Disclaimer: I don't own the Claymore franchise in any way shape or form, except for some OCs that will be introduced in this story. This story is a prequel to "The Silver Eyed Angel" by Nanozom. We talk about various story ideas from time to time, and this story I'm currently writing is the result of one of those ideas. I noticed that there were 4 rank 1's that the Organization mentioned in chapter 110 of the manga, but nothing but their names and ranks were revealed, and I doubt that they will be getting any development, considering that they're all dead. So I decided to write a story that tells my interpretation of what they were like, and I have sequel planned that will go over the other two. Anyway, now that we've got the introductions out of the way, let's get right into this.

Ten trainees had gathered in a row in the desert wasteland that characterized most of Sutare. The sandstone cliffs of Staff, the organization's headquarters, loomed imposingly in the distance. The ten trainees were wearing the uniform that was standard of those who had not officially become warriors yet. Most of the trainees there wore a stoic expression on their faces, which was very common for warriors of the organization. A few of them appeared to be a little anxious. One trainee, a woman that stood at about 5'4 with shoulder length hair, was outright grinning at the prospect of being able to show off her abilities. Out of all the trainees there though, only one of them was nervous and scared.

Sistina stood at about 5'2 and had silvery blonde hair, which flowed down slightly past her shoulders, behind her. Sistina was trying her best to keep her composure, although, despite her best efforts, her hands were trembling slightly. Sistina knew that this was probably the most important moment of her life, and that it would ultimately decide her fate. If she passed all the tests presented to her and graduated successfully, she would become a full-fledged warrior, a half-human, half-human hybrid that was humanity's only salvation against the yoma, the shape shifting monsters that preyed upon them. If she failed, she would be tossed aside like a useless piece of trash. She didn't really know what happened to those who failed to become warriors, although she had heard nasty rumors about the retrieval squad taking in the failed warriors for experiments. Sistina didn't know if it was true or not, but she didn't want to fail and find out the hard way.

Sistina managed to calm herself down a bit by closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, before exhaling softly. She managed to stop the trembling, although all of this wasn't unnoticed by the girl with the short hair, who just smirked at Sistina.

"Is something the matter runt? If you're that scared, then you should just run away. I'm sure they wouldn't send anyone after you, since you're such a weakling that you'd just get yourself killed rather quickly."

Sistina glared at the other warrior who was insulting her. Most of her experiences with the other warriors during the training had gone like this. Not all of them were as blunt as this person was, but she had either gotten chastised for her poor fighting skills or was made fun of for being weak. Sistina put all her effort into her training but, no matter how much she tried, everyone was significantly stronger and faster than her. Why did that make her worthless in their eyes? Was strength really all that mattered to them?

She forced herself to stand straighter, shoving aside her growing fear, and face down her accuser. "I'm not scared one little bit! I'm so excited that I can barely keep my composure! I'll show you exactly what I'm made of during the exercises!"

The other warrior's grin grew wider. "Well, I can't wait to be pleasantly disappointed when you get nothing but E's in all the tests."

The warrior laughed at her, causing Sistina to turn away from the girl and clenched her fist, managing to keep her composure despite the anger she was feeling towards the bully. A few of the other trainees snickered at the crack that the girl had made at Sistina, although most of them didn't say a word at all. One of them, a girl who had short hair that just barely flowed past the behind of her neck, looked at Sistina sympathetically for a few seconds before turning her head to look at two figures that were approaching the group. One of them was a man dressed in black; his face was covered by a black hood. The other was a warrior with short spiky hair, and a long jagged scar that ran all the way down the left side of her face. The warrior stepped forward, glaring at the trainee who was laughing at Sistina.

"ALL OF YOU STAND UP STRAIGHT AND SHUT UP!" The warrior barked out at them. Almost immediately they all obeyed and stood at attention, which seemed to satisfy the warrior, who nodded at all of them.

"Very good, now pay attention to what I have to say, because I'm only going to say all of this once. My name is Mina, and I'm number 12 in the organization. I will be the one who will evaluate you all through the majority of the tests that you'll be given. You will take a total of 6 tests, and then you'll be going through the final examination which will decide whether or not you'll become a warrior. The rest of the tests will determine your proficiency in certain areas. The highest grade possible is an S+, and the lowest grade you could possibly get is an F-. There hasn't been anyone who's gotten a grade that low, and as long as you try your hardest, none of you will get that grade either. Allow me to explain the first one."

Mina pointed at Staff, which was a fair distance away from their position.

"You are all going to run around the perimeter of Staff from where you currently are, and you won't be allowed to go any closer, or use any of your yoki. I'll be keeping track of all of you, so I'll know if any of you try anything cute like trying to take a shortcut. If I do happen to catch one of you cheating, that will result in an automatic E on your record. You will all run until you can run no more, or if I decide that you're incapable of continuing. From this distance, it will take approximately 30 minutes to do one lap around Staff. You will start running when I give the word."

All the trainees prepared themselves the arduous task of running around Staff. Sistina bent her knees slightly, and looked ahead with a determined look on her face. She would try to do her absolute best.

"Ready…. GO!"

At her words, all the trainees started to run around Staff. All the others eventually overtook Sistina and ran ahead of her, but that didn't concern her that much. After all, the main goal was to last as long as possible. She just needed to conserve her energy as much as she could. If she did that, then just maybe she would stand a chance.

The handler pulled out what appeared to be a clipboard, a quill, and a small bottle ink, setting them on the ground as he watched the trainees took off, with Mina following at a fair distance, making sure to keep track of them all. A lone warrior approached the handler and walked up next to him. She had short, wavy blonde hair, and elflike ears. The handler sat on the ground and looked over at the other warrior.

"What a surprise, I didn't expect to be graced with your presence, Cassandra. What brings the number 1 warrior all the way out here?"

Cassandra was silent for a few moments before she responded coolly. "I'm finished with my mission, and I heard that the new trainees were being tested today, so I decided to come here."

The handler on the ground chuckled. "Even the former number 4 was no match for you. You truly are the strongest warrior alive."

The handler looked out towards the distance, towards the trainee Claymores off in the distance. They were still in viewing range, although they were getting further and further away with every passing second.

"I wonder who the lucky girl will be. Hopefully, whoever she is, she'll be really good. It's been a long time since we've had a promising candidate."

Cassandra didn't say anything in reply, instead she just watched the warriors off in the distance, silently evaluating them from where she was.

Sistina had been running for 13 minutes, and she was already out of breath. Truth be told, she didn't expect to do so well on this part of the test, considering that, when she didn't use any of her yoki, her physical abilities weren't all that much higher than those of the average human. Still, she thought with all the training she had to go through she would have been able to do a lot more than this. Still she pushed herself, running and running, trying to at least get a passing grade on the test. Unfortunately, she was so far lost in her thoughts that she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, and she ended up tripping on a rock and falling to the ground. She tried to get up, but found it surprisingly hard to do in her current condition without her yoki. Mina came and walked up beside her.

"Come on, get up, I know you've got more than that in you. You're a hybrid warrior; you should be able to push yourself beyond this."

Sistina tried to get up and obey the command of Mina, but again, she fell to the ground. Mina glared down at her.

"GET UP NOW!"

Again, Sistina tried to get up again and collapsed back on the ground, panting heavily. Mina's gaze softened a bit as the realization of what she was seeing was sinking into her brain.

"You're not messing with me... you really can't get up at all. But I've never seen a warrior that…." Mina sighed, and put one of her hands over her eyes.

"I'm calling it right now: you're unable to continue to go any further. Your final time is 14 minutes and 5 seconds. Just stay where you are right now, I'll come and get you when the others are finished."

Mina ran off towards the others and Sistina sat up on the ground, looking after her, trying not to cry. Mina was kind enough not to say it directly, but Sistina already knew what she was about to say. The lowest recorded record for the yoki test was 15 minutes, and Sistina barely only lasted 14. She now held the record for the worst time in this test, and that wasn't the kind of record she wanted to make at all.

About an hour later, Mina returned with the other trainees, and behind them, the handler and another warrior that Sistina didn't recognize came into view. They stopped about 50 feet away from Sistina's position, so she couldn't really get a good look at the warriors face, although she really didn't care about that much at the moment. Most of the other warriors looked either relieved, or outright happy. The trainee that had been making fun of Sistina earlier was laughing with some of the others.

"I lasted for one hour! I wish I could have lasted a half-hour longer, but an A is pretty damn good, if I say so myself." She looked over at Sistina when they approached her.

"Hey runt, how long did you last?" Suddenly, the trainee's eyes widened and she started to laugh. "Wait, this was how far you could go? Oh wow, you exceeded my expectations! I thought you would you would at least make it to 20 minutes!"

The warrior roared with laughter, and her group of friends quickly joined in, mocking Sistina where she stood. The others remained silent, no one coming to her defense. Even the warrior who looked sympathetic towards Sistina was quiet. Sistina didn't blame them though: from the way things were going, this trainee was going to be the one to graduate. Mina stepped forward, glaring at the trainee.

"I'm not going to tell you again, SHUT UP!" Mina roared, and immediately the trainees became silent. Mina was still glaring at them though. "I swear to the Rabonian God that the next person who makes a ruckus like that will get nothing but E's in their record! Do I make myself clear?"

All the warriors there nodded, and Mina nodded at them. "That's good. Now then, it's time to move on to the next test."

Mina pulled out a claymore that didn't have symbol on it. It definitely wasn't her regular weapon, as her claymore was still was still strapped on her back.

"Next is the test of Agility. Normally you all would be put through an obstacle course to determine how nimble you are, but I believe in a more hand-on approach to this test." Mina held up the claymore in her hand.

"I'm sure all of you have realized it by now, but this is a training sword. It won't kill you, unless if it hits you in the right spot. I'm going to make you all dodge my strikes, and when you're hit, then that's your limit. You there, could you step up now? You'll be the first to be tested."

Mina pointed at Sistina, who got to her feet and walked over to Mina, a determined look on her face. Sistina was confident she would do well on this test, since she was able to dodge her opponents with ease by watching them carefully and predicting their movements.

She stood in front of Mina, and looked her directly in the eye. "I'm ready to go Mina."

Mina nodded, raised the sword in her right hand, and took a fighting stance. There was a strange look in her eye, a strange mix of pity and regret. Sistina watched her carefully, and wondered briefly what that was about, before paying attention to Mina's body, which would be the key for passing this test.

The handler was writing down the results of the last test down on a board, muttering to himself. Cassandra watched him as he wrote down the information on a piece of paper.

"Xera managed to last an hour. I think I know who is going to pass the graduation now… she'll most likely become a single digit really quickly, and Sistina…. 14 minutes? She sure isn't going to last that long in the final exam."

The handler looked up to see Mina and Sistina begin the next test, and the handler chuckled. "I take it back; she won't even make it to the graduation exam. Mina's decided to put her out of her misery."

Cassandra looked over at him, a little bit surprised. "Why would she want to do that? Isn't it smarter just to have her pass on to the graduation exam and not kill her here?"

The handler nods at Cassandra. "It would, but Mina sometimes believes that it would be a mercy killing off the weak ones that aren't likely to survive the graduation. She ended up 'accidentally' killing a trainee in the group before this one, as a matter of fact. She intends to give Sistina a quick and painless death right now. If she swings that training sword at Sistina's neck hard enough, it'll be enough to break her neck and kill her."

Cassandra frowns at the handler. "Shouldn't you go and stop her?"

The handler shakes his head. "There isn't a law about killing trainees. Besides, this Sistina is weak anyway. It doesn't matter if she dies during the final exam or here."

Cassandra looked back over at what was going to be a one-sided battle. She wanted to help, but knew that it wouldn't do any good. It was best if she just stayed away from everyone.

Sistina looked at Mina, trying to figure out where she was going to aim. Suddenly, Sistina sensed a spike in Mina's yoki, which would have been hard to notice if she wasn't looking for it. It was at that moment that Sistina realized what was going to happen, and she quickly raised her right arm to the side of her neck to block the incoming blow. A split second later, Mina swung the sword, and it collided with Sistina's arm.

Sistina cried out in pain, and collapsed to the ground, clutching her arm. She knew that a few bones were broken, and she concentrated, trying to heal them with her yoki. She was a defensive type, so this kind of thing would be easy for her. Mina looked down at her, frowning. "You know, you're supposed to dodge it, not block it. Well, you just stand there and fix your arm, I'll move onto the next one. Xera, come here!"

Mina walked away from Sistina, Xera smirking at Sistina as she passed by. Sistina didn't say anything in response, and rose up to her knees, trying to fix her broken arm. Mina stared at the young girl on the ground, looking at her with pity. Staring down at her now, Mina couldn't help but be reminded of a very close friend she once had. Mina wanted to give Sistina a quick and painless death before she reached the graduation exam, since she was sure that she wasn't going to be the one to pass it this time around. If Sistina wanted to live that badly though, there wasn't anything she could do about it.

The handler looked over at Sistina, shaking his head. "Well, she got out of that alive, but if she could see the move coming, why didn't she get out of the way?"

Cassandra was staring at Sistina, realizing just exactly had happened. "If Mina was really intending to kill her, then what Sistina did was the only way she could have gotten out of there alive."

The handler frowned at Cassandra, a confused look on his face. "What do you mean by that Cassandra?"

Cassandra paused for a few seconds, debating whether or not she should tell him. In the end, she decided against it. If Sistina graduated and heard she had helped him, then she would try to get close to her, and she couldn't have that happen.

"If you can't see why she did it then I'm not going to tell you why."

The handler snorted. "Well I don't care why she did it; the point is she failed to dodge a single strike."

As the handler gave Sistina a second E in her report, Cassandra looked towards Sistina again, thinking about what she had seen. "Will Xera really be the one to past the test? After what Sistina just showed, I think that she might be the one to do it."

Cassandra registered that Mina was testing the others in the back of her mind, but she was more focused on Sistina at the moment. She originally intended just to watch the first couple of tests, but now she was going to watch it until the end. She wanted to see what this trainee was truly capable of.

Off in the distance, a mysterious figure was watching the trainees. This person was wearing a black cloak, although from the armored boots protruding from the bottom, it was clear that she was a Claymore. She then turned around and quietly walked towards Staff, and quickly disappeared from view, without anyone noticing her presence.

And that's it for the first chapter. Reviews and feedback would be appreciated The next chapter will be coming up soon!