The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 25
Days Later; Summer Rose's gravestone
Ruby sighs as she sets her sight on her mother's 'grave'
"I made a bunch of new friends, and then I met some... let's just say, uh, odd teachers. There's Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha and Ren, together they are team JNPR... I know, sounds more cliche than my team. Um, oh there's these two goofballs from Haven Academy, they are really funny! Their names are Sun and Neptune, I've yet to meet the rest of their team, hopefully they are just as funny. Here's the best one, team CFVY... I know right, a team named after the best morning drink ever. Their leader is a girl named Coco, and I won't exaggerate when I say she's more fearless than Yang. There's also Velvet, a sweet but shy girl, though I will say that she's slowly breaking out of her shell, that's thanks to her teammates and Link..."
Ruby gasps and claps her hands together
"OH! I almost forgot about him, I feel so stupid. His name is Link, he's such an awesome friend, a good listener, he gives good advice... he's uh, got a troubled past but luckily for him we are here for him, it doesn't hurt to share my secret either but we kind of dated for a short while, gah! Makes me sick just saying that, I never thought when coming to Beacon that I'd fall for a guy, not that I... uh, regret it though, Link is a good person. I don't think dad would like him very much, but you would've absolutely adored him and demanded to know every little bit about us... if we were still you know. ANYWAY! I still wonder why Ozpin let me into the school early. But uh, I guess he'll tell me one day... and maybe he'll tell Link as well, we're both early entries, heck you could even throw Blake's name onto that list, she was at the required age but had no previous academy training or anything of the sort. But you know how he is, and it's funny the more I get to know him, the more he's starts to sound like Uncle Qr-!"
The sounds of barking from Zwei interrupt Ruby as she jumps and turns, only to see her happy pet running in circles, in front of a man hidden within shadows
"Oh! It looks like Dad's back, gotta go! He's dropping me off at Beacon for the tournament match before he goes on his next mission. Wish me luck!"
Ruby smiles and gently takes a bow as she walks off, she then stops to put on her hood and face her mother's grave one more time
"It was good to talk."
One hour later; Amity Colosseum
"You think they're gonna win?" Coco nudges Velvet while nodding at Link
"They do seem to have better chemistry than the opposing team." Velvet mumbles
"It's the first round." Link shrugs, "They'll be fine, and besides that guy right there with the pink hair isn't even trying to get involved."
"Ouch, someone didn't have his coffee this morning." Coco smirks
"Sorry... Ruby overloaded mine with sugar, and now I just want to pass out." Link sighs and slumps back against his seat, keeping his sights on just team RWBY
"Pssh, sugar and milk in coffee, you kill the whole point of coffee."
"I want to wake up in the morning, not never go to sleep again." Link rolls his eyes
"Touche newbie." Coco scoffs and takes a big sip out of her cup, on purpose just to get at Link
Link keeps his focus on the action, despite all of team RWBY being his friends it clicks to him deep down inside they might potentially be his opponents in the future. He glances up at the big tron showing everyone's names and aura level, glances by team RWBY and looks at team ABRN, quickly trying to memorize the names of each member. As the groups of four continue to go at each other, Link decides to switch all his attention to one pair, Blake and Reese Chloris. Reese confidently steers her board over the ice with ease, she twirls herself until the board is suddenly launched at Blake, but the latter is able to knock it away, only for her opponent to re-direct it right back at her. Blake acts quick and blocks it once again, but the board rotates back to Reese just in time to defend her as Blake delivers several quick sword slashes and kicks. Reese only struggles briefly before she gets comfortable and easily deflects each attack, she spins her weapon around until she can flip away and ride it again, rushing towards a smirking Blake. She collides with the a hidden frozen shadow clone, and Blake uses this opportunity to slice the board in two, only for the halves to fold up into bayonet-bladed revolvers. Reese fires off a few rounds from her revolvers before she collides with the cold ground tailbone first, even Blake cringes with sympathy and does not move to attack immediately.
"L-link?" Velvet waves her hand in Link's face
"H-hm?" Link blinks and suddenly is drawn away from the fight, "Sorry."
"It's okay." Velvet smiles and turns away, "Coco was asking if you are excited for your fight?"
"Hm..." Link thinks carefully, "I suppose you could say I am, I do hope to avoid anyone from Beacon at least this first round."
"Scared?" Coco lowers her shades, "What if you face us?"
"I cannot say that I am prepared, but I know it won't be an easy fight, for you." Link smirks
"Is that so?" Coco nods and puckers her lips, "Careful what you wish for."
"Y-yeah, I learned that ages ago." Link sighs and glances up at the sky, seemingly forgetting the fight going on down below, "What would life be like if Ray were here with me? Would she be on my team? Would we be a full team of four? Would we even be here in Beacon if we traveled as a pair?"
(She'd probably be dead anyway. You're a crap teacher, and she made no progress.)
Link shuts his eyes, winces, and balls up his fists
(I wasn't talking to you. So leave me alone.)
A loud voice brings Link back down to reality as his opens his eyes and looks at the battlefield, specifically the outer skirts, where Reese angrily slams her fist into the ground
"Ooh, a double whammy! Reese Chloris is eliminated by ring out and Aura level!" Peter Port shouts into his microphone as his announcement makes most of the crowd cheer
"Oh, she really should've worn a helmet!" Oobleck says as he cringes
Back inside the battlefield, ABRN member Arslan uses her rope to swing around and avoid Yang. Her teammate Nadir with his obnoxious pink hair comes into the picture, aiming his rifle at Weiss as she summons another glyph and launches Bolin at him. The two teammates quickly find themselves in a tough spot as Weiss creates a whirlwind underneath them and slams the two together until she forms a giant ice fist straight from the ground, and then traps the two with it. Eventually, it reforms itself into a ball that rolls around the field. Arslan sees her non-eliminated teammates in their predicament, and rolls her eyes before changing direction and sliding into the path of the ball. She squats and gets into a defensive stance, then drives her fist into the ball, which immediately cracks and splits into many pieces, in the process freeing her allies.
"Whoa." Coco lowers her shades and smirks, "That girl packs a punch."
"She may even be able to match Yatsuhashi in a test of strength." Velvet mumbles
"Relax Vel." Coco shakes her head, "One compliment at a time."
"Pay attention, it's already over." Link sits up and stares intently
"What are you talking ab-!" Coco raises her shades and follows Link's gaze, she sees Weiss creating a large wall of ice in the shape of a slide, "How did you-!"
"Lucky guess." Link shrugs
Yang blasts herself forward and easily slides over the wall of ice, she catches Blake's pistol as her teammate uses Ruby as a launch pad to jump off towards the remaining members of ABRN. The three only have a second to look horrified as Blake whips a screaming Yang right towards them! Yang lands devastating punch that sends the trio flying into their elimination.
"And that's the match! Team RWBY is victorious!" Port's voice is heard once again as he announces the victors
"Done." Link claps and promptly stands up
"Leaving already?" Yatsuhashi, who was sitting on Link's right side puts a hand on his shoulder and sits him back down
"Whoa, now I'm being held captive?" Link chuckles
"No." Coco shakes her head, "You can congratulate them later, we're going for a coffee run."
"It's the afternoon."
"And?" Coco laughs as she and Velvet stand
"Please?" Velvet smiles
"Sure." Link nods and glances at Yatsuhashi, "You can let go now."
"Of course, my apologies." Yatsuhashi stands and so does Fox, but he remains silent
"Don't worry it won't even take that long." Velvet gets in between Link and Yatsuhashi as they quickly make their exit
Moments Later
"I'll give her credit where it's due, Coco knows good coffee places." Link takes another sip of his nearly empty to-go cup but nearly chokes when he sees Emerald and Mercury, with team RWBY right near them, "They still don't see it yet... and I can't outright say Emerald and Mercury were part of that group that made the White Fang screw the Black Hawks, they'll never believe me."
"How are things?" Mercury says with complete sarcasm as he smirks at Link
"Laugh while you can, when I get my hands on you-!"
"You never will." Mercury shakes his head and turns his back on him, "You wouldn't want to, trust me."
"Underestimating me... good." Link nods and walks towards team RWBY and Emerald
"Oh, gosh, that's so nice of you, but my teammates are all kind of..." Emerald looks back at Mercury as he sniffs the inside of a boot, she nearly forgets what she wants to say next when Link is only a few feet away from her, "...Introverted. Really socially awkward." She turns away from Link and stares at Ruby.
"Hey you!" Ruby runs over and punches Link in the arm
"Hello." Link nods, and quickly steps away from Emerald
"Um... anyway." Emerald shrugs, "Merc and I are going to move on to the doubles round. What about you guys?" She does her best to look over at Ruby and avoid Link.
"WELL!" Ruby stands up straight and acts proud, "As the leader of this team, I thought long and hard about this decision."
"What?" Weiss frowns and roughly speaks up, "We put it to a vote."
"Y-yes of course." Ruby nervously chuckles, "But I decided that we should put it to a vote."
Blake rolls her eyes and decides to end the back and forth bickering, "We voted for Weiss and Yang."
"Y-yeah!" Ruby shouts
"What about you?" Emerald with a sly smile asks Link
"I have not fought yet... what a shame that I did not draw your team." Link frowns, "It would have been an interesting fight."
"R-right..." Emerald acts nervous when she remembers her mission, to remain close to her enemies.
"Awkward." Ruby chuckles.
"W-well, if Mercury and I see you down the line, don't think we'll go easy on ya." Emerald looks at Yang and Weiss
Both Weiss and Yang smirk as the latter replies, "Wouldn't have it any other way."
"Alright, well we're going to catch some more fights." Emerald turns away and slowly walks
"Hehe, have fun!" Ruby waves
"See you later!" Emerald throws up her hand and waves as she walks besides Mercury
"Good riddance." Link shrugs
"Rude!" Yang frowns and punches Link in the arm with some force, "She's so nice, did you two have a bad encounter or what?"
"Yeah... let's go with that." Link nods
"Psh, just for being so mean we shouldn't even invite you to eat with us." Ruby crosses her arms and stomps her foot
"I'm not hungry." Link shakes his head and walks away from team RWBY
"W-wait!" Ruby quickly speeds up and in front of Link
"Yes Ruby?" Link smirks
"UGH! Just join us dummy." Ruby grabs Link by his arm and tries to drag him
"What are we eating?" Link asks
"The best of the best. Follow me." Yang waves her hand and darts ahead
"Oh no, this better not be-!" Before Weiss could even finish her sentence, a quick left followed by a right leads them to a hut stringed with paper lanterns, and with a sign overhead saying 'A Simple Wok'
"THE BEST." Yang smiles and takes a seat on one of the stools
"I wouldn't say the best but this is a good place to eat... if you're on a budget." Link shrugs
"Hm, okay then." Weiss shrugs and hurries to sit down next to Ruby
"O-oh..." Ruby sighs as Blake sits next to Weiss, and Link is the last one to sit, next to Blake
Yang keeps her head up and eyes locked on the shopkeep, "I'll have a bowl of the regular, please."
Within seconds, a large bowl of noodles slides in front of her
"Oooooh... I'll take the same." Ruby clasps her hands in excitement as the same size bowl with the same amount of noodles slides in front of her
"Um, okay..." Weiss thinks carefully, "Do you have anything with a low-sal-!" But low and behold the same platter is served to her
The shopkeep skips over Blake momentarily and looks at Link
"Anything half the size?" Link raises an eyebrow
The shopkeep shrugs but makes quick work of the order, he does give Link half... a half sized bowl with the same amount of noodles as Yang, Ruby and Weiss
"Great..." Link sighs, "I should have said half the portion."
Instead of ordering like her friends, Blake gives a nod and smile, who returns the gesture and rushes through one door of his shop. Moments later, he comes out the other to leave a large bowl of noodles topped with fish in front of her.
"Ahh..." Blake's eyes light up as she drools over her order.
Weiss looks at Blake with a strange expression before she gladly offers her credit card to the shopkeep.
"Aw, Weiss! What's the occasion!?" Yang asks as she prepares to dig in
"Consider it thanks for sending me to the doubles round." Weiss nods at her team, then stops when her eyes meet Links, "You're welcome."
"So humble." Link sarcastically nods
An awkward silence takes over, though it is quickly broken when Weiss' card is flung back at her, the annoyed shopkeep points to his register as it beeps and showcases the word 'DECLINED' in big bold letters
"How can my card be declined? I was barely into my monthly allowance!" Weiss frowns
Blake looks around slyly, she attempts to slowly slide her bowl closer to herself before the shopkeep grabs the bowl and yanks it away, causing her to slump over in defeat
"Better time than any." Link reaches into his pouch, digging past his throwing knives and smoke bombs
"Maybe I could help?" The sound of Pyrrha's voice slowly fades in as she, Jaune, Ren and Nora approach 'A Simple Wok'
"YES! PYRRHA!" Ruby claps with excitement
"Aw, you don't have to..." Yang smiles
"BUT!" Blake's head peaks up, "She could?"
"No need." Link speaks up as he pulls out a card of his own, "My treat."
"Oh Link please, you shouldn't." Pyrrha gracefully responds
"B-but he could... any of you could." Blake looks at them both with bulging eyes
"Please, let Pyrrha pay." Weiss shrugs as she puts away her card, "The last thing we need is to benefit off mercenary money."
"Weiss!" Blake snaps
"That's funny!" Link frowns and slams his fist down hard against the wooden hut, "My mercenary money would get accepted over your faunus blood money." Link slides his bowl of untouched food over towards Blake, he drops his card in front of her as well, then prepares to leave
"Hmph!" Weiss shakes her head
"Where are you going?" Jaune asks
"Anywhere else, I have lost my appetite." Link shrugs, "Keep the card, just in case Pyrrha's gets rejected too." Link doesn't even look back to say goodbye, he just walks away
"Link don't go." Pyrrha calls out but gets no response
"Just when we thought you guys were getting along, and you have to piss him off." Blake frowns
"I..." Weiss sighs, "I didn't think it would affect him that much okay? Sorry, I guess I'm still upset that my card was declined."
"I'm sure he'll be back." Nora sits down right to Ren, "Right?"
"He probably just needs to clear his mind..." Jaune chuckles, "Mind if we join you?"
"Sure but be warned, Weiss makes you lose your appetite very quickly." Ruby laughs
"Shut it!" Weiss angrily shakes her head.
More awkward silence consumes both teams as they each eat their meal... but none could start a conversation that lasted past ten seconds.
"I hate this silence!" Nora slaps her hand against the hut
"So do I." Yang growls and looks at each team member, a load of different topics come to mind, but nothing relevant.
"Fine!" Weiss stands up and pats down her dress, "I'll go find Link."
"You?" Nora laughs, "Ren you go."
"..." Ren looks up and gives Nora a blank stare shortly before nodding his head
"No, I'll do it." Weiss motions for Ren to stay put
"That makes sense, send the person who made Link leave in the first-!"
"Do I have to say it out loud?!" Weiss shouts over Nora, "I will find him... and apologize. What I said was out of line, I don't feel differently about it but it wasn't right to say it."
"Wow..." Ruby smirks, "Come back soon or else I'm finishing your food."
"Go for it, I think I'm-!" Weiss stops and lets out a loud burp, "Full anyway."
"Yes, we can see that." Pyrrha smiles and waves as Weiss walks away
Weiss sighs as she does her best to remember the steps Link took, the last time he was seen, he walked in a straight line, then took a left, but knowing Link he could've gone back to his dorm by now.
"Come on Link, save me a trip back to Beacon..." Weiss sighs as she walks behind the very last row of huts and hesitates entering the forest, "No way he could've gone here."
"Why don't you find out for yourself, heiress?"
"Link?" Weiss turns but all she sees is a boot coming right at her face
WHAM!
Weiss is kicked brutally in the head and sent crashing against the ground
"W-what the hell?!" Weiss sits up and wipes the dirt off her face, she sees a team of four standing in front of her, two male, two female... and all of them have a thing in common
"Nice kick Skylar." The second girl cheers
"Not now Violet." Skylar scoffs and looks down at Weiss, "Why are you still sticking around here? Your team barely won, that's fine, fluke's happen... so go back to Beacon and celebrate far away from the hard workers."
"Excuse me?" Weiss frowns as she tries to get up
"DOWN!" Violet grabs a sword from behind her back and slashes wildly, intentionally avoiding its full impact... but also intentionally slashing Weiss in the process
"Ah!" Weiss falls back down and holds her arm, even though her aura quickly kicks in to heal her, she remains on the ground.
"Never thought we'd get to beat on a Schnee." One of the male's in all dark clothing, brown hair and blood red eyes says as he stands side by side with Violet while Skylar remains in front
"Lets consider ourselves lucky then Ryker." Violet chuckles and playfully punches his arm
"Who are you?" Weiss asks calmly
"We're from Haven." The last member speaks up, his deep voice is heard, but only just... "We're also the most unpredictable team in the entire tournament."
"I'll take it from here Leo." Skylar points back to her team as they all quiet down, "We are team SLVR, aka 'Silver' and we're from Haven. In case you haven't noticed, we're all faunus." Skylar quickly goes over her faunus features, which include ears with tiger like features along with a tail.
"Take picture if you'd like." Violet spins around to show off her ears and tail, which maneuvers around the way a cat's would
"Quit showing off and let's make this quick." Leo points to the sharp horns on his head
"No." Ryker mumbles refuses to follow along, but he does clench his fists, "Let's do what we have to do and move on."
"Hmm..." Weiss carefully reaches over... but remembers she left her sword back at the hut with her team, "Damn..." She sighs and goes for her second option, her scroll.
"I'd put that away if I were you." Skylar frowns as she walks over and slaps the scroll out of her hand, "Don't wanna do something you'll regret later on."
"Then maybe... you should practice what you preach!"
"Huh?" Violet looks around frantically
The voice fades away and only a burst of wind is felt as a figure comes at them with incredible speed
"ABOVE US!" Ryker grabs Violet and quickly gets her out of harms way. Leo and Skylar follow as they get out of the way of an incoming sword aimed right at them
CRUNCH!
The sword pierces through the ground, and the wielder is revealed to be Link as he lands in a kneeing position
"Who is this?" Violet asks
"Now this is very interesting." Leo smiles as he recognizes the adversity in front of them, "You know who this guy is right? The one person team from Beacon."
Link doesn't say a word as he pulls out his sword and draws his shield, but instead of waiting, he charges at Weiss' attackers
"We didn't prepare for this guy!" Violet grabs her sword
"We weren't supposed to cause a scene either but here we are." Ryker also grabs his sword and gets in a striking position
"NO! He's mine!" Skylar runs ahead and runs at Link
Skylar growls like a tiger and almost immediately more faunus features are revealed. Sharp claws, but before she can even use them it is Link who lands the first attack as he delivers a quick downwards slash that shreds parts of his opponent's clothes and visibly is seen cutting her stomach
"Four on one against a weaponless victim, PATHETIC!" Link shouts as he slams his shield into Skylar's chest
"Shut up! You don't know how long we've been waiting to get our hands on a Schnee, and you won't spoil this for us!" Skylar takes the hit on purpose so she can grab Link's shield and rip it out of his grasp to toss it to the side.
"Hm..." Link shuffles a few feet away
"Scared? Need your weapons that desperately?" Skylar continues to taunt, but only annoys herself when seeing a straight face on Link
"If you wanted hand to hand, just say so." Link puts his sword back in its sheath without another thought
"Hahaha, he's a dead man." Violet laughs
"Don't overlook him you clutz." Leo shrugs
Skylar cracks her knuckles as Link just stares at her
"Team SLVR huh?" Link nods to himself, "You must be the leader then."
"Yeah, what of it?"
"Oh nothing, just wondering who runs your uncoordinated pack of rebels." Link frowns but continues to show that he is ready for hand to hand
"Pack of rebels?" Skylar laughs, "Just call us filthy animals already, since the rest of your people already do so."
"I'm my own person and you don't know me." Link shakes his head
Link and Skylar perfectly match each others timing as they run towards one another with the same speed, Skylar tries to catch Link with some powerful punches, but Link goes back to his main technique rather than earlier when he brought the fight.
"What the hell? Swing back! Come on mister one man team, show us why you're so powerful!" Skylar continues to back Link up, though without landing a single punch.
"Similar to Yang, she puts all her focus on the punches she's going to throw now, rather than make a plan for what she should do next."
After another short sequence, Link finally makes his move when he reads and analyzes Skylar perfectly, the last punch of her combination was the most powerful, but the most wild too. When throwing that punch, Link brings up his hand and with sharp timing, he catches and directs the punch to his right, leading to a massive miss for Skylar.
"W-whoa." Leo stops reaching for his weapon when he sees his leader's punch get caught and re-directed far off from her intended target
"No more." Link lets go of Skylar's fist and walks away towards Weiss
"Y-you..." Weiss winces as she stands up
"Yes, me." Link chuckles and extends his hand, "Hurt?"
"No." Weiss takes his hand
"Skylar..." Violet mumbles and reaches for her leader
"Not now!" Skylar frowns and pounds her fists together, "He didn't... that was pure luck!" She growls, grabs Links shield and launches it back at him with tremendous force
"Gah!" Link takes a few steps back involuntarily as he used both hands to catch his shield, the speed and force behind the thrown shield makes him slide back, "Alright then you want to keep going." He wields his shield, then draws out his sword as he backs away, getting closer and closer to Weiss
"Take the shot." Violet nudges her teammate arm, not Ryker, but Leo. The moment she speaks... Leo reaches behind him and reveals a sniper rifle, he aims with lightning quick speed and immediately fires off a shot at Weiss
"Just as I expected!" Link frowns and slides in front of Weiss with his shield raised, the bullet cracks against it, but it's not enough to penetrate through.
"What the hell?" Violet shouts and this time really slaps Leo's arm, "So much for all that sharp shooter crap you preach about."
"I had like two seconds to aim." Leo shrugs
"Whatever, I'll finish this." Skylar shakes her head at her teammates as she charges at Link again
"He said no more!"
In front of Link and Weiss appears Blake in a quick flash, her weapon transitions into it's sword form
"A fellow faunus." Skylar jumps and tries to stop herself, she roughly skids and comes to a halt only a few inches away from Blake
"What are you doing?!" Blake shouts and gets in Skylar's face
"I-I..." Skylar shakes her head, "I was getting payback! That's a damn Schnee right behind you!"
"This isn't the way to do things, don't you see that by jumping and trying to beat Weiss down, you only give her more leverage to calls us animals and second class citizens! You just set us two steps back."
"B-blake!" Weiss shouts, "I never..."
"Sorry, just using you to make a point." She turns to face team SLVR, "Weiss may be more lenient... but if anyone catches wind of this, it makes us all look bad."
"She right's." Ryker scoffs, "Let's go." He speaks with a cold tone as he turns his back on Skylar, Leo and Violet.
"You follow my ord-!"
"LETS. GO." Ryker walks away, Violet follows but Leo stays put
"Fine." Skylar frowns and stomps away, with Leo following her closely behind
Link keeps his weapons out until team SLVR are distant from them, just in case they change their minds.
"Well then..." Link smacks his lips together as he puts his weapons away, "Two questions, where's the rest of your team and what was all that about?" He looks around, expecting Ruby and Yang to pop up out of nowhere.
"It's just me." Blake nods at Link, then turns to face Weiss, "They said you were taking too long so I volunteered to come look and make sure you were okay."
"As for your second question, I don't know." Weiss shakes her head
"Those are the types of faunus portrayed in the media. Aggressive and unreasonable." Blake sighs and turns to face Weiss, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." Weiss mumbles and then rolls her eyes, "Thanks to Link."
"Don't mention it." Link watches team SLVR as they disappear, "They have no excuse for doing that, bringing up the 'war' between faunus and schnee isn't a good enough excuse either."
"Weiss?" Blake raises an eyebrow, "Did you do it?"
"Right." Weiss extends her hand, "I'm sorry for bringing up your past, I do admit that I was out of line."
"Apology..." Link smiles and wraps his hand around hers, "Accepted. I get it, you still feel strongly about certain topics, but it's the thought that matters."
"Should we tell Ruby and Yang what happened?" Blake asks, "There's a slash going across your arm, and your aura can't hide torn fabric."
"No." Link shakes his head, "Not yet at least. Something tells me we haven't seen the last of team SLVR."
"I know that tone, you want to draw them in the tournament." Weiss smirks
"No comment." Link smiles and starts walking back to the Simple Wok hut, "Come on, before they all come looking for us."
"Good call." Blake nods and follows
"Okay." Weiss sighs and does the same
(Yo, to me this chapter is a bit of a stub, but then again I just came off a 23k chapter lol, so I'm not used to doing the shorter one's anymore, but um... hope ya enjoy and if there's any mistakes please let me know I'm open to any criticism as it'll only help me improve from being a mediocre writer xD.)