IT LIVES!
I really do apologize for this taking so long, I really don't have much excuse beyond not wanting to push myself too hard and burn out. At least since COVID started. This was not helped by me getting a bunch of ideas for other stories as well.
Anyways, as usual I don't own RWBY.
Major thanks to Katana of the Blade for letting me use their Write-up/Script of the episode.
Apologies in advance if the characterization seems off from previous chapters. It's been a while since I last worked on this so I had to try to relearn the characterization of each character.
As the vision began to play, Summer was worried. She had just seen her future daughter falling from the sky. Why was she falling from the sky!?
Taiyang saw his team leaders nervousness, however he decided to keep quiet. Summer was already pissed at him he didn't need her to get any angrier at him.
We see Weiss and Ruby hanging on to something very feathery and very fast, as evidenced by the loud wind and the two being blown sideways.
"Ruby! I told you this was a terrible idea!" Weiss called to her partner, shouting to be heard.
"We're fine! Stop worrying!" Ruby assured her, also raising her voice.
"I am so far beyond worrying!" Weiss Countered.
"In a good way?" Ruby asked.
"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss denied.
"Well, why don't we just jump?" Ruby asked.
"What are you? Insane?!" Weiss asked in disbelief. She was met with silence, as Ruby had already disappeared. "Oh, you insufferable little red-!" She cursed after her partner.
Team STRQ each had very different reactions to this scene. Raven had a look of confusion, while her brother was trying to hold in his laughter. Taiyang, meanwhile, wasn't bothering to hide his laughter at the almost comical level of shock on Summer's face.
The cloaked huntress wasn't saying anything. However, everyone in the room could see her mentally asking the question of "Why?" over and over again.
Down on the ground in the Abandoned Temple, Blake was still staring skyward and pointing for Yang to look up after the last episode.
"Blake, did you hear that? What should we do?" Yang asked her partner.
"Heads uuuuuuuup!" Ruby screamed while falling right towards them, finally getting Yang's attention.
Just as she was about to hit the ground panicking, Jaune came flying through the air and crashed into Ruby, knocking her off course and sending them both into a tree to the left of where Blake and Yang were standing.
The room collectively winced at the impact, before several of them began to laugh at the absurdity of the event. Both Qrow and Taiyang were bent over while Raven and the Belladonnas were all chuckling as well. Summer wanted to complain, but even she had to admit that what just happened was hilarious.
There was also the fact that any complaint she made would have been undermined by her own attempts to stifle her giggles.
Ruby was dazed by the rough landing, as evidenced by the cutesy Beowolves and stars circling her head. "Oohhhh... What was that?" She groaned, before the dizziness passed when she shook her head.
"Eh-hem!" A voice came from above her. Ruby looked up to see Jaune hanging upside-down in a tree branch above her. "Hey, Ruby..." He said.
"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked back on the ground, looking at the tree.
"I..." Yang said unsurely.
Before she could continue, several crashing noises were heard in the forest ahead of them and an Ursa came out, claws swiping, just as a pink blast of energy hit it in the back and it crashed to the ground, depositing its rider.
"YEEEE-HAAAAW!" Nora cheered as she rolled off of the creature's back, then got up and groaned, saddened. "Awwww... It's broken." She said sadly as she dashed onto its neck and observed the carcass as Ren came up behind her.
Summer was giving a worried look at the staring Qrow. This worry was proven correct by his next statement.
"I want to try that." Qrow said, "Can we please try that?"
Tai looked just as excited by this thought, while the female half of the team both responded with the same answer. "NO!"
Qrow almost seemed to deflate under the crushing of his new dream.
"Nora! Please... Don't ever do that again." Ren pleaded as he panted and leaned on the monster. He looked up again and noticed by the pink dotted outline of where his partner should be that Nora had run off again, and looked around frantically.
"Oooohh..." Nora said, now in the Temple, staring at a golden rook relic. She suddenly grabbed it, an animation of stars and her hammer symbol playing in the pink background. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She sang as she danced and sang with the chess piece.
"Nora!" Ren called for her off-screen.
Nora stopped dancing with the rook on her head, then saluted, dropping the relic into her hand. "Coming, Ren!" She called back, skipping off to her friend.
"Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?" Blake asked.
"I..." Yang said, unsurely.
She was interrupted once more as a screech was heard from their right, Pyrrha coming onto the scene as the scorpion creature uprooted entire trees in its chase after her. Pyrrha narrowly dodged its giant claws and kept on running.
Raven had a deadpan look on her face, "If that girl is anything like me, she is quickly running out of patience."
Her teammates nodded in agreement with that. Frankly, it was impressive that the girl hadn't already lost her temper.
On the other side of the room, Stavros had a look of pure shock on his face. It was clear that the sight of his future daughter being chased by a giant Grimm was absolutely terrifying to him.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called to him.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune called back.
Ruby stood up, looking at the monster below. "Whoa!" She said in awe, before running off of the branch and landing in a roll.
"Ruby!" Jaune whined.
"Ruby!" Yang said in surprise as Ruby stood up, back on the ground.
"Yang!" Ruby said excitedly, raising her arms as if to give her sister a hug.
"Nora!" Nora announced herself as she came between the two and knocking them off-balance in surprise.
At this point, Raven herself was beginning to get irritated with all the things occurring.
Her teammates were eyeing her with trepidation, ready to fling themselves away if her temper snapped before her on screen daughter's did.
The scorpion Grimm continued to follow Pyrrha as she ran.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake asked.
Yang had had enough, getting angrier until she growled and erupted in a small burst of fire, eyes flashing red. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" She demanded.
The lack of surprise from the blondes outburst was almost palpable in the room.
Ravens teammates, however, were also glad that the on screen blonde had her outburst, as that seems to have given Raven enough of a reason for her temper to abate.
They were still worried that something would spark it again, though.
The tick-tock of a clock counted down the two seconds of Yang cooling down, Ren running over to a ditzy Nora, Blake and Ruby looking up.
"Umm... Yang?" Ruby asked as she tugged on her sister's sleeve and pointed upward.
While Raven's head dropped into her hands, a scream muffled but still audible to those near her, most of the room burst into laughter. The timing of this was simply too funny.
Summer herself was giggling, but also had a bad feeling about whatever was about to be shown.
Up above, Weiss was revealed to be hanging on a talon the size of her entire body that belonged to a gigantic Nevermore.
"How could you leave me?!" Weiss called down to Ruby.
"I said 'jump'!" Ruby shouted back up at Weiss.
"She's gonna fall." Blake said.
"She'll be fine." Ruby said dismissively.
"She's falling." Ren said.
While many in the room had a moment of panic, the most audible one was a gasp from the white-haired girls mother.
Josephine noticed that the room was looking at her and blushed. "What," she asks, "am I not allowed to be worried?"
While her husband gave a scoff, clearly showing what he thought, several of the others in the room simply gave her a smile before turning back to the vision.
Jaune was finally out of the tree, panting until he looked up and grinned at the sight of Weiss falling through the air, giving him the opportunity to jump off the branch with arms outstretched and catch her in a slowed-down moment.
"Just... dropping in?" Jaune asked dreamily as he smiled at Weiss.
Weiss was speechless... and Jaune realized why when they both looked down. "Oh, God." He said as they hung on to each other wide-eyed as their moment of suspension ended, their weapons flying behind them. "Oh, noooooooo- Oomph!" He groaned as he did a face-plant into the dirt, limbs splayed out, serving as the perfect landing spot for Weiss as she fell into a seated position on his body.
The landing causes quite a few flinches from the watchers, especially the Arc and Schnee mothers.
While you could clearly see the blonde being worried about her child, especially since he was landed on, the worry from Josephine was only momentary as Weiss had landed safely on top of the blonde knight.
"My hero." Weiss said mockingly as she looked at her nails.
"My back..." Jaune groaned.
This series of events seems to have been entertaining to Raven as the brunette began smirking. No one was particularly surprised by Ravens entertainment, partially because the moment was slightly funny, but primarily because even the people who don't know her could see her irritation with the blonde boy growing throughout the past few visions.
Her team was just hoping that this will cause Raven to calm down about the boys lack of knowledge for a while.
The Death Stalker was still hunting Pyrrha, but she managed to land on her side at the feet of the heroes. "Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang said.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby said as she sounded a battle cry and rushed towards the Grimm.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang called after her.
Ruby, still screaming, fired Crescent Rose and charged at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two met, the Grimm swiped Ruby away and she was knocked back.
Summer lets out a gasp as the red-hooded girl dashes forward, she also flinches as Ruby is sent flying back.
"She really shouldn't have done that," Raven comments, "A Grimm that old wouldn't be taken down by a direct charge like that, what was she thinking?"
Summer sighs, "She's trying to prove to her partner, and possibly everyone there, that she is capable of handling herself."
Raven rolls her eyes, "The kid wouldn't be there in the first place if she couldn't."
Qrow gave his sister a sideways look for her attempt at acknowledging the girls skill. She was pretty bad with compliments.
"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby called back as she got up slowly.
Ruby turned back to the monster and shot it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing her scythe as the Death Stalker now went after her.
"Ruby!" Yang called after her sister, running forward.
Ruby rushed towards Yang, but the Nevermore cawed above them, flapping its wings and releasing lines of sharpened feathers with points that caught on Ruby's cape and prevented Yang from reaching her.
Qrow was worried for the kids, fighting two Grimm like this were difficult even for most fully trained teams. Eight trainees were going to have a hell of a time killing them.
The scythe-user was drgged from his thoughts by Tai asking, "Um, are you okay Summer?"
Qrow turned his head to see that both his other teammates were staring at their team leader, who was completely pale and wide-eyed.
Raven awkwardly patted Summer on the shoulder, "She'll probably be fine if she just drops the cloak."
Qrow had to stifle a laugh, like with compliments Raven was very bad with being comforting. In fact, she was better at being critical than kind overall.
"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang cried.
"I'm trying!" Ruby called back, struggling with the cloak.
The Death Stalker approached, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and heading down on the helpless girl. "Ruby!" Yang cried out again, reaching out in vain.
A white blur raced past Yang and reached the stinger just as it was about to pierce Ruby, cutting the scene to black.
The blatant terror on Summer's face at what might have happened is enough to keep even Raven from making a snarky comment.
Though her pointing out who that the white blur was probably Weiss, and the fact that she obviously survives, is enough to get her to calm down a little.
"You are so childish!" Weiss snapped off-screen.
Ruby opened her eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and lowered her arms from their futile position over her head as she stared at her savior. "Weiss...?" She asked.
"And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style." Weiss continued to berate Ruby as she removed Myrtenaster from the ice.
Summer lets out a loud sigh of relief, while Josephine sighs into her hands.
Several people look over at the Schnee matriarch upon hearing the sigh, who notices the attention upon removing her hands from her face.
"My daughter," she says, "needs to learn some tact, before she insults someone who won't put up with her attitude."
Though many in the room nodded in acknowledgement, her husband gave her a look of almost disgust. Then again, he never negotiated with anyone from anything but a position of power. He probably saw her attitude as a good thing, showing that she was superior and some such.
"And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer." She offered.
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby explained.
"You're fine." Weiss assured her as she walked away.
"Well, would you look at that," Qrow exclaimed, "the little princess can set aside her pride for a while."
While Josephine sighed in relief that her daughter could do so, Ozpin spoke up. "The better question, Mr. Branwen, is whether or not she put her pride aside outside of life threatening situations."
Ozpin caught the Schnee mother's shoulders drop from the corner of his eye, clearly she didn't believe her daughter could do so. He, however had hope for her.
Though she may need to get a large dose of humility before she will grow.
Ruby breathed a sigh of relief, then closed her eyes and clasped her hands together. "Normal knees..." She gratefully whispered.
She got up and stared at the Death Stalker as it struggled to escape with its tail trapped in a massive wall of ice. "Whoa!" She said in awe.
Yang rushed up to Ruby and gave her a hug, which Ruby grunted at upon receiving. "So happy you're okay!" Yang said happily as the two stared at each other for a moment.
The two then looked up at the Nevermore still flying overhead and roaring.
Summer and Amelia were both smiling happily at the sisterly scene that they just saw, thugh the smiles went away when the Nevermore decided to remind everyone of it's presence.
"How are they going to deal with that?" Qrow asked.
His sister gave a very simple reply. "Not easily."
Everyone in the room who cared gave the female twin the exact same look. A flat stare that practically screamed the words "No shit sherlock."
"Guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?" Jaune asked, back with the group.
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." She explained as the heroes stared at the relics.
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the Cliffs." Ruby agreed, nodding to Weiss. "There's no point in fighting these things." She said.
"Run and live - that's an idea I can get behind!" Jaune said.
Qrow nodded, "That kids got the right idea."
He pointedly ignores the "For once" coming from beside him. He really couldn't say that his sister was wrong after all.
Ruby went over and grabbed a gold knight identical to the one Yang picked out and Jaune took hold of a gold rook similar to Nora and Ren's piece, the two smiling at each other. The Death Stalker continued to fight its bonds, cracking the ice a little in the process.
"Time we left!" Ren said urgently.
"Right." Ruby agreed as she waved to the others. "Let's go!" She said as she went forward with everyone following except for a smiling Yang and Blake as the latter approached her partner.
"What is it?" Blake asked the blonde.
Yang simply stared proudly at Ruby as she leapt on a boulder and motioned the group onward. "Nothing..." She said as she moved on as Blake smiled in realization - possibly towards the audience - and left as well.
"Well," Ozpin said with a small smile, "The young miss Rose seems to be quite the leader."
In contrast to Ozpins small smile, Summer had a smile so bright that it was blinding. She was clearly ecstatic over her daughter taking charge.
Raven leaned over to her brother and whipered, "Do you think the kid is going to act like Summer did at the beginning?"
"Oh yeah, she will." Was his whispered response.
An overhead shot showed that the group was heading out of the forest and into another abandoned series of structures as the Nevermore followed them from the air. They spread out when it passed above, concealing themselves behind some of the stone blocks with their allies as it perched on a high column and cawed.
"Well, that's great!" Yang said, annoyed.
Jaune looked behind at the Death Stalker bursting onto the scene. "Ah, man, run!" He shouted as the group emerged from their hiding spots, causing the Nevermore to rise up into the air.
"Nora, distract it!" Ren ordered.
Nora obliged, running out from her block and jumping through the feather projectiles before reaching behind her and launching several heart-topped shells from her grenade launcher, bursting into pink electricity when they hit the Nevermore and caused it to retreat.
Raven rolled her eyes, "I honestly wish I could say that I'm surprised about the kid having a grenade launcher, but I just can't. It fits her too well."
A quick glance around the room showed her a similar lack of surprise from anyone in the room, though her partner was clearly a little unfocused, probably trying to figure out how to build the red-heads weapon.
The brunette poked Summer in the ribs rudely jolting her from her weapon filled thoughts. The pout aimed at Raven had absolutely no effect on the red-eyed girl, she had long since learned how to ignore those looks.
She was unaware of the Death Stalker rushing up behind her until Blake and Ren performed a cross-slash with their Gambol Shroud and StormFlower against its shell. Weiss landed next to Nora so she could create a jumping platform beneath them and leapt to safety while Blake and Ren were now being chased.
"Go, go!" Pyrrha ordered as she stopped running beside Jaune and got out Miló, firing red shots alongside Ren's green blasts for a second until it reached them and tried to swipe, prompting the group to run again.
The eight raced over the ancient stone bridge, not noticing the Nevermore closing in on them until it used its giant wings to shatter the path right in the middle, forcing Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Nora, and Jaune closer to the central collection of columns and leaving Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other side with the Death Stalker.
While the civilians in the group were all watching with impressed looks on their faces, the hunters had all begun to look at what was occurring with a more critical eye.
"Well, at the very least most of the kids seem to know their limits." Qrow said.
Ozpin nodded in agreement, "Indeed Mr. Branwen, however it remains to be seen if they can defeat or escape these Grimm without pushing their limits."
Glynda frowned, "It seems unlikely that they will be able to escape from these Grimm Ozpin, so hopefully the students will be able to defeat them without too many injuries."
Ruby fired at the retreating Nevermore while Blake was beaten back by the scorpion.
"Man, we gotta get over there! They need help!" Jaune said worriedly, coming to the edge of the break in the bridge.
"Let's do this!" Nora said determinedly, running up beside him.
"Yeah, but, uh... I can't make that jump." Jaune said, looking down at the misty abyss.
Nora smiled diabolically at him, laughing as she knocked him back, turned her weapon to its full-length hammer form, and jumped to the edge of the bridge.
"Oh, wait!" Jaune pleaded, seeing what she's about to do. Too late, she slammed the hammer into the bridge and threw Jaune to the other side. "No, no, no!" He cried out fearfully.
Taiyangs eyes widened in shock, "Wow, that girl really does think outside of the box."
"Indeed," Goodwitch states, "however she should think things through a little more. Had the boy been closer to the edge, the stone would have been more likely to shatter underneath him than it would to throw him across the gap."
While Ozpin made no verbal statement the clear nod towards his assistant made it clear that he agreed with her.
Across the room Stavros was trying to get Amelia to calm down from her panicked hyperventilating.
Nora placed one foot on the hammer and fired it off the collapsing section of bridge, launching her to slam its face right in the center of the Death Stalker's skull. She fired it just as the stinger came down to get her, and blasted back again to avoid its reach, accidentally knocking into Blake and making her fall from the edge.
This scene causes Glynda's eye to twitch. she had just mentioned the need to think things through for that girl, and then she just proved her point immediately.
Those nearest to her leaned away slightly from the very ominous aura growing around the grumbling teacher. Meanwhile, the belladonna began to get very nervous at the sight of their daughter being sent flying off the bridge.
Blake saw the Nevermore above her and launched her whip so the gun's blade sank into the edge of the bridge, circling around and leaping onto the aerial Grimm's back. She dashed all over its body, slashing the entire time, before jumping off and landing on the ruined platform at the top of the columns next to Ruby, then going over to Yang and Weiss. "It's tougher than it looks!" Blake said.
"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang said, readying her Ember Celica.
The Nevermore approached, Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Yang set their weapons to fire a barrage of blasts at the bird, which it either dodged or tanked harmlessly until it crashed through the columns and platform. The girls leapt from one section of falling stone to the next until they reached the higher bridge on top, just below the cliffs.
The Belladonnas had relaxed upon seeing their child land on the tower, thought they did have a brief moment of panic when the Nevermore tore the tower down.
Meanwhile the hunters were watching the students climb the debris. "You know," Qrow said, "these kids are pretty good with their weapons to be able to do something like that."
Summer nodded in agreement with her teammate, "While most students would be expected to have a good amount of skill, both personally and with their weapons, and Dust in Weiss' case, I doubt many have had to use them to climb up a bunch of falling debris."
Ozpin gave a half nod, "There have been a few times, however they are few and far between. Even then, very few would try because not every hunter has a weapon, or skill with Dust, that would allow them to accomplish such a feat."
"None of this is working!" Weiss snapped.
Ruby watched Blake whip over to another section of the area and Yang firing round after flaming round at the Grimm. "I have a plan! Cover me!" She said as she blasted away as Weiss raised her blade and headed into the fray.
Down below, the Death Stalker was still battling Jaune, Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha.
"We gotta move!" Jaune said as they all rushed towards it.
The Death Stalker aimed a claw at Pyrrha, but she deflected it with her Akoúo shield and slashed it with her blade. The scorpion recoiled and swiped at her with its other claw, but Jaune was there to deflect it with his shield, knocking it back so Pyrrha could leap over and attack its face.
For a moment, Raven had a look of surprise on her face at the skill of the gold clad student before she remembered something from a little while ago. "Well, I'll give the girl this," the black clad girl said aloud, "If this is any indication of her overall skill, I can see how she won a tournament four years in a row."
Ravens statement reminded many in the room of this fact as well, causing some to look closer at the fight. Meanwhile, Ozpin had a slight frown.
Glynda noticed the look on her bosses face and asked a question, drawing Team STRQs attention, "Is something wrong, sir?"
Ozpin shook his head, "No, I simply feel like I am missing something about how this girl fights is all."
Glynda shrugged, accepting the answer at face value. He had been a hunter for longer than she had, he probably saw something off that he couldn't put his finger on.
Qrow spoke up, "It might be how she's holding herself professor," he said, surprising his team by speaking up, "She holds herself like a tournament fighter."
Ozpins eyes widened a fraction, "Indeed she does, that would explain my confusion." at the curious glances he elaborated, "It is rare to see a hunter trainee with a more tournament focused fighting style, so I usually don't recognize those differences out of hand."
This response got a few people to go "Ah", before they put it out of mind and returned their focus to the playing scene.
Ren ran up firing and got on the stinger when it tried to hit him, shooting at the base between it and the tail while Nora fired more grenades at the attacking claws. Pyrrha hurled her javelin straight into one of the monster's ten eyes, making it throw Ren to the side.
"Ren!" Nora cried out worriedly as Ren hit the side of a stone block hard and falls to the ground, not getting back up.
Jaune, though, managed to stand and notice the stinger is hanging limply.
"Pyrrha!" He called to his partner.
"Done!" She confirmed as she raised the shield and hurled it like a discus, slicing the stinger off and causing it to fall into the Death Stalker's head as Pyrrha retrieved her rebounding shield.
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune said.
"Heads up!" Nora said as she jumped on Akoúo, Pyrrha leapt as Nora aimed her blast down to give herself a maximum lift. She smiled the entire way up before twirling down until her hammer slammed its head into the stinger, driving the point through the Death Stalker's head and crushing the bridge beneath it.
Jaune and Pyrrha bounded over the monster to the land behind it and Nora fired up and away behind them as the monster fell to its doom. Jaune hit the ground on his back, Nora landed on her bottom, Pyrrha managed a crouched pose, and Ren simply walked over to them, panting and groaning until he just collapsed. The other three got up and watched as the Nevermore was peppered with firepower.
While the Ren's let out a sigh of relief at their child being okay, most of the hunters were impressed.
"That kid is quite the strategist," Summer said, "if he was able to come up with a functional plan on the spot."
While Raven merely scoffed, her dislike of Jaunes inexperience still clouding her perception of the kid, Qrow seesawed his hand. "It was half his strategy, and half luck that his partner understood what he wanted."
Summer thought about that for a moment before nodding in agreement, that did sound correct.
"Ms. Rose is correct in one regard," Goodwitch chimed in to the conversation, "with some honing the boy could be quite the strategist. However whether he truly deserves to be in the school is still another question entirely."
Everyone in the room could tell that she wasn't going to let this go until, or unless, she was proven wrong in her assumptions.
Yang was still burning through her ammo on the beast, landing a blow at its face and causing it to head right towards her, but she leapt for its open maw and forced the beak wide as she attacks.
"I! Hope! You're! Hung-! ...-gry!" Yang screamed and fired a round into its gullet with each syllable, until she looked behind her and jumped back from its mouth onto a ruin, causing the creature to crash into the cliffs.
Despite Yang's attempts, the Nevermore recovered quickly, but Yang smiled as she spotted Ruby and Blake on the broken columns with Weiss rushing to the battle. Yang passed her while the Nevermore started to fly back up, but Weiss hopped over to the ruin it was lifting off of and froze the tip of its feathery tail to the ground, leaving it stuck in the same spot despite its flapping. Weiss back-flipped into a snowflake-circle jump and landed on the other side, running to the group.
Blake fired the pistol portion of Gambol Shroud over to Yang and the two tightened it between the columns so Ruby could jump on the center with Crescent Rose and bent it back into Weiss' black sigil, right next to the caster.
Summer, Raven and Qrow all simultaneously face palmed at the sight of Yang jumping and shooting down the Nevermores throat. They had been right to fear, the daughter was almost exactly like her father.
After that moment of despair from the three, and happiness at the similarity by Tai, they noticed what the group had actually set up. Summers eyes widened as she realized that Ruby was planning to slingshot herself.
"Well," Summer said, "If this works out at least it will be memorable, right?"
"Memorable," Raven drawls, "Sure, lets go with that."
Glynda rubbed her temples. She had heard the tales of Team STRQ's antics, and apparently she would have to put up with a team that may be just as bad in the future.
Ozpin was going to have to give her a raise when that day comes.
"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss said.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.
"Hmm! Can I!" Weiss said confidently.
A second passed. "Can you?" Ruby asked.
"Of course I can!" Weiss snapped.
Qrow bursts out laughing, "Someone needs to teach mini-Summer about rhetorical questions."
Summer sighs while Raven joins her twin in laughing out loud. "I feel the need to point out that she's a socially awkward teenager."
"So were you when we started as a team," Taiyang pointed out, "and even you were better than her." The blonde man pauses for a moment before correcting himself, "Not much better, but better."
Taiyang soon finds himself grateful that looks cannot kill without the correct semblance, because otherwise he would be hospitalized by the look Summer gives him.
Upon acknowledging that he was right, and that her stare wasn't killing her teammate, Summer turned back towards the vision. No one was willing, or cared enough, to let her know that everyone could see the enormous blush on her face from Taiyang's comment.
Ruby looked forward and pumped Crescent Rose as Weiss turned the circle from black to red and released Ruby at such a speed that the ground behind her launch cracked, rose petals flying from her ascent. With each new shot, she got closer and closer to the trapped Grimm until her scythe caught the Nevermore's neck in its blade and caused them both to fall to the cliff wall. Weiss raised her sword and created a series of white circles up the wall, which Ruby dashed through by firing the entire way up.
Yang, Blake and an exhausted Weiss watched her climb up with the bird in her grasp until, both warrior and monster crying out, Ruby reached the top of the cliff, circled up, fired one last shot and rended the Nevermore's head from its shoulders in a shower of petals.
She landed beside the severed head as the body of the giant Nevermore fell lifeless to the ruins and crevice below while the girls and, farther away, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren watched in amazement.
"Wow..." Jaune said in awe.
Ruby, her cape and petals flowing with the wind, looked down to her friends as they peered up.
"Well... That was a thing!" Yang said.
Ruby continued to smile as the faint sounds of an audience clapping were heard, growing louder and louder as a familiar voice was heard.
The civilians in the room had looks of awe on their faces at Ruby's actions, heavily impressed by her dragging the Nevermore up the cliff. The hunters were impressed as well, however they were impressed more by the teamwork displayed by the girls. After all, Ruby would not have been able to drag the Grimm if Weiss had not created the glyphs beneath her feet.
"Well," Glynda spoke up, "Despite the unorthodox nature of their strategy, I cannot deny that it was quite effective."
Ozpin nodded in agreement, "Sometimes Glynda, one must think outside the box in order to solve a problem." The headmaster lets out a chuckle, "After all, if everything could be solved with simple ideas, there would be very little need for people to think for themselves in combat."
Glynda nods in understanding, if they didn't need people to think for themselves in battle the Grimm could have been dealt with by the military. Hunters would have been unnecessary if that was true.
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Ozpin listed as the screen of the auditorium showed each of their profiles as the boys were lined up for the applauding audience to see as Ozpin continued. "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!" He decreed.
The audience gave one more wave of ovation, while four students walked up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster as their faces filled the screen.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." He declared.
Amid the clapping, Nora laughed and gave Ren a hug.
"Led by... Jaune Arc!" Ozpin finished.
"Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune asked, surprised.
Raven twitches at the announcement of the Arc child leading his team but remains silent.
Meanwhile the Arc mother is bursting with happiness, "Oh, my son is a leader! I'm so happy for him!"
The parents around her, the Lie's and Stavros, all chuckle at the blonde woman's contagious happiness.
Glynda meanwhile, looks at her boss out of the corner of her eye for a moment before looking away. While she accepts that the boy may be a decent leader, she is still going to withhold any proper judgement until he proves himself in her eyes.
"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin congratulated.
A grinning Pyrrha offered a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune, but her "fine leader" was knocked over and fell to his butt in front of the laughing audience.
"And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." Ozpin listed again as he motioned over the four as they stood before him. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!" He announced.
Weiss looked to her right surprised, where Ruby was obviously in shock as Yang went over to hug her sister.
"I'm so proud of you!" Yang said happily.
"It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." Ozpin said amid the last round of cheers.
Many in the room began to laugh when Pyrrha knocked Jaune over, and more still began to laugh at Ruby's shock of being named leader. Sadly said laughter was not enough to block out Mr. Schnee's statement, "This is absurd! That apparent daughter of mine should have been placed in charge, not that inexperienced girl.
While Summer glared at the Schnee patriarch like she wanted to murder him, Ozpin decided to respond, "Unfortunately, Ms. Schnee does not have the traits that a leader should have. A leader should be capable of putting others before themselves and fostering a sense of cooperation amongst teammates." Ozpin stopped for a moment to send a glare towards the male Schnee, silencing the building rant, "If Weiss were to be placed in charge she would run things as she saw fit, not taking into account her teammates skills or personality."
The headmaster turns from the CEO towards Summer as he continues, "The young Ms. Rose, on the other hand, may indeed be inexperienced. However she is able to accept that not everyone will follow the same ideas, and she is the kind of person who can get along with nearly anyone." he smiles, "If there is any person capable of pulling together such differing personalities it would be her."
That explanation causes a smile to spread over Summers face as she turns back, giddy at the kind of person her daughter seems to be.
The camera panned over the auditorium's structure until it escaped into the open sky and showed the scattering crescent moon amid the day's clouds...
... before going into the night and seeing the moon through a window, providing a view to the outside for a shadowy room filled with shelves and a desk in the back, where Roman Torchwick was getting a call on his phone. The muffled conversation ended and Roman angrily slammed the phone down, sighing. He held a cigar to his mouth and put his symbolized lighter to the end, just as a man in a gray mask and black hood came with a trolley. Roman held out a collection of Lien, which he placed on the table and the man took.
"Open it." Roman ordered.
The masked man did so with a crowbar, revealing a large amount of Dust crystals of varying colors - orange, blue, white, red, green, cyan, gold, yellow, and more. Roman picked up a blue gem in his hand and looked at the loot.
"We're gonna need more men..." He decided.
The view zoomed in on the map above the desk, showing Vale and various districts and areas of crossed-out locations, labeled for cops and dumb cops, all leading into a specially-circled place - Beacon - as the scene set to black.
The ending of the vision had brought silence to the room, much of the energy from before fading as realization about what they just witnessed.
"Well," Taiyang says, breaking the silence, "I guess that Torchwick guy is going to be a big player in all this, if he's getting a focus."
"While that may be true Mr. Xiao Long," Glynda says, "I'm more worried about that map we saw, If he is planning something involving Beacon it won't be some small action. It will be a large undertaking."
Summer decided to speak up, seeing that Ozpin had seemingly gone into deep thought and no one else particularly wanted to say anything. "Whatever the case may be," she said, "We can't figure out anything right now with so little information."
Seeing that she had gotten the assistants attention she continued, "For now, how about we keep this information in mind, and continue with the visions. If any other information shows up, we can consider it then."
As Ozpin seems to return from his deep thought, and Glynda nods in agreement, the next vision begins to play almost immediately, returning everyone's attention to the wall it is showing on.
I don't know if I'm just being overly critical or not but I feel like this could be better.
...Eh, I'll figure it out, let me know what you guys think though.
So, extra statement time. I'm going to be starting a poll on my profile, it'll be up for two or three days. Do you want me to go change Josephine's name to Willow?
Anyway, as usual please, Read and Review.