 The longer a show airs, the more difficult it is for new fans to get into a series, and Ruby is no different. With seven seasons, or volumes under its belt, and midway through an eighth, there is a lot to cover. But whether you are new to the Ruby series, or a veteran of Remnant, this video series will cover all that you need to know to get caught up to Ruby Volume 8. Today we will be covering volumes 1 and 2. I am Phoenix Knight, and this is Ruby Recap. Our story begins in Remnant, a world divided into four kingdoms of Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo, and Vale, where its people live in a constant struggle against the darkness. The creatures of Grimm, soulless monsters that threaten to extinguish humanity. But humanity is not defenseless in this struggle, however, for they have utilized a substance known as dust, crystals that allow one to harness the power of nature, earth, wind, fire, water, in an effort to push back the darkness. But darkness comes in many forms, and humanity will need to rely on its resourcefulness to continue its survival. In the Kingdom of Vale, the notorious thief Roman Torchwick is attempting to rob a dust shop, and is thwarted by a 15-year-old, scythe-wielding girl, Ruby Rose. As Roman flees and Ruby follows him, he gets the jump on her, but luckily for Ruby, Glinda Goodwich arrives to save the day. As Roman's ally comes to face Glinda, she fights back using the unique ability of her soul called a Semblance. A Semblance is a singular ability unique to each individual. It is an extension of one's soul, and can be awakened through training, or more often through extreme circumstances. For Glinda, her Semblance is telekinesis, the ability to manipulate nearby objects at will. After an intense battle, Roman is able to make his escape, and Ruby is taken by Glinda to meet Ozpin. Ruby Rose, you have silver eyes. The mysterious headmaster of Beacon Academy, one of the four Huntsman Academies responsible for training the Huntsman and Huntresses of each kingdom, the protectors of Remnant who battle against the Grim. He takes interest in Ruby and invites her to his school, jumping her ahead two years in her training. On her first day, we meet Ruby's half-sister, Yang Xiaolong, and are introduced to the cold-hearted Eris to the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee, and the aloof Blake Belladonna. With her first introductions not going so well, Ruby is at a bit of a loss as to what to do, but someone is there to lift her spirits, the goofy but sincere Jean Arc. After a stoic speech from Professor Ozpin, everyone is set to wait for their initiation the following day. Later that evening, the girls encounter one another again, and Ruby reveals her motivation for becoming a Huntress. Since she was young, she has dreamed of being the hero in the stories, fighting against the monsters and defending those in need, in an effort to make the world a better place. The following morning, we meet the energetic Nora Valkyrie, the quiet Lyren, and the selfless warrior Pyranikos. Everyone is told that through their initiation, they will be partnered with the first person they meet, and then put into four member teams who will accompany them throughout their years at the academy. Ozpin then launches all the children off a cliff to fend for themselves in the forest, and after each of them find their own way to land safely, Ruby runs into Weiss, Blake finds Yang, Nora boops into Ren, and Pyra quite literally snags herself a Jean. As they make their way through the forest, Pyra notices that Jean can't actually use his aura, and helps him to unlock it. Now, aura is the power of the soul. It is used to fuel a semblance, and to create a protective barrier around a person and shield them from harm. It is also quite useful for strengthening one's body and weapons to allow for superhuman feats, and even increase one's healing capabilities. But a person's aura is not limitless, however, so they do have to be careful not to overexert themselves and open themselves up to injury in battle. All pairs meet at the end of the forest, and are forced into battle against the creatures of Grimm. Jean, Nora, Pyra, and Ren battle a large scorpion Grimm called a Deathstalker, while Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang battle the large avian Grimm known as a Nevermore. Through this battle, we see Ruby's speed semblance, named Petalburst, combined with Weiss's ability to create momentum-altering glyphs, allowing them to finish the battle in a single blow. Surviving the initiation, they are then put into teams. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang form Team Ruby, Jean, Nora, Pyra, and Ren form Team Juniper. We are also introduced to Team Cardinal. Things get off to a bit of a rocky start with Team Ruby, as Weiss feels she would be more competent as a leader than Ruby, but with the help of one of her professors, she soon realizes that she needs to prove herself as a teammate first. In another class, Jean is in battle against Cardin Winchester, the leader of Team Cardinal, where Jean is completely outmatched. Cardin is a bully who picks on everyone he can, including Jean and any students who happen to be Faunus. Although humans and Grimm have long been at war with one another, there is one other species that is parts of the conflict, the Faunus, beings that appear much like humanity with one exception. Be it a pair of ears, a tail, claws, or fangs, the Faunus all have a singular animalistic trait that often sets them apart from humanity. And due to this, they have lived a history of oppression and slavery that has admittedly gotten better since the times of war, but discrimination still exists in the hearts of some such as Cardin. Pyrrha takes notice of Jean's lack of ability and offers to help him, but Jean refuses. He reveals that he cheated his way into Beacon and wants to stand on his own to prove himself. Cardin overhears this and uses it to blackmail Jean, but with a little nudge from Ruby, Jean stands up to Cardin while on a mission in the Forest of Forever Fall. Things look dire as Cardin attacks Jean, and then a large Grimm attacks Cardin, but Jean steps in to save him. Pyrrha uses her semblance of polarity from the sidelines to magnetically move Jean's shield and help him win. With his confidence restored, he is able to break away from Cardin, and afterwards accepts Pyrrha's offer to help him. Nearing the end of their first term at Beacon, preparations are underway for the Vital Festival, a celebration involving students from all four kingdoms, which includes a tournament, so Team Ruby has headed to the docks to get a look at the competition. They encounter a Faunus man with a monkey tail, named Sun Wu Kong, who flees after stowing away on a ship. As they give chase, they bump into a strange girl named Penny, who quickly befriends Ruby and they lose track of Sun. Weiss expresses her distrust of Faunus, which then leads to a heated argument between herself and Blake. Through this argument, we learn that the Schnee Dust Company, the largest distributor of dust in the world, is under constant attack by the White Fang, an organized group of Faunus who fight for Faunus rights using drastic measures. This has led to Weiss having a difficult childhood and a severe distrust of the Faunus. As Blake defends the White Fang's actions, it is revealed that she is a previous member of the organization. She runs, fearing what her teammates might think of her, and as she removes her bow to reveal a pair of cat ears, she encounters Sun. Blake and Sun decide to work together to see if the rumors of the White Fang's involvement in dust robberies were true. They head to the docks to monitor a large shipment of dust and find exactly what they feared and more. The White Fang was there and taking orders from Roman Torchwick, a human, something their organization would never do. Blake and Sun confront them and fight against Roman and the White Fang, with Blake using her semblance to create shadow clones and avoid being hit. Ruby and Penny show up just in time for Ruby to be blasted by Roman, prompting Penny to display some unusually strong fighting capabilities in defense of her friend. Roman runs before he can be caught, and after the battle, Penny disappears. With Team Ruby now reunited, Weiss tells Blake that she doesn't care about her past association with the White Fang, and asks that she doesn't run away again when problems arise. Roman had fled to a warehouse where he is confronted by the woman who fought Glinda months earlier, Cinder Fall, and two of her allies. These two are Emerald Suestri and Mercury Black, less than savory individuals who upon their introduction into the series promptly murder the White Fang defector, Tuxin. Back at the Academy, Team Ruby's second term at Beacon is about to begin, and what better way to kick it off than with a yang, or in other words, property damage. An epic food fight that destroys the entire cafeteria, much to Glinda's dismay. Meanwhile, Roman, Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury meet up and move their plan of collecting dust into the second phase. As the kingdoms gather at Beacon for the Vital Festival, some of them bring more than just their students. James Ironwood, the headmaster of Atlas Academy and General of its military, brings a large part of his forces along with him. Although they are allies, he and Ospin have very different ways of handling things. In the library, we meet Sun's friend and teammate, Neptune, as well as seeing how Blake is preoccupied with her own thoughts. Weiss confronts her about this, and Blake expresses her concern about the White Fang and Roman Torchwick. So Team Ruby decides to investigate. As Ruby leaves the room, she runs into a few new students visiting from Mistral, Emeralds, Mercury, and Cinder. Their plan is already far underway. Sun and Neptune overhear Team Ruby's plans and join them in their investigation. Ruby and Weiss head to the Beacon Communication Tower, a key structure in global communications. To her surprise, Ruby reunites with Penny and follows her, while Weiss heads into the tower and has some documents sent to her from Atlas. As Ruby is asking Penny what happened after the docks, they are interrupted by a military display led by General Ironwood, showing off some of his new equipment, including the Atlesian Paladin. Penny runs off after the soldiers notice her, and as Ruby follows her, it is revealed that Penny is actually an android, the first synthetic person able to generate an aura. The soldiers quickly catch up to them and Penny is separated from Ruby once again. Yang's investigation with Neptune led her to a bar in search of information, which was ultimately uneventful. Blake and Sun had better luck, however, sneaking into a White Fang rally where Roman Torchwick was addressing the crowd. Here, they learn of a plan in the southeast of Vale, but are discovered before they can find out more. As they run, Roman follows them in a stolen Atlesian Paladin. After joining up with the rest of Team Ruby, they are able to defeat Roman, using a few team attacks and Yang's ability to absorb damage and make herself stronger. But Roman escapes once again, this time thanks to his closest ally Neapolitan, whose semblance allows her to create physical illusions. Following that encounter, Pira takes on the entirety of Team Cardinal, and gets some satisfying payback on Cardin Winchester. She is then challenged by Mercury, who promptly gives up the fight after he discovers Pira's semblance that she's trying to hide. Meanwhile, Blake has been exhausting herself trying to figure out the White Fang's plan, causing her team to worry about her well-being. They are organizing a dance on the coming weekend, and want Blake to take some time off to rest. Yang confronts her about this, telling Blake about her own search to find her mother, whom she'd never met, and how she almost got herself and Ruby killed when she was young by pushing herself too hard. It is also revealed during this conversation that Ruby's mother, Summer Rose, disappeared long ago, going on a mission never to return. Blake heeds her friend's warning, and attends the dance with Sun. At the dance, emotions are high as Jaune realizes Pira's feelings and, thanks to a bet he made, ends up attending an address. And of course, what dance would be complete without a dance sequence? While everyone is distracted at the dance, Cinder sneaks away, and Ruby follows her to the communication tower. But, unbeknownst to Ruby, is too late to stop Cinder from uploading a virus to the network. Afterwards, Ruby hints to Ospin about Roman's plan to the southeast, claiming that Cinder had mentioned it while they fought. When Ruby arrives back at her room, there is an interesting package waiting for her, sent by her father. This is Zwei, the family dog who can be shipped through the mail, and is capable of a number of other feats. As the team heads to their first mission assignment, Ruby sneaks Zwei along with her. As the students from the four academies are gathered, Ospin addresses the importance of the vital festival. The Great War, a horrible battle that took place 80 years prior to the start of the series, encompassing all four kingdoms, Mistral and Atlas against Vacuo and Vale. It was fought for many reasons, including the destruction of individuality, art, and self-expression. It's for those reasons that many of the characters that we know in the Ruby series are named after colors, in an effort to not forget the past, and remember why all of the kingdoms stand together united today. For if we do not learn from history, we are destined to repeat it. With a little help from Ospin, Team Ruby is then assigned to a mission in the southeast of Vale to continue their investigation. As they are about to leave, they run into Team Coffee, a second-year team at Beacon with one of their members being Velvet, the bunny-eared Faunus Carden had previously picked on. Team Ruby's mission leader turns out to be one of their professors, Dr. Ublek, and much to everyone's surprise, he praises Ruby for bringing Zwei along. While on the mission, he asks what motivates each of Blake, Weiss, and Yang, and we learn their reasons for becoming Huntresses. Blake wants to fight for good to make up for the past mistakes of herself and her old partner, Adam, whose idea for a perfect world wasn't so perfect. Weiss feels it's her duty to correct the way her father has tarnished the Shni name, and Yang is seeking adventure, a life of unpredictability. While on the night shift, and thanks to Zwei, Ruby quite literally falls into Roman's hideout, Mountain Glen, a failed underground settlement of Vale that had long since been overrun by Grimm. As she fell, however, she left her weapon behind, and without it was promptly captured. Zwei then leads the rest of the group to save Ruby, forcing Roman to accelerate his plan, and causing him to leave much of the dust he had collected behind. Roman boards an underground train directed towards the main city of Vale, and Team Ruby follows. They quickly discover that the train is rigged with bombs meant to lure Grimm to the city. As Blake, Weiss, and Yang head into the train to try to stop the bombs, Ruby, Ublek, and Zwei deal with all of the White Fang members on top of the train, and try to stop it. And yes, Zwei fights too, meaning that Zwei now has a higher body count than any member of Team Juniper at this point in time. Inside the train, Yang faces off against Neapolitan, Weiss fights against the White Fang Lieutenant, and Blake goes after Roman directly. Blake is able to defeat Roman, but Yang and Weiss are unable to defeat their opponents. As Neapolitan is about to kill Yang, she is saved by a woman wearing a Grimm mask. Upon seeing her, Neo flees in fear, and the woman disappears through a portal just as Yang wakes up. Blake takes Weiss and runs to the front of the train to meet up with Yang and Ruby, but they are too late to stop it. The train breaches the city, bringing Grimm along with it. Team Ruby begins to fight, and the call for help goes out. Team Juniper is the first to arrive, followed closely by the Atlas Military. Even Cinder's group joins the battle, as does Team Coffee. The battle is quickly won, and Roman is finally apprehended. But even though everything didn't go exactly as planned, Roman's goal was still achieved. Panic was spreading, and doubt had been created in the abilities of the Huntsmen to protect the people. So much so that Ironwood took control of the city's defenses from Ospin, thinking that his own military would be able to handle it better than Ospin could. So, while Team Ruby rested, finally victorious, and awaited the start of the Vital Festival tournament, Cinder moved her plans into the next phase, and prepared for what was to come. And this brings us to the end of the first two volumes of the Ruby series. Let me know down in the comments below what your favorite moments are of Volumes 1 and 2, and I'll see you guys in the next episode of Ruby Recap, where the Vital Festival tournament will begin in earnest.