Breathing a sigh of relief, Oscar moved down the snowy path. He found a large pile of snow.
Getting closer, he realized there was a blue X on the ground. He touched it, and miraculously it changed to a red O!
He moved around the snowpile and found a sign. It read:
Turn all the X's into O's to progress.
"Simple enough." Oscar thought, moving around the O some more. He found another X on the other side, which turned green when he touched it. He then heard a gate opening behind him.
He moved through and found Ruby standing by a mess of snow and X's. "Hello again, Oscar!" she beamed. "Just try and solve this next puzzle! It's impossible! Believe me, I've tried."
"Really now?" Oscar thought, and gave it a try. He tried taking a squiggly path through the snow pile, but he found he couldn't step on all of the X's without retracing his steps, turning an O back into an X.
He tried again, taking a different path. It still didn't work.
He tried again.
"This really is impossible, isn't it?" he thought."
Returning from within the snow, he admitted defeat. "Yep, it's impossible. You got me." he joked, holding out his arms as if to be handcuffed.
Ruby just looked at him guiltily. She looked at the floor. She seemed to… feel bad about capturing him? "...I hid a switch under the snow." she said at last. She walked over to the ground, kicked it, and the gate opened. "Hey, uh, can you do something for me, Oscar?" she asked defeatedly.
"Yeah, sure, what is it?" he asked.
"Can you please not tell Yang I did this for you?" Ruby pleaded. "Because if General Nikos finds out, I'll get in trouble."
"Sure thing, Ruby!" Oscar nodded. "Anything for you!"
"Thank you!" she smiled, running to the next puzzle.
Walking through the forest, Oscar found her and Yang standing next to a strange machine. "Greetings yet again!" Ruby beamed. "This next puzzle is sure to be a struggle, mostly because
the path is entirely random! Not even I know how the multicolored tiles will be laid out!" Turning to Yang, she said, "Yang, explain the rules, please."
Yang pulled out a slip of paper. "Alright, here goes:
Red tiles cannot be passed. Pink tiles can be walked over. Yellow tiles knock you back. Green tiles will summon a Huntsman or Huntress to fight you. Orange tiles make you orange flavored. Purple tiles are slippery, and are also lemon flavored. If a blue tile is adjacent to a yellow tile, you will get knocked back. If you are orange flavored, piranhas will push you back. Otherwise, you may walk over a blue tile.
Make sense?"
"Yep." Oscar nodded.
"Alright." Yang said. "Ruby, let's hope Dr Scarlatina's new hunk of junk won't disappoint."
"Ok!" Ruby chirped, hitting the switch.
The floor began to glow. So many colors. Red, blue, green, yellow, orange….
Until it came out as a sea of pink. And only pink. Oscar could pass as he wished. "Wow," he said, actually impressed. "What are the odds of that?"
"According to this, really frickin' low." Yang confirmed, flipping through the manual.
"Well…" Ruby said, a little embarrassed, "I suppose we should be going. See you at the next puzzle, Oscar!"
"See ya, guys!" Oscar called as they left. Once they had gone, he decided to continue.
He came to a small clearing occupied by a painter and a few ducks. They were waddling around without rhyme or reason, while the girl was admiring a painting, still wet on the canvas.
"I like it." Oscar complimented.
"Thanks, but I didn't make this one." the girl clarified. "I don't usually go for… abstract, you know?"
"Ah, I see." Oscar nodded. "Who made it?"
"Some orange-haired girl who came through recently." the artist explained. "She seemed really happy, and she said she just had to get something on a canvas. So I let her at it."
That sounded vaguely familiar.
"I think I know that girl, actually." Oscar said.
"Well, when you see her, tell her you like it." the girl nodded. "I gotta get back to painting my ducks!"
"I will!" Oscar nodded, as he continued down the path.
He found a large patch of ice blocking his path, with only a few areas of snow uncovered. He stepped on the ice and slid over to an empty patch.
Suddenly, he had an idea.
He slid over to the next patch, and to the next, and to the next, forming a spiral of sorts. Once he got to the middle, he slid towards a thin pathway that led him between the trees, and to the next area.
He found himself in an area full of little piles of snow. He gave one a pat, and moved on. He came to the next, and gave it a little pat.
Oscar wanted to pat all of these snow poffs, so he did. One even gave him a few Lien!
But by the time he reached the path to the next area, a snow poff blocked his way. He patted it…
And a dog in a mech suit rose out from it.
It stumbled towards him, like a good boy. Little did it know, the weight of its armor would crush Oscar in a single unauthorized snuggle!
Thinking quickly, Oscar looked to his left. A branch! What luck! He waved it in the air. "See the stick?" he asked the dog.
It jumped with glee.
"Go get it!" he yelled, tossing the stick off into the distance. He quickly moved aside as the dog rushed to claim it!
Soon, it returned to him, stick in mouth, and dropped it at his feet.
"Good boy!" he praised. "Now you go home, ok?"
The dog quickly left its mech and dashed towards the distant lights of homes. Oscar decided to follow it.
He came to a long, thin rope bridge. Surprisingly, it didn't sway at all, allowing him to traverse it relatively quickly. At the end, he met Ruby and Yang.
"Greetings one final time, Oscar!" Ruby beamed. "You may have gotten past Private Zwei, but this puzzle will surely cause you to meet your doom! Behold! The Survival Test of Ravenous Quality!"
Ruby let out an evil-sounding cackle as an absurd amount of guns appeared.
"Oh shit." Oscar gasped.
Ruby produced a button. "And it shall commence in THREE! TWO! ONE!" Her finger zoomed toward the button…
But it stopped.
"This… seems a little too easy." Ruby sighed. "I've changed my mind. Enough with the puzzles. I'm going to capture you myself."
Yang looked over at her, a little concerned. "Ruby… You love puzzles!"
"Yeah, but this? This isn't fair." Ruby said, motioning toward the artillery. "I want a fair fight."
"Sounds good to me." Oscar nodded.
"Alright!" Ruby said, marching off. "Meet you in the field just outside of town!"
"Remember what I told you about those bullets." Yang whispered, following her sister.
"Damn." Oscar thought. "I completely forgot."
And as usual in times like these, Ozpin returned to give his advice. "You don't need to remember," he reminded. "Just negotiate like you've been doing."
"Right." Oscar nodded. "Thanks!"
As Oscar approached Yukishiro Town, he stopped by a small shop called Xiao Long's. "A relative of Yang's, perhaps?" Oscar thought as he stepped in.
"Hey, welcome to Xiao Long's! What can I do for ya?" the blond clerk greeted. Yep, definitely a dad.
"Just some snacks for the road." Oscar said, placing a few Lien on the counter.
"Just passing through?" the man asked.
"Yep." Oscar nodded. "By the way, do you by chance happen to be family of Yang's?
"Yeah." he replied. "Her dad, actually. Name's Tai, nice to meetcha."
"I'm Oscar. And it's nice to meet you too." he said.
"Met Ruby?" Tai inquired.
"Mhm." Oscar nodded. "Actually, don't tell her this, but…" he said, as he moved a little closer, "I have just the tiniest crush on her." he whispered.
"Well…" Tai said, handing him a bag of Gummy Ursae, "I think you two would get along just fine. Go get her." he smiled.
"Thank you, sir!" Oscar said, as he walked out of the shop. "And thanks for the snacks!"
"Any time!" Tai called after him.
Oscar eventually left the town, and found himself in a foggy field. The fog was so thick he could barely see, but the only way to go was forward. He kept pushing until he found Ruby standing across from him.
"Oscar Pine." she said, almost serious. "You have come to this dueling site which has been used for generations. My mother used it, my father used it, and now I shall use it."
"Yeah, I met your dad." Oscar said. "He sold me snacks."
"Yeah, but that doesn't matter right now." Ruby laughed, before turning serious again. "And now, for the customary duel declaration! Oscar! Are you ready! To go to war!"