RWBY V6 C9

## Plot

The episode starts with Mercury and Emerald in another area of Salem's domain. Mercury is training, and both he and Emerald bring up how they hate being kept in the dark about Salem's plans. Emerald asks him why he came with her and Cinder the night they found him. He says it just made sense. His father trained him to be an assassin his whole life, and moments after he killed him, they showed up looking for someone with his exact skill set. Emerald asks him what he wants to get out of all this. He wants to be top dog in Salem's new world. Emerald says that Cinder was the only family she ever had. However, Mercury points out that she doesn't care about either of them, and Emerald should leave him out of her crisis of identity. She attacks him, but he's naturally much better at hand to hand combat. His father hated him, and beat him everyday to "train" him. When Mercury unlocked his Semblance, his father *stole it* with his, and he never got it back, so he had to train even harder to get where he is now. He and Emerald hear Tyrian laughing, having overheard their conversation. He finally has his new metal tail, complete with poison in the stinger. He says that Mercury is only here because all he's ever known is violence and pain, and now he's too afraid to leave it. He also tells them that their question is all wrong. It's not about what they'll get out of it. They have to love what they do, or they're in the wrong field. However, he says they can't leave. He and Watts are being sent to Atlas to prepare. Meanwhile, Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Saphron are looking for Oscar in Argus. Jaune blames himself for overreacting, and the others can't give Saphron the details of their top secret mission, obviously. Saphron leaves to pick up Adrian from day care, and wishes them luck in finding Oscar. Jaune is frustrated and upset and sits on a park bench while Ren and Nora get something from a cafe to warm up. Jaune notices a maple leaf in the wind, and follows it… to a statue of Pyrrha… while a song plays about their feelings for each other. Why? Jaune meets a woman with red hair, green eyes, and a coat that looks like Pyrrha's armor. She's also voiced by Jen Brown, who voiced Pyrrha. Relative of Pyrrha's, calling it now. I'm guessing mom due to Pyrrha mentioning her mother in volume 3, and I think the type of flowers she's carrying, red lillies, symbolized motherhood in ancient Greece, and Pyrrha's inspiration/allusion was Achilles. Jaune asks why they'd build a statue here, and the woman says she trained here at Sanctum Academy. Everyone was crushed when she chose Beacon over Haven. No one wanted to see her go, but it was where she wanted to be. The woman is just glad that she was surrounded by such amazing people. She totally knows who Jaune is, either from Pyrrha telling her, or from watching him fight with her during the Vytal Festival. She tells him that Pyrrha understood that she had a responsibility to try. She wouldn't regret her choice, because a Huntress would've understood that there really wasn't a choice to make. Jaune tells her that Pyrrha might not have graduated, but she was a Huntress. She thanks him. Ren and Nora call out to him, and when he looks back, the woman is gone, but she left the flowers at the memorial, so I think it was real; not all in his head. He starts to apologize to Ren and Nora for being a terrible leader and friend, but they tell him that his self loathing has to stop. They heard what he said to Cinder at Haven. Not sure how, since they were fighting Hazel on the other side of the very large, open room at the time, but whatever. They tell him that he's not being fair to himself, that they're a family, they love him just like they loved Pyrrha, and they don't want to lose him too. He finally says that he thinks she knew she wasn't going to win, but she also knew she had to try, and Nora says they should too. Pyrrha may not be by their side anymore, but they can fight like she is, and then in a way, she will be. They start to leave to check back in at the house. Jaune looks back at the statue and thanks Pyrrha. He also sees an Atlas airship in the sky. Meanwhile, Ruby is disappointed in Qrow, again. He's been gone all day getting drunk, and is now passed out on the steps to the front door, with her, Yang, Weiss, Blake, and Maria looking at him. Ruby tells him that they've been out looking for Oscar. Saphron, Terra, Adrian, Jaune, Nora, and Ren show up. No one has had any luck finding Oscar, but Jaune assures the others that they're not going to Atlas without him, confirming that they're back on board for the mission. Suddenly, Oscar himself opens the door… and he's wearing some awesome new clothes. He also made casserole. It turns out that he left to think and go shopping, and everyone else took his absence the wrong way. Jaune apologizes for what he said to him, and Oscar forgives him. He's not sure how much longer he's going to stay himself, but after thinking about it, he does know that he wants to do as much as he can with whatever time he has left. Too bad it all happened offscreen. Ruby tells him that his new combat gear looks good, but then they notice Qrow heading upstairs, claiming that he doesn't want to get in the way of their celebration, and pointing out that they're not any closer to Atlas. However, Jaune says he has an idea, but it's a "no going back" kind of idea. Cordovin only lets Atlas ships leave for Solitas, so they could steal an Atlas airship. Weiss says that's worse than breaking the law, and Yang asks how they would even get onto the airfield. Jaune admits he hasn't worked that part out yet. Qrow tells him to just drop it, pointing out that they can't fight their way out of it if they get caught, or go up against the Atlas military. However, Ruby says she wants to hear him out. She knows he's trying to protect them and is afraid they can't do it, but right now she doesn't really care what he thinks. Just because he doesn't have an idea doesn't mean they're out of options. They've made it this far without Ozpin telling them what to do. They've been in bad situations before, and they didn't need an adult to save them or tell them what to do. They just did it their way, which they're going to do again, and if Qrow thinks he can keep up with them, then they'd be happy to have him. Maria says it looks like Qrow didn't give Ruby enough credit either, and the episode ends.