A/N: So here it is, the first major milestone of the series. The fight scene in this episode is the most iconic fight scene in the volume. I will ensure that I can recapture the original spectacle. From this point on you will see how I write the characters in this rewrite compared to the canon. I want to thank all the people who reviewed this story and the trailers so far. Hopefully you'll like it.
RWBY: REBN – Season 1
Episode 5: Players and Pieces
The episode starts as we a short flashback of Ruby and Weiss on the Nevermore before they made it to the temple.
"Ruby! What were you thinking?! This is a terrible idea!" Weiss shouted, trying to be heard over the wind.
"We're fine! Stop worrying." Ruby stated.
"I'm so far beyond worrying." Weiss replied.
"In a good way?" Ruby asked.
"In a bad way! In a very bad way!" Weiss retorted.
"We need to jump." Ruby realized.
"What?! Are you insane?!" Weiss yelled.
"Oh you're an insufferable brat." Weiss added noticing that Ruby already jumped off.
Meanwhile while this was happening Ozpin and Glynda took notice of the presence of higher level Grimm
"Professor Ozpin, it seems that there is a King Taijitu, a Death Stalker, and a Nevermore in the forest. I suggest we should do something." Glynda commented. "Professor what do you think?"
"Let them go. I sure everything will work out just fine." Ozpin replied.
"Are you sure? Mr. Arc seems to be very behind in terms of fighting abilities compared to the others." Glynda mentioned.
"Don't worry, Glynda. I'm sure it will all work out." Ozpin reassured.
Back in the present we see Ruby still falling only to find Jaune to crash into her. The pair eventually crash land near a tree where Jaune gets stuck in.
"Uhh….. What was that?" Ruby questioned.
"Eh-hem. Hey Ruby." Jaune answered, stuck in the tree.
"Did your cousin just fall from the sky?" Blake asked.
"I…." Yang began to say.
Then all of a sudden, crashing noises were heard in the forest, and we see Ren, Nora, Cardin, and the green haired guy coming through the forest with Nora killing another bear.
"Nora! Please…. Don't ever do that again." Ren remarked out of breath noticing Nora is somewhere else.
"Ohhhh…. I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora says as she grabs a chess piece.
"Nora!" Ren shouted in annoyance.
"Coming, Ren!" Nora responded going over to Ren.
"Did that girl just ride in on a bear?" Blake questioned.
"I…." Yang tried to say again.
Before Yang could finish, Pyrrha comes out of the forest with the Death Stalker right behind her. The trees were flung off the ground as the Grimm effortlessly swatted it out of the way as it pursued Pyrrha.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha called out.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune replied.
"Whoa!" Ruby stated noticing the monster and then jumping off the tree.
"Ruby!" Jaune whined.
"Ruby!" Yang exclaimed in excitement.
"Yang!" Ruby responded
"Nora!" Nora blurted out of the blue.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?" Blake wondered.
After all the craziness that happened in rapid successions, Yang couldn't take it anymore and snapped and without much control, found herself engulfed in the same flame effect once more.
"I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!" Yang yelled with her eyes turning red.
During this time Cardin and the green haired guy grabbed their relics and Ren catching up to the rest of the group as Ruby and Blake looked up to find Weiss still on the Nevermore.
"How could you leave me?!" Weiss screamed.
"I said "jump!" Ruby commented.
"She's gonna fall." Blake said dryly.
"She'll be fine." Ruby tried to brush off.
"She's falling." Ren spoke.
At the same time, Jaune finally freed himself from the tree and notices Weiss falling from the sky. Feeling a surge of confidence, he leaps off the branch of the tree and planned to catch Weiss in his arms.
"Just…. dropping in." Jaune says to Weiss.
"Oh, Gods." Jaune remarked realizing what's about to happen next. "Oh, noooooooo- ".
Hitting the ground, Jaune does a faceplant into the dirt, limbs splayed out, and is served as the perfect landing spot for Weiss as she falls into a seated position on his body.
"Look at how stupid this guy looks." the blue haired guy commented.
"He really won her over now." The dirty blonde guy remarked smirking.
"My hero." Weiss said in a mocking tone.
"My back." Jaune groaned.
Meanwhile the Death Stalker gives chase to Pyrrha until she ends up successfully evading the Grimm and meeting up with the rest of the group.
"Great! The gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Yang quipped.
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby states before charging at the Grimm.
"Ruby, wait!" Yang tried to call out.
Filled with unchecked determination, Ruby uses the recoil from her scythe to charge only to be met with two swipes of the Death Stalker's claws and is knocked back.
"D-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby reassured getting up slowly.
Ruby turns back to the monster and shoots it in the skull, running away from it and sheathing her scythe as the Death Stalker now goes after her.
"Ruby!" Yang called out.
As Ruby tries to run to Yang, the Nevermore is seen in the sky releasing an onslaught of sharpened feathers that caught onto Ruby cape and stopped her.
"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang warned.
"I'm trying!" Ruby said struggling to release her cape.
The Death Stalker approaches, raising its golden stinger above a scared Ruby and heading down on the helpless girl.
"Ruby!" Yang shouted in vain.
A white blur races past Yang and reaches the stinger just as it's about to pierce her, cutting the scene to black.
"You are so childish." Weiss remarked, the screen still black.
Ruby opens her eyes to the sight of the stinger encased in ice and lowers her arms from their futile position over her head as she stares at her savior.
"Come on don't just stand there, let's kill this fucker!" Cardin reminded.
"He's right, come on." Yang agreed.
As Cardin, Nora, and Blake, and Yang tried to fight the Death Stalker, the King Taijitu swooped in out of nowhere to distract the combatants from the Death Stalker. The serpent slithers around being sure to defend itself and its fellow Grimm.
"Weiss….?" Ruby wondered.
"And dimwitted, and hyperactive, and don't get me started on your fighting style. I mean launching yourself and decapitating a Grimm that crazy." Weiss criticized before a guilty look appeared on her face. "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."
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know that I can do this." Ruby clarified.
"You're fine." Weiss commented walking away.
"Normal knees…." Ruby whispered grateful for Weiss' response.
"Ruby!" Yang noticed running towards her, pulling her away from the trapped Death Stalker, and then hugging her. "So happy you're okay."
With the Nevermore circling around, Cardin, Nora, and Blake retreat when they see feathers coming their way as everyone meet up back where the relics were located. Uncertain about what to do, Weiss reminds everyone of what needs to be done.
"That thing is circling back! What are we going to do?" Jaune asked worried.
"Look, there's no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us." Weiss acknowledged.
"She's right. Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to Beacon. There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby admitted.
"There is an airship past the ruins up ahead on top of the cliff, if we can make it up there we can get on the airship and return to Beacon." Ren mentioned.
"Then there is no time to waste." Blake commented.
We see Weiss, Pyrrha, and Ren grab their relics pondering about why they were sent to grab chess pieces. Finally Ruby and Jaune pick up their respective relics, the knight and rook respectively. Once the relics have been grabbed the group set out to get to the airship to complete the initiation.
"Let's go." Ruby said commanding the group of 12.
Unfortunately, as the group ran off the King Taijitu reappeared and stopped Cardin, the green haired guy, the blue haired guy, and the dirty blonde haired guy from catching up with the others.
"It's not going to let us catch up with the others, we're going to have to fight it." The dirty blonde guy admitted.
"Whatever." the green haired guy remarked.
The four of them went to fight the King Taijitu as the serpent was quick to surround them. Not wasting any time, the dirty blonde guy rushes in and strikes his sword at the Grimm. His feet are barely seen as he runs, the power in his swing evident as the Grimm shrieks in pain from the sword. Utilizing acrobatics, the dirty blonde guy did a barrage of flips and somersaults shooting rounds from the revolver in his swords. Changing tactics, the serpent started to bite the four combatants.
"Watch out!" the blue haired guy reminded in a serious tone as he pushed the green haired guy out of the way. "I had it under control." The green haired guy remarked harshly with the blue hair guy's hair looked angry at his response.
"You there, keep him from moving!" Cardin commanded to the blue haired guy.
"Okay." The blue haired guy commented.
The Grimm resumed fighting, the wound on its scales not stopping it from persisting. Cardin and the dirty blond haired guy swung their weapons at the serpent distracting it. Cardin's mace was swung with unmatched strength. It reflected the sheer determination and skill of it holder. Bruises on the Grimm were evident but it barely flinched, but it then felt a familiar sensation as it was getting stabbed by a sword. The dirty blonde guy's sword met Grimm as its owner kept hacking and slash while keeping his momentum. Bullets were shot at the Grimm, and while it was fighting the two powerhouses it was vulnerable to a surprise attack.
Disoriented it barely saw a green blur go by as it felt extreme pain in his eyes as they were punctured by the green haired guy's daggers.
Noticing his chance, the blue haired guy used his halberd to trap the monster's tail so restrict its movement.
Trapped and blinded, the King Taijitu, tried to squirm around to no avail. It let out one last shriek before Cardin used his mace to strike the Grimm in the head. Unable to take the blunt force of the strike the Grimm's head exploded as it finally laid there defeated.
"Let's get back to the others." The dirty blonde haired guy said.
As the group make it to the ruins, the camera pans over to a shot of broken ice that shows signs of melting.
Meanwhile we see and overhead shot of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren running towards the ruins and the Nevermore flying to a nearby pillar, perching there. The group splits up in pairs with the four of them hiding behind pillars of the ruins planning their attack.
"Well, that's great!" an annoyed Yang remarked.
Suddenly sound is made behind them and Jaune looks back to see the Death Stalker bursting out of forest heading to their direction.
"Ah, man." Jaune said seeing the Death Stalker. "Run!"
"Nora, distract it!" Ren commanded before they started running.
As the Nevermore started shooting more feathers, Nora then took out her weapon, a hammer that doubled as a grenade launcher and shot grenades at the Grimm. The Grimm is temporarily stunned due to the pink color steam grenades and Ruby, Yang, Jaune, and Pyrrha advance. Once the Nevermore flies away, the Death Stalker came up behind Nora only to be stopped by cross slash by Ren and Blake.
Weiss then swoops in on her wind dust glyph to get Nora to safety as Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Blake run from the Death Stalker. "Go, go!" Pyrrha shouted, using her rifle to shoot the Death Stalker. By this time the team were running across the bridge to the center of the ruins when the Nevermore flies out of hiding and rams through the bridge destroying it in the process. Divided, we see Jaune as he watches Ruby shoot the Nevermore with Crescent Rose and Ren, Blake, and Pyrrha fighting the Death Stalker.
Pyrrha and Ren try to shoot the scorpion-like Grimm, while Blake did her vortex attack against the it for the attack not to work. "Man, we need to get over there! They need help!" Jaune stated to Nora. "Let's do this." Nora replied with a smile on her face. "Yeah, but, uh…. I can't make that jump." Jaune noted looking down at how far they would have to jump. Her devilish grin was apparent, when Jaune realized what she was about to do. "No no, no, no, no, no." Jaune cried. Nora's grenade launcher transformed into a large two handed hammer and she ran up to the broken part of the bridge and slammed her hammer on the edge. Breaking a part of the bridge off, the force of the strike caused the recently broken off part off the bridge to launch Jaune to Ren and Pyrrha; she stood on the hammer's head and used the grenade blast recoil to launch herself.
"Ah, smash." Nora remarked as she was still in midair. Nora's hammer hit the Death Stalker's head and then felt the pressure of Nora's grenade blast. In response, after Nora was grounded, the Grimm tried to sting Nora and she was pushed back unintentionally knocking Blake off the bridge.
The sounds of battle were still present while Blake was in freefall, noticing the Nevermore dodging gunfire. Before she fell too far, Blake threw her gun powered sickle which managed to hit a stable part of the bridge. Swinging in the air, the Nevermore tries to intersect but Blake creates a shadow clone to propel herself upwards and used an Aura slash, hitting the Grimm in the face. Launching forward with another shadow clone and another strike, she hacked and slashed the Nevermore in the back before handing on a nearby column of a ruined building.
Ruby (who is reloading her sniper rifle) is then seen alongside Weiss, Blake, and Yang as they observe the Nevermore's actions.
"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake informed.
"Then let's hit it with everything we got!" Yang replied readying and reloading her shotgun gauntlets.
The Nevermore faces the 4 girls as they get their ranged attacks ready. With Ruby using her sniper rifle, Weiss shooting hard-light lasers from her rapier, Blake with her pistol, and Yang with her shotgun gauntlets, they try and fail to stop the Nevermore. Once it crashed through the center, the entire structure collapses and the 4 girls jump on the falling debris and use whatever means they can to get back on safe ground.
"None of this is working." Weiss deadpans.
Open to ideas, Ruby notices how Blake used her weapon to swing herself in midair and how Yang is firing shots at the Nevermore. Seeing this she thought back to one of the crazy ideas she mentioned to Weiss back in the forest and gained an idea. "I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby announced looking at Weiss who have a clue about what Ruby's plan is.
Meanwhile Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren were still fighting the Death Stalker as the Grimm tried to destroy the bridge that the 4 combatants were on.
"We gotta move!" Jaune mentioned as they made it to safer ground.
As they run, the Grimm uses it claw to strike only to be blocked by Pyrrha's shield and slashed by Pyrrha's spear. When the Grimm tries to attack with the other claw, Jaune used his shield to block it and Pyrrha jumped in to attack the claw. Running towards the Death Stalker, Ren fired his reloaded guns as he dodged the stinger attacks and climbed on its stinger and shot it repeatedly. At this point Nora swoops in and fires grenades at the Death Stalker as Jaune and Pyrrha still attack it up close. Jaune and Pyrrha are knocked back as the Grimm blocks the grenades; seeing an opportunity, Pyrrha throws her spear into one of the Grimm's eyes which causes Ren to be flung off the stinger and hit a nearby wall.
"Ren!" Nora shouted concerned for her friend.
Ren hits the side of a stone block hard and falls to the ground, not getting back up. Jaune, however, manages to stand and notice the stinger is hanging limply.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune says.
"Done!" Pyrrha replies throwing her shield, rebounding back to her. The shield ends up severing the stinger from the rest of the Death Stalker and falls on its head
"Nora, nail it!" Jaune ordered.
"Head's up!" Nora stated as she crouches on Pyrrha's shield. Pyrrha then pushes Nora up into air, also using a grenade blast to propel herself. Once in the air, Nora then charged up electricity in her hammer's head and recoiled herself down to slam her hammer onto the stinger. The force of the smash launched Jaune and Pyrrha forward as Nora also launched herself forward as well. The four managed to make it to safe ground as the Death Stalker fell off the cliff. "Ughhh…. That's the last time I do something like that." Ren thought to himself as he fell down from exhaustion.
I couldn't take it, couldn't stand another minute
Couldn't bear another day without you in it
All of the joy that I had known for all my life
Was stripped away from me the minute that you died
The Nevermore screeches as it flies around the sky as Yang tried to shoot it via her shotgun gauntlets.
To have you in my life was all I ever wanted
But now without you I'm a soul forever haunted
Can't help but feel that I had taken you for granted
No way in hell that I can ever comprehend this
A gunshot hits the Nevermore in the face, as it circles around with its mouth open only for Yang to jump into the Grimm's mouth.
I wasn't dreaming when they told me you were gone
I was wide awake and feeling that they had to be wrong
How could you leave me when you swore that you would stay?
Now I'm trapped inside a nightmare every single f'ing day
"I! Hope! You're! Hung-gry!" Yang shouts as she shoots shotgun rounds through the Nevermore's mouth. Disoriented, Yang dismounts the Grimm as it crashes into the side of the cliff and it caws in anger.
It's like a movie, but there's not a happy ending
Every scene fades black, and there's no pretending
This little fairy tale doesn't seem to end well
There's no knight in shining armor who will wake me from the spell
Yang then turns around and sees Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, realizing they have a plan to execute. Yang then runs forward as Weiss dashes in Yang's direction; she leaps in the air via a wind dust glyph and then traps the Grimm by it's tail with ice dust expelled from her rapier and returning to execute the plan.
I know you didn't plan this
You tried to do what's right.
But in the middle of this madness
I'm the one you left to win this fight
Blake threw her gun powered sickle to Yang and planted it in the side of one of the pillars and made sure it was stable. Ruby using her unfolded scythe launched herself on the ribbon and as it bent back feeling the potential energy building up. To add to this potential energy Weiss casted a gravity dust powered glyph right to where Ruby was positioned.
"Of course you would come up with this idea." Weiss comments.
"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asks.
"Hmm! Can I!" Weiss states, a second of silence going by.
"Can't…" Ruby tries to say.
"Of course I can!" Weiss remarks.
Red like roses
Fills my head with dreams and finds me
Always closer
To the emptiness and sadness
That has come to take the place of you
Feeling the amount of energy stored up, Ruby was launched at full force, aiming directly at the Nevermore's neck using her gunshot recoil to keep her momentum going. As soon as Ruby was launched Weiss set up several gravity dust powered glyphs on the cliffside to help her and then stopped due to use of Aura. Her scythe gripped the Nevermore's neck and the gravity dust glyphs propelled her upwards as she continued using her gunshot recoil to go up.
Once at the top, Ruby fired one last gunshot as the whiplash from the abrupt stop caused the Nevermore to be decapitated.
Ruby landed on top of the cliff in a flurry of rose petals as we can see the airship not too far away from her.
We then zoom out as we see everyone react to the decapitated Nevermore awe, including Cardin, the green haired guy, the dirty blonde haired guy, and the blue haired guy as they made it out to the ruins.
"No way." Cardin stated in shock.
"Wow." Jaune remarked in awe.
Ruby, her cape and petals flowing with the wind, looks down to her friends as they peer up. "Well…. That was a thing." Yang remarked.
Ruby continues to smile as the faint sounds of an audience clapping are heard, growing louder and louder as the scene changes to Beacon's auditorium.
As the students at the auditorium stood there in bated breath ready for the teams to be announced, Ozpin had an important message to share about the future school year.
"On the screen is an icon you will find on your school issued Scrolls that will show you your hunter's license." Ozpin said as a picture of a white, holographic phone/tablet hybrid appeared on the wall behind Ozpin as he talked about the icon with a 2 light green axes crossing each other making an X.
"As you see here my hunter's license is at the highest level that is achievable." Ozpin mentioned as the SS grade was shown.
"However I didn't get there overnight because like the rest of you I started out as a first year student and by the time I graduated Beacon Academy I was able to recieve a higher level of expertise as shown on my hunter's license." Ozpin said as the level started from F to D as the white scroll's data
"Eventually through hard work and persistance, I managed to get where I am today by embarking on huntsman assignments from all over Remnant." Ozpin commented as the level went from D, to C, to B, to A, to S, and finally to SS.
"Hopefully this will be an incentive for all of you who have passed the initiation to become the best hunters you can be." Ozpin finshed stating as bright light showed the school-issued scrolls the students will get at the end of the ceremony.
"And now on for the teams." Ozpin announced.
"Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark." Ozpin announced addressing Cardin, the green haired guy, the dirty blonde haired guy, and the blue haired guy respectively. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"
The audience gives a wave of ovation, while four students walk up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster as their faces fill the screen.
"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR." Ozpin announced.
Amid the clapping, Nora laughs and gives Ren a hug. "It's like I said before, we were at the right place at the right time. Now we get to spend the next four years together learning to be hunters." Ren thought to himself smiling. "Led by... Jaune Arc!" Ozpin announced. "Huh? L-Led by...?" Jaune stammered in surprise. "Congratulations, young man." Ozpin added.
A grinning Pyrrha offers a friendly shoulder bump to Jaune, but her "fine leader" is knocked over and falls to his butt in front of the laughing audience.
"And finally: Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Anderson, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!" Ozpin announced. Weiss looks to her right surprised, where Ruby is obviously in shock as Yang goes over to hug her cousin. "I'm so proud of you!" Yang praised hugging Ruby.
"It's looks like things are shaping up to be an…. interesting year." Ozpin said to himself.
The camera pans over the auditorium until it escapes into the open sky and shows 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 is getting a call on his phone. The muffled conversation ends, and Roman angrily slams the phone down, sighing. He holds a cigar to his mouth and puts his symbolized lighter to the end, just as a man in a gray mask and black hood comes with a trolley. Roman holds out a collection of Lien, a type of currency, which he places on the table and the man takes.
"Open it." Roman orders. The masked man does so with a crowbar, revealing a large amount of Dust crystals of varying colors – red, blue, yellow, green, purple, black, white, and brown.
"The cops are starting to close in on our operation." Roman stated to one of his henchmen. "We're going to need a distraction but what?"
"Hmm… let's see what we got here." Roman commented as he is handed a newspaper. Reading the newspaper, we see a glimpse of an article about the Vytal Festival before landing on an article about the White Fang. Said article stating the controversy surrounding the group and its impact on a group on individuals with animal traits called Faunus.
"We're gonna need more men…" Roman stated smiling as he is thinking of how to pull off his latest scheme.
The view zooms in on the map above Roman's desk, showing Vale and various districts and areas of crossed-out locations, all leading into a specially-circled place - Beacon - as the scene sets to black and the episode ends.
A/N: Finally, after 5 episodes, the first quarter of RWBY: REBN – Season 1 is complete. This chapter was a challenge to write but it was definitely worth it. I hope you like the fight scenes I had in this episode. For the first 3 seasons I will have Blake's last name changed from Belladonna to Anderson so she can conceal her identity. However, in seasons 4 and 5 and/or 6 the other characters will know the truth behind Blake's life and family name, so stay tuned for that. Even though all of these episodes feel very similar to their canon counterparts, I try to make changes only when their necessary and when we get further down the line several changes will be made. Speaking of which next time you will see my first original episode where Beacon as a school will be fleshed out and treated in a way to how college is treated. Going forward, I will be doing some separate one-shots as well as doing my other personal projects IRL. There might be a small break in between episodes but it won't be that long. If you want me to set up a poll to vote on which one-shots I should write PM me. Until next time.