Julius continued leading the group through the woods until they came near to he cliff. Sure enough, a stone bridge spanned the gap between the cliff and the woods.
"See," Julius said, "Told ya!"
"Good eye, Julius!" Pyrrha said.
Then, the group heard a screech behind them as the Nevermore and Deathstalker came up behind them.
"What do we do?" Ruby asked.
Julius reached behind his coat, and pulled out a large shotgun that had the snarling face of an Alpha Beowulf.
"I'll keep em busy," he shouted, "You guys keep going!"
With that, he fired off multiple rounds at the Deathstalker, each round bursting into flame on contact. It slowed the Deathstalker down for a moment, but the armor was too thick; it continued its approach.
"Fine then," Julius said, holstering the shotgun and drawing his sword. He prepared to charge, only to hear someone yelling as Nora soared over his head, slamming her hammer into the Grimm's head. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren. Followed behind, while Julius saw Ruby, Yang, Blake, and Weiss fight the Nevermore, Yang firing her gauntlets into the creature's mouth.
"I told you guys to keep going!" Julius yelled.
"With all dure respect," Jaune said, "We're not going anywhere. You're one of us too."
Julius sighed: "Fine." And charged with them. Teleporting above the Deathstalker, he prepared to drive his sword into the Grimm's head, when a dark shape suddenly swooped down, grabbing him out of the air. Before he could react, it slammed him into the cliff, dragging him across the rock wall before dumping him on a stone platform. Julius quickly got back on his feet, his aura, thankfully, still intact, and looked around, sword drawn, to see what had grabbed him.
"Where are you, you little prick?" he said. Suddenly sensing a presence behind him, he teleported out of the way to avoid a dark shape slam down where he was standing. The shape was a massive, spiky, bat-like Ravager Grimm.
"Geez," Julius said, "How much uglier can you guys get?"
The Ravager narrowed its eyes at Julius. Judging by the way it looked at him, Julius assumed this wasn't just another Grimm in the forest; it was purposefully after him alone. Julius groaned in frustration; that witch really just would not give him a break. Haring a rumble and a crash behind him, he turned around to see the stone structures below beginning to fall apart due to the others' fight with the Deathstalker and Nevermore. Realizing he needed to get down there and help, he turned back to the Ravager, sword in one hand with a pistol in the other.
"Alright," he said, "Let's make this quick."
The Ravager seemed to understand, and crouched down. Julius made the first move, firing a few rounds at the creature's head. The shots stunned the Grimm, allowing Julius enough time to teleport closer and drive his sword into the creature's eye. Blinded and enraged, the Ravager began flailing around wildly, but Julius had already teleported to safety. With his sword outstretched he prepared for another charge just as the Grimm's tail whipped around, slamming into him and sending him into the cliff wall, breaking his aura. Now, unable to use his semblance, Julius hung on to the edge of the cliff.
The Ravager regained its senses by now, though it was still blinded in one eye. Turning its head, it saw Julius hanging on the cliff and, relishing the moment, began flying towards him. Julius turned back to see it approach.
"Ah, crap," he said, trying to figure out what to do. Then, he got an idea; it was crazy, but it might work. Just as the Grimm hit the cliff, Julius let go and fell, effectively dodging the Ravager's attack. Then, he aimed his robotic hand at the creature's neck, firing a grappling hook from his wrist. The hook pierced the Ravager's neck, leaving Julius hanging from the cord. With his free hand, he used one of his pistols to fire at the monster's head. The rounds went through the tough skin, and it was obvious the creature was weakening, but not fast enough.
Suddenly, a massive explosion was seen above the Ravager as Yang, who had made it to the top of the cliff with everyone else, their fight over, began blasting the Ravager with her Ember Celica. Ruby was also firing her sniper rifle at the creature. Finally, the Ravager disintegrated, finally having been killed. Julius smiled in relief, only to realize that he was no left with nothing to hang on to.
"Oh, great…" he said before continuing to fall. Just then, after he went a few feet, something grabbed him from out of the air and swung him back up the cliff. He ended up landing on his back on the ground, but he was grateful he was on the ground at all.
Blake stood over him; it was she who had used her weapon to swing down and catch him in time.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Julius slowly began to sit up: "Yeah, I am now. Thank you."
Blake nodded and helped him stand up.
"That was insane!" Ruby said, "I can't believe we all just did that!"
"I know right!" Nora said.
"Um, hello!" Wiess said impatiently, "I know you guys are celebrating and all that, but don't you think we should get back to the Academy FIRST?"
"First off, you could have said that a lot more nicely," Julius said, "But you do have a point. I don't know how much time we have left."
"I agree," Pyrrha said, and then the group ran back towards the Academy.
…
They made it back just in time, and, a few minutes later, they crowded into the auditorium, where Ozpin began announcing the teams. Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren became Team JNPR (though Jaune was nervous about being the leader), while Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang became Team RWBY (Julius was surprised that Ruby was named the leader here). At this point it would seem all the teams were done, but then Ozpin said: "Now, all the teams have been made, however, there was one particular student whose skills impressed me greatly. SO much so that I decided it would be a shame to turn him away and waste that skill. So, Students, meet Beacon;s first ever solo Huntsman," and he gestured for Julius to come up.
Julius was shocked to hear this, but he was able to make his way onto the stage without freaking out. As he stood next to Ozpin he faced the crowd of students that were applauding him and noticed Team JNPR and RWBY clapping for him, though Ruby and Nora were both cheering as loud as they possibly could.
"Our first solo Huntsman," Ozpin said, "Julius…"
"Rose." Julius said,
"Pardon?" Ozpin said.
"My last name. You said I had to choose one and that my family had a few. I made my mind up a while after our talk and decided. My name is Julius Rose."
Ozpin smiled: "Very well." Then, turning back to the students: "Our first solo Huntsman, ladies and gentlemen, I give you: Julius Rose."
As the crowd applauded again, though Julius could see Ruby's face was in total shock; if she didn't figure it out right then, she was going to figure it out soon. He chuckled to himself at the thought; it had been a very long time since he had truly seen his sisters, and it was past due time for a little family reunion.
Hours later, the students were finally assigned to their rooms. Julius ended up getting one that just so happened to be right next to Team RWBY's (the two rooms even had a door connecting them) and across from JNPR's. Walking in, he put his suitcases down and sat down on one of the beds. Then, he pulled out his new scroll. He had only ever seen one when Raven had showed him hers, and had one of his own too. However the one he had now was a newer model, and he was till figuring out how it worked. Opening it, he figure out how to put in the contact numbers from his older scroll into the new one. Once he did, he sent Raven a message: Am now 1st solo huntsman ever. In my room right now and excited for what is to come (P.S. I am sending this via a new scroll) -Julius.
He had just finished sending the message when he heard a knock at the connecting door. Walking over, he opened the door to reveal Yang standing at the door in her pajamas.
"Can I help you?" he said.
"Can we talk? In private?" Yang asked.
"Uhhh, sure?" Julius replied letting Yang enter his room.
"So," Julius said, "What's going on?"
Yang turned back to Julius: "Is your last name really Rose?" she asked.
Julius nodded: "I wasn't really sure which one to choose as my family has a few, but Rose sounded the catchiest."
"My little sister's last name is Rose."
"Yeah, I know." Julius said, taking out his sketchbook. Opening it, he flipped through a few pages before stopping at one of the pictures and shoed it to Yang, saying: "Here's the proof."
Yang looked at the picture: it was a photo taped to the pages that showed Julius as a little kid, his eye in an eyepatch and his missing forearm (he didn't have the metal one at this time) in a sling. Beside him were Yang as a little kid holding baby Ruby in her arms. Yang gasped; she remembered that picture very well as she a picture like that as well.
She looked at Julius in shock: "You're…"
Julius nodded. Yang stood for a few moments in silence, then ran up and hugged Julius tightly: "I never thought I'd see you again."
"That makes two of us." Julius said, "I'll explain everything later, I promise, but for now you should keep this from Ruby. I don't want her freaking out right now."
"Agreed," Yang said, "Well, good night."
"Good night, sis." Julius said as Yang left the room.
Hanging up his coat and weapons, Julius then laid down on his bed in his own pajamas: a black t-shirt and sweatpants. Breathing a sigh of relief, he went through everything that happened today; aide from almost getting his ass handed to him on a silver platter by an overly suspicious Ravager, he had a really good time, and he fell asleep wondering what the future would hold for him. He was reunited with one of his old friends and his sisters; who knows, he may end up running into someone else from his past…
Author's note: I know many of you probably have a lot of questions concerning Julius' past. I will only tell you that more will be revealed over time. I planned for him to be a mysterious character. As for the other team members, they will appear as well, some earlier than others.