Remnants of the Wild

Akkala and Trials

Jaune had unlocked another chunk of his Aura before they had come back to Hateno, and he thought to check the path outside of Hateno Village, seeing the two sisters hunting for hearty truffles were being chased by two bokoblins...but one of them was silver. He quickly dispatched the red one, but the silver one was strangely resilient and dealt a lot of damage. Still, saving them got him a tough bread, which was nice.

Food was always a necessity for travel, and this one strengthened the defenses of one's Aura.

A downpour of rain had him return to the house where the others were, and with Revali only coming out; limping, to grab some food he took back to his room while muttering under his breath, really made the mood sour along with the gloomy weather. Thus, they killed time before bed playing "Cards against Hyrule"...making sure not to cross a line when Ruby emerged to play a few hands before going back into her weapons research. Jaune's answers in the game were actually pretty modest compared to others...especially Yang's and Nora's...making them smile that some of his innocent personality had not completely disappeared after the tragedy of the Great Calamity.

Not that Ruby told anyone, but hearing her boyfriend's family weapon had been destroyed really upset her. She remembered seeing Crocea Mors when Jaune's family visited him after being Knighted. She recalled that it was more of a "classic", the only transformation aspect being that the sheathe became a shield. She hoped to one day make the sheathe of the Master Sword a nearly indestructible shield (lava was a totally different story than battle). Yet, not any shield would be suitable for such a sacred blade. Possibly something heroic...and could reflect the beams of Guardians back at them without the need of Daruk's Protection.

Yet, she grabbed the royal guard's shield. It was as good a place to start. Despite it's structural weakness (that had Ruby ranting about the poor construction to everyone in the house), it's sheer stopping power was impressive.

The next morning, the group excluding Revali and Ruby (who was unlocking the secrets of the royal guard's shield bit by bit), prepared to go north, to find the Akkala Region of Hyrule. They even had the perfect starting place: the shrine next to the Foothill Stable. The dormant tower loomed in the distance beyond sheer cliffs. They hugged the lake/river north of the stable, often having to paraglide from one rocky outcropping to another or climb a bit to reach ledges.

Still, Jaune's promise to have jewelry made for the ladies of the group rung in his ears. He had a Sapphire Circlet, but it's heat resistant effects would only be useful to Weiss, whose Glyph Semblance was more...ice-like and left her more sensitive to extreme heat; the trip to Death Mountain being extremely telling. Plus, she did come from Atlas, the northernmost of the districts of Remnant.

He wasn't going to give away jewelry until he had one for everyone. Seven sisters plus jealousy did NOT make a good combination.

The trip was going fine...until Nora alerted a lookout tower filled with black bokoblins, a black moblin, blue bokoblin archers, and a silver bokoblin by yelling at them to "come face them." Thus, as both Jaune's moonlight scimitar and knight's broadsword broke under the constant onslaught, he was forced to use the Edge of Duality he had been planning to give to Ren in order to keep himself from being swarmed.

As the last monster fell, Nora jumped onto Ren's shoulders. "YEAH! LET'S DO THAT AGAIN!" She cheered.

"Nora. Look at Ren." Jaune said, and she turned to see blood dripping from her boyfriend's cheek as an arrow had grazed him after the earlier onslaught had drained his Aura.

"NO! RENNY!" She said, hugging him tightly, "DON'T GO TOWARDS THE LIGHT!" She said, "I KNOW CPR!" She quickly forced Ren onto his back and started kissing him while trying to mimic what she thought was CPR. After Jaune gave Ren the Seafood Pallela to restore his Aura as Pyrrha dragged Nora off of him with her Semblance, Yang helped out by distracting her with another Cobble Crusher a moblin had. Jaune opened the chest and found that they had been guarding a Royal Claymore. The Master Sword shivered as it's power returned, but Jaune paid it no heed at the moment.

This was the sword Link once used. He would honor the Deku Tree's words and use it when necessary to help it recover faster. They soon found themselves moving up the steep incline until they reached an unknown area in their map, the tower drawing nearer. As luck would have it, they found a stable and shrine just as it started to rain on them. Strangely enough, the sun had come out by the time he had come out.

Jaune talked with some sisters, after handing the older one an armoranth flower, she requested to find out what the little sister wanted for her birthday. Strangely enough, it was the one thing the big sister was afraid of...

Dragonflies.

The little sister wanted to see a warm darner, cold darner, and electric darner in person. However, Jaune couldn't do that yet, as he only had the first two species. Then, they stopped at a cooking pot where a Hylian traveler was warming his hands.

"Heyo. Who are you?!" The man asked.

"Just a humble traveler." Jaune said.

"Hmph. Show-off." He grumbled, making Yang and Pyrrha's fists clench, "Traveling alone to a place like this? You must be a man who sets his mind on something and then gets it done!"

As to not further upset the man, and remembering his sisters, Jaune replied "No, not at all."

"Anyway..." The many continued, ignoring him, "Whoa. That sword you have there. Could it be..." The man's eyes widening at the sight of the Master Sword on his belt.

"Yep. It's the Legendary Master Sword." Yang said.

"HA! You must be joking!" The man said, as Yang's eyes flashed red, "I hear the legendary sword is hidden deep in a forest. But no one has ever returned from that forest...How could a twig like him find it?! I'm gonna go after that legendary sword, so just stay outta my way!"

"His funeral." Jaune whispered to Yang, making her snort and her Semblance die down. After that little debacle, Jaune cooked a Tough Steamed Fish, and Tough Seafood Skewer. On the road to a fort where the tower was, three wolves attacked them, and wouldn't stop until Nora got fed up and smashed one. Ren collected the meat as the other two ran off with Nora yelling at them.

Seeing that the Sheikah Scroll was predicting a thunderstorm in the area, everyone except Nora put away anything metallic, with Jaune even putting his bow into his pouch. He only had a wooden shield and Guardian Spear ++ (he got from the Major Test of Strength in Hyrule Castle) on him for combat. Upon reaching a broken bridge, they notice that a blue bokoblin was running away from the searchlight of a flying guardian, and that a man was under attack from a black moblin. Rushing over, they helped the man on the broken bridge by killing the monster.

"Th-thanks...That monster was more than I bargained for." He said, "I'm a dab hand with a blade...but all of you...Well, my hat is off to you. Here, take this for your help." He then handed them a hasty milk. This was a milk with a special speed-boosting effect...and Jaune feared what would happen if Ruby got a hold of it. "I came out this way to search for this citadel. Can't believe I made it so close, only to have to turn back now..." His gaze locked onto the fortress where the tower was.

"That's the Akkala Citadel Ruins." The man explained, "Long ago, at the peak of Hyrule's power after the districts of Remnant were absorbed into it, they built a fortress to protect Akkala. It was said to be unassailable, but during the Great Calamity, Hyrule Castle fell...The army had no royalty to lead them. With no other choice, they fell back to this citadel to make their last stand. Sadly, a concentrated assault from the out-of-control Guardians spelled the end for this fortress too. In a real sense, the kingdom of Hyrule met its doom here."

That was a real sobering thought, though not as bad as what the man said next; "I found out my own kin died in that battle, so I came to at least pray at the spot where they fell. But it turns out that the old Guardians are still active, so this is as far as I go. I've never heard of anyone else escaping a Guardian's sights, at least. You all don't look reckless enough to chance it, but be on your guard in these hills all the same."

They needed to go to this Guardian-swarmed fortress to activate this tower.

As the Sheikah Scroll predicted, a little after midnight as they cautiously went up the pathway to the fortress, lightning started striking around them. With the rain pouring upon them, they could not scale up the side of the fortress and a flying Guardian was patrolling the stairway in a way that they could not pass without being spotted. This storm lasted for four hours before they could climb up as it stopped.

They had made their way partway up, with a few close calls, when it started to thunderstorm again at 9am. Jaune's Guardian Spear had broken and his Edge of Duality was near the point of destruction as stress-fractures were all across the blade. With a Guardian Axe ++ strapped to his back, Jaune was pacing in thought.

"Hey, Yang?" Jaune asked as he looked up, "When I get the rupees, how would you feel about Gerudo Amber earrings?"

"Hero?" Yang asked in disbelief, "You DO know I was joking about the jewelry, right?"

"Yeah, but I promised." Jaune said, "An Arc never goes back on his word. Anyway, I thought the Gerudo Amber earrings would suit you since they have an Aura Defense boosting enchantment, and since you are mainly a close-range fighter I thought..." He was cut off as Yang slammed her lips into his into a fiery kiss killed with affection and gratitude. After she pulled away (the sight of it even leaving Pyrrha's cheeks red), Jaune stammered out "I'll take that as a yes."

While the lightning stopped at noon, the rain continued to fall until 4:10 pm. An attempt to hit the flying Guardian weakened by Urbosa's Fury had the Edge of Duality shattering as it just fell short. "Why did I even try?" Jaune asked himself as he slumped in embarrassment.

Upon reaching the top of the fortress where the tower sat, the group was horrified to see the remains of the building absolutely flooded with Malice. Spotting a cooking pot, Jaune made a Hearty Mushroom Skewer-just in case, before they scanned the area. Their solution soon revealed itself after destroying a Malice Eye as Pyrrha's Semblance revealed a metal beam they could used to get across a gap in a platform. They then put it on the top floor and Pyrrha created a bridge onto a "platform" of Malice to avoid anyone who climbed onto the tower from touching the "acidic" substance.

"I'll activate it." Yang said, gazing at the tower as her eyes turned red and her hair started glowing. "Hero's done a lot for us, and I'm not going to just sit around. I've got to represent Team RWBY!"

Once at the top, having thrown her warm doublet over her outfit, she activated the Sheikah Tower, watching as a drop downloaded a map of Akkala to all of their scrolls as the rest now teleported to the new travel gate. With that, they headed south towards a Shrine Ren pointed out.

Reaching the shrine was harder than it seemed, as red lizalfos had taken to patrolling the area. However, the second part of Weiss's Semblance activated, as her glyph summoned what looked like a lizafos made entirely of ice. While it had been destroyed, it had tossed itself at the red Lizafos and the extreme cold had killed the monster. As they arrived, they found another hidden Korok as Jaune went into the shrine. He came out with a spirit orb and a less-powerful Ancient Battle Axe, but it had a long-through enchantment. As the paraglided north, they landed at a rocky "island" with a "rock bridge" connecting it to the land as both were on cliffs above water. There, they saw Hudson of the Bolson construction company chiseling away at a rock, with a single house built in a spot. Their Sheikah Scrolls identified this area as "Tarrey Town". Listening to Hudson, they learned that since he had been transferred to Akkala, he decided to build a village from scratch.

Jaune gave him ten bundles of wood after promising to help get supplies and people to build the town. The next thing, would be finding a Goron whose name ends with "son" to help tear apart the rocks...according to the Bolson construction guidelines...workers had to have names ending with "son", such as Bolson or Hudson.

As they continued north, reaching a shrine by a stable, they were tired and sore from a Yiga swordsman ambush. At the stable, they saw a soldier who wanted a picture of a suspicious man named Kilton, who ran the Fang and Bone shop...and a Hylian woman named Nobo, who told them west of the stable lay a sacred place called the Spring of Power where it was said Princess Zelda had a ritual to try and unlock her sealing magic. She also said there was a weird home shaped like a lighthouse north of the area.

Spotting the traveling painter they met in Kakariko, he took a look at the picture album in Jaune's scroll (which only had two places left to visit) and confirmed that it was the Spring of Power. Jaune's eyes lit up in hope, he was close to another memory.

"Wait. Purah mentioned another Sheikah researcher named Robbie in Akkala...do you think that lighthouse is his lab?" Pyrrha asked, and Jaune gave her a lopsided grin that made her pulse quicken.

"Only one way to find out." Jaune said, and with that, they headed north. When they were nearly at the building, a decayed Guardian came to life. However, Jaune swung his shield just right to deflect it's own laser back into it, destroying it and leaving parts behind. There was a large telescope at the "top" of the lighthouse, similar to the lab in Hateno, and an unlit furnace in front of it. The group did not find anyone inside, and so they started at a strange machine, only to be interrupted when an aged voice asked them what they were doing there. They tuned to see a small, aged man in Sheikah clothing an a blonde woman-his wife (despite being a half century younger than him) in similar clothing.

Despite his attempts, this researcher-Robbie-refused to believe Jaune was actually Jaune without seeing the scars from 100 years ago. With a sigh, Jaune took off his Hylian hood and tunic. Robbie inspected the scars on his chest from the Great Calamity. Despite them being mostly healed, they did match up with Jaune's injuries, pacifying the man. Listening to the man prattle on eccentrically while not being given a chance to put his clothes back on, Jaune agreed to team up to free Ozpin, who had been imprisoned by the Calamity, and destroy it forever. He called this place, the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab.

Robbie introduced the machine in the room they had inspected as Cherry, before calling it an "ancient oven." This machine was the key, as it created armor and weapons for ancient soldiers. However, it had been acting up since the furnace had gone out, which like the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab, needed a blue flame. He turned to the group, just in time to see Yang and Pyrrha snap a picture of him with their scrolls.

He climbed up the stairs to chance in private into his armor and hood (also finding a Korok) before sleeping at a campfire outside. The next morning, he drew his knight's broadsword and headed down the path.

Two pins appearing in everyone's maps announced that Jaune was safe, and that he spotted two Shrines. Then, it started to rain extremely heavily, and they all sighed. This meant that Jaune would be delayed due to the travel torch not remaining lit in the rain. As it approached midnight, they started getting antsy, as no other messages had appeared on their scrolls.

Then the Blood Moon rose.

Jaune awoke to see a blue moblin approaching behind him and rain pouring on his head. He had gotten partway back, lighting stationary stone torches to mark his progress, and to see that moblin was really frustrating, as he had slayed every monster between the lab and the blue flames; only for them to be back the next morning. He took out all the bokoblins and moblins around the closest lit stone torch, before waiting for it to stop raining. At 8am, the rain stopped, and Jaune lit his torch and continued down a new path, avoiding as many monsters as he could to keep the torch lit. This took him south, to the East Akkala Stable, and he lit the stone torch there and continued on the path.

However, he was forced to zigzag his way to the lab as a Yiga swordsman ambushed him while the decayed Guardian fired upon him. Somehow, he made it and the Yiga vanished as he lit the stone furnace. The Sheikah Scroll pinged that the lab had now been registered as a travel gate. He shoved the doors open, looked at everyone staring at him and breathed out "The furnace is lit." Before he dropped to his knees and let out a sigh of relief.

Robbie, grateful that Jaune had lit the furnace and brought Cherry back to working order, gave him three ancient arrows. Then, Jaune approached Cherry/the ancient oven.

"Hello *zzzt* FamiliarNameMissing! Welcome!" The machine greeted Jaune, "Insert materials and rupees." As Jaune browsed the inventory the machine brought up, one caught his eye for 1,000 rupees. The ancient shield. He took two of them and looked over the description the machine provided.

"This shield was made using ancient Sheikah technology." Jaune read out loud, ""It's surface glows blue when raised in defense...Enhanced functionality allows it to...DEFLECT GUARDIAN BEAMS?!" He shouted the last part in shock. Now he was glad he bought two.

One was definitely going to Ruby to be studied!

"That will help with the pesky Guardians around the castle, yes?" Robbie asked, and Jaune looked at him in shock. To finish off the purchase, he bought five more ancient arrows and something that confused him, called an ancient bladesaw. The later was given to Yang, as the though of Nora with what basically looked like a chainsaw terrified him for some reason. Pyrrha, with some rupees she saved up, bought an ancient spear, while Ren got an ancient bow. To Nora's disappointment, there were no weapons that could "crush foes".

Making their way back to the East Akkala Stable, they decided to scope out the location of the Spring of Power. As a Yiga swordsman ambushed Jaune from behind, taking a huge chunk of his Aura, Yang's Semblance activated and her ancient bladesaw ripped through his windcleaver and sent him flying, two mighty bananas left behind as he vanished into smoke. After Jaune restored his aura with defense-boosting food, they continued on to the large spring-like body of water unnamed by the map currently. They arrive to see a Goddess Statue sitting in water with small waterfalls around it. After finding a Korok above it, Jaune jumped down and took out the picture and stared at it. Soon, he glanced up, and gasped as a memory came to him.

Zelda was praying at the Goddess statue as Link and Jaune stood with their backs to her, to give her privacy. But, frustration overcome Zelda as her power did not emerge and she broke into tears, as Link turned around and moved to cover her shoulders with a shawl with Zelda pleaded to answer "What was wrong" with her.

"Zelda...she was really upset when her power didn't awaken here." Jaune said, staring at the Goddess Statue. Climbing back up the sides of the Spring, thus to avoid the flying Guardians patrolling the path, they headed north to Skull Lake where a shrine location was pinned. The wind blew the tall prairie grasses and fallen leaves across the ground as moonlight shone down upon them. On the way, they encountered a white-maned lynel. It was a quick, decisive battle with it falling to their combined assault, and Ren picked up the savage lynel bow (3 shot enchantment), Jaune picked up the mighty lynel shield after it destroyed one of his steel lizal shields, and also its mighty lynel sword. As they moved along, Jaune decided that after unlocking the next chunk of his Aura, he would work on unlocking more stamina.

As they drew closer, they saw a red and white snake-like dragon with six legs flying high in the sky above them.

Jaune hopped down and paraglided to the the tall structure the Shrine was on...but then nearly slid down as it started to rain. "Well that sucks." Yang said, seeing him tightening his grip as to not slide down all the way to the bottom and remain in place. The rain had started at 8am, and continued as Jaune shivered in place until 4:10 pm, making the others look at him in sympathy as he tested the rock-making sure it had dried, before continuing to climb. Finally, he made it to the Zuna Kai Shrine. As he walked out with a flameblade and a fourth Spirit Orb, he failed to notice that a pothole had formed in the top of the rock next to the shrine...and he tripped, falling down.

"JAUNE!" Pyrrha shouted, as she and the others leaped after him, and Jaune looked up as he fell, before he managed to twist himself and pull his paraglider out of his pouch, just in time to slow his fall to the island forming the "right eye" of the skull-shaped lake. He landed and tucked away the paraglider, before sitting on his knees and hands as he let his heart rate slow down after that scare. Just as they were about to leave, when night fell, a hot-air balloon appeared behind them. A strange man with painted fangs on his lips with a purple, monster-like hood yelped as Jaune got his attention.

"Hmm?" The man said, "Oh. It's just a Hylian."

"Who are you?" Blake asked, as the man slumped in relief.

"Me?" He asked, "My name is Kilton. I suppose you're here because you heard I was opening a monster shop, and you wanted to see it for yourself."

"Monster shop?" Yang asked, while raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. I'm opening a monster shop called Fang and Bone. But I'm still preparing for my grand opening. Here's my business card." He said, handing Jaune a card.

"Fang and Bone." Jaune read out loud from the card, "Come see ol' Kilton for the most monstrous deals in all of Hyrule!"

"I'm...going to need that card back...It's the only one I have." Kilton said in embarrassment as Jaune handed the card back, "Anyway...Do you, uh...Are you into monsters."

"I like them." Jaune said, turning to wink at the group.

"How, uh...How much do you like them?" Kilton asked.

"I ADORE Monsters!" Nora said, happily omitting that she adored breaking monster bones.

"I LOVE MONSTERS MORE THAN YOU DO!" Kilton snapped angrily, slamming his fists onto his table, making the group recoil. "...I...uh...Sorry! I did it again. I just love the field of monster research so much that I decided to open a shop all about monsters! I call it...Fang and Bone! I travel all around Hyrule in search of rare and exciting monster parts. But I'm not sure which village I should visit next. Kakariko Village or Hateno village? Though Rito Village and Zora's Domain are also good options. Hmmm. I suppose I could go all the way to Gerudo Town or Lurelin Village. But Lake Akkala is much closer. RAWWWWWRGH! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself! I can't just sit around while there are monsters to be studied! I'm off! I'm sure we'll meet again in some village during the night. Fare thee well!" Then, in the blink of the eye, the hot air balloon and shop were gone.

"Well that wasn't creepy at all." Weiss said sarcastically.

Teleporting to the Shrine south of Tarrey Town, they continued their journey south.

"The monk told me there are 120 shrines across Hyrule right now." Jaune said, "With that last one, we've found...56..." He said with a sigh. As they headed south, their shrine sensor started going off, when a Yiga swordsman appeared, but was quickly driven off when Weiss summoned her lizalfos as Pyrrha trapped his windcleaver in the ground with her Semblance. After going around a large canyon with a lake on the bottom, they spotted the glow of a dormant Shrine behind some bomb-able rocks. Only problem; They needed to use bomb arrows and it was raining, preventing the explosives on the arrows from working.

"Okay. I can understand Faron since it looks like a rainforest, but why is Akkala so rainy?!" Jaune growled out.

Once the rain stopped and they blew up the rocks, Jaune paraglided over, using the wind to push him farther until he reached the Shrine. After a modest test of strength, he gazed at the group with a firm gaze. "I'm going to do the next Trial of the Sword." He said, "I feel ready."

Jaune prayed at the Goddess Statue within the Deku Tree, unlocking another chunk of his Aura as he sought guidance for the upcoming Trial. He had expanded his weapon inventory, just in case. With a deep breath, he sheathed the Master Sword in the pedestal and vanished into the sword in a flash of blue light. He emerged in a vaccant room and was immediately under fire by Bokoblin archers. One thing for sure; this trial would be harder than the first!

Inside the Deku Tree, Yang sipped on a wildberry lemonade as she drummed her fingers against the bark of the tree. "You know, I hate it when he has to do things by himself." She said, after swallowing her mouthful of drink. "I mean, when Ozpin was teaching us as RWBY and JNPR, he always stressed how effective teamwork was, so seeing him have to do things alone doesn't sit well with me."

"I know what you mean." Pyrrha added, simply drinking some water, "He...he was the first to not put me on a pedestal. To see...Just Pyrrha...not the invincible girl who won tournaments at a young age."

"He's a person I can trust around Ruby, and not have ulterior motives." Yang said, "He doesn't want to 'string her along' like I heard some boys who visited the castle say...let's just say..."

"You broke their legs?" Nora interrupted, and Yang shifted uncomfortably...since that was close to the truth. While she didn't break their legs...they were left with plenty of bruises.

"Plus." Yang continued on, pointedly ignoring Nora's statement, "I've had to be strong for Ruby after her mom died. He...he saw me at my weakest...and still calls me strong." She said, as a she started to tell them of a memory she kept dear to her.

Yang sniffed as tears flowed from her eyes. Ruby lay in a hospital bed after a "training accident" and Yang was sitting by her side as she slept, recovering. One of the boys she rejected had decided to take it out on her little sister during training. The King had been angry, and had publicly forced to boy out of the army trainees.

"Yang?" A voice asked, and she turned to see Jaune standing there with a bouquet of flowers he held in a pot he put on the desk next to Ruby's bed.

"Heh...heya Vomit Boy...sorry I'm not looking so Jaune-some at the moment." Yang joked, wiping her face to try and hide her tears.

"Yang." Jaune said sternly, grabbing her wrist, "I know you're hurting. I grew up with seven sisters, so I can tell when a lady is upset."

"I can't..." Yang whispered, "I have to be stronger...so this doesn't happen again."

"Oh Yang..." Jaune said with a sad grin, "We can't always be at 100%. That's why we have teams, to catch us when we fall. My brother once told me that 'A sword wields no strength unless the hand who holds it has courage'. I didn't understand these words at first, but I think I do now. There will be times where things seem impossible; like the entire world is against us. It's up to us to stand up to those trials...but we don't always have to do it alone." With that, he stood up and grabbed a spare blanket and blanket, putting the pillow on Ruby's bed near Yang's chair and put the blanket over Yang's shoulders. "Besides." He said, turning to leave the room, "I'd rather have a strong lady like you to catch me when I fall, so what kind of person would I be if I didn't do the same?"

Pyrrha sighed as she listened to the tale and gave Yang a hug. "That sounds like Jaune alright. Putting others ahead of himself."

It was floor 15 in the Master Sword Trial Dungeon and once again Jaune spotted two small Guardians around the room. "At least they gave me clothes this time." He said, tugging at the Hylian Tunic as the Hylian trousers bunched a bit near his boots. After dealing with the two machines, he entered room 16 only to be confronted by a slightly larger Guardian with three weapons on it. Destroying it took a lot of time and effort, but he succeeded, emerging in the Master Sword room. The first pedestal platform, where he pulled it out during the Beginning Trial, was empty, and the stairs to the second platform did not disappear while the third staircase vanished.

Jaune reached the second platform, gazing at the Master Sword reverently before he pulled it, vanishing into blue light.

The blue light got everyone's attention as Jaune appeared with the sword pulled out in a drawn position. This time, the blade's sharp edges glowed white along with the Triforce emblem.

"Ah. You have finally returned." The Deku Tree said, "You look stronger than when last I saw you..The Master Sword you wield is now more powerful than before...but it is still recovering. If you desire still more power and wish to retry the blade's test...once again place the Master Sword in its pedestal."

"After I gain more experience and hone myself." Jaune said, sheathing the Master Sword on his belt. With a group hug, they all teleported back to Hateno Village. He had a lot of his memories recovered, and was starting to get homesick himself. Once he was inside his house, he collapsed on his bed. He was utterly drained.

The next morning, a loud yell of "CURSES! NOT GOOD ENOUGH!" Woke everyone up, and they saw Ruby holding a black sheathe that was falling apart.

"Ruby? What's wrong?" Jaune said, stepping downstairs.

"It's embarrassing..." Ruby said, dragging her right toes on the ground.

"I won't judge you." He said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I'm trying to make a sheathe that turns into a shield for your Master Sword." Ruby said, "I tried using the royal guard's shield to make one...but the deign that makes it's stopping power so impressive gives me trouble making it shift and not fall apart." Jaune patted her shoulder consolingly. "Plus, it's not...heroic enough."

"Heroic?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah!" Ruby said, holding up a drawing. It looked similar to a Hylian Shield, but it had the Arc family crescents in place of the metal designs framing the Triforce. "I'm hoping to make a special property that makes it reflect Aura and Guardian beams."

"Well, I think I can help you." Jaune said, putting an ancient shield on the shield display.

"Huh? What's that shield? I haven't read about that one!" Ruby said.

"It's an ancient shield from the Akkala Ancient Tech Lab. It's designed to reflect Guardian Beams." Jaune said, and Ruby had stars in her eyes, "Plus..." He said, placing the Hylian Shield on the other open shield display. Ruby nearly sucked the air out of the room with how long she gasped before she let out an excited squeal and took the two shields down from the display with a starry-eyed look. "Now that's the lovable weapons expert I know!" Jaune said, "Facing every challenge head-on! Plus..." He said, taking the Master Sword out of it's sheath and placing it in his pouch.

"Jaune?" Ruby asked, finding the action confusing.

"You wanted to make the shield turn into a sheathe, right? So why not have a real sheathe to help make it?" Jaune said, handing the dark blue sheathe with golden designs-the Triforce being in the middle of the sheath-to Ruby. She cradled the sheathe like a newborn baby.

"This is..." She said, wide eyed.

"Hey, I'm just helping." Jaune said, putting the royal broadsword on the position the Master Sword once sat on. "Plus, I'm taking the advice of the Deku Tree and letting it rest until I need it."

"I swear Jaune! The next time you come back, I'll have the Protector's Shield finished!" Ruby said, holding both shields and sheathe in her arms before vanishing into her lab with a flurry of rose petals.

"We have four regions left undiscovered, and a multitude of shrines left...plus the Divine Beast Vah Medoh." Jaune said, "We only found 57 of the 120 shrines."

"It sounds like you have a lot left to do." Revali said as he limped into the room, "I'm sorry to say that I must have taken the Fireproof Elixir wrong. Apparently us Rito can't drink it to gain it's effects like humans, Faunus, and Hylians...but we have to bathe in it for it's effects to work."

"Revali?" Jaune asked, concern in his eyes, "Are you alright?"

"Hmph. I'm fine!" Revali snapped, before he sighed, "I just burnt a lot of feathers...so I'm grounded until new ones grow in. Plus, I'm letting a wound from a fire arrow recover. So for now, focus on finding the secrets of Hyrule...because once I'm back in the air, we're heading straight for Divine Beast Vah Medoh."

Jaune Arc current stats:

Aura: 20/30

Shrines: 57

As for my estimates...

Pyrrha Nikos:

Aura: 18/30

Yang Xiao Long:

Aura:16/30

Weiss Schnee:

Aura: 14/30

Ruby Rose:

Aura: 12/30 (Youngest of the group)

Lie Ren:

Aura: 16/30

Nora Valkyrie:

Aura: 20/30