Ruby resting her head on her hand and staring into the distance before she is startled by someone slamming their palms on the table she is at.

Weiss: (smiling) I need you to pick a tablecloth.

Ruby: (confused) Aren't they both the same?

Weiss: (sighs in frustration) I don't even know why I asked! Elena, help me out!

Elena: Uh... (Points the left tablecloth) This?

Weiss: (Pleased) Thank you.

Weiss walks out of the scene as Yang comes in carrying a massive sound speaker on her shoulder, which bounces her sister and the table she's moping on again to jump in the air when she drops it on the ground.

Yang: (brushing her hands as she approaches Ruby) So, have you picked out a dress yet?

Ruby: What's the point? Who cares about the dance if Blake isn't going?

Yang: Oh, don't worry; she's going.

Rin: Speaking of, did Rex ask you out?

Ruby: Well...

Yang: He didn't?

Ruby: (Lower her head) He didn't.

Yang: (Threatening) Okay, I'm gonna give him an answer.

Rin: No, no, no, Yang! Don't be hasty!

Briana: So what if he didn't ask Ruby out.

Mia: No, I agree with Yang.

Rin: Mom!

Mia: I can't believe my own son didn't ask his own girlfriend out for the dance!

Ruby: No, it's fine, Mrs. Venti! It's not like I'm forcing him to go.

Briana: I haven't seen Rex all day. I thought he was supposed to be helping us decorate the dance.

Elena: Or Luke. Maybe they're practice?

Mia: Oh, dear, where could they be?

Yang: Weiss! I thought we agreed: No doilies!

Weiss: If I don't get doilies, you don't get fog machines!

The girls are interrupted by the sound of doors opening.

Neptune: (walking in with Sun) Your dance is gonna have fog machines?

Weiss: (stepping up to him, becoming sweet) We were thinking about it...

Neptune: That's pretty cool.

Briana and Rin: (Whisper to each other) Neptune 3, Jaune 0.

Sun: (coming into the scene, acting suave to Weiss' ire) You ladies all excited for dress-up?

Ruby: Pfft... Yeah, right!

Yang: Laugh all you want. I'll be turning heads tomorrow night!

Weiss: (addressing Sun and Neptune) What are you two wearing?

Sun: Uuhhh... this? (gestures to his current shirtless outfit)

Neptune: (steps up and holds a hand in front of his friend's face.) Ignore him for he knows not what he says.

Sun: (knocks Neptune's hand away) Hey, I may have moved to Mistral, but I grew up in Vacuo. It's not exactly a shirt-and-tie kind of place.

Yang: Yeah, we noticed.

Sun: Soooo... what does Blake think of all this? She still being all, y'know... Blake-y?

Weiss: Obviously. (turns and crosses her arms in disapproval)

Ruby: I still can't think of a way to change her mind.

Yang: Guys. Trust me; Blake will be at the dance tomorrow.

Luke: (Comes in) Hey, what's up?

Yang: Luke! Where have you been? I thought you were supposed to be helping us decorate.

Luke: I didn't have a chance to pick up my tux, and it was awesome. Black and white, I was gonna wear some shorts.

Elena: Have you seen Rex anywhere?

Luke: Oh, the dude told me that he has singing practice.

Briana: (Sarcastically) Of course.

Luke: Still, is sis gonna come, too? I'm worried about her.

Briana: She will come, dude.

Mia: I still can't believe Rex didn't ask you out, Ruby.

The Faunus herself is sitting at one of the library tables with a holographic screen in front of her. She is obviously more sleep-deprived than ever, barely focusing on what she's seeing...

until a small, bright red light appears on the screen. Moving up and down, Blake's eyes follow it down to her hand, then disappears entirely. She looks behind herself, obviously irritated, but no one walking among the tables is her culprit.

Turning back to the computer, she starts typing on the beeping keyboard before the laser dot appears on her hand briefly, prompting her to look around again and still find no one. The red point shows up on the screen, moving around in circles until Blake scowls and pounds her fists on the table. She stands up from her chair and finds the light on the floor, following it blindly through shelves of books until both the dot and its pursuer turn the corner, only for Blake to bump, shocked and shaken out of her more "animal" instincts, into...

Yang: (waving with her left hand as her right holds the laser pointer, in a sing-song voice:) He-lloooo!

Blake: What are you...?

Yang: (grabs Blake's arm) We need to talk.

And with that, amid Blake's single cry of surprise, Yang whisks her partner out of the scene.

Emerging from the steaming bathroom in nothing but a pink towel wrapped around his lower body, Ren sighs in contentedness and starts walking away, only to be stopped by Jaune suddenly appearing in front of him.

Jaune: We need to talk!

And with that, amid Ren's single cry of surprise, Jaune pulls his teammate away, leaving his bottle of "Samurai Shampoo" to spin in the air before dropping to the ground.

Rex was in RWBY dorms practicing his songs.

Rex:
Beyblade Beyblade Beyblade Burst!
Beyblade Beyblade Burst Evolution! (2x)

I am ready for a new adventure,
For the world to know who I am,
When we're deep in the heat of battle,
That's where I'll prove myself again.

I think we're ready for a new beginning,
We're reunited, we can't be stopped,
Together we can beat our rivals,
Beyblade our way to the top.

We will knock you off your feet,
Prepare for your defeat!

Never give up!
Never give in!
We gotta fight for what we believe in!

Put to the test!
Together we'll win!
This is a Beyblade Burst Evolution!

Never give up!
Never give in!
We gotta fight for what we believe in!

Put to the test!
Together we'll win!

Beyblade! (4x)

Beyblade Beyblade Beyblade Burst!
Beyblade Beyblade Burst Evolution! (2x)

Let It Rip!

While Rex was done with his song, he was about to head out until Jaune grabbed him by the arm.

Jaune: Dude, we need to talk.

Rex: Whoa!

Jaune: (sitting on his bed in the dorm room) Rex... Ren... I'm just gonna say it. You guys are one of my best friends. These past few months, I feel like we've really bonded, even though you don't say much. I mean, you're really quiet. To be perfectly honest, I don't know that much about you, personally, but darnit, I consider you to be the brothers I never had!

Rex and Ren: And I you.

Jaune: Which is why I wanted to get your advice on... girls.

Ren and Rex: Girls?

Jaune: (trying to find the right words) I just... don't know... how to... girls. Um, I-I guess what I'm asking is... Well, Rex, how did you and Ruby got together?

Rex: Well... I have got a doozy. After Torchwick escaped from the docks, I've sang to Ruby, she confessed to me and I confessed her back. Now, we've been boyfriend and girlfriend for months.

Jaune: Wow... So, Ren, how did you and Nora...? You know...

Ren: Uh... uh... uh...

Nora: (clears her throat to get the boys' attention on her) We're actually not "together-together..."

Rex: It's fine. I understand.

Jaune: NORA, I SAID HEADPHONES ON!

Nora does so quickly under her leader's command.

Ren: (focusing on his friend fully) Jaune, what is this all about?

Rex: It's Weiss, isn't it?

Jaune: (sighs) Yeah. I'm completely head-over-heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but she's also incredible. She's smart, and graceful, and talented. I mean, have you heard her sing? I-I just wish she's take me seriously, y'know? I wish I could tell her how I feel without messing it all up.

Pyrrha: (off-screen) Then do it.

Jaune: Uh, wha?

Pyrrha: (walking into the room) Tell her exactly what you said. No ridiculous schemes, no pick-up lines. Just... be honest.

Jaune: But what if I-

Pyrrha: Jaune. (smiles) You can't get it wrong if it's the truth.

Rex: What Pyrrha's trying to say is you just have to be yourself instead of somebody else.

Jaune: (looks up with a new confidence) You're right. (stands up) Thanks, Pyrrha! (looks back to his bed as he goes out) Good talk, Ren! You too, Rex!

Ren smiles and waves his thanks while Jaune closes the door. Upon doing so, Pyrrha becomes noticeably less cheerful as she walks over to her desk, with a concerned Nora watching her with sad eyes.

Nora: (sighs) Practice what you preach, Pyrrha.

(With Yang and Blake)

Blake: Yang, if you're going to tell me to stop, you may as well save your breath.

Yang: (sitting cross-legged on the central desk of the empty classroom they're in, orange light shining across her calm features) I don't want you to stop; I want you to slow down.

Blake: (continuing to pace with arms crossed, still irritated) I don't have the luxury to slow down.

Yang: It's not a luxury; it's a necessity.

Blake: The "necessity" is stopping Torchwick.

Yang: And we're going to. But first you have to sit down and listen to what I have to say. (pats the part of the desk across from her)

Blake: (looks away for a moment until she relents and drapes her legs over the desk's edge) Fine.

Yang: Ruby, Rex, Rin, and I grew up in Patch, an island off the coast of Vale. Our parents were Huntsmen. Our dad taught at Signal, and our mom took on missions around the kingdom. Her name was Summer Rose, and she was, like... Super-Mom: Baker of cookies and slayer of giant monsters. And then... one day she left for a mission and never came back. It was tough. Ruby was really torn up, but... I think she was still too young to really get what was going on, y'know? And my dad just kind of... shut down. It wasn't long before I learned why. Summer wasn't the first love he lost; she was the second. The first... was my mom. He wouldn't tell me everything, but I learned that the two of them had been on a team together with Summer and Qrow, and that she'd left me with him right after I was born. No one had seen her since.

Blake: Why did she leave you?

Yang: (sighs, then turns to the chalkboard) That question... Why? I didn't know an answer, but I was determined to find out. It was all I thought about. I would ask anyone I could about what they knew about her.

As the reminiscent blonde starts drawing on the board, the scene shifts to a flat-painted flashback of a young Yang, with orange bows holding her brunette pigtails, looking at the photo found in a smashed picture frame.

Yang: (off-screen) Then, one day, I found something. What I thought was a clue that could lead me to answers, or maybe even my mother.

The next shot shows Yang walking down a long winding path through the towering trees shedding their leaves with a little creaking wagon pulled right behind her, a little sister in a crimson hood sleeping soundly inside.

Yang: (off-screen) I waited for Dad to leave the house, put Ruby in a wagon, and headed out. I must've walked for hours. I had cuts and bruises, I was totally exhausted, but I wasn't gonna let anything stop me. When we finally got there, I could barely stand, but I didn't care; I had made it. And then I saw them. Those burning red eyes...

In the shadows of the worn-down house the siblings had arrived at, beastly red shapes glow from the darkness.

Yang: (off-screen, while her younger self looks petrified) There we were: A toddler sleeping in the back of a wagon and a stupid girl too exhausted to even cry for help. We might as well have been served on a silver platter. But, as luck would have it, our uncle showed up just in time.

Yang: My stubbornness should've gotten us killed that night.

Blake: Yang... I'm sorry that happened to you, and I understand what you're trying to tell me, but this is different. I'm not a child, and this isn't just a search for answers! I can't just-

Yang: (still facing the board, fists clenching) I told you: I'm not telling you to stop! I haven't! To this day, I still want to know what happened to my mother and why she left me, but I will never let that search control me. We're going to find the answers we're looking for, Blake. But if we destroy ourselves in the process, what good are we?

Blake: You don't understand! I'm the only one who can do this!

Yang: No, you don't understand! If Roman Torchwick walked through that door, what would you do?

Blake: I'd fight him!

Yang: You'd lose! (pushes Blake away)

Blake: I can stop him! (tiredly tries to do the same to Yang, but she doesn't even budge)

Yang: You can't even stop me!

She pushes Blake again, knocking her to land on the desk. Yang, still angry-eyed, walks toward Blake as she gets up, but then does the unexpected and embraces her in a hug, her eyes going back to their normal purple.

Yang: I'm not asking you to stop. Just please, get some rest. (pulls back to look at her partner) Not just for you, but for the people you care about. And if you feel like coming out tomorrow,

Yang: I'll save you a dance.

Luke: (opens the class door) Yang, there you are! Hey, Sis.

Yang: You need anything?

Luke: Yeah, uh... I was gonna say... Yang, would you... be... my date to the dance?

Blake was shocked for what her brother just said.

Yang: As in, boyfriend and girlfriend?

Luke: Something like that.

Yang: I would love to, Luke.

Luke: I would like to say a few words: Yes!

Luke:
Look at me, I can dance so gracefully
Gotta have some rhythm just to make the scene

Just feel the beat, hear it in your head
Movin' to your middle, ending at your feet

Anyone can do it
Anyone can dance
My moves'll hypnotize you
Put you in a trance

Can't you see, coordination is the key
It's my balance that takes hold of me

Take your arms, wave them in the air
Keep yourself from fallin' and you'll glide without a care

Anyone can do it
Anyone can dance
My moves'll hypnotize you
Put you in a trance

You're gonna need style and personality
To give you individuality

Don't be afraid to move the way you wanna move
Trust yourself and you will find your groove

Hey

Anyone can do it
Anyone can dance
My moves'll hypnotize you
Put you in a trance (2x)

Luke ended his dance with a split.

Luke: (Gets up) So, how did I do?

Blake: I'm so touched.

Yang: Here's your reward for your talent.

Yang gave Luke a kiss on the lips, even Blake was surprised.

Luke: Not what I was expecting.

Yang: (winks) You owe me a date, Cat Boy. (Leaves out of the classroom)

The white rose in Jaune's hand bounces up and down as its smiling owner walks through Beacon Academy until he stops at the entrance of a hallway with the sound of a certain voice, causing him to duck behind the columns outside.

Weiss: Neptune! (she walks past Jaune as he peeks around the corner and goes up to Neptune)

Neptune: Oh, uh, hey, what's up?

Weiss: I know this is a little unorthodox, but... I wanted to ask you something. Would you... like to accompany me to the dance tomorrow?

While Neptune rubs the back of his head and smiles with raised eyebrows, Jaune loses all of his confidence and drops the rose on the ground before walking back from where he came from.

The sight of the lonely, abandoned rose turns into a large collection of the same flowers, one dropping outward, in a large vase behind Yang, now in a short white dress with black heels as she stands at a podium. The doors in front of her open and she flips out upon seeing who walks in.

Yang: Ooohh, you look beautiful!

Rin: Oh, my gosh, Ruby! You look so cute!

Ruby: (groans as she looks distressed in her red dress with black lace, belt, and pumps) Can we have a serious talk about how Weiss fights in these?

???: I see you look astounding.

Ruby looked behind and saw her lover in his blue tux.

Rex: Wouldn't want to hurt yourself, right?

Rin: You look so adorable, little brother!

Ruby: (Blushes) You really look great, Rex.

Rex: Wow, Ruby, you're like super cute! A hundred percent!

Yang: 🥰 Look at you two.

Rin: 🥰 You look so cute together.

Ruby: (Blushes) Come on, stop it.

Rex: Thanks, guys.

Meanwhile outside, Sun is seen walking around and wearing a new black jacket (now closed up) with a white tie hung around his neck, which he proceeds to fight with before going inside.

Sun: Stupid... dumb... neck trap!

Luke: Dude, you're tightening too much.

Blake: (off-screen) I knew you'd look better in a tie.

Sun stops his struggling and stares at the dark purple dress worn by Blake, now looking like she traded her dark bags for violet eyeshadow, as she steps forward and takes him by the arm.

Sun: Sooo, does this mean we're going... together?

Blake: Technically, though my first dance is spoken for.

Luke: Someone's finally out of her shell.

Inside the ballroom, streamers are hung through glass chandeliers, pink and blue balloons are everywhere, and students in dark suits and bright dresses are stepping with each other to the music between the white-clothed tables. Blake is spun around by Yang before they curtsey to one another, and Sun comes up and takes his date's hands as Yang gestures for him to do so. She goes to hang with Ruby and Weiss in the back of the room, watching Blake laugh and enjoy herself before smiling at her team.

Rex: Looks like she's enjoying herself.

Yang: I told you she would come.

Weiss: Mission accomplished.

Rin: Uh-huh.

Ruby: (turning to her teammates) Soooo, what do we do now?

Yang: Just have fun!

Ruby: (Shouting after Yang) Does that mean I can change out of these stupid things and into my hood now? Stupid lady stilts!

Rex: Those heels are killing you?

Ruby: Yes! I can't even walk in these!

Ozpin: Not enjoying yourself?

Rex: Not exactly.

Ruby: Oh, no, everything's fine! I'm just not much of a fancy pantsy... dancey girl.

Ozpin: Well, you can't spend your whole life on the battlefield, even if you may want to.

Ruby: (crossing her arms, looking annoyed) Yeah, that lesson's been floating around a lot lately.

Ozpin: (staring out at the dancing couples) If you think about it, fighting and dancing aren't so different. Two partners interlocked, although one wrong move on the ballroom merely leads to a swollen foot.

Ruby: (looking down at her own feet) Or a twisted ankle.

Rex: That's one way to look at it.

Ozpin: It's not every day that friends are able to come together like this. Time has a way of testing our bonds, but it's nights like these that can help keep them stronger than ever. Nights like these are ones we'll never forget.

Ruby and Rex smiles at the words of wisdom, but turns their heads at the sound of the doors opening. Yang is back behind the podium, and smiles at the new arrivals.

Yang: You guys are just in time!

Mercury: Wouldn't miss it for the world.

END OF PART 22