A.N: So, what the hell is this, you may ask? Well, wanted to try my hand at ONE more RWBY story, the thing that started my writing hobby off in the first place. To be honest, I'm not too optimistic on the chances of this one, largely because my previous RWBY fics didn't have good plot, enough planning, TERRIBLE character management, or success in the first place. Consider this the last dying breath of a RWBY writer. If this DOES somehow pick up steam, I MIGHT give it more regular updates. Readers of my current BNHA project, don't worry, this is simply something to keep my mind flexible. That being said... here goes fucking nothing.

Also, considering this fic is largely stemmed from my frustration towards the MULTIPLE failings of the show with its characters and worldbuilding (YES the show has several failings, get over yourself if you cockride it thinking it's the greatest thing since garlic bread), consider this my own little rewrite in honour of guys like SYTOkun and Jerry Freeman on Youtube. Support their shit, it's good stuff and they actually care about the show's writing. Suck my left nut Miles.

(18/05/2022) P.S: Eren, I hope you're reading this. now that I've recommended it to you. You wanted me to do something right? Stop whining about criticism aimed at RWBY. Here you go.


The Ruby Rose we know was a weapon's geek, a major nerd on machinery, and as always, a kind and simple soul. It makes you wonder though, what if a small change happened to her, a simple shift in interest. Still a huntress, still a kind soul, but with a simple twist, an altercation in her nerdiness. Thus, she is born…

Fighting Rose


At ten years old, one thing was certain about Ruby Rose: the girl was a dreamer. She constantly dreamed about being able to become a huntress, a hero who banished the darkness and saved the innocent. Granted, her outlook on the profession was nothing short of rose-tinted, but a child could dream right? It wouldn't be long before she was allowed into a Junior Hunter Training School, within the next three years, and already she couldn't wait.

Well… that was a bit of a lie. Despite being a child, she was still pretty well aware that it would take some time for her to prepare for becoming a super-cool and invincible. She wanted to start somewhere, but frankly she had no clue where to begin preparing.

'Ooh, Uncle Qrow had a super-awesome weapon! But I'm small right now, maybe if I drink enough milk, I'll get big and strong and nobody can beat me!... maybe. That's still a LOT of milk.' She pouted, frustrated at the idea of her body being too tiny to wield something too big. A bright and cheerful Saturday, she was relatively lazy on this occasion, though that was quickly getting to the young child, her restlessness growing. She huffed and hopped off the couch, idly walking over into the kitchen. Finding nothing of interest there, aside from a napping Zwei, she hummed as she skipped outside to catch a breath of fresh air, maybe find something to entertain herself with.

She saw a flash of motion out of the corner of her eyes, a streak of yellow and gold. Curious, she quickly walked around to the back of the house and saw her older sister, Yang Xiao Long, practicing in their back yard. Being twelve years old, she was on her way to going to Signal Academy, with a strong aura and an even stronger desire for adventure.

"Oh, hey sis!" The blonde called out cheerily.

"Hey Yang, training again?"

"Yup, can't wait to go to signal!" She cheered, wiping some sweat from her brow. "Gotta make sure I'm in top condition!" Ruby was about to just leave and find something else to do rather than distract Yang, only to realize there was literally nothing else for her to do.

"Hey sis, is it okay if I can watch you?" She asked, "Cuz' I'm booored."

"No problem, just watch out if my attacks get too wide!" Yang laughed before going back to her training. Ruby decided to sit down on a tree-stump to watch, swinging her legs idly as she relaxed. Yang was quick to focus again, bringing her hands up as she bounced on her toes. Something about the silence and the concentrated look on Yang's face made Ruby sit up a little straighter. She'd caught glimpses of Yang training before, but she'd never stayed. This was the first time she had ever seen her normally loud sister so quiet and focused.

Yang suddenly burst into motion, shooting her left hand out with speed Ruby couldn't follow, her eyes going wide. Her feet bounced off the floor as her aura appeared to roar around her, the air heating up as she seemed to dance, her left hand constantly shooting out like a bullet. The little sibling's jaw dropped open as Yang leapt into the air, her right foot swinging through the air like a hammer. As soon as she landed, she spun and let her left foot follow up with a spinning hook-kick, this one much lighter and faster. Still she spun, her right and firing out to chop down. She moved from one attack to the next, sometimes slipping and falling, much to her frustration, but she was quick to get back up and try again. Yang went on for another twenty minutes before she was finally tapped out, hands on her knees as she took deep, huffing breaths. It was only after she had recovered somewhat that she remembered that Ruby was watching her.

The girl in red sat there, jaw dropped to the floor as her eyes were practically shining.

"Yang, that was…"

"I know, I know," The blonde groaned, dusting some dirt off her pants, "That was kinda sloppy from me."

"Yang, that was so COOL!" Ruby squealed, surprising Yang, "You were like WOOOSH and your hands went like FSHH and your legs went like WHOOM! I didn't know you could do all of that without a weapon!"

The elder sibling laughed, patting Ruby on the head with a beaming grin. "It's hand-to-hand combat Ruby! Waaay before weapons were made, all we had were our hands and feet. Sure, swords and guns are cool, but with our aura and our bodies, we make the strongest weapons of them all!"

The young child digested the information, silent for a moment as she considered the possibilities. Sure, weapons were pretty cool. Swords that could transform into scythes, shields that could become ranged firearms. But after all… someone was behind those weapons, right? Those swords didn't swing themselves after all.

"…hey Yang?"

"What's up Ruby?"

"… can you teach me?" Yang's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I wanna learn how to fight like that."

The blonde inwardly squealed at the thought of helping her little sister become a badass before she nodded, eager to start. "Sure thing sis! I mean, since we're just starting off, we're gonna have to take our time, okay?" The young girl pouted: she wanted to flip and hit things with her feet and hands, but she conceded, nodding.

"Alright Ruby, first thing you need to learn is how to make a fist," Yang put an open hand up, Ruby doing the same with her left hand. "Press the tips of your fingers to the top of your palm… then squeeze." Her fingers curled inwards, Ruby again copying the motion. "And finally fold your thumb over your fingers!"

Ruby looked at her fist, a strange feeling welling up in her chest. She felt… she felt the need to use her fist. Not to hurt anyone, but…

"The hand is a really cool tool that anyone can use," Yang said, her voice a bit stern, "But it's also a weapon. You can hurt other things and yourself if you don't know how to use it properly. That's what dad told me, and I think that he's right." The serious look dropped off her face as she had a sheepish grin on her face. "But I don't think we should have you hit anything yet."

"What should we start with then?" Ruby asked, already so eager.

"Hmm…" Yang thought for a moment before a lightbulb went off in her brain. "…How good is your flexibility?"

Five Years Later…

Dust 'Till Dawn was a quaint little shop that sold Remnant's most valuable commodity, only really occupied by two people at the time, wasn't expecting any surprises that night. The old man (who apparently had jobs everywhere) tended to the front of the shop, a sleepy look on his face as he catalogued the crystals and powers. And in the very back was figure cloaked in a flowing red hood, their face and figure hidden by said hood. They hummed happily as a small pair of headphones rested around their neck, letting out some faintly audible music while their perused some magazines. She stiffened up slightly as something seemed to run up her spine, sharply looking over her shoulder to see the door to the shop open.

Several big men in black and red suits calmly walked in, startling the shopkeeper before frankly terrifying him, no thanks to the multitude of weapons that they were bearing. Axes, machetes, small firearms, all of it coloured in red strangely enough, but more than enough to subdue an old man late at night. A final man walked through the open door, different from the rest in dress and mannerism: a pristine white suit, a bowler hat with a niche feather, a cocky grin on a clean and handsome face (that apparently made use of eyeliner) and a simple grey and red-accented cane.

"Do you have… any idea how hard it is to find a Dust-shop open this late?" The man in white chuckled, as if to make small-talk like a customer. The shopkeeper was considerably smarter than that though.

"Please, just take the money!"

"O-ho-ho, you misunderstand, we're not here for your money!" The man in white said with a soothing voice, at least until he turned to his henchmen. "Grab the-"

"U-um, excuse me?"

Weapons were drawn in an instant, all pointed towards the cloaked figure, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. She didn't flinch in the slightest, innocent silver eyes on a youthful face calmly taking in her surroundings.

"Hope you don't mind me asking, but… are you robbing this place?"

"Well little Red," The man in white said with a grin, "Not of money, no. This man's finances are entirely his own."

"So you're taking Dust then," She summed up, a tiny grin on her face. The man in white raised a brow, taking note of the girl's teasing sass. Not expected from someone so small, but not unpleasant. "A cheeky one, huh? Well, I'll humour you little red. Yes, me and my… fellow men require a big amount of dust for a… science project."

"Hmm. That's fair," She said, eyes calmly sweeping over the men, something about her gaze unnerving to all of them before she settled on the man in white. "I'll just assume that you're the leader behind all of this." The man's eyes widened as he saw her crouch down slightly and knew exactly what was coming, yanking one of the closest henchmen to stand in front of him as he ducked down. There was a blur of motion as the girl turned into a streak of red, smashing right into the poor man's face with a flying dropkick that sent them both flying right out of the open door, his shoulder clipping the wooden frame and cracking it.

Both of them skid to a stop in the middle of the street, the poor henchman blissfully unconscious as the girl stepped off of him, throwing her cloak away from her body and revealing an outfit created for combat. A black corset armoured around the ribs and tied together in the middle with what appeared to be chainmail, a simple red t-shirt underneath allowing her to bare slim but powerful shoulders, biceps and triceps. Her forearms were armoured with simple silver bracers, beautiful rose-designs carved into the shining metal, little nodes right around the wrists suggesting that something could be placed there. Her waist was adorned with a short black and red skirt, legs covered by black leggings with thorn-designs knitted in red. Finally, her knees down to her toes were covered in silver armoured combat boots, similar to her bracers with rose-like designed etched into them along with the empty nodes. Smirking, she spun rapidly on the spot, a gust of wind and rose petals (for some reason) bursting from her as she stamped her left foot down sharply, the ground cracking under her heel.

The man in white was no fool: this little girl may not be a full Huntress, but she was dangerous. "Umm, get her." The henchmen barely all filed out of the building before the girl struck pre-emptively, the next handful of seconds a blur.

Again in another burst of wind and petals, she closed the distance between her and the first henchman, rocketing a straight kick right into his ribs so hard that he flew back and knocked down the two others behind him. Another closed in from her blindside, swinging his machete right for her neck, yet she smoothly pivoted and caught his wrist, using his own momentum against him and flipping him clean over her body, slamming him face-first into the concrete. She intercepted another henchman, dashing in with an axe-kick to the collarbone, his knees buckling under the sheer force behind the strike before his body was flung to the side by a whipping hook-kick to his temple.

Two more remained, one deciding to go for broke and charge in low, attempting to tackle and pin her. She didn't fall for that, armoured toes smashing into the man's mouth and right through his aura, a tooth flying into the air as he was forcibly straightened up before a literal storm of rapid-fire sidekicks blasted into him, his body riddled by the blows before finally collapsing. She eyed the last henchman, who was understandably shaking in his boots, so she sighed and swiftly knocked him out with a single heavy roundhouse to the face, sending him rolling right next to the man in white.

"…worth every cent, you were," He muttered, keeping his cool. "Well, I must say, that was an impressive display and a lot of fun, but I'm afraid that this," He whipped his cane up, the very end of it popping up to reveal a simple scope. "Is where the entertainment ends-GOOD LORD!" He barely managed to react in time as the girl instantly rocketed right at him, fist drawn back and ready to knock his lights out. He pointed the cane at the floor in between them, firing at the ground in a burst of flame. She didn't have the time or footing to stop, so she simply went with the flow, spinning her body rapidly before lashing out with a blurring right roundhouse, a sharp burst of wind completely cutting through and squashing the fire. When she landed though, the man was nowhere to be seen.

Eyes darting around, she saw him quickly climbing his way up a ladder, making sure to destroy the ladder as he reached the roof. She was about to move, only to stop herself and turn back to the shopkeeper with a sheepish grin on her face. "S-sorry about the doorframe sir."

The man just shook his head with a small smile, waving at her to go and catch the man. She nodded and took off like a bullet, skidding to a stop right in front of the towering wall before crouching low. Petals began to swirl around her, her teeth bared in a slightly aggressive smile before her entire body exploded upwards. She landed on the roof a moment later, shouting "Should've just handed yourself in!"

"Hmph, persistent…" Roman growled. She had gotten up here faster than expected, so his getaway was probably thirty seconds away. "No choice but to duke it out." He turned around and whipped out his cane, Ruby grinning as she rushed right into the challenge. Right front-kick to right roundhouse, followed up by a whipping hook-kick, dodged and parried. She didn't lose her balance, but her eyes narrowed.

'Rapier fighting-style, uses leverage when his range isn't effective and had some great reflexes,' She noted. She sprung off the floor, grunting in exertion as her flying knee impacted his hasty guard, the man stumbling back and slightly grimacing. He barely had time to reset himself before her sidekick came rushing for his midsection, his arms screaming and his cane groaning from the armoured heel blasting into him. Still, he pivoted to disperse the impact and stepped in with a sharp overhand swing for her head, only for his cane to pass right through a bunch of petals. Sensing danger to his side, he dove out of the way from an axe-kick that smashed into the ground with a *BANG*, the man's face blanching as he saw the cracks spiderweb from the impact, along with the six-inch deep imprint the stomp made. The distraction was just was she needed, kicking up her speed as her body spun through the air, almost reappearing in front of him before a spinning roundhouse blasted into his ribs.

His eyes bugged out as he skid across the floor, his aura a mere tap away from breaking. What shocked him was that the pain in one of his ribs was a familiar one: she actually pierced right through the defence of his aura to break it. However, the criminal mastermind, playboy extraordinaire, Roman Torchwick did not give in after a simple setback like this. A pained grin stretched across his face as he saw the girl's condition: she was sweating a lot, breathing deeply and favouring her left leg. That last exchange had taken a lot out of her, and it was perfect timing as he heard the tell-tale rush of wind.

"You're pretty good Red!" He said with a pained laugh, "But this is the end of the line!" A Bullhead rushed upwards right behind Roman, the man quickly hopping into it. The girl made to leap right at him, only for her leg to give out as she fell to a knee with a grunt of pain. Roman tossed down a finely cut Dust Crystal, red in colour before he pointed his cane at it. Thankfully still in working order, he freely opened fire, the girl crossing her arms over her face as the crystal exploded into a giant ball of fire. Roman hooted in laughter, only to promptly stop and gape as he saw the girl still alive, even if she had been forced back by the explosion. Red aura glowing fiercely around her body as she stood up evenly, patting off the smouldering cloth.

"How…!?"

His problems were only made worse as someone new stepped in: a real Huntress, emerald eyes, blonde hair pulled up in a professional ponytail, and a stern face that told Roman he was screwed. That was made especially clear as a glyph formed in front of the woman, her riding-crop waving around before she forcefully pointed it at him, bolts of purple energy slamming into the ship. He hurried into the cockpit, yelling to the pilot "We've got a Huntress! And a crazy little kid!" The pilot looked at him with burning orange eyes, a dainty eyebrow raising before she sharply stood up, making her way to the open area of the bullhead. Her features were hidden by an unnatural shadow, aside from her glowing orange eyes and short red dress and heels. The blonde woman's eyes narrowed before the ground beneath her feet began to heat up, a keening sound echoing through the air. She motioned to moved the girl in red away, only to see that she had already dodged smoothly, the woman following quickly after as a geyser of flame flowed upwards. The orange-eyed woman didn't let up, blasting thick fireballs at the blonde, only for the latter to block with another glyph. The blond sharply took the melted rubble in the grip of her aura, sending it racing back at orange-eyes, only to have the rubble blasted apart by more fire. The blond didn't let up, quickly taking out a blue crystal before sending it hurtling into the sky before it exploded into a miniature storm-cloud, ice-shards the size of an arm raining down soon after and peppering the bullhead, threatening to bring it down. Orange eyes narrowed and a grin stretched across her face before she drew her arms in, the hair suddenly heating up as her body glowed with their own orange glyphs. She shot her arms out as a burst of wind and heat shattered the ice, blowing back the blonde huntress. When all seemed finish, the girl in red stepped in, aura glowing around her leg, catching everyone by surprise.

"CRESCENT ROSE KICK!"

Her leg slashed through the air, shooting a blade of red light right at the bullhead. Orange-eyes was quick to try and intercept it with an open hand, but the blade crashed into her palm and sent her skidding back a foot or two with a stifled cry of pain, blood spurting across her palm before the Bullhead finally made its retreat.

"Dang it...!" The girl spat, surprised at the strength of the woman and disappointed at how her kick wasn't able to do nearly as much damage as she thought. Pushing those thoughts to the side, she turned to look at the blonde huntress, the woman staring at her with a slight amount of surprise on her face, though she looked largely stern.

"Y-you're a huntress…" Ruby Rose's eyes went wide, an excited grin on her face. "Can I get your autograph!?"

She did not get an autograph that night.

(To Be Continued…)


A.N: Just to be clear, I DO have a solid plan for what happens in the story, I'm just still plying by the seat of my pants for it though. Peace out.