Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-10390252-20130728185452/@comment-4830106-20130730212634

Character-dev episode: "Ebony vs. Ivory"

Similar to The Legend of Korra's "The Spirit of Competition" episode, this episode would take a break from the Big Bad and the overarching plot to work out most of the inter-character tension, especially between Weiss and Blake.

Now that the teams have been officially established, training and education begins at Beacon. The highlight, naturally, is a scored intramural competition called "Beacon Floor Live", featuring a variety of team challenges, duels and full-out brawls. There are also refs, a commentator, and a school-wide leaderboard. Don't ask me how it's scored, I won't be able to tell you yet.

Eager to prove themselves, team RWBY signs up for the first round of matches, which they clear with ease--all members of Team RWBY being exceptional fighters in their own right. Time passes (a few episodes or so, with BFL as background) and Team RWBY has landed a berth in BFL's championship tournament (for their year, of course). There has always been a little isolated bickering between Blake and Weiss, naturally, but nothing significant arises (Ruby or Yang mediate or shout them down, respectively).

(This is where the episode starts) Nothing significant, that is, until a rather scathing report about the SDC's treatment of local Fauna makes its way to the news, and the girls see it at lunch or something. Having (probable) connections to the Fauna herself, Blake is immediately on the offensive, calling the SDC out as "bloated" and "sadistic". Weiss returns the insults, making more than a few personal remarks about Blake's "people". Ruby and Yang intervene before it comes to blows, but there is still quite a bit of animosity between the two.

BFL returns for the postseason tournament, and RWBY is first in the lineup. The match starts off badly already, with Weiss and Blake completely ignoring, and sometimes even hindering each other. At the halfway point of the match, team RWBY is behind, and Ruby implores Weiss and Blake to try and work together. It fails, however, as Weiss and Blake are knocked out. Ruby and Yang miraculously pull out a victory on their own, but there is little joy in the team. Weiss and Blake continue arguing even after the victory has been announced, and Yang, at the end of her patience, loses control and goes on a furious rant at both of them, then storms off. Ruby begins to feel some serious doubt about her ability to keep her team together, and runs off in tears. Weiss and Blake have a "See what you just did?!" moment, then angrily leave.

Over the course of the next day, Team RWBY makes a valiant effort to stay away from each other as much as possible until that night's match, for which they are woefully ill-prepared: Weiss and Blake aren't even acknowledging each other's presence, Yang is in a state of perpetual anger and lashes out at anyone she can, and Ruby is exhausted because she was up all night crying.

The match starts and Ruby is uncharacteristically knocked out (in both ways) by a head shot early because of her slowed reaction time. Just before the halfway point, Yang is ejected from the match for an excessively brutal foul. With one team member unconscious and another suspended, Weiss and Blake are forced to make a temporary alliance in order to keep RWBY in the tournament ("Listen, you don't like me, and I sure as hell don't like you, but..."). Showing excellent teamwork, Weiss and Blake knock out the entire opposing team without taking a scratch.

After the match, the team reconciles in their dorm. Blake (whom I'm assuming has some medical skill due to her background) offers to treat Ruby's injury, Yang apologizes for her angry behavior, Blake and Weiss admit to each other: "Hey, you did pretty good out there." and (at Ruby's insistence) apologize.

That turned out a little longer than I expected, but what do you think?