RWBY RE:colored

by Royal-Harmonica

This is a re-imagination of the story of RWBY given as a pitch, a review, and a scene-by-scene style of writing. It's purpose is merely to adapt the series into a more cohesive and simple series for teenage and mature audiences. If you're not a nerd, your cringe discretion is advised. I post primarily on AO3, so this might be not be up to date.

8. Volume VI (Battle of Fates)

.

VOLUME VI

This volume will focus on the story of team JNPR as Jaune leads the remainder of his team in a quest to rescue Pyrrha from whatever the hell happened to her. We will also take a chance to peer into the stories of other characters, since they will be equally important to the plot. I also realize now that this volume will be the most brutal in terms of fights, and since this is kinda like the fight against the surrogate final boss of the series, they will be at death's door multiple times and things will get bloody, but for now let's just enjoy a chill adventure.

.

.

The first episode starts kind of slow. We follow Jaune as he walks alone through the forest. He is having an inner monologue where he reflects back to the tournament. That moment, after his battle with Jobi, everyone fully admitted to him that he had finally risen as a true warrior. He earned the respect of everyone, and so his days as a failure were over. But then he ponders back about Cinder, and how she was able to destroy him in a single attack. He realizes that he still has a long way to go. He still needs to get much stronger. But… he will not move forward without Pyrrha. If he can't save his best friend, how will he be able to protect anyone else?

He will save her, even if it's the last thing he'll do.

Finally we find out why he has been walking in a random forest now. He was searching for a Grimm to kill, but the Grimm seemingly found him first. He drew his shattered sword, but seemingly still hasn't got a new shield. The creature dashes around to confuse him with its great speed, but eventually it pounces. It's a tiger Grimm, with white scales covering its paws and head. It's natural to Haven, but somehow it ended up here in Vale. He gets his ass beaten due to the elder Grimm's sheer speed. Jaune ends up being bitten all over his arm and chest, but in turn he was able to hold the monster in place. "Ren, Nora, NOW!"

Suddenly the other two jump in, and finish off the monster by turning into mince meat and finally smashing into pulp. Black goo flies everywhere, and Nora cheers. It wasn't time for partying yet, because Jaune was clearly bleeding out. However, he stands up with no worry, and shows them how his Semblance heals his wounds. In no time he was completely fine. He takes a photo of the Grimm they just killed and calls them to return to their employer.

...

Soon they arrive back in some random village in the outskirts of Vale City, looking for the elder's house. The old man thanks them for helping, but Jaune affirms they are only doing their jobs. So far Jaune has shown a much more apathetic tone. He's not confused or unsure — he looks to be in total control of his will. He has dedicated himself to his mission, and I don't think we'll ever get to see that same goofball from the earlier volumes.

After some food he decides to question the village elder. This conversation serves as a basic exposition of what they are doing and what happened to Vale City, in case the audience forgot. The actual important part comes at the end, as Jaune explains how he was able to track Pyrrha's location. She still had her scroll when captured, and all Huntsmen scrolls have the ability to send out a signal to be found by their teammates. Pyrrha's phone survived to a certain point, but eventually it was intercepted. Its last signal was recorded nearby, and so Jaune showed it to the old man on his phone map, hoping he might have a clue. He indeed had — apparently there's a watermill there, one that was abandoned for being too far away from the rest of the village.

At long last team JNPR feels like they are getting close. They would depart immediately, but the old man had a gift for Jaune. And so he takes him to the smithy. Jaune thus gains a new shield, made with heavy steel of good quality. He also fixed up a few armor segments he had missing and was offered a new sword, but Jaune decided to keep his old and broken family sword the same way it's always been.

The team proceeds alone into the wild. We get some comedic scenes of Nora failing to understand the map, but also a sweet moment. Jaune acknowledges that following after someone as strong as Cinder is basically suicide, so he offers Ren and Nora once again the chance to turn back. Naturally they are not interested in abandoning neither Jaune nor Pyrrha, considering them literally the only people they can call family in this world.

"We are together on this until the end… brother" Ren said, a nod to volume II.

"You and Pyrrha are like sisters to me! I'm never leaving you behind!" Nora said.

Not too long after that, they finally arrive at the place Pyrrha lost signal. The watermill by the river… was completely destroyed. Pieces of stone and wood were scattered about. The place simply exploded, and signs of burning were everywhere. Still, it didn't make sense — how can a fire happen so spontaneously and so precisely without destroying anything else in the forest? Jaune then flashed the memory of Cinder's powers, and suddenly it all made sense to him. That means she was here not too long ago, but that doesn't clarify what happened. There was no sign of battle, and absolutely no remnants left behind in the rubble. He did manage to find one thing — broken pieces of Pyrrha's scroll phone.

Jaune and Nora started losing hope, but Ren didn't.

There was no way of solving what happened here… but there was a witness. As Ren continued to investigate, he eventually found something up above the tree. It was a bird's nest. He looked up and saw a little pigeon sitting on top of its eggs. He used Tranquility to calm down the animal, and then prayed that it saw something. Without further ado, he used his Semblance to peer into the bird's mind. Its memory was sparse and erratic like most animals. It only remembers moments that it felt threatened by a predator, in order to not repeat mistakes. And it seems that a few nights ago, there were plenty of things to be afraid of.

What we see now are the memories of the bird. Not too long ago the watermill was still intact. One night there was a light inside, and he could see the darkened female silhouette through a window. A gentleman then came from the woods and joined her inside. The bird didn't get a good view of any of their faces, but there was a third person already inside before the gentleman arrived. It was a blond man, leaning against the wall. He was hairy and ugly… and finally, the bird saw Pyrrha.

Just for one instance, it could see that strage blond man dragging her by the hair inside the room. Later they all left the house, and the bird could later see the blond guy again, with a bag of money on his shoulder, as he passed right underneath this tree. The last memory that the bird had was of that same woman in robes. She stood behind and waited for the other two to leave. Then, she blew the fuck out of the house with an explosion that came out of her hands.

…

After learning this information, Ren reconvenes with his team. Pyrrha was still alive seemingly, but he has no leads where she went. He does have a face and a clue. The third person present in the watermill that night came out with a lot of money. He went towards the direction of another village nearby, and so the trio abandons the crumbling house and starts tracking.

And so begins a quick montage of team JNR going from place to place, village to village, getting ever close to finding this guy as he slowly heads out to the extreme north of Vale territory. They don't know who it is, but we the audience who watched volume V will recognize the blond man as being Shay, from the Branwen tribe. Ren would go door to door questioning people about him, and when he found witnesses, he would use his mind powers to look at their memories and confirm it was Shay. He was seemingly trying to spend his huge sum of money on the greatest amount of mindless pleasure possible — food, women, drugs, more women, and other illicit things. They were able to paint a pretty vivid picture of how disgusting he is, mostly from the women who were forced to interact with him in pubs, stores and restaurants. It seems like Shay didn't stop his money spree yet — they were able to track him down to that very day.

.

.

After drinking himself to near death on the best brewery of the countryside, Shay finally decided to head back to the Branwen camp in the north. After learning that information, we suddenly cut to Shay's perspective that morning. He was going at a steady pace across the fields and forests, until he got bored and decided to stop for a smoke break. He made some fire, prepared a nice meal, but luckily he wouldn't be spending his noon all alone.

"Uh, hello!" Nora suddenly said, appearing out of nowhere.

She only carried her bag, and was dressed to look extra adorable. She claimed to be traveling from town to town but got lost, and needed his help. Shay couldn't believe a girl alone could arrive this far into the north without being mauled by a Grimm. They kept going on a back and forth until Shay realized Nora was the dumb, innocent and easily-manipulated type — his personal favorite. He already started getting giddy at the thought of all the fun the two will have while traveling. Nora needed to get him into a false sense of security to disarm him, and it seemed to be working.

However, Shay was much smarter than they expected.

The second Nora allowed her guard down, he suddenly appeared behind her at great speed and put his switchblade to her throat. "You honestly think I'm this stupid? No normal girl is going to get this far into the north, and just happen to bump into me. Well, at least you guys did your homework… I always had a thing for gingers…" Shay said, snuggling into her hair. "Anyway, where's the rest of your squad?"

Suddenly an arrow comes whizzing towards Shay's face at the speed of sound, but he dodges it. Ren appears, and he demands that he lets her go. The two remain at that stand off until Jaune arrives unexpectedly from above, saving Nora and giving her back the hammer, thus starting the fight. I don't have any input on how it's going to go down — it's yet another basic fight at forest scenario, just like most others we've seen so far. Personally we could change the type of trees or even invent new tree designs to make the place cooler than average. The course of the fight is pretty simple; Jaune is being absolutely destroyed as usual, but his Semblance allows him to endure, and thus take the front against Shay. And Shay, despite being low S-tier, is still an S-tier threat, and here we can definitely feel Pyrrha missing from the group. Jaune is struggling really hard to fill her shoes and take the lead of the fight. Though Jaune is willing to take all the damage and make the sacrifices, the fight only ends when someone else steps in to take the heat in his place.

Through teamwork they were able to do one decisive charge at Shay. But Shay wasn't stupid, and planned to retaliate before they could strike him. Ren kept shooting arrows at him while the other two fought up close. But in the end the two were on a bind, so he rushed in with his knuckle blades to protect Nora from Shay's killing blow. He failed to block it, and ended up receiving a slash that almost cut him in two.

His sacrifice wasn't in vain, as he was able to blind Shay by swiping his bloody hand towards the bastard's face. He was stunned long enough for Nora and Jaune to attack him simultaneously with powerful blows filled with anger. Shay was sent flying, but Nora didn't stop — she jumped and kept smashing him with her hammer over and over again. A clear crater was left around Shay's body, and it seems he was knocked out.

The battle was won but there was no cheer this time. They looked in absolute dread at Ren on the ground, bleeding out. He was unconscious and about to die; not even given the simple opportunity to say his final goodbyes. Nora started to cry and sit back without knowing what to do — she only hugged his limp body and called out his name. Jaune tried pulling medical stuff out of his backpack to treat Ren immediately, but whatever he tried, he couldn't fix a slash that almost tore his spine in half. He could feel Ren's Aura dwindling as he tried to stop the bleeding. Jaune was already saying gibberish, begging with all his heart, "Not again… not this again… I'm not… I can't let it happen!"

Jaune was being struck by despair, and once again his secret ability kicked in.

Whenever his friends are in mortal danger, Jaune always was capable of summoning more power and becoming much stronger and faster than usual. It was happening again — his Aura was burning intensely, but it didn't do any good. Most importantly, Jaune was locked in a mental argument. A side of him with the voice of his father was harshly scolding him for what happened to Ren. It's always him and his weakness, putting others in danger and being too weak to kill his enemies. He was a failure, and he deserved to die instead. Meanwhile, a side represented by a voice of his mother told him to keep trying. She tried her best to motivate him despite the sad situation. Jaune wasn't the best warrior, but the ultimate protector. He was born with the power to save lives, not destroy. He had what it takes to save Ren. The side of his mom overpowered his father, and Jaune opened his eyes.

And so… something bizarre began to happen.

Jaune's golden aura started to surround his body, and so he put his hands upon Ren. Nora watched as the golden Aura started leaving Jaune's body, and flow into Ren instead. Somehow, Jaune managed to pass on his Aura and Semblance to someone else, and thus Ren's wounds started to heal themselves lightning fast. His stomach was closing itself rapidly. Eventually… Ren woke up. His eyes were filled with shock, as if he was brought back from hell. The happiness on Nora's face was indescribable, she couldn't even formulate words anymore. Ren looked at his hands and felt an amazing sensation. The excess golden energy was then passed on to Nora as she hugged him, healing her minor injuries as well.

As for Jaune… he simply fell face first to the floor, passing out.

…

He wakes up a day later in a bed — not wounded, but still feeling sleepy from his weakened spirit. Soon, an alive Ren and Nora enter the room and explain to him what happened. Basically Jaune already discovered a new extension of his Semblance, being able to project his Aura onto others and heal them. While he was out, Ren and Nora managed to drag him and Shay into the nearby city of Lillyward.

Just then we meet again with Samson and Dalia, who, despite meeting them yesterday, treat Ren and Nora like their children — offering them juice, cookies and hugs. They were excited to meet Jaune, since they knew Cyrus Arc back in the day, before Jaune was born. They couldn't believe this twinkish blondie was his son, but Jaune surely had a lot of courage and a wonderful Semblance despite looking nothing like his father.

Once Jaune was fully rested and active, they decided to collect their spoils. Samson and Dalia took custody of Shay under their house, in the basement. He was tied by a dozens chains on each limb and was beaten up by Samson in order to keep his Aura low, and thus keep him weak. Shay is still somewhat conscious however, and wastes no time catcalling Dalia, spitting on Samson, and threatening the three meddling brats who captured him.

They wanted info out of him, but naturally he wasn't willing to share anything… right away. Shay had absolutely no qualms about betraying the Branwen, as long as he can work some kind of deal to ensure his own skin. Either he's the biggest piece of shit in the canon universe, or he's completely sure that Raven will bust him out with her teleportation abilities soon enough. Maybe both. Unfortunately for Shay, they had a special someone in here today. A boy with mind powers.

"Hey, didn't I kill you?" Shay asked.

"You tried. You failed. Nothing out of the ordinary." Ren replied.

He walked up to Shay, and slowly placed his hand on his forehead. Shay tried speaking really fast to buy time, but Ren started his Semblance immediately. There was a clear struggle — Shay had enough will to make this a hard task for Ren. I don't know how to create the equivalent of an energy struggle but with mind powers, but that's the visual going on right now. Eventually he manages to break into his mind, and so he can see everything.

...

We take the perspective of Shay on that night on the watermill.

It was dark, but he could see light coming from within, and so he entered. He was immediately met by that woman, sitting ominously behind a round table. She smiled upon seeing him — a creepy smile like she just saw a cute animal. She didn't know him, but talked in the most condescending way possible, just like she did with Roman. Shay explains himself, and says that "the big man" requested his service. There was a dense silence between those two as they waited in the same room, but through inner dialogue we can see that Shay is scared shitless of this woman's presence.

Eventually they hear sounds, and so Shay looks through the window to spot a small ship landing nearby the watermill. It looks like Atlas tech, and so a man in fancy attire walks in. We don't see his upper face yet due to the hood he's wearing. He's a little short, has a mustache and looks pathetically scrawny. His notable wordsmithing immediately marks him as a high class person, making this whole scenario so much weirder. An elite man of Atlas is meeting with a wildland bum and a mass murderer in a watermill.

The man says, "I was watching the tournament from TV… it worked just fine, as I presumed."

"Vale fell, just like we both wanted." Cinder said. "I couldn't have done it without your help. I didn't think it was possible to turn an entire army against itself, with just one… little… virus. You're way more handy than you look."

"Well, being honest, when you offered me the chance to test my product for their real purpose, and pin the blame on that general… how could I ever refuse?" The man said, sitting down with her on the round table.

"Aren't you afraid that a war might ensue?" Cinder asked.

"Hopefully it will. Why should we stop the inevitable if we're ready now? It might be even easier to win now, all things considered." The man said, as cold as Cinder.

After a short silence, those silver eyes dart to Shay, and he recoils a bit. "And who's he supposed to be?"

"Oh- that's my employee. He came here on my behest to work his magic. What brings us to the next talking point… You called this meeting, so that must mean you were able to retrieve what I asked of you."

Cinder giggled. "Clever you… let's say "rescue missions" aren't my thing, but sure… She's upstairs, unconscious, but… I fear she won't give you the opportunity to talk when she wakes up."

"That's where he comes in," the gentleman said, referring to Shay.

"Yeah yeah, I was not paid to listen or ask questions. Let's just get this over with." Shay said, walking towards the stairs. "This might take a while. Awakened warriors are way harder than usual, but I'll manage."

Shay walked to the second floor, where there were no lights. The last room of the corridor had its door open, and it was only being illuminated by the moonlight from the window. There was a heavy chair in the middle of the room, and sitting on top of it was Pyrrha. She was chained to the chair, looked beaten and bloody, and all her armor pieces made of iron were removed. Her long red hair was untied and messy. Overall she looked dead, but still breathing. Shay whistles as he looks her up and down. "What a good find. You're a strong one." he said. "Make this easy for me, will you?"

Shay walked in front of her, and placed his hands on her head.

His Aura started to flare up, and so for the second time we see his Semblance. Tendrils of his own Aura pop out of Shay's fingers and trust themselves into her soul. Pyrrha's Aura starts to flare up in response, and then it starts to crack. Pyrrha instantly wakes and starts screaming in pain. The camera keeps cutting back between the memory and Ren's face, almost as if he's feeling a terrible pain just from witnessing what is being done to Pyrrha. Her screams of pain echoing in the background imply a terrible form of torture.

The gentlemen and Cinder are hearing those screams of pure pain without even flinching. Small pieces of metal start to rise up around the room they were in, but suddenly drop to the floor. After a while the screaming stops, and they start hearing Shay coming down the stairs. He's dragging Pyrrha along by her hair. Her eyes are wide open, but she seems to lack conscience. He lets go of her, and she simply falls on her butt. She's alive, but something is wrong. Shay explains, "Well, she didn't make it easy, but it's done… My Semblance has shattered her soul. She lost all memories and personality that she had, and she should start waking up in a couple of days. In the meantime, we have a problem."

Shay pulled something out of his pocket and threw it on the table. It was Pyrrha's scroll phone. "You forgot to search her, dumbass. The scroll has a tracker, any other huntsman can be following her right now."

The gentlemen and Shay look at Cinder. She raises her hands and shrugs. "Like I said, "rescue missions" aren't my thing. But it doesn't matter, we're done here… But now I was just wondering… why did you make me go through all the trouble of bringing her, just for… whatever that was?"

"Keep your secrets, I'll keep mine." the gentleman said.

Cinder smiles. "fair enough… You should probably leave now. I'll make sure to leave no… evidence… And by the way, professor… Does the name Anima ring a bell to you?"

"I suppose not. It has something to do with me?" he replied.

"I guess not… I'll have to find it on my own then. It was a pleasure working with you… Likely we won't see each other ever again. It will be the best that way. Go on now." Cinder said, with one last smile.

Shay and the gentleman finally go to leave. He grabs Pyrrha by the hair again and tells her to stand up, and so she does. She stood up feebly, as if she never walked before. Her brain seems to have turned into mush — she could barely stand straight. Shay pushed her to walk faster, and she fell on the ground, still with no reaction. The gentlemen offered his hand to Pyrrha, and so they walked outside and left Cinder alone.

They walk to the gentleman's stationed ship, and he sits Pyrrha inside. Shay then continued speaking, "Her soul was stronger than average, I might have done too much damage. Her Semblance will likely not be on the same level it once was."

"As long as she's not in the hands of the enemy, this is already better than what I hoped. Are you sure she will wake up?" The gentleman asks.

"She will develop a new conscience soon enough. You'll know when it happens. From there, she'll start listening to what you say." Shay replies.

"Good" The gentleman finally looks face to face with Shay from under his hood. He is none other than Arthur Watts, the most minor character we introduced in volume V. "A strong, obedient warrior at my command will be the perfect tool from when I claim my rightful place. The nation of Atlas will be thankful."

From there the two part ways, with Watts giving Shay a heavy bag of Lien for him to spend with whatever he wants. He and Watts will keep in contact, since even the outlaw scum, despite his worldviews, still have their use. Watts takes his ship and flies away, ending the memory.

...

Back to the present, Ren coils back after seeing all that information in less than a minute. Jaune and Nora question what he saw, and Ren's only words were:

"… we have to go… to Atlas… NOW!"

They prepare themselves for a long trip on foot, while Samson and Dalia promise to deal with Shay for them, and send him straight to prison in Vale city afterwards. The three then sprint at high speed towards the west. It might take them two or three days to arrive.

And so we get a montage of them on the road, walking, running. exploring, eating, and the climate is slowly turning to cold and mountainous as they go; through day and night. Ren explains to them how he, again, doesn't have a name, but he has a face and a location. Through nothing but logic, he deduced that the man was obviously a high class citizen, given his clothes, sparring money and vehicle. It shouldn't take them long to find him if they search Atlas city thoroughly. Nora hoped that team PCFHR and Weiss could help them search. It would be a piece of cake, they just have to get there alive. But as they enter Atlas territory, the number of Grimm on their way increases. The Grimm here are a bit different from Vale.

Here at the end of this section we will include a short about Jaune.

He stood on watch while Ren and Nora slept in a hidden place. After a while of ensuring the safety of their surroundings, he grabbed his sword and walked away. It's a sweet wordless scene. He goes alone into the woods to practice with his sword. He starts sparring against the air, but soon we realize that he's imagining Pyrrha fighting him. She's telling him how to hold his sword, how to position his foot, and soon enough, through the memory of her instructions, Jaune unleashes a sword slash that causes a gust of wind. His training session is over, but in the end he receives one last memory. The last memory with Pyrrha, as he was almost dying and ready to fight Cinder, she hugged him and thanked him for everything.

"I'm the one who should be thankful…" Jaune says, ending the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): You can't imagine how many problems it caused me to leave Pyrrha alive. But once I thought longingly about it, it was the best decision I've made when it comes to the entire rewrite so far AND going forward. The simple, unchanged fate of Pyrrha's death would reduce Jaune's character to less than nothing, just like it did to the original. Now Jaune has a clear goal, not to kill Cinder, but to rescue Pyrrha at all costs. Team JNR now has a stake in the plot and they are not forced to follow anyone around or stay in one place; it makes the start of their journey more engaging. I don't know if I made it clear earlier, but normally they wouldn't survive this sort of quest on their own; they were given this luxury due to the fact that all Grimm in Vale were slaughtered in the invasion, so the wild lands are mostly clean.

The most notable thing I made up was this little reunion between Cinder, Watts and Shay. The first two no longer have a reason to hang out or be allies, so I had to make this team up have stakes. In the end I also had to create a plot device to make mind control Pyrrha and not make her just a damsel in distress, so I decided to give that role to Shay. I gave him a definitive Semblance for that reason. It's… a little overpowered for a shitty character like him, and it comes out of nowhere, but I wanted a link between the stories happening in the previous volume and this one. Watts is the hardest character to handle because he's a strategic genius, so every single one of his actions need to be justified and linked to his ultimate goal as a character. I can allow ego to blind him, but not act irrationally. Okay let's continue the story.

.

.

.

The second act begins with Jaune, Ren and Nora as they look ahead from the tall cliff, towards the city of Argus in the distance. Nora has a vague memory of this place and the cold climate. Ren notes how this is the first of the only three cities of the Atlas nation. Once they get in, they still need to get through Mantle to arrive at Atlas city. Jaune reveals to them that actually his eldest sister lives here, so they will likely have a place to stay.

Together they head towards the city, but immediately find trouble. Out of nowhere, these weird turrets burrow from the ground and start shooting them. They take cover, and soon manage to take them down. More and more of these automated defenses awaited them as they got closer, so they were forced to run and dodge whatever came their way. Eventually they hit a dead end, as they are faced with the gigantic front wall of the city, that is both fifty meters tall and releases electrical discharge when someone tries to climb it.

"Woah, how convenient!" Nora said. She suddenly takes a hold of the wall and instantly gets a good dose of power, as orange markings cover her body like veins. And so she grabs Ren and Jaune, and prepares for a huge jump. Thanks to her power boost, she's able to jump over the giant wall, and soon the three crash on the other side. Once the dust cleared, Nora got up and raised her hands in joy. "We did it!"

Then... the three hear the sound of a hundred guns being cocked. They look up and see an entire army of soldiers pointing guns straight at them, and so they raised their hands. "Uh, hey everyone… Sorry for the intrusion, but your city defenses must've thought we were Grimm, so we had to run. I hope it wasn't… rude?" Jaune said.

The soldiers kept aiming in silence. Suddenly one of the officers threw them three pairs of Atlas energy handcuffs, and told them to put it on. Jaune explained that they weren't criminals, they just wanted to enter the city, but they were allowed no rights. And so team JNR was arrested.

...

The three were being transported by a closed truck to a different part of the city. On the way, Jaune and Ren discuss what could be the reason for all of this. The defense systems weren't mistaking them as Grimm — they attacked purposefully. Soon they would get all the answers they wanted. They ended up in the big military base of Argus, and were walked out by guards to meet the commander in charge. Everyone spoke so respectively of her — Nora was already thinking of someone big, stoic and strong like Ironwood. Eventually the commander comes out. Jaune watches as two man mountains with funny hats walk out side by side. They look identical, and Jaune had to stare upwards to see them. "Say… which of you two is the commander?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" A voice said, but neither of them spoke. Jaune searched for the one who said it, until he eventually looked down. There she was — the grumpy, proud, short little old lady; Commander Cordovin. "Are you kids blind or something?"

Jaune and Ren looked at each other and held their tongues.

But Nora didn't. "Haha! I didn't expect you to be so short!"

A noticeable vein grew in Cordovin's forehead. "YOU STUPID BRAT, ONE DAY YOU'RE GOING TO GET OLD AND END UP JUST LIKE ME- LET'S SEE WHO LAUGHS THEN!" She shouted comically but then got serious again. "Anyway, who are these?" The officer hushes really quickly in her ear. She continued, "I see. You were trying to infiltrate the city, isn't that right?"

"Hold on! What do you mean infiltrate? We were just trying to get across!" Jaune said.

Cordovin suddenly walks forward and grabs him by the collar, pulling him down to her level. "Listen to me, you blond streetlight cleaner, Argus has officially issued a state of defense against all incoming forces. That being either Grimm, or outsiders like you."

Naturally, after what happened in the tournament, the entire world is ready to put a knife on the throat of Atlas. Cordovin was given express orders to secure the border of their nation and not allow anyone inside. She had no time to be dealing with them, so she ordered her soldiers to put them at the maximum security prison. That would be the end of it, but then Jaune used his brain.

"But miss, we're not looking to attack or anything of sorts, we were just-"

"I don't want to hear it boy. Save it to your roommates on the cell." Cordovin said, turning her back.

"But we… but we…! We were hoping to join your side!" Jaune said.

Suddenly Cordovin stops, and makes a hand motion for the soldiers to bring them back. "Explain yourself, boy."

Jaune puts all his gears to spin while Ren just shrugs and signals for Nora to shut up. "Actually, Miss Cordovin- I mean, ma'am… we were Huntsmen from the academy in Vale city, but the castle was destroyed and we have nowhere else to go. After what we saw in the tournament, we realized that Atlas had superior warriors in every way, and so… we wanted to join the Special Forces academy in order to train here."

Now the gears on Cordovin's brain started to turn. She takes a better look at them and realizes something. She pulls Jaune down again, "Haven't I seen your mug before?" she said. Suddenly memories of watching the tournament from TV resurface in her mind. Now she instantly recognized all their faces. "My goodness, you and her — you are those kids who beat the hell out of those damn brats from Haven!? Hahahaha! How could I forget?!"

"I'm pretty sure I didn't win that fight, ma'am-" Jaune was saying.

"Nevermind that, boy! I can't believe I got the opportunity to have three brats as superb as you three showed yourself to be! Oh, I cannot wait to see the face of that humbug Lieutenant when she sees MY cadets! Hahahaha!" Cordovin said. From this outburst we can get a lot of her personality — she's bossy, annoying and has a big ego to polish.

"Uh, what do you mean with cadets, ma'am?" Jaune asked.

"What do you mean -what do you mean- boy?! You wanna join the Special Forces, you will start from the bottom! All I see now is a bunch of maggots from Vale- actually, you are worse than maggots now! It's gonna take me a lot of work to shape you into soldiers, but you will not regret your decision for coming here! If you three are spies trying to enter our ranks, then I suggest you say it now, because from now on, life in jail will be paradise compared to what comes next for you. After I'm done with you three, only then can you join the Ace-Ops. Am I clear?!" Cordovin said. They didn't say anything, so she repeated, "AM I CLEAR?!"

"Yes, ma'am!" the three repeated.

Cordovin then pointed her fingers like a gun at them and said, "BANG! BANG!… and bang… Whoever you three used to be, they are dead! Now, blondie, you are 01, you with the pink highlight, you're 02, and you, ginger airhead, you're 03. Welcome to the worst year of your lives."

Nora suddenly laughed. "Ahahaha! Woah, she's just like Glynda except she is not strong at all!" she said, speaking as if Cordovin isn't right there, and leaving Jaune and Ren with shocked expressions.

Cordovin walked forward. "03! Down here!"

Nora leaned down. "What?"

"… We are going to get along really well, you and I." Cordovin said.

"Really?!" Nora replied excitedly.

"You bet."

...

I know I'm running out of excuses, but what follows is another montage.

I really don't have anything meaningful to fill these parts with. We can use one episode to go into detail about their training. Basically the three are given new clothes and put through the ringer to test their abilities… mostly with cleaning duties. Nora noticeably always gets the much harsher work. Cordovin is drilling them to test their spirits and ability to remain calm, but she clearly overestimates how good of a master she is. Over the days and weeks, they are slowly but surely being engrossed by her. The three sleep in barrack bunk beds that barely have any room. They wake up early and go to bed late. The food is nasty, their other belongings were confiscated, and Cordovin is one massive douche overall.

Their new Atlas outfits are made to be extremely similar to the uniforms that team PCFHR uses, mostly being white and blue, with a small taint of their character colors. Some of the duties they perform on this montage include cleaning, carrying heavy stuff, learning how to fix and assemble heavy machinery, watching over the city gate, and much more. They are not getting that much stronger, since they are doing mostly chores, but thanks to Cordovin, they do receive an upgrade. She eventually notices how backwards their weapons are, and so she decides to give an Atlas spin to each of them. And thus, we arrive at the final version of each weapon for team JNPR.

Jaune kept his shattered sword, but his new awesome hylian shield was upgraded with Atlas tech, and has the power to absorb the punch of an attack better by using some kind of spring mechanism to bounce them away. He was also given some cool Captain America bracelet that automatically calls the shield back to his hand using magnetic pull, and he can also use it on his sword.

Ren received the best upgrade. So far he only used his bladed iron knuckles along with his bow and arrows to fight. Now he has been given his iconic green TEC-9 guns with the attached blades at the end (the ones he had since the beginning in the original series). He refused to change his father's bow, but he was given special arrows, just like Robin has, that have many utilities and super powers on their own. Basically, Ren is fucking back.

Nora received an upgrade that put her on par with her original counterpart. Her hammer was upgraded with a blast and propulsion charge that allows her to instantly pick up motion and speed with her strikes without the need to wind up. She can also use the propulsion to fly and jump long distances. However, she still doesn't have her grenade launcher mode. In exchange, her hammer WILL explode if it hits something or someone with enough power.

And so, they had no option but to stay in Argus for a while, until they had the opportunity to search for Pyrrha. But they weren't allowed such pleasure in an awful long time. Effectively three weeks of time has passed. Now Jaune's story is more or less back at the same time frame as team RWBY's story.

Commentary (spoilers): This is a much, much different volume 6, but I still found a way to use Cordovin and her comedic peculiarity in this story. I said it once, I don't plan to throw any other character away for no reason. Also, bringing back the character's original gear with this Batman & Robin shit is one of the best ideas I ever had. I wanted to do these upgrades for the tournament originally, but then I realized most of the characters still didn't have the resources or the knowledge to craft such weaponry. Pyrrha, Ruby and Coco are allowed to have guns fused on their weapons because of their specific traits; Pyrrha is naturally from Argus, Ruby is a battle-loving maniac who would only accept the best weapon for herself, and Coco is rich and stylish and she hates getting her hands dirty up close. With this upgrade, all that changes for team JNPR is that we can allow our characters to fight differently and pull new tricks despite having Semblances that are boring or worthless in combat. It's an upgrade to their fight scenes and not their characters, so to speak.

.

.

.

There's a small story that I would like to cover, during their time actually being in the city. Cordovin allowed them to work a basic policing job, so Jaune was forced to flip stop signs and clean the streets with Ren and Nora. It was boring. A long time had passed, and they still don't have any clue on where to find Pyrrha or the gentleman. After being hassled by every hot milf in town, Jaune gets distracted and almost causes a car crash. Thankfully he is able to use his super strength to stop the collision. The other car drove away, but the person he saved left their vehicle to start bad mouthing him — a dark-skinned petite lady with glasses.

"Are you freaking out of your mind?! Is the army really that pathetic that they can't even wave a sign around?! Honestly I can't wait for those androids to take over — you deserve to lose your job!" She said, putting her finger on his chest despite him being a whole foot taller than her.

"Terra, just calm down, we're fine-!" said a smoking hot blond lady in white and orange who left the car from the right seat. Suddenly, she and Jaune locked eyes — the same blue eyes, same perfect face, and same blond hair.

"… Jaunny?"

"…Pheephee?"

The two recognized each other, and Jaune quickly went for a hug, lifting the woman off the ground as she giggled. Ren, Nora and the other lady were looking back and forth until Jaune put her down, and explained this was his oldest sister, Saphron Arc.

Jaune and her have a quick talk about what he is doing here, and he mostly lies about his real quest to not worry her. Unfortunately, his lies convinced Saphron to literally kidnap Jaune and his friends in their car in order to take them home and have dinner. The woman driving her was named Terra Cotta, and she really, REALLY dislikes the three of them already. She comes off as angry and confrontational, and she only listens to Saphron's soft-spoken tone.

As they drive home we can get a good look at Argus outside of the huge military complex. It's a city covered in snow, but its design is still different from the previous two. Atlas is rich and futuristic, Mantle is poor and littered, and Argus has a strict design philosophy. The city resembles very much any country in a war state, with soldiers and cameras at every corner. People walk together in lines like cattle. The strict rules of this place are explained by Saphron, while Terra suffers from severe road rage in the background. Eventually they arrive home, which looks just like any other, since this is pretty much the ghetto of the city. They head inside, so Saphron prepares them some tea while Terra went to scream at the babysitter who was sleeping on the couch, and promptly toss her out the house with a kick. "Bring your parents here if you want you money, we're going to have a nice talk!" she said, slamming the door.

Apparently Terra had a four year-old son, and she was very protective of him. Eventually everyone sits down in the living room with Saphron, while Terra went upstairs, grabbed her son Adrian, and started feeding him porridge or something. He looked pretty smart, but he didn't say anything. Now that they are here, suddenly Ren and Nora get interested in the whole deal of Jaune having six sisters. Saphron tells about each of them in a small animated segment that showcases their designs.

First you have Saphron Arc. Beautiful, long hair, blue eyes like all the rest, and an incredibly sweet woman. She was essentially a second mom to Jaune, as well as all of their siblings. She came to the big city of Argus looking for a job and study. She eventually met Terra, who works in the same department of the communications tower duties. After they got to know each other, they decided to live together and save money. Their relationship is obviously more than roommates. She's seven years older than Jaune, being 25.

Second you have Chloe Arc. The second eldest was much different than the first — Chloe knew the legends of her family and dedicated her life to becoming a warrior like her father. Cyrus however refused to train a woman to fight or pass on the family duty to her, so she picked up her stuff and left home to go learn from other Huntsmen in other villages. To this day she still works as an unregistered Huntress in the small villages and wild zones of the countryside. Her poor relationship with her father led her to stray away from home early, so they don't talk much anymore. Her design is that of a completely armored lady in green and white, who covers her face with a greek helmet. Her long blond hair is still very noticeable from her back. Her weapon is a double-bladed sword. She's five years older than Jaune, being 23.

The third oldest is Celeste Arc, the genius of the family. The girl was stuck to books most of her life, wasting no time on making friends or being happy in general, and thanks to that she developed quite the vast array of ideas and knowledge. She passed various tests from all corners of Vale, and earned many certificates despite not attending specialized schooling. She could easily land a job at the research and development of Atlas City, but instead she chose to move into Haven and make an effort to modernize the nation's technology. So far she is one of the few people in the nation with the title of scientist. She dresses simply with a cyan sweater underneath her white lab coat, and she also uses comically big glasses. She doesn't seem to be as attractive as all her other sisters, at least not in those clothes. She is four years older than Jaune, being 22.

The middle sisters are the two twins, Alya and Azure Arc. Lilly and Zuzu, the two goofballs were complete jokesters who won at life with their entertainment gigs. They started off small across the countryside, and eventually became qualified actresses and play both serious and comedic roles in theaters shows all across the world — for the high nobility of Atlas, Vale or even Haven city. They were the ones who teased and annoyed Jaune the most growing up, and though they don't speak as often anymore, the family knows about all their exploits from the newspapers. Both dress extremely similar in short, provocative dark blue dresses and skirts, being separated only by the direction of their pigtails and the slightly brighter tone of dark blue that Alya often wears. They are three years older than Jaune, both at the age of 21.

The second youngest to Jaune is Violet Arc. There's nothing much to say of her. She's just a young girl who really loves her family. When everyone left, she's the only one who remained in the town of Charlot to take care of their father, since he's bound to a wheelchair. She works in basic farm duties from the small farm of the village, and is the cutie pie of the family. She wears a basic purple and white dress, her hair is much shorter than her others sisters, not to mention is darker to. She's two year older than Jaune, but somehow appears way younger and smaller, being a 20 year old.

Jaune was the last kid of the Arc family, as their father Cyrus always just wanted one boy, so all the first six girls are... happy accidents, in a way. Jaune started off way different in his childhood, he wore dresses, played with dolls and was adorable. But then he went through training and now is a strong, pretty and reliable young adult, at the age of 18. All the family has many portraits of how they look like now, but their only family photo was when everyone was on the home couch while in their childhood. And thus ends the section.

Eventually the conversation goes back to Jaune and his friends. Now Saphron wanted to know how the youngest was doing since leaving home, and… man, what a horrible month it has been. Jaune didn't tell them all the details, but he did explain the massive invasion that nearly made Vale fall. The worst part was that Saphron and Terra, just like most people in Argus, were kept purposefully in the dark about what happened in order to not lift a protest or make citizens fear for their safety. Terra and Saphron worked in communications, so when Vale suddenly stopped sending signals for two weeks, they feared something much worse than maintenance error happened, and they were right. They were ordered to keep their mouths shut about it and continue working. Saphron immediately went to inspect Jaune if he was okay, but… he wasn't.

Not even Ren and Nora were keen to this fact, since Jaune has been hiding it this whole time under his sleeve. His shield arm was immensely messed up — a burning scar that was big enough to swallow his entire arm and some of his chest was carved in him, given by the attack that he blocked from Cinder. It horrified Saphron and drove her to tears, but Jaune affirms that it is nothing but a scar. He went through a lot, but these simple wounds mean nothing to the great loss that others suffered that day. He simply rolled his sleeve down and put back his glove.

Not too long after that, we cut to them having dinner. Ren and Nora showed themselves to be surprisingly good with kids as they played with Adrian, so Terra eventually eases up to them. After that, Jaune and Saphron have an argument about his so-called "destiny" and his own disregard for his own safety. She tried to convince him to quit his life as a warrior — he had already suffered too much at such young age. He doesn't have to torture himself forever, just because of what their father wanted of him. Her speech makes Jaune feel conflicted. He decides to take a walk outside while the sunset is still out, leaving everyone in the house. Saphron still treated him with the impression that he was the same weak kid he once was, and it pissed him off.

He walks through the streets and keeps dozing off about what his sister said, and she was kind of right. Jaune simply sees no value in his life at all. The only way that he can give it value is by sacrificing it to someone else. Otherwise, he feels no sorry for himself. He doesn't allow himself to think or be emotional anymore. He struggles to remember that there are people who love him, and those same people will not shrug his own suffering as easily as he does. But Jaune can't back away now. He can't get Pyrrha out of his head.

He wonders if he would go this far for anyone… Or is it because he is in love with her?

…

In his long inner monologue, Jaune ends up in some sort of park, and up ahead was a coliseum. It wasn't as big as the one from the Vytal festival, and it was made of stone. It seemed empty, but he went to inspect it anyway. Outside there was this hall with a bunch of photographs of people, going in for dozens of decades. Those were the winners of the Argus Tournament for the last hundred years. Among all those drab, sinister, strong, and old warriors… one red portrait stuck out to Jaune. He could recognize that bright red hair anywhere. He found the photo of Pyrrha, when she won the tournament at the age of 15.

She was so terrified of being photographed that it looked funny — her eyes darted to the side, and her mouth had a forced smile. It made her quite famous, to be the youngest winner of the tournament since its foundation. It didn't surprise Jaune, since Weiss told him about this long ago. He caresses the photograph with the tip of his fingers, but he eventually is interrupted.

"It's surprising, isn't it?" a woman with red hair appears behind him and walks to his side. "When she fought against all tall and buffed grown men, with their big swords and shields… She looked like she could take on anything. But when the day came to take this photo, we could barely drag her out of her room from how scared she was… And now this is the only thing I get to see of her in person."

It took Jaune absolutely no hint to understand this is Pyrrha's mom. He said, "I saw her competing at the finals of the Vytal tournament… Maybe she changed."

"I know she did." Miss Nikos replied. "I know she is much better now. She's stronger, faster… but most important, I think she found people that like her… She wouldn't have stayed there for long if she didn't… The final of the tournament was never transmitted here. I didn't care if she won or not, I just wanted to know if she's… okay."

After a short silence, Jaune said, "If she really found people that like her… then I'm sure those people will make sure that she's okay, no matter what… I'm sure of it."

The woman looked at Jaune one last time before walking away. She said, "Thank you."

Jaune didn't feel like telling her about the terrible fate Pyrrha was bestowed, because it didn't matter. He was going to fix it, no matter what. He stood there looking for a long while, but eventually the episode had to end. And it had to end with a hook. Jaune starts hearing his name being called, and he turns around to see Ren and Nora running towards him. "What's wrong?"

Ren shows him his scroll phone, and there it was the breaking news of that night. Weiss Schnee was being hunted — accused of the attempted murder of her own father, not more than an hour ago. Jaune's face is taken by surprise, and so the episode ends.

Commentary (spoilers): Yeah the episode starts light hearted and funny, but the ending hits a little hard. This is the first time Jaune starts to doubt himself; for the first time he abandons his willful and optimistic ignorance, but he does so only to showcase how great it truly is. He is not a one-dimensional character who just goes ahead and does the right thing every time; he needs a moment to ponder on his current misery. Once he realizes the odds, but decides to go ahead anyway, it proves the strength of his character. I also decided to include that same scene from the original volume 6 right here, because I think it's a nice moment; I just reworked the context and the worldbuilding. Also, I will put here some small note just in case I never touch on it again, but the tournament of Argus is essentially a special regional tournament that Atlas made up for itself, since they were not welcomed to the Vytal festival between Vale and Haven for the last hundreds of years. I also decided to go ahead and give names and characters to all of Jaune's sisters, since they didn't bother in the original series. All I had to base on was that one concept art of the family photo that you can find on the wiki. The least they will be are cleverly positioned background characters, while at best they will have a small presence in the plot as a passing side character like Saphron here.

Now, you might be wondering, "Harmonica you homophone, what's up with them being roommates and not a married couple?" Well, if you read this far, you know my preference for active storytelling rather than passive storytelling. It's better to be told a story than to be told a story exists; that's my mantra. So instead of making them be lesbians lovers off screen, I much rather start their relationship more ambiguously until it eventually becomes a romance, even if it is something useless to the plot like this case. If I simply come and say they are a married gay couple, I win nothing, and neither does the audience. I'm just collecting "gay points". For that reason (since I have a main plot to take care of) I would like to include two or three minisodes to show how Saphron and Terra are the perfect couple for each other. I went so far as to give Terra a new personality and a small backstory. She flirted with the wrong guy, became a single mom, and by pure luck she met this angel who offered herself to take care of her own son better than she did, and eventually the two developed feelings as they tried to take care of a child together. I want to be subtle, but I still want to achieve the same thing as the original.

Also also, before I forget, I just want to stablish the age of all characters, when we first met them in volume I. Ruby and Weiss were 16, but Blake and Yang were both 18 (oldest being Yang). Jaune, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora were all 17. Cardin is 18, Sky and Russel are 17, and Dove is 16 (the second youngest of the whole class). As for team CVFY, Velvet was 18, Coco and Yatsu are 19, and Fox was 20 (note that they entered the academy the year prior). Considering that volume I-III is equivalent to one full year, all the characters have aged accordingly. I rather not tell the age of old characters because I'm horrible at keeping track of timeline, and a lot of important things happened in their past, so I rather not squander it.

.

.

.

Next episode picks up some time later.

The three cadets were on watch duty around the border between Argus and Mantle, in case the wanted enhanced fugitive Weiss decides to show up. They have been stationed by the wall for almost a full week, and are pulling scopes every once in a while just to meet quota since nothing happened yet. Nora discusses how they knew Weiss disliked her family, but they didn't know she disliked them so much. Jaune recounts his memory of how Weiss was dragged away from Vale after the invasion. Once Ironwood's dreadnought was fixed enough, they were ordered to remove themselves from the city before they were considered outlaws. Jaune vividly remembers Winter pullinh her by the wrist as they entered the ship, and she looked back at them with despair and tears of anger and grief. After all Jaune has no idea if she did it or not, but now he has to believe she is innocent. They are friends after all.

The real action of this scene starts soon enough. It is made clear how most of the Huntsmen of the nation were put on the search for Weiss (since they don't have that many), and that ends up causing a problem. The three cities are connected by a long train route, and they are supposed to be scouted by a Huntsman even if there's no sign of Grimm. The conductor was convinced that the train's defense turrets could take out whatever, even if they bumped into the monsters. He got the train running to not delay his money making, and naturally it was a bad call. Turns out that the turrets were absolute crap. Grimm smelled that the humans were completely unprotected, so they jumped out of the shadows to attack the train. They easily destroyed the defenses, and an emergency call was quickly sent to the army.

Team JNR was at the town wall when it happened, so they take an army jeep and drive into the tracks. They cut the way through the snowy mountains and manage to arrive in time. They toss out the jeep and fight atop the moving train, as it rushes by the side of the mountain and through the blizzard. This is simply a mind-numbing action sequence to showcase their new weapons. They save some people, kill a new species of Grimm that is common to Atlas, and in the end they manage to take down all the Grimm and escape.

The train arrives safely at Argus, and the new cadet trio are hailed as heroes as they rightfully should. Cordovin quickly arrives at the scene to milk some of that glory to herself by claiming she's the one who assembled and trained them. This scene doesn't matter much on its own, it's more of a setup for Cordovin to think more highly of them, in order to reach the next scene.

...

The three get easily promoted and start to hang out with more important people. Naturally they get invited to a fancy party so then the Atlesian elite can suck off a bit of popularity by posing among them. Cordovin does her best to get them dressed up and be polite. Now that she's among other people of the elite, she's like a cowardly little dog wanting a bit of recognition. And well, you must know where this is going. Eventually they have to meet with him. Just when we thought this was going in a filler direction, we kicked right into the plot.

"Hey-hey-hey! You three! I want you to meet someone!" Cordovin said, making the three turn around. The camera goes from his nice shoes to his perfect mustache. "This is Doctor Watts, head of the Research & Development lab of Atlas, and dashing council member."

Jaune and Nora looked at him and smiled with plain ignorance and fake excitement, but Ren… Ren's eyes were wide open for a moment, and no one noticed. The room around the two grew darker than night, and so he could only see Watts standing in front of him. His gaze quickly turned into a profound look of anger — eyes that can cut you from a glance. Watts uses clever words to pretty much mock Jaune and Nora for their appearance without them realizing. He explains that he will be in Argus for a while, in order to test out his new prototype for an energy shield that should replace the basic wall in case of invasion. Motherfucker figured out tangible holograms powered by Dust apparently.

Finally he looked at Ren, and he noticed his threatening face.

"And you, my boy… you seem natural of Haven to me. Tell me, is this your first time shaking hands? You can bow to me if you want — I heard that's their preference." Watts said, giving his hand to Ren, but he just kept staring with those dagger eyes. Eventually Ren realizes he needs to pass for now, and so he grabs Watts' hand and gives a very threatening squeeze. Watts raised one eyebrow, but shrugged it off for now. After looking on their faces one final time, he excuses himself.

Once the three are left alone, they notice Ren'ss gaze and ask, "What's wrong, Ren?"

"… It's him." Ren said.

Jaune and Nora immediately looked back, and realized this man fits Ren's description perfectly. Their eyes suddenly turn wild, but then Ren holds them by the shoulders and speaks telepathically to them. "I would've killed him right now if it was the right call. But we have… nothing. We don't know where Pyrrha is, and our word is not enough to incriminate him of anything. Calm down… We'll think of something else.

The man responsible for the hacking of the android army, and the kidnapping of Pyrrha… is Arthur Watts!"

…

After that we cut to night time.

The three are back in their personal barrack, and they are wondering what to do. While Jaune and Nora discuss their possible reckless plan of kidnapping Watts and forcing him to talk, Ren is changing himself in the back. By the end they looked at him, and they realized he turned into an unrecognizable ninja — covered in black and dark green tights, with his hair tied. Ren told them to stay in base and cover for him, since they don't have the skills to accompany him on this mission. He will search Watt's apartment for any clue he can, and possibly extort answers from him.

And so Ren goes out into the night, jumping through the rooftops and evading the light of the moon. It was stated clearly how Argus has a curfew hour for all citizens, so he had to sneak away from soldiers and advanced camera technology. Watts' room was at the top of the expensive hotel tower, so Ren had to do some ninja shit with his father's bow and rope in order to scale the tower from the outside. From then it's a very tense scene, because Watts is still awake. Ren sneaks inside the room and has to make absolutely no alarm, being five steps away from Watts at all times. Eventually he manages to hide in the closet without him knowing, and he can only listen from there.

Watts seems to be upset — he's checking the clock constantly and keeps on looking through the window. Ren can sense his emotions despite not touching him, and even hear whispers about what's going on in his mind. He's upset that someone is late. Eventually room service knocks at his door to bring his dinner. The maid woman asks if there's anything else he wants, and so Watts tells her to send all his security away for the night — it annoys him to have his room surrounded by them. The girl says that he's currently being kept under surveillance for his own good, considering what happened to the other council members. Watts tells her to do it anyway, and so she leaves.

Watts starts eating at his fancy table, until eventually Ren had enough waiting. All the guards had long left the building. He sneaks behind Watts, makes a sound for him to turn around, and as he does so, Ren unleashes a lightning fast jab that barely grazes his chin, but it instantly knocks him out. Watts falls with his face on the mashed potatoes. Ren turns around to look at his stuff, but doesn't realize that Watts' watch changed. It turns red a few moments after he's knocked unconscious.

Ren now searches the room alone. He finds some notes on the desk, but they are mostly about the new shield engine he is working on. The true cake must be inside his computer. There was a security measure that needed his face and fingerprint recognition, and so Ren comically carries his limp body over to unlock the computer, and then throws him aside again. Watt's computer had his most personal things, and most of them are still about work. He reads it all lightning fast, but can't find a single mention to Pyrrha or even her general appearance. He did find a few mentions… about a subject.

Watts didn't have a diary, but he liked to keep his projects recorded. One of these analyses the growth process of a subject who, as he stated, quickly developed strength and abilities related to muscle memory. The subject was quickly developing a questionable attitude, so Watts was forced to submit this subject for an extended period of "digital education". Eventually the subject became fully subservient, but it failed to imitate its "original characteristic" as expected. After fifteen days, the subject was already fit to begin project COANTR221. Ren searched the files for something of that name, and soon found it hidden away from everything.

The project didn't actually detail anything weird, it simply listed seven people who are members of the Council of Atlas — the ones who rule everything within the nation. Watts is the only one missing from the list, as he is a council member as head of R&D department. The first two names on the document were two old people, owners of big companies that were essential to Atlas. Their files also detailed something bizarre. It foretold their routine on a specific day, not too long ago. At the very end of their sections, the first two were declared… "mission complete". Just then, Ren realized that he had seen those names before.

He quickly searched the room again for a newspaper, and soon found it. The hot news was still about Jacques Schnee's attempted murder, but at the end of the column, it made a note how two previous members of the council died mysteriously that last week, and police are starting to suspect that these assassinations are somewhat linked — and thus, all other council members are being kept under surveillance.

The names on the newspaper were a perfect match with the two council members in Watt's project. They were dead. And now that Ren looks again… Jacques Schnee was the third name on the list, who is yet another council member. Ren continued searching through the news until he found out another important thing. The current head of the Council of Atlas has considered stepping down due to extreme old age, and someone has to take his place for the next ten years. The people from Atlas City are meant to vote on the possible candidates of the council for the position… including, Arthur Watts.

Ren's gear starts spinning faster than ever. The memories he absorbed from Shay came back to him, and he remembered what Watts said, "A strong warrior at my command will be the perfect tool from when I claim my rightful place."

He figured.

Watts wants to kill all the competition, and thus become the only option for head of the council. He is using a mind-controlled Pyrrha to kill his political opponents. Weiss was likely framed as she failed to kill Jacques. If they want a chance to catch her, he needed to know the next victim. Ren rushed back to the computer and scrolled down until he found it. The next target… is James Ironwood. He will be arriving in Argus tomorrow for border defense inspection.

And just as Ren discovers the plot, the plot discovers him.

Suddenly Watt's door is kicked open, as the entire force was alarmed by his smart watch minutes ago. They immediately open fire on Ren with Dust bullets. He jumps out the window, but gets scrapped in his arms and legs. After a short free fall, he lands on the rooftops and so the chase ensues. This is much harder to evade than Weiss's escape was, because Argus is simply way more secured than Atlas City was. He gets attacked by soldiers and androids alike, but he doesn't wish to hurt any of them, so he just runs. He gets absolutely fucked up with the entire city on his tail, being shot a couple of times and with blood quickly slipping down his legs. At this rate he won't even arrive back at base.

The chase sequence eventually ends when he arrives at the ghetto of Argus, and without the strength to continue running, he finds refuge by jumping inside the window of Terra's house. He landed in Adrian's room. The little boy doesn't say a word or scream — he can see Ren is much more scared than he is. Ren then drops to the floor and passes out. Terra quickly arrives with a shotgun, but then sees Ren on the floor and calls Saphron to help hide him under the floorboards. The police arrived at their house at the second that Saphron finished cleaning the blood. They get questioned, but both are horrible liars. It's Adrian who comes to save them, using his fake childish ignorance to convince the soldiers that Ren went somewhere leave, and so the little family is allowed to rest.

Ren is unconscious, heavily wounded, and only he knows the truth about what's going to happen.

What a hook to end the episode with.

.

.

.

The final act of this story would pick up right after that, somewhere else.

Watts was rescued and kept safe in some kind of army facility, but it seems like Ren didn't hurt him at all. He tells the guard to leave him alone and search the thief everywhere. No one knows what he might have stolen from his laptop. The second they leave, Watts already starts pinpointing the facts.

He monologues loudly (and alone) about how it could only have been one of those three kids he met that morning. Watts then presses a button on his smart watch, which creates a hologram in front of him. It showed him a recorded video of the Vytal tournament a month ago. The footage he saw were of Nora, Ren and Jaune. After that weird encounter at the party, he immediately started to check their background. He knew that he had seen their faces before — those three belonged to team JNPR, which is the team Pyrrha came from. Though it was completely, absurdly impossible that they have figured out all that happened, there's simply no way these three are here by coincidence either. Questions were racing through his head, but one thing was certain. He has to take them down.

Suddenly Watts feels a tremor coming from the wall right next to him.

It was making a horrible sound — the minuscule intersection in the wall of metal was slowly opening up to the outside. Soon Watts could see a silhouette from behind the hole, and so she entered the room with him. He didn't seem surprised by this bizarre entrance. The metal wall behind her quickly unfolded back to its original state as if nothing happened. It was the iron maiden, but she covered her whole head with a paperbag, since her helmet was destroyed.

"You're late." Watts said.

"Forgive me… father…" Pyrrha replied. Watts pulled off her cover and saw her face. She looked beaten and bruised, but remained expressionless and with empty eyes. "Your plan worked… but she had… company... I couldn't win... and they saw my face."

"I know, you idiot!" Watts shouted at her face. "Weiss Schnee is alive and was proclaimed innocent! You allowed yourself to be seen by cameras, and now the authorities are aware of you! A failure! A failure — that's what you are! None of this would've happened if you had not failed to kill her that night!"

"Forgive me…"

"HMPH!… Never mind. Last night I was attacked, and the authorities also suspect it was you. It is best that everyone thinks we're against each other, so they won't suspect a thing from me then. Since you were found, that forces me to act a different approach. Thankfully, I already thought about this possibility long ago. The plan is simple: Everyone is in fear of you, in fear of this assassin who threatens the stability of our nation by murdering our leaders. If I lead a personal investigation and eventually capture you – using my android masterpieces, of course – it would make me quite popular, and increase the demand for my androids to take over. I'm sure that will be more than enough to elect me as head of the council… But I still need one more thing from you."

Watts pressed a few buttons in his smart watch until a holographic picture of Ironwood appeared. "James Ironwood… This man is… a thorn. Always voting against my bills and ideas — always with his dangerous trust in the other nations! He controls the army and I can't have someone like him opposing me when I take over. He will not accept my leadership. I trust that he will be an infinitely easier target for you than anyone else."

"Father… my body is wrong… it hurts… there are grazes, and cuts… I feel something warm sliding down… and a strange feeling eats me from the inside." Pyrrha said, pointing at different parts of her body. We couldn't see her wounds due to the armor, but it was clearly smashed and dented in a few places. Maria gave her a savage beatdown. Finally she says, "I… I don't want to do this anymore."

"What?!" Watts said, suddenly holding her hand. "Please my dear, it's just this last time. You'll never have to worry about it ever again. You'll be free when we're done. You can do whatever you wish, and I'll give anything you ask of me. It would make me so happy. Don't you want to make your father happy?"

"I… I do… if father is happy… then I'm happy." Pyrrha said, kneeling before him. "I will do it… I promise… I won't fail this time."

"Good, good… Just one more thing." Watts said, then pulled up his photos of Ren, Jaune and Nora again. "You see these people? Do they seem familiar to you?"

Pyrrha looked at them deeply for a long while. "No… I don't think so."

"They are also thorns. These three hate you. They tell lies. You can't believe what they say. If they cross your way, I order you to kill them as well. It's for your own good, do you understand?" Watts said.

"Yes… I understand." Pyrrha said, abruptly ending the scene.

...

We cut straight to Jaune, as he looks into the morning skies. He can feel something different — he tells Nora that there's a familiar presence somewhere. If Watts is here, then probably Pyrrha isn't too far away. Nora is very worried, because Ren didn't show up last night or even now. They heard of the situation with Watts, and if that culprit is Ren, they have to find him before anyone else does. Just then Cordovin arrives.

"01, 03, have you finished cleaning my office?!"

"Yes ma'am!" Jaune said.

"Good! I want to inform you that general Ironwood will be arriving in the city for a quick inspection of the current strength of our border. Make a good impression on him and you might be on your way to the Ace-Ops, ya hear? Now that you're done, I want you to join the search for the insurgent assassin who is hiding in the city."

"What? You mean Weiss?" Nora asked.

"Hmph! That Schnee princess is yesterday news — daddy's money probably wrote her off the books. Now the target is this "metal ninja" who has been targeting the council members of our nation. Last night it tried to kill Doctor Watts, so it might still be the city. Grab 02 and go search the East District, and watch your backs. By the way, where is he? Haven't seen him since yesterday."

"H-he's in the bathroom, ma'am!" Jaune lied.

"Whatever. You three have no time to waste. I hope to hear good news!"

And so right after that, Jaune and Nora left to start searching the city. They had no idea where Ren could've gone, and the other officers didn't give him any clue. But on their search, he and Nora bumped into someone they weren't expecting. Just as they turn around, they see Penny standing behind them with a smile.

"Hi Jaune! You look good in uniform!"

They were shocked to see her, but she explains that fixing her was as easy as silver tape and gum. Nora immediately hugs her with all her strength, almost tearing her apart a second time. She wanted to know what brought them to Argus, but it's a long story. They questioned her about this assassin hidden and town, and asked if she knew anything. Apparently team PCFHR was across Argus searching for her as well, right after that crisis in the mines of Mantle yesterday. Penny essentially told them all she knew about Weiss's story, and what this iron maiden was capable of. And as she explained, Jaune started to realize something.

With everything that he knows, plus all this new information he has been told now, he is able to figure out that the iron maiden, this ninja who did all this, is Pyrrha. He begs that Penny tells her team to not kill the maiden if they fight. Penny is a literal year behind the plot, but she trusted Weiss once, and can naturally trust Jaune here. He and Nora started running around, because the situation just got a lot more dire than he realizes.

…

Not too long after Jaune and Nora were dispatched from the base, Ironwood arrived in a fancy airship and met Cordovin. If she was like a little puppy begging for attention in the gala party, when it comes to Ironwood she becomes the biggest bootlicker in the world — what visibly annoys him. Cordovin was glad that Winter wasn't with him. She considers her a pampered little psycho who got to her position through her famous surname. But considering how pathetic of a leader Cordovin is, this might apply to her too. Ironwood explains to her what happened to Winter in the battle of the mines. If the Iron Maiden was capable of defeating her in combat, then he fears their current Ace-Ops forces on the city won't be enough to take her down. Cordovin insists that he's exaggerating, so she tells him to wait while they conclude the investigation.

And from a far… an ominous silhouette watches from high above in the clouds. Pyrrha could achieve flight by using her own powers to levitate the metal armor she wears, and so she is able to easily enter the complex. This fight would be an absolute cake walk.

…

At the same time, Jaune and Nora were running left and right, looking for both Ren or the maiden. "Wait, which of them are we after first?" Nora asked.

"Ren wouldn't get caught without discovering anything. If we find him, maybe we can get a clue where she is." Jaune said.

But just then, the clue called out to him directly. "Jaunny!" Saphron said from across the street. The two met up, and so she spoke very quietly so then the soldiers or cameras wouldn't pick them. She said, "you're friend is okay, but he's not good to go out yet. He had to tell you that… You need to go find general Ironwood. Right now!"

Jaune didn't have to think much about it before he and Nora bolted back to base. But by then it had already begun.

Ironwood was left alone in Cordovin's office room. He was just reading papers and checking his scroll phone until he realized something was wrong. He was sharp enough to detect killing intent in a nearby Aura, and so he was able to react. That iconic iron pike came bursting through the door at absurd speed, and he was able to dodge as it scraped his metal shoulder. The iron maiden politely enters the room and closes the door behind her.

Ironwood gets up and questions who she is, but the maiden doesn't speak. She continues walking forward, so Ironwood attacks. However, his iron punch that tears through the skulls of Grimm... was easily stopped by a hand gesture. From there she easily destroys Ironwood in a fight, given that she controls metal, and half of his body is stuck to one giant carcass of cyborg stuff. She goes so far as to tear his arm apart and use it to hit himself in the face. All the bullets that he shot from his magnum were countered back at him. Not only that, but the entire base was being used against him — the walls, the roof, the floor and the guns laying around. Soon the two burst through the wall and continue fighting in the outside cortyard, and she starts tossing heavy cars and ships into Ironwood. He was being humbled pretty hard. Other soldiers tried to intervene but the iron maiden quickly disarmed them by crushing their weapons. She didn't care about being discreet anymore, and that gave her more power than ever.

The soldiers did manage to do one thing — they got in contact with team PCFHR. Penny, Ciel, Fiona, Harriet and Robin arrived to save Ironwood. They are capable of inflicting heavy damage to the iron maiden in a coordinated surprise attack, but that's it. After a quick fight sequence, they were eventually defeated due to their reliance on technology — especially Penny. Cordovin was just watching the fight and hiding the entire time like a coward.

The fight ends with the iron maiden's victory, and she goes to finish off Ironwood. All the battle and explosions left the base in flames and sirens. Ironwood was on the ground and the iron maiden slowly walked up to him. She's clearly wounded, but there's no difference in her pace. She raises her hand and once again Ironwood loses control of half his body. His metal chest starts to dent inwards. She would use his cyborg parts to crush him. But then, at the nick of time, Jaune and Nora finally arrive at the base.

Jaune sees the scene, and then shouts for the entire base to hear.

"PYRRRHAAAAA!"

…

The maiden stops, and looks towards them. A vaguely familiar name, and a deeply familiar face. Her vision seemed to be skewed — small remnants of who she was began to flash aimlessly. She backs away in confusion from those visions, while Jaune continues to walk towards her. "Pyrrha… wait! Just calm down. Look at me… It's me, Jaune… and Nora… I know you remember us. We're not going to hurt you. Just stay calm."

As he got closer, she continued backing away. His words were causing her a terrible headache, as the visions started increasing. She hunches down and holds the side of her helmet. Once Jaune gets too close, she looks back at him, ready to attack. She manipulates a piece of shrapnel around there to hit Jaune, but he blocks with his shield. She kept attacking him more and more until Nora stepped up to help him. Nora tried to convince her to stop, "Pyrrha it's me! You're Pyrrha, and I'm Nora! We met at Beacon! We were the best of friends! You taught me how to braid my hair and everything!"

More memories start to pain Pyrrha, so she simply control's Nora's hammer and tosses her far away. While she's distracted by Nora, Jaune went ahead and started healing Ironwood with his Semblance. "Mr. Arc?! What are you doing here?" Ironwood asks.

"It's been a long month, general. But I need your favor."

Jaune explained how they need this enemy alive, because it might be their friend. He asks Ironwood that he orders his soldiers to stand down and stay away while he and Nora take care of it. Now they continue to fight for a while, but the maiden is able to beat them both hand to hand, not to mention her overpowered Semblance that makes any attempt of attack completely void. But naturally, they also have a savior in this case.

As the maiden was fighting, she was suddenly attacked from behind with a weapon she wasn't able to foresee. An arrow made of wood hits her in the back of the head, damaging the helmet. Everyone looked up to the rooftop, and there he was, Ren with his bow and arrows. He was covered in bandages and breathing heavily. He absolutely wasn't ready for this fight, but he had to come anyway. His arrows had no edge, so Pyrrha couldn't deflect them. He keeps shooting her, and so she uses a force pull to steal Jaune's shield and block his arrows.

At that moment Jaune uses his magnetic shield pull, but instead of bringing the shield to him, it makes him fly towards Pyrrha. He tackles her in the air and the two start wrestling on the ground. Jaune is not able to bring her back with his words, but he does manage to do one last thing. He puts his fingers in between the visor of her helmet, and so he is able to split the helmet in two with his brute strength, before also being tossed away.

Now the maiden stands up, and everyone present can clearly see… Pyrrha Nikos.

Ironwood was shocked, but it makes sense how she was able to do all these things. Fiona, Harriet and Penny comment how the moves she used seemed familiar. Unfortunately, no one had a god damn clue what was going on. But for Pyrrha, once Ren jumped down and lined up with Jaune and Nora. Her headaches got worse than ever.

She instantly covers her face, as Watts ordered her to whenever she is exposed. His orders also flash in her mind — those three are liars, she can't trust them or even listen to a word they said. Her physical situation is critical. She wasn't given the chance to rest, and she is hungry despite not even knowing what hunger is. The pain, mixed with the continuous approach of her opponents, made Pyrrha run away. She destroyed the base's wall and jumped through the rooftops on her way to safety. Jaune, Ren and Nora gave chase. Ren told them to drop their weapons and whatever other metal piece they have.

Cordovin yells, "CADETS, EXPLAIN YOURSELVES THIS INSTANT!"

Nora sticks out her tongue and shouts, "Eat me, old hag! BLEEE!"

They continue chasing Pyrrha through the city as she uses stuff like light poles or cable wires to slow them down or hit them, but they manage to evade all her distractions. Eventually she arrives at the city wall, and easily uses her powers to blow a hole in the middle for her to continue escaping.

The chase was now into the outside wild, a land covered in snow and pine trees. Pyrrha could no longer do any crazy shit with her powers, so she just kept running. With her wounds open, she could only run so far before she tripped for losing focus. The other three catch up easily, and from then on it's a very depressing scene. Pyrrha is scared like a cornered dog — she crawls away in fear as they get closer, and uses her metal pike to attack even as they approach her unarmed. Ren explains that she was brainwashed — all her memories are in pieces, and her soul was fragmented. Nothing remains of Pyrrha, she might as well be a wild animal that was just born.

"How are we going to bring her back then?! There has to be a way!" Jaune said.

"We need to calm her down. If she doesn't stop struggling, she's going to die!" Ren said.

What follows is an anti-fight scene — a rare case. The three are unarmed and they are trying to restrain Pyrrha, who's feebly trying to run away while bleeding out from the previous battles. I don't have much input on how this goes, because as you know, fight choreography is rarely my thing, unless it's expressively filled with character development. What I can say for sure is that even at her weakest moment, Pyrrha is still beating the fuck out of them.

Eventually she hits Jaune in the face so many times that she ends up breaking her own wrist, and falls on her back absolutely exhausted. Jaune jumps to her side to start healing her body with his Semblance. It was working, but it also gave Pyrrha energy to continue fighting back, and she immediately kicks Jaune in the face once she was fine. She was also repeatedly struck with memories. In one instance, as Ren fought hand to hand against her, he got the advantage and put her on a choke. He failed to knock her out though, as for a moment she mumbled his name, and made him drop his guard and be tossed away.

In the end it was very clear for Jaune and Ren that Pyrrha's soul wasn't completely gone. They believed that Ren could bring her back by using his powers. They make a quick plan of attack, disarming Pyrrha for a while, and putting her on her knees. Jaune quickly appeared in front of her, kneeling down, and he held onto her arms to restrain her. Ren appeared from behind, and grabbed her head by her temples.

"You might not remember who you are… but we do. Let us show you!" Ren said.

For that moment he was allowed to see into Pyrrha's mind, and see the fragmented soul and lost memories. Her head was a mess — any kind of thought was instantly being swallowed by a black hole positioned at the center of the crack. Ren tried to hold everything together, trying to keep those fading memories up for a little while longer, but it was no use. While her soul was fragmented, nothing could be done. Jaune was getting desperate. Pyrrha seemed to be in pain — her head was hurting terribly. The stress of the situation made him cry, as he kept begging her to remember.

But in the end, Jaune knew he shouldn't order Pyrrha to save herself…

That's why he is here.

He shook his head, gritted his teeth and said, "I will fix you… I WILL FIX YOU EVEN IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"

His Aura slowly started leaving his body and surrounded Pyrrha, as he continued holding her. Soon it was not only surrounding her body but entering through her eyes. Ren kept peering inside her mind, and from there he saw this yellow hue slowly filling in the cracks of her soul. Everything was being mended together. Ren realized now it was his chance. Ren started filling Pyrrha's head with the memories of their friendship, and the person she used to be. The healing powers and mind powers worked perfectly in unison. However, having her soul mended together caused a lot of pain to Pyrrha, and she kept screaming. She didn't know what was happening, she just knew Jaune was the cause of this pain. And so she spotted her iron pike lying on the snow nearby.

"Get away... GET AWAY!" she shouted.

She used her new strength that Jaune gave her, and stabbed him in the back with the metal pike.

A deep stab directly his spine. Passing all his Aura to Pyrrha left him completely unprotected. Pyrrha continued using her powers to sink the pike deeper. Nora was in shock, but shrugged it off and grabbed hold of the pike and started pulling it out, stopping it from reaching Jaune's heart. The three were locked in this absurd battle with all their powers, but from a far it looked like a big group hug. Jaune continued pouring his Aura to fix hers. The fire of his soul was dwindling while hers was ascending. Pyrrha's memories were slowly being pieced back together. She started remembering her name, her story and everything else. Her green soul was unshattering itself, if that's even a word.

Once it was finally made whole, it began surrounding her body outside. The last piece was finally put together, and so a loud noise echoed in her mind like a colossal bell ring. Ren was kicked out by the force and light her Aura created. The earth was shaking for a brief moment — a sudden bright green light emanated from Pyrrha and blinded all of them, like a signal flare was shot in the middle of the snowy hills. Pyrrha stopped screaming. Ren ran out of energy and fell on the ground, and Nora pulled the pike out of Jaune's back completely. Jaune kept hugging Pyrrha as he laid her on the snow. The three slowly crawled around her and kept looking down.

She seemed dead… They couldn't sense her Aura. They began crying… But those tears were short lived.

Soon enough they can feel the first sparks.

…

Pyrrha slowly opened her eyes again. They gained back their shining bright.

She spoke, "Guys… did I oversleep?… I think I was having… a nightmare…

Ren… can you make some pancakes, please?… I'm so hungry."

Ren, Jaune and Nora looked at each other, and then look back at Pyrrha with smiles. Soon they started to giggle and laugh. "Hey… what's up?… is there something wrong with my hair? … I didn't snore, did I?" Pyrrha asked. Finally, here at the end of the world, lost in the snowy hills of Argus, broken from battle, tired from the long journey, all while the sun sets far behind them… They have done it. Team JNPR was finally reunited. And at that moment, while the four just looked and smiled at each other… Jaune suddenly falls on his back, leaving the other three in silence for a while. His face was peaceful, but blood was now spreading a red color on the snow around him.

"Hey… hey Jaune!" Pyrrha said.

He was unconscious, and without energy, his Semblance couldn't heal him. All they could do was take him back to base. Ren got Jaune on his back and told the other two to hurry up. Pyrrha was slowly but surely waking up for real — she started questioning where they were, and why were they all dressed like that. Nora said now was not the time. All they can do is come back, and hope they can live to see what happens next.

Jaune mumbled a few words while he was out.

He said, "Mama… I did it…"

.

.

.

.

Jaune woke up a day or so later. He barely opened his eyes, when suddenly he heard a buzzing and received a shot of electricity that woke him the hell up. He sat on the hospital bed and saw himself surrounded by Ciel, Penny and Nora. The two gingers said in unison, "Jaune, you're alive!"

"It worked as calculated." Ciel said, holding a defibrillator. Jaune's superficial wounds were immediately being healed by his Semblance. "His power is greater than any medicine we can muster. His body will heal faster if he's awake."

Jaune didn't know where he was or what was happening, but he wanted to see Pyrrha. He got up from the bed and started wandering the hospital while the other three followed after, trying to drag him back and force him to rest.

…

At the same time, Pyrrha was in a separate room, merely to be held there and checked since Jaune had fully healed her wounds. She was surrounded by the rest of the gang — Ren, Ironwood, Robin, Fiona and Harriet. Robin and Ren just finished telling her all that happened in the one month she's been missing, and the aftermath of the invasion. She had absolutely no memory of anything past her fight against Cinder Fall. She claims it was all just one big blur that was now slowly being forgotten as well. Fiona was about to tell her about the harsher crimes of murder she committed, but then Ironwood raises his hand and signals her to keep quiet.

Pyrrha had fully recovered her old self. She told Ren, "You guys… you shouldn't have come after me. I didn't want you to risk yourselves. I was practically dead — you three could've been killed!"

"We knew. Ozpin himself told us it was suicide… but I don't think it mattered. Jaune promised he would bring you back, and we were willing to go into hell with him if we needed to. We crossed the entire map for weeks and weeks, we met powerful enemies and monsters, we've been put to meaningless harsh labor — and yet, not once did he faltered. His determination was remarkable... Jaune would never abandon you." Ren said, making Pyrrha cry as she realized she had the best friends in the fucking universe.

Eventually she shrugged off and asked, "Where's Jaune?"

She immediately got up from the bed and left the room in search of him, while Harriet, Fiona and Robin tried to stop her.

Ren and Ironwood remained in the room. "General… I think it would be wise to search for the real culprit right away."

"Lie Ren… are you absolutely clear of everything you told us?" Ironwood asked.

"Crystal, sir." Ren replied.

Ironwood took a deep breath, closing his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked angry as all hell. It all made sense now. Cinder was just a manipulator, she would never be able to create that virus who took over the androids. Torchwick was just a pawn, an errand boy that merely pressed the button made for him. The true genius had to be a guy more than familiar with the system — who knew about the android database, who knew about the android's war mode, and who knew of it way before Ironwood even set foot in Vale City. Watts' involvement is the last piece that clears the whole puzzle.

"I have no time to wait." Ironwood said, leaving the room as well.

…

Jaune and Pyrrha kept looking for each other in the corridors, in this really cheesy sequence where they keep calling each other's names while being lost in this huge hospital. Eventually they meet up from across the same long corridor. They stare at each other for a long while… until they start walking. The world seems to stop as their eyes were locked into one another. The soundtrack is popping the fuck off. Their pace increased as they got closer, and it ends with Pyrrha jumping in his arms for a flying hug. They spin around as they embrace, ending with the two falling on the floor with Pyrrha on top. Everyone looks at them with a noticeable blush. Robin covers Penny and Fiona's eyes, as perhaps they are staring the romantic moment a little too intensely.

Jaune and Pyrrha just keep looking at each other's bright eyes, faces almost touching… And so they start to laugh.

The two continue laughing and hugging as the shot pans back, and eventually fades to black.

Sometimes a gesture is way better than dialogue.

.

.

.

At some other place far away, precisely on a fancy flying ride across the city of Argus, Watts was enjoying a cup of tea and reading a book when suddenly he received a new message on his smart watch. He opens the hologram, and it's a digital newspaper. He had received a ton of messages from Ironwood as well, but swiped them off. The front page of the newspaper has one big picture that makes him drop his cup, shattering on the ground.

In big bold letters it says, "Battle breaks out in Argus central headquarters; the assassin of the century is uncovered."

Underneath it was the picture of the base after the fight, with the Ace-Ops picking themselves up from the rubble alongside Ironwood. At the very back of the photo, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha arrive with Jaune. The iron maiden has been unmasked.

Watts' eyes become bloodshot. He grips his fist tightly and a noticeable vein pops in his head. "This… this can't be... THIS CAN'T BE! HERE? NOW?! WHY NOW?!" he said, holding his head and foaming at the mouth. The glimpses of his bright future leading the nation of Atlas were shattered right in front of him. He was having a mini heart attack.

Just then, the android piloting his ship says, "Mr. Watts, our emergency presence has been requested on the military base of Argus. I will proceed to land immediately-"

Suddenly the robot is shot through his head by Watts' pocket gun. He throws the metal carcass away and drives off into the sky while breathing heavily. He immediately makes a call in his smart watch. Once it picks up he says, "I need… to disappear… NOW!"

And that is the last we see of Watts... in a long time.

.

.

.

The rest of the episode would focus on a little goodbye to all our Atlas characters.

For Saphron and Terra, they have a last dinner scene. Jaune says his goodbyes, and his sister takes back what she said the earlier episode, now understanding that Jaune is a great warrior, and has the power to fight through anything and survive. Surely their mother would be immensely proud of him.

Pyrrha is uncomfortable with having her hair cut short against her will, but Saphron quickly uses her skills and gives her an adorable red pixie cut that looks pretty good. She doesn't actually like it… until Jaune says it looks nice, then suddenly she loved it as well.

Ren and the little Adrian have a short wordless interaction where he basically gestures with his hands while white text at the bottom of the screen translates the meaning. He acknowledges that he owes the kid for saving his life, while Adrian replies with equally complicated hand gestures, saying that it was nothing, but he begs that Ren comes back one day to cook pancakes for him again. The kid is smarter than what he led on.

And as one final cherry on top, as team JNPR leave for the night, Saphron and Terra have a little chit chat wondering if they will be okay, ending with their first on screen kiss. "They'll be fine... You worry too much. We have something else to worry about right now..." Terra said. It's just a quick peck on the lips, but got Saphron all flustered. "Terra~❤ at least let them turn the corner first~❤" She said, as she closed the door.

A sweet send off to unimportant but good characters, quite like Ghira and Kali.

…

That morning, Pyrrha and the rest of team JNPR suited up in their classic, non-atlas gear, except for Pyrrha. She got several new pieces of armor that she basically stole from her Iron Maiden costume, but now have her theme colors, red and bronze. Jaune was carrying her spear and shield the entire journey, and he can now finally hand it back to her. Overall she looks like a fully armored paladin, and instead of a long skirt, she now just uses full leg protection a red sash on her midriff.

The four are set to meet with Ironwood at the base before leaving, with Penny, Ciel, Harriet, Fiona and Robin still behind him. We get a line and a final interactions for all the girls, as they personally thank team JNPR and wish them good luck. I don't have ideas about it, but we won't see these girls in a long time, and I will feel bad for not giving them at least a little send off. Lastly, Ironwood meets Jaune face to face and proceeds to tell how they singlehandedly solved the single greatest crisis in the history of Atlas, stopped a mad man from reaching power, saved his life. All that combined will quite likely help stop this brewing war between the three nations with the truth they brought about. Ironwood promises to one day repay this debt.

And thus he, along with every soldier behind him, bowed to team JNPR, making them really uncomfortable. Jaune did have something he wanted though. Cordovin took their phones at the start of their training, and hasn't given it back. And so the grumpy Cordovin is forced to suck up her pride and hand them back their stuff. She turns to Ironwood one last time and says, "General, are you honestly taking your decision seriously here?! You're going to let these three little twerps walk away back to the enemy's forces?!"

"They are heroes." Ironwood replied coldly.

"Why must we believe a word they are saying?!"

"Because they are worthy of our trust," he replied again.

"As if anyone believes this whole kidnapping and brainwashing story!"

"I was personally there to see it happen, like it or not." Ironwood finished.

With all her words refuted, Cordovin just held her tongue with lips trembling and walked back with unresolved anger. As she went, Nora sticks out her tongue to mock her. And that is also the last we see of Cordovin as well. I don't know if it came off right, but she was supposed to be a very annoying character, which makes this moment really satisfying.

And so Jaune finally turns on his phone. The first message that becomes clear to him… is Ruby's farewell message. After seeing it, Jaune instantly made up his mind. He used the tracking tool to find team RWBY, all heading towards the Forbidden North where Ruby is. Looks like they got Ren's message, and now are heading after Cinder in Anima. He knew what he had to do. "Ruby is in trouble! We gotta get there fast! Come on, guys!"

"Wait!" Ironwood said, he looked at the soldier at his right and replied, "Provide them an airship. The fastest one we got."

"WHAT?!" Cordovin said, "Sir, not even you can just go ahead and offer our personal expensive equipment to a bunch of kids!"

"I guess you're right. Well then," Ironwood searched his pockets and handed Jaune a key. "My personal ship is right there, it's yours. Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Nora Valkyrie, I hereby discharge you three from the Atlas army. Have a good day, and a safe journey." he said, saluting Jaune and making all the other soldiers repeat after him, while Cordovin just stood there with her jaw dropped.

"Thanks, general!" Jaune said, immediately running to the ship.

"Aw come on, can't we catch a break please?" Nora asked.

"Our friends might be in danger, we have to go help them, Nora." Ren said.

"What the heck has been going on this past month?!" Pyrrha asked.

"Leave the talking to the ride, come on!" Jaune said.

And so the four blast off into the fancy ship, which is amazingly fast, and soon they disappear from view. They are sure to arrive in a few hours.

And thus concludes team JNPR's part of this story.

Commentary (spoilers): One million typed letters and we are finally… slightly halfway through the series. This was a long… A LONG stretch that I had to do, all due to the fact I decided to keep Pyrrha alive. All this groundwork with villains, side characters, motivations, plots and interconnected storylines, all for the sake of the moment when these four are back together. Since I'm planning a time skip after this volume, I decided not to stretch this story for a whole volume, much less keep shoving it in between the girl's stories back in volume V. That's why I wanted to do it in a separate volume in the first place. I also needed a lot of time for the final battle, which is a five episode finale, and also the two side stories, which are extremely important for later believe it or not. Because of that, this story might seem oddly simple. but just like the last volume, it is split into three acts.

Since these episodes lose a lot of their power if put right next to each other, I will try to hammer two different stories that happen in between those three acts. I just wanted to get this over in one go because I didn't want to lose rhythm or pacing. I'll just finish this section so then I can write those two side stories.

.

.

.

Before I proceed with the two side stories, let me establish a few minisodes about the Atlas section specifically. I already mentioned the Saphron and Terra minisode trilogy, detailing how they met, how they started living together and how they fell in love.

...

I would like to add a lot more for building Watts as a villain, since he doesn't appear much in the plot itself. First one would be about his process of domesticating Pyrrha, who had the mental capacity of a wild animal once her soul was broken, but was quickly persuaded once Watts convinced her that he was her father. He gave her knowledge by literally strapping her to a chair and forcing her to watch videos. In the end she was as good as a robot, considering her mind was a block of clay at that point.

...

The other one would be a scene at the Atlas Council room, who are mostly shadow figures around this huge table, except for Watts, Jacques and Ironwood. Watts wanted to go ahead with the process of disassembling the army bit by bit and allow his creations, the android soldiers, to take over — and thus "save" lives from battle. Ironwood naturally made a very good opposition against him, convincing the council it was not the right call yet due to bugs in the system previously recorded (volume III), and making Watts noticeably angry. It's a quick build up to their rivalry.

And a last one that is necessary to include would be his first meeting with Cinder Fall. It begins with Watts frustrated at yet another stupid gala party of the elite, until he meets this random sexy woman in a crimson red dress that invites him for a dance while disguised in mascarade. They have never met before, and the woman knows that. He just seemed frustrated, and Watts explained his dissatisfaction with the way Atlas is going. The council is planning something to momentarily make friendship with the other nations by partaking in the Vytal festival, which he's against since Watts truly believes in Atlas superiority, and believes the other nations are meant only to serve them or be destroyed. The woman says she shares the exact same hatred for Vale as he does. She can help take down his enemies outside, as long as he helps her a bit. He doesn't have to put his neck out there or anything dangerous, she just needs a bit of help. Watts accepted, and the rest is history.

...

Two Minisodes are about Pyrrha of course, not exactly about her, but still carry a lot of importance. One minisode would be about her final fight in the Argus tournament, three years ago. Here we would see the fifteen year old Pyrrha awkwardly entering the arena to fight this absolute buff giant. Her father (shadowy figure) is behind her, telling her to not lose. If she can't defeat this oaf, she won't survive out there. We only see a single shot of them going at each other, and cut to the end of the fight. The other Huntsman managed to get Pyrrha in a bad spot, and to avoid getting hit, she slightly uses her power to redirect his attack, making the man hit himself. With that she won the battle, hundreds of people cheer for her, her father smiles, and Pyrrha just stands there nervously. But before ending it… we cut to the stands. There in the VIP chambers, we see Arthur Watts. Eyes fully focused on what he just saw. He found something really… really interesting. It needs further study. that ends the minisode.

...

The other one is way shorter. We follow Pyrrha's mom, who we saw at the end of that one episode. She goes into the max security prison of Argus, passing through many guards and many different security measures to arrive at the end. She was there to meet her husband, who we actually don't see, since his cell is kept in total darkness and protected by strange white laser bars. He doesn't lament his time in jail, he just asks the lady if she was fine and if there was any news. Pyrrha's mom tells him how she met Jaune Arc, the person Pyrrha talked about in many secret letters — in fact, she just happened upon him on the way home. From her judgment, it looked like Pyrrha was in good hands. She really did make good friends after all, even her own mother can't believe it. She wonders if they were too hard on her, and that maybe she could've been a normal girl if they allowed her. Pyrrha's father insists that she had the obligation to fight — that's not even in question. Pyrrha was blessed for this cruel life, and if he hadn't trained her the way he did, she wouldn't survive so far. His only hope is that she finds something to fight for, so she can keep fighting through her fears and doubts. The meeting ends, and so the two part ways.

...

Aside from that, I would encourage a few comedic ones involving Jaune, Ren and Nora being "trained" by Cordovin. I don't have any more ideas beyond that… for this section at least. I still have a few ideas but let's talk about it at the end of the volume. Now we are going to focus on the two stories. One that happens in between act 1 and 2, and the other that happens between acts 2 and 3.

.

.

.

.

The first side story of the volume is, surprise surprise, Roman Torchwick.

This story begins long after the aftermath of the invasion. We follow Torchwick in his bunker mansion, but it looks really disheveled, broken and dark. It's a total contrast from when we saw it in volume III and IV. Torchwicks is scavenging around for stuff, and he looks hurt. Clearly the battle for survival he had at the end of volume IV was hard, but he was able to keep himself and Neo alive. She also looks messed up, and is stuck in bed. Roman manages to find some pain killers for the two of them. He comments how it seems little red did them a favor and lied about their deaths during the invasion, and all the heat seems to be going towards Atlas for the android attack.

Even so, they can't stay here anymore. "I know you wanted to live in this city forever, Neo, I do too… but we're out of options... We have to go back to Planice."

Neo's face was overcome with sadness, and from that we immediately cut to a flashback. A violent but short flashback.

...

We see close shots of this little girl with brown hair, being beaten up as she holds on to a little purse for dear life.

They are three grown men, but they aren't sparing her in the slightest, and she wouldn't let go even as they slap her and make her bleed from bruises. The girl tries to talk or even cry out for help, but can't. She won't let go of the purse, so the three goons start discussing if it would be easier to straight up sell her to The Overseer. The flashback just ends as they grab her by the hair and drag her away. The streets were covered in darkness, and Planice was famous for having a permanent shitty weather.

...

Basically, she has nothing but bad memories of her home city. Roman starts to dress up, but since he has lost his round bowler hat to Ruby, he has to stick with a sharp fedora. He'll go make the arrangements, and Neo just has to stay calm. Everything will be fine, and he told Neo to remember the promise he made long ago.

He goes out into the city, which is still destroyed, and he remains in the shadows of the night. His destination is no other than Junior's club. He finds the guy drinking sad and alone in his bar, now destroyed, and seemingly all his goons are either dead or caring for their own survival now. The two have a short chat about how they are hanging about, but in the end Junior knows Roman didn't come for a talk. He needs a favor, of course. Junior has connections everywhere — he can probably set Roman up in a good hideout in Planice city. It would be hard, but Junior can manage it for the sake of the good old times. He tells Roman to grab Neo, get his shit in order, bring a ton of cash, so then the three can get out of this town today. And so Roman leaves…

But unfortunately, as the door behind him closes, it's clear to Junior he was still not alone in the club. He hears sounds from the corner. He turns around again and again, demanding that this person comes out of hiding. We see someone's POV as they appear behind him, and attack by surprise.

…

We follow this simple montage of Roman getting his affairs in order, bribing people, making deals, getting money he deserves and paying off what he owns to people who survived the invasion. It takes him a few hours, then we cut to Roman arriving at his bunker. He got his money, now he just needs Neo. However, he notices something strange at the trapdoor. There was a cigarette that wasn't there when he first left. It was still night. No one knew the location of his bunker… except of course…

He rushed down the stairs, and saw that the door was broken by a kick. He quickly entered, guns in hand, and was met with the place even more fucked up than usual. A battle happened there, but it was over. They were gone, and so was Neo. Her umbrella sword was the only thing left behind. Nothing but destruction remains.

We immediately cut back to the continuation of that flashback earlier.

...

Right after Neo was attacked by the goons, she was being dragged through the alleys until this ginger teenage boy noticed them. His and Neo's eyes were locked for a brief moment — they had the exact same empty gaze towards one another. She couldn't speak, but he understood her plight. Roman didn't skip a beat, he grabbed a lying iron pipe and went to fight the three guys on his own. Despite being around sixteen, he's able to beat all of them easily, demonstrating sparks of Aura around his body. He crushed the three goons and saved the girl, but she couldn't thank him. She was beaten up and couldn't speak, so she just held on to her purse and ran from Torchwick in fear.

He followed her silently until she arrived home — a crumbling house at the back-end alleys, like all others. Turns out her purse had no money, it only had a small bottle with a special medicine. She entered the house… but it seems she was too late.

There was a lady resting on the bed… and she was dead.

The mutual hair color implies that he's Neo's mother, or maybe bigger sister. She tries to shake her awake, but it's no use. Roman tells her that the lady died long ago — her body temperature implies that. There was never a chance of saving her. And so... Neo just starts to cry heavily. She is still incapable of making a sound other than small gasps and sniffs. Soon Torchwick puts his hand on her shoulder and says, "You don't want to be alone… right? I know how that feels. Your eyes tell me everything I need to know… Lucky for you, I was hoping to find people to make up my crew. You have nothing else left here. If you come with me… I promise you'll never be alone… you won't starve, and… I'll protect you."

…

We cut back to Roman at the present, and it seems he just broke his one promise to her. In a fit of rage he starts flipping shit up. He's punching the walls and breaking everything in sight, pretty much almost making the bunker collapse on itself. Until he eventually hears, "Are you done?" from a female voice.

It was coming from a phone left in the room. "I thought you were more rational than this, mister Torchwick."

Roman approached the phone, sat on the couch and picked it up. "Where is she?!"

"Please let's not rush over introductions… But I suppose you already know who I am." the woman said, making Roman sweat.

"Little miss Malachite… how could I ever forget." he said. "What brings the shadow empress of Haven to this humble home?"

"I've seen and heard what happened to Vale… what a shame it is. You have my condolences. But you see, mister Torchwick… out of necessity comes opportunity." she replied. Little miss Malachite was the sole empress of crime in the nation of Haven, but now she sees the perfect opportunity to set her roots in Vale as well, thanks to the invasion. Without proper control and a police force focused on helping refugees, it seems that will go smoothly. All she has to do is get rid of the rogue elements in the city, and that includes Roman. However, since he has a shit load of connections, is pretty strong and smart, she can make use of him. She promises to keep Neo under her thumb in perfect safety, as long as he complies. "What do you say?... Speak out, boy." she says.

"If I do what you say… If I become your subordinate… Will you… spare our lives?" Roman asked.

"Yes, you have my word."

Roman was looking down with shadows covering his face.

Suddenly a wide, disgusting smile takes over his mouth, and he looks up.

"I refuse." He says.

"… what?"

"Not too long ago, I made the mistake of blindly serving people I feared. Now look at what happened. I won't forgive myself if I fall for that again, and neither will Neo… And besides, one of my favorite things to do in this world… is say the word "no" to a cocky and arrogant bastard like you, old hag!" Roman said. "In truth I would gladly give away this dump of a city to you people if you asked nicely… but now… I'm just going to kill you. I advise you to keep Neo safe until I come."

"… And that concludes negotiations. Farewell." Miss Malachite said.

As the call ended, Roman could hear a sword slowly being drawn behind him. He is able to grab his cane in order to block the sword slash to his neck just in time. He is being attacked by a shadow lady, and she's extremely fast. He's able to fight her off, but soon gets attacked in the back by the very same shadow lady, but she has guns now. He manages to back away, and finally we see. Two women with black hair, looking exactly similar — one dressed in red and black, and the other dressed in white and green. The Malachite Twins, one of Miss Malachite's many children.

I don't have any input on how the following fight would play out, but Roman loses horribly due to their insane coordination and also their Semblance. The Malachite Twins were able to switch objects between one another through some form of instant teleportation. They could also use the same skill to switch places with one another instantly. One uses swords and the other uses guns, so Roman met his match in skill and firepower. Due to his still fresh wounds, he's not able to fight at his peak. However, he had a trick up his sleeve.

Once defeat was at hand, he went to a special place behind his booze shelf and flipped a hidden switch. C4 charges were activated, and in ten seconds they were meant to destroy the whole bunker, leaving no trace of its existence. The twins escape through the hatch door while Roman takes a special exit. Either way, the fight ends with a big boom in the middle of the night. After the dust settles, the twins continue to hound the area for his blood, but he's able to sneak away through sewers. They just assume he's dead and buried.

...

Oscar Pine was just passing nearby with his wagon on the way to his farm, when suddenly the wounded Roman jumped in the back. Truly, this fucking kid will never be able to catch a break. Roman pointed a gun at him, making him scream and start crying. "Just take me to the southeast district and I won't shoot you." Roman said, and so Oscar hopelessly obliged.

His goal was to get back to Junior's club, arriving there while walking feebly in the alleyways. Unfortunately, it seems that the situation is much, much worse than he thought. Junior was equally fucked up, but way closer to his grave. He was sitting down against the counter, with blood coming out of his mouth and he was holding his guts. Roman feebly walks up to him and calls out his name — luckily he's still conscious enough to respond. Junior seems to be weirdly casual about his own death, since it's just part of the life he lived. He giggled as Roman decided to sit by his side.

"… How did things get so screwed up, Steve?" Roman asked.

"We did what we wanted… and we never looked back… If anything, we lived the easy way… No one to worry about, and no one to worry about us… It was a good life, but… worthless." Junior said. Roman went ahead and grabbed one of his fancy cigars, so they could share it on his final moments. "I only wish I could've found one sweet girl out there… before I was gone… You're a lucky guy, Roman… you are… You have to hold on to who's dear to you… Because in the end, we won't have anything else… We won't be anything other than memories one day… and it would be nice… to have just a single person… to remember us… with joy…"

We focus on Roman as he starts having the final flashback.

...

We can see Roman training the young Neo to fight with a knife. She's small, weak and petite as all hell, but Roman explains that a blade at the hands of a child is still a blade. A gun at the hands of a woman is still a gun. They are not heroes and they will never be — they will have to use any dirty tactic and immoral strategy if it means surviving. If they have to kill someone, they can't hesitate.

The years passed, they got stronger, and two grew too sick of this city. Finally they found an opportunity to leave. One day they met with a way younger and skinnier Junior, who was assembling people to make an escape to Vale City. Neo seemed scared of everything, and every man at the back of the truck looked at her with evil and disgusting eyes. But once she holds Roman's hand, she gains a streak of power and confidence that scares others away from her eyes.

Once they sat hidden at the corner, Roman promised that things will get better, but they will also get harder. She has to stick close to him, so they can protect one another. He trained her to protect herself, and she can pay him by watching his back too. That moment, Neo suddenly starts crying and she looks at him. Tears of joy. She can't speak, but there's something she must say, no matter what.

"Ah...ar-ri..gah-ah...to…" Neo utters.

…

Roman gets sent back into the present, ending the flashback. He looks to the side, only to realize Junior had died, smiling with the cigar in his mouth. Roman remains in silence, and promises that he's going to save Neo at all costs, ending the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): I've been waiting such a long time for this story — it's short but it's so simple and good. Those moments when you give the iconic old antagonist a chance to come back and be a hero are always gold in any show, anime or movie. Beside that, this is all completely being pulled out of my ass. Roman is still alive, Neo is not on a quest for revenge, lil' miss malachite is still a character that I wanted to use, so I decided to get it all out of the way. I have nothing to change about her and the malachite twins, other than to make her design clearly more asian and give miss malachite black hair, so the whole family has a striking similarity. But when it comes to the twins, I only decided to age them up considerably to better serve as a matchup. They have no personality other than cold sadism, so they are pretty much the Salamanca Twins of this universe, and they won't be around for long.

I also decided to give Roman and Neo more backstory that fits with the canon of this remake. The flashbacks are really simple, and they serve to perfectly build up both these two as a duo, and the city of Planice as a terrible place, of which will be the center focus of a future volume. Also, this might not mean anything, but I decided to make Neo's muteness as psychological and not physical, because this moment where she speaks to Roman is really the only time we'll see something like that (at least until the very end). Also, yes, she speaks Japanese for no reason. I just want her only lines to be something cute, spoken through a soft girl voice. I love the idea of the mute character speaking for the first time, but she speaks in a language no one understands. Japanese doesn't exist in Remnant, so it's a 4th wall joke. These two characters started out with so much personality, but now they have gained history and context, and thus, humanity. All that is left for me is to conclude this story with one uncut fighting episode.

.

.

.

The next episode picks up a couple of days after that. We see a dark room, absolutely no light except the brightness hidden behind a door. Eventually it opens, and it's the Malachite Twins who enter. Now the room is clearly visible, and it's a cell room. They silently walk towards the bars and wait in silence.

Suddenly a hand jumps out of the darkness to try and reach them, but Melanie and Miltia easily dodge, and hold her hand in place as she tries to pull it back. The person in the cell was Neo, and she had a crazy and murderous look in her eye. With her hand stuck, the other twin easily throws a punch back, sending her flying against the other side of the cell. They comment how she still hasn't lost fire, despite being heavily weakened. After that punch Neo struggles to get up again. The girls keep bullying her more before revealing why they came here.

Without even a shred of pity, they showe her Roman's bloody fedora, and let it fall to the ground in slow motion. The look in Neo's face changed instantly to emotionless shock. Roman Torchwick is dead, and with him out of the play, Neo will likely not listen or help them. For that reason, they just decide to kill her off. But as the girls emotionlessly discuss what would be the most painful way to put her down, Melanie decides to just lock her here and throw away the key, so she can starve to death like a putrid rat. It's made even more perfect by the fact she can't speak. No one will ever hear her pain. And so the two girls leave her alone in the darkness, closing the door and laughing.

After a silent while, the sad music begins as Neo feebly crawls towards the bars again, and stares at Roman's fedora. She tries to reach it, but it's too far away from the cell, no matter how much she stretches. Once she realizes she can't even grasp what was left of him, she begins to cry heavily, still making no sound. She hits her head against the bars over and over again, until we eventually cut to black.

…

What follows is a small montage of how the Malachite Yakuza quickly takes over Vale city. Since Junior's boys were designed based on 1920's England gangsters, the Malachite boys are made to look like Yakuza or triad, either which. We just see a bunch of short instances of them hassling people around, and grouping up around neighborhoods to beat up innocents and such. Their main strategy is to offer a surrogate aid for the struggling people, in order to have everyone in their pockets after Vale city is rebuilt.

After the quick montage, we finally see the fabled Lil' Miss Malachite, and she's just an old fat bitch nowadays. Outside of her army of criminals, she has six awakened warriors who are all A-tier or above, in the form of her six children. They all have black hair and the same cold, obedient and evil personality. Three boys and three girls including the twins — Mortimer, Maverick, Moriah, Molly, Melanie and Miltia. We have a little scene with them just to showcase the family briefly, and exposition about their grand master plan to set their roots in the city while its weakened. Their power and wealth will increase tremendously in the long term. We can get a pretty good feel that all her children are just psychotic, in their own special way.

They set base underneath this huge complex in the red light district of Vale — where you could party all night and bet all your money away. The underground casino looks like a disgusting palace of gold and lights everywhere. This place was pretty secretive, so it's not surprising that it was still in one piece after the invasion. A perfect stage for what will happen later.

...

What we follow next is, surprisingly, Emerald and Mercury in a bar.

This is all happening in the following week of the invasion, so they didn't have the opportunity to skip town yet. Mercury's metal leg got messed up after all the fighting, and he's struggling to fix it. They were angrily discussing because Emerald compulsively gave all their money away to help the refugees. Emerald argues that this is why she became a professional thief in the first place — some people need that money more than others do. Who could've expected that this whole shit would go down anyway? Besides, if she kept the money, Mercury would probably waste it on something stupid as he usually does. Mercury replies with, "Do you think the brats are doing fine?" and he leaves Emerald with no answers, and a worried expression.

Eventually trouble arrives. The Malachite Yakuza goons arrive in a pack through the front door. They collect money from the scared barman, but before they leave, they spot Emerald's peculiar hair color at the corner of the saloon. They speak among each other for a second before calling the two out by name, making them turn around.

"Miss Malachite sends her regards." the main goon said, as suddenly they draw guns and shoot the two with Dust Bullets. Mercury is able to kick the table so they can hide behind it, but the two end up scrapped by the shots anyway. They keep rolling around to dodge, but the goons have too much suppressing fire. Emerald uses her powers to confuse the goon's senses and make them shoot each other. They ran, but more enemies were showing up as they continued to run. The Malachites truly took over this city.

They could take on pretty anyone, but eventually they found an actual problem. The third oldest Malachite son, Moriah appears. He manages to cheap shot Emerald, giving her a deep slash on the back, and delivers a strike to Mercury's iron foot by surprise, messing it up beyond repair. The two were now in a sticky situation — more enemies came in to surround them, and Moriah was ready to finish them off.

But suddenly, a savior arrives from the other side of the dark alley — coming out of the shadows.

When they look to see… It was Roman Torchwick.

He beat up the goons who attacked him in a flash, all the while smoking a cigar. His design has changed drastically since he recovered. He now wears no hat, and keeps his white trench coat above his shoulders like a cape. He wore full black underneath, along with a new white tie. At least eight different guns were concealed in body holsters all over his legs, chest and back. His cane's color was changed to pure red.

Roman, Mercury and Emerald kept staring at each other for a while. He offers himself to deal with Moriah, and the two start to fight. It was pretty quick — Moriah was an asshole that was better at surprise attacks and assassinations than an actual fight. He was cocky since his two youngest sisters were able to beat Roman without breaking a sweat, so this would be a cakewalk for him. Naturally, he came to regret that deeply. Roman is now fully rested, focused and not thinking about running at all. He easily beats Moriah and finishes him off with a dust bullet to the chest. Yep, we're killing our villains this volume, folks.

Mercury and Emerald were just watching, and suddenly he turned to them. He pulled out a heavy briefcase with money spilling out of it, and put it on the floor. The signature on it makes it clear to be Junior's money that he stole after he died. "Congrats, you two just got a job. Come on."

The two quickly looked at each other, smiled, and then followed.

Just then, back at the underground casino, Miss Malachite gets a phone call from one of the thugs who got beat up, saying that Roman was alive and he killed her son. She doesn't react emotionally at all, she just turns off the phone and tells her guards to double security and prepare to kill Roman when he comes.

...

It was still night time, and the three had already patched up from the earlier battle.

Mercury walks behind Roman with hands in his pockets while Emerald holds the cash briefcase. They comment on his appearance until it's clear for the two he is really THE Roman Torchwick, who the new Malachite Mafia had pronounced dead. Roman assumed by the earlier happening that the two have had problems with the Malachites in the past. Mercury explains that Emerald is a dumbass, and she steals from the worst people possible to make herself feel better with her Robin Hood complex. Of course, that may or may not have put them on the aim of mercenaries and organizations over the years. Roman did not just offer them money, but the opportunity to take down the entire leadership of crime from Haven in a single night along with him. Apparently they are going there right now. Roman captured and tortured a few of their goons in order to find out their secret hideout, and what is happening inside.

Malachite got arrogant, and she herself came to Vale along with her kids. Neo was still alive thankfully, and he wanted to save her. Mercury respects him for the boldness, while Emerald just call them both suicidal idiots. She questions if they are really in condition to win such a big battle. Roman knows these two were capable of defeating annoying little red's team, so they must be worth what he's paying. Either way, they are going together.

The three mercenaries arrive at the casino front door, which was locked. Mercury just steps in and kicks down the 10ft metal door down. Roman's plan is pretty simple: get rid of everyone in sight, take Malachite's head, and free Neo. Since Emerald didn't want to fight, she picked the ladder mission. They fight through a horde of mindless goons with swords and guns until eventually arriving at the other Malachite family members, from there they split apart.

Emerald finds Molly as she tries to sneak in to rescue Neo, forcing a fight. Mercury finds Mortimer and prepares for a hand to hand martial arts battle. Roman meets Maverick, and they also fight in a separate room. These are just three cool fights, and I don't have much to talk about each. In her fight Emerald wins by abusing her Semblance to the max. She can go so far as to trap her opponents in a hallucination hell of infinite darkness and cold, leaving them traumatized despite nothing happening in real life. She steals the keys and goes to free Neo in the basement. Mercury got no power up for his battle — in fact he actually gets nerfed, since his metal leg was established to have been fucked up. However, he is just so goddamn good that he is able to beat the oldest son of Malachite in hand to hand while missing a limb.

As for Roman, Maverick was way stronger than he predicted. In fact, he was the strongest son of Malachite. All his hidden weapons and tricks proved worthless, even with Dust Bullets. Roman does win though, when something really cool happens. As the fight was near the end for him, he decided to abandon all his bullshit tricks and weapons, and decided to give a shot to his own betterment as a warrior. That's what that annoying red pipsqueak did, and look how far she grew. There was always something at the corner of his mind that he has ignored for far too long. It was time for Roman to listen to his soul. He got beaten up a lot in the process, as he tried to meditate while in active battle. But in the end it worked.

Something had happened, as we see Roman's Aura surround his body like fire for the first time. He tossed off his shoulder coat and wielded his cane. Maverick looked on, and saw that… smoke was coming out of his skin. From his legs, his slash wounds, and the side of his face. The cloud of smoke was slowly enveloping the entire room around them, and Maverick was blind.

Roman Torchwick's Semblance, "Smokeman", has been awakened.

With the power to completely conceal his presence while inside the smoke he creates, Roman proceeds to beat the fuck out of Maverick. He seems faster, stronger and more unpredictable while in the domain of his smoke. Another ability of his smoke is taking some kind of aspect of his choice, thus he is able to create a smoke with different effects. Smoke that smells, smoke that is poisonous, smoke that causes skin irritation and so on. In the end he surrounds Maverick with a cloud of smoke made of pure volatile gas, and blows him the hell up by firing his cannon flare into the gas cloud. The following explosion destroyed the entire gambling saloon, and shook the whole palace. three down, three to go.

One thing to note is how the Malachite siblings are absolute psychos and don't care at all about each other's deaths. Once Maverick is dead, Roman has to immediately fight the twins despite sustaining a few wounds. This time he can't win — his Semblance costs is a lot of Aura. But thankfully, someone comes to his rescue.

Emerald was the first to win her battle, and so she frees Neo from her Prison. She was just sitting idly against the wall with no response to anything Emerald does. The only thing that wakes her up is the knowledge Roman was still alive and fighting to rescue her. Pink Aura immediately starts to surround Neo's body as she receives her Yandere boost. Emerald brought her equipment, and so she grabs her umbrella sword and runs to help in the battle.

She quickly arrives, and uses her Semblance to change her form along with Roman. She made all of them look like the twins, and so the battle was essentially four twins trying to figure out which is which, with a lot of trickery. Neo and Roman working together proceed to overwhelm the Malachite Twins, ending the fight with Neo killing them both in the most vicious way you can possibly think of. Her hatred for them was insane.

Afterwards, Roman and Neo can finally have a heartfelt embrace, as he admits she is the only thing he can never abandon. The most valuable thing he ever had. Even with all the money in the world, he wouldn't be able to buy another partner like Neo. Even if he accomplished his dream of being set for life at a young age, it wouldn't be a true victory without her. Neo couldn't speak, so she just held him tightly and cried of joy as she heard his words.

But of course… there was one more person to kill off.

After killing Mortimer, Mercury went ahead to fight Lil' Miss Malachite one versus one… and it proved to be a mistake. She's not weak at all. Her Semblance is "Fountain Of Youth" — it allows her to instantly revert back to her prime days as an S-tier Huntress, and thus gain all her power back along with her sexy slim body. With that information, Mercury concludes this bitch must be more than a hundred years old, and he was right. Miss Malachite was ancient, a woman overtaken by the cold desire to conquer all and do whatever she wanted, driven mad and arrogant by her immortality. It also explains why she can so easily shrug off the death of her kids — she probably lost several dozens offsprings over the centuries and doesn't care about them as anything more than soldiers. She can always revert back to her prime 20 year old body and make more kids anyway.

"That's gross… You're gross. I'mma kill you now." Mercury said.

He tries to fight her, but with his fucked up foot and her overwhealming power, he ends up suffering his second defeat ever since Fox in volume IV. I don't know what her weapon should be, but I like the idea of having her use a giant Kanabō — a bat with spikes that she wields with one hand. She wrecks his shit until everyone is done with their individual fights, and so they reunite to kill her as a squad. Thus was born team RMNE (Romance). They are all pretty fucked up from the fights, so they are not on the best shape such a strong opponent. Miss Malachite puts down Emerald first, since she had the most annoying Semblance. It was all up to Neo and Roman, who now, working together, create the strongest combo in this series period.

If this was a shitty anime third person fighting game (like all anime franchises have) I would probably name this ultimate technique "Smoke and Mirrors". Basically, Roman's Smokeman Semblance creates a huge distraction, and allows Neo to create her illusions completely unbothered, without allowing the enemy to see what's happening around them. It essentially creates this small zone of smoke in which Neo has full control of reality. Their deception are so good that they manage to make lil' miss Malachite inflict the fatal injury on herself (no fucking idea how to storyboard that though).

Their fight against the Malachite Yakuza was over, and they pretty much destroyed the entire casino palace while they were at it. Now they stare at the dying bitch as she lays against the wall and curses each and every single one of them. Now in victory, Roman drops his cold and serious tone and becomes his usual charismatic self, just to deliver one last humiliating speech to Malachite.

"Well, tiny miss Malachite, I believe now our negotiations have been truly concluded. I would say I got a little greedy, after all I did take away six of your precious children while I didn't have to give even a finger away. It's a cold world we live in, really. But, since I'm in a good mood, and you kept Neo alive for me, I believe I should give you a little gift. If you survive, you can have Vale City for yourself. Until we meet again, my dear." The four start walking away like absolute badasses, while Roman uses his cannon cane to fire an explosive shot at the big pillar, making the underground palace start to collapse.

"TORCHWICK! YOU'RE GOING TO REGRET THIS MOMENT TILL THE LAST OF YOUR DAYS! IF YOU THINK THIS MEANS ANYTHING, HAHAHAHAHA! YOU'RE WRONG! I WILL COME BACK... I ALWAYS COME-" Miss Malachite shouted, as rubble quickly started falling down next to her, soon hiding her from our view and cutting her final words short.

Our four anti-villains casually walk out of the crumbling casino like absolute badasses, just in time to see the entire building collapsing to the underground. They don't even bother looking at the following explosion — they just stand there and get their bearings, and the flames end by themselves.

Now they discuss what to do, and quickly they conclude it would be best to go hide in Planice city together. Mercury and Emerald run an orphanage there that can receive them for a couple of weeks. Roman has gone so far as to already get them a ride. He gives a big whistle and out appears Oscar with his wagon. He's already crying out of fear from seeing the four scary mercenaries covered in blood and wounded, but Roman promises that this is the last time he'll require his transporting services. With that, the four should be able to easily get smuggled out of the city.

...

The episode ends as the four sit quietly at the back of the covered wagon, resting from their wounds. Neo is hugging Roman's arm, and suddenly she starts crying in joy again, glad that he's alive. "Come on, Neo, no need to make a scene okay. I just helped you once out of the hundred and twenty seven times you helped me, so I'm far from making it even."

She looks at him with them big ol' eyes — the same fond gaze of her flashback from years ago.

She gives him back his Fedora, and slowly utters, "S-su… su...ki… d-dess… Honto ni… Ai... shiteru…"

Roman smiles and pats her on the head. "Whatever you say, Neo… Whatever you say."

And so it ends the Roman Torchwick special.

Commentary (spoilers): What a simple but effective way to conclude the two part episode. It's not a complicated story at all, and that's why I like it so much. It's a completely played out concept, and it's nearly impossible to fail. Since we're playing a game of villains today, it's natural that the losers die, and we naturally have to find a way to nonchalantly kill characters on screen without increasing the age rate. That's the reason I decided to age up the Malachite Twins in the first place — I wanted aged, cold and inhuman assassins as our villains. Roman and Emerald have both been shown to have something of a moral code that stops them from becoming like the Malachites (although Neo and Mercury not so much). I really like their team structure, and although I didn't plan for them to unite yet, now seemed like a better time than any. I'm still not sure on the name, for now it's just team RMNE. Miss Malachite is meant to be a villain character within Haven, but since we're not going there in the present, I decided to use her here and now. Maybe she could've come up later, but I already substituted her for a way more thematic character for that occasion. She might show up for a cameo in the Prequel Volume (the next one), where we will look thirty to twenty years in the past of the series. For now, don't expect team RMNE to show up any time soon.

You may have realized it already, but with this episode, these four are objectively no longer our main or even side villains anymore. Not to mention, they don't hangout well with our main cast, so I can use them very minimally outside of filler or minisodes. We get one more episode with them (focused on Emerald and Mercury mostly), they will return in the finale (like everyone else), and that's it. I can understand that Roman is a popular character, now more than ever since I gave him a lot more depth and screen time, so it is unfortunate things turn out this way. Now I realize it's so much more painful to love the side characters than the main ones, because you know they only have so much sunshine to give them. The tragedy of being a writer I guess. Well, there's one more story to talk about. Let's go.

.

.

.

"A New Enemy" is another two-part episode that takes place after the conclusion to the second act of team JNPR's story, and it focuses on team CRDL and CFVY. It is set on the same week as Ruby and Qrow started their quest. The episode starts with the boys of team CRDL effortlessly ambushing and killing a pack of young, insignificant Grimm in a blink of an eye.

After the quick massacre, they sit around in different poses to clean their weapons from black goo. None of them suffered any redesign except for Cardin, who now has a scar going across his left eye after his battle on the invasion. It didn't seem to get his eye though — he just looks scarier now. Russel complains how they only found weaklings in the four weeks they've been scouting the wildlands. Dove uses his big brain logic to deduce how probably all Grimm inside the nation of Vale were present at the invasion, and they all died. All that was left behind are stragglers.

Russel believes that, therefore, they have ridden the entire nation of Grimm forever, making them great heroes. He clearly wasn't paying attention to class, as professor Oobleck once explained that no matter how many Grimm they kill over the centuries, their numbers are never reduced in the slightest. They always come back in droves from the Forbidden North, no matter how many of them are slain. Soon the questions arrive at how they reproduce, or rather… who or what is making them. No exploration to the extreme north ever worked. Never. All they can hope to do is keep killing these things forever, and hope the warriors that come after them don't fuck it up worse than they did. This reality leaves all four of them really pissed off.

Eventually they met up with friends. As they walk through the forest, they find team CFVY, who were out on their patrol as well. Just like them, they only found weak stragglers, so the possibility of a second round of invasion is practically null. All they are doing is filling a quota instead of helping rebuild Vale as fast as possible. As per usual, they decide to camp together. Yatsuhashi can't sleep, so he naturally takes the entire night shift while the rest sleep soundly.

We follow Cardin's conscience as he is plagued by nightmares of the invasion. More specifically, at the moment he was trying to lift a house so people could escape the destruction. Suddenly a Grimm came out of nowhere and almost gouged out his eye. He tries to fight it away while swinging his mace from side to side, covering the bloody wound of his face. It was a desperate moment — suddenly he was surrounded by all sides, and was screaming wildly.

He only wakes up once he's tackled to the ground, and when he comes to his senses, he sees it was Yatsuhashi holding him down. Apparently he stood up while sleeping and started attacking the air. Now that Cardin sees ahead, everyone is standing away from him, just watching. He sits down, and so everyone relaxes again. Apparently Cardin has been having these nightmares for a long time, and now they are getting increasingly more active and violent. Yatsu argues that maybe he should go back to Vale and ease up. He's under too much stress and things will go bad if he has another panic attack during a critical moment. As a response, Cardin gets angry, grits his teeth and pulls Yatsuhashi by his collar.

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to?! Are you looking down on me?! I can still fight pretty damn well, damn it, don't mess with me, Yatsuhashi Daichi!" He says, angry as fuck. He lets go and starts walking away into the dark woods. "If you people are going to keep complaining, I'm gonna go rest alone then!"

There was an awful silence after that. Coco questioned, "Who's gonna go bring him back?"

"Velvet." Dove, Sky and Russel said almost in unison.

"What? Why me?!" Velvet asked.

The three waved their hands comically. "Trust us, he'll listen to you."

"Umm… okay!" she said, getting up and following after.

"Now hold on a minute-" Coco was saying before the three dudes tackled her and held her back. Fox laughed really hard and Yatsuhachi looked away, blushing. The two felt like old dads seeing their daughter go have a date with her boyfriend. It seems that Velvet is the only person in the entire Beacon castle who doesn't know Cardin's feelings for her.

…

Cardin went pretty far away in the forest, just to sit alone with his back to a tree and the shattered moon up ahead. His hands are still shaking from the memories of his nightmare, and his new scar suddenly started to sting. He couldn't understand this sensation he was feeling. Velvet soon finds him and tries to drag him back, but he does not feel like talking anymore. She sees fair to sit beside him and wait for him to stop being moody.

"I'M NOT BEING MOODY DAMN IT! STOP SAYING I'M MOODY!" he yells.

"Oooo~kay… just… if you're having nightmares, what do you say I make you some hot chocolate?! It always worked for me when I was a kid! I know Coco still has some in her bag!" Velvet said.

"I am not a child." Cardin replied.

"… well, I can also sing you a lullaby! I know twinkle twinkle star and mockingbird!"

"Listen, Velvet, just go away. I'll be fine." Cardin says.

"But… if you're having a problem, it's okay to accept help! That's what friends are for!" She said, "What happened that day was… pretty scary… I don't even want to think about it again. Maybe you just need some time off to clear your head."

"I... (sigh) I am a man. A real man. And as a real man, I won't allow myself to be slowed down by these… stupid memories!" He said. "A real man fights, and he fights to the end. This scar means nothing! I can still fight! I'm not weak!… I'm not that stupid brat I used to be… I have responsibilities… these monsters won't kill themselves, will they? It's the job of the strong to put them down…

but… why is this happening? My body doesn't listen to me…! I want to fight again, but I just can't. It won't listen to me! Why, damn it?! What's wrong with me?!" Cardin finished, being bombarded by flashbacks as his legs trembled.

Suddenly Velvet puts her hand on his arm, and he goes completely stiff — paralyzed by her touch as his face slowly becomes red. She says, "How strange… It sounds like… this is the first time you've been afraid. That's impressive… It's impressive you managed to get so far without ever feeling scared before…

But do you remember what Miss Glynda often told us? She said that courage is not about looking tough, or being the strongest, or not having any fear… It's about overcoming your doubts to move on and become better! I'm sure you have the strength to fight, but now you just need to believe in your strength again, and I'm sure you'll stop having those nightmares!… I hope so." Velvet finished. She then looked at him and realized he was not breathing, so she pulled her hand away and Cardin immediately jumped away from her.

"Are you going crazy, girl?! I don't remember letting you touch me! NEVER DO THAT AGAIN, YOU HEAR! Do you have a death wish or something?!" Cardin shouted.

"Geez, you're such a mean idiot! I don't know why you get so nervous when you talk to me. Is it the ears that scare you?" Velvet held her chin, lost in thought. But then she suddenly gasps loudly and shouts, "I GET IT NOW! You wanna get married!"

…

…

…

…

"Huh…?" Cardin says at the back of his throat, eyes dead and no expression on his face.

Velvet proceeds to explain on a cartoony montage how the animals of their farm, when they are in mating season, the males become really standoffish, and would fight constantly with one another in order to impress the females. That's why Cardin is so nervous when she's around — he's trying to look tough to attract a potential partner. It's a crude way to put it, maybe a little too ahead of the point, but she's… spot on. Before the tone turned romantic, Velvet suddenly busts out laughing.

She laughed really hard and pointed her finger at him, "Ahahahah! That's too bad! You wouldn't find a wife in a hundred years — you're too angry, mean and scary all the time!"

Cardin then drops to the floor like a bag of potatoes from the nervous shock, and passes out. Velvet hovers over his body and says, "Cardin?… Cardin…. Car~din~… Yay, I did it! Boy, he must have been really tired! Guess we should go back now."

She proceeds to drag him by the foot on their way back to camp, ending the scene on a comic note.

…

We take back literally the next morning, with team CRDL doing their usual patrol. The guys keep on doing small talk, and ask Cardin what he and Velvet had talked about. Cardin lied and said she just kicked him really hard in the head, and dragged him back without ever saying anything. Russel and Sky just accepted the boring lie, while Dove laughed since his Semblance allowed him to know the truth. Cardin immediately holds him up and angrily tells him to keep his mouth shut.

That morning they didn't find anything, but after a while they actually received a message. It was Ruby's farewell video. Apparently they were now reconnected, so that must mean the communication tower was lifted. They comment on how she's being incredibly stupid, and wonder what professor Qrow might be thinking by bringing her along. Cardin however, in inner monologue, becomes revolted with himself for staying in this worthless place, while a little girl like Ruby has to go fight the real battles. He needs to get stronger right now, or else he will never forgive himself.

The day would conclude as usual, with them meeting with team CFVY after the full roundup. However, after long wait, they were suspiciously late. Just then they receive a message on their phones — an emergency call by Coco. Her team had spotted an abnormal Grimm, and is giving chase. Cardin didn't have to think twice, he ordered his team to join the pursuit even as they approached the night time.

As they run towards the emergency signal, for the first time they meet up with some actual bad boys. The forest and plains were filled with elder Grimm, and they couldn't understand how those things came to be there. Dove, Russel and Sky are able to instantly jump in to engage them, but Cardin was still hesitant. He looks at how his legs are shaking, and how his heart is beating faster. As he feels outraged by his sorry state, he starts being attacked by the memories of the invasion again. Not even punching his own face made him react. It looks like he's having a nervous breakdown, but eventually, he focuses… and remembers why he is here. Why he became a huntsman.

…

"Are you afraid, stupid brat?" the voice of an old man said.

We then see a short scene from the past, when Cardin was years younger. His legs and hands are shaking in the same way as now. Dove, Russel and Sky are unconscious on the ground, and the opponent ahead of him was just an old man. By his armor and weapon, he's clearly an old Huntsman. He seemingly defeated Cardin's crew as they tried to mug him. "You thought you were so strong, didn't you? Is that what you do with all your power — you attack old people in alleyways for their money? Look at yourself… You're not a man, you're just a stupid brat. If you're strong, then prove it to me. Pick someone of your own size. Go beat up those that need a beating. Do the impossible. Until then, you're still a scared little boy… I'll be waiting for the day when you're stronger." the old man said, walking away.

…

We go back to the present. Cardin strengthens his grip on his mace, grits his teeth and takes a deep breath.

"I'm not the stupid brat I used to be… I'm strong now… I'LL SHOW YOU!" He said.

With that he's able to join his squad into battle, and it's beautiful. Team CRDL proceeds to massacre a pack of dozens of elders all at the same time. In case you forgot, Russel has the twin short swords and he's absolutely insane while fighting, Sky has the long hook spear with the war axe head that can be removed to greatly increase his speed, Dove has two demon wind boomerangs attached to strings, and Cardin has the bladed mace that goes boom when he wants it too. It's a long fight scene to cap the episode, leaving them a little beaten up by the end.

But it can't end right there — we have to follow up with a hook. The boys continue running towards Coco's signal, as Dove notes something strange. He reminds them that his Semblance also works on Grimm. Normally they have nothing to say other than "kill" with their growls and screeches, but this time… they were saying something else. They were saying "stop", and he never saw something like this before, in the entire last year.

Once they arrived at the signal locations, they were met with dread.

Coco was alone, heavily beaten, bleeding, and sitting against a tree as she tried to survive. Sky immediately jumps to do first aids on her, as she dwindles in and out of conscience. She begs that they help the others to fight him, and so she's out. They don't know what's happening, until they hear a loud sound of trees falling far away. Cardin orders Sky and Dove to stay back to help her while he and Russel go check that out. Soon they arrive at the battle, only to see Velvet and Fox being tossed away and crashing through the trees. Yatsuhashi holds his own against this shadow warrior for a while longer, before being kicked in the head and sent flying away.

When he lands… they all realize Yatsuhashi's neck is broken. However, being incapable of passing out, he simply fights through the pain and puts his neck back in place — metal as hell. The five warriors look ahead to see this strange humanoid warrior. His presence was absurdly ominous and powerful. He's a mere silhouette covered in shadows — or rather, his body is so dark that he looks like a shadow man. He stands up, and now they can see that this shadow person… has no arms.

It's a Grimm — there's no doubt about that. Red eyes, white plates around his dark body that resemble armor, and a white mask of a Nevermore. It was a Grimm that they never saw before… because it was also a human. Though they have no idea what it is, we the audience are more than aware of his identity. Hell, he had the best fight in all of volume IV. It was Wrath, the living weapon of the Grimm, and one of the Severus. He survived.

Though he lost both his arms, something prevents him from succumbing to his injuries. As he saw the newcomers, he smiled.

"So the cavalry arrived. Great… now I'll have to kill you as well." he said. And so ends the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): These two episodes are a pretty easy deal. I wanted to update on what the other characters are doing, I needed to deliver some very important exposition, and my main characters couldn't do it. Other things I want to get out of the way is to evolve Cardin and Velvet's relationship a little bit further, so then he stops being awkward around her. I truly don't want them to be a couple, but the simple romcom of the two's opposite personalities is a very fun thing to watch. And to not make the first part boring, I threw Cardin's character arc and backstory in there for good measure. It's just a small thing for these two episodes, introduced and solved in the same little arc, so it doesn't affect his future appearances.

I like the symbolism of the girliest girl in the entire show being the one who teaches him how to actually be a real man. A funny part about Velvet dialogue is to find new creative ways for her to completely misunderstand the point of the conversations. It's more fun to write about a somewhat dumb character than it is to read about it. Anyway, on to the next.

.

.

.

.

The following episode is 100% about the fight and a bit of the aftermath.

We pick up right after, with Cardin and Wrath staring at each other. Upon questioning what the fuck is that, Velvet proceeded to explain how they saw a huge pack of Grimm passing by their patrol area. Not moving into Vale, but out of it, going towards the north. They decided to attack and kill them… But then, as they were about to kill the last one, this guy simply emerged from the Grimm's back as if waking up from a little nap, and started kicking their ass.

He's too strong — impossibly so. Velvet would go so far as to say he seems stronger and faster than professor Qrow. Wrath was just letting them talk for no reason, until he shouts, "Wow, are you afraid to fight me in these conditions? Believe me, if I still had my arms, you would all be in pieces at this point!" he says.

Right now he only has two stumps in places of his arms, but he still looks unbelievably menacing. Wrath is a guy who can take Ozpin one versus one, and Ozpin literally the strongest character in the world currently, so the power gap needs to be evident even if Wrath is damaged. And the problem about an episode about fighting is that… I'm not particularly a good storyboarder most of the time, I'm sure you realized that by now. I don't describe how fights happen, I only describe the most important motions of which one, and I make sure to always keep the fights on the move or under a time limit so then I actually have something to talk about other than choreography. So I'll just quickly go over the important points.

In the beginning of the fight, the five working together are able to surround and damage Wrath a bit. They mostly utilize Fox's Semblance to predict his movements. That brief sense of victory is quickly wiped away once Wrath demonstrates that, despite looking like a Grimm, he has an Aura and Semblance, which gives him the power to turn any part of his body into any weapon he can imagine, even his little stump arms. Of course, he only reveals that after using their lack of knowledge to surprise and deeply wound Fox, and get rid of their main advantage as he's left out of comission.

Now Wrath fought with his Semblance and was kicking their ass harder than ever, with killing intent of course. Yatsuhashi takes the brunt of the fight and gets cut, slashed and bruised all over. It's pretty gruesome, since his Semblance allows him a form of immortality, but it doesn't heal him from wounds like Jaune does. He simply cannot fall, no matter how much pain he's in. Once Velvet sees Fox down and Yatsu covered in his own blood, she starts crying and simply loses hope to continue fighting. Her hands were shaking and she was mumbling excuses like a scared child.

Cardin, Russel and Yatsu go for one more rush at Wrath, and this time they go for Cardin's special mace trick. Quite the same way he did against Penny, he convinced Wrath to hold it by throwing the mace at him. He grabs it with his teeth, and promises to use Cardin's own weapon to kill him. Just then, Cardin presses the button under his sleeve, and the mace goes boom right in Wrath's face. Sadly it wasn't enough to kill him.

That was the first good shot they got at him, and also the last. After that punch, Wrath realized he can't fuck with these kids, so he goes full power and destroys Russel and Yatsu by essentially breaking their bones, so they couldn't get up again despite their Semblances. Cardin stays up to protect Velvet, who was still crying in shock. It looked hopeless until team B arrived — with Dove, Sky and the heavily beaten Coco.

Dove has a plan that is sure to work. He explains to Cardin how the enemy is simply too fucking good for them to fight. Their only hope is to keep him in place for a second so they can unleash a single ultimate killing blow. They use Sky's Semblance, which is especially effective against an arrogant moron like Wrath, to make him attack Sky in a frenzy. Wrath was able to unleash a deadly attack on Sky, putting him out of the fight, but leaving his guard wide open into a trap. Dove used his boomerangs with strings to envelop a certain area. Once Wrath was in place, with the help of Cardin, they pulled the strings, activating the trap and tying Wrath in a bundle of strings in mid air. He was stuck.

"Now Coco!" Dove shouted.

Wrath looks at her. It was the pathetic girlthat he defeated in one attack earlier. He sees her small briefcase turn into a huge fucking minigun right before his eyes, pointing at him. As if that wasn't overkill already, she loads it in with a HUGE white magazine full of Dust bullets. That would be enough to fire the weapon for just five seconds, and it was all she needed.

The minigun, once loaded with Dust bullets… creates an ultimate weapon.

Team CFVY's ultimate attack, "Energy Rush."

Once Coco pulls the trigger, all the bullets are fired at once in absurd speed, leaving a trail of white glow behind them. Visually, it looks like she just shot out a white energy blast out of her weapon — a goddamn Kamehameha. The force was so great that even Coco gets swept off her feet. The light blinds all of them for a moment. All we see is Wrath looking with wide open eyes as the energy blast comes his way... and then silence. The blast continues on, cutting through the trees, the ground, and eventually flying off into the night sky. The quietness afterwards means that they succeeded.

Wrath was gone, and his body was disintegrated by the blast. Victory was theirs…

…

For thirty seconds.

Just then, Coco gets shot through her shoulder from high in the sky, with what seemed to be a Dust bullet with the color red. Everyone looks up, and sees Wrath falling from the sky. He lands on his feet, leaving everyone in shock. Now his mask was gone and they could look at his face. They can clearly see he was indeed a human, or at least was. His tongue was sticking out, but it wasn't actually his tongue… It was the barrel of a gun.

Wrath then joyfully explains that he isn't limited to simply cold weapons — he can create guns with his limbs and shoot bullets made of his condensed Aura. He freed himself by turning his foot into cannons and firing against the ground, propelling him up while everyone was blinded. At long last Wrath unleashes his full power, turning his stump arms into two big cannons, and shooting Cardin and Dove with it. They are able to dodge for a while, but eventually he gets too fast, and hits Dove, putting him out of commission. In the end Cardin was alone, and was left on his knees. Wrath was ready to kill Cardin by slicing his throat with his knife toes, but then came the final player in this battle. Suddenly Velvet arrives to save him, blocking Wrath's attack and making him back away.

Velvet was done crying. She said, "Sorry to keep you guys waiting. I don't know what came over me. Now it's my turn!"

She was about to fight him one on one, which made Wrath really cocky. However, he underestimated her deeply. First thing Velvet does is flare her light brown Aura, making it visible, and thus activating the evolution of her Semblance. Her eyes turned red, and she wielded her weapon onward. Wrath tried to attack her, but despite being way faster than her, she was able to dodge all his strikes and counter attack immediately, sending him back.

Velvet explains how she wasn't just crying — she was paying a lot of attention to all his movements. Her Semblance, "Muscle Reading", allows her to perfectly mimic his style, and thus predict every single one of his moves. These two now start going into a back and forth that, if that's possible, should be one of those high budget fights. It's not as long as the other ones — it's barely a minute worth of fighting. This is a surrogate last volume, so we should have a way higher budget than usual anyway. Another thing to note that I failed to mention earlier. Velvet's weapon is a big swiss army knife, packing several weapons. She doesn't have to fight with the big clunky thing on her hands. The weapon has the ability to displace all the other weapons inside it, so she can use them individually.

Wrath realizes this bitch is boosted up with the Sharigan, and all his tricks are being read like a book. In inner monologue Wrath speaks to himself, saying that no matter what, he needs to come back home alive. His Aura is dwindling fast since he's using most of it to not die from his injuries. He has to end this quickly. She is waiting for him, and he can't waste a single second. Lucky for Wrath, he isn't a mindless killing machine like all other Grimm… he knows how to use subterfuge.

Once he was repositioned at a certain part of the field, he realized Coco was right there behind him, bleeding out like everyone else. While Velvet just stood there, he went ahead and jumped on top of Coco's chest, making her cough out blood. He then raised his foot and turned into a spear head, ready to stab right through her heart. Velvet's face turned to shock, and so Wrath said:

"Make a move… and she dies.

Drop your weapon… Do that, and I'll be on my way. This fight is pointless to me. You can all leave together."

"Velvet… don't listen to him…! Get him! Please!" Coco was saying, and in response Wrath sinks the blade into her skin, making her recoil in pain.

Her scream is enough to make Velvet drop her guard and toss out her weapon. Wrath did not waste a single second — a creepy smile took over his face. He quickly turned his tongue into a gun again, and shot Velvet in both of her rabbit legs, making her drop to her knees. Thankfully this girl is really stupid, and trusted his bluff.

"Stupid brats… did you seriously think… you could defeat the likes of me? You warriors are just like mindless cattle. You will never know the truth. Your battle is as worthless as your existence. You worms will all die in the end, leaving nothing but other worms to fight in your place. That's your destiny. If only you had sat back, you wouldn't have to die. But now that you have seen me… I can't allow any of you to live." Wrath said.

He then stepped down from Coco's chest and violently kicked her in the midriff, sending the girl flying away and crashing through the ground. Everyone was either too broken or unconscious — all scattered in different places. Velvet and Cardin were the only two who were somewhat still going, but it was a complete and total defeat. They never had a chance. Velvet simply looks down to the ground in shame, while the demon man slowly walks towards her. Cardin gathered up some strength to get up and try to punch him or something, but a lightspeed kick to the stomach was enough to send him flying away as well. He got up again, but by then it was too late. Wrath was in front of Velvet. He couldn't stop it.

…

Cardin was still trying to fight. He was walking forward with his leg broken, and no strength left. Wrath called him a stupid brat who doesn't know when to give up. And that's when Cardin realized it. There's no difference… there never was any difference. That old man, the Grimm, or this guy right now. If he's just a brat, or he's a real man, it doesn't matter anymore. All this time, he was learning the wrong lesson.

He strove to be a real man his entire life, but that can only get him so far. A real man gets up and fights until he dies… but he can't just be a real man. He can't just fight and die proudly. He has to win, and bring everyone back alive. Defeat this demon, save his crew, and team CFVY as well — that's his dearest wish. That's the only outcome he will accept. He has to be something greater than a simple real man. He needs to become a legend. And so Cardin begs his body, his mind and himself, for just one more time, to give him the strength to surpass himself just one more time, and kill this motherfucking, evil and vicious son of a bitch. "ONE LAST TIME!"

And at that moment… Cardin feels as if something just blew up inside of him.

His dark blue Aura surrounds his body as his eyes turn white. He made his move.

…

Wrath stopped walking, and he looks down on Velvet's soul. She couldn't make a move. She was just crying and looking down, knowing she failed to save her friends.

"You fought bravely, little rodent… as a gift… YOU'RE GOING TO DIE FIRST!" Wrath said with his distorted voice.

He instantly lifted his leg, turning into a spear again, while the other turned into a cannon. He fired a blast of Aura out of his left leg, making him jump forward with insane speed. Then he raised his right leg, ready to impale Velvet through the heart. Velvet closes her eyes as Wrath approaches too fast for her to move. She would die on her knees. Everyone screams her name as the blade connects. "DIE!"

It plunges through, making a spray of blood fly off into the air…

…

The blood droplets splattered on Velvet's face.

She opened her eyes, and sees that the black spear was stopped. Cardin was standing in front of her like a mountain, using himself to stop the attack. He looked way, way bigger than he normally does. The blade went through his stomach, and it stopped just before reaching Velvet's nose. Cardin's blood was quickly trickling down.

Wrath looked at him in shock. He couldn't comprehend what happened — Cardin managed to achieve an absolutely insane speed for just a single moment, and jumped in front of his attack. Now Wrath's foot was stuck through him, and as he tried to pull it out, Cardin held onto his leg with a crushing grip. His strength suddenly became too great for Wrath to fight. Cardin's Aura was still surrounding his body intensely. He looks back at Velvet, and she seems to be in total shock. So does everyone else.

"Velvet… you were wrong… I never had any strength before… I was just being stupid…

but the good news is… I think I finally found it now." Cardin said.

...

He tightens his grip on the spear that has pierced his stomach, locking him and Wrath in place.

"You worm… if you wanted to die so badly, you could've just asked! NOW LET ME GO!" Wrath said.

"Worm?… oh, right… that's what we are, isn't it?… Just worms destined to die one by one… Well, that sucks for you…" Cardin was saying. He was looking bigger and more menacing with each passing second. His face was covered in shadows, and his sharp eyes were pure white. He then raised his fist and said, "You will be the one… who will die to a worm!"

Just then, everyone realized something strange was happening with Cardin's body. His clothes were tearing itself as his muscles expanded. Everyone is able to witness his upper body get denser, and his white skin was slowly turning into a deep blue coloration. His hair got brighter orange. The ground underneath his feet started to sink in. And above all, the fist he raised to the air was being covered in a dense layer of his Aura. His veins were bulging, and his fist was making an ominous, unexplainable sound as he tightened it. His whole body gained a strange metalic shine to it.

Finally he said, "I'm taking you to hell with me, monster."

And so Cardin punched down on the helpless Wrath, who without any arms and with his two legs trapped, couldn't do absolutely nothing to save himself. At that moment, the raging demon Grimm felt fear. Cardin punched him downwards in his stomach. And so, an unimaginable force struck Wrath — an attack that almost made him vomit out his guts. Cardin's punch slammed him into the ground, pressing his body until it turned to mush. The strike was so powerful that it created a shockwave, and it sent Velvet and the others flying with the wind. Once Wrath touched the ground, the earth erupted and the two opened a gigantic crater. The forest was completely devastated by one single punch. The camera keeps panning back again, again and again, just to show how much of a shock this single blow caused upon the land. It seemed like a meteor just crashed.

Cardin Winchester. Semblance: "Unstoppable Force"… Awakened.

…

After that absurd level of destruction settled down, we cut back to Cardin and Wrath at the absolute bottom of the giant crater. He was towering above Wrath, who was lying on the ground with a disgusting fist-shaped hole through his midriff. His pupils were shaking. He was conscious, but that blow destroyed him. Soon Cardin looks at his chest and sees blood gushing out of the giant hole in his stomach. He smiles before also falling on his back.

We cut to the rest of the teams, who slowly find each other and pick themselves up from all the destruction. In the end they go together to rescue Cardin, and see him lying there with Wrath. Everyone is so fucked up that they can barely help, let alone stop his bleeding. Cardin was unconscious, but at least alive. Though they can't do anything about Cardin, they soon realize something weird.

Everyone looks in shock as they see Wrath… crying.

His red eyes produce tears of blood. With his last moments he shows emotion, and says something ominous.

"My Princess… my beloved… this worthless knight… was not able… to fulfill his promise… forgive me… forgive… me…" Wrath said. And so he dies. When a Grimm dies, he usually melts into the floor. However, Wrath simply turned into smoke, and disappeared into the wind. All that was left behind of his existence was the Nevermore mask he wore. The seven warriors watch in shock, realizing that the most bizarre, mysterious, powerful Grimm they ever faced… just vanished without giving a single answer. In the end they had to wonder if this all even happened. So many goddamn questions just piling up, but lastly Coco just tells them to shut up and focus on surviving for a few more hours.

It was right then that they were pleasantly surprised.

A background team of Huntsmen appeared after seeing Coco's distress signal and the destruction caused by Cardin's punch. Everyone was overcome by relief, as the crisis seemed to be finally over. They were going to apply first aid and then escort the two teams back to Vale. Everyone was ready to go, but as they were walking away. Coco turned around and saw that Dove was still staring at where Wrath's body was.

"Dove… hey, what's wrong?" She asks.

"Who…

…

Who the hell… is Salem?" Dove says.

Cut to black, ending the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty lame to have one whole episode be strictly about one single fight without seeing any other character. It's even worse because I had to think of three different fighting comps so then our characters progressively force Wrath to use more of his full power. First he fights with nothing but kicks and basic martial arts against Fox, Yatsuhashi, Russel, Cardin and Velvet. Then he uses his Semblance until all of them are defeated. Then Coco, Dove and Sky arrive, forcing him to use his Semblance even further. Lastly comes Velvet, who forces him to go full power. I'm not an animation expert or a fighting expert, but I know the little things like this is what makes a fight interesting. It's not about them punching each other in 60fps, it's how the skill ceiling progresses as the fight goes on — how each side shows a new trick to overwhelm the other endlessly. Out of the entire fight, Cardin's Semblance is the only totally new thing introduced here. Coco's minigun blast is a technique born out of the Dust bullets; Dove's strategy was done in volume IV by Jobi actually, and Velvet's Semblance evolution was also seen previously in the tournament. All character's powers were used to the max regardless if they were defeated.

The only thing I have to add is about Cardin's Semblance. I didn't specify what it did in the Character Revisions chapter, so let me explain really quickly. His Semblance is "Unstoppable Force". For a very short time, Cardin can turn his entire body into a darkened blue color, and thus gain the ability to become completely, virtually and physically unstoppable by anything other than the planet itself, which is an immovable object. What this means is that, in that short few seconds, he's invulnerable to all and any damage, and also gains the ultimate attack power. Since he cannot be stopped, his movements cannot be blocked or deflected. If he pushes his finger against you, and you're stuck against a heavy wall or something, his whole hand will go through your body in the most gruesome fashion possible. The visual cue is a direct reference to armament Haki from One Piece, except it's blue instead of black to avoid minority concerns. That ought to be explained in canon in the future, so I just wanted to clear it out here in case you're wondering.

I also want to talk about Wrath, who you also might know from the character revision section. His place in the beginning of the story is very simple. He serves both as the perfect excuse to distract the strongest characters, while also serving as living foreshadowing about the true nature of Grimm that only few characters know of. I decided not to kill him off in Ozpin's fight because I believed that I could still milk more worth from his existence in the plot, and that was the only thing these two episodes actually tried to accomplish. I need characters other than Ozpin to interact with him, and later learn his secrets. I love how, for so long, we built Dove's Semblance until we understood it pretty well. He can read the true meaning of people's words, and that allows him to see the truth everywhere without being spoken. In the end, it's thanks to this often useless ability of his that, for the first time, humanity knows that the enemy's name is Salem. It also rocks that the two part episode starts with them questioning where Grimm come from, and ending it by getting that same answer.

These two episodes are pretty average when put next to all others, but they are still very useful to the plot. If you think the side characters are getting too many broken abilities, don't worry – the villains also will.

.

.

.

.

And finally, after sixty pages…

We're finally back to where we ended Volume V.

This episode should take place right after the end of Jaune's story, so then we're all updated. Let me just set the scenery first. Imagine a long green plain with nothing great in sight beside a mountain range in the back and a forest right ahead. The grass is stained with black ooze of several dozen Grimm who were slain. There is a gigantic temple that simply emerged from the ground nearby, and most of the forest was now on top of its roof. Team RWBY and Qrow stay at one side, Cinder stands at the other, and Ozpin is in the middle. The girls look beaten already, and they can't help but smile to see Ozpin arrive. Cinder was shocked, but her subtle smile was very clear.

The wind passes by as everyone stands still and quiet.

"I've been expecting you, Ozpin." Cinder said. "For a second I really thought you sent a bunch of girl scouts and a drunk to take me down. It felt so humiliating."

"Hmph. To be fair I have absolutely no idea what the girls are all doing here... but it seems to have worked." Ozpin said, touching his cheek on the same place Cinder was cut by Ruby, taunting her. She quickly giggles and brushes off a bit of blood off her chin. "They learned from the best, I suppose." Cinder said.

Ozpin's eyes dodge to the side towards the temple. "Good gracious, what's that all about? How gigantic… it seems quite ancient to me, don't you think?"

"I could give you the whole lecture about it, professor, but I fear you won't be able to see what's inside." Cinder said. "We don't have much time left, neither of us. How about we have one final dance, you and I? Like good old times... Master."

Ozpin was wearing a combat suit, for the first time in the series. If you wonder what it looks like, to put it simply, it's just Oscar's outfit 2 from the original show. Ozpin proceeds to take off his glasses and hold his cane up. Cinder gives off a little whistle as she looks him up and down. She hasn't seem him so confident in years. Then she looks a little to the side, and sees team RWBY in the back. "Don't think that I forgot about you. Like I said, I plan to end this whole charade today."

Cinder snaps her fingers twice.

Suddenly, a presence dawns upon the six warriors present. The sunlight is blocked by something, and suddenly a huge Grimm drops behind Cinder, making the ground shake. It was the Manticore again, and it released a loud roar. Cinder sicks the Manticore onto the girls and Qrow, while she grabs the relic and jumps back. Ozpin follows her by teleporting with his insane speed, and so we have two fights in our hands. The Manticore is an absurdly powerful Grimm that is mostly covered in white layer, and it is fighting the girls and Qrow in the green plains. The second fight is Ozpin versus Cinder, in the forest.

To summarize the manticore fight, they have no chance. This thing fought Glynda, Ironwood, Winter, Corazan and Qrow at the same time. So obviously, just Qrow with a weaker team is not gonna cut it. They are capable of dealing a lot of damage to it though, since each of the girls brings a new technique to the table that they learned in their personal character journey. Yang can now activate the second ability of her Semblance whenever she wants, without getting angry. Ruby learned to use Rose Burst to envelop her teammates, also breaking them apart into petals to negate all damage done to them. Weiss learned to make much stronger ice summons, including summoning the clone of her sister to fight by her side, and most notably she now dual wields Myrtnaster with another ice sword that she crafts out of her Semblance. Blake now can use her shadow as a literal Stand, who attacks and blocks strikes for her without needing to be commanded — a literal second entity. Finally, Qrow learned how to turn off his Semblance by simply not hating himself anymore. But even with all of that, this beast's relatively small appearance does not indicate at all how fast and strong it is. Qrow manages to hang on fighting solo against it, giving the girls time to breathe. It's still very clear by their glances that these two have a history of fighting. That's pretty much it for now.

Meanwhile, Ozpin versus Cinder was scary. It's very much like their only fight in the original series. Both characters at some points move too fast to understand what was going on. The trees around them were being blown off just from the speed of their movements. Cinder, in physical capabilities, seems to be on a level relative to Qrow, but naturally that's not nearly enough to fight Ozpin. There's something oddly inhuman about Ozpin when he fights. He always goes for killing blows and he doesn't skip a beat. Cinder blinks and suddenly he's right behind her. She feels pressured enough to start using her fire powers to create a heat barrier, keeping Ozpin away. When Cinder is scared, she starts spamming her fire powers against him in a hopeless attempt, but he dodges everything. After all, she gets pretty hurt while Ozpin in just warming up.

The green forest around them now was completely set on fire, honestly making the stage way cooler. Cinder says while breathing heavily, "Maybe… you were a bit more ruthless… than I expected... I hoped that... maybe our past would mellow you out a bit... make you hold back... but I guess not."

"If you want pity, go cry for Summer Rose — The woman who loved you, that you murdered in cold blood." Ozpin replied.

Cinder frowns, "As if you know a damn thing about what happened that day..." she said, and then she held up her hand before closing it into a fist.

Suddenly all the flames engulfing the forest die at once. All the bright red colors were gone, and the two were now left in a desolate, ugly field covered in black ashes. The fumes turned the skies to a horrible color, so the fight stage keeps getting cooler. However, the fight was over. Cinder unmakes her fire swords, and announces to Ozpin that she is not going to be his opponent anymore. She knows she can't beat him at his current state, even though he's not as good as his glory days. The only person who could possibly beat him is someone of the same caliber. Another legend.

"What are you rambling about, woman?" Ozpin asked.

"Can't you feel it? He's nearby… and I feel like… he's done taking his nap." Cinder said, looking beyond into the forest.

The camera follows her gaze into the tree line, and we go deeper and deeper into the forest. Until we find… a man.

…

He was sitting against a tree with eyes wide open. The same man we saw at the post credit scene of volume V. We can't see his whole face yet, but his eyes reveal a completely soulless gaze. He drinks an entire jug, almost a keg, of what seems to be pure booze. He then gets up, and just now we realize how huge this guy is — probably on the same size as a bulked up Ghira. Finally, he takes a step forward…

And so, this huge and long sound runs through the forest.

It sounds like an explosion just went out, far away. Even the girls fighting the manticore in the plains could hear it, and stopped their battle. Everyone now looks in the same direction Cinder was, and a drop of sweat goes down Ozpin's forehead. What they see is a huge stream of pure green Aura, shining in the distance. We've seen Aura surround warriors' bodies when fights got serious, but this is absolutely ridiculous — a whole new level. It was like a mountain of green fire appeared in the distance. Ozpin kept staring at the tree line until the dark silhouette of a man walked in.

He dressed mostly in green like Ozpin, had a beard, and was a tall palace of muscle.

The camera goes down and up until we fully reveal his face.

Hazel Reiner has finally appeared.

…

Those two just keep staring at each other without saying anything. Ozpin doesn't even dare make a move. The look on Hazel's face is pure emptiness. In that silence, Cinder began to giggle. Without any of them making a move, she simply recomposed herself, took the relic and made her way inside of the temple — completely unbothered. Now she can finally end her mission. Ozpin cannot take his eyes off Hazel, much less move.

Hazel has been foreshadowed several times over the series, always seen as this huge shadow of a man, who stands above his peers of team MOHL. Though we came to meet the first three very well, Hazel was always a blank and unmentioned slate. The big guy with his crossed arms, towering over the three small ones. His first introduction needs to be as shocking and absurd as possible to sell his danger as an antagonist really quickly. Now he, and the guy who we know to be the strongest warrior so far, stare at each other from across this small field covered in ashes.

"I believed that… I would never have the chance to see you ever again… Hazel." Ozpin said. "It has been ten years since you were gone, my friend… I would love to maybe have a talk, a cup of tea… like the good old times, remember?… But I fear that's not why you're here."

After a short silence, Hazel said, "Back then… I thought it was impossible. It didn't make sense. I never even considered it a possibility… Even now, I don't know how or why it would be true…

Twenty years ago… when old Silverclaw chose to retire… he wanted me to take charge of Beacon, and lead the Huntsmen of Vale in his place… But I couldn't… I had chosen a different life by that point… I told him to give the role to you… With Maria gone, and, heheh, Leo being Leo... you were the only one I could trust with such a role… With you there, I could go back to my family without a single worry…

and well… how that came to bite me." Hazel said. As he monologues, there was no hatred in his words. Maybe even a longing for how things used to be. But on the last line, his face sinks into anger. After that, there was a windy silence. The two kept staring at each other for a while more.

"Ozzie… tell me…

Did you kill my daughter?" Hazel asked.

…

…

A heavy gust of winds then passes by. Ozpin's glasses were doing that anime thing where they are reflecting light, so we can't see his eyes anymore. The scene becomes creepy, building up to an ominous tone as the field grows darker and darker. Ashes are lifted off from the wind. Finally… Ozpin smiles and says, "Yes Hazel… your daughter had to die… so I killed her. With these hands… If you had not disappeared, I would've told you that years ago. Honestly, I really needed to get this out of my chest…

So then… What are you going to do about it?"

…

The battle between team RWBY and the manticore was going pretty bad, and we don't yet see the real ending to it. That fight comes to a stop once Qrow takes points to fight the Manticore one on one. In response, the monster picks him with its claw and sets flight towards the mountain far in the distance. Ruby screams out Qrow's name, ready to follow him, but then Qrow shouted, "I'll be fine! THE MISSION, RUBY! OZPIN, CINDER, THE RELIC, GO!"

And so Qrow was taken by the creature really far away.

Yang holds Ruby back, and the girls manage to convince her that Qrow will be fine. Just because she worries for him a lot more now, it doesn't mean he has gotten any weaker. He'l pull through, and Ruby decides to trust her uncle. And so, together they decide to head towards the fight in the destroyed forest. Ozpin seems to be fighting someone else now, and their mere presence is enough to send chills on their astral senses, preventing the girls from stepping in. They were straight up paralyzed. But then Ruby comes in with the harsh truth. They are not kids anymore. This is serious. Even though it's way over their league, they have to do this. And so the girls run to the fight.

And so we cut back to see Ozpin's fight with Hazel, and oh boy…

if the previous fight was fast, this one was damn near impossible to follow.

The first misconception about Hazel is that he was strong but slow. Somehow, despite his burly size, he was as fast if not faster than Ozpin — disappearing into the air from his fast movement. He used absolutely no weapon other than punches and the occasional grab. He fought with untold brutality and fury, while Ozpin mostly dodged and refused to attack him back. As they continued fighting, Ozpin had a whole conversation with him. "So you're going to kill me, Hazel? Well, fair enough. In case I do die… I need you to stop that woman in my place."

Hazel didn't listen. He was blinded by rage and Ozpin could notice how he was fighting drunk on booze and lust for vengeance. Once he was done warming up, he beat the ever-living fuck out of Ozpin. Like, truly wrecking the shit out of him. Imagine the beatdown Broly dished out on the Z-warriors in his first movie, but it's all condensed into a single enemy instead of five. That's Ozpin versus Hazel. At the end of his wit, once Hazel held him up by the throat, Ozpin decided to use his Semblance. The purple flame engulfed his hand, and so he held Hazel by the forearm. He has used this technique on three things so far, and the only thing it ever does is immediately send the opponent backing away in physical shock, or rolling in the ground out of pain. But this time, as the flames slowly engulf Hazel's arm…

Absolutely nothing had happened.

"When has this ever worked on me?" Hazel asked.

"Don't judge me for trying." Ozpin said with a smile.

Hazel winds up for a perfect, unmissable haymaker punch. The sight of his fist was like seeing a planet slowly coming down towards your face. Ozpin could see death written all over it. So he pulled a fast one, drew his cane and hit Hazel in the wrist. It dislocated his hand, and allowed Ozpin to dodge slightly.

The punch missed, but the raw force generated by it was enough to make the trees, earth and air behind Ozpin to fly away, blasted by the invisible pressure. The side of Ozpin's forehead was slit open just from the glaring force. As for Hazel, without even changing his expression, he simply put his dislocated wrist back into place until his hand was good again.

Ozpin was completely wrecked by that point — he could barely lie on his knees, while Hazel was still 100% as if no damage was ever dealt to him. Now Ozpin actually starts to hit him back in the fight, as he gets a crazy look into his eye. Hazel remembers this side of Ozpin very well. The side of him who usually leads the battle. A side driven mad by the desire to kill Grimm and survive. He's always been like this, ever since they first met. The real battle was about to begin…

Except not.

Just when shit was about to get really crazy, team RWBY arrived.

They don't understand at all what's at stake. Cinder was missing, the relic is not there, but protecting Ozpin seemed to be the most reasonable thing to do. Hazel naturally had no idea who they were, and in his maddened state, he told them to get lost or else he would kill them as well. At first he didn't even care for their presence — Ozpin was all he saw. When the girls attacked him, even with the sharpest parts of their weapons at full speed, Hazel could either literally TANK the slashes with his bare skin, or stop their attacks with his pinky finger — whichever he was feeling like. However, once the girls started using their powers, they became quite annoying. Hazel figures he should put them down just like any other petulant child, and thus actually begins the most hopeless battle in the entire series.

You have these four girls, which really don't wanna fight the strongest man in the world, but he completely gave up reason in his sole quest to kill Ozpin. Everything they throw at him is worthless. Ruby's speed doesn't make a difference. Blake's new shadow abilities don't affect Hazel due to his absurdly powerful Aura. Yang's Burn boost is not enough to put her in plain field with him. Weiss's summons are as durable as sand when punched by Hazel. At several moments Ozpin had to step in and make sure the girls didn't get killed, despite being already injured himself. Hazel was simply a beast.

Ozpin explained that his Semblance simply is "Pain Killer" — the power to not feel pain. An ability that seems worthless at first, but once analyzed by how the in universe's mechanics work, it becomes too broken to be true. Hazel doesn't get tired, stressed, and not even physically strained. Nothing bothers him, nothing makes him flinch. No matter how strong the attack is, it won't budge his senses at all. Because of that, his mind is completely focused all the time. Not feeling pain also makes him immune to feeling fear. All that combined gave him the greatest mental fortitude imaginable, and thus his Aura never falters. It only has been growing and growing since the day he was born, which explains this bonfire of energy emanating from at all times. A soul with absolutely no weakness. They could chop him to bits, and his strength wouldn't decrease in the slightest. This was the power of the strongest man alive.

Thus far the girls fought a horde of Grimm, Cinder, the Manticore, and now Hazel. Needless to say, they are not in top shape, and they still have Cinder for round two. The battle against Hazel grows to be extremely destructive. The girls are being tossed left and right by so little as a finger flicker. The best shot that they had against him was using their team signature technique, "Hidden Gem", to shoot Weiss like an arrow towards Hazel at great speed.

However, Hazel blocked their most powerful attack with one hand, as it went through his palm. It was the most amount of damage he received in an awful while, however, it still didn't do shit. He grabbed the blade, locking Weiss in place, and then he said, "I remember this sword from somewhere… What a shame… It was at the tip of my tongue."

He then punched the fuck out of Weiss, and easily pulled Myrtnaster out of his hand like a simple needle. The other girls tried to rush him down but it was worthless — the battle was a total defeat. Ozpin was lying on the ground with his femur crushed and fists shattered, so Hazel slowly walked towards him to finish him off. In the end, despite her injuries, Ruby got up and stood in front of Ozpin with her hands up. "STOP!… Mr. Hazel… please stop… This is… this is all a misunderstanding! I don't know what that woman told you, but professor Ozpin is innocent!

Please, professor, say something!" She begged.

Ozpin simply lowered his head in shame and didn't say anything, destroying Ruby's hope. Hazel stepped forward again, and so she shouted again, "NO!… I'm not gonna let you hurt him! You're going to have to kill me first!"

Hazel looked down on the beaten little girl with absolute apathy. He then looked at Ozpin and said, "How about that, Ozpin?… How many children have to die so you can live to see your dream come true?… Do you even feel regret anymore?"

"Hazel… don't you dare!" Ozpin said.

"So the girl is important to you, huh?" Hazel said. Ruby tried to attack him with Crescent Rose, but he easily stopped it by pinching his fingers, and threw it away from her hand. Ruby saw this giant looking down at her with killing intent, and her body froze. Her eyes were empty, and she was trembling a bit. Hazel continued, "Maybe now… you'll feel a fraction of what I have."

Hazel prepared his killing haymaker punch, arching himself back as Ruby was paralyzed in front of him. The other girls were crawling around in the floor just like Ozpin, and at that moment they all shouted her name in shock, "RUBY!"

We cut away just as the fist was mere inches from obliterating Ruby's face.

...

.

.

.

The camera goes far away in the sky, as a shockwave explodes and makes all the trees shake in the surrounding forest. The killing impact was dealt, and it sounded like an explosion went off. We follow ominous and silent shots. Leaves falling down, birds flying away, the grass shaking, and finally the face of pure shock of everyone present. Weiss, then Blake, then Yang, Ozpin, and lastly Hazel. He was also shocked about what just happened. Finally we focus on Ruby's face, as she slowly opens her eyes. She was okay.

When her senses came back, she was being cradled in someone's arms.

It was Jaune.

He was holding her tightly with one hand, while the other blocked Hazel's punch with his new shield. He looked fucking PISSED! Both Jaune and Hazel were exerting an intense flame of Aura around their bodies, almost on the same level. They merely exchanged a glance in slow motion. Jaune charges forward with his shield, using the spring mechanic to send Hazel backing away from them. Hazel's fist was left imprinted on the metal. Jaune says, "Hey Ruby… sorry for being late."

Jaune's golden Aura starts to surround Ruby's body as he held her, healing her wounds really fast. "Jaune, what? What are you doing here?… Am I dead?… What is this thing you're… hmm~ It feels so nice… it's warm…" she said.

In no time Ruby was fully healed, and so Jaune put her on the ground. He told her to grab her weapon and back off, and so Jaune and Hazel kept staring at each other from afar. "It's been a while since someone was able block one of my punches. Pretty good, kid." Hazel said.

"It's nothing to brag about. Even with the shield, you were able to completely break and shatter my arm." Jaune said, and so we see that his shield arm was covered by a big, disgusting purple bruise, but his Aura quickly healed it on its own, and he was good to fight again. "I've seen a picture of you in the books before. Hazel Reiner, right?"

"So you know who I am, then… Doesn't it scare you?" Hazel asked.

"Honestly, yes. I can't say I'm the better fighter between us… However, we're past the point where I have a choice in the matter. You tried to hurt one of my friends while they couldn't fight back." Jaune was saying, and suddenly an angry vein sprouts in his forehead as he snarled. "and that is something… I will not forgive!"

Hazel was ready to throw down with this kid. He has never seen someone so young with such an intense amount of Aura to burn. As Hazel prepared his fists, Ruby said, "Jaune, don't do it! He's too strong! You can't fight him alone!"

"Good thing I'm not alone." Jaune said.

Suddenly, three figures jump from the tree line behind him and land by his sides. First Ren, then Nora, and finally… Pyrrha. And hey, she got a new haircut! Ozpin, Ruby and Weiss react in pure joy to see she's alive, and that somehow team JNPR managed to save her. None of them knew the sheer difficulty it was for everyone present to arrive here, but they came anyway. It was a short moment of reunion, because the fight begins now. Jaune said, "Hazel… This fight is completely pointless… But if you still want to continue… then come on."

Now begins a much more balanced fight.

They still had no shot against Hazel though. Since he used absolutely no weapons, and the battle is taking place in the middle of nowhere, Pyrrha can't even use a fraction of what her Semblance is worth. Most she can do is control the armor pieces worn by her allies to chuck them away from Hazel's attacks, and also control the weapons of the fallen team RWBY to attack from all angles. And just to remind you — she's now wearing a full metal gear, and just like in her time as the Iron Maiden, she can fly by levitating her own armor into the air. Ren couldn't do much either, but his new special arrows could affect Hazel in ways besides simple damage, like sound blast arrows that temporarily deafen him, flashbang arrows, energy shackle arrows, and so on. Jaune could keep himself up at the helm of the battle by simply using his Semblance to endure Hazel's absurdly powerful attacks. But most notably, Nora was MVP for once.

You see, she was given a gift before leaving Atlas. They couldn't teach her how to use any complex Atlas gadgets, but they gave her something extremely useful. A huge, book-sized hand taser. As the fight against Hazel starts to warm up, she shoves the thing into her neck and blasts herself with a 500 volt charge for several seconds. Her hair stands straight up, and so she jumps at Hazel with a brand new power boost. And so for the first time in his life, Hazel watches as this little ginger girl matches his strength for a short moment. He and Nora keep wrestling each other, but Hazel was able to beat her still, since Nora clearly wasn't accustomed to fighting on that level.

All throughout the fight, Jaune made an effort to try and question Hazel so he can end this battle without bloodshed. Hazel comes clean about his motivations, and now we can finally get some insight into his backstory. Apparently, the reason why Hazel quit being a Huntsman was because he ended up with a woman in the countryside of Vale, and already had a daughter by the time team MOHL split up for good. He spent a good ten years living in peace, but eventually his daughter, Olivia, grew into teenagehood, and as fate decided she was born with an Aura, and had to become a Huntress like her father. And so Hazel sent her away to Beacon to train under Ozpin. Nothing in their life could go wrong… until he and his wife got a note back.

Somehow, within her first year of training… Olivia Reiner died.

Her death was never explained in full the her parents — she simply suffered a fatal injury while training, after an unpredictable accident happened. That letter already broke Hazel, but it wasn't the end of his suffering. His wife fell into psychotic depression and died of a broken heart not more than a month later. Whoever was Hazel before that incident, he died along with his wife and daughter that day. For a man who spent the last forty years of his life without ever knowing what pain even was, suddenly he was hit with a pain that his Semblance couldn't shield him from. The worst pain that this world has to offer.

With no family and nothing else left for him, Hazel simply disappeared. He spent the following ten years as nothing but a giant rat in the nation of Haven. He grew a disgusting long beard, dressed like garbage, slept in alleyways and drank all day, in hopes of eventually finding a way to die while trying to forget the pain. Until one day, two months or so ago, he met with that woman. Cinder Fall.

...

She found him a bar, and was the first person to recognize him in all those years. She didn't come to attack him — she just wanted him to learn the truth. And so Cinder took Hazel to meet someone. A woman, age 26 — the same age Olivia was meant to be if she was still alive. She looked scared and regretful to meet Hazel at his poor state. The Huntress lady is called Camille, and she reveals that she was Olivia's squad member before she died. After Camille quit the academy she spent years looking for Hazel, because she wanted him to know his daughter's fate.

That day, when Olivia died, the two were simply sparring one another in training… when suddenly Olivia had awakened her Semblance. Suddenly, Camille was scared away by a powerful force. Olivia's Aura had turned into a destructive, invisible energy that was both poisonous and dense. Dozens of others tried to help her, but she ended up hurting everyone who came too close. She couldn't control her power, and so she ran to the forest below the castle. Soon the entire forest was surrounded by this hue of pure death, and it kept growing as the day passed. No one could approach it, and it would soon go into the castle, or the city.

Ozpin had thus made a decision. He entered the forest on his own, claiming that he would fix the situation. Hours passed, and eventually Ozpin returned. He cradled Olivia's body in his arms, and in his hand, he carried the blood-soaked sword that killed her. He refused to say anything about what happened, and so for the following days Ozpin locked himself in his office, and ordered that this matter would never be brought up again. Camille completely lost faith in him, and quit the academy to be tutored by a Huntsman in Haven. The truth ate her from the inside, and all she ever wanted was to get this weight out of her chest, telling the truth of Olivia's death to the father she loved so much.

Camille then leaves, leaving Hazel alone with Cinder. Hazel had absolutely nothing on his face — just a pure and shocking apathy. Cinder says, "I'm sorry… I've heard that there is no greater pain than losing someone you love… and to be betrayed…but… if you're willing… I can help you… I will help you set things right with Ozpin… justice needs to be served. What do you say?"

Hazel had no answer. He simply walked off and left her, which visibly annoyed Cinder. It seems that her original plan was to convince Hazel to fight Ozpin during the invasion, but she failed to convince him at the time. Hazel just sepnt a long time thinking about it. He kept thinking and thinking... until there was nothing else in his mind other than the desire for revenge. He met again with Cinder months later, and she promised to bring Ozpin to him — which leads us back to the present.

...

Hazel had no idea of Cinder's greater plan or her previous actions, he just wants to do the one thing he feels will make him feel better. He will take revenge on the man who killed his daughter. It didn't matter Ozpin was his greatest friend, and it doesn't matter he has to kill these kids to get to him. Hazel has truly lost it. And the worst of all, Ozpin doesn't try to defend himself against his accusations. He simply looks down and agrees with what Hazel states, and that makes everyone start losing hope on him as well. For a good moment, it really felt like he killed that girl. However, someone in there could sense that something was wrong.

Ren's ability allowed him to perceive others' emotional state, and he could see Ozpin didn't feel regret, or guilt, or even pride on what he was being accused of. All he feels is an intense amount of anger, towards no one but himself. There was something inside his heart that he refuses to say, no matter how much it pains him. Now the fight is not really about protecting Ozpin or defeating Hazel — everyone just wants to learn the goddamn truth about this horrible story. Ren reconvenes with his team, and now team RWBY have also picked themselves up. The basic plan was to hold back Hazel for a moment, so Ren can peer into Ozpin's mind and learn the truth.

Hazel is going absolutely ape shit now, being reminded of his painful memories. He decides to go all out and kill Ozpin as fast as possible. Everyone works together to slow him down, while Ren has a talk with Ozpin. The professor immediately refuses Ren's plan, not wanting to reveal what really happened to Hazel. His leg is broken, and he's severely beaten, so he's not able to stop Ren at all from using his power.

Ren touches Ozpin, and immediately the memories flash in his eyes. He heard voices, and screams — so much pain and desire for violence. The child of the purple flames, attacking everything on sight with vicious savagery. Ozpin's mind was a complete wreck in comparison to how he acts on the outside. "I will kill every single one of those monsters… who roam this earth!" was being repeated over and over in a loop, giving his mind a nightmarish vibe. Through many mental blockades, Ren eventually arrives at the memories of that day, of which Ozpin keeps behind chains and barbed wire. Ren opens the way to it, and as he unlocks it, he's consumed by purple light.

…

"it can't be…" Ren said back in the real world, and suddenly he starts to cry. He picks up Ozpin on his shoulder and starts walking towards Hazel with him. Ozpin protests, but Ren says, "he needs to know… we won't survive this fight if he doesn't learn the truth. It needs to end now!"

With everyone's combined efforts, using all of their powers together, they manage to get Hazel on his knees and hold him down for a few seconds. Everyone was using all their power in unison, just so Ren could approach him calmly. Hazel was gritting his teeth as he struggled like a madman, but Ozpin and Ren only had sorrow on their faces.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Reiner… You deserve to know the truth." Ren said.

And so, slowly, he raised his hand and touched Hazel on the forehead, establishing a mental link so then he could see Ozpin's memories like we do. Ren's power works through physical contact, and since everyone was helping to push Hazel down, they were all transported along to see those memories. A flash of light takes us decades into the past, and I guess it's a good time to end the episode.

Commentary (spoilers): I say end the episode, but it should've probably ended way earlier. I just want this little room for commentary in order to talk about all this new plot. Well, it's not exactly new; there's barely anything new yet. Ozpin fights Cinder just like in the original (except he sort of wins now), Hazel still has a desire for vengeance against Ozpin (except it's his daughter instead of sister this time), and the final battle against Cinder will still happen inside a vault guarding the relic. Most of my work is focused on giving context or new canon to things that already exist in the original show. I even bothered to name Hazel's daughter, and in case you're wondering, I named his wife "Gretchen" to keep the name from the original.

At this point I don't even have stuff to say anymore; everything that happens is a natural continuation of what has passed, so there aren't "changes" anymore, only consequences to those previous changes. Team JNPR's arrival in the battle is something I built the hell up; an entire half of this volume was dedicated to showing their growth and quest. Now Jaune comes in like the biggest badass of all time, and all the girls are like "wtf is going on". Yeah I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned up. Originally I wanted Hazel to fight Ozpin at the top of the mountain at the end of volume IV, but I figure that he would never ally with Cinder in that scenario, since he's still a hero to some capacity.

And now, I originally planned for the truth to just come out through dialogue, but then I was reminded of Ren, and that's how I naturally threw a canonical flashback in the scene. It's way better to see it happen after all. Ren is essentially my replacement for Jinn, providing us with memory probing scenes that work as show don't tell. Now things are about to get really god damn tragic. Let's go.

.

.

.

.

The next episode opens up in a totally new way, already inside the flashback.

It seems to be a bar of some sorts, and we see a giant man with his head slammed against the counter, probably from having drunk too much. Eventually, an elegant little man comes to his side. It was young Ozpin, and the giant sitting there was a younger Hazel. Ozpin talks smack to him for suddenly leaving in the middle of the night to drink… at least, without him asking Ozpin to join. We can glean a good and precious friendship between these two from their tones with each other. Hazel reveals that it isn't here for no reason — he was there to celebrate. Hazel shows Ozpin a letter from his wife back home.

She was pregnant… and that makes Hazel a father, and Ozpin an uncle.

Ozpin reacts with surprise and joy. He couldn't believe it. The two just keep laughing and hugging it out in the middle of the populated pub, while everyone else just looks at them funny. Ozpin manages to drag the drunken Hazel along, in order to go tell the others of the good news. He already can't wait to see what his kid will look like. Ozpin narrates the memory, saying, "I may have lost my parents, my siblings, my home… but in the end, I found someone else who called me their family…"

…

Flash forward seven years, and now we see Ozpin kneeling before someone.

It was the previous headmaster of Beacon; Mr. Silverclaw. We've seen many portraits of him already, so this doesn't need to be a bombastic reveal; just really ominous. He looks like a white-haired Severus Snape. Silverclaw explains that Hazel had given up the idea of becoming headmaster Huntsmen of Vale in order to be with his family, and suggested Ozpin in his place. Silverclaw thus makes the same proposition, and Ozpin accepts the offer instantly, since he doesn't have anything else going on in his life right now. Ozpin narrates again, "I thought I was ready… I thought that was the only way that I could one day see my dream fulfilled… To destroy every single one of those monsters… who walk on this earth… I needed more power… I needed an army."

…

Flashforward a whole decade, and now Ozpin is wearing his same normal green clothes he always wore, but he looks considerably younger still. The gray hairs haven't gotten him at all. He's just seeing papers in his office, which are files from the two teams that will be going to the academy this year. He realizes one of them is Olivia Reiner, making him smile. Eventually someone knocks at his door, and thus enters professor Port — also sporting a slightly younger look and a different mustache style. He warns him about the start of the oath ceremony, and so Ozpin follows him outside.

Once at the ceremony hall of the castle, he meets with Olivia eye to eye. We also see her future team CLOT (Camelot), including Camille and the other two girls (which won't be important at all, so don't even spare a line for them). The other is team BBLT (bolt), which we saw several times in volumes I, II and III as background Huntsmen, who were simply known as BLT. But here we get a huge fucking reveal. The fourth team member that was always missing was actually Oobleck. This is back when he was 17, and looks like the small nerd with glasses and a big backpack, while the rest of the team is of tall tough boys.

Ozpin proceeds to give his speech and endorse them into the academy, and thus prepare them for the first mission. We don't actually see it though, we keep jumping ahead of Ozpin's memory. Ozpin narrates, "She seemed so uneasy that day… I don't understand how I never realized…"

…

Next we see her combat training, probably a few weeks into the academy already. She tries to fight one of the boys from team BBLT, but she's absolutely pathetic in swordplay. Ozpin is watching her being humiliated, until eventually she gets tossed on the ground too many times. She starts to cry like a baby, and so Ozpin calls off the match.

Later when she is alone, Ozpin approaches her like Batman for one of his wise speeches. Olivia complains how she's not even remotely as strong as her daddy, and she doesn't see hope of ever getting good enough to be like him. Ozpin knew something was wrong. Even in the first mission for team building, she was like a headless chicken running away from Grimm until she found people to defend her. Olivia was not remotely good to be a warrior, and barely had an ounce of guts. Still, she doesn't want to give up, because she really wanted to make Hazel proud. He looked really happy when she decided to come here, and she doesn't want to disappoint him.

If the girl doesn't want to quit, the only thing she can do is try her hardest to become stronger. Ozpin advises her to take time with Camille, her team leader. She's pretty talented, and surely she will be glad to help Olivia grow her skills as a warrior. The girl smiles and says, "thank you, uncle Ozpin!"

…

We hard cut to Ozpin in his office. He seemed to be in some sort of daze until Port barged into his offfice. They had a problem.

We cut to them outside. Ozpin looks down on the green forest by the mountain cliff. Everyone is in silent shock as they watch this colorful hue covering the woods, and it seems to be expanding. Camille was there, and she explains that she and Olivia were training when suddenly something happened to her, and she started expelling this strange energy. Then she ran to the forest and told everyone to stay away. Ozpin gives Port his cane and jumps in without a second thought.

He enters the zone of effect, and immediately realizes something was wrong. Some force was immediately killing him, but it wasn't striking his body — it was chipping away his soul. He continued moving forward, and the closer he got to Olivia, the more pain it was causing him. The Grimm who were around the forest were dying on their own, melting on the floor. Life was being sucked out of everything, and Ozpin witnessed as all the green trees and grass… slowly turned their color to red.

Yeah that's how it ended up like that.

Ozpin continues moving forward and calling out Olivia's name as he goes. At one point he started crawling on the ground, as he kept exerting more and more of his Aura to not die. It's a very nerve wracking scene, because he's actively dying faster as he goes. It even feels like he's aging too. His black hair starts to lose its color, as if his life is being sucked out of him. It turned into its iconic silver color as we know today.

Eventually he does manage to find Olivia. She was once again sitting alone and crying. Ozpin by that point had the equivalent of walking from the shire to mount doom in just an hour, and he looked really fucking bad. He calms her down and tries to teach her how to control it, but Olivia was just too emotionally charged to focus. She keeps repeating that she can't stop it no matter what she does — it was a subconscious ability. She regrets ever coming here. She reveals that she never wanted to fight anyone or anything — she just wanted to make her father happy. Now Ozpin looks to be at death's door because of her power, and she can't help him..

"Olivia, don't worry… you have to trust me… we'll find a way…" Ozpin said.

"Uncle Ozpin… please don't die… please!" She said, but soon he passed out.

In no time, her own Semblance would end her uncle's life. Olivia starts to cry harder, but eventually she gets herself together, and realizes there's a way to save him. It's her power, so if she's out… it will stop working. And so in a silent sequence, we see this scared little girl, around the same age as Ruby when she entered Beacon, draw her short sword… and see her own reflection on the blade. Either if we show this moment or save it to the uncensored DVD versions, one thing is clear. Olivia proceeds to use her own sword to gut herself. She falls on her back, and slowly the powers she summoned leaves the area. The forest kept the red color however, and so did Ozpin's hair remained silver.

Once he opened his eyes, he immediately looked over and saw Olivia on the ground. "No… no no NO NO! Ollie! Ollie, stay with me!"

The girl had not more than a few seconds left in her. She could only say, "Uncle… It's cold… I'm scared…"

Ozpin shook his head really frantically. "Why- why did you do this? It didn't have to be this way! I could've helped you, everything would be fine, I-"

"Uncle… I'm sorry…" Olivia said as she cried her last tears.

Her last words were, "Promise… please…

don't tell daddy..."

...

And so she died. Her hand drifts to the side as she closes her eyes.

The deafening silence is broken as Ozpin starts to scream. A scream of pure, wild rage and despair. His purple Aura starts to flare around his body as he seems to have entered some berserk state. The intensity of his screams grow and grow as the world around him goes blank. And so, finally, after almost a full episode of flashback and inner monologue, we finally return to the present.

.

.

.

Ozpin's screams of despair are powerful enough to push everyone away from his memories, and now they opens their eyes back in the real world. Team RWBY and JNPR were holding Hazel down, but now they let go, and just slowly backed away from the shocking flashback. They saw days worth of memories, but it is simply just a couple minutes in real time. Everyone falls to their knees, while the more emotional ones like Weiss and Ruby can't help but cry after what they just saw. And then meanwhile, Hazel just kneels there. No movement, and an expression of pure horror. The wind passes by, as they are all left in silence.

Ozpin finally opens up, and lets it all out at once.

"I made her the promise… that I would never tell you what really happened… Because... she knew you would blame yourself...

All this time… I wished that you would just kill me… That's how it should've happened… But the girl you raised, Hazel… she was too good to just let me die." Ozpin said, and he tears up for the first time in the series. "I failed her… I failed you… I don't deserve to be anyone's teacher, or hero… I was always just someone… who killed better than others did."

...

And so we focus on Hazel, as he has one final inner dialogue.

It was a conversation that he had with his daughter long ago. It seemed so fleeting at the time, but it allowed him to come into his senses. Hazel was saying to her, "Me, your grandfather, his father and the grandfather of your grandfather — all of them had something to offer. They were strong, and so we dedicated ourselves to the battlefield… and now it's your turn, Ollie."

"But dad… I don't want to go!… I don't want to leave home for so long, and I don't know anyone there… You told me that you could take down any monsters out there. Why do I have to fight?"

"Olivia… in this world, the only people who can live in peace are the ones who learn how to fight. This is not for me, it's for your own good. I would be happy to know that you'll be okay even when I'm not around. I don't want to spend the rest of my life worrying for your safety." Hazel said. "I trust that your uncle will take good care of you. I know you'll be fine. And hey… I'll come with you to the castle if you want."

"Alright, I understand… I trust you, daddy… I promise to make you proud!" Olivia said with a smile.

Those words echoed in Hazel's mind. He closed his eyes slowly.

...

And so… he stands up.

Without saying anything to anyone — without looking at them or even with a clear direction to go… Hazel walks away. Everyone watches in silence as he does so. One heavy step in front of the other, with shadows covering his face. He disappears into the tree line as the wind carries him over, and once he's far away enough… We can see the tears sliding down his chin, and eventually falling to the ground.

Before he truly disappears, he utters, "What have I done…?"

Hazel left the battle as it was. The horrible truth just damaged him too much. He has no one to blame. Neither bad luck, or Ozpin, or himself. He lost everything… because that's just how it is. This is the cruel world he lives in — the cruel world that he brought his daughter into. There's no more words to say. Now... Hazel knows true pain. He understood the great indifference of this unstoppable universe, and this cycle of tragedy that followed his family and many others for as long as monsters roam the earth.

.

.

.

.

After that, all that everyone could do was pick themselves up one by one. There was a lot of regret, sadness and a feeling of defeat, but it was not the time for those things. They still have to save the day. Jaune proceeded to use most of his remaining Aura to heal team RWBY to the full, and also Ozpin. And so the nine warriors rush inside the gigantic temple after Cinder.

Ain't I forgetting someone? Oh yeah… Qrow.

He was taken to the absolute heights of a nearby mountain by the Manticore, and the two battled all the while Hazel was wiping the floor with everyone. We just cut to Qrow every now and then to see him fighting this thing. It is really strong, but doesn't talk, so the fight is boring. How the fight concludes however… it's fucking amazing.

Qrow was getting his ass kicked, because he still didn't fully heal from the fucked up shit he went through this past week — especially his fight with Raven and the hell climb he did to save Ruby and Yang. It didn't look like he was able to beat this thing… until he received an assist from the most unbelievable person of this series. In one decisive moment, where both Qrow and the Manticore were at a bad spot, out of nowhere came… Tyrian Callows.

He jumped in and delivered a deadly attack to the Manticore, opening its defense of white layer, so then Qrow could come with his sword and plunge the beast in the throat, once and for all. A legendary level Grimm was thus taken down, and it melts to the floor as it screams and suffers to its last second. I want this painful death to be as satisfying as possible, because FUCK THIS CREATURE. Qrow was breathing heavily, and then he looked ahead to see Tyrian. He was still in bandages from his fight with Ruby, and he looked just as messed up as Qrow.

"Why… Why did you help me?!" Qrow shouted.

"Isn't it obvious?… I told you already… If someone is going to kill you… IT WILL BE ME!" Tyrian said, immediately engaging Qrow in battle. The manticore was dead, but It seems that even now Qrow won't be able to join the others. It was time to beef with Tyrian for the last time, and end their rivalry in the most climatic place possible.

...

Continuing with the important stuff.

Everyone rushes inside the temple, and they are welcomed by darkness at first. Suddenly, the pillars of this gigantic room start to glow in the dark with a strange blue magic, making the whole place crystal clear. They instantly meet up with a wall of hieroglyphs near the entrance. They have artistic depictions of stuff, but also text written in ancient English. From this quick scene, they are able to understand what this place is. It's a temple that belongs to a god, but no one knows which god, or from which time period this temple was built. Cinder was clearly here, but the place is too gigantic to just wonder around. Ozpin has a bad feeling about what might happen in case Cinder finds what she's looking for, so he leads team JNPR one way and tells team RWBY to follow the other.

The four girls find their way down into the temple, while Ozpin and company searches the upper floors. Every single hall and corridor was littered with Grimm that entered it along with Cinder. They merely slow them down and can't seem to damage them in the slightest after being boosted by Jaune.

Ozpin's team didn't manage to find Cinder, but they did uncover some of the universe's lore. Up there they were able to find the very last passage ever written on these walls, right next to the skeleton of a man in robes. It depicted one being of pure light and one being of pure darkness — two brothers. The two seemingly grew discontent with one another for the last time, so they traveled to the moon, and battled for ten continuous nights until it cracked. In the end both brothers were annihilated. All that remains of the god of light are four different relics that he had gifted to the four kings of mankind — the relics of knowledge, order, destruction and creation. Meanwhile, all that was left of the god of darkness were his last remaining followers that survived the war — the people of the silver eyes.

Those relics of light were kept safely apart from one another, so then one day the power of light could be used once more. However, not too long after the clash of the two gods, strange black monsters were born in the north, under the pretense of destroying mankind. As his fellows fought to the last man, the writer of this text took upon himself to seal the temple forever, until someone in the future could return here and rescue the great relic. It was kept safely in the inner vault, and was protected by the light guardian.

"Light Guardian… I wonder if he's all bones too." Nora said.

…

And at the same time, as team RWBY found the final stairway down the vault… they met said light guardian.

The room they arrived in was a gigantic square room, covered in mossy stone and being lifted up by dozens of pillars that stay close to the wall. As the girls stepped in, suddenly their Auras started to flair up on their own. In response, the floor starts to glow a blue light, spreading through the cracks until it reaches the wall and ceiling. The patterns and letters on the walls lit up as well, and suddenly the room began shaking. All the light reunited in one place, and so a bunch of huge square stones started lifting off the ground. Those stones were surrounded by energy, and after a long transformation sequence, they turn into a complete humanoid stone golem, emitting this strange blue energy.

"Intruders… You do not carry a token of light. You will not be allowed inside the vault. Leave now, or die." the golem said with a magic, yet robotic voice.

The girls naturally have no idea what he is or what is happening, but they know Cinder went this way. They had to go after her at all costs, and so they had to fight the light guardian. He had no weapons, and only fought with his square stone fists. Despite that, he was absurdly fast and deadly, easily overwhelming the girls with his huge size yet precise fighting capabilities. When the girls deal damage to his stone body, the magic glow simply restores him from the dust and pieces. They merely dodge its attack for now, and the golem's huge size stops them from proceeding. Naturally the battle alarms the others, and quickly they arrive to back them up. Team JNPR decides to take on the Light Guardian, so then Ozpin and the girls could proceed to the vault of the great relic.

...

I think it's time to catch up with Cinder.

She paid no mind and didn't hurry at all, since in her eyes there was no way the others could beat the challenges she bestowed to them. One by one they would die, and so she could focus on getting the prize she really wanted. She monologues to herself, and it turns out she never really wanted the relic of knowledge in specific — she merely wanted it in order to get the Relic Of Order all along. Through the relic's power, she was able to discover the land of anime and open the temple's doors, since she carried the relic that served as a token of light.

Finally she arrived in the vault.

It was a gigantic chasm of endless darkness, but the path ahead was illuminated by blue energy trails that emanated as soon as she took the first step. The glow illuminated the straight path forward. The walkway was an ancient bridge, right above the endless void. Once she arrived at the final step, the vault finally appeared. It started to unveil itself through a long sequence of magical mechanisms triggering each other, finally emerging from the ground. The huge safe door was opened, and inside was the thing Cinder searched all along.

The glowing golden crown of blue gems was on top of an ancient pedestal, perfectly preserved by magic for the last 500 years. Cinder cries as she looks down upon it. The long journey to achieve it, as well as its beauty, drove her to tears. She grabs the crown and states, "Godmother… I found it… this world now belongs to me… just like you said… I can finally… fulfill my promise."

…

"STOP!"

Cinder's eyes go wide, and she looks back in shock. And there, with the blue light surrounding them, posing like absolute badasses, she sees Ozpin, Ruby, Yang, Weiss and Blake. She couldn't understand how they survived, how they won their battles, and arrived here fully healed. But once she looked again, she realized she had nothing to fear. They are far too late. The crown was already in her hands.

"What is that thing?!" Ozpin shouted.

"What, this?… it's just a crown… MY crown…" Cinder said, slowly putting it on her head. Nothing seemed to change once she did so. "Congratulations, chosen few… you were lucky to witness the birth of a new world. It all begins now."

Ozpin then grabbed his cane and rushed at her at super speed. He was ready to jump and strike her.

But then… Cinder said, "Stop."

…

And so, through an insurmountable magical force, Ozpin's body simply froze where he stood. He lost all the momentum, and he couldn't move. He struggled with all his strength, making his purple Aura flair up, but he couldn't do more than tremble his body a little bit. He was stuck in that position, and so were the other girls. Weiss, Yang and Blake complained about not being able to move their bodies at all. Not even Blake's shadow could move, and neither could Weiss use her creation powers. Cinder had the smuggest look as she walked down the steps, slowly preparing a sword of fire as she approached the immobilized Ozpin. "hmhmhm-ahahahaHAHAHA! Look at you, Ozpin! Did you seriously believe I would do all this for a simple crown? Oh no… this crown, quite like the lantern, is an ancient relic. The Relic of Order."

"What… what power is this?!" Ozpin asked.

"An ancient magic, crafted by a being powerful enough to imbue a Semblance within mere objects. The crown gives me full control over every single living being who walks this earth. My word is reality. My command is final. Struggle all you want, you won't be able to disobey me… Now kneel." Cinder said.

Ozpin's body did as she said, kneeling down to her, no matter how much he struggled. Cinder continued. "My my, so that's how the strongest warrior alive falls… If the likes of you can't even budge, then I won't have a problem with anyone else. Now… Now it all begins, at long last…

I'll finally be able to carve the perfect world... Just like we dreamed. No nations, no wars… no evil. A world where all are equal in life... A world where children won't have to fight. A land without suffering or injustice. The perfect world… and I… as its queen. Just as Godmother foretold. You know it was meant to be this way, Ozpin. You said it yourself long ago. You knew I was destinied for greatness as well… Now you can rest assured that the world will be safe in my hands, for all time.

You, however… By your face, I understand that you will not accept the gift of a perfect world that I'm offering you. I do not wish to send you in a lifetime of feeble struggle against my rule… so I've decided to end you right now. That is my last gift to you, as thanks for all those years that you trained me."

She wields the fire sword up, ready to slash at Ozpin. The other girls react in fear. They call out his name, but they can't move to help him.

Ozpin was about to die under the sword.

.

.

.

.

And now, did you notice I haven't talked about Ruby at all?

Yeah, about that.

.

.

.

.

In the last possible second, Cinder's sword is stopped by Crescent Rose.

The epic music kicks in, as we rapidly cut between everyone's shocked reaction, until we see the money shot of the volume. Ruby blocked the sword strike, saving Ozpin by a mere inch. The one most shocked above everyone else was Cinder herself. She was so shell shocked that she didn't move. She didn't even think about dodging Ruby's next strike until it was too late. Ruby manages to slash Cinder from chest to shoulder, forcing her to jump away. If Cinder had wasted a single second more, her head would be rolling around.

"Sorry to interrupt another one of your stupid monologues…

but I'm not letting you hurt anyone ever again! IT ALL ENDS HERE!" Ruby said.

Cinder covers her chest as she sees the stream of blood slowly sliding down her skin and dress. Her eyes and hands were trembling. She shouted, "How… HOW?! WHY DIDN'T MY ORDER WORK ON YOU?! I TOLD YOU TO STOP MOVING!"

Ruby uses the sleeve to clean the blood off Crescent Rose. "How am I supposed to know? You're the one acting all smug, why don't you enlighten me!"

Cinder looked straight into Ruby's silver eyes, and then it hit her.

"It can't be… GOD DAMN IT!

You're a descendant of godmother like me… The magic of light doesn't work on you!"

"Is that so?… I don't know what that means, but I know one thing. If I'm the only one who you can't control, then I'm going to be the one that will take you down!"

And so begins the money fight of this volume. A LONG money fight. The entire battle, lasting probably the rest of the two episodes, will be the masterpiece this time. And it starts with a long take, as Ruby squares off single handedly against Cinder for the beginning of the match. Cinder was already heavily damaged by the surprise attack, so for the first time we see her struggle. One of her hands is occupied to stop the bleeding, and she's being erratic due to pain and rage. Ruby was using her absurd nimbleness to constantly move and attack her from various points. It looks like she could actually win for a moment, but then Cinder entered her ape shit mode again.

She surrounded her body by a stream of fire to break Ruby's combo, and started kicking her ass back. She managed to fight an S-tier level for a good minute, but now she was just getting murdered. Cinder's fire-made weapons instantly cauterized the slashes she made on Ruby, thus they didn't cause bleeding, but an extra layer of pain. After a long, awesome fight directed by Naotoshi Shida or some shit, Ruby loses and is left lying on the ground.

Cinder stands over her, slowly walking forward while holding her shoulder. She uses a flame at the tip of her finger to cauterize the deep slash Ruby gave her. Now she monologues with a sense of authority. "You little pest… I am… the empress of a new world!… We may have the same eyes… but I'm the one destined to rule!… You think you can take my place? IS THAT IT?!"

Cinder prepared the flaming saber again, ready to strike Ruby while she lay on her back. Crescent Rose was out of her reach. In the most helpless situation imaginable, in the decisive moment between life and death… What better time to come up with a new power?

Ruby had achieved the ability to break apart her body into petals to achieve speed and invulnerability. However, she no longer has the energy or the speed necessary to evade the next attack. Only one thing would ensure their survival at that moment. The crown needs to go, so at least her friends can be free. And so Ruby outstretched her arm towards Crescent Rose, focusing all her Aura into her hand. It started to vibrate bizarrely.

Cinder was saying, "For a moment I hoped to keep you alive, Ruby Rose… maybe as a gift to my friend…

but now I see that your destiny… IS TO DIE BY MY HAND!"

And so at the last possible second, the magic happened. Ruby's arm simply popped out of her torso, bursting into petals. Her hand was launched towards Crescent Rose. She was able to grab it and pull it back, reforming her arm. It was in rifle mode. As Cinder raised her sword, Ruby drew the weapon back and fired for a headshot. Cinder was caught by surprise by her bizarre new power, but still managed to dodge. However, she made a mistake. Ruby didn't aim for her — she aimed at the crown.

The bullet hit it square in the center jewel, knocking it out of her head. Her magic control over the others was immediately undone. Cinder looked back as the crown fell on the ground, then her eyes of pure ire came straight back to Ruby. "YOU INSUFFERABLE LITTLE BITCH-"

Cinder thrusted the sword towards Ruby, certainly to kill her since she didn't have the time to dodge. However, with his insane and iconic super speed, Ozpin jumps in and protects Ruby from the stab using his back, saving her life. The fire blade went through his torso, but it didn't reach Ruby. He was smiling at her. "Good job... miss Rose..."

He wasn't done, though — his deranged face appeared for a second. Ozpin was still able to swing back his cane at Cinder, hitting her in the midriff with such power that she was sent flying back. After that, Ozpin immediately fell on top of Ruby, having been pierced in all his vital organs by the equivalent of a lightsaber. He was paralyzed.

Cinder quickly recovered and crawled to get the crown as fast as possible.

However, Ozpin was not the only one there mind you.

Now Weiss, Yang and Blake are free, and they are pissed beyond belief — ready to get revenge for Ruby's beatdown. Blake uses her shadow to snatch the crown away, while an enraged Yang and Weiss charge at Cinder. Ruby sets Ozpin aside and helps her team fight despite her injuries. And so continues the money fight of the volume. The final battle of this saga, and effectively the final battle of the series in case we don't manage to get another season.

Team RWBY versus Cinder Fall.

A fight for the possession of the crown relic, taking place in a huge, luminous bridge, over an endless dark chasm. Think of the original Raven versus Cinder fight for instance, except we're using the right characters this time, and so it's gonna be 10x cooler. As the fight is about to take place, suddenly they feel an earthquake shake up the walls and everything else in the vault. And so, gigantic rocks start to fall down from above. Why? Well, before I continue, let's get updated on the other two fights.

.

.

.

Qrow versus Tyrian was going as expected.

An endless stalemate between two rivals who are both incredibly wounded, but have an intense desire to see each other dead. Sadly, Qrow was slightly more fucked up than Tyrian, what gave him the advantage. All the while, Tyrian was taunting Qrow about how he finally learned how to control his Semblance. All it took was a stupid hugging session with his little girl. Tyrian promises to tear Ruby to pieces and force his Semblance to be as it once was — back when things were fun and unpredictable. And since Tyrian wanted something unpredictable to happen… the most surprising thing of this whole series actually happens.

Tai Xiaolong actually does something.

He suddenly arrives in a bombastic way, blocking Tyrian's attack with his leg, using special metal boots that cover his ankles. Apparently Amber Celica was originally the gauntlets and the boots, and this is the other half of his full weapon set that he hadn't given to Yang. Tyrian recognizes him after all this time, complimenting his depressive five o'clock shadow. Tai wasn't there to fuck around at all, and starts kicking Tyrian's ass in pure apathetic silence — something that especially hurt Tyrian's pride. Tai ends the fight by activating his Semblance, taking a deep breath as steam starts to be released from his body, and his skin gets a red tone. "Enhanced Aerobics" is an ability that makes Tai significantly stronger as he holds his breath. He surprised Tyrian with a burst of speed and strength that he couldn't fight against, ending it all with a powerful kick to his stomach that sent the madman flying off the edge of the mountain.

Tyrian plummets to an insane fall, laughing really hard until his voice cannot be heard anymore. The fight is done, but we can also glean that Tyrian is far from dead. His last words were, "WE ARE FAR FROM OVER, QROW! FAR FROM OVER!"

After a short silence, Qrow laughed and said, "Showing up so late, eh? Age has slowed you down, you straw-head bastard!"

"You're one to talk, you drunk piece of shit." Tai said, walking towards him with hands in his pocket.

Tai suffered a little redesign. His fighting gear is just an armored version of a basic yellow and orange karate gi. Tai explains that Blake met him while in Vale, asking to go help Ruby and Yang with her bike. That simple interaction made Tai realize how much of a piece of shit he was being. After Blake left, he found his old gear and literally ran after her — following the wheel tracks in the wildlands. Luckily he arrived at the nick of time. Tai is three volumes behind the plot, but he's not here to ask questions — he just wants his kids back. And so the two head toward the temple at hyper speed.

.

.

.

All the while, team JNPR was fighting the super strong energy golem.

Again, Pyrrha wasn't allowed to instantly win the day, since the enemy was made of magic and pure hard stone, like the whole rest of the temple. They tried breaking him to pieces, but he could regenerate itself perfectly even if they turned him into dust. Jaune was conserving his energy and trying to recover, so Ren had to be the damage sponge this time. Nora eventually ran out of juice in her taser, but there was another for her to get more power. Ren had a special arrow that releases an electrical discharge. She stole it from his quiver and instantly stabbed her own leg with it against his warning. She was bleeding now, but it was enough power to give her and Pyrrha a final edge.

Nora used her hammer with propulsion to completely destroy the guardian's stone body while Pyrrha observed. She realized that the enemy had a minuscule little blue ball at the center of his being, and figures that should be the core that keeps him alive. She went to strike it as the golem was reforming, splitting it in half with the spear toss. That seems to kill it, as the golem suddenly lost its glow and its pieces fell apart.

However, he still has enough energy to say his last words. "The enemies of this century far surpass any other who I've faced before. My defeat was inevitable. But as the last measure to defend this temple, I have no choice but to destroy it along with me. The power shall not fall into the hands of the undeserving intruders."

The light guardian's death seems to have triggered a self-destruct sequence of the whole temple. An earthquake suddenly hit the ground and walls, and everything started crumbling on its own. Team JNPR decided to focus on keeping the place together so then team RWBY and Ozpin can escape the vault later.

.

.

.

And that brings us back to the fight sequence underground.

The chasm of the vault started to collapse, and gigantic stones fell right on top of them. Naturally the bridge was destroyed, and all the girls quickly started falling down the infinite void. The crown was lost from Blake's hand as they fell, forcing Cinder to follow after them. And thus begins the best sequence of the entire series — a fight on top of falling rocks.

The bridge bursts into several pieces, and the girls could use them and their powers to get some footing and jump in between spaces. Cinder could fly with her fire bursts, so it was a very dynamic situation. Three girls attacked Cinder while one kept the crown away from her, and they constantly kept tossing it to each other to avoid Cinder's grasp. Of course they had to keep jumping from rock to rock on the way up, so as to not fall into the void. It's a long, energetic and fast sequence, and of course this is playing on my head right now.

Eventually all the girls jump their way up back to the bridge, and continue fighting in the big circle of the end where the vault safe was. All the four girls are burning their Aura and fighting to the absolute max of their abilities, not needing a single word outside of their facial expressions to show how much hatred there is in everyone. Their combined synchrony continues to save each other's lives constantly, not allowing Cinder to focus on a single combat and thus balance her level of strength. Though I wish our characters could just fight the final boss forever in one long and uncut scene… we have to end this.

It's time to end this fairy tale.

Eventually the crown is left lying on the ground, and with Cinder free, she manages to grab it. She quickly tried to put it on her head, but then Blake fired her grappling hook at it, wrapping the cord into the crown. She was pulling it away from Cinder, and quickly Yang joined her in the tug of war for the ultimate weapon. Cinder couldn't match the two's strength, so she decided to just kill them. She prepares her fireball with the other hand, ready to fire at them.

However, Weiss was ready to move. She gritted her teeth and jumped in at insane speed while Cinder was distracted, with the sheer desire to protect Yang and Blake. She slashed at her head, and Cinder couldn't dodge. It was a perfect strike, and another amazing frame.

The slash of Myrtnaster scraped the side of Cinder's face, and got her right eye.

Cinder immediately yelled out in absurd pain, and just as quickly, that pain turned into unbridled anger. Blood immediately started sliding down her face from inside her eye socket. Unfortunately for Weiss, she allowed herself to be wide open. Cinder had a fireball ready on her other hand, and all she had to do was aim it at her. Weiss used her Semblance to try and raise an ice wall to block some of the damage, but it still got her good.

Weiss was hit at point blank by an explosion that blinded everyone. She was immediately unconscious, if not dead. Her body was sent flying out of a cloud of dark smoke and fire, letting go of Myrtnaster. Her white armor was ruined, and her Aura almost disappeared. The girls watch in terror as Weiss is launched far into the air, eventually falling off the edge of the circle, and into the abyss. Ruby simply watched that happen from afar. Weiss's limp body was reflecting off her pupils.

And so… Ruby was shot with a wave of raging energy for one final time.

She prepared Crescent Rose in scythe mode, and released a loud and long war cry. She started running towards Cinder with a wave of murderous adrenaline. Cinder was still trying to wrestle the crown away from Yang and Blake — she was stuck. Cinder is in pain, she lost her eye, and she's tired. Once she looked at Ruby coming, she also started to scream loudly in pure rage. But her scream was also a weapon. A gigantic burst of fire started coming out of her mouth, going towards Ruby. A last resort to stop her.

However, Ruby didn't budge.

She kept running at full speed and tackled the wall of fire head on. Her arms, legs, hair and clothes were immediately set on fire, but she didn't give in to the pain or weakness. She kept running straight at Cinder, and so Ruby jumped in for the final strike. She was literally on fire. Time slows down so we can perfectly see fear taking over Cinder's face. She held Crescent Rose upwards, and with one final rage-filled scream, she swung down. And so…

The right arm of Cinder was slashed clean off by Ruby.

The severed arm and the crown went flying away by Blake and Yang's pulling force. Ruby's eyes went blank, and she passed out. She and Cinder collided with such force that the two were also sent flying off the edge of the circle. Ruby, Cinder, Weiss and the crown were now plummeting to the void. Cinder seemed to be in some sort of shock and couldn't move. Her pupils were shaking, and blood was gushing out of her severed arm. The fire burning Ruby's whole body suddenly died out as she fell.

"NOOOO!" Blake and Yang scream in pure terror. It seems like Ruby and Weiss will fall to their deaths.

…

But just then the savior arrived, mirroring when the opposite happened in volume IV.

Pyrrha suddenly appears to help Ruby and Weiss. She runs past Blake and Yang and dives off the edge. She starts falling extremely fast, and quickly catches up to Ruby. She then grabbed Weiss, leaving the unconscious Cinder to fall to the death of her own making. At least she gets to go with the crown she wanted so much. Pyrrha then used her metal control Semblance on her own armor and the girl's weapons, and so she flew everyone back up.

Weiss and Ruby were still out, and the temple was just a minute away from collapsing on itself. Jaune also arrived, so he grabbed Ozpin and the relic of knowledge on his back. Pyrrha and Blake took Ruby and Weiss, and so they bolted for the stairway out of there. Yang took point, and she literally punched all the giant debris falling on their way. They run up the stairway and the corridor, eventually arriving at the guardian room where Ren and Nora were trying to hold the door together. The path behind them was being erased as they ran — the temple was so massive that it pretty much was a whole mountain crashing on them. They moved at super speed, so it was only a matter of minutes until the front gate.

But of course they ran into problems. Up ahead, all the upper floors of the temple start to crash down, trapping everyone in darkness. Blake took point since she had night vision, but quickly they arrived at a complete dead end. Yang starts punching the walls desperately to find an opening, but it was only making the ceiling fall faster. Thankfully, their saviors arrive.

Qrow and Tai managed to open a whole new entrace into the temple with their bare fists, arriving just in time to meet the others. "THIS WAY, COME ON!" Qrow shouted, and so everyone followed. We follow a second-person shot of everyone, running across the long tunnel as it crumbles right behind them. Soon they see the sunlight up ahead, and with all their remaining energy, they jump.

…

The young warriors, who have been through hell for several fights, who faced abysmal odds and came out victorious… were welcomed by a bright sun and a blue sky outside. They didn't feel safe though, and kept running and running as far away into the plains as possible. Only when they were miles away did they turn around to see the final result. The temple starts to lower down back into the depths of the earth, crumbling in on itself. But since that is not epic and conclusive enough, suddenly that magic blue glow starts to emanate from the interior, and surround the temple. It kept getting brighter and brighter until eventually… The temple is destroyed in a gigantic blue explosion, sending pieces flying everywhere in the sky. Magic thunders from the skies finish up destroying the entire land surrounding it.

The bright light blinds them, marking the end of the crisis.

Team JNPR, RWBY, Qrow, Tai and Ozpin just watch in morbid and calm silence as the temple is erased from this world. Slowly things start to settle down, and the only noise left on those plains comes from the whistling wind. One by one they just fall on the ground — a quiet and heartfelt relief that everything is finally over. Not one of them came out unscathed out of this whole battle; every single one looks beaten and tired. Not only that, but they had three people in emergency status.

Despite it all, Ozpin was still somewhat conscious, so he begged Jaune to focus all his juice on Ruby and Weiss. Jaune does so, holding Ruby and Weiss's hands and passing on all his remaining Aura onto their bodies. Their wounds were quickly healing by the golden hue — their burn marks were disappearing. Just like last time that he overdid it, Jaune passed out on top of them. Weiss wakes up first as she feels Jaune's head on her chest, immediately jumping awake in a horrible daze. Now they all looked down on Ruby with ominous taints of hope and sadness. Until eventually… She wakes up, coughing black smoke.

Ruby sits up and looks around at all their worried faces.

Since I'm not a Marvel writer I'm not gonna make her say a phony line. Ruby simply smiles, and so begins the hugging session. The wistful soundtrack kicks in. Weiss is the first to tackle Ruby with a hug, then Yang, and finally Blake. The shot is a clear inversion to the final scene of volume I, but instead of Ruby hugging all of them together, all of them are hugging onto Ruby. It's a long hug that eventually drives the four into tears. With that done, we abruptly cut to black.

S-class mission: "Pick up the pieces"… Complete.

…

.

.

.

.

We cut to a way later that day.

It seems that everyone got some rest or had a meal. Pyrrha notices that Jaune is finally waking up and helps him stand. Everyone was ready to move out, and so they started walking into the forest towards Vale City in the south. The sun was setting in the horizon, covering the scene in warm colors. Weiss now searches herself and realizes the remote controller for her ship (the only thing in her name right now) is toast, along with the keys. Thankfully Jaune also arrived in Ironwood's ship, so they can all fly home after a short walk to the secret landing place. Jaune is carrying Ozpin on his back and using his power to slowly help him survive his wounds. Now all they can do is walk and talk.

Ozpin said, "You've grown strong, Mr. Arc… I can count on one hand the number of people who had what it takes to survive Hazel's killing strike."

"In all honesty, professor… I'm pretty sure my bones are still shattered from that." Jaune replied.

"Most impressive of all… you manage to rescue your comrade against all the odds. I shouldn't have doubted you. You're a greater leader than I could ever hope to be. Cyrus... he would be so jealous of you..." Ozpin said.

"… Thank you, sir."

.

.

.

.

Cut to Blake next to Ren and Nora.

"Are you sure you're okay to move, Blake?" Ren asked.

"I'm fine... Thank you for saving us. You four got stronger." Blake said.

"We all almost died like seven times, it was awesome! How about you?" Nora asked.

"Hmm… three our four, I guess."

Ren kept looking at her with a worried face. "We won the battle. Everyone is alive. We're going back home with everything we wanted… and yet, I can still feel a lot of sadness and regret coming from your soul." he said.

Blake looks back at the girls. "I left them… I betrayed their trust… Even if they forgive me, I can't just forgive myself."

Ren walked silently for a moment, when suddenly he comes in with godly wisdom. "All of us came to that academy with missing pieces. Most of us didn't have people to call family anymore. I know I'm glad to have found a new one, and I know the same applies to you, Ruby, Yang and Weiss. Family is important, because everyone needs a place to go back to after failing and making horrible mistakes. We are lucky to have people like them."

"Aw~~ Ren~ you're gonna make me blush!" Nora replied.

Ren continued, "Listen… if the memories are too painful for you, I can try to destroy them with my Semblance. You don't need to live with this pain."

"I appreciate it… but I don't regret feeling regretful…

I'm thankful for the lesson… that this sorrow has taught me." Blake finished.

.

.

.

.

Cut to Pyrrha and Weiss.

"Where have you been this whole time?… We were worried." Weiss asked.

"I think you know… we met a few times…" Pyrrha said, looking somber. Apparently, she didn't actually lose the memories of her time as the Iron Maiden, and was just pretending to have so, as not to worry the others.

"So it was really you, huh?… hmph~ it checks out." Weiss replied.

"I'm sorry… I'm… so sorry, Weiss… when I think back, it feels like I'm seeing my own memories through a scope. I screamed out, I struggled, but I couldn't change anything… I almost killed your dad… I almost killed your sister… and I probably would end up killing your mom and brother if you hadn't stopped me… I wished that you could've killed me… before I caused any more harm."

"Alright, that's enough… Don't act as if any of that was your fault… I don't know what kind of things you went through, but I know it must have been awful… If anything it's my fault, too. I couldn't help you that night in the invasion. I was still too weak… You can explain the whole story later, but just know that I don't blame you… at all." Weiss finished.

Pyrrha shrugs her tears. "Thank you… thank you so much."

The two kept walking along, until Weiss giggled. "To think I once begged you to be part of my team. Geez… I would neer have the guts to go through all that and save you, like Jaune did… You're a lucky girl." She said, with a sly smile and bedroom eyes.

"P-p-please don't p-put it like that!" Pyrrha said, blushing profusely.

.

.

.

.

Cut to Yang and Tai.

"So… I don't think I can dodge this question… How was your mom doing?" Tai asked.

Yang walked in silence for a moment. "You were right about her… You were right about… everything… I'm sorry for what I said that day. All you wanted was the best for me… and I was too stupid to see it."

"In the back of my mind… I still had some hope that after all these years, maybe she could've gotten a little bit better. But that lady was always like that… always too scared to trust her back to someone other than herself." Tai said.

The two walked in silence a little more, and so Yang looked down. She pulled out the brown fedora from her head and said, "Officer Braun… he's really gone, isn't he?"

"Let me stop you right there… First of all… Marrow was my friend, and I know him better than anyone, even his twenty exes. He was a good guy… and the last thing he did was save your life, just as he would've done for me, or for Ruby, or even a person he never even met before. That was the kind of person he was. He would never want this guilt to dawn over you for the rest of your life, because of the sacrifice he chose to make." Tai said.

"But it was my fault… he knew it was… there's no excuse… I don't know how can I ever forgive myself… I don't know how to make up for it…" Yang said, tearing up.

"Well, I know a way… You'll just have to keep on doing the same as you've done before. You keep moving forward. Two years ago, Braun was so happy to know you decided to become a Huntress. The things he said had finally gotten into your head. You were finally growing up… As long as you keep going on and keep on fighting, I'm sure he'll be able to rest easy, knowing that his decision was right… Don't let this single failure drag you down forever, Yang. Mistakes help us grow. It's through them that we are able to understand ourselves… Just look at me… the greatest accident I ever had in my life ended up turning into you, and now… I don't regret making that mistake one bit." Tai finished.

Yang smiled at him sweetly, putting on the brown fedora back. Something felt right about it. Her father's words sounded as right as they could be. It's her job to prove to Braun that his sacrifice wasn't in vain. She'll do anything in her power to see her goal fulfilled, and she will protect everyone in his place. She wiped those tears and looks up with determination. But then eventually, Yang realized what he just said and punched him in the liver. "What was that last part supposed to mean, old man?!" Yang said.

"Nothing–nothing! I love your new hair! Hahaha!" Tai said.

.

.

.

.

Cut to Qrow and Ruby at the very back, just silently watching these convesations play out one after the other. Qrow was drinking his century old wine as Ruby kept glancing back and forth to him. Her face shows a deep conflict, and so finally she decides to speak her mind.

"Uncle Qrow…" Ruby said.

"Hmm- yeah?"

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Eh, go ahead."

"Why did you pretend to not be my real father for all these years?" she asked.

Qrow almost spits his drink, but manages to hold it in. "I- You- We- I mean…! (sigh) Ruby, I don't know where the heck you're pulling this from, but you better quit it."

"I've known it for the last five years." she said, making Qrow spit out his drink completely this time. "It's not even a mystery. I don't look like dad at all. I'm not tall, or blond. You two always said I mostly took after mom, but still… I don't want to argue, I just want to know why."

Qrow looked down and thought hard about what to say next. "Listen Ruby… You know me pretty well. I didn't want to lie to you, it's just that… I was not ready. Even now I'm not ready. Not just unprepared, but… unfit, in general. Even Tai knew that, and that's why he agreed to raise you for me. Regardless of blood, he's still your father, just like Summer was Yang's one true mother. I knew you deserved someone better than me to call dad. I could never have raised a girl as good as you… And for the record, it was your mom's idea."

"Really?… well, I'm glad to finally know. Thank you… Did you love her? Mom, I mean." Ruby asked.

"More than anyone or anything… but, I guess you fill that role now." Qrow finished.

After a long and emotional silence, Ruby said, "Can I still call you uncle?"

"Heh… sure."

Our heroes walk off into the sunset, together, and happy forever after. At long last ends the Fall Saga, and also this episode.

Commentary (spoilers): The best way to describe me now is simply peacefully shocked. Like… I never expected to arrive here actually. I tried two years ago before, but after I got to volume I it just became a drag to write. But now I have a stable job, good income, and therefore I must suffer from first world problems, such as having a creative outlet. Now I'm 400 pages into this. The story grew to be so complex and absurd, and somehow I managed to finish the main storyline with all threads closed off for now. A perfect finale, with much that could be done in the future, but nothing immediately on the horizon. It's one of those points where a series could be canceled, and it would still be a satisfactory ending. The perfect place for a good old time skip. I might have to go back all the way to volume I and revise a lot of shit.

I guess all I have to talk about now are the revisions. I decided to change how the crown relic works. I don't even know if it was ever explained originally, so I might as well just make shit up. Cinder's motivations are perfectly detestable and insane. No matter how much sincerity she puts in her speech about making the perfect world with her as its empress, we've seen a lot of evidence that proves she's not remotely stable enough for such a task. Cinder's delusions, smugness and entitlement is a very big part of the character, because nothing else can possibly justify what she has done in comparison to what she wants to achieve. She's a plain hypocrite, and maybe power drew her mad. What makes it very clear, despite she being supposedly the final boss of this series, is that there is someone above her. Both from the team CRDL episode and this one, it is made evident that a certain "she" has convinced Cinder to go through all this. She's the one who allowed Cinder to get this far into her plan. We don't know who she is, or how she affects the world yet, and that question kills people if left in such a big cliffhanger. But ultimately, I'm satisfied with the final battle.

The only regret I have is not being able to build any form of true antagonism between the other three girls and Cinder. As far as they know, Ruby wants to kill her, she wants to kill Ruby, and so they also have to kill her I guess. Like I said, Cinder is only Ruby's villain, and she works best when against Ruby alone. Another thing that I realize is how little character is built in this final battle. There's no arc for anyone left — they are here just to kill shit and get this volume over with already. My greatest difficulty was "how do I take Ozpin out of the fight", because we all know and have seen that he can take on Cinder with relative ease. I first thought, "okay, Hazel will fuck him up too much to continue", but then I remember Jaune will arrive and heal everyone. Then I thought "Okay, he'll stay to fight the light guardian", but then no, he wouldn't let Ruby go fight Cinder alone. Then I had to change the crown's power to something so specific that it would allow Ruby to have her much needed 1v1 rematch against Cinder, while the others couldn't. And even after being free, Ozpin is immediately taken out to protect Ruby. When put up like this, I'm sure that it doesn't look like a natural sequence of events, but I can't have Ozpin hanging around, even when he should be there. I didn't want to fall into the exact same trap that led to Raven being the one to fight Cinder at the end of the original Volume 5, instead of our four main girls. What dance it was to control this guy's power level; this must be how it feels to be the writer of Bleach.

Now the last bit left to talk about is Qrow and Ruby. Criticize me all you want, but I believe that these two actually being father and daughter is thematically perfect and it doesn't change the status quo one bit. It is merely a preference. I also don't like to believe Summer shacked up with Tai just a year after Raven left him, and I find it even more unbelievable that he was just like, "alright, guess I'm ready for another wife." Qrow and Summer is good, and you will see why in the next volume. For now let's just conclude this shit properly.

.

.

.

.

The final episode of the volume takes us a couple of days later.

Our heroes have finally arrived in Vale City after a long travel. Now looking at it from afar, we can see the entire city covered in scaffolding and handy work from thousands of different people. Soon after communications were established, the other two nations immediately sent people and supplies to help Vale rebuild.

Our heroes arrive just in time to see a very important news broadcast — the first one in a long time. The news lady proceeds to narrate how the entire plot was finally uncovered by both Vale and Atlas's efforts, thanks to dozens of testimonies. The attack was a coordinated siege by the White Fang in cahoots with an insider of Atlas called Arthur Watts, who was responsible for the malfunction that sent the androids into a violent frenzy. All parties involved in this crisis are being hunted down so then justice will be served. The White Fang has utterly disappeared and no one has a clue to where their main headquarters actually is, and Watts skipped town. It will take a while for things to calm down.

It is a bit depressing that they can never truly get back what they lost, so the news lady (Lisa Lavender I guess was her name) attempts a final speech to inspire the audience. They have survived, and they will rebuild. Even with the collective work of the forces of evil, the people and the nation still stand strong, and that is the greatest victory. They will work together to make sure that never happens again, for all of those whom they lost on that horrible day. Above all else, they need to thank the Huntsmen who sacrificed so much and fought hell to protect them. They did so without ever asking for ovation and praise, and that made them real heroes. End speech.

All throughout that narration, we see small scenes without dialogue that have a lot of value.

Oscar met up with Ruby again, and hugged her in relief. Glynda cried at the sight of her students coming back alive and together. Blake meets the refugees from Menagerie again, and later spots Sun far away as he waves her a final goodbye. Qrow goes to Summer's grave, tossing out his iconic booze flask into the edge of the cliff in order to quit drinking forever. Pyrrha nonchalantly uses her Semblance to help the city rebuild with way greater efficiency, not caring to hide her true self anymore. Ren prepared a hot meal for his team, after being apart for so long. And lastly, Yang went to the new Huntsmen graveyard and stood hours by the tombstones, finally saluting the fallen as she puts Braun's hat back on her head.

...

In the end, everyone decides to head for the castle one final time, as they were summoned by Ozpin the very next day. Team Ruby meets up with team JNPR on the way, and they head inside together. It seems like the castle will also return to its former glory in a year or so. The wall was being worked on by Miss Lucy and other engineers as they entered, and she waved them with joy. The castle looked clean, but it still needed major repair — the only place still missing was Ozpin's tower. On the way to his new office, they had to pass by the corridor to the training room. And that's when they heard it.

BOOM!

A huge sound similar to an explosion just came out of the danger room, and so they rushed in there to see. There was no battle going on, but there was an awful lot of destruction. They wait for the dust to settle, and see that one of the four walls of the gigantic cubed room was destroyed. It was shattered into a million pieces that came from one singular point. There was someone standing there, right in front of the giant crater on the wall.

He turns around… and it's Cardin.

Apparently he was playtesting his new Semblance once more. Everyone was completely shocked by what they were seeing, or rather what they didn't see, but Cardin didn't seem worried or surprised about the destruction he just unleashed. When he saw Ruby and Jaune, he slowly walked up to them. The two feared his intentions as the man mountain approached, but in the end he lifts the two off the ground into a hug — a shocking surprise to them. Cardin kinda went through a small character arc, so he doesn't care anymore about doing something "unmanly" like a hug. He was glad to see that both teams pulled through… And then he immediately flipped his switch back to normal.

He grabbed Ruby and Jaune by their skulls and slammed them together. "You damn morons! Did you lose your damn marbles or something?! Who gave you the right to leave the city on unauthorized missions, HUH?! Do I have to punch your brains back into place or something?!"

Suddenly he gets tossed off Ruby and Jaune. Velvet came in and kicked Cardin at the back of the head, sending him flying away. He crashes against the wall and she immediately calls him out for the damage he just did to the training room. He shouldn't be doing this shit while his wounds are still fresh open. "Do you want your guts to fall off like a garden hose again?!" Velvet said.

Cardin gets up, "You attack me from behind and then you dare say that, woman?!"

"Well, it's not your head that has a hole, innit?!" Velvet replied.

Soon the rest of team CRDL and CFVY show up, looking equally as messed up as Cardin and Velvet. They ended up meeting a new enemy who was completely unlike anything they ever saw or were told about, but even so they managed to kill it. Kudos mostly to those two idiots bickering over there.

It seems that surprises have not ended, as Jaune uses his new Semblance evolution to heal the other eight students. They could now remove their plasters and bandages to see their wounds fully closed, and Jaune didn't break a sweat this time. He and Cardin get into an argument to see who has the best new Semblance, but eventually they are cut off since both have business to attend to. Turns out Ozpin summoned all of the sixteen students to his office, and so they took a long stride through the corridor together.

...

Okay, let's finally head into the final stretch. Once the sixteen arrive at Ozpin's new office, they are faced with the man himself along with Glynda, Oobleck and Qrow. All their teachers except for Port, who died in the invasion. They are welcomed inside and so everyone takes up a spot around the room, with a dynamic pose that compliments their character.

Ozpin begins the talking.

"What a year has it been for all of us, don't you think so?… All of you grew to be so unbelievably strong in such a short period that we didn't even have time to sing our praises to you. Your missions have yet to end in failure. Your performance at the tournament was remarkable. And your survival at the… following events… was a true test to your strength, as well as those who stood by your side and defended you as your teammates. And even now, in just a week's time, you once again surpassed your limits and faced challenges that I would never have the courage to bestow upon you."

"That's really nice to hear, but that's not why you called us here, is it, professor?" Jaune said.

"… After everything you've been through, I believe it's only fair to tell you the whole truth that I know of. Maybe then we can figure something out, when combined to everything you have learned in your journeys." Ozpin said. "For starters…

I'm sure that by now you all know about the woman who attacked this castle. Her name was Cinder Fall, and through the efforts of team RWBY and JNPR, her plans were ruined and she was defeated for good… But that's not the first time we've seen her. Actually we knew of her for quite some time… because just like you, she was a student of Beacon." He finished.

Everyone looked shocked, and so he continued.

"Class 138th — the last class of headmaster Silverclaw. She attended the training along with team Stark, Marble and Glamour. She seemed normal back then, but also promising. A strong warrior, born with a powerful ability. During that time we believed that her Semblance allowed her to control Grimm, since we were unaware of her true nature as the enemy. We let our guard down to her, hoping that she could be an ultimate weapon against the Grimm. I even trained her myself…

But then one day, barely a year since the training began… something went wrong. Someone must have discovered her true intentions, and so she was forced to act out her plan earlier. Her goal all along was to steal the relic, which was kept safe in the castle for hundreds of years. That night she tried her luck, but she failed. The efforts of team STRQ and GMOR were enough to defeat her, and she ran away forever to be remembered as a renegade…

Ten years later she came to resurface, appearing as a mere shadow around the map, and making alliances with all sorts of people… and I would like to end the story here." Ozpin finished, dodging his eyes to Ruby. Ozpin got up from his chair and walked towards a painting on the wall. He removed the frame and revealed a hidden safe, from which inside he kept the relic of knowledge now. He showed it to all of them in its glowing blue glory, and continued. "This is what she stole that night… and for the longest time, we didn't know what it was. Its history and power was lost to time, as the circle of people who knew of it grew smaller and smaller until it vanished. Now we know it to be… The Relic Of Knowledge."

By the way, I know I referred to it as "relic of knowledge" a bunch of times, but in universe they just call it "the relic". I use the full title to not confuse readers. This is the first time it is actually called the relic of knowledge by a character, as Ozpin learned that in the temple of light. He continues, "Apparently it had the power to answer any question to whoever came to ask in its presence. And seemingly… it doesn't work anymore. I believe there is some sort of time limit before it can work again, since Cinder must've used it to learn something… Mr. Arc, any ideas?"

"Well, uh…" Jaune was thinking, but then Ren stepped forward and said, "The next time we saw her, the relic was no longer with her… but she already knew where to go. I believe she used her first question to learn that the temple of light was in Anima."

Qrow asks, "If she could ask any questions, then how did it take her so long to find the temple?"

"Logically," Weiss said from the back, "we have to assume that her first wish was to find the temple's location. The relic said it was in Anima, but Cinder didn't know where Anima was. If she couldn't ask where exactly Anima was, then probably she could not ask a second question… maybe it can only answer a single question, once upon a time."

Everyone looked at the relic in silence. Glynda said, "to think we had something so strong right under our noses and never knew… We could've learned so much by now… all of the enemy's secrets and their weaknesses…"

"What brings us to the next talking point. Miss Adel my dear, care to enlighten us on what happened during your last mission?" Oobleck said, making Coco step up.

"Right… Well, nothing happened for the most part. We were stationed there for a month, but we didn't encounter a single Grimm worth fighting. Our guess is that every single Grimm in the entirety of Vale was summoned for the invasion. But then… we found a lot of them. There was a pack of big boys, not moving into Vale, but fleeing from it. We intercepted it, destroyed it, and… then we found him. The creatures were escorting someone among them. He was clearly a Grimm, but he was also human, and both of his arms were missing."

"Wrath was still alive?!" Ozpin suddenly stands up, making everyone go silent.

"That was his name, yes… How do you know?" Cardin asked.

"I fought him during the invasion… Cinder knew she couldn't fight me, and she failed to convince Hazel to confront me at the time. Her only solution to slow me down was… him." Ozpin explained.

"He was so scary… He was smart, he could talk, and he had powers just like us! I never even heard of anything like it… Professor, why didn't you tell us something like that existed?" Velvet asked.

Ozpin looked down, and so he said, "I didn't know there were more than one…"

…

With everyone listening closely, he began explaining the summarized version of the day that team MOHL broke apart.

Arrogance had led them to infiltrate the forbidden north and the dark lands alone, searching for the ultimate foe of humanity. The real entrance of the land of Vacuo is protected by a wall of pure black hue that allows no one to see through it… except for someone special. People with Silver Eyes, quite like Ruby, come from a rare tribe of people who are immune to the magic of light and darkness. It pains him to admit it, but that's the reason why Ozpin was inclined to recruit Ruby one year ago — against the wishes of Qrow and Tai. His old team leader, Maria Calavera, was also part of that lineage. She was able to lead them through the dark hue, and arrive at Vacuo for the first time in history. It was there that Ozpin met the Severus for the first time.

One of them… just one of them was enough to completely wipe the floor with the strongest team of the century. Their lives were spared somehow, but Maria had her eyes gouged out, so she could never attempt to come back again. That day was actually how Ozpin met with Cinder for the first time, but that's all a story for another day.

All these years Ozpin believed that he, that humanoid Grimm who wrecked the shit out of them, was the one true ultimate enemy. Now however, he realizes that there's still someone above him, and that he was just one of many other Severus who are just as strong as him. And now the interesting part comes in. In their latest mission, team RWBY discovered that there was still someone above Cinder. Someone above her, all the Grimm, and even the Severus. The person who allowed Cinder all the power she had.

Jaune interrupted, "Don't you think… you're not saying it is that god of darkness from the temple, right? The two brothers destroyed each other, and only after that the Grimm first invaded. That's what it said!"

"I'm aware… but the person that Cinder served… was her so-called godmother. This woman… This demon has been hunting us down like rats for centuries, and just now we learned of her existence. If only there was something more… anything." Ozpin said.

Suddenly all members of team CFVY and CRDL suddenly turn to Dove.

He was quietly listening in the very back. He sighed and spoke, "I have something to say professor…

When Cardin killed Wrath, his last words spoke of a princess of whom he served… And in his heart, he knew that princess to be a woman… named Salem… Sorry for not bringing it up. It seemed silly at first, but now… I believe this person to be the ultimate enemy we're talking about. The one who created the Grimm and still controls them to this very day… Her name is Salem."

A deep silence was left in that room, as everyone just looked at each other. There was shiver going through everyone, just from that name being spoken. So many uncomfortable truths being learned so fast, and such a stream of emotions. But when everyone seemed despaired, Glynda darts her eyes to the side and catches Ozpin… smiling. An ominous smile. The despair of what they just uncovered is not nearly enough to overshadow the excitement he feels from finally learning the truth, and going one step closer to reach his ultimate goal.

Ozpin declared that this meeting had run its due course. What they have learned today cannot be told to anyone — at least, not yet. With Cinder gone, Ozpin hopes that whatever plans this Salem might have, she won't have the courage to act on them herself. She clearly does not want anyone to know her existence, and Ozpin fears what she might do in case the whole world came to know her. And so the students swore an oath to keep quiet, but also swear to one day find this evil bitch and destroy her, which makes the teachers giggle from the sheer tenacity of the new generation.

They were told to leave now… But then it hits them.

Oh! I almost forgot!" Ruby said, making everyone stop. "Mr. Ozpin, when can we come back to the academy?!"

...

Ozpin's eyes open wide and he gently smacks his forehead, "Goodness me, I almost forgot! Well then, all of you, I have good news! By the powers bestowed upon me by the council of Vale, as headmaster of the Huntsmen Guild, I hereby bid you official Huntsmen of the kingdom. You've all been promoted to A-rank. Congratulations."

…

Everyone just looked on with absolute poker faces.

"B-b-b-but, professor, we are not even halfway done — the usual time in the academy is two to three years!" Weiss said.

"Indeed, but, as harshly as this one year was, I believe Miss Goodwitch has trained all of you to the best of her abilities, and you endured her trials to completion. There are no more lectures left for you to hear from professor Oobleck, you passed all your written tests, and quite frankly, the fact that you're alive in front of me now, after all the matches you have faced, is more than enough proof that you're ready. So… what do you say?"

…

Everyone looks at each other as their faces slowly lighten up. The pacing keeps building up and up, until everyone starts screaming in pure joy, as the teachers in front of them laugh along. Everyone starts raising their hands and holding each other, not being able to contain their hype. And so we freeze in this beautiful shot. Team RWBY hold each other and jump in celebration, with Ruby crying in joy…

And so… volume VI concludes.

Cue song, roll credits. This volume probably has the longest credits of all, considering we used every single character possible in its full duration, plus seven new characters. And well, to conclude with absolute perfect showrunning, we need a hook. The post credit scene shows us the very first appearance of Salem.

We just see her looking on into a dark sky and the sea of red water, with red clouds and strong winds passing by. She turns around, and we can only see her lower face, full of dark veins. She doesn't say anything, but her frown shows a hint of disappointment. She merely holds her hands together as her long hair dances in the wind behind her. Cut to black, and so the volume truly ends.

Commentary (spoilers): Yeah once again I just had to finish the show proper. I hate when shows end just as the final battle ends. If you don't write an aftermath to your stories, fuck you. Anyway… damn, this last episode is a big exposition dump, isn't it? I don't know if that's bad or good at this point, but I think I need this one episode where everyone learns everything; it helps so much in the long run. It's not completely retelling though. For the first time we reveal how team MOHL came to lose that fight in Vacuo, after beating around the bush for the last three volumes. We revealed our main villain through deduction, and we set up a ton of plotlines from the past that, thankfully, we will follow on in the next volume. If you haven't been told already, yes the next volume will be a prequel that takes place 30-20 years in the past, where we follow the old team MOHL, mostly team STRQ, and standalone episodes about other old characters.

.

.

.

.

I just have one last thing to mention here, which are the Minisodes. I almost forgot to talk about the rest of the Minisodes for this volume. I already spoke of Minisodes that build up Watts as a villain in the background. Sometimes I believe those stories might actually be better if adapted into the episodes themselves through cold cuts, because I want to refrain from putting vital storytelling into side content. Now let's talk about the other ideas I have.

...

One Minisode that I would like to include is the little interaction between Blake and Tai at the new white graveyard of Vale City. She met him as soon as she docked in Vale. It's short, and it's just about Blake expressing regret for abandoning the city, but promising to do everything in her power to bring Yang and Ruby alive — even if she has to die to ensure that. So she leaves with the key to Yang's bike, and Tai realizes through inner monologue that he's being a mopey piece of shit while his family needs him the most. He finds his old steel boots in the wardrobe, and so ends the minisode.

...

Another one who I must include for later would be the Ilia quadrilogy.

After Blake left, Ilia decided to go along the refugees on the boat to the continent. She hid herself, but somehow Sun managed to find her. He didn't actually want to fight anymore, and soon the two were cool with each other. Ilia realized her mistakes, and hopes to embark on a journey to see the world through a new perspective, and maybe find the same good faith that Blake did. Here we can also see these two hitting it off quite well, because when Ilia is not being an enraged murderer, she has the same personality as Sun — same vibe of a confident idiot, but as a girl. Not only that, but they have the exact same interests, since Ilia REALLY likes hot chicks. She actually had a big lesbian crush on Blake, but she fears never being on okay terms with her ever again. In the end she just needs time to figure stuff out. She thanks Sun for being Blake's friend in her place, and the two part ways.

The following Minisodes would follow Ilia as she went on a solo journey of the continent, disguising herself. She roams the countryside in search of hope for humanity, but she's immediately targeted by harassment. Three local drunks at the pub come to bother her for having scales in her arms. She's about to start a fight, when suddenly someone picks a fight for her. This random old man comes in and hits the goons with empty bottles and a cane, sending them off the pub. Ilia was not expecting to be defended by another human. The old man invited her to live in their farm until she had figured her life out, since she was just hanging around with no goal.

The next one we would see her working a basic farm life — feeding cows, plowing the fields and other typical things. The huge family working there treats her very well, despite being a Faunus. She even takes time to play with the younger kids by changing her skin color to scare them. Eventually she comes to directly question the family why they are so friendly to her during a dinner. Thus it is revealed that this big family of humans had a Faunus daughter, who was none other than Velvet. Ilia was at Velvet's family farm all along. Even though it's a small chance for humans to give birth to a Faunus, it can still happen. They used to be quite rude to Faunus, but the day Velvet was born, they changed their whole demeanor and learned from it. In the end there was no difference between a baby girl and a baby bunny girl — they are all equally sweet, and she brought them the same amount of happiness. Now she's a good lady who kicks the ass of monsters, and they are proud of her choices.

After a long time in the farm, having consistent interactions with humans on a daily basis, Ilia realized the truth. She was blinded by rage after the death of her parents, and she forgot about her dream of seeing the whole world outside of Menagerie. She gave up on all hope of finding a better world, and was merely destroying the things she hated in it. Now it was time to start listening to her heart once again.

The last of this little saga would feature Ilia working in the farm for the last time, as she finally decides what she has to do. She will return to the White Fang, but with the sole goal of changing them from the inside out. If there are humans who can learn to live alongside Faunus, then she has to make sure that Faunus are capable of doing the same thing. That's the only way she can make up for all the suffering she caused. She says goodbye to the Scarlatina family, and goes on her merry way. See you in RWBY Shippuden.

...

One Minisode idea would naturally be about Sun, quickly arriving in Shade academy again after a month away, now rocking the vagabond look covered in bandages. He meets with Corazan, Aslan and Jobi, and he summarizes what he's been doing, and even brags that Blake kissed him, but naturally the other three don't believe it. He immediately finds Leo and challenges his master for a fight, wanting to showcase how strong he grew in his journey to the west. Leo realizes that he can't go soft on Sun anymore, otherwise he'll grow to be a bad warrior. If he wins this fight, he will be promoted to an official Huntsman right now. The minisode ends just as they are about to engage in 1v1. Doesn't really matter who wins — the point about Sun's tenacity and will has already been made.

...

Another would feature Ghira and Kali. Now free from the White Fang's lies, they attempt to establish a connection to Vale City on their own. Ghira immediately gets a very good deal, selling the island's delicacies for a very good price, such as bananas, mangoes and other fruits that simply do not exist in the rest of the world. Since Menagerie doesn't really need money, he exchanges those goods for supplies to modernize a few areas of the town. Turns out it's very easy to rule when you have zero opposition, and you're not a bastard.

...

Another one for closure would be Yang meeting with Samson and Dalia again. She was going to visit Braun's grave one day, and found them there as well. Turns out these guys used to be teammates at Beacon twenty years ago, and just when they returned to the city, they learned of the invasion and Braun's sacrifice. Yang was distraught by what she done to Lillyward along with the Branwen, but they forgave her right away. To them it was clear that she was just being used by them, and in the end she even helped save the villagers. Yang now carries Braun's hat, and he would've never given it to her if she wasn't worthy. As the couple departs, they let out smiles. They were glad to meet this new generation. They learn so fast, they grow so strong, and they are not bound by the mistakes of their predecessors, quite like Samson and Dalia were. This world still has hope.

...

Naturally, the most important one would happen maybe months or weeks after the end of the volume. We watch Hazel standing alone by the end of an insanely tall peak from the Atlisian mountain range. He's looking on with a completely emotionless face. He starts raising his foot to jump off the edge, when he hears a familiar voice.

Maria suddenly appears behind him like a ghost. She came to stop him, stating that not even a mountain three times the size will be able to kill him. She only knew he'd be here by the tremor and sound of his body hitting the floor in fifteen minutes. Hazel confesses to her that his daughter was long dead, and it was his fault all along. But of course, Maria already knew that. Hazel was so stupid that he blocked off his own guilt, in order to preserve his sanity. He almost killed one of his best friends and even innocent kids who had nothing to do with it. If only he had not forced his daughter to follow his footsteps, she could still be alive. They could still be a happy family. Hazel doesn't really care if this mountain won't kill him, he just wants to end his pain, even if he has to throw himself down this mountain a hundred times.

Maria proceeds to take off her sight goggles, and gently holds his bicep with her soft hands.

She tells him that indulging in more pain will never solve anything. She learned that too late. For someone who could see the future, she wished that she could travel back and slap some sense into herself. She shouldn't have left, and she'll regret leaving them for the rest of her life. But the pain they feel now… is meaningless. Their desire for more suffering will never help anyone. Even if they are weak, even if they are far from their golden days, they still have a purpose. Maria will wait out until the opportunity to fulfill her purpose appears one final time. As she leaves to his thoughts, she begs that Hazel tries the same. If not for himself, then for the sake of his daughter. Hazel steps away from the edge, ending the minisode.

.

.

.

.

Well… now I just want to have a personal statement here.

The end of this volume is as good of a conclusion as a show might get. This is the moment where the show gets split into before timeskip and after timeskip. Technically the next volume is also part of the Fall Saga, but I like to consider it filler through most parts, since we know pretty much all that happens in it before it even begins. There's such a sense of conclusion from this volume, everything has been building up to this moment. Now they are finally official Huntsmen, all their personal arcs are concluded, and they defeat the final boss. 565 pages of nothing but a pitch to an alternate version of a failing show that won't get another season. Like I said, first world problems.

Now I gotta be honest guys… I didn't actually watch the original RWBY past volume 4. I just know what happens, even though nothing really happens. I didn't like the direction it was going. The main villain had been defeated twice, shit was uneventful, all the characters were put together inside of a bubble, and all the twists and turns didn't help the show become exciting. Characters fought among themselves more than they did against the villains. To me RWBY just had far too much potential as a simple show, and so I decided to make it a more simple show. I didn't like writing this, but I couldn't help but do it. That's the nature of writing I guess.

Somehow I still have three more volumes to go through, after this prequel one, and essentially I have to start over from the beginning with new plotlines and reintroduction to the characters. The worst part about it is… I don't have nearly as good a conception about the following four last volumes as I did with the past three. I will have shockingly little to show you. They might even take as few pages as volume's I-III did. Maybe it is better this way… at least for me I suppose. I won't have to write as much. Now, this has long been "RWBY but with minor tweaking". Now stuff is finally going to be completely different from the original, with only the same characters remaining. For now this is goodbye. I might take a break from this. I'm thinking of a 1.5 year break, to match the timeskip. I have so many other projects to finish, and I'm getting old.

I'll see you in the next chapter, whenever that comes. BYEBYE.