The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 9
"Jaune, what are you doing...?" Link whispered
"Shhh, I'm gonna go sit by Weiss, wish me luck." Jaune chuckled nervously
"Good luck." Link shrugged, not wanting to be anywhere near Weiss. Despite that Ruby and Yang were trying to cool the tension between Link and Weiss ever since the whole Blake situation.
Link shook his head, trying to snap back into reality but all he heard from Professor Port was
"Ya! blah! blah blah blah!"
There was never any classwork, Port kinda just talked every class period.
Link yawned and slowly planted his head on the desk, face first, preparing for a nap.
Then...
BEEP! BEEP!
"Yo!" Link jumped up and shrugged again when realizing it was just Weiss and her alarm, but that meant class was over at least
"And then I-!" Port made tackling motions then stopped and stood in his pose again "Uh...timed that one wrong, I guess. Well, the stunning conclusion will have to wait...Until next time."
"Good." Link stood up, yawned and popped his neck.
"No, no, no, yes."
"Hm?" Link turned to see Weiss walking away with her arrogant self, and Jaune face plating on the desk, so clearly it didn't go well...
"Hi Link!" Ruby waved
"Yo." Link smiled
"Come on ruby, we gotta go." Blake said, pulling Ruby away, who was just about to go talk to Link
"B-but..."
"No buts, we have business to handle." Yang chuckled
"What kind of business?" Link asked while following both Yang and Ruby
"None that concerns you." Weiss turned around and snapped at him
Link frowned and crossed his arms "Lying to me won't make it any better."
(Ooooh, you gonna kill her...?)
(Sadly, no.) Link chuckled
"But Weiss..." Ruby started
"We can't trust and non-team member with our plans and-!"
"Don't bother." Link shook his head and completely shut down Weiss "If it involves you and your loud mouth, the plans will be ruined."
Weiss gasped "I can assure you that I am not-!"
"Come on Weiss!" Yang laughed as she pulled Weiss away while Blake dealt with Ruby
5 minutes later
"Yo Link." A familiar voice was heard, and Link knew who it was
"Hey Sun." Link turned and waved
"Link, you didn't get to meet him last time since you ran off to hang out with team CFVY but this is my pal neptune." Sun shoved neptune in front to greet Link
"Hey." Link waved and extended his hand
"What's up?" Neptune chuckled and shook Link's hand but then instantly backed up "So this is him right?"
"Yup, he's in." Sun nodded
"Sweet." Neptune grinned
"In?" Link asked
"Remember that night on the docks, when me and blake were fighting torchwick?"
"Umm, yeah, what about that?" Link now all of a sudden became a little interested
"Well we kinda think team rwby is gonna get some revenge on torchwick, I know that they've got something planned, and Neptune and I want in on those plans."
"And how exactly are we going to get in on their plans without them saying no to us?" Link asked
"Simple." Neptune spoke up "We won't take no for an answer."
"Well that's a plan." Link nods
"Now come on..." Sun waved and ran, Neptune following behind
"Are we going to their dorm?" Link asked
"Mhm." Neptune nodded
"But why are we going outside?" Link frowned
"Don't worry, just follow me!" Sun chuckled
So after a sprint around the school, Sun was able to locate the team RWBY dorm, and their window was open too, what a coincidence.
"Woo..." Neptune panted "I'm gassed."
"Not much of a runner now are you?" Link patted neptune on the back
"Negative." Neptune slowly nodded
"Shhh." Sun put his finger on his lips as he quickly scaled the tree
"What the...?" Link frowned again
"We gotta listen in on their plans." Neptune nodded
"These dorm doors don't seclude any sound, but whatever we're here already..." Link sighed, pulling out his hook-shot, aiming for the highest branch
"Wait up." Neptune grabbed onto Links arm
"Let's fly." Link chuckled as the hook shot fired them into the tree, Neptune instantly jumped and landed on a ledge which barely held him in place, he was chuckling nervously
"Fool." Link mumbled but jumped on the other side of the window, maintaining perfect balance on the ledge "Where's Sun?"
"Shhh..." Sun said, hanging from the tree.
Inside team RWBY's dorm
"Hey, we've got a plan, that's..." Yang shrugged "Moderately serious."
"Right." Ruby nodded "Everyone remember their roles?"
"Yes." Weiss said, stepping in front of Ruby "You and I will head over to the CCT and check the Schnee records for any other Dust robberies or inconsistencies." She then whipped her hair and revealed a cocky smirk "Seeing as I'm in the family it shouldn't be a problem."
Black stepped forward with her hands behind her back, saying her statement very professionally "The White Fang has regular faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning."
Yang crossed her arms "I have an old friend on the shady side of town that typically knows everything going on in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard."
"Fantastic, we'll meet up tonight near Yang to go over what we found. Let's do this!"
"Yeah!" Sun dropped down, hanging upside down, with his tail grabbing onto the tree branch
"Sun!" Blake and the rest of team Rwby jumped back
"So much for our cover..." Link sighed
"Just relax and watch him work his magic." Neptune nodded with confidence
"How did you get up there?" Yang asked
"Ah it's easy." Sun chuckled "I do it all the time."
"Yo do what?!" Weiss snapped
"I climb trees all the time." Sun's smile grew bigger as Weiss gave him a frown "So!" Sun's tail let go of the tree branch as he landed inside team RWBY's dorm "Are we finally getting back at that Torchwick guy?"
"Woah.." Neptune looked down, there was a lot of height separating him from the solid ground
"Shh..." Link shook his head
"We..." Blake stepped forward "Are going to investigate the situation..." She then directed her hand across the room at team RWBY "As a team..."
Ruby threw her hands in the air, along with a smile "Sorry Sun, we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have too."
"Pfft that's dumb. You should always get friends involved." Sun laughed "That's why I got Link and Neptune to join me."
Team RWBY, thinking Sun was joking, walked over to the window, Ruby and Blake looked to the left, Weiss and Yang checked the right, and to their surprises, both Link and Neptune, backs against the wall, trying their best not to fall, well, most neptune, link had perfect balance
"Sup." Neptune nodded
"How did you two even get up here?" Ruby and Weiss both said at the same time
"I have my ways."
"..." Link showed Ruby and Blake his hookshot and could only frown at Neptune's silly response
"Seriously though can we come in now, we're like, really high up right now." Neptune looked down before being dragged in by Yang
Ozpin's office
"We want answers James." Glynda demanded "Why are you after our student?!"
"You will not get any." Ironwood snapped
Ozpin observed, drinking out of his mug, presumably coffee.
"Why were you fighting an inexperienced 1st year student?" Glynda frowned "Who by the way held his own against you, a General."
"..." Ironwood growled "I have my ways of explaining things, it's about timing, and until I gain further evidence, now's not the time to-!"
"How did you know his name..." Ozpin put down his mug and sighed
"Huh?" James backed up
"Don't bother lying, you said his name out of anger as we walked away."
"It's past stuff...criminal activity was done..."
"And how do you know he's a criminal...?" Ozpin stood up, massaging his temples
"The investigation was postponed when he disappeared from our radar. Ever since then he's continued to get past us." James sighed "But now that I've found him, I'm going to keep an eye on him."
"And wouldn't you need permission for that...?" Ozpin asked
"Oz..." James looked directly at him
"He's my student James, and I've yet to hear anything about him and from him either, I doubt your methods would work at all..."
"You're too abrupt, you gotta spy on someone mysterious like him-!"
"Well I doubt he's mysterious either." Ozpin shook his head "He's already befriended 3 teams and is very social, but getting back to the serious manner, I better not see any Atlas soldiers roaming my school."
"But Oz..."
"End of discussion." Ozpin got serious "Just go james, we can discuss this another day."
"Fine." Ironwood shook his head and headed to the elevator.
"Oh and James..." Ozpin spoke
"Yes Oz?" Ironwood said, putting his hand in between the elevator to stop it from closing
"I wouldn't advise getting on his bad side. Not knowing his full potential, he'll-!"
"I have my ways Oz." Ironwood shook his head "If that kid gets in my way or causes any trouble, I will not hold back." Ironwood stepped onto the elevator and watched the doors close
"...What exactly do you mean by that?" Glynda asked
"I can sense that Link is the kind of person who will let emotions take over him. Knowing how James acts, he'll do something to get in Link's head..."
"What should we do if it-!"
"We can only wait and see." Ozpin cut off Glynda while drinking out of his mug
Team RWBY's dorm
"Neptune, you can go with Yang since she doesn't have a partner." Ruby slid Neptune towards Yang, neptune giving weiss a brief smile and wink "And Link can tag along with us."
Weiss and Link were at an instant stare down, all they want to do is fight each other, but they know that there's more important at stake than their feud.
"Everyone good?" Ruby asked
"Actually Ruby, why don't you go with Yang, after all, she is your sister." Weiss lifted her finger, almost as a demand, but her little crush for neptune caused her to sound...a little bit pathetic.
"But Weiss I thought you and Link disliked each other, why would both of you work well alone." Ruby pointed out
"Right I know, but we can set our differences aside, and besides, Neptune can come with us, he'll make sure we stay c-cool..." Weiss tried to put up a smile too
Ruby cracked up with laughter "Nah, too risky, i'll be the peacemaker." Ruby ran out the dorm, dragging Weiss with her
"But! But-!" Weiss extended her arms out
"Oh boy." Link sighed and followed
So after no words for 10 minutes straight, Weiss, Ruby and Link finally were outside, in their view, was a giant tower
"Wow!" Ruby jumped "I forgot how big the transmit tower looks so close!"
"You should see the one in Atlas." Weiss smiled
"You should see the one in Atlas." Link mocked, getting no reaction from Ruby but a cold look from Weiss
"So umm, that's the first one right?" Link pointed
"Correct. Atlas developed the cross-continental transmit system to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the great war."
Ruby smiled and began to walk like a sophisticated person "Oooh look at me, my name's Weiss, I know facts, I'm rich!" Ruby giggled and covered her mouth, to her impression, she made Link chuckle too.
"Don't be a pest!" Weiss sighed "Besides the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much. We could have just as easily made a call from the library."
"I know but it's so cool! Oh! I'm going to take a picture!" Ruby pulled out her scroll but it slipped out of her hands "Ah!" She went to go pick it up when...
"Oh!" The voice of Penny was heard
"What the..." Link looked right at her, and immediately saw something different.
"I knew it, her attacks were way too coordinated..." Link thought to himself "At first I couldn't see it but now it's really obvious..."
"You dropped this." Penny said it with a dull expression as she extended her hand
"Penny?" Ruby jumped back
"Umm, uhh..."
"What are you doing here? Where have you been?! He haven't seen you since the night at the docks!"
"I'm sorry." Penny shook her head "You must be confused." She said calmly but then, coincidentally hiccuped as well, dropping the scroll back in ruby's hands.
"Uh, I've got to go." Penny quickly walked away
"Ruby." Link nodded his head
"Right." Ruby nodded in response as Link slowly trailed Penny
"What was that about?" Weiss asked
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. You go make your call, I'll meet up with you later!" Ruby ran off
"Wait!" Weiss demanded ruby to come back, but she was long gone "Ugh!"
"Penny!" Ruby rushed over to her "Penny! Where have you been? It's been weeks!"
"There seems to be a...misunderstanding." Penny completely shunned ruby and kept walking
"What?!" Ruby sighed and slid down the pipe to avoid the concrete steps "Is everything ok? Penny please stop!" Ruby grabbed Penny's arm "Look I don't know what's wrong, but you have to listen to me. Those guys we fought at the docks, we think they're up to something big, something bad! I need to know what happened to you on that night. Please..." Ruby then grabbed Link and pulled him closer "As friends."
Penny just sighed and leaned in "It isn't safe to talk here."
The day goes on, Penny told Ruby and Link where to meet up later, as she feared she was being watched and didn't want to put her friends in danger.
Penny looked around, worried, nearly convincing herself that Ruby and Link completely forgot.
"Hey." Ruby said, tapping penny's shoulders with a big smile as Penny jumped from shock, Penny now, knowing she wasn't stood up, smiled too
"Come on, let's go for a walk." Link motioned
"Right." Ruby nodded and walked with Link as Penny followed along too.
Moments later
"I wish I could help, but I don't know anything about those men."
"Well, what happened to you that night? We're all together and then you just disappeared. Were you kidnapped?"
Penny's eyes widened "Oh no, nothing like that!"
"Well then where did you go?" Ruby asked
"Well, I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, please understand, my father loves me very much. He just worries alot."
"Believe me I know the feeling." Ruby rolled her eyes, which made penny smile
"But why not contact us at all, to let us know you were ok?" Link finally spoke up
"Well Mr. Link, I was asked not to talk to you...or Ruby...or Weiss...or Blake...or Yang, anybody really."
"Was your dad really upset?" Ruby said
"No, it wasn't my father, it was-!"
Penny was cut off by a loud speaker, announcing something to the people of Vale
"That voice..." Link frowned and walked towards it
"The AK130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years."
"Ironwood..." Link growled in anger, and got even more angry when he saw it wasn't him, but just a hologram.
"And they have done a fine job, wouldn't you agree? WOULDN'T YOU AGREE?!"
Citizens gathered around and began to clap in unison.
"But, the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation. And fine, well that's just not good enough is it?" The Ironwood hologram stood up firmly as 2 cases open as the other robots bow down.
"Presenting, the Atlesian Knight...200." Hologram Ironwood finished talking as the new robot soldiers kicked the old ones to the ground "Smarter, sleeker and admittedly, a little less scary." As soon as the last part was said, 3 of the robots began making dumb remarks like thumbs up, dancing and worst of all, the most cringe inducing gesture ever, flexing, as if it had any muscles. "These models will become active this year but won't be alone. The Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing physical soldiers from the battle field. However, there are still many situations that undoubtedly require, a human touch. So our kingdoms greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company are proud to introduce!..."
The Ironwood hologram vanished and another hologram appeared, a giant robot, a walking tank, it look incredible, and it impressed as the people around started clapping.
"Now we couldn't have them here for you today. But these battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!"
More clapping, the people of vale loved this plan, and so did Ruby, well she loved the robot more than the plan.
"Woah.." Her eyes widened as she gazed at all the weaponry
"That looks awesome." Link got ever closer
"R-ruby, L-link, maybe we should go somewhere else." Penny feared and sensed something.
"Soldiers!" Link looked closely, noticing 2 Atlas soldiers running at them
'Over there...' A soldier pointed in their direction
"Run." Link looked at penny
"Mhm." Penny looked around nervously before taking off.
"Penny? Wait! Where are you going?" Ruby asked
"Ruby go! Stick with Penny!" Link said as he got in a stance, getting ready to draw out his bow "I can handle these guys..."
"No time! Come on we can lose them!" Ruby grabbed onto Link's hood and tried to drag him "Link please!"
"Ok ok!" Link nodded and ran behind Ruby as the sped around the alleyway
'Down here! They went this way!'
The soldiers began to catch up, but were stalled when a car almost hit them, to which the soldiers reacted, with no reaction, they just stopped the car with their hands and moved on, the driver got a nasty look from one of the soldiers.
"Damn Penny's fast!" Link shrugged as he was behind her and Ruby
Ruby looked back and saw them closer them before "Link jump ahead!"
"Got it!" Link didn't question the command he simply sped past Ruby, and glanced at a wooden tower, which held lots of boxes "Chop it down Ruby!"
And ruby did so, she summoned crescent rose's scythe form and slashed through the weak wooden towers legs, knocking down the boxes to slow down the soldiers
"Nice one!" Link nodded
"Thanks." Ruby nodded back and looked at penny, she was still running, but there were many alley exits "Link how much do you weigh?" Ruby asked
"Why does it matter?!" Link replied
"Nevermind, just follow the rose pedals!" Ruby jumped on the wall and sprinted towards Penny, in a flash she had her arms around Penny's waist "Hang on!" Ruby showed a look of pain and focus as she sprung her feet off the wall, carrying Penny through the alley really fast.
"Oh crap!" Link's eyes widened as he could only see rose pedals coming off ruby. "She wanted to carry Penny and myself at first, I think Penny is going to be too much weight for her as it is."
Ruby slightly fainted and dropped to the ground, Penny instantly hit the ground, Ruby kept going until she landed in the middle of the street.
"Ruby!" Link sprinted as he could hear a truck in the distance
Penny instantly jumped to her feet when she heard Link's voice and Ruby's name being mentioned.
"Damn looks like I'll have to slice through the truck!" Link sighed and shut his eyes, the triforce on his left hand began to glow as he placed a tight grip on his sword handle.
But before Link could do his special technique, it was Penny who acted with less intention of violence, she ran into the middle of the street and pushed Ruby out of the way, she stood in front of the truck with no fear, dug her feet into the pavement and extended her arms, the truck smashed into Penny...s hands and was lifted in the air, Penny really just stopped tons of pounds of steel and materials with just her hands.
"I knew it..." Link sighed as he jogged towards them "She's more than just an innocent little girl."
"P-penny..." Ruby mumbled
"Are you okay?" Penny asked calmly
"Uh huh." The old man driving the truck replied
"Umm uhh..." Penny looked at her hands, she knew she was exposed
'Did you see that?'
'Do you think she's okay?'
Penny fled the scene once again, this time pushing past Ruby
"Penny come back!" Ruby shouted
"Go after her." Link nodded as he walked around the truck "Go before she gets away and soldiers get you."
"What about...Link no, you can't!" Ruby exclaimed as she saw Link looking at the soldiers "They'll arrest you."
"Just go, I promise, they'll stop chasing penny."
"O-ok." Ruby nodded and ran after Penny as Link simply just watched her run
'Do we need to call the police?'
'Did she stop that with her bare hands?'
"Hey! Kid!" The soldiers grabbed Link by his shoulders
"Don't touch me!" Link pushed them both on the floor, he then grabbed his bow and shot an arrow at the truck, scaring the people and the truck driver to make them leave.
"You are under arrest! Surrender now." The soldiers got back up and drew their weapons
"I don't think so..." Link put his bow away and closed his eyes
"Listen to your superiors!"
"Oh...and who are they?" Link smiled and opened his eyes, the left one turning gold again, with the same lining on his eye. He grabbed onto the handle of his sword and got into a defensive battle stance.
To Be Continued...
(9/25/17) Edited: More dialogue between James Ironwood and Ozpin + minor edits within the Link, Ruby and Penny scene