It was another wonderful day at the illustrious Beacon Academy, where seventeen-plus year-olds were trained to become the most deadly warriors in the world, called huntsmen/huntresses, in order to defeat the hordes of monsters, called Grimm, roaming the landscape. Well, most of them were seventeen and older. There was a single girl, dressed in a red-and-black combat skirt with a crimson red cape, with black hair and piercing silver eyes, who was only fifteen. She had been let into the academy by the Headmaster, Ozpin, for reasons yet unknown. However, the reason for why she was let into the school wasn't on her mind; no, she was more concerned about the cards in her hand and the little figures on the table in front of her. At her, and her older sister's, insistence, they were playing a board game that was a mix of several different games all combined into one. Around the board on the table were four people: the girl, named Ruby Rose; her sister, a golden-haired girl wearing a semi-revealing brown-and-yellow outfit named Yang Xiao Long; a pale, white-haired girl wearing a much silkier white combat skirt named Weiss Schnee; and a girl wearing almost exclusively black with a few pieces of white all topped off with an abnormally large bow on the top of her head named Blake Belladonna. Together, the four of them created team RWBY, whom had been able to take down a terrorist group, a small Grimm invasion, and helped with the capture of the nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick.
"No, no, no, no, no!" But, as previously stated, these things weren't on their minds. Instead, Ruby was frantically rifling through the cards in her hand, searching for a solution. "Ugh, come on cards! Don't fail me now!"
"Hah!" Yang leaned back in her chair, a triumphant smile on her face. "Nothing can stand against the power of Yang!"
"I can't believe how much you two care about this game." Weiss had a look of extreme confusion on her face. "It's so…"
"Irrelevant?" Blake, on the other hand, looked bored out of her mind.
"Exactly."
"Come on you two, this is only your second time playing. I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunities to enjoy it for what it is." Weiss and Blake exchanged nervous glances. Fortunately, they were saved from both the game and their situation by the entrance of one of the school's teachers, Glynda Goodwitch. She was in her usual attire; a white shirt with a black skirt and a purple cape with a riding crop in her hand that served as her weapon. There was a difference that day, however. The eyes hidden behind her glasses were dead set on the four of them, containing a small air of menace.
"Children." She looked disapprovingly at the board game before returning her focus to the four of them. "I have some news for you."
"Uh-oh." Ruby managed to stop desperately looking through her cards and glanced up at Glynda. "Are we in trouble?"
"No, nothing like that; but the news does come from Professor Ozpin himself. For the first time in many years, we have a small... situation." The four girls around the table exchanged glances. "It seems that we have a student without a team, which we cannot have. So, at the request of Professor Ozpin, we would like the four of you to let him join yours."
"A new teammate?" Yang looked over at Ruby. "Guess that would be up to our fearless leader." Ruby went into one of the silliest deep thought poses any of them had ever seen, pointed a finger towards the ceiling, and was interrupted by Weiss.
"Wait! Before any foolish decisions are made, we should at least talk with this person."
"She has a point." Blake, eager to get away from the game, tried to lengthen the discussion. "We do need to find out if we can work with him."
"Pssh! Of course! That's exactly what I was going to say!" Ruby's flustered demeanour said otherwise.
"Very well. I'll be right back." Glynda turned and walked off, leaving the four to their own devices.
"Oh my gosh, a new teammate! I wonder who it's going to be!"
"I'm more curious as to why Ozpin chose us."
"Come on, Blake, isn't it obvious? We're the best team ever!"
"Sure, Ruby." At that moment, Glynda came back in, a blue figure walking along behind her.
"Girls, I'd like to introduce Cyan Kiribati." She indicated the boy behind her, who was still cowering somewhat.
"H-hello." He timidly waved a hand. He was still hiding behind Glynda, so all that the four at the table could make out was the sleeve of his blue duster and the edge of his light purple hair. The girls looked at each other out of the corners of their eyes, then gave Cyan encouraging smiles. Ruby, of course, was the first one to say something.
"So… you're shy then?" Yang facepalmed. They saw the tuft of hair move up and down, signifying that he had nodded. "That's… nice…"
"I'll leave you to get acquainted." Glynda turned to the boy behind her. "Don't worry; Ozpin chose them for a reason." She left, leaving Cyan standing out in the open. They could now see that his short-sleeved duster was dark blue with black edges and was open so that they could see the inside was the inverse. It had a few white triangles on it as well, and the left shoulder had a symbol consisting of a blue, eight-pointed star with half the spikes shorter, surrounded by a black ring. The back of the duster also had a simple black vine design on it that started beneath his shoulder blades and ended just above his pelvis. Underneath the duster was a plain light blue shirt, which contrasted well with his amber eyes, which were slightly covered by his unkempt light purple hair. He also had on a pair of brown cargo pants, and beneath that possibly the strangest part about his attire: bare feet. They weren't even calloused and scratched; in fact, it looked like he had just stepped out of a shower. He seemed to notice them staring, and shuffled his feet.
"Um…"
"Oh! Sorry; staring. Right." Ruby got up and offered a hand, smiling broadly. "Hello Cyan, I'm Ruby! Nice to meet you."
"H-hi…" He tentatively reached out a hand and shook Ruby's lightly. "N-nice to m-meet you too…" Ruby barely heard him over the silence of the room, but she kept on smiling.
"Alright! Ice broken. Come say hi to everyone else; I promise they won't bite! ...Except for Weiss."
"Hey!" Cyan's gaze shifted to the source of the voice, being a slightly aggravated Weiss. Caught somewhat off-guard by his change in focus, Weiss faltered. "Wh- I- Ju- Ahem." She stood up straight, brushing off her skirt. "Hello, Cyan. My name is Weiss Schnee; it's a pleasure to meet you." He meekly smiled at her.
"Hello…"
"Me next!" Yang jumped out of her seat and almost ran over to him, making him flinch. "Hiya Cyan! I'm Yang; nice to meet you!" She, like Ruby, held out a hand, although hers had a rather large yellow bracelet on it. This was actually one half of her weapons, called Ember Celica; the other half was a similar bracelet on her other wrist.
"Um… hello…" Again, he lightly shook it.
"Grip needs a bit of work, there."
"Yang, you're scaring him." Blake lightly pushed the blonde aside. "You're too… brash." She gave Cyan a small smile. "Hi. I'm Blake; nice to meet you."
"Hi."
"Wow; that was the loudest he's spoken yet!" Ruby definitely was not as quiet as the new addition. "He's warming up! Ask him stuff!" Blake rolled her eyes at the enthusiastic girl, but did as she asked.
"Where are you from?"
"M-mistral…"
"Mistral? Sun and Neptune are from there; do you know anyone with those names?" Cyan shook his head. "Maybe we should introduce you later."
"Ooh! Ooh! Ask about his weapon!"
"You have a voice, Ruby; I'm sure you can ask him."
"But he likes you better…"
"I-I like you all th-the same…"
"Oh! Then, could you please show us your weapon?" Ruby was bouncing on the spot in excitement as Cyan reached to his belt and pulled out an intricately decorated combat knife. The hilt was a dark brown, with a small gold-coloured slot that ended with a black rivet. The guard was that same gold colour, and it had a small hinge on one side of it. The blade itself was split down the middle, metal rings connecting the sides and the tip of the blade covering the opening. It also had a dark blue vine engraving on it, presumably to channel Dust, this world's ammunition/power source. The bottom also had a metal ring hanging loosely. "Oooh. Anything… else?"
"Ruby!" Yang gave her a light punch on the shoulder.
"No, it's okay…" Cyan opened the duster further to show a second similar dagger in a holster on his belt. "I do have a second one…"
"Cool! Do they have names?"
"They're called Ivy Mirtilli…"
"I like it! You know, people don't appreciate the little weapons anymore…" Without warning, Ruby jumped on the spot. "Hey! You aren't stuttering anymore!"
"Well, you see-" He was interrupted by a voice over the announcement system.
"Would teams RWBY and JNPR please report to the training arena for routine assessment as they were scheduled to ten minutes ago."
"C'mon Cyan; you can watch us practice."
"Uh…" He put the knife back in its holster. "O-okay…" They started to walk off towards the practice arena, but Blake hung back. Yang, curious, went up to her.
"Blake? Something wrong?"
"Something about that duster seems familiar…"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm not sure. I just… I feel like I've seen it before…"
"Huh. Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out later. Now come on; it's time to stop moping and start fighting!" Blake lightly shook her head at Yang's aggressiveness, but obliged anyway.
They met up with their friends and allies, team JNPR, at the arena. Team JNPR consisted of Jaune Arc, a slightly awkward blue-eyed, blonde-haired boy that served as their leader; Nora Valkyrie, an… interesting redheaded girl who served as the team's powerhouse; Pyrrha Nikos, a crimson-haired girl wearing greek-like armour that was the team's best fighter; and Lie Ren, preferably called just Ren, a black-haired boy that was the team's precision and speed. Together, they were quite the formidable team, and had battled alongside team RWBY on nearly all of their missions. Along with them, there were a few unexpected guests, being Sun Wukong and Neptune Vasilias. Sun was a faunus; a human with an animal appendage and abilities. Sun's appendage was a monkey tail, thus, he had the agility of a monkey, which seemed to come in handy for the sandy blonde. Neptune, on the other hand, was pure human, though it was a bit difficult to tell due to his shockingly blue hair. His "too cool" attitude did prove that he was, in fact, a human teenager. After briefly introducing Cyan, the day's assessment began.
"Students," Glynda was standing in the arena down below as everyone else sat up in the seats, "if you hadn't noticed, we have a new addition to our ranks. The purpose of today's drill is to allow you to get acquainted with his fighting style so that you may work better as a team. Mr. Kiribati, would you please come down to the arena?" Cyan shakily stood up, and walked down the staircase to the ring below. "Now, do we have any volunteers to face him?"
"Mememe!" Nora leapt up out of her seat and jumped down, pulling out her combination hammer/grenade launcher named Magnhild. "Let's do this!"
"Very well. Stand at an equal distance apart, and the match can begin." The two combatants did as instructed, standing on opposite sides of the arena.
"G-good luck…"
"This is going to be a blast!"
"Combatants ready?" Nora tightened her grip on the hammer, giving off a devilish smile, and Cyan merely took a deep breath. "Three…" He took out one knife. "Two…" Placed his hand on the other. "One…" And withdrew it. Instantly, his entire demeanour changed. When the tip of the blade left its holster, Cyan's eyes hardened, and the slight quiver his entire body had had stopped entirely. He put his thumbs into the small rings of metal on the hilts of the blades, and gripped tightly. Going into a fighting stance, his entire focus went to Nora. "Begin!"
"Hyaaah!" Nora rushed forward, wielding Magnhild high. Cyan stood perfectly still, eyes trained on the oncoming storm before him. As her hammer came down, he moved the perfect amount in order to sidestep it, then moved in and hit her with one of his blades. It didn't do much to damage her, but it did set her off balance. He managed to get in a few more blows before she regained herself and leapt back. There was no visible damage thanks to her Aura, a manifestation of the soul that all huntsmen and huntresses used to protect themselves, but she did look a bit worn down. Cyan remained in place, looking as indifferent as ever. Coming to a decision, Nora jumped up high with Magnhild ready for an intense blow. Her opponent actually moved towards where the hammer was going to hit, and fell flat on his back. Nora's hammer came down, creating an enormous dust cloud.
"Yeowch; I felt that one," Jaune winced. "Nothing can stand against the power of Nora." There was a tap on his shoulder. "Huh?" Blake was pointing to a display above the fighters' heads that showed their Aura levels. Nora's was down from full, but Cyan's- "It didn't even budge!" All eyes turned back to the arena, where the dust was settling to reveal Nora standing with her hammer still in the air, being held up by Cyan's feet, who was lying on the ground on his back. Sun and Neptune stood up in surprise, and Pyrrha put both hands over her mouth. Cyan took advantage of the shocked state of all parties and flicked his hands down, making the blades of his knives fall forward. Their guards became triggers and their ends flipped open to create a channel for Dust ammunition. There were two loud bangs as Cyan's pistol knives let off intense shots of blue Dust, making Nora reel back once again. The teenager lying on his back managed to roll backwards from that position, landing on his feet and in a fighting stance once again. Snapped back to reality, Nora turned Magnhild from hammer to grenade launcher and fired off several shots at Cyan, who started to run around the arena's edge. Thanks to the inaccuracy of Nora's weapon, he managed to get in close once again and began to assault the orange-haired girl with as many slashes as he could get off, constantly moving around her so as to avoid any attempt at an attack Nora made. She eventually staggered, and Cyan went in for the finishing strike. Pulling on the metal loop with his thumb, the knife in his right hand shot another spout of dust, this time used as a way of accelerating the strike rather than being one. The force of this made Nora fall to the ground, Cyan following her down and embedding one knife in the floor centimetres away from her head, the other one floating just above her neck.
"Enough!" Glynda's voice echoed around the room once again. "Thank you for demonstrating your fighting, . , I hope you've learned from this." The blonde instructor turned and walked out of the room, leaving everyone else to take in what just happened. The new guy just beat Nora. Speaking of Nora, she jumped slightly as her gaze shifted from where Glynda had just disappeared to the purple-haired boy taking the knife from beside her face out of the ground. As soon as it was back in its holster, the terrifying near-soullessness he had had in his eyes vanished, and he smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry about that…" He sheathed the other one and offered her a hand. "I-I-I can g-get… c-carried away…"
"Why are you sorry? That was awesome!" Nora grinned crazily and took his hand, bouncing up off the ground. Cyan returned the smile with a tiny one of his own.
"There's no way…" Sun came up to Cyan, eyes wide with awe. "You can't be…"
"You really think he's…?" Neptune was doing much the same thing, though his mouth was hanging open.
"If he truly is…" Pyrrha was also staring him down, but her look was more one of admiration than awe.
"Question!" Ruby, along with everyone else, had also arrived on the arena floor. "What do you think he is?" Sun, Neptune and Pyrrha all looked at each other, as if trying to see who wanted to explain first. Letting out a huge sigh, Pyrrha stepped forward.
"Back in Mistral, there exists a rumour of a shadow that keeps both Grimm and bandits away from its walls. Several people have claimed it to be a ghost from a settlement that was annihilated by Grimm around eight years ago, and several more have theorized it to be some kind of Grimm that changed to our side."
"That's ridiculous." Weiss put a hand on her hip, looking exasperatedly at Pyrrha.
"I thought much the same… until I began to hear things from the local police force. They talked about how, during the trials of some bandits, the accused kept telling the judge that they needed to be wary of a monster dwelling in the trees. When asked what they saw, all they recalled was some kind of blur followed by an image of bare feet before they blacked out. It's only an assumption, but…" Her gaze drifted to Cyan, who was stealthily trying to get away. "Could that have been you?" He scratched the back of his head nervously.
"M-maybe…"
"What do you mean, 'maybe'?" Sun looked a bit agitated. "It either was you or it wasn't; no in-between." Cyan sighed.
"Y-yes."
"Yes… what?"
"I-it was m-me. I-I-I used to l-live just outside M-Mistral…"
"You LIVED there?!" Neptune had finally managed to close his mouth, only to open it even wider. "But it's just swamp outside the walls! Why would you live there?"
"I-it's not important…" He started to move out of the room again, this time much faster. "I-I guess I'll… s-s-see you guys a-around…" Before anyone could question him any further, he was gone; vanished into the darkness of the connecting hallway.
"Well," Ruby spoke up, a broad grin on her face, "I think I'm going to like our new teammate."
A/N: Hey there. Whether or not this will see the light of the public eye, I have no idea, but I just wanted to make something around this character. As you may be able to tell, I've got a few ideas running around in my head for this character, but I don't yet have any sort of plot to put him in. And, for those of you wondering, don't fret; I will explain his origin and abilities next chapter. It may not have been the best introduction, but it was one that I really wanted to do. See you all next time!