RWBY V9 C1

## Plot

Given the fairy tale like setting, plot, and logic of this volume, I did actually consider waiting until I had at least more than just one episode worth of information to work with before I started writing about it, but I could only ignore the urge for a little over 24 hours. About 1/3rd of the episode was already revealed at previous RTXs. Another female narrator tells us that this is the story of a girl with a lot of problems. Yeah, mental problems. Everybody needs therapy. We then see the events of the last two episodes of volume 8 unfold from Ruby's POV: Cinder attacking, Yang falling, losing Crescent Rose, Cinder making both her and Neo fall, and her and Blake falling. As she falls through the void, Neo attacks her, transforming into Oscar, Yang, and Penny. Ruby is able to flip her away before we fade to the island of Ever After. This place has two suns, with the smaller one circling around the other, like how the moon moves around the earth. Ruby wakes up on the beach and starts walking towards the giant tree. However, she gets stuck in a loop. No matter how far or how fast she goes, the tree never gets any closer. She eventually sits down and starts crying, which seems to make it rain. She notices a mouse try and fail to pull a plant from the ground. Ruby pulls it out for them, revealing that it's a cheese plant. She gives it to the mouse, who starts eating it, and dejectedly wishes out loud that they could help her. After swallowing the food, the mouse tells Ruby that they can try. They both freak out and yell. Ruby tells the mouse that she's never spoken to one before, and the mouse tells her that they've never spoken to a her before. They ask her what she is. She says that she's a human, a girl, and a Huntress, but the mouse doesn't seem to know what any of those things are. Ruby introduces herself, but the mouse thinks that her name is her purpose, because that's how their naming system works in their village. They don't have a name yet because they're still young, so Ruby decides to call them Little for now. She asks them if they've seen humans with long blonde hair or cat ears. They haven't, but maybe someone in their village has. Meanwhile, Blake and Weiss already reunited offscreen and are now looking for Gambol Shroud. They're glad that they're both okay, and that means that Ruby and Yang might be too. Blake asks Weiss what happened after she fell, but Weiss says they should focus on finding everyone else first. They find Gambol Shroud ensnared in a mountain of thorny vines. Weiss says that she's low on Dust, but despite this comment, this concern literally never comes up ever again, and she still uses a ton of gravity dust glyphs, and she uses fire, ice, and even wind at least once this volume too. The vines suddenly tie them both up, and the mice come out of hiding, revealing that it was a trap. Just then, Ruby stumbles across them and wakes up Little, who is sleeping on her shoulder. Little tells them how they met Ruby while the leader talks to the girls and apologizes for tying Weiss and Blake up. None of them have seen Yang. Ruby tells the girls that before all of this happened, she was trying to get to higher ground to figure out where she was and get her bearings. Little offers to be their guide, but they just spend most of their time sleeping on Ruby's shoulder. Yang has been here the longest, and they still haven't found her. Ruby asks Weiss what happened after they fell, and if there are others down here. She once again deflects and says they can go over everything after they find Yang, if she's even down here. Before they can talk about it more, they hear something yell. It's some sort of tall, purple and grey creature that speaks one word sentences about what it's doing and plans to do. Blake and Weiss take out their weapons, and Ruby realizes that hers is missing. Suddenly, the creature is hit in the head with a rock, which was thrown by Yang, who is missing her arm. Faced with three potential opponents at once, the creature, which is called the Jabberwalker, decides to retreat. Yang is upset and says they're not supposed to be here. Ruby tells her that they would've come for her, and Blake tackle hugs her. She *is* happy to see them, but if they're here too, then things must've gone badly. Weiss finally starts to cry and tells them that Penny sacrificed herself. Ruby faints when she hears this. It starts raining again. They don't know what happened to the relics, or everyone in Vacuo, and they don't know where Neo is. Blake suggests that maybe everyone else made it, but Weiss is more reluctant to believe that. She has a bad feeling. Ruby wakes up and tells them that Neo is here too, because she attacked her as they were falling. Yang asks her little sister if she's okay, but she doesn't answer. Blake says they should focus on getting their weapons back and then they can figure out how to get out of here and go back home. Weiss worries that they won't be able to leave, and Yang wonders if they're dead. She thought she was until she saw them. Blake sees the various regions that surround the tree and says they're not dead. They're in a fairy tale. The psychedelic opening is set to the song "Inside", which is performed by Casey Lee Williams, as per usual. The full song was released as a single on the same day as the episode. Her dad, Jeff Williams, as well as Alex Abraham, retired as the main composers before the volume released, so now the music is done by her and one of her band mates, Martin Gonzalez. *Sinking down into depths of nowhere I am undone Clasping tight onto memories I know They'll be overrun (By a girl) We must live with balance But balance is blind (Lost her world) Vengeance is a riptide In a fairy tale, she'll find Inside! A new me, I'm ready But who will I find? Inside! I've gotta let go but could I lose my mind? Inside Our worlds unwind!* The opening shows that at the very least, Ruby and Jaune need therapy, and that the girls will follow the path of Alyx, the titular heroine from the in-universe story of *The Girl Who Fell Through the World*. I wonder if each zone is about a different fairy tale, or at least a different *Alice in Wonderland* character, like the caterpillar, the cat, the Red Queen, the rabbit/hare, the Jabberwocky, etc.? The two suns remind me of one of Remnant's fairy tales about why the moon is broken. We the audience know that it's not the real origin, at least in Remnant, but maybe it is here. Like Qrow said way back in volume 3, even the craziest legends and fairy tales come from somewhere. And then the script was released on Twitter, which revealed that they were actually two moons.