Sorry for the delay life's been a little crazy. Nevertheless, welcome back. Last we left off, Zelda had requested for Rauru to spar against the students of the Knight's Academy to help test the strength of Hyrule's future defenders. This chapter will explore what will happen because of this.
Enjoy.
Link and Rauru got up bright and early the next morning so they could meet Zelda at the Knight's Academy. Link was bright eyed as always, while Rauru still looked half asleep. He'd had trouble sleeping the night before. Not due to the dreams, however, in fact, this was the first night he hadn't had a nightmare since they started. He'd had trouble sleeping due to the bed which he found too soft. His bed back in Gerudo town was a lot harder and Gerudo children were well known to sleep on the ground. Because of this Rauru found it very difficult sleeping on such a soft bed. Link had noticed this and even told Rauru he could request a different bed. Rauru declined because he didn't want Zelda to feel bad after trying so hard to accommodate them. He decided to just power through until he got used to the bed.
Link was currently getting Rauru ready by helping him put on a set of Hylian armour.
"Why do I have to wear this exactly?" asked Rauru, as Link finished tightening the arms.
"It's for protection," answered Link.
"Protection? No one in Gerudo town wears armour this heavy. And you told me we'll only be using wooden swords," stated Rauru.
"I know but these are the rules of the academy and all Hylian Knights," said Link, checking everything was secure.
"How is something so heavy supposed to help us fight?" asked Rauru.
"As I said, its main purpose is for protection. While it's true one would be quicker without it, we also want as many knights as possible to get home alive. Trust me, this armour has saved countless lives," said Link.
"Well, when you put it that way. Still why do none of the guards in Gerudo Town wear this sort of stuff?" asked Rauru.
"Every culture has their own way of doing things. This is the Hylian way," stated Link.
"Yeah, well I think the Hylian way just makes people look stupid," said Rauru looking at himself in a mirror.
"That's a replica of the Armour I wore when I was a Royal Guard," snapped Link.
"Um, its great… Makes me look like a champion," stammered Rauru.
"That's what I thought," smirked Link.
They heard a knock at the door.
"Come in," said Rauru.
Zelda entered, dressed less formally than usual.
"All ready to go?" she asked.
Link nodded, as he had finished securing Rauru's armour.
"Well, doesn't someone look handsome," joked Zelda surveying Rauru in his father's Hylian Armour.
Rauru was too embarrassed to respond.
"He thinks the armour makes him look silly," said Link softly.
"Nonsense, I think you look like a proper Hylian Knight. If it weren't for the fact you were underage, I'd be recommending you to join the ranks," joked Zelda.
"Let's just get this over with," groaned Rauru not wanting to be embarrassed further.
The three of them made their way down to the Knight's Academy. As Rauru predicted he found the armour hard to move in. Even walking was a struggle. Thankfully, he'd gotten the hang of it by the time they had arrived at the academy.
They entered to see a group of students sparring with either training dummies or each other, while being observed by a few instructors.
"Students we have visitors," called an instructor.
The students stopped when they saw that their Queen was one of their visitors. They rushed into formation and knelt.
"At ease students, I'm only here to observe. There's no need for any formalities," stated Zelda.
The students all stood as Zelda went to speak to the head instructor.
"Do you remember what we discussed?" asked Zelda.
"Yes of course your majesty. But are you sure this is a good idea?" asked the instructor looking at Rauru.
"I think it's a very good idea. Young Rauru will help us estimate how strong these future knights are," said Zelda.
"But your majesty, he's only a child," stated the instructor.
It had been made clear to the instructors that despite Rauru's size he was much younger than the students.
"I'm aware, but he's more than capable of training with your students. Especially considering he's trained with and defeated fully grown Gerduo Guards, who have greater strength and experience than any of your students," stated Zelda.
"I understand, but don't you think it would motivate them better if they trained with Sir Link and saw just how strong they could grow as soldiers?" asked the instructor.
"I considered that, but I feel these students need to prove they're worthy of training with Sir Link. If they can't defeat his child, then they have no business training with him," countered Zelda.
"But your majesty…" the instructor was interrupted.
"That is the offer. They either train with Rauru or we leave. And considering how hesitant you are for your students to train with Rauru, I now have doubts that they are as strong as you claim," queried Zelda.
The instructor knew he was defeated.
"Very well your majesty," the instructor turned back to the class. "Class, we have a special treat for you. Today you'll be sparing with Rauru, heir to the Gerudo Tribe and son of Sir Link, the Hero of Hyrule."
The instructor gestured for Rauru to come forward.
Rauru looked at his father who nodded in agreement. Rauru stepped into the training area. He couldn't help but feel a little uneasy with all the students staring at him. Even though he had defeated far more experienced fighters, something about training on the students' home turf made him nervous.
"Is this a joke?" asked one of the students.
Attention turned to the student who had spoken. He was a large bulky student with red hair that was spiked at the top.
"Student, only speak when you are spoken to," ordered the instructor.
"May I ask who this is?" asked Zelda.
"Of course, your majesty. Allow me to introduce Groose, my top student," gestured the instructor.
"Really, your top student?" questioned Zelda. "Well then, I think we've found the first volunteer to spar with Rauru."
"Sounds good to me," exclaimed Groose cracking his knuckles.
"Your majesty I would really advise against this," stated the instructor. "Groose is a very strong and ruthless fighter. I really don't think you should force a young child to face him in combat."
"I would advise you stop worrying about Rauru and be more concerned about your student," stated Zelda. "If what I've been told about Rauru is true, defeating this student should be an easy task."
"Your majesty, please forgive me for what I'm about to say, but how can you be so uncaring to the safety of a child?" asked the instructor. "It's like you want him to get hurt."
Many in the room were scared as to how Zelda would react to such disrespect. Surprisingly, she stayed very calm and civil.
"You're right I have been a little uncaring for this child's safety," Zelda admitted before turning to Link. "Sir Link, do you have any objections to Rauru training with Groose?"
Link shook his head.
"As you can see the boy's father gives his consent," stated Zelda. "Is there any other reason you can give for why this training match shouldn't take place?"
The instructor shook his head. With Rauru's father giving consent to this match, he had no other argument for why it couldn't happen.
"Rauru, do you agree to Groose being your opponent?" asked the instructor.
Rauru nodded.
"Very well. Class, I think we should head to the outside arena for this match. It will give our combatants more room and allow the other classes to observe," the instructor said.
They all nodded and headed outside. Rauru was about to follow before being pushed aside by Groose.
"Watch it squirt," Groose laughed.
Rauru jumped to attack, but Link put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
"Don't let him get to you. If you want to put him in his place, do it on the battlefield," advised Link. "Just remember everything I've taught you and you'll be fine."
"Don't worry, something tells me his arrogance will be his downfall," responded Rauru. "Buliara told me that over confidence can lead to mistakes and by the way this guy's acting, something tells me he won't even take this fight seriously."
The class entered a large training yard that had a fenced-in battlefield. Rauru and Groose entered along with the instructor as the referee. Word had spread to the other classes and a large group quickly formed around the battlefield. The entire academy was eager to see how its top student would fare against the son of the hero of legend.
Groose continued to trash talk before the match began.
"Aren't all Gerudo's supposed to be girls? How can you even call yourself a Gerudo?"
"One male Gerudo is born every one hundred years. I just happen to be that Gerudo," answered Rauru.
"Yeah, well why are you so short?" asked Groose. "I've seen Gerudo's and I was under the impression they were supposed to be taller than Hylian's."
Rauru couldn't deny that Groose was a lot taller than he was. In fact, Rauru was smaller than most of the Senior Class, but just as Zelda had said, he wasn't much smaller. Growing up, Rauru always assumed that the reason his father looked so small compared to the other residents of Gerudo Town, was because Hylian's were on average a lot smaller than Gerudo's. That's why it didn't surprise Rauru that he was already close to his father's height.
While travelling Rauru was able to compare his father against many other Hylians and he was indeed smaller than most.
Nevertheless, Rauru decided to answer Groose's question honestly.
"I'm ten."
Groose looked offended.
"You've got to be kidding me," Groose exclaimed to the instructor. "You expect me, the top student of the senior class to battle a ten-year-old? I don't care how big he is. He's a child who should be playing with students his own age."
The instructor stepped forward.
"Groose, I understand your objections, but permission has been given by this boy's father and Queen Zelda herself wishes for this battle to take place. I'm afraid there's nothing I can do."
"Then I don't think I should be held responsible after I've beaten this squirt to a pulp," declared Groose.
"Well, if what I've been told about this boy is true, that shouldn't be a problem," stated the instructor. "Not only is this boy considered a prodigy, but he's defeated every guard in Gerudo Town. Meaning, he should be more then capable at engaging you in combat."
Groose scoffed.
"I find that hard to believe looking at this shrimp. I think a more realistic explanation would be the guards threw the fight. You said this boy is the Gerudo Chief's son and something tells me they didn't want to be punished for hurting him."
"That is also a reasonable explanation, but unfortunately Queen Zelda wants this fight to take place, so I'm afraid you're gonna have to fight him," said the instructor.
"Fine, I'll happily put this worthless little shrimp in his place," declared Groose.
Zelda and Link entered the arena.
"Fighters, choose your weapons," requested Zelda pointing at a nearby weapons stand that held wooden swords and shields of various sizes.
Rauru and Groose chose their weapons. Link followed Rauru to monitor his choice. Link said nothing as Rauru chose his weapons. Rauru eventually chose the sword and shield that felt the best in his arms. Rauru was about to head back to the battlefield before Link put his hand on Rauru's shoulder stopping him.
"Remember, no lightning," ordered Link.
"Dad I swear on Hylia herself, I won't use lightning in this battle," stated Rauru.
"That isn't necessary, but I'm glad you're taking this seriously," smiled Link.
Rauru went to the battlefield to meet Groose. Unsurprisingly the larger fighter carried a longer sword and a larger shield, giving him greater reach and defence. Rauru wasn't scared however, he was used to fighting opponents bigger than himself. He would treat this battle like any other.
"Fighters, I want a good clean match," called the instructor. "No weapon other than a sword or shield is to be used in this fight. Doing so will result in immediate disqualification to the guilty party."
"This place is more like Gerudo Town then I thought," joked Rauru silently, remembering how Buliara would often start his training battles with a similar speech.
"Is that understood?" asked the instructor pulling Rauru from his thoughts.
Rauru and Groose both nodded, then each took a fighting stance.
"Then let the battle begin," called the instructor.
Groose struck first. He charged at Rauru and swung his sword with all his might. Rauru managed to block, but felt the impact of the attack. Groose was stronger then Rauru thought.
Groose pushed Rauru with his shield. Rauru managed to block with his own shield, but Groose's surprising strength allowed the bigger student to push Rauru back by a few feet.
"Ready to give up yet?" taunted Groose. "You can't be too surprised, I'm obviously way stronger than you."
Rauru smirked.
"I face stronger opponents then you every day. If you think you can win this fight through brute strength, you're wrong," stated Rauru.
Out of the corner of his eye Rauru saw his father give him a look to remind him about the importance of being humble. Rauru responded by mouthing 'sorry dad'.
"Strong words from a bug that's about to get squashed," declared Groose.
Groose charged forward again and swung his sword. This time Rauru readied his shield, waiting for the right moment. Just before the sword hit, Rauru deflected with his shield, causing Groose to lose his footing. Rauru took this opportunity to strike by punching Groose to the ground with the fist that held his sword. Groose tried to stand, but he found Rauru's sword pointed directly at his face.
The crowd was in awe of what had just happened. The academy's top student had not only been bested by a smaller opponent, but by one that had far less experience.
"Word of advice, your swings are way too wide, and they make your moves easy to predict," Rauru advised. "Now yield."
Groose looked at Rauru with malice. He swung his sword upward, pushing Rauru's weapon out of the way. He then rushed Rauru with his shield pushing him back again.
"There's no way I'm yielding to a big fat fake like you. I'm going to beat you and prove those claims about you beating all the Gerudo Guards are false," declared Groose.
Rauru didn't have a chance to respond as Groose charged at him again. Groose descended on Rauru with a fury of powerful attacks. Thanks to his father's training, Rauru managed to study his opponent and accurately predict Groose's attacks. This allowed Rauru to block every attack that Goose threw. And when the opportunity arose, Rauru countered with his own attacks. Unfortunately, Groose was no slouch in defence and managed to block every attack Rauru threw. Groose's strength also prevented Rauru from making much impact with his strikes.
Groose managed to push Rauru back again with his shield, at which point the young boy started puffing for air.
"What did I tell you, he's a fraud!" declared Groose.
While Link didn't agree with Groose's statement, he couldn't help but notice that there was something off with Rauru's technique. Was it because Rauru was using a sword other than his own? Was it because Rauru wasn't used to fighting in heavy armour. Link knew this wasn't the case. The problem was psychological. Rauru was over thinking his attacks causing him to become hesitant. Link wondered if this had something to do with the training battle he and Rauru had had back in Gerudo Town. Maybe being called out for fighting dishonourably had affected Rauru more then he let on. It seemed Rauru was now thinking very carefully about how he fought and was doing everything he could to ensure he fought by the rules.
Link knew if Rauru kept fighting like this he'd lose the match. If Rauru wanted to win he'd have to stop fighting with his heard and start fighting with his heart. Link wanted to tell Rauru this, but doing so would result in Rauru's forfeit, so he held his tongue and hoped Rauru would figure this out on his own.
Back in the fight Rauru managed to narrowly dodge one of Groose's strikes. He tried striking back but Groose blocked it with his shield. Groose struck again with his own sword, which Rauru managed to narrowly block with his shield. This gave Groose the chance to strike Rauru with his shield yet again and the young boy stumbled back a few feet and narrowly avoided falling to the ground.
"Is this really all you've got? How lame," scoffed Groose.
"I'm not done yet," Rauru gasped.
Rauru didn't know what was going on. He'd fought way harder battles than this and had won them with much less effort. Why was Groose proving to be such a challenging opponent?
Rauru reflected on the current battle. He'd been very careful with every step, every sword swing and every deflection and yet he'd barely managed to land a hit. He'd seen many opportunities where he could've easily defeated Groose and yet he'd hesitated with each one. Rauru wondered if Groose's predictable technique was merely a ruse to catch him off guard and if Rauru took the swing Groose would surprise him. A part of Rauru also didn't want to hurt Groose, because despite Groose's attitude, Rauru didn't want the people of Hyrule Castle to think he was a monster like the people of Gerudo Town did.
It then hit Rauru way he'd been fighting so poorly. He was putting to much thought into his attacks and it was preventing him from fighting at his best. If Rauru wanted to win this he would have to trust his instincts and fight Groose with everything he had.
Rauru stood tall.
"You should've beat me when you had the chance, because I'm not holding anything back now."
Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think. All feedback is greatly appreciated.
For those who are wondering about the character called Groose, he's named after the character from Skyward Sword, but obviously he's a different person. For those who haven't played Skyward Sword, Groose was Link's main rival in the Knight's Academy for that game. I was originally going to give him a different name, but I decided to use the name Groose here to help readers understand the type of character he's going to represent for the story. I hope I made the right choice.
Thanks again for reading and I'll see you next time.