RWBY Watches Classic Movies

Chapter 20: Pacific Rim, Part 5

Chapter 20

"And we are... done!" Jaune said, finishing up Pyrrha's hair. He had done a braid up the back of her head that turned into a side ponytail on her left side.

"Holy crap, Vomit Boy!" Yang exclaimed.

"Jaune, that's so cool!" Nora gushed.

"Where did you learn to do that?" Velvet asked.

"Once again, seven sisters." he said. "If you want to survive as the only son in that kind of environment, you have to learn how to please your opponents. Thankfully, being good at hair styles was a common weakness for all my sisters."

About this time, Ruby regained consciousness. "Huh, wha-? What's going on?"

Weiss pointed to the cookie in her hand. "Cookie coma." she lied.

"Again?" she said, exasperated, "Man, I really do need help, don't I?"

The control room was busy getting ready to test drive a Jaeger that had been left to collect dust for five years. Nora was in the middle of it all, delegating orders and triple checking everything she could think of. But above all else, she wanted pancakes. Sweet, sweet pancakes, buttered, stacked twenty high and doused in syrup. But not powdered sugar. That was just blasphemy. She knew it and Ren knew it, Gods bless his soul.

Jaune was already suited up in new black armor and waiting in the cockpit of Crocea Mors.

"Setting harness for test mode. Awaiting second pilot." He said as he flipped the necessary switches. He looked around and noticed subtle differences. Seems they had upgraded the cockpit during restoration. He snapped back to reality when the arrival of his co-pilot was announced. "I'm gonna take this side, if you don't mind. My left arm's kinda shot." He said grumpily.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Blake said dryly.

"I don't blame him." Yang said, her left hand unconsciously rubbing her prosthetic forearm.

"Sure." He looked to make sure he wasn't hallucinating when he heard that voice. He smiled when he saw Ruby standing next to him in matching armor. "What? Nothing to say?" she teased.

He shrugged. "No point. Two minutes, you'll be inside my head." He smiled at her. "You look good."

"Pilots on board and ready to connect." Penny's voice reported as Nora took her chair, Ironwood and Taiyang watching anxiously.

"Prepare for neural handshake." Ironwood ordered.

"Initiating neural handshake." Nora replied as she activated the sequence.

The cockpit locked into place on the body, and the restraints pulled away. Inside the cockpit, Jaune and Ruby activated the handshake on their end.

"Alright, we're not in the simulator anymore, Ruby." Jaune said, "Remember, don't chase the R.A.B.I.T. Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers. Memories. Don't latch on, just let 'em flow. Tune them out. Stay in the Drift. The Drift is silence." She nodded and closed her eyes. Jaune did the same as the familiar feeling of the Drift washed over him. He saw his memories flow before him, as he had with Joan, but he also saw Ruby's; a small girl playing with her parents, a man with messy black hair and a scraggly beard, and a woman with silver eyes and a white cape. The same girl in grade school, getting a perfect score on her math test, her parents joyful and proud. The little girl crying, alone in ruins. Joan's final moments.

They snapped to reality with a jolt. In unison, they lifted their right hands, then their left before assuming a fighting stance. On the outside, Crocea Mors did the same.