance. I hope you're happy."
The catgirl pumped her fist in joy. "EXCELLENT! We'll get our instruments soon! Girls!"
The four walked out, as Mugi looked over to them, with Azusa giving her an irritated look as Yui rubbed her cheeks into her head.
"What?" The heiress shrugged. "I just thought it would be a fun holiday activity."
"Democratic choice, you say..." Mio muttered darkly. "...well, I think we'd best be leaving the bill then, if we're actually doing this..."
Half an hour later...
Team RWBY stood upon one of the stages in the central plaza, where a small crowd had gathered. The Schnee Dust Company had installed collapsible stages in the plaza for performances to be easily set up and manned by a crew of five or six people, as most if not all other functions often handled by technicians in other venues were handled by automation.
This venue was certainly one of the most advanced venues in the country in terms of technology, with state-of-the-art lighting, sound systems and whatnot.
This made it far easier to hold an impromptu performance when it was needed- or required, in this case, by Weiss' father.
Yang was on drums, Blake on guitar, Ruby on bass and Weiss on vocals. The song they had selected was one they'd considered to go up against Hokuago Tea-Time last time they met; on closer inspection, it seemed the perfect thing to play, and they had only practice a little to remember the notes.
Weiss closed her eyes. "Are you sure this is entirely a good idea? This seems far too rush-"
"I am CERTAIN!" Blake declared, whipping out Fuckslayer and patting it carefully. The other three could feel the aura of manliness it was emitting, with Yang shivering from the sheer presence.
"We'll beat them this time, I'm sure of it!"
"I'm not sure you are." Weiss remarked. "Besides, was it really necessary to challenge them now?"
Ruby frowned, nodding in agreement. "True..."
Yang clapped, looking at Weiss as if she'd said something foolish. "Are you kidding? This is the fairest playing field we're going to get!
And Knights of Cydonia? I've been dying to play that! Are you kidding? I'm not passing up this opportunity to play that song!"
The heiress rolled her eyes. "It wasn't entirely needed that we do this, you know."
Blake clutched her guitar tightly. "We'll do it this time. I bet. I BET! WE WILL WIN!"
The group were suddenly met with their opposite number, their instruments slung over their backs; only Ritsu hadn't brought hers, for obvious reasons. Mugi waved at them.
"I see you're here early." The elegant girl noted with a smile. Blake merely glared imperiously at them.
"Enough chit-chat. Let's get this over with. I will prove the superiority of manliness here and now!" The catgirl declared. Ritsu returned the glare with equal strength, cracking her knuckles in preparation.
"We'll see who the real chicken is!"
Mio looked aside. "I wonder how this hasn't escalated into an out and out fistfight yet..."
Weiss looked apologetically to Yui. "I am really sorry about my friend's behaviour. If we win, what she says are not our opinions..."
"It's okay!" The affectionate girl bobbed her head around happily. "It's just for fun, after all! Heehee..."
Yang sighed, flicking her drumsticks into her hands and waiting for the other girls to take their positions.
"We'll decide who played better off the crowd, yeah?" Blake motioned towards the crowd. "Sound fair?"
"Alright." Mugi nodded. "That sounds fair. Are we ready?"
"Yes sir!" Yui provided a clumsy military salute.
"Ready to prove who the real chicken is!" Ritsu responded with a glare towards the catgirl. The other two members merely nodded.
The elegant girl looked over to her opponents. "Well, you may begin with your piece. The challenger must prove their right, after all, to dethrone the defender."
"Such confidence..." Azusa remarked. "...you really must think they're terrible or we're likely to-"
"ENOUGH TALK!" Blake roared, causing Ruby to jump. "LET'S GO!"
She turned to the audience, grabbing the microphone.
"Good day! This is Team RWBY!" The catgirl announced. "We're pulling off an impromptu show-off against the...esteemed Hokaugo Tea-Time, who've kindly offered to take some time out of their holiday to match us! We're relying on YOU to decide which one of us is better!
Today, we'll be playing you one of the greatest pieces of rock in the modern day...Muse's Knights of Cydonia!"
The audience launched into applause. Blake smiled, knowing she had their attention, before putting it back.
"Take it away, girls!"
They began, of course, with a series of three chords, repeated, before progressing into the familiar sound of the song's intro. The rhythm mesmerized the audience, as they bobbed their heads to the song, almost jumping at points.
Weiss noted something about Blake's playing. It was somewhat rushed at points, almost too harsh and strong.
'...she's losing it.' The heiress mentally noted. 'This...whole manliness obsession is making her unable to concentrate properly.'
Finally, Weiss heard her cue was nearing. She sighed, closing her eyes.
'Here goes nothing. Another wasted day...' The heiress thought. 'Why do I do these things for Blake...'
"Come ride with me through the veins of mystery..." Weiss sang, somewhat bobbing along herself to the song set by Blake. "And I'll show you why God falls asleep on the job!
But how can we win when fools can be kings? Don't waste your time...or time...will...waste...you!"
...
"No one's going to take me alive! The time has come to make things riiiight!
You and I must fight for our rights! You and I must fight to suuuurvive!" Weiss sang-almost roared- into the microphone, as the song launched into the coda and the final riffs.
The audience cheered as Blake finished the song, glowing green with Spiral Energy from the manliness she was emitting. The catgirl smiled at Hokuago Tea-Time, who had calmly watched them, and winked, smug.
"Your move."
Ritsu gritted her teeth, clenching her fists around her drumsticks. "Dammit, they're...good."
Yui tried to look as threatening as possible to intimidate them- which, gathering from Yang's immediate squeeing, didn't work.
"Don't worry! We'll do our best to beat you!"
Mugi clapped proudly. "Right. Everyone! We know what we're doing. Let's show them that we can come up with our own songs and beat them easily.
Yui, take the mic. We know you're better with audiences."
Mio visibly sighed in relief as the affectionate girl took it up. She had barely gotten used to playing for large audiences in her home country, let alone ones in an impromptu venue in a different country, and was just thankful she hadn't been called on too much.
Blake gritted her teeth. "Why you..."
"What's wrong?" Ruby tilted her head.
"They know Yui's too moe for the audience to resist." The catgirl cursed. "Damn it all."
"Uh...hi!" Yui waved at everyone. "We're Hokaugo Tea-Time! Uh...we're performing a little on short notice today, but here we are!
We're going to sing a little song for you all! It's called Heart-Throbbing Sugar, and Mio-chan's going to sing it!"
"W-what?!" The aforementioned shy girl stared at her in shock. "M-me?!"
Ritsu frowned. "Come on, Mio! It's just one song!"
"B-but..." The girl sighed, knowing she couldn't just back out and disappoint the audience- not with the cheering from them, especially since some of them were now hefting signs with their band's logo on it.
"...fine. But just this once, okay?"
Yui hugged her tightly. "I knew you'd come through for us!"
"Y-you're kind of crushing me!"
"Sorry..."
With that, the bassist took front stage and the mic, clearing her throat. Blake was visibly scared.
She knew that there was nothing she could possibly do to salvage this. Mio's fear was adorable, and the audience had already busted out the HTT signs.
"Damn it...I've lost again..." The catgirl muttered. Yang placed a hand on her shoulder.
"It's not over yet! Come on, cheer up!"
The other band began playing, with a fairly nice and pleasant beat. Mio inhaled briefly, looking around at the audience to gather her own confidence.
'Never let it be said I don't do anything for my friends...' The bassist thought, before opening her mouth to sing.
"Taisetsu na anata ni...karmaeru soosu! Guranyuu tou ni buraru shugaa!"
...
"Hoppe ga ochiru yo!" Mio concluded the song, sighing in relief as her bandmates finished off the rest.
The audience exploded in response, raising their signs and various HTT merchandise, clapping happily and cheering Mio's name. Team RWBY had already been forgotten.
Blake clenched her fist.
'That's it. I'm not being beaten again. This time, I'll get them.'
"I-It's not over!" The catgirl declared towards them, yelling over the audience. Weiss stared at her in dismay.
"Belladonna, what are you doing?!" She hissed irritably. "Come on!"
Ritsu stuck her tongue out, smug. "Nya, we beat you fair and square! Looks like this manliness thing you're talking about didn't really help."
"I demand another rematch! Give us a week to prepare! You can stay at Beacon!"
Weiss stared at her. "BLAKE!"
The catgirl stared back at her. "We're not going to give up until we beat them!"
"Nah, nah, we beat you!" The drummer complained. "We don't have to-"
"Alright!" Yui cheered. "Sure! We'd be happy to do it again! We're even staying at your school, too!"
Azusa shook her head, pulling her aside. "Yui! We paid for a hotel already! It'll be a waste of money!"
Blake laughed. "Excellent, excellent. Let's do this. We'll see you around."
With that, she packed up her gear and headed off stage. The rest of team RWBY followed her off.
The moment they were out of sight, Weiss grabbed Blake, looking highly irritated.
"Was that entirely needed? They're better than us!" The heiress snapped. "They are all professional musicians!"
The catgirl growled. "I don't care! We're going to win! Manliness will win out! MANLINESS!"
She began to laugh maniacally, giggling to herself.
"Manliness over moe. Manliness over moe. Manliness over moe..." She muttered it to herself as she headed further backstage. Yang looked concerned.
"I think Blakey's gone mad. She's been beaten by the power of moe the whole year..."
Ruby frowned. "I hope she'll be alright."
Weiss' expression changed into one of actual concern and exasperation.
"Are you serious?! Alright, that's it!" She pulled out her phone. The brawler looked over at her.
"Weiss, who are you calling?"
"I'm arranging for an intervention. Blake needs to get this idea of manliness out of the way! She's far too obsessed with it!" The heiress cried. "We need to fix this.
And besides, her playing was clearly suffering from the fact that she was concentrating far too much on being manly than being good at it. She'll never beat Hokaugo Tea-Time with that!"
Ruby's eyes widened in realisation. "...I see...you have a point! What do you have in mind?"
"Something obvious." Weiss closed her eyes.
"It's time to fight fire with fire, so to speak."
Later that day, at Beacon...
The unexpected arrival of Hokaugo Tea-Time at Beacon was indeed surprising, but welcomed. Mio received the most attention, especially from fangirls of Winter, Weiss and Blake- much to her chagrin. Glynda had to be cajoled by Cinder into housing them in one of the dorms that weren't occupied, but they were settled in within the hour.
"Wow..." Yui looked around as she walked through the corridors, her bag and her beloved Gitah slung on her back. "...this place is so cool...they must have a lot of cake here, too!"
Azusa chuckled. "That's always the first thing you think about."
"I take cake very seriously1"
"The funding they must get as a combat academy must be considerable..." Mugi nodded in agreement. Ritsu was herself looking at the various students carrying HTT badges.
"We must be famous around here! That's awesome!" The drummer cheered. "That means I can make them all do my bidding, right?"
"Don't flatter yourself." Mio remarked. Ritsu stared back at her.
"You've got nothing to worry about! Everyone here's practically in love with you!"
"MIO-CHAN!" A random doe Faunus leapt towards the bassist, trying to hug her. She barely escaped by sidestepping her, squealing in terror.
Mugi rubbed her hands as she surreptitiously took a picture of her friend's fear with her phone.
'Her adorableness pleases Mugi.'
She added it to an album full of similar images, hidden between ones of Yui hugging Azusa and other similarly vaguely romantic moments between the others in her group.
What Mugi did not spot was the watchful eye of a certain boy as they walked away. His eyes followed her as she giggled, hiding the phone from the bassist's sight as she insisted she hadn't taken a picture of her squealing in terror.
"Tsumugi Kotobuki." Ren noted down on his notepad, when the girls were out of earshot. "Potential target for recruitment into the Antic Order.
Nora, we have work to do."
Nora saluted to him. "Yes sir!"
"We have to recruit Miss Kotobuki into our little order. But first, we have to find out her suitableness.
She was taking a picture of Mio, was she not? Find out what you can about that. See if she'd be open to more...risque pranks."
...
Meanwhile...
Blake descended into her hangar, hoping to work off her irritation at losing once more to the accursed moeblobs.
"Damn it all..." The catgirl muttered. "...I can't lose again. I have to...I have to win!
I have to think of the manliest songs I know! Think!"
Blake racked her brain as she walked past the tarp hiding Project YAMATO and the pride of her mech fleet, the Gurren Lagann. She had to think of a manly song, one that could overcome even the sheer moe of Hokaugo Tea-Time-
"Pondering something?"
Blake froze. Her face lit up.
"...no way."
Andreas Arc approached her slowly, his chest exposed as usual with only a longcoat to warm his upper body up. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Blake, what did I say about manliness again?"
"...you don't need anyone else to carry you, you can carry yourself." Blake repeated excitedly as she came face to face with the man she knew to be the very reincarnation of her idol made flesh.
"Well, I said that, true. But, Blake, there's something you should know."
"D-did I do something wrong?" The catgirl was taken aback. "W-what? I-I only...I only used the power of the spiral as well as I could! Manliness was my greatest priority!"
"...you're doing it wrong." Andreas sighed, chuckling.
Blake merely stared at him, shocked.
"What...what do you mean?"
To be continued...
DISCLAIMER: Knights of Cydonia belongs to Muse.
A/N: Will Blake ever learn to use manliness properly? Will Mugi join the Antic Order? Will Blake beat Hokuago Tea-Time?! Find out next time!
A little hint at what next chapter's songs will entail.
There's a point where it tips, there's a point where it breaks, there's a where it bends, and a point we just can't take any more...
So, I hope you enjoyed that, leave your ideas, comments, suggestions, criticisms, reviews and thoughts, and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!