Field Trip

Field Trip is the twenty-fourth episode of RWBY, which premiered on the Rooster Teeth website on September 25th, 2014.

Summary
Following the incident in the Cross Continental Transmit, James Ironwood argues with Glynda Goodwitch about the actions to be taken, seeing the lack of concern as disturbing. Ozpin interrupts their argument to welcome Ruby Rose and, after seeing that she's unharmed after the encounter, allows her to add any more details to her eyewitness account.

Here, Ruby describes the infiltrator as someone who "uses Dust embedded in her clothing" and she links her to Roman Torchwick and the White Fang. Although Ozpin saw those new details as insufficient to link the attacker to Torchwick, Ruby's mention of "a base in the southeast" interests him enough to allow Ruby to leave, but not before advising Ruby to refrain from talking to anyone about the incident.

As Ruby returns to the dormitory, Ironwood and Goodwitch clash once more, with Glynda questioning Ironwood's resort to military might to any threat. Ozpin once more interrupts Glynda, but points out that the situation may extend beyond Beacon Academy and Vale, thus careful planning must be done first.

Meanwhile, Yang Xiao Long, Weiss Schnee and Blake Belladonna cheer up Ruby after having a tense experience during the encounter. Yang then decides to break the ice by showing a package she received from Taiyang Xiao Long, their father, and to the surprise of everyone, especially to Blake, the package included Yang's and Ruby's pet dog, Zwei, over a dozen cans of dog food, and a letter. As Blake cowers on Ruby's top bunk bed, Ruby cradles the dog while Weiss falls in love with it. Yang, on the other hand, focuses on the letter, which tells Yang that her father will depart from their home island and has sent them Zwei along with the things needed to take care of him. They hear Glynda giving an announcement over a loudspeaker instructing them to go to the amphitheatre for a speech from Ozpin. Weiss expresses concern that Zwei will not be able to take care of himself for a week while they're on their upcoming field trip, but Yang suggests that he has everything he will need. All but Ruby leave the room. Ruby looks at Zwei, as if wondering what he will do while they're away, then gasps as if she has an idea.

As it turns out, Glynda has gathered the students from Mistral, Vale, Vacuo and Atlas for their first assignment in missions with a veteran Huntsman. After a speech from Ozpin, which explains the importance of individuality and diversity, the students proceed to choose their missions. Weiss suggests a Grimm extermination mission for the team since it's on the southeast region, but finds out that the mission is unavailable for freshmen. Ozpin confirms this, but he also suggests that the team will find ways to get there inevitably, so he manages a way for Team RWBY to acquire the mission regardless. Although Ruby is overjoyed by the decision, Ozpin warns them that the mission will still depend on the team's efforts, and they can be brought back to Beacon as soon as the Huntsman assigned to them saw them unfit to proceed further.

Team RWBY takes Ozpin's advice ambivalently, although Ruby tries to be optimistic about their mission. To make things worse, Team CFVY has just returned to Beacon one week later than scheduled. Velvet mentions that there were many of "them," most likely referring to Grimm, but declines to elaborate. Seeing the dejected state in which CFVY returned saps the morale of the team, but Ruby once more attempts to buoy their spirits, hoping that the Huntsman assigned to them will lead them to success. To their surprise, said Huntsman is the eccentric Dr. Oobleck.

Trivia

 * This episode continues to show Blake's cat-like nature with the appearance of Zwei in that when the dog appeared, she got as far from him as possible and jumped over a table to avoid him.
 * It is revealed that Team CFVY isn't a first year team.
 * Ruby and Yang's father's name is revealed to be Taiyang. In a photo Monty tweeted of his computer screen, one of the folders visible on-screen was named Taiyang Xiao Long, hinting his last name is Xiao Long.
 * After the episode's credits, a teaser image for the X-Ray and Vav show was seen.

Video
To be released on October 2nd.