Awesome / Boldores and Boomsticks

All spoilers on this page are left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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• The story is kicked off by Team RWBY escaping an attacking Goliath and a massive horde of Grimm by diving headlong into a portal of unknown provenance, and with no idea where it leads.
• Chapter 4 features Ruby rescuing a Zubat (that would become her first Pokémon) from a Beowolf, which is immediately followed by the little guy using Supersonic to addle another - pre-Alpha - Beowolf, which results in the Grimm inadvertently killing several of its own pack. Just as it recovers and gets ready to charge, a Golbat plummets out of the sky with enough force to break the Grimm’s spine, killing it instantly. Two of the most infamous Goddamned Bats in gaming just gave the first demonstration of something that becomes readily apparent as the story continues: Pokémon are very, very good at killing Grimm.
• The attack on Golden Valley is further proof that Pokémon can go head to head-to-head with Grimm. Team RWBY leads the defense, swooping in to save civilians who haven't realized they are considered targets by the Grimm.
• Tyrian Callows is sent through a portal to capture Ruby and kill everyone else. In chapter 18, he manages to poison Professor Oak, Casey, and Tracey, then easily beats Team RWBY and their Pokémon, with only Weiss' Ralts, Whisper, managing to (barely) slow him down by hitting him in the eye with a Psycho Cut... and then The Cavalry arrives in the form of Oak and company who have fully recovered thanks to Gary returning to the lab and using an Antidote from a first aid kit. In the next chapter, the old Professor sics his Dragonite on Tyrian, who proceeds to thrash Salem's elite assassin with practically zero effort. The bastard only gets out alive thanks to some Grimm extracting him, and he's still an absolute mess.
• Chapter 20 is titled "Like the Fist of an Angry God", and it shows as Weiss demonstrates the devastating potential power of using the Evolution Stones as weapons.
  • To wit, Weiss receives a Thunderstone from Lt. Surge, per her request, and proceeds to use it like a normal Lightning Dust crystal^note an earlier chapter having established that a normal Dust crystal is equivalent to a depleted Evolution Stone. This causes a massive lightning storm to form, as all the energy gathers above their heads. When Weiss lets the power go, the resultant bolt is powerful enough to melt a Machina Gigas, a set of construction equipment possessed by a Geist.
    • Which is made better off when paired with, of all things, Thunderstruck by 2Cellos.
  • Nox actually forces himself to keep evolving right past Golbat and into Crobat to save Ruby's life, which is also a Heartwarming moment.
  • Ruby herself successfully distracts the Machina Gigas long enough for Weiss's gambit to succeed.
  • Lt. Surge, despite some initial skepticism of the White Rose pair due to their appearance, shows his chops as a former military officer. When planning for the next attack, he listens to the pair as to what the Grimm are capable of and also provides details for the terrain of the confrontation. During the battle, he and Sarge, his Raichu, keep the Grimm from attacking Weiss while she charges the Thunderstone.
  • At the end, Surge awards both Ruby and Weiss with the Thunder Badge, which is an Awesome moment in-universe: they're two of the very, very few trainers to receive a Thunder Badge as their first in the Kanto League, even if they aren't planning on participating in the League itself. The ceremony is also very public, as the citizens of Vermilion City go wild.
• Chapter 21, "The Head, The Tail, The Whole Damn Thing", features the other half of Team RWBY taking on a Sea Feilong at sea.
  • The crotchety old captain of the ship they use to get out to the Feilong, the Orca, is called Quint. He's the only captain willing to ferry Blake and Yang out to attack the seagoing Grimm.
  • When the Feilong is encountered going after a passenger liner, Blake and Yang immediately take control of the situation, beginning the evacuation and ordering the liner's crew about, despite a lack of authority.
  • Special mention must go to Lux. The little Torchic is scared stiff of the ocean, as water is his natural elemental opposite. When the Feilong attacks Shade, Lux jumps into its mouth to set it on fire from within. And when it dives underwater to put the fire out, nearly drowning Lux in the process, all he does is recall the short time he's had with Yang... and his fury skyrockets. The Feilong surfaces again, screaming in agony, as a Combusken is holding its mouth open, Fire Spin whirling on its tongue.
  • When the Feilong crashes onto the beach, Yang and Lux take a breather... only for Yang to realize it's not dead yet. Before it can get off the ground...
    Jasmine: "Steelix! Use Rock Slide!"
    Steelix: "STEEEEEEEEEEEL!"
• Although Tapu Koko greatly outclasses Yang during his battle with her, especially once he stops playing around, Yang gets in a few good hits, and she impresses him enough that he and the other Tapus pay her and the rest of Team RWBY a visit and give them all the stones needed to make Z-Rings.
• Ruby, Nox, and Marian's fight against a Totem Toucannon. Nox uses Whirlwind to blow away the Totem's Oricorio helpers before Ruby drags him down a hill.
• Yang, Lux, and Sabra challenge Totem Salazzle to a battle, only to have the fight interrupted by a baby Kangaskhan falling out of the spectators' area and over the rim of the volcano. At which point Yang proceeds to dive in after the kid and save her. She earns a Z-Crystal as thanks.
• Yang goes for another Totem battle, this time against a Kommo-o... that happens to be Sabra's mother. It culminates with all three punching the Totem at once.
• Marian casually intimidating a Team Skull Murkrow into helping her return the berries that his trainer helped steal.
• As payback for an earlier prank that they pulled on her, Blake dyes Mal's fur pink... while he's asleep, and he doesn't notice until he wakes up.
• Mal's battle with Guzma's Scizor, starting with a combination of Growl and pretending to take damage to make the bug-steel type so weak a single paw takes him out. And when Scizor regains strength with Sword Dance and catches Mal in a vice grip, he evolves into Torracat and releases Flamethrower point-blank in the face.
• Yang's battle with Tapu Koko following her training from Hala. She no longer relies on her old Attack! Attack! Attack! strategy and instead uses a combination of different dust shells to keep the Tapu on edge. Even when one of Ember Celica is damaged, she keeps fighting with all she got.
  • This culminates with Yang combining her semblance with the Fire-Type Z-Move. While it didn't defeat him and used up what was left of her strength, it did leave him worse for wear.
  • Hala tells Yang that even if she lost, it's been a long time since a non-legendary Pokémon has made him work that hard for his win, a feat worthy of being called a Grand Trial for Yang, earning her the Fightinium-Z from Hala and the move Thunder Punch from Tapu Koko.
  • Yang promising Tapu Koko that she'll be back for a rematch... after she becomes a lot tougher, earning more respect from the fae god.
• When Gladion challenges Team RWBY to a fight, Blake quickly demonstrates how out of his league he is by slipping behind him and drawing her sword.
• The flashback of Lillie managing to rescue Nebby from the lab despite being scared out of her mind.
• Zipp, Rapp, and Tupp are Team Skull grunts Yang has beat up effortlessly, but they still used an effective plan to steal Nebby, even if it was in a horribly short-sighted way.
• Plumeria's curbstomping of Yang. Being one of the few trainers of the poke world to manage it.
• Team RWBY busting down the thick metal security doors of Team Skull's hideout in Po Town, doing a Team Power Walk right up to Guzma (effortlessly repelling the various Numbskulls who get in their way without even breaking stride) and saying just two words:
  Ruby: Nebby. Now.
  • We also get to see the results of Ruby and Blake’s training. Ruby uses her now-weaponized petals to leave a grunt unharmed but Pinned to the Wall, and Blake breaks out her Beat Up-enhanced semblance to match a Double Team user clone for clone.
• When Golisopod attacks Weiss, Ruby gets her to safety with her Semblance for the first time.
• Yang's threat to Faba after he causes a Grimm outbreak at Aether Paradise. EVERYONE is left speechless.
  Yang: Buddy, you've got no clue what you're bringing down on your head. When we get our hands on you, you're geography.
  Faba: Idiot child, can't even get a simple threat right. The saying is 'you're history' , you simpleton!
  Yang: Nope. History gets remembered. You're just going to be part of the landscape.
• After spending the whole story so far extremely afraid of them, Lillie finally manages to muster up enough courage to kill her first Grimm. Which is then immediately followed by her going berserk on the remaining horde (though having an attack-increasing Semblance probably helped), single-handedly reaching Faba's lab and protecting her mother inside. Ultimately, it takes both Watts and Grendel to stop her.
• Just as it seems that Lillie and Lusamine are doomed against the Grimm, Nebby finally evolves into Solgaleo to protect them. And he easily shows how easily outmatched the Grimm are against Legendary Pokemon. Play this song from the Virtual Soundtrack as you read for even more awesomeness.
• Solgaleo manages to bite down on Grendel's good arm before it can escape through the Ultra Wormhole with Faba and Watts. However, the Alpha Grimm shows it earned its fearsome reputation by using its own club to break off the arm, then diving into the wormhole before anyone can stop it.
• As he and Watts flee Aether Paradise, Faba erases all the Foundation's data to try and hinder the heroes. Thanks to off-site backups, they get it all back in a few hours, including all of Faba's research!
• In just two weeks after getting Faba's data, the Wormhole team manages to create a functional prototype, allowing Team RWBY to not only return to Remnant, but begin opening up official channels between the worlds!
• RWBY's combats with the other teams to prove their new skills.
  • Ruby, Nox, and Marian take on Team CRDL. Nox Confuses Cardin into attacking his teammates, Ruby combines her rose petals with Petal Blizzard to bombard them, and Marian finishes them off with Solar Beam. The end.
  • Weiss, Whisper, and Rein versus Team JNPR. Whisper uses Teleport to fight Pyrrha, who manages to keep up with her in spite of the sudden tactics. Weiss uses Tri-Attack on Jaune (freezing his shield) and Ren (almost hitting Nora). Nora attempts to grenade Rein, only for Whisper to pick the grenade mid-flight and use it on Pyrrha. Pyrrha manages to nail Rein with a shot, allowing Nora to hammer him out of bounds, only for Whisper to save him and allow him to knock out Nora, which distracts Ren from Weiss and gets him knocked out. Pyrrha catches Whisper unaware and tosses her out of bounds. Weiss pulls off Hydro Vortex to bring Pyrrha down, but Jaune uses the distraction to punt Rein out and attack Weiss, who is put on the defensive, and uses Perish Song to force a draw.
  • Blake, Shade, and Mal take on Team SSSN. Shade uses Nightshade on Neptune and Poison Jab on Sage while attacking Scarlet and covering everyone in illusions, and Blake and Mal just fire every once in a while to keep pressure.
  • Yang, Lux, and Sabra fight Team CFVY. Sabra No Sells Coco's machinegun, only for Coco to hit him with her weapon in handbag mode. Velvet and Fox tag-team Yang, who uses Earthquake to knock them down and then Mach Punch both of them, following it with a Thunder Punch on Fox. Lux takes on Yatsuhashi, who can fight the Young Fowl Pokémon one on one and nearly defeats him - only for Lux to evolve into Blaziken and turn the tables on Yatsuhashi, who gets knocked out. Coco attempts to fire at Lux, but the distraction allows Sabra to use Dragon Tail and push her off the ring, and then Lux and Sabra finish Velvet and Fox.
• The Ultra Wormhole team manage to locate Menagerie with their device based on just the data they had from the previous Wormholes that they'd opened and what Team RWBY's given them, allowing Yang and Ruby to reunite Blake with her parents.
• When Jacques Schnee arrives to Beacon to force Weiss back to Atlas, Weiss takes great pleasure in not only rejecting her father's ultimatum, she also reminds him that he is not a Schnee by birth, and when Jacques threatens to disown her as his heir (which had always been Weiss' fear), Weiss tells him she doesn't care anymore and unleashes a long and well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech. And when Jacques tries to have his bodyguards seize her, everyone else in the hall (which is all the Huntsmen students, as well as the Earth people and Blake's parents) stands up, more than ready to throw down with the now heavily outnumbered bodyguards.
• Weiss pointing out to Whitley how her father's view on Huntsmen and Huntresses is fairly biased.
• Teams CFVY and SSSN unleash hell on a pair of racist pricks hired by Jacques Schnee to act as bodyguards for Whitley. The reason? They decided to insult the Faunus members of the teams (Velvet and Sun)
  Coco: *lowers her shades and tucks a curl behind her ear* "Okay, I guess we're doing this now."

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