AN: A lot of little things last chapter.

More hints at the Maidens. And a nod to Salem. And just some emphasis on how well planned out Cinder's plan is. Ruby saw her, but she has an alibi, and Ruby doesn't want to believe it was her.

That campfire scene would've probably been a better time to mention Weiss' father marrying into the Schnee name. And I wanted to try and help Weiss' decision to try and inherit the company by being a huntress make more sense. She's trying to honor her grandfather, so she can lead the company the way he did.

The whole "Ruby can't fight without her weapon" subplot is dumb, or at the very least, not well executed. She carries and easily swings a Sniper rifle/scythe hybrid that is longer than she is tall. Not to mention the shoulder strength it must take to fire it. And we saw her send a man flying in the very first episode, without her weapon. So if she lands a punch on a guy, that guy is going flying. So instead, I demonstrated her helplessness by sending her an enemy she can't hit so effortlessly.

And the reasoning behind Team RWBY splitting up on the train didn't make sense. They were supposed to diffuse bombs, but that got forgotten entirely. Then they proceeded to split up one by one, never a good idea. So instead, I chose to have one battle, two v 3 to emphasize Roman and Neo's teamwork, as well as Weiss and Yang's weaknesses. And I also felt it was important to at least address the fate of the White Fang guys who got thrown off the train.

Forward, to The Breach!

Ruby struggled to clear her mind from the crash. Just as she was regaining her bearings, a massive rumbling came behind her, and a King Taijitu erupted from the ground, followed by an enormous wave of Grimm. The four girls ran to create some distance while screaming for the onlookers to run. Ruby winced as she saw a handful of the civilians tackled and quickly slaughtered by beowolves.

The four quickly regrouped and attempted to cover the retreat of the civilians. Ruby, Weiss, and Blake rushed about trying to kill the Grimm nearest to the retreating crowd, while Yang carried a once again unconscious Torchwick to a nearby restaurant, looking for a place to hide him until the battle was over.

As Yang prepared to reenter the fray, it was in time to see Ruby being snuck up on by an Ursa Major. Just as she called to her sister, the claw was caught by the shield of Jaune Arc. Ruby turned just in time to see Jaune shove the creatures claw away and bring his sword around in a mighty slash, sending the monster's head flying.

Ruby couldn't help but grin at her friend's feat of strength. She then turned as she heard an explosion from the other end of the square.

"SMASH!" Nora cheered, bringing her hammer down on a King Taijitu's head, just as Ren was dispatching the other end. She then turned again at the sound of what sounded like several warriors fighting, only to see a lone Pyrrha in a crowd of Beowolves and Creeps. She was carving her way through with Milo in hand while Akouo bounced around her, shredding Grimm around her before they could reach Milo's range.

Ruby's joy at her friend's arrival was short-lived; however, as more Grimm began to emerge from the tunnel, and they were starting to look older and showing more variety. Ruby quickly assessed the situation. Any civilians still in the area were dead, which meant the objective was containment.

"Listen up!" Ruby called everyone in her earpiece, "there are three exits to this area. We need to keep the Grimm from leaving through any of them."

"We contacted the police before we arrived." Jaune informed her, "They should be here to barricade the area soon."

"Sounds good! We'll have to split up the teams, though." Ruby began to mull over how best to split things up until another voice came over her earpiece.

"What're you talking about, Ruby? You've got a team of Junior detectives right here!" came Sun's cheerful voice. Ruby glanced at the North just in time to see a dark-skinned boy with a large sword land amid several Grimm, leaving a massive crater in his wake. Sun and Neptune quickly joined him as a ginger boy dressed as a pirate calmly gunned down a crowd of Grimm with what looked like a flintlock pistol.

"Allow me to introduce the other half of my team." Sun cheered as he battled an Ursa. "the pretty boy's Scarlet and the one leaving craters is Sage."

"We weren't gonna let you nerds have all the fun this time!" Sage growled as he cleaved a beowulf in two.

"I told you!" Neptune shouted in annoyance, "Intellectual!"

Ruby tried hard not to laugh at the banter between the three as her team took positions at the Western exit, and JNPR took positions at the East. Within a few minutes, Ruby heard the relieving sounds of sirens, and several police cars pulled behind the groups, setting up hasty barricades, as officers added their dust rounds to the huntsmen in training. Unfortunately, Ruby began to despair as the Grimm only seemed to keep growing in number.

"Those Boarbatusks will smash right through the barricades!" An officer grieved over the radio.

Jaune had a quick thought as he cut down another ursa and ran to a nearby sergeant. "Do you're officers have Gravity dust?"

"Not much." The officer lamented. "Maybe five rounds each."

Jaune nodded. "Tell them to fire the gravity rounds right in front of the Boarbatusks right when they start to roll."

The officers passed the order along. A group of Boarbatusks formed a spinning wall preparing to rush a barricade. However, their spins were quickly interrupted as the Gravity dust fired into their paths, sent them all up into the air, and they all crashed back to earth on their back, making for quick and easy targets.

This minor victory didn't last long, however, as several Deathstalkers made their presence known. Ruby also felt her ammo pouch growing light and had heard several reports from her fellow students that they'd run out of Dust. The others couldn't be far behind. She began to grow frantic until one of the deathstalkers collapsed under the strain of a burly form landing on it's back, shattering its shell. A fireball then erupted from the debris, and a laughing Peter Port emerged. Further relief came as more debris began to throw itself at the Grimm, as Glynda Goodwitch calmly entered the scene.

"We need to push forward!" She commanded, "If we clear out enough of them, I should be able to seal the hole."

"We can help with that." Ruby turned just in time to see three arrows whiz past her and explode into the eyes of another Deathstalker, effectively blinding it. Cinder strolled up next to her, a bow and dust arrows in hand.

"Not taking a dirt nap this time, Ruby," the yellow-eyed woman smiled.

Ruby sighed in relief, both grateful for her friend's help and to see that she wasn't throwing fire. Emerald and Mercury joined the fray as well, and Ruby prepared for a final push before a thought occurred.

"What about Oobleck and Zwei?!" She called into her earpiece, "They're still in the-"

"GET BACK!"

Everyone jumped as a burst of flame erupted from the tunnel, followed quickly by Doctor Oobleck and Zwei. Ruby's smile quickly vanished when she saw the Doctor waving everyone away with a panicked look.

"GET BACK!"

Ruby suddenly felt the ground shake even more, and suddenly erupt again as a trumpeting Goliath emerged. Ruby paled as the mighty Grimm began to paw at the ground beneath it.

"Don't let it charge!" She called, rushing forward to slash its legs. She nearly lost her grip on Crescent Rose when the blade made an impact with the beasts legs, but barely left a scratch. Jaune, Sage, Pyrrha, Blake, and Emerald had all had similar ideas, but their attacks on the creature's legs had no results. Nora had tried to launch a mighty blow on the creature's skull, but had only seemed to irritate the monster, which swatted her away with a swing of its trunk.

As those with bladed weapons assaulted the behemoths legs, the rest of them ran forward to keep the smaller Grimm away from their comrades, having all exhausted their Dust, while the police drew riot shields and batons to try and stem the still-growing wave of Grimm. The three teachers regrouped for a quick conference.

"Come on, Barty!" Port called his colleague, "I've seen you defeat bigger Goliath's than that! Why that one's probably the youngest of its herd!"

Oobleck nodded. "I've used up all my dust fighting the White Fang and Grimm in the tunnels." He replied, "What about you?"

"I'm nearly out as well," Port groaned. "Can't you do anything, Glynda?"

Goodwitch shook her head, "If I use my semblance to destroy that thing, I won't have enough energy left to close the hole."

"Perhaps we can be of assistance." A commanding voice came over their earpieces. "Everyone, get clear of the Goliath!"

As Ruby and the other's retreated, she looked about in confusion to try and see who else had joined the battlefield. Suddenly, there was a massive flash of light, and the Goliath's right side exploded in a gigantic blast. Ruby looked up to see hundreds of atlesian ships fill the sky of Vale. Another shot was fired from the flagship, obliterating the remains of the Goliath. More fire rained down from the sky, annihilating the Grimm below. Atlesian Knights began to rain down from the ships and march on the tunnels. The Grimm continued to charges, but while some managed to destroy, they were eventually driven back by the sheer numbers of the machines. Finally, the area was secure enough for Glynda to close the Breach finally.

"17 casualties were reported…"

"The Atlesian military succeeded where the huntsmen failed."

"What was Ozpin thinking sending students on such an important mission?"

"The Huntsmen did their best, and without them, the casualties would've been much worse, but ultimately, the day belonged to Ironwood's fleet."

"There's no way of knowing if my way of doing things would've worked better. Ozpin did the best he could with the information he had."

Yang was pounding away at a speed bag, trying to build her accuracy. She tried to visualize the smirking face of Roman's partner in the speed bag.

"In light of these recent events and attacks, General Ironwood has been placed in charge of security for the Vytal Festival, and his troops will begin regular patrols of the kingdom."

"Ozpin's continued place at the academies will be discussed at a later date."

Weiss strained as she struggled to lift the 50-pound barbell over her head. Just as she felt her arms begin to lose the last of their strength, and concerned, Nora came over and lifted the bar back onto the rack with one arm.

"I'm going to give you one chance. Who's really behind this?"

"Isn't it obvious? You're looking at him!"

Blake continued to go over her notes. She tried and tried to find a link. To understand what the White Fang had hoped to achieve. Why so many had died for this plan. Finally, she grew sick of it, throwing her notebook away, and collapsing onto her back in the dorm, unable to figure out an end game.

"Things went off prematurely, but the Breach still served its purpose. Ironwood's army now walks the streets of Vale."

"The White Fang lost a lot of people, though. They didn't have time to build escape tunnels. Fennec and Corsac may not be willing to listen to us after this."

"No, but they'll listen to me."

"Good. The final phase will soon begin."

Ruby ran and ran around the track. Her legs wanted to stop, but she couldn't. She hadn't been fast enough this time. She had to be next time.

AN: So some reviewers have wondered how I planned to make the Breach work, since the canon Breach made the villains look incompetent, and the Grimm look weak. The answer is: easily. All I had to do was make the Grimm feel like a threat, and the Breach itself feel like a part of the plan that worked. And to treat it like the turning point in the series it was meant to be.

First of all, the original Breach didn't have any casualties. That trivialized the entire thing, so I made it clear that people died, none of that "some people got hurt, and a clothing store got smashed" crap.

Second of all, I hope I got it across that the characters were fighting an uphill battle. Partly by giving the fight an actual objective, not just "fight monsters and look cool." (Though I do hope that Pyrrha sounded cool to you guys. I got the idea for her fight from "Castlevania" when Alucard's sword is levitating around him while he fights.) And making that objective seem tricky to attain. Despite other huntsmen teams arriving, and the police (because of course, the police would show up) and teachers, there's still more Grimm. And everyone running out of Dust, including the police, lets us know that Roman's heists had consequences. (And Jaune's idea to fire gravity dust at the Boarbatusk's feet was just an idea I had of creative ways to use Dust to dispatch Grimm. And it once again highlights his role as a tactician.)

And remember the goliaths? Those massive Grimm Ruby thought were cool, but Oobleck said she wouldn't stand a chance against, and we were so stoked when they were on the move in Volume Three, and yet we still haven't seen them fight? So yeah, figured I'd throw one of those into the battle and make it feel unstoppable. And it's a young one.

And then I had the Atlas military be the heroes! In canon, Ozpin gets crap, and Ironwood gets rewarded, even though Ozpin's students did all the work. That makes no sense. So instead, I made it clear who won the battle.

And then I made it clear that this was Cinder's plan all along. My headcanon has always been that the purpose of the Breach was to get more of Ironwood's troops in charge of the Vytal Festival, so Cinder could hack them and wreak havoc, so I've made that canon here. Thus, the Breach was a step of the plan, but not the end game. The goal was always for the Vytal Festival to be where Cinder's plan came to fruition. Again, I've always assumed that it was M, M,&K's original intentions, but the plan was so convoluted in canon that we can't be sure.

And again, instead of trivializing the Breach by having Team RWBY act like it was no big deal, we've got the training and trying to improve because they failed! They blew it! Minimizing the damage of the Breach was damage control, not a success. And there will be additional consequences. And you may notice that they're all training alone. That's a small inkling of things to come. This is a turning point, so hopefully, Volume three's turn will feel less jarring.

Now it's time to address the elephant in the room with a little rant. I'm sure you all noticed the absence of team CFVY from this chapter, and this entire Volume. At the same time, the most enlightened among you must have seen that nothing of value was lost.

In three Volumes, Team CFVY was, at best, fanservice that made Emerald and Mercury look good, and at worst, fanservice that stole the spotlight from actual characters (Weiss) and trivialized important moments (the Breach).

And Team CFVY is fanservice. Even more so than Jinn (fight me)! Jinn had a more substantial and significant impact on the plot in her first minute of screen time than team CFVY had in their entire screen time for the first three Volumes. You don't need gravity-defying breasts and upskirts to be fanservice. If it only exists because the fans want something to masturbate to, it's fanservice.

And I don't care if the YA novel fleshes out their personalities to a ridiculous degree, and they return to the show and somehow manage to be a truly significant and irreplaceable addition, while at the same time not doing anything that should've been done by Teams RWBY, JNR, or SSSN, nor distracting from any of their important moments. As far as their roles in the first three Volumes, they were detrimental to the plot and distractions from more important characters. That fact will never change.

Okay, rant over. I hope you all enjoyed my take on Volume 2. Keep reading and reviewing.