Yang Xiao Long (RWBY)/Synopsis

==Childhood==
Yang Xiao Long was born on the island of Patch to Taiyang Xiao Long and Raven Branwen. While she was still young, Raven abandoned the family to return to her bandit tribe in Mistral. Taiyang ended up marrying Summer Rose, who became Yang's stepmother and gave her a younger half-sister, Ruby rose. Yang and Summer got along extremely well until Summer, a Huntress, died while out on a mission. It was around that time that Yang learned that Summer was not her biological mother, and sought answers as to why Raven had left. One day, upon finding what Yang thought was a clue as to her mother's whereabouts, Yang put an infant Ruby in a wagon and traveled out into the woods a great distance. The girls were attacked by Beowolf Grimm, but fortunately Yang's uncle, Qrow Branwen, saved them and escorted them home. Yang, learning from her experience, decided to help raise Ruby and continue investigating why Raven left, but not to let the search consume her.
Yang grew up on Patch, reading stories to Ruby and helping her father. She later decided to become a Huntress like Summer, and trained at Signal Academy until graduating and preparing to go to Beacon Academy in Vale. During that time, she defended Ruby from an Ursa Grimm outside their home.
=="Yellow" Trailer==
Before going to Beacon, Yang visited a club that served as the hideout of the Xiong Crime Family, hoping to get information about Raven. She antagonized the gang's leader, Hei "Junior" Xiong, eventually getting into a brawl with the gang members. She utilized her combat training to fight them all off, including Melanie and Miltia Malachite from Mistral. She finally overpowers Junior and reunites with Ruby, but is unable to find information on Raven.
==First Semester at Beacon==
Shortly before going to Beacon, Ruby's skills are noticed by Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon, who accepts her early to his academy. Yang is overjoyed that Ruby will be going to Beacon with her, hugging her and celebrating the entire ride. Despite this, Yang leaves with some of her friends upon landing, leading Ruby to have awkward encounters with Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Jaune Arc. The two meet up again during Ozpin's opening speech, and that night discuss Ruby's social skills and ability to make friends. Yang attempts to initiate a conversation with Blake, though Ruby is the one that begins having a genuine exchange.
The new students prepare for initiation, which will involve them being sent into the Emerald Forest to retrieve artifacts at a hidden temple. They are also informed that the first individual they make eye contact with will become their teammate for the rest of their time at the Academy. After landing, Yang encounters Ursai and fights them, getting help from Blake, making the two partners.
Yang and Blake are the first to reach the hidden temple, and find chess piece relics, electing to obtain a White Knight. As Blake and Yang watch, the other students, including Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren arrive in various strange ways, most chased by giant Grimm. They all flee after obtaining their relics. The students flee from the incoming Grimm, but are forced to fight them off. Yang aids in fighting a Nevermore Grimm by firing into its mouth. Ruby soon defeats it.
Following the initiation, Professor Ozpin sorts the students into teams based on the relic they chose. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are formed into Team RWBY, with Ruby named the leader.
Not long after, Team RWBY witnesses a fight in the school's cafeteria between Jaune and a bully named Cardin Winchester. When Ruby steps in to help, Cardin antagonizes her. Professor Goodwitch steps in and suggests resolving the matter with a sparring match. After some support from her teammates, Ruby is able to easily overpower Cardin.
Yang settles in to her new role as a student, helping decorate the team's dormitory room and attending classes. When Weiss, who is angry that Ruby was named leader, tries to show off by fighting a Baorbatusk Grimm, Yang offers her advice in defeating it. She later attends a field trip to the Forever Fall forest to collect red sap, where she witnesses Jaune fight off an Ursa Grimm with a bit of help from Pyrrha.
To prepare for the upcoming Vytal Festival and Tournament that will take place in Vale, Team RWBY goes to the city's docks to survey the incoming students. There they meet a charming stowaway, a monkey Faunus named Sun Wukong, who Blake instantly is taken with. Weiss dislikes him because he is a Faunus. As Ruby and her team go through Vale, Ruby meets Penny Polendina, who instantly befriends her.
Later, it is revealed that Blake is a Faunus and former member of the terrorist group the White Fang. Blake flees from her team in embarrassment, and Yang and the others go looking for her. They meet with Penny and are drawn to a commotion, which turns out to be Blake and Sun battling Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. After the criminals are chased off, Weiss confronts Blake, telling her not to keep secrets, but that she is accepting of Blake as a Faunus, and still sees her as an ally.
==Second Semester at Beacon==
At the start of the second semester, Weiss and Team RWBY get involved in a food fight against Team JNPR, and during the struggle are introduced to Sun's friend Neptune Vasilias, who Weiss immediately takes a liking to.
Later, Weiss calls out Blake for being stressed out, and Blake reveals that she is still worried over Roman Torchwick aiding the White Fang. Yang and the others elect to look into the criminal activity outside of school hours, unaware that the ringleaders of the operation, Cinder Fall, Mercury Black, and Emerald Sustrai have infiltrated the school disguised as students.
During their investigations, Yang and Neptune go to Junior again, where Yang interrogates him about his henchmen appearing to be working with Torchwick. Not wanting another fight, Junior complies and explains that Torchwick hired them, but they never came back. As she is leaving, Yang receives a distress call from Blake. She and Sun found Torchwick, who was now attacking with a giant mech suit. Yang goes and aids her team in fighting the mech, soon succeeding in destroying it, but Torchwick escapes with help from his sidekick Neopolitan.
Yang then helps prepare for the Beacon Dance, carrying large equipment and helping decorate. When she notes that Blake is still obsessing over the White Fang and Torchwick, she pulls her aside. Yang tells Blake about how her obsession with finding Raven almost cost her and Ruby thier lives, and how Blake, while still able to focus on issues, needs to take breaks and relax in order to keep herself physically and mentally well. She gets through to Blake, and the two dance at the Beacon Dance before Blake goes to dance with Sun.
Later, Ruby receives a package from her father, containing her and Yang's dog Zwei. WYang is excited that Zwei is with them.
The teams are then given Search and Destroy missions where they will be shadowed by a Huntsman or Huntress. Ozpin grants Team RWBY a higher-level mission, where they are shadowed by Bartholomew Oobleck to the abandoned settlement of Mountain Glenn to exterminate Grimm. When they arrive, it is revealed that Ruby smuggled Zwei along, though Oobleck is excited that a dog is joining them.
Throughout the day, Oobleck guides the girls in battling the Grimm infesting the city, and interviews each one. When he asks Yang, she claims it is because she is a thrill-seeker, and hopes to help people while also living her best life. However, that night, she begins to question her reasoning, as becoming a Huntress would have her knowing every day what would be in store for her.
That night, Ruby is captured by the White Fang, who are operating below the city. Zwei leads Weiss and the others to her location, and they rescue her. They chase the criminals to a train and board it. They discover bombs on the train and deduce that the White Fang are going to breach Vale's perimeter and allow Grimm into the city. On the train, Yang confronts Neopolitan, but due to her exhaustion from the day fighting Grimm, Neo is able to easily overpower Yang and nearly kill her. However, before she has the chance, Raven suddenly appears and scares Neo off. Yang recovers, but only to find out her group failed to stop the train, and Weiss encases them all in ice before they crash.
Yang recovers, and immediately begins fighting the Grimm spilling into Vale. With help from allies, the breach is secured. Weiss and her team return to Beacon, but resolve to continue investigating the criminals. She later dreams that Raven visits her in Beacon, finally wanting to talk.
==RWBY: Grimm Eclipse==
Following their mission to Mountain Glenn, Oobleck leads the team on several more missions, where they discover the cause of Mountian Glenn's fall, attributed to a company called Merlot Industries, where their leader, Doctor Merlot, was performing experiments of Grimm. The team returns to Mountain Glenn, only to find it booby-trapped by Merlot.
The team goes to the Forever Fall forest to continue investigating Merlot, whre they find and infiltrate a ship , but get trapped and transported to Merlot's private island. Merlot sics androids and mutated Grimm on them, but are able to make their way to the laboratory. After fighting and defeating a mutant Death Stalker, Merlot detonates the lab and escapes. Team RWBy escapes, and are brought back to Vale by Ozpin.
==Vytal Festival Tournament==
The Vytal Festival Tournament goes underway at Amity Coliseum, where the various academies compete in combat matches. Team RWBY fights Team ABRN from Haven Academy and win, going out to eat afterwards to celebrate. They elect Weiss and Yang to represent the team in the upcoming doubles match. Yang is excited when Qrow comes to visit, stopping by Team RWBY's dorm room to play video games with her.
Weiss and Yang move on to the doubles match against Flynt Coal and Neon Katt from Team FNKI. Though Weiss is injured, she and Yang manage to win, and Yang is elected to fight in the singles match.
Yang is pitted against Mercury Black, unaware he is one of the criminals oppressing Vale. She wins their brawl, but due to a hallucination caused by Emerald Sustrai's Semblance, mistakenly believes Mercury attacks her. She punches in self-defense, appearing to the audience to attack her downed opponent without provocation. Yang is arrested but later let go, though Team RWBY is disqualified from the tournament. When Yang explains what happened, her team believes her.
While confined to her room, Yang asks Qrow about Raven saving her. Qrow confirms that it was her, but to not seek her out, as Raven is a dangerous criminal.
While in her room, the city is attacked by Cinder Fall and the White Fang, who begin unleashing Grimm into the city, hacking communications to declare war on the Kingdom.
==The Battle of Beacon==
Yang runs from her room to find her teammates. She finds Weiss and helps her fight off rouge mechs before Weiss points her in the direction of Blake.
After fighting through White Fang goons, Yang comes across Blake, being attacked and stabbed by the faction leader and her ex-lover, Adam Taurus. Enraged, Yang rushes to Blake's aid, only for Adam to prepare an attack. He overpowers her Aura and severs her right arm, making her instantly loose consciousness. Blake creates a distraction, and is able to carry Yang away to safety. Yang is rendered unconscious for the rest of the battle until Qrow manages to get her and Ruby home. Pyrrha dies, Beacon falls, Weiss is taken back to her home in Atlas, and Blake flees back to her home in Menagerie.
==Recovery==
Following the battle, Yang is left despondent at her dismemberment and Blake running away. She reacts angrily towards Ruby, only wishing to be left alone. Later, Ruby sets off with Jaune, Nora, and Ren to Haven Academy in Mistral, and Yang remains at home.
In the following months, Yang is left with severe post-traumatic stress, having panic attacks and having nightmares about Adam attacking her. She is unable to watch the news about the Fall of Beacon, and when General James Ironwood sends her a custom-made prosthetic arm, Yang refuses to put it on.
However, after a visit from Oobleck and Peter Port, as well as a frank discussion with her father, Yang begins to heal and try and move forward so she can continue helping others. She tries her new arm and trains with Taiyang, as he coaches her about using her Semblance and explains more about Raven. Finally building the confidence to go out and help again, Yang repaints her new arm and sets off on her motorcycle, looking for Raven so she may help her find Ruby.
==Journey to Mistral==
Much later, Yang arrives in Anima and heads towards Mistral. Along the way, she comes across Shay D. Mann, a member of the Branwen Tribe, and she tricks him into leading her to their encampment. After fighting off the bandits, Yang finds and confronts her mother, demanding aid in finding Ruby. There, she finds Weiss, who was kidnapped by the tribe and was about to be sold for ransom. After a scuffle, Raven calls off the fight. Yang and Weiss hug and reunite, and Raven invites them to talk. There, she explains her strenuous history with Ozpin, and offers them either to stay with her and her tribe or use her portaling Semblance to Qrow. Weiss and Yang opt for the latter, and are portaled to Haven Academy in Mistral, where Qrow, Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren are, as well as a boy named Oscar Pine, who is the current vessel for Ozpin's soul. Yang hugs her sister as they are reunited.
==The Battle of Haven==
During a dinner, Ruby explains to Weiss and Yang all they have learned from Qrow: the history of Remnant, and how two gods created the world. They left behind artifacts of power, and an ancient evil named Salem, who was behind Cinder and the fall of Beacon, is seeking them out. He also explains the existence of four Maidens with powers of nature, whose power is passed down to women in every generation, who are the ones able to open the vaults that contain the artifacts.
The next day, Ruby, Weiss and Yang discuss Blake and the events that have transpired. Yang shares her distrust and apathy for Blake, angry that she abandoned her friends, but Weiss consoles her, leading to Yang calming down.
However, upon arriving at Haven the group is attacked by Raven, who has allied with a vengeful Cinder Fall. Yang fights Emerald and Mercury, but is almost overpowered. Ruby aids her, and when Yang see Blake and a new brotherhood of Fauns arrive to fight back the White Fang, she is able to go down to the Vault of the Spring Maiden. She confronts Raven, who seemingly killed Cinder for killing Vernal. Yang finds out that Raven is the Spring Maiden, having killed the previous one. The two fight and argue about using the Relic to stop Salem, and Raven apologizes and flees. Yang weeps at her mother once again abandoning her, but recovers the Relic of Knowledge. Lionheart is killed by Salem through a Grimm. As the villains retreat, Team RWBY is reunited.
==Journey to Atlas==
Two weeks later, Team RWBY and their allies set off for the Kingdom of Atlas, hoping to find the next Relic. The board the Argus Limited train, but is is attacked by Grimm drawn to the Relic. Team RWBY fight back the Grimm, but the train derails and they are separated from Jaune, Ren, and Nora. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Qrow, Oscar/Ozpin, and an old woman named Maria Calavera are lost in the wilderness.
Having lost trust in Ozpin for witholding the secrets of the Relic, Ruby uses the Relic to summon the entity Jinn, who offers answers to questions. Ruby inquires what Ozpin is hiding, and Jinn reveals that Ozpin, formerly Ozma, was Salem's lover in a time long past. He eventually died, but Salem challenged the gods for his return and was punished with a curse of immortality. Salem turned evil and the gods resurrected Ozma to defeat her, but he instead married her and had a family, until he realized the extent of her evil. In their battle, he and their four daughters were killed, with Ozma forced to live on forever through other bodies until his work was complete. However, he has yet to find a way to destroy Salem, and instead dedicated himself to protecting the Relics she sought to use to end the world. With everyone turned against him, Ozpin retreats into Oscar's mind, and the group sets off to walk to civilization.
Along the way, they come across the abandoned Brunswick Farms, where they find corpses. Unbeknownst to them, the underground is plagued by Grimm called Apathy, which cause those around them to lose the will to go on or even sleep or eat. Under the effects, Yang loses her will to go on, wanting to abandon the Relic when Ruby accidentally drops it down a well. When she and her allies go to retrieve it, they find the Apathy. Ruby manages to drive back the Grimm with her Silver Eyes, giving Yang the resolve to phitch a trailer up to her motorcycle and drive everyone to safety.
The group makes their way to Argus, an Atlas settlement outside of the Kingdom. They reunite with Jaune, Nora, and Ren, and stay with Jaune's local sister and her wife and son. The group attempt to get into Atlas, but are stopped by Special Operative Caroline Cordovin because Ironwood has shut down the borders. Ruby informs Jaune, Nora, and Ren of the situation with Ozpin, and later speaks with Maria about Silver Eyes. Jaune formulates a plan to steal an airship, and they enact the plan.
Yang drives Blake to a communications tower so she can disable it, but becomes worried when Blake takes a long time. She drives until she finds Blake, who had been tracked down by a vengeful Adam. Yang rams her motorcycle into Adam before joining the fight. Blake's weapon is broken during the fight, and both Yang and Blake take the pieces and stab Adam to death with them before throwing hom off a waterfall. Yang comforts Blake as she breaks down after having killed the man who defined much of her life.
Blake and Yang reunite with their allies. Though the plan did not go as expected, Ruby was able to use her Silver Eye powers to hold off a massive Leviathan Grimm, earning the respect of Cordovin, who allows them to take the airship into Atlas. They fly to the city, only to be cornered by the Atlas military.
==Arrival in Atlas==
Yang and her group abandon the ship and enter Atlas' sister city of Mantle, where they meet Penny Polendina, rebuilt by her creator Pietro Polendina. The group reunites and battles Grimm, but are arrested by Ace Operatives and taken to Ironwood.
Upon being brought to Ironwood, he recognizes the group and frees them, thanking them for their service. Ironwood reveals that his is intending to repurpose Amity Colosseum into a communications tower, but is being hindered by the actions of the vigilantes Robyn Hill and the Happy Huntresses.
Later, Yang and her group are given a mission to secure the launch site for the new communications tower, fighting off Grimm to do so. As thanks for their hard work and dedication, Ironwood awards Blake and her peers with licenses, making them professional Huntsmen and Huntresses. Blake and her group team up with the Ace Operatives to take care of jobs throughout Atlas and Mantle. When she has a night off, Blake goes out to a club with Blake and Team FNKI.
==RWBY: Arrowfell==
Ruby and her team are sent to investigate Grimm activity on the top of a mountain, and come across a mysterious orb that sems o attract Grimm. Upon destroying it, they take it back to Pietro to repair and study. While they wait, they go to the nearby Essen Town to help its local Huntsman, Russet Ka, deal with a Grimm infestation. The team clears Essen Cave out from Grimm, while helping Russet and the locals out with various things such as retrieving left behind valuables, providing tools, or forging new armor. While at the remains of a town called Crossed, the team happen upon Penny, who is investigating a series of magnetic gates she has found around the area. When they return to Pietro, he has repaired the orb and reveals it to be a sort of container. Russet then directs Team RWBY to Essen Outpost to deal with the Grimm there. Team RWBY fights off a Megoliath, but the killing blow is dealt by a mysterious group of mercenaries called Team BRIR. The group them meet Bram Thornmane, who shoos away Team BRIR. He explains that he once trained to be an Ace Operative under Ironwood, but now guarded Essen's territories. He inquires about the orb, and takes it from the team to dispose of it.
Team RWBY report to the Lieutenant Olive Harper, a friend and partner of Bram. Clover Ebi tasks Team RWBY with helping the Ace Operatives in their missions for the day, including retrieving lost and rare items. While in Atlas, they begin being attacked by thugs and mercenaries in the streets wielding military technology, who the Ace-Ops believe are working for the criminal underground. Tasked by Harriet Bree with investigating an old Dust mine, the team find weapon tech that suggests that the criminals have been developing and distributing weapons from the location. After succeeding in aiding all of the Ace-Ops, Lieutenant Harper discusses the influx of military technology in the hands of criminals, and traces their distribution to a crime lord named Amoncio Glass. Team RWBY track down Glass in downtown Atlas and try to interrogate him, but he attacks with a mech suit. Upon defeating him, Glass reveals that the orb that Team RWBY found is a container that attracts Grimm, and that he is just a distributor that knows very little about the technology he is brokering.
Team RWBY reports to General Ironwood, along with Harper and Thornmane, who determine that the way the orbs attract Grimm must be the work of Hanlon Fifestone, a Union Leader for Mantle. His Semblance allows him to extract raw emotion from victims, and Ironwood figures that he has been putting the emotion into orbs as to lure Grimm to Amity Tower. The Team make their way to Mantle to look for him, fighting off Grimm and mercenaries on their way. They eventually happen upon Qrow, who set up surveillance drones to find Fifestone. Team RWBY goes to the caverns around Mantle to retrieve them, all while helping get items for the locals and returning Winter's sword to her, which Qrow stole as a joke. After retrieving the drones, they examine the footage and find that Fifestone is hiding out in a warehouse in Mantle's industrial district. They go to find him extracting the raw fear from a Faunus worker and putting it into an orb. They battle and defeat Fifestone, who reveals that he is using the machinery to attract Grimm and strike against Atlas. As he is arrested, he activates all the orbs he set up across Atlas and Mantle territories.
As Grimm begin to swarm the cities, Team RWBY go out to destroy the orbs, finding them in Dormir Village and across Atlas and Mantle. After destroying them, the Grimm vacate. Harper reveals that they have tracked the true mastermind behind the operation to a base in the east, and she sends them on a train to the wilderness. However, once on the train, Team RWBY is attacked by Atlas soldiers. As they fight their way through, they realize that Harper sent them out into the middle of nowhere to be ambushed and have the train derail. After realizing they were set up, the team survive the train's derailment and begin making their way back to Atlas on foot. On their way, they come across Team BRIR, who accuse them of stealing technology from the abandoned Atlesian military base Fort Arrowfell, who they are the guardians of. They reveal that Thornmane and Harper told them of Team RWBY's theft and deception, informing Team RWBY that Branmane and Harper are the ones behind the stolen technology and Grimm attacks, as well as them being in a romantic relationship. Team RWBY fight off Team BRIR, forcing the latter to retreat.
The team makes it back to Atlas, where they and Ironwood figure out that Thornmane and Harper stole technology from Fort Arrowfell to strike at Atlas. Aided by Glass and Fifestone, they distributed the weaponry and technology for their own personal gain. Team RWBY make their way to Fort Arrowfell, but find it sealed. Only Team BRIR have the necessary access cards. Penny also arrives, revealing that the magnetic gateways she was investigating were for secret paths for Team BRIR to travel unseen. Team RWBY go across Atlas and Mantle with Penny's help to open the gates and find each member of Team BRIR, who realize they were tricked by Thornmane and willingly give over their keycards. After making peace with Team BRIR and acquiring all keycards, Team RWBY make their way back to Arrowfell and enter, fighting off Arrowfell drones, corrupt Atlas soldiers, and mercenaries as they make their way deeper into the fort to stop Harper and Thornmane from unleashing Arrowfell's weaponry and the Grimm-attracting orbs on Atlas and Mantle.
Halfway through the fort, they come across a heartbroken Harper, who tells them that she was betrayed. She laments the fact that she gave up everything regarding her career and morals because she believed Thornmane loved her and that they were taking down the corrupt Ironwood from the inside, only for him to toss her away once she had outlived her usefulness. In her remorse, Harper directs them deeper into Arrowfell. The team fight through more enemies before making it to Thornmane. He reveals that his attack is not to destroy Amity Tower as suspected, but rather to spread chaos and have Ironwood take the blame. He reveals that he trained as an Ace Operative, only to be rejected from the team and position due to his character and unhelpful Semblance. He swore revenge, and this attack on Mantle and Atlas would allow him to get revenge on Ironwood, with the general taking the blame and Thornmane's status being able to be reinstated. Team RWBY fight Bram, and he attempts to unleash orbs to attract Grimm and kill them. They destroy the orbs, and after a lengthy fight, defeat Thornmane and have him arrested.
Thornmane is brought before Ironwood, who he chastises for being a monster before being taken away. Ironwood thanks Team RWBY for their work, and the team celebrates their victory.
==Tension in Atlas==
For one of their missions, Blake and Yang are tasked with arresting Hill for stealing government supplies, delaying the launch of the tower. Blake and Yang, knowing that Hill is fighting for what she believes is right and would be a great ally, opt instead to tell her the truth about what Ironwood plans on building. Despite this, Hill refuses to end her vigilantism.
Ironwood brings Ruby and her allies with him to Schnee Manor, where he meets with Weiss' father, Jacques Schnee, to discuss his recent election victory. Weiss investigates and discovers her father was involved in rigging the election, but finds out that one of Salem's servants, Arthur Watts, has used Jacques' credentials to hack into Mantle's heating grind and shut it off, leaving the populace to freeze as a Grimm invasion moves in. Yang heads to Mantle to fight back the Grimm.
Ironwood and Hill make a temporary alliance to reveal Salem's existence to the world and bring the people together under a common enemy. However, Ironwood finds out that Cinder has infiltrated his office and recalls Ruby and her group to him. He is angered that they kept secrets from him, but is interrupted by a Seer Grimm projecting Salem's image. Salem reveals she and an army of Grimm are personally coming to attack Atlas, and when Ruby defies her, Salem reveals that she knew Ruby's mother Summer, and proved her claims of hopes false, resulting in Ruby breaking down in tears.
Ironwood reveals that he intends to use the Relic of Creation, housed in the academy, to raise Atlas high enough so it will be safe from attack, and leave Mantle to deal with the fallout, hoping to sacrifice the city so the whole world may continue on. Ruby and her group refuse the plan, and are declared enemies by Ironwood. The Ace Operatives attempt to arrest them, but they defeat them and escape.
Yang gathers their allies, and retrieves Ruby, Weiss, and Penny, who has been granted to powers of the Winter Maiden. The group escapes in an airship as Salem arrives.
==The Battle of Atlas==
After regrouping, Yang and Ruby have an argument about Ruby's leadership, and the group splits into two groups. Yang teams up with Jaune, Oscar, and Ren to help the people of Mantle while the others go to launch the communications tower. Yang and her team get motorbikes and use them to patrol Mantle, working with the HAppy Huntresses to evacuate people to safety and fight back the Grimm.
However, the group is then attacked by the Hound, an intelligent Grimm in Salem's service. The Hound kidnaps Oscar, and Yang and her group give chase as it carries him to the Monstra Grimm where Salem is stationed. The Grimm escapes, and Yang, Jaune, and Ren follow, but tensions begin to rise. When they make it to the Monstra, they are intercepted and captured by Winter Schnee and the Ace Operatives. Though it takes a great deal of convincing, Winter and the Ace Operatives let Yang and her allies free to try to save Oscar, though on a time limit as a bomb needed to destroy the Monstra is on its way.
While fighting their way through the Grimm in the Monstra, Yang and her group come across Oscar and a reformed Emerald, though Yang initially refuses to trust her. As they try to escape, Salem herself attacks, restraining Yang and the others. Yang berates Salem for all the horrible things she's done, including taking Summer away. As Salem is about to kill Yang, a reformed Hazel Rainart attacks her, allowing everyone to escape while he gives his life to hold Salem back.
Yang and her groupe escape into a subway tunnel, though with Yang wanting revenge on Emerald for helping with the Fall of Beacon. They eventually make their way to Schnee Manor where their allies have convened, with Yang happily embracing Ruby and Blake.
However, Ironwood gives Penny an ultimatum: come open the vault so that Atlas can be saved, or he will personally destroy Mantle. Ruby breaks down, revealing to Yang that they killed the Hound and revealed it as a mutated Silver-Eyed Warrior, meaning Summer was likely subject to the same experiments. Yang comforts her. However, Penny has been hacked by Salem's follower Arthur Watts to open the Vault, and Yang and her friends have to restrain her. After denying Penny's request to kill her and transfer the powers of the Winter Maiden to Ruby, the group decides to secure the Relic of Creation to create a way for Atlas and Mantle to evacuate and Penny to be saved.
With their allies distracting Ironwood and the Ace Operatives, Yang, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Penny sneak to the vault. Ruby obtains the Relic and summons the spirit Ambrosius, who she requests make Penny human. He complies and makes a new, human body for Penny as her old robotic, hacked body is left to die. They then request him to create a pocket dimension that the citizens of Atlas and Mantle can travel through to safety to the Kingdom of Vacuo. He complies, but warns them not to fall off the pathways and into the void below.
As the citizens evacuate through portals, Ruby and her group are attacked by Cinder and a vengeful Neopolitan. When Yang sees Neo about to attack Ruby, she pushes her sister out of the way and takes the hit, knocking her off of the pathway and into the void below, falling to her apparent death. Cinder steals the two Relics and returns them to Salem. Although all the citizens make it Vacuo, Atlas falls and both it and Mantle are destroyed, with Ironwood and Watts killed in the process.
==Ever After==
Yang wakes up in an unknown location full of strange flora and fauna. As she wakes, she sees a raccoon-like creature steal her mechanical arm and escape with it. While tracking it down, she happens upon another creature who attacks her called a Jabberwalker. She is joined by Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, who help fight off the creature. Yang is introduced to a talking mouse named Little that befriended Ruby, and is leading them to the large tree in the center of the land. However, Weiss reveals to Ruby that Penny sacrificed herself, making Ruby pass out from grief. When she wakes, the team comes to realize the world they are in bears a near identical resemblance to one they read about as children. They conclude that they are in the Ever After, a mystical location told about in the fairy tale The Girl Who Fell Through the World, and decide to follow to steps the story's protagonist, Alyx, made.
Little guides them to a town, where the raccoon, the Jinxy Peddler, is trying to sell off various items, one being Yang's stolen arm disguised as something else. Ruby is drawn to a green doll, and when the spell disguising the items is broken, she realizes it is one of Penny's swords. Yang steals her arm back, resulting in them being chased by soldiers. Ruby offers the sword to their Prince in exchange for his good graces, and the soldiers accept and bring the team to the Red Prince, a spoiled, arrogant monarch and son of the late Red King from the story. Team RWBY requests his help, and when he refuses, Ruby offers to play a game with him. If she wins, he will help them. The Red Prince agrees, setting Ruby up with a chess-like combat game with living pieces. When Ruby points out she is three pieces short, the Prince shrinks Weiss, Blake, and Yang to serve as pieces. The game begins unfairly, but Ruby manages to instruct her team to battle, with Yang helping fight the Red Prince's pieces. The Prince, upset, questions why they want to reach the tree. Ruby explains who they are and that they are trying to get home, but when she reveals that she, Weiss, and Yang are human, the Red Prince becomes enraged, and all the soldiers and pieces, including her own, turn on her and her team. Yang fights them back, using fisticuffs to take down the pieces. They manage to defeat the pieces, but the Prince refuses to let them go until a mystical cat called the Curious Cat intervenes, talking the Prince down just long enough to lead Ruby, now carrying Little and her shrunken teammates, through the castle labyrinth and away from guards to the exit. Wanting to follow the story again, Weiss and the others decide they must follow the Cat to get to the tree.
Ruby, carrying Little and her teammates, follows the Curious Cat, bartering with it that she will answer its questions if it leads them to the tree. The Curious Cat agrees, and bombards Team RWBY with questions about Remnant before leading them to a forest-like area called the Garden. When the Cat brings up how Salem sounds unstoppable, Ruby feels overwhelmed and freezes in place, which causes her to lose track of the elusive Cat. They then come across the Herbalist, a giant bug-like creature who offers to help them, specifically to help Weiss, Blake, and Yang grow back to normal size. Ruby reluctantly enters his home, where he questions them. However, he grows frustrated when they cannot define the roles they play, and uses smoke from a magic hookah pipe to make them all hallucinate visions of their past selves who encourage them to change or give up. Yang is told by her hallucination that, if given the opportunity, she should try and "become whole" again. Yang defies this, claiming her failures strengthened her resolve and that her missing arm was a reminder of not just what she lost, but also what she gained. The Curious Cat returns and blows away the smoke, convincing the Herbalist to leave them be. The Herbalist is sucked into a hole in the ground, vanishing.
As the Cat leads Team RWBY along, he explains that, in the Ever After, its inhabitants do not die, but rather ascend and are born anew to become the person they wanted to be, or to fit the role they are destined to be. He explains that this happened with the Red King, who was broken after losing his games to Alyx, and was reborn as the Red Prince, who was crueler but better fit the role of someone who plays games to win.
The group arrives to a market, where the Cat tells them they must obtain ingredients for a potion that will grow Yang, Weiss, and Blake to normal size. Yang, Weiss, and Blake go with the Cat as Ruby and Little venture for the final ingredient. When they return they find Ruby seemingly talking to no one, unaware she had just encountered a mysterious blacksmith. They find the last ingredient, but the market is attacked by the Jabberwalker, which the Cat explains will end the process of ascending of whoever it eats. Weiss, Blake, and Yang eat the potion to grow to normal size, then help fight the Jabberwalker with the aid of the mysterious Rusted Knight. They defeat it, only to find it was an illusion created by Neopolitan, and more Jabberwalkers arrive. Team RWBY flee with the Rusted Knight as the Curious Cat and other Ever After inhabitants fend off the Jabberwalkers. The Rusted Knight leads them to safety, only to reveal himself to be Jaune, though much older.
As Jaune takes the group to his village, he reveals that he fell into the Ever After, but found a magic clock that sent him back in time by a great many years. He waited for Team RWBY to arrive, only for Alyx and her brother Lewis to arrive first. He also tells them that Salem got the two relics. The Curious Cat returns, angering Jaune as a "punderstorm" brews, which creates a physical manifestation of phrases and mental states. Yang finds herself on a collapsing bridge with Blake on the other side. When they start saying kind things to each other, they see steps form. They soon realize that steps form when they say things they have had on their mind to one another, and eventually, Yang and Blake both confess their love for one another. They are reunited and share a kiss as the storm dissipates. Jaune leads them to his village, where he presumably tells them the rest of his story: Realizing he was the Rusted Knight of the story, Jaune tried to follow it by teaming up with the Curious Cat to lead Alyx and Lewis to the tree. However, Alyx was far crueler than the story indicated, and after meeting the Herbalist, she turned against Jaune, poisoning him and letting the Curious Cat lead her and her brother to the tree. There, where Ever Afterians go to "ascend", Alyx returned to Remnant by sacrificing her brother to the tree. As night falls, Yang and Blake sit together by the fire.
The following morning, Jaune introduces and explains the village he resides in: the village is made of paper, full of individuals made of paper called "Paper Pleasers". He explains that they are kind and hospitable, though careless, resulting in him having to save them every single day. Jaune tries to plan with Team RWBY, requesting that they stay and protect the Paper Pleasers while he charts more of the Ever After and tries to find a safe exit. Team RWBY are concerned Jaune has lost some of his sanity in isolation. A Paper Pleaser overhears their conversation and explains to them that the tree is not dangerous, but a place Ever Afterians want to go after they have fulfilled their purpose, ready to be born anew. However, Jaune is convinced the tree is dangerous after what happened with Alyx and Lewis, and refuses to let the Paper Pleasers ascend like they want to. Jaune and Team RWBY argue about what is best until Neo and her Jabberwalkers attack. Yang teams up with Blake to fight back the Jabberwalkers. When she sees Ruby barely fighting back and pinned down by a Jabberwalker, she rushes to her aid and saves her. Neo and the Jabberwalkers disappear, but in the time they were fighting, the Paper Pleasers manage to topple a dam and flood the town, allowing all of them to ascend, mortifying Jaune. Weiss, Blake, and Yang attempt to comfort him and want Ruby to do the same, but Ruby finally has had enough. She gets angry at her friends for never thinking about her needs, and how they are so preoccupied with their goals or each other that they never consider how she is feeling. Yang is angered and taken aback by Ruby's sudden hostility, especially with her criticizing the timing of her and Blake's new relationship. Jaune argues with Ruby, blaming her for Neo's attack and them falling into Ever After. He apologizes, still distraught over the ways he has failed. Blake attempts to cheer everyone up, but Ruby tells her off, to the shock of everyone. She grabs Crescent Rose and runs away, with Little still with her.
Weiss, Blake, Yang and Jaune search for Ruby, realizing that they were not attentive enough to her needs. They finally find her trapped and tortured in one of Neopolitan's illusions. Neo holds them off as Ruby, having witnessed Little killed by Neo and the Curious Cat revealed to be a traitor, is broken in spirit and drinks a tea made of the Tree's leaves, ending her existence and taking her to the Tree to Ascend. Yang watches with horror as Ruby is swallowed up by the ground and the Cat possesses Neo. The Cat makes for the Tree, and Blake and her allies follow. They try to get to the Tree, but the flooded village blocks their path. They are greeted by Genial Gems, who are the Paper Pleasers Ascended into new forms. Jaune feels bad that he prevented the Paper Pleasers from moving on out of his desire to save people, and Blake comforts and hugs him. They are suddenly all teleported to the Tree, realizing that acceptance was the path to reach it. They come across Ruby as a wooden statue on the tree, and realize that her fate lies in her own decisions. Yang is distraught at the thought that when Ruby returns she will not be Ruby anymore, and Blake comforts her.
However, they come across a magical door back to Remnant, and the Cat, still posessing Neo, trying and failing to get through. He finds he cannot, since Neo has no attachments in Remnant anymore. He reveals that he attempted the same with Alyx, allowing Lewis to go back while he tried to possess her, but she did not comply and the at murdered her instead. He sees Ruby and decides to make her his vessel again, but Weiss and her allies step in his path and defend her. In the battle, Weiss conjures a wall of flame, but Cat/Neo doges and the fire hits Jaune, throwing him off the tree. Jaune recovers, and realizes that they can use the burning leaves of the Tree like the Herbalist used to create smoke. Neopolitan inhales the smoke, and her visions and feelings are so strong they drive the Cat out. Ruby, meanwhile, chooses to remain herself and emerges, joining her team to defeat the Cat, with Neo striking a killing blow with her Jabberwalkers. Weiss reunites with Ruby, Neo opts to stay behind and Ascend, and Yang joins her allies as they travel through the door.
There they meet the Blacksmith, the one responsible for Ascension. The Blacksmith explains that the Gods of Light and Darkness were born in the Ever After, made to fulfill the roles of creation and destruction. Over time, they began to create their own creatures, including the Cat to fill the role of helping others Ascend, and the Jabberwalker for destroying what was deemed necessary to destroy. When they were ready, they traveled beyond the Ever After and created Remnant. Whenever their creations came to the Ever After, they had a profound effect, such as with Alyx and Lewis and now with Team RWBY and Jaune. The Blacksmith goes on to say that while some were hurt and driven to evil like the Cat, others were shown kindness and made better like Little/Somewhat. She says that Alyx desired to right the wrongs of her past, and using magic, restores Jaune to his younger age. She then opens the door back to Remnant, and Yang and her allies walk through into Vacuo.
==Vacuo==
Yang and her friends arrive in Vacuo and are tearfully greeted by their friends, who thought them dead. They begin trying to adjust to life in this new environment. Ruby especially feels overwhelmed due to her new status as a local celebrity, which came from her message and later being used as a martyr. While out with Yang, Ruby is surrounded by fans to sign autographs and take pictures. She discusses how overwhelming it feels to Yang. They visit a boba tea store and talk about the past, with Yang opening up and apologizing for the stress and turmoil she put Ruby through as team leader. They reconcile, and decide to go shopping.
Category:Synopsis