Chapter Twelve: Festivities

Pyrrha started to have regrets as she and Ruby climbed higher up the stairs. Maybe this isn't the best idea… then again, every time I've thought that today, Ruby proved me wrong.

It was true; Ruby had consistently proven Pyrrha wrong. That wasn't to say Pyrrha was distraught in any way; in fact, she was discovering it was quite nice to be wrong. Yet as Pyrrha got a better vantage point to view the festival, she couldn't help but think a singular thought:

I am going to die.

Pyrrha sighed. The day had been going so well too.

After going to a rather interesting display of new weapons - even if the two redheads had been late - Ruby had zipped off into a myriad of winding, twisting row upon row of arcade games. Pyrrha could barely keep up with the excited girl.

When Ruby finally stopped, Pyrrha found herself at a shooting gallery. A row of toy guns lined the counter, with targets in the back of the gallery and a collection of stuffed animals on the walls.

"I challenge you to a shoot off!" Ruby declared loudly, pointing at Pyrrha. "Best out of five!"

Pyrrha gave a smile. "Well that sounds grand!" We fire guns every day, surely it mustn't be too hard.

The acne-covered teen who ran the stand started to count down for them. "3, 2, 1. Go." The sound of cork bullets filled the air for a brief moment as the two huntresses-in-training fired off the toy guns.

...only for each cork bullet to miss hitting anything. That was odd. Pyrrha looked down at the toy gun in her hand. I should be as accurate with this as I am with Milo.

"What was that?!" Ruby was staring at her gun in horror before giving the kid running the game a dissatisfied look. "We couldn't hit anything!"

The kid shrugged. "You can always try again?" He suggested helpfully.

"Nuh-uh!" Ruby shook her head. "Your guns are junk."

"Hey now." The guy running the shooting gallery held up his hands defensively. "Maybe you just can't shoot very well?"

"I can't shoot? I can't shoot?!" Ruby parroted back the question incredulously. "Your guns are junk! I can't hit anything with them. Pyrrha" - Ruby gestured to her - "Can't hit anything with them either!" Ruby pointed back to the guns, her rising anger becoming more evident. "I think-"

"Maybe we should go?" Pyrrha interrupted.

"But... but their guns are junk! I mean, just look a- eep!"

Pyrrha hauled Ruby away before things could escalate further, much to the relief and amusement of the teen running the gallery. "Sorry!" Pyrrha called back to the boy.

Once they were far enough away, Pyrrha let go of a sulking Ruby.

"I guess we tied," Ruby said with disappointment before looking around for another game. "I challenge you to…" Ruby's eyes scanned the closest booths, before pointing to one. "…skee ball!"

Pyrrha cocked her head to the side. "Skee ball?"

Five seconds later - and several lien poorer - Pyrrha found herself in front of a long ramp with several concentric chutes, holding a skee ball. "Okay, you just need to toss it into the chutes," Ruby pointed at several numbered holes at the far end of the machine. "It shouldn't be too hard to do. So highest points wins the tiebreaker!" Ruby sidestepped to a neighbouring skee ball machine and started her own game.

Focusing on the instructions, the game seemed straightforward to Pyrrha. It seems easy enough… Pulling back her right arm, Pyrrha was ready to chuck the ball at the chut-

"Wait!" Ruby frantically grabbed Pyrrha. "You need to toss it underhand!"

"Oh, sorry!" Pyrrha looked from the machine to the ball back to the machine. That makes sense - the long ramp seems to be designed for rolling the ball into the hole. Switching her grip to an underhanded one, Pyrrha tossed the ball at the chutes, aiming for the fifty point hole. The ball sailed through the air before hitting the chute and bouncing into the gutter. The digital display didn't change.

Ruby leaned over from her machine. "Uhh, Pyrrha, you're supposed to roll the ball on the ramp into the chutes…"

"Sorry!" Taking another ball, Pyrrha rolled it along the long ramp. Barely going over the edge of the ramp, the ball went into the gutter again. Pyrrha's frustration at the game mounting, she grabbed another ball, this time rolling it much harder. Instead of going into the gutter, the ball shot up at the end of the ramp, landing in the ten point chute, much to the delight of the redhead.

With gaining confidence, Pyrrha rolled ball after ball down the lane until she had none left. A few tickets printed off from the machine. That wasn't so hard…

"What was your score?" Ruby bounced over. "I got 620… still can't beat Yang's high score." She sighed. "How is she so good at skee ball?!"

As Ruby rambled about how Yang was so much better than her at skee ball, Pyrrha leaned over her own digital display. "90," she recited plainly. Ruby sucked in her breath upon hearing the number causing Pyrrha to look back at her. "Is that good?"

"Uh…not reaaaally?" Ruby sadly shook her head. "The lowest I think I've gotten is… 250?" Ruby's voice was tinged with embarrassment at her apparent skill as Pyrrha's shoulders sunk. "Buuuuut maybe it was just a bad game… wanna try again?"

Several games later, Ruby and Pyrrha had come to the same conclusion: Pyrrha Nikos, the Invincible Girl, winner of tournaments… really sucked at skee ball.

"That wasn't as terrible as before… I think?" Pyrrha was at a loss for words as the she stared at the blinking score of 110. "Um... maybe you'd be better with… uh…" Ruby snapped her fingers. "The claw crane?" Ruby nodded furiously at her own suggestion. "It has a lot less throwing involved!"

Ruby led Pyrrha over to the claw crane, before putting in some of her own lien into the machine. "Okay, all you need to do is pick up one of the stuffed animals with the claw and you win it." Ruby manipulated the controls of the crane, edging it closer and closer to one particular stuffed animal - a rather fat looking stuffed Ursa. Pyrrha watched as the younger girl started to sweat, her face a fierce expression of determination.

"Almost there…." Taking a deep breath, Ruby pushed the big red button on the joystick. Slowly, the crane descended, the claw opening up before centering itself around the Ursa's head. The claw closed around the toy, dragging it up and over its fellow stuffed Grimm. At a snail's pace, the crane moved the toy over the chute before letting go, the fat Ursa landing in the receptacle.

Ruby snagged it before moving away from the machine. "Your turn!" Ruby trilled happily as she hugged her newfound acquisition.

I didn't know how to play skee ball, but I definitely know how to win this. Pyrrha eyed the controls as she stepped up to it, putting in some lien into the machine. It can't be any harder than skee ball, right?

Maneuvering the crane slowly, Pyrrha positioned the claw over a small but cute-looking Beowolf plushie before hitting the button. The claw came down before closing its metal fingers, but the plushie barely evaded the grips of the metal contraption. Pyrrha frowned as the claw came up and opened over the drop area, dropping nothing into the chute.

Maybe I should just try again? Pushing in more lien into the machine, the crane reactivated. Grabbing the joystick, Pyrrha went for the same plushie, intent on owning the cute toy… only to fail again.Third time's the charm, as the saying goes. Except it wasn't, nor were the fourth, fifth, tenth, or even seventeenth times the charm either.

Pyrrha was feeling more than a little frustrated as the machine proceeded to eat her money without giving her the plushie. As the claw missed the plushie by what had to be millimeters, a thought popped into Pyrrha's head. A little nudge could help… Pushing the claw closer with her power over polarity to the toy before it closed, the machine froze up, the hum of electronics fading.

"Huh, that's weird." Ruby came closer, curiously peering at the frozen machine. "I thought you were going to get it for sure, too."

A horrible sense of guilt started to overcome Pyrrha as she realized that she may have broken the machine. While cheating. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This is bad. This is really bad. I didn't mean to break it! Pyrrha nervously chewed on her fingernails as she tried to figure out what to do next. Should I tell someone? Then I'd definitely be in troub-

As suddenly as the machine had died, it whirred back to life, the claw closing and coming up with the plushie barely within its grasp. With wide eyes full of hope, Pyrrha watched as it slowly brought the stuffed Grimm closer to the receptacle… only for it to fall out of the claw.

"Noooo…" Pyrrha whined, sinking to her knees as the plushie sat with its brightly-coloured brethren in the box, mocking her.

"Here." A fat stuffed Ursa bumped into Pyrrha as Ruby held it out for her. "It really did cheat you out of the plushie so, you can have mine!" Ruby finished with a smile.

Pyrrha was reluctant to take the stuffed Grimm from her. Ruby clearly treasured it - she did hug it for the last twenty minutes, after all. I can take a loss. Pyrrha looked closely at the fat stuffed Grimm. But on the other hand, it's really cute.

Seemingly sensing Pyrrha's indecision, Ruby insistently pushed it into her arms again. "Think of it as... uhhh..." Ruby snapped her fingers, "my gift to you for winning the tournament."

I can't say no now, can I? "Thank you, Ruby." Pyrrha gratefully held the Ursa and gave it a hug, the fat bear compressing a lot in Pyrrha's arms. It smells nice too… The smell of strawberries permeated the toy.

Rumble.

Pyrrha's eyes dart towards the source of the sound as the rumbling continued. Ruby awkwardly tapped her fingers together. "Heh heh, I guess I'm kinda hungry…"

Deciding to get food, the two redheads had split up to buy some. Pyrrha sat down at a table with a healthy tray of food, filled with fruits and vegetables. There were a few farmers who had set up their own stalls for selling their produce at the festival.Cheaply, too!

Politely waiting for Ruby with her food to arrive before eating her own, Pyrrha started to wonder what she would return with. She likes cookies, I think? Maybe she'll bring back a huge cookie… they would sell them here right?

When Ruby finally showed up, Pyrrha wasn't exactly sure what she had bought. Ruby looked at what Pyrrha had gotten, giving a small frown. "How come you didn't get any carnival food?"

"Is that what that is?"

"Yup!" Ruby nodded cheerfully picking up one of the breaded-looking objects before biting a chunk off of it. "Deep-fried pickles!"

Pyrrha could only stare in horror at the notion of deep frying pickles. Why… why would anyone want to deep fry pickles? Pyrrha's eyes looked back at the wide assortment of shapes. "Are… are all of those deep fried?"

"Yup! Want some?"

Pyrrha had to repress a gag, putting a hand to cover her mouth. The sheer amount of fat on that plate… "N-no thanks."

"Are you suuuuuure?" Ruby pushed a small carton of some kind of indistinguishable deep-fried monstrosity towards Pyrrha. "It's deep-fried chocolate strawberries! They're really good, I promise!"

Pyrrha looked at the food, then at the Ruby and back at the food. "I-I suppose I can try some…" Gingerly picking up what she had been told was a deep-fried chocolate strawberry, Pyrrha took a tentative bite. Woah. A taste of delicious, greasy fruit and chocolate exploded in her mouth. Shit, that is really good.

Ruby started to giggle as a second and third strawberry were quickly and eagerly devoured by Pyrrha. "Told you!~" Ruby gave a sad shake of her head. "Next you'll be telling me you haven't been on a rollercoaster before…"

There was no way Pyrrha could see herself escaping from this metal contraption; she was bolted into it with an unmovable harness, after all. Ruby was next to her, yet the seriousness, the gravity of the situation hadn't seemed to sink into the younger girl's head.

Pyrrha looked at the girl in question, bobbing up and down in seat excitedly. How could I let her talk me into this…

Shaking her head, Pyrrha tried to focus on the now. I mean, people don't die from this, right? It surely can't be that bad? She looked over the edge of the cart at the ground. Right?

"R-Ruby," Pyrrha spoke quietly as she lightly but insistently shook Ruby's shoulder to grab her attention. "Maybe we could still leave the ride… there is a emergency stop button somewhere… right?"

"Stop button?" Ruby cocked her head. "Why would we want to leave? It's just about to get fun!"

Pyrrha noticed that they were reaching the apex of the ascent. The clacking of the rails had gotten louder as the sounds of the festival dimmed. Pyrrha nervously latched onto Ruby.

"A-Are you sure thaaAAAHHHHHHH!"

WHOOSH

It felt like the ground had dropped beneath Pyrrha as the rickety cart plummeted downwards, the sound of the wind overpowering the clacking of the ride. Instantly, Pyrrha's arm went from holding onto Ruby to dangling in the air as they plunged toward the ground. The cart picked up speed and some more speed and even MORE speed as it went into what must have been freefall.

The small cart zoomed into the bend, leveling out but losing none of its speed as it went into the next phase of the ride: the corkscrew. Everything but the track became a blur to Pyrrha, as she no longer was rightside up, instead spinning as the ride barrel-rolled through the next segment. Once. Twice. Three times before finally evening out again.

The ride slowed as it came to its end, the cart pulling into the raised platform, and the safety bars keeping Pyrrha and Ruby in place rose up. Ruby turned to her, "Did ya have fun?"

"That. Was. Awesome!"

Pyrrha was trying to keep her eyes open as the airbus slowly drifted back to Beacon. The day had been filled with tons of fun - roller coasters, carnival food and games - on top of winning a tournament. Understandably, Pyrrha was more than a little tired. Plus, roller coasters were surprisingly exhausting. It was also late, far later than Pyrrha usually stayed up till - the Vytal festival going through the night - but the pair had decided that they had enough fun for one night and had dragged themselves to the closest airbus terminal.

This was why Pyrrha felt a comfortable weight leaning against her, as Ruby had fallen asleep the moment she had sat down. If I can't keep my eyes open, I'll be joining her too, Pyrrha mused as she fiddled with the stuffed Ursa that Ruby had gifted her, trying to hold it with one hand while keeping Ruby from falling over with the other.

Finally finding a comfortable balance of the juggling act, Pyrrha's eyes started close as the rhythmic hum of the airbus started to lull her to sleep. Need… to stay… awake. Deciding to pull up minesweeper on her scroll to at least keep herself occupied and hopefully awake, Pyrrha reached into her back pouch. Pulling out the device, a folded piece of paper fell out of her pouch as well.

Huh? Pyrrha didn't remember putting anything in her pouch as she picked it up, unfolding it. It was a photo of herself and Ruby on the rollercoaster - the ride sold pictures taken mid-way through the first drop - Pyrrha and Ruby waving their arms in the air. Oh right, Ruby bought this for me. In messy handwriting that Pyrrha knew belonged to Ruby was scrawled "Pyrrha's first rollercoaster".

Pyrrha had gotten several things during the Vytal Festival; a stuffed ursa of questionable size, a trophy for her victory in the Vytal Tournament, a newfound love of deep fried food… but without doubt the one thing she treasured most - far more than victory in the tournament - was the folded up photo of her and Ruby.

Editor: ASouthernRussian

AU: Look at all that fluff d'awww.

I sincerely apologize for taking so long to publish this chapter, the next chapter shouldn't even take half as long, at least I hope it will not. On the other hand we finally got to a nice patch of fluff. To be honest with you guys and girls, I wasn't expecting to write this chapter… I realized that I might as well write the festival fun-fun chapter… after all it'd be a waste to not write it, am I right?

The picture of Pyrrha and Ruby on the roller coaster is now something I'd love to see in a picture or drawing or something now. Just those two redheads screaming their lungs out as their roller coaster cart plunges down the drop... priceless!

I'm also sorry for taking AGES to respond to all the reviewers, but I believe I got you all before this posts. Seriously thank you guys and girls for the reviews, as always I really appreciate them!

Response to Anon reviewers;

1st Anon review: I'm glad you love this ship and ship it hard, so do I! :P

2nd Anon review: Here have the update! TAKE IT!

3rd Anon review: to the one also known as Xelar8, I'm glad you like the fight scenes… they aren't the focus but it doesn't mean they should be lagging in quality because of it. You honour me by saying this is your favourite fic!

Thanks for reading everyone, the next chapter should be out in a week or two, time permitting. Until then, have a great day!