158

Chapter 158Notes:

This entire chapter is an excuse to put Gundam references in Black Rose

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"HERE I GO!" Ruby shouted, facing down a giant training dummy shaped like an oversized Ursa, holding one hand out to her side in a claw-like shape as it expanded and formed into a twisted grimm arm, igniting from within as flames coated the pitch black, tar-like surface. 

On her back, her cloak split into six wing-like sections, holding themselves open in formation as a swirling cloud of rose petals circled around those ephemeral, false wings like a halo of burning crimson. Her Aura surged as she forced it into her hand, armored plates like a three fingered gauntlet unfolding from her grimm flesh and folding over her hand. 

"THIS HAND OF MINE IS BURNING RED!" she continued on, holding up her hand before her face as dramatic music played in the background from one of her favorite mecha series (which, of course, she was directly cribbing her speech and attack from, because it was cool dangit, and she and Penny were working on some really cool moves for the Tournament in a few weeks) from Penny's scroll, which she'd connected to her internal speakers. 

Her Aura glowed , and the wind pressure around her body became intense as rose petals swirled in a circle around her and every muscle in her body strained with the amount of power she was forcing into her hand. "ITS LOUD ROAR TELLS ME TO GRASP VICTORY!"

She rushed forward, screaming at the top of her lungs a magnificent battle cry as she left cracked ground and blazing flames in her wake from the sheer wind pressure and the flames roaring from her hand. "TAKE THIS! ERUPTING! BURNING! FINGEEEEERRRR!"

Ruby slammed her hand into the midsection of the training dummy, tearing through the thick faux-leather in an instant as she ripped the entire thing off of its moorings and buried her hand inside the stuffing within, forcing more and more flames through the grimm flesh of her hand as she raised the dummy high and anchored herself to the ground with her Aura. The temperature of the area swelled as her grimm mass responded to her will, eyes glowing with trails of silver and gold as she clenched her fist within the belly of the beast.

"AND NOW! HEAT END!"

And the dummy exploded , sending flaming shrapnel and bits of fake grimm all over the training ground in an almighty cataclysm. The shockwave pealed off into the distance, echoing against the cliff face of Beacon while Ruby's hand returned to normal and she shook her fingers out, the music crescendoing dramatically and coming to a perfectly timed ending as she turned around and pumped her fist in victory.

"Yes! Yes yes yes! First try! I knew it would work! Oh Penny you sweet beautiful genius you I knew you were onto something when you said we should try doing attacks from cool shows and anime that we watched but I never would have believed I could pull off something from G-Guntan if you didn't believe in me first!" Ruby gushed, rushing back to Penny and bouncing around eagerly as she hugged her girlfriend and shook herself from side to side, squealing in happiness and kicking her legs as Penny swiftly hugged her around the waist. "You're amazing, Penny! I swear you're the best ever!"

"You're the one who is truly amazing, Ruby! You took to those moves with remarkable swiftness, and with extreme efficacy! My own upgrades allow me to do similar, but I still have a ways yet to go before my Aura modulation via my palm repulsor units allows me to do something quite so effective as your own rendition of Burning Finger!" Penny smiled, grinning happily as she nuzzled against Ruby with all the positivity she could radiate- and with their Auras melding so easily now they could maintain a glowing state of Aura even from several feet away now, it was easy for them to literally radiate their own positivity at each other with a swirl of ephemeral rose petals in the wind- crimson fragments like smoke and digital green like glitching pixels, all blowing around them in an invisible wind as they cuddled together and fell to the floor of the training grounds with a happy giggle.

Yang, on the sidelines, idly pet Zwei's head while she watched her sister and Penny roll around on the floor and kiss each other with the kind of eagerness that she previously thought only people in the honeymoon phase of their relationship could manage. "... I can't believe how much I missed this… it's weird, isn't it? How much we used to complain about those two being adorable together, and now they're just… gods… it feels like everything is right in the world again. Love is in the air and it smells like rose petals."

"It is horrendously sweet as always," Weiss nodded along, eagerly cuddling onto the rest of Zwei as the corgi rested in her lap and wagged his tail, huffing and rumbling as he shook in Weiss' arms. 

Blake, meanwhile, was huddled on the other side of Yang and trying very hard to not actually look at Zwei because she was still afraid of corgis and that still hadn't changed even after almost a year away on Menagerie. It was less now, due to her prior exposure to Zwei, but… still. She still didn't like looking at the weird marshmallow thing that filled her full of dread. "Remember when Ruby would cuddle with all of us instead of just pouring her attention on Penny? That was nice."

"... I mean, she mostly did that because we weren't doing so hot emotionally," Weiss pointed out, huffing a little at the reminder that their team leader was absolutely biased towards one specific member of their team because the two were dating and were so in love that it was frankly blinding to look at sometimes. "Granted, she's still getting back on her feet after being in a year long coma , and we haven't been very huggy towards her lately either…"

"Eh, she'll come around. Sometimes she likes spending time with someone in particular for a while. Used to be me or Cinder, but sometimes it was Mercury or Emerald or even Neo or Dad or Uncle Qrow…" Yang shrugged, then paused and looked around. "... Speaking of my asshole sister and cousins, where the hell are they? They were supposed to be here like, five minutes ago."

"I'm going to assume Neo and Emerald started making out with Cinder and they lost track of time," Blake rolled her eyes dryly, idly examining her nails for a moment before pulling a nail file out of her pouch and touching up her manicure. "That, or they're having trouble prying Mercury out of Yatsuhashi's bed."

"Those two have been really clingy ever since Team CFVY got back from helping fix Haven Academy," Yang nodded idly, rubbing her chin as she recalled just how over the moon her asshole-ish-est cousin was when Yatsuhashi came back without any injuries and on his own feet this time, instead of the near death experience the man had gone through before the Cataclysm. "Probably because they haven't seen each other in a while. Y'think CFVY would be good to join the stupid conspiracy we're part of now since they went to go help with the Relic hunt? They'd probably be pretty useful, especially since they've all gotten way better over the last year. Coco's a monster with Gianduja 2.0 now, especially after Ruby helped her actually turn it into a monster of a weapon."

"The more the merrier in this fight, I say," Weiss nodded, pursing her lips thoughtfully. "Do you think Team CMNE is going to be joining the tournament? I know Cinder and Neo are still getting used to their new powers- do you think it will be seen as an unfair advantage or…?"

"Eh, they'll probably join in without using their powers, I think. Cinder's always wanted to do tournament stuff but she never really got the chance to with all the training and studying she was doing," Yang shrugged, then rolled her neck with a series of cracks almost like quiet gunshots. "Ah… that's better. Anyway… So while Penny and Ruby figure out how to do stuff outta G-Guntan… what're we gonna do to get ready for the tournament? And… who're we gonna send to the doubles round anyway?"

"You say that as if there isn't any chance that we're getting eliminated in the team rounds," Weiss muttered quietly.

Blake snorted, then motioned at Ruby, who was still making out with Penny on the ground, the two of them half buried in a pile of rose petals already. "What, you think our fearless leader would let us take a dive?"

"... Well, I mean, we might come across stiffer competition than we could have imagined!" Weiss protested, blushing a little. "I mean, we can't possibly be the best that all four major Academies and all of the minor Academies have to offer, right?"

"Eh, maybe. Depends on a number of things. What I do know is that I'm really, really fired up and if I get the chance I am absolutely taking the chance to use the next stage of my Semblance on someone," Yang grinned, pounding her fists together for emphasis as her hair ignited for a brief moment. "It's gonna be so cool…"

Blake coughed into her hand, looking away for a moment. "Yang, the last time you Burned White , you nearly killed yourself taking out an entire pack of Pantherois out in one punch. Because you set the jungle on fire and you almost got squashed under a tree while your Aura was out. Please don't punch someone at that level otherwise you might actually kill them."

"... Yeahh…. Okay…"

They sat there awkwardly for a moment, up until Team CMNE ran up into the training ground another few minutes later, three of them bearing lipstick marks all over their faces while Mercury was wearing a pair of sweatpants that definitely weren't his if the olive green color was any indication.

"Sorry we're late!" Cinder panted, coughing awkwardly as they all caught their breath once they arrived. "We were uh… we lost track of time."

"... uh huh."

"You shut up Yangles!"

"Nnnnnnnope!"

"Fuck!"