RWBY: The Novelization: Players and Pieces

Back on the cliff overlooking the forest, both Glynda and Ozpin held full-sized Scrolls, monitoring the students.

“Our last pair has been formed, sir,” said Glynda. “Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy. I can’t possibly imagine those two getting along. Still… he’s probably better off than Miss Nikos.”

“Hm.”

“I don’t care what his transcriptions say, that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. But, I guess we’ll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple in just a few minutes. Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?”

Ozpin didn’t reply. He was busy watching footage of Ruby and Weiss.

***

Ruby sat on the ground tearing up grass and picking up leaves while Weiss paced back and forth.

“It’s definitely this way,” said Weiss. Then a little later, walking in the opposite direction, “I mean, this way. It’s definitely this way.” Weiss returned and stood in front of Ruby. “It’s official; we passed it.”

Ruby stood, fed up. “Ugh! Why can’t you just admit you have no idea where we’re going?”

“Because I know exactly where we’re going. We’re going to… the forest temple!”

“Ugh!”

“Oh, stop it! You don’t know where we are, either.”

“Well, at least I’m not pretending like I know everything.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re a big, stupid jerk, and I hate you!”

Weiss groaned this time. “Just keep moving.”

Ruby mocked her. “‘Oh, just keep moving. Hurry up. Wah. Watch where you’re going.’ Why are you so bossy?!”

“I’m not bossy! Don’t say things like that.”

“Stop treating me like a kid.”

“Stop acting like a kid.”

“Well, stop acting like you’re perfect!”

“I’m! Not! Perfect!” Then in a lower and more sinister tone, “Not yet anyway. But I’m still leagues better than you.” Weiss walked off.

Ruby was on the verge of tears. “You don’t even know me…”

***

Deeper in the forest, Yang and Blake crested a hill overlooking some ruins. Within the ruins, there seemed to be several pedestals arranged in a semi-circle with some sort of tiny object on each one.

Yang turned to Blake. “Think this is it?”

Blake gave Yang an indescribable look before heading down the hill. Yang couldn’t tell if Blake was criticizing her or just didn’t care.

They descended the hill and walked into the ruins examining the relics on the stone pedestals.

“Chess pieces…?” said Blake.

Yang observed, “Some of them are missing. Looks like we weren’t the first ones here.”

“Well, I guess we should pick one.”

Yang grabbed a white knight. “How about a cute little pony?!”

“Sure,” said Blake with a blasé shrug.

“That wasn’t too hard.”

“Well, it’s not like this place is very difficult to find.”

***

Elsewhere in the forest, Jaune and Pyrrha were having a difficult time finding the temple. They came to a cave face which had some strange paintings on the outside of it. They depicted a large scorpion and several human looking figures.

“Think this is it?” asked Jaune.

Pyrrha shrugged.

“Well, let’s try it anyway.”

Jaune found a stick and made a rudimentary, but reliable torch. Pyrrha was impressed.

As they walked through the cavern, Pyrrha started having her doubts. The cave’s painting had seemed like a warning to her. In her adventures, Pyrrha had come across a creature of Grimm that looked like a scorpion, but could there be one in the cave? And what’s more, could it be as big as the cave painting suggested?

Pyrrha’s doubts surfaced. “I don’t think this is it.”

Jaune sighed. “Pyrrha. I made the torch. Could you at least humor me for five more feet?” Taking his eyes off the ground, Jaune tripped and dropped the torch in a puddle, plunging them into darkness. Jaune looked at her sideways before getting up.

Pyrrha’s eyes shifted. “Do you feel that?”

“Soul-crushing regret?”

“No. It’s… warm.”

“Think we should keep going?”

“I don’t think—”

But Jaune had already started walking away. Pyrrha followed.

They soon came across a floating, glowing object. It was spiked on one end and bulbous on the other.

“That’s the relic!” said Jaune.

He went to grab it and it moved.

“Hey! Bad relic.”

Jaune went to grab it again and again it moved back.

Jaune jumped on it. “Gotcha!”

But the relic seemed to be moving upward and taking Jaune with it.

“Jaune…” said Pyrrha warningly.

Suddenly, the red face and eyes of a Deathstalker, a giant scorpion Grimm, appeared. Jaune screamed like a little girl.

Pyrrha dashed out of the cave with the Deathstalker hot on her heels. She turned, drawing her sword and shield, Miló and Akoúo̱.

Jaune whined, “Pyrrha! This is not the relic! It’s not!” he sobbed.

“Jaune! Whatever you do, just don’t let…”

The Deathstalker whipped the end of its tail and Jaune was sent flying.

“…go.”

Pyrrha considered the Grimm for a second and decided to flee.

***

Back at the temple, Yang had heard a scream. “Blake! Did you hear that? Some girl is in trouble. What do we do?”

But, Blake’s head was craned up to the sky.

“Blake! Did you hear me?”

Blake turned to Yang, and for a split second, Yang thought she saw Blake’s bow twitch. But that didn’t make sense; she wrote it off as the wind.

Blake pointed up to the sky as a cry of “Heads up!” was quickly descending. Yang looked up and saw what she thought was Ruby coming right at her. But then something else, or rather, someone else, collided with Ruby and they both landed in a tree.

“Ow!” said Ruby. “What was that?” she said, dazed from both impacts.

Jaune cleared his throat. “Hey, Ruby.” He was comically stuck upside down in some of the tree’s brambles.

On the ground, Blake asked, “Did your sister just fall from the sky?”

“I…”

They heard an explosion from the far side of the clearing and jumped when they saw several trees fall as a giant Grimm lumbered out of the forest before dying. A girl in pink with bobbed orange hair rolled out from behind it.

“Aw…” said Nora. “It’s broken.”

Ren popped out from behind the bear-like monster. “Nora,” he said, out of breath.

But when he looked up, Nora wasn’t there. She had already sped away into the ruins and was examining a white rook piece. She picked it up with enthusiasm and balanced it on her head. “I’m queen of the castle!” she sung. “I’m queen of the castle!”

“Nora!” shouted Ren.

Nora giggled and tilted her head so the rook fell into her hand. “Coming, Ren!”

Blake and Yang were bewildered.

“Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?” asked Blake.

“I…”

Then they heard another crash and saw Pyrrha barreling out of the forest with a Deathstalker hot on her tail, knocking over trees in its way.

“Jaune!” she called.

“Pyrrha!” he answered. He then looked at Ruby for some help. “Ruby!” he called after her as she dove out of the tree.

“Ruby!” said Yang.

“Yang!” said Ruby.

They went to hug.

But then, “Nora!” said Nora, popping up between them.

Blake looked at Pyrrha. “Did she just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?”

Yang was frustrated and decided to the let the world know it. “I can’t take it anymore! Could everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!”

Two seconds passed. Only Ren running up happened.

“Um, Yang?” said Ruby. She pointed into the sky.

Weiss was still in the air, clutching to the talon of the giant Nevermore that both she and Ruby had “ridden” to that part of the forest.

“How could you leave me?!”

“I said jump,” replied Ruby.

“She can’t hear you from here,” noted Blake. “And, she’s going to fall.”

“She’ll be fine.”

“She’s falling,” Ren said.

Jaune, who had managed to get himself out of the brambles, saw Weiss fall, and he saw his opportunity to be her dashing hero.

He jumped from the branch and caught her. “Just dropping in?” he said as smoothly as he could. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a landing strategy prepared and started freaking out again as the ground came closer.

The two hit the ground with Jaune under Weiss.

“My hero…” she quipped, checking her nails.

He wailed, “My back…”

Pyrrha suffered a blow from the Deathstalker and landed face first before everyone else.

“Great!” said Yang. “The gang’s all here. Now we can die together.”

“Not if I can help it!” said Ruby, charging the Deathstalker. She took out her scythe and shot forward.

The monster merely whacked her back with one of its pincers. Seeing that it was stronger than she had figured, Ruby retreated back to the group.

“Ruby!” called Yang, dashing to defend her.

Ruby was still feeling the effects of her crash into Jaune and the tree. As a result, she couldn’t focus on using her speed to reach Yang and she didn’t see the giant Nevermore begin to overtake her.

The Nevermore closed in, and flapped its wings so hard, feathers shot out of them landing quill first into the ground. One impaled Ruby’s cape to the ground and stopped her.

Yang was forced to stop also as the Nevermore’s attack filled the field with giant feathers. “Ruby! Get out there!”

“I’m trying!” Ruby pulled on her cape, but it wouldn’t come loose or even tear.

The Deathstalker closed in and raised its tail. It struck when a flash of white and a chill wind blew past Ruby.

“You are so childish!”

Weiss stood and a sheet of ice grew where her sword touched the ground, stopping the Deathstalker’s stinger.

“And dim-witted! And hyperactive! And don’t even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose, I can be a bit… difficult. But if we’re going to do this, we’re going to have to do this together. So, if you quit trying to show off, I’ll be…” Weiss inhaled sharply, “nicer.”

“I’m not trying to show off,” said Ruby. “I want you to know that I can do this.”

“You’re fine,” said Weiss, walking back to the ruins.

Ruby sighed and prayed, “Normal knees, please.”

She managed to pull her cape free and rose just in time to be smothered in another one of Yang’s beastly hugs. The other problem with those hugs was that Yang was superbly well-endowed and Ruby’s face barely cleared her chest.

“I’m so happy you’re okay!” said Yang.

The Nevermore cawed from the sky.

“Guys!” said Jaune with a quake in his voice. “That thing’s circling back. What are we going to do?”

“Look,” said Weiss, “there’s no sense in dilly-dallying. Our objective is right in front of us.” She motioned toward the Chess pieces.

“She’s right,” said Ruby. “Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs. There’s no point in fighting these things.”

“Run and live,” said Jaune. “That is a plan I can get behind.”

Ruby looked at the artifacts and picked up a white knight as Jaune grabbed a white rook. They looked at each other and smiled confidently.

“Time we left,” said Ren, after seeing the Deathstalker was beginning to free itself from the ice wall.

“Right. Let’s go!” said Ruby, leading the charge back to the cliffs.

Yang remained where she was, watching her sister.

Blake asked, “What is it?”

“Nothing,” she said with a contented sigh.

The group of eight rushed on. Ruins of an ancient structure, either an amphitheater or of some sort of city were on either side of them. And ahead of them, before the cliff they had been catapulted off, was another set of ruins that included a tower and a complex of multiple pillars and bridges crossing a deep expanse.

The Nevermore overtook them and perched atop the tower. They split up on either side of the ruined street and took cover.

“Well, that’s great,” quipped Yang.

There was a crash from behind. The Deathstalker had released its stinger and was charging straight for them.

“Oh, man!” said Jaune. “Run!”

They fled the ruins and made their way toward the tower.

Ren said, “Nora! Distract it.”

Nora dove from out of cover and took out her Magnhild, a giant hammer that could transform into a grenade launcher. She dodged giant quills and started bombarding the Nevermore. One grenade hit it, and it took to flight, leaving the tower behind.

The Deathstalker approached from behind, but Blake and Ren dashed across it, striking it with their blades, distracting it long enough for Weiss to grab Nora and use one of her glyphs to propel them into a powerful enough jump to escape.

Upon reaching the first ruined bridge, Pyrrha urged them to advance while taking out her sword and transforming it into its rifle form. She kneeled and laid down suppressive fire at the scorpion.

Ren, Blake, and Nora caught up, but as the entire group began crossing the first bridge, the Nevermore came back and crashed into the already severely weakened pillars holding it up. The bridge broke apart and the group split into two: Jaune, Weiss, Nora, Ruby, and Yang on the tower side, and Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha on the other, facing the Deathstalker.

Jaune looked at the others fighting the Deathstalker. “Man! We have to get over there!” he told Nora. “They need help!”

“Let’s do this!”

Jaune looked at the empty space where the bridge had been. “Yeah, but… I can’t make that jump.”

Nora gave him a sinister smile. She whacked him backward with her grenade launcher, transformed it into her mighty hammer with a haft as tall as her and a head the size of a man’s. She turned and jumped, hitting the end of the bridge with all her might. The bridge broke, and Jaune was catapulted across the way. Nora took care of herself, pulling a trigger on the hammer and blasting her way over to the other side.

Jaune and Nora flew over the heads of the others.

Nora brought her hammer down on the Deathstalker’s head with an enthusiastic “Ka-smash!” She pulled the trigger at the same time and the Deathstalker’s head was pounded into the ground.

Nora leapt backward to dodge its stinger and accidentally knocked Blake off the end of the bridge.

As Blake fell, she transformed her Gambol Shroud from its katana form into its firearm-kusarigama state and fired it. The blade was embedded into a section of bridge and the long ribbon attached to it allowed Blake to swing down and around.

The Nevermore came across her path. She unhooked her blade and used her Semblance to create a shadow copy of herself to gain some distance and move into attack position. She appeared in front of the Nevermore, and started hacking and slashing with both katana and sheath, but neither seemed to make a difference.

She ran down its back, slashing as she went, and jumped. She landed on the ruined tower alongside Weiss, Ruby, and Yang.

“It’s tougher than it looks,” Blake said as it circled around.

“Then let’s hit it with everything we got!” urged Yang, pumping her Ember Celica.

The Nevermore circled around for another pass. The four girls, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, unleashed a salvo of Dust energies and projectiles at the incoming bird. It took some damage, but still came right at them. It collided with the tower, destroying it and forcing the girls to fight their way up the crumbling wreckage before they could plummet into the chasm below.

“None of this is working,” said Weiss as she and Ruby landed on a bridge.

Ruby looked around. She took in the numerous pillars, Blake’s Gambol Shroud, and saw Yang fire repeatedly at the Nevermore from atop one of the pillars. Something began to tick in her head.

“I have a plan.”

Meanwhile, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren continued to fight the Deathstalker. It struck at the bridge segment on which they stood. It crumbled and began to teeter in their direction. They ran to the other side where it would rest on solid ground, but still had the Deathstalker to contend with. Their only hope was a desperate charge straight through.

Pyrrha reached it first, and it struck with its pincer. She blocked and transformed her gun into a sword, striking the pincer away. The scorpion countered with its other pincer, but Jaune jumped in the way and defended Pyrrha with his shield.

Ren advanced, firing his Storm Flower. The Deathstalker lashed out with its stinger which Ren lithely dodged and grabbed onto. As the beast brought its tail back up, Ren went with it. He fired at the joint attaching the stinger to the tail.

Nora decided this would be a good time to fire her grenade launcher at the monster. It shielded itself with its pincers, but Pyrrha transformed her sword into a javelin and threw it into one of the monster’s eyes. The Deathstalker screamed and did a full body jerk, throwing Ren off the end of its tail.

Jaune looked up and saw the stinger dangling. He looked at Pyrrha and she nodded. She threw her shield at it and cut the stinger off having it land in the Grimm’s head, but not with enough force to kill it. Pyrrha’s shield ricocheted off a ruin, and she caught it.

Jaune looked back at Nora. “Nail it!”

“Heads up!” said Nora to Pyrrha as she jumped into the air. Pyrrha caught both her and her hammer on top of her shield.

There was a second’s anticipation as Pyrrha squatted before jumping, and Nora blasting off herself. She flew into the air and giggled at her apex. She fell and fired her hammer again on the way down and drove the Deathstalker’s stinger through its head. She hit it with such force that the last bit of bridge catapulted both Jaune and Pyrrha to safety past the Deathstalker.

Nora fired her hammer one last time simultaneously launching herself in their wake and sending the Deathstalker to the chasm below.

They each landed on terra firma in their own way: Jaune on his back, Nora on her behind, and Pyrrha kneeling. Ren ran up to them and couldn’t stop from passing out.

They looked back at the cliff and saw the Nevermore still aflight, circling Yang. She kept up her bombardment only managing to hit it a few times. One shot hit its head and it went directly for her, beak open.

Yang jumped into its mouth. Using one hand to hold it open, she started firing with the other. “I! Hope! You’re! Hun! Gry!”

The Nevermore cawed in pain, and Yang thought she felt its body droop. It began to lose air as Yang glanced back and saw the cliff wall quickly closing. She jumped out of the monster’s beak and let the Nevermore crash into the cliff.

The Nevermore fell onto another set of ruins and screeched. It flapped its wings to take off, but something white flashed by Yang and leapt into the air. With a graceful spin and a well aimed thrust, Weiss grew another wall of ice, freezing the Nevermore’s tail feathers to the ruins. She back flipped away.

Back along the bridge, Blake grabbed onto one pillar near the top and fired her Gambol Shroud across to another where Yang caught it, and they pulled the ribbon taut. Ruby jumped onto the blade of her scythe and into the center of the ribbon, pushing it back as Weiss created a black glyph to catch the ribbon and store its kinetic energy.

“Of course, you would come up with this idea,” said Weiss.

“Think you can make the shot?” Ruby asked.

Weiss gave a confident nod. “Can I?”

Ruby looked worried for a second. “Can you—?”

“Of course, I can!”

Ruby charged her rifle, and Weiss transformed the glyph to red, releasing the ribbon.

Ruby shot forward with incredible speed, firing Crescent Rose to keep her speed. She caught the Nevermore by the neck and forced it back onto the cliff side where a series of white glyphs had appeared allowing Ruby to stick to the wall and then defy gravity as she ran up the cliff with all her might, still firing her scythe and yelling at the top of her lungs.

Ruby made it to the top of the cliff where the bird’s head caught on an outcrop of rocks. Ruby fired her scythe and savagely decapitated it. With a flip and a flourish, she landed on the cliff on her knee and her scythe balanced along her shoulders.

“That was for you, Mom,” she whispered. “Nothing ever takes the place of you.”

***

Much later in the day, the eight combatants returned to Beacon’s auditorium. The ceremony for forming teams had already started, and they were fashionably late. But even still, there was a great buzz about them. Someone had witnessed their battle at the cliffs, and rumors were beginning to spread like wildfire.

“Is that them? The guys who defeated a gigantic Nevermore and Deathstalker?!”

“It is?”

“No wonder they succeeded. They have Pyrrha Nikos.”

“Dolt. I heard she had a bit part. It’s the cute one in red you should be looking at.”

Yang twisted her head around. She saw someone point at Ruby, but Ruby hadn’t taken notice. Yang just smiled.

Ozpin was on the stage as a monitor above showed the names and faces of each team as it was created. Four boys were up there now.

“Russell Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Cardinal.”

The letters C, R, D, and L showed up on the screen.

“Led by… Cardin Winchester.”

Everyone in the auditorium applauded.

Then Ozpin called out, “Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie.”

They joined Ozpin onstage.

“The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward you will work together as Team Juniper.”

J, N, P, and R appeared on the screen.

“Led by… Jaune Arc.”

Jaune jumped. “Led by?”

“Congratulations, young man.”

Pyrrha gave Jaune a punch of solidarity in the arm.

“Hey! Don’t hit me.”

Pyrrha giggled.

“And finally, Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long.”

The girls took the place of Team JNPR.

“The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Ruby.”

R, W, B, and Y appeared on the screen.

“Led by… Ruby Rose.”

Weiss gave a small start while Ruby seemed surprised herself.

Yang crushed Ruby in another hug. “I’m so proud of you!”

Ozpin remarked, “Looks like things are shaping up to be an interesting year.”

 

 RWBY: The Novelization is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way. Views, opinions, and thoughts are all my own. Rooster Teeth and RWBY are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC. © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.