שה' ינקום את דמם

May God Avenge Their Blood

Author's Note I:
Explanation for Delay

To make a very long story short, my laptop finally gave up the ghost. After years of problems, it finally began to shut off without warning, placing all my files in jeopardy. I was able to transfer the majority of my work files and folders onto a thumb drive, which has allowed me to continue working on this story whilst it was sent for repairs. This was in August, and after my repair guy confirmed my theory that it was a motherboard issue, he saved my entire hard drive—and the files I could not transfer—and found me a new laptop, which I am writing this addendum to the notes from. It was a long time coming.

Please forgive the delay, and I hope that you enjoy the chapter—my little Christmas gift to you :)


Chapter IV: Lingering Shadows

It had been an arduous journey for Jaune since he left Patch Island. Using the planks he had taken with him, he built a raft to cross back to the Valian mainland. It had not been an easy voyage, as the waters had become choppy with the coming autumn, but it was a far safer option in his mind than trying to buy passage on a local vessel. Once he reached the mainland, he pulled his raft into the Forest of Forever Fall, for where he had landed was the most western point of the capital's peninsula. It was then a long march through the forest, making sure to keep to its northern border to avoid any contact with central Albion. Being that he was on foot, it took him several days to make his journey east whilst he hugged the northern coast. He had taken care before leaving Patch to pack some food and water, in order to stay clear of the capital and avoiding the need to resupply there. Once he cleared the mountains, he would visit a town.

It proved to be a more difficult task than he had assumed, though it was not due to physical exertion. Retreading the place where he had spent the last year was incredibly painful. The forest where he had stood up to Cardin in order to break out of his blackmail was one of the first memories that came back to him, as well as much better ones he had formed afterwards. He did not want to remember, however. While those were the best days of his life, they nevertheless cut him like a dagger, for Pyrrha's shining face would envelope him, throwing salt in the wounds within his heart. He could have never imagined that those times, so filled with laughter, would turn into memories he wished he could forget. Of course, he desperately held onto those memories at the same time, for they were all he had left of the friends he loved, and the girl that had been taken from him.

Jaune could feel the damaged Beacon Tower boring into the back of his skull as he marched, as if an evil eye were watching him, cruelly taunting him to look at it. He fought that desire, as he could not bear to look at the location of Pyrrha's murder, wishing to never return to it for as long as he lived. At night, he slept with his back to the academy, wishing to not even rise the next morning with it before him. Unfortunately, when he was at the base of the mountain range on the edge of Beacon Academy, the suffering blond turned to look, and saw the ugly tower. It was still broken, and despite in the process of being rebuilt, he saw it as decaying—a coat of paint merely hiding the rust, not restoring it. Instantly he felt his body shudder, and he turned as bitter tears burned in his eyes, desperate to put as much distance as possible between himself and the Hellscape that had scarred him.

As difficult as it was, Jaune tried to focus on the goal of his venture. He trained twice a day, making sure that his form was solid, as well as continuing to train his body. While he did not have access to the academy exercise equipment and training halls, he did the best with what he had. Furthermore, there was the issue of procuring funds. While he did receive some money from home, as well as payment from the missions provided by Beacon, there was no way he could withdraw any of it. The Huntsman Treasury Account system that was normally managed by the academy, had been shut down due to the attack on Albion, making him unable to withdraw money whilst he was in Patch. Even if it was up and running again, which it must be after these many weeks, he could not risk showing his face around the city, nor did he have the heart too. And then there was the reality that withdrawing money would alert people of his activity and location.

Instead, Jaune decided to do what he could, and take advantage of the situation. With the Council's deploying of the military and calling Huntsmen across the Kingdom to her defence, warriors were needed to defend the people of Vale. This meant that there were always Hunts available; and since the system used to pay licensed Huntsmen was currently unavailable to him, no one in need would turn down a willing traveling warrior for hire, especially one blessed by the Gods with powers, if they wanted to be paid in banknotes.

Not only did these Hunts provide Jaune with just enough money to resupply his food, ammunition, and other items to maintain his weapons and armour, but they served as desperately needed training. His Aura control had always been abysmal, and now with the Gods granting him Polarity, he needed to learn how to wield it properly. Whilst the Grimm had nothing for Polarity to grab hold of, and the more rural areas of the Kingdom had nothing he could use that was not meant for something important, he instead practiced with Akoúo. It had not been easy, but his burning determination to grow stronger sharpened his focus, and his training was beginning to bear fruit. Jaune knew that if he wanted any chance of avenging Pyrrha by killing Cinder Fall, he needed to master Polarity as well as the sword. So, hunt he did, and stronger he became from it.

The days carried on with the same routine: train, search for Hunts or other jobs, train, check gear, sleep, repeat. There was something nearly calming with having a strict regiment such as this. While Jaune would not say that it gave him some sense of normalcy, as he never expected for things to ever return to normal again, it merely felt that there was some form of order in his life. He no longer had excuses to avoid training as he had previously, for they died along with his childish naivety. He had learned a very painful lesson that day. His procrastination had cost him the life of the woman he loved, and his self-loathing now fueled every swing of his sword. He was now a living weapon, with his sole purpose for existing was to slay the monster that killed Pyrrha. So, with hate in his heart, the blond stuck to his routine, and kept moving forward.

At last, he had arrived at a town called Addingrove, a small town situated where the mountains connected with the start of the Gleaming Run, a river that spanned for many miles until it ended with the Lang Ocean. He had visited it once before when he was younger, though that felt like an age ago. Nevertheless, it was not difficult for Jaune to navigate the town and find what he needed, before making his way to the town hall to look for work. Addingrove was a quaint town indeed, and given its location, made it a popular destination for both Huntsmen and travelers going between Albion and the major coastal towns. However, with the current state of emergency, there were fewer Huntsmen than the town was used to, leaving the defenses mostly to the local guard. The town was walled, as most Human settlements were, but walls needed to be manned in order to stop hordes of Grimm from destroying, or simply climbing over them. And since a Huntsman was worth a hundred soldiers if not more, the mayor was not going to be a stickler for licensing when the lives of his constituents were in peril. One could possess a Semblance without being in the process of training to become a Huntsman, and though while the vast majority would seek to be properly trained, there was always the occasional wanderer with the right skill, if not the paperwork. They were a rarity, and sometimes looked upon with suspicion, yet good deeds spoke far louder than words.

Jaune had been treated no differently, other than he was an official Huntsman-in-training, and quickly found several Hunts that needed tending to. Taking several at once was usually something only permitted if a full team had been deployed; but beggars could not be choosers, the town manager had said to him. This resulted in Jaune taking the entire day to clear out the spotted Grimm hordes to the north of Addingrove, and he only returned as the sun was setting.

"I cannot thank you enough" the town manager said graciously, handing Jaune a thin stack of Ducat bills. He was a man of average height and build in his early forties, with shoulder length brown hair, and wearing a tan frock coat and matching slacks. "The mayor has been up to his neck with phone calls and meetings, trying to make sense of everything that's been going on for the past few weeks. The Council has been even more unhelpful than usual, leaving us to deal with the slack. Your timing could not have been better, though I truly regret not being able to pay you more for having to do four times the work. Normally you would be eligible for bonus pay..."

"It'll do" Jaune cut in from behind his hood, taking the money and storing it in a leather long-wallet. "No one becomes a Huntsman to get rich. It'll cover the cost of my ammunition and other kit."

"Yes..." the manager agreed, folding his arms, "still, given you're alone and so young, I cannot help but feel guilty. But these are troubling times, and we must all do what we can. The Battle of Albion and Beacon Academy was a horrifying shock to the entire Kingdom, and no doubt all Huntsmen have been called into service to work with the military. Then there's the fact that the Grand Huntmaster is still injured. There haven't been any attacks like that since—thank the Gods—but Grimm have become more active, which is also to be expected. And then there's what's been going on in the south..."

"The south?"

"Yes. Have you a map?"

Jaune certainly did, and he produced it from his pack, opening it to reveal the right half of the Kingdom past the main mountain range.

"Addingrove is here, obviously" the manager explained, tapping the marker labelled with the name of the town. "Just south of us on the other side of the river, roughly four or five leagues away—here."

He tapped a location on the map where there was nothing but forest.

"What's there?" asked Jaune. "There's no settlement marked."

"That's because it's no longer there. This is where a village called Kuroyuri used to stand."

This caused Jaune to snap to attention, knowing precisely that village, and what had occurred there.

"It was a lovely little village with several hundred people living there...until a decade ago. A massive horde overwhelmed the village, wiping out the entire population. They didn't have enough of a defence, though even with some Huntsmen stationed there, I fear they wouldn't have fared much better. And then there's been a shadow that's lingered in that part of Vale, even worse than Mountain Glenn, though that was a full-blown city. That shadow has always been felt by us here in Addingrove, though it has been much worse lately, and not simply because of the attack on Albion. I truly hope they didn't go in that direction..."

"They?" Jaune asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"A group of young Huntsmen-in-training, probably your age, came into town two days ago, and left this morning—just before you arrived in fact" the man informed, shaking his head. "They said they were headed for the coast to catch either an airship or a sailing ship in Seacourt, and then I had to mention the shadow. They were so willing to help and scout for us, but I told them just to take one of the river ferries to reach Seacourt as fast as possible. I was so busy I wasn't able to see them off, but I do hope they continued east."

Jaune had listened to the manager's explanation, if only partially, for his mind had been trying to decipher the identity of these young Huntsmen. Could it be his friends? It must have been. Who else would be traveling in this corner of the Kingdom? And yet, why? The junior students had been sent home after the attack, for they were not yet experienced to be deployed—unless things had become so dire that they were needed in the field? That could not be the case, for he had heard that the school was open again, even if the repairs were not complete. Only Team RWBY and the rest of their friends would be traveling together, and with the mentioning of Kuroyuri, he knew that there was a strong possibility that Ren would want to return to his destroyed home to pay his respects. After losing Pyrrha, it seemed more than likely. Nevertheless, that did not explain why they were traveling. What had happened since he left? What was he forgetting?

"Sir! The mayor needs to have a word with you!" said a woman not much older than Jaune, clutching several manila folders in her arms.

"More than one, I can imagine" he retorted, before holding out his hand. "I'm sorry, son, but my job is far from over—as is yours. I'm sure there's a hotel with a vacancy for you. Farewell, good luck, and may the Light be with you."

They shook hands quickly before the manager left with his secretary, leaving the somber blond to his own thoughts. He finally turned for the hall that led to the main doors of the building, before stepping out into the quickly darkening evening. A hotel bed did sound rather tempting, and he would have sought out such an establishment, but he could not help but turn his eyes to the south. The town hall was high enough above sea level that he could see the large river below, as well as the trees on the opposite bank. He had not planned on seeing his friends again so soon, nor was he ready to. He knew that leaving them behind without saying a word would not have gone over well, no doubt angering them—Nora and Ren especially. He would apologize to them one day; he knew that he owed them that at least, even if he did not expect them to forgive him. However, to see them this soon would be more difficult than it appeared on its face. If they were not angry with him, they would no doubt want him to come with them. He could not do that until Cinder Fall was dead, and even then, he was not sure if he could, so it was more than likely that an argument would ensue from trying to leave. If not with Team RWBY, then certainly with Ren and Nora, as they would want to come with him, whether or not they had it in them to help kill Fall and any of her cohorts.

'Not yet...' he thought, pulling his eyes away from the river, and began to walk up the cobblestone street.

Trying to put his friends out of his mind, he began to think of how long he would stay in Addingrove, and where he was to go next. He had thought long and hard about where he should begin to gather information about Fall's whereabouts, and the only direction he could think of was Mistral. Fall and her associates had impersonated students from Haven Academy, and while there was nothing to suggest they were born and raised in Mistral, they had certainly spent enough time there to infiltrate Haven. The longer they stayed, the larger the trail they would leave behind, and there Jaune hoped it would lead him to his prey. Returning to their base of operations could be risky, and they could very well be aware of that, but without having access to the resources of the police or the military, he had to start somewhere.

"They must be going to Mistral too" a voice in his mind pointed out. "If Seacourt is our ticket out of Vale, then we might run into Ren, Nora, and the others."

'Seacourt is a big harbour city' Jaune argued. 'There's bound to be more than one ship eastward—either air or sea. I'll just need to keep my head down if I arrive at the same time or board the same ship.'

"Unless they get delayed in Kuroyuri..."

That caused Jaune to halt. Ever since he arrived in Addingrove, he had sensed something eerie coming from beyond the woods. Part of him tried to rationalize that it was simply how dower everything felt after the attack on Albion, but having trained as a Huntsman for the past year, had given him more insight on the Grimm. Just as they could sense Human and Faunus, Huntsmen could sense the Grimm. He was aware that animals had a supernatural-like sense of these monsters, whereas for Humans and Faunus, could only tap into this sense after training with Aura, though the Faunus tended to be more apt to it. Pyrrha had always been rather good at this, and would gently push for him to always try again to master this skill.

He took a shaky breath in recalling her words, the image of her warm face filling his mind, and causing his heart to ache. She would not hesitate to go after their friends if they were possibly in danger. Even if it did not involve her friends, the presence of danger that could put the town at risk would be enough for her to act. How disappointed in him she would be if she were here to see his hesitation.

The blond looked again to the south as the sun sunk further into the horizon, making the line of trees seem even more ominous. The uneasiness in his gut only became worse, and his jaw tightened at the idea of the horror of what occurred at Albion happening again to his teammates.

"Gods damn it..." he hissed, before marching further up the street, needing to find an armoury to restock, fearing the worst.

†λ†

It had taken Jaune more time than he would have liked to gather what he needed, but at last he had made his way to the southern gate that led to the river. The gatekeepers were not so willing to let him leave after curfew, however. Jaune's age did not do him any favors, Huntsman-in-training though he may be, along with their strict orders to defend the town. To avoid using violence, Jaune ended the guards' protests by opening the large gate himself, concealing Polarity as his physical strength. Knowing they stood no chance, the guards closed the gate behind him and hoped he would not get himself killed. The boatmen at the harbour below were also unwilling to help Jaune, even to cross the river without them waiting for him to return. This required a different tactic than what he employed with the guards, and it was one nearly as old as the former: money. A hundred Ducats and an eager younger boatman later, the blond at last reached the opposite bank.

He traversed the forest with relative ease, the growth doing little to impede him, though he kept his senses sharp—both to spot his friends or any possible Grimm. It did not take long for Jaune to notice that the ground was beginning to develop an incline, so much so that he guessed he was coming up to a plateau. When he reached the summit, he looked at the view before him—or rather, what he was able to see given the cloud cover. The canopy of the forest below was even thicker than the one he had made his way through, leaving him to slowly scan for any activity. The lack of moon and starlight made this a rather difficult endeavour, and Jaune dared not use an electric or open flame torch, for it would give away his position. As strenuous as it was, he began to think that he could make out something manmade, possibly a league or so away. Jaune drew a pair of binoculars from his pack, and slowly brought himself back to where he spotted the structure. Indeed, after a minute or so, he was able to see the broken remains of a stone wall. He was honestly surprised that he was able to see it in the first place, not only due to the darkness, but the trees that surrounded it. It was thankfully due to the whitewashing of the stone—or what remained of it—that allowed the wall to stand out just enough for him to see it, revealing that it had held up decently well after all this time.

Given the level of damage he could see from the plateau, Jaune was becoming certain that this was indeed Kuroyuri. He would have to double-check his map to be entirely sure, though given the next settlement was much further away, this could only be the ruins of the village. The next question the blond had on his tongue was, "where were his friends?"

Suddenly out of the quiet night, the sound of gunfire broke the silence and caused Jaune to drop into a prone position. He quickly realized that he was not being fired upon, but he also registered that it was a fully automatic weapon; and he knew which weapon was responsible.

"Ren..." he said in a low voice.

Jaune then tensed as a new sound rose above the gunfire. An unholy shriek quashed the machine-pistol fire, and the blond knew what was responsible: Grimm. However, it was unlike any Grimm roar he had ever heard. It was not as loud as that of Wyvern Grimm, but it nevertheless made his blood run cold. He did not think it was possible, but the shriek was far more sinister. He tried to think back to his Grimm Studies classes for what possible Grimm could be responsible, as Professor Port had provided video and audio recordings for his students to experience and learn from. His recollection was halted, however, as Pyrrha's smiling face formed in his mind, with her helping him with his homework, able to identify Grimm cries by ear alone, and her helping him do the same.

Just before the pain from the memory could freeze him completely, Jaune was brought back to the present by the cacophony of gunfire from many different types of firearms. He did not need his binoculars to see where the fighting was located, as the muzzle flashes were easily visible in the darkness. Nevertheless, the blond raised his binoculars once more, trying to spot what exactly they were fighting. Alas, he could see nothing unless he moved closer.

Jaune hesitated at the thought. Part of him greatly missed his friends, while another knew of what would occur if he did join them. But he had come this far, had he not?

"Pyrrha wouldn't hesitate..."

The image of Blake and Yang the night of the Battle of Beacon, bloodied from their fight with Adam Taurus, laying on gurneys in the military operating room, materialized in his mind. Had they recovered enough to fight? Would the others be enough to make up for the fewer able-bodied warriors? But what sort of monster were they fighting? What was Hell unleashing now that the world was in turmoil?

Pushing himself to his feet, Jaune surveyed the terrain before him, trying to chart the fastest route. Given the distance, at full tilt, he could maybe reach them in ten to twenty minutes. That might as well be an eternity. Would they be able to hold out until he got to them? He could only hope. Without wasting any more time, Jaune shoved his binoculars back into his rucksack, and slid down the front of the plateau, before sprinting towards the gunshots.

†λ†

The Nuckelavee Grimm was a hideous monstrosity; a hellish combination of horse and rider, though both barely resembled either. The horse portion was terrifying enough, standing twenty-three hands tall with even more muscle than a draught horse, though the front legs possessed massive, talon-like cloven hooves and a single dewclaw. The skull was deformed in the same manner all Grimm were, though it also had the tusks of a boar—perfect for slicing the flesh of the living. On its head and neck was a mane that seemed to be made of smoke, which only added to its menacing presence. The rider was just as ghastly, if not more so, as it seemed as if it were a man so withered, that his skin was tightly stretched over his skeleton. However, the arms were easily twice the length than they should be, and the expected five-fingered hands were only two bony digits. The skull could hardly be considered Human, as not only did it have many long, pointed teeth, but long, rear curling horns, very much like that of a pronghorn antelope without the front points. It sat in the centre of the horse's back, where the ribcage was exposed due to the normally large stomach of a horse being pulled in.

While all Grimm personified death, this creature was that to a much greater degree. The heavy pounding on its hooves were like the strikes of a hammer driving nails into a coffin. Both the horse and the rider could shriek, combining into a sound that was beyond description. It would drive all creatures made in the Light to run before it, even the most fearsome of warriors. And yet, seven warriors did not run, despite every fibre of their being told them to.

Weiss and Blake circled around the Nuckelavee to keep it from focusing on a single target, as well as attack its flank. Ruby had placed herself atop the roofs of the dilapidated houses to snipe at the monster, moving from rooftop to rooftop, also making it harder for the Nuckelavee to retaliate. The rest of the Huntsmen-in-training were now facing it head on, getting in heavy hits when it was distracted. What the teenagers were shocked to learn, was that the Grimm was nothing like anything they had faced before.

Firstly, the old adage that two heads were better than one was in full effect, as the Nuckelavee was able to see clearly from both pairs of eyes, giving it near three-hundred-sixty-degree vision. This allowed it to keep track of all of its prey, as well as avoid attack when it deemed necessary. While the horse part attacked with swipes with its front legs and kicks with its rear legs, the rider reached out with its long arms. Taking the students by surprise once again, the Nuckelavee's already long arms could stretch significantly further, very much like rubber. Despite their feeble looking physique, they possessed great power, blasting apart what stone tiles that remained in the abandoned town to pieces. They could also be retracted rather quickly, giving the teenagers little time to move in closer and retaliate.

Once such attempt was made by Yang, who thought she could attack the Nuckelavee on the left side given it tried to strike Weiss, but learned at the last possible moment that its right arm was free. It shot out at her with great speed, forcing her to dive into a combat roll, before firing two shots from Ember Celica. The slugs struck the shoulder of the horse portion of the Nuckelavee, doing seemingly little damage. She was then forced to retreat as the Grimm tried to stomp on her with its front hooves, swearing loudly as she did.

"What the fuck is this thing?" she demanded, staring at the menacing monster.

"It is a Nuckelavee Grimm!" informed Weiss, sliding to a halt behind her. "It is one of the A-class Grimm, capable of summoning other Grimm as well as commanding lower-class Grimm. They are usually seen at times of war, which is why they haven't been spotted in decades."

"Great! Would've been nice to've known that earlier, before someone decided to attack it without warning!"

The blonde glared to her right where Ren was in the process of reloading his magazines. His eyes were glued on the Nuckelavee with such revulsion and anger, that it was clear he had not heard her.

"Seriously, why the Hell did we let you talk us into coming this way?" Yang continued.

"There's no time to argue!" came Ruby's voice from her sister's earpiece. "This thing is dangerous, and Weiss is right. If this Grimm is walking around, that means what happened at Albion is drawing it out, which means that every town from Addingrove to Seacourt is in danger. The army and Huntsmen are stretched thin as it is, so we need to stop this monster before it can attack another settlement. We can do this!"

"Damn right" agreed Nora, standing just behind Ren with Magnhild in its grenade launcher configuration. "There's seven of us, and together we can kill it. We can't let the other towns fall like this one did. There weren't Huntsmen here to stop it last time, but we're here now!"

"What?" asked Weiss, unsure as to how the ginger could have known that.

She was not given a chance to ask for clarification, for whilst they had been speaking, the Nuckelavee had been trying to kill Blake. The Cat Faunus was not caught yet however, as by activating her Semblance, Shadow, she tried to both distract the Grimm as well as give her a chance to reposition. Unfortunately, this monster was not highly classed for no reason, as it seemed to know which of the Blakes was the real one, and struck at her with its right arm. Blake managed to see the attack in time, and blocked with Gambol Shroud, though she was knocked to the ground from the force of the blow. Blake managed to get back on her feet, but the Nuckelavee attacked once again with its other arm, and this time she was neither able to block nor was she able to dodge.

Thankfully she was not alone, as Yang tackled her out of the way, allowing the Nuckelavee's fingers to sink into the ground.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" the blonde demanded, though she would not get an answer, as the Nuckelavee began to charge at them at full gallop.

Nora immediately began to fire all six of her grenade shells at the Grimm with most of them hitting it and doing some damage, though still failed in halting the charge. Blake and Yang tried to get to their feet to and avoid the attack, but despite its monstrous size, could run faster than a Quarter Horse. It was upon them in a heartbeat, and leapt into the air to crush them, but was stopped in a shocking manner. Penny was equally as fast as the Nuckelavee, and launching herself before the downed girls, caught the Grimm's cloven leg.

"Heads down!" she shouted, gripping the Nuckelavee's leg with enough force to crush steel, and planting her feet in horse stance.

Spikes punched the ground through her heels, along with three others from her shins and calves, anchoring her securely. Simultaneously, her midsection unlocked, allowing her powerful spine to spin her upper body freely. To the surprise of the other Huntsmen-in-training, Penny was able to lift the Nuckelavee off its feet, swinging it several times till it reached the correct speed, to which Penny let go, sending the monster flying across the village square and into the darkness. Without wasting time, Penny engaged her swords, preparing to unleash a laser blast as she had at the docks the year before.

Before she could, however, the Nuckelavee attacked while still on its side, stretching across the courtyard and striking Penny square in the chest. While she was not fast enough to disengage as well as evade the attack, she was able to retract her tethering stakes, allowing the Grimm to knock her off her feet, but avoided her chassis from taking the brunt of the blow. Thankfully she was not the only one who could think on her feet, as Blake brought down her sword in a heavy two-handed vertical cut right onto the extended limb. It sliced through with little resistance, and the Nuckelavee shrieked in pain as it retracted its damaged arm.

"Penny!" Ruby shouted, seeing her robotic friend crashing into the ground.

"I am fully operational, Miss Ruby!" came Penny's reply, and to demonstrate, she performed a perfect kip-up. "As I said, I am combat ready, for I am made of sterner stuff."

"Way to go!"

"Well, at least you guys are able to do something" remarked Yang bitterly. "You could try to be more helpful, sis. So much for sniper support."

"I'm trying!" hissed Ruby in annoyance, swapping out her magazine. "It's hard enough to hit a moving target, let alone a Grimm this strong. You saw some of my shots deflect off its skulls, right? I need it to be still to hit it at the right angle to penetrate, or at least to give me enough time to try and hit the knees. And if your slugs within ten yards can't pierce its hide, what makes you think my .408 can?"

"Or my 40mm grenades..." muttered Nora, ejecting the spent shells.

"My ice shards hardly fair better" Weiss added, eyeing her Dust levels.

"It's growing its arm back!" the sniper shouted, noticing this as she looked through her scope's night vision.

"Of course it is" added Weiss. "Grimm can always heal from their injuries, and the higher class they are, the faster they can regenerate. The only way to kill this Nuckelavee for good, is to destroy the head—both of them. Horse and rider. If we do not, then it will regenerate the severed or destroyed head."

"Miss Weiss is correct" agreed Penny. "If we can incapacitate it, either the legs as Miss Ruby suggested, or crush the horse's head to immobilize it, then I can hit it fully with my laser."

"Then we better do it fast" cut in Blake, her sharp eyes seeing the Nuckelavee clearly in the darkness. "It's back on its feet and ready to attack."

"50.4 yards at twelve o'clock!" Penny added with pinpoint accuracy.

"You're gonna have to be more specific" Yang snapped, raising her fists into an orthodox boxing stance. "Some of us can't see in the dark, and I can barely see my fucking hands in front of my face!"

Right on cue, Penny raised her right hand to the sky and fired something from her forearm. The others watched, following the tracer behind it, before a bright white light flashed to life, causing them to squint and Blake to shut her eyes.

"Better?" asked Penny.

"Flares..." Yang rightly said, sucking on her teeth. "And you've had those at the ready since the beginning?"

"Affirmative."

Yang held her gaze for a moment before pointing at her with authority.

"If you weren't so lovable and useful, I'd scrap you for parts."

"Thank you, Miss Yang" Penny replied with a bright smile, drawing a pair of swords from her back. "Shall we engage the target?"

"Before it engages us" Weiss said, taking an Alfieri engagement stance. Her sword hand was held lower so that her rapier faced at her opponent, while keeping the point level with her eyes. Her right hand was held up and open with her arm bent, and her palm facing slightly away. She leaned on her right foot, pointing it almost behind her, while keeping her left leg extended and pointing forward, practically on tiptoe.

Blake, Weiss, and Penny bolted towards the Nuckelavee, commencing their distracting of the monster once again. Weiss began to summon white Glyphs beneath the Nuckelavee, trying to slow it down, as well as keep its legs from moving, robbing its ability to land proper strikes. Myrtenaster was a rapier, and while it very well could cut, it was designed to be a thrusting weapon; and unless Weiss was able to strike the monster head-on to pierce either of its skulls, her talents were better used elsewhere. Unfortunately, the Nuckelavee was even more powerful than it appeared, and it was continuously able to pull itself free from the Glyphs, forcing Weiss to increase their size and number. Penny took full notice of this, and given her greater strength, moved in and hewed at its front leg. Her sword cut in deep, and the Nuckelavee shrieked in protest, but it was not enough to sever the limb completely. The ginger robot prepared to try again, but the Grimm was not so willing, and swiped at her with its left arm, forcing a retreat.

Ruby watched the battle from her perch, and bit her lip in frustration. There truly was nothing she could do to aid her friends, and the stress of battle filled her with worry. There had to be something she could do to help distract the monster, if not destroy it herself. It could be a good a time as any to live up to one of her nicknames from her sister's list—the Little Red Mosquito—and buzz about the Grimm as fast as possible. Alas, there were already enough of the group running interference, and joining would likely not help.

It seemed that bladed weapons were proving more effective than bullets, but they too seemed to lack the power to end things. Penny was incredibly strong, and was finding the most success, but she alone could not end it. If they had one more with another heavy bladed weapon, then maybe they could cripple the Nuckelavee enough to destroy their heads. She looked down at her friends who were not fighting, and her eyes rested on her sister. At that moment, a spark was lit in her mind, and she knew exactly how she could help.

Using Petal Burst, she leapt off the roof and reformed beside her sister, causing the blond to snap to attention.

"Yang! I have an idea!" she said quickly.

"Unless you can make a new gun or ammo in five minutes to deal with this thing, the current plan is all we've got" the blonde remarked bitterly, though not meaning it in a condescending manner towards her sister.

"I know! We need to cut the Nuckelavee down, right? Well, we'd need a big axe or a big sword. We don't have either, but we got something else—Crescent Rose!" Ruby pressed a button higher up on her rifle's stock, which caused the scythe blade to rise until the point was aimed at the sky and locked in place, running in line with the snath. The belly was now pointing forward, turning the scythe from a farming implement to a polearm. "She'll be able to give the leverage and momentum we need!"

Yang looked the weapon up and down, and was about to give her approval, when a voice of concern rose in her mind.

"It's a good idea, Sis, but you're not strong enough to cut this fucker" she pointed out.

"I know that! But you are!" the short captain countered, holding out Crescent Rose. "With your strength and your Semblance, you'll be able to take out the Nuckelavee's legs, and then its heads. Plus, if you get hit, you'll be able to hit it even harder!"

Yang's mouth opened slightly in surprise, as she knew how defensive her sister was with their mother's rifle. It was the same defensiveness their father had, keeping it locked away, and firmly instructing both of them to never touch it. It had taken many weeks of pleading when Ruby enrolled to Signal Academy for Taiyang to let her use Summer's weapon as her own. Even at Beacon, Ruby had a hard rule for her rifle to not be touched, so for her to trust Yang like this meant a great deal. She would not betray that trust.

"Next town we hit, I'm buying you your weight in candy" the elder Xiao Long sister replied with a grin, taking the scythe with both hands. "I'll bring her back in one piece, I promise."

Ruby maintained her grip. "I'd much rather you come back in one piece" she said quietly, causing her sister's stomach to twist. She knew why Ruby was stressing that, and while there was an obvious joke she could make, Yang did not have the heart.

"You got it" Yang said with a nod, finally allowing Ruby to let go of Crescent Rose, and for herself to face the Nuckelavee. Yang's eyes then began to glow red, and she activated her Semblance, Solar Throttle, causing her long blond hair to blaze up like a solar flare. "Hold that fucker down for me, Weiss! I'll cut 'im down to size!"

She raised Crescent Rose and reeled it backward to her right, planning to swing the scythe with all her might. Yang was obviously not trained in polearm combat, so Ruby was worried that her sister would not have proper edge alignment to ensure a clean cut. However, there was neither the time nor had they the right to complain given the situation they found themselves in, leaving the young captain to hope and pray her sister's strength would make up for her shortcomings.

The Nuckelavee took notice of the tall teenager, and while it could not charge her given Weiss' Glyphs, it nevertheless stopped trying to kill Blake, and instead reached out with its arms to attack Yang. Yang did not waver from the attack, nor did she try to block them, merely tilting her body just enough that the long fingers of the Grimm to graze her shoulders, adding more power to Solar Throttle, and closing the distance between them. Firing herself up, she slid into a low stance to swing at the Nuckelavee's long front legs, roaring loudly as her flaring hair.

Unfortunately, the monster was not a stupid Beowolf or Boarbatusk. Comprehending who was keeping it anchored the ground, it lashed out with one of its arms at Weiss, striking her in the right shoulder, sending her backwards and severing her connection with her Glyphs. Blake cried out, causing her to be distracted enough to be struck with the other arm. Now freed, the Nuckelavee then twisted its massive body so that its hind legs were aimed at Yang. Faster than the blonde thought possible, the Grimm kicked her square in the chest, shattering her Aura armour, along with the extra armour provided by Solar Throttle, and launched her off her feet. She crashed back first into the wall of one of the damaged homes, bursting through it, and causing the roof to collapse on top of her.

Ruby's eyes widened in horror, and allowing her panic to get the better of her, screamed her sister's name, and flew to her using Petal Burst. She managed to get past the Nuckelavee, and desperately began removing the debris her sister was buried beneath. This caused her to not realize that the Nuckelavee was approaching them, its hunger to consume Human flesh driving it to attack. Suddenly it halted, with the rider looking behind, and saw Penny flying towards it, who used her swords to anchor herself and launch towards the Grimm. The Nuckelavee countered with its long arms stretching at the ginger robot, coming down to slap her out of the sky from above. The attack landed, bringing Penny to the ground, but she managed to raise her swords in time to block its arms from crushing her head. She successfully landed in a crouch, and was about to unleash more of her swords to hopefully pull the monster away from her friends, when the Nuckelavee kicked her away.

Now freed, the Grimm returned its focus to the Xiao Long Sisters, where Ruby was behind an unconscious Yang, trying to pull her free with her arms wrapped around her waist. Ruby looked up at the ugly creature, to which both of its heads seemed to be boring into her fear-filled eyes. The jaws of both the horse and the rider opened, allowing a deathly hiss to escape. They were about to pounce on them, when several explosions on its back caused the Grimm to halt and look behind it.

Nora had fired upon the Nuckelavee, for she too was desperately trying to stop it from getting any closer to her friends. Gaining its attention, the thunderess transformed Magnhild into its hammer form, and charged to confront it. Ren had tried to stop her, but Nora had bolted faster than he could react. The ginger and Grimm met face to face, and she glared at it with more hate than any of her friends had ever seen before.

"I won't let you take anyone else away" she spat, tightening her grip on Magnhild's handle. "I'll break not only your legs, but every inch of you!"

The horse part of the Nuckelavee roared in mocking defiance, and it lunged at Nora, who, with shocking speed, ducked under the attack, and brought her hammer in a powerful upward swing. Magnhild struck with such force, that it sent the horse's head backward, and even caused the Grimm to stumble. Grinning with pride, Nora prepared to attack again, but froze when the Nuckelavee recovered, and lunged at her with its jaws open. She lifted her hammer in time to block the attack by letting it to bite the handle, and quickly dug in her heels when she felt it tighten its jaws and pull. Nora tried to free her weapon, but lost all form of leverage when the Nuckelavee reared backward and lifted her off the ground. It was not able to shake her, however. No matter how much it bucked or spun, the hammeress would not release her grip on her weapon, forcing the Nuckelavee to smash her against the building where Ruby and Yang were trapped in. Nora grunted in pain when she struck against the house, but she still refused to buckle.

"See? I'm not the same as I was back then" she growled through clenched teeth. "Eat this!"

Activating her Semblance, Thunderforce, she sent pink lightning through her hammer and up the horse's skull, shocking the Nuckelavee. The rider shrieked in pain, which gave the others time to act. Weiss, though injured, summoned her Glyphs once more, trapping the Grimm in place. Blake also recovered with Penny in toe, fearing the worst for Yang, and knowing she needed to be pulled to safety. Ren also moved in, not wanting for Nora to face the monster that took everything from him alone. Losing her too would destroy him.

While not said aloud, Nora felt the same, and noticed his approach.

"Stay back, Ren!" she shouted. "It's too dangerous!"

"You can't fight this monster alone!" he shouted back, fear enveloping his face.

"But you can't hurt it like I can!" she began, but was stopped when the Nuckelavee reared again, or as much as it could, and slammed her into the ground. Fragments of stone flew in all directions, displaying the power of the blow, but even then, Nora refused to let go.

"Nora! Let go!" Ren shouted, his fear growing further as she struggled to her feet, and he tried to approach her.

"No! I can do it–"

Nora's arguing was cut short when she felt the long arms of the Grimm wrap themselves around her legs. She looked up to see the horse part of the Nuckelavee let go of Magnhild, before raising its front legs and slamming them at her with its entire weight behind it. Nora managed to block the attack with the handle of her hammer, but the force of the blow was so strong that the handle struck her in the forehead, shattering her Aura armour, and knocking her backwards hard enough to send her airborne. Ren was just behind her, however, and managed to catch her, more fearful than he had ever been.

"Nora!" he cried. "Are you okay?"

His fear skyrocketed when she did not respond, yet he was quickly able to discern she had been knocked unconscious. What made his stomach nearly fall out of his mouth, was that the ginger's forehead had been split horizontally, allowing blood to pour from the wound. There were no words to describe how tormented Ren was from seeing her injured, and he was about to cry out for Penny to help her, when the sound of a heavy hoof beat before him forced him to look away.

The Nuckelavee was slowly approaching them, the horse head hanging low and the rider twitching in the saddle. A low growl was coming from both of them, with the horse staring at the teenagers with a hungry lust. The rider on the other hand, looked at them with what could nearly be considered curiosity; almost as if it remembered them from the last time they met. This should have been impossible, of course, but it was enough for Ren to detach from the present day. Seeing the monster before him, stripped him of all thought and will—just as it had ten years ago. He looked down to see that Nora was no longer the beautiful and fierce hammeress, but the quivering little girl clutching a wooden mallet he found hiding under one of the houses of his village. His own hands had shrunk, now small, soft, and childish, holding onto Nora as tightly as he could.

In an instant, Ren had been taken back to that horrible day—the day that he had lost everything. And what tore his heart out of his chest, was that he had not become much stronger than he had been as a child. He had wanted to become a Huntsman to not only honour his late father's wishes, but to protect Nora, making sure that never again would they be too weak to save themselves. They hoped in turn that they could ensure that others would not be subjugated to the same horrors they had, for while there had not been Huntsmen to save Kuroyuri from destruction, perhaps they could spare others from the same fate. Another reason that Ren had kept secret for many years, was seeking revenge for his family and village. He wanted to kill the Grimm responsible for Kuroyuri's fall, though he was slightly dismayed to find in Professor Port's classes that the Nuckelavee was an incredibly rare creature, and little was known about them. He had secretly spoken to the Grimm Studies professor on the matter, making sure to keep his true objective hidden. Port, seeming to suspect nothing, informed him that given the lack of war and overall better control of Grimm, a Nuckelavee being spawned was incredibly low; though if one was spawned, it would wander great distances to find nourishment.

Learning this had forced Ren to forget getting revenge in such a direct manner, and instead focus on bettering himself to be a Huntsman his parents could have been proud of. Only in his worst nightmares had he imagined finding this monster again, and upon seeing it, made him realize that the reality was far worse. He looked up at the rider as it stared back at him, peering into its red, demonic eyes. It leaned even further forward, its head creaking to the left like a cat, still seeming as if it were trying to recall Ren and Nora. Again, that should be impossible given that Grimm had neither souls nor minds. However, what the Nuckelavee did next would change the Huntsmen-in-training's stance on this consensus in the Huntsmen community: it began to laugh. It was a slow, four-pronged laugh, but a laugh nonetheless, and the blood of all that could hear it froze in their veins. Seeming as if it had its fun, the jaws of the horse part of the Nuckelavee slowly opened, and began to lower itself to bite down on the last inhabitants of Kuroyuri.

Suddenly, the Nuckelavee shrieked in pain, rearing backwards, and bringing Ren out from his paralysis. He had been too frozen to hear the thump before the Grimm's cry, which would have informed him that something had struck the monster. He did, however, see something fly out of the rider's chest, and he turned to look over his shoulder to see where it was going. In that moment, he learned that it was a sword, for the person that had thrown it had caught it, performing a sword flourish, and resting his weapon behind him in Tail Guard. The swordsman was tall and draped in a very tattered hooded cloak that obscured his face. Of course, it hardly mattered, as the flare Penny had fired to illuminate the square had faded just as the swordsman arrived. The Nuckelavee had no issue seeing in the dark, and after roaring in anger at its attacker, it leapt over Ren and Nora, and galloped towards its new prey.

The swordsman bolted at the same time as the Nuckelavee, seeming to be just as eager to fight it, and drawing a secondary bladed weapon in his left hand. The Grimm lunged forward, trying to sink its jaws into him, when the swordsman juked to the left to avoid it. He continued to run parallel to the Nuckelavee, but slashed across the right side of its body, his sword biting deep. The monster roared in protest, and began to twist in order to turn its large body, when the swordsman flipped the shortsword to a reverse grip, and plunged it into the flank of the creature. In a great display of strength, the swordsman hoisted himself onto the back of the Nuckelavee, and without hesitation, brought his sword down to cut into the rider's head. At the last moment, the rider threw its head to the left, allowing the sword to cut deep into its shoulder. It clearly hurt the Nuckelavee, but it was nothing it could not heal, and it was far from debilitating. In a disturbing manner, the rider twisted its neck in order to look at its attacker, before lunging and biting down onto his chest. The sharp teeth of the Nuckelavee collided with the small armour chest piece, and seemed to have knocked the unknown warrior off, though he could very well have jumped.

The Nuckelavee ran forward a dozen yards or so before turning to face the swordsman while its shoulder healed. Hate was very apparent in both pairs of eyes, and it would not allow this fighter to get in the way of its meal. Its hunger was now making it frustratingly difficult to keep itself from going wild, especially with such a large feast to gorge itself on. Now healed, the Nuckelavee roared and reached out with its arms, hoping to pin down the swordsman in order to land a full charge. Unmoved, the swordsman slashed at both limbs—one blade for each—cutting through them with ease. The Grimm shrieked in anger, and this time when it took up the attack, it forwent the need to heal. It charged the swordsman again, who held his ground, for Ren and Nora were still behind him. Nonetheless, Ren began to pull the still unconscious ginger out of danger, though she was slowly coming to.

The horse section of the Nuckelavee roared with fury, and readied itself to crush its prey, when at the last moment, the swordsman switched from Tail Guard to Middle Guard, raising his arming sword to thrust directly at the Grimm. The sword pierced the horse's skull, sinking the weak of the blade into it, and halting its roaring. The momentum of the charge forced the swordsman to slide backwards, but the Nuckelavee then quickly stopped when the eyes of the horse went out, leaving the spectating Huntsmen-in-training to feel a rising sense of hope.

Just as quickly as they went out, they flared back to life, and with a monstrous roar, it reared backward and wrenched the sword from the warrior's hand. This did not deter the swordsman, for he dashed forward while flourishing his shortsword, turning it into what appeared to be a short spear. With both hands, he drove the javelin into the belly and ribs on the horse. Such a move would not do much to harm a Grimm, let alone a Nuckelavee where the belly was missing. It was Weiss who understood the swordsman's plan, and while injured, still managed to summon more Glyphs to hold them both down. They did not stop the Nuckelavee from trying to claw at the warrior with its front legs, however, though while trying to do so, struck something metallic behind the cloak. The added weight forced the swordsman's legs to buckle, but not fully, showing just how strong he truly was. How long he could keep this up, was another matter.

From the side of the dilapidated house, Ruby and Blake were trying to carry an injured Yang out of the way of the fight, but stopped when she saw what was occurring with the unknown swordsman being slowly crushed by the Nuckelavee. Her eyes then rested on the impaled sword, and a spark flashed in her mind.

"Nora! Are you okay? Can you still fight?" she shouted.

The ginger, now conscious, blinked several times before looking from the Grimm to the swordsman, to Ren, and then Ruby, quickly trying to piece together what was going on.

"I think so! Are you okay?" she replied, gripping Magnhild tightly, having never let go of it.

"I'm fine! Do you see the sword in the Grimm's head?"

She did, and a knowing grin grew on her face.

"I'm on it!" she shouted, and tried to get to her feet, but felt Ren grip her arms. "Ren, let go!"

"No! You're hurt! You can't fight anymore!" he argued, his emotions getting the better of him.

"Yes, I can and I'm going to kill this monster once and for all!" Nora then wrenched herself free, and shoved Ren back as she rose to her feet, before turning to Penny. "Penny! Hit me!"

Understanding what the other ginger was referring to, she pulled off her right glove to expose a more metallic hand that began to arc with electricity. In an instant, she slammed her palm into Nora's back, causing the girl to jolt with blue electricity, before it turned pink. Not wasting another moment, Nora launched herself thirty feet into the air, and brought down her hammer, screaming in berserker-like fashion. The face of Magnhild collided with the pommel of the arming sword, and drove it like a railroad spike through the skull and out the jaw. The horse's head snapped back with a high-pitched roar escaping its jaws before being cut short, like tape being pulled out of a reel-to-reel machine, and the red light in its sockets went out. The legs of the horse buckled, and would have crushed the swordsman beneath, if not for Weiss dissolving her Glyphs and allowing him to roll out of the way. The rider shrieked in violent rage, writhing in the saddle, knowing it could not run until the horse head had regenerated. The Huntsmen-in-training would not allow this to happen.

"Cut its head!" shouted Weiss, readying Myrtenaster if necessary.

It was not clear who could, given their level of injury, though, for the heiress at least, expected for the unknown swordsman to be the one to end things. He would not be fast enough, however, as Ren, seeing the opportunity he had been waiting for his entire life right before him, acted first. Knowing that StormFlower was useless, he needed a weapon that could deliver the deathblow, and there was only one in his reach. Without hesitation, he got to his feet and drew Gambol Shroud from its holster at Blake's lower back, and flicked it into its sword form. Running past his friends, he raised the sword in a Sha no Kamae stance, his hands at each end of the hilt and pointing the blade behind him at the waist. Locking eyes with the Nuckelavee, Ren tightened his grip and unleashed every ounce of hate he had built up for a decade into a single slash.

"Shi to eikō! (Death and Glory!)" he shouted, and cut through the skull of the rider between the mouth and out the back, allowing him the follow through and landing behind the Nuckelavee with Gambol Shroud on the other side. Letting his breath out slowly through his lips, Ren rose to a standing position, and performed a Chiburui—a one-handed vertical cut at nothing. "Yami no kuni de eien ni fuhai suru (Rot in the Land of Darkness for eternity)."

He then turned to look at the Grimm as it slowly began to turn to mist and ash, revealing Nora who was standing behind it. They looked at one another in silence, unsure of how to react. There was incredible elation from killing the monster that took everything from them, but also incredible anxiety. They had never yelled at one another like that before, and it was his attacking of the Nuckelavee that started this in the first place. Because he acted without thinking, he had dragged his friends into a dangerous battle, Nora being the first, and a battle they would not have won without this unknown warrior. Ren desperately wanted to protect Nora, and yet here she was, bleeding from her forehead while trying to protect him. The guilt was immeasurable, and he was about to apologize to her, when in a heartbeat, she was in his arms, burying her face into his chest and holding him for dear life.

"Nor–"

"I'm sorry for yelling at you and pushing you!" she cried, her words slightly muffled from the fabric of his coat. "I just didn't want that monster getting to you. I wanted to finally kill it for what it did to you..."

Ren felt his stomach twist, feeling incredibly humbled that she had done it for him, but also felt shame for not doing better. Careful with how he moved Gambol Shroud, he returned the hug, never wanting to hold her more than he did right then.

"It's alright, Nora" he said gently. "I'm the one who should be apologizing. I was the one who attacked without thinking or speaking. I was the one who insisted we come here."

"And I backed you up" she argued, tightening her hug. "Not just back at Addingrove, but here too. Wherever you go, I go."

"I know," he replied, tightening as well, "which is why I needed to be more careful. You mean everything to me, Nora. I lost them...I can't lose you too..."

He could not see it, but the ginger's face became flushed, and normally she would have tried to hide it. Instead, she pulled away slightly so that she could look at him, revealing not only her red cheeks, but the tears slowly rolling down them.

"I know" she said softly, a small smile on her face. "It's why I wanted to get revenge with you. You and your dad saved me that day—and when I was attacked by those boys. I've never been able to pay you back for that. Killing that monster and making sure you're safe is the only way that I can, so at least I was able to make things right here. I still need to get stronger to protect you though, but I made a promise, and I'm gonna keep it."

Ren's heart lodged itself in his throat, seeing how sincere and tender she was being. Words utterly failed him, other than the three that he knew he could not say aloud—at least not yet. He slowly brought his right hand to her cheek, gently wiping her tears with his thumb, and gazed into her watery, yet beautiful turquoise eyes.

"I made the same promise, and other than making sure you're well-fed, I haven't kept that promise as well as I should have. But thank you, Nora. That means more to me than I can say with words, and I owe you so much that it'll take a lifetime to repay."

Nora wanted to protest at his claim of being weak, but his second statement halted her and caused her smile to grow.

"Well, your cooking's been a lifesaver, to be fair. But you've been protecting me, Ren. Just because this monster was so strong it took all of us to kill it, doesn't mean you aren't strong or haven't made sure I've been safe all these years. I'm the one that owes you everything."

"You're bleeding because of me..."

"It's just a scratch. Plus, I'm hard-headed, anyways. It's why you have to yell at me all the time."

Despite the injury, Ren was unable to stop a small smirk from growing.

"You do seem to find trouble easier than a bee finds a flower" he remarked, his smirk widening as she sheepishly giggled.

"I'm kind of a handful..." Nora admitted, glancing to the side.

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

The ginger bit her lip happily, and pressed her cheek against his chest as she hugged him.

Their friends who had gathered behind them, watched with curiosity and relief. They, of course, had no idea why the couple had wanted to come here, nor why they were having such a tender moment past achieving victory. There was some explaining they needed to do, especially since they could not hear what they were speaking about, but for now, they all needed to take inventory after such a hard-fought battle. Being the one to notice the audience they had attracted, Ren reluctantly separated from Nora, and he held out Gambol Shroud to Blake.

"I'm sorry for taking this" he said honestly, bowing respectfully. "StormFlower wouldn't have done the job, so I needed a sword. It's very well balanced and sharpened."

"I've no right to complain" the Cat Faunus replied, nodding thankfully as she accepted back her weapon and holstered it safely. "You killed it, and that's all that matters. And thanks. I...learned from someone who was passionate about weapon maintenance."

"Penny, could you take a look at Nora's injuries, please?"

"Right away, Mister Lie" the robot replied with a salute, and marched over to Nora, placing her hands on her shoulders to swiftly turn her to better examine the thunderess. "The cut is not deep, and it will not require stitching. Her Aura Armour managed to take out enough power from the blow to truly split her forehead, not to mention her Aura is slowly aiding in the healing." Penny then reached into a pouch on her belt, and retrieved a small medical case which opened with the press of her thumb on the front. "This is a military-grade liquid bandage" she explained, holding up a medicine bottle. "It is a fast-acting, reactive adhesive that is used to mend deep cuts, which binds to the skin and protects the wound by keeping dirt and germs out, and keeping moisture in. It contains cyanoacrylates, which is the same used by surgeons to treat surgical wounds. This will fix you quick as lightning."

Before Nora could say a word, the robot began to apply the medicine, keeping the other ginger firmly in place despite her attempts to squirm.

"First, nice pun" grinned Yang as she leaned on Ruby. "Second, don't worry about me. I'm just dandy."

"I will be treating you shortly, Miss Yang" Penny replied without slowing her work. "You will require a full check-up given your injuries."

"Plus, your boobs took most of the hit" Nora joked, causing the blonde to chuckle before wincing, and Ruby to remain fearful that her sister was more injured than she was letting on. "Is this gonna scar?"

"No, I do not believe that it will."

"That's good, I guess" the shorter ginger said with a pout. "A scar across the forehead isn't as cool like the one Weiss has over her eye. I'd love a cool scar like that."

"Whilst I do appreciate the compliment," the heiress replied, a small smirk forming at her friend's childishness, "this scar was due to a training injury that very well could have gone worse, and have cost me an eye."

"Oh, an eye patch is even cooler!"

Weiss sighed, but was glad that Nora was alright despite everything. Yang was, of course, their greatest concern, as she had taken a full power kick from the Nuckelavee, shattering Aura Armour and knocking her through a wall, and rendering her unconscious. Penny would have to be the one to fully determine how severe the blonde's injuries were; whether they could carry on to Seacourt or had to double back to Addingrove until Yang was fit for travel. Given that they had just fought an old A-Class Grimm, things could have gone significantly worse if it had not been for this unknown Huntsman to appear out of nowhere.

This thought reminded the heiress of his existence, and she turned to look where he had last been. While the students had been recovering from the fight, he had retrieved his weapons, and was now walking away, almost as if he was trying to slip into the night without speaking to them.

"Excuse me!" Weiss called, rousing the attention of the others but failed to stop the man from walking away. "Excuse me, sir! We would like to thank you for helping us. You must be exhausted—as we all are—so you are more than welcome to rest with us."

The swordsman either had not heard, or was trying to ignore her, which made Weiss and the others frown. Why had he risked his own life for their sake, but then not want to speak or join them? It was Nora who was now focusing most intently on the swordsman, for now that things had calmed down, she was able to think more clearly. It had only been a moment, but when she had struck the pommel of the sword into the horse's head, she thought it looked very familiar. Despite it being dark, there was something familiar about the swordsman as well, as if she had met him before. A small part of her had an inclination of his identity, for only he would come to help them.

"Jaune?" she said in a more muted voice, which caused her friends to shift in hopeful anxiety. As low as her voice had been, it was enough for the swordsman to halt. "Jaune, it's you, right?"

Penny produced a tactical looking flashlight from her belt, and unleashed an impressive beam at the swordsman, revealing to the Humans that he had indeed stopped walking. The swordsman's fists tightened behind his tattered makeshift cloak, and after taking a slow, deep breath, realized that there was no point in pretending any longer. He slowly turned to reveal his face that was obscured behind his hood, and it took all of his friends aback.

It was indeed their friend Jaune Arc, but he was, for a moment, unrecognizable. His normally smooth face was now covered in blond stubble, as he had not shaved since before the fall of Beacon. His hair had also grown, though it was mostly hidden within his hood. It was his eyes, however, that surprised them most. Once a bright azure blue, there was no light behind them, causing them to appear dull and cold. Despite being shown with light, Jaune's face was dark and macabre; far worse than it had been after the confirmation of Pyrrha's death. His friends were left without words, not knowing how they were meant to react to seeing him like this, yet it was Ren and Nora that knew. They understood his pain better than anyone, and while it was surprising, it was also completely understandable.

"I knew it was you" said Nora, taking a step forward. "Only you would show up to help last-minute like that. You scared the Hell out of all of us when you left Ruby and Yang's place without telling us, ya know? Do you have any idea how long we looked for you all over Patch? How did you get off the island, anyways? You'll have to tell us everything while we set up camp, okay?"

She had tried to approach with a more lighthearted tone to welcome her hurt captain back, but the relieved smile that had formed upon seeing him again, began to quickly fade when she saw the blond remained unfazed. After an uncomfortable moment, Jaune turned away, and began to walk once again to what remained of the village's main gate.

"Jaune! Please come with us!" Nora begged, fearful of losing him again. "We're going to Mistral!" This caused Jaune to halt, and he gritted his teeth. "We're gonna catch a ship at Seacourt because Huntmaster-General Ironwood says he has a special mission for us. We're supposed to meet up with Huntmaster Lionheart at Haven Academy, so we might be able to find out more about who attacked Albion and…who killed P-Pyrrha. Please, Jaune, we can do this together."

Again, the village square fell into silence, and it seemed as if Nora's words had fallen on deaf ears, when Jaune at last turned to face them. He nodded without saying a word, causing Nora to smile, and before he could stop her, she ran to him and nearly knocked him off his feet with a powerful hug.

"We missed you so much" he heard her say into his chest, and he felt his broken heart clench in pain and guilt. Unable to stop himself, he wrapped his arms around her to return the hug, feeling the first bit of comfort in weeks. She had broken his resolve in an instant.

"Me too" he replied in a hoarse voice, and felt the ginger tighten her hug further. He then looked up to see Ren looking at them, and they locked eyes. Without saying a word, the boys seemed to understand what they were thinking, before the three of them joined in a group hug—Team JNPR reunited at last.

Their friends watched them from afar, glad to see another friend they thought they had lost had returned, helping them all feel they were returning to some sort of normalcy. They knew they would have to ask him some questions about what had happened the day he left, but they also knew it required a great deal of tact. If they were to accept what Taiyang had told them, Jaune was in a very dark place, and they did not want to hurt him further.

"Now that we have identified him as Mister Jaune, we must decide what we are to do next" said Penny as she looked to the others. "Given that Miss Yang has been injured, we must make sure that she is fit for travel."

"I'm fine—just a little banged up" defended Yang, but Ruby was not going to let her walk it off.

"Please look her over, Penny" the younger Xiao Long sister said in a determined but soft voice. "If Yang really is hurt, then we'll go back to Addingrove."

"My thoughts exactly" added Weiss. "It is a long way to Seacourt, and if Yang needs proper medical attention, we cannot drag her all the way there."

"Hence why I asked" replied Penny. "What we will do for now is set up camp. We must look for a building that has maintained its structural integrity to provide us proper shelter for the night, and then I will be able to give Miss Yang a full physical."

"Go on ahead" said Jaune. "I need to double back and get my things. Had to leave them behind to get here fast enough. Shouldn't take me long."

The others nodded in agreement, and they began to search for a suitable campsite. The remaining members of Team JNPR came to join them, as Jaune turned for the forest, when he suddenly stopped. He looked down to the ground, unsure of what he had stepped on, and was slightly intrigued when he saw what it was. It was a curved dagger with a red tsuka-ito styled hilt, which Jaune could instantly tell was well-balanced, further indicating its quality. As he turned it in his hand to examine it, Ren recognized the weapon, and was barely able to contain a vocal protest. Instead, he offered his hand out to Jaune, and said only one word.

"Please" he said, looking into his captain's eyes with both sorrow and intensity.

Jaune looked back, and paused for only a moment, before handing Ren the dagger. Again, his friends were able to understand what was going on without words, and only a nod was enough. There would be time to think and morn later. Ren quickly put the dagger away in his pack as Jaune marched off to retrieve his own, with Nora watching him go with fear that he might not return. Even when he vanished into the darkness she maintained her gaze, and it was uncertain how long she would have remained, until she felt a hand on her shoulder. The ginger turned to look at Ren, and saw the somber but reassuring look on his face. Nodding, she turned to rejoin the others, and as Ren's hand slid off her shoulder, it naturally found hers.


Author's Note II:

Well, that was an interesting chapter—or so I hope. This chapter has been one that I have wanted to get to for a long time, for it covers some very important subjects that have been gnawing at me for longer than I can remember. Therefore, the notes are going to be quite extensive this time round. There is no doubt that lengthy notes has come to be expected with me, and how things will be throughout the entirety of this story. Alas, I cannot say I am sorry for it, as I really seem to be the only one who notices these issues—for better and for worse—and I think they are worthy of being spoken of in detail. As always, I just hope you find it all informative, and there is no obligation to read. Let us begin.

Changing of Currency

So, to confirm that you did not misread what I wrote, nor that I made a mistake, yes; I have changed the currency of RWBY. Why?

Truth be told, I had always thought that it might be better to come up with a different currency for Remnant, mostly due to the fact that the entire world uses the same one. I fully understand that it is much easier to give your fantasy world a D&D/Pathfinder-like monetary system (Platinum, Gold, Electrum, Silver, and Copper coins), but that is much easier to understand in smaller regions. When you are creating an entire world with different nations and continents, as well as lengthy histories, you expect for there to be unique currencies for each sovereign nation. Even Avatar: The Last Airbender had it that each nation has their own currency. With Remnant being a very modern world, it becomes even more unbelievable. Is it a lot to ask, especially if you go as far as to have conversion rates? Yup. Welcome to High Fantasy (and high sci-fi for that matter). However, I decided to let it go, since, in my mind, with the fall of the last Kings, a European Union equivalent—which is how I see these Councils behaving—arose, thus so would the demand to use the same currency. I am not a fan, but fine.

What drove me to make the change in JADA was completely by accident, however. I have a Word document that sits with my manuscripts called "Dictionary of Forgotten Useful Words". What this is, is a collection of words and terms that have fallen out of common use that serve me better in my written endeavors. As it turns out, as we have become more literate, our lexicons have contracted. An example is the word "snigger", which is to laugh half-heartedly (melancholically), whereas to snicker is to laugh weakly but genuinely. English has its issues, but damn, is it more versatile than people give it credit—and far more precise than any other language. Not only does this Word document have words such as these, but the names of items and systems that people might recognize, yet have no idea what they are properly called. This is very useful to me when trying to show you what I have envisioned via putting it to paper.

I mention all of this, because when I was looking up the definition of the word "Jointure", which is "an estate settled on a wife for the period during which she survives her husband, in lien of a dower", I froze. I blinked and thought, "Am I seeing things?". So, I clicked on the word "lien", and it gave me a definition: "law a right to keep possession of property belonging to another person until a debt owed by that person is discharged".

After the shock subsided, the two following thoughts came to my mind, and in this order. One, did no one check this before committing to Lien being the currency of Remnant, and two, did Monty and/or those around him go with Lien merely because it sounded vaguely Asian, and that was good enough? I know that sounds very unfair, but given the nature of RWBY, and that "Lien" sounds similar to "Yen", I cannot help but think that is a strong possibility.

This realization was the final straw for me, and I decided that I needed to change the currency. The choice I arrived at—and rather quickly—was the Ducat, a real-life gold bullion coin from Europe used for trade from the 13th-19th century. I had come across it in one of the books I was reading years ago, and back then I had the thought about using it in my stories. It is historical, and given the core of RWBY is European fairy tales, it fits well enough. At least now it can all be worked into the story and help with the verisimilitude.

Speaking of which, given that I hate to do things half-assed, I also decided to include a currency sign for Ducats; especially since a real-world equivalent was never given. I had thought to use the now defunct Drachma (₯) sign, the ancient Greek currency that was revived in 1832-2002. And yet, I thought it was not the right one to go with. Despite the fact that it is appropriate to use, given that my version of Mistral is inspired from central Europe—especially Greece—it felt oddly inappropriate to use. That makes little sense, I admit, considering the Ducat was also an established currency for so long, and yet, that is what I felt. Furthermore, it was also why when I was leaning towards using the Lira (₺)—which, for the record, is not the pound (£), and is the canonical Lien symbol—given that I am Italian and miss it terribly, it too felt improper to use on those grounds. More reasonably, however, is that the symbol for the Drachma may not even appear on FFN (which uses Verdana, so it would) and Ao3 (which uses Lucida Sans Unicode, so it cannot, despite it being far more versatile than Verdana). Therefore, I went looking for a better option, and low and behold, I found the Latin Dyet or "Crossed D" (Đ). It is simple, it works in both fonts (including the one I use to write my stories—Bookman Old Style if you are curious), and by Jove, does it look official in use. It even has the strikethrough like most currencies as well.

Lastly, since there needs to be consistency, my version of this currency still functions in the dollar system, with Ducats as dollars, the Greek Lepton as cents (called "leps" or "leppies" for short), and they break down in the usual pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-Ducats (50¢/p), and one Ducat coins. Nice and simple. Not so hard, eh, CRWBY and Rowling?

Things such as these are what make me proud and happy the most in storytelling. I know, I am odd, especially since it hardly matters in the long run, but as I said, I hate to do things half-assed. Which reminds me, given the name Ducat, the slang term "dukes" as the equivalent for "bucks", is used, and, as a consequence, the phrase "put up your dukes" has an entirely different meaning.

There are other things I want to cover here, but since they will be addressed properly in future chapters, I will hold back until then.

Toss a Coin to Your Huntsman

Following in the same vein as the currency change, I have to make a comment regarding the payment system of the Huntsmen.

To be blunt: it makes no sense.

Now, when I say that, I mean that it makes no sense in-world. Huntsmen hunt the Grimm, and are paid for their service. That is simple enough. Equally simple is how they obtain their hunts, which is taken from table RPGs such as D&D and Pathfinder, as well as video game RPGs such as World of Warcraft, The Elder Scrolls, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, Fallout, and The Witcher. You go into town, you look at what jobs are available at the Town Hall, and you go and make your money. I have done it, you have done it, and no doubt, at some point, CRWBY have done it, hence why it went into the show.

And here is where the problems arise. Huntsmen are not free-roaming adventurers, who have no profession and have to earn money on the road, nor are they bounty hunters, working outside of the law as mercenaries; and while modern bounty hunting in the United States is not as open-ended as it once was—some states require licenses—law enforcement has filled in the gaps that the citizenry had to in the days of the Old West.

Hunting is a profession in the world of Remnant, meaning that being a Huntsman is a full-time job. This should be obvious, because Huntsmen must go to school and get an official licence, meaning that people off the street cannot call themselves Huntsmen and go on hunts for money. This is why this bounty system of payment makes no sense, hence why I introduced the Huntsman's Purse and Treasury concept in DDCT, when upon the completion of a Hunt, the confirmation is sent to the Secondary Academy—effectively the equivalent of Horse Guards—and the payment owed is paid by the Paymaster into the individual Huntsman's account. In short, an independent banking system for Huntsmen, solely for handling their stipends, which makes sense given the importance of Huntsmen for the survival of the Human and Faunus races. They are either paid in notes or in remittance, with bonuses such as tax breaks and bonus pay when dealing with larger hordes and higher-ranking Grimm. Emolument is the only method that seems cromulent to me as a system of payment for Huntsmen, even if their job is not as conventional as others. The closest that I can think of is firemen, for they wait to get the call, and then they are off, in combination with beat cops, where they are all part of the same municipal network, and when a call comes in, the closest take it.

And that is something that people must remember. Despite what CRWBY have done, the Huntsmen are a type of military force in combination with the Knights of old. You must take care in how you implement such a group in this world, for if you do not, the verisimilitude breaks. As always, CRWBY rely on the meta to get away with elements that make no sense in-world, as well as not putting in the time to do things properly.

Here, we have our compromise, where Jaune (and other Huntsmen) can get paid in liquid cash, or wire to have it deposited into their Purse. This may seem as if I am nitpicking, but I would passionately argue—as I already have—of how important this all is for the verisimilitude, especially since the core of this world are the Huntsmen, and if they are broken and nonsensical, then everything falls apart. And guess what? That is precisely what happened, and is why we are even having this conversation, as we would not need to if Monty had done what was required from the start, and, of course, had he survived.

I hope that this observation/complaint of mine makes sense to you, so feel free to let me know if I am right on the mark, or off by a country mile.

A Note on the Ranking of Grimm

When it comes to hunting monsters, regardless of the medium, series, or nation of origin, there has always been a ranking system—whether it be loose or finite. Bleach, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, Yu Yu Hakusho, Toriko, D. Gray-Man, Claymore, The Witcher, the list goes on. We understand that there is a hierarchy with both monsters and hunters, which is a natural outgrowth of our own world. It is a tried-and-true system, always finding fertile ground in either the West or the East.

Unfortunately, as with all things, RWBY does none of this.

The Grimm themselves have the issue of constantly drifting back and forth from childishly easy to overwhelmingly brutal without any form of explanation as to why. This makes them, as an entity, hard to understand, but more importantly, indiscernible whether or not they are a threat. They can overrun an entire city, or be taken down by Jaune merely waving about his sword in panic, to which the Ursa falls over dead without taking any visible damage. At the very beginning of the series, we have Yang jumping into the mouth of a Nevermore, a giant crow-like Grimm, and firing down its throat without much concern, bringing into question if the physical size of Grimm means anything.

This then leads us to the issue of ranking, for despite there being many different types of Grimm, and the story being about the hunting of them with professional Huntsmen, there is no ranking system to define. There is no form of classification or types of Grimm (airborne, subterranean, aquatic), no official list of abilities of said Grimm (flight, elemental, area-of-effect, mimicry, illusions), no degree of frequency of appearance, and no danger levels. Of course, these elements are there in the show, though merely as a consequence of the moment, rather than being carefully crafted and understood within the world of Remnant itself. One would think that schools which teach about Grimm and how to hunt them—maybe in a Grimm Studies class perhaps—would have come up with such a ranking system.

What makes things so much worse, however, is the meta that hangs over all Grimm. While there are normal animals that have been turned into Grimm versions, there are also Grimm versions of mythical monsters from our world, such as dragons, Nuckelavee, manticore, sphinx, griffons, and golems. This is significant because such monsters have had a major impact on our culture for centuries through religion, folklore, and classic literature, and still do to this day. They too naturally fall into a hierarchy, and therefore, we take care of how they are implemented in whatever media they find themselves in. The key word here is "natural", for when we see them on screen or hear their names mentioned, we lean in just that much more, for we already know what such creatures represent, and what they are capable of. This reaches a new level regarding RWBY, for what would a Grimm version of such monsters, especially when a number of them have their own unique abilities, be capable of? This is also the same meta and hierarchy that applies to the characters themselves, for that is the very reason why Ruby is the main character. Blanchette, Little Red Riding Hood, is the embodiment of all things fairy-tale—which Monty clearly knew, drawing her and the Huntsmen concept from her story—and it makes perfect sense for her to be the basis of the main character.

And yet, just as the hierarchy of the characters is never considered, neither are the Grimm.

I mention all of this because of CRWBY's (and Monty's) avoidance of ranking the Grimm, either through exposition or practice—and I do not consider exposition as a flaw—in conjunction with the randomness of their deadliness, results in it just becoming nonsense. What stakes are we to take seriously if there is nothing to base those stakes on? If we do not know how irregular it is to see X or Y Grimm, or cannot make the logical association of the size or mythical influence of a Grimm to its power, especially when there is no consistent demonstration of said power, how can we be invested or feel any suspense or dread? And what about when entirely new Grimm—which obviously have never been seen before—or Grimm that have not been seen in centuries, do make their appearance? What then?

I hope that this perceived nitpick makes sense, and why I saw it necessary to make this observation. Alas, given that CRWBY can be bullied into abandoning new and interesting Grimm designs by accusations of "racism" and other such nonsense, someone is going to have to give a damn in their stead.

The Fight Against the Nuckelavee

This may sound rather blasphemous, but I do not find a single battle against the Grimm in this series to be engaging in any way. Given the randomness of the lethality of the Grimm, it has always come across that they are not at all the grave threat that the show tells us they are. All I can see is Jaune wildly swinging Crocea Mors in fear and "successfully" killing an Ursa. If I were to be critical, the first battle at the initiation trial in Volume I was the crux of this issue. It undermined the danger of the Grimm by having them casually be so close to the school and capital, as did Professor Port with that captured Boarbatusk.

With that said, one would expect for a boss fight against a "high-ranking" Grimm such as a Nuckelavee, would result in a highly entertaining and gripping fight, especially when four Huntsmen-in-training, also known as "green recruits", with their captain (Jaune) effectively being demoted to have another captain whom they have not trained with as closely (Ruby), have to go up against it. Alas, calling it underwhelming would be an understatement, along with the forced inclusion of Ren and Nora's back-story, but we will get to that soon enough.

The lack of team cohesion throughout the fight was very apparent, and whilst that is to be expected, given that Ruby is the odd one out, it does negatively reflect on their friendship, as well as Jaune's leadership. The fighting itself was very sloppy, which is not helped by Ren's blind rage into battle, which could have worked if properly set up (I have Ren explain his history with Nora in Chapter I of DDCT for example). Jaune's upgrade to Crocea Mors, which, much to Eddy's chagrin, not only fail to aid him by making up for his shortcomings, but does not hold up as a concept, for the added weight ruins the balance of the sword, and the added mass and dual prong adding nothing to its lethality. Ren's weapons further reveal their ineffectiveness, as well as his general flaws as a Huntsman, despite him being handed the mordhau against the Nuckelavee. Nora was depowered for no reason other than to move the plot along, as well as to not allow her to be the strongest of the group, which she is canonically speaking after Pyrrha, having easily defeated Yang in Volume II. As to Ruby…

Leaving aside the poor utilization of teamwork, weapons, and Semblances, as well as the gravity of fighting a Grimm such as this, the lack of added abilities to said Grimm makes the inclusion of a Nuckelavee rather pointless. For comparison, the DnD 5th Edition has a lengthy description of what such a monster could do, including Poison Breath and Horrifying Visage. I would be remiss to mention that CRWBY are guilty of taking from the DnD version, with one of the attacks their version makes, is identical to DnD's: "Spin (Costs 2 Actions). The nuckelavee spins its humanoid torso with its arms stretched, it makes a claw attack at every creature within 30 feet of itself". That is rather unbecoming. I do hope they avoid making a habit of this.

The best part of RWBY are the fights. Am I right, gents?

With all this said, I can only hope that my version is better in comparison. It is, admittedly, a loose copy from my rewrite, where it not only has Pyrrha alive and well to help them fight, but there is also their squad leader, who has considerably more experience. Pyrrha alone would be a great help, for if metal implements such as swords were driven into the Nuckelavee, she could pin it in place with Polarity, giving the others free reign to attack it. Jaune's lack of training robbed him of that, though he also does not want to reveal he has Pyrrha's Semblance just yet, but the principle remains thanks to Weiss. It was originally taken from the full rewrite, where Yang, Blake, Penny, and their squad leader hold the Grimm in place with their gear, granting Ren and Nora the liberty to kill it.

I can only hope that this version was entertaining and comprehensible, as complicated fights like these are not at all my strong suit. My apologies if it was muddled.

Crescent Rose: Sniper Rifle or Anti-Material Rifle?

Now, I know this may come across as a nitpick, but do hear me out.

Since the outset, Ruby has been a sniper, or at the very least, presented as one, and her weapon of choice is a "sniper rifle" combined with a scythe. Leaving aside the issues that I have with the design of Crescent Rose—which we will get to later on in this very story—there is something that I wish to bring up now. A sniper is a very specific type of warrior, as is his weapon, with their roles being to scout and gather information, and with less frequency than expected, kill a target at a distance. They are support fighters, not front-line troops, and have their time and place to be deployed. Ruby was once a supportive person in personality, yet she never fought as a sniper, mainly due to the need for a "main character" to lead the way. I have made sure to remedy that to the best of my abilities, making her care about Crescent Rose as a sniper would their rifle, she enjoys reading books on ballistics, reloading ammunition, and, obviously, takes marksmanship seriously.

While there is a great deal to say about Crescent Rose itself, as I have so much to comment on its construction, we will quickly focus on two prevalent issues: the caliber it is chambered in, and its scythe form.

Despite the "classification" of the weapon, that being a "High Caliber Sniper Rifle"—which is literal gibberish—high caliber meaning "better quality", with the correct term being "large caliber", as in "the internal diameter or bore of a gun barrel"—Crescent Rose appears to be chambered in a relatively small caliber. Despite a few examples of varied ammo, Ruby appears to only use ball ammo (FMJ). The cartridges visible on her waist are nonsensical, appearing to have the shape of 11mm Maxim Balloon Buster, an incendiary round used to shoot down artillery observation balloons during World War I from mounted machine guns, though Ruby's are obviously undersized. Alas, it is not at all a sniping cartridge, and would have poor ballistics for the role. And before anyone tries to point to a more recent screenshot, I do not care, for CRWBY retcon everything, expecting for you not to notice, and I am pointing to how it has been an issue since the start.

Neither Monty nor CRWBY have ever provided an answer to the exact caliber Crescent Rose is chambered in, for the obvious reason being that they have no idea, nor do they care to. The community has instead decided to take it upon themselves to provide an answer, in that it is obviously chambered in .50 BMG, for what else could cause such recoil. Placing aside the absurdity of Crescent Rose recoiling to that degree—which is entirely at random and only does so when Ruby needs to jump, not to mention it is both a waste of ammunition and a very good way to put a bullet in her teammates' heads—it is not chambered in .50 BMG. The .50 BMG stands for " .50-caliber Browning Machine Gun", for having been designed by the patron saint of firearms, John Moses Browning, for his marvellous heavy machine gun, the M2 Browning. They were developed together for that very purpose—a heavy machine gun system—and not for sniping. Whilst being a beefed up .30-06, it is not balanced for long-range anti-personnel roles. Ronnie Barrett then thought to make a rifle chambered in it for precision anti-material needs, mainly to disable lightly armour vehicles, equipment, and perhaps enemies hiding behind walls. It can certainly kill a man, but that is not the purpose of the cartridge or the rifle/platform, with the .338 Lapua Magnum being strongly argued as the best anti-personnel sniping cartridge.

However, Grimm are not made of flesh and blood, and therefore, a heavy hitting anti-material cartridge, especially at relatively short ranges, would be very effective. This then leaves us with the issue of what cartridge should Crescent Rose be chambered in. A more stable flying match-grade small/medium bore (6.5mm-.375) cartridge, or a heavy hitting, armour-piercing large bore (.40-caliber and above) cartridge?

Given that we are dealing with a world that is constantly revolutionizing its armaments to fight monsters, as well as having supernatural warriors that can handle greater recoil and heavier arms, we can reasonably expect large-bore cartridges designed for Grimm, or even wildcat cartridges—a custom cartridge for which ammunition and/or firearms are not mass-produced—to be prevalent. Therefore, the two cartridges that make the most sense that are not round-nosed and straight-walled, would be the .408 Cheyenne Tactical (10.4×77mm), and the .416 Barrett (10.4×83mm). The .408 is the cartridge used by the rifle of the same name (the Cheyenne Tactical Intervention, or CheyTac), and was designed for long-range sniping, whereas the .416 Barrett, invented by Chris Barrett (Ronnie Barrett's son), as an improved version of the .50 BMG. I do not know how you improve perfection, but one is always free to try.

After careful consideration, I decided to go with the .408 CheyTach. Designed as a sniping cartridge for anti-personnel, anti-sniper, and anti-material roles, delivering 8,295 ft⋅lbf (11,247 J) of energy at 3,500 ft/s (1,100 m/s) with a 305 gr (20 g) bullet, and 8,373 ft⋅lbf (11,352 J) of energy at 3,000 ft/s (910 m/s) with a 419 gr (27 g) bullet, it does pretty much everything I (and Ruby) have been asking for. What I (and Ruby) can do is custom load cartridges to suit her needs, or slightly wildcat them, along with the capabilities of Dust, for the sake of verisimilitude. I hope to do Ruby and Summer proud.

And to anyone who thinks that I am taking things too far by complaining about what type of ammunition Ruby uses, please remember that not only do firearms matter with regard to Huntsmen, but that Ruby is also a sniper, and therefore, would be just as neurotic as I am. Just because you are ignorant of such things, does not make them insignificant or invalid. Right, CRWBY?

The Scythe: From the Wheatfield to the Battlefield

I know that I said I would not get into the design issues with Crescent Rose, but this is one that I cannot let slide; and since I had it come out naturally in the battle, I would be remiss to say nothing in the notes.

The use of the farming scythe as a weapon has been greatly popularized by the East, whereas it is only used as a weapon by Death or the Grim Reaper in the West—and in the realm of art and literature. Whilst I have no clue as to why the Japanese have such a fixation on the implement as a weapon, for their scythe, or kama, is more akin to a sickle than the European scythe, they have made it a staple. Whether it be in Anime or video games, there will always be someone wielding it as a mainline weapon, with the latest (that I am aware of) being Goku Black. However, there are two major issues with this; one being the weapon of choice for Ruby, and the weapon itself.

The archetypes that use the European scythe are usually villains or dark anti-heroes, primarily to give off a sense of foreboding, for the scythe in Western culture is connected with death. Why on Earth was it given to Ruby then? She is the exact opposite of such characters, and yet that was the one Monty decided to go with? If Ruby needed for Crescent Rose to have a melee form, then why not a poleaxe, given that the Huntsman in the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale used an ax to kill the Wolf? Truly bizarre, as that choice seems so obvious to me.

What is worse, however, is the scythe itself used as a weapon of war. It was not designed as one, for it is a farming implement, meant to cut wheat and grass as low to the ground as possible. It does not, however, transfer over as a battlefield weapon in the same way a spear or an ax would. It can only be swung in one way and one way only, not to mention is not balanced for combat use. This is precisely why when they are used as weapons in animation, one only sees a line appear to indicate that someone or something has been cut, but never shown how they or it was cut. The reason for this is that it cannot be done.

My theory as to why the scythe is used as a weapon in media, despite it being impossible for it to be done, is the historical use of farming implements as weapons in Asian cultures—the nunchaku come immediately to mind for example. I mention this because the structures of Asian cultures—mainly Chinese and Japanese in this context—do not allow for the evolution of weaponry. What I mean is that if a weapon began as a farming implement, it remains as a farming implement. The nunchaku remained the same in design, as does the kusarigama, merely being a kama sickle with a chain and weight added to it. Actual weapons are reserved for the elite, to which the lower peasantry were heavily restricted or prohibited, hence the desperate, albeit minimal, innovation with farm tools. Thus, the scythe, in the hands of the Japanese, does not change in anyway.

This, however, is not how the West operates. Throughout history, Europeans have refined weapons of all sorts, always trying to improve them for one reason or another. Farming tools were prime for such developments, with the most obvious being the hunting spear, the bow, the ax, and the hammer. The billhook, meant for pruning like the kama, was turned into a polearm and found great success on the battlefield. If that is the case, then does this mean that the scythe was turned into a battle weapon, or does it mean that it never was?

It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the warscythe.

Incredibly simple in design, the European warscythe has its snath (shaft) straightened in polearm fashion, and the blade turned upwards to run parallel with the snath, giving it the look of a Scandinavian svärdstav—swordstave or swordstaff in English. This allows for excellent edge-alignment to chop anything above grass or wheat, as well as giving the wielder the ability to swing with full force, along with much greater range; and depending on the design of the blade itself, can also be a respectable stabbing implement. It is admittedly less macabre in this form, though I would stress that is due to the lack of knowledge and use of the warscythe in media, for if you have a scene in a story where someone comments negatively about someone using the weapon, and explains to a confused companion, that would be enough to get the point across.

This further brings into question why a cute-as-a-button character like Ruby Rose would even have such a weapon, for it becomes ever more mismatched. And before anyone brings up Qrow, that is without a doubt a post-hoc retcon, and does not make sense, not to mention that Harbinger's scythe suits him, whereas Crescent Rose very much does not with Ruby. Then there is the Qrow-is-Ruby's-biological-father "theory", which cites the fact that Crescent Rose and Harbinger are both scythes as evidence, something that I have voiced despising to my very core in DDCT. So, what reason do I have instead for Summer designing Crescent Rose this way, since I have changed it that it was hers before Ruby inherited it? I certainly have one, but you will have to wait before I reveal it.

What I can say is that this change to Crescent Rose, granting it a warscythe form, allows for Ruby to use it as a historically accurate and functional polearm, thus increasing its range—she is a sniper after all—and allowing her to fight in close quarters. Furthermore, since it does maintain its harvesting form—the rear spike is gone, if that was not clear, for it would block Ruby's sights—it can now be used as a monopod when she is standing. Not optimal for long range shooting, but given the ranges Grimm are normally engaged at, it does the job.

Despite the fact that this is a fantasy, I stress very strongly that weapons should nevertheless be logical and functional. Yes, given that it is fantasy, weapons should be embellished to be fantastical, yet that does not give carte blanche to make what we would refer to as "mall ninja trash", that being unbalanced eyesores you can get for cheap at a medieval boutique, or Chinatown shop, however. The Lord of the Rings films do a wonderful job of creating functional fantasy swords, for whilst clearly being embellished, they are still following the rules of swordcraft, as well as drawing from historical examples and sword typology. RWBY sadly ignores all rules, and I have been trying by best to correct this, going as far as buying several dozen books for reference. Much more to come on that in future.

I hope that this change to Crescent Rose will go over well with you. I think it will, for I have seen it come up on a RWBY subreddit (either r/RWBY or r/RWBYcritics), and criticizing the weapons of this show is quite rare.

Changing the Names of Semblances

For those of you who are new here, no, I did not write different names for weapons and Semblances by accident. In DDCT (see Chapters VI, VIII, X, and XII), I made these changes in order to both not be as lazy as Monty and CRWBY, and to make it seem that it was indeed the characters that named their weapons and Semblances. From the very beginning, there was clearly a lack of thought placed into these elements, which not only can be deduced from what we got, but the refusal for the characters to ever call their weapons or Semblances by their names, other than Ruby at the beginning and end of the series.

Semblances such as Burn (Yang), Shadow (Blake), Glyphs (Weiss), and Via Sun (Sun), are incredibly lazy, as well as fail to convey what they even do, and come across as placeholders to be replaced later. Others such as High Voltage (Nora), do not sound as if they were invented by the characters, which can also be extended to the weapons. Worst still, many are retcons, such as Qrow's Harbinger and Neptune's Tri-hard, taking years before being introduced in the form of auxiliary material outside of the show (The Official Companion in 2019), usually with post-hoc insistence. Nora's Semblance is "explained" in Volume III by Professor Port, and Ren's gets a flashback in Volume IV during this very fight. The handling of all of this was terrible at best, and phoned in at worst, regardless of how much CRWBY insisting of "how much advanced prep time went into every member of Team RWBY". Not only is that a flat-out lie, it reveals how little was done for the rest…to the shock of no one.

This, in a nutshell, is why I have made these changes, as well as continued to introduce them here in JADA, though there is only so much I can do without a full rewrite. It almost does not matter, for as I said, the show ignores these elements, despite the fact that they are core to the world and story, hence why so few of my readers have even noticed. I would go so far as change the names of their weapons as well, yet that is not surprising, when I am already willing to redesign them. Then there are the issues of the inconsistency of the Semblances themselves, their abilities and said abilities changing for plot, their power levels, their very concept, but that is a conversation for another time. These notes are long enough as it is, and I just wanted to address it in a concise manner. I know, how shocking, but there are far more shocking things to address.

The Broken Back-Story of Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie

And now, we are at last at the main course. How long have I waited.

Going back to the very start of DDCT, I stated that Ren and Nora were from Kuroyuri, which is located to the eastern coast of Vale. I found it incredibly important to do so, for the show refused to provide any back-story to these characters—and to most, sadly—despite it being the beginning of the story, which is meant to be the time for such things. I find that to be self-evident, though it was not to Monty and CRWBY. Amazingly, not a single person commented on this. Everyone and their mother asked me if I had made a mistake for writing that Team SSSN are from Vacuo, resulting in my inclusion of an entry in the FAQ, and additional notes for that chapter—despite the fact that the story makes it all very clear—not one commented about Ren and Nora's back-story. I would return to that back-story more than once to explain it in full, and still, nothing.

Like all things with RWBY, I had originally—and erroneously—assumed that Ren and Nora were Valian. The first three volumes did nothing to explain who they were and where they came from, so just as with the other characters (excluding Pyrrha and Weiss), I thought they were locals. Even in Volume IV I did not realize they were in Mistral, to which my only excuse is that I was still unsettled from Monty and Pyrrha's deaths, thus I watched Volume IV with two conflicting sentiments: to want RWBY to still be good, and verify if CRWBY had dropped the ball. It was only years later, from reading the fan-fiction of one of my readers, that I learned that Kuroyuri was located in Mistral, not Vale.

To say that I was livid was an understatement. Here is precisely why.

Ren and Nora's back-story established that they are homeless orphans due to a Grimm attack. This was only mentioned as a joke in Volume III—which at the time I did not comprehend the magnitude of its stupidity—but here in Volume IV, it was shown "in full". Now that I have also, as well as understanding the entire scope of it, it makes one ask a number of questions:

· How did they survive for ten years on the street?

· How did they earn or acquire enough money to obtain Huntsmen weapons, as well as tailored clothes fit for Huntsmanship?

· If they are Mistralese, why did they not go to Sanctum and Haven Academy?

· How did they make it to Vale without passports, transcripts, or any form of official identification or documentation?

· Did they also forge their paperwork like Jaune and Blake did to get into Beacon?

These are but a few of the questions that came to my mind, as one tends to beget another. Some of these questions I asked before learning of their Kingdom of origin, and I saw problems that I could not ignore. I felt conflicted with loving the emotional weight of what Ren and Nora went through, and how they promised to look after one another. It made total sense why they were so close and why Nora was in love with him. At the same time, my analytical mind was pointing at the lack of believability in this back-story. What it forced me to do was work with it and its boundaries to the best of my abilities, and I felt rather confident with what I came up with, if cautiously so. When I learned they were from Mistral, however, I threw my hands up in defeat. I could find some solutions if it was localized, as well as have it that Sam knew their transcripts were fake, but this revelation was too much for me to ignore.

What I ended up doing was come up with a back-story that was the best of both worlds (if I were to rewrite it to make the most sense). However, before I present that, as well as the more emotionally moving version for this fan-fic, I must break down what is fully wrong with their back-story.

For the record, I see nothing wrong with Ren and Nora being orphaned due to a Grimm attack, other than it being so grim—pun not intended. However, there are immediate consequences of such a decision that must be acknowledged. Why did they not go to the nearest settlement, such as a neighbouring town, to tell people what happened? Why did no one go and see what happened to Kuroyuri, and by proxy find them? Surely there is someone who would take in a pair of homeless children, unless you are telling me that the world of Remnant is that evil of a place. Are there no orphanages or adoption centers?

That question then leads us to another collision with the verisimilitude of RWBY. If Remnant were to function like a competent society in the context of fighting monsters with individuals blessed with God-given powers, then her nations would have programs to give gifted children who do not have parents the ability to enter an academy to become Huntsmen. Given the importance of the Huntsmen, it would be very easy to find a willing couple to adopt or foster a blessed child, especially given the religiosity of a world as Remnant—or at least how it ought to be. It is for that very reason that a solution for Ren and Nora's back-story is right there, for you could have it that they enter an orphanage, and upon those in charge learning of Ren's abilities, he, along with Nora, are placed in a home together, and thus grow up together, and enter Signal or Pharos without issue, and then on to Beacon.

Instead, we have what CRWBY revealed, which was that they lived on the streets for a decade, before crossing the ocean at some point, and entered Beacon, without providing any explanation whatsoever of those ten years, or what transpired during that period. CRWBY seem to be very driven to have Ren and Nora suffer as a form of character trait, yet it does not rise to the surface in any way—Ren being so reserved we know nothing about him, and Nora being so happy-go-lucky that it is impossible to connect the Nora we know to the little girl in the flashbacks in Volume IV.

I must, however, recount something that I found on this matter a long time ago, that which bothers me on several levels. I came across a "post"—for lack of a better term—where the individual who put it together made an observation about a scene that happened during Volume II. I do not know who the author is, or where I had originally found it, only that I have had it on file since October 15th, 2017, and it says the following:

"Something I noticed about Nora

Don't know if anyone else has said this before, but I'll give it a go. So I was rewatching Volume 2, and at the part where JNPR is getting ready to leave Beacon, I noticed that Nora had a particularly severe reaction to the alarm, while Jaune and Pyrrha don't really react much at all. I don't have a gif handy, but I hope this will do.

You can't really tell from my screenshot, but she shakes her head back and forth while she's covering her ears. It was confirmed by RT (I forget who actually confirmed it, Miles or Monty I think) that the village JNPR was headed to was significant for both Ren and Nora. And as it has been said before, living outside the kingdoms is dangerous. It's likely that the alarms dragged up some seriously bad memories for her, possibly the death of a family member during a grimm invasion, or something of the sort. Either way, I feel like this was an important moment in her characterization."

You would think I would appreciate this small, but significant piece of world and character building, especially with it being under Monty's watch. Unfortunately—say it with me now—like all things with RWBY, it is actually detrimental to the story and the characters.

Firstly, none of the information presented by this author is stated in the show, and is either retroactive, hearsay, or speculative—that pesky assume-and-imply fallacy of this show. Secondly, Nora's reaction does not coincide with her character before or after this scene, which I should mention was not focused upon to tell the audience that it was important. Furthermore, a Grimm siren would be commonplace in this world, so her reactions would come up in conversation at some point. Thirdly, Jaune and Pyrrha's lack of reaction further undermines the Grimm and the dangers Huntsmen face. "The monsters are coming!" "Yeah, yeah, give me a sec". To that point, fourthly, we learn that life outside the Kingdoms is not dangerous at all, given the weakness of the Grimm, and with how easily the Kingdoms fall, it makes one question how much worse could it be outside the Kingdoms. Oh, yes, and fifthly, there were no sirens during the attack on Kuroyuri, so it is more likely for her to react adversely to the sight of a settlement ravaged by the Grimm (Mountain Glen), or the Grimm themselves.

Now that it has been stated for the record, thus avoiding it gnawing at me for skipping it, we can return to my venting. As to the author of the post and CRWBY: though your heart is in the right place, close, but no cigar.

What it appears to me is that CRWBY are aware of the trope of the orphan/street child, no doubt influenced by Game of Thrones, and applied it to Ren and Nora, ignoring the fact that this back-story, which is Medieval-like at worst, and Oliver Twist-like at best, is out of place in a world even more advanced than our own. I already cannot believe they survived for this long as it is, and then to have it that they are from a completely different Kingdom and continent across an ocean? This just falls apart. Moreover, I do not think that just because the addition of Nora reacting as she did—however you wish to interpret it—is not an indication of a fully preplanned back-story for Ren and Nora, even if it was included whilst Monty was still alive. There was no indication of this back-story previously, until the cast just so happened to arrive in Kuroyuri—in spite of the giant landmass that is Mistral—other than a throwaway line without context as a joke in Volume III. Therefore, at best, this was an undeveloped idea by Monty and co, which is why it almost never makes its presence known, and as to why they decided to add pointlessly that Nora's mother abandoned her in Volume VIII. Yet another thread in the tapestry that is RWBY which was left to dangle in the wind with no weaver to work it.

It is not an unsalvageable back-story, however. If we choose not to go with the orphanage route, there is a have-our-cake-and-eat-it-too option. We maintain the back-story, except that the Nuckelavee finds Ren and Nora. It is about to kill them, when at the last second, the Huntsmen arrive in cavalry-like fashion. They slay the Nuckelavee, as well as the rest of the Grimm horde, saving the villagers and Kuroyuri. Li and Ann (Ren's parents who are still alive) rush to Ren and Nora, overjoyed that their son is alright. The commander of the Huntsmen asks to speak to the leader of Kuroyuri, to which Li responds. As they discuss the damages and what needs to be done, the commander realizes that Ren has a Semblance, and asks him about it. After Ren tells him he just awakened it during the attack, proving it by activating Tranquility, the commander strongly recommends that Li sends Ren to a primary Huntsmen's Academy when he comes of age, which Li is more than willing to oblige. Now that the attack is over, Li needs to help with the repairs and make sure that the dead are buried, the injured are looked after, and the survivors have shelter until their homes are fit to live in again, so he tells his family to come with him. Ren then refuses to leave Nora behind, saying he promised he would protect her. Hesitating for only a moment, Li and Ann agree to either officially or unofficially adopt Nora, thus explaining how the pair grew up together.

By writing their back-story this way, it fixes all the issues and keeps what matters. Ren and Nora now have an explanation as to how they can afford their weapons and gear, as their parents saved for their tuition—if the state does not pay for it themselves—which also means they do not have to fake their paperwork. This, obviously, removes the questions that arise with having to live on the street for a decade. Now that Ren has a Semblance, he can help fulfill his father's wish that there were more Huntsmen, not to mention that being saved by Huntsmen helps inspire both he and Nora. We also get to keep the "family issue" between them. They still grow up together in this scenario, raising the question as to what precisely is going on between them. Nora fell for him during the attack and his resolution to stay by her against all dangers, yet she is worried that he sees her as a sister rather than a woman. They may have been raised as siblings under the same roof, but they are not related. The story can progress like normal, with things slowly changing where Ren becomes more aware of his feelings for Nora.

This is the clean version of their back-story—tragic, yet overall, more hopeful. Now, that is not what I went with for DDCT and JADA, but that is entirely due to how much time and effort I put into making my original understanding of it function believably. To do otherwise would require a number of changes to both Ren and Nora, thus changing several dynamics, and would work far better in a full rewrite, rather than have to write around the issues raised. This full rewritten version is objectively better, without plot-holes and breaking the verisimilitude, yet I must confess that the idea of Ren and Nora fighting to survive on the street with only themselves to care for one another, is quite moving to me. Alas, style-over-substance is not to be taken lightly, as that is what RWBY is, and we should strive to be better.

The last thing I can say about all of this is that the lack of any mention of it before Volume IV is terrible, though what is worse is how quickly it was all swept under the rug. This is meant to be the motivation or goal of Ren and Nora, yet we knew nothing about it before then, and when confronted with it, Ren quickly gets his revenge with a knife. Not only does that fail entirely to develop Ren and Nora as characters, as well as erase whatever raison d'être they might have had, but it further undermines the Grimm and insults the dead that a Nuckelavee Grimm, a Grimm based on a horrifying monster from Orcadian/Norse folklore, could be killed so quickly. If this is not the definition of "slapdash", then I do not know what is. Well done all.

For the record, I know that Ren and Nora's story was well-received despite the catastrophe of Volume IV, which I am guilty of as well, but I hope that you can now understand the problems with it, and that I do all of this out of love for these two sweet characters that I adore.

Toneless and Heartless

If you thought that I was done with my complaints about the Kuroyuri Arc, you would be gravely mistaken. Now, there are other issues with the back-story, primarily that it was held back for far too long, which is why I had Ren and Nora talk about it in Chapter I of DDCT, but I want to comment on something that I did not realize was an issue until later: how Ren and Nora reacted to the fight with the Nuckelavee, and how inappropriate it was. Allow me to explain.

The first issue is with Nora holding Ren back. Given that they share this past, she should be just as eager to get revenge as he is—especially after the loss of Pyrrha. They have ten years of friendship and partnership, meaning they not only know one another very well, but know how to work together. In short, either of them greatly disagreeing with one another is rather unbelievable—what terrible foreshadowing of things to come. But the major problem I had was when Nora slapped Ren to calm him down. That was beyond out of character for her—especially with a back-hand. While having them fight like that is out of character as it is, if Nora did need to bring Ren back from acting too irrationally, it would have been far more impactful for her to call him by his first name. Keep in mind that the show has never explained why Ren goes by his family name (other than the obvious which is that damn naming convention, which makes no sense, as "Ren" can be both a first name or a last name, and thus, still works for the acronym). I, of course, did come up with a reason in DDCT, though I fully admit it is a poor one. That said, using that as a base, and Nora, being his "entire world", calling him by his first name would affect him—not to mention that if anyone has the right to call him by his first name, it would be Nora.

Since Nora is the physical type, it would have so much weight for her to calmly, in almost a whisper, say his name to calm in down, when it is usually he who has to yell to rein her in. That said, there is something bizarre to see Ren so animated like this, and I would say it would be entirely warranted if this back-story was better set up, yet instead, it smacks of subversion—especially because of Nora slapping him. It has traditionally been a hysterical woman needing to be slapped—back-handed—by a man to get her to calm down. I am by no means condoning it, though we seem to have no issue when men do it to other men, as I recall. In any case, I would prefer an appropriate subversion, as with the one I presented with Nora calling Ren by his first name, rather than creating a strange divide between the most adorable couple.

If it was not apparent in DDCT, I am sure that it is very clear now that I am beyond outraged with how Ren and Nora were treated in Volume VII and VIII (and probably IX as well, which has not been released at the time of writing this). As I portrayed them in DDCT, a close couple with specific reasons as to why they trust and love each other, I will continue to do so here throughout JADA. The next few chapters will be major for them, but it will be a constant in this story, up until the very end.

This then leads us to a major issue with the Kuroyuri Arc, which is an issue that goes back to Volume III, and has not stopped since: CRWBY's tone-deafness and inability to understand when things are appropriate.

During the original fight between Team RNJR—I hate this naming convention so damn much—and the Nuckelavee, there was a scene where Ren and Nora get pinned to a destroyed home—first Ren and then Nora. Because of the way the camera was positioned, you can see Ren looking up to see if Nora is alright, for it appears as if she has been impaled. Upon realizing that it was Magnhild that took the blow, and breathing a sigh of relief right after doing so, his eyes move to the right so that he can look up her skirt—his eyes visibly shifting from her cheeks to her cheeks. Nora immediately notices this and tells him to stop à la Ashley Graham, whilst trying to cover up. However, again, thanks to the angle, you can see that Nora is grinning like a thief in the night, reveling in the fact that Ren is a man and could not help himself, thus causing me to suspect that the reason as to why she wears a skirt in the first place was to show off her legs to get him to check her out.

When I first saw this, I had a hearty laugh. I thought that this was great, that Ren had at long last found his sex drive beneath all those recipes, and openly checked out the ginger hammeress that loves him. Springtime has come for Ren. Well done! And then—one more time!—like all things regarding RWBY, after some time had passed and you think on it, you begin to realize the problems.

It dawned on me just how inappropriate this entire scene was. You have this moment where Ren is mortified that Nora is either badly hurt or dead, and then you hard pivot, like a 5-inch naval gun upon a surfacing U-boat, to have this anime-like ero moment—which is completely new for both the couple and the show, and as far as I know, has never been done since. That is not the worst of it, however, for all of this is going on whilst fighting in the ruins of their village, against the monster responsible for the murder of Ren's parents and dozens, if not hundreds of civilians—they being his neighbours and friends.

Pardon me, Luna and Shawcross, but may I ask you both a question? Was that really the time and the place to insert a scene like this? I was already unhappy with the comedy in the tournament fights in Volume III, but this is far, far worse. Of course, this is a trend in many other series these days, most famously Disney-Marvel content, where no serious scene can occur without a joke being forced in, and is rightfully referred to as "nonmedy". Ren is facing the monster that tore his parents limb from limb before his eyes, and ate his father's mangled corpse, and he decides—nay, CRWBY forced him—that he is suddenly in the mood for plump thighs, followed by baking and buttering some ginger buns for dessert.

They had a chance for moments like this while at school, and instead, they decided to do it here. If it had been a proper accident, where Ren had no choice but to see up her skirt—say Nora superhero lands in front of him and her skirt flips up during training or a less dangerous fight—to which they are both embarrassed, but Nora notices just how flustered he is, thus making her happy that he does see her as a woman, then it would have been great. But it was not at all the right choice to do anything remotely like this at Kuroyuri. Perhaps something subtle and sweet like them retaking their vows to protect one another, rather than a forced comical and sexual scene like that whilst amongst the dead.

I would like for this to be a response to the number of people who constantly go after me and people like me with the pathetic comment, "You're just angry that you didn't get what you wanted". Moments like these between Ren and Nora, as a Boop fan, are exactly what I want. And yet, I can still call it inappropriate and should have never been done. Ren and Nora finally kissed in Volume VII, and I was outraged. Of course, the response to that is, "Well, you're just never happy!", to which mine is simply, "I have standards". It was not built up, the characters were not developed, nor was their relationship, and it was all ruined for the sake of drama. This is what we like to call "being objective". I can separate my feelings in order to examine things on their own merits and whether or not they make sense. Thus far, not a single RWBY cultist I have spoken to can do that, and neither can the writers by their own admission. A future chapter will dissect on this to a much greater degree, so I will wait to cover it then.

And one final point. This is all the result of a fundamental lack of thought, investment, and understanding of the characters and the material. In The World of RWBY: The Official Companion, Part 2: Characters, Team JNPR, Lie Ren, page 79, it says, "Ren and Nora's teammate dynamic provides a 'will they or won't they' romantic jolt to JNPR. Ren, however, scrupulously avoids expressing his true feelings".

I'm sorry, what?

First off, the "romantic jolt" was already there with Jaune and Pyrrha. In fact, that is what Team JNPR is known for—the romance team—as well as the focus of said romance having always been on Jaune and Pyrrha, rather than on Ren and Nora. Truth be told, it can be argued that it was the romantic nature of the team that made them more popular than Team RWBY.

And that is why the second part of this quote bothers the ever-loving shit out of me. Ren does not avoid speaking or expressing his feelings—the writers do. Ren has no issue speaking and voicing his opinions when he is allowed to. The fault as to why Ren does not explain or express his feelings about Nora is entirely on the heads of the writers, which sadly includes Monty himself. The only scene where Ren is asked about his feelings for Nora is in Volume II, when Jaune asks him about how he and Nora became a couple. Yes, Ren does not answer, but that is entirely due to the fact that Nora suddenly appears in the room and says the infamous line "We're not together-together". We have no idea how Ren would have responded, or how the conversation would have gone if Nora and Pyrrha never turned up—or better yet, the boys had their own room. Please see DDCT Chapter I for how I would have written that scene, as well as my notes into how many layers and issues the original scene had. Even with Monty alive and involved, Ren was never given the chance to express himself, and never has since, other than completely out of left field—and out of character—moments.

Furthermore, the notion of Ren keeping his mouth shut about his feelings is something invented by the community. I have followed suit in that line of thought with my own stories, though I provide him a reason for doing so, along with the teasing his friends make of it, for that is what friends would do. This, however, never happens in the show, and for the official book to make this error, shows that CRWBY are just as clueless. They proved this fact by ignoring Ren and Nora's relationship for years, before ultimately destroying it, as well as their respective characters, in Volume VII onward.

Instead, I hope to show a better exploration of their relationship with JADA, just as I did in DDCT, along with who they are as individuals. The supposed "reverence" that the community has for Ren and Nora is also disconcerting, with it being so perverse that I cannot interpret it as admiration, and I will go over it in time, for it further reveals the soul of RWBY, her captives, and her zealots.

I just hope all of that was clear, for I see it as being beyond important, as well as that it was good to finally get it off my chest.

Final Thoughts

There is so much to say and nothing at all when it comes to the state of things with regard to RWBY. At the time of writing this, Volume X has actually not been green-lit, despite the things I had seen previously. I pray that it stays that way. I must say that I was over the moon when Kerry Shawcross, like the moron that he is, admitted in a Twitter video that RWBY has never been profitable, confirming so much I have said for years. In addition, he admitted that all of their shows have to be externally funded, which makes sense, as they have bled tens of millions of dollars per annum. I would love to know their operating costs, especially recently.

(EDIT: Just before sending this to my beta readers and editors, my friend, John (thank you, sir) sent me a comment made by Barbara. She confirmed that one minute of animation costs between $25,000 and $35,000, and "That's not something we could take on financially anymore, which is why we're currently looking for solutions or other means of making the show happen". RobinRising_ on Twitter deduced that, "Volume 9 was 3:08:53 long (189 minutes). If we extrapolate this, Volume 9 cost anywhere from $4.7 million-$6.6 million. 40 minutes was cut from the end of Volume 9 (per Eddy Rivas's statement.) That's $1 mil-$1.4 mil". This, of course, does not factor in all the money that was spent creating many new assets, so the budget is closer to $10,000,000, if not more. There is so little in this show to begin with, and it still costs them this much? This confirms that my argument that RWBY was never profitable, but also that it was dead on arrival, for if they were to make the show anywhere near to how I envisioned, it would have cost them tens of millions of dollarsid est, their entire operating budget and company earnings. Ya hate to see it ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°). I just hope the cancelling of RTX will not mean they will reroute those funds for RWBY.)

Their poor finances and liquidity are further confirmed with their new Makeship campaign for RWBY plushies, as they cannot commission them for their merch store. Then again, their merch has been terrible and overpriced for years. The inclusion of Sun is quite insulting, though I would be very pleased if his sold the most, proving CRWBY is so out of touch. As to Achievement Hunter, I had no idea they were still around given Geoff's lunacy and Ryan's firing for his predatory behaviour, as well as other members leaving over the years. Oh well.

Speaking of Shawcross admitting things, it turns out that the absurdity that was the RWBY x JL projects was never DC's idea, but rather CRWBY's—or so they claim. It would explain the out-of-touch nature of the decision to unite these properties in the first place, for they have no crossover with regard to audience and subject matter. Credit to everyone who has pointed out that any member of the Justice League—other than Batman—could dominate in the world of Remnant. Also, I tip my hat to everyone who continues to point out that CRWBY made Yang's breasts balloon to proper Anime proportions, no doubt for marketing purposes. Gotta love that moral flexibility. Moreover, thank you for spoiling the movie, Yellowjackets, for you further confirm that the only reason for why you care about this show is for your terrible ship.

I pray we never get Volume X, for all it will be is the humiliation of Sun Wukong, Team JNPR, and others, but anything is possible.

Lastly, I must say I am amused by the reality of RWBY's quality and fate has at last begun sinking in with the zealots, given the degree of infighting on the subreddits, and the official RWBY subreddit not policing as much as their rules claim, as well as regularly voicing their frustrations. It explains the change in the nature of my detractors too. That said, the anti-dissent rules against the company itself now being applied to the official Rooster Teeth subreddit is quite telling, given that it is the last line of defence. I wonder what it is like on the old RT forums—if they still exist.

I also feel it necessary to comment on the fact that Adel Aka has since nuked his channel. Not only his channel, but he confirmed to me that he has also wiped his hard drives, meaning there is no way to see or recover his catalogue. I have never been shy in saying that I take issue with Adel, agreeing with him at times, but also thinking that he has always been too soft on RWBY. That said, to see him call it quits and erase years of work, was terrible, and I let him know as much—to which he has yet to respond, and likely never will. It was clear that he was at the end of his rope with RWBY, with his Volume IX reviews being despondent and unenthusiastic, skipping sections with the phrase "I just don't care". I have no issue with him wanting to quit reviewing the show, for I am amazed he kept it up for this long, yet my issue is with him permanently erasing the work he has done. RWBY has always been in desperate need of serious critics, for not only does its cruel community need to be beaten back and kept in check, but also because I truly believe that if there were more honest and wise critics, RWBY would have either improved, or would have brought about its cancellation years ago—and if not its cancellation, then the diverting of funds to stifle the continuation of its production.

Many times throughout my writing of stories for RWBY, I have been honest that the ever notorious HeroHei is not a critic; not only being not much of a critical thinker, as well as being hypocritical with what he likes and dislikes about RWBY, but that he only focuses on Rooster Teeth's scandals—which is appreciated. Adel, however, despite being naïve about the show more times than I can count, was still thoughtful, and I always got the impression that he would be good to converse with about RWBY. Disagree as we might, it would be productive and insightful. There honestly is no one else, for Harris' "review" was a waste of time. Even if he gave up his hunt, he should have kept his work up as an archive for others to see and learn, especially since he told me he has no issue with others reuploading his work. Alas, there is nothing we can do now, other than it bears mentioning. No doubt RWBY zealots celebrated his retirement. One less YouTuber to ban from their circles.

And now, to the final item on the to-do list. No doubt most of you thought that this story had been abandoned. That is quite understandable, and not unwarranted given not only the wont of all fan-fiction writers, but mine as well. Thankfully, I have far from given up. JADA is currently over 400,000 words and over thirty chapters, exceeding DDCT's first draft by tens of thousands of words…and we are nowhere near done. I have created a monster, and it is rather daunting. As foreboding as that sounds, I very much intend to finish this story—being pot committed—and since I have returned to writing well over a thousand words a day, and have a laptop that does not freeze, crash, and run at a snail's pace, I think I can make far faster progress than I have this entire year. I still feel very uncomfortable releasing chapters before the entire story is complete, but I am forced to do what I must. Also, given the collapse of this website, I would like to remind you that you can find me on Ao3, though if you wish to remain here, download the free FFN app. That is clearly where they have put their effort—though it has not been updated since June—and at least the notifications for story updates work. Whilst I am not happy with the "roadmap" with Ao3, that is where you can find me if this website cacks it.

And with that, thank you all very much for reading this chapter, and I hope that you thoroughly enjoyed it. Take care, and I will see you all next time. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, eat, drink, smoke a cigar or pipe by the fire, be merry and kind to others, and have a Happy New Year.