RWBY: REBN – Season 1
Episode 7: The Badge and the Burden
As two weeks went by, the team dynamics of RWBY and JNPR were showing as the two groups of four got to know each other more since the Beacon initiation. While team JNPR managed to mesh together quite well, team RWBY on the other hand… had a bunch of problems.
With team JNPR, Jaune was able to gain respect from his teammates right away with Pyrrha putting her upmost trust in him and him being able to quickly get acquainted with Ren and Nora. Speaking of Pyrrha she was also very willing to help Jaune out with anything he needed, and was secretly gratefully that she was not the one leading the team. Ren and Nora, however were used to living together so that made things significantly easier. They were also able to mesh well with Jaune and Pyrrha due them having a sibling like relationship that neither Ren and Nora had before.
Unfortunately, team RWBY had a lot more baggage to deal with. For starters, Ruby was still getting used to being a capable team leader and with being admitted into a huntsman academy at a young age. Not helping this is Weiss not accepting the reality of not being the leader and being unnecessarily cruel to the young huntress in training. Blake meanwhile was just an enigma to the team, always secretive and looked she has a lot on her mind and she was not willing to be interactive. Finally, there is Yang who was just trying to get everyone to get along and any other issues she had, were placed aside to help her team.
The scene then transitions to the sight of an axe-blunderbuss weapon pans down to the boards displaying various species of Grimm - King Taijitu, Death Stalker, Beowolf, Boarbatusk, Nevermore, and Ursa behind Professor Port – in the middle of a lecture.
"Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey! Ha-ha!" Port announced.
The members of RWBY, seated on the front row, are in varying stages of interest; Blake and Yang were sitting up and paying attention, Weiss is taking notes, and Ruby has her head propped in her hand as she takes a quick nap until she is woken back up by Port's bad joke, which receives a cricket-filled silence as a result.
"Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy! Now, as I was saying: Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world! Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces! And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses..." Port continued. "Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves! From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"
"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..." Port began to explain.
We hear Port's words fading in and out as we focus on Weiss reacting to Ruby's antics. She noticed Ruby, focused on penciling the paper in front of her.
"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..." Peter kept talking.
We check back with Ruby as she chuckles at her creation and shows it to her teammates: a ball-with-limbs-and-a-head drawing of the teacher with stink lines coming from him and "Professor Poop" written underneath. Ruby blows a quick raspberry. Blake and Yang laugh, but Weiss looked annoyed.
"Ah-heh-hem!" Port responded to team RWBY's inattentiveness. "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero!"
The teacher takes a bow as Weiss slowly gets more and more frustrated with Ruby's antics.
"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable!" Port remarked as Ruby is balancing an apple on a book with her pencil held only by her finger while making a silly face. "A true Huntsman must be dependable!" Port commented as Ruby has fallen asleep again. "A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise!" Port finished as Ruby was not-so-subtly picking her nose, much to Weiss' building anger.
"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" Port questioned.
"I do, sir!" Weiss answered, still angry at Ruby's actions.
"Well, then, let's find out! Step forward, and face your opponent!" Port allowed as Weiss stepped into the center of the room.
When Weiss stepped forward, she found that she was up against a Boarbatusk. With Ruby, Blake, and Yang cheering on – Weiss readied her rapier to attack the Grimm. While Weiss was trying to fight, Ruby kept giving Weiss pointers. The Grimm hesitates as it studies her, and within 10 seconds gets ready to attack. Without hesitation she dodges the Grimm's charge attack, trying to use a defensive move against the Grimm. The beast then proceeds to circle around the room, it's teeth showing as it's red eyes honed in on the student. As Weiss contemplates what to do next, thought about fighting unpredictably so she could catch the Grimm off guard.
From the perspective of the students, they saw Weiss standing there not trying to do anything as the Grimm started to charge at her. Her handle on the rapier tightened as she was about to perform a counterattack and when the Grimm came up to her, it grabbed onto Weiss' rapier before she could strike it. With a swift motion, the blade was tossed aside and Weiss was head-butted stunning her for a moment.
"Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-" Ruby tried to say.
"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss snapped, turning to Ruby.
Hearing this, Ruby looks away - visibly hurt while Yang's eyes start to turn red and even Blake felt sorry for how Ruby is being treated.
Seeing an opening, the Grimm curled into a ball and charged straight towards Weiss only to be stopped by one of Weiss' Glyphs. While on it's the Grimm's underside was gutted open with Weiss' hard-light (aka laser dust) infused saber as she managed to hit its core finally killing it.
"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Port commended as Weiss stands up at attention from her exhausted position and Ruby continues to frown. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!"
Weiss would then glare and turns away, walking hurriedly to the exit past her teammates. "What's her problem?" Blake deadpanned as the trio followed their teammate.
"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you! What do you have against my cousin?" Yang remarked, her eyes still red. "Ever since we formed into teams you been on her case you…"
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with your cousin." Weiss stated looking at Ruby. "For the last few weeks, you have not proven that you have earned this position. You're just a nuisance. Back in the forest, you were acting like a child and you still continue to do so. You know nothing about being a leader"
"Yet you seem to act like you're entitled to be the leader." Blake said to herself.
"What was that?!" Weiss commented noticing that Blake said something.
"I…. all I'm saying is that we should trust Professor Ozpin on his choice. He's seems to know what he is doing." Blake spoke up quickly.
"Blake's right, you may not see it now but Ruby can do this. Yes, in some areas she could do better. She could be less childish, but I believe that she can do this. I trust her." Yang defended with Ruby giving her a look of appreciation, eyes turning back to purple.
"Well, I've studied and trained long before any one of you even thought of going to Beacon. And quite frankly, I deserve better." Weiss complained starting to walk away from Ruby. "Ozpin made a mistake."
"Don't worry about her, Rubes. What does she know about leadership?" Yang remarked.
"But what do I know about leadership? I've always been used to doing things on my own always doing my own thing, back at Signal I had friends but we weren't really that close like Yang's friends. Even though I've grown more comfortable around you guys and team JNPR, I still find myself being really nervous around other people. I feel like they are judging me for being accepted into Beacon 2 years early, when I try to talk to other people even the professors I get so intimidated. How can I expect to be a leader if I can't connect with my teammates or even be around the people here without freezing up?" Ruby remarked at the verge of tears.
"But what about in the forest." Blake brought up. "You seemed to know what to do with the Nevermore, and it worked."
"That was just one of the crazy ideas that I didn't think would work until the last second and we weren't even in a team at that point." Ruby refuted.
"It's almost time for our next class. We should get moving" Yang pointed out.
"Gosh darn it, I'm going to be late again!" Ruby exclaimed, freaking out.
"I never thought my team leader would be like this." Blake thought to herself, ruminating on Ruby's difficulties with social interaction before going off to class.
During lunch, team RWBY and JNPR would often sit together and talk about their day, classes, or whatever they can think of. At this point in the school year, the contrast between the two teams in terms of dynamics are like night and day.
"So then I was like: "Of course like to eat pancakes, who wouldn't." and then this one girl was all "what about waffles" and I went up to her and said "Waffles are so unnatural, if they can be stacked then why don't more people do it? Everyone knows that how you eat pancakes, so why not waffles." Nora babbled. "What do you think, Ren?"
"I really don't why most people don't stack waffles. I have to think about that." Ren commented.
"Told you!" Nora remarked in vindication.
"I found my classes most intriguing. Between training in the wild and Hunter Regulation, I found everything thing to be going just fine." Pyrrha remarked somewhat stiffly.
"Well I definitely learned a lot about how to fight Grimm…. you bore them to death. Blah, blah, blah, blah." Jaune joked, acting like the professor for Hunter Regulation and Law, earning a laugh from Ren and Nora.
"On second thought, I have had an enjoyable time in Teambuilding. It felt different from what I am used to. I think this will be good for me." Pyrrha remarked in a more relaxed tone laughing at Jaune's joke.
"I'm sure it will be, besides it will be a chance for us to expand our horizons and create long lasting friendships." Ren stated then turning to Jaune.
"You certainly have a way with words." Nora thought.
"So do you want to work on the World History project with me?" Ren questioned
"Of course, but I have gotten very far into the project." Jaune replied.
"So you don't want my help then?" Ren commented raising his eyebrow.
"No, no I do." Jaune stated.
"That's what I thought." Ren responded.
"Why can't our team be as well put together as theirs?" Blake thought to herself. "Maybe I'll talk to that Ren guy later."
"Alright, Ruby your team is not getting along. One member doesn't really want to participate outside of missions and required projects, the other teammate is smothering me, and the other one…. is just being a huge brat." Ruby thought herself. "Hey I wonder what weapon we will get to craft in…. no, Ruby I need to focus."
"Look at this child, just lost in her own thoughts. I don't know if she is even aware about she conducts herself. Not only that, she clearly lacks the social graces needed for leadership." Weiss thought as she saw her scroll, looking at the "F" level on her hunter's license.
"I remember when I was like her, so naïve, confused…. cheerful…. for the sake of this team, she should be the leader. I just want my time at Beacon to go as perfectly as possible. What I have been through to get this far will not be for nothing!" Weiss internally thought to herself.
"At least the other team has Pyrrha Nikos, the Pyrrha Nikos! I wish that I could be on her team instead." Weiss lamented. "Maybe then some of the White Fang sympathizers will know not to mess with me." Weiss mentally remarked looking at most of the Faunus in the room.
"Okay it's been over a week and we are still a hot mess." Yang thought. "So what could I say to fix this?"
"I know exactly what to do." Yang realized.
"Hey guys, I have a joke. What did the janitor say when he jumped out of the closet? SUPPLIES!" Yang joked.
"Come on, ice queen, that was funny." Yang remarked as Ruby and Blake snickered.
"Typical Weiss, you couldn't be bothered to take a joke once in a while. This isn't a prison you know you can afford to laugh once in a while." Ruby commented.
"For your information I can have fun, but unlike you I actually care about my future as a huntress!" Weiss snapped back.
"Why you!" Ruby angrily remarked.
"You just had to get them arguing again" Blake remarked to Yang in a deadpan tone.
"Hey, at least I trying to lighten the mood here." Yang defended herself.
As team RWBY kept bickering we see a slightly older team consisting of girl with sunglasses, a blind guy, a girl who has rabbit ears, and a guy with black hair looking upon the 1st year team and seemed to be deep in thought about what they are seeing.
Eventually after the last class of the day, team RWBY were called up to Ozpin's office to have a very important discussion.
"It has come to my attention that ever since the initiation you four had trouble cooperating with each other. As you may know, the intention of the randomized partner and team selection process was developed to force individual hunters to learn how to work with each other despite their flaws. Not only as combatants on the battlefield, but also as people" Ozpin began to say. "And while hunting alone is not uncommon, working with other hunters, law enforcement, and military personnel is common enough to the point where the ability to cooperate is a necessary asset in a hunter's toolset."
"Anyway, I have been headmaster of this academy long enough to see problem students when I see them. Therefore, I will assign a 2nd year team to provide you their wisdom and help ease the tensions between your teammates which will meet with you the following day." Ozpin notified.
"Wow! We get to be mentored by 2nd year students! I wonder who they are, what kind of weapons they have, I am so excited!" Ruby expressed in her thoughts.
"Wait did he just imply that we are "problem students?!" I mean I get the other three, but me? If didn't have the upmost respect for this man, I would give him a piece of my mind." Weiss believed.
"Finally somebody said it. I can see why Ozpin manipulated the initiation as he, there was no coincidence that we assembled into a team. I just wish I could get along with my teammates better." Blake thought.
"Hmm, I guess what Ozpin said makes sense. My uncle would go off and be a solo huntsman after years of being on a team. I don't know if I want to do that though, at least when I graduate I will be free to travel the world." Yang reminded herself.
"In addition you will all have some community service hours to fulfill as an incentive to help you alongside your time with the 2nd year team." Ozpin added.
As Weiss, Blake, and Yang left Ozpin's office after he finished explaining what he wants them to do, Ruby stayed behind to ask him a question.
"Um, Professor Ozpin, did you make a mistake with placing me as the leader of my team?" Ruby asked in earnest.
"That remains to be seen." Ozpin replied slightly laughing.
"What do you mean?" Ruby questioned.
"I mean; it's only been a few weeks. Ruby... I've made more mistakes than any man, woman, and child on this planet. But at this moment, I would not consider your appointment to leader to be one of them." Ozpin remarked as he leaned in closer to Ruby. "Do you?"
"Being a team leader isn't just a title you carry into battle, but a badge you wear constantly. If you're not always performing at your absolute best, then what reason do you give others to follow you?" Ozpin pointed out as Ruby smiled at him.
"You've been burdened with a daunting responsibility, Ruby. I advise you take some time, to think about how you will uphold it." Ozpin reminded.
Ruby, with a last look of consideration, turns and walks away, ending the episode.
A/N: Another episode done, up next we get to see the introduction of team CFVY. This time they will have more to do instead of ruining the show's power scaling and making the Grimm look like weaklings. Anyway, I heard from the reviews that I could work on the grammar of my chapters (and other chapters). Thank you for this feedback: charliemccants27. I will make sure to check this episode for the grammar and go back and fix the grammar mistakes in previous episodes. Volume 8 has been out for a few weeks and at the very least we got a darker intro that is much better than intro we got last volume. Yeah, between Ruby's hypocrisy and treatment towards Penny, Ironwood's character assassination, Robyn existing, Qrow still being an idiot, Oscar meeting up with the gang only to be separated again, and Salem still standing around even though she could invade Atlas whenever she wanted. But on the other hand, the animation is better, the cast has split up so we can have different interactions, for once since the end of volume 5 Blake and Yang are separated, Penny has become more interesting, the hound Grimm is awesome, and for once they finally address Ren and Nora lack identity outside of their relationship. So yeah right now volume 8 is a mixed bag but I'll just have to wait to see what happens next. Be sure to leave reviews. Until next time.