"I can't wait to see Jaune's new swords in action," Pyrrha smiled. "Especially since he was already naturally talented with that Cerberus weapon he made."

"I'm excited as well," Ren told her. "It's refreshing to see a Jaune who's confident in his own abilities for once."

"Well, Jaune will still be in this episode," Abe assured his audience. "But it's actually more focused on youthis time." He pointed at Ruby.

"Me?" she asked.

"Oh yeah!" Yang realized. "I almost forgot you were in this, Rubes!"

"But why is she there, exactly?" Ms. Goodwitch wondered. "She really shouldn't have any reason to be there, in all honesty."

"Well, she is in a relationship with Jaune, from what we can assume from the pictures on his desk," Weiss pointed out.

"Aw, how romantic!" Nora smiled at the younger girl. "Keeping an eye on your hubby?" Ruby blushed. Abe laughed as he turned the episode cursor to the sixth episode, entitled "Family Ties," and pushed play.

The episode opened with Ruby entering a large, square-shaped room. On the other side was a large pair of doors, one black and one white, with golden insignias of horse heads in the center of each. Eight stone statues, each the upper body of a human in armor, and clutching a pair of short swords, stood in front of the door, their square bases matching up with the checkered floor.

"I sense a fight coming up," Blake murmured. Qrow nodded his agreement.

"Definitely," he agreed. "Those statues may look stationary, but as we've already seen from Agni and Rudra, looks can be deceiving."

Ruby braced her herself, then used her Semblance to quickly dash by the stone statues and headed through the double doors.

"Well, that's certainly one way to proceed," Ozpin smiled, lifting his hand to his face, before realizing that he wasn't in Beacon anymore, and as such, did not have his mug with him. He turned to their host. "I beg your pardon, Abe, but-"

"Coffee, on it." Abe gave the Headmaster a thumbs up as he headed into the kitchen.

"Aw, I wanted to see Ruby fight!" Nora pouted.

Once through the double doors, Ruby found herself outside the tower again, this time on a long, winding set of stairs that coiled up and around the tower. She breathed in, and prepared to use her Semblance to speed forward once more, but a sudden screech stopped her in her tracks. Ruby's eyes narrowed as a group of Apathy trudged down the stairs, each armed with a scythe.

"Looks like I'm fighting after all," Ruby smiled. "Good! I want to see how much I've improved."

Ruby waited until the Apathy drew close, then with a cry, charged forward in a flurry of rose petals. With one swing of Crescent Rose, three Apathy's heads were sent rolling. The Huntress quickly hooked the leg of a fourth, sending it collapsing to the ground, before she swung her scythe downwards, stabbing it through the chest. She then pulled Crescent Rose's trigger, and a Dust-infused bullet tore through a fifth Apathy's chest. Ruby then pulled her scythe free from the ground, and with a twist of the handle, swung the blade upwards, cleaving a sixth Grimm in two.

"Dang, Ruby, looks like all those years of training are paying off," Qrow whistled.

"Look at her go, Velvet," Coco smiled. "She's showing off skill most Huntresses can only dream about."

As an Apathy swung its scythe at Ruby, she brought up Crescent Rose's handle to block the attack, then discharged a bullet in its face. She then bisected another, before shifting the weapon into its war scythe form, which she used to impale another two Grimm. An eleventh Apathy crept up behind her, but Ruby simply released her grip on her own weapon, before grabbing the Apathy's scythe, and dropping into a kick roll, launching the monster off the walkway, where it began its long descent to the ground far below. The last Apathy surged forward, but Ruby simply snatched Crescent Rose back up, shifting it into its rifle form. It opened its mouth to scream, and that's when she fired a bullet straight into its open maw, fire blazing out of the Grimm's eye sockets as the Dust-infused bullet incinerated it from within. Ruby watched as the Apathy crumbled to ash, then looked at the staircase.

"Hold on," she whispered. "I'm on my way."

"You know," Velvet spoke up. "From the sound of things, I think Ruby might be here to rescue Ms. Goodwitch."

"An astute observation," Ozpin smiled at the rabbit Faunus.

"But why?" Weiss asked. "It's a noble sentiment, to be sure, but why would Ruby show up to try and save her when Jaune's already here himself?"

"Maybe I was sent by Ozpin, or someone like him," Ruby suggested.

"I don't think so, Ms. Rose," Ms. Goodwitch interjected. "If this was an official rescue mission, all of Team RWBY would've shown up, not just you."

"Hey, look!" Nora pointed. "Fearless Leader is here again!"

The scene opened to show Jaune entering the same room Ruby had been in mere minutes before. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the statues in front of him. As he stepped into the middle of the floor, all eight statues rumbled, and started moving towards Jaune.

"I get it now," Blake said aloud. When everyone looked at her, she reiterated. "The checkered floor, black and white motif, horses on the doors? This is a chess-styled guard room."

"I noticed that as well," Ren agreed. "There's eight of them, and they're all the same. They must be pawns."

As the Pawns slowly made their way towards the Huntsman, he stopped on the ground, noticing more rose petals.

"Ruby's been through here," he realized. He looked up to see the Pawns growing closer to him. "Thanks for leaving them for me, babe," he said sarcastically.

"Yeah, Ruby, way to be supportive," Nora said teasingly.

"Hey! That wasn't me! That was... other me!" Ruby said defensively.

"That'll teach her, Rubes," Yang deadpanned.

Jaune drew his pistols and fired on one of the Pawns, but the bullets simply bounced off its stone body. The Huntsman sighed.

"Guess that's not going to cut it," he muttered. Then he drew his Claymore. "Maybe this will!" He charged at the Pawn. With one swift slice, he cleaved the stone guardian in two. A second statue moved right up next to him, then turned diagonally to attack him, swinging its swords in a downward angle, which Jaune just barely managed to dodge. A quick pair of sideways swings bisected the Pawn. As a third approached, Jaune threw his sword in a spinning circle, shattering another two. That still left four pawns to deal with however. "Okay boys," Jaune grinned, drawing the Agni and Rudra, "it's time to see what you can do."

"Oh yes," Pyrrha nodded, smiling widely. "I want to see what they can do as well."

Jaune waited for one of the Pawns to move closer, then immediately launched himself into a flurry of quick slices, the twin scimitars enveloping themselves in fire and wind. He finally placed Agni and Rudra's pommels together, and spun the swords like a helicopter blade. The Pawn exploded into rubble. Not even missing a beat, Jaune rushed forward with another series of quick strikes, broke another Pawn to pieces.

"Yeah! Smash 'em to pieces, Vomit Boy!" Yang whooped. "They ain't nothing to you!"

"His form," Blake breathed. "It's so similar to my own!" And it was true. Every movement Jaune performed, right down to the fall of his foot, closely mimicked the Cat Faunus. Perhaps he had been instructed by her in this timeline, as well.

As another Pawn raised its arms to attack Jaune, the Huntsman shifted the grip on his scimitars so that they ran down his forearms. He raised his hands, and blocked the blades with his own. A quick pair of slashes removed the Pawn's arms, before a solid kick knocked it to the ground, deactivating as it hit the floor. Jaune quickly ran forward and swung his swords in an "X" slash, and the final giant chess piece fell apart. Jaune grinned.

"You guys aren't too shabby," he smirked, looking at the scimitars.

"Thank you, master," Rudra spoke, causing a Jaune to jump.

"Yes! Your praise is much appreciated!" Agni agreed. The Huntsman sighed.

"What did we discuss?" he reminded them.

"No talking," Agni stated.

"Our apologies," Rudra rumbled.

"Good job," Jaune congratulated them. "Now ssh!"

"Hahaha! I love those guys," Nora chuckled.

The scene changed again to show Ruby Rose slowly approaching the top of the tower, as storm clouds gathered overhead. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then began ascending the final set of stairs towards the top.

"You shouldn't be here," a voice interrupted her train of thought. Startled, she opened her eyes to see Watts in front of her, the captive Mrs. Goodwitch laying on the floor behind him. Ruby pulled out Crescent Rose, leveling it at his chest.

"Go to hell," she growled at the scientist.

"Ruby?!" Yang said in surprise. Her innocent baby sister shrugged.

"You don't want me swearing? Then don't swear in front of me," she shrugged.

"Kid's got a point," Qrow smirked.

Watts merely laughed at Ruby's determined glare.

"You poor, naive child," he sneered. "You came all this way to die, and for what? That worthless woman?" He nodded towards Glynda. Ruby seethed.

"That 'worthless woman' is my mother! Now release her!" she demanded.

"WHAT?!" Most of the audience was stunned. Qrow spat out the alcohol he was guzzling, while Ozpin merely raised an eyebrow.

"I'm... Ruby's mother?" Glynda spluttered.

"Stepmother, actually," Abe clarified, arriving back in the room with Ozpin's coffee.

"Oh!" Ruby realized. Then she laughed. "It figures," she giggled. "Dad would've remarried again at some point."

Ruby fired at Watts, but the man was already gone.

"Pathetic," his voice scoffed. "To think, you're a fully licensed Huntress, and you can't even tag an old man." Ruby noticed Glynda's eyes widened, staring at something behind her. Crescent Rose shifted into its scythe form, as the Huntress whirled, attempting to slice Watts, but he simply blocked the blade. "You are not worth my time," he told Ruby. "Begone!" And just like that, he swung the scythe and threw it and Ruby off the tower. As she began to fall, though, Ruby fired off another shot, this time grazing Watts across the cheek. Ruby disappeared from sight, and the episode ended.

"Oh no! Ruby!" Pyrrha panicked. Yang stood up, surprised at the ending.

"Oh calm down, you two!" Weiss rolled her eyes. "She's a trained Huntress. She'll be just fine."

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed. "We'll probably see what happens next episode." She looked at Abe, who was handing Ozpin his coffee. "Am I right?" Abe grinned.

"Maybe." Ruby paled.

"That's not very reassuring!"