Chapter 09: Adapting to a New World
"You're really going to Beacon," Ruby exclaimed in jubilation, "You were fighting like 'SHINK, TWANG, SWOOSH'. I just can't believe we're going to be classmates now."
"Ms. Rose." Glynda said sternly causing the young leader to immediately stop.
"Sorry." Ruby relied with a small, hesitant giggle.
"While what you two shared was quite interesting, I would like to see you in action at some point." Ozpin said with intrigue, "In fact, it's customary for any new Beacon applicants to be put through an initiation of sorts. I see no harm in you doing the same, should your story be believed."
"Neither do I." Zelda said in response, upon hearing her words, Link slightly turn his head towards her in slight bewilderment.
"Now though, Mrs. Goodwitch, could you please show these two to their new dorm.
"Of course." Mrs. Goodwitch said with little emotion.
Once the three left, Ozpin turned his attention to RWBY, "Now, you seem to have gained the trust of Zelda and Link. Tell me, were they telling the truth?"
"For what we know, yes." Weiss responded coldly.
"Hmm, is there anything special about them that we missed." Ozpin asked with a curious glance towards them.
Team RWBY looked to each other for an answer but then, "Well, you're just gonna have to see for yourself." Ruby said with her remaining excitement.
"So it would seem." A small chuckle escaped before taking a sip of coffee, "I would suggest giving them a proper welcome to Beacon." Ozpin suggested.
"Sure, want to make sure they know what to expect eh." Yang said with a shrug.
"You four are excused." Ozpin finished.
After some goodbyes, team RWBY proceeded to the elevators leaving Ozpin alone in his office. Returning to his chair, his gaze moves down towards his scroll to the message he received a few weeks ago "Queen has Pawns". As he was mulling over the message he started typing before stepping from his desk to look out the large window looking out towards the city of Vale. "Knight takes Pawn"
"And here we are, use these to enter." Mrs. Goodwitch said, turning to the Hylians with two scrolls in her hand, "They have the ability to make calls, show Aura levels and will have your schedules." She listed off, putting one of their scrolls against the door's lock, opening it up, "Please make yourselves comfortable. If you need anything, either Ozpin or I are willing to help." Once she finished, the Hylians each took a scroll from Glynda before she walked away to return to her duties.
Walking into the room, the two found it to be lightly furnished. There were two beds set to either side of the room with some dressers and night tables along the walls and by the beds. Upon the wall against the hallway in which they came was a wooden desk on either side of the door and a washroom in one of the side walls.
"This is quite charming." Zelda said as she entered the room and started looking around.
Link came in behind her and admired the quant room they will be staying in. It looked far better than the soldiers' barracks he lived in before. Given the size and team RWBY earlier, Link could tell that this school promotes teamwork and cooperation in the field. So long as they got the job done, he didn't care what style of battle they promoted.
"Hmm, now what is this?" the princess wondered, gaining Link's attention, "Oh my." she let out as she flicked the switch on a lamp, the sudden light surprising her. For all of Hyrule's advancements, they haven't reached anything close to electricity. It's just another thing that they'll have to adapt to. "Light that comes at the flick of a switch, incredible." She said in awe.
Link took to purely taking in their new room and what it provided. There was plenty of space so he could only guess that a four person team was the standard here.
"Link, what bed do you want?" Zelda asked, finally turning from the lamp she was oh so curious about and bringing the knight's attention back.
Link shrugged impartially in response. He didn't have a preference so he would take the open one. Once that was decided, a bit of on-sided idle conversation started before it was interrupted by a knock on the door. Somewhat curious, Zelda got up to see who it was with Link standing where he was, both oblivious to RWBY on the other side.
"Do you think they'll be here yet." Blake asked the group.
"Unless they're going for a tour around campus, they should be." Weiss responded.
"Well we've already knocked, so let's just see." Yang added.
At that moment, the door opened to reveal Zelda with Link further behind looking out to see who was there.
"Hello." Zelda said as she answered.
"Hi." Ruby responded quickly.
"Ruby, what can I do for you?" Zelda questioned.
"Well, we were wondering if you would want a tour of the school." The young leader asked.
"Well..." Zelda looked back to Link to see if he wanted to go but he stayed steady and lifted his right arm up behind him which confused the girls. In an instant, he pulled out the Master sword and performed a slight flourish and brought the blade in front of him, doing a quick examination of the blade he then spun the sword in his hands and returned it to its sheath. Once the blade was secured, Link looked back up the girls and had an emotionless expression. After a few seconds his stoic face cracked into a small smirk and a nod in consent.
"Oh ho ho, you think you're so good, I might have to change that." Yang challenged in lighthearted seriousness.
In response, Link's smirk grew slightly before he approached the rest of the group.
"I think that would be wonderful." Zelda said with a smile.
"Alright, right this way please." Ruby declared with a raised arm as she started to march down the hall. The girls started giggling at their red reaper's antics and Link had a heartwarming smile himself. And thus the six started their walk.
"And this is the cafeteria. Your one and only stop for all things food, drinks and snacking needs." Ruby said, enjoying herself, "And that, concludes our tour." Zelda then proceeded to humor Ruby with a small congratulatory applause.
"So what are first impressions like?" Blake asked.
"I absolutely adore the library you have here, it's even larger than my own." Zelda let out in awe over Beacon's grand library. The twin level of rows upon rows of shelves that spanned higher than the hall of Hyrule Castle's own. If she had any say in the matter, the princess will be spending a lot of time with her head in a book.
"It is quite impressive." Weiss said, "With entire sections on Aura, Semblances, Grimm, weapons, culture, geography, history and more, it is the greatest collection of knowledge in Vale and maybe even Remnant. But Atlas likely has that title."
"You can always find a good read in there." Blake added on.
"Now that the bookworms are done," Yang remarked, stopping the coming tangent.
"Hey!" Weiss interjected.
"What was your favorite part?" Yang asked Link, not acknowledging Weiss' outburst.
Link went and patted the hilt of the Master sword and gave only two words, "Training arenas." When they went and saw the arenas, Link was impressed at what he saw. The arena was large enough that any form of combat can be trained and perfected. It was large enough for ranged weapons and centralized for close combat. He was amazed at how the lighting they used paced a fight. By casting shadows around the edge of the arena, it naturally pushes the combatants closer together for melee combat in the light where they could see. It was all something he could respect, if they ever make it back to Hyrule, he'll have some ideas for a new training regiment.
"Knew it," Yang proclaimed, "We're going to have to go at it some point, you know that?" Link brought another smirk in response which Yang reciprocated in full.
"Well I'm glad that the both of you have found something you like," Ruby said, her excitement quickly rising, "Because team JNPR should be back now for our movie night and we want to invite you."
Weiss facepalmed at her leader's bluntness, "When her excitement gets too high, she loses any and all tact that she had, not that she had much to begin with." Weiss explained while mumbling the last part.
"Hey." Ruby said, hurt and pouting like a child.
"But yes if you are interested, we would be more than happy to have you." Weiss continued.
"A movie?" Zelda questioned, tilting her head slightly in curiosity.
"A play or production that can be replayed whenever you want." Blake quickly explained.
"Well I'd love too," Zelda said with Link nodding in agreement, "but who's this team JNPR? I just would like to know what kind of people we're going to be with."
"Those are our friends, don't worry, they're trustworthy." Ruby said casually.
"If you believe so, then I don't see any harm in that." Zelda said, sounding somewhat relieved by Ruby's reassurance.
Link looked on skeptically, he didn't want their story to be spread around, the less people who knew about them the better but if RWBY says it's okay, he'd accept it unless shown otherwise.
"Alright, their dorm is right across from ours. Let's go." Ruby declared with enthusiasm.
As the group was walking through the corridors, the windows peered out into the new night sky. Looking to his left, Link was the first to notice how dark it got but when he looked closer to the landscape, he stopped walking in an instant. Appearing as large as it could, the moon lit up the environment encompassing the school, but it wasn't just the moon that shown so bright that caught Link's attention, it was the fact that it had a shattered trail of space rock following it. He turned and approached the window and stared out with his mouth slightly agape, in all his time and all his adventures and missions, he had never seen anything that truly went against anything he knew. He was thrown curveballs but those were completely plausible, this on the other hand went against everything that he knew. After a moment, Zelda took noticed that Link had fallen behind when he wasn't at her side.
"Link?" She asked worryingly as she and RWBY turned to see him just standing at a window, completely awestruck. Moving towards him, Zelda asked with a worried tone, "Link, what's the mat-" She cut herself off when she saw what he was staring at, "Th-the moon." She was able to get out. The scene before was of beauty she had not seen in her life. The gardens and pavilions glistened as they basked in the pale moonlight, some willows blew in the breeze and in the center of it all was the shattered moon. Scattering its ashes into the wind, the undying light sparkling upon the spotted ponds. There wasn't a single imperfection that could disturb the tranquil scene before her.
"Hey, what's the matter?" Yang asked, catching up with the Hylians. "Oh my."
"Wow." Blake let out as she saw the scene.
"Incredible." Weiss said taking out her scroll and snapping a picture.
"Come on guys" Ruby said, as she was last to look out to the scene when her eyes went wide.
Ruby had seen many Remnantian nights, but for some reason this one was far grander than any she had seen before. The only words she could use to describe it were beautiful elegance. She could now see why Weiss was such a fanatic for scene paintings, if this is what the people see, then she has been missing out on all of it. Looking over to her side, Weiss and everyone else seem to be going through the same thoughts. The picturesque landscape, a completely untouched beauty that is far greater than any artist can recreate.
"Thi-this is," Ruby started.
"Marvelous." Weiss continued.
"Inspirational." Blake added.
"Beautiful." and Yang finished.
The group stood wide eyed, admiring the picture perfect scene for what felt like hours to them but they didn't care. They gained some passing glances but people just moved on with their lives. Having their own things to do, they couldn't see the wonder that the six were seeing if they never went and looked in the first place.
"INCOMING!" a short, orange haired lady shouted from down the corridor riding a giant war hammer.
The girl slammed into the group knocking RWBY down the hall surrounded by a rainbow of flaring Auras. When she reached the Hylians Link was in front of Zelda and before either of them could even turn their heads, she slammed right into Link. Daruk's protection activated the instant contact was made and pushed the girl back a few feet. In the instant immediately after, Link had his sword and shield out and directed onto this random girl. Rounding the corner was three more people, an armored woman with blazing red hair who they could swear to be part Gerudo, a blonde boy who wore light armor and a black sweater underneath and finally there was a boy who had black hair with a pink stripe and wore a green button up tailcoat. All of them were running towards the girl when they saw what happened.
"Nora." The black haired boy said to the hammer girl while he facepalmed at what she had done.
"Oh my, is everyone alright?" The red haired girl said coming to the pile of RWBY's strewn bodies.
"We're okay Pyrrha." Ruby said, getting to her feet still dazed.
The black haired boy now walked towards Nora who herself got up with a bounce before quickly analyzing the two she failed to knock down.
"Hmm. I don't recognize you two. Are you new here? Why are you with Team RWBY? Where are you from?" Nora quickly said as she bolted around the Hylians before getting caught by the boy, "Ah Ren."
"Nora, please don't run off like that." Ren said, noticeably tired from Nora's antics.
"Alright," the blonde said, bending down and panting, "What's going on here?" he asked.
"Hi Jaune." Yang said as she got up.
"Hi, now if you'll please excuse me." Jaune let out before he passed out from exhaustion, falling stiffly onto his back.
"Will he be alright?" Zelda asked, moving from behind Link to fully view the unconscious boy.
"Oh he'll be fineeee." Nora dragged out, "So who are you?"
"Nora, Pyrrha, Ren, I'd like to introduce you to Link and Zelda. Link and Zelda, Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren of team JNPR." Ruby said faster than she should have as she walked between the two groups, introducing each other.
"...," "Hellooo," "It's a pleasure to meet you," "Hi." Team JNPR responded in order.
"Well I'm delighted to meet you all." Zelda responded with a smile.
Link still stood his ground with his sword and shield raised but decided to lower them now that the princess was conversing with the four newcomers.
"We didn't see you guys on the trip back, where were you?" Nora questioned RWBY.
"We were brought back early." Blake answered.
"That seems… odd" Pyrrha said while visibly in thought.
"Meeting Link and Zelda had us come back." Ruby said as Weiss, Blake and Yang all simultaneously facepalmed while Link let out a disappointed sigh and Zelda slightly cringed.
"Wha-oh." Ruby said before she realized too late.
"Ooh, how so?" Nora quickly asked with piqued interest.
"Sorry." Ruby turned and whispered back to Zelda.
"You said you trust them, right?" Zelda asked, also whispering.
"Yeah." Ruby said.
"Alright then." Zelda decided, "Think we can get out of the open for this?"
"Sure, sure." Ruby said, turning back to JNPR, "Uhh, would it be okay if they come to movie night?"
"I have no objection." Ren said.
"Neither do I." Pyrrha agreed.
"Oh yeah, that's why we were looking for you." Nora realized.
"What about Jaune?" Weiss asked with a raised brow.
Link rolled his eyes then walked towards the unconscious leader. In near effortless fashion, Link slung him over his shoulder making the Remnantians gawk at his strength. Zelda had seen his strength when he took on an army on his own so she wasn't as surprised but still glad to see that he was willing to help those in need.
Team RWBY and JNPR on the other hand hadn't seen this amount of pure strength in anyone other than Yang and Cardin, they were the only ones they knew who would be able to effortlessly lift someone. Even though Jaune isn't the most hefty person Link could have lifted, they were still impressed at the lack of effort he needed to do it.
"Alright, where's your dorm." Link said, no strain in his voice.
"Uhh, right this way." Pyrrha said as she left her shock.
The ten made their way to JNPR's dorm with Nora leading the way, Link following behind her and RWBY with Ren, Pyrrha and Zelda at the rear.
"It seems like Link may be coming for your brawler title, Yang." Blake teased.
"Well now I definitely want to get a chance against him." Yang said in return.
"You might want to know that Link was the top knight when he was only ten and he's only gotten stronger." Zelda said with a hint of Hyrulian pride, "Remember he became a knight after defeating an enemy many times larger than himself in a single hit."
Yang choked on a breath at hearing what Link has done and turned back to Zelda. "Really?" she said with pure shock "Well that just means he has farther to fall then." She continued while regaining some confidence. Link was listening and gained a smirk at the brawler's reaction.
"I'm sorry?" Pyrrha said in confusion.
"Nothing." Ruby quickly covered, not letting herself slip up again. "Nothing to worry about."
"Hmm." Ren muttered, he was intrigued at what they were hiding but wouldn't pry.
"And here we are." Nora declared as she opened the door to JNPR's dorm, "His bed is just over there." She pointed and Link went over and placed Jaune down.
"So is movie night still a go?" Ruby asked.
"Sure, what do you want to see?" Nora said.
"I think some Fantasy would be cool to see. They haven't seen any movies before." Weiss said pointing back to the Hylians.
"Really?" Pyrrha questioned.
"We'll explain." Blake said with Zelda nodding in confirmation.
"Alright then. Play" Nora said as she started the movie.
As they watched the movie, the Hylians were fully invested in the plot. Blake was right in her description, they were watching a full play that didn't require a stage where the director could do whatever they want and not be held down by the limitation of reality. Seeing something so real on the T.V. just pulled them in more, they were hooked.
While they were watching, team JNPR asked questions that were answered as best as the Hylians could, they revealed as much as they have given RWBY bringing them up to speed on Hyrule with Jaune waking up midway through. They told of the monarchy, the land and life before the Calamity. To say the day was something that no one expected would be an understatement greater than the Calamity was just a mild inconvenience. But all in all, it would seem things are turning out to be quite interesting indeed.
A/N: Another day, another chapter. Link and Zelda are going to Beacon, Ozpin is forming his own plans with the information he has, A scene that looks like it would be made by a god (Wink wink nudge nudge) and the Hylians have met team JNPR. I tried going for a slower pace while still arguing this chapter's existence because after all the other chapters that were information dump after information dump. A chapter to slow down and appreciate the smaller things seemed like a good thing to have.
I don't have much else to say so favorite and follow, review if you have something to say and see you all next week.