Chapter 9: Putting the Food into Food Fight
"You eight have a lot of explaining to do!" Glynda snapped at the two teams; By the time she showed up in the cafeteria, it looked like a culinary warzone: Ruby looked like she got splattered by a melon, Weiss was still mourning the loss of a classy looking teacup while picking off the remains of the same melon, Yang crashed down from out of orbit but somehow still managed to look good with the splashes of pudding on her. Blake was chewing on the discarded swordfish and in a world of her own while all of Team JNPR except Jason had been blasted by a foodbomb when Ruby used her Semblance to launch food at them. Though the entire group seemed to be watching splotches of green goop drop from the ceiling.
Jason was the most out of place; He was currently in a form that he called "Titan" to engage all forces to fight back in the food skirmish. He had grown to a shocking 10 feet tall with well-developed muscles, two pairs of four-fingered arms, and red skin. A black stripe goes from his chin to his lower lip, and he has four eyes: a main pair and a smaller pair below them though he lacked ears or a nose. Thanks to the Watch's adaptive properties; he was able to wear the school uniform still though it looked rather funny to see Titan in a suit, let alone seeing him splashed with chilli and puree. "It uh…It's a long story."
——Earlier——
"I got it!" Nora yelled out as she threw a pie aiming for Yang who managed to nail her with a bread roll….However her aim was off as Weiss was the one who ended up with a face full of whipped cream and diced fruit.
The cafeteria quickly turned to a dull silence before Weiss screeched out the vocal equivalent of an air raid siren as Team RWBY and Team JNPR got caught up in the whole thing; with Blake ducking under a bowl of seaweed and Ruby returning fire with a handful of apple sauce that caught an unsuspecting Jason in the face.
The new leader of the team wiped his face down and then grabbed a turkey leg to point into battle like a demented general. "FOOD FIGHT!" Jason yelled out at the top of his lungs as he scooped up a vanilla pudding and slung it to hit Yang in the back.
"Ohohoh~ You are so dead~!" Yang smirked as she grabbed some turkeys to don like boxing gloves and rushed in. to start swinging poultry punches at Jason who seemed to be getting better at ducking and dodging.
Ren grabbed leeks, Nora stuck a nearby pole into a watermelon and Pyrrha grabbed her baguette to tag in and follow up by clashing foody weapon against foody weapon against their "opponents".
Jason then smirked as he came up with an idea to get one over; In a flash of green light, Jason had opted for versatility as he became Speedfreak and then grabbed several armfuls of food to start zipping and pegging the others with handfuls of chutney and mashed potatoes.
"Why you….Fine, you want to play it like that, Moss?!" Weiss growled as she wiped off a glob of the taters; Grabbing a bottle of Ketchup and Mustard, she pointed them downwards and created a saucy oil spill that was fit for a hot dog. "I'm a genius!" She grinned to herself when she saw the blur of Speedfreak slip up and skid across the floor though that quickly changed when she saw that flash of green and a sudden stink filled the air.
Jason felt his gut sink when he felt the wheels skid and changed from Speedfreak into Sludgewasp before refilling his ammo and taking to the sky…Well, the ceiling more specifically before he made a quick dodge as Yang was sent rocketing into the sky. "Bombs away!" He called out cheerfully as he started throwing handfuls of jelly downward.
The new threat of Jason becoming a tactical airstrike of gelatin made Nora proud and Weiss regretful since her stroke of genius backfired. "Blake! Pelt him!" She yelled out in a huff before getting hit with a SPLAT from mashed potatoes. "NOW!" She shrieked out louder as it was annoying her at just how easy it was for her to get hit.
Blake then picked up a bunch of grapes and tied the stem of it to a piece of spaghetti; "Sorry Jason, Ice Queen's orders~" She thought before starting to spin her surface to air projectile and then threw it up at him; With Blake's accuracy and the tug on the string, the multitude of small fruit peppered Sludgewasp directly in the face and chest like a scattershot.
"Gah! So pulpy and tangy!" He yelled out as he nosedived into the ground and turned back to normal, wiping his eyes as he then looked to Pyrrha who was currently spattered with orange juice. "We need a plan…"
"Indeed, what did you have in mind?" Pyrrha asked as she was curious as to what the man with the multiple faces had in mind.
Jason grinned as he looked to the toppled vending machines; "Grab as many sodas as you can and get Ren and Nora to make a barricade." He remarked as he started scooping up cans of "Orange Drink"
"Weiss, you look a little…mashy." Ruby mentioned as Weiss stomped forward with a charcuterie board as a shield.
"Blame Moss and that giant stinky bug form of his!" Weiss complained as she brandished a swordfish as a rapier.
"Then let's get him before he…Wait, what's he doing?" Blake affirmed before seeing what Team JNPR was planning.
Pyrrha was levitating a few cans of juice with her Semblance and a look of playful malice, Ren and Nora both held on to a bandolier lined with cans of soup while Jason stood atop a barricade of overturned tables and poised with a pile of sodas, juice and soup. "Prepare yourselves, Team RWBY! Because we're gonna let loose a loogie or two." Jason proclaimed with a flash of light as Vom-Bomber appeared where Jason was.
"Hey, I remember him…He's the lil meatball th-Oh no….Oooooh nooooo…" Ruby was the first to recognise what was about to happen since she remembered that same "lil meatball" devouring a car whole.
"Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!" Vom-Bomber roared in a dramatic battle cry as his multiple tongues lashed out and swallowed up the piled up cans of food, his cheeks swelling larger and larger before he aimed himself at the trio.
"Oh look at them big pudgy cheeks~" Nora grinned widely as she loved how squishy that Jason had become, however she became the unwitting instigator of doom as both hands clasped his hamster cheeks from behind with the intent to squish.
"NORA NO!" Ruby shouted in growing worry since she knew that what was coming wasn't going to be small.
"NORA NO!" Weiss yelled with an equal amount of desperation since she had a desire not to get coated in anything gross along with a budding jealousy of not being able to squish those cheeks.
"NORA YES!" Both Vom-Bomber and Nora yelled back as the Valkyrie squished down on his cheeks and the amalgamated goo shot out of his mouth; Hitting Ruby and Weiss with the force of a weird fire hose.
With Weiss now unconscious from both the force of the loogie shot and the outright disgust of getting hit by said loogie. Ruby was ready to respond via her Semblance; Speeding herself up and dragging up every piece of thrown food and anything else that wasn't nailed down to hit Team JNPR with the force of a typhoon.
"Hang on!" Jae yelled as he transformed into Titan and grabbed Pyrrha in his arms bridal style and held Ren and Nora under his other two arms before turning his back on Ruby to shield them from the onslaught of food.
Once the doors slammed open; Glynda was glaring down the two teams with a heavy sense of aggravation since they wrecked the dining hall but she didn't seem at all shocked to see that Jason was essentially a 10 foot solid wall of meat letting a blushing Pyrrha down from his hold.
——Present Time——
"Glynda…Just let them be." Ozpin tried to reassure her while ignoring the fact that Yang crashed back into the dining hall at terminal velocity.
"They're supposed to be our new protectors and warriors of the future…" Glynda grumbled as she watched Jason turn back into his regular form and laughing with everyone else but also getting a smashed pie to the face by a rather pouty looking Weiss.
"For the future, yes…But remember; They are still training to be that and they are still children so why not let them have their fun while they can…Because you and I both know that those times don't always last forever." Ozpin mentioned and placed a hand on her shoulder; "Besides, you honestly can't tell me that you haven't done anything outrageous when you were that age." He added with a soft chuckle.
"I….Fine, I'll let it slide for now…But I won't let it be a regular occurrence…Especially if we have Mr. Moss's Semblance being used for something so trivial." Glynda relented as she left the hall once she reformed the Dining Hall to how it was before.
——Later, In Team JNPR's Dorm——
"Man, that was so much fun!" Nora grinned as she was still giddy from the adrenaline rush while picking out bits of pork chop from her hair.
"I'll admit…It did make our time a little more interesting." Ren mentioned as he then placed his two weapons by the tablestand; "I just wish I got some of that melon before Nora used it as a hammer."
Jason had his gear by his bedside from what he took from his dorm which thankfully wasn't a lot; "True, though I am surprised that Nora could have that kinda wallop to knock Yang out of the literal park." He said with surprise as he watched Nora flexing her arms at Jason's praise.
"Well, it's hard not to be in awe at my strength and my cuteness~" Nora said to tease him as both Jason and Ren looked at her with raised eyebrows; "What? I'm no Pyrrha but I still have my charms~"
"You're still pretty neat, Nora…That much I do know." Jason agreed before eyeing the watch; "I'm just glad I can control this better."
"So what was that big, red thing from the food fight?" Pyrrha asked him as she was towelling off her hair; "Another form of your's?"
"Yeah, I was gonna call him Atlas but Ozpin thought that since it would be confusing as to whether I referred to Atlas or this form….So I went with Titan…Something that just sounded awesome…That's all there is to it." Jason explained with a slightly embarrassed blush on his face as even when Pyrrha was dressed casually, she looked abnormally pretty.
"Well, that still sounds pretty cool…It reminds me of a monster called Atlas from a tale I heard back in Mistral." Pyrrha mentioned with a small smile; unaware of Jason's flustered look when she let her long red hair flutter down past her shoulders.
"Speaking of…What exactly happened to you down at the docks?" Ren asked curiously while he sat on his bed; "I know that Professor Ozpin asked you to be our new leader but we were worried about you when you didn't show up."
Jason nodded as he felt like he could be truthful with them; He explained everything about how Neo and Torchwick messed with his watch and how it managed to unlock a special function that allowed him to streamline his transformations. "It seems to work on my basic stuff but that Grimm Bear? I still think that needs to stay on a time limit…Even if I could find out a way to take it off of it." He finished with his story, "Though I'm still not sure if I should resent Torchwick for catching me like that or thank him for showing this part of my skills off."
"Well, now you can help more people now." Pyrrha mentioned as she sat on her own bed; "I've seen what you can do and I'll be honest, it has a lot of potential to make you into a good Huntsman….Though…I do wish Jaune could still have saw this through with us…" She admitted sadly as both Ren and Nora felt similarly about their recently expelled friend.
"Look, I know it sucks that he's gone…Believe me, I tried my hardest to get Ozpin to let him stay." Jason confessed; "But I'll still do my best to be of help to you guys and to being a better friend…."
"He cheated his way in…But he was still our friend, you are too so you shouldn't need to worry about trying to emulate him….Just be you." Ren admitted and then looked to him; "We know you can do this and you should believe that too."
"Don't beat yourself up about it." Nora mentioned as she lightly pat his arm; "All you can hope to do is your best, besides…It's not like we'll never see Jaune again, we can always go down to Vale and visit." She pointed out to reassure him and Pyrrha who seemed to brighten up at the idea before they each decided to head to bed for the night.
However another dream seemed to seep into Jason's head; A blackness that surrounded him with the exception of two silvery blurs that sparked every time that they talked to him.
"Boy….Boy! Heed my words and listen well!"
"So you are the new inheritor of our will…I must admit, you have attained a greater knack for it faster than our last host did."
"Who…Who are you?"
"That is not important now…you linger on this place too long, strengthen yourself and fight your way back to our own world so that we can face the evils that plague it!"
"Our hope lies with you…Please ensure that you follow the same pact of justice that HE did…That is all we ask of you…"
Morning was quick to come and Jason found himself waking up at the crack of dawn; The dream still lingering in his head but the voices that came with it were none that he could recognise and on top of that, it was hard for him to forget what it was…It came from the Watch and it desired to go home just as much as he did.