As Cualli opens his eyes, he finds himself on the row where he and each student are
standing on a launchpad. He sees Ozpin and Goodwitch
telling everyone the rules of the forest and why they are doing it, but one sticks out to
him, "the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next
four years." Ozpin said to everyone.
"Wait, what?" Cualli mumbled to himself. Then Ozpin continues explaining the rules, but
Cualli nibbles at himself while looking around. Ok, Cualli, don't panic; get Aja, and you will be
fine. You will be fi–
Then, his thoughts are cut off by Ozpin asking for questions, but before anyone can
answer, Ozpin says, "Good," and asks to take your positions. Then everyone gets into their
stance, and even Cualli receives his own.
It's a good thing Thomas taught me how to land even though it was just him throwing me
around—
But he could think of anything else he and everyone else could get launched off,
throwing him and everyone else in the forest and those who couldn't get more air time land.
Cualli sees a yang using her gauntlets to launch herself toward the relics. Cualli realizes he is
losing air, so he opens his hands, closes his eyes, and makes a mental picture of an extremality
of twin war hammers with twin jet exhausts.
He opens his eyes and sees the aura from into that weapon. He pushes a button that
releases a hole at the end of the hammers and starts to rev up until he slams them onto the
ground, launching him into the air, "Cualli, they haven't blown up yet." Cualli said to himself.
He slams them onto the ground again, launching him into the air, but the hammers are
starting to spark a little. " No, please, no. I had to steal his blueprints to make you guys work in
the first place."
Then, he gets close to the ground and slams them again. But this time, they explode,
dispersing his aura weapon from his hands. He looks up and sees that he is heading onto a
boulder.
Cualli quickly summoned a shield, which crashed into the boulder. The sound of the
boulder and the aura shield breaking. He looked around. "Okay, now to the temple," he said
before making his way.
"Well, these are the last few steps in your new life, Cualli… well, it started when I left
Vacuo and the hellhole I used to live in, but still, after I become a huntsman, I will stay local and
live for myself, and who knows, maybe Aja and I could be huntsman partners."
Then he sees a herd of Beowulfs and Deathstalkers, "now the safe way is to go around
them, but breaking them up to make my life easier."
Then he starts to count them and finds about six Grimm in total. "I just need to deal with
the Deathstalkers before anything else," he mumbles. Before, he claimed one of the trees and
used his pistol to shoot near the eyes of the Deathstalkers, but the bone armor blocked it.
They looked up and saw Cualli. He took a deep breath. "Hey. You scorpion fuck! Over
here!" he shouted to Grimm. After he said that, he started to jump from branch to branch,
turning around and seeing that the Grimm was now chasing after him, trampling the trees in its
wake until he reached an open plane where he leaped off the tree and aimed his gun, waiting
for the Grimm to charge right at him. It did, and he aimed right between the eyes of the Grimm
until he remembered that its bone armor was its most vital point. He aimed his gun at the arm
under the claw; he pulled the trigger, ripping the claw off the arm. That makes the Grimm
scream in pain, "Ok, Cualli, it is hurt but at the most dangerous." he mumbles. Then it charges
toward Cualli and tries to grab him, but he dodges it; he sees the scorpion's metasoma and
barely dodges it when it comes crashing down and comes in, closing the distance and lands
several blows on the open wound until the metasoma is about to land on him he places himself
on the wound. Before it could hit him, he dodged it again, but it stabbed itself, and Caulli used
this chance to summon chains around the metasoma and summon Thomas's weapon, forcing
the tail through the bone shell and the flesh.
Cualli takes a deep breath and kicks the Grimm, making sure it is dead," I know if he
hears this, he would have a massive smug on his face, but Thomas getting onto me in those
Grimm training helped me out." Cualli mumbles to himself before returning to the temple until
the herd of Grimm, who was with the Deathstalkers earlier, arrives.
Cualli rolls his shoulders, "Don't worry; they are just Beowulfs. They are nothing to you."
He gets into his stance, holding his ground while they charge at him until one lunges toward
him. Cualli uses his weapon to make a deep and wide cut through the stomach to the chest
area; while using the momentum, he notices one is coming from his side, so he dodges out of
the way and uses his pistol to load it with a built and ice dust he aims it and shots the Grimm
that freezes it ankle stopping it and keep it in place. Then he hears the other four closing in.
Cualli puts his macuahuitl up, opens his hands, summoning one of Thomas's war hammers, and
waits for them to come to him until one lunges towards him. Cualli uses one of the hammers to
slam toward its head, crushing it, and the other hammer ignites the booster to slam at the
Grimm. He throws himself to one of the Grimm and uses the hammers to crush its shoulder and
ankle.
The other Grimm turns around, and before he or the Grimm can do anything, Cualli
hears a high-caliber rifle going off and Cualli sees the Beowulf he was once staring at; suddenly,
its head explodes, and the body goes limp. He turns to see who did it, and he sees in the
distance someone who is too far away for him to tell any details from where he is standing. He
hears two more shots go off, and he turns around and sees that the other two Grimm who were
alive have now been shot and killed. Cualli turns to the person who was shooting and sees that
it is a woman walking towards him. Cualli took a deep breath, "well, first appearance is
everything." he said to himself before walking to the sniper.
Once the two of them see each other, he sees that she is wearing a Long-sleeved shirt
and pants while wearing shock-absorbent boots, a leather jacket with a pixie hairstyle that is
dyed dantrine at the top and slowly changes to a slick teal, and gloves covering her hand
entirely. She looks like she has a lean build and is slightly taller than Aja.
But the two meet face to face. "So your semblance… you could control semblance to do
anything?" she said to Cualli
"Well, it is yes and no. It is limited by how much I understand, weapons, and how much I
give, but things like energy slash and mimicking semblance are out of the table. What about
yours, since we are talking about semblance? '' Cualli said back to her.
"Well, it is passive where I could feel the vibration of the things around me, and before
you say it, no, it's not like toph from avatar in need to be in range for it to work. But what is your
name? We are teammates and will be stuck by each other for about four years." she extends
her hand," name Akari, by the way."
Cualli shakes her hand," Cualli, nice to meet you. But I never got your semblance name.
Mine is called Northstar."
"It whispers pulse, but we need to go; the more we have been talking than walking, come
on," Akari said to Cualli before taking the lead.
During the walk, Cualli gazed at her weapon. "So, what does your weapon transform
into? Since we are teammates, it would make sense for us to get to know each other," Cualli
said engagingly. He knew it was a sniper rifle, but it looked too bulky and leaned simultaneously.
Akari looks at Cualli's weapon. "Only if you expand yours since nobody I've seen has
used that weapon. Also, since I saw you use your pistol, does it transform into anything?" he
says in the same tone, to him.
Cualli passes his weapon to her, and Akari passes hers to him. He sees Akari's heavy
rifle, which has a teal and Dantrine color pattern and several stickers of indie video games and
cartoon characters. Then he instantly notices," Wait, is this from the game Hades?" Cualli said
to Akari.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Well, I play it too, and I am surprised that someone else knows about the series besides
a small handful of people," Cualli said right before pushing a button, and the once heavy rife
transformed into a polearm.
He was a bit surprised by Akari while inspecting every detail of the weapon. "Wow, I
never thought I would ever see this from a huntress… well, training, but these weapons are
rare," Cualli said in awe.
"Yeah, some to you. Is this just a club with obsidian blades on it? Because if it is, you are
either skilled or relying on pure dumb luck." Akari said while inspecting Cualli's weapon.
Cualli transforms it back to the rife form; "well, what do you think from what you have
seen since you were snipping those Grimm I was fighting?" Cualli said while passing it to Akari.
Akari and Cualli trade back their weapons "a little bit. But I've seen better." Akari said
while reloading the dust magazine.
They both hear trees falling and sniping. Akari and Cualli go to the source and see two
people fighting a king, Taijitu. Akari uses her rifle to learn their identities. Cualli uses his
semblance to make binoculars and sees Aja and Issac.
Before Akari could say anything, Cualli cut her off. "I guess you already know Aja since
she told me about you and her semblance, which allows her to manipulate plants into whatever
she wants. But for the bull faunus, Issac, I have no idea about his semblance," he said to Akari,
who gave him an annoyed expression.
"Okay, so what's the plan since we know one of their abilities?" Akari asks Cualli, hoping
he had some experience since his fight against the Grimms earlier.
Cualli stays quiet until Akari sighs." Okay, here's the plan: Aja and I will play support
while you and Issac deal with heavy blows against it, and we will do as much as we can.
Sounds good?" she says, annoyed.
Cualli thinks for a while and nods, "Good also; I could tell your semblance that your heart
is pounding." Akari said while seeing Cualli's leg bounce.
"Well, I'm sorry. Not everyone has boxed a massive snake, Grimm, before!" Cualli says
back to her, trying to hide his nervousness
"Well, whatever you feel, either put it away or use it," Akari said back to Cualli. After she
said that, the two started to rush towards the Grimm, and Cualli made his way to Issac; she
used her semblance to force the vines to wrap around the Grimm and was about to stick the
end of her staff to the Grimm until it was able to get out of the grip and is about to strike until Aja
sees a screaming rocket outline that crashes to the tree falling on top of the Grimm trapping it.
She giggles. "Took you long enough, Cualli. I thought we would be in separate teams."
and said to Cualli right when he walked beside him.
"Well, it looks like fate has eyes on us, and you found Issac, so maybe he could be out in
the tank," Cualli said to Aja with an almost playful tone.
But before Aja could say anything back to Cualli, Issac rushed to the Grimm and
delivered a massive blow with his arm having a brown aura, making a sound similar to a
lightning strike.
Cualli's expression changed into awe." Just how strong is he? Could he even overpower
the legends of the past?" he mumbled.
But this doesn't kill the Grimm; it can get out of the grip and try to strike Akari. Still, she
steps out of the way and, using her weapon, shoots Grimm in the eye, making her scream and
stunned. It gives Aja enough time to use her semblance again; this time, Caulli uses his
semblance to summon a spear to strike it in the eye. Still, it does nothing until he sees Issac
appear behind the spear, pulling his arm back," Don't lose your grip!" He yelled at Cualli
Then he swings, and it pierces through its skull and the other side. He and Aja sighed
and finally took time to breathe." It looks like you met Akari," Aja said to Cualli while eyeing
Akari.
"Yeah, and it looks like this is our four-member team until graduation," Cualli said while
looking at everyone. Isacc sees Akari and is about to say hi, but she cuts him off, saying her
name.
Then, at that very moment, they all hear an explosion." Nora, please. Leave the Grimm
alone."
"No! I'm going to ride it to victory!" Then they hear another explosion, and the newfound team
makes their way to the source of the sound and sees a woman with orange hair wearing a blue
central front section with red accents; her vest has her emblem on the back. Under the vest, she
wears a white sleeveless t-shirt with a heart-shaped cutout above her breast line in the center,
accompanied by a pair of white detached sleeves on each arm and a pair of light pink fingerless
gloves and is currently swinging her war hammer to the Grimm too, from what the others could
guess try to tame it and sees a man that looks like the same age as the woman that has a dark
green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold
trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black
collar, and Cualli notices his weapon on his holsters is a pair of machine pistols with sickle-like
blades.
"Nora! Ren! How is it going? I didn't know you two would apply to Beacon of all Places,"
Akari said in a cherry tone, switching her personality. The two looked at Akari, and Ren gave a
small wave, but Nora gasped and immediately activated her semblance, throwing the Grimm
away and tackling Akari for a hug.
"Akari! Hahaha, how's it going?" she said to Akari before seeing her new team. It looks
like you found your team, Akari." She laughed lightly, and Akari did the same before noticing
Ren walking toward them. "Looks like you are holding up well, Akari," Ren said to Akari before
turning to Nora. "Are you going to do the same thing last time and hold her for almost six hours
straight?"
"Yes!" Nora said definitely before tightening her grip.
"No, Nora! The only reason I let you last time was that it was my first time leaving
atardecer for a supply run." Akari said before trying to get her arms off her grip, which made
Nora hug tighter until she noticed Akari's teammates.
"Oh, these are your teammates, Akari," Nora said before letting her go.
Akari takes a few deep breaths and turns to her team. "Guys, this is Nora and Ren;
Nora, Ren, my teammates, Cualli, Aja, and Isaac," Akari said, gesturing to each of them.
"Hey guys, it looks like Akari has a gold eye," Nora said before chuckling. Her eyes led to
Akari's gloves," you told them about it yet?"
"Nora, you know why I wear these!" Akari said harshly before taking a deep breath,"
Sorry, just you know why. And I just met these guys; we aren't in atardecer anymore." Akari
used one of her hands to massage her right hand.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Akari… Anyways, who was the one that caught your eye?" As
Nora said, the same Grimm Nora threw earlier came back, charging at her. But Aja used her
semblance to restrain the Grimm, and Nora let go of Akari and did her best to put the Grimm in
a headlock.
"So I could guess you three know each other from this atardecer gallery?" Cualli told
Akari, and everyone else watched Nora throw the Grimm into a suplex.
"Yeah, we belong to the atardecer clan. Think of it as a community of survivors, former
dust miners, orphans, and those who were dealt a bad hand by those in power. Both humans
and faunus live in it."
"Oh, where is it?"
"It's in a mistrial but far away from the capital, making the clan more dependent on itself
than trading with others. The leader had a history with those in power and wanted to keep it that
way." As Akari said, the Grimm got away from Nora's grip and started to run away. Nora
immediately began to chase it, so everyone else followed behind her, leaving the forest as Nora
killed the Grimm, showing the relics they needed, and other students as Cualli eyed until it
landed on Weiss.
"You recognized her," Aja said while eyeing Weiss as well.
"Yeah, she looked like someone I knew back then," Cualli said, trying to remember if he
had even seen her.
"Well, she's a Schnee, and everyone knows who they are," Aja said while the group
made their way to the small chest pieces.
"You know what I mean? I don't know; she reminds me of someone I know." Cualli said
that he took the Rook chess piece.
Then, an alpha Evermore and a DeathStalker appeared. Then, two teams rushed to their
respective Grimms matches and noticed a Megoliath." Huh, you know I was expecting an alpha,
but I was expecting a Browulf or maybe a Boaratust," Cualli said while his team got into their
fighting stance until he remembered how strong Isacc was against the Grimm earlier. "Hey,
Isacc, what is your semblance, by the way?"
"It allows me to match the strength of those I am against. Why?" Before he could get an
answer, Cualli quickly placed his hand on his arm, and Isacc felt a surge of aura that made him
feel like he had just drank an energy drink."W-what did you do, Cualli?"
"It's my semblance. It allows me to manipulate my aura to give to others, and the number
I give is the times it will be multiplied by itself and create weapons by how much I understand,
but that is not important right now. Try to land a blow at the Grimm tusk and see if you can kill it
before it can do anything."
Then, the Megoliath roared and charged at the team. Aja used her semblance to stop
the Grimm, but it rushed through it. Cualli rushed to Aja and gave her a small sample of aura.
The vines from the forest rushed to the Grimm, and it stopped for a second before snapping the
vines and trunks and changing again. This time, Isacc grabbed one of the tusks and forced it to
stop while still trying to push through while slowly twisting it; his semblance activated, having the
same brown aura while having a hit of orange around it, and with one last twist, the tusk
snapped off. Isacc thrusts it inside the leg that ends on the other side, forcing it to collapse in its
weight for a second. But it forces itself back up and swings the trunk toward Isacc, which lands,
crushing him against a tree and making his aura flicker, but before Isacc could even breathe, the
Grimm started to charge.
Then, Cualli summoned a grabbing hook, climbed its face, and unloaded his ice dust on
one of its eyes." Aja now!" Cualli shouted to Aja before jumping off. Aja used her semblance to
tug one of the tusks, leading it to crash into the many trees. Hey, Isaac, you ok?"
Isacc groaned and stood up. " Yeah, the Grimm just punched the air out of me. You got a
plan?" Isacc told Cualli, seeing the Grimm struggling to pick itself up.
"Does it depend on you having more rockets on your gauntlets?" Cualli said while
reloading his pistol with dust.
"Just one more reason?"
"Good, because here's the plan. Akari will aim for its other eye, and one of us will break
it, blinding it. I would back up Aja and amply her aura to wrap the Grimm, and then you need to
use your rocket to kill it. Sounds good?" As Cualli said, the Grimm thrashed around before
charging again. This time, several rounds of Akari weapon went off, mixing dust, leaving
explosions or some sort of impact until Cualli took a deep breath, pulled off his gun, and, as if
using his pistol as an outline to form around it into a high caliber model and with a deep breath
he takes aim and shot instantly icing the Grimm's eye and destroying the aura model leaving
Cualli gun in a hot red tip." Isacc now!" as Cualli shouted to him he slammed his gauntlets
together and a hatch open on one of the gauntlets revealing a missile and fires and lands near
the eye fully blinding the Grimm making it rawr and still charging in full speed and Akari start to
shot it lead it to the cliff making it fall and a distance thud following behind it.
"Huh, I never thought I would go head-to-head with that type of Grimm so early," Isaac
said while taking deep breaths in each word. They saw Aja and Akari walking towards them,
and Cualli looked up and saw Ruby decapitate the alpha Nevermore and Nora and Ren's team
finishing the alpha DeathStalker.
"So Akari, do you know anyone besides Nora and Ren?" Cualli said to Akari.
"Just because I know two people doesn't mean– wait, how the hell is the champion of
mistral in their team?"
Cualli and everyone else looked at Pyrrha," So what now? Ozpin never mentioned what
to do after we get these relics." When Cualli said this, their scrolls went off, showing them where
the airship would arrive. Well, never mind…welp, the day isn't going to wait for anyone." With
that, everyone started making their way to the dropoff area, and everyone was talking to
someone except for Aja and Cualli.
"You know, Cualli, this is the chance to talk to Yang's sister?" Aja said to Cualli.
"Umm, well, I need to think of something. I only saw her at the police station, but now
she is here." Cualli said back to aja.
"Are you stalling because I know you enough to tell when you are bull shiting me?"
Cualli doesn't say anything but starts picking up the pace. Aja sighs and uses her
semblance to stop him."Look, I will make sure you're not a loner this year, and the worst she
could do is say nothing, and that's it."
"And what you going to do make me," Cualli said to Aja
Aja narrowed her eyes as he felt the vine tightening on his ankle and nodded yes before
dragging Cualli towards Yang and her sister," Hey Yang, how's it going? It's been a while!"
Yang soon turned her attention to Aja," Oh hey, Aja, how is it going!"
"It's going well, what about you?" as Yang said this, she noticed Cualli." looks like you
got one of your star picks," Yang said while chuckling.
"Yeah, I am trying to get this loner someone to talk to right now, and I remember you
mentioned your sister is new to this school."
"Yeah, I remember telling you that yesterday… Wait, are you?"
"Yes, that is what I am trying to say."
Yang then yawns and puts her arm over Ruby's shoulder." Gee, Ruby, I need to talk to
my friend about something."
"Well, I mean, we could talk about it here. We are all going to the same place, and—"
Ruby was about to say before Aja yawned and did the same thing to Cualli.
"Yeah, sorry, Cualli, Yang, me, must break for a second. Is that okay?"
"I know what you are trying to do, Aja–" Before Cualli and Ruby could protest, Aja and
Yang left the group.
"... so are you like a freshman in this school?"
"You could say that Ozpin pushed me two years ahead, but you can say that." Ruby told
Cualli before noticing his weapon,"... what is that, a macuahuitl! I have only seen those in
museums, and never has someone been using them before!"
"Oh yeah, that's my weapon–" but before Cualli finished his sentence, he noticed her
scythe."... can I look at yours while you look at mine?"
Ruby and Cualli trade weapons without a word," so how do you use the macuahuitl? I
mean, there wasn't a how-to guide to use it?"
"I can say the same thing with your scythe. I mean, I only know two people who could do
it, and one of them just disappeared after an injury, and Qrow Branwen, so the pool is small?"
"Yeah, it is, but who gave you this? Who taught you to fight with it? I don't know anyone
who could use this kind of weapon!" Ruby said to Cualli while inspecting his weapon.
"Well, I think of it as like a saw, not a sword or a club, since you can't stab or beat with
it." As Cualli said this, he noticed Ruby was about to grab one of the obsidian blades." Careful, it
will cut deep, and before I forget, it was my sister before me, and I guess I picked it up by
watching her."
"Sorry, just never seen one, especially one in my hands… but does it transform?"
"No, I want to keep it how it is."
"Wait, so how do you close the distance then?"
"I have a pistol and my semblance. I use those to close the distance. But I never got your
name."
"Oh, sorry, Ruby Rose."
"Oh, wow. I saw everyone use their full name, so I guess I must do the same, Cualli
Sunheart… So who's on your team? I know your sister is in it, so who else is there?"
Ruby pointed to Blake and Weiss," Oh, they are on my team; what about you?"
Cualli does the same to Isaac and Akari:" They are on my team… so who do you think
would be the leader? I think Akari would be; she has more of a plan than me."
"I don't mind who it is. I want to graduate to be a huntress to protect people; why do you
want to become a huntsman?"
"Sort of the same reason, but if it could, I want to deal with a quiet town with quiet
problems. Being a hero would be nice, and all I just want to do is deal with my friends and my
problems, nobody else's."
Soon, they reach the airship waiting for them. Once they get inside, Cualli's scroll goes
off; he checks it and sighs before putting it away." Is something wrong?" Ruby says to Cualli.
"Yeah, I am fine. After the team ceremony, I must go to the headmaster's office."
"Are you in trouble?"
"No, he just wants to talk about something."
But in the blink of an eye, Cualli sees the teams being formed and Ruby being appointed as
leader of her team and sees Weiss's reaction to it." I don't know why, but seeing someone in
power is always funny to me, especially someone in the Schnee family."
"Cualli Sunheart, Aja Thronwood, Issac Ironsoul, and Akari Dawnrider, the four of
you receive the Rook piece on this day. You four shall be known as team CIAA, led by
Cualli sunheart," Ozpin said to them.
"Ok, Akari is the–wait, what did he say?" Akari looked at Cualli with a shocked
expression.
"Now, please, everyone, go to your new dorms," Ozpin said, and with that, everyone left
except for Cualli and Ozpin.
"... so you want me to go too, or should I follow you and find my way back?"
Cualli said towards Ozpin.
Without a word, he nods yes, and with it, Cualli follows Ozpin toward his office. Once
they reach his office, he pushes a button behind his desk, the metal curtains slam the window
shut, and the thick iron door slams against it." looks like you are taking no chances here, Ozpin.
But knowing what we are dealing with, I shouldn't be surprised."
"Indeed, Cualli, but now the amulet and you can meet with your new team."
Without a second thought, Cualli pulls out his necklace with the amulet of a sunflower
covered by thorns and places it on the table. In return, Ozpin places the amulet in one of his
drawers and puts down a replica of the amulet with a birth certificate. Cualli takes the two and
reads the certificate:" Sunheart, huh, looks like Sol's title is gone… well, in the eyes of the law,
that is."Cualli said to himself until he noticed Ozpin pulled out a blood sample tube." umm,
Ozpin, why do you have that? We agree with the last name and amulet, but what about the
blood sample tube?"
"Since you are a student at Beacon and are under my school's protection, the other
headmasters of remnant want a blood sample as a sign of protection because of the name or
not; they only see the what ifs isn't who you are." as Ozpin said to Cualli he preps one of the
needles. Cualli sighed, exposed one of his arms, and sat down.
"I can see why, but would it make sense if, let's say, a tracking device was chipped on
my weapon or something like that?" As Cualli said, Ozpin filled one of the several blood sample
tubes with Atlas's logo.
"While yes, that would make sense, they studied your family blood, and it either infused
or influenced the user's semblance," Ozpin said while he filed another tube with the Mistral logo.
"Okay, that makes sense. So, to put it simply, they want a failsafe if late, say, I or
someone related to me goes rogue or fights back." As Cualli said, Ozpin filled one of the blood
sample tubes with the vacuo logo.
"That's correct, Sunheart," Ozpin said while stopping the bleeding and patching it up.
Cualli stands up and stumbles until he summons an aura cane; Ozpin lifts the lockdown,
and Cualli leaves.
