RWBY V8 C4

## Plot

Okay, I like all of the episodes so far, but seriously, what is up with the one word titles? They're okay, but I personally prefer something more descriptive. The only other one word titles are Jaunedice in volume 1, Extracurricular and Breach in volume 2, Fall and Destiny in Volume 3 (I don't count PvP because it's an acronym), Remembrance, Family, Menagerie, Punished, and Kuroyuri in volume 4, Downfall in volume 5, Uncovered and Lost in volume 6, and Sparks and Gravity in volume 7. But now we have four right in a row. What is this, *Power Rangers SPD*? Did CRWBY also decide to hire Bruce Kalish, or someone else who worked on *Black Hole High*? Robyn is telling Jacques and Qrow about the first time Joanna lost a fight. Her losing "fair and square" could be a reference to Robyn's Semblance. Also, her inspiration, Robin Hood, won a fight with Little John, Joanna's inspiration, when they first met. When she jokes about the tough crowd and says Ironwood should've paid for better cellblock entertainment, she notices that she finally gets Qrow to smile… but only briefly. There isn't any blood on Clover's pin anymore. Robyn apologizes for what happened and tells Qrow that it isn't his fault, but he thinks it is. He made a deal with Tyrian, and Clover paid the price. It was all happening so fast, but Clover wouldn't let up. They could've worked together against Tyrian, if Clover had just… Qrow obviously doesn't want to blame him for his own death though. Yeah, Qrow's feelings are still… complicated. The thing that really stings is that for the first time in awhile, he thought he could be around someone without his Semblance making things… equally complicated. Now it just feels like a childish dream. Gone, like everybody else. Ugh, Jason Liebrecht's voice acting! Also, totally inappropriate and not the time, but, line from the opening! Anyway, Robyn says she knows what that's like. When people are worried you're going to sniff out their secrets, they tend to push you away. It makes it difficult to form real connections. Qrow never thought of it in that way. Before their conversation can continue, the door opens. Soldiers throw Watts back in his cell. Harriet tells Qrow that he doesn't get to keep Clover's pin. He tells her that he didn't kill her leader. It's not the first time he's said so either. She points out that it was his weapon covered in Clover's blood. Robyn points out that if she really wants to know what happened, she could open her cell and take her hand. Marrow locks Watts in his cell again, and he hears Harriet say that if she opens Robyn's cell, it won't be to shake hands. Robyn tells her that she doesn't care about the truth. She just wants someone to be mad at. It's easier than taking an honest look at what side she's on. Harriet seems like she's about to take the bait, before Marrow asks her what she's doing. She says nothing as she leaves and pushes him out of the way. My guess is that Robyn will either goad someone into releasing them, Qrow will pretend to have already escaped by transforming into a bird, or Marrow will let them out if he switches sides. Especially since it seems like the others are a long ways away from breaking them out. And then it turned out that I was wrong, their breakout was simply collateral damage during another breakout, although Qrow *did* transform into a bird. Yang, Jaune, and Ren are chasing the Hound through the tundra and into an area full of mountains. It's trying to lose them by flying over rough terrain. Their bikes can't stand the cold and start breaking. Yang really wishes one of them could fly right now. Jaune gets an idea and uses the gravity dust in his shield to launch Ren towards the Hound. He hooks one of its legs with one half of StormFlower, and uses the other one to grab a rock to slow it down. The Hound quickly notices and dislodges the rock, causing Yang and Jaune to almost get hit by the weapon's whiplash as it returns to Ren, who keeps getting slammed into rock formations. Ouch. Yang goes up a natural ramp and gets on the left side of the Hound. She starts shooting it. It just carries Oscar in its front legs and lets out a huge roar, causing Centinels and Teryxs to come out and attack them. Yang, in disbelief, says it just called for backup. We finally hear Casey's voice this volume with a new song. It's a little hard to make out over all the sound effects, but it sounds as dark as we were expecting this volume to be. *Here comes another nightmare, another fever dream The horrors just won't stop, an endless scream But this is not subconscious, we're not imagining We're wide awake, this is reality Our world, lost without a soul Losing all control Not getting closer Everyday is just another dose of torture (Torture) Better cover up your eyes, my friend The sky is falling Can't outrun the ruin of our lives Be prepared, you're near the end The final days are calling Hold on now, sky is falling down* I really hope that if we ever get a character based on Chicken Little, they go with the original story, and not the weird Disney one. The story and the character is also known as Henny Penny. It's a European folk tale. That being said, the titular character is a hysterical female, and that's a tad sexist and stereotypical. Plus, Atlas's corner of the world legitimately feels like it's ending, and it might literally fall out of the sky, so, yeah. Ren starts manually climbing up the wire to get to Oscar. Jaune's bike starts losing its thrust after a Centinel shoots green goo on a thruster. Yang picks him up with her bike. Although he's the one who launched himself up to where she'd be with his shield, even if he didn't exactly stick the landing. He throws the hard light shield grenade at a rock, which makes a ramp for the bike, allowing them to jump over a Teryx. Yang fires one of her gauntlets so they spin past two Centinels, but then the bike hits a rock. They make it past the Grimm, but fail to notice a cliff in front of them until it's too late. They fall off the bike, which flies into a rock, and they go over the cliff. Ren saves them with StormFlower and uses his Semblance to mask them from a Teryx. All of the other Grimm leave. He watches as the Hound flies to the whale unimpeded. Weiss knocks on the door of her family's manor, and Whitley opens it. Before he can complain, she points her rapier at him and says they're coming in. Things are already bad enough after what she did to their father. He can't believe she wants them to harbor fugitives as well. Blake can't believe that he only cares about his family's reputation. They've already lost all the house staff, and Willow locked herself in her room. Weiss says he might not have figured out what's going on yet, but they're busy trying to save Atlas. Ruby says their friend is hurt. They just need a place to lay low while she rests, and then they'll be out of Whitley's way. He reluctantly agrees, and goes to his room when Weiss tells him to. She guides May through the house as she carries Nora. Ruby hopes that everyone else is doing alright. Blake tells her that if she's worried about Yang, she could always try calling her. However, she reveals that she already did, but she didn't pick up. She, Jaune, and Ren are too far away to reach anyone on their Scrolls. Her bike survived, but it's broken, and she picks up parts that fell off. She sees their Aura levels go into the red from the cold. They're heading to an outpost Ren saw while he was in the air. He doesn't know how far away it is though, because he had to cut himself loose to help them. This isn't the first time he's brought that up. Yang asks him if he wants to say something. He doesn't want to waste anymore time. She finally asks him what his deal is, and he tells her not to worry about it. She sarcastically apologizes for things not going smoothly enough for him. He says they're not going smoothly at all. She says that's part of being a Huntsman, but he says they don't know the first thing about being Huntsmen. They weren't ready. Jaune tells them to stop, but they ignore him. Yang points out that they saved Haven, took down a Leviathan, and got the lamp to Atlas. Um, Ruby and Cordovin were the ones who killed the Leviathan, and I'd argue that the Faunus militia and Ilia saved Haven by taking down the White Fang and disarming the bombs. Raven was the one who inadvertently saved the school by defeating Cinder. Ren points out that they lost the lamp, and when they had to make real decisions, they got every single one wrong. Yang admits that they didn't do everything perfectly, but if they had done nothing, then things would be even worse than they are now. Ren asks how things could be worse. They're stuck out here while Salem has the lamp and Oscar. They have no plan and no army. They have the Maiden, but by keeping her from opening the vault for Ironwood, they're just trapping the whole city for Salem. People are going to *die* because of them. He doesn't know if Atlas can make it to safety now that Salem is here. These aren't the kind of decisions they should be making, because they have no idea what they're doing. Jaune tells them to cut it out, but Ren doesn't. He claims that he's just saying what nobody else wants to. They're in way over their heads. Ruby, their leader, is barely more than a kid, and he's just an orphan from the middle of nowhere. Jaune tries to address him again, and then he yells that Jaune cheated his way into Beacon. Oh shit. So he knew about that. Either he figured it out on his own (it *was* pretty obvious from an out of universe perspective), or Jaune himself or Pyrrha told him at some point. He clearly regrets what he said, but doesn't apologize. Jaune tells him it's fine if he thinks they shouldn't be Huntsmen, but he's getting out of the cold. He still has a job to do. Yang angrily asks Ren if his goal is to push away everyone that cares about him. I wish I could give Barbara and Neath Oscars for their voice acting during that scene. Speaking of which, Ozpin tells Oscar not to panic, and that they're going to be okay… as he wakes up in the whale Grimm, suspended in the air by the Hound, in front of Salem. Holy shit. I've been waiting for this since at least as early as volume 5, maybe even volume 4. I'm pretty sure I was fantasizing more about Oscar meeting the other protagonists at that point though. Hiatuses in general are just… the absolute worst. Also, the people responsible for lighting are killing it this episode. Salem is using her magic… to make shadow images of her and Ozma's daughters, who laugh. That's creepy. Oscar tries to trick her by pretending to be Ozpin, but she knows he's not fully him yet. She claims that she wants a better working relationship with him, and calls Oscar by his name. Her forces have been unable to locate the Beacon relic beneath the school. She knows Ozma has used some means of deception to hide its location differently than the others. She wants to know where it is. Oscar tells her that's not something he knows about. She says he would keep that one guarded as long as possible, and decides to try something easier: The password for the lamp. Oscar claims that it's all out of questions. Salem *knows* that's a lie, and uses her magic on him. The screaming… Aaron, are you okay? Because you sound not okay. Salem notes that lies comes out of him so easily. He and Ozma truly are like-minded souls, proving that she's aware of how his reincarnation process works. One of them is going to tell her what she wants to know. She doesn't care which one it is. Either way, she'll finally have the relic. Oscar says he won't tell her anything. The door opens, and Hazel enters. The Hound finally drops Oscar when Hazel punches him twice. He says that was for Haven Academy. He kicks him, and says that everything that follows will be for his sister. Salem leaves with the Hound, and runs into Cinder and Neo. Cinder kneels, and, clearly disturbed by the Hound, asks what it is. Salem tells her that it's an experiment, and she's very pleased with the results so far. She asks Cinder if she needs something. She requests permission to go back to Atlas and try to get the Winter Maiden power again. Salem is dismissive of her, telling the Hound that she's done nothing to warrant her care about what she thinks or wants. Cinder points out that they're just sitting around and waiting. Without the maiden power, they can't unlock the vault and get the relic. Salem says she'll tell her when and where she's needed. When she tries to press the issue further, the Hound leaps at her. Salem says she'd like to think that she's shown a great deal of patience over her many years walking Remnant, but she hates repeating herself. That's a deliberate callback to volume 3, when Cinder first met Emerald, and we already *know* that's a… toxic relationship. Salem, in an evil stepmother way, tells Cinder that she will remain here. If you told me that Jen Taylor was some kind of acting goddess, I'd believe it. Cinder kneels and once again says that without Salem, she's nothing. So she immediately decides to disobey orders with Neo to go to Amity. She says they'll be back before anyone even realizes they're gone. She knows those children haven't given up on saving the world. Emerald shows up and offers to go with them. She's been working on her Semblance, and wants to help. She won't tell anyone. Cinder asks her how much she overheard. Meanwhile, Jaune gets the heater at the outpost to work. He tells Ren that he's right, he did cheat his way into Beacon. He's glad he had people around him to help him see that he was bigger than that mistake. Ren has people around him too. He doesn't have to force himself to be strong. The more he hides from what he's feeling, the more alone he's going to feel. He just goes outside and sits in the snow. Yang found a part to fix the bike. She tells Jaune that she's sorry that Ren said that to him. She knows he had to work hard to get here. They all did. Jaune says they're all under a lot of stress right now. He used to push people away too. And so did Yang. If anyone can relate to what Ren is going through right now, it's them. And maybe Blake too. Yang asks Jaune if he thinks "she" thinks less of her for not helping out with Amity. Jaune assures her that she and Ruby are sisters. They're always going to love each other, even if they disagree. It's clear from Yang's tone that she meant Blake. Yang, the other team is made up entirely of girls. Maybe next time don't play the pronoun game, or be too scared to clarify, like you're being right now. Yang already knows that Ruby loves her no matter what. She's not sure about Blake though. They haven't known each other for anywhere near as long, and their relationship has seen its share of rough patches. Jaune knows that he needs sleep, but he can't stop thinking about Oscar. Yang tells him to rest. She'll make sure Ren doesn't brood himself to death out in the cold. He's catching snowflakes, like in the opening. Jaune has a bad feeling. Things always seem to get worse before they get better. Sure enough, the ice starts cracking, but none of them notice.