It’s been a long strange hiatus since Volume 8 wrapped up but at least we know one thing about team RWBY in the words of Pearl Jam: “We’re all still Alive!” So let’s dive into RWBY Volume 9 Chapter 1: “A Place of Particular Concern”.
Good to see some interactions between Weiss and Blake. It feels like a long time since we’ve seen just the two of them in a scene together. As Weiss and Blake are looking for Gambol Shroud, the two of them catch up on what happened to them after they fell. Weiss asks Blake what is this place to which Blake responds, “I don’t know, none of my guesses really make sense.” Weiss tells Blake that she’s glad that she’s okay and Blake reciprocates the same sentiment. Blake believes if she and Weiss are okay, then Ruby and Yang must be alright and somewhere in this world. Blake then asks Weiss what happened after they fell, Weiss responds that they should focus on finding Ruby and Yang first.
Who animated this scene because it’s my favorite in the whole episode, it’s so expressive! Blake’s struggles and Weiss’ little cheer made me smile a lot! 🙂 pic.twitter.com/PSETo6AEkk
I love the little comedic bits that are seen as Weiss and Blake try to free Gambol Shroud from the very pesky vines. From Blake struggling to pull one of the vines and Weiss’ look of frustration after cutting away at the vines only for them to grow back in to Blake stretching as far as she can from a palm tree to grab Gambol Shroud with Weiss playing cheerleading to encourage Blake, which is really funny and cute. Wait a second, I have an incoming message from Admiral Akbar: IT’S A TRAP!! Poor Weiss and Blake have fallen into a vine trap set up by mice!!
As Ruby, Weiss, and Blake continue to look for Yang they encounter a beast known as the Jabberwalker. The beast’s name is a reference to Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky” that was included in his 1871 novel Through the Looking Glass, the sequel to Alice In Wonderland. After Little squeaks out of fear, the Jabberwalker notices them. As Weiss and Blake pull out the weapons to engage the beast, Ruby reaches for Crescent Rose, only to remember that she doesn’t have her weapon. Ruby without Crescent Rose means she’s missing a part of her since her weapon is an extension of her character and who she is. This is why she’s taking a step back as leader along with everything that she’s been through.
Blake Takes on the Leadership Role
I really like that Blake is taking a more proactive, leadership role in this volume so far when Ruby isn’t able to rise to the occasion with everything that she’s been through. She just kept pushing them forward.
I love that we're seeing Blake take a more proactive, leadership role this volume already when Ruby isn't able to. She just kept pushing them forward
As Blake and Weiss begin to fight the Jabberwalker, Weiss looks up towards the sky and sees a rock hurled at the beast. Blakes eyes widen after the beast falls to the ground and sees Yang. After Weiss, Blake, and Yang force the Jabberwalker to retreat, Ruby runs over to Yang. Ruby starts to speak, Yang interrupts her and says “Dammit! You weren’t supposed to be here…” As Yang asks Ruby about Little, she is suddenly tackled to the ground by Blake, who embraces Yang in relief and Yang embraces Blake in return.
@SAlle1304 on Twitter expalins that Yang “was frustrated because from her perspective, if Ruby was down there then she failed. Her entire life her goal was to protect Ruby. She just thought she died trying to protect her (as she says later in the episode), and she was okay with that. Because it means she achieved her “purpose”. But then Ruby turns out to be down there too, so Yang failed her.”
With Team RWBY reunited, Weiss starts to tearfully explain what happened after Ruby and Blake fell, informing the others that Penny sacrificed herself. Before Weiss can finish her sentence, Ruby faints. After Ruby wakes up, Weiss, Blake, and Yang were discussing what their current situation in this world is. Blake suggests that first find Yang’s Prosthetic Arm and Crescent Rose before finding a way to return to Remnant. Weiss raises the question of it is even possible to return home, while Yang suggests that they might be dead. Blake rebuffs these concerns, as she walks through some foliage and gazes upon the land, she believes that they have wound up inside a fairy tale.
The team is in a realm that’s pulled straight from the pages of Lewis Carroll’s Alice In Wonderland. The bright color palette that’s being used in this world makes me immediately think of the song White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, one of the pioneers of psychedelic rock in 1960s San Francisco. The song also draws inspiration from Alice in Wonderland.
Weiss gets a little payback on Nora, by pulling her ear, for launching her through the pneumatic tubes. Nora calls this a “once in a lifetime experience”
More of Blake’s trademark dry wit after getting out of the pneumatic tube “Good, because I never want to do that again”
My reaction to Penny saying That they had to go through Central command: WHAAAAAT!? Is she crazy!?! If I was leading this plan that is the last place I want to sneak through in an invisible force field!!! Welp, if Harry Potter can use the Cloak of Invisibility to sneak into the restricted section of the library at Hogwarts, this plan can work. As Jeremy Clarkson used to say on Top Gear:
Penny’s plan is for Ruby to use her speed type semblance on all of them to transport them across Central command by (insert complex scientific explanation from fictional world here where this sentence is). Blake is being sassy and using more of her dry wit towards Ruby about Penny figuring out how Ruby’s semblance works before Ruby could even figure out how her own semblance even works.
I am genuinely surprised that Ironwood is using Watts to accomplish the general’s goals of hacking into Penny… GREAT SCOTT!! They’re going to hack into Penny and force her to betray her friends!!! Furthermore, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and the others have been noticed by Dr. Watts because Penny used Pietro’s credentials or whatever to get through… Of course…
Perfect distraction that Nora came up with tripping Bill, the Number one dad, I mean number one DUD, causing his coffee to fly through air and land on a computer console, short-circuiting it and also managing to get hot coffee on a worker, burning him. Ouchy!
*Wow Penny was right about Ruby’s semblance and it worked yay and more of Blakes trademark dry wit when she remarks “Another thing I don’t want to do ever again!” You can clearly tell that she means it from the look on her face, the tone of her voice, and the arm motion she used to add further emphasis. Ruby does a cute anime pose after accomplishing this feat
Blake, Weiss, and Nora’s Conversation about Relationships
Blake wonders if the others are okay. She’s never seen Yang and Ruby fight like they did at the restaurant. She is genuinely concerned about Yang and the argument she had with Ruby. Weiss tells her “Don’t worry, they’re sisters. Sometimes sisters just have very different ideas about what’s right.” Nora agrees with Weiss on this and points out that Jaune’s a great leader, Oscar has grown a lot, and Yang is more than capable of protecting them all in a fight. Blake and Weiss stare at her since she omitted Ren. As she starts talking about Ren, she remarks that she doesn’t know what he is. “Every time I think the two of us are making progress, he… We’ve been together our whole lives, but I feel like I understand him less now than ever, and I don’t know if that’s his fault or mine.” Blake says to her, “When you’ve been at someone’s side for so long, after a while they become a part of you. But that’s just it. They’re only a part of you. Don’t forget about the rest.” Nora then remarks “I don’t actually know who I am without Ren. Pretty sad, huh?” Weiss replies, “Well maybe take this opportunity to find out. Do something only Nora can do.” Relationships are always constantly growing over time and on occasion will have its high points and will certainly encounter some rough patches, just like the argument Ruby and Yang had in the first episode of this volume. People have different beliefs and points of view that influence what they think is right and how they should act to resolve an issue.
Vine says to Penny and the others “I know you thought you were doing the right thing when you left with the maiden power, but Salem is here now. Things have changed.” Penny replies “If General Ironwood plans to leave Mantle behind, nothing has changed.” Vine says to her “I thought you were supposed to protect the people, not hurt them.” Penny replies that she would never hurt anyone. Elm says to her that Winter is in critical condition because of her. Harriet then says that Penny repaid Winter by stealing the power of the winter maiden, which was supposed to go to Winter. Penny states that “taking the maiden power was the only way to stop-” Harriet interrupts her and says “If you keep refusing to do the right thing, people in Atlas and Mantle are going to die.” Marrow says to Penny, “You could stop all of this, Penny. Just open the vault, hand over the relic, and you’ll save Atlas.” Ruby states that doing so won’t save Atlas. “Salem will find her way to the relic no matter where you go.” There’s a lot to take in here from this dialogue, but it boils down to this: both sides believe that the plan that each side is following is right and the other isn’t. The Ace-ops are trying to guilt trip Penny to comply with General Ironwood’s plan which would screw over Mantle.
What is Watts’ plan??
Overall Review:
Brilliant episode! Classic elements of heist films like The Italian Job, mixed with some funny and light hearted moments, some very insightful conversations on relationships and doing what’s right, and the action packed fights that the show is known for.
I really like how splitting up team RWBY and JNR+Osacar into new teams allows for more conversions and interactions between characters that don’t interact with each other that often . Blake was great in this episode. The episode was really good, I loved how we got so much packed into 17 mins.
As Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar are about to escort evacuees from Mantle an older woman asks “Do we really gotta shack up with those animals down in the slums? I’d feel a lot safer being up in Atlas.” Once again racism towards the Faunus rears its ugly head. Yang replies with a rebuke “Yeah, I’m sure you would. But the people up top have decided you’re not worth the trouble. The Faunus, on the other hand, have been willing to lend all the help they can. Regardless of whether or not you deserve it.” Yang is absolutely right, the Faunus who live in the slums are trying to help the citizens of Mantle by opening up their homes to help protect these people from Grimm attacks and provide food, shelter, and heat. But that older woman had to complain because of the fact that it was the Faunus, a race that some people view as a lesser people because of their physical differences, who are helping her and the citizens of Mantle instead of Atlas.
Ruby and Penny’s Conversation at Snowshoe Shipping
Penny says to Ruby that she doesn’t like it when friends fight. Ruby replies, “Yang and I might not agree on how best to save Mantle but-.” Penny interrupts her and says that she means Winter and General Ironwood. She says that they were their friends, until Team RWBY were attacked by the Ace Ops. Penny also says that General Ironwood said people were going to die because of her. Ruby replies to her, “That was a lie. And he was only saying it to hurt you.” Penny acknowledges the fact that she is now more than just the protector of Mantle but she also wishes that she was not also the new Winter Maiden. Ruby says to her that by becoming the Winter Maiden she did protect Mantle.
Weiss and the Pneumatic Tube: A Classic Comedic Gag
Weiss explains to the others that Snowshow Shipping is a SDC subsidiary meaning that all the dones there report to the company, not General Ironwood. The pneumatic tubes allow of Dust refined in the crater to be sent straight up to Atlas. They just need to find the one for the military base. Blake quips, with her dry wit, “Are there any buildings in Atlas that your family doesn’t own?” Weiss replies, “That isn’t relevant at the moment.” Blake chuckles in response
— Lloyd Kaplan #greenlightvolume10 🔜⚾️ (@PinkFLloyd95) November 14, 2020
Weiss getting sucked through the pneumatic tube after Nora pushes the button reminds me of season 3, episode 8 of Brooklyn 99 where Hitchcock gets his arms sucked into the pneumatic tube system that connects all of the precincts in the city. This was a great use of a classic comedy trope/gag and was definitely one of the highlights of this episode. This scene has also inspired some memes based on the popular game Among Us including “Weiss was not the imposter.” In another way, this scene is very reminiscent of the “Pull the lever, Kronk!” running gag that originated in Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove.
Miscellaneous Analysis and Remarks
Cute moment: When Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar are in Pietro’s Pharmacy to pick up the thing he built for everyone and Jaunne turns on the lights in the backroom, Yang makes a really cute pose and expression upon seeing what Pietro has built: hoverbikes!! Totally can see why Yang is happy because she’s been without her beloved motorcycle Bumblebee since she hurled it at Adam Taurus in their climactic fight from Volume 6. Plus she wastes no time speeding around the city streets and pulling off a barrel roll with Oscar on her bike. Throw on the classic Steppenwolf song “Born to Be Wild” and she ready to go cruising!
Fiona’s remark towards Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar about how they would be doing without their teammates. Fiona remarks to them, “To be honest, I wasn’t sure how you’d be doing without all of your teammates.” Yang is surprised by her remark and adamantly replies, “Well, as you can see we’re doing just fine.” Some people appear to doubt/are surprised that everyone is working well in their respective groups as opposed to their respective main teams.
Side note: Fiona’s semblance reminds me of Rocket Raccoon’s Pocket Dimension Storage Vial from Marvel Universe Guardians of the Galaxy Infinite Comic, volume 1, issue #1, and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy cartoon
Did that Grimm just transform from a quadruped to a biped!? What is this thing!? The fact that it’s using Oscar as a shield shows that this specific Grimm has some form of intelligence, which is very unusual from many species of Grimm. The most shocking thing about this Grimm is that it can talk!!! It actually replied “No” to Ren!! GREAT SCOTT!! What in the hell is this thing?? Well for starters, this Grimm is known as The Hound. Wait, it just grew wings!!! Great, it can fly now!! What does Salem want with Oscar/Ozpin (Ozma)??
Overall Review:
This was a very strong episode that managed to combine serious scenes with some light hearted and comedic moments to balance out the heavier topics that were brought up during the course of the episode.
The scene in the bar: The Differences in What Should Team RWBY and company should do
After Ruby, Weiss, and Maria pick up Oscar from the slums, they regroup with the rest of the gang back at their hideout, an abandoned pub. Now just to remind everyone, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Oscar, Ren, Maria, Penny, and Pietro have been declared fugitives by General Ironwood (cue Lenny Kravitz’s Always on the Run). Joanna, one of the Happy Huntresses, tells everyone that while they are happy to provide them with a place to lay low, it’s time to help the people of Mantle. Ren asks how they would do so since Ironwood has halted all evacuations to Atlas and Salem’s forces are getting closer. Joanna tells him that the plan is to get the citizens of Mantle to the crater beneath Atlas because warm and they can do a better job protecting Mantle’s citizens.
After hearing this, Yang says “We need to get out there and do what we can for Mantle.” In response, Ruby replies to Yang “We need to do what we can for everyone. What about Amity? And telling the world about Salem? We can’t do this alone. We need help!” Blake agrees with her, “Ruby’s right. The Happy Huntresses are handling the evacuation better than we could. And there’s a bigger picture.” Yang responds to Blake, “But Amity isn’t even finished. It was still under construction.” Ruby asks Pietro what he needs to launch Amity no. He tells her that Amity was designed so that it couldn’t launch itself without first being granted clearance from General Ironwood’s terminal. After hearing this piece of information, Yang says, “Ruby, there is no way Ironwood will cooperate with us.” Ruby says that Ironwood doesn’t have to cooperate with them. She asks Pietro if they just need the green light from his terminal. Yang immediately questions Ruby if she plans on going back to the Academy. Pietro tells them that there’s another terminal in the main Atlesian Military Compound. They would have to sneak into the compound and then get inside the operations room. Pietro remarks that he’s going to have to think about this a bit more.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the rest of the plan involves getting out without being caught. Yang’s reaction to the plan is “What you’re saying is it can’t be done and it’s pointless. And even if they managed to get the message out, there’s no guarantee that help would come.” Yang’s attitude is pessimistic and defeatist towards this part of the plan. Ruby disagrees and believes it’s not pointless since Atlas is Salem’s current target, and that the other kingdoms need to be warned. Yang replies, “Ruby… when we came here, we said we’d follow your lead… but things haven’t exactly worked out.” Yang’s reply to Ruby’s plan to warn the rest of the world appears to question Ruby’s leadership, which takes Ruby aback and surprises Weiss, Oscar, and Nora. Ren agrees with Yang that there are people who need them right now and it’s something they can actually do. Nora sides with Ruby, since this isn’t just about Atlas, it’s about all of Remnant. Jaune proposes that they go with both plans: get Amity up and running and evacuate Mantle. Ruby replies to him, “but that’s how Salem got this far- by dividing us. We have to stick together” Oscar interjects and says what Salem wants is to turn everyone against each other, just like they’re doing now with the disagreement over what our heroes should do. He does agree with Jaune that they can work separately and still be united at the same time.
Both Yang and Ruby are trying to do what they think is the right plan at this moment in time. But, the tricky thing here is that both plans need to be done, unfortunately, they can’t agree upon which plan is the more important one to be done by everyone. Oscar and Jaune are right on the money here, they have to divide and conquer to get both tasks accomplished but that doesn’t mean they aren’t united. Oscar said it perfectly, they can work separately and still be united as one team, even though everyone is splitting into teams based on what tasks they feel is the most important. Furthermore, Penny’s plan of turning herself over to Salem just has bad idea written all over it. Yang clearly agrees with this sentiment: “Nobody’s turning you over to anybody, I think that’s the one thing we could all agree on.” Finally, here’s something that Ruby, Yang, and the rest of our heroes agree on!
As Yang starts heading for the door, she says, “I’m going out there to see what I could do.” Blake looks at her and is a bit disappointed that she won’t be with Yang. Furthermore, Blake does appear to be concerned about Yang, probably since they’re not partnered up at the moment. Especially since they don’t split up very often (response from Melanie Stern, the lead animator for RWBY, on her Twitch stream from Saturday, November 7, 2020). Sometime later after everyone splits up, Blake says to a saddened Ruby that they are still united, even though Yang isn’t with them.
I literally gasped when this happened and my jaw dropped. I don’t believe that anyone saw this coming or thought General Ironwood would commit such a heinous act. The fact that Ironwood answers Winter’s question as to what he’s going to do with “I’m going to do everything I can to defend this Kingdom. No matter the cost” clearly shows how far he has lost his morality since his plan is to only save the city of Atlas and is willing to murder anyone who disagrees with his declaration of martial law. Just like Team RWBY and company, I too can no longer trust Ironwood to make the right decisions. He appears to be slipping more and more towards embracing authoritarianism. I had the chance to video chat with Arryn Zech, the voice of Blake Belladonna, and Barbara Dunkelman, the voice of Yang Xiao Long, about the Volume 8 premiere and my thoughts on the episode (and my reaction to Biden winning the election too). To watch the video click here: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AseVIdZOCNhCgvRpIjB_OqmSLO2dGw?e=3WhTpq
Historical Connection: Monstra and Airborne Aircraft Carriers
I will also say that after getting a closer look at the Sperm Whale Grimm, Monstra, it reminds me of the US Army airships operated from 1908 to 1937, specifically the program that involved the development of flying aircraft carriers, most notably the USS Akron. along with the rigid airships that the British and Germans were experimenting with for similar applications of launching aircraft, such as Britain’s R101. The fact there were platforms for winged Grimm and the airship Cinder and Neo were using is what made me make the connection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_aircraft_carrierhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Army_airships
It also reminds me of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Comics, and animated Marvel television shows.
Overall, I say this episode has a very serious tone to it. It gets straight into the current situation and what the next move for RWBY and company should be. The intro is very ominous and dark at some points. For an in-depth analysis of the Volume 8 intro, I recommend watching this video from MurderofBirds who does an excellent job of breaking everything down.
Well, there’s at least one bright spot in this dumpster fire of a year that is 2020. With just a couple of days until the premiere of RWBY Volume 8 on Saturday, November 7 on Rooster Teeth First, fans are eagerly counting down the days and coming up with their own predictions, theories, and questions. With that, here are my questions, theories, predictions, and expectations for this volume. But first, here’s what we already know about RWBY Volume 8.
What we already know
According to a mid-September article from Entertainment Weekly‘s Clark Collis, “In Volume 8 of RWBY, our heroes’ worst fears have finally been realized: Salem is here, and the timing couldn’t be worse for the divided Kingdom of Atlas. Fear has turned friends into enemies, while doubt threatens to splinter humanity’s remaining allies. With both Salem and Ironwood stacking the odds against them, and the fate of Remnant at stake, it’s up to team RWBY to make their play before it’s too late.”
“It’s always a fun little game to try to describe the theme of a season without spoiling anything,” RWBY cast member Barbara Dunkelman said at this year’s virtual San Diego Comic-Con. “But I would say, especially for Yang and maybe some others, I feel like the theme is distrust, in a way, which I know sounds very mysterious. I feel like, especially with Yang, I feel like an overall theme, [is] just because you like someone or respect someone or someone is close to you, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to believe everything they do or say. And I feel like that is a very big part of this season.”
Prediction: Official confirmation of Blake and Yang’s romantic relationship and further exploration of their relationship as a whole
It’s obviously clear with all of the moments between Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long in Volume 7, such as the selfie, their conversation about their fight with Adam Taurus, and Yang teaching Blake how to dance, Bumbleby is essentially confirmed. The only thing missing is the cherry on top—when Blake and Yang will be confirmed officially to be in a romantic relationship. Whatever form that official confirmation takes, whether it’s a kiss or a verbal admission of their feelings towards each other, I will be happy. Once they finally reach this point, it will be interesting so see how their relationship grows after entering this new phase.
What is Cinder’s backstory?
Cinder Fall surprised no one by surviving through to Volume 6, plotting with Neo to travel to Atlas to get revenge upon Ruby Rose. And yet, for all of her smugness, manipulation, and power harvesting, we know very little about Cinder’s past. All we know is that she wanted to be powerful and to be feared. Since she is based on Cinderella, perhaps she has a similar backstory but went on a more wicked path of spite and vengeance. A lack of personal development has left Cinder feeling a bit predictable as a villain, though that may be the point. If we can get Salem’s entire backstory in one spectacular episode, then why not give Cinder some attention? Also, that fact that we’re already at Volume 8 and still don’t know anything about Cinder’s backstory is getting to be a bit of an old running gag for some fans. I’m cautiously optimistic for this theory and frankly it’s about time we learned what made Cinder the person she is now.
Will Atlas fall?
This theory seems more likely to come to fruition in Volume 8, with some heavy foreshadowing coming in the finale of Volume 7 with the arrival of Salem on her Grimm Sperm Whale, which I immediately thought of as an allusion to the white Sperm Whale from Herman Melville’s classic novel Moby Dick, but it could also be an allusion to Monstro from Disney’s 1940 animated feature film Pinocchio since Penny is based on Pinocchio and her father Pietro is based on Geppetto. Volume 7 hit me hard in a Marty McFly “Whoa, this is heavy” kind of way.
With Ironwood planning on having Atlas itself retreat further into the clouds in hopes of avoiding the impending danger of Salem and her forces, some fans have speculated that this will ultimately lead to the city of Atlas falling back down to earth, destroying both the cities of Atlas and Mantle. RWBY typically uses a writing technique called Chekhov’s gun, a dramatic principle that suggests that details within a story will contribute to the overall narrative or, in other words, be relevant to the plot. In this case, General Ironwood specifically mentions that the only thing keeping Altas afloat is the Relic of Creation. As it just so happens, Salem needs that exact relic for her evil plans. This proves to be solid evidence for why the city will fall in Volume 8. As how the city will fall, one can only guess, but the following video from Cartoon Universe on YouTube, which the details for this theory come from, has a very detailed explanation of how Atlas could fall.
As the sun begins setting over the mountains around the abandoned Dust mine, four trucks drive up the road to the mine entrance, and Amity Colosseum floats toward the mine. Two people are lying with binoculars somewhere in the area, one of whom is wearing a pin that resembles the one on Robyn Hill’s scarf. They both gaze up at the colosseum before the one on the right resumes looking through his binoculars. Soon after the trucks arrive at the mine entrance, Team RWBY, Team JNPR, Qrow Branwen and the Ace-Ops walk outside. Smiling, Marrow Amin looks at Clover Ebi and then attempts to put on a more serious demeanor. Ruby Rose, Jaune Arc, and Nora Valkyrie come together to gaze in dramatic admiration of the Ace-Ops, while Lie Ren, Blake Belladonna, Weiss Schnee and Yang Xiao Long watch the three with wide eyes. Jaune rushes over to Clover’s side and says that he and the other Ace-Ops were incredible. Jaune compliments Clover, “Oh, the way you took down that Geist without needing to plan your tactics out, you just knew exactly what to do!”
Clover tells him “Well, Ace-Ops are hand-picked to perfectly complement one another. So we can focus on our assets and leave our liabilities behind.” Marrow walks over with a confident smile and says “Some of us are all asset, zero liability.” He poses with a salute and a grin, looking at Jaune. Elm Ederne scoffs, catching Marrow’s attention. He moves over to her, leaning in to confront her. Marrow says to her “Wha– Yeah? Think I’ve got some liabilities, Elm?” She replies Your brains, for one.Clover, Elm, and Harriet Bree laugh, and Marrow groans and pouts. The former three walk away; Vine says to Marrow that he did ask. Vine walks away, and Nora approaches Elm with wide eyes and a smile. Elm looks at her. Nora says “Hi. Do you need a new best friend? (moving closer) Our pair name can be… THUNDER THIGHS!” Harriet watches this with a sigh, and Ruby runs over to her.
Ruby remarks “Perfect complementary teamwork. Oh, yeah, I want to have my friends’ backs just like that.” Harriet, raising an eyebrow, remarks “Friends?” Elm laughs and says to Ruby “This isn’t the schoolyard, kid.” Behind Elm, Nora is still posed with her hammer in the air and says in a husky tone “Thunder thighs…” Ren walks over, lifts the currently stiff Nora under his arm, and walks away. Wiess, Blake, and Yang join Ruby. Yang says to Harriet “But, I mean, when you go through so much with someone, it kind of changes things, doesn’t it?” Yang look towards Blake as she speaks. Blake’s ears perk up and she looks at Yang when she hears her say this because Yang is referring to what they both went through when they defeated Adam. Also, Yang is essentially talking about her relationship with Blake, who is probably thinking about her feelings for Yang. Blake then looks away, her ears relax, and small frown appears as Yang finishes her remark. Harriet replies “We get along well enough, sure. I count on them to keep me alive. They do the same. But that’s the job. We don’t confuse the two.” She turns and walks away, leaving Team RWBY to look on sadly. The friendship between Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang is what makes them strong as a team. Everything that they have experienced as a team and as individuals have made their bonds grow stronger over the past volumes. The Ace-Ops act as foils to Team RWBY in that they may be stronger and more in sync but the lack the emotional bonds with each other, which is what gives Team RWBY their strength.
Clover remarks “Speaking of the job…” Further down the way, James Ironwood is talking on a communicator. He gives a brief order to a soldier, who walks away. Clover continues “Duty ever beckons. You all hang back a second.” He gestures to Jaune and Qrow. The Ace-Ops walk over to Ironwood. Ruby watches with a sad sigh, then looks away, thinking. She then gets an idea, smiles, and hurries over to her teammates. Ruby asks Weiss, Blake, and Yang “What do you guys want to do when we get back to Atlas? Sightseeing? (gasp) Oh, what should we visit first?” Blake yawns and says with her dry wit “How about our beds?” She then walks away. Ruby remarks “Oh, come on, guys! This is a great time to go exploring! We haven’t done that in so long!” Weiss says to her “Ruby, we just explored a whole continent on foot before flying to this one.” Weiss walks away. Ruby replies, “Well, yeah, but… it was only the boring parts.” Yang, with her arms crossed says to her “We almost died.” Ruby waves her hands at Yang with an awkward chuckle, and Yang walks away. Ruby then frowns and sighs sadly.
Qrow says to her “Hey. Heads up.”Qrow points his thumb over at Ironwood, who is talking to Clover while the other Ace-Ops walk away. Ironwood says “Can I get the team leaders over here? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. You too, Qrow.” Ruby, Jaune, and Qrow walk over to Ironwood. Ironwood says to Clover “I need you on the ground, but be subtle. If people see too many Huntsmen milling around, they’ll get nervous.” Clover salutes, nods and begins walking away. Ironwood says to to Clover to not take Marrow. Clover stops and looks back. In the background, Marrow is in front of an open airship, talking to a military Huntsman, while miming punching imaginary targets and waving his arms. Clover looks over at Marrow, then looks at Ironwood, smiling and chuckling with a nod. Marrow recreates his pose from when he froze a pair of Centinels and then turns around and mimes shooting something. Clover heads in Marrow’s direction, and Ironwood turns to Qrow, Jaune and Ruby. Qrow asks “New problems in Mantle?” Ironwood sighs and replies “More of the same, unfortunately. Ironwood withdraws and deploys his Scroll, using it to generate a hologram screen in the air in front of him. The left side of the screen displays an Atlas Military Police mugshot of Forest, while the right side displays a photograph of Forest’s corpse in an alleyway somewhere in midtown Mantle.
Ironwood says “Someone in Mantle is taking out public leaders who speak out against Atlas. Specifically, people who speak out against me. It didn’t look like a pattern at first. But this is the third murder of its kind in the last week.” Jaune steps forward and says “Wait a minute. That’s the guy that rode with us after we were arrested.” Ruby becomes visibly upset and remarks “He died?” Qrow comments “Your opposition in Mantle dropping dead isn’t exactly a good look for you, huh?” Ironwood deactivates the hologram screen and puts his Scroll away. Ironwood replies, “Not really worried about my public image, but it is causing unrest. I think someone’s trying to frame me and, by extension, Atlas. And it’s working.” Jaune remarks “Well, if it wasn’t for the embargo making everybody so mad, people probably wouldn’t be so quick to blame you for everything else.” Ironwood frowns and looks at Jaune, who awkwardly clears his throat and stands at attention. Ironwood, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his fingers, replies “No. No, you’re right. Things in Mantle have been… hard to manage lately. I’m not blind to its issues. In fact, that’s what I want to talk to you about.” He turns and looks up at Amity Colosseum and says “With the launch of this mobile communications tower and tensions down in Mantle, I think there’s a lot of good your teams can do here.” Ironwood’s communicator beeps, and he puts his fingers to it, listening. Ironwood, surprised, remarks “What? Already? Here? No, it’s fine. Let him land. I’ll deal with him myself.” Qrow and Ruby look at each other, and then at Ironwood. Qrow asks “More Mantle problems? Ironwood watches an airship fly by on its way to the landing pad. Ironwood replies “No. This one’s an Atlas problem.”
The ship, bearing the Schnee Dust Company logo, descends onto a landing pad, where Ironwood and Team RWBY are already waiting, with Team JNPR and Qrow standing further back. A ramp extends from in front of the ship’s double door, which opens to reveal an angry Jacques Schnee. As soon as the doors begin to open, he starts talking and makes his way down the ramp. Jacques says “So let me get this straight, James. In addition to this nonsensical embargo of yours crippling my business, you’ve also decided you have the authority to commandeer private property?” Ruby, Weiss, and Blake observe with their eyes wide open. Weiss is slightly in shock at the sight of her father, but quickly puts on a brave and defiant look. Blake glances over at Weiss because she can relate to the abuse that Weiss endured. Jacques stops in front of Ironwood, who calmly stares at him, arms folded behind his back. Jacques says “When the Council hears about this, you will never– (aggressively pointing at Ironwood).” Ironwood interrupts him Actually, I’ve already informed them. As this is now the site of a classified military operation, it didn’t even require a vote. Jacques exclaims “Didn’t require a vote?!”
Ironwood says “You might want to brush up on Council law before you lose this upcoming election, Jacques. Now. I’ve allowed you to land here once as a courtesy. The next time, it won’t be a friendly reception.” Jacques glares at Ironwood and says “Lately, you seem to forget who your friends really are. I’m going to get that Council seat, James, and maybe then you’ll–” Jacques becomes distracted, his eyes widening when he sees Weiss is present. They stare at each other for a moment. He walks past Ironwood, glancing at him as he does so. Jacques says to Ironwood “You roped my missing daughter into these schemes of yours, too?” He turns back around to look at Ironwood and angrily says to him “How long has she been back in Atlas? Did Winter know about this?”
Weiss becomes annoyed and steps forward to her father. Weiss says to him “It was my decision to come here. Just like it was my decision to leave. Or have you forgotten all about that?” Jacques says to her, If you think I’m one to forget anything, girl, then you’ve misjudged the man your father is. Weiss, with attitude, says “Believe me, I know exactly the kind of man you are.” Jacques angrily responds, “How dare you speak to me that way!? I have half a mind to–” Ironwood interrupts “Half a mind to what, Jacques?” Jacques narrows his eyes, then adjusts his cuff link, sighing angrily. Jacques says to Weiss “You know… your mother was devastated when you left.” Weiss begins to look upset. Jacques continues “Didn’t leave her room for days. You know how… she gets… when she’s upset.” Jacques acts sad while he speaks, taking a moment to peek at Weiss’ reaction. Her eyes glimmer with sadness, and she looks down, frowning. Ruby looks upset, and Blake and Yang glare at Jacques, Blake glaring far more intensely than Yang. Ruby, Blake, and Yang know that Jacques is trying to manipulate Weiss by making her feel remorse for how her actions affected her mother when Weiss left. Jacques smirks as he turns to face Ironwood again.
Jacques says to him “I knew one day, you would overextend your reach. I didn’t come here to beg for an abandoned mine. I came here to thank you…” Weiss looks around, noticing that her teammates have come to her side. Blake holds her hand and gives a comforting nod. Blake and Weiss holding hands in this moment is so powerful because the abuse Jacques put Weiss through is something Blake understands, as she is also a survivor of abuse that she endured from Adam. Also, Blake looks the most angry at Jacques as she is probably thinking about what happened to Ilia’s parents and Adam Taurus. Jacques continues his remark “…for personally handing me the noose to hang you.” Blake and Yang glare at Jacques, while Ruby looks at Weiss with a smile. Jacques tells Ironwood that he’ll regret this. Jacques turns to look back at Weiss and asks her “So these are the little friends you threw everything away for?” Weiss, shaking her head, says “Not friends.” Ruby looks at Weiss, frowning a little, and Weiss looks at Jacques and says to him “Family.” Ruby smiles wide, and Yang smirks. This is a very powerful moment of solidarity for Weiss as she stood up to her abusive and manipulative father. She essentially said that Ruby, Blake, and Yang are the caring and understanding family that she deserves more than her own.
Jacques returns to his airship and begins to take off. Ruby, Blake, and Yang look at Weiss with concern, while she exhales and drops her strong and confident facade. The ship flies away, and a truck arrives on the platform. Once the truck comes to a stop, Winter opens the passenger side door and peeks out at the ship. Weiss, with a joking smile, says to her “Oh, now you show up, Winter. You just missed father.” Winter replies “I wouldn’t say I missed hi–” Before Winter can finish her sentence, Penny Polendina comes crashing down from the sky and does a superhero landing. The force from her landing sends Team RWBY flying with a small scream, while Winter steadies herself against the shockwave. Penny straightens up and throws her hands into the air, the word “CONGRATULATIONS!” appearing above her head as a green hologram, with bright green hologram confetti spawning from it with a party horn sound and shouts “Surprise!” She looks around with a giant grin as the hologram flickers. When she notices Team RWBY on the ground, her grin and the hologram both fade. Penny asks “Uh, did we not start yet?” Winter puts her fingertips to her forehead in exasperation. Winter, sighs, and says “Apparently, we haven’t.” Nearby, Jaune and Nora laugh, while Ruby stands up with a look of confusion and asks “Start what?”
After the sun finishes setting, RWBY, JNPR, Qrow, Winter, Penny and Ironwood gather in the center of Amity Colosseum’s arena. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, and Ren stand lined up, with Ironwood, Winter and Penny standing across from them and Qrow standing off to the side. The arena lights are on and pointing at the center of the arena floor where everyone is standing. Ironwood says to them, “It goes without saying that this arena holds a significance to all of us. It’s only fitting that we should be able to reconvene here. Now. When the world needs to be brought together more than ever. The road you traveled from our first meeting hasn’t been easy.” While he talks, Ironwood begins walking along in front of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, and Ren. Penny, who is holding a tablet-sized Scroll, excitedly bounces up and down next to Winter, who places a hand on Penny’s shoulder to hold her still. Ironwood continues, “You fought for your school and your friends at Beacon. You fought for the world and the innocent at Haven Academy and beyond. You faced down terrors people can’t even fathom. That’s not the behavior of students. It’s the behavior… of Huntsmen and Huntresses.”
He looks over at Penny, who happily begins humming and walking past Ren, Nora, Jaune, Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby, stopping in front of each person to tap on her Scroll. With each tap, her Scroll emits a beep and someone else’s Scroll buzzes. Ren’s Scroll is the first to buzz, and he removes it from his pocket and opens it, checking the screen. It displays his student license, which displays a photograph of him in his new outfit with his emblem in the top left corner and a barcode below the photo. The Vale symbol is in the background behind the license information. The screen blinks, and the license suddenly changes. The Kingdom of Atlas symbol is now in the background behind the information. Ren says “Wait… what is this?” Everyone else checks their Scrolls as Penny continues tapping hers. Winter says to them “You are being granted your Huntsman licenses, today.” Penny finishes using her Scroll to grant everyone their licenses and walks away with a big grin. Her Scroll displays the Atlas Huntsman License Registry. Ironwood says “I know this is coming a little ahead of schedule, but Brothers know you deserve it. I only regret that I couldn’t do something a little more ceremonious for the occasion.”
Ruby stares in awe at her license and says “We… we’re honored, General Ironwood. But you really don’t have to do th–” Ironwood interrupts her, “Please. With the threat of Salem still out there and tensions rising in our kingdom, I certainly could use more trustworthy fighters by my side.” As Ironwood walks away from them, Team RWBY look at each other. Yang and Weiss’ faint smiles fade, and Blake’s cat ears droop because they still don’t fully trust Ironwood. Ironwood says “I should be so lucky to have all of you.” He stops for a moment, then looks at Team RWBY and smiles. Ironwood says “It’s okay. It’s a big moment and what better way than to celebrate here? When this tower is ready and communications are back up and running, we’ll tell the world about Salem and face down whatever comes at us after that, together.” Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune, Nora, and Ren stand in silence. Ironwood sighs and says “That’s… just about all the pomp I have in me. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to running this operation. Um… (turning away) Well, then. Enjoy the cake.” Ironwood walks away, with Winter following. Penny pops up with a hand raised in the air and tells him in an encouraging tone, that his speech outros are improving. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune, Nora, and Ren look at their licenses. Yang remarks “After everything we’ve been through, I almost forgot this is what I wanted in the first place.” Blake says “When Beacon fell, I didn’t think this would even be possible.” Weiss comments “It almost feels trivial now.” Even though they never graduated from Beacon Academy, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, and Ren gained so much experience after the Fall of Beacon that makes up for this. They fully deserve this honor of becoming licensed Huntsmen and Huntresses because this is what all of them wanted to achieve when they embarked on their journey at Beacon Academy. Qrow says to them, “Geez, guys, lighten up a little. Enjoy yourselves for a change. You’ve earned it.” Nora exclaims “Finally! Someone said it. Let’s kill some cake, huh?” She moves forward, throwing a fist in the air and remarks, “Because I can eat two slices before Ren even eats one. Who says I can’t? Who says it, huh!?” Ren says “Nora, nobody is arguing with you about this.”
A short while later, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune, Nora, and Ren except Ruby gather around a cake. Ruby instead sits nearby in the bleachers. Penny uses six of her swords to cut the cake into even slices. Weiss and Ren stand together, eating their personal slices, and Nora moves over to them with a stack of six slices. Ren and Weiss stare in surprise as Nora eats an entire slice in one bite. Yang shows off her prosthetic arm to Penny, who looks at it in awe. Yang then offers to shake Penny’s hand with the prosthetic arm, a sneaky grin on her face. Penny happily takes her hand, only for the arm to detach, causing Penny to gasp in surprise. Yang and Nora laugh, and after a moment, Penny laughs, too. Blake stands alone, eating her cake in calm silence. Suddenly, Yang swiftly moves up beside Blake, putting her arm around her and holding up her Scroll with the camera function on to take selfies. Blake looks at Yang with wide eyes and a confused smile, and when the Scroll’s camera begins rapidly clicking, she turns her head and grins at it with a small, awkward laugh. Ruby watches as Yang continues to take selfies with Blake, Nora talks with Penny, and Jaune talks with Weiss and Ren.
Qrow says to Ruby, “Big day for you, huh, kiddo?” He walks over and sits next to Ruby. Ruby replies that it’s definitely a lot to take in. Qrow asks her “Which part? The finally getting to Atlas part, getting your license part, or the not quite disclosing everything to Ironwood part? Or… all of the above?” Ruby softly laughs and replies “All of the above. I’m trying to do what I think is best, I really can’t tell if what’s best is what’s right, or if I’m no different from Oz.” Qrow says to her “Ruby, Oz only trusted himself with the whole truth. You’re trusting others, but you’re making sure they prove themselves first. I think that’s a pretty big difference.” Ruby replies and says that she hopes so. She withdraws her Scroll and looks at her license. Ruby says “This says I’m a Huntress now. But I don’t feel like I know much more than I did at Beacon.” Qrow softly laughs and says “That feeling never goes away. Your mom, Summer, would be proud of you.” She smiles at him, but that smile quickly fades as she thinks to herself. Ruby asks Qrow “Her… last mission. Was that another Oz secret?” Qrow answers “Hm. There were a lot of those back in our day. But this one was a Summer secret. When she didn’t come back, Ozpin seemed just as in the dark as myself and your father. Still, who knows what he may have hidden from us over the years.” Ruby asks him, “What do you think she would’ve done if she learned the truth about Salem? That she can’t be destroyed.” Qrow replies, “Pressed on, I think. Like you. She was always the best of us.” He pulls Ruby over to rest her head against his shoulder, smiling. Qrow says “Bit of a brat, though. But hey, I like brats.” Ruby playfully elbows him in the ribs and laughs.
Yang shouts to her, “Hey, Ruby! Come check this out!” Yang points behind herself with her thumb. Ruby zooms over to the group, who are staring at something. Ruby gasps and says “Oh my gosh, is that a mission board? It’s an app now!?” She zooms over to the mission board, pointing at different missions. Ruby excited asks “Can we ride a Megoliath? Stop an underground crime ring? Do I get to go…” She turns away, puts on her hood, and turns back to Penny, doing a dramatic expression says with a fake, Batman-esque accent “…undercover?” Ruby flares her cloak out, knocking the hood off her head, and begins shaking Penny up and down. Penny replies “Maaaybeee!” Marrow’s voice comes from nearby, and Ruby stops shaking Penny. Marrow says “Hey, do you guys smell that?” He walks in with Elm and Vine, dramatically sniffing the air. Marrow answers his rhetorical question with a quip “Smells like… fresh meat.” Vine, still sniffing, takes Marrow’s quip literally and says “That’s odd. I don’t smell meat.” Ren, sniffing, says “Neither do I.” Looks like Vine and Ren can’t understand quips and idiomatic expressions just like Drax the Destroyer. Marrow groans and says “You know what? Nevermind.”
Elm asks “Let me get this straight. You’ve only been official for an hour now and you’re already looking for Huntsman work?” Weiss, holding up a finger, replies, “To be fair, we’ve been official for a whole…” Weiss withdraws her Scroll and checks the time. It is 8:42. Weiss realizes this fact and disappointedly finishes her remark “Fifty-seven minutes.” Nora playfully rolls her eyes at Weiss. Vine says “I’d like to remind you all that the real mission here is ensuring the successful launch of the communications tower.” Ren replies, “True, but we can also keep training and improving by helping where we can.” Elm happily sighs, does a fist pump, and exclaims “The enthusiasm of youths!” Marrow remarks “Well, it’s hard to argue with that. Okay, let me show you how it works.” Marrow walks over to the mission board, scrolls up on it and selects an Escort mission. Marrow says “Ooh, here’s an important one. Who wants to volunteer?” He turns to look, and Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune, Nora, and Ren all raise their hands, calling out “Yes!” and “Alright!” Marrow tells them that someone is needed to escort children to pre-primary school down in Mantle. There isn’t any actual danger, but the parents fret, and that attracts Grimm. Everyone but Jaune drops their hands down. Marrow remarks, “Perfect! Thanks… (uncertain) Juan… Jwan… Jim?” Jaune says, “Close enough, I guess. Wow, my first Huntsman mission.” Elm slides over and knocks Marrow aside with her palm, causing him to scream. She quickly swipes down on the mission board, causing the missions to scroll by rapidly. She slaps one of the missions, bringing up a Search and Destroy mission with an image depicting a rotating 3D model of a Sabyr. Elm exclaims “A massive Sabyr is loose in the Mantle sewers! We need two brave warriors to flush it out!” Everyone but Jaune raises their hands, gasping excitedly, and Jaune looks around, bewildered. Jaune asks why he didn’t get a choice for that mission; his friends begin laughing at him.
Meanwhile at the Schnee Manor, Jacques sits alone in his dimly lit office, drinking from a glass with a spherical ice cube in it. The door opens partway and Whitley nervously tells him that he has a visitor.
Jacques slams his glass down on the arm of his chair and says to him, “I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed. Why did you let them in?” Whitley replies “I didn’t. He… let himself in.” Arthur Watts grabs the door and pulls it the rest of the way open, walking into the room as Whitley moves out of his way. Watts comments to Jacques “A spitting image of you, this lad, Jacques. Creepily so, I might add.” Whitley stands in the hall, holding the door open and watching as Watts walks around Jacques’ office. Watts says “He’s definitely inherited your… affect.” Jacques says Watts’ first name out of shock Jacques takes a second to gather himself, then looks at Whitley. Jacques commandingly tells Whitley to leave them and shut the door. Whitley looks confused and then looks suspiciously at Watts. Jacques sternly says “I said shut the door! Jacques once again slams his glass down, and Whitley closes the door. Jacques turns his attention back to Watts and says “I– You’re supposed to be dead.” Watts tells him “That is what I wanted people to think. You’re right. However, I’ve heard things about you too, Jacques. Namely, that you have an Ironwood problem.” Jacques That bastard is costing me more money every day with this embargo. I’d lay off every employee in Mantle if I wasn’t trying to get their damn votes for this Council seat. Watts sits in the chair next to Jacques’ and tells him “What if I said you can have your cake… and eat it, too?”
I smell collusion and interference in the electoral process!! Quickly, someone get former Special Counsel Robert Mueller to Atlas STAT! This was a very good episode overall with a lot of interesting conversations and drama that help move the plot forward along with some cute and funny moments like Blake and Yang’s selfie, which was my favorite moment from this episode. I am very pleased with this volume so far with it’s strong writing and ability to mix up the pacing for each episode.
A strong wind blows snow across the cloudy sky while three Mantas fly together. Clover is heard speaking to some people that their mission today is to secure the launch site for the Amity Communications Tower. Sometime prior to flying in the Mantas, Clover stands in front of the central table in James Ironwood’s office, looking at a hologram screen that displays mission details along with Ruby, Jaune, and Qrow. Clover tells that them the designated area is an abandoned Dust mine and since its closure, the Grimm have moved in. He also says to them that all the untouched Dust is still down there and that the Science team will need it for the first phase of their launch.
Pietro enters a laboratory, followed by Teams RWBY and JNR. He apologizes for the mess and for holding onto their weapons for so long. Pietro tells them that the upgrades they requested were more than he anticipated. Clover’s voice is heard continuing the mission briefing. He says “ Atlas military Huntsmen are already hard at work clearing out the surrounding tundra. But recon has identified a powerful Geist that’s managed to evade destruction and take several lives.”
The military Huntsmen are seen gunning down Grimm while the three Mantas fly past overhead. The camera cuts back to the mission briefing. Clover tells Ruby, Jaune, and Qrow that after they increased their numbers, the Geist was smart enough to retreat into the mine itself, meaning it’s old and extremely dangerous. Clover withdraws a compact Scroll and presses a button, causing the photograph of Huntsmen battling the Petra Gigas to take up the entirety of each screen. He tells Ruby, Jaune, and Qrow that this is their target. Ruby and Jaune slightly gasp at the picture of the target.
Pietro is heard telling Teams RWBY and JNR that their new weapons and armor should be as requested, but he also took the liberty of reviewing their combat footage from the Vytal Festival Tournament. Teams RWBY and JNR stand in front of a series of narrow shelves, each of which have cases on them; everyone picks up their cases. Blake and Yang turn their heads towards each other, nod in agreement and smile. Pietro also says that there are some additional enhancements he would like to suggest, but for now, these should serve them well enough. Ruby, Nora, and Jaune open their respective cases and are excited by what they see inside.
The hologram screens above Ironwood’s table have been replaced with a 3D hologram map displaying the SDC mine. Clover says “The mine was a labyrinth back in the day. There’s all sorts of tunnels and chambers the Geist can move between, so if we’re gonna kill this thing, we’ll have to split up and corner it.” Jaune sits on a bed, looking at his open case before sadly looking down at a scrap of red fabric in his hands. He caresses the fabric with his thumb and sighs. Clover is heard saying to Ruby and Jane that General Ironwood told him that Teams RWBY and JNR have seen their fair share of combat. Yang Xiao Long puts on her upgraded and repaired prosthetic arm and makes a fist, grinning confidently. Blake Belladonna runs her hand through her hair and ponders about cutting it. This is a very symbolic moment for Blake, as explained by her voice actress, Arryn Zech: “People tend to, well women especially tend to do that whenever there’s like big life changes for them they’ve changed their hair and it’s like a fresh start, so I feel like with this volume her cutting her hair is very Mulan, just like starting over.”
Clover is heard saying “I trust that man with my life, so tomorrow, I’ll be trusting you all, too.” Inside Ruby’s case is a neatly folded outfit. She happily pulls out the new cloak that rests on top of the stack. As she does so, Oscar Pine enters the dorm room and get her attention. Team RWBY’s Manta soars through a cloud and opens its side door, with Team RWBY standing in the doorway wearing their new outfits. Clover says to them over coms “Let’s make it happen, people.” Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang look at each other and smile. Yang chuckles, and Ruby nods. The four leap from the Manta, with Ruby immediately using her Semblance, laughing as she falls. She draws Crescent Rose, changes it to scythe form, stands on it and begins firing it, using the recoil to slow her fall. Weiss Schnee makes her way downward while leaping back and forth between glyphs, before launching herself toward the mine and summoning her Arma Gigas’ arm and sword. She then uses a glyph to send herself onto the sword and slides down the blade.
Blake, now sporting the Bi-bob, draws her newly-repaired Gambol Shroud, shifts it into sickle form and throws it, hooking it onto one of the metal structures outside the mine entrance. She then uses it to swing from building to building. Gambol Shroud now has some yellow metal where it broke. This means it was repaired with metal from Yang’s prosthetic arm with a Japanese technique called kintsugi. Kintsugi is a method for fixing pottery with either gold, silver, or platinum. The method is meant to not hide the damage as though it never occurred, but to highlight the damage and repairs as an important part of the object history. In the context of Gambol Shroud’s repair, kintsugi is used to symbolize how Blake and Yang helped each other conquer their past challenges and helped each other grow as people. Yang freefalls, laughing as she does so, before firing at the ground to put her into a spinning backflip to land on her feet. She slides across the snow between two minecart tracks and is joined by Ruby, Weiss, and Blake when she comes to a stop. Team RWBY’s landing strategies have greatly improved and developed since their initiation at Beacon Academy.
Harriet Bree lands nearby with a slight bounce, tucking and rolling. Marrow Amin lands on his boomerang, rides it across the snow and leaps off of it, causing it to fly through the air and then return to him. The boomerang shifts into rifle mode when he catches it. Team JNR’s Manta soars overhead toward the mountain. Inside the ship, Elm Ederne and Vine Zeki look at JNR and prepare to jump. Elm exclaims to Jaune, Nora, and Ren that this is her favorite part. Vine steps out of the ship, while Elm leaps backwards. Lie Ren hops out, followed by a laughing Nora. Jaune takes a deep breath, gets a small running start and leaps out. He dives for a moment, then deploys his shield while activating its new Hard-Light Dust upgrade. The shield begins acting as a hang glider, with the sudden slow in momentum causing Jaune to yelp. He then drifts over to the cliff, before turning his shield downward and using another Dust upgrade to create an outward burst that cushions his landing. Standing alongside Nora and Ren, Jaune draws his sword.
Elm exclaims “Ha ha! Perhaps you kids won’t get yourselves killed after all!” Elm enters a tunnel, while Jaune looks disappointed and Nora pouts. Vine tells them that Elm meant that as a compliment. Qrow and Clover slide down a sheer icy incline, landing on a cliff just outside of a tunnel opening. Clover activates a communication device in his ear while Qrow brushes off his new outfit. Clover says “This is Alpha squad. LZ’s clear. Proceeding on foot.” At the bottom of the mountain, Team RWBY rest their fingers against their own communicators, listening to Clover. Clover says over coms “You’ve all got fancy new Scrolls, so don’t forget to use ‘em. Keep your eyes and ears open. I want an update if you encounter the target. Alpha out.”
While Clover speaks, Blake brings out her new Scroll, deploying the hologram screen from the small device. She taps on an icon with a headshot of Yang, which brings up a screen showing her teammates’ Aura levels. Weiss has 96% Aura, Yang has 97% and Ruby has 98%. She taps the hologram again, making it recede into the device, which she turns horizontally in her hand. The built-in screen displays four small meters – one on top and three on the bottom. The top meter is labeled B, while the other three are labeled R, W, and Y. The B meter is completely full. Once Clover finishes speaking, Blake’s left cat ear twitches, and she looks ahead of her to see Yang staring at her. Yang, who was staring at Blake, looks side to side and realizes that Blake is looking at her. Yang poses awkwardly and waves, then looks her non-existent fingernails on her prosthetic hand, and puts her hands behind her head. Yang says to Blake “Uh, sorry, just not used to the new hair yet.” Blake blushes and self-consciously brushes her hair back. Blake asks Yang “Is it… bad? Yang replies “No! No. It’s good. Great, even!” Marrow and Harriet watch the awkward flirt from nearby. Marrow complains “Man, I did not sign up to be a babysitter.” Harriet replies to him with a quip “Yeah, well, the rest of us babysit you all the time.” Harriet walks away, and Marrow crosses his arms and pouts, following her.
ICYMI: Arryn watched Chapter 3 last night and here’s her reaction to our disaster bees 🐝 go watch her full livestream on the Unlocked app (y’all it’s worth it) 👏🏼 pic.twitter.com/b8CHOUnO0q
Weiss wipes snow off of a piece of metal, revealing the Schnee Dust Company logo. She looks down at it with a frown and lets out a small, sad groan. Harriet and Marrow head into the mine entrance, with Team RWBY following at a distance. Ruby comes to a stop, shivering with her arms crossed across her chest. Ruby remarks “Oh, it’s freezing out here!” Weiss stops, and Blake and Yang soon stop, as well. Weiss says to Ruby “Without heating or projected Aura, the cold of Solitas can kill you in a matter of hours.” Blake remarks with her trademark dry wit, “I suddenly don’t feel as bad about leaving Oscar behind.” Yang sighs and asks Ruby “Can we talk about that again?” Ruby glances over at Harriet and Marrow, who have gone ahead to the opening of the mine. Ruby asks Yang “What about it?” Yang frowns and asks “We’re really not gonna tell Ironwood about what happened to Oz? What we learned about Jinn? About Salem?” Ruby reples “We are. (She lets out a small sigh) We will. But you saw how things looked when we flew into Atlas.” Blake comments “The General’s heart seems to be in the right place, but that doesn’t mean we should trust him yet.” Weiss adds, “We need to play along for a while before we make any major decisions.” Yang agrees with Blake and Weiss. I’m very glad that Yang confronted Ruby about not telling what actually happened with Ozpin. Blake has a very valid point and Weiss’ idea is the right strategy that Team RWBY should use for the time being. She asks Ruby “How did Oscar feel about that?” As she asks her question, Yang looks over at Ruby, raising an eyebrow. Ruby lowers her eyes a little, thinking back to her conversation with Oscar. Ruby says to Oscar “Er, probably shouldn’t keep running around with an ancient Relic on a keychain… you know?” She hands the Relic of Knowledge to Oscar, who looks at it and then at Ruby. Oscar tries to question her decision but Ruby smiles at him and says that she knows he will keep it safe in Atlas. Oscar replies “Ruby, hiding things from Ironwood, doesn’t that feel like what Ozpin did to us?” While Oscar speaks, Ruby’s smile turns into a frown. She turns her eyes away from him in silence.
Qrow and Clover walk through a long tunnel with different colors of Dust veins in the walls. Qrow says “Gotta say, I’m still not really used to working with other Huntsmen in the field.” Clover replies, “But you were on a team before, weren’t you?” Qrow sighs and answers “Long time ago. I just found working alone tends to be for the best.” Clover remarks “Well, I think that’s a shame.” Qrow slips and falls forward, but Clover catches his arm and pulls him back up. Qrow frowns, while Clover walks away, using his communicator. Clover then presses his earpiece and asks for an update. Vine tells him that the connecting ice tunnels seem clear and he, Elm and Team JNR should be approaching the actual mine any minute now. Vine, Elm, Jaune, Nora and Ren walk through an ice tunnel, which has metal arches supporting it. While Nora and Jaune are smiling, Ren is frowning. Nora exclaims “This is so exciting! It feels like we’re an actual Huntsman team!” Nora fidgets with her hands a little, then looks at Ren with her hands clasped beside her face. Nora attempts to flirt with Ren and says “I, um… like what you did with your outfit, Ren.” Ren frowns and replies that they should probably stay focused on the mission. Nora stops and her smile fades from her face, while Ren continues walking forward. Nora becomes saddened and realizes this fact and agrees with Ren. Jaune stops next to Nora, smiling cluelessly at her and says that he likes her outfit too. She looks at him with an annoyed expression. Nora walks away, and Jaune adopts a confused look and follows her.
Harriet says to Clover over her communication device, “Bravo checking in. Hit a bit of a snag.” Harriet, Marrow and Team RWBY arrive at a wall of boulders in the main mine tunnel. Harriet says “There’s been a cave-in in the main entrance. Not sure if it’s recent or was caused by the original accident.” Blake suddenly pauses, her ears perking up and eyes widening. She looks all around her. Harriet tells Clover that they will have to do a little problem solving. Clover replies “Understood. Let us know if you need anything.” Yang looks at Blake and uncrosses her arms. Yang asks her if she is okay. Blake, looking away sadly, says “I just realized where we are. This mine was closed after an explosion.” Could this be the mine where Illia’s parents were killed? Weiss says “I remember this disaster. Or rather, I remember how furious it made my father. Blake and Yang look at Weiss, who grips her wrist, looking away. She then approaches Blake. Weiss sighs and says to Blake “I wish I could take back the years of pain my family has caused the Faunus and all of my complacency in it.” She crosses her arms, and Blake rests her hands on Weiss’ shoulder, giving a small smile. Marrow approaches the two and remarks “This society is set up for Faunus to be at the bottom, and humans are willing participants. They benefit from doing nothing to help us.” Blake looks past Marrow at a large case labeled “SDC.” Marrow says “But there are still those who actively abuse us. Anyway, I didn’t come over here looking to solve systemic societal issues. Harriet found a gap in the rubble we think one of you could fit through, ideally someone with a knack for seeing in the dark.”
He looks at Blake, who appears lost in thought. She soon snaps back to reality and looks at Marrow and says to him, “O-oh. Of course.” Yang looks around and then frowns upon seeing the case with the SDC logo. Blake and Yang are probably thinking about Adam, who had an SDC brand, how much pain he caused them, and how the two of them came together to defeat their greatest obstacle. Yang walks forward. Blake makes her way through a crevice between boulders, drawing her Gambol Shroud in katana form once she has room. Marrow tells Blake to take a look around. She shifts her Gambol Shroud into its sickle form, ready to fire her gun. Marrow asks Blake Is there any Dust in the immediate area. Blake looks around and tells him that there are minecarts and debris, but no Dust. Marrow replies “Great, then it should be safe to blast our way through.” Blake replies “Okay. Heading ba–” Blake yelps as a Geist suddenly swoops down and reaches for her. She reflexively uses her Semblance and then jumps into a back handspring while the Geist swipes its claws at her shadow clone. Immediately upon landing on her feet, she begins firing at the Geist. Harriet, Marrow and Blake’s teammates look at the boulder pile with widened eyes.
Harriet says “Damn it. Blake, stand back.” Harriet deploys her weapon onto her arms and blasts through the boulder. As soon as the rock is cleared, Ruby, Weiss and Yang run forward, weapons drawn. The Geist moves back and looks, then flies away down a tunnel while Blake continues to shoot at it. Yang shouts “Don’t let it get away!” Team RWBY run after the Geist but are soon stopped by a Centinel burrowing its way out of the ground in front of them. The four stare at the Grimm as it makes its way up from the ground and looks at them. The Centinel lunges at Yang, who yelps and shoots it directly in the mouth. It throws its head back with a pained squeal, then looks at Yang with a hiss, its wound dripping with green fluid. It recedes into the ground, and more Centinels come out from the floor and walls all around them, hissing and screeching. Team RWBY watch with wide eyes and shocked looks on their faces. Yang remarks “That’s disgusting.”
Team RWBY get into battle-ready positions. Ruby zooms away with her Semblance, while Weiss and Blake charge forward. Ruby slams into a Centinel, while Blake and Weiss slash at more of the Grimm. Harriet punches, and Marrow and Yang shoot. Two Centinels get ready to attack Yang, who readies her Ember Celica and repeatedly punches them each in the head. A slight “beep”-like noise is emitted with each hit, as she attaches small remote bombs to the Grimm. She hops away while firing two more devices at the Grimm and then thrusts her arms backwards, causing all of the bombs to beep rapidly and then explode.
Weiss uses Myrtenaster to send an ice crystal at a Centinel, while Ruby beheads another with her scythe. However, the Centinel head, which still has a few legs attached, is still alive. Ruby smirks and engages Crescent Rose’s upgrade, which makes the scythe head rotate 180 degrees. She fires the rifle component while swinging her weapon, slashing and finally killing the Centinel head. She then rotates the scythe head again and slams it down to the ground, steadying her weapon to be parallel with the ground, and begins firing the rifle component. Ruby gasps as Marrow jumps ahead of her.
Marrow guns down a pair of Centinels, then shifts his weapon into boomerang form and throws it. The boomerang bounces off a wall and flies against the back of a Centinel, before returning to Marrow, who has leapt into the air. He slams the boomerang’s blade down on the Centinel, cutting it in two and killing it. Ahead of Marrow, a pair of Centinels twist around each other and head for him. He holds out his hand and snaps his fingers with a smirk and says stay. The two Centinels suddenly slow to a stop. Marrow holds his pose, while Harriet speeds over to the Grimm, trailing electricity just like The Flash. She brushes her nose with her thumb and smirks before grabbing the two Grimm and slamming them to the ground. She then straightens up and uses her communicator. Harriet says over coms “This is Bravo! We found the target, but it fled deeper into the mine. Engaging Centinels!”
In the ice tunnels, Elm, Vine and Team JNR listen to Harriet’s report. Elm says “Let’s pick up the pace!” The group runs over to a decline in the tunnel, and Elm, Vine and Jaune jump, sliding along the ice. Nora smacks Ren, sending him down the decline with a small shout, and then follows, laughing. Below, the ice tunnel gives way to the Dust mine, and three Centinels begin burrowing out of the rock. Vine deploys his Semblance to grab onto the walls of the ice tunnel, stopping himself. Elm stomps on the ice, deploying her own Semblance to root herself to the spot. Jaune, Nora and Ren continue sliding past the two, Nora laughing with her hands in the air.
As they approach the bottom, Jaune deploys his shield’s Hard-Light barrier and stabs the ice with his sword to slow himself. He then slams his shield down, using Dust to send out a blast that knocks the Centinels back. Catching up to Jaune, Ren leaps into the air and activates his weapons’ upgrade – his guns fire their blades at one of the Centinels, with wires keeping the blades tethered to the guns. He pulls himself to the Centinel and slams his feet into it to knock it down and fires his guns at it. Another Centinel rises up behind him, only for Nora to slam Magnhild down on its head. The hammer emits a blast, allowing her to swing it backwards onto the remaining Centinel’s head. With all three Centinels dead, Vine and Elm slide down the ice to meet up with Team JNR. Vine says to them that was a very head-first approach. Vine and Elm begin walking past Team JNR, who try to act confident. Jaune replies that it’s just kind of their style. As soon as the Vine and Elm pass them, JNR relax their shoulders and sigh with relief. Team RWBY, Harriet and Marrow have whittled down the pack of Centinels to one remaining. Weiss raises Myrtenaster and prepares to charge. Weiss says that there’s one left; Ruby says she’s got it. Harriet speeds past both of them and plunges her fist straight through the Centinel, killing it. Ruby rises up from nowhere beside her, eyes filled with amazement. Ruby says remarks “Whoa! Your Semblance makes you super fast, just like me!” Harriet replies “Very cool. Though, based on your reaction time, I’d say I’m a little faster.“
Clover calls in over their communicators and says that he and Qrow are engaging the target. Qrow fires repeatedly at the Geist, which swerves and spirals around in the tunnel, avoiding the bullets. Clover says that all squads head toward their position
Clover deploys his fishing rod and sends the hook out at the Geist, just barely missing it. The Geist swoops into a giant chunk of ice with a minecart imbedded in it and rises up, gathering more ice, rocks and metal to form its body. Clover runs forward to combat it, while Qrow stands back and observes. Qrow notices a chunk of ice pressing against a metal support beam, steadily pushing the beam off of the tunnel wall. Qrow shouts at Clover to stop. Clover turns to look at Qrow, then notices the beam, which falls and lands between Clover and the Geist. The impact creates a large cloud of dust, and when the cloud settles, it is revealed that the ground beneath the Geist collapsed. Clover looks down the hole, frowning, while Qrow runs up beside him.
Clover uses his communicator to inform the others that the target escaped and was last seen headed east. Clover thanks Qrow for the call-out and tells him that could have been bad. Qrow sighs and says to him “I wouldn’t thank me. My Semblance brings misfortune. Sometimes I can’t keep it under control.” Clover replies “That so?” Qrow looks at Clover, who is looking at him with a slight smile. Clover checks his Scroll, then looks up at a bent support beam next to the hole in the ground. Clover tells Qrow to not beat himself up about it. He casts his line to wrap around the beam and jerks it down, and the beam pulls a large amount of rock down with it. He then turns to Qrow with a smile. Clover says “My Semblance is good fortune. Lucky you, huh?” Clover walks on ahead, using his communicator, while Qrow stares at him. This interaction is very interesting because Qrow has found someone who is able to negate his Semblance and be the perfect partner. It’s a perfect pairing for Qrow who has always been down on himself in previous volumes due to the misfortune that he can cause. This relationship could lead to some interesting developments and character growth for Qrow. Clover says over his com device to Charlie and Bravo teams, that they should be able to cut off the target at the heart of the mine. He also says that he and Qrow won’t be far behind. Qrow looks away, then hurries after Clover.
Team JNR, Elm and Vine exit their tunnel onto a raised walkway in a giant mine chamber filled with Dust veins and huge Dust crystals. Raised minecart rails, walkways and stone arches span across and around the edges of the chamber. As Ren comes to a stop, his foot slides across the ground, and the dust particles he kicks up drift slowly into the air. A bead of sweat drips from Jaune’s forehead and evaporates upon hitting the ground. Team RWBY, Harriet and Marrow arrive in the same chamber at the bottom level. Ruby looks up toward JNR and gets their attention. Vine says over his communicator that everyone use caution because this room is highly active with Dust energy and triggering it could ruin the launch site. Marrow adds (over his communicator) that it could also vaporize everyone. He then asks Vine, “How is that always second with you?” Nora looks around and says that she thought the target was supposed to be in here.
A low rumbling noise from above causes everyone to look up. The Petra Gigas Geist is clinging to a chunk of ice on the ceiling. It turns to look down at everyone, showing purple Dust crystals embedded in its body. It jumps down from the ceiling, crashing through a stone arch on its way to the ground in front of Team RWBY. Ruby looks at it in shock and says “It added Dust to its body? How are we supposed to–” Before Ruby can finish her remark, Harriet speeds past her, and Marrow follows suit. Elm jumps down from the cliff and runs toward the Petra Gigas, as well. Vine shouts Elm’s name to get her attention. Vine reaches out with his Semblance, wrapping an Aura arm around one of the Petra Gigas’ legs. With his other Aura arm, he reaches behind him, grabs onto a support beam and pulls. His Semblance is exactly like the powers of Mr. Fantastic, of the Fantastic Four, and Elongated Man, from DC Comics. Elm runs over to the leg, stomps to root herself in place with her Semblance and grabs onto the leg.
Elm shouts his name to signal him to the next phase of the attack. Vine lets go, leaps off the cliff and uses his Semblance to swing onto a minecart bridge. He then uses his Semblance to grab onto one of the Petra Gigas’ arms and pull. Vine then shouts at Marrow to act next. Marrow throws his boomerang at the exposed Geist arm between pieces of ice and rubble, severing it. A Dust crystal flies out from the released rubble, and Marrow’s eyes widen as he sees the crystal fall towards the ground. He catches his boomerang and alerts Harriet about the impending danger. Harriet charges her Semblance and then speeds after the crystal, maneuvering around falling rocks. She runs up a rock, jumps off the side of a raised walkway and catches the crystal in mid-air, landing on another walkway. Teams JNR and RWBY watch the Ace Ops in amazement as they continue fighting. Marrow cuts off the Geist’s other arm, sending another Dust crystal flying through the air. Marrow sees the flying crystal and shouts “Crap!” The crystal is caught by Clover, who just arrived with Qrow. Clover chuckles and remarks “What would you guys do without me?”
He tosses the crystal to Qrow, who looks at him with an eyebrow raised. Clover salutes to Qrow and jumps backward off the cliff. Harriet speeds around the Petra Gigas’ feet, while Vine swings himself around and punches the Petra Gigas in the chest. Harriet speeds to the middle of the room, whistles and waves at the Petra Gigas, then speeds away when it tries to hit her. Elm takes this opportunity to slam her hammer onto the rock composing part of the Petra Gigas’ arm. The rock becomes stuck, and as the Petra Gigas struggles to pull it up, Marrow severs its arm once again.
Clover lands on the ground, deploys his fishing rod, and runs over to the Petra Gigas. He jumps off its leg, launching himself into the air. He bumps his clover pin with his thumb, swings his pole and pulls on the fishing line, directing it to wrap around the Geist’s mask and hook onto it. Team RWBY’s eyes widen in amazement, and Clover pulls, forcing the Geist out of the ice block. Harriet runs into position and uses her Semblance to launch straight up into the air, punching the Geist with her weapon, killing it. As purple Dust crystals begin raining down, the Ace Ops catch them. One crystal is sent flying through the air on the other side of the chamber; Clover alerts Harriet.
Harriet uses her Semblance to speed across the room, but she has to maneuver around the falling ice and rocks. The crystal comes close to hitting the ground, and with Harriet mere feet away. Suddenly, a red blur flies past, catching the crystal. Surprised, Harriet tumbles and stops. Ruby deactivates her Semblance and falls to the ground in a sitting position, hugging the large crystal tight. She opens her eyes and laughs. That’s some diving catch Ruby made! Very similar to this incredible, game winning diving catch that Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks made against the Twins this past season. If she wasn’t a Huntress Ruby could make it as an outfielder in the MLB! Harriet walks over and pulls her to her feet. Harriet says to her “Thought you said your Semblance was like mine.” Ruby, confused, says “It… is?” Harriet says that she has seen other speed Semblances before, but Ruby’s is different. Harriet thinks there’s more going with Ruby’s Semblance on than she thinks. Yang jokingly remarks, “Wait until she sees what she can do with her eyes.” Blake laughs at Yang’s quip. Qrow jumps down to the ground next to Clover, who puts his weapon away. Qrow says “Lucky catch, huh?” Clover replies “Hm. No. I’d chalk that one up to talent.” Ruby and Nora begin celebrating on the other side of the chamber, with Elm holding Ruby up on her shoulder. Clover says “Atlas Control, this is Clover. Mission accomplished.”
Down in Mantle, a police airship drops off Forest and flies away. Forest, annoyed, says, “Yeah, thanks for the lift!” He walks into an alley, kicking a rock and muttering angrily to himself, heading toward a door. A sound behind him causes him to stop and turn around. The light above the doorway begins to flicker. He looks around and backs up toward the door. As he nears the door, the light stops flickering and Tyrian Callows appears from the dark in front of it, smiling menacingly. Forest turns around, sees Tyrian and stumbles back against a dumpster, startled. Forest says “Whoa! Who are you?” Tyrian says “Me? Oh, well, I’m… someone just like you.” As he speaks, Tyrian approaches Forest and says “Someone who… wants to mix things up around here.” Tyrian’s eyes turn purple, and he begins laughing darkly as he lowers his tail, its needle coming out. Forest looks down at the tail, then at Tyrian. He screams as Tyrian swings his bionic tail forward to stab him.
Overall this was a very strong episode with a good mix of action, plot and character building, and the reveal of new information. So far, this is definitely the best of this volume so far. I’m really looking forward to what will occur in the next episode.
Ruby Rose gazes out the window of the police airship as it flies over Mantle, then turns and looks at her friends. Nora Valkyrie chews at the bolas restraining her wrists, while everyone else sits silently, Blake and Yang look at each other out of concern about what’s going to happen to them, their team, and their friends. The only sounds being Nora’s growling and the muffled chattering of the guards piloting the ship. Ruby asks Qrow “Where do you think they’re taking us?” Qrow replies “I’m gonna go with jail.” Jaune comments “I still can’t believe that fishing pole guy took us out like it was nothing.” Weiss says “Welcome to Atlas. Those were Ironwood’s Ace Operatives.” An unfamiliar man, Forest, sitting with the group finally speaks up. He says “Hmm? You guys had a run-in with the Ace-Ops? Ironwood must really have a bone to pick with you.” Weiss, rolling her eyes, says to him “They’re not that big of a deal.” Forest replies “Not that big of a deal!? The Ace-Ops are the elite-of-elite military Huntsmen and Ironwood’s personal attack dogs.” Nora says to him “So they got you too, huh?” Forest responds “Pfft! I wouldn’t let myself get caught by them. I’m here because I’ve been speaking out against Atlas’ exploitation of Mantle, and General Ironwood is trying to silence me.” The Pilot says “You threw a brick at her ship!” Forest proudly exclaims “It’s worth it if it gets people talking about our cause!” The pilot sighs in annoyance.
Blake asks Forest what he means by “Our cause.” Forest says to Blake “Yes, the fight for better conditions in Mantle! Led by the charismatic, talented, lovely Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses!” Robyn Hill and her Happy Huntresses are supposed to be Robin Hood and his Merry Men. The main pilot presses a button, causing the window between the cab and the back of the ship to begin slowly closing. Forest notices this, stands up and begins frantically shouting to the window so the guards can hear him. Forest exclaims “They were all top Atlas Academy graduates, who could’ve signed up for the military, but Robyn and the Huntresses chose to stay in Mantle. She’s gunning for a seat on the kingdom’s council, and when she gets it, she’s gonna put an end to Ironwood’s tyranny!”
Oscar: Happy… Huntresses? Yang asks “Is that their real name?” Weiss says to Forest “Don’t you think “tyranny’s” a little dramatic?” Forest turns around to respond and looks surprised upon realizing who had just spoken. Forest says to Weiss “Easy to say for a Schnee heiress, living comfortably up in Atlas.” Weiss sighs sadly and replies, “Not anymore.” The airship finally makes it up to the City of Atlas, and Ruby looks out at the city in awe, while Nora is once again chewing her restraints. *Talk about the differences between Atlas and Mantle, class warfare is being explored. Mantle reminds me of Detroit, both are old industrial cities that have fallen on hard times; while Atlas is like San Francisco and New York City, very wealthy and affluent, technology-driven and have the latest tech.* Ruby remarks “Whoa, it’s gorgeous up here!” Ruby’s comment causes Jaune and Nora to leave their seats and look out the window with her. Weiss says to them “Don’t let that fool you.” Forest stands from his seat and looks outside. He remarks “This isn’t the police station.” Qrow says “It’s… Atlas Academy.”
The ship docks on a landing pad in front of Atlas Academy and is met by a pair of guards, who open the ship’s rear double doors to let Team RWBY, Team JNR, Oscar and Qrow exit. Ruby gazes up at the towering academy while more guards line up along the path leading to the building. Ruby says “I guess we will be seeing the General. For better or worse.” The group heads up to the school while Forest watches in confusion and curiosity from the airship.Ren asks “So, what do we do?” The group finds themselves riding a rising elevator inside the academy with their wrists still restrained, accompanied by guards. Ruby replies “I don’t know yet. But we should be careful with what we say.” One of the guards looks over his shoulder at them. Blake quietly says to Ruby “We’ll follow your lead, Ruby.” Ruby smiles but then starts to look worried again. The elevator beeps as it arrives at its destination, and the guards escort the group out into a hallway and down a flight of stairs. They arrive in a room just as Ironwood walks through, speaking to someone else. Ironwood says to the person “I swear, if I have to sit through one more council meeting like that…” He turns toward a small flight of stairs on his way to his office, accompanied by Winter Schnee and Penny Polendina. The latter notices the group and stops with a gasp. Penny exclaims “Yay, you’re here!”
Her celebratory greeting catches Ironwood and Winter’s attention, causing them to stop and look. Weiss steps out from behind Ruby and approaches them. Weiss calls her sister’s name to get her attention Winter gasps lightly in surprise, and the sisters’ reunion is quickly interrupted by Nora leaning in and holding up her bound wrists, grinning and waving her fingers. She says “Anyone wanna give us a hand with these?” Winter takes a moment to collect herself, returning to her usual stern demeanor and addressing the guards. Winter says to them “You have ten seconds to take those off before I start hurting you.” The guards look at each other in confusion. And here’s exactly what happened in the minds of these two guards:
Thoughts of those two Atlas soldiers after Winter demands that they uncuff team RWBY: pic.twitter.com/zZYtX7OvDP
— Lloyd Kaplan #greenlightvolume10 🔜⚾️ (@PinkFLloyd95) November 9, 2019
Finally understanding the situation, the guards frantically begin removing the bolases from everyone’s arms and apologizing, while Ironwood watches with a smile. The bolases fall to the floor, giving off a purple glow and retracting the ropes before emitting a beep noise.
Ironwood says to the group “Please, come in.” The group follows Ironwood, Winter, and Penny into Ironwood’s office. Ironwood says to everyone that it is so good to see all of them. Yang, massaging her wrist, says “Our reception didn’t really convey that.” Ironwood, sighs, and says to Yang “I sincerely regret how you were treated by my team.” Qrow rolls his eyes with a small huff. Ironwood walks behind his desk to sit down, and Penny and Winter take positions standing at either side of the desk. He continues “When a rogue airship entered our airspace, it raised some… red flags. We assumed the ship was stolen.”
Ruby replies “Stolen?” and laughs awkwardly, before taking an apologetic tone and admitting that the airship was stolen. Ironwood’s eyes widen in surprise. He then smiles, and his shoulders move a tiny bit with a silent chuckle. Winter, meanwhile, finds no humor in the situation and begins scolding Weiss. Winter says to her “You stole an Atlas airship?” Weiss watches with a frown as Winter approaches her. Winter continues to admonish Weiss “What were you thinking!? You might’ve been shot down! How unbelievably irresponsib–” Weiss surprises and interrupts Winter by hugging her. Weiss says to her “I’m sorry I worried you. But we did what we had to do.” Winter tries to say something, but she sighs and hugs Weiss back, calms down. Winter says to her “I suppose I understand.” She then turns her head to glare at Qrow and says to him “But I cannot believe that you allowed this to happen, Qrow.” Qrow responds, “You try stopping these kids when they have their mind set on something. Speaking of which… (looking at Ironwood) We have some important information for you that’s… confidential.” Winter returns to her position beside Ironwood’s desk.
Penny, moving beside Ironwood, says “Oh, is it about the Relics?” Winter, moving to Ironwood’s other side, says “Or perhaps the Winter Maiden?” Qrow is surprised and asks Ironwood “You told them?” Ironwood stands from his desk and retrieves the Relic of Knowledge from a drawer, making it grow to its normal size as he holds it up. Ironwood says to him “Did you really think you were the only one who got to work on a new plan after Beacon? WIth Ozpin gone, I needed my own team of people I could trust. So yes, I told them. The Ace-Ops too. Which is why I’m so glad you’re here… with this. (gesturing to the Relic) Until now, I believed it was impossible to truly turn the tide against Salem. Oz has pushed her back, has kept victory out of her claws, but she will keep returning stronger and stronger… unless we destroy her.” He places the Relic atop his desk, while Ruby looks deep in thought. Ruby says to him “But… what about the Atlas Relic?”
Ironwood says to Ruby, “You mean the Staff of Creation?” Penny exclaims, “It’s safe inside the Vault!” Qrow says “And the Winter Maiden?” Winter replies She is secure and in stable condition. Yang asks “Stable condition? What does that–” Qrow interrupts Yang, “She’s, uh, not exactly a spring chicken.” Ironwood says to the group “I know how this all looks. Recalling my military? The embargo? I probably don’t seem the most trustworthy right now.” Blake asks him “Then why continue it?” Nora says “The people of Mantle are hurting!” Ironwood says “I needed to ensure Salem couldn’t infiltrate Atlas. And I wanted my military here, protecting my people.”
Yang says to him “But it’s not protecting them! It’s making everyone hate you.” Ironwood replies to her “It’s a price I’m willing to pay.” Ironwood reaches over to a glowing panel of buttons on his desk and taps a button that resembles a table emitting light from its surface. Ironwood says to them “Just as you all have been entrusted with the knowledge of Salem’s existence, I need you all to trust me. I have a plan.” Shutters come down outside the windows, darkening the room. A circle in the center of the floor bearing Atlas’ emblem begins to rise up, prompting Ruby and Oscar to step off of it. As Ironwood talks and makes his way over to it, the circle continues to rise and transforms into a table.
Ironwood says “Ozpin believed the best way to fight Salem was to do so in secret. Whether that was the right choice or not isn’t for me to say. But we find ourselves in a position of needing, well, a new approach.” Qrow asks him “And what do you suggest?” Ironwood brings out a tiny remote and presses a button, activating a hologram display of Amity Colosseum, which hovers above the table. Jaune says “That’s… Amity Colosseum.” Oscar says “Where the Vytal Festival is held?” Ironwood says to them, “Indeed. When Beacon fell and everyone on Remnant lost contact with one another, I knew our current system was outdated. Amity was built to bring the nations together, and it will serve that purpose once again.” He presses the button again, and the hologram Amity Colosseum gains an antenna atop it. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and the rest of their friends stare at the hologram and look at each other. Penny says “Isn’t it great? We’re not going to just replace Beacon Tower. Building a new tower on top of Amity Colosseum will re-establish global communications!” Winter says “By launching the tower high into the atmosphere, our scientists believe we can create a sort of… satellite out of reach of the Grimm and capable of maintaining global communications even if we were to lose another tower.” Ruby says “That is great.” Qrow says to Ironwood “James… you don’t need the entire military for this.” Ironwood replies “I will for the next part, where I finally tell the people about Salem.” Qrow says “Huh, so that’s why you withdrew your troops, to handle the panic that would break out in Atlas.” Ironwood says “Yes, panic is inevitable, and panic brings Grimm. But I believe we are ready. Once Atlas has come to grips with the fight ahead, I’ll use Amity Tower to spread the message to all of Remnant.” Weiss says to him “But everything will fall apart. Grimm will be everywhere!” Winter says to her “You’re right, but Atlas is willing and prepared to assist.”Ironwood remarks “Trying to hide the truth from the world will eventually kill us all.” Ironwood presses a button on his remote, and the hologram disappears, the table transforms and recedes into the floor and the shutters pull away from the windows.
I’m a bit concerned with Ironwood’s plan to tell Atlas and the rest of Remnant about Salem. Just as Weiss mentioned, there would be mass panic. Furthermore, I think that the plan could possibly cause some riots, attract Grimm, and lead to anarchy across Remnant. Also, some people might react to this revelation with hostility or skepticism. But I do understand the need for a new approach and Ironwood makes a valid point in that you can’t keep hiding the truth from the masses. Furthermore, the idea of turning Amity Coliseum into a communication tower to replace Beacon Tower is very smart because it will be out of the reach of Grimm and would be able to maintain global communications if another tower were to be destroyed. Who knows, this might just work.
Qrow says “Oz spent his whole life, many lives, keeping this secret.” Ironwood says to him “I know. But since Beacon, things have changed.” Ironwood begins heading back to his desk. He says “Without him here to guide us, all I can do is use my best judgment.” Behind him, Oscar shifts uncomfortably. As if sensing something, Ironwood stops and looks back. Ironwood asks “What is it?” Oscar replies “Actually, Oz isn’t completely gone.” Qrow says to Ironwood “Uh, Oscar here is… is the next Ozpin.” Smiling, Ironwood quickly and eagerly approaches Oscar, who looks nervous. Ironwood says to Oscar “I’m so glad you’re here. I didn’t think you–” Oscar puts his hands up and interrupts Ironwood, as the latter crouches to Oscar’s level. Oscar says to him “Not quite. He’s kind of, um, gone… at the moment.” Ironwood’s smile fades, and he lowers his head. Ironwood says “That’s not normal. (looking back up) How did he–” Ruby interrupts, “We don’t know.” Ironwood, Qrow and Oscar look at Ruby. Ruby says to him “We were in a train crash, and ever since, well… suddenly, Oz wasn’t there anymore.” Ironwood replies, “That’s the worst news yet. (rising to his feet) Did you learn anything from him about the Relics before…?” Ruby says to him “He told us the lamp can answer three questions. But all the questions were used up already.” Hang on here! Ruby just lied to General Ironwood!?!? What happened with that whole ordeal with Ozpin about trusting others and telling the whole truth in Volume 6!? Does Ruby not trust the General enough to tell him about what transpired between Ozpin and Team RWBY and that Salem can’t be defeated? This is something to keep tabs on to see how this develops.
Blake and Yang look at each other. They appear to be a bit surprised about Ruby lying to General Ironwood. Ironwood walks back behind is desk and stares out the window. Ironwood says “Ozpin told us that too, once upon a time. (turning to face them) At least we have you, Oscar. You’re safe here in Atlas. Maybe together we can figure out how to bring Ozpin back.” Ironwood picks up the Relic of Knowledge, walks over to Ruby and offers it to her. Ruby says “You’re giving it back to me?” Ironwood says to her “After what happened with the Ace-Ops, I don’t want you to think I’m keeping anything from you, especially something as important as this. For the time being, I think it’s safest with the people who brought it here.” He hands her the Relic and Ruby thanks him. She shrinks the Relic and hooks it onto her belt, exchanging a look with Oscar.
Ironwood says “We must work together if we’re to fight Salem and win. Now, if you’re all on board…” Ruby thinks it over for a few seconds, then looks at Ironwood and says “Tell us how we can help.” Ironwood replies “Good, because getting the Amity Tower ready to launch won’t be easy. (walking back to his desk) But first, I think we need to get those weapons of yours up to our standards.” A hologram screen appears, showing footage of Blake drawing her broken Gambol Shroud before their fight against the Sabyrs in Mantle. Blake becomes embarrassed; she shrugs her shoulders and nervously laughs. Winter says “Remember, this is Atlas. While assisting the military, we will provide you with the best equipment our scientists can devise.” Yang pumps her fist in the air and excitedly says “Yeah!” Blake smiles and her cat ears perk up. Upon exiting Ironwood’s office, the group encounters the Ace-Ops once more.
Marrow says “So, that was the second time I got banned. Then there was the third time when–” Clover interrupts “Alright, cut the chatter.” On one wall in the room, there is a hologram displaying Atlas Academy News. The first bulletin explains that the administration restroom is closed due to flooding from a “decimated toilet”, followed by instructions to use the upper barracks restroom instead while the administration restroom is being repaired. The second bulletin is about an upcoming “monthly all hands meeting”, during which they will honor Penny as employee of the month and show the results for a competition that was held. The bulletin also says that Ironwood holds open office hours once a month and to reach out to Stephanie Santiago to schedule a 15-minute slot with him.
The third bulletin reads as follows:
“ELECTION WATCH PARTY
Come join to watch the results of Robyn Hill versus Jacques Schnee
Free food and drink in the Main Atrium of the Academy”
As Ruby and her friends walk down the stairs, the Ace-Ops approach them. Clover says “I’d like to sincerely apologize for the miscommunication down in Mantle. We didn’t intend to–” Suddenly, Elm Ederne pushes her way past Clover and Marrow and begins frantically shaking Ruby’s hand, accidentally flailing her about in the air. Elm says to her “I feel so bad, honestly! If we had known who you were, we’d be laughing over a hot meal right now and–” Part way through her second sentence, Elm drops the now-dizzy Ruby on the floor. Ruby says “I understand. You were just following orders.” Ruby gets to her feet, groaning, only to be spun around by Weiss. Weiss says “I mean, you could have asked us some questions first.”
Marrow replies “Questions are for the weak. But we’re all on the same team now. Not that I’m happy about it.” Marrow crosses his arms and soon realizes that his tail is wagging. He reaches back and grabs it, much to Harriet’s amusement. Clover says “We just wanted to say we’re sorry. And that we’re looking forward to working with you on our next mission. You might be students, but you’ve been fighting just as hard as we have, if not harder.” Harriet remarks “Exactly why I’m looking forward to seeing what you kids can do.” Vine says to her “Not everything’s a competition, Hare.” Penny enters the room and slides in front of Ruby, throwing her hands up in excitement and says C’mon! Let me show you around campus. She enthusiastically marches away, with Ruby and friends following her. Ironwood exits his office just as Qrow begins to walk away from the stairs in front of the office, Ironwood gets his attention. Qrow stops and turns around, and Ironwood descends the stairs and approaches him. Ironwood says “I meant it when I said it was good to see you again.” Qrow, awkwardly, says “Uh, yeah, you too.” Ironwood steps forward and hugs Qrow, who looks confused at first but then hugs back with a smile and an eye roll.
Elsewhere in the school, Penny leads Team RWBY, Team JNPR and Oscar through various hallways, while the group becomes more and more tired as the tour goes on. Penny says “So that way’s the cafeteria, and that way is the training rooms. Oh, and over there are the classrooms!” Ruby stretches, yawning loudly. The group comes to a stop, with everyone looking exhausted. Nora leans against Ren, asleep on her feet. Ruby says to her, “This all looks great, Penny. But where are we staying?” Penny replies “Remember, you’re in Atlas now. As the most well-funded school on Remnant, every teen at Atlas Academy gets their own room! And if that wasn’t enough–” Ren asks “So we’re staying in the dorms?” Penny, with an excited dance and hop, replies “It’ll be just like Beacon again!” Nora collapses to the floor.
Meanwhile in Mantle, it has begun raining. Ironwood and Winter’s broadcast videos continue to play on screens around the city. Carrying a bag and an umbrella, with a set of new rings on his fingers, Dr. Arthur Watts walks along a sidewalk while talking to Tyrian Callows through a communication device that is placed in his ear. Watts says “For the last time, a singular hideout makes us susceptible to discovery.” Watts hacks the traffic post across the street to change it to allow pedestrians to cross as he walks across the street. Tyrian asks him “But what if we’re seen? What if we’re recognized?” Watts answers “We stay mobile.” The sound of multiple stabbings can be heard over the communication device. Tyrian comments “We’re walking around a city with a thousand eyes.” Watts changes another traffic signal and crosses the street without pause, causing cars to come screeching to a halt. Watts sighs and says “While cyber security has been stepped up in Atlas, as usual, none of the code was updated in Mantle.” He walks across another street, hacking another system to make a blockade of posts rise up from the road, which a car crashes into as it swerves to go around him. A woman runs towards to vehicle to check on the driverTyrian, chuckling, says “That certainly sounds useful.” Watts replies “It should be.” Watts pauses and presses his thumb to one of his new rings, which glows cyan. All nearby security cameras power down. Watts says “I helped write that code, after all.” Muffled screaming is heard from inside a building, while the camera next to its door powers down. The door opens, and Tyrian steps out, shutting the door behind him with a happy sigh. Tyrian remarks “Well, I suppose we all have our talents.” Tyrian walks away down an alley, while a pool of blood flows out from under the door.
Overall this was a very good episode. Although there were no action scenes, this episode makes up for that with strong drama, plot building, the reveal of new information and some cute and lighthearted moments. As mentioned earlier, I am very shocked that Ruby lied about what transpired with Ozpin after the train crash. I really do hope that can fully trust Ironwood and eventually tell him about what happened between Team RWBY and Ozpin. In addition, I really would like to see Weiss, Blake, and Yang confront Ruby about this matter and see what her reasoning and plan is with trusting Ironwood.
Silhouettes of the Atlas designs of Team RWBY, Team JNPR, and Oscar Pine are shown, resembling the silhouettes from the initial reveal of Team RWBY at the end of the original trailers. The shot pans up a snowy cliff with Team RWBY, still in their Mistral designs, standing on top of it. Ruby has her hood up. The camera moves to a close up of Ruby’s face as she takes off her hood before cutting to the faces of Yang, Weiss, and Blake respectively. Cut to a behind shot of the four looking up at Atlas before they dissolve into ash. The camera flies up into the sky as “RWBY Volume 7” materializes out of the same ash.
The four characters appear one by one in the sky in the order of Yang, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby. Each character appears in their Vale outfits (Volumes 1-3) before using their semblance once to transition into their Mistral outfits (Volumes 4-7), then activate their semblance again to transition into their new Atlas outfits. Ironwood is shown in his office looking at a hologram of Atlas and Amity Colosseum. Cut to his face looking intent before the camera zooms into his eye which shows the reflection of the hologram.
A hand closes on a Clover-like medal before the silhouettes of the Ace-Ops are shown in the same style as Team RWBY, before cutting to the leader, Clover Ebi, standing in Atlas. After half a second, the other 4 members fade in, all posing in a relaxed, yet ready manner. The camera zooms out showing the team as an image on a screen under the name “ATLAS_OPERATIVES.FLD_ACE.” A close-up shot of Watts’ mustache. It curls into a smirk before he begins typing on a keyboard. As he does this, the silhouette of Tyrian appears in front of the scene as he maintains a sitting position while he holds himself off the ground with his tail. What is Watts’ plan? The fact that he has a file on the Ace-Ops leads me to believe that one of them is a double agent, which is very concerning.
A transition of the screen breaking apart before showing Ironwood in Mantle firing his gun at the screen intently before lowering it and looking down at the ground in a dejected manner. I’m not quite what is going on here since there aren’t a lot of cues to examine. However, it is possible that this scene is a reference to something that is yet to be seen at some point in this volume. The screen is enveloped by a snowstorm then shows Jacques and Whitley side-by-side in the Schnee Manor with an intimidating look on both faces.
Weiss and Winter stand back to back with the Schnee logo behind them. Both give a sideways glance to each other, Winter with her arms crossed and a slight grin on her face while Weiss looks back with an unsure expression. In Pietro’s Clinic, Pietro Polendina sits back in his chair adjusting his bowtie while Maria turns and looks into the camera with her eyes. A slow pan shot from left to right, of Ruby in the center of the screen while the other members of RWBY, JNPR, and Oscar stand in the background on raised objects, all with their weapons out. Penny stands in a white background, she looks back with a curious look before smiling joyfully.
In a snowy area, Yang activates her semblance and fires a shot at two Sabyr Grimm running towards her, causing a blast of snow. Ren, Nora, and Jaune run out of the snow blast and attack more approaching Sabyrs. Jaune then dodges out of the way as a Geist made of Ice and Rock attempt to crush him with its arm. The Ace-Ops are seen running by the Geist as Elm Ederne runs up the Geist’s arm then swings at its head with her weapon.
Robyn Hill leans against a building in Mantle watching a group of angry Mantle citizens shouting at a screen with Ironwood on it. As the camera zooms to the screen, One of them throws a rock at it, which causes it to glitch and show Jacques’ face instead. Could Watts be trying to hack the upcoming elections in an attempt to put Jacques in power? Could he possibly be colluding with Jacques Schnee? If so, this is a pretty clear reference to Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election to favor and put Donald Trump in charge of the United States.
In a hologram-chamber looking area, Ironwood and Oscar both spar. Ironwood swings a punch at Oscar which he dodges. Could Ozpin make a return and admit the truth to Ironwood about Salem and what transpired between him and Team RWBY after the train crash in Volume 6? In a tunnel, Blake kills several centipede-like Grimm by spinning Gambol Shroud before crouching down, as Weiss slides around her on her Glyphs before jumping into the air and slashing into the camera.
In Mantle, Tyrian runs towards and attacks Robyn as she blocks his strikes. Qrow then jumps into the fray and attacks Tyrian which he blocks in turn. Ruby kills several Grimm with Crescent Rose before turning into a 2D moving black silhouette in a white background, still swinging with her scythe before transitioning to Weiss, Blake, and Yang respectively in the same style swinging with their own weapons.
A close-up is shown of Ruby’s face back in the normal style before zooming out and showing a crowd on the left the screen all looking towards the right, featuring Teams RWBY, JNR, Qrow, Oscar, the Ace-Ops, Ironwood, Winter and Penny. The scene cuts to black, with the text “SERIES CREATED BY MONTY OUM” in white letters with a brief sweeping light showing the Relic of Creation in the background.
This opening sequence for Volume 7 is definitely the best one out of all the volumes. The sequence where Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are shown in their previous outfits from Volume 1-7 really [Beacon Arc (Volume 1-3), Mistral Arc (Volume 4-6), and Atlas Arc (Volume 7)] shows how much they have grown throughout the past volumes and how much more they will continue to grow.
Manta airships patrol the skies around the City of Atlas, keeping in communication with each other over the radio. As Maria Calavera pilots the group’s stolen Manta toward the city, they receive radio contact from Atlas Air Traffic Control “Manta 5-1. Welcome home. Please continue your approach to Atlas docking bay Omega-12. A security team will meet you there. Over.” Ruby Rose and the others aboard Manta 5-1 look around at the large military air fleet surrounding the kingdom’s capital. Ruby remarks “I don’t understand. What’s happening here?” Qrow replies that he doesn’t know. Jaune comments “But we are here. We got the lamp to Atlas, so I guess we land and get some answers.” Weiss replies “I’m not so sure. I’ve never seen our forces deployed so aggressively before. If we land in a stolen ship, there’s no way the security team will let us anywhere near Ironwood. They might even take me back to my father.”
A saddened look appears on Blake Belladonna’s face, while Ruby and Yang Xiao Long look at each other, uncertain of what to do. Just as Blake is about to say something, Weiss gets an idea and suddenly looks up. Her idea is to contact her older sister, Winter. Weiss pulls out her Scroll and says to Maria, “Put some distance between us and the fleet.” Maria replies “You don’t have to tell me twice.” As Weiss walks to the back of the ship, Maria steers the ship toward Mantle. As people wander the streets of Mantle, the group looks over the city through the Manta’s windows. They fly past a giant screen on the side of a skyscraper. Ironwood’s voice comes from the screen, catching Ruby and Yang’s attention.
The video of Ironwood says “…cannot express our appreciation enough. Many describe these as uncertain times, and while that may be the case for the rest of the world, I can tell you what is certain. The Kingdom of Atlas will remain strong, and it will remain safe. That is my promise.” Ruby and Yang look saddened. Yang remarks “General Ironwood. He looks…” Ruby finishes Yang’s remark “Tired.” Qrow says “James, what have you been doing?” Four Atlesian Knight-200s are seen walking down a street in Mantle, while civilians around them complain about their presence.
A small drone floats along a sidewalk, while a pair of small children hide in an alley. One of the children picks up a rock and throws it at the drone, which spins around to look, prompting the children to hide against the wall. There’s a very similar feeling and tone to George Orwell’s 1984. The drones definitely give off the “Big Brother is watching” vibe along with the videos of Ironwood telling citizens to stay calm. It’s evident that people of the Kingdom of Atlas are not happy with General Ironwood and his closed-borders policy. Weiss sadly stares out of Manta 5-1’s window with her Scroll in her palm. Her Scroll is set to call Winter, who does not answer.
Weiss says “This isn’t right. None of this is right.” Once again, the stolen Manta receives contact over the radio. Atlas Air Traffic Control “Manta 5-1, we’ve noticed a detour in your route. You are to make your way to docking bay Omega 12 immediately. Do you copy? Over.” Maria says “We’re kind of running out of time here, kids.” Yang says that they need to ditch the ship. Qrow replies “Agreed. Get lost in Mantle and buy ourselves some time.”
Weiss says “I’m telling you, my sister can take us to Ironwood.” Blake, who has been staring out of a window, looks over her shoulder and speaks up to get Weiss’ attention. Weiss walks over to Blake’s side and looks out the window with her as a familiar voice plays from a giant screen. It’s a video of her elder sister Winter that’s reminding citizens that failure to cooperate with Atlas military personnel is a punishable offense. Weiss is shocked by the sight of the video of her sister.
Qrow says to her “No offense, Weiss. I’m not sure that’s a good idea anymore.” Weiss tenses her shoulders and turns to Qrow, fists clenched. Weiss says “There’s obviously something very wrong. If we can just talk to her, then we–” Qrow interrupts “Look, I’m not even sure we should be talking to Ironwood until we know exactly what’s going on with Mantle.” Maria tells everyone to calm down and she knows someone who can help with both. After landing the stolen Manta in Mantle, Maria cautiously exits an alley by slowly shuffling along with her cane. When she sees the coast is clear, she picks up her cane and walks normally, and everyone else exits the alley with her. In the distance, a small group of Atlas soldiers run down a street in the direction that Maria and the others came from. The group begins walking through Mantle together. Trucks drive past, and Atlesian Knight-200s stand on various sidewalks. A small child places a poster of a white-haired woman on a street lamp. There is a hologram board displaying news articles with the following headlines: “Missing Journalist Found Slain”; “Election Imminent: Mantle Hometown Hero vs Atlesian Tycoon”; “Embargo: The Right Call? Pressure and Criticism Continues to Mount on Council”; “Outer Wall Damaged: Resources Stalled”
The group walks past a garage with graffiti art reading “Show Your Teeth.” Blake is the only one who notices it and the racist message it conveys. Maria says “Come on now, hurry! It shouldn’t be much of a walk.” Jaune asks “Is this many soldiers normal?” Weiss replies “No. At least, I didn’t think so.” At the back of the group, Yang notices a whirring sound and stops to take a look. There is a small drone hovering to her right. The camera part of the drone lifts up, focused on her. Yang shrugs it off and resumes walking, the drone follows her. She stops again and looks at it in surprise and confusion. As she leans in to take a closer look, the drone takes a photograph of her face with a bright flash, which Yang recoils from. In response, Yang kicks the drone, knocking it out of the air and causing it to tumble into the street, where it is struck by a car. Yang cringes at the drone’s destruction. Yang turns to see everyone else in the group staring at her. She awkwardly shifts her posture with a sheepish smile and says “Maybe we should pick up the pace.” Everyone resumes walking and Blake rolls her eyes at Yang.
Maria says, “You have to remember, the Kingdom had just lost the Great War. The people of Mantle needed a sign of a brighter future, and that sign was Atlas. After all, a home in the clouds is as bright as it gets.” They look up at the City of Atlas, while the earlier broadcast from Winter plays once again nearby. A pair of trucks drive by with miners, covered in black material, sitting in the beds. Posters depicting a white-haired woman are plastered across one of the buildings that the trucks pass, with the text “PROTECT MANTLE” printed on them. Who is this woman? It looks like she’s the leader of some resistance group in Mantle.
Blake and Nora watch the second truck as it drives by. Nora crosses her arms, looks away, and says “Unless you’re the one having to look up at it.” Blake says “This whole city, it just seems awful.” A drunken voice calls out from nearby. Drunk Mann “Yeah?” The drunk man comes stumbling down from a porch and says “You don’t like it here? There’s plenty of space out in the tundra.” Blake sighs and says “Sorry, I didn’t mean to–.” Drunk Mann interrupts her and proclaims “Atlas is the greatest Kingdom in the world, alright?!” Ruby steps forward to confront him, but Blake steps forward ahead of Ruby, and says to her quietly “We can’t cause a scene.” The drunk man’s equally drunk buddy speaks up and says “The embargo… The embargo’s got us in a rough patch. But it’ll blow over, you’ll see.”Drunk Mann loudly proclaims “We try and help the other Kingdoms, and this is what happens? I say let ‘em rot!” Blake disingenuously apologizes and says that she didn’t mean to insult him. The drunk man spits on the ground, glaring at Blake and says “Stupid Faunus like you wouldn’t unders–” He looks down to unscrew his flask and pauses when he sees a black glyph beneath his feet. His glasses hover off his face as his eyes widen in surprise. The glyph flings him into the air, and he is thrown into a dumpster in the nearby alley, his glasses and flask accompanying him soon after. Yang, Nora, Blake, and Ruby stare at the dumpster, then turn to see Weiss pointing Myrtenaster where the man had been standing. As Forky from Toy Story 4 would say “He’s Trash.” Weiss, with a shrug and a smile, says “It was worth it.” My prediction that either Ruby, Weiss, or Yang would stand up for Blake in the face of racism was right! I am really looking forward to seeing more of these moments of solidarity. The group flees while a pair of Atlesian Knight-200s investigate. The man’s drinking buddy hurries down from the porch and looks around in thought, before reaching out toward the girls. The drinking buddy trips and collapses to the sidewalk. Winter’s broadcast is heard playing once again.
The group approaches a building with a glowing green plus symbol above its front door. The side door opens, and a Faunus with a prosthetic arm exits, waving cheerfully to the man who speaks to her from inside. He says “And no more heavy-lifting, yah hear?” Maria says to him “Ah, it’s good to see you again, old friend.” An older man is sitting behind the desk, shuffling things around in a drawer. Maria clears her throat, startling him, and he lifts his head to look at her, shutting the drawer. Maria smiles at him. He says “Ah, yes, yes. (pushing a stack of papers aside) Have we met?” Ren: (as he enters) Well, this is off to a fantastic start. Maria says to the man “Cybernetic optical implants. (pointing to her eyes) You adjust them. Every ten years or so?”
He stares at her for a few moments before throwing his hands cheerfully into the air and says her name. The robotic chair he is sitting in begins walking out from behind the desk. Pietro says to her “Yes, with the cybernetic optical implants! I adjust them every ten years or so.” He offers his hand to her and leads her to an examination table. The man laughs and says “Oh wow, has it been that long already?” Maria says to him Ah, I know. I age like a fine wine. Would’ve been here sooner if I hadn’t run into these jokers. At the time, I thought they might need my guidance while fighting a little old Sphinx. The man says “Oh, did they?” Maria replies “No, no. They had much more complicated issues.” Qrow clears his throat and asks who the man is. Maria says “So impatient. I didn’t think I’d need to introduce one of Atlas’ finest minds.” Yang comments “Working in a place like this?” The building creaks, and a ceiling tile falls to the floor for added irony. Maria says “He likes to keep a low profile. Something I’ve come to realize none of you know anything about.”
The man says “You can call me Pietro.” Maria says “Finest heart, too. This pharmacy is just where he volunteers when he’s not building the future of Atlas alongside Ironwood, up in the clouds.” Pietro says “Oh, it’s stuffy up there. Down here, I get to help the locals and have a little fun. I’m currently working on shoes that make you dance. Wanna try ‘em on?” Nora pops up in a cartoonish manner and excitedly says “YES!” Yang steps in front of Nora, who is now disappointed, and says “Before we get to that, we were wondering if you could help us. We came to Atlas hoping to talk to General Ironwood, but um…” Blake interjects and helps Yang finish her thought. She asks Pietro “What exactly has been happening here?” Pietro replies, “Well, the Fall of Beacon took a toll on all of us. James was no different. I couldn’t tell you exactly what it was he saw there, but it changed him. He’s…” Qrow finishes his remark “He’s scared.” Pietro replies “Paranoid would be the more appropriate term. You have to understand, it wasn’t just the Grimm. Someone completely dismantled Atlas security code, made it their play-thing. And made us look like traitors to some and buffoons to everyone else. Whoever managed to do that is either a genius or one of our own. I fear the answer may be both, and so does the General.” Ren says “Maybe Atlas isn’t as safe as we thought.” Oscar responds “After we came all this way, we can’t just leave, can we?”
Weiss steps forward and asks “How does the council feel about all of this? Or Winter Schnee? Do you know anything about her?” Pietro replies “Well, the council’s so scared, they’ll agree to whatever he wants. Though, some representatives from Mantle… Wait, you’re… You’re Weiss Schnee!” Weiss gasps and steps back, with her friends looking nervous. Yang steps forward with her prosthetic arm outstretched and asks “Wait, what was it that you were trying to say about Mantle?” Pietro looks at Yang’s prosthetic arm and remarks “You painted it.” Yang withdraws her arm in confusion and says “What?” Ruby asks Pietro “Is everything okay?” Pietro exclaims “You’re Team RWBY!” Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang look at each other in confusion. Ruby says to him “You know us?!” Pietro says to Ruby “Oh, my girl, I do. I most certainly do. And I feel like such a dunce for not recognizing you sooner. My daughter’s told me so much about you.” Ruby: “Your… daughter?” I think a certain fan-favorite character might be coming back from the dead! Those with keen eyes would know that the sculpture of the Sperm Whale on Pietro’s bookshelf is a reference to Carlo Collodi’s Pinnochio. We already know that Penny Polendina is based on Pinnochio himself, which means that Pietro is based on Geppetto. Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of an alarm and people screaming. Outside, civilians are running, and the lights from the street lamps have turned red.
The group runs outside into the middle of the street. Everyone in the group draws their weapons. Upon drawing her Gambol Shroud in its katana form, Blake looks at the broken blade with shock and exhales sharply before folding the blade down to wield it as a gun. Even though she can’t use Gambol Shroud in its katana form, Blake is determined to do whatever she can to help her team in the impending battle. Oscar says “I guess the city defenses aren’t doing much.” Nora glances at Ren and replies to Oscar “Somehow, that doesn’t surprise me.” Further up the street from them, they hear growling, and an Atlesian Knight-200 is thrown against a lamp post. Another robot is thrown, and three more back up into view, shooting at Sabyrs, which tackle and destroy them one by one. Ruby exclaims “Well, we didn’t come this far to fail now!”
Ruby changes Crescent Rose into scythe form and aims the sniper barrel toward the Sabyrs, which finish destroying the Atlesian Knight-200s and charge toward her and her friends. Everyone readies their weapons. Yang charges forth using the recoil from her Ember Celica, followed by Ren launching himself forward. Nora gets an idea and looks at Jaune, who looks startled. She uses Magnhild to pole vault toward Jaune, who puts up his shield in response, allowing her to land on it. She then kicks off from his shield, launching herself. After Yang uppercuts a Sabyr, Ren lands on another one’s back, stabbing his guns’ blades into it, and it leaps into the air to knock him off, only for Nora to slam it to the ground with her hammer. Jaune beheads a Sabyr, and when a second one leaps at him, he blocks with his shield and stabs it just above its collarbone.
Qrow slices two Sabyrs in half, leans back to dodge a third as it attempts to tackle him. He transforms Harbinger into scythe mode and uses it to hook the Grimm as it makes another attempt to tackle him. As he finishes spinning his scythe, he plants its blade into the ground and punches another Sabyr in the head, then uppercuts it into the air. He then kicks Harbinger upward, catches it, straightens the blade, impales the Sabyr, and slices another one that leaps at him from behind the deceased Sabyr’s smoke. While Qrow shoots at more Sabyrs, another one turns its attention to Oscar. It charges him, and he leaps into the air and stabs at its skull with Ozpin’s cane. While he watches it die, another one leaps at him from behind, only to be sniped by Ruby, who smiles and nods to Oscar.
Ruby transforms Crescent Rose back into scythe mode and runs forward. As a Sabyr leaps at her, she does a flip and slices it in half. She continues running, fires Crescent Rose, and begins using her Semblance to speed down the street, before appearing to split into three blurs of red that go around a Sabyr, which splits apart with a roar. The blurs converge and transform back into Ruby, who stabs the tip of her scythe into the asphalt, swinging forward on it and landing on the ground. She fires Crescent Rose and lets go of it, sending it spinning through a Sabyr and into the air. She leaps onto and kicks off of another Sabyr, spinning and catching her scythe. She fires Crescent Rose to keep up momentum and slams the blade into the ground, sending out a shockwave that takes out two more Sabyrs.
After Weiss slices through a Sabyr, four more come running toward her from another street. She casts four black glyphs, using them to levitate the Grimm. As they flail helplessly in the air, Ren leaps from Sabyr to Sabyr, cutting each of them in half. Meanwhile, another Sabyr attempts to run up behind Yang while she finishes one off, only to be shot by Blake, who smiles and nods to Yang. Suddenly, another Sabyr leaps into the air behind Blake, who gasps and turns to face it. Before she can fight back, a green laser fires from the sky, cutting the Grimm in half. Blake is surprised by the sight of the laser. More lasers shoot from above, striking down the remaining Grimm. The alarms throughout the city stop and the street lamps change back to their normal color. Everyone watches as a figure with long hair flies into view, with green jets coming from her feet. She twirls in the air and slowly descends. Pietro and Maria walk outside to join the group, while Ruby stares at the girl before gasping and gaining a look of recognition an old friend. GREAT SCOTT!! Penny Polendina is back!! I actually teared up a little bit during this heartwarming moment.
Pietro says to her “Darling, why don’t you say hello to your friends?” Penny turns to look in the direction that her father’s voice came from. Upon seeing Ruby, she gasps and her eyes shine with joy, like an excited puppy. Ruby smiles and puts her weapon away. Penny leans forward a little. Penny leans forward and starts sprinting towards Ruby. She then leaps and activates her jets, rocketing forward and tackling Ruby, who flails her hands around in front of her and screams, eyes wide. Upon crashing to the ground, Ruby groans in pain. Everyone else puts their weapons away and approaches the pair. Penny pops back up onto her feet, while Ruby slowly rises with her hand on her head. Penny to the group “It is such a pleasure to see you all again!” Ruby tearfully says to her “Penny, I… I-I thought you…” Pietro interjects “Died?” He rides his chair over to Penny’s side and continues speaking “I guess, in a manner of speaking, she did. But we were able to recover her core from Amity Arena once it had made its way back to Atlas. It took me some time, but…” Penny interjects “I’m as good as new! Better, even! And now I’m the official protector of the city!” Pietro says “That’s my girl. We’re not going to let a little ripping to shreds stop us, are we?” Penny replies “No sir!” and knocks on her head with a clanking sound.
Weiss says “This is…” Blake finishes her remark, “Strangely wholesome.” Yang comments “Sounds like Penny to me.” Penny excitedly grabs Ruby’s shoulders and says to her “We have so many things to catch up about. I cannot wait!” Just as Penny finishes her sentence with a grin, the city’s alarms begin blaring again. Penny, without changing her demeanor, says “It seems we will have to wait.” Penny bounces backward and salutes. As she charges her jets and then rockets off into the sky, she continues speaking quickly to Ruby.
As Penny blasts off, she says to Ruby “Let’s talk more later. I can’t wait to hear about all your adventures! I’m very excited for the whole experience!” Nora says “I can’t tell if I completely understand what’s going on or have, like, a million questions.” Pietro says “And thankfully, I have about a thousand answers. But let’s get out of this weather first.” Maria remarks, as she follows Pietro, “I have absolutely no idea who that child was. Is she important somehow?” Qrow says to Ren and Jaune, “But I wouldn’t say unwelcome. I was honestly expecting things to go a lot rougher.” The group begins following Maria and Pietro. However, as they walk, Ren senses something behind them. Before anyone can react, several bolases wrap around Nora, Oscar, Jaune and Ren, the spheres at the ends of the ropes locking into place with Gravity Dust. Blake turns to look back at the commotion, just in time for all of Team RWBY to be caught. As Ruby lands, the Relic of Knowledge comes unhooked from her belt and clatters to the ground. Qrow draws his sword and looks for their unseen enemy, before being captured himself. Five uniform-clad people come out of hiding and surround the group.
Oscar shouts at the man (Clover Ebi) “Hey! What’s going on?!” Qrow says to Clover “Hey, pal! I’m a licensed Huntsman! Just helped save everyone?” Clover looks down at Qrow, twirling a horseshoe on his finger. He puts the horseshoe away and picks up Qrow’s weapon. The other uniformed operatives begin gathering everyone else’s weapons, while Atlesian Knight-200s approach, and the operatives hand the confiscated weapons to the robots. Clover then Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Qrow loaded onto the next transport. Ruby pleads with Clover that they were just trying to help. Pietro asks the man “What is the meaning of this? What are the Ace-Ops even doing down here in Mantle?”
This is a very clever pun to reference to Aesops’ Fables. Each member of the Ace-Ops represent one of the fables: Clover Ebi based on A Fisherman’s Good Luck, Elm and Vine are based on The Elm and The Vine, Harriet is based on the Hare from The Tortoise and the Hare, and Marrow is based on The Dog and Its Reflection. Clover says to Pietro, “Doctor, good to see you. Well, we heard a report of an unauthorized ship making an unauthorized landing, followed by an unauthorized use of weapons by unlicensed Huntsmen.” Maria turns and walks away. Pietro says to Clover, “If we could just talk this out–.” Clover tosses the Relic from one hand to the other and tells Pietro “They’ll be able to talk this out once they get to Atlas. Let’s move out!” The Ace-Ops split up and leave the area. Team RWBY, Team JNR, Oscar and Qrow are forced into the back of a secure van with their wrists bound. Qrow: “Now, this… This is much closer to what I was expecting.” Yang bounces her left leg, she appears to be very anxious about the current situation. Blake looks at her out of concern for her friend and partner. The back doors of the van are slammed shut. Overall, this was a very strong start to this volume. This episode had the right mix of action and world-building. I saw the first 12 minutes of this episode at the RWBY Panel at NYCC 2019. Fans cheered when their favorite characters first appeared, when Weiss stood up for Blake. There was big collective gasp from the crowd during the trailer when Blake is ensnared and when that Grimm attacked her at the end of the sneak peek I can’t wait to see what happens in the next episode and throughout the course of this volume. Hopefully, Team RWBY and company don’t wind up in the slammer.
![Back to the Future michael j fox Christopher Lloyd marty mcfly emmett brown doc brown my gifs [3] gif: bttf pedestrianverse •](https://49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lseeoetYtE1qbw3a4o1_400.gif)
RWBY Reliquary 