Hello everyone, I'm alive! Welcome back. I'd just like to start with an apology for the chapter being up this late, I am really sorry. It's been more than a month since my last update. I'd also like to apologise to the people who PM'd me during that time and didn't get a reply back. I'm not going to go into specifics as to why it took so long, just know that stuff happened and I'm sorry. Let's just get on with the story shall we? Please do follow and favourite if you enjoyed it and leave a review about what I did well and what I could do better!

Reviews!

Conchamp1998: Well the reveal will happen eventually, when it happens though is left to be seen. And whoever said it would happen in one go?

NinjaFang1331: Thanks!

Relyt42: Thanks for that! I fixed it up. If you see any mistakes tell me, I'll be sure to fix it up.

duskrider: Thanks?

Amvmaster: I don't think I'll be doing a musical montage. Personally, I think it's difficult to weave a song into written form without it feeling out of place. There are very few instances I've seen where music lyrics can be thrown into a story, no matter how fitting.

Da Etan: Thank you. Yes, those references were in mind when writing the previous chapter. Sorry the chapter took so long.

Benthino: Sorry this took so long to come out. Also, that isn't the only story that has mentioned Lambent before.

minxan: Correct.

dracohalo117: Sorry to have made you wait so long for it then.

NotPaulyD: Thanks!

Ares50 (Guest): Yes it was.

Uchiha Rai: Yep.

DarkElucidator: Good luck with that.

Cloy552: I've always found that their luck is always bad in general, no matter what fanfic you're reading.

KisaragiKei: Well that's some pressure on me then. I'll try to make it entertaining then!

Anon (Guest): I was trying to pay homage to the series rather than rip it off. You'll find that a lot of jokes I make in this are references to something, and people very much enjoy trying to find out what it was and relate to the story. I'm sorry if it came off as me ripping off the series, it's a really good web parody and a lot of people caught on to the fact that I added it in and enjoyed it. I don't put what references I make because reviewers enjoy guessing what they are, but I do put the fact that there are references in the disclaimer. If it really bugs you that much, I'll try giving a shout out to all of the references people picked up on in this chapter in the next one.

RPGPersona: Thank you for that praise. Personally, Neo is one of my favourite characters from the actual series so I try to do her justice in mine. I'm glad to see it's working. Sorry for the long wait though.

A Dark Winter's Wind: Well, you can still read books like that for the plot. Like Yang said, what comes next is just the icing on the cake.

willdmac12: Fair enough, but romance isn't as easy to come by when you aren't looking for it. Not only is Jaune busy with school and his writing, so are the girls who have shown an interest in him. There will be major developments happening soon though, especially since if there is going to be any romance that isn't with Weiss he has to get over her first. I do have a plan for the romance and whom he will eventually end up with; it will just take some time and subtle weaving. It will take a bit because the romance is secondary to the humour, but I believe that you need to structure romance well or the ship will just sink.

SkyDD: Indeed there are. Eventually the true heroine will be revealed and the final pairing will be tagged onto the fanfic. I'll tell you this though, I had decided on what the final pairing would be right from the start. Take that as you may. Just remember, the romance is secondary to the humour.

VibeKiller: Thank you, it's always fun seeing what things you guys are interested in. On your second review, who knows? I might go darker or I may not. Really depends on how the show travels by the time I actually reach the current episodes but you are 100% right about that sudden drop into darkness.

Also, if you're interested about my thoughts on the last few episodes and the impact they may have on this story it's in the A/N at the end.

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY or any other franchises I may reference or pay homage to within the chapter. They all belong to their respective owners.


Chapter 20- Bonds

Blake stared disinterestedly at the empty plate before her, mildly amused by her partner's hunger-fuelled rage. Who'd have thought Nora would pull an all-nighter just to be the first, and regrettably only, person to get pancakes. The answer, everyone. Everyone knew she would do it, but refused to believe she would go to those lengths for pancakes. She sighed as she poked at the plate with her fork, well we were wrong, so very, very wrong. Having nothing better to do, the beauty decided to just read and let the situation play out.

Yang glared angrily at the hammer mistress, "Why did you have to eat all of the pancakes Nora!" She cried. Unsurprisingly, combining waking up early and no food made for a very upset Yang. The Valkyrie responded by poking her tongue out as she gripped the chandelier harder. Yang stomped irritated, she couldn't exactly get the girl down without causing a fuss or destroying property but the girl was beginning to get on her nerves. Unfortunately Pharos wasn't like Beacon, Ozpin may turn a blind eye to most things but he wasn't there.

Nora scoffed as she swung around out of the annoyed girl's reach, "I didn't see anyone else eating them." She stated pointedly.

"That's because it was four in the morning! Who stays up 'till four in the morning?" It was the one time of day not many people were awake to see. It was too late to stay awake to and too early to wake up to. On the side of the room, donning a chef's apron with his male teammate, Jaune rolled his eyes as he cooked. Authors and students, that's who stay up to stupidly early in the morning because of procrastination problems.

The two males in the room sighed as a small fight broke out behind them while they cut up some vegetables. Pyrrha and Ruby were trying to pull their respective teammates apart, Velvet was fidgeting on the spot futilely trying to stop the fight and Coco was just laughing her ass off. Sun, seeing no way to help that didn't involve getting beat up, had left amid the confusion to go grab Neptune from the docks, and Blake had just given up on the entire situation altogether, choosing to read a book instead of dealing with the two over-active huntresses in training. The young author sighed, was it bad that he didn't expect any other reactions from his friends?

He released a small shout against his will as a hand made its way to his rear, making a loud slapping noise. "I never knew you could cook hotshot." Coco gave the two males a grin as she stood between them, more than likely having done the same action to Ren. The fashionista couldn't help but mentally frown at the boy to her right, his reaction hadn't been as delicious as the novice knight's. A simple surprised grunt wasn't exactly fun. She turned to the more reactive of the two with a playful wink, "I always wanted to know how to cook, maybe you could teach me." Jaune laughed nervously, slowly turning red from the close proximity.

"I feel like if I had a one on one lesson with you I wouldn't leave in one piece." He replied with a weak smirk. The fashionista smirked back in response,

"Who said anything about a one on one lesson?" Her smirk widened at his uncomfortable expression as she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck, "But if you're so against it, maybe I could invite Velv?" Before she could go any further with her teasing Velvet pushed the two leaders apart with a small blush.

"Coco, you already know how to cook!" She cried embarrassedly. Her Faunus ears had picked up the entire conversation between the two, especially the flirtings of her friend. The leader of team CFVY laughed lightly,

"You got me." She admitted in amused defeat, raising her hands as if she was surrendering. "I just love to see it when you two are flustered." Velvet gave the brunette a skeptic look, she never gave up that easily when it came to teasing. Ever. "Though since I already know how to cook, how about you two have a one on one session? You always wanted to learn right Velv?" The rabbit Faunus uncharacteristically grabbed her leader by the ear with a blank stare,

"Why don't we go check out the rest of the facilities?" She 'suggested' to the fashionista with a calm smile. Before Coco could even begin to respond the normally timid girl pulled her out the room by the ear, oblivious to the brunette's complaints and exclamations of pain. Jaune watched the entire scene play of with a nervous smile, Velvet was scary when she wanted to be.
He turned to his male friend, "Wait, how come she didn't pick on you?" The black haired boy shrugged despite fully knowing the reason. Because you're an easy target. He thought mentally. He didn't dare say it out loud lest Jaune actually learnt from the nugget of wisdom, he knew that if Jaune stopped being an easy target then he was next on the list of teasable males. It may seem a little self-centred of him to just sacrifice his friend like that, but he'd rather call it self preservation.

"I doubt us guys will ever understand the minds of women." Stated the boy wisely, the two continuing their preparations for breakfast while the girls continued their brawl. After a brief pause the stoic boy turned to his leader once more, "Hey Jaune?"

"Yes Ren?" Answered the knight a he carefully laid a now boneless fish on the wooden cutting board.

"Do you think we're getting carried away with this?" He asked as he gestured to the five course meal for twelve behind them. The blond laughed and shook his head,

"We already know how much Nora eats, I think this is a healthy precaution for Team RWBY." Ren smirked, he had a point. "Besides, with this much food and those vending machines over there, there should be plenty of food and drinks for all of us. I'm actually surprised you managed to get all of this for us, good job Ren." The fellow chef blinked,

"I thought you were the one that got it." He stated confusedly, "So if I didn't get it, and you didn't either. Where did this food come from?" The two shared a concerned look for a brief moment before nonchalantly shrugging, it wasn't their problem.

Weiss gave a light yawn as she entered the breakfast room. She hadn't bothered to wake early for pancakes, it just wasn't her type of meal in the morning. Today was the day that they would begin their preparation for the Vytal Festival. Of course, she was 100% sure that meant her usually rowdy team would tidy up their act for a bit so they may make full use of the facilities that were oh-so-generously handed to them by the school.

With a cry of "You're dead to me Nora!" A certain blond teammate of hers crashed through the window, the aforementioned Valkyrie in tow, and if the notable sounds of brawling were of any clue falling out of a window did nothing to stop their fight. Off to the right, two out of the three males in the group were making what appeared to be a banquet for thirty while the third was missing, likely having scampered off to go steal something. To make matters worse her partner and the arguably strongest in their friend group were bickering over what was the better snack, cookies or chocolate, and her final teammate was on the sidelines reading a book. The heiress slowly absorbed the situation, trying to make sense of it, before exhaling and pinching the bridge of her nose exhaustedly. Unfortunately her team cleaning up their act was just wishful thinking.

There was only one solution to this.

Without another word and so much as a second glance, the white haired dust meister left. To do what? She wasn't sure, but she was sure that whatever it was it was better than... well, that. 'For once I agree with you,' nodded a voice in her mind. 'Though it would've been better if you had greeted Master good morning.' The girl rolled her eyes as she explored the faded brown halls of Pharos, taking in the modern yet still Beacon-esque decor and ignoring the annoying little voice in her head. It was quaint in appearance, but you could somehow still tell that it was built relatively recently. Not within the last few years recently, but recently.

The heiress admired the gentle affect the colour scheme brought upon the mind, it was relaxing enough to calm her down after gazing upon the scene that was her friends' morning interactions. 'Come on, we should go explore this place a bit more. Yesterday we barely had any time to go look around and spend time with master!' If only the little voice in her head would stop. That would've made the scenery all the more serene. 'Don't ignore me Weiss! I want to go explore this place more- ooh is that a firing range? Can we go try out Myrtenaster on it?' Weiss sighed,

"My body, my rules." She stated simply. Dust, she sounded like a parent. It was a secret to all but herself, and her tenant by extension, that she had been fully aware of what had occurred over the period of time the girl dubbed 'Alice' was in control of her body. It was a weird experience to say the least, seeing through her eyes, feeling through her hands, hearing through her ears, yet be unable to control her actions or voice. It was like watching a movie through a first person perspective.

The fact that it was still her body though, made all the things Alice did on a whim all the more embarrassing to the proud Schnee. She had a reputation to uphold and within the time span of a few days this Alice woman managed to tear down quite a fair bit of it. Two things had kept her from lashing out at her tenant more than she did already. The first being that when her other 'personality' was in charge and calling the shots, she made her teammates have a taste of their own medicine. It cracked her up inside seeing Yang get eaten by a flower.

The second was a slightly more complicated reason. Alice's Ruby-like innocence allowed her to see the true thoughts of her blond suitor. It was an interesting experience learning something like that about someone. A person's true thoughts are something not many people are privy to after all, and something she learned from the experience was that the dunce knight wasn't after her name, which was a first. However, just because her opinion of the boy changed didn't mean she was going to fawn over him endlessly. He had peaked her interest somewhat, but currently she had more important matters.

And on the thought of those important matters, one of the more annoying ones reared its head once more. 'You're thinking about Master aren't you?~'

"Quiet you." Snapped the white haired girl, although she was getting used to the concept of there being a second person in her head that didn't stop it from being annoying. The two were halted from a usual round of bickering by a growl that could scare a Grimm away. The proud heiress of the Schnee Dust Company flushed, "For the record, I haven't had anything to eat today. That was perfectly normal."

When the 'two' finally made it back to the dining area they noticed that Yang and Nora had somehow made their way back, but from the looks of things it may not have necessarily been a good thing...


Back with Sun things had taken an interesting turn to say the least. The blond student had picked up his best friend and brought him over to everyone else while 'calmly chatting' about the friends he had made and the reunion with his childhood buddy, but when the two got back to the others the situation was much worse than when he had left. The small brawl apparently had evolved into a massive fight between the two teams, even Weiss and Blake were participating which was unheard of.

"Off with their heads!" Declared Nora as she laughed evilly. Weiss, and by extension Alice, shivered. The voice in her head 'frowned'. 'Why does it feel like that was directed at me?' The heiress shrugged, it was Yang who started the fight not her.

The two members of Team SSSN watched in awe as Team RWBY fought with Team JNPR -mostly Pyrrha and Nora- with what appeared to be makeshift food weapons. The blond monkey resisted a snicker as he watched the only two males of the two teams get launched by Yang off to the side.

Jaune coughed loudly in pain when he was knocked into a wall made of tables, courtesy of Yang, for the third time in a row. Next to him lied Ren as he too was knocked there by the ample chested woman. "Ren?"

The black haired boy groaned painfully as he rolled around to face his leader, "Yes Jaune?"

"How are the girls in this school so strong?" He asked with a pained sigh, watching with a small grin once his fellow blond was sent skywards via Nora's Melon Hammer. He couldn't exactly call it karmic justice on his part though, after all the Valkyrie had been the one to initiate combat by eating the pancakes. Though Yang was also at fault for taking it a step further by tackling the sloth lover out the window...

"If I knew how the girls got that strong would I be down here, half alive with you?" Wow. Sarcastic rhetorical questions from the stoic ninja, that was a first.

"Fair point." He conceded. "Should we help them?" The idea was immediately thrown out the window once Pyrrha started making the canned drinks around her fly. "Pyr that isn't fair!" He yelled from the ground, finding a comfortable groove to rest his head in. "No one's used their semblance yet!" It was unfortunately too late as the champion had already used the fizzy drinks to bombard his book buddy. Poor Blake, that is going to be a pain to wash out.

"What's wrong with using her semblance?" Queried Ren. Sure the red haired girl disliked showcasing it, but it was just them around so there was no harm done right? He couldn't help but cock his head in confusion when the blond boy sighed and gestured ahead of the two with his chin. "Oh." The spinning comet of rose petals was probably the reason why.

The two bystanders winced when the losing team collided with the wall, adding literal insult to injury when the large amount of food the two boys had prepped followed suit. It was a messy situation to say the least.

The members of SSSN jumped on the spot as the door behind them slammed open. "What are you all doing!?" Cried an outraged Glynda Goodwitch. As per usual the brave leader of JNPR hid behind his food painted team. "I should have known it would be you students." Sighed the deputy in exasperation. With a quick flick of her crop the mess of a cafeteria circled around the air before falling into their usual positions, save for the food which went into a conveniently place bin outside. "Has no one ever told you not to play with your food?" Chided the woman.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, "I'm sure if we were back at Beacon Professor Ozpin would have let you all of scot free, however I am not Ozpin and as such am not as... lenient. I do know not to interrupt your training period though, so punishment shall wait until you get back to Beacon." With her scolding done the blond witch left the students to their own devices. Jaune sighed in relief, that woman scared him more than the Grimm.

"You guys really did a number on this place." Whistled Sun as he approached his childhood friend, holding out an arm to help him up. "It was pretty awesome. Though you hardly did anything." The knight winced at the slight jab,

"Hey! It's just the girls in our school are freakishly strong." Defended the boy weakly. As if to prove his point Yang finally landed from her trip to cloud city, no doubt hitting terminal velocity at some point during her plummet, and gave a thumbs up upon crash.

"That was fun, minus getting hit by a disembodied hand on the way up. We gotta do that again Nora!" The Valkyrie grinned and shook hands with the busty blond, the usual feeling of camaraderie after a fight bringing them closer as friends. "So what'd I miss?" Asked the young woman as she tossed her sister some cloud cotton candy.

The two male blonds gave each other a blank look, "All right, you may be right about the whole absurdly strong thing." Stated Sun with a deadpan. "On another note, Jaune meet Neptune. Neptune meet Jaune." The two smirked and shook hands,

"Nice to meet you Neptune." Greeted Jaune with a grin. The blue haired boy returned his grin,

"Likewise dude." The newcomer put on a smooth smile as he turned to the girls across the room, "So who are they?"

"That's Team RWBY and the females of my team." Answered the author, "Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha and Nora." Seeing the interested look in his eye he elaborated, "Ruby is the young but cute looking one, Weiss is the cold flat one, Blake is the one reading a book, Yang is the blond busty one, Pyrrha is the one with red hair and Nora is the one destroying furniture. Again. Could... could you go stop her Ren?" The black haired boy sighed and ran to catch his childhood friend.

Neptune laughed at the simple yet accurate descriptions. "So what is first on the agenda? We training or what?" Jaune shrugged,

"To be perfectly honest, other than the shower I definitely need, I don't know what types of facilities they have here." Admitted the novice knight. There wasn't exactly a brochure he could read and they had arrived rather late the day prior so there was little to no time to explore the expansive variety of facilities within Pharos.

Sun grinned widely as he pulled out the brochure he had received from the receptionist, "It says on this brochure that there is a place where we can practice using fake firearms in different environments." The two other males peered over the blond Faunus' shoulders to read along as well.

"Using the latest equipment we have created an interchangeable, customisable field in which there are a variety of weapons to practice within the shifting environments. To prevent injury or damage to equipment, the bullets found within the weapons are made of a compressed capsule that holds a coloured substance to allow one to see where their bullets landed. Be warned, although the capsules are filled with liquid, they still hurt to get shot by." Read the three aloud in sync.

The young writer blinked, "Aside from the whole customisable environment, isn't this just paintball?" The gunchuck wielding blond nodded enthusiastically as he silenced his fellow blond with a single finger. He grinned widely, putting the brochure in his pocket.

"Let's do it! What's the worst that could happen?" Cheered the Faunus.

"Well you know what they say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth." Commented the blue haired male.

Sun suddenly flew into an abrupt coughing fit that was oddly directed at his friend. "*cough cough* Nerd *cough*" The offended boy frowned,

"Intellectual." Corrected the newcomer with a disapproving wave of his finger. Just as quickly, the young man turned to the female students across the room. He sent them a smooth wink, "So we gonna invite the ladies or?..."


Neptune was a little disheartened by the nonplussed greeting he received when he introduced himself, not that you could tell by looking at him. He turned to the blond on his right, "Do you think they don't like me?" Jaune shook his head negatively, how could they not like him? Neptune was pretty cool. Dust, he was probably the embodiment of cool. "Judging from the amount of times Weiss has shot me I think she has it out for me." Commented the blue haired boy again as he inspected the paintball residue on him. With how much force was behind the 'small' pellet it should have been called a painball.

Jaune laughed, "That's just her way of saying hi. Also, she wanted to get back at you for calling her Snow Angel." Neptune had had his fair share of dismissals from women in the first meeting, but repeatedly shooting him with a gun was new. "Either way, we need to find Sun and Ren while avoiding Nora and Yang." The power combo of a painball shotgun and a freaking grenade launcher was a bit much. Note how there was no mention of paint in the grenade launcher.

"How did we even get in this mess?" It was a good question. At the start they had decided to play a four-v-four, guys-vs-girls type battle with Blake and Pyrrha opting out due to having better things to do. Then one thing somehow evolved into another and now the two boys found themselves separated from their teammates and alone in a custom generated abandoned warehouse, mountain and forest with a paintball handgun and a paintball rifle. The two jumped with a start when a rustle came from behind them.

Without a moment's hesitation the two males loosed a few shots in the direction of the noise in hopes to chase the hidden object away. Jaune paled when a certain blond brawler walked out of the bushes. To make matters worse, it was a blond brawler with a good three to four blobs of paint in her hair. "It's been nice knowing you Neptune." Stated Jaune with a smile, placing his hand comfortingly on the other boy's shoulder.

The newcomer returned the smile wholeheartedly, "If we survive this please hit me for suggesting to invite the girls." Jaune laughed, trying to put on a brave front. If you looked closely you could see the fear in his... well everything.

"Well, only one thing to do now." The two nodded. "RUN!" They yelled simultaneously as they dashed their way into the abandoned warehouse, narrowly avoiding shotgun shells on the way in. In a hushed voice Neptune turned to his one friend, despair evident in his voice"Those weren't paintballs were they?"

The knight swallowed audibly, letting out a nervous laugh. "Of course they are. They just, paint you red. All over." Making light of the situation wasn't exactly helping them.

"Where are you two?" Called Yang from within the storage; her voice echoing around menacingly. "I'm not going to hurt you, just horribly maim and disfigure you." That wasn't any better. "If you show yourself you might just leave with your body intact." Well that wasn't a horrifying image at all.

The two felt a cold shiver run down their spine as the footsteps slowly approached their hiding spot. Jaune held his breath as the girl rounded the corner towards the two. "Aha! Wha?" It was empty save for a few cardboard boxes.

"Don't say anything Neptune and whatever you do don't fear for your life." Whispered Jaune. "She can smell fear." The newcomer shivered at the emphasis the knight had placed on his words. There was no way Yang was that deadly. The blond girl growled in clear irritation, her hair sparking in a testament to her slowly getting closer to her irritation. The sheer heat emanating off of the livid boxer's hair made short work of the paint, drying it in mere seconds. In a few moments the wet paint had dried and peeled off, leaving a trail of glimmering red paint flakes behind her as she hurriedly searched for the two boys.

Thankfully the paint was the easy-to-come-off kind, meaning little to no damage was done to her hair, so really she was just trying to find them out of principle now. That and so she could win their little paintball fight. At some point it had changed from shooting practice to a war. A war where the winner would get to boss around someone from the opposing team.

Jaune could feel the sweat roll off of his face in buckets as he watched the red paint pass through the small holes in the box he had made using the paint gun. He was a dead man. I'd like to leave my books to Blake, my cookie recipe and supplies to Ruby, my cooking equipment to Ren, Amethyst can have my writing supplies, position of leadership goes to Pyr and everything else can go back home.

He tentatively peeked through the hole in the box to find the person who would more than likely be the one responsible for his death. To his left he could see Neptune's box quivering visibly, the boy may act cool but an angry Yang could bring even the best of men to their knees. He was sure most of the male populace of the school avoided flirting with Team RWBY just because of that. Or maybe because Ruby is two years younger than the first years, Weiss is the heiress to a major business and Blake is an introvert. It could be anything really.

"I don't have all day, you'd better come out now or I start shooting boxes." Demanded Yang as she brought up the paintball shotgun. "Don't worry, I'm not mad about the hair thing-" she paused mid-sentence as a thought came to mind. "-kind of. Just stop hiding so we can finish this paintball fight- I mean, live target training." The warehouse stayed silent. "Come on you two, fight me like men!"

Jaune sighed as he sent Neptune a look; it was now or never. Slowly taking off the box he surveyed his surroundings, checking to make sure the coast was clear. "What are you doing?" Whisper shouted Neptune. The blond knight held up a finger to his mouth for a moment before gesturing to the exit. "You're never going to make it!" The writer gave the newcomer a grin. If there was any skill he was proud of other than writing, it was his ability to run away from danger.

"Just watch me." He gave a cocky smirk as he began to sprint out of the warehouse, leaping around and over the boxes that blocked his way. "If she comes after me then run." He called back, already a quarter of the way to freedom. Neptune gave the running knight a sad salute, he would make sure the sacrifice wouldn't go to waste.

The blond boy jumped in surprised as several painball shells decimated a box beside him. "How is a paintball shotgun fair?" He cried, firing a couple of paintballs towards the direction of the shells.

"C'mon Vomit Boy, I promise I won't do anything bad to you after I win." Yelled Yang as she shot a couple more times at the boy from behind a metal shelf, sending several boxes flying in his direction. Weaving in and out of the cardboard projectiles, Jaune held his breath as he jumped under a broken car.

Silence echoed through the warehouse as none of the three made a move. Peeking his head out from under the vehicle Jaune scanned his surroundings for the dangerous blond with a painball shotgun. Although the busty woman was nowhere to be seen Neptune's box could be seen shuffling around in the distance, inching it's way to freedom. He watched with bated breath, and mild curiosity, as it made its way through the silent warehouse, stopping occasionally to briefly survey its surroundings.

Without so much as a warning the deadly blond stepped out from the corner she was hiding in, a grin square on her face as she watched the box obliviously make its way to freedom. Jaune stared in silent horror as the excited face of Neptune was juxtaposed by the frightening smile on the young brawler. He could do nothing to warn the blue haired newcomer, he was already in the woman's grasp. He bowed his head for the boy as he gave him a moment of silence, already knowing of the events to come. With a final look of pity the knight sprinted out of his hiding spot full force as the sound of a trigger being pulled and a girlish scream reached his ears, he would make sure the sacrifice wouldn't go to waste.

Running around the piles of boxes once more the knight wasted no time making his way to the exit. He couldn't hear the sound of the paintballs being fired over his own screams, but he could tell they were getting closer. With a final yell Jaune leapt out of the abandoned building, laughing triumphantly as he did so. He had made it, sure Neptune had sacrificed himself in the process but he still survived. His celebratory jump was put to a stop however when his foot collided with something on the floor. Jaune stared blankly at the tied up and paint covered bodies of Ren and Sun. Taking the time to actually pay attention to his surroundings the blond knight took note of the heiress, rose and Valkyrie all pointing their weapons to him.

Yang gave him a playful grin upon exiting the warehouse behind him, sauntering up to the boy in a cocky manner. "Well your running was a paint in the ass, but now it's checkmate." She joked into his ear as she held the shotgun to his back. He would've laughed too if it weren't for the four paintball weapons firing simultaneously at him, causing what would have been a laugh to become an incoherent strangled cry.


Jaune groaned as he wrung his hair out with one hand, his other pressing his scroll firmly to his ear. It had taken several hours to finally get the paint out of his hair, why couldn't his semblance be as handy as Yang's? He didn't even want to know how hard it would be to get out of his clothes. Being soluble in water didn't exactly help if there was that much paint.

His annoyed expression did a 180 as he continued the call. "So you can do it? Great!" He gave an excited woop and pumped his fist ecstatically, having just finished detailing what he wanted his handgun to have. Jaune grinned widely; he would be getting an awesome new weapon when he got back. He really needed to thank Roman when he could, the orange haired man had done so much for him. He frowned in thought for a moment, coming to a brief stop in the middle of the hallway. "So Roman, why do you know someone that can craft weapons?" The man's nervous laugh could be heard clearly from the scroll,

"Uhh, we used to work together?" Answered the criminal slowly. As far as the kid was concerned it wasn't a lie, after all they were business buddies at one point.

The blond replaced his frown with a light grin, "OK." He responded cheerily. It was still hadn't really registered in his head that he would be getting his very first ranged hunter weapon at the end of the week. Jaune stared at the floor worriedly, he'd never fought with a ranged weapon before. How does one fight giant Grimm with a mere handgun? He shrugged to no one in particular he would figure it out later. "Anyway, I'll get back to you soon with that Faunus story. A friend of mine is helping me learn about them." The orange haired man tapped his cane in thought, was he talking about that black haired cat Faunus that nearly assassinated him?

"You'd better hurry or you might not make the deadline." Reminded the editor. With a quick nod, that Roman couldn't see, the novice knight hung up. Speaking of learning about Faunus I still need to see Blake. The two hadn't finished their session the day prior due to him having to quickly finish the work Goodwitch had assigned him… the work that he hadn't handed in yet.

The boy sighed grimly, "Miss Glynn is going to kill me." He stated with finality.

"I told you to stop calling me that." Chided Glynda pointedly from beside the blond. He jumped in his skin at her sudden appearance, where did she come from? The woman gave him a tired look, "Before you start running away screaming Mr Arc I would appreciate it if you'd hand in the work you're late with." Jaune laughed nervously as she held out her hand expectantly,

"Um, about that. I, uh, don't have it here?" The deputy raised a brow. From all his time with the strict woman Jaune had begun to take this small action as her way of saying 'You'd better have a good reason or you're dead'. A translation he was sure Ozpin would wholeheartedly agree with. "Well you remember the whole locked in a freezer incident? Well that not only prevented me from handing it in, but also made me forget about it altogether. Which is why I didn't bring it with me." The lack of Goodwitch lowering her eyebrow was the sign she wasn't pleased with his reasoning.

"Come on Miss Glynn, I don't need another punishment." He flinched as it appeared the woman still wouldn't budge on her decision. "Please? For me?" He pleaded, taking a note from Ruby's book as he pulled the most pitiable expression he could muster.

The blond teacher gave him a blank look and began to walk off, pushing up her glasses. "Make sure you hand it in immediately when we arrive back at Beacon." The young student gave a nervous laugh as the woman walked off, no doubt to scold some other poor student. He sighed in relief when the witch was finally out of earshot. There was nothing on Remnant that scared him more than Glynda Goodwitch, except maybe Neo and Yang when they were mad. Or Mr Diddles, but that was a whole other thing in itself.

"I didn't know you were so close with Miss Goodwitch." Commented a voice from behind him, a growing trend these days. The blond knight turned around to see a grinning Yang peering out from behind a vending machine. Jaune shrugged nonchalantly at his fellow blond,

"Trust me, when you're horrible at fighting compared to everyone else at the start of the year remedial classes are a must." He explained simply, paying no mind to the fact that the girl was hiding behind a vending machine. Knowing the brawler, she was probably the reason why Goodwitch had come around in the first place. "Trust me when I say you want to be on good terms with the person tortur- I mean tutoring you every Friday for the first few weeks." Yang blinked, barely catching the brief slip of the tongue by the young author.

"Every Friday?" She gave him a pitying smile as she placed her hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "If you ever want me to help break you out, just ask." Stated the girl with as much seriousness as she could muster. The knight laughed nervously in response, finding her readiness to 'bust him out' concerning.

"You... You haven't done that before right?" He queried uneasily. The busty boxer laughed,

"Of course not." She replied, "But if you do see Goodwitch, tell her I went that way. See ya Vomit Boy." Waved the girl as she walked the opposite direction to the one she pointed out. The young writer gave his fellow blond a look before letting loose a small sigh, for some reason he didn't believe her.

Jaune frowned as he made his way back to the rooms, he had forgotten to ask Yang where Blake was. He needed some insight on using a handgun to fight Grimm and Ren was already busy dealing with Nora. First however, he needed to apologise for drawing on her face. He couldn't help but feel as if she had been distancing herself from him lately, whether it was retaliation for doing the same or some other reason didn't matter. Whatever it was, he wanted to know.

Currently the twelve students were spread out around Pharos, each doing their own thing. Last he saw them, Neptune and Ruby were tinkering with their weapons, Sun, Pyrrha, Weiss and Coco were testing out the simulator again while Ren 'helped' Nora with live target practice. The only students whose whereabouts were unknown were Yang, who was on the run from Goodwitch, and the two female Faunus' of the group.

As he entered the sleeping quarters he was disheartened to find that the black haired bookworm wasn't alone reading books like he had hoped, meaning he had no clue as to where his book buddy would be. Deciding to leave the search for later Jaune headed out to practice his use of his shield. There was a great facility that would launch annoyingly painful rubber balls from random directions that would make for great dodging and blocking training.

His mind set, the novice knight made his way to the dodgeball facility. His lips formed into a small smile as he walked through the blinding white halls. The facility felt less like a training centre and more like a game centre that had the added benefit of enhancing one's skills as a hunter. To be perfectly honest it was a good idea, letting hunters train while having fun. As he turned the corner he was faced with a lengthy hallway he hadn't noticed before.

"Hey Jaune!" Called Ruby from the end of the hallway, "I've got something cool to show you!" She beckoned him with a wide grin, gesturing inside the door she was currently in. Hesitantly taking a step into the door frame the blond student was surprised to see an entire library almost the size of the Beacon one. However, what the library lacked in size it more than made up for with it's extra facilities.

Taking a second to admire his surroundings the young knight couldn't help but comment, "Is that a café?" The Rose nodded enthusiastically,

"Yeah! They even have a games room!" If one looked closely they could see that the two leaders were visibly shaking in excitement. Jaune couldn't even be bothered to comment on the fact that the café was called 'The Sleepy Sloth'. "Now c'mon, let's go get something to eat." From the sound of their stomachs a bite to eat was probably for the best. To be fair, they technically hadn't had much food to eat considering the whole food fight situation.

As the two walked past the marvellous rows upon rows of books in the direction of the café Jaune couldn't help but question the red and black haired reaper's motive, "So Ruby, why did you enter the library in the first place? I thought-" he paused mid-sentence when the younger girl pointed at something next to the entrance. "Cookie dispenser, got it." Finished the blond with a sigh. His fellow leader did have a soft spot for cookies. Well, more of an empty void than a soft spot. Seriously where did they all go?

"Does Blake know about this place?" Queried the knight, a café and a library in the same place seemed right up her alley. At the mention of her black haired teammate the Rose's expression turned faintly downcast, sparing a glance to their right. Upon following her gaze Jaune saw the cat Faunus on a computer similar to those in the Beacon library.

"She's been there all day. That isn't even bad by itself, but when I asked if she wanted some white hot chocolate she wouldn't budge. Blake isn't even talking to me." Ruby stated sadly, messing around with the hem of her battle skirt as the two leaders came to a stop. She'd tried talking to her but the girl just wouldn't peel her eyes off the screen. The rose couldn't help but feel partially at fault because she was the one who had mentioned the existence of this place to her.

Jaune frowned as he watched a myriad of expressions dance around Ruby's face. Her thoughts and emotions playing like a movie trapped in fast forward, out for all to see but none to understand except for the one privy to her thought process. He felt both pride and shame knowing partially how his best friend thought. One's thoughts were something that only they should know yet his semblance ripped open that privacy, that sacred space, and allowed him to see things that no one else could, or should for that matter.

Those thoughts were for another time though. Now, although it wasn't a fight per say, his best friend and his book friend were in the middle of a conflict, and he had to help stop it. The knight wasn't sure if it was just his tendency to stick his nose into other people's problems, or because he felt obligated to do it as repentance for looking into their minds. All he knew was he wanted to help them, so he would.

"What are you going to order?" Asked Ruby curiously. Jaune looked up from his thoughts to see that the young reaper had led him to the café. Perhaps it was her way of saying she'd want his help at a later date, when he knew what he could do for them. That or because she just wanted him to order already so they could eat their first full meal of the day. He could never tell with Ruby, her thoughts were all over the place half the time. More than likely a side effect of her semblance.

The blond put a hand to his chin in thought, a motion he'd taken a liking to as of late. "I'll just have what you're having I guess." Answered the boy nonchalantly. He hadn't had a look at the menu and honestly didn't mind. "Though I would like a mug of white hot chocolate." He admitted. The younger girl gave him a huge smile,

"I didn't know you liked cookie crumb, strawberry pancakes too!" She exclaimed excitedly. Cookie crumb, strawberry pancake? Repeated the knight mentally.

"Well if it isn't the cookie cook himself." Laughed a familiar voice. Much to the two leaders' combined surprise, the young man in charge of the mail room was at the counter. "What's with the looks? Can't a guy have more than one job?"

Jaune recovered first, shaking his head with a sigh. "Jay was it?" After receiving a brief nod he continued, "Well we just weren't expecting you to just appear here is all." The black haired man shrugged,

"I get that a lot." He stated simply. Ignoring the skeptical looks from the two the mail man continued, "So it's a cookie crumb, strawberry pancake for the lovely young woman and her friend, and a white hot chocolate. Right?" Ruby stared at the young man in awe,

"How did you know what we wanted?" She asked curiously,

"My employer told me." Explained Jay, "She also said that you and your friends can eat here free." He added as an afterthought. Jaune narrowed his eyes in thought, how did his employer-

He opened his mouth in realisation, "Nora." The boy apparently employed under Nora nodded. "Since when did Nora's Uh, establishment, become a franchise?" The black haired man shrugged, how could he know? He was just an employee.

"At any rate, you're food will be ready soon. Just wait at a table and I'll bring it over." With a nod Jaune brought Ruby to an empty table off to the side. He had chosen that specific spot so that he could keep an eye on Blake while using the potted flora to keep out of her sight, not that it mattered. The amber eyed girl didn't stray her attention from the monitor in front of her for more than a second. Turning to the silver eyed reaper he was unsurprised to see her worried look.

"Ruby, I'm sure she has her reasons." He mumbled in a half-hearted attempt to comfort his first friend. It was hard to convince someone else if you couldn't even convince yourself,

The Rose sighed at the knight, "That's why I'm so worried. She either can't share those reasons or she doesn't want to." Jaune frowned,

"Surely it isn't that bad." Even he could tell there was no truth between those words. To further prove her point Ruby picked up a small flat pebble from the potted flora and tossed it at the Faunus, managing to nail her head at that distance. The black haired bookworm didn't even give the small rock the time of day as she continued doing whatever it was she was doing. "Do you know what she's doing?" The leader of Team RWBY shook her head,

"I only saw what she was looking at briefly." Replied the young girl. "Jaune, she was looking at news headlines of the recent dust robberies." The blond frowned as he stared at Blake once more. It was disheartening really, seeing one of his fans acting like that. What was going through that brain of hers?

Blake stared blankly at the screen, how long has she been doing this? The words and letters had begun to blend together long ago. She hadn't taken a break since she had started let alone looked for something to eat. The bookworm resisted rubbing her eyes lest she miss some important blob of information. All she could think about was the White Fang. There was no way Adam would willingly work with not only one, but three humans. Especially not someone like Roman Torchwick. Who's to say those were the only humans? For all she knew there more, possibly dozens, possibly one. That was why she was doing this. She needed to know, she needed to find out now before something happened.

Blake finally gave in to the urge and rubbed the dust out of her eyes, feeling extreme relief from the brief lapse in vision. She looked back at the webpage, the pictures finally starting to clear. Her small hand tightened on the mouse as she continued her search. She had just found people who didn't care about her Faunus heritage, someone she can confide her secrets to, people she can talk about books with. A place that she might even be able to call home. She couldn't just sit around and do nothing about it.

She wouldn't rest until the White Fang were stopped and Roman Torchwick was behind bars.


Jaune yawned loudly as he woke. The light of the sun leaked through the curtain directly onto his eyes like some makeshift alarm clock. He stretched, feeling his muscles ache from his training the day prior. It was hard to believe it was only their fourth day at Pharos, excluding the few hours left during the day they had arrived. The knight had managed to get into a rhythm with his training, the exercises becoming his daily routine. He tapped the toes of his shoes lightly on the floor to get the last of his foot in. Like always, he started with an early morning jog before breakfast.

The blond inhaled deeply, taking in the fresh morning air. Following breakfast was some sword and shield training with Pyrrha and some light combat training with whoever was available. Most days he would either just spar with Ren, Neptune or Sun as everyone else would just kick his ass, or get Yang and Ren to help him with unarmed combat. He'd then have lunch in the library with anyone that felt like it and do some simulation training afterwards to work on his battle strategies. Before dinner the knight would either use the ball dodging room to work on his dodging skills and awareness or rest his muscles, maybe play a game or two of 'Million Lien But' with Ruby and Neptune. His last hour after dinner would then be spent meditating with Ren to relieve stress and work on his aura control.

One thing was missing from his schedule though. Ranged training with a handgun. The novice knight still needed to learn how to fight Grimm with a single handgun and the only person he knew that could do that was Blake, the girl currently residing in the library as if she was some ghost haunting the premise. In many cases students believed that she was in fact just that. To the young author, the only positive that came from the cat Faunus taking up residence in the library was the Glynda-free area. It wasn't a very well known fact but Goodwitch was absolutely horrified by ghosts, well the concept of the undead as a whole really, and stayed clear from the library rumoured to be haunted by a black haired girl with bloodshot eyes. However, even that had lost it's charm as of late.

After finishing his jog the blond found his legs carrying him to the library subconsciously. Somehow this action had become part of his daily schedule against his will. Each and every day without fail since he had begun his little training regime he found himself standing behind the bookworm, watching her look through pages upon pages of news articles about the White fang. And now, once again, he was behind the young woman as he idly stared at her tired expression and dark, bloodshot eyes.

"Morning Blake." He greeted, deciding to take a seat for once. The blond didn't so much as receive a tilt of the head signifying she acknowledged his presence. Not that he expected any different, after all, why would she talk to him now after three consecutive days of trying? "So how's the search going?"

"..."

Jaune sighed, there was almost no way he was going to get through to the girl was there? "Y'know, your team really misses you." No response. His fists clenched in irritation, this just wasn't like Blake. He stopped that thought dead before it could completely register. Who was he kidding? this was exactly like Blake. He looked at her tired eyes, it was exactly like her to run away from her friends and take the weight of the world by herself. Just look at what happened when they found out she was a Faunus.

That was why it hurt him the most. She reminded him of himself. Bottling in everything, telling no one. It would have been almost poetic if it wasn't just plain sad. That was probably why they turned to books. To her, books were probably her way of escaping reality, running away from her problems. "Blake, you can't just run from everyone." To his surprise this finally got a rise from the girl,

"I. Am. Not. Running." She stated almost dangerously. He would've backed down if it weren't for the dryness of her voice. He could feel how tired she was. Grabbing her shoulder and the swivel chair he spun her around, forcing her to break her attention off of the screen for the first time in days.

"Yes, you are." He returned, his voice just as serious as hers. The students around the two stepped back, feeling the tension in the air. "Ruby told me you haven't even used the room you were given since the first night here." The girl visibly flinched. He could feel the Faunus shaking as his hand tightened on her shoulder. "You won't even acknowledge anyone's presence let alone talk to them. People are beginning to think you're a ghost." Continued the night, his energetic blue eyes staring right through Blake's tired Amber ones straight into her soul. "No one knows what you are doing or why you are avoiding them-"

"I'm not avoiding them." She retaliated, "I'm doing this for their sake-"

"Bullshit." If there was one thing Jaune hated more than anything, it was swearing. Swearing was just the way out a lazy person would use when they ran out of words. There were millions of words one could use to convey what they were trying to say, so why say an insulting one? However, they did carry some power behind them so as a writer he believed they were a last resort, something one used to help portray a character's emotions and dust if this wasn't the right time to use them! The black haired student visibly jolted at the harshness of his tone. Was Jaune always like… this? "You and I both know that what you are doing right now is avoiding them. Not going back, not talking to them, not even telling them why, how is this for their sake?"

Blake's teeth clenched, what did he know? He didn't know the White fang like she did. He didn't know Adam like she did. "You don't know what they are capable of." She growled, "I'm the only one who can do this!"

"You're wrong." The two jumped to see a newcomer had arrived,

"Yang?" It wasn't really a question, more of a statement said in a questioning tone. If he had to question anything it would be what Yang was doing up this early.

The black haired girl gave her a look, "Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop then save your breath." Jaune took a step back to let his fellow blond do her thing, not wanting to get between her and her partner's 'bonding time'.

"I don't want you to stop Blake, I want you to slow down." Stated the young woman calmly. "You're wearing yourself out. By the time you find something important about the White Fang you'll be too tired to do anything about it." The introvert shook her head exasperatedly, she couldn't believe they were wasting her time by having this conversation.

"I'm perfectly fine Yang." She stated irritatedly as she swivelled her chair in the direction of the fiery blond aggressively, "I am function one hundred percent."

Jaune facepalmed, "Blake, terrible grammar aside, you're talking to a lamp." The cat Faunus growled and turned to the boy, swivelling her chair angrily.

"You two don't know the White Fang like I do, I'm the only one that can do this!" Cried the girl indignantly, her hands tightening around the edge of her chair.

The hunter in training grabbed the bookworm's shoulder irately, "Again with the 'only I can do this' shtick." He growled, "You aren't the only one who can do this Blake." Before the girl could retaliate he continued, "If we don't know the White Fang like you do then teach us. You're carrying the weight of your problems as if you're alone in this. Slow down and let us help you."

She shook her head frustrated, "We don't have the luxury to slow down!" Yang sighed at her partner,

"It isn't a luxury, it's a necessity." Jaune blinked, she was oddly calm. You'd think Yang would be the type to slap someone on the head and tell them to apologise and not do anything wrong. Strangely enough, he was the one doing all the angry yelling on their side. "Now get that sweet Bella-booty over here and let me tell you a story." Jaune sighed, there went all of his belief that Yang was taking this seriously.

The black haired beauty studied the blond girl carefully, observing for any ways out before shuffling her chair closer reluctantly. The young author took a step back, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "Uh, should I go before you spill some of your dark past or?" The buxom boxer gave him a look, "... Is that a no?"

Not giving him the pleasure of a response the girl began talking. "Ruby and I grew up in Patch an island just off the coast of Vale," she began slowly. "Our parents were huntsman, our dad taught at Signal and our mum would take on missions around the kingdom." The young knight's eyes widened briefly, realising where she was going with the story. Jaune nervously sat down, listening to the story he definitely hadn't known before now. As the blond's story when on the knight couldn't help but attempt to mirror Blake's responses, trying to not look suspicious.

"But as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time. My stubbornness should have gotten us killed that night." She finished sombrely. Jaune refrained from applauding his fellow blond's surprising storytelling ability. Something told him she would punch him into next week if he did.

Blake exhaled lightly, "Yang. I-I'm sorry about what happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to say but this is different." Jaune watched silently as the girl's voice began to raise, "I'm not a little girl and this isn't just a search for answers, I can't just-"

Yang frowned, "I told you I don't want you to stop. I haven't. To this day I still want to know what happened to my mother, and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me." Jaune frowned, is that why you were having a nightmare about your mother before initiation? He thought to himself. It was pure coincidence that she just so happened to be haunted by the past events that night, or maybe she always had that dream night after night, but his semblance led to him learning something he shouldn't have known until today.

Blake's fists clenched harder, "You don't understand, I'm the only one who can do this!"

"No you don't understand!" Growled Jaune, surprising the two girls, "'The only one who can do this', you keep saying that. When will it wrap around your head that you aren't alone. You have us, you have your team, you have Yang. We aren't that useless that we can't even help out a friend in need." Yang stood pleasantly surprised by the young knight,

Blake faltered slightly, "I'm not calling you guys useless-"

Yang frowned, "Your actions say otherwise Blake." Jaune nodded, "Please." The two book buddies were mutually surprised when instead of throwing a punch the boxer tightly hugged the black haired introvert. "We're not asking you to stop Blake." She stated quietly, "Just please get some rest, if not for yourself, then for those who care about you. Slow down and let us help you."

Jaune smiled lightly at the pair of partners. "We're here for you Blake, don't take everything on yourself." The bookworm stared at the two blonds incredulously before loosing a defeated sigh,

"You two really are something." She muttered under her breath with a light hearted smile. "Fine, I'll take a break for now." Jaune and Yang shared a victorious grin,

"If you really want to, we can investigate when we get back." Suggested the young writer.

Yang nodded, "We can get our team in on it. You know how Weiss gets when we keep stuff from her." The blond knight blinked, note to self, Weiss doesn't like it when teammates keep stuff from her. "I'll see you at breakfast Vomit Boy. We still need to have that date sometime, especially since you helped me tame our little kitty over here." She sent a sly wink his way,

"Yang?" Started Blake slowly. Her partner nodded to show she had heard her. "You can let go of me now. I really want to have a nap." The girl shook her head,

"I'll never let go!" She cried dramatically. "You're surprisingly soft Blakey, so if you want to have that catnap then you'll have to sleep with me~" Jaune watched in amusement as Yang was dragged by the sleepy black haired Faunus out of the library. "Carry me Blaaake!" Whined the blond girl, just before they got out of earshot of the knight, "I had to miss out on beauty sleep because of you." Blake rolled her eyes, Yang would always be Yang.

The blond released a sigh of relief. This would be one more thing he'd need to do when they got back. He really didn't mind though. If it meant his friend would open up more, he'd do anything to help them. Besides, if the rest of Team RWBY come along with them what could possibly go wrong? With his mind set on the positives of his upcoming return to Vale and Beacon, and what was for breakfast, the young author set out for something to eat. After all, it was a great day for training.


With the beginning of a new day at Pharos on its way and friendships growing stronger than ever, what will the future have in store for our lovable protagonists as the plot begins to shift. The past effects are coming into play and the future is beginning to change, for the better or worse is the million dollar question. Watch out for next chapter where Jaune has one last fairly ironic problem to deal with before the group heads back, and probably doesn't take more than a month to come out…

And there we have it! We finally see the effects of Jaune's influence on canon is. Early food fight, early Neptune, early Blake intervention and now Jaune will be in on the investigation. Implications of this? Who knows except me? Many developments this chapter with many affects on the future. Alice is confirmed not gone, then again why would she? Alice was a 'personality' brought out with an entire beaker of special dust that acted like a catalyst rather than fuel. It was required for her to come out, but not for her to exist.

Now something I'm sure at least… two, three?- let's go with three. At least three of you are wondering. What did I think of the last few episodes? Well let's just say I both wasn't and was expecting what would happen. Before I go any further I'd just like to say, SPOILER WARNING.

Now for those who have watched the episode, don't care about spoilers or didn't see the spoiler warning above, I was pretty happy about the way they chose to end it. I'll just address the larger issues first,

-Yang's Lost Arm.
To be perfectly honest, I thought it was a great idea. The character that is 'only a huntress for the thrills' lost an arm. The arguably strongest and most badass person on Team RWBY got dismembered and beat in a single swipe. Now I think Adam is a dick as much as the last guy, but he did a good thing.

It was a humbling experience I'm sure, to see such a powerful, happy character to be reduced into… that, but just because she lost an arm doesn't mean she's any less awesome. It means she's going to become even more awesome later. Y'know, after she starts getting over the fact she lost an arm and gets a robot one. I'm sure Mercury is laughing his ass off.

-Pyrrha's Pyrrhic Victory.
Yeah, she died. Just after she
finally showed her feelings for Jaune. Now I'm going to say something I know people will hate me for. I think them 'killing off' Pyrrha isn't a bad thing. Don't get me wrong, I liked her like I like all characters in a show. Pyrrha was one of the more powerful characters in the show, from the ability to control poles to her being the female version of Achilles. However, just like Achilles, she was taken out by an arrow to the knee… and chest.
I think this will be a great opportunity for Team JNR to
really get involved now that it's personal, and Jaune will get even more character development. The fact that it also means he is now open to ships as well is a thing too. Now what I want to happen more than anything is for Pyrrha to not have 'died' and was actually sent to Salem because she was put on the 'list' in Volume 2. Then I want her to become brainwashed and be the final boss for Jaune to fight in the end, which will end in him winning at the cost of his life, just because that would be a real kick in the balls. Right in the final moments Pyrrha will regain consciousness and the two will share a romantic moment before they breathe their last. Dark, but effective.

-Ozpin's Fight and Salem.

Well, Ozpin's fight was everything I hoped it would be. Badass. He seemed to have the ability of time dilation, and whether it is through his semblance or aura doesn't matter, it was cool. A slightly longer fight would have been awesome, but I guess they didn't want to reveal too much.
Now the 'Mysterious Narrator' from Volume 1 and the early World of Remnants being what appeared to be a bad guy was mind blowing. Salem's intro was great and I thought they pulled it off well. Props to the RWBY crew.

-Velvet and Qrow's weapon reveal.

Although her weapon was really cool and powerful, I thought it was a bit too powerful? Obviously it has some sort of weakness other than her having to take a photo of it, but for now I'm a bit iffy.
Qrow finally getting to mechashift his scythe was… alright. The scythe was as cool as we hoped, but the reveal itself was a bit lacklustre. I'm sure a few of you disagree but that's just what I personally thought of it.

-Roman and Neo.

To be perfectly honest, I was pretty sad that Roman died this quickly. He'd just been brought back only to die to an Alpha Griffon. Well, he was eaten whole then thrown out of camera shot briefly before he blew up, so it could be argued he escaped. Either way, he's gone for now. What I will make of this in later chapters is left to be seen. Neo falling off of the airship? Well… at least we know there are either some limitations to her 'teleportation' or she can't teleport. If she could then she would've used it to get back on the airship so something happened there. Roman's apparently genuine concern for her was good as well. I want her to join the good guys now. Or at least talk. But hey, this frees her up to be paired with Jaune so, NeoxJaune shippers rejoice.

There are many other things that happened that were pretty game changing, but I'll leave them for now. If you have any questions or comments please send them in a PM, I'll try to answer them as quickly as possible.

Please leave a follow and a favourite if you enjoyed, and a review about your thoughts on the chapter. As always, those who spot a specific reference will get a cookie crumb and strawberry pancake.