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Team RWBY's Pokémon
Ruby's Pokémon
Nox (Nocturne)
A Zubat that befriends Ruby and quickly joins the group. Later forcefully evolves himself past Golbat and directly into Crobat to save Ruby from a fall.
- Bat Out of Hell: Played for Laughs. When Team RWBY first encounters him as a
Zubat in the fourth chapter, it's lampshaded that a featureless face with no eyes, no nose, and a massive mouth with prominent fangs should be horrifying... and yet, the little fellow somehow manages to look cute. - Determinator: Nox actually forces himself to evolve right through Golbat into Crobat to save Ruby during the Geist fight.
- Eyeless Face: Zubats don't have eyes. Attention is called to how he somehow managed to be cute anyway.
- Head Pet: Perches atop Ruby's head often enough that he's been called "Ruby's favorite hat". Maintaining this is the Out-of-Universe reason why he remains undersized as a Crobat, though it's actually jokingly suggested In-Universe once as well.
- Lightning Bruiser: Like all of his kind, Nox is extremely fast... and he's far from fragile.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: A nickname for his nickname. Technically his nickname is Nocturne, but nobody, not even the narrator, calls him that.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Due to effectively skipping the Golbat stage, Nox is not that much bigger as a Crobat than he was as a Zubat.
- The Watson: Nox is the first Pokémon to join the group (and is the only one for several chapters), so he has to deal with a lot of exposition about the Huntresses. Later Inverted, as he explains those things to other Pokémon.
- Poisonous Person: Part Poison-type, and knows several Poison moves.
- Weak, but Skilled: Prior to evolving and expanding his move set. His original attack moves couldn’t damage the Grimm, but he still managed to take down a Deathstalker by inflicting confusion.
Marian
A Rowlet that Kukui gives to Ruby.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Has a visible crush on Lux. When Lux evolves into Blaziken, she is left completely speechless and tips over onto her side when someone pokes her.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Is noted to be visibly staring at Lux after his evolution.
- Flechette Storm: Her primary method of attack, using the moves Leafage and Razor Leaf. Ruby's been taking pointers from her in hopes of doing the same with her rose petals.
- Leg Focus: When teasing Lux about being hit by Attract, Marian reveals that she, like all Rowlet, actually has relatively long and strong legs tucked away in her feathers.
- Mafia Princess: Her grandfather is apparently the lead Honchkrow of Alola's biggest flock- making him the Goodfeather. At one point she intimidates a Team Skull Murkrow into returning the berries he and his trainer stole just by asking nicely, since he recognizes her.
- Meaningful Name: Named for Maid Marian, as her evolutionary line is partially inspired by the legendary Robin Hood, who Maid Marian was the love interest of.
Weiss' Pokémon
Whisper
A Ralts that hatched from an egg, who was awed by Weiss and sees her as a big sister (and is seen as a little sister by Weiss). Has evolved into a Kirlia.
- The Baby of the Bunch: She hatched during the events of the story, making her younger than every other character. There was a lot of fawning over her when she first hatched. This becomes a bit of an issue later though, as she has trouble understanding that not being an Instant Expert is normal, and gets jealous of her new teammate Rein.
- Baby See, Baby Do: Soon after hatching, she copied Weiss' motions when fighting some grunts. Her fighting style even now is mostly patterned off Weiss.
- Be Yourself: Her adoration of Weiss gets to the point that she deliberately tries to fight exactly like her, despite not having the same dominant hand, etc. Luckily, she gets talked out of it.
- Big Sister Worship: Very much adores Weiss, having decided within minutes of hatching that she wants to be just like her. This does not extend to Winter, though.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Unfortunately leaned towards this as the Alola arc began, seeing her new teammate Rein as a rival for Weiss' attention. It's made clear that there were several factors, including a lack of experience dealing with failure, a Fairy-type's natural tendency towards viciousness, and simple immaturity from being less than a month old. Weiss was aware of it but had no idea how to properly deal with it. She grew out of when she evolved, having realized from talking to Shade that Rein wasn't going to replace her.
- Character Catch Phrase: Likes to tell people "Imma psychic!"
- Express Delivery: Hatched from her egg significantly sooner than normal to comfort Weiss.
- Family Theme Naming: Like almost everyone in her "big sister's" family, her name starts with a "w".
- Green-Eyed Monster: When Rein joined Weiss's team, Whisper instantly got jealous that she would now have to share Weiss's attention with someone else, and started antagonizing him. While Rein took it in stride, Weiss wasn't sure how to handle Whisper's feelings, and things eventually boiled over when Weiss asked Whisper to learn swordplay from Blake (because Blake, unlike Weiss, has the same dominant hand as Whisper), and Whisper instantly threw a tantrum about Weiss not wanting to teach her anymore and teleported away. Shade eventually found her and talked her through her feelings.
- Happily Adopted: Weiss views her as an adopted little sister, down to calling her "Whisper Schnee" at times. Whisper, in turn, adores her big sister.
- Heroic Ambidexterity: She imitated Weiss by using her non-dominant hand for swordplay and still managed to fight with skill.
- How Do I Shot Web?: Whisper tries to use Round, but runs into the problem that, since she's been speaking psychically all the time, she has never in her life actually used her vocal cords.
- Instant Expert: Played for Drama, she is very good at learning moves with just a few tries for a 'mon her age, particularly when she needs them, but this means that when she tries to learn how to fight with a sword, like Weiss, and she doesn't master it right away, she doesn't realize that struggling to learn something is normal.
- Ironic Name: Is rather chatty. To be fair, when Weiss named her, her psychic "voice" was fairly quiet.
- Laser Blade: Gary's Alakazam teaches her Psycho Cut, allowing her to create a laser sword she uses in conjunction with sword skills taught by Weiss. She uses it to take out Tyrian's eye.
- Meaningful Name: Because she uses her telepathy to talk, she never actually says anything from the moment she was born until she learns Round. This results in her having difficulty using Round, as her vocal cords aren't used to making any noise, much less a sonic attack.
- Musical Assassin: Knows Round, allowing her to attack by singing, though using it took some practice since she wasn't used to actually using her voice at all before learning it.
- Raised by Humans: Weiss adopted her soon after she hatched, and both consider themselves sisters.
- Shoulder Teammate: Frequently found in this position.
- Telepathy: Unsurprisingly, given that she's a Psychic-type. Because of this, Whisper is frequently used as a Translator Buddy between humans and Pokémon.
- Took a Level in Smartass: As a Ralts, her most prominent character trait was her Big Sister Worship of Weiss. After becoming a Kirlia and starting to develop her own identity, she became more mischievous and sarcastic, bantering with others. This omake
written by the author to show her future personality as Gardevoir takes it even further, giving her biting insults and wit that are explicitly based off Abridged Perfect Cell.
Rein
A Piplup that Kukui gives to Weiss.
- Major Injury Under Reaction: He takes Whisper setting him on fire pretty calmly, though it's pretty justified considering his typing and that the ocean is just a few feet away at the time.
- Making a Splash: Knows Bubble and Surf, and is in to the process of figuring out Bubblebeam.
- Meaningful Name: Fittingly for a stoic water-type Pokemon who can create landmines and whose evolutions are based on rulers, his name both refers to controlling or restraining something, as he controls both his emotions and his opponents movements, and is a homophone for both reign, meaning to rule something, and rain, as he is a water-type.
- Musical Assassin: Knows Round in order to use it as a Combination Attack with Weiss and Whisper.
- The Stoic: Tends to take the craziness surrounding his new trainer and her friends in stride, in addition to Whisper's jealous antagonism of him.
- Stone Wall: His role on Weiss’ team, as he sees it. Since Weiss is a Glass Cannon and Whisper is likely to become a Squishy Wizard, Rein concludes that he can contribute best by tanking hits to keep them in the fight (considering his eventual evolution).
- Trap Master: Clever use of Bubble allows him to create instant minefields and explosive traps.
Blake's Pokémon
Shade
A Gastly that followed Blake after she saw through some illusions, and later chose to join the group. Evolves into Haunter after, of all things, winning a game of checkers against Mal.
- Badass Bookworm: He's a lover of literature, but a good fighter as well.
- Casting a Shadow: Knows Shadow Ball, courtesy of a few pointers from Karen's Gengar.
- Combat Pragmatist: Used illusions of Grimm and an illusion of himself against Guzma's Golisopod, hiding among the illusory Grimm and using Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball to make the illusions seem real.
- The Confidant: Shade is the one Blake mostly talks about her troubles too, even compared to Mal, and once let her vent to him and making illusions of her parents to help her when she was feeling homesick. And he keeps whatever is told to him a secret, if only for Blake's peace of mind.
- Master of Illusion: As a Ghost-type, Shade is naturally quite skilled at creating illusions. It's often used for crude communications when Whisper isn't around, and on one occasion to get information out of a mercenary's Hypno by pretending to be a talking Grimm.
- The Prankster: Loves playing pranks, often on the ghost-phobic Yang or the haughty Sabra.
Mal
A Litten that Kukui gives to Blake. Evolves into a Torracat during a battle with Guzma's Scizor.
- Cats Are Superior: He clearly thinks so. Mal initially assumes that Blake hides her cat ears so that others aren't constantly jealous of her feline superiority.
- Determinator: Doesn't back down in his fight with Guzma's Scizor, even when the latter's pincer is clamped around his waist.
- Guile Hero: Shows some aptitude for this in his battle with Guzma's Scizor. While he first seemed to be on the ropes from a hit-and-run combo of Double Team and Bullet Punch, he soon reveals that he could hear the real Scizor by the sound of its wings and was pretending to be more injured than he was while subtly weakening the blows with Growl.
- Head Pet: Halfway between this and Shoulder Teammate. He likes to perch on Blake's shoulders and rest his chin between her ears.
- Heroic Second Wind: In battle with Guzma's Scizor, he refuses to lose his debut battle, especially not while his new trainer is watching. It's enough to trigger his evolution to Torracat, which tips the scales in his favor.
- The Movie Buff: Enjoys watching movies, and has a vast collection of appropriate quotes to use in battle. Has referenced everything from Hamlet and The Godfather to Home Alone and The Dark Knight.
- Shout-Out: Named after the main character from Serenity, which he was a big fan of.
Yang's Pokémon
Lux
A Torchic that ran away from Damien, and found a much more suitable (and badass) trainer in Yang. Later evolves into Combusken while fighting a Sea Feilong, and then into Blaziken in an exhibition match against Team CFVY.
- Boring, but Practical: His reasoning for learning Aerial Ace over Focus Blast. It’s weaker and less flashy, but more reliable, and adds a Flying-type attack to his arsenal.
- Head Pet: Frequently hung around on Yang's head before he evolved. Blake is somewhat surprised at this, considering how Yang tends to be overprotective of her hair.
- Heroic Second Wind:
- He was stunned and drowning after a Sea Feilong tried to drown him by holding him underwater in its mouth. His rage that it might have killed Yang lets him evolve and his stronger fire moves boil the water and force it to surface.
- He does it again while facing off with Yatsuhashi, with a similar result (evolving to Blaziken).
- The Leader: When fighting the Sea Feilong, took charge and snapped Shade out of his panic when it looked like Yang and Blake had been hurt.
- Recoil Boost: Has started to emulate his trainer's fondness for this tactic using his Fire-type moves.
- Single-Stroke Battle: The move Aerial Ace lets him emulate the maneuver.
- Unaffected by Spice: He eats some very spicy peppers on his pizza with no reaction. Oak explains that all birds, Pokémon or otherwise, are not affected by Capsaicin.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Isn't at all fond of the ocean, which is somewhat justified considering his typing. He gets a bit better after he dives into the Sea Feilong's mouth and evolves in the process.
Sabra
A Jangmo-o that Kukui gives to Yang. Later evolves into Hakamo-o.
- Blood Knight: Is in a fight for her life with no holding back during the assault on Aether Paradise. She has never felt so alive.
- Crafted from Animals: Yang uses a scale that she shed to replace a damaged component of Ember Celica. The result is noted to channel her Aura better than the steel ever did.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: It's heavily implied that her Jangmo-o pride couldn't stand her attitude, and suggested that she leave to help the Huntresses to get rid of her. This is confirmed when they return to her colony to challenge the Totem there.
- Immune to Bullets: Has the ability Bulletproof. Some experimentation reveals that this is also literal, as Sabra shrugs off actual gunfire, including a sniper round from Crescent Rose and extended bursts from Gianduja.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Sabra's haughtiness turns out to be a product of trying to live up to her Totem mother.
- Recoil Boost: After evolving, she learns to use Dragon Claw to do this.
- Reverse Psychology: Keeps falling for this from Lux and Nox.
- Shout-Out: Her personality is partly based on Vegeta from Dragon Ball Z Abridged.
- She's named after the princess from the legend of St. George. Yang didn't tell her the princess was a Damsel in Distress though.
- She also constantly quotes Smaug. An exasperated Rein points out that Sabra is actively ignoring how that dragon was evil and died in the end, but to no avail.
- She's named after the princess from the legend of St. George
- Small Name, Big Ego: Sabra is completely convinced that she's the best fighter around, despite the Huntresses and some of the group's other Pokémon clearly outmatching her. She also claims that all of her old Jangmo-o pride agreed that she was the strongest, despite the obvious implication that they were just feeding her ego to get her to volunteer to leave. Yang finds this attitude more hilarious than annoying, however.
- "Well Done, Daughter!" Gal: Her mom is the Totem Kommo-o, and her idea of encouraging her daughter to get strong is to constantly call her weak while dismissing her growth and achievements as minor. It's part of why she left her colony.
- Tsundere: Starts evolving into a platonic version of this towards Yang.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: During the battle with Sabra's mother, Yang gets thrown, and, as Lux notes, that's the first time that Sabra has actually used her name instead of "Blondie".
Rescue Team's Pokémon
Absol
An Absol that accidentally came through an Ultra Wormhole while defending a village. She's training at Beacon with the Huntsmen until they can make it through another wormhole. She considers Qrow to be her sort-of trainer.
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: She wears a nice gray scarf to the dance at Beacon.
- Anti-Escape Mechanism: Uses Pursuit to halt Cinder's dash for the elevator.
- Blood Knight: Like most Pokémon, she loves a good fight. Despite the seriousness of the situation, she can't keep herself from smiling and admitting to having fun while fighting Cinder.
- Bullying a Dragon: Cardin tried to pull her razor-sharp tail when she first arrived. If it wasn't for his aura, he'd have lost some fingers.
- Combat Clairvoyance: She uses Future Sight in battle against a Deathstalker.
- Dodge the Bullet: She uses Detect to slip through a spray of shrapnel from Cinder.
- Dynamic Entry: She first appears while jumping through the wormhole and beheading two Grimm at once.
- Immune to Mind Control: Her Dark-Type's immunity to Psychic means that Semblances that would attack her mind like Emerald's don't even register her as a possible target.
- Natural Weapon: When discussing if she could be a threat with Ironwood, Ozpin notes that in addition to her skill at Aura manipulation she's also gifted with claws, fangs, a horn, and even a sharp tail. He still doesn't consider a threat since her even temper means someone would have to intentionally make her angry before she would attack.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Ozpin notes that her skill with Aura manipulation is only matched by veteran Huntsmen. None of the moves she's used are all that powerful by Pokémon standards, but the finesse required to perform such feats purely through Aura control is impressive on Remnant.
- No-Sell: She is unaffected by Emerald's semblance and Fox cannot detect her with his. This is because in this story they are treated as Psychic-Type powers, which Dark-Types are immune to.
- The Prankster: Shows shades of this, like when she rigs a punch bowl to fall on Team CRDL.
- This Is My Human: She considers Qrow her trainer, without any input on his part. He's rather surprised to learn this when Team RWBY returns and informs him of it.
- Outside-Genre Foe: Huntsmen train to fight each other and Grimm. An intelligent animal with superpowers, not so much.
- Spider-Sense: Like all her kind, she can sense disasters before they happen. However, her ability to do so is impaired by the dangerous combination of teen drama, powerful weapons, and combat training always present at Beacon.
- Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Is the 'Huge Girl' to Zwei's 'Tiny Guy'. Absol's official height has her at 3'11". Zwei, as a Pembroke Welsh Corgi, is closer to a foot.
- Underestimating Badassery: Cinder didn't think she was anything other than a really weird dog. That opinion changes quickly during their fight.
Grimm
Grendel
An ancient, powerful Beowolf Alpha. First encountered by Team RWBY when it leads the attack on Golden Valley.
- An Arm and a Leg: In addition to the arm it supposedly lost in its backstory, it cleaves off its other arm in order to escape from Solgaleo.
- Bloodbath Villain Origin: Though it was always evil, in the version of its origin Ruby tells it first became a legend by organizing the slaughter of first a party and then an entire village.
- Bring It: A sign of Grendel's intelligence is it seeming to do this during its fight with Ruby.
- The Dreaded: Feared throughout Vale and responsible for the most dreaded of Grimm Attacks, it only leaves a few victims alive so they can tell its story and spread fear about it.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: Beowolf Alphas, while larger and smarter than the rest of their kind, are not much of a threat. Grendel lived long enough to become a terrifying, skilled tactician.
- It Can Think: Even among Elder Grimm, Grendel is especially cunning. It's capable of forming complex strategies, is smart enough to Know When to Fold 'Em (and knows how to use it's lesser bretheren to buy it time), and knows that leaving witnesses will spread the story will result in a net increase in fear in other settlements, which will attract more Grimm.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: It will flee if a fight is going against it, like when Solgaleo starts tearing into the Grimm in Faba's lab.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: Solgaleo bites its left arm while it is trying to escape into an Ultra Wormhole. It uses its right arm club to chop it off and escape.
- Meaningful Name: It's named after the monster from Beowulf that got his arm ripped off.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: It's named after the monster from Beowulf.
- Put on a Bus: It's avoiding Team RWBY on Salem's orders and, except for a few brief cameos, hasn't been seen since chapter 13. It reappears in chapter 36, in the care of Lusamine.
- Red Baron: It's also called "the Grimm General".
- Right Hand of Doom: Grendel's unique characteristic is that its right paw has been replaced with a spiked, mace-like lump of bone.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left:
- After noticing Ruby's Silver Eyes, it disengages immediately and flies away on a giant Nevermore.
- Flees through an Ultra Wormhole when Nebby evolves into Solgaleo and begins slaughtering its reinforcements.
