Rider Time Zi-O: Roze from Remnant
Chapter 51.5 – A Much Needed Day Off
"As it is written in this book, average high schooler Tokiwa Sougo embarks on a path which leads him to become the overlord of time, Oma Zi-O." Woz spoke as usual in his narrative void, "Coming together, Sougo, Geiz and Team RWBY all band together to defeat Another Roze and Zi-O and start on a new path to the future. With that battle ended alongside Tsukuyomi and Oscar Pine returning, a much needed break is in order for everyone."
Earth – A Few Days after the Another Zi-O Incident
Geiz sighed as he stared at the destination, crossing his arms, "And why are we here again?"
"Given everything that's happened…" Tsukuyomi trailed. "This does seem like the best option."
"Exactly," Sougo pointed upwards. "I figured we could all use something like this."
The three of them were staring up at a building labeled Round One. It was essentially a chain of entertainment stores that usually specialized in bowling. Though this one was a fair ways away from 9-5-DO due to the fact that it was a cut above the rest and he he knew everyone would enjoy their stay.
"I don't feel why we need to go somewhere to relax," Geiz replied. "Can't we just do it at home?"
"What, afraid I'm going to beat you at bowling?" Sougo asked teasingly.
"You, beat me?" Geiz scoffed as he glanced towards his friend. "As if."
"There you guys are!" Ruby's voice cut through their conversation, the three turning towards where they heard her from.
Approaching the group were Team RWBY alongside Oscar, the farmhand turned fighter having been taken shopping to get a more discreet outfit. He was wearing a simple set of clothes, faded blue jeans, brown heavy duty shoes and a green jacket with a white collared shirt underneath.
"So what exactly are we doing here?" Yang asked.
"I figured we could all use a day of fun and relaxation!" Sougo called out as he pumped his fist in the air.
"So pretty much a vacation," Oscar noted.
"Hey sounds good to me," Ruby admitted as she gave a stretch. "Sleeping in the past couple of days has been fun but I could use some fun, fun."
"So what exactly do we do here?" Blake asked.
"If I recall from little I researched of this Round One, and what Sougo mentioned… bowling," Tsukuyomi replied.
"That's only part of what we'll be doing," Sougo gave a light grin as he began to lead everyone forward. "This is a special Round One because it's got a place inside it that has everything!"
Weiss raised an eyebrow, "Everything?"
"And just what is everything?" Geiz asked.
"Faster," Ruby called out with a laugh. "Faster!"
"Will you stop pushing me," Geiz growled out.
"I'm not the one going at a snail's pace!" Ruby called out playfully as she continued to press her hands against Geiz's back to force him to speed up.
The two were currently riding on balance scooters around an indoor track, though despite Ruby getting the hang of it, Geiz seemed to still be shaky at it.
"I'm going just fine!" Geiz called out as he crossed his arms before giving a yelp, quickly holding out his arms to keep balance. "S-See, just fine!"
"And to think you managed to handle Geiz Revive's high speed," Ruby remarked.
"That doesn't involve trying to balance on a two wheeled platform!" Geiz called out as he ducked his head in his collar, wanting to hide his blush of embarrassment.
"Come on Geiz, you can do it," Blake encouraged with a light chuckle as she was ahead of them, crossing her arms as she steadily sped along the track.
"Fine," Ruby huffed as she slowed down to let Geiz get ahead of her before shifting her scooter and rolled past Geiz with ease. "Have fun being a snail Geiz!"
"Why you…" Geiz gave a glare as he went to speed up, not about to let this teasing continue.
Sougo took a deep breath before taking a few steps forward and swinging his arm forward while releasing his grip. He was currently the one up for bowling, having done a five way match between himself, Oscar, Tsukuyomi, Weiss and Yang.
Everyone stared intently as the ball rolled down the lane before it crashed off center between the pins. But the force and angle was enough to result in a strike.
"Yes!" Sougo called out as he pumped his fist in the air. "That's another Strike!"
"Not bad," Yang gave a few claps.
"I'm honestly surprised he managed to make three strikes in a row," Weiss admitted.
"Well he's doing better than some of us," Oscar mentioned, noting how Sougo was the most consistent in hitting down most if not all of the pins. Yang and Weiss were fairing alright too, if just a bit lower in scores. But he and Tsukuyomi were doing abysmal.
"Oh you guys aren't doing too badly," Yang waved it off.
"Turkey," Tsukuyomi called out as she was staring at her tablet.
"Bless you?" Oscar asked.
"Getting three strikes in a row is considered a turkey," Tsukuyomi explained as she held up her tablet that held a page of various bowling terms and tips.
"I could go for some turkey right now," Sougo admitted as he rubbed his stomach a bit while walking back to sit down.
"Too bad they don't give turkeys as a prize for getting a turkey," Yang gave a laugh.
"Are you really reading tips and tricks?" Weiss asked.
"I figured I could maybe learn on the fly," Tsukuyomi admitted as she stood up to go next since her turn was after Sougo's. Taking up a medium sized ball she took a deep breath as she mimicked the advice she read, swinging her arm back before throwing it forward. She watched as the bowling ball rolled down the lane but was curving towards the side before rolling into the gutter.
"Ooh… not good," Yang winced.
"She still has her second attempt," Oscar reminded.
Tsukuyomi took a deep breath again after grabbing the bowling ball, throwing it forward though it seemed like it was about to meet the same fate as her previous throw. Tsukuyomi clasped her hands together, muttering words of prayer, unknowingly calling upon her powers. A subtle invisible push forced the ball back onto the lane at an angle before it could go into the gutter, it striking the pins diagonally and taking out seven of them.
Sougo's eyes went wide as he pumped his fist in the air, "Whoa, nice one Tsukuyomi!"
"Yeah great job," Oscar clapped.
Tsukuyomi could only stare in surprise as she lowered her hands, wondering if she was starting to manifest other parts of the Time Jacker powers she held. "T-Thanks," She gave an awkward smile and pumped her fist up while looking back at the others.
"Take this!" Yang called out as she swung.
The sound of a ball echoing against the metal slam of a bat was heard as Yang was in the batting cage section, managing to hit it high enough, it being sent all the way back to the other side. With her were Geiz and Weiss who decided to join in on the fun.
"Homerun…" Geiz trailed as he got ready, gripping his bat with both hands before swinging and hitting the ball. While he didn't hit it as high or far as Yang did, he was doing fairly well. It was better than the balance scooter and that was absolutely fine by him.
The one who seemed to not be lucking out in this game was Weiss who assumed the concept of baseball was simple. She figured that since she was alright at bowling that baseball wouldn't be an issue. And she was absolutely wrong as she immediately shifted into swordplay mode, jabbing and slashing forward when the balls reached her, most brushing past her while those that were hit merely dropped nearby her.
Weiss stared ahead for a bit before slumping over, leaning on her bat as she entered a defeated stance. "How…" She muttered as she was sure that something like this would be no problem for her.
"This isn't like fighting," Geiz called out as he easily swung and hit a ball fairly far.
"Huh, the Ice Queen having trouble?" Yang asked, resting her bat on her shoulder after hitting another ball farther than the last.
"I am not having trouble!" Weiss called out in a near flustered state before gripping her bat with both hands, ready to prove them both wrong.
"I must admit this is relaxing," Oscar said as he aimed his pool stick, hitting and striking the white ball and managing to hit the 3 ball into the corner pocket. He was currently playing by himself since he wanted to practice his aim.
Sougo and Ruby meanwhile were both playing darts as they were in a dart and pool hall. Ruby gave a grin as she got closer to the center target while Sougo was still having trouble getting towards the center.
"Come on!" Sougo whined as his last dart hit the edge.
"Sorry, maybe you'll have better luck when you get a Rider who has the power to throw darts precisely," Ruby teased as she threw her dart, soon giving a cheer as she hit the center. "There we go!"
"Looks like Ruby wins this round," Tsukuyomi as she noticed all the red colored darts were closer to the center than the black colored darts.
"I think I'll retire early," Ruby grinned as she went to grab her darts before holding them up, "Tsuki you want to play against Sougo? You'll probably have an easy time."
"I'm definitely winning this time!" Sougo declared.
Tsukuyomi couldn't help but laugh a bit as she went over and took the darts, "Sure."
Blake meanwhile was sitting down, deciding to relax a bit as she had brought a manga from home to enjoy during moments of downtime.
"You sure you just want to sit there?" Ruby asked as she walked over.
"I think I'll be fine not partaking in the fun for a bit," Blake admitted with a smile. "Besides you seem to be taking a break too."
"Just a bit," Ruby said as she stretched before glancing over. "So what's it about?"
Blake glanced at Ruby, "Do you promise not to call it-"
"Filth," Ruby immediately spoke up before narrowing her eyes. "So…"
"It's not even that bad!" Blake hissed in defense before holding the manga close to her face. "It's about this villainess who defeats the hero, but when she sees the woman behind the suit its love at first sight for the villainess. So she ditches her evil organization and fights alongside the hero as a partner, hoping to get closer."
"So sort of romance then?" Ruby asked.
"Romance and comedy," Blake replied before noticing the stare and lowering the book. "What? I can enjoy a good laugh too."
"Huh," Ruby was instead focusing on the book. "The hero kind of reminds me of Sento?"
"Well she is rabbit themed too," Blake noted. "Though considering what you said about Build I doubt they were using him as a base."
"Yeah, funny coincidence then," Ruby said before yelping a bit at Sougo's loud cheering, she turned to see that her friend had managed to hit dead center. "Huh, not bad."
"What even is this game?" Weiss asked.
"Not sure but Ruby's really getting into it," Yang remarked.
"Let's see…" Tsukuyomi trailed as she was looking through her tablets databanks. "It says here, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax is a spin-off of an RPG titled Persona 4 which is part of a larger series of RPG's."
Both Geiz and Ruby were currently playing the aforementioned arcade game, Geiz having picked Kanji as his go to while Ruby picked Labrys. The two were in fierce combat despite both being completely new at arcade fighters. There were a lot of misses, flubs, there were no actual combo's being strung together, but the chaotic action was enough to put both fighters on edge. This was especially the case due to both of them winning one round each, leaving the final one up for a tie breaker.
"So what was with the yellow eyed versions we saw earlier?" Yang asked.
"Say's here they're Shadow variants," Tsukuyomi noted before she looked it up, "Shadows are born from humans and hold negative emotions. It's said that various characters have to face their shadows and accept them in order to grow further, if they don't they'll turn into monstrous forms."
"Huh, that sounds familiar…" Weiss trailed, "Do you have an example?"
"Sure let me bring it up," Tsukuyomi said as she played a video of one of the early Shadow Encounters in Persona 4. As it continued to play, Weiss could only stare in disbelief as she experienced Déjà vu.
"You won't mind, right? I'm still you!"
"Shut up! You're…"
"Chie, no!"
"You're not me!"
Ruby briefly paused when she ended up hearing the video that Tsukuyomi was playing, suddenly flashing back to her first meeting with her Mirror Self.
"I am calm, because you're not me!"
Geiz was half paying attention but was a bit surprised as he noticed Ruby had stopped moving Labrys. So he had Kanji close in and began going for a rush down as hard as he could. He even ignored the sudden muffled 'oh my gods' that was being repeated faster and faster. He gave a yell as he finished off his opponent, Labrys' HP going straight to 0.
"Yes!" Geiz called out in victory.
"Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods," Ruby's voice suddenly cut through as she pressed both of her hands up against her face in embarrassment, "That was exactly like how I confronted Kagam-I mean my mirror self!"
"Uh… Ruby…?" Geiz asked.
"D-Did I really sound like that?" Ruby asked as she lowered her hands.
"Maybe…" Weiss trailed a bit as she didn't want to sugar coat it but also could tell her friend was very embarrassed, "Just… just a bit…"
"Oh my gods," Ruby quickly hurried off, "This is too embarrassing!"
Yang couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "Yeah she's totally back to normal."
"Okay now this hits the spot," Blake sighed in relief, as she and the rest of Team RWBY had taken to occupying the massage chairs that were lined up near a rest area, the chairs vibrating as they just let themselves melt into the chairs.
"After a good afternoon of just messing around, oh yeah," Yang agreed.
"It's not a chiropractor but this is definitely a good replacement," Weiss admitted.
"Mm-hmm," Ruby agreed as she stretched a bit before sinking further into her chair.
"You're definitely feeling a lot more relaxed than usual Ruby," Yang noted.
"Probably because she got everything off her chest," Weiss said, "While I am a bit miffed that I wasn't a part of that, I appreciate you letting me know afterwards at least."
"Well hey it's a good thing you weren't there for that heart to heart," Ruby reminded, "After all Sougo wouldn't have gotten to Saturn Parking without you."
"He probably would've, though he'd be limping the entire way," Yang said, "I mean you saw how insistent they were at the end there, right?"
"Too insistent if you're asking me," Weiss sighed.
"Point is, I think what's helping today is we've sort of reorganized our priorities," Blake admitted.
"Yeah, things are looking up for Team RWBY!" Ruby cheered while raising a fist before giving a soft sigh and sinking back into her seat.
Tsukuyomi meanwhile watched from a distance, deep in thought. Sougo and Geiz were currently elsewhere, the two having spotted a mechanical bull with the both trying to outlast the other.
"Jealous there's only four?" Oscar asked as he walked over.
"Not really," Tsukuyomi replied, "Just thinking."
"It's about what we saw with Tsukasa right?" Oscar asked.
"Yeah," Tsukuyomi gave a nod. "I've yet to tell anyone and I'm not sure if I should…"
"It's a lot," Oscar admitted. "But I think you should, what we learned… it could change everything."
"I know," Tsukuyomi gave a nod before wondering how Sougo would even handle it. "No…" She muttered as she figured out her next move. "I'll tell Ruby and her Team, but I won't tell the others. I can't have Woz trying to solve this himself, and Geiz will only get more on edge… not to mention Sougo…"
"He just recently got his dream as King back right?" Oscar asked.
"Despite him wanting to be both a King and Kamen Rider, I feel like telling him about Swartz this soon might be a heavy blow," Tsukuyomi explained. "I know it's dangerous to leave it alone, especially if Swartz says something… but it's a risk I want to take."
"I'm still not sure if you should be withholding this kind of information from him…" Oscar admitted, "Especially since this is pretty important…"
"I understand the fear since it's a big risk," Tsukuyomi gave a nod, "But I don't want to keep it from him forever. I just think telling him now isn't the best option. I'll tell him when I think the time is right."
"Do what you think is right then, I'll follow your lead," Oscar said.
"Alright," Tsukuyomi said before giving a hum, "By the way, I'm surprised you decided to come back. I figured you'd want to keep helping Tsukasa."
"As much as I'd love to even he admitted that trying to find Daiki and the Lamp would be too drawn out and hard," Oscar replied, "He said I'd have a better chance being with you all. The plan was always for me to show up after our investigation finished."
"I see," Tsukuyomi gave a nod, "And you're fine with it?"
"Honestly… yeah," Oscar admitted, "I know it's a bit selfish to say but I kind of like waiting like this. I mean like Ruby said we have all the time in the world thanks to the Time Mazine's. Without Ozpin really poking his head into everything… I kind of get a chance to be normal."
"As normal as we can be anyway," Tsukuyomi said, "Like you said it's a bit selfish but I feel like if anyone's earned that right it's you."
"I suppose…" Oscar chuckled.
"I get it though," Tsukuyomi continued, "I can only imagine this is some kind of relief on the kind of responsibility you had before…" she trailed off a bit when she heard some loud shouting, "Huh?"
"Hey Tsuki, Tsuki…!" Ruby called out as she hurried over, grabbing her friends hand. "You've got to try the chairs they're so good!"
"U-Uh sure…" Tsukuyomi stuttered and gave a nod as she was dragged along.
Oscar couldn't help but cross his arms and give a smile, "Wish things could stay this relaxed forever, especially back home."
"Hey Oscar, you want a turn?!" Yang shouted with a wave.
"Uh sure, one second!" Oscar called out as he hurried over.
Woz couldn't help but smile as he was keeping a watchful eye on the group, his presence unknown to them and the employee's who maintained the facilities. "A much needed break indeed… with spirits renewed and rested, we are ready to tackle our next set of obstacles."
To Be Continued…
Next Time: Chapter 52 – A Specter's Plight 2019
Author's Note: A fun fact and to put a frame of reference when this was written, I had gotten the idea after Episode 8 of Dynazenon had aired. The B-Plot of that episode is the antagonists having a day off where they spend most of the episode at Ground One, which is based on the real location Round One. I figured let's just have our cast have some fun after the hectic nature of the past six chapters. There's also a few minor references in her, some obvious, some not to just have some more fun with. Plus I wanted to end on a fun note since this will likely be the last Interlude for a long while.
As for a few questions I noticed that I should address. Potentially introducing any Ice Queendom elements is still up in the air, mostly since it's only on Episode 4 as of this Chapter being released. I may include some bits and pieces but anything substantial might not show up until way later. To address another question, these next nine chapters do not include Hyper Battle Videos, just formats I mentioned TTFC Specials/V-Cinema's/Stage Plays. Something like BillBill Geiz would come later, though even then I'm not sure if I can adapt it since there's not much to add to it imo. An original Hyper Battle Chapter has been under consideration but that'd be much later.
Speaking of Geiz though, I should mention that while I did give him Aura I don't actually have concrete plans for him to get a Semblance. It's hard to imagine what kind of Semblance would be helpful and fitting for him. It's the same for Tsukuyomi since she's going to inevitably get Aura. They're heading back to Remnant at some point and she's going to freeze in Solitas if she doesn't have that at least. But there are no current plans to give either Semblances. And with that out of the way, I think I've held you all up long enough. Thanks for reading and I'll see you next time.