A Trip With Friends

Chapter 1: Something Fishy Is Afoot

Aquariums! Who doesn't like them? Oh, wait, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm The Draigg, and I'm a man of wealth and taste. Except not really. If I was, I would have bought out RWBY by now. Instead, it's owned by Monty Oum. Yet again, maybe that's for the best. If it was run by me, it would be filled with the goofy shit you're about to read. Now, let's read something funny!

xxx

The Vale City Aquarium was a very busy place. It often attracted different types of guests, from young families, to students on some sort of marine life based field trip.

Speaking of students, a van full of them drove its way into the parking lot. Executing a perfect handbrake turn, the van flipped into two free parking spaces and screeched to a halt. The driver, wearing a smug grin, stepped out to admire her work.

"Fantastic," Yang complimented herself. To look cool, she tossed the keys into the air and snatched them out of the air.

The second to get out of the van was Jaune Arc. Well, 'getting out' isn't the best way to describe it. It was more of an ungraceful tumble out of the van door. Then, with the speed only a violently ill person can muster, Jaune dashed over to the nearest bush and vomited up his breakfast.

Pyrrha, who wasn't looking that much better, climbed out of the van and walked over to the bush. She began to pat Jaune's back, hoping to comfort her partner. However, her sweaty, sick face wasn't exactly a comforting sight.

"Just get it out—" Pyrrha's positive comment was cut off my a massive dry heave. Not even the best athlete around could resist the car-sickness that came with Yang's driving. Well, that, and the partially digested remains of bacon and eggs weren't very pleasant to look at or smell.

So, with Pyrrha's body taking the most obvious route, soon she joined her boyfriend in vacating her stomach's contents as well.

A pale looking Ren and a surprisingly rosy Nora walked up to their teammates. They couldn't help but gape a little at their friends.

"Aww, didn't you like the ride? It was fun!" Nora observed.

"Maybe for you…" Ren groaned. He felt like he was suffering from a horrible fever. He hadn't felt like that ever since he had first read a chapter of Blake's fan fiction.

Behind them, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby climbed out of the van as well. Blake was trying to balance herself against the side of the van. Weiss and Ruby were trembling uncontrollably, and they wouldn't let go of each other's hands. The pair of them looked scared half to death.

Yang decided to help Blake regain her footing. All the cat Faunus had to say to her girlfriend was, "Jaune's driving on the way back,".

"Where's your sense of adventure?" chided Yang. She was a safe driver! Whenever she was behind the wheel, she was the safest car on the road, damn it!

"I think I lost it near the four lanes you crossed on the freeway…" Blake snarked.

"Har har har. I should've taken you to a stand-up club, not an aquarium," Yang replied, unamused.

Weiss and Ruby stumbled their way over to their partners. "C-can w-we j-just-t g-go already?" Weiss asked, her voice trembling from all of the adrenaline in her bloodstream. Her heart was racing, but not in a good way.

Sighing, Yang fished a bunch of aquarium tickets out of her pocket. "Yeah, why don't you get us a spot in line? I think me and Blake need to get the others going first," she said a she nodded her head to Team JNPR.

Jaune was trying to hold Pyrrha's hair back, but that didn't help much when he was still weak in the knees from the trip over. So, Ren and Nora had to help Jaune keep his footing, lest he and Pyrrha fall into their own vomit puddle. Truly, these were the guardians of humanity right there.

Taking the tickets, Ruby and Weiss decided to walk over to the aquarium entrance. Honestly, the line wasn't very long. There were only ten people at most waiting to be allowed in. Probably because a Friday, and people had much more entertaining things to do instead of look at fish for a few hours. In fact, the only reason Teams RWBY and JNPR were here was to get some extra credit for Professor Port's class. Apparently, there was an interesting exhibit with a live Kraken for them to write a report on.

So, Weiss and Ruby waited in the small line for about five minutes. Yang, Blake, and Team JNPR shortly afterwards joined them in line, where all of them got their tickets from Yang.

"Here you go. Just remember that we're going to meet back here in three hours, okay?" Yang advised the others. Team JNPR collectively nodded at the same time. It was weird what people could pick up when they lived together for a while.

"Cool," Yang affirmed as she walked up to the ticket booth to be let in. Soon, everyone else redeemed their tickets and went inside.

xxx

The aquarium was rather large, and therefore was divided up into several different sections. A large map was present, pointing out where they were with the aptly titled label, 'YOU ARE HERE'. Yes, the visitors looking at the map certainly weren't in the plant life section, which was down a long hallway, nor were they at the mammalian life wing, which was just past the gift shop.

Good job, map.

Anyway, Teams RWBY and JNPR were looking at the map, wondering where they should go first.

"I think we should just head over to the Kraken exhibit, first," Blake suggested.

"I agree. Let's go there," Weiss said.

"We've got a few hours, you two," Yang pointed out. "We might as well take our time,".

"I wanna see the dolphins!" Nora cried to nobody in particular.

"I suggest we split up," Ren said in his average monotone. Nora didn't even wait for the others to agree with Ren's suggestion. In her excitement to see some dolphins, she had already begun to walk in the direction of where she guessed dolphins would be.

Jaune couldn't help but shrug. "I guess it's a good of suggestion as any," he said. He gave his best 'winning grin'. But, it's appearance was hampered by the fact that his teeth were stained by bile.

Pyrrha quickly closed her partner's mouth. "Maybe you should hold off on smiling until you brush your teeth," she patiently suggested.

"Good idea…" Jaune sheepishly admitted. Vomiting and nice smiles didn't have much of an overlap, when you really think about it.

And so, Jaune and Pyrrha wandered off. Nobody had any clue where they were going. In fact, it didn't look like they did, either, judging on how Jaune and Pyrrha kept on pacing in front of two separate hallways before walking into the left one.

That just left Team RWBY by themselves.

"Well… I still want to go to the Kraken exhibit first," Weiss announced.

"Have fun with that!" Yang cheerily said a she grabbed Blake by the hand and began to drag her in the direction of the gift shop.

"Hey! I didn't agree to anything!" protested Blake. As Weiss and Ruby watched their friends disappear into the shop, Blake's complaints faded into the distance. Once they were out of sight completely, Team White Rose faced one another.

"So… Kraken, I guess?" questioned Ruby.

"Of course! Now, follow me," Weiss said in response, taking the lead.

"B-but, don't you think you should look at the map?" Ruby suggested while Weiss was already beginning to walk down a long corridor.

Weiss spun around on her heel to look at Ruby. "Trust me, I already got a good look. Now, come on! We might catch something good for our report!" she urged. Then, turning around, she made her way down the hall.

Not seeing any better options other than being left alone, Ruby followed Weiss. Well, Weiss was a smart girl. Ruby wagered that she knew what she was doing. It worked all the other times, like with homework and stuff. Why wouldn't it work now?

xxx

As soon as Yang passed the threshold of the gift shop, her grip on Blake weakened. Instead, that one half of Team Bumblebee made a beeline towards a barrel of adorable otter plushies.

"Are you even listening to me?" Blake complained some more. Yang was paying her no mind. Instead, she picked up a plushie and began to play with it. She made the stuffed otter toy move it's legs up and down, as if it was dancing.

"Seriously?! Are you just ignoring me now?" incredulously questioned Blake.

Yang flipped around and held out the otter for Blake to see. With a squeaky voice, she began with, "Sorry, Yang's out right now. You'll have to talk to me, Mr. Otter!".

Blake let out an annoyed huff. "Really, now?".

"Sorry, what was that?" Yang said through Mr. Otter.

Rolling her eyes, Blake decided to go along with Yang's irritating game. "Fine, fine. Mr. Otter, is Yang trying to ignore her girlfriend?".

"No," came the squeaky voice, "She just wants to have some fun today,".

Blake couldn't really fault her for that. Given that Yang was the team's unofficial mother figure, it made sense that Yang would want to cut loose and act a little childish once in a while… discounting all the childish jokes she frequently made. Oh well, it was the thought that counted.

"Mr. Otter, do you think that I can talk to Yang?" Blake asked the stuffed animal. Nodding in response, Yang put down the toy and smiled at Blake.

"Man, that Mr. Otter is so protective of me," the blonde couldn't help but comment. Her grin grew wider.

Sighing, Blake decided to browse the shelves with Yang. "I see where Ruby gets it…" the cat Faunus mumbled under her breath. Apparently, dorkiness was a genetic trait, along with poor attempts at humor.

xxx

"Weiss…" Ruby moaned as she kept pace with her partner.

"What is it, Ruby? I'm trying to look for the exhibit here!" Weiss asked back, slightly miffed. She could have sworn that the Kraken exhibit was around here somewhere!

"…We've passed that same display five times now…" the cloaked girl quietly admitted.

Stopping in place, Weiss looked at the display that Ruby was talking about. Yeah, now that Ruby mentioned it, that exhibit on krill did look rather familiar… but her pride was on the line, damn it! Weiss couldn't just back down now!

So, letting her inflated sense of ego take over, Weiss said, "Pfft, please, Ruby. I'm sure there are several exhibits around her that look similar. I mean, how much diversity can there be in an aquarium? Trust me, I know where I'm going,". That was a blatant lie, and Weiss felt it down to the marrow.

Ruby's concern softened in the face of Weiss' confidence. "Yeah, I guess you're right," she gave in, rubbing the back of her head.

"Now, stop wasting time, and let's go already!" Weiss chided as she began sauntering away again. Internally, however, Weiss was frantically trying to work out a way to salvage her gaffe.

"Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! I can't let her down! Oh, I was so STUPID not to study the map better! Wait! I can fix this! I just need to act like I'm interested in the other displays along the way! Yes! That way, I can buy some time to find out where the Kraken tank is! Oh, Weiss Schnee, you're a genius! Now, make Ruby proud!" was what the spinning cogs in her mind translated into.

Weiss and Ruby marched down the exhibit hall, hoping to find the one that they were looking for. If either of them had paid any attention to the map, then they would have noticed that they were in the completely wrong wing to begin with. But hey, luck had gotten them pretty far, right?

Undaunted in their task (due to the lack of proper knowledge), Team White Rose walked around the display hall, looking for that elusive giant squid/octopus/abomination. With any luck, their quest would end soon.

…Yeah, as if that was going to happen. The pair of them had the absolute worst luck EVER. A person trying to gamble using pocket lint as collateral would have a better chance than those two.

And the universe wouldn't have it any other way.

xxx

Man, Weiss' navigational skills sure are FISHY, aren't they? She and Ruby can't help but FLOUNDER about! But, I guess it wouldn't be a conflict if Weiss didn't CLAM up on her thoughts! Okay, I'll stop with the sea life puns… for now. So, with my battery drained from all those puns, I'll cut the usual rant and just say to leave me a review or message. This is The Draigg, heading for better waters!