This…was not how Jaune anticipated training with Link would be. Not in his wildest dreams. He expected it to be more like the old fairy tales where the master swordsman takes an apprentice and then slowly teaches him the skills he needs through random chores. You know, easy and slow.

And to be fair, for the first year, that's how it was. Jaune was put through what Link called basic training, which started with making sure that Jaune knew how to hold and wield his sword and shield in a variety of different combat situations. Sword less, Shield less, so many drills. And then Link added archery, which was cool, it beat using a gun!

And then Link brought out the boots. The 'boots' were boots that Link apparently used to keep himself grounded in some underwater Temple or something. Not that Jaune believed that but that's what Link claimed. The main point is that they were heavy.

Really heavy. So after Jaune mastered the basics of combat, Link made him wear those boots and showed Jaune that while he THOUGHT that he had mastered said basics, he really knew nothing. Oh and now all physical training was to be done in those iron boots.

Did Jaune mention that they were heavy?

Lord how Jaune hated those boots.

It wasn't all training however. On some occasions Link would simply hang out with Jaune and listen to him talk about his day. How he felt overlooked and over shadowed by all of his siblings. How things were expected of himself because he was the only boy, but also looked down upon for being the only boy. Jaune treasured those moments. And Link had even carved him an ocarina and taught him to play it! Jaune was admittedly bad at playing it currently, but he practiced a lot and would get better in time!

But the year was over. So all of the drills, all of the training, led the fifteen-year-old Jaune to this very moment. His first mission as a huntsman/hero in training!

"Jaune." Link greeted as he ambled forward, clad in his armor per usual. Now that Jaune started to thinking about it, outside of combat, Link didn't really move very fast, or often. He supposed that made sense, when you took into consideration that he was some sort of ghost, spirit thing. Link never really explained it well enough for Jaune to make sense of that.

"Before I let you go on your journey I have a small bit of history to gift you with. Each hero must learn this story before embarking on their individual journeys. This world that you know as Remnant, was once known as Hyrule. The land I was born in, and the land I fought and bled for. Before time began, before spirits and life existed, three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule. These three goddesses were Din, the Goddess of Power; Nayru, the Goddess of Wisdom; and Farore, the Goddess of Courage.

The Golden Goddesses each infused the land with their own powers. Din, with her strong, flaming arms, cultivated the land and created the red earth. Hence, she created the very earth from which life in Hyrule would spring. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world, thus establishing order in a formerly chaotic world. She was responsible for the creation of the laws of the universe, including the laws of science and wizardry that would govern Hyrule and the universe at large. Farore, with her rich soul, produced all life forms that would uphold the law established by Nayru. As the mother of all life in the universe, she created the beings that would walk the earth, fly in the sky, and swim in the waters.

The three Golden Goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens from a parallel dimension connected to the land of Hyrule, a realm of midday golden skies and a place where the spirits could roam free. A temple dedicated to the element of light was set at the heart of this Golden Land and the Goddesses departed from the point atop the pyramidal temple, leaving behind a symbol of their power at the point atop the temple. This symbol, a golden triangle composed of three smaller triangles united to form one, came to be known as the Triforce, a relic of omnipotent and omniscient power.

For many ages, humanity lived in peace. However, knowledge of the mythical Sacred Realm and the all-powerful Triforce contained within spread across the land. It was into this time that Princess Zelda was born. Zelda was an anomaly in these times. She was a princess who was unable to use any magical abilities that were so prevalent in that time. She gathered several magic-abled individuals and they conspired to gain control of the Triforce for themselves. Through her actions and hers alone, Hyrule fell into a state of civil war as everyone fought to gain control of the Triforce. However, what was not known, what wasn't told about the Triforce, was that if a person whose power, wisdom, and courage were not in perfect harmony were to lay her hands on it, the Triforce would shatter into its three separate pieces. The person would keep the piece that represents their most developed quality, and the other two would seek out a hiding place in the bodies of those chosen by destiny. So when Zelda laid her hands upon the Triforce, this came to be and the Triforce shattered, sending the three pieces, Power, Wisdom, and Courage, into the bodies of Ganon, Zelda, and Myself, respectively."

Jaune, had no idea how he was supposed to respond to this. Triforce? Zelda? Ganon? None of this rang any bells in his mind. But then again…neither did Link until he actually met him. And the fact that he was a spirit or ghost of some kind did in fact support the existence of the Triforce.

"So…do I have the Triforce thing then? Of Courage?" Jaune asked curiously? He didn't feel brave…but then again maybe he did?"

Link gave Jaune his good ole red eyed stare before shaking his head. "Forgive me Jaune, I ended up sharing more than what was necessary. That's what happens when you become old."

Jaune nodded, agreeing with that statement. His grandpa tended to do the same thing, and he was a toddler compared to Link!

"But to answer your question…no you do not currently have the Triforce. Merely the potential."

"What?! But you said I was next in line! Why don't I-Ow!" Jaune started, and then yelped when Link swatted him with his armored hand. It's been a while since he's been swatted for being an idiot and he didn't exactly relish the trip down memory lane.

"I said that yes, and it is still accurate. Your spirit is perfectly suited for the Triforce of Courage. It's your body that is the problem. Which brings us to what I would like for you to do, for the next year."

Jaune didn't even have time to be properly offended or confused by Link's statements before he ploughed forward, continuing his explanation.

"Throughout this realm, are…I suppose you could call them training facilities, known as Sheikah shrines. They were created with technology that has long been lost to you or I, in order to train and prepare the hero of courage for the challenges that he would face combating Zelda and her forces. Within each shrine is an orb that empowers the hero for every four orbs you gather. These shrines contain a variety of trials that will test and sharpen every ability that would be required from a hero or even a huntsman. There are one hundred and twenty of them residing in this realm and I want you to find and complete every one of them."

"Every last one…ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY IN A YEAR!" Jaune shouted, rising to his feet. "How on earth am I supposed to do that!" Sure this realm they trained in seemed to exist alongside the normal world but Jaune just assumed that Link was creating this place. Where would he start? What about his family? He didn't have that kind of time.

"How…? With Courage young Jaune. This is the path you chose to walk. It is one that has been walked many times before! You want to be a hero? Well this is how you're going to get there! At least you have someone to help you along and show you the ropes! You will not die on my watch!"

Unlike me, which that statement seemed to say, to Jaune's shame. This was his dream and he was fighting it! Complaining about it! Why? He still had two more years until it was time to apply to Beacon. And with eight kids, all being trained or taught by his parents in some fashion except for him, would they even notice that Jaune was gone? And even if they did…did it matter? It's not like they could reach this realm even if they did decide to look for him.

"I'm sorry Link. You're right. This is the path I want to walk, and it's one that I will walk with pride. Is there anything I should do to prepare? Gather materials or anything like that?"

Link's remaining eye crinkled in what Jaune hoped was a smile. And he offered his hand to Jaune and in it was…a scroll? "This is the Sheikah slate. When a shrine is nearby, it will beep, with the beeping growing in frequency the closer you are. With that, and the sword and shield you've been gifted, that's all you require."

Jaune took the slate, absently noting that all he could do with it was take pictures before looking up at…the empty space where Link was. "Oh, guess I'm starting now. That's cool." He stood up, absently waving the slate in every direction hoping for a beep. After hearing nothing, he just chose a direction and walked. That's what he had promised Link and himself that he would do after all.

xXx

"Stupid ghost teacher!" Jaune growled to himself as he blocked the club strike from a…Jaune actually didn't know what it was, just that it was irritating and that it came in groups. What Link had neglected to tell Jaune before he started traversing this realm was that he was not the only living thing here. Or that these other living beings desired his death. Both information that Jaune could use beforehand.

Jaune's current enemies almost looked like a human that had been mixed with a pig. With all the smells and attitude that the particular combination would imply. Jaune bashed his current foe with a successful shield attack (Take that Link!) before growling to himself as he heard a different monster blow that stupid horn which would summon more of them. He had already decided that he was going to find that horn blower and make him eat it. Slowly.

Jaune followed up his shield strike with a horizontal slash that tore the head off the pig man. Like the others, and the grim that he had fought before it, it vanished into smoke, leaving behind some fang or drill like thing that Jaune couldn't help but pick up as he continued his onslaught. He grabbed the pig man's club too, putting away his shield.

A decision that he quickly regretted as a storm of arrows came raining down on him! Well, it wasn't really a storm, more along the lines of a stream…but to Jaune who had never been shot before, it might as well have been a storm. He dove down under a shoddily built tower in order to avoid fire and began the task of climbing up it, stowing his gear for a second as he climbed. One thing that he had learned about his piggy foes was that they took 'out of sight, out of mind' very seriously. So if they couldn't see Jaune, they would forget about him. But Jaune wouldn't forget. No sir. They started this war and he would finish it. He finally reached the top and took a quick peek before leaping onto the platform.

Now he hadn't actually been taught the mortal draw by Link quite yet, but he had seen, (and felt) it performed enough times to reliably attempt it. And besides his opponent wasn't going anywhere and didn't see him. He had all the time in the world. He stood still with his sword still in its sheath and crept closer to the pig man standing in the center of the rampart. Once he felt he was close enough, Jaune quickly drew his blade and swiped in an upward diagonal motion, cleaving the thing in half. The thing didn't even have time to yelp, before vanishing into smoke, leaving behind a bow and a quiver of arrows.

Jaune had never used a bow and arrow, but Link had in fact gone over the basics with him through his year of tutelage so he took the bow and quiver and added it to his arsenal. Now that he knew he wasn't the only one in this realm, he would need all the help he could get. It appears that while he was climbing the rampart, all the other pig man had cleared out so that horn blower would have to be taken care of some other time. And take care of him he would.

But before he was so rudely interrupted by the pig men, Jaune was surveying the land, because when Link had vanished and left Jaune here to fend for himself, something curious had happened. It was slow, so Jaune hadn't noticed it originally, but after a couple of days he couldn't tell the difference between his original world and this realm. Aside from the lack of civilization and pig monsters rather than grim. Maybe this was just on the other side of the world? And Link just teleported him here? Jaune would have kept up with that line of thinking, not that it would have led him anywhere, if he hadn't have gotten distracted by a strange looking building. It looked somewhat like a mud hut in shape, but the structure was metallic, at least that's what he assumed as he was nowhere near it. Maybe it was a mud hut. But the thing that captured his attention was that it had a very similar appearance to a certain slate that Link had given him.

A very faint beep caught his attention as he noted the similar appearance to his sheikah slate and he smiled to himself. "Found one…" He whispered. He had been worried that he wouldn't be good enough, that he would never find a shrine. That no matter what Link said, no matter what Jaune learned, that he wouldn't be good enough.

But that wasn't true. Jaune had fought some pig men, and won! And he found a shrine! Sure there were still one hundred and nineteen to go, but he still found one! And if he found one, he could find others! And he hadn't even been here for four days! At this rate he would be a full-fledged hero with the Triforce in no time! He didn't know what it did, but it sounded cool! And so he wanted it. But first he had to get down from the rampart. A task he did slowly and carefully. He didn't want to trip and hurt himself. Or worse, get a splinter. His mom wasn't here to pull it out and he would hate that.

XxX

Jaune's equipment so far

Sword
Shield
Bow/Arrows
Ocarina

Shrines visited: 0

And if anyone was curious, no Jaune does not currently have his aura activated nor will he for quite some time. I didn't want to info dump…but when Link first started his journey in Ocarina of Time, the Great Deku tree made us listen to that whole story before we started and Link wanted to do the same thing with Jaune as it was done with him.