Hello everyone I would like to welcome you to my RWBY fanfic. I know that this chapter will be shorter than the others but I plan on doing more with Carmine when I get to the main story. I also do not own RWBY those rights belong to rooster teeth, my team and characters that I create are my own on the other hand. So without further delay on to the chapter!
When Carmine was around four years old he would love to watch the hunters on TV as they would take on hordes of Grimm, the suspense and excitement made it more compelling to watch as sometimes they would appear to be losing only to come out with a victory from behind. His favorite team to watch was Team SLVR (silver) it was a team composed entirely of Faunus, they were considered one of the greatest teams even if the human did not want to acknowledge it. After watching one of their missions he decided to be a hunter just like them, to be so great that every human would have to acknowledge him as the best.
His parents enjoyed the ecstatic look on his face every day after watching one of their missions. His mother would always tell him, "A great hunter does not leave his toys out after playing with them, always eat his vegetables and cleans his room." His father took equal delight in the seriousness of his son's determination to be a great hunter and would tell him, "now son I want you to know that even if you become a great hunter you still need the support of your teammates, so when you go to beacon I want you to treat your teammates with respect, OK." Carmine would always furiously shake his head in agreement, "of course, the greatest hunter needs the greatest teammates that he can trust! I wanna be so great that Team SLVR will want to team up with my team on missions!" His parent would just laugh patting his head telling him that he has to grow a little older before he can start his journey to be a great hunter.
Six years passed, Carmine never lost the drive to be a great hunter with an equally great team. He was around ten when he heard that Team SLVR was forced to retire because one of their teammates sustained a career ending injury, he was devastated to hear the news. During the Faunus news report it was stated that while they were retired it would not stop them from helping out, taking on smaller jobs and training new hunters was now their main focus. Wanting to meet his idols Carmine convinced his parents to take him to the convention center that Team SLVR was hosting a charity event at. While he was there he meet the team leader Sable, he was a Lion Faunus with a tired look on his face, his usual spiked grey hair laid flat on his head. On the TV he stood tall squaring his shoulders, but looking at him now he seemed to almost slump into himself as his new posture was slouched with his head slightly down. Out of many of the Faunus he was a rare case as he had both the ears and the tail of a lion, both of which drooped low. Despite his defeated appearance Carmine immediately recognized him as others simply passed him by, he walked right up to him with purpose which surprised the lion Faunus.
As Carmine stood before him his eyes glowed with admiration as he tried to think of something to say to the person he idolized, Sable simply looked at him and sighed, "what do you want kid?" Carmine almost burst with excitement, "hii'mCarmineIwatchedyouonTV, yoursocoolI'myourbiggestfanandwantedtobeahunterjustlikeyouwhenIgotolder. Iheardthatyouhadtoretirebutwerestilltakingonstudenttoteach, iwaswonderingifyoucouldtakemeonasastudent!" Never in all of his years had Sable ever heard a kid so excited to meet him, the look in his eyes reminded him of himself when he was younger. Smiling Sable raised a hand and patted Carmine on the head, "hey kid would you like the meet the rest of the team?" Carmine's head almost popped off, "OHMYGODYES, CANIREALLYMEETTHERESTOFTHETEAMTHISISTHEBESTDAYEVER!" Sable led Carmine through the crowds toward his teammate who were lazing around the large table that had been set up for them. When they saw Sable approach them with a kid in toe Victoria laughed, "Please don't tell me that he's an illegitimate kid you had." Sable laughed softly pushing Carmine forward, "From what I understood this kid is our biggest fan and heard we were taking students." Roland leaned back laughing, "Is that what the P.R. guys are spreading around now? Sorry kid but we aren't taking on any students." You could almost hear Carmine's heart break when he heard that piece of information. His face instantly fell and any energy he had before quickly dissipated, looking at each one of them he bowed, "I am sorry for trying to impose myself upon you all it was a great pleasure meeting you and I wish you the best of luck for the future." Carmine turned and began walking back toward his parents, Lillian stared intently at Carmine as he walked away.
Looking at her teammates she spoke, "correct me if I'm wrong but I think he was the first person to ever say that he was glad to meet us, usual people want us to do our job and leave but that kid…." Sable nodded, "the look he had in his eyes when he first saw me…..it reminded me of what we were like back in the day when we first started." Roland retorted, "You mean naïve and stupid?" Sable shook his head, "no….hopeful, he said that he wanted to be a hunter just like us when he got older." Sable looked to each of his teammates and took a deep breath before walking after Carmine, Roland laughed in a mocking manner, "What so now we're babysitters?" Victoria slapped him in the arm, "I believe the correct term is trainers." All three of them heard when Carmine yelled in excitement, looking at him through the corner of her eye Victoria giggled, "C'mon I bet he's not that bad."
With permission form his parents Carmine trained with team SLVR for seven years unlocking his semblance and crafting his weapon within that time. During the training to unlock his semblance he received a light scar on chin going in a horizontally diagonal direction to the right, and two faint scars running diagonally up the left cheek. He received them from a Grimm that he was fighting, Sable offered to have them healed but he refused saying that he would carry them as a reminder of his time with them. During he was training with team SLVR they provided him with the basic education he needed to attend beacon, which he was accepted to by way of team recommendation. He had some time before he would board a ship that would take him to his new home, his first day was not for another two weeks and he was spending that time with his parents.
During training he would often visit them or if time permitted they would go and visit him in one of the many out posts that he was training at. He was sitting down eating dinner with his family when his mother spoke up, "oh Carmine you have gotten so big since the last time we saw you, so how is your training going?" Wiping his mouth Carmine answered, "It's going well, and Sable says I should have no problem in the school. Even Roland was impressed with my last training match." Carmine's father gave him a pat on the back, "you know son when Sable first came to us offering to train you to be a hunter I was completely against it." Carmine was about to interject when his Father held up his hand, "but seeing how determined you were and with some convincing from your mother I am glad to say that we made the right choice. Son you have grown so much over the years that I almost didn't recognize you when you walked through that door the first time." Carmine's father brought him in closer hugging him, "I am so proud of you son, you are going to help a lot of people." Returning the hug Carmine replied, "Thanks dad." The rest of the dinner was eaten in silence, Carmine's remaining time was peaceful as he awaited his final test from Sable before heading out to beacon.
Carmine stood in the middle of a collapsed makeshift colosseum, the area was very large almost too large compared to his previous training areas. He stood in full combat gear with Iron Battalion sheathed on his back, Team SLVR were also in full combat gear as Roland held what looked like a remote. Sable stood up from his seat at the top of the stone steps, he cleared his throat and spoke, "Carmine it has been a privilege training such a promising hunter, what you are about to face is the same test that each of us had to take before we were recognized as hunters able to attend beacon by our own mentors." He looked to Roland nodding, "Carmine this is a test to see if you can withstand the odds of being separated from your teammates, you will be completely surrounded by Grimm. You only goal is to eliminate each one, there is no time limit and if we have to step in to assist you…you fail the test." Carmine nodded drawing his weapon getting in a low stance, his ears adjusting to any noise that wasn't the wind and his breathing. Roland pressed a button and a lift activated opening a gate in front of Carmine, snarls grew loader as the lift slowly rose to the colosseum floor.
Carmine gripped his shield more firmly as he could see the eyes of the Grimm before it came charging out of the darkness, a large Beowolf followed by 4 smaller Beowolves went charging straight for Carmine. Dropping his blade to where the blade tip touched the ground Carmine braced as the large Grimm slammed into his shield, he was pushed back a foot before digging his heels in and throwing the Grimm off to the side before bring his blade upward in a swift motion decapitating the first Grimm on his right. Taking several steps forward Carmine slammed the edge of his shield into the neck of the last Grimm on the right snapping its neck, spinning left Carmine brought the blade to chest level scoring another kill on the Grimm now closest to his front. As the Grimm to his front charge running over the dissipating body of its kin Carmine brought his sword down diagonally ending the last of the smaller Grimm before setting his sights on the large Grimm that was slowly circling around. Both locked eyes for a brief moment, muscles tensed in Carmine's legs as the Grimm lowered itself turning each limb into a living spring coiled up ready to be released. At the same moment both sprang forward, the Grimm out stretching its claws preventing any kind of sideways escape, Carmine wound up his sword arm before swinging downward with as much force as he could effortlessly splitting the Grimm in half. Sliding several feet from the momentum of his step Carmine took a deep breath looking up to the stands at Roland out stretching his arms in a mocking manner with a Cheshire grin.
Roland returned the smile pressing the same button on the remote two more times, Carmine notices that the area had four small gate, three medium size gates and two very large gates. Four Boarbatusk's launched themselves out from the gate on Carmine's right as three Ursa came charging out from the gate on the left, Roland simply sat back and smiled as Carmine readied his weapon again. Several Ursa, Boarbatusk, and Beowolf later Carmine stood slightly winded in the center of the field surrounded by the dissipating corpses of the Grimm he was tasked to eliminate. The medium size gates held the older much stronger versions of the Grimm he was fighting, while difficult it was not impossible to beat them as their numbers had be reduced to one or two at the most when emerging from the gate. What got Carmine worried was the two large gates that had yet to be opened, he estimated that from the beginning of the test to the current time three and a half hours had past, he still had aura to spare but his weapons was becoming heavy to wield with each new group of enemies he faced. He still had his semblance to fall back on but he only wanted to use that as a last resort considering how fast it burned through his aura. Roland pressed the remote once, the large gate began to open as the lift raised.
Carmine steadied himself again he heard hissing emanating from the darkness as a massive King Taijitu slithered its way out of the lift, the black half swayed hypnotically as the white half slowly encircled Carmine. Sable and Lillian stood ready to intervene should Carmine find himself in trouble, not falling for the obvious trick Carmine kept track of both heads. Carmine sheathed his sword and pressed the mode change button located by his thumb transforming Iron Battalion into gun mode, as the shield twisted clockwise the barrel and stock extended. Not wanting to enter a close quarter's fight with the giant snake Carmine shouldered his weapon before loading in a smoke shell and the clip with the rest of his ammunition. As the two heads crossed he fired the smoke shell diving over the snake's body as the black half caught the shell in its mouth sending blinding smoke everywhere. Rolling into a crouched position he fired on the white half that was not covered in the smoke, each round finding a different place in the snake's head. The black half shook free from the smoke hissing menacingly at Carmine as it slithered toward him, the white half sprang forward crashing into the wall, Lillian drew her sniper aiming at the black half before Victoria put a hand on the barrel lowering it.
Pointing upward they saw Carmine loading a new clip into his gun as they could faintly make out the slight electrical discharges sparking from his eyes, the key trait in knowing he had activated his semblance, "he is taking the battle seriously now." Carmine aimed for the eyes first rupturing the thick membrane of the black half, as it hissed in pain the white half sprang forward mouth open and teeth pointed out aiming directly at Carmine. Jumping up Carmine landed on the back of the white half as he ran continuing to fire on the black half, rupturing the other eye the black half swung its head wildly hitting everything close to it inadvertently slamming into the white half knocking them both down. Focusing his shots on the white half next Carmine managed to rupture its left eye before it got up thrashing about, switching his weapon back into sword mode Carmine ran at the black half jumping above the white half as it swung close by him and landed on the black halfs head. Taking his sword in both hands Carmine drove it into the top of the black half's skull killing it, the white half furiously launched itself at the black half hoping to hit Carmine.
Taking three steps forward and getting as low as he could Carmine swung his sword forward catching the white half under its jaw as it passed over him, cutting underneath the jaw and continuing for several feet with the momentum in which it had Carmine had cut more than half of the white half down the middle. The Giant snake dissipated as Carmine leapt off checking his aura level, 'I burned through more than half my aura dealing with that damn snake, and I still have one more Grimm to go.' Carmine deactivated his semblance taking a deep breath and squared himself looking at team SLVR ready for his last challenge. Roland looked to Sable with a questioning look, Sable nodded to Roland as he pressed the button one final time.
As the lift rose up Carmine could hear the gear straining to raise as whatever was on the lift was thrashing about trying to get out. Before the gates could fully open a massive Deathstalker burst through the iron gate and charged Carmine, he was only able to raise his shield up in time to block the razor claws that swung at him, but he was not able to withstand the momentum at which it charged as he was effortlessly pushed back being slammed through the concrete wall. Knocking the wind out of him momentarily Carmine was able to recover fast enough to dodge the stinger aimed at his head. Pinned by the claw gripping his shield, which was the only thing that was saving him from being chopped in half Carmine was now limited in his movement. Dodging the stinger for the third time Carmine activated his semblance releasing his shield and jumped over the Deathstalkers claw parrying the stinger as it came at him a fourth time. Slashing at its eyes made it back up enough to slam its other claw into Carmine's side sending him into the adjacent wall, with the claw being so close he could not react fast enough to dodge the attack.
As he picked himself up the Deathstalker threw his shield off to the distant corner of the arena, it let out a shrill shriek as it charged him again with claws extending outward and tail reared back ready to strike. Slowly starting to feel the pain from the previous blows and the exhaustion setting in from the constant fighting beforehand Carmine was slowly running out of options as the Deathstalker drew ever closer. Taking a deep breath Carmine remembered his promise to be the best hunter, 'how can I expect my team to be the best if I don't put forth the effort myself? ' as the Deathstalker thrusted its tail forward Carmine leaned forward dipping his left shoulder. His movement was subtle enough to barely dodge the stinger while still giving him enough room to swing upward cutting off the dangerous attachment, stopping his swing when his arm reach full extension he turned the blade downward and shifted all of his weight into the thrust.
His sword pierced through the head of the Deathstalker and a good six inches of ground when Carmine deactivated his semblance, he did not remember falling to his knees or laying on the ground as Victoria applied basic first aid. As he slowly lost consciousness he heard Sable say, "Well kid you passed the test, we officially recognize you as a hunter. Now all you need to do is head to beacon find a strong team and become famous enough to force us out of retirement to team up with you." Carmine slowly smiled as his last bit of consciousness faded away.
On the plane to beacon Carmine looked out the window at the passing scenery, a girl walked by with blazing blonde hair and a giant smile on her face. She was followed by a smaller girl wearing a large red cape who had glued herself to the blonde's side, looking around the ship he found one students lying down in one of the seats with their sweater hood over thier eyes as they slept through the announcement that a Ms. Glynda Goodwitch had about how they were selected and what was expected of them. As the ship was docking a blonde haired boy pushed past Carmine and began puking his guts out in the nearby can, stepping around him he made his way into the extravagant school that would be his home for the next 4 years.