Before anything else, I own nothing but the original characters, and content therein related to them. RWBY is owned by RT, and any mentioned creator's work belongs to them, and them alone. Rest in peace Monty, your vision lives on in us all.

VOLUME 4: Part Two, The Anima

CHAPTER 1

Within the confines of a dark castle made of grimm flesh, bone, and stone, Cinder sat beside her subordinates, as her mistress entered the room. The dark and foreboding presence of Salem caused her to squirm. Watts was going on about her being bested by Ruby Rose… He didn't have a clue who it was that had injured her at Beacon. "The girl wasn't the one who defeated her." Hazel said from his place at the table. "It was the sterilized one… I found him with Torchwick. His eyes were burned out… He must have used them to hurt Cinder." Hazel said. Watts scoffed.

"Being bested by an old man at the end of his half life is hardly an improvement." Watts said, Tyrian smiled, as his goddess spoke.

"Sterilized one? Schrodinger? Hmmm." The old witch said, smiling as she remembered the man. There was a short listing of orders made, only for Cinder to hold up her hand. She was not so crippled as to be incapable of speech, Rot's attack had more than likely hurt himself worse than her.

"What about the girl, Ruby?" She managed to croak out.

Salem took a moment to contemplate the matter. The Rose child… She could very easily become a problem… And Rot, though a bitter and greedy man long since declawed, was not someone to underestimate. Cinder's report on the man before he was revealed to be a previous annoyance, indicated he'd not lost his edge in his golden years. Enigmatic as he liked to pretend to be, his skills as an ex-huntsman were still very well polished if he was pulling off that time and space jumping schtick for giggles… If he sought out the child he would teach her everything he knew. "Tyrian… The Spring Maiden can wait. Find the Rose Child, and the old man. Kill him, and bring her to me." Salem said, much to the amusement of her underling...

On the island of Patch, a lone black coated man appeared from behind a tree on the edge of the Xiao Long driveway. Having silently raided the island village's clinic, Rot had cleaned up his facial burns and changed out his dressings with spongy eye pads and metal shields to appear more presentable. Asking for directions, the old man was able to get within 100 feet of the front door. Rot knocked three times, and was greeted by a short haired blond. "Is Miss Rose home today?"...

In the thick woods of western Anima, Nora and Ren walked side by side, their leader and his partner ahead of them by only a few paces, Ruby and Clayton farther away, scouting out their prey. "Look, all I'm saying is that there's more of team JNPR here than there are of either of Teams RWBY or SPGL, so the team name should still be JNPRR." Nora said.

"That leaves Clayton out though." Ren said. "We can add the S from his last name to the end and make it JNPRRS." Nora said.

"But that makes no no sense. We are helping Ruby with her objective, shouldn't her initial be first if she's the acting leader?" Ren asked.

"Well what would we spell out with that then?" Nora asked.

"If we included last name initials as you suggested, we could form team RNNJRS. Ruby, Nikos, Nora, Jaune, Ren, Sanguis." Ren said.

"Guys." Jaune said from ahead of them, weaponless beside his equally unarmed partner, save for her shield. "Let's just focus on the mission… And team RNNJRS sounds better anyways." He added.

"Yes, flowers do not usually make people think of huntsmen and heroes. Lawmen from Vacuo though?" Pyrrha suggested. Knowing she was beat, Nora huffed.

Nora and Ren had seen to updating their wardrobe after arriving in Anima, Pyrrha had seen to changing her outfit before they'd left too, and Jaune had yet to change… To be fair they were currently completing a task that would allow him to do so, so there was that. Nora had opted for a breathable tracksuit and skirt, along with laced boots for the long walks ahead of them, Ren did much the same with a sleeveless silk tunic, and toeless boots to better air flow… Ren had particularly bad smelling feet, so he let them air out on the road, don't judge him.

Pyrrha had seen to lightening the load as it were. Her wedged heels were replaced with deep treaded black boots that went up to just below her mid calf for extra support. After the arrow she'd taken to her Achilles tendon, she needed the stability they provided. The black nylon pants and bronze shin guards she wore in place of her skirt and full leg armor were flexible and light, with a strip cut out on the outside from knee to the beltline of the pants, laced with paracord for air flow, and should she need it, the cording could be removed. Her signature red sash and a leather ammo belt hung off her hips, slightly above where the pants stopped. Embarrassing as it was, the waistline of the black underwear she wore peeked out from in between the ammo belt and her pants, but that was mostly due to how low cut the pants were, however the ability to do splits in the nylon fabric far outweighed any potential half mooning someone might get if she bent over instead of crouched for any reason. Her mid section was left bare, and her upper torso was adorned with only a sports bra, a black half tank top, and what Clayton had joked about being a "tactical boob protector."

The minimal chest protection she had was a leather sleeveless half jacket with bronze accents and breast plate pressed into the material from a few decades ago, the once shiny metal now a green tinge from it's age. It was lined with tightly woven nylon, advertised to stop shrapnel and small pistol rounds. She kept it unbuttoned for the most part, as walking with it on got to be quite warm. Her arms were kept free of any unnecessary fabrics, and the only other form of arm protection she had was her right shoulder pauldron and the two bracers, each having begun to oxidize from accumulated moisture, and a lack of proper maintenance. Her bronze headband was starting to show signs of wear too. Splotches of green appearing on the edges from sweating into the metal, her chin length bangs draped over the sides, framing her face. She'd kept her usual ponytail in a braid so the majority of her hair wouldn't be flying all over and catch on the foliage around her. That and it helped with keeping sweat from drenching her long red locks. Speaking of, Pyrrha blew the hair she left parted on top of her head out of her eyes.

Pyrrha would be lying to herself if she said the outfit wasn't slightly skimpy, but then again, deep woods of Anima, and she'd seen Jaune stealing glances at her... They were in a weird spot right then relationship wise, Jaune and Pyrrha. He'd kissed her at Beacon over 6 months ago, and it was very clear the two were at the very least infatuated with each other. Jaune probably less so than her, but that was changing fast if his wandering eyes were any measure. Then again his trepidation only made her dorkish team leader all that cuter in her eyes… Still, she found it hard herself to take the next step. Rumblings from the clearing ahead of them shook Pyrrha out of the small daydream she had. "It's close." Jaune said.

"HOOOLY SHIIIIIIIIT!" Clayton shouted, as he jumped off the cliff he was leading the rock gollum off of. Ruby was above him, flying with her semblance. She ungracefully fell out of the air, and solidified, just as she bounced off a tree branch. Mid fall, Clayton grabbed Ruby by the boot with his foot, and swung off of another branch as the grim behind them fell into the forest. Looking down, he saw Ruby was more or less ok… "Ok, getting out of the trees now." Clayton said, flipping Ruby upright, as the two of them landed by the clearing they had planned to fight the geist in. Now in the open, the grimm used it's possessed stone body to knock down a few trees as it rushed at them.

"Let's get in there and help." Jaune said, rushing in to distract the grimm. Ren jumped up into the trees, and laid down covering fire, jumping from branch to branch in a circle, as Clayton and Ruby put some space in between them and the grimm. Nora put her grenades to use, blowing chunks out of the creature's back, as Clayton and Ruby chipped away at it with rifle rounds and shotgun pellets.

"My blade's don't hurt it." Ren said, after making a pass on the monster.

"How about this?!" Ruby asked, preparing a magazine of specially marked dust. With a fundamental understanding of physics she thought it would be efficient to shoot ice dust rounds at her target to slow it, or otherwise over-encumber it. Each consecutive shot did indeed slow the grimm, but it didn't seem to mind the extra weight.

"Tagging in." Nora said, as she rushed forward. Jumping into the air, she converted Magnhild into it's hammer form, and took a mighty swing at the geist as it tried to attack her with it's frost covered arm. She shattered the stone with the assistance of a grenade blast, but within minutes the rocks had gone right back to where they were.

"Oh that's bullshit!" Clayton yelled as he loaded more shells into Kingslayer. Instead of using the reconstituted limb to smash them however, the geist began launching parts of it's arm. Ren went unnoticed by the grimm, Ruby was fast enough to avoid the incoming rocks, Nora was able to bat them out of the air, and Pyrrha shielded herself and Jaune. Clayton had to take the punishment. He needed to get his semblance built up anyways, so being hit by the stones was fine in his mind.

Now down an arm, the Geist took a half destroyed trunk of a tree, and uprooted it. "His arm is a tree, his arm is a tree!" Jaune said, running out from behind Pyrrha who braced for the incoming hit. She was sent flying into a rock, but recovered quickly. Rushing forward, Pyrrha threw her shield as she got closer, and had it strike the Geist in the face, which seemed to actually hurt it. Catching her shield as she jumped up onto it's wooden arm, Pyrrha threw the metal disk again, earning another satisfying hit, before the monster tossed her off of it's arm.

"Nothing we do hurts it!" Clayton observed.

"Not true. I hit it in the face, and it nearly fell over." Pyrrha said, as she landed.

"So what, we can only hit it's head?" Ruby asked.

"Exactly… Guys, I have a plan. Nora, break it's legs, if it can't walk, it's a sitting duck. Ren, Clayton, keep it distracted for her, and Pyrrha." Jaune said. Looking at his partner, then at Ruby. "Gauss cannon." He said, as everyone started moving.

Ren and Clayton swung through the tree's keeping the Geist from noticing Nora run up behind the monster. With one great swing, Nora shattered both of the stone legs of the grimm, making it fall face first into the dirt. As the golem pushed itself up. Ruby stood in front of Pyrrha, Crescent Rose in it's war scythe mode, the much smaller pointed tip facing the creature. There was a low hum, that gradually built in volume until Ruby was launched by her weapon, the sudden acceleration to Mach speeds causing a boom to be heard throughout the forest, as Pyrrha used her polarity to force Ruby through a channel of magnetic fields strong enough to send the point of Crescent Rose clean through the geist's face, killing it dead.

After the trek back to the village they were stopping at, Team RNNJRS was paid in dust and food. And for his troubles, Jaune was given a new breastplate. The repairs and slight modifications he'd requested for Crocea Mors had already been paid for, and delivered upon. Ruby and Clayton laughed at his hoodie, but he just rolled his eyes. It was a collector's item, and it was comfortable, even in Anima's heat, soon to get worse. Looking between his teammates, he frowned. They were all sure to be fine when summer came around, but he was going to be dying in his hoodie and armor. Pyrrha actually seemed to like his hoodie, if the gentle smile she gave him was any indication… She was Pumpkin Pete's mascot after all.

The weapon smith came out from the back and presented the three heroes who needed modifications with their wears. Clayton smirked as he picked the set of shotgun chokes off the counter, screwing the full choke into place, he put the others in his messenger bag. Clayton, much like his girlfriend and friends, had changed up his outfit a little. He had the blue side of his coat facing out, wore white button up trousers, carried his messenger bag at all times, and for long distance walking, he had a pair of boots he cut thumb holes into. There were a few more feathers tucked into his tricorn as well, though they were not falcon feathers, rather a few from a wild turkey he'd turned into dinner during the late days of winter. His hair had grown out over the winter, nearing a mullet in proportions, as the once shaved sides were distinctly shorter than the back.

Pyrrha took the shiny bare steel kopis off of the counter. The thick 16 inch blade gleamed in the firelight of the shop. Giving it a few test swings, Pyrrha found it to be an acceptable chopping weapon. Pressing the mech shift button on the pinky grove, the weapon turned into a large semi auto 10 round handgun, based on an Atlas .30 carbine. The rifle caliber pistol, while unbalanced feeling without a stock, was easy enough to manipulate. With the sheath now on her ammo belt she stowed the weapon, and thanked the weapon smith for his efforts.

Jaune was last to take his weapon. His sword and shield remained fundamentally unaltered from an outside perspective, but if one were to look closer, it became clear that Jaune's defense was not his only asset anymore. Additional straps had been mounted, so that he could hold it center line with his arm, or horizontally as usual, and the point of the bottom edge of the shield had been sharpened, providing his protective arm with an impromptu second wide blade if held bottom towards his fist. His sword now had a channel forged into the ridge, not only did this provide structural strength, but it served a secondary purpose.

Stopping to get Jaune a new pair of brown leather laced boots on the way out of the village, Team RNNJRS did a quick check for liquids, ammo, food, and equipment. "Food?" Jaune asked.

Clayton jostled the haversack full of dried meat and fruit. "Still got plenty of deer."

"Water?"

Nora piped up. "Packs full." She said with a small skip.

"Ammo?"

"Plenty. Well… Clayton, do you have any of those flashbangs left?" Ruby asked.

"Just three." Her boyfriend said, flatly.

"Alright… What about the map? Ren?" Jaune asked.

"I don't have it." Ren said.

"What? I gave it to you." Jaune said.

"Actually you gave it to Nora." Pyrrha pointed out.

Nora just giggled. "I don't have a map." She said.

"Ah whatever, we're sticking to the trail and it's a straight shot to Shione. We can pick up a new one there." Clayton said with a hand wave, before he started humming a tune.

Author's note. And so the second part of our travel arc begins, focusing on team RNNJRS now. The geist fight was a little easier to wrap up with two extra bodies to throw at it. Pyrrha pointed out it's weakness really early on, and our boy Jaune didn't get hit in his bois. In turn Jaune formulated a plan to use the extra teammates he had and Pyrrha's extremely versatile semblance in a way that she would have originally not ever though to use it in. Hypervelocity fire. The upper limits of Pyrrha's powers are an unknown, but she can control lots of metal at once, though it seems to become more difficult. Tossing Crescent Rose, with Ruby tagging along just to make sure the gun doesn't get launched into the next zip code, should be no problem for her.

Jaune's upgrades. Sword and shield. Don't worry he's still got the zweihander mode, but there's a little extra now. With his shield having a new way to be oriented, the point and edges of his shield (Already made sharp for the great sword mode,) can be used to turn normal shield bashes into chops and armor piercing punches. As for the grove in the sword... I can't give that away yet.

Can you take a guess as to what the themes of the now broken team SPGL's outfits are?