So on some real shit, how's Covid-19 treating y'all? For me it's been mostly boring. Work, with the nice patches of free time to play video games and not do much else because nobody's around. Hell I even turned 21 while the bars were all closed, which sucked. But nah stay safe everyone.
Matt: I hate you, if only because you're a guest and I can't just respond in PM. Make an account dude! I try to respond to everyone or address every review in the chapter following. And you will have to wait and see…
TheB: God damn you and Matt… And every other guest who leaves a good review. Seriously make an account so I can respond lmao. Yes, Ren is being a hypocrite right now. He has his reasons, fear being primary among them. Everything regarding Ren, Nora, and their revised past will be gone over in this Volume.
Also thank you for your comment on the worldbuilding. I'm glad that the OP-RWBYverse I'm creating is hitting home for at least some people.
kat1017: that may be a question on other peoples' minds so figured id answer here. Rankyaku is a maybe. It would round out Jaune more, however I want him more as short/mid range. He has a full team. While I do plan on giving him one of the other 6 powers it isn't Rankyaku. I want the 6 powers to be Ren's deal. Jaune can incorporate what works for him, but he doesn't have a problem closing in on his opponent so I don't exactly see a need for him to learn it at this point.
merendinomiliano: Thanks again for your reviews. And you are right as the series geared its focus more on fighting Salem they did start showing her and her group more consistently. Right now, as readers who know the RWBYverse we have advantages the characters don't. We know that Salem is a threat, and now so do Jaune, Blake and Franky, however whether Salem will choose to reveal herself yet is another story. Not to mention there are already two villains for this arc, and a certain Faunus who's still sulking over his loss. I don't want to oversaturate the "good" or "evil" factions, hopefully the morally grey will help with this.
One last thing to mention. Y'all are some badasses. We're at 400+ follows which ain't much and almost 100 reviews. When we hit 100 reviews I have something special planned for you guys. This "movie" arc will be considered canon, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Without further ado let's get back into Volume 2!
Nora's eyes shot open. The bubbly orange haired girl stared at the ceiling of her dorm room, a megawatt grin on her face. Today was the day. The hammer wielder of Team JNPR rolled over on her mattress, maneuvering herself towards the outlet she had plugged her scroll into. She could feel it vibrating already, with a smirk she opened the message from Yang that read "It's time!"
A second message came in shortly after, from Blake. Nora opened the picture with a curious look, and laughed when she saw it was a picture of her dorm. "Those girls are so impatient…" Nora sniffed haughtily. She then sat bolt upright and inhaled deeply.
Her eyes scanned the room, taking note of Ren's sleeping form beneath his blankets as well as Jaune who was sprawled out across his own mattress, the only question was where was…
"Hello Nora!"
"GAH!" Nora screamed as she jumped at her only female teammate's unexpected greeting.
"Ugh… Too early, Nora." Ren groaned before rolling over and pushing his face deeper into his pillow.
Jaune on the other hand just yawned and stretched before sitting up. "Morning Nora, Pyrrha-swan." He greeted each of the girls. He then looked at Pyrrha for a good long minute before something hit him.
Pyrrha had just stepped out of the bathroom wearing only a towel.
And like a wall after Nora hit it with her hammer, he fell right down, blood pooling from his nose as lay flat on his back with a dopey grin on his face.
"Oh my god Jaune are you ok?" From across the room, where he was trying to sleep mind you, Ren heard Pyrrha yell as he was stirred from his attempt at returning to sleep.
"Get away woman! Can't you see you're killing him!" Nora screamed in response. Ren could hear thumping and crashing, like Nora was trying to tackle Pyrrha.
"Is peace and quiet too much to ask for?" Ren muttered to himself. He tried to shut his eyes and go back to sleep, but the damn noise his team was making made that impossible. He cracked his eyes open and rolled over to get quite a view. Pyrrha, who apparently didn't realize her state of dress, trying to check on Jaune who in return gushed more blood out of his nose, now with his condition progressing to having hearts for eyes. Nora, for once being the force of reason, was trying to hold Pyrrha in a full nelson, which would have worked if Pyrrha wasn't taller than Nora and very strong in her own right. This led to Nora struggling to maintain her hold while flailing around on the taller girl's back.
Ren was now fully awake at this point. With a content smile, he rolled onto his back and laughed to himself. "I love this team." He then got out of bed and walked past the commotion caused by Pyrrha's state of dress. No way he was getting involved in that, especially if he could get second dibs on the bathroom.
While Jaune wasn't necessarily terrible, Nora always took forever. She took longer than Pyrrha even! No way was he going to pass up a chance like this.
After he closed the door shut he could faintly hear Nora shout, "Damn you Ren!" And some grumbling from the girl. He shook his head and chuckled, she would just have to be faster next time.
The pink eyed boy looked himself in the mirror and frowned before looking away from his reflection. His fists were clenched as he pressed harder into the porcelain sink, causing the apparatus to creak under the pressure he was putting on it.
With a slightly shocked, but somewhat prideful look, Ren removed his hands from the sink. No need to break more stuff after all, he still had that wall to fix. Besides he was supposed to be the calm one, what good would it do for him to constantly go off the handle?
Maybe it was his talk with Jaune, and the realization it brought. With Jaune's past, as well as Blake's coming to bite them, it was only a matter of time before he and Nora's reared its head.
got his shower prepared quickly and got in. While in the shower he couldn't help but think back to the conversation he and Jaune had yesterday.
Jaune and he had shook on no more secrets. How would he react to his and Nora's secret? Their burden? No if Jaune and Pyrrha were to find out they would fight that man until their dying breath, that is or they would die trying.
As strong as a man can be, how can they ever hope to face a god?
—
Johnathan cried out in agony as a lance of white hot lightning pierced his left shoulder, sending spasms through that side of the body. His blue eyes glared up at his opponent, through his rage he growled, "You think… I'm done?"
That guy had been kicking his ass all the way from their hideout and across the mountain. Talk about a beatdown. He hadn't had a fight like this… since well, he got Oz to try in a fight.
"By that tone you're taking, you think differently." The man said, cupping his chin while chuckling. His features were obscured by the darkness from the thunderclouds overhead. That was until lightning struck next to him again, illuminating the man's features. For a man with such a deep voice, he was awfully lanky. Though he wasn't bulky, one could clearly see the muscle tone across his exposed chest.
His face was covered in a scruffy auburn beard, and the look in his eye was one of a man who hardly sleeps. In the flash of light Johnathan could see him grin maliciously, his lips stretching a bit too wide and showing all of his teeth to the hunter.
K-Krack!
In another flash of lightning he was gone. Johnathan attempted to look around for his opponent, but was met with a golden rod cracking against the back of his neck. Luckily for the Arc, he had activated his Armament Haki in time to weather the blow.
Johnathan, who now could no longer hold his sword, covered his right side in Armament Haki, and deactivating the shield to return it to gauntlet form. He then, with all of his strength delivered a haymaker to his opponent's sternum.
The man let out a wheeze as he was sent flying away from Johnathan, his body moving so fast it was as if he were made of electricity.
"Wait a min-AGH!" Johnathan mumbled before realization hit him like 30,000 volts. His leg felt numb as he felt his body crumple once more. He looked down and saw something he thought should be impossible.
A tiger cub, fully made of electricity was circling him. And if the blood trailing from its maw were anything to go by, it was what had attacked him just now.
"You seem surprised." The man's bemused statement echoed across the mountaintop, yet Johnathan could not see him.
"No way." Johnathan's eyes darted around, however he still had to keep an eye on the construct. "Where the hell are you? What kind of Semblance is this?" He shouted at the dark cloud filled sky.
"This is no mere semblance. This is the power of a god." Johnathan gasped in fear as he felt the man's hand on his shoulder. His grip tightened, sending a burst of electricity through the veteran Huntsman's shoulder. "And you will bow before me."
The auburn haired man demanded, his mad grin returning full force as his electricity forced Johnathan to his knees. The electric construct tiger cub purred, pacing behind Johnathan to make sure he didn't attempt to run.
"You're no god…" Johnathan's voice was hoarse and hardly above a whisper, but it could be heard clearly on that mountain.
His opponent kept grinning, not letting up his grip. That was, until his hand erupted in a shower of blood, twisting and disfiguring itself before he pulled it away from Johanthan.
Even though his body was smoking, and slightly charred from the electric assault, Johnathan chuckled. He still had some aura, enough that he wasn't out of the fight just yet. Enough that he could activate his Semblance.
"What did you do to me you damn mongrel?" The auburn haired man asked, his voice devoid of emotion as he stood at his full height instead of Johnathan. To Johnathan's amazement and slight disgust, the damaged hand began to repair itself by popping joints back into place as well as repairing the damage with electricity.
"You've got yer own tricks with yer Devil Fruit." Johnathan said, continuing to chuckle as he spoke. "I've get my Semblance-GAH!" He cried out as he was hit with another burst of electricity.
"Speak plainly." The man commanded, lowering his still smoking arm.
"Heh, my Semblance is the most ironic one ever." Johnathan laughed, "I hate fighting bare handed but… I can turn my body into an unstoppable weapon for 5 seconds before I recharge. That was 2 seconds. I still got 3 left before I recharge." He wiped a bit of spit off his lip, "For me? That's more than enough to open up a can of whoop ass on a scrawny bastard like you." He let a smirk cross his face, "That reminds me… You've been calling yourself a god this whole time. Well who the hell are you?"
"Your arrogance will be your downfall." The man shook his head before generating a large amount of electricity in his hand. "You are right… I did eat a Devil Fruit. And I don't have to touch you to kill you." The man laughed as the electricity then took the form of two birds which perched on his shoulders. "The Rumble Rumble Fruit gives me my rightful place as a God… And soon I will ascend and complete my lifelong mission." The man said with a mad gleam in his eye. "You ask my name? You are not worthy to know it, less even gaze upon my feet you mongrel." He cackled.
"Just another whackjob…" Johnathan groaned as he was finally able to pull himself to his feet. Though he most definitely wasn't in the best shape, he still had to keep fighting. Though… If he were to be honest this fight, against someone claiming to be a God? He couldn't help but feel so alive.
"I will show you your place." The man flicked his hand out, sending a burst of electricity towards Johnathan. To the user of the Devil Fruit's surprise, Johnathan's hand was able to stop the lightning and cause it to disperse.
"2 more seconds." Johnathan spat some blood before saying that, but still gave a cheeky grin nonetheless. He stumbled towards his opponent, barely ducking another electrical assault sent his way. As he got closer the bird constructs flew from his opponent's shoulders to confront him. Johnathan grabbed the constructs, and with a quick application of his Semblance he destroyed them as well.
His opponent's eyes shone with amusement, a wide grin stretching across his beard covered face. "1." The man said, raising his arm high to the cloud filled sky above as Johnathan finally got within close range of his opponent.
"Die!" Johnathan roared, putting all of his might into one last punch to end the fight.
"EL THOR!" Lightning crashed down on the peak of the mountain. Civilians would later claim the freak storm had thunder sounding like a mad man's laughter, others would argue it sounded more like a cry of agony.
Nobody knew what caused the storm that day, nor could they decide what the thunder sounded like. What they knew was that day, was the day the Children of the Storm rose.
—
Nora could hardly keep the grin off of her face when her team finally got to the dining room. And it was downright impossible to keep the bubbly ginger from busting a gut whenever she looked at Pyrrha or Jaune. Or god forbid, caught them look at one another before Pyrrha would blush and look away.
Oh how the hammer wielding girl wished she remembered to take pictures.
"So whash ghot them actin' weird?" Yang asked between bites of her absolutely massive burger.
"Yang, please." Weiss groaned into her palm. "Can you at least try to have some sense of decorum?"
Yang at that moment had just taken a large bite, gulping it down with an almost cartoonish sound. She looked Weiss dead in the eyes, picked up a straw that had not been used yet, took off one end of it, and then blew the straw wrapper right into Weiss's face; the paper projectile nailing her target between her eyes.
"Ow!"
"That's what I think of your decorum." Yang said with a snicker, fist bumping Nora after her successful assault.
"So Jaune," Blake decided to speak up, drawing attention to the runaway member of Team RWBY. Unlike everyone else, it seemed she had changed her outfit yet again. No longer did she cover her Faunus traits, instead displaying her cat ears proudly to the world. She wore black pants and heeled boots, she also wore a blue leather jacket which was partially unzipped to reveal her cleavage. Not as much as Yang, but enough to draw more than a few looks. To Jaune, the outfit reminded him of what Robin wore when the Straw Hats first met back up in Sabaody after those two years.
"Yes, Blake-swan?"
"You said you finally unlocked your semblance in your fight with…" Blake grimaced as she tried to find the right word to describe Adam. Weiss didn't know the identity of Jaune's opponent, thankfully both he and Franky kept their mouths shut around the Schnee heiress. It was one thing for her to know Blake was once with the White Fang, but for how far in…? No, not yet.
"That shitty bull guy?" Jaune asked, taking a bite of his omelette before swallowing. "What about it?"
"Yes that." Blake nodded, grateful for Jaune's accurate, but still rude, nickname for Adam. "What was it?"
"Ah…" Jaune chuckled, "It's like I dunno." He scratched the back of his head as he tried to explain it, his swirl tipped brows scrunching up in confusion. "Ergh… So Blake-swan, you remember my Hell Memories?"
"The technique you developed to snkrt," Blake paused to get her laughter under control. "Fully utilize the fruits of your hellish training, correct?" The WY or team RWBY along with the majority of team JNPR looked between the two with a mix of interest and confusion.
"Ren! I need more pancakes!" The one who was obviously not listening decided to speak up.
"Then go get them yourself Nora, I want to listen." Ren said with a smirk. "I never heard anything about any 'hellish training' and I would want to use anything I can to get ahead." Nora grumbled but ultimately caved, heading off to grab another mountainous stack of pancakes for herself.
"No." Jaune spoke up, getting Rea to focus his attention back on him. "No you don't." The swirl browed blonde said with a downright haunted look in his eyes. "But ah, I guess my semblance is similar to that, just with more fire."
"Sounds like my semblance." Yang said offhandedly before slurping her damn well near empty drink. When she noticed everyone's flat looks directed at her she raised an eyebrow, "What? Sounds like our white knight here makes more fire when he gets mad. I hit harder when I get mad. It's not that complicated."
"Makes sense," Ren said, nodding. "It's been said that one's semblance can be influenced by their personality." His pink eyes looking between Yang and Jaune, a smirk crossing his face. "It'd make sense the two biggest hotheads I know had similar semblances." The two blonde hotheads in question promptly face faulted at that.
"YOU WANNA GO, CRAP-ASSASSIN?/SAY THAT TO MY FACE!" Were subsequently bellowed by the now literal hotheads, going by the flames spewing from their mouths.
Ren held up his hands placatingly, but otherwise offered no form of apology. Yang, had had enough at this point. The blonde girl stormed off with a huff, not even a snarky remark or threat directed at Ren.
"Do you think she was actually…" Weiss asked, a little fearfully. After all who could blame her. With one teammate already injured, and one having almost ran away before, the last thing she needed was another bout of drama. Let Team JNPR deal with that for once.
"3… 2…" Blake began to countdown casually before leaning ever so slightly to her right. In next second something flew right past where her head once was and impacted Ren's face with a resounding splat!
"Man down man down!" Nora cried frantically, placing her pancake… was that a god damn castle made of pancakes? On the table before running over to Ren's side. "Medic! He's been hit!" Nora wailed, cradling Ren's cream covered face between her arms.
"Uh, Nora…" Weiss tried to explain to the orange haired girl that it was only a pie, however she was cut off by one of Blake's arms appearing to push her hand down. The white haired girl turned to her teammate, "And why did-"
"Because this is entertaining." Blake said simply before turning her attention back to the action that was unfolding.
Nora had stopped her crying and had gone silent. Yang had returned to the table by this point, a satisfied grin on her face. The normally bubbly orange haired girl chose this moment to stand up, two streaks of whipped cream on each cheek. Her green eyes held a downright apocalyptic expression. "This means war."
"Wait wha-pfbuh!" Yang tried to ask what she meant, but was cut off by a ballistic pancake she only just caught between her teeth. Spitting the breakfast food out, she only had enough time for her eyes to widen before she saw 3 more flying at her, courtesy of Nora. "Oh fuck." She brought up her arms to block, the first deflecting harmlessly. However the second hit right below her guard, knocking her off balance, and allowing for the third pancake to hit Yang square in the forehead.
The other students who were watching this display were stunned into silence. All, but one. This brave, stupid, soul voiced the thoughts of every member of the lunch room.
"FOOD FIGHT!"
And utter pandemonium broke loose.
—
"-Listen Neptune, just try to act cool in front of these guys. That's all I ask alright? For me, bro?" Sun asked the blue haired boy he was walking beside. Though walking wasn't the best word for what Sun was doing. Bouncing was more appropriate, the blonde monkey Faunus seemed to radiate energy. Something his friend seemed a little put off by.
"I got it," Neptune grumbled, lazily pushing Sun out of his personal space. "Also cool? I am the pinnacle of-" His obviously true statement was cut off by the sound of glass shattering and a student's body being forcefully ejected from the building they were standing outside. "What the hell?" He screa-yelled, cool people don't scream… He yelled. Masculinely.
Sun on the other hand just grinned and walked over to a tree just off of the path they were walking on, and ripped off a branch. He then took said branch and began poking the guy until he turned over. The guy had short cropped hair and was wearing what was an impressive set of armor. Was being that it wasn't so impressive anymore, not with the fist shaped indent in the breastplate.
"Yeesh, wouldn't wanna be this guy." Sun joked, getting a groan from the, what he thought was KO'd student, "What, you denying it?" The injured party had no response to that.
"What the hell is… Oh you're Blake's friend, the monkey guy." Sun looked up from the student he was poking to see Jaune walking towards them, it looked like he was coming out of the building. The swirl browed blonde was dressed up again, wearing black suit pants, dress shoes, a blue button up shirt with the sleeves rolled to the elbows, and a black vest. And of course, Jaune's look wouldn't be complete without a cigarette between his lips.
"Yep, and you're the guy who killed that weird monster." Sun said with a well, sunny, grin. The two walked closer to each other before meeting in the middle and fist bumping.
Jaune turned his head to the side to exhale a cloud of smoke, though Sun still winced from it thanks to his enhanced Faunus senses. He then grinned at the other blonde, "So what brings you to Beacon? Besides your crush on Blake-swan."
"I don't-her-how could you even!?" Sun began to sputter indignantly before looking at Jaune's widening grin. "How did you know?"
"You just told me." The swirl browed blonde said with a cheeky grin and a laugh. He then clapped a hand on Sun's shoulder. "Normally I'd have kicked your ass for looking at her. But since you were there for her bring that whole event, I gotta cut you some slack." Jaune's grip then tightened on Sun's shoulder. "But if you ever hurt her…"
"Message received!" Sun yelped as the grip Jaune had on his shoulder began to heat up. Jaune then let go immediately, a wide smile on his face.
"Good." Jaune said with a happy nod.
"Talk about overprotective…" Sun grumbled, peering over his shoulder to try to see if Jaune singed his jacket, thankfully not.
"Well duh." Jaune said, "She's family." He stated, as if it were the most obvious fact in the world.
"I thought you said only the blonde girl had a sister." At that moment Neptune decided to speak up, causing Sun to slap a hand to his face.
"Some bonds are thicker than the ones we're born with." Jaune said with a wistful look in his eye. An image of 6 people, one bipedal reindeer, a cyborg, and a skeleton with an afro came in his mind.
"Eh I feel the same way." Sun concurred, nodding. "So why're you outside? Shouldn't you be hanging out with your team?"
Jaune winced at that. A frown came to his face. "I can't hit a lady… I can't hit a lady…" He repeated over and over again as if he were in a trance.
"Dude?" Sun asked, no response. "Dude?" He asked again, snapping his fingers in front of Jaune's face until the other blonde was broken from his trance.
"Oh… Right, they're in there." Jaune shot a thumb over his shoulder, back in the direction he came. "I'd steer clear if I were you guys. Wouldn't want to be caught in the…" Jaune visibly fought to keep the twitching in his eye down. "Splash zone."
Neptune gulped fearfully at that, while Sun seemed to merely grin giddily.
"is that what happened to him?" Neptune asked, pointing to the insensate armored boy that Sun was poking before.
"Oh him?" Jaune asked, glancing at the body for a moment before recognizing him. "I wouldn't worry about that. Someone was probably just taking out the trash."
"Yeesh dude, remind me not to get on your bad side." Sun chuckled before slipping past him. "Well I'm gonna check it out, I want to introduce everyone to my bro Neptune…" Sun chose that moment to turn around, and find that his friend was nowhere to be seen. "Uh Nep?"
"You can go in by yourself!" Sun looked up with a bemused look to see Neptune hanging from one of the tree branches. The blue haired boy was shaking like a leaf, which was a little weird because he wasn't that high off the ground. "I-I can't go in! I have violent-cafeterias-make-me-die-itis!"
"Ok you can stay up there." Sun called back, a mischievous grin on his face as he looked back at Jaune, who was still a little stunned by that exchange. "Just don't be mad when I tell some of the hottest girls I've met that my bro is too much of a bi-"
"You had me at hot girls." Neptune said, now standing right next to the two blondes. If Jaune didn't know better he would have said the blue haired boy shaved over to them.
"Great!" Sun grinned, slapping Neptune on the back and causing him to stumble forward, "Let's go!" He slung an arm around his friend's shoulder, half walking with/half dragging him to the cafeteria. "See ya!" Sun waved with his free hand back to the swirl browed blonde, who was back to his enjoying his cigarette. Jaune regarded them with a lazy wave before the two rounded the corner.
Neptune stared up at the doors of the cafeteria with an apprehensive look. "Do we…"
"Don't be lame bro." Sun cut him off, shaking his head. "Besides what's the worst that can happen?" He asked, grinning at his long time friend.
Neptune meanwhile, just shook his head and smirked. "Fine… If you insist on me being there to babysit you." He could hardly contain his laughter after Sun flipped him the bird with both hands in response. He walked up to the doors, reaching for it. "You're right what's the worst that could hap-"
He should have learned. Once was folly. Twice was spitting in the eyes of fate. One does not simply tempt Murphy's Law and walk away unscathed.
FWOOSH!
And Neptune was promptly hit with what could only be described as a purple tidal wave. Sun meanwhile, was lucky enough to have his Faunus instincts to tell him to get the hell out of dodge before Neptune opened those doors.
"…pen." Neptune finished his sentence. His meticulously gelled and styled hair flopped over his eyes, giving him a somewhat imposing visage as he glared bloody murder at Sun. "I hate you."
"Oh-what? Pshh that's so not my fault dude!" Sun waved his friend off with a grin. "You're the one who tempted fate."
"YOU DID IT FIRST, JACKASS!" Neptune shouted at his friend, his mouth seeming to develop shark like teeth as he yelled.
"Yeah, and that's why I'm happy you opened the door." Sun grinned at his still fuming friend, "Chin up buddy. You've weathered the storm now there's babes…a…" Sun's words died in his mouth as he took in the scene in front of him. "Plenty." He nearly whimpered.
What was the cause of his terror you might ask?
For starters the cafeteria looked like it had been hit by SMILEY's rampage, though instead of corrosive acid it left a trail of knocked out students and remnants of food. While most of the student body looked to be KO'd by this point, Sun could see that some were trying to crawl their way to door.
Those poor souls.
"Fire the pancake-a-pult!"
Sun, and the wounded students looked up in growing apprehension as what could only be described as a cloud of pancakes flew overhead. Naturally, some fell from the main group. Some of the students were unlucky enough to get beaned by the delicious projectiles. However the mass of pancakes soon impacted its target, or it would have if a massive hand didn't decide to snatch it out of the air.
The arm and the hand holding the pancakes quickly moved itself so it was surrounding the girls of Team RWBY.
Sun turned his head, almost robotically to face what could only be described as a table castle. It went beyond a mere fort by the sheer number of tables that were amassed. At the base of it, Sun could see the red haired girl and the other guy from Jaune's team standing by a makeshift catapult-sorry pancake-a-pult.
And standing at the highest point, arms crossed and resting on a large pole connected to a damn turkey of all things, was the orange haired member of Team JNPR.
Somehow throughout all of this, the girl had acquired what looked like an Atlesian Commander jacket… That apparently had two flapjacks as the epaulettes. Sun couldn't see her face from how high up she was, but he knew she was grinning like a madwoman.
"I! Am! THE QUEEN!" She roared, leaping off of her perch with her turkey hammer raised high above her as she descended on Blake's construct arm.
Nora's hammer descended with a meaty thwack, resulting in the arm dissolving before Nora fully finished her swing. The result being that her turkey impacted the floor, causing a dust cloud to rise up from the point of impact.
As the dust cleared, Nora was still in the position she was in after landing. She then silently hefted the now bare pole onto her shoulder, "And I will suffer no rebellion." She whispered rapturously.
"I thought you said they were cool." Neptune deadpanned
"You're saying this isn't cool?" Sun raised an eyebrow as he grinned at his friend.
"Drenching me in soda during the mother of all food fights isn't cool." Neptune countered.
"Aw shut up nerd, I wanna watch this." Sun shushed his friend before turning back to the action with an eager grin.
Nora was still standing where she was before. Though at this point she was notably confused, as was Sun. The orange haired girl looked around, trying to find Team RWBY, and a new weapon, until Weiss jumped out from behind one of the tables to try and attack Nora with a breadstick from her blindspot. The self proclaimed queen yelped as she ducked under the attack before popping up and head butting Weiss in the jaw. The white haired girl stumbled back, Nora thought she had her until…
"Quatro Fleur: bind." Blake enunciated blandly as she revealed herself from behind one of the other knocked over tables. Her arms were crossed and Nora's? Well they were currently being held behind her by two of Blake's construct arms, while the other two worked to tie up Nora's hands with an extra long sausage link. When the deed was done, Blake uncrossed her arms and allowed the constructs to fade, a satisfied smirk on the Faunus's face.
"It looks like our rebellion succeeded. The wicked queen is no more." Blake joked, walking over to Nora with a smirk on her face.
"Ow…" Weiss moaned, rubbing her jaw.
"Or… well almost." Blake said after a pause.
"Hey!" Sun couldn't help but snicker at Weiss's indignant shout.
"Fool, you think I'm finished?" Nora asked, glaring up at Blake with a positively thunderous look in her eye. "PYRRHA! DO THE THING!" She screamed.
"But-" Pyrrha began to protest from her position by the pancake-a-pult.
"NOW!" Nora cut her off.
"Hey. What's the thing?" Neptune nudged Sun before whispering his question to him.
"I don't know? And why are you whispering?" Sun shrugged his friend off. Sometimes Nep was weird. But he was still his bro.
At that moment Sun and Neptune learned just what the thing was. Accompanied by the shattering of quite a few of the windows, 4 or 5 vending machines were now floating around Nora's castle. All of them looked to be shaking, as if…
At that moment all of the cans flew out of the vending machines, the machines themselves dropping uselessly to the floor as a wave of cans flew towards where Blake and Weiss had Nora.
"Haha not the queen now…Oh." Yang, chose that moment to pop her head up. And instantly regretted it as the shadow of the wave of cans closed in on her.
As they had done when Neptune opened the door, Sun's instincts were screaming at him to get the hell out of dodge. So without further ado he grabbed Neptune and closed the door to the cafeteria behind him.
"… They looked busy." Sun said after some time, his face set in a way too tight smile.
"Yeah…" Neptune nodded numbly. And he thought Sun was crazy. What the hell did they feed their students here at Beacon to get them like this?
The two sat on the stoop of the cafeteria after that, just trying to process what unholy hell they witnessed.
"Ah, Mister Wukong. How are you liking our campus?" Sun looked up to see an old guy and a hot blonde lady with glasses walking towards him. Though the old guy, or at least Sun assumed by the color of his hair, looked a little familiar to him. The blonde doubly so.
"Ah…"
"Dude that's Headmaster Ozpin."
"Oh right." Sun nodded, "It's uh…" a sweat drop rolled down his forehead as he recalled what he just witnessed. "Different from home that's for sure. But Team RWBY and JNPR are cool." He added, his mood doing a total 180.
"Quite." Ozpin chuckled, a smile on his face. "If I might ask why are you boys out here? We are throwing a feast for the start of the semester, as well as the arrival of students from other schools for the Vytal Festival."
"Er…" Sun and Neptune shared a look, both adopting an awkward expression.
"There's a food fight going on, isn't there." It wasn't a question but a statement.
"Uh…" Sun scrambled to come up with a lie, but he was drawing a blank.
The blonde on the other hand, had enough at that point and flung the doors to the cafeteria open.
—
"What is going on here?" Goodwitch's tone was apocalyptic as the doors of the cafeteria burst open. She had hoped the headmaster was joking when he suggested a food fight. Going by what she saw… he understated it.
For starters, every table in the massive cafeteria that Beacon had, as well as the chairs, were rearranged in a series of forts or barricades around the room. On top of that each were covered in food and condiments making it look like a food warzone.
And in the middle of it all were those damn team RWBY and JNPR.
It looked like Nora had somehow roped Lie Ren into manning a home made catapult by their fort, most likely constructed by Nikos. The invincible girl herself was currently perched on one of the 'walls' made of tables in the JNPR fort. And as for Nora? She was standing in the middle of the lunch room, cackling… until Goodwitch came in.
"I believe I said it before." Ozpin said as he walked past her. "A food fight." He then turned his attention to Nora. "Where… did you get that from?" He asked, in regards to her coat. The hammer wielding maniac looked down at her jacket and shrugged the best she could, as she still had her arms bound by the sausages. "I see." He sighed. Inwardly though he was shedding crocodile tears. "How the hell did she get into my office and steal Vice Admiral Garp's jacket? I'm so sorry…" Though his inner monologue quickly changed tone. "Now that I think about it… Garp would have been right in the middle of this." He thought with a sweatdrop.
"Ow…" At this point Yang made her presence known… from the far wall. It looked like she, the rest of her team, and the wall were painted by a mess of soda; at least going by the cans on the ground.
"Why did we try to fight Pyrrha? Even in a food fight…" Weiss groaned.
"I believe… My partner fired the first shot." Blake groaned from her own position in the wall.
"Can't you tell when an attack is coming?" Yang shot back.
"Girls." Goodwitch's tone before was apocalyptic, now it felt like the room dropped to absolute zero. One by one the WBY of Team RWBY robotically turned their heads to see Goodwitch standing in the doorway… And promptly peeled off the wall and fell into a heap. "All of you-"
"That's enough," Ozpin raised an arm to hold her back. "Well it looks like a fine mess was made. Seeing as how most of the student body took part," He chuckled as he looked at the mess of students strewn across the ground. "We can't accurately pin the blame on anyone."
"LIKE HELL!" Most of the injured students on the ground roared in protest. Protest that was quickly silenced by a growl from Nora.
"We'll call in the clean up crew. As for Team RWBY and JNPR…"
"Oh please, let me handle this." Jaune said in a far too nice tone as he walked through the doorway, lazily flicking the butt of his cigarette outside. Goodwitch scrunched her nose in disgust at the lingering smell, but said nothing else.
"You have something in mind, Mr. Arc? I thought your policy was to always protect your friends." Ozpin asked, somewhat jokingly.
"Oh it is. However," Jaune nodded, agreeing with Ozpin before adopting a downright evil look in his eye. "It seems I have to teach my friends not to waste any food. And while I can't exactly hit most of them…" A sadistic grin stretched across Jaune's face. "Well I think what I have in mind will work just as well."
Blake, who knew just exactly why Jaune was like this about food began to sweat in fear. Give her Goodwitch any day over a Sanji who's mad at her about wasting food. That's almost as bad as if someone tried to mess with Luffy's hat.
Ren came to a similar conclusion over on his side of the cafeteria and looked up to Pyrrha, "We done goofed." Pyrrha could only nod in that statement before sagging in defeat.
—
(3 days later)
The cafeteria for Beacon was finally re opened. As most of the students went about their day, grabbing lunch, Sun decided to drop in to finally try some of their food. And most importantly for free. He was eating an apple that he snagged as he waited in line for the chicken strips. When it was finally his turn he gave a wide grin before looking up, "I'll have extra plea-wait SCHNEE!?" He nearly did a double take when he saw that yes, Weiss Schnee, was dressed up as a lunch lady, hair net and all, and serving chicken nuggets.
"Ugh… Hello thie-Sun." Weiss scoffed, however a stern look from her co-worker, Blake, got her to change what she was calling him.
"Why… are you working here? Also can I still have extra chicken?" Sun asked, a little confused though his grin quickly returning at the thought of food.
"Sure," Weiss sighed, grabbing the tongs and heaping a pile of chicken strips on his plate. "As for why…"
"Just learning the importance of never wasting a single scrap of food." A familiar voice said, though Sun didn't turn around; he could tell the speaker had a shit eating grin on his face.
"I didn't even want to be a part of it!" Weiss screamed at Jaune, who at this point was laughing. "And why do Nora and Yang get the easiest jobs? They made the biggest mess."
"Well… I don't trust Nora within 20 feet of anything flammable." Jaune said, "She's a friend, I'll cook pancakes at 3 am for her, but I don't want to see the cafeteria burn down."
"Ah… That's a fair point." Weiss said.
"Besides chin up Snow Angel," Jaune said with a grin, "You only have to do this for a week. Me? I worked on the rowdiest restaurant on the seas for most of my life." He chuckled. Weiss smiled at that, however Sun was left confused and scratching his head.
—
Another week had passed, the Atlas ships were still docked at Beacon. However inside one particular ship, a girl's silver eyes opened for the first time in some time. Her vision was a little blurry, however she could see a woman standing near her, she had white hair just like…
"Weiss…?" The girl croaked out, throat dry and her voice soft from lack of use.
The woman turned around and yelled something, though the girl could not hear it. It was as if she was under water. Maybe she should sleep some more… Sleep sounded good.
—
"Ruby?" The next time the girl stirred it was to a familiar voice, this time much less garbled. When she opened her eyes her vision was blurry at first, though after adjusting to the light she could see the blonde girl standing before her. Her lilac eyes were full of worry.
"Yang?" The girl asked, unsure. Unsure of her voice. Unsure of this being real. The next thing she knew she was wrapped up in a hug and covered in a mess of blonde hair.
"Yeah… I'm here." Yang said, tears streaking down her face as she cradled the head of her little sister. Though even through her tears, a smile was there.
"We all are." Weiss, this time she knew it was Weiss, added before adding her weight to the hug.
"You gave us quite a scare mon capitaine." Blake's voice added and Ruby could swear there were 10 extra arms added to that hug.
"Guys… can't… breathe…" Ruby gurgled out.
—
Yep that's a wrap. A bit of a short chapter, but I wanted to keep it mostly light and have Ruby come back… And also introduce our next big bad for JNPR. Oh and I'm sticking an Omake in for you guys.
Now as for the food fight, there were some obvious changes. That being it was actually a food war with every student involved. Look I'm pretty sure the reason nobody else got involved in canon was lack of budget. The reason I didn't show the food war in it's entirety was more because Jaune wouldn't be there. Jaune would want no part, if RWBY and the majority of JNPR were male he would have just kicked their asses. But they're not so instead he had to settle for making them work the cafeteria.
In canon there was no punishment, but Jaune cares more about the food being wasted and therefore would want to punish them.
Moving onto our big bad motherfucker… Well I hope y'all are ready to rumble. Or at least hope that Team JNPR is. Please lay out any predictions for his name and his dealio.
As of now I am putting a cap on the reincarnates. However, the games are back on. Since his former identity is easy for anyone who watched One Piece, I want you all to guess his current name. Here's a hint, he's named after a Norse god but NOT Thor. If you can guess his first name (you get a cookie for last name guesses) then you get to ask ANY ONE spoiler question in PM.
Now let's get onto the Omake. This is one that I'm sure a lot of you were wanting for a while.
The Lost Sage
For the life of him, Sage could not explain how he ended up in Vale. He had just gone on a walk to the town below Haven to get a drink. Then well, just like every other town or city he'd ever been in, the walls had started to rearrange themselves.
He thought it was weird when he got on a boat back to the school, but they said it would get him where he needed to go.
But when he stared up at that massive monster terrorizing the docks… He couldn't help but grin.
"Boy! We're gonna have ta' turn back! There's no way we can get to Vale with that thing there." The captain of the ship said to Sage. Though the green haired boy only grinned.
"Don't worry old man." Sage's grin spread as he reached to his shoulder and untied a black bandana before retying it around his forehead. "Just get me close enough and I can kill that thing." He reached for his belt which had 3 independent katana looped. One practically shone in its pristine white sheath. His fingers tapped rhythmically against the hilt of that blade in anticipation.
"Kid just who the hell do you think you are?" The captain asked. "Leave it to the professional huntsman." He waved the green haired huntsman in training off. Like hell he was going to have an irresponsible brat's death on his head.
Sage, for his part, merely turned back to the captain. "Who do I think I am?" He repeated the question. He then drew the first sword and placed it between his jaws, then with great speed drew the other two swords. "I'm the greatest swordsman in the world!" He bellowed, though it was slightly muffled by the sword in his mouth.
The captain stared him dead in the eyes for a moment before sighing. "The youth of today… Feh bunch of madmen rushing to an early grave." He then flashed Sage a grin, his eyes showing a look of mad glee. "Fehehahahaha! You're a mad lad for sure, but damn if I ain't one too! I'll get you close to the damn beast, you just have to kill it."
"Like that's even a question." Sage scoffed. "Tch, need to get that thing's attention." He readied himself, holding his 3 katana in a strange manner. "3 sword style…" He closed his eyes, and in the instant they opened the blades turned an obsidian color. "1080 Pound Phoenix!" He roared, sending a flying slash with his swords, so powerful it carved a deep trench in the ocean before them. The blast was so powerful it even bifurcated the gelatinous monster on the docks… If only for a moment before it reformed. "Damn… Too far away." He muttered. And judging by the trench he made, there wasn't much of a chance of the barge getting there in a timely manner.
"Well," Sage sighed and plopped down on the deck, sitting cross legged. "Nothin' to do but wait."
And so he watched. He saw the giant arms trying to fend off the monster and his heart skipped a beat. He washed the feeling away, it was mere coincidence. However the feeling returned when he felt a great heat as he got closer. His mouth hung open in utter shock when a massive beam of light tore forth from a bullhead, the cry of "SUPER!" Carrying across the winds.
When they finally got close enough Sage wasted no time leaping towards his opponent, his swords drawn.
He could feel that heat closing in, and his armament activated in response. The beast wasn't looking at him, focusing on whoever was attacking from the front. Big mistake.
"3 sword style…"
"Hell Memories…"
"ONI GIRI!"
"Mutton shot!"
In an earth shattering explosion it ended. When Sage landed he saw no trace of the beast on land, or at least any still living portion. The remnants were quickly burning away on land, or dissolving into the sea.
"Hope I did you proud, captain." The words shocked Sage out of his musings as he looked at the blonde man standing in front of him. The guy looked like he was a wreck, his suit was in tatters, however one thing affirmed Sage's knowledge of his identity. The damn dartboard brow.
"0/10." Sage spoke up, a wry grin on his face that spread when the blonde looked at him. "… Crap cook."
The blonde for his part, merely gaped like a fish before schooling his features. "Nope." He said calmly.
"Yep." Sage said, his grin was practically face splitting by this point.
"I thought the one good thing about being reincarnated was never seeing your ass again, mosshead." The blonde groaned. "Why do you have to ruin the good things in my life." He asked, glaring at his green haired rival.
"That's what I asked myself when Luffy had you join the crew." Sage snarked back.
"Jaune!" The duo looked up to see the Bullhead pulling in for a landing. At the base of the cargo bay doors were a red haired girl in armor, an orange haired girl and…
"Franky?" Sage asked, shocked.
"Another person who knows me?" The android in question groaned, prompting Sage to look at Jaune with a raised eyebrow.
"He doesn't remember his time on our crew." Sage made an o shape with his mouth as he nodded in understanding.
"Like the time with the seahorse…"
"We agreed never to speak about that." Jaune grumbled, and his scowl only deepened when Sage laughed at him.
After the former Strawhats helped load the members of Team RWBY onto the Bullhead the trio of conscious ones sat in the control room, with Pyrrha and Nora at the door. The others were sleeping off their exhaustion, meanwhile Franky was piloting and Jaune seemed to get enough energy back from Ozpin.
"So, elephant in the room…" Pyrrha spoke up, "Who is this?"
"An asshole. Don't worry about him, Pyrrha-swan." Jaune cut off Sage from introducing himself. Pyrrha for her part, fixed Jaune with a flat look.
"He's the Pirate Hunter ain't he?" Franky grunted from behind the wheel.
"You don't remember the crew but…"
"3 swords, green hair. Plus you know blondie here." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder in Jaune's direction. "I may not have a formal education, but I'm not stupid. I did build my body from scratch after all." Franky grunted.
"So…" Pyrrha's eyes widened as she made the connection. "He's also a part of your… pirate crew?"
"Jaune's a pirate? That's so cool!" Nora exclaimed, stars in her eyes.
"Luffy's crew." Jaune and Sage corrected at the same time, though they glared at each other afterwards. "But er… Yeah that's right." Jaune confirmed.
"Franky already told you my title. But I guess it wouldn't hurt to know my name too." Sage grunted. "In my old life I was Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro."
"You were-" Pyrrha gasped, "That name is legendary. Stories have been passed down for centuries about the greatest swordsman who ever lived." She looked Sage dead in the eyes, "Are you saying that is really you? Santoryuu Zoro?"
"Er… Yeah, didn't know I got that famous." Sage said, a little awkwardly. "Thought it was mostly infamy since I killed Hawkeye when the world was going to shit." Jaune smiled briefly at that before adopting a more somber look. "Oi cook," Jaune looked up at Sage. "What's got you down? We killed SMILEY… again."
"Did you guys do it?" Jaune asked. Pyrrha and Nora looked at him in confusion. "Did Luffy-"
"It's a story for another time." Sage grunted, cutting him off. "But if you want to know a story for now…" A wide grin crossed his face. "There was a point where Usopp's bounty got higher than your's." And that was the last thing Jaune heard before everything went black.
And that's a wrap for real real. Unlike with Brook there is a zero percent chance of Sage actually being Zoro. I did it for an Omake to just show him messing with Jaune a bit. If I did bring him back for real I would have swapped Sun coming for him so as to establish Adam's rivalry with him. The main reason as to why I didn't bring Zoro back to life is that in this story I feel like he would detract from it rather than add to it.
Anyway thank you all again for supporting this fic. As always do your thing but remember 100 reviews for the special.
I'm out, peace!