A/N: This is it, the mid-season finale of RWBY: REBN - Season 1. After this half of season 1 will be complete. With the mid-season finales of each seasons I want them to be big and to leave a lot of people wondering "what will happen next". I'm sure you will all be satisfied with what I have written.
RWBY: REBN – Season 1
Episode 10: Intensified
"I did it, my project is finally done…. and it is 10:00pm." Jaune remarked to himself in the library. "Wow, Ren wasn't kidding when he said that my grammar was terrible."
"Hey, there's my great, great, grandfather." Jaune thought to himself. "And there's Crocea Mors."
"He seems to be well respected among the other soldiers and huntsmen of his time." Jaune deduced. "The attention and praise would make all the crap I have to go through worth it."
"I can only imagine what I will be like someday once I become a famous warrior." Jaune said to himself. "Everything will be perfect."
"Sure my fighting skills leave room for improvement, but I still think that can be fixed. It has to and I need to do it on my own. The only way I can become a true hero is to do this on my own. After all it's only a small setback
"It's funny, I never thought things would go this well. None of this wouldn't have happened if I had never…." Jaune internally monologue before his scroll got a notification.
"Hey… my parents sent me a text." Jaune thought as he read the text. "Hello, son we just wanted to see how you are doing at Beacon. We are so proud that you are taking the first steps of becoming a huntsman. The family legacy will be in good hands."
"Great…. just great." Jaune muttered, answering his parent's text.
As Jaune answered the text, he returned to his dorm wondering if he truly deserved to be at Beacon. What he did to get there is bad enough, but the inevitable backlash will be even worse.
The next day, Jaune turned in his project to Professor Oobleck and during lunch, Pyrrha found Jaune in his dorm.
"Hello Jaune." Pyrrha stated.
"Pyrrha!" Jaune remarked with shock in his voice. "I didn't expect you to be here."
"While I appreciate the familiar sights and sounds of the dining hall, I noticed that you were not there so I decided to return to dorm and I find you here." Pyrrha recounted. "So what are you doing?"
"I was just thinking about my project." Jaune remarked.
"Jaune, you have worked so hard on project. I'm positive that you got an "A." Pyrrha reminded. "With all the help you received from Ren, there is no way you can fail."
"Yeah, I know that. It was just when I looked at my project, I was thinking about my future as a huntsman. Ever since I was a child, it was my dream to be a famous and successful huntsman like my great-great grandfather. I really wanted to help make this world a better place and feel like I'm a part of something bigger than myself." Jaune began.
"So I have been here trying to find out what I should do to ensure people will be safe when I become a huntsman." Jaune explained.
"That's very admirable of you Jaune, while I want to give back to the community that stood by me growing up. I've never gave it this much thought." Pyrrha commented, with a few minutes of silence being present.
"Have you thought of any other careers other than being a huntsman." Pyrrha questioned, indulging in her curiosity.
"I'm sorry, that's very insensitive. I shouldn't have asked." Pyrrha stated, quickly regretting her question.
"No, it's okay! It's just I've never thought about I would have a career other than being a huntsman. Have you thought about it?" Jaune asked.
"Once or twice. Before I started training to become a huntress/athlete/celebrity, I wanted to be a teacher." Pyrrha revealed.
"That's great! I can see you being a great teacher. You're kind, responsible, intelligent, patient. Do you still plan on being a teacher?" Jaune asked.
"Well…. no. Don't get me wrong, I still like being a teacher, but being a fighter is something that I'm really good at. And applying those skills to protect the people from the Creatures of Grimm would make all the work I have to do worth it…. even if it means that I have to make sacrifices." Pyrrha responded.
"Growing up, I lived near the huntsman guild in Vale so I got to see how they interact with each other first hand. Seeing the way these hunters work together to help achieve a common goal, made me want to be a part of that. Unlike most people, I never really saw an alternative path for myself and seeing how brave these people are, going day in and day out to fight the Grimm, made me feel like I can do anything." Jaune commented. "That sounds really cheesy didn't it?"
"No, in fact I thought the same way you have when I first saw a hunter for the first time." Pyrrha assured.
A long silence commenced as Jaune and Pyrrha sat there, fully comprehending what the other had said. Both of them felt comfortable talking to each other, especially Pyrrha. For this time, she truly knew that her relationship with Jaune is much different than anyone else.
"So why do you think Professor Ozpin admitted us into Beacon?" Pyrrha questioned innocently.
"What do you mean?" Jaune wondered.
"I mean, what aspects of your skillsets convinced Ozpin to let you in to Beacon. I mean the various tests you take at a combat school or the demonstration you showed to the facility of the chosen academy for people outside the kingdoms." Pyrrha explained.
"Considering my capabilities in the Mistral Regional Games, my high marks on my exams, and my combat skills I believe that the main factor to my admission to Beacon is my fighting abilities. It took lots of dedication…. I never got a chance to rest for a long time, everyone's eyes were on me, and I made some mistakes…. but the reward for my perseverance kept me going. Anyway, just look at Ruby, she's only 15 and she is able to fight better than most of the other first years." Pyrrha continued.
"Uh, well I think it was…. also my fighting skills as well. You've seen how well I did during the initiation right, of course the reason why Ozpin chose me is because of how well I fight. It's all good and there is no way he could've denied me entrance to Beacon." Jaune nervously remarked.
"Are you feeling okay…." Pyrrha asked.
"Don't worry about it!" Jaune stated in a fake reassuring tone. "I'm fine!"
"Okay, I just going to go meet up with Ren and Nora." Pyrrha said, confused about how Jaune was acting but decided to let it go.
"Alright, I guess I'll see you during Grimm Studies." Jaune replied as Pyrrha left the dorm.
After Pyrrha left, Jaune sighed as he went up to his suitcase and opened it. In that suitcase he found a copy of his transcripts and then pulled up a picture of regular transcripts for the huntsmen academies on his scroll. We see that Jaune's transcripts look similar but ultimately different as the wording has been changed and the signatures were forged.
All Jaune could do was look away in shame.
After 3rd period, Ruby, Blake, and Yang went along to their respective classes.
"Thanks again for giving me pointers on how fix my weapon, Ruby. Thanks to you it is now compatible with Dust." Blake thanked.
"Yeah cuz, thanks to you I passed that Grimm Studies test. I've always forget that Grimm had to be killed in a specific way." Yang stated.
"You're welcome, I'm glad I can help." Ruby replied.
"Yes! I am nailing this team leader thing." Ruby thought to herself.
"Hey what is Weiss doing?" Yang thought as she signaled Ruby and Blake to eavesdrop on Weiss' conversation.
"Professor Goodwitch, I think that me being on my current team is a detriment to my education. Therefore, I request that I should be on a different team or have my current team's leader be reassigned." Weiss requested.
"Ms. Schnee, throughout my years of teaching, hundreds of hunters were able to graduate from Beacon in spite of or because of their team. The time transfers were necessary is if some reason one of the teammates prematurely left Beacon Academy." Glynda explained. "I trust Professor Ozpin with his choices, I will not transfer you."
"Ugh, how dare you. You don't know how wrong you are. I will get what I deserve for I am the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company!" Weiss internally stated as she left.
"Wow, she actually wants to leave the team…. only a Schnee can be this nasty." Blake said internally, in shock and annoyance. "I hope Ruby is okay."
"Here we go again, Ice Queen. You just have to act like you are better than everyone else. I already had to deal with people like you back at Signal so I don't want a repeat of that." Yang remarked in her head. "Ruby?"
"That's it! I can believe it after everything I tried to do, I'm not good enough for her. Well that's the last straw! If you are not going to cooperate, then don't expect me to ask for your input in anything I do, for now on you will! As for me I'm going to lead the team my way. Nothing will stop me!" Ruby internally shouted with an angry expression
"Ruby, are you okay?" Blake asked when she was out of earshot.
"Oh, no. She's definitely not going to let this go." Yang stated to Blake. "Cuz?"
"Let's just go to class." Ruby said in an eerily calm voice.
"Ruby." Weiss stated as her teammates glare at her.
"Weiss." Ruby replied, with a voice that's barely holding back malice.
"For once you are early for class, nice to see my influence is rubbing off on you." Weiss chided in the same condescending tone.
"Or maybe it was Coco's influence, after all she is a year older than you. Don't want to disrespect authority. Am I right?" Ruby responded.
"Wow, look at you. You're learning so much already, I'm surprised you didn't get accepted in a huntsman academy when you were a toddler. It's not like you needed someone to teach you anything, the teachers at Signal must be lucky to have a girl like you." Weiss snarled.
"Not really. So how was Atlas? Are you just as unique in your combat school, or is this special brand of character only seen for people like me?" Ruby fired back.
"Atlas was fine, thanks for asking. I sure miss all my friends that I had left behind. They were so sad when I left for Beacon and will be happily awaiting my return. Surely you understand that, if you had friends at all." Weiss quipped.
"You know what…. I'm just going to go into my next class and catch on my notes." Blake said, distancing herself from her teammates' bickering.
"Blake's got the right idea." Yang mentioned before glaring at Weiss. "We all should go to class, considering how Professor Goodwitch gets when someone is late."
By the time Ruby, Weiss and Yang went to Sparring class the tension between Ruby and Weiss was so thick it could be cut with a knife. Two teammates at odds with each other, both on the brink of snapping. The only thing keeping things from reaching past a boiling point is the intensity of combat. Even from an audience view point, the back and forth of fellow hunters in training trading blows to each other is almost cathartic. All the pent up emotions and energy released in a performance of strikes and dodges. Anyone can show their true talent in a fight as no one can really know what could happen…
"For the first fight for the day, Ms. Rose will be up against Ms. Schnee." Glynda announced.
"With all due respect, I think my talents will be better put to use against someone else." Weiss commented.
"Oh no she didn't." Yang whispered to Jaune.
"That won't be necessary, I will allow the fight to happen. Before we begin here is a reminder of the rules." Glynda answered.
"During a fight in a tournament or for school sparring the fight will conclude when someone's Aura drops below 25% in the red zone, meaning they are dangerously close to losing all their Aura. Also if need be there will be a nurse on standby to treat your injuries." Glynda began.
"Moving on, fighting in this 1 on 1 arena means that Dust will not be used in combat unless I specifically allow it. During the Vytal Tournament, the arena would be completely plain with no environmental or Dust advantages. Starting next semester, we will go over various fighting styles and techniques in preparation for the Vytal Tournament alongside sparring." Glynda continued.
"Semblances and Aura abilities are allowed for this fight, but like I said before Dust is not allowed." Glynda finished.
"I know the rules professor." Weiss stated, rolling her eyes.
"Rule changes when the stakes are personal, Ms. Schnee." Glynda answered.
"And begin." Glynda announced, starting the fight.
Once the fight started, Weiss made the first move as she charged forward with her rapier and did slash flip that was barely blocked by Ruby. As Weiss went to strike again, Ruby counterattacks with using slower but more powerful scythe swings that chip away at Weiss' Aura. From spin attacks to upward slashes to downward slashes, Ruby hit Weiss from every angle and while Weiss seemed prepared she was secretly struggling.
We then see a split screen viewpoint of Weiss briefly taking the upper hand while Ruby was on the defensive while the audience was watching the fight. Everything seemed like it was going so fast yet it could make sense of what's going on. Yang and Jaune looked at each other briefly, while the rest of the audience was shocked about how personal the fight felt. Even Glynda was considering that maybe there might be something else going on that she didn't know about.
The white haired girl dodged and feinted but still felt the rounds of a sniper rifle hitting her skin. Using the rifle as a distraction, Ruby used the recoil from her scythe to propel herself to Weiss direction and used her semblance to carry Weiss alongside with her. Within this state, Ruby's red trail of petals picked up Weiss and she left a trail of white rose petals.
During this state, Ruby slammed Weiss to the ground a total of 3 times while speeding around the ring. Then Ruby and Weiss speed up into the air and in her regular form… and POW! Ruby punched her down to the ground.
At that point everyone was silent.
So silent, all that can be heard is the Aura meter as it flashed the current Aura levels of the combatants.
Said Aura meter showing Weiss at 41% and Ruby at 53%.
"Weiss…. Oh no." Ruby whispered in horror seeing Weiss is not getting up.
"I am not losing to her!" Weiss mentally screamed. "Remember your training!"
Slightly disoriented, Weiss gains her second wind and places a glyph to lift her up in air away from Ruby. Now that Weiss had the high ground, she summons two glyphs to slam into Ruby stunning her as she dives to the ground.
Gaining more and more confidence, Weiss goes on the offensive. Swordplay that was so elegant that it looked like ballet. We see stabs, horizontal/vertical slashes, and more as also tries to dodge the attacks Ruby is dishing out. Weiss was as fast as lighting, directed by her training/experience and fueled by her jealousy/pride. Ruby on the other hand, was taken aback by how quickly Weiss recovered, completely at odds with her emotions of guilt and anger towards Weiss making her think she was seriously hurt. However, despite getting some hits in herself, Ruby couldn't keep up and couldn't use her semblance due to the onslaught she received.
It's a close match as Weiss and Ruby's Aura keep taking hits. We see the audience becoming more and more invested, not knowing who will win. At this point, Ruby becomes completely desperate as she tries and fails to deflect and counterattacks Weiss attacks. Therefore, as a last result, she relies on her sniper rifle to help win the battle, going completely on the offensive.
This is it, the next few hits will determine who wins the battle. Both Weiss and Ruby's Aura are at 30%. The two girls are at a standstill and as they both prepare the final blow.
"I have to win this, I have to win this! I deserve to be here!" Ruby repeated over and over in her head.
"I'm am not going to let her beat me. I have worked too hard to get here. There is no way in hell that I'm letting her win." Weiss said mentally.
Ruby charged forward as she kept shooting her gun, hoping she could get one good hit. In response Weiss used her glyph to block the bullets. As a final move she parried Ruby's scythe slash and countered with one final diagonal slash using all the strength she can muster.
Ruby was knock down to the floor as her Aura dropped down to 20%.
"….. And that's the match." Glynda announced, with a slight hesitation.
"See? Now that's how real a huntress fight." Weiss mentioned to Ruby to where only she can hear.
While Weiss experienced a wave of schadenfreude at Ruby's defeat, one look at Ruby's crestfallen face caused her to feel a wave of regret. When Ruby walks back to Yang and Jaune we can see a single tear drop down Ruby's face. Once Weiss starts to walk down from the arena we see a glimpse of her when she was 13 where she was humiliated after failing to defeat a certain knight for the first time. Despair, humiliation, and a dash of self-directed anger, those are the feelings that would stick with her
And to this day, she never forgot what that felt like.
Weiss walks out the room's shadow as we get a transitions to Roman Torchwick as he walks into the shadows of an alleyway at night. Injured, he is seen carrying a briefcase while he being chased by a huntsman.
Using his cane, Roman tries to shoot him but misses cursing at himself for not seeing how this could have ended badly for him.
"End of the line Torchwick. Any last words?
"Well look at this, you got me. You're the huntsman that's going to kill me, Roman Torchwick. What are you going to do with your life once I'm gone? After all, there will be someone else to take my place." Torchwick quipped.
"Rot in hell, you son of a bitch!" the hunter shouted as he dealt a lethal blow to Torchwick.
However, when the hunter struck Roman, instead of dying he shattered into glass. "What is this shit?!..." the huntsman barely managed to exclaimed.
Suddenly, the huntsman came to a stop as he was literally backstabbed. The blade went straight through his chest, impaling his heart causing him to quickly die due to blood loss. Extreme pain came as quickly as it left when the huntsman finally stopped breathing, his lifeless body oozing with blood. Meanwhile we see the real Roman Torchwick (with his briefcase) walking into the alleyway, while the huntsman's assailant pulled the blade out of his back and placed it back into a parasol
Said assailant was a woman of a diminutive stature who had heterochromia and hair that was half brown and half pink. She wore a white top and white and pink jacket that covers her brown corset.
"Well Neo, it looks like your idea worked." Roman said sincerely, with Neo smiling at his comment. "It will only be a matter of time before we pull off our biggest heist yet."
A/N: Here we are the end of the teambuilding arc (episodes 6-10) and the first half of the season, hopefully this midseason finale is well written, they will get better as they go along. Speaking of midseason finale by the time this goes up (sometime at around 2:00am EST), the second half of volume 8 will premiere and the wait we had to put up with better be worth it. Anyway, considering the hints I dropped at the very end of episode 9 did anyone guess that I would be introducing Neo this early. I had made the hints very subtitle (mentioning a disability and her brown hair) because any more than that would have been a dead giveaway. For Neo I think that introducing her early (considering how she returns in volume 6) will help better characterize her in the long run. And by the way it was Neo who piloted the airship back in episode 1 instead of Cinder (I will deal with her later).
Since this episode would be less effective at telling its stories if we cut to different people repeatedly, I had the Jaune and Pyrrha subplot happen first. Pyrrha to me had a really good direction for her character throughout the first 3 volumes and her character arc is one of the few consistently good things about the show in execution. However, her character (i.e. her personality) is really boring, only being either kind, or slightly upset in a few key times in each volume. Maybe fleshing out Pyrrha's interests and past and hopes beyond Jaune would be a good thing for her. In fact, I have a whole plan for Pyrrha and Nora that will start from volume 2 and go until the halfway point of volume 3 so stay tuned for that. Anyway we see bits of Jaune and Pyrrha's past, their thoughts on why they were chosen to be hunters, and that Jaune transcripts were fake. I will give you the full details of how the Jaune Arc will work when I get to it, but rest assured it won't be as bad as it was in the canon show.
Now for the Ruby and Weiss confrontation. This episode is where their rocky relationship reaches a boiling point. We see Ruby, truly angry for the first (but not last) time in the rewrite, and then we have Ruby and Weiss be passive aggressive towards one another as tension builds for the fight. Frankly, Ruby being truly angry towards something is something that should happen more often (Red Like Roses Part II is closest we got) as it will give Ruby more layers as a character. As for the fight, seeing how it's an original fight it was much harder to write than I thought. I did my best considering that pretty soon a full month will pass since I updated this story, but I had the fight feel rawer and personal then most with Ruby using a move that I'm surprised she didn't do with her semblance. It may come as a surprise but I am better at recreating canon fights instead of adding original ones. So to help fix this, I will plan out the fight scenes of RWBY: REBN noting the events that will happen in the early, mid, and late fight and the odds of any combatant winning the fight during its beginning, middle, or end. Another note is that Ruby is strong enough to land powerful punches and knows a few basic hand to hand techniques but lacks the skill and polish to be truly useful in combat. It is used as a means to fight defensively long enough to run away via her semblance or grab her weapon (so in volume 5 I would focus on her finding new ways to use her semblance). Anyway I have explained some of the rules for Aura and the Vytal Festival Tournament (we will get more of that later).
I want you guys to be honest if I am updating too slow or not, considering I have other fanfics I want to do, it would be crucial to know what to prioritize. So be sure to leave a review. Until next time.