Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-27404492-20170918133425/@comment-34633327-20170925034130

Nikoli the rebel wrote:

1) Sending Summer on a mission alone is stupid. Huntsmen are trained to work in teams of 4 and there are significant disadvantages to going solo. Even if team STRQ was screwed to hell at this point, it is much more prefferable to send Summer with another team of 4. You are telling me there wasn't even one huntsmen in the whole kingdom that could acompany Summer and thereby record her fate? Except we know there are huntsman and warriors that go solo rather than work in groups, namely Qrow, Tyrian, and assumedly Hazel and Cinder.

Yes Qrow goes solo as a way to (assumedly) not affect others with his semblance and because his missions are top secret, but the fact he is able to head on his own and is still alive would mean there is the possibility for solo huntsman. And as Qrow vs Tyrian showed us, Qrow being solo is actually better than being in a group, as aside from the semblance factor, he doesn't have to worry about those around him and can rather focus on his own defenses, which he was doing fine when Ren and Nora weren't charging Tyrian and when Ruby didn't get involved, both incidents tripping him up.

As for the members of Salem's "coven", while we may not know if they ever attended huntsman academies, all seem to work best solo. Hazel's is only an assumption due to the fact he confronted the WF leader and isn't dead now, so either Khan was generous in letting him live or Hazel intimidated him enough to allow him to live.

Tyrian demonstrated he works best solo, his speed allowing him to manuver around his foes as they strike but his tail serving as a defense for his blind spots, as his blocking Magnhild's blow and Crescent Rose's shots proved. He was able to keep pace with Qrow, after having just taken down RNJR, and while RNJR was pretty easy for him, it would still eat up a bit of stamina keeping them down. The only reason we can say he lost is because Ruby's lopping of his tail stinger messed up his center of balance and injured him, and having to face JN_R while injured would more than likely make him easy for Qrow and Ruby to finish off. And the only reason we can say he lost his stinger is because 1) Qrow's semblance hit him, or 2) He got cocky and Ruby took advantage of it. Regardless, Tyrian showed to be perfectly capable of fighting on his own.

As for Cinder, while she did have Mercury and Emerald to aid her in her fight with Amber, all of Cinder's more cignificant fights have been solo, and were more than likely all solo before picking those two up. While having half the maiden's power did make her stronger than most in Volumes 1 and 2, she still proved deadly enough when solo. While she would undoubtedly be less skilled in the past compared to when she had half the maidens powers, most of her fights didn't really on the powers. The Atlasian Soldiers she took on hand to hand, Ruby she held off with Dust if her pants glowing are an indication, and her explosions against Glynda and Ruby were used against Amber so it wasn't Maiden related. Most of her skillset shown before getting all of the Maiden's Powers didn't really rely on the Maiden's Powers (And yes I know this could be because the Maidens weren't a thing in V1 and V2), and all that was shown was during solo fights.

The Academies may have a team based system, but it is noted that Teams don't always stick together. STRQ may be the only team we know of to have broken up, but it is still shown to be possible. And even with the Teams, many times they often broke up when it came to fighting. The Vytal Festival in particular showed many teams breaking up to each take on a single member at points. RWBY vs. ABRN and {R}W{B}Y vs. FN{KI} both had their teams broken up, and SSSN vs. NDGO was mainly this, only changing when one team had the numbers advantage. BRNZ vs. JNPR is technically another example, but with May mainly in the trees the whole time and the stupid way it ended (Yes SSSN vs NDGO ended stupid too but at least that one was more a Hoist by their own Petard Trope, not a Why don't you just Shoot Them Trope) I'd rather not count it.

Even before and after the Festival teams sometimes broke apart when fighting. RWBY split up on the Train before the Breach, which nearly cost both Yang and Weiss their lives, rather than fight each one together than move on. And yes while time was of the essence, a 3 on one match against Neo would probably be the longest, since they could steam roll both the Lieutenant and Roman, meaning they could have time (I say Steam Roll cause Weiss lost because of her bad stamina, and Blake had Roman beat on her own, and while he possibly faked it so he could get captured and put on Ironwood's ship, he still lost to one person), and during the Breach itself the girls mainly fought Grimm on their own than together, same when JNPR arrived, and technically, when CFVY arrived (I say technically because you could argue Fox and Velvet were tag teaming Grimm, and Velvet did offer to help out Coco).

During the Fall, both Weiss and Blake took on hordes of WF troops solo, then went their own ways to go after an Atlasian Paladin and an Alpha Beowulf respectively. And while Weiss and Ruby did go to help Pyrrha together, Ruby still ran up on her own rather than Weiss go with her, at Weiss' suggestion. A lot of times they only stuck together when the opponent was a sole enemy (Roman in Black and White and Tyrian in Tipping Point), or if the enemy was a large foe (The Deathstalker and Nevermore in Players and Pieces, the Sea Drake in Runaways and Stowaways, and Knuckleavee in No Safe Haven) Aside from those foes, they mainly fought solo despite being in teams. The Teams seem more a formality at worst, a method of building trust between fellow students and ease of training on a more positive note. Even the training matches seemed more focused on Solo matches than Team matches, what with Cardin Vs. Jaune and Pyrrha Vs. Mercury.

As for no one being around to help her or not going with a team, we must consider that if this did pertain to Salem, then she may not have the option of team mates. Salem's existance so far is only known by her own group, Ozpin's inner circle, and the other Headmasters. Not counting RNJR due to the different time period, the only ones in Ozpin's circle who knew of Salem are assumedly Qrow, Raven, Glynda, Ironwood, Lionheart, the headmaster of Shade, and for the Theory, Summer. I'm not sure if Taiyang knows, probably, but it is uncertain, especially with the fact Qrow asked Tai to leave just he could mention the Silver Eyes to Ruby, whereas if Tai was in the group there shouldn't have been a reason to leave.

Among them, none of them would be able to help Summer. Qrow's semblance made him work solo, so the only way he would be with her is if he ignored this, which could fall in line with the idea he drinks to forget that, but still would mean he would have to disregard something he knew he had for a while, which doesn't seem like something Qrow would do. We can't consider Raven, since this happened after Ruby's birth, long after Raven ran off. Ironwood had to run Atlas, Lionheart had to run Haven, and Shade's headmaster had to run Shade. That would only leave Glynda, and with Glynda being Ozpin's right hand, it seems unlikely she would go. Other's weren't an option due to Ozpin's mentality of keeping their mouths shut to avoid a panic, so if someone outside the group were to go, they would run the risk of that person asking, or worse, finding out and not keeping their mouth shut. So her going solo may not even be a preference matter, it could be a matter of no other available help.