Yang Xiao Long

Yang Xiao Long is one of the main protagonists of RWBY. She is a Huntress, having been trained at the now-defunct Beacon Academy. Her weapons of choice
are a pair of Dual Ranged Shot Gauntlets, Ember Celica.
She made her first appearance in the "Yellow" Trailer, searching for clues regarding the whereabouts of her mother, Raven Branwen, who left her when she was a child. From Volume 1, Yang became a member of Team RWBY alongside Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and her younger half-sister Ruby Rose.
In "Worthy", Yang took a hit meant for her sister from Neopolitan in the Central Location, falling into the void as a result and tumbling into the Ever After. In "Confessions Within Cumulonimbus Clouds", she enters a romantic relationship with Blake, after confessing her feelings to her.
In "Of Solitude and Self", she and her friends return to Remnant, where they arrive in the Kingdom of Vacuo.
== History ==
Yang is the daughter of Raven Branwen and Taiyang Xiao Long, and was born approximately two years before her younger half-sister, Ruby Rose. Ruby mentions that Yang used to read bedtime stories to her when they were young.
Yang was raised alongside Ruby on the island of Patch, off the west coast of Vale. Their father, Taiyang Xiao Long, was a Huntsman who taught at Signal Academy and a former member of a team consisting of Summer Rose, Qrow Branwen, and Raven Branwen - the last of whom disappeared shortly after her birth. Following this, Yang's father became romantically involved with Summer, who took the role of Yang's surrogate mother and gave her a sister two years later: Ruby.
However, Summer would frequently embark on Huntress missions all over the Kingdoms and, early in Yang's childhood, she was killed during one. Yang's father, distraught at losing yet another love, suffered an emotional breakdown. It was then that Yang found out Summer Rose was not her biological mother, and that the woman who gave birth to her, Raven Branwen, had also abandoned her shortly thereafter. Motivated to find out why her mother left her, one day, Yang attempted to follow up on what she thought was a clue to her whereabouts and waited until her father left the house and traveled to the location herself, wheeling Ruby in a wagon and walking until she was bruised and tired.
Upon arriving at the building, Yang and Ruby were attacked and almost killed by three Beowolves. Their uncle, Qrow, thankfully, appeared just in time to save them. Yang was ashamed of her stubborn, brash actions, aware that she had almost gotten her younger sister killed, and resolved to continue searching for her mother while helping to raise Ruby, but also to not allow that search to consume her.
Years later, a 17-year-old Yang heads to a nightclub searching for clues about her mother and confronts the proprietor, a man named Junior Xiong, who has a reputation for "knowing everything". She shows him a picture of Raven and attempts to coerce the information out of him, but he says he does not know. Yang is then surrounded by henchmen from the club and backs off.
As she walks away from the bar with Junior, she begins flirting with him and offers to give him a kiss, but punches him in the face instead.
Junior's henchmen then descend upon her and she attacks and incapacitates all of them. She then comes under attack from the DJ above who is firing at her with a machine gun. After knocking him down to the club floor, two girls, Melanie and Miltia Malachite, jump in to fight her. Despite some difficulty, she manages to defeat both of the girls.
By then, Junior recovers from Yang's punch and returns with his bazooka before firing several rockets at her. Yang manages to stop the rounds, but Junior then changes the bazooka into a bat and begins attacking her with it.
She finally uses Ember Celica to destroy much of the club and knock Junior out a window. Outside, she runs into Ruby, who is surprised to see her there.
Following the fight, Junior was more willing to help her out by giving her any information he had. However, he revealed that he really knew nothing about Raven, and was unable to help Yang search for her mother.
As she drives throughout Mistral, Yang thinks back on a training session with her sister, Ruby. Yang eventually overpowers her, and Ruby flies into the bushes using her Semblance. When Ruby does not respond, an Ursa emerges from the bushes. Yang fights the Ursa, but is tossed out of sight when Ruby awakens. The Ursa attempts to attack Ruby, but Yang puts herself between both of them. She is struck by the Ursa and activates her mutant ability to clash with the Ursa one last time in order to obliterate it. Yang informs her concerned sister that she always has her back.
Yang is first seen greeting Ruby on the airship to Beacon Academy, displaying her excitement that her "little sis" will be attending the same school as her. She teases and then consoles Ruby when the latter displays her nervousness, and even unhappiness, that she might be treated as someone "special" at their new school.
Yang shows concern for Ruby's apparent lack of social skills and manages to create an opportunity to let Ruby learn on her own by dashing off with her friends, leaving Ruby alone (who later falls down on Weiss Schnee's luggage).
Yang reappears inside the auditorium of Beacon Academy where the students have gathered and waves Ruby over beside her. She asks Ruby about her day so far, who responds by recounting the trouble she got into involving Weiss and Blake Belladonna. Yang, at first, thinks Ruby is joking, but realizes her little sister is telling the truth when Weiss comes up and starts berating Ruby again.
She tries to play the easygoing mediator between the two, but with no success. Their heated conversation is interrupted when Professor Ozpin starts with his welcoming speech, and Yang shows some vague exasperation when Ozpin mentions that they are still nothing compared to the world they will enter. She mentions directly afterward that Ozpin seemed "kind of off".
Later, when all the new students are preparing to go to sleep, Yang crashes next to Ruby and asks her about the letter she is writing. The two have a conversation where Ruby, once again, brings up her unhappiness at having to join the school without knowing anyone, but Yang tells her that there are plenty of friends at Beacon whom Ruby has just not met yet, after teasing her about Weiss being an enemy rather than a "negative friend".
Yang drags Ruby over to where Blake is reading a book and attempts to engage the two in a conversation. At first, Blake's aloof, unsocial character causes the conversation to die multiple times and Ruby and Yang awkwardly try to pick it back up every time it happens, but after Yang proclaims that Blake is a "lost cause", Ruby inquires about the book Blake is reading, which starts what appears to be a genuine exchange between the two.
However, Yang butts in and tells Ruby about how she is proud of her for starting a conversation and expressing her dreams to be a protector of the peaceful world they live in so other people may enjoy it. Yang then picks Ruby up, which annoys the latter and causes a brief fight between the two, until Weiss storms up and interrupts them again.
Yang talks to Ruby while they are getting prepared for their initiation about what she will do about teams. When Ruby suggests that she would just join Yang's team, Yang suggests that her little sister should be more outgoing and find a team of her own. She and Ruby then talk to Jaune, who was put down coldly by Weiss, having had Pyrrha Nikos throw her spear at him.
Yang remarks that he probably should not have referred to Weiss as "Snow Angel" and the three of them then head to Beacon Cliff for initiation. After Ozpin tells them about their initiation and how they will form teams, Yang is launched into the Emerald Forest with the other students.
Yang is seen literally flying through the trees with a pair of aviators on, thoroughly enjoying the experience, and extending it by using the kinetic energy from the shots from her shotgun gauntlets to keep moving. After bouncing through the trees, Yang nails her landing and takes off. Shortly after, when Ruby lands, she instantly starts looking for Yang in the hopes of making Yang her partner.
While walking through the woods, Yang starts to become bored after not finding anyone. When she hears a rustle in the bushes, she wonders if it is Ruby, but she is, instead, attacked by two Ursai. She dodges their attacks and almost seems to be playing with them until she notices that a small strand of her hair was cut off. Yang goes into a rage at this and punches one of the Ursa with a flurry of punches, sending it flying into several trees. She goes to confront the other bear, but it is quickly killed by Blake in a single strike. The two smile at each other and Yang claims that she could have taken it.
Yang and Blake arrive at the temple. As they approach it, they make note that the Relics are chess pieces, and that some Relics are missing, which suggests that they are not the first to arrive. After Blake and Yang examine the chess pieces, Yang chooses a yellow knight because it looks like a "cute little pony". When the two are about to leave the temple, they hear what sounds like a girl's scream. Yang asks Blake what they should do, but she seems distracted by something above them. As Yang tries to get Blake's attention, Ruby suddenly falls from the sky.
Yang is seen asking Blake on what they should do, which continues from the previous episode in reference to Jaune's feminine scream. After seeing Ruby fall, she is left confused by the later turn of events, such as Nora Valkyrie riding on an Ursa, and when Pyrrha is running away from a Death Stalker that chased her from its cave.
Shortly after, she tries to give her sister, Ruby, a hug, but is interrupted by Nora. When Ruby decides to attack the Death Stalker, she fails and is forced to run away. Yang rushes to her aid, but is unable to after the Nevermore keeps them separate with a barrage of feathers. After Weiss saves Ruby, Yang hugs Ruby in delight, knowing she is safe.
Once Ruby and Jaune choose their chess pieces, Ruby leads both teams away as Yang smiles seeing that her sister is becoming what she knew she would. When Blake asks what is wrong, she implies it is nothing, but Blake seems to already know. Both teams are then split and each faces the Grimm species separately as Team JNPR faces the Death Stalker and Team RWBY faces the Nevermore.
After a series of attacks prove unsuccessful, Ruby makes up a plan to beat the large bird. Yang helps Blake make a slingshot, which launches Ruby into the air with the help of Weiss' glyph. Yang watches in amazement as Ruby slays the Nevermore. She is later made an official member of Team RWBY and hugs her sister in joy when Ruby is made the leader.
After rooming with her team, Yang wakes up with a joyful approach. She states that they need to decorate their room. She is seen placing a poster about a boy band named The Achieve Men. When Ruby is suggesting they make bunk beds, Yang agrees, along with Blake, while Weiss seems to be annoyed by the fact.
She later attends class, where she seems to have no interest, and seems to be weirded out by one of Professor Peter Port's gestures.
As Weiss faces down the released Boarbatusk, Yang cheers her teammate on, along with Blake and Ruby. Later that night, she is seen asleep in her bunk bed above Blake.
Yang is seen eating lunch with her team alongside Team JNPR, where she seems to be the only one interested in Nora's story. She later comments that it must be hard being a Faunus after seeing Cardin and the rest of Team CRDL teasing Velvet Scarlatina, a Faunus with rabbit ears.
Yang is briefly seen with her sister in the Forever Fall forest. She is later seen gathering sap for Professor Peach.
When Ruby points out the Ursa's growl in the distance, Russel Thrush shouts out that the Ursa is attacking Cardin. She then quickly grabs Russel and demands the Ursa's whereabouts. Once she releases Russel, she and Blake go to find Glynda Goodwitch while Ruby, Pyrrha, and Weiss make their way to Jaune and Cardin.
Yang walks with her team on the streets of Vale. The team sees Vytal Festival preparations and stumbles across a crime scene at a local Dust Store, prompting Weiss and Blake into a tense discussion on the White Fang. Weiss comments that the White Fang only know how to lie, cheat, and steal, and Yang responds that that is not entirely true.
Soon after, the team chases a fleeing Sun Wukong at Weiss's demand. After bumping into a girl named Penny Polendina, the team leaves, only to have her appearing instantly in front of them. After Yang believes Penny heard Yang call her weird, Penny goes directly to Ruby, asking her if she was her friend. Later that night, Yang and Ruby continuously hear Blake and Weiss argue about the White Fang.
Two days after Blake accidentally reveals herself as a Faunus, Yang pushes to find Blake with her sister and Weiss. When Penny shows up out of nowhere, Yang and Weiss take the opportunity to leave while Penny is distracted. During the duo's search, Yang asks Weiss if she cares about Blake's absence, believing that they are responsible to search for her. That night, Yang and Weiss meet with Blake and Ruby after the Faunus is found.
While in the dining hall, Nora flings small grapes at Yang, who catches them in her mouth. Yang then sees that Blake is looking at her notebook and asks what she is doing, but Blake quickly closes the book and says she is looking over notes, causing Yang to lose interest and continues catching food. Ruby appears with a book full of ways to start the new term off with a bang, resulting in Yang making a lame pun about liking to start her terms off "with a Yang". No one finds it funny, and Yang is hit in the head with an apple, causing her to become angry, and she tosses an apple back. Nora tosses back an entire pie, but it ends up hitting Weiss instead of Yang.
A large food fight breaks out between Team JNPR and Team RWBY, with Yang grabbing two whole turkeys to use as her gauntlets. She uses them to smash a barrage of watermelons, and then launches the turkeys at Jaune, taking him out. However, soon after, Pyrrha hits her with a loaf of bread that she tosses at Yang like a spear. Yang quickly gets back into the fight, picking up the two turkeys and beats Lie Ren by smashing him into the floor. Yang, in turn, is smashed through the ceiling by Nora moments later when hit by her watermelon hammer. After the fight ends, Yang crashes through the ceiling back into the room and has a good laugh with the others.
Yang is seen playing a board game with her team, one in which she is clearly seen to be the dominant player, having taken out both Ruby and Weiss, much to their dismay. She then points out to Blake on how it's her turn, but the latter shows no interest in the game and soon leaves, following the arrival of Sun Wukong and his friend Neptune Vasilias. That night, Yang enters the dorm room with Weiss and Ruby and seems disappointed in the fact that she lost the game to Neptune, with Ruby telling her she should have attacked when she told her to.
She then has her attention caught by Weiss telling Blake to stop, as she was leaving the room. There, the team gets into a discussion, most of which reflect on Blake's worries and concerns on the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, but Yang tells her that Ozpin told them not to worry, for the police and Huntsmen/Huntresses would take care of it, but Blake remarks on how it is not enough. After hearing Ruby's idea of the four of them stopping their enemies, Yang agrees enthusiastically and tells Blake that she loves it when she is feisty, making her smile.
The next day, Yang and her team change clothes in their dorm. The team explains their parts in the mission, and Yang says she will get intel on Torchwick from someone. After Sun and Neptune suddenly appear with the intention of helping them, despite Ruby and Blake not wanting them to, Yang is paired with Neptune, despite Weiss's protests.
Yang and Neptune ride on Bumblebee to Junior's club at nightfall. Two henchmen attempt to stop Yang from entering, remembering what she did to the club, but Yang easily blows the entrance open, proudly proclaiming she is back.
After a hostile welcome, Junior immediately defuses the situation, knowing a battle would go the same way as before. He asks Yang what she wants, and she replies she is still owed a drink and drags him to the counter. Junior tells Yang he has not seen Roman since the night she first entered the club, and that he never returned with the men Junior loaned to him. Yang becomes frustrated and leaves with Neptune.
As Yang and Neptune board the bike, Yang, Weiss, and Ruby receive an urgent call from Blake and Sun, whose cover was blown in their part of the plan and are now being chased by Roman inside an Atlesian Paladin-290. When Blake, Sun, and the Paladin run by Yang and Neptune in the street, Yang immediately revs her bike and gives chase to help stop Roman. She maneuvers around cars being flung at her and asks Neptune to slow the Paladin down. Roman counters Neptune and Sun, removing them from the fight. Weiss causes the Paladin to slip on an ice patch and plummet off the highway, and the battle begins in earnest.
After several team attacks, Team RWBY gains the upper hand. Yang catches Roman off guard, leaping onto the back of the Paladin and continuously punching its head. However, he charges her through pillars with great force and punches her through another pillar as she falls. Blake grows worried, but Ruby reassures her, revealing Yang absorbs energy from each hit she takes and uses it to make herself stronger.
With Yang's newfound strength, she delivers several blows, shattering pieces off Roman's mech. She grabs one end of Blake's Gambol Shroud and, with Roman frozen to the ground from Ruby and Weiss's team attack, Yang connects a final punch, shattering the Paladin and sending Roman out of it.
Yang fires Ember Celica long range to finish Roman off, but Neopolitan appears and blocks it with Hush. Yang angrily charges and punches Roman, but Neo had deceived her with an illusory barrier depicting the two. The fake barrier shatters from Yang's punch, and the two are revealed to have retreated to a nearby airship and make their escape. Yang and Team RWBY leave the scene.
Sometime thereafter, Yang, along with the rest of Team RWBY, attends a sparring class and watches Pyrrha obtain successive victories against Team CRDL and later, against Mercury Black. Later, Yang sits next to Blake on their bed and attempts to convince her to go to the dance after rejecting Sun, mentioning their worry over her lack of sleep and high stress level.
Yang and Weiss are given the responsibility to organize the dance, and Yang promises the day will be enjoyable for Blake. However, Blake, once again, shrugs her off, thinking of it as a waste of time, and leaves for the library, which saddens Yang.
Yang helps Weiss prepare for the dance, carrying a huge speaker. Noticing Ruby, Yang asks what she will wear for the dance, but when Ruby says that there is no point in going if Blake does not, Yang counters that Blake will go and walks out. At the library, Yang attracts Blake's attention with a laser pointer and takes her to an empty classroom to discuss the recent problems. When Blake is averse to talking, Yang tells her to simply listen and that she is not trying to make Blake stop her ongoing investigation of Roman Torchwick, but merely to convince her to slow down.
Yang begins telling Blake about her and Ruby's past and who their mothers were, bringing up how her mother was a member of a team alongside her father, Summer Rose, and Qrow. However, shortly after Yang was born, her mother left. She tells Blake how she asked and searched for answers on why her mother disappeared but never found anything, until one day she believed she discovered a clue to her whereabouts. She went on a search with a sleeping Ruby, and they were attacked by creatures of Grimm.
At the last minute, Qrow came to the two girls' rescue. Yang states her stubbornness almost got them both killed that day. Blake, in return, expresses sympathy for Yang's past, but states her situation is different. Yang disagrees, saying that she does not want Blake to stop, but to slow down, just as Yang has in her search for her mother.
However, when Blake keeps pressing on how only she can do anything, Yang gets frustrated at her, asking her what would she do if Roman suddenly came barging through the door. Blake answers she would fight, and Yang points out Blake is unable to stop him because she cannot stop Yang herself. She hugs Blake, telling her that she is not asking her to stop, but to rest, not only for herself, but for everyone she cares about. Yang invites Blake to the dance once more, promising she would save Blake a dance.
The next day, Yang is seen in joy over her sister's dress, saying Ruby looks beautiful. Yang gives Blake her first dance of the night, keeping her promise, before Sun takes over. Shortly after, Yang welcomes both Mercury and Emerald Sustrai to the dance as they enter. She is later seen alone on a balcony, apparently lacking a date of her own, overlooking the dance floor until Ruby approaches her, who she headlocks playfully, much to Ruby's chagrin, and advises to have a good time while they have the chance. She is not seen for the rest of the night.
The following day, Yang, along with Blake and Weiss, confront Ruby upon her return to their dorm after a meeting with Ozpin, Glynda, and James Ironwood. After Ruby informs them of her situation, Yang attempts to cheer her sister up by revealing a package addressed to them by their dad. Revealing it to be Zwei, the family dog back in Patch, Yang reads the letter their father sent, stating Zwei will be staying with them for an indefinite amount of time.
Following an announcement from Glynda and a speech from Ozpin, Yang and her team choose to select a Search & Destroy mission, but after being unable to join, Ozpin bends the rules for them and signs them up for Quadrant Five.
Later, Yang and her team are completely shocked when Bartholomew Oobleck reveals he is the Huntsmen joining their mission. The team travels to Mountain Glenn via an airship and are briefed on the way, and Yang mentions Mountain Glenn was an attempted expansion of Vale before it was overrun by Grimm and cut off. Doctor Oobleck believes it would be the ideal place for a criminal hideout.
After their arrival, they are almost immediately set upon by Beowolves, which they kill in droves while Oobleck looks on. Yang eventually becomes restless and questions why Doctor Oobleck does not help them fight, to which Oobleck responds that this is a job they all signed up for.
Oobleck later asks Yang why she wants to become a Huntress. She initially misinterprets, saying she fights Grimm and helps people, and Oobleck clarifies the question and asks again. Yang responds she is a thrill-seeker who wants to travel around the world and get wrapped up in as many adventures as she possibly can, and if she can help people along the way, it makes it all the better.
After the group sets up camp for the night, Yang, Blake, and Weiss make a fire. Yang complains about them not finding anything, and Blake replies, saying that they can't always have luck on their side. Yang, Weiss, and Blake agree that they could not give complete, satisfying answers to Oobleck's question.
After having difficulty sleeping, they start talking again. Yang recognizes the driving purposes behind Weiss and Blake's reasons for being Huntresses, and she says it is her nature to go with the flow, but is unsure how long she can continue as such. Instead of motivation from the ideas of heroism, Yang wants the feeling of not knowing what the future will bring and for that to be a good thing. Becoming a Huntress is in line with that for Yang.
She adds that she differs from Ruby, who has felt a genuine sense of duty and desire to protect people and do what is right ever since Yang read her stories when they were little. When the conversation shifts to how young the group is for the responsibilities of being a Huntress, Yang says that they are not children anymore; they are armed to the teeth in a war zone.
Yang takes night watch duty after Ruby, and after her turn ends and she goes to inform Weiss it was her turn, she notices Ruby's empty sleeping bag and grows worried. Unknown to her and the rest of the team, Ruby had been captured by the White Fang. After Zwei leads them to the hole she had fallen through into Mountain Glenn's underground city, Oobleck explains the expansion's history, and they prepare to go in after her.
Having successfully reached the underground levels of the city, Yang, Weiss, Blake, Oobleck, and Zwei locate Ruby, who flees from Roman, using the distraction created by her team. Before White Fang henchmen can shoot Ruby, Yang arrives and blows them away. Ruby reconnects with her team, and Roman's train begins to depart.
Ruby informs them of the weaponry the White Fang has on board, so Ruby prompts them to chase after the fleeing train. While aboard the train, several train cars with bombs detach, prompting them to run to the front while fighting White Fang members. Oobleck discovers that the train cars detach and explode to create openings in the tunnel for the Grimm.
Yang, Weiss, and Blake head into the train to try and stop it, and Ruby and Oobleck remain atop the train. As Yang, Weiss, and Blake encounter Neo, Yang decides to fight her, and her teammates move on. Yang and Neo fight, but Neo easily counters and parries her, quickly beating and rendering her unconscious.
Before Neo can kill her, a mysterious woman arrives through a red portal and scares Roman's aid away, saving Yang's life. As Yang regains consciousness, she catches a small glimpse of her rescuer before regrouping with her team. The train nears an incoming wall, and Weiss creates a shield of ice around them, protecting them from what could have been a fatal crash. The team reawakens on the surface of Vale's city, only able to look in horror as Grimm rise from the underground and begin attacking the human populace.
Grimms surround Team RWBY, and they attack, later aided by Team JNPR, Team CFVY, and a few professors. After the fight, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang look over the city from the school and talk about how they managed to do their job. Weiss says how they should get extra credit, but Yang doubts that will happen after the destruction the Grimm caused. After thinking on what to do, Ruby suggests that they go to bed. Everyone agrees.
Later, Yang is alone in what is suggested as a dream sequence, walking through Beacon's courtyard late at night. She comes to a stop in front of the Academy statue and is met by Raven Branwen, who saved her from Neo earlier. Yang stands her ground and demands to know who the woman is. She removes her helmet to reveal red eyes and features almost identical to Yang's own. Yang's eyes turn red as the woman cryptically states they have a lot to talk about.
At the enormous floating stadium, Amity Colosseum, Team RWBY's first match in the Vytal Festival tournament is with Team ABRN of Haven Academy. Yang fights Arslan Altan, a skilled hand-to-hand combatant. Despite taking some beating, Yang deals the finishing blow against all of Team ABRN, punching them clean out of the stadium. After an action-packed match, Team RWBY emerges victorious, and the team heads to the Vytal Festival fairgrounds to get a meal.
There, they run into Emerald, who praises their performance in the match. It is revealed that Yang will be joining Weiss in moving forward onto the doubles round to represent Team RWBY, whilst Emerald and Mercury will move on from their team. Emerald remarks that they will not go easy on them if they happen to be paired up, and they bid farewell.
Team RWBY ends up eating at a noodle store run by the Shopkeep. Weiss attempts to pay for their meal, but her card is declined. Fortunately, Pyrrha arrives and pays for their meal instead, and they are joined by Team JNPR. After they have eaten, Team JNPR is called away to their next match. Yang and her team follow them over to the stadium, taking their place at the spectator stands to cheer their friends on. When they walk in, Yang notices Mercury and Emerald walk in behind them.
When Team JNPR and Team BRNZ face off, Yang agrees that Jaune has gotten a lot better with combat, but he still has nothing on Pyrrha's skills. After Team SSSN dances after their defeat of Team NDGO, she calls them dorks, to which Blake agrees. She heads off with her team to congratulate them.
Later, Yang plays video games with Qrow and Ruby in their dorm room and discusses their experiences fighting Roman and the White Fang. Qrow briefly takes out a photo of his previous team, Team STRQ, which includes Raven. Yang is briefly transfixed by the picture, but Qrow notices and puts it away. Qrow remarks that Yang and Ruby have a lot to learn, but that they will "go far" if they "never stop moving forward".
Yang and Weiss face Neon Katt and Flynt Coal of Atlas Academy's Team FNKI in the doubles round of the tournament. Neon immediately draws Yang's ire by criticizing her weight and hair. When the fight starts, Neon manages to evade all of Yang's attacks and continues taunting her with puns and insults, angering her even further. However, after Weiss sacrifices herself attacking Flynt, Yang manages to defeat both him and Neon, winning the match.
Yang fights in the singles round against Mercury. Using her mutant ability, she defeats him. After telling him he would have better luck against her next time, Mercury seemingly states that there will not be a next time, and he lunges for her with Talaria. In apparent self-defense, she punches his leg, firing Ember Celica at the same time. However, because Mercury has no Aura left to shield him, Yang's punch apparently breaks his leg. The crowd in Amity Colosseum, however, sees Yang shoot Mercury in the leg without provocation. Atlas soldiers, some androids, and some humans come to apprehend Yang for her, apparently unwarranted, assault.
Back in Team RWBY's dorm, General Ironwood tells Yang that he looks at her action as a stress-induced hallucination. He says that no matter the situation, millions of people saw Yang attack Mercury without provocation. He also informs Yang that she is hereby disqualified from the tournament.
Yang asks her team if they believe her side of the story. Ruby and Weiss do, but Blake hesitates. She reasons that she has seen Yang's actions before, but in a different person. Blake makes Yang promise that she is telling the truth. Yang promises, and Blake accepts. The rest of her team leaves and Qrow arrives soon after. Qrow thinks Yang's story of self-defense is either a lie or that Yang is crazy. Yang said she is not lying, and Qrow reasons that she must be crazy.
Yang mentions seeing her mother. She recognized Raven's sword in Qrow's picture of Team STRQ as the same one used by her rescuer at Mountain Glenn. She recalls her mother saving her and vanishing when Yang is incapacitated. Qrow verifies that it is her mother, but he also relays to Yang that she will not intervene again. Qrow says her mother is dangerous and has a very different worldview. He says she should not let what happened in her singles match defeat her. He offers her a way to move on, telling her some information that will help her track her mother down.
She is later seen listening to Cinder's speech in her room, with Zwei being there.
Yang leaves her dormitory with Zwei. She calls Weiss and Blake about the attack and asks if they have seen Ruby because she will not answer her Scroll. The two try to assure her that Ruby is probably fine and can look after herself. Yang appears to accept this with some reluctance and heads for the school's docks.
She rushes to Weiss and the group of students as they finish prevailing over the rogue Atlesian Paladins. As Weiss tells her of her whereabouts, Yang sets off to find Blake.
After beating up the White Fang rank and file, she, to her horror, sees Adam stabbing Blake in the stomach. Yang is driven into a berserk rage, leaping towards Adam with tears in her eyes - until Adam intercepts her attack with his sword and severs her right arm with a powerful blow from his Semblance, dealing more damage than her remaining Aura can block. She is sent falling to the ground, unconscious, and with yellow embers flowing from the stump of her limb. Blake uses her Semblance to divert Adam's attention and escapes the building with Yang's unconscious body.
After Yang is bandaged for her injuries, Blake apologizes to the unconscious brawler for being a catalyst to Yang's dismemberment.
After the incident, a crestfallen Yang safely recovers in her home in Patch. When Ruby visits her, she explains what befell Beacon along with their team and says she wishes to be left alone. In the winter, she sees a crow flying outside her window and does not notice her father rush past her open door.
Months after the fall of Beacon, Yang remains at home, no longer bedridden, but still very troubled and living rather idly. She watches television instead of reading books and does chores around the house emotionlessly. When her father gives her the cybernetic arm Ironwood ordered specifically for her, Yang is less than enthusiastic about putting it on.
Between segments on the news, small kitchen accidents, and nightmares, Yang is clearly struggling with trauma connected to Adam cutting off her arm.
It is not until Port and Oobleck visit her father that she is directly confronted with what is holding her back from putting on the new arm. Some frank talk between the four of them, and loving support from her father, helps Yang begin to come to terms with moving forward. She is also struck by realizing, due to overhearing her father saying goodbye, that she has been holding him back from important things, like helping with Beacon's repair and going after Ruby.
The next morning, Yang steps outside the house, equipped with her new arm. Taiyang stops his gardening, and the two get into battle stances.
The Xiao Longs train for weeks and Yang learns to enjoy the new arm. Taiyang introduces her to a lesson about relying on her Semblance so much that it becomes a handicap. In the process, he opens up about Raven, telling his daughter he sees so many of her mother's good qualities in her. However, he adds that she also needs to see her way around problems rather than through them, a fault she shares with her mother. Yang takes the lesson to heart and bonds with her father even more.
Later, Yang is seen repainting her robotic arm in her colors, along with the left half of Ember Celica. She prepares to leave on her motorcycle, but Taiyang catches up with her before she can depart. He agrees that she is old enough to make her own decisions, and asks whether she is going to find her sister or her mother.
Sometime after the conversation with her father, Yang takes a ship to Anima and rides Bumblebee to cover ground more quickly. During her travels, Yang encounters Shay D. Mann who, even after she punches him for being too pushy in his interest, approaches her to suggest he can help her in her search. Said patron leads her to a clearing where he, and other Bandits, surround Yang. However, she defeats them all with ease.
Yang is escorted into the Branwen Tribe's camp, where she is finally reunited with her long-absent mother, Raven. The tribe leader congratulates Yang on finding her and offers her hospitality, but Yang counters by stating she came for Raven's help in finding Ruby, something she could do with her Semblance. When Raven refuses and orders her removal, Yang angrily insists she complies and punches another Bandit who tries to silence her. In doing so, she reveals a caged Weiss, who quickly makes her escape, assisted by her Arma Gigas. Before they can fight their way out of the camp, Vernal halts their advance with a lightning bolt and Raven commands her tribe to stop fighting, lest they attract the Grimm. Raven commands Yang and Weiss into her tent to learn "the truth". As the Bandits disperse, the two share a hug of reunion.
Yang and Weiss learn that Raven and Qrow attended Beacon Academy to kill, and not become Huntsmen, that Ozpin was very interested in Team STRQ and shared many secrets with them, and that there is a being named Salem who leads the Grimm to destroy humanity. When Raven starts insulting Team RWBY, Taiyang, and Qrow, Yang angrily yells at her mother and asks why she left her. She and Weiss learn of Raven and Qrow's shapeshifting ability that Ozpin gave them. Raven creates a portal and gives an ultimatum: either they stay with her and learn more, or go to Yang's uncle and sister, and face what she believes is certain death. Yang angrily replies that all she cares about is Ruby's safety. When she and Weiss ride toward the portal, Raven says she will not act kind the next time they meet. Yang dismisses her and leaves. The two girls reach Qrow, who takes them to Ruby. As her sister tearfully apologizes to her for leaving her, Yang embraces Ruby and tells her she loves her. The two of them invite Weiss to join the reunion hug.
Yang shares a meal and reminisces with Ruby, Weiss, Jaune, Ren, and Nora. She shows off her cybernetic arm, and when Nora challenges her to arm wrestle with it, she cuts the match short by shooting it as a projectile into a wall, along with Nora. Nora is petrified at the detached limb, but Yang considers revealing the detaching feature a success and laughs heartily. When she and Weiss sit to learn of Ozpin's nature, Yang presses him to answer why he would turn her mother and Qrow into birds. Qrow says that it was their decision and was taken seriously. Ozpin then offers the former Beacon students a chance to leave if they feel that the battle against Salem is too much for them. Yang decides to stay on the condition that Ozpin no longer keeps any further secrets from them. Ozpin agrees and invites the students to take the night to rest before taking action.
The next morning, Yang meets Ruby and Weiss outside and expresses disbelief at being in Mistral, along with what Ozpin revealed. When Ruby mentions Blake's absence, Yang acts dismissive, bitter, and apathetic of the Faunus. Ruby and Weiss press her about this behavior, and she reacts with defiance and red eyes, leading Ruby to worry. After realizing how she came across, Yang dismisses them and returns to her bedroom. She is surprised to find Weiss approach her, and she explains herself. She details the feeling of being alone and left behind and assumes Weiss would not understand. Weiss opens up about her family situation, and Yang apologizes for her assumptions. She continues to not understand why Blake would choose to leave if her friends from Beacon are there for her and why Blake would not be open about herself. Weiss comforts Yang, saying all they can do is be there for Blake when it's possible, but Yang thinks Blake may not come back to them. Weiss reassures her and says Team RWBY is more of a family to her than her brother and/or father, and that she is there for Yang. The blonde is in a better state of mind as Ruby checks in on them.
On the night of a full moon, Yang travels with Qrow and the others to Haven Academy to meet with Professor Lionheart about the raiding party for the Branwen tribe. During the meeting, however, she spots her mother in her avian form, prompting Raven to reveal herself to everyone. Yang and the others are shocked to find that both Lionheart and Raven have seemingly conspired with Salem's Inner Circle, and they find themselves surrounded by the enemy.
In the ensuing battle, Mercury confronts Yang, and they fight once again. She is shocked when she sees Weiss impaled by Cinder Fall. When Raven and Vernal travel with the Fall Maiden down to the Vault of the Relic, Nora urges Yang to stop them. Before she can, however, Mercury and Emerald attack her. Throughout the fight, Yang is at a great disadvantage with Emerald's hallucinations and Mercury's surprise attacks. Ruby interrupts the fight, saving her, and the sisters prepare to fight together. Yang coordinates with her sister and fights Emerald, but she is later exhausted from the long battle. Upon the arrival of the Menagerie Faunus and the Mistral police force, Yang is shocked to find Blake standing outside the school building. However, she quickly complies with Ruby's command to head for the Vault, dodging Emerald and Mercury and detaching her robotic arm. Yang then jumps down the pathway and lands, confronting her mother as she is about to take the Relic.
Yang asks what happened to the previous Spring Maiden and realizes Raven killed her, which turns the discussion heated. Yang criticizes Raven for her hypocrisy and cowardice, reasoning that she is not strong because she lets others take conflict for her. Yang uses this logic to demand Raven to relinquish the Relic because of her fear of Salem, vowing to stand against the enemy when the time comes. She does not heed her mother's warning and shoves her away to reach the Vault. Yang returns Raven's apology and turns to find her mother gone, spotting only a black feather. Yang walks into the chamber and takes the Relic, but she drops to her knees and cries at the revelation of her mother leaving her once again.
Yang returns to ground level with the Relic in her hand and glances at Blake with a smile. After Salem's followers make their escape after Emerald's breakdown, Yang gives Qrow the Relic and reports that Cinder is gone and Vernal is dead. However, she only states that Raven is gone, withholding her mother's status as the Spring Maiden. As she rejoins her teammates, Yang makes amends with Blake, and Team RWBY hugs, reunited.
Recovering back at the house, Yang and her friends pack their belongings as they learn from Qrow about Ozpin's plan of getting the Relic to Atlas. She then jokes about using Weiss as a potential chance of getting some money for the former heiress's return to her kingdom. As Ozpin emerges from his rest, they learn from him that the Relic of Knowledge can answer three questions every 100 years. Yang is amazed, though she comments that this Relic puts a lot of pressure on them to keep it safe.
Two weeks after the Battle of Haven, Yang and her friends are in a train station on their way to Argus, a stepping stone on their long journey to Atlas. Once aboard the train, Team RWBY passes time in their passenger car. Ruby calls for an official team exercise, video games, and Yang gets up to retrieve her Scroll for it. Blake, in an overtly courteous attempt to reacclimate with the team, helps Yang get her bag from a high shelf. Yang tells her it was unnecessary, but reassures her that she is happy the team is back together.
Manticore and Sphinx Grimm interrupt them, and they climb atop the train to fight them off. A tunnel and the Relic's Grimm attraction complicate the fight. In response, Ruby devises a plan that Jaune, Ren, and Nora take all the passengers and the front cars to Atlas safely while Team RWBY, Qrow, and Oscar use the rear cars to fight the Grimm. Just as they win the fight against the Grimm, the Sphinx spits one last fireball at the tracks, derailing the train and sending the fighters into a snowy forest. Maria Calavera, an old woman who happened to stay in the rear cars, comes out and greets them.
As she struggles to extricate Bumblebee from the snow, Yang laments their predicament and confronts Ozpin about breaking his promise to stop keeping secrets. The discourse grows heated between the two, as Ozpin ultimately defends his secretive methods, despite causing the group to be separated from Team JNPR. Suddenly, Oscar temporarily overrides Ozpin and urges Ruby to summon Jinn from the Relic. The magical being introduces herself and reveals that she can still answer two questions, incensing Yang as she realizes Ozpin had lied about all the questions being used. Qrow tries to speak up, but Yang gets defensive, which causes him to relent. After her sister asks Jinn about Ozpin's secret, Yang and the others are separated from one another in a white space. Jinn then begins to tell them a story to answer Ruby's question, revealing that Salem was once human.
As she learns of Salem and Ozma's past, and that Ozpin cannot defeat his former lover, Yang is angered by the revelation. Her temper worsens when the Headmaster seals himself within Oscar's mind, and Yang forcefully demands Oscar to bring him out, despite him being unable to. As the tension in the group rises, Maria steps up and directs them to a nearby trail to try and find shelter. Yang is seemingly irritated by the given orders, but her complaints are cut off quickly by the older woman. She later pushes Bumblebee with Maria riding on it, as the heroes find Brunswick Farms and enter to take shelter from the snowstorm.
After Qrow breaks down the front door of the main house, Yang goes with Weiss to find blankets to keep themselves warm, but, in the master bedroom, they find a pair of decomposed corpses on the bed, causing Weiss to cry out in terror. As the group gathers around the fire, they learn from Qrow that everyone else on the estate had also seemingly died in their sleep, and they have no other choice but to spend the night at the manor until the storm clears. After Ruby suggests that there should be supplies for them to use, Yang grudgingly agrees to go with Blake to find a vehicle. The pair look into a shed and find a flatbed to attach to the back of Bumblebee. All is well until Yang looks out the window and is frightened upon seeing Adam. She admits her PTSD to Blake and asks if they will have to confront him again. Yang is happy when her partner reassures her that they will face Adam together, but things turn sour when she is seemingly insulted by her partner's promise to protect her, causing her to turn around to go back to the main house.
Later that night, Yang is seen sitting by the fireplace, gazing into the warm flames. Ruby comes into the living room and tells everyone to be ready to leave in the morning. The next day, she's outside as the finishing touches are put on both her bike and the flatbed trailer. But when the trailer gets a flat tire, Yang becomes depressed at their misfortune. She then argues that it would be best to simply discard the Relic, citing that it might not be found for years. But when Ruby loses the lamp in the well, she's insistent upon reclaiming it before leaving, much to Yang's discontent. She and the rest of the team descend into the underground waterways to find the lamp, which is quickly found, along with a band of Grimm called the Apathy, whose screams drain everyone of their will. Maria calls for them to flee, as more Apathy emerge from the tunnels. They flee to a cellar, only to find more Apathy waiting for them, and are nearly incapacitated by their screams. Though, once Ruby disintegrates them with her silver eyes, Yang immediately heads for the locked exit and breaks it open with her robotic fist. After they find Qrow passed out in the bar, Yang grabs Blake's hand and quickly leads the way outside. She then calls for Oscar, who was just finishing replacing the flat tire, to leave immediately.
Yang drives along the snowy path, her team behind her in the trailer. As Maria finishes her story about the Apathy, Yang apologizes for her careless words, saying they cannot give up until the Relic is secured.
As Yang continues to drive, the group learns that Maria was a silver-eyed warrior known as the Grimm Reaper, but she was blinded and went into hiding out of fear. All of a sudden, they get a call from Jaune on Ruby's Scroll, and Yang drives up the hill and announces to the group that they have finally reached Argus. After she parks Bumblebee, the group reunites with Jaune, Ren, and Nora and takes the trolley through the city, where they find Jaune's sister, Saphron Cotta-Arc, and her son, Adrian Cotta-Arc. At the Cotta-Arc house, Yang plays with the baby and later fonds over him with Weiss, and they all meet Saphron's wife, Terra Cotta-Arc, and eat sandwiches. Team RWBY plans to get through the Argus military base the next day, but when they go, its front gate quickly closes before them.
Yang yells at the guards for not hearing the group out first, but they eventually meet Caroline Cordovin, who only allows Weiss to return home in Atlas. The gates close on the group again and Qrow goes out to drink, leaving Team RWBY and Oscar left to tell Team JNR about Ozpin and Salem. The revelation to Jaune, Nora, and Ren does not go well, and the entire group splits to have time by themselves. Later, Yang calls out to Ruby, who is conversing with Maria, as the group finds that Oscar has disappeared.
They then split up to search for Oscar. With no luck, Team RWBY and Maria return to the house at night where they find Qrow drunk on the front steps, something that Yang has never seen before. After she and Ruby get their uncle up, they are reunited with Jaune and his group, and everyone is later surprised to find Oscar with a new outfit. Inside the house, Yang and the others listen to Jaune's idea of stealing an Atlas airship, later asking how they would get on the airfield. The group is saddened when Qrow rejects Jaune's idea, but their spirits are quickly lifted when Ruby decides to hear Jaune out and that they should do things their way.
While the majority of the heroes head to the Argus coast to steal an airship, Yang and Blake take Bumblebee to the CCT relay tower to disable Argus's military radar. Yang drops Blake off and, after exchanging a few words, waits by Bumblebee for her return. However, when her contact with Blake is lost and the plan starts to unravel, Yang tells her friends to keep it together and goes to find Blake.
Yang soon finds Blake at the mercy of Adam Taurus. She drives Bumblebee off a cliff and disembarks in midair so that it rams into him and falls into the river. Yang offers Blake to take her place and fight Adam, who agrees without question. The two combatants exchange blows, Yang holding her own, and clearly having learned and grown more skilled since her previous encounter with Adam at the Battle of Beacon. After blocking a full-force attack from Adam's Semblance with her robotic arm, she tells Adam that it is his last chance to stand down, but Adam calls her bluff, insinuating that she is afraid to die protecting Blake, which visibly angers Yang. Blake grabs Yang's quivering hand and rebuts Adam by saying that they are protecting each other.
When Adam challenges that Blake is promising Yang what she once promised Adam - to not leave her - Yang counters, asking if Adam was manipulating her. Yang and Blake engage Adam once more, landing a succession of hits by working together. Yang grabs Blake's weapon and, with the ribbon, she sends Blake careening toward Adam, but Blake loses the engagement, and her Aura breaks upon her body hitting the cliffside. Yang pays attention to Blake free-climbing as she engages Adam. Adam bullheadedly charges at Yang, and she activates her Semblance. She catches his blade in her robotic hand, her hair on fire, and jerks him forward into a strong punch to his gut, the force sending him sliding on the ground and kicking up the earth.
Both Adam's and Yang's Auras broken, she throws his sword over the edge, setting Blake up to punch him under the jaw. He stumbles over Blake's weapon, and Yang and Blake retrieve the severed portions of it, stabbing him through both sides of his torso. His blood spreading, Blake and Yang remove the blades and watch Adam hobble until he falls lifelessly into the water below. Yang comforts Blake, who breaks down after having killed the man who defined much of her life. She says she knows Blake will keep her promise to not leave Yang again.
Yang and Blake reconvene with the group at the cliff, the heroes having disabled the mech while a Leviathan and several Grimm are set upon Argus. Everyone boards the stolen airship, and Yang and Ruby console Blake as she blames the invasion on herself for failing her part of the plan. Yang helps distract the Leviathan for Ruby to use her Silver Eye powers. It is not enough, however, and Yang is powerless to stop the Leviathan from focusing on Ruby. Ruby is successful, however, and Cordovin allows the heroes to leave for Atlas.
After Blake and Yang share what happened with Adam, Yang takes Blake's hand, saying they were there for each other, and Blake smiles. Oscar shares that Ozpin has been mentally present to a degree, leading Yang to wonder if the former headmaster had been spying on them. On their approach to Atlas, Yang enjoys the view, yet she worries about the military's overt presence. A voice on the radio welcomes them to the Kingdom.
Cautiously, Yang and the group decide to fly down to Mantle instead of trying to meet Ironwood directly. Along the way, they leave the Manta behind, and Maria leads them through Mantle, where Yang destroys a surveillance robot on their way, to what turns out to be Pietro Polendina's pharmacy. The heroes talk to him and try to ask him to meet Ironwood.
Suddenly, however, an alarm sounds, and Yang and the group fight an onslaught of Sabyrs. Penny interrupts the fight and finishes the last of the Grimm before sharing an oddly heartwarming reunion with the heroes. After Penny leaves to fight more Grimm, the Ace-Ops arrest the heroes for unauthorized weapon use, seizing their weapons and the Relic, and putting them in a transport bound for Atlas.
On the airship, they meet Forest, a supporter of Robyn Hill. They talk about her with Forest for a short while before they are delivered to Ironwood and released from their restraints. Shortly after that, Ironwood reveals his plans to the group while Ruby decides to withhold information about what happened on their way to Atlas from Ironwood.
Later the group, minus Qrow, is led to Atlas Academy, where they can rest.
After completing a mission to secure the launch site for the Amity Communication Tower, Ironwood grants Yang and her friends their Huntsmen licenses. As now-official Huntsmen, Yang and her friends go through several training exercises with the Ace Operatives to improve their skills. They also do Huntsmen missions to assist the construction of the Amity Tower, defend Mantle from any Grimm attacks, and hunt any loose Grimm.
During one of these missions, they discover a strange orb that attracted the Grimm towards it. After finding this one and leaving it with Pietro Polendina, the team head to Essen and help the people when they attack a Megoliath harming the town and are saved by Team BRIR before they are chased out by Bram Thornmane. After learning from Poetry that the orb is from the abandoned military base Fort Arrowfell, the team leave the orb in Thornmane's possession who gives it to lieutenant colonel Olive Harper to investigate while Team RWBY help the Ace Operatives with their own missions. Once they are finished, they learn from Harper that the technology seems to have come from Amoncio Glass and the team confront him about the orb.
Once they learn that the orbs were designed to attract the Grimm, they learn from Harper that Glass got the technology from someone in the military and Ironwood reveals that the only person that could extract the emotions needed to power the orbs was Mantle's most well-respected Union leader Hanlon Fifestone due to his Semblance having that power and order that he be arrested. While trying to find his location, Qrow helps the team by using five security drones to help them and the team obtain all five by helping out the people in the surrounding areas, including Winter Schnee, and find out that Fifestone is at the Mantle industrial center. The team manage to arrive in time to see Fifestone extract the emotions from one of his fellow co-workers as Blake kicks him through a wall. After defeating him and Blake reprimanding Fifestone for harming the very people he was supposed to be protecting, Fifestone activated four hidden orbs throughout the Kingdom as Team RWBY had to search for all of them.
After locating all of the orbs, Team RWBY were to assist with helping a train holding an entire Atlas Military battalion reach the stronghold of the mastermind behind the conspiracy. When they entered the train however, the Atlesian forces onboard turned hostile as Ruby realized at Harper had set them up and was actually a part of the conspiracy before the train crashed into nearby ruins and the team was confronted by Team BRIR under the false impression that they were the ones responsible as Thornmane had hired them to stop them. Once they defeat Team BRIR and learn that Thornmane was the true mastermind and caused the attacks so Ironwood would be seen in a negative light by the people, they head to Fort Arrowfell to confront him and Harper while locating Team BRIR in the "Crystal Nexus" underneath Solitas due to them being the "Keepers of Arrowfell" and having access to the base while they apologize for attacking them and being tricked by Thornmane. After entering the base and finding a remorseful Harper planning to turn herself in, the team eventually confront Thornmane at the deepest part of Fort Arrowfell and defeat him. After he is taken away, Ironwood congratulated the team for completing their first big mission as Huntresses as the team celebrate.
After several weeks of rigorous training and missions, Ironwood grants Yang and her friends a night off during election night. Blake and Yang decide to go out partying with Team FNKI.
After the election night incident at the Mantle Warehouse, Ironwood tasks Yang, Blake, and the Ace-Ops to find and arrest Robyn and her Happy Huntresses after they began stealing some supply shipment trucks during a curfew and a ban on public gatherings, delaying the launch of the Amity Communications Tower. En route, Yang suggests it would have been better to explain to Ironwood all they knew about Salem, but based on his reaction to what he does know, Blake disagrees. Discussing the situation, Blake alludes to the death of Adam Taurus, and worries about the potential confrontation with Robyn. Yang suggests that they don't confront her.
When attempting one heist, however, Robyn discovers Yang and Blake and quickly orders her Happy Huntresses to make their separate escape and regroup at their hideout. Robyn flees as Yang and Blake give chase, but they are adamant about talking and inform her about Ironwood's secret project. Skeptical at first, Robyn tells one of the two to hold her hand and reminds them that they do not have much time before the Ace-Ops arrives. When Blake takes Robyn's hand, Robyn uses her Semblance and asks the cat Faunus about Ironwood's motives in the tundra. Despite Blake telling the truth, Robyn questions why Ironwood keeps it a secret. Blake says that he cannot trust anyone, and that if certain people in Atlas find out, they will try to destroy Amity.
Before parting ways with Yang and Blake, Robyn swears that she will never stop until she finds out the truth.
Ironwood and his subordinates are later invited by Jacques to a private dinner party at his mansion to defend his council position. Yang and her friends are invited along too as a precaution, in case the council needs more witnesses. Before leaving, Team RWBY and Oscar discuss their suspicions of Jacques and his suspicious election victory and possible ties to the hacker in the security network. They decide for Weiss to sneak off in the mansion and search his office for clues. Weiss successfully sneaks into his office during the party and, with some help from her mother, obtains a recording of her father and Arthur Watts striking a deal for Watts to rig the election in exchange for humiliating Ironwood. Weiss shows the footage to the council, resulting in Jacques being stripped of his rank and arrested.
Meanwhile, Watts, using Jacques's council credentials, hacks into the Mantle heating grid and deactivates the heat throughout the city, freezing the citizens. The public assumes Atlas to be freezing them out and causes a huge riot and fire in the streets, attracting a massive Grimm invasion. With the thing that Ironwood was afraid of already happening, Ruby and Oscar convince him to tell the council and Robyn of Salem, which he agrees to and complies with. Team RWBY and Team JNR deploy to Mantle to protect the citizens and repel the Grimm, along with the Ace-Ops.
The Huntsmen fly into Mantle on an airship, but are shot down by Teryx Grimm. They split up into teams of three to help as many civilians as possible, with Yang being on a team with Elm Ederne and Blake. As they battle the Grimm, Ironwood releases a broadcast to Mantle and Atlas revealing the existence of Salem, her associates, and their responsibility with their attacks on Beacon, Mistral, and Mantle, much to Yang's joy.
During the evacuations, Yang and the other Huntsmen suddenly receive a message from Ironwood to be recalled with zero explanation. Confused, they return to Ironwood, who reveals that a black queen chess piece, the symbol Salem used before Beacon fell, was placed in his office. Ruby realizes that Cinder Fall was responsible, upon seeing that it was made of black glass. Ironwood caves in to paranoia, suspects Salem was ahead of them the whole time, and loses trust in Team RWBY for lying about Ozpin and Jinn, and for Blake and Yang leaking the Amity plans to Robyn, unbeknownst to Ruby and Weiss. The meeting is suddenly interrupted by the emergence of a Seer Grimm that was hiding in Watts's bag, and conjures up a mirage of Salem. Salem reveals that she is imminent to Atlas, and threatens to destroy both cities if the group does not surrender both Relics. Ruby defies Salem, stating that they will stop her regardless if they can kill her or not. Salem retorts that her mother also said the same thing, but was also proven wrong, causing Ruby to break down crying as the mirage fades.
The Salem apparition disappears, and the Ace-Ops begin to panic, especially upon realizing that the proximity alarms along the coast near Atlas are inactive. Blake asks about the readiness to launch the Amity Tower, but Yang realizes that Ironwood just said that to lure out Watts. Ironwood states that he has sent Winter to claim the Winter Maiden's powers and that he wants to seal the Relic of Knowledge in the vault with the Relic of Creation. He tells Ruby that he changed his mind about letting Team RWBY keep the Lamp because they lied to him, and because Salem is on their doorstep while everyone is too exhausted for another battle.
Ironwood then explains that he intends to raise the City of Atlas into the atmosphere instead of the Amity Tower. There, the city, the two Relics, and the Winter Maiden will be safe from Salem. Team RWBY protests that this plan would mean leaving people in Mantle to die due to the evacuation not being complete, but Ironwood and the Ace-Ops refuse to reconsider. Suddenly, Jaune opens a group call with Ruby, Qrow, and Winter. Taking the opportunity, Ruby uses her Semblance to get past Ironwood and warn the others about his plan. Ironwood locks communications, declares that Team RWBY is under arrest, and leaves while the Ace-Ops get ready to detain them.
Harriet locks down Ironwood's office, letting Team RWBY decide whether they'll be arrested peacefully or not, prompting Marrow to hesitantly ask if they're really going to fight. Ruby taunts Harriet by saying the Ace-Ops were the best Huntsmen in Atlas until they trained her team, prompting the fight to break. Yang tag-teams with Blake, battling Elm and Vine Zeki, where the former eventually traps Blake. Vine tries to talk Yang into surrendering, promising nobody will be hurt, causing Elm to snap at him to speak for himself, personally feeling betrayed by Team RWBY. Yang snidely remarks that Elm shouldn't care because of her orders, enraging her into dropping Blake and exasperating Vine. Elm tosses Blake aside and forces Vine to re-strategize.
Elm tries to psyche herself (and Vine) into letting go of their restraint and bonds to Team RWBY, but fails to do so. She and Vine's lack of communication and support leads to their defeat. Team RWBY then ties Harriet and the Ace-Ops to their Gravity Bolas, and leaves them in Ironwood's office. Pietro Polendina and Maria catch Team RWBY tying up the Specialists, and decide to help the Huntresses. The group makes a plan where Ruby and Weiss will catch up to Winter and the Maiden, whilst Yang and Blake find their friends to escape Atlas.
They arrive in the Atlas Medical Facility, where Yang asks what happened upon seeing an injured Winter Schnee and dead Fria. Ruby and Weiss join her without an explanation, and Penny decides to go with them. On the airship, Ruby and Weiss comfort Penny until they intercept a broadcast from the military: Salem has arrived.
Yang is first seen in the Happy Huntress' hideout in Mantle, as Ruby returns with Oscar. Joanna soon enters the room, and tells them they need to evacuate the remaining Mantle citizens to the Crater, where they'd have heat and be easier to defend. Yang voices her desire to help the people of Mantle, but Ruby states that Amity takes precedence, since Salem is nearby. The two sisters continue to discuss the matter, but no mutual agreement is reached, and soon the heroes split into two groups: Jaune, Ren, and Oscar side with Yang while the rest, including Penny, side with Ruby. Dr. Polendina gives Yang a set of keys to “something” he was building in his pharmacy.
Yang's Group stealthily moves through the streets of Mantle until they reach Pietro's Pharmacy, taking out a pair of AK-200 units standing guard inside. Once they find what Pietro built for them, they take their new vehicles through the streets of Mantle, with Yang grinning from ear to ear. As they help evacuate the citizens, a pair of Sabyrs race towards them, but are quickly dispatched. One woman protests about being near a Faunus in the Crater, but Yang quickly rebukes her, adding that Atlas will not help her, but the Faunus will, regardless if she deserves it or not. Yang leads the exodus from the Mantle towards the Crater.
Yang soon reconvenes with Joanna and Fiona, telling them that Sector 7 has been cleared. When Fiona comments that she was surprised that Yang's Group achieved it without the others, Yang retorts that they managed just fine. When news comes of more Grimm in the eastern side, Yang immediately volunteers to resolve the issue.
Her team quickly heads for the eastern section of Mantle, where they encounter a Teryx, which is quickly dispatched, but then they hear news of more Grimm in the western section,and realize that the night has only just begun. Suddenly, a trio of Sabyrs race towards them, only to retreat for no known reason, and then, an unknown, dog-like Grimm attacks, targeting Oscar and quickly breaking his Aura. Yang immediately races to his aid, but the Grimm uses Oscar as a shield and then slams her into a building across the street. Once it thwarts any further resistance, the Grimm grows wings and flies above the city, with Oscar in its maw. When Fiona calls for their status, Yang replies they cannot make it, as she and the others chase after Oscar and his captor.
Yang and her team are next seen outside Mantle, chasing the monstrous Grimm that captured Oscar. They pursue it up a mountain path, Ren latching onto its leg with Stormflower while Yang heads up a short rise in the chasm, firing upon The Hound with Ember Celica. Suddenly, the Grimm screams, and dozens of Centinels emerge around them, in turn, slowing them down. Jaune is sent flying from his bike, but Yang quickly catches him and places him upon her own, as she continues to pursue The Hound, speeding by Centinels and Teryxes in her path. Unfortunately, the path comes to an abrupt end, and Yang cannot stop in time, and both she and Jaune are flung from the bike and over the edge. Fortunately, Ren manages to latch onto them with his weapons to prevent a fatal fall, as The Hound flies to a gigantic, whale-like Grimm in the sky.
Yang is next seen picking up nuts and bolts from a damaged HVB, as Jaune tries in vain to make contact. They start making their way back toward Mantle on foot, when Yang notices Ren being very sullen. She tries to reassure him, but her efforts are shot down, making her irritable in return. Their discourse grows increasingly more heated, until Ren snaps about how Jaune cheated his way into Beacon, much to his regret. As they start moving again, Yang asks if he intends to push everyone away.
Later on, Yang enters the temporary shelter they find in the tundra, as Ren storms out. She consoles Jaune over what Ren said, telling him she knows how hard he's worked to become what he is now. As she starts fixing a bike component, she asks if “she” thinks any less of her for not helping with Amity. As Jaune says he needs sleep, Yang approves and promises to watch over Ren in the meantime.
She's next seen in the shelter, just after Ruby's global broadcast is unfortunately cut short. Suddenly, a tremor from outside alerts her and the others, and they rush into the night to discover a river of Grimm, headed right for Mantle. The next morning, the three of them are riding their remaining bike together, when they are confronted by Winter Schnee and the Ace-Ops, much to Yang's discontent. As the discussion grows heated, another tremor rocks the area, and then, Yang and the others watch as the river of Grimm shoots up into Atlas, stripping away its defenses and allowing Monstra to land on the edge of the Kingdom, thus initiating the Battle of Atlas.
Yang and her team are next seen held with Winter's ship, bound by Gravity Bolas and watched closely by the Ace-Ops. Winter contacts Ironwood, telling him that she has them captured, and the general tells her to keep them in sight. Yang acidly notes that she's “still just following orders”, but gets no response. She then looks through the window and sees Monstra, agape at its gigantic size. Yang tries to tell them that's where Oscar was taken prisoner, but is interrupted by Ironwood, who tells them a bomb is being prepared to deal with the colossal Grimm. Yang and Jaune protest, citing Oscar is still inside.
Later in the evening, Yang still protests the decision, only to be rebuked by Elm, who sees no point in them sacrificing their lives for Oscar, making Yang glare at her in response. Though, when Ren stands up for saving Oscar, Yang looks to him in admiration. After some tense discussion, Winter agrees to let them infiltrate Monstra to find Oscar, but warns them that if they do not escape before the bomb arrives, they'll deploy it. The ships land upon the battle-ravaged fields, and Yang is first to disembark.
Once they get inside the Monstra, both Yang and Jaune are shocked when Ren reveals his ability to read emotions, causing them to decide that they should follow Ren's lead through the creature, as he can lead them to Oscar. After Jaune goes to scout ahead, Yang jokingly tells Ren that they seemed to have mended fences, to which he tells her that she does not need to hide her fear with humor, saying that they are both afraid, which she appreciates. Jaune rushes back to them, saying that a Seer Grimm is coming, causing the three of them to hide until it passes.
They continue down the corridors, fighting several Grimm, until they run into Emerald and Hazel. While the three initially prepare to fight, they stop when "Hazel" is revealed to actually be Oscar disguised by Emerald's semblance. Yang is initially quite hostile toward Emerald, but Ren tells her that she is just as scared as they are, causing her to back off slightly. Emerald and Oscar tell them about their plan to escape, and Emerald agrees to lead the group off the Monstra.
Just as the group reach an exit in the Monstra's side, they hear a loud rumbling sound, which is then revealed to be Salem. Yang lunges at her and attaches sticky grenades to Salem's chest, and rockets away to detonate them. Salem's torso is ripped apart by the blast, but she merely projects a black tendril through her hand to snare Yang, easily pulling her back as she regenerates. Throwing Yang into Oscar when he fires a bolt of magic at her, Salem summons Shadow Hands to immobilize the group. After she questions Oscar on why he (Ozma) keeps coming back, Yang interrupts with her own question on why Salem keeps bringing death and destruction on to everyone else just because she didn't get "a fairy-tale ending". She berates Salem by saying that everything and everyone she's ever lost in her life has been because of Salem. When Salem asks who she took from Yang, she replies with "Summer Rose... my mom." This amuses Salem, but their conversation is interrupted by Hazel, who, after arming Oscar with The Long Memory, attacks Salem, allowing Yang's Group the opportunity to escape. The group manages to escape the Monstra, but Oscar chooses to stay behind, using The Long Memory to release a powerful, blinding light that engulfs the entire area.
Following the destruction of Monstra, Yang receives a call from Blake who wants to know if Yang's Group is alright. Through the Scroll, Weiss sends Yang a map of where to access a subway tunnel and what route to take from there.
As Yang's Group walks through a subway tunnel, they discuss what to do with Emerald. Oscar wants to work with her, while Yang opposes due to her being involved in the Fall of Beacon, which led to her losing her arm. Emerald wants to leave, but Jaune does not want her to go free because of how she helped Cinder. Ren agrees with Oscar, stating that their actions should not come from fear. Through this conversation, Oscar ends up revealing to the group that Ozpin has returned and wants to help them. He then explains that the explosion he created inside Monstra came from him utilizing most of the kinetic energy that was stored in The Long Memory over the course of lifetimes. They continue down the tunnel until they find Atlas' citizens taking shelter in a subway station.
At the Schnee Manor, Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar reunite with Ruby, Weiss, and Blake. Yang and Ruby warmly embrace, followed by Yang and Blake embracing affectionately, but their reunion is interrupted by a call from May Marigold. May begins to explain that the SDC cargo ships they sent to Mantle are not alone, but, soon after, she has to call out for everyone to run to the mines. There is an explosion, and the call cuts out.
An alarm sounds from everyone's Scrolls, signifying an emergency broadcast. Ruby uses her Scroll to project a screen for everyone to watch the broadcast on. The screen shows the SDC ships being shot down by Atlas military ships, and the broadcast then switches to Ironwood standing in a spotlight in a dark room. He claims that Penny alone is standing in the way of Atlas' salvation. He then gives Penny a choice - either she opens the Vault for him and Mantle is left to fend for itself, or he will destroy Mantle with the bomb that was originally intended to kill Monstra. In the city, Cinder and Watts are watching the broadcast, and they look at each other. Ironwood then threatens to destroy Mantle if anyone does anything other than what he has ordered, and gives them one hour to respond.
While the group discusses Ironwood's ultimatum, they find that there are seemingly no options, causing Ruby to conclude that it is impossible, and when the tension and distrust toward Emerald momentarily rises, Ruby becomes frustrated, stating that they are still where they started, and she runs from the room, causing Yang to run after her.
Yang finds Ruby in the foyer and attempts to cheer her up. Ruby, sitting near the statue that killed The Hound, tells Yang her theory that their mom also fell victim to the same experiments that led Salem to create The Hound. She then says that her plan to get the Amity Communications Tower into the air was a waste of time, and Yang disagrees, telling her that it is important to have hope and take risks.
Their conversation is interrupted by the sound of a window breaking, and everyone hurries outside to find Penny struggling against the virus. Blake, Ren, and Emerald use their weapons to keep Penny from flying away, and Weiss pulls her to the ground with a glyph. In desperation, Penny asks Ruby to kill her so that she can pass the Winter Maiden powers on to her, but Ruby cannot bring herself to do it. Nora's insistence that only part of Penny is affected by the virus inspires Ruby to have Jaune boost Penny's Aura to combat the virus. The idea works, but it is only temporary. In her attempt to give everyone encouragement, Emerald admits that she has switched sides. With the mood lightened, Ozpin tells everyone that he realizes he should have trusted them with the truth and should not have run away when they discovered it for themselves. Yang, Blake, and Weiss state that they understand that trust is a risk. The virus continues trying to force Penny to go to the vault, and Ruby gets an idea.
uby gets an idea to open the Vault and use the Relic of Creation to save Penny and the citizens of Atlas and Mantle. While they discussed the idea, Winter contacts Weiss to get help against the general. Ruby's Group then gathers inside the Schnee Manor to figure out a plan to reach the Staff of Creation, stop Ironwood, and use the Staff to achieve their goals. Through some discussion, they find out how to use the Staff, and settle on using it to try and cure Penny of her virus.
Team RWBY and Penny board an airship, carrying them up to the large hole that Oscar had previously blasted through the bottom of Atlas, Ruby then uses her Semblance to carry her teammates and Penny up through the hole and into the Atlas Vault. They take Penny up to the door, and as soon as it opens, Ruby once again uses her Semblance to grab her teammates, rush in, grab the Staff, and activate it so that time stops. Ambrosius comes forth from the Staff, and Team RWBY uses a loophole to convince him to save Penny by using her soul and her robot body to make two distinct Pennys - an empty, virus-infected robot Penny and a human Penny, who existed all along within the robot.
Weiss summons Ambrosius from the Staff, and Yang asks him if he can create portals throughout Atlas and Mantle that will all lead into a pocket dimension similar to the Vault and then, from there, everyone will be able to travel to a singular portal that opens into Vacuo. He states that they are either smart or much more foolish than they realize, and with the logistics explained and maps presented to him, Ambrosius makes the gateways as they asked, and just before they enter the portal near them, he warns, "Do not fall".
Once inside the pocket dimension, they begin helping refugees through the portal, when Cinder suddenly unleashes an explosive blast, sending refugees flying off of a platform. This draws Team RWBY's attention, and they begin to fight Cinder. While Team RWBY is distracted fighting Cinder, Neo sneaks up on them, using her Semblance to disguise herself. When Yang notices Neo moving in to attack Ruby, she activates her Semblance before launching herself forward and pushes Ruby out of the way, taking the hit. Yang's Aura breaks and she loses consciousness, sent tumbling over the edge of the platform into the void below.
When Yang passed through the Void, she ended up arriving in the Ever After and ended up unconscious. When she woke up, her prosthetic arm had been stolen and she was forced to defend herself without it when she encountered the Jabberwalker before it goes elsewhere. When she went after the creature to finish their fight, she encountered the other members of her team as all of them except Ruby fight the beast before it fled. When Ruby asked her if she was alright, Yang told her that she shouldn't be there before Ruby told her that they would have still gone to find her anyway. At that moment, Yang is pounced by Blake after she was worried about her. Right afterwards however, Yang asked what happened after she fell in and Weiss starts tearing up when she tells the others that Penny had died again.
After Ruby wakes up from fainting, Yang and the others are shown at her side and begin to wonder if they are dead before Blake sees the Ever After and believes that they are in a Fairy Tale.
Eventually Yang confesses to Blake and started a romantic relationship. They and the rest of the team eventually leave The Ever After.
== Personality ==
S
he was described as "the kind of person who would teach someone how to swim by pushing them in the water". This speaks volumes about how Yang approaches most things in life. She is very straightforward and confident.
Yang is also described as being a cheerful, energetic, and bright young lady. She is arguably the most flippant, carefree, and adventurous member of her team, frequently making sarcastic comments and jokes even in the heat of battle and often taking combat and hostile situations lightly. Yang is very sociable and extroverted, even in unfamiliar situations. Yang's love of adventure is the main reason that she decided to become a Huntress. Blake considers Yang the personification of the word "strength". According to Ruby, she snores loudly.
However, Yang's "brawler" fighting style is evocative of her personality. Her anger, one of her main assets in battle, can lead her to act predictably and has put her into danger repeatedly. She was easily frustrated when she couldn't land a hit on Neopolitan and could not attack precisely because of it, leading to her getting knocked unconscious and almost killed. Yang is also very protective of her hair, becoming enraged when someone touches or rips or cuts even a small portion of her hair, causing her to attack with straight, blunt force the one who did it. However she is comfortable with letting Ruby touch or brush her hair or even use it to toy with her sister by tickling her nose. According to Taiyang, she shares a flaw with her mother: thinking strength is all that matters in a fight. Her thoughtless anger also led to the quick loss of her right arm in a short encounter with Adam Taurus after he angered her by injuring Blake. While recovering from her injuries, her father lectures her about this weakness and guides her in what she needs to do to start overcoming it along with her flaw that she shares with her mother.
Despite this, Yang is quite mature. She is extremely nurturing and motherly, particularly toward her younger sister, Ruby. Yang pushes her into being outgoing and also worries a great deal about her sister across the many battles they fight in. This protective and encouraging nature extends to Blake and Weiss as well. Yang is worried about Blake on several occasions, such as when she runs from her team and when she suffers from sleep and appetite problems, opening Yang to discussing her stubborn past. What Yang does not reveal is that she suffers from abandonment issues, blaming herself for her mother not sticking around.
Yang is also quite guile as she was able to teach Weiss on how to play Remnant: The Game by explaining to her how to use her cards in the game only to better trick Weiss into wasting her armies. She later used a laser to attract Blake so they would be able to talk and even tricked a bandit into revealing the location of Raven's camp. She is also perspicacious as she saw through her mother's facade and attempt to manipulate her into staying with the tribe during their first meeting, recognized her in her corvid form at Haven, and quickly deduced that her mother was the Spring Maiden and had killed the former maiden.
However, after the deaths of Pyrrha Nikos and Penny Polendina, the Fall of Beacon, the losses of her right arm and her partner Blake, Yang sunk into a reclusive depression. The mention of her missing partner agitates her and she gives Ruby the cold shoulder and even outright ignores her sister when she says, "I love you". Over months, Yang rebounds from this reclusive nature. Though she suffers from PTSD, she tries to keep moving forward, partially for her father's sake when feeling she holds him back. After overhearing her father and Bartholomew Oobleck talking about Ruby outside her window, she accepts the earlier wisdom of her father, Oobleck, and Professor Peter Port and dons her new robotic arm.
When training with her new limb, she learns how to balance her driven and positive nature without overconfidence or agitation. She paints her arm to match her style, changes to a new outfit, and headed to Mistral although her father believes she has not overcome her personality flaws. Fortunately, she has shown to not be as quick to blind anger in combat anymore and now fights displaying good strategy and intelligence, as seen with her rematch against Adam and when she fought the Ace-Ops. While traveling to Mistral to reunite with Ruby she continues to struggle with her PTSD, which manifests in her left arm shaking when she encounters stress. She, however, appears to have overcome it some time after she and Blake reluctantly killed Adam.
Yang is extremely sensitive about being abandoned and her "simmering anger" stems from these abandonment issues. For the better part of nearly two decades, Yang spent her life searching for her mother, trying to understand her reasons for leaving. Their first reunion in "Lighting the Fire" also demonstrated how low her opinion was of Raven, reacting with anger after Raven said that Yang finally decided to visit her, making it sound like she was the one responsible for her mother not being a part of her life. She even ignored Raven's attempts at lightening the mood and became hostile upon her father, uncle and Team RWBY being insulted in "Known by its Song". Even after her team's reunion at Haven, Yang was still guarded and kept some distance from Blake, stating in "Argus Limited" that their relationship would need time to heal. After a rematch against Adam in "Seeing Red" however, Yang fully accepted her partner's apologies, understanding that Blake was not like her mother.
Despite her fear of Salem, she was still strongly willing to continue fighting against her and to take the Relic of Knowledge to Atlas, despite knowing that it may put a target on her back. Even after learning about Salem's immortality and knowing that she wasn't a match for her, Yang still went against her in order to allow her friends to escape and did not hesitate to call Salem out on her actions. She also has a good degree of heroism and selflessness, being willing to takes the attacks from an Ursa and from Neo to protect Ruby as seen in the "Volume 5 Yang Character Short" and "Worthy" respectively, and even attacked Salem to save Emerald despite her enmity and distrust for her actions.
She has an opposition to keeping secrets. In "Rest and Resolutions", she had Ozpin swear not to lie or tell half-truths and later, in "Uncovered", she is upset with him for keeping the nature of the Relic of Knowledge a secret from the group as well as covering up Leonardo Lionheart's treachery. In "A New Approach", she was willing to trust Ruby's judgement in not telling James Ironwood the full truth about Salem and the Lamp, but questioned this decision privately later. When sent to apprehend Robyn Hill in "Worst Case Scenario", she and Blake instead revealed Ironwood's plans for the Amity Communications Tower to her. Despite her staunchness towards half-truths, she is not above telling some herself. In "Haven's Fate", Yang told an account of what happened in the Vault without explicitly bringing up how Raven was the Spring Maiden the whole time.
Following the events of Volume 7, Yang hardens herself in order to prepare for the overwhelming situation that they were in. She was hurt by what had happened to Mantle and wanted to do whatever she could to help them, hinting at her reason for criticizing her younger sister.
Despite her good qualities, Yang has a tendency to deflect. In "Divide", she deflects blame by criticizing Ruby's leadership, despite the fact that it was due to her and Blake's actions with Robyn that partially led to Ironwood losing faith in them and bringing about the current situation. In "Fault", when Ren brings up some concern that they were not ready and that their actions will lead to people dying, Yang avoids his direct criticism and tries to deflect by offering counterpoints without addressing his actual arguments. Finally, in “Tea Amidst Terrible Trouble”, she sheepishly deflected responsibility for her part in worsening Ruby’s mental decline, simply stating she shouldn’t have expected herself to be perfect.
However, unlike her mother, Yang is capable of admitting her wrongs as well as recognizing the qualities of others even when their opinions are different from hers, admitting to Blake that her obsession to search for her mother nearly got herself and Ruby killed when they were young, and during her discussion with Ruby in "Risk", she admitted that her own plan didn't work either after Ruby lamented the failure of bringing Amity Tower up and running, even telling Ruby that her blind optimism wasn't a flaw when she believed she wasted time with it, as it was a necessity in life.
In “A Cat Most Curious“, when Yang’s past self offers Yang an opportunity to be whole again by traveling back in time to regain her lost arm, Yang declines her offer as losing a part of herself is what makes her a stronger person. It shows that Yang already accepts her losses by learning from her mistakes.
== Powers and Abilities ==
Yang's fighting style is much more aggressive than that of her teammates. She uses a barehanded fist-fighting style and her weapons; Ember Celica. She is quite agile, able to dodge an onslaught of Ursai and gunfire with ease. Since gaining her prosthetic arm, Yang has taken to using its armored surface defensively, shielding herself from firearms, and staving off attacks to gain greater ground on her opponents, incorporating its advantages into her improved fighting style following further instruction from her father, Tai.
She is also physically the strongest of the group. Her strength is displayed on numerous occasions, such as when her punch sent a fully grown man several feet into the air and through a glass pillar without the enhancement of her weapon, and in "Players and Pieces", where she was able to keep the mouth of a Nevermore open with one arm long enough to deliver multiple shots down its throat.
Like all Huntsmen and Huntresses, Yang has had her Aura unlocked, coating her body with a shield powered by her soul, which helps protect her, especially when her aggressiveness gets her into bad situations. Though she already has the highest level of durability in her team, with her Aura unlocked, her durability is particularly high, as showcased in her doubles match with Weiss against Flynt Coal and Neon Katt during the Vytal Tournament, where she withstands numerous hits from Neon during the bout's opening stages and powers through the effects of Flynt's weapon, knocking him out and securing victory for her side shortly after. Due to the nature of her Semblance and the high durability, Yang would typically absorb enough hits through her Aura to empower herself and then finish the fights with her Semblance, which her father criticizes due to her over-reliance in "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back".
Since the end of Volume 3 and her mental recovery at the end of Volume 4, Yang's fighting skills had improved immensely after training again. Notably, she has incorporated more kicking and dodging. Her new robotic arm also gives her a higher degree of strength, able to send full-grown men flying from the intensity of her blows. During her rematch against Adam, she defeats him despite his superior speed by adapting her combat technique and avoiding attacking him until he uses up the energy from his Semblance so that she can disarm him, showing her improved intelligence in combat.
Her fight against Elm and Vine with Blake further showcases her more pragmatic approach to battles. She coordinated her attacks with Blake and refrained from using her Semblance until the last moment to destroy the ground Elm had anchored herself to and deliver the finishing blow. Since Volume 3, her use of her Semblance overall in battle has gone down, as she tends to activate it only as a last resort. Even when she does, rather than absorbing blows to her body, she now tends to deflect or absorb blows with her forearms, as she did in her final battle with Adam Taurus. This enables her to use her Semblance more effectively and runs less risk of her exhausting her Aura when she does so.
Yang's weapon of choice is Ember Celica, it is radically different compared to those used by her teammates, being a pair of gauntlets which can retract into bracelets. Yang's fighting style involves combining her punches with explosive shots from Ember Celica for moderate or short-ranged attacks.
Ember Celica has powerful recoil, which Yang can use to augment the force of her punch and accelerate her movements. The force is powerful enough to launch her high in the air. The recoil also reloads and prepares the gauntlets for the next shot.
She can also use her Ember Celica as a form of armor when defending against attacks in unarmed combat. After the events of "Heroes and Monsters", Yang only has one Ember Celica, due to her lost arm.
Yang's mutant ability, Burn, as Ruby states during the events of "Painting the Town...", lets her absorb kinetic energy from every blow she takes and use it to make herself more powerful; this is a form of kinetic energy absorption, with Yang subsequently redirecting said energy against her opponent with double the amount of force. As a side-effect of her Semblance, Yang's eyes turn red and her hair sometimes begins glowing and even becomes covered in flames. Yang's Semblance does not make her angry, but anger has sometimes led her to impulsively activate it.
Prior to the Fall of Beacon, Yang often used her Semblance to finish a fight, after absorbing enough damage from blows to overpower her opponent. However, after the Fall of Beacon, she begins to use it far less often and more as a final attack due to her improved training in fighting smarter rather than harder with Taiyang. This is demonstrated during her fights against the bandits and the Grimm between Haven and Argus where she doesn't use her Semblance to fight. At the end of her second and last fight with Adam Taurus, she uses it to disarm and overpower him with a very powerful punch.
After losing her arm in the Battle of Beacon to Adam Taurus she was given a new robotic arm by James Ironwood. She initially refused it due to depression, but after some time to reflect and heal, at least partially, Yang chose to use it, spray painting the new limb yellow to match her remaining Ember Celica.
Created by Pietro Polendina, Yang's cybernetic limb possesses great strength. Its power is shown in "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", where a single blow sent her father, a fully trained Huntsman, skidding back several feet even though Tai blocked the attack. It is also outfitted with most of Ember Celica's features, including a shotgun. As seen in "Rest and Resolutions" and "Downfall", the arm can detach from her bicep at will. It is also durable enough to take a fully charged strike from Adam's Moonslice Semblance and continued functioning even after its damage.
In Atlas, Yang's arm is modified. It is now larger with more mass and more gold plates around. It more resembles the design of Ember Celica.
Although Yang gets stronger from taking damage, her frustration and anger can be exploited by skilled opponents. This weakness is perhaps best expressed in her very brief first confrontation with Adam, her anger causing her to recklessly charge him and lose her right arm in the process. However, this drawback is more or less under control after her father Taiyang told her to focus on using her opponent's force against them.
While taking hits from an opponent vastly increases the power of her Semblance, Yang still takes damage in the process. Despite her high reserves of Aura, too many hits can deplete it completely, breaking her defenses and rendering her Semblance counterattack useless. Conversely, activating her Semblance too soon (as she did against Adam and later Neo) will also weaken her Aura's defenses in exchange for an under-charged counterstrike. Yang is also noted to be weak against kick-based fighting styles, seen when she struggles against Neo, Melanie, and Mercury Black. As time progresses however, she has since adapted to kick fighters.
As seen in her fight with Neo, fighters well-versed in dodging attacks can frustrate Yang, making her attacks predictable and easily avoided, which also renders the added power with her Semblance useless. The fact that she fights barehanded as opposed to using a melee weapon also limits the reach of her close-quarters attacks, enabling opponents with greater agility to evade her strikes.
While not necessarily a form of weakness, her emotions can also cause her to unintentionally activate her Semblance even if she is not in a battle. Examples of this include her frustrated outburst in "Players and Pieces", her moment of anger toward Blake in "Burning the Candle" and two times in her doubles round tournament fight in "Never Miss a Beat". In "Worthy" she instinctively activates her Semblance to protect Ruby from Neo's attack, breaking her Aura and being knocked into the Abyss.
Taiyang somewhat jokingly defines her Semblance as "basically a temper tantrum" and a liability against stronger and more experienced opponents; if they can evade or outlast the duration of her onslaught, she is left weak, tired, and vulnerable to a counterattack. For this reason due to her improved fighting style in "Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back", Taiyang tells her it's best left as a last resort rather than a crutch like how she used it in the Vytal Festival and due to her over-reliance of using it to win every fight before.
== Appearances ==
* Deadpool: Remnant
Category:Characters
Category:Mutants