Kaen awoke to hear arguing in the distance. He could swear he had opened his eyes, but he couldn't see a thing. Realizing he had his goggles on, he groaned as he pulled them to his forehead. As he did he realized the sun had only just barely broke the horizon. Rolling out of bed he plopped to the floor lazily and then lifted himself up. He spent the next few minutes putting on his coat, buckling his two belts that each held two swords, and attaching his final blade to his back. He shook his arm a few times and stretched as he could feel the familiar weight of his arsenal. As he opened the door to go see what was going on, a huntsman stood at his door.

A black haired man with a red scarf and who smelt of booze was right in front of the door. The man seemed surprised. "Um, is Bron in there?"

Kaen drowsily replied, "Who's asking?"

"I'm sorry, did I catch you at a bad time?" His sarcasm was thick and not welcome at this time of the morning. The man seemed to share the sentiment somewhat, "I got this letter from him saying he had a recruit for me..."

Kaen tilted his head in confusion but replied, "He died two weeks ago..." Kaen's mind pictured the Ursa that had nearly killed him before he snapped back to this moment, "A pack of Grimm ambushed a training exercise..."

The black haired man looked away for a little bit before he let out a sigh, "Figures that caught up with him eventually." Kaen looked away trying to shake the memory. Seeing this the man wrapped his arm around the boy, "Come on. It's my job to get you to Beacon Academy."

Kaen took a step back, "Beacon? But I didn't get tests or training..."

The man laughed a bit, "You're kidding, right?" After a pause he got serious, as if to drive home how serious he was, "You started training at the age of 8 under the daily care of a registered Huntsman who put you through your paces and sent a letter of recommendation before he died."

Kaen looked down for a moment, his mind drifting back to their time together, an expression of doubt on his face. He shook his head and put on a tough face, locking eyes with the man, "If he wanted me to go, I'll give it everything I've got..." He laughed nervously, "But we didn't crack many textbooks when we trained... so I might not do so well..."

The man raised a brow and then after what seemed like a moment of thought, seemed to nod in resignation. "I'll help fill in the basics on the way and give you a list of books to read once you settle in." He held out his hand for a handshake, "You can call me Qrow."

Kaen grabbed his hand quickly and shook it firmly, "Kaen."

Qrow sighed as he pulled out a flask and took a drink as he released the shake and watched the boy run in for a messenger bag that he seemed to put some metal, a blacksmith hammer, and the weapon that was mounted on the wall. Qrow raised a brow, "You kept Bron's old sword?"

Kaen nodded, smiling as he slipped it into the bag, "He used to say-"

Qrow cut him off, "That it reminded him of home... Poor bastard..." Kaen shot him a quizzical look, but instead of answering it, Qrow asked, "Why are your neighbors so opposed to the Huntsman if Bron was here to help them and you were training to be one?"

Kaen put the bag on his shoulder, "We have a saying around here. Those who are looking for a fight will always find one." He sighed in sorrow, "We have a lot of stories around here of Huntsman bringing the Grimm with them and people dying because of it."

Qrow groaned, knowing where this story went, "And let me guess, your parents are among the count..." As he looked over, he saw Kaen smiling softly.

Kaen walked out the door, "I'm going to let the elder know." Qrow followed quietly, taking one more drink as the villagers shot him dirty looks. Kaen walked to a house that was slightly wider than the rest and knocked on the door. "Mayor Palle?"

The door opened as the older gentleman opened the door with a smile, "Oh, Kaen! I was worried it was that Huntsman." He looked past Kaen to see Qrow try and wave hello and see the smile change to a glare.

"It is... in a sense." Kaen's tone dropped a bit, "Things should get quieter around here. I'm going with him so I can finish my training." Palle nodded and then closed the door. Having heard what was said, one of the villagers began to whisper to the rest of them, a game of telephone starting. Kaen began to lead Qrow out of the village, hoping he could avoid a proper goodbye as the crowd seemed to gather at a distance.

And that was when the boy from the night before ran up to him crying and hugged his waist. The boy cried into him for a time before Kaen returned the hug. Eventually the boy looked up at him and through the tears said with a smile, "I'm going to be strong like you one day!"

Kaen jolted with surprise and after a moment cracked a smile of his own, giving a thumbs up, "I look forward to it, Tel." Ruffling the boy's hair, the rest of the village seemed to come up, each saying goodbye in their own way. To them, despite him leaving them to become a part of the problem, he was one of them and when someone left, it was important to say goodbye.

After they had all finished, Qrow began leading the way down the road. It took an hour before someone spoke again, "So, kid, where do you want me to start?"

Kaen sighed, "Anything that doesn't get told through fairy tales?" He laughed awkwardly at that last part.

Qrow nodded, again unsurprised by Bronzo's method of teaching. "Every living creature, except the Grimm, have Aura. It is the life energy of your body. A Huntsman is trained to use their aura. Most often, this takes on the form of defense, protecting from lethal blows and limiting the amount of damage they take while fighting. It also allows us to heal faster than the average person from any wounds we DO sustain."

Kaen seemed surprised and then asked eagerly, like he was excited to find someone else, "So it burns through the body and puts it back together? With all that energy coming off?" Qrow raised a brow and then motioned Kaen to explain. "Well, when... the accident happened... I lost control of my emotions. When I did... You know, it would just be easier to show you." Kaen drew one of his swords, a basic long sword with an odd curved mechanism at the pommel. He put the blade to his palm and pulled it across, a red line forming and beginning to bleed. Wincing at the pain and seeming to try and focus, he eventually opened his eyes again. The once Hazel eyes were a blazing orange and again the warm jets of energy flowed off of his shoulders, looking almost like wings.

Qrow backed up a little in surprise but smirked. Motioning the boy to stop as the wound healed before his eyes, "No, but I would say that is a nice one." Kaen stopped and looked puzzled, "That was a semblance. Every Huntsman has one. I heard it explained this way once. If your aura is a part of your body, then your semblance is a part of your soul. It is how your mind and heart can make use of that aura."

Kaen asked, "What's yours?"

Qrow continued, ignoring the question as he continued down the road, "Now a refresher on Dust. It's elemental stones that operate as a power source for much of the technology you will see in Vale. I know you don't have tech this far out in the middle of nowhere, but you see that pistol assembly on Bron's old gun? He made it to use Lightning Dust as ammo. There are lots of types, but we will stick to the five most common, Fire, Wind, Ice, Lighting, and Earth." The lecture continued about their various uses and Kaen half zoned out. He had never been a book worm which was part of why his mentor stuck to the stories to teach him. Still, he could vaguely connect this to some of the stories he had heard during his training and got the general idea that they were capable of great elemental feats.

Qrow noticed him zone out and sighed, "This is going to be a long trip so you had best pay attention when I'm telling you stuff. I'm not going to repeat it."

Kaen smirked, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you I was thinking about pancakes."

Qrow growled, "I said I'm not going to repeat these lessons that you were too dumb to learn when Bron tried to teach them to you!" Kaen shot him a knowing smirk and Qrow calmed down, smirking, "Alright, you got me to repeat myself. Good job. Now spend that brain power on learning so you don't sound like a complete idiot when you take your final exam." Kaen jolted in surprise but before he could ask Qrow snapped, "Focus!"

Qrow lead Kaen over to a cliff and pulled out paper and a pen, writing a few things down as he stood there. Kaen cleared his throat, "Um... is this Beacon?" Qrow looked at him with raised brows, shaking his head. More time of Qrow writing lead to Kaen asking again, "Then where are we?"

Qrow sighed, handing the paper to Kaen. It was the list of books he wanted Kaen to read. "This will get you caught up on where you need to be for your classes. I'm sure if you sit down and shut up, you will learn faster, but I don't trust you to shut up." He then explained, "This is going to be your final exam, once the others get here."

Kaen asked, "Others?" As he said that, a small craft landed next to them. Out of it stepped a professor with round glasses that hid his eyes, spiked green hair, a white dress shirt with the collar flipped up and a yellow tie. He led the other three out with a great amount of energy which only the green haired Faunas in the front seemed to enjoy.

"Ah, Yes! As planned! Thank you Mister Branwen!" His words were quick with sharp punctuation. Kaen was a bit surprised but smiled along with the faunas who seemed to be trying to copy his mannerisms. The lavender haired girl in the purple kimono laughed politely at the impression as the grey cloaked boy remained unmoved, if not annoyed.

The teacher was in Kaen's face before he knew it, "Hello, Mister Phoenix. I am Professor Oobleck. And if Miss Merlinus doesn't stop soon, I'll give the rest of you a head start." The impression stopped as the cat faunas stopped their impression. Did he just call them Miss?

"So, your task is simple. There are three chess pieces. Each of you are to gather one and return here with it. It is that simple." Kaen turned to look for Qrow but he had already vanished. As if to respond, "Mister Branwen and myself will be observing your progress so do behave yourselves. See you when you return." Oobleck seemed to just appear at the edge of the cliff and drop down. As he vanished everyone began to walk near the edge, trying to see how far down it was. As they did, they were thrown by pressure plates on the edge of the cliff.

Olive smiled as she floated through the air. The advantage of being a cat faunas was her excellent sense of balance. Still, she was rather high up. Looking at the forest below, her ears swiveled on her head, helping her listen for the other students and any Grimm. The guy in the coat had already landed, and it sounded painful. How much did he weigh? She was wondering if he left a crater. The girl in the kimono had drawn her weapon and turned it into a Naginata, twirling it to slow her decent. Why not use her kimono? It would make for a good parachute. She could see the white haired boy only because he had somehow created a small tornado under his cloak to slow his decent.

They were smarter than the first guy, but too slow for her. She could hear it and swung one of her gloves out, wires wrapping around an especially strong branch. She knew how awesome this was and wished others could see it. As she hit the bottom part of her swing from the branch, she could feel her full weight land on her shoulder, pulling it out of place. As she hit the apex of her swing, she detatched the wires and did a flip to land on her feet. This awesome look was contrasted by her immediately cursing as she grabbed her dislocated arm and rolled around, kicking her feet into the ground.

During his slow decent, Zoge saw the clearing that most likely held the pieces. Once he was low enough to land without hurting himself, he pressed the button on his glove again, the rune in his cloak turning off and causing him to resume his fall. As he landed, he rolled forward to minimize potential damage and began to run. Based on their trajectories, he suspected that the cat was already ahead of him. Still, that meant there were two left and since the first person to land had done so very far away, it stood to reason that he was sure to pass this test.

He ran full speed, making sure not to needlessly brush the foliage. Last thing he wanted was to draw attention to himself. They would have kept this area clear of any majorly dangerous Grimm but there is no way they wouldn't have left some for a test like this. Last thing he wanted was to be caught unawares.

Amy landed gently, the wind of her weapon only lightly disturbing the grass around her. She smiled with satisfaction at how she was able to do that even with the weights in this kimono. It was like carrying an entire extra person on her, but she had been using it for years now. Had she known this would be a race, she would have left this on the bus, but she was here now. She was about to follow the animal trails to where she assumed the pieces were but she heard an odd sound from behind her. It sounded like intense fighting, but how could that have started already. As she was about to investigate, she was caught unawares by a large Ursa running like mad through the brush, the boy in the coat on top of it.

Her eye began to glow as the world slowed down and she tried to process what she was seeing. They boy with the coat had jammed a short sword into the mask of the Grimm and was using it to control the direction it was pointed. She was so floored by this odd sight she just stood there watching until it had passed her by. It took her a few seconds after it had passed for her to remember this was a race. Picking up the pace, she ran forward to see Olive shaking her arm a little to make sure it was back in place. With a soft smile, Amy went to potentially have an ally in this test.

Kaen rammed the sword to the side, forcing the Ursa into a hard right turn into an especially large tree, but it shattered it and broke on through. "Unbelievable! What are you made of?!?" He felt someone else on it with him now. The quiet boy from before was standing behind him now.

The boy directed calmly, "A left in thirty feet then hard right in seventy beyond that." Kaen looked away from his 'driving' for a moment as the boy assured him, "Trust me. Two birds."

Kaen had no idea what he meant, but in about thirty feet he guided the rampaging Ursa to the left, another large tree in their way which again, just shattered before the beast. And seventy feet past that, he pulled it into a hard right. When he did, he saw what the plan had been and braced himself for the inevitable impact.

Olive laughed, "So, I told him that it was the END OF THE ROAD! It was perfect! I couldn't believe my luck to have one so obviously there..." She stopped her speaking as she saw something incredible. Coat boy and Cloak Man were on top of an Ursa... and crashed it into the ruins where the chess pieces were. The ancient stone walls held and Coat Boy was thrown from the beast, the short sword in his hand flying free from the crash and stabbing into a nearby tree. He personally got himself tangled in the branches of the same tree further up. He eventually fell down a few branches before getting lodged, upside down with his blade supporting him at the shoulder.

Cloak Man removed his cloak to swing it out at one of the pieces while in mid-air, scooping it up to him in a fluid movement. He landed on his feet and, while sliding on the cloak, analyzed the piece. He swore under his breath and then seemed to stare at the remaining pieces, deep in thought.

Olive walked over to Coat Boy and, after removing the sword, and watching him fall had to ask, "How in the hell did you do that?" He groaned as he got back up, taking the sword back and sliding it back into his sheath. Realizing he hadn't been introduced unlike the rest of them she asked on top of that, "And what is your name Coat Boy?"

He rolled his shoulders and sounded distracted in his reply, "Kaen... Name's Kaen... and swords... I guess?" He walked over to Cloak Man and asked, "What's eating you?"

"This is a test, but not to see who gets in. Think about it. We have a rook, a knight, and a bishop. Why not use the same piece for all of them? Answer: They are supposed to denote roles, or perhaps rank." Zoge was impressed. So this would be his team. Still, what did each piece mean? And why only three?

His line of thought was interrupted by Kaen speaking up, "Well, if this is about rank, you guys can all have pieces and I'll just come back with you guys."

Zoge turned to him with cold analytical eyes, "Why? Don't you want a chance to be in charge? To have power? You strike me as the sort that has never had power, so why not take it now?"

Kaen shrugged, "I'm just a guy who wants to protect people. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but I'm a country bumpkin. I wouldn't even know what to do with a position like that."

Zoge's cold eyes could see nothing but sincerity from him. Upon further analysis, his use of many weapons and confident stance, he seemed to be a pure hearted man. Zoge let out a sigh. A boy like this was destined to get himself killed at the hands of the Grimm. Still, Zoge could see some potential. Turning to analyze the rest of this team he could tell that of all of them, he was certainly the one least qualified to play an official role. "I say that I take the knight, Olive the rook, and Amaranthine the bishop."

Amy nodded in agreement, "That sounds wonderful, and it is a pleasure to meet you, Kaen." She bowed politely. These people had proven to be far more interesting than any of the strange things her brothers did back home. Olive was so carefree and friendly. She clearly cared about others, and while Zoge was cold he was also very earnest in his desires.

Amy froze for a minute as Kaen asked Olive a question she didn't expect, "So, he called you Miss back there. Does that mean you are a girl?"

Olive laughed and winked, "Of course. But when I'm dressed like this, other girls don't get jealous and boys don't get nervous around me. If they don't know I'm a girl, it is their fault for not asking."

Kaen nodded, "Makes sense to me. Nice to meet you, Merlinus."

The cat girl laughed a bit, "Nah, you got it wrong. My name's Olive. His name is Zoge. Her name is Ame... Ami..." She could see the girl trying to form a simple but long name and failing, "Amy... Her name is Amy because I am NOT sitting there and saying the whole damned thing every time I want to say hi."

Amy laughed at the energy Olive spoke with as Zoge pegged her in the face with the rook. He threw Amy hers with the same amount of force, but Amy perfectly intercepted it, her eyes shining as she tried to figure out the best position.

Kaen laughed lightly at the slapstick. "Well, I suppose it will be nice working with you guys." They started on their way back when a loud rumbling came from the trees in the distance. Kaen froze, feeling the dark intent behind those motions and put himself between everyone else and the sound. "Get going!" Before anyone else could respond, a Goliath burst through the trees, Qrow using his blade to try and deter the beast. But it was clear that it had one goal. Everyone else ran towards the cliff clearly trying to escape. Kaen stabbed the massive sword on his back into the ground in front of it and put his feet on it, using the blades in his sleeves to block the incoming charge.

As his blades made contact, he could feel the sword in the ground begin to shift beneath him. Clearly slowing the charge but far from stopping it. Qrow cried out, "Get going, Kaen! I can take care of this!" There was a hint of concern, but Kaen couldn't bring himself to run. It came here for him and running would only put everyone else in danger.

Qrow sliced one of the legs, causing the beast to rear up and stop the charge. Using this opening, Kaen retracted his arm blades and pulled his two long swords free from their sheaths and then connected them at the pommel to form a double sided sword. He leapt up at the beast, twirling the blade in one hand as he drew one of his short swords at the peak, attaching it to double sided blade as well. Landing on the Goliath he drew his final short sword and attached that, forming a glaive. His strikes had all been superficial but now that he was up here, he could do some real harm... or so he thought.

Instead the now stationary Goliath was using it's trunk to try and grab him, and while swinging the large glaive was proving to be a deterrent, it wasn't actually helping him to win. Just as Qrow was about to transform his blade, something he didn't expect occurred...

Zoge ignored Oobleck's reassurances as he asked Olive, "Are you sure it is in the right location?"

She shrugged, "My semblance gives me echolocation and that thing is really loud. I'm sure it is right there."

He turned to Amy who, looked concerned, but followed his direction, stepping on the trigger point for the launch pad.

As Zoge sailed through the air, his mind was put at ease when he saw the beast was right where she had told him it would be. Nice to know how precise it is. He reached over to his left arm and unwrapped it on his decent, the poisonous aura oozing off of it and leaving little marks on his skin where it touched healthy skin. He dropped right onto the head of the Goliath, his arm passing clean through the trunk and striking the beast on its mask. The poisonous cloud of energy entered its body and caused it to collapse quickly, crying out in agony. Feeling his semblance getting out of hand, Zoge returned the bandages, but could feel how much of his body had been effected by it. Not the worst instance, but he was definitely not going to be able to move for awhile.

As the Goliath fell over, Qrow took this chance to strike the killing blow. As the beast dissapated, he saw Kaen carrying the now worn out boy in his arms. "Well, I'll be damned. Kid had a secret weapon." Kaen looked concerned but Qrow just chuckled and motioned for him to be quiet, "He'll be fine. His aura will undo the damage. Just let him rest." He looked the two over as well as looking up to the cliff and nodded, "Yep... you kids are going to be fine."