Chapter 7: The Bits and Pieces
Even though they'd been walking in the portal, the group landed in a face down pile in the middle of the temple's living room. There was a collective "oomph," and then they stood up. Well, everyone except Steven, who'd had the misfortune of having a very tired Lion land right on top of his head. Right before he passed out from asphyxiation, Steven was suddenly able to breathe again. Looking up, he saw Lion gently sleeping in Yang's arms. "Aww, he's so cute when he's not suffocating me," Steven said, quite relieved. "So, is this your house? Or are we breaking and entering?" Blake asked, looking around. "Nope, this is our home," Steven said, standing up. Behind him, Ruby was setting Sapphire's gemstone down on the table. "Come back to me soon," she whispered. Amethyst casually tossed Pearl's gemstone on the couch next to it. "Careful! You could have damaged them!" Ruby said, getting angry. "Chill out, Eternal Flame," Amethyst said casually. She turned to Steven. "Hey Steven, why don't you like, show these guys Beach City while we wait for Sapphire to show up?" "What about Pearl?" Weiss asked. "Yeah, she's still not coming around for a few days," Amethyst replied. "Of course, I must have forgot," Weiss stammered, trying to save face, "it must be because I'm famished." "Oh, if you're hungry I know the perfect place!" Steven said.
He led Team RWBY onto the balcony and down the steps. They walked around the side of the temple and the huntresses got their first view of the town. "Welcome to Beach City!" Steven said proudly. The sun was still slightly on the morning side of noon, and its light gave the town a glow of beauty. "This place is quite beautiful," Weiss swooned. Everyone turned and looked at her in surprise. "What?" she asked. "Well, usually you reserve that voice for, like, schedules and stuff," Yang explained. "I can appreciate the beauty of a scenic view!" she snapped at Yang. "It's almost like it was painted by several very talented individuals..." "Come on," Steven said, interrupting Weiss's nirvana. "The Big Donut is right down there." They set off to the building with the, surprise, big donut on top of it. "I can't wait for you to meet my best friend, Lars," Steven said to Ruby. "Um, how many best friends do you have?" she asked him Steven thought for a moment. "About eleven," he said casually.
Steven pushed the store door open . "Hey Lars and Sadie!" he called to the two friendsbutmaybemorethanthatifyoushipthesetwowhichyoushouldcausetheymadeoutinanepisodealready.
Both looked surprised at Steven's group, who'd promptly followed the young Crystal Gem into the Big Donut. "Oh, hey Steven," Sadie said, waving, "who're your new friends?" "This is Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang," he replied. He turned to Team RWBY. "This is Sadie and Lars," he told them. "Salutations!" Ruby said, doing an impression of Penny. "Hello," Weiss said in a friendly tone. Blake smiled and nodded at the two. "Sup?" Yang said jovially. "Well it's nice to meet you all," Sadie smiled. She turned to Lars, expecting him to say something rude or sarcastic. However, Lars just stood there, mouth agape, staring at one of the huntresses in utter disbelief. (Three guesses which) Yang, who'd always had a good sense off when guys were staring at her, chose to have some fun with Lars. "Oh, what are these?" she asked, turning so her hair swayed in an elegant arc before landing softly over her face in dreamy slow motion. "Sorry, I'm on my break," Lars said hurriedly as he ran into the back. Meanwhile, Steven was explaining to Yang, Weiss and Blake about Lion Lickers, and how they were terrible compared to Cookie Cat. Ruby walked up to the counter. "So, what's with him?" she asked. "Oh Lars? He gets nervous around girls. And really nervous around pretty girls," Sadie said, looking a little irritated. "So, why wasn't he nervous around you?" Ruby asked. "Aw, you're so sweet," Sadie said, blushing. "Here, have a donut on the house," she said as she slid a double chocolate donut across the table for Ruby. "Ooh, thank you!" Ruby said. She took the donut and took a bite out of it. Her eyes sparkled from the deliciousness.
"Now available at Gurgens off Route 109," Steven finished. "Hey Ruby, what do you think of-" Yang started, but stopped when she saw the donut in her hand. "Uh oh," Blake said. "What's the matter?" Steven asked. "Umm, just get us a few donuts and we'll meet you outside," Yang said hurriedly, before tackling Ruby, who had just finished the rest of the donut in one bite and began having a massive sugar rush. Yang wrestled her sister out the door, as Ruby began thrashing and screaming gibberish about a bumblebee landing on a white rose, which created the ultimate flower power to rule the universe.
"Well, they seem nice," Sadie said once Team RWBY was all outside. "Yeah, they're pretty great," Steven said walking up to the counter. Just then, the door to the back opened and Lars came out, looking like he'd had a heart attack. "Is she gone already?" He asked, panicking. "They all went outside," Steven told him. "But...but...I finally thought of the perfect pick up line!" He said, angry that he'd missed his chance. "Well, they're all right there. Why don't you go say it now?" Sadie said, in a mildly aggressive tone. "No, no, no! It was entirely based on being inside!" Lars said, putting his head on the counter and sobbing. "That seems like a strange thing to base a pick up line on, even for you Lars," Sadie said, secretly smiling that his plan had failed. "Just...make sure you bring her back soon, Steven," Lars said. "I'll bring them all back," Steven replied. "Anyway, four donuts please!"
The group walked along the beach as they nibbled on their donuts. "Mmm, these are really good!" said Yang. "Hey, umm...Weiss?" Ruby said tentatively. "I am not letting you have any of my donut, Ruby!" Weiss said sternly. "And don't even bother-" but right then Ruby gave her the puppy dog look. Weiss could feel her resolve disappearing quickly. "Quick! Someone eat this before I succumb!" she cried out. "On it!" Yang said as she took the half eaten jelly filled donut (that looked uncannily like a ball of rice) and shoved it in her mouth. Yang smiled, Weiss looked relieved, and Ruby looked extremely disappointed. "Well, where to now?" Yang asked Steven. He thought for moment, then snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea!" he said.
The crew rolled up to the Funland Arcade about twenty minutes later. "Here it is! The greatest arcade in the world!" Steven said, his arms spread apart to capture the majesty of the arcade. "This looks awesome!" Ruby cried. "Where do we start?" "Well, lets see," Steven pondered the optimal game for each of his new friends. "Yang, I think you'd like this one," Steven said, leading her to the Punch Buddy. Yang nodded enthusiastically as she prepared to deliver a solid flogging. "Ruby, give this one a try," Steven led her to Teens of Rage, where Ruby immediately let loose some rage, all while looking adorable. "Weiss, maybe this one?" Steven pointed at an older DDR machine. "There is no way that I would ever play such as-" Weiss began, but immediately stopped when she read through the set list. Steven left just as Weiss started dancing to a song that went "Baby, it's time to make up your miiii-iiind..." "Blake, I really have no idea what you'd want to play. Blake?" Steven looked around, but he couldn't seem to find the quiet member of Team RWBY anywhere. Then he noticed her, already deeply absorbed by a game. "Hey Blake! What game are you playing?" Steven asked as he approached her. Blake was far to into her game and didn't even hear him approach. Steven looked up and saw that she'd found a cabinet version of Kirby's Epic Yarn. Steven himself decided he wanted to play some Skee Ball. On his way to the game, he was stopped by Mr. Smiley. "These friends of yours aren't going to break my cabinets like last time, are they?" he asked Steven, in a voice that was halfway between threatening and weary. "Oh no," Steven replied happily, and he proceeded to the Ski Ball table.
About an hour later, the group met up at the prize counter. Steven and Ruby had both won a decent number of tickets. Yang had demolished Punch Buddy and had double that of Ruby. Weiss had similar number to Yang, having killed the dance floor and its flashing arrows. But Blake, who seemed to have found her calling, arrived with a pile so large she could barely hold all the tickets without losing her balance. "I, um, really liked that game," Blake said when she was met with a wall of shocked faces. Deciding to pool all their tickets together, the grand total was 17 539 tickets, more than enough to get anything on the wall. The group went into such deep thought deciding that they needed a montage to make it interesting to read about. Once the montage was over, the group walked out of the arcade with an electric scooter for Ruby. "Now Yang and I can go for rides together on our hogs," she said. They also got a bandana with a skull on it for Yang, a beautiful plastic ring for Weiss, and all Blake wanted was a rather large box that the scooter had come in. "Well, I worked up quite the appetite," Yang said, "how about some lunch?" Everyone nodded in agreement. "Then lead the way, Steven, Ruby said. "I know just the place," he said.
A while later Steven had lead his friends to Beach Citywalk Fries. Walking up to the counter, Steven was greeted by a boy a little older than Steven. "Hi Steven," he said. "Hey Peedee. 5 orders of the Bits, please," Steven replied. "Sure thing Steven," Peedee said, and he went off to get them. "Peedee! I need you to work five extra shifts this afternoon!" A voice from within the store yelled. "But Dad, I had plans tonight!" Peedee yelled back. "No questions! You need practice running the family business!" The voice yelled back. Peedee grumbled as he came back to the window with the Bits. "Here you guys go," Peedee said bitterly. "What was, all that about?" Weiss asked Peedee. He looked up in surprise. "Oh, well, my Dad wants me to work more even though I have plans," he explained. "Oh, that sounds terrible," Weiss said in earnest. "And, I don't even want to work for the stupid family business. Sometimes I just want to leave so I can do my own thing, you know?" Weiss seemed moved by the young boys predicament. "Oh have we got a lot to talk about," she said.
The rest of the group decided to meet up with Weiss in about fifteen minutes or so. "This day had been the best!" Ruby said excitedly, "what else have we not done yet?" Steven thought. He looked around town, wondering what the huntresses would want to see next. He looked and he looked, until his eyes spied something at the top of a large hill. "Let's go get Weiss," Steven said. They returned to the fry shop, where Peedee and Weiss were still in deep conversation. "And then, he actually makes me earn my freedom by having me defeat a giant knight!" Weiss was venting. "Well, at least the scar looks pretty cool," Peedee said. "Oh, is it time to already?" Weiss asked, disappointed. "Yup, Steven found are next destination," Ruby said. "Well, call me anytime if you want to talk more," Peedee called as Weiss waved good bye. "He's a little young for you, isn't he?" Yang asked Weiss trying to rile her up. "For your information, he's much more mature than his age would suggest. AND HE'S ONLY A FRIEND!" Weiss retorted. "I don't know," Ruby said, joining in, "a hot older girl. I wonder if he'll be able to resist you." Ruby, Yang and Steven all fell apart laughing. "Blake, please back me up on this," Weiss said pleadingly to Blake. Blake, feeling sympathetic, nodded. She snuck up behind Ruby and Yang, then blasted them with a cartridge of ice dust.
With their heads completely encased in ice, Ruby and Yang quickly apologized to Weiss using very frantic hand motions. Satisfied, the Ice Queen loaded up her rapier and used some fire dust to slowly melt away the ice. "So Steven, where are we going exactly," she asked, still keeping her eye on Ruby and Yang. Steven smiled. "You'll see soon enough," he said as he spied the barn they were headed for atop the hill.