The 'Lone' Hero of Vale - Chapter 27
"Here we are, the final match of the first round, we have Team SLVR! The all faunus team from Haven up against Link from Beacon!" Port announces
"JUST Link for those who know about him, he is a one person team, and I must say after watching him closely that he has earned that privilege and right to be called so." Oobleck speaks
As the two continue to break down both teams, down below in the arena, both teams are at a standoff.
"Of course we got him." Leo smirks, "It's karma at its finest."
"Don't jinx us!" Violet slaps Leo on his arm
"Both of you be quiet." Ryker shakes his head and keeps his eyes on Link, who has his eyes shut and looks disinterested
"Don't get quiet on us." Skylar shouts, "You had plenty to say when you fought me the first time."
"There is nothing more to say..." Link mumbles as the surrounding terrains begin to appear, a Rocky Mountain terrain behind team SLVR, and a forest of thick trees behind him, who just frowns and keeps his eyes shut with both hands in his pockets.
Meanwhile, in the crowd
"What's up with him?" Jaune asks
"He has not shaken the old memories." Pyrrha's smile fades as her eyes soften with sadness
"They sure could help him here." Nora nods, "All that anger against these tough looking people, perfect time."
"It could also harm him." Ren shakes his head
"If I had to bet, they won't even get him near red." Yang chuckles and eagerly slaps the armrest of her chair
"Ah, I'm not so sure about that." Weiss frowns
"How come?" Ruby asks
"W-well-!"
"Doesn't matter how strong Link is, it's still four people." Blake quickly speaks over her teammate
Back in between the two biomes, each member of team SLVR gets in a fighting stance, waiting for the countdown
"If you fight me..." Link opens his eyes and stares down Skylar, "I'll do more than damage your confidence. Withdraw and save yourselves for another day."
"THREE! TWO! ONE! BEGIN!"
The crowd's roar slowly tones down and Oobleck's voice fades away, but neither team moves.
"Are they shaken up?" Link frowns
"Like hell we will!" Skylar sprints as fast as she can, her sharp claws transition outwards but just like before, her strong punch is blocked by Link, who lifts his arm and uses his forearm to block
"Your hand to hand is impressive, but it won't be enough." Link keeps his eyes on the rest of Skylar's team, and for some reason they stayed put
"I've got news for you!" Skylar grins as she opens her hand and reveals something engraved on the palm of her hand
"Atlas' emblem?" Link frowns at the design, but then notices the center of emblem, conveniently placed in the middle of her hand had a hole in it
Skylar's grin turns into an evil one as the hole promptly blasts fire right into Link's face!
"What the hell!?" Link in the few seconds of realization was only able to bring his hands over his face before fire ultimately blows him away.
"What beautiful bait and strike from the ATLAS born leader!" Oobleck's voice rings throughout Amity Colosseum
"L-link!" Velvet's loud cry is accompanied with her jumping out of her seat, she does not look to her CFVY teammates on her left, or her fellow friends in JNPR and RWBY on her right
"Holy crap... a direct hit too." Coco lifts up her shades
"Have faith." Weiss shakes her head, "Somehow, he always finds a way to save himself just in the nick of time."
"Weiss is correct." Pyrrha looks up at the jumbo-tron, and sees Link's aura plummet down to yellow, "Hopefully..."
"See!" Violet claps and jumps around Ryker, "I told you guys that was all a big flu-!"
"Where is he!?" Ryker's eyes briefly glow a dark blood red... even darker than his already red eyes as he points into the giant cloud of smoke.
"What are you talking about?" Skylar shrugs as the smoke slowly clears away
"Hm..." Leo pulls out his sniper and aims into the smoke, "I got nothing, let's see..." He reaches over and taps a button on his scope, then it switches to a thermal view, "Ryker's got a point, where is he? There's no body."
"What?" Skylar backs away and pounds her fists together
The smoke eventually fades away, and just like Leo points out, no body, just blackness all over the steel floor
"He's not... dead, right?" Violet nervously chuckles as she covers her eyes, "I don't want to see a pile of ashes."
"We'd be arrested already." Ryker shrugs and looks up, "...And his aura would be at zero but good work Skylar, at least his aura is down in the ye-!"
"It should be in the red!" Skylar frowns and charges into the forest
"W-wait up!" Leo quickly runs after her
"Ryker?" Violet glances at him
"They're fools." Ryker turns and faces the rocky terrain, where many small and large mountains are present, "He's wise enough to know that hiding in known territory would make an easy find for us"
"Known territory? We've only seen him-!"
"How did we encounter him the first time?" Ryker shakes his head, "Where did he come from?"
"Oh yeah, he came out of a forest!" Violet playfully slaps her forehead
Elsewhere
"Atlas born..." Link mumbles to himself as he takes cover behind a rough makeshift mountain, panting hard as he feels himself, "There goes my tunic." He looks down and sees lots of exposed skin, but not enough to force the cameras to shut off, "How's my aura doing?" He looks up at the jumbo-tron and sees the exact number, "Seventy-six, not bad."
Link winces as he stands up, then looks down at himself again, the fabric covering his arms was completely toast to ashes, portions of his upper body were visible, and all of his lower half was completely untouched
"Good, it kicked in fast enough to save from permanent scarring." Link shrugs as he makes his way up the mountain
The few dozens of people that spot Link start to roar with excitement as he reaches the very top, where it was a perfectly flat artificial surface.
"I wonder if I'll have any time to-!" Link suddenly shifts his entire body as Violet was only inches away from him with her thin but lengthy sword going for his neck
"Hiya pretty boy!" Violet winks as she jabs but only just misses as Link is quick enough to flip backwards, and instead takes damage to his back, "You miss us?"
"How could I ever do that?" Link smirks, but then frowns when he sees only her and Ryker, "Other two go for the forest?"
"What do you think?" Ryker rolls his eyes, "If we were together, Skylar would try to take all the glory again."
"If you're the logical one, how come you are not the leader?" Link keeps his eye on Violet as she regroups with her teammate
"Skylar's determination and passion is something you haven't seen yet, all you have seen is her stubbornness." Ryker reveals his sword, a complete opposite to Violet's weapon as it outsizes her sword by five times, but yet he easily wields it with one hand
"We done playing twenty-one questions?" Violet rolls her eyes
"Actually I had one more to-!"
"Too bad!" Violet with lightning quick speed zooms away from Ryker and within seconds is back in Link's face
"Alright then!" Link grabs his signature weapons, whips around and strikes down Violet's sword with a simple shield bash
"Ryker!" Violet dodges a close sword slash from Link as she manages to recover her weapon
"Keep him distracted..." Ryker plants his feet on the flat rock and holds his sword with his left hand slightly elevated in the air
(I know you don't want to help me... but too bad!) Link looks at Violet and Ryker, his eyes scan both huntress and huntsman, contemplating which one to choose
"Why is she wearing a scarf in the middle of a fi-!"
(Do it already!)
"I can't do it like this..." Link takes a slash to his chest as he foolishly looks up at the jumbo-tron, his aura was down to sixty-eight
"At times like these you could really rely on teammates, being alone-!"
"Quiet!" Link suddenly stops the fast paced fighting as he grabs Violet by her purple scarf and violently pulls her towards him
"Ryker!" Violet cries out
"Get your hands off her!" Ryker leaps off the ground and aims for both of them
"Hold..." Link manages to grab Violet by her neck as his eyes glow, and so do his weapons "STILL!"
In the crowd, two pairs of eyes took notice at what Link was doing
"Cinder..." Emerald starts, "That's what-!"
"I know..." Cinder smiles and narrows her eyes at Link, "This boy continues to surprise me... not that it's anything new, but surely something a novice would never even attempt."
BOOM!
Ryker collides with Link and seemingly Violet as well but luckily for her, she was shoved away from the impact, by her opponent
"W-wha..." Violet looks up at the jumbo-tron and sees her aura plummet down to sixty.
"Gah!" Link's voice his heard as he and Ryker are at a standoff, his sword against his shield and a crumbled surface beneath them, "This is perfect..."
Ryker growls and shows no fear despite Link's eyes continuing to glow, he backs away and triggers his swords transformation into a single barrel shotgun
"Scratch that..." Link sighs as he re-positions himself back into a fighting stance as opposed to staying defensive
Ryker fires off his shotgun right at Link's feet, but the latter jumps and lands on a few inches away from him... the piece of land hit by the shotgun dust shell immediately disintegrates into smaller bits, ultimately becoming mere pebbles
"Begone!" Link grabs Ryker by a strap going across his chest, presumably a sheath for his sword, and with all his force plus resistance from his opponent manages to just send him over his shoulder and across the surface
"Damn!" Ryker takes his eyes off Link to spot Violet on one knee, as he lands the ground underneath him caves in from all the damage done along with the impact of his weight, and in seconds he is falling off the mountain
"Ryker no!" Violet uses her speed to get to the edge quickly but not quick enough as her teammate falls, though not helplessly.
"Now to deal with you." Link grunts as he gets down to a knee, slowly and methodically planting his hands together, his shield, sword, bow, parts of his clothing and eyes glow once again
"Good luck with that!" Violet aims her sword at Link, with rapid speed similar to herself, the weapon reshapes itself into a machine gun, but before she can even fire dust bullets at Link, a blinding light hits her and everyone inside the Colosseum
"What is this!?" Oobleck shouts
"It seems like Link has some more tricks hidden that he's about to reveal!" Port adds on
However, certain audience members were not affected
"Hmph..." Coco smirks and comfortably puts her shades back on
The light fades after half a minute, but as everyone struggles to focus their vision back on the fight, almost all of them miss the revelation
"W-what the-!" Violet jumps and steps back when she sees Link... and a figure similar to Link standing right in front of him
"Who said I was alone?" Link smirks, and for a slight second he looks bloodthirsty
Violet looks at her newly formed opponent, who vanishes as quick as he shows up
"W-whoa..." Violet continues to back away, she clutches her sword tightly, but almost too tightly as her fear slowly begins to settle.
"Eyes over here little girl!"
Violet turns but there is nobody present, just an evil voice.
"What the hell!?" Violet spins around multiple times, she focuses on the demon messing with her head instead of her real opponent.
"Over here!" Link shouts as he has the back of his hand pointed right at her, and only a few feet away.
"Enough!" Violet plants her feet and gets ready to take off, but she cannot... she remains still in her same spot, with triforces in front and behind her now.
"Too easy." The Demon reappears behind Violet
"You called it." Link rolls his eyes
"Hit me with your best shot! I can take it!"
"No you can't..." Link shrugs
"Listen to him, you really can't."
Link glances at the jumbo-tron, and sees Ryker barely landing on the ground, he looks at the demon, and both of them nod at each other.
"Gah!" Violet starts to punch, kick and slash at the triforce's, but none of her attacks do even a scratch.
"NOW!" Both Link and his demon appear on opposite sides of Violet, and without hesitation, they grant her wish of not holding back with brutal slashes of all kinds whilst transitioning all around the trapped opponent. Two handed, one handed, spinning, fast, and full power until finally it was time for the final blow, before the demon could unleash a full strength blow from his end, it is Link who acts quick by delivering the final attack. A simple but still powerful straightforward slash to Violet's midsection that damages her, breaks both triforces and sends her off the top of the mountain as well.
"Tough blow for team SLVR as Violet Lilac's aura is now in the red meaning that she is eliminated, but things could get worse if she keeps picking up speed like she is right now!" Port speaks to the audience in the colosseum and those watching at "home."
"Lucky for her that does have a teammate down there... and YES it seems he's ready to catch her!" Oobleck adds on.
Link drops to one knee for a quick break and glances to the jumbo-tron, Ryker was at seventy, Skylar at ninety-five and Leo at one-hundred, meanwhile he himself was at sixty-five. As for the live shot shown to everyone watching, Skylar and Leo sprint out of the forest and head back to the center of the arena, the neutral and plain ground splitting the rocky mountains and forest
"Stick around, you're not draining my aura anyway." Link nods to his fully formed demon, who looks down and watches Ryker spring in the air to get a grip on Violet with both arms
"No wonder the girl's aura plummeted so quick."
"Quiet..." Link shuts his eyes and thinks about the remaining team SLVR members, their biggest noticeable features are brashness, long range and power, "Leo, Ryker, then Skylar. That's how we're taking them out next... we cannot let Leo get any distance on us, he was nearly perfect with just a few seconds to spare, I can only imagine how accurate he is with distance and plenty of time. But let's not find out." Link opens his eyes and slowly rises
"How is she!?" Skylar's voice is heard down below as she and Leo stare at their teammate with dumbfounded looks on their faces.
"She got caught off guard." Ryker growls and gently puts her down, "Even if she wanted to continue, she's one hit away from being as vulnerable as a puppy."
"Grr..." Leo draws his sniper and takes aim, only to put down his gun in astonishment, "T-there's two!?"
"Explain." Skylar lightly slaps Ryker's arm
"He can steal our aura if he gets the chance." Ryker mumbles, "Doesn't look like he can replenish himself with it though, seems like it's only meant to damage the victim while making his offense just that much more powerful."
"Then explain what the hell that-!"
"Maybe that's his semblance!? I don't know!" Ryker snaps
"Alright! Alright let's calm down, the last thing we need to do is tear each other apart. This guy is no joke... I was wrong." Skylar sighs as she worriedly looks at Violet, "Speed was no match, but our numbers should be able to slow him down, so let's come up with a plan to fl-!"
"Boss?" Leo asks as he keeps aiming, both Link and his demon jump from the very top of the mountain
"W-what the-!" Skylar looks at Ryker, "Let's back away! Keep your distance from him!"
"Don't have to ask me twice." Leo smirks and does a one-eighty to begin sprinting away
"Right." Ryker nods and follows his teammates
The demon lands easily as he's not sentient, golden aura covers Link in noticeably thick layers as he lands feet first and nearly shakes the entire floor
"Ow..." Link winces, "Even with that protection, it feels like my legs were just fractured."
"Too bad." The demon speaks coldly, and just like with Violet, immediately gets into the heads of team SLVR by disappearing like a flash
Link runs full speed at Ryker and Skylar, and reaches into his pouch to grab a handful of throwing knives. Link starts to launch them all towards Skylar, but Rykers dives in front of his leader and with just one sword slash deflects every knife coming at them.
"Eyes on Leo!" Skylar shouts, "We can't split up."
"He's long gone Skylar." Ryker shrugs and makes quick work of another incoming knife
"Good." Link nods and skids against the steel floor to slow himself down
"What!?" Skylar, and Ryker both stop running and face Link, with a good amount of distance between them, "What's he up to?"
"An Atlas born faunus?" Link takes a deep breath, "AND your team hates humans, especially Schnee's..."
"Don't try to throw us off you rat!" Skylar looks around, "You know nothing about my past! The things I went through with my demented and despicable father... It's something I wouldn't wish on my wo-!"
"You would wish it on every Schnee living right now though, wouldn't you!?" Link narrows his eyes
"I-!" Skylar frowns as her face starts to turn red from anger, "S-shut up!"
"That's not an answer." Link draws his sword, shield and keeps his sights on Ryker
"Y-you!" Skylar growls as her claws start to emerge, "You're just like the rest of them! You claim to be different but you're just as heinous and-!"
"And you think you're special." Link shakes his head, "Do you really think you are the only one who had an abusive father?"
"W-what!?" Skylar takes a step back
"Go ahead, tell me how he mentally scarred you and your mother, didn't treat you like a person and then kicked you aside like you were garbage!"
"..." Ryker does not speak, he can only glance over his shoulder to check on his leader
"And what would you k-! How do you re-! Stop messing with my head!" Skylar roughly starts to pound her fist against her head
"We may not have gone through completely identical experiences, but I am where I am today because of my family... for all the wrong reasons."
"Just like you Sk-!"
"Don't say it, Ryker!" Skylar opens her eyes.
"Abusive and power hungry father, weak and broken mother, and a hopeless-minded sibling." Link holds back tears as other bad memories start to resurface, "Does that ring a bell? If it does, you're not alone Skylar, unfortunately we both went through hard times, but that's no excuse to put this burden on all human's or all Sch-!"
"SHUT UP!" Skylar charges at Link and with a mighty swing she collides with a tough shield, but her power is enough to smash the shield out of his right hand and send it flying into the forest
"W-what the-!"
Link acts quickly and spins in place with a throwing knife in hand as Skylar swings her fist again, her non-dominant hand collides with Link's cheek as his knife brutally cuts from her shoulder all the way across to the other shoulder but only one of the attacks had the power to send their opponent flying away... that was Skylar's punch
"My father and the Schnee's are the reason I hate humans, and you'll never relate to my pain!" Skylar follows Link as he is sent flying into the forest
"Skylar wait!" Ryker glances up to see everyone's aura and his eyes widen when he sees Leo at twenty-five, "That thing is getting him, shit! Skylar forget him all that crap he made up was to distract us, we need to find Leo!"
"W-what?" Link collides back first against a big tree, "Crap? Made up?" He rolls his eyes and shakes his head multiple times
"I knew something was up, damn it I let my emotions get the best of me!" Skylar stops only a few feet away from Link, who crawls towards his shield which conveniently was only a short distance from him
"Heh..." Link smirks as he slowly straps the shield to his back
"What's so funny?" Skylar marches towards Link and with impressive strength lifts him up by his throat
"None of it was made up." Link's smile fades as his eyes narrow, "Whether you chose to believe me or not, you're not alone Skylar, I didn't blame my problems on all humans! So you shouldn't either!"
"Shut up!" Skylar growls and throws Link deeper into the forest
"Keep them away a little longer, this kid is easy, take away range and he's less threatening than your friend's dog..."
"Tough, I'm coming to you... not by choice really." Link struggles to flip over midair and land on his feet, which grind and crush through the dirt to slow him down
"W-wha!?" Leo's voice is heard as Link suddenly appears in his sight
"You had one job."
"Shut up, their leader is really strong." Link drops down to one knee and glances up, but cannot see his opponent's aura as well as his own
"Here he is!" Skylar calls out as she runs to her teammate but then stops and gasps in horror, "L-leo!"
"What?" Ryker catches up and stops too
"Good job." Link mumbles nervously as the demon has Leo on the ground back first with a golden aura sword in his chest, being stopped from going all the way through by Leo's last remaining aura
"I'm not done yet." The demon whispers to himself as the sword inside Leo vanishes
"With that final attack, team SLVR's Leo Lee is out!" Oobleck's shouts are vividly heard
"Two dow-!"
"What is he doing!?" Ryker grabs his sword and charges at the demon, who is running at an already defeated Leo with the same sword suddenly forming back in his hand
"You bastard!" Skylar takes off after the demon
"Of course he'd try to kill... damn it!" Link gets up to both feet and follows suit by running at Leo, contemplating on who to go after.
"Ryker incom-!"
"NO!" Link jumps in front of Leo and raises his shield... to the demon!
"Hmph!" Ryker grabs Leo and jumps back
"Are you fuc-!"
"SHUT. UP.!" Link growls as the demon's sword collides with his shield, stopping him at full speed and shaking the ground around them just a bit. The demon drops back down to ground level and runs around Link and now towards Skylar
"Your services are no longer needed." Link drops down to one knee, closes his eyes and focus all his energy and attention on getting rid of the demon from the fight.
"NO!" The demon raises his sword and aims for Skylar's neck, only for his sword to vanish into dust... as well as him, "You little sh-!"
Before he can finish his cursing sentence, the demon vanishes completely and does not reappear at all.
"I don't get it..." Skylar shakes her head, "Why did you stop that thing? Why not just let him deal with Ryker and I?"
"Because I don't want you dead." Link stands up and opens his eyes, "That's not something you deserve just because we're fighting or because of your beliefs."
"Why unleash if it can go rogue on you like that?" Ryker asks
"Because her fire attack-!" Link points at Skylar "...shook me and instead of believing in my own ability to bounce back I relied on someone who looks for any way to shed blood and steal life."
"I knocked you off your overconfident pedestal that bad?" Skylar chuckles and flexes her right hand, "One of the few things from that bastard that actually benefits me..."
"It was not overconfidence... I wasn't in a good place at the time, it was merely word play to get you to withdraw." Link shrugs
"That was all to try and intimidate us?" Skylar bursts out laughing, "Maybe it got to Violet or Leo, but no way were we going to back down."
"I can see that now." Link switches between both opponents before ultimately shutting his eyes, "Tell me what I don't understand... Skylar."
"Huh?" Skylar shakes her head, "So adamant, you know we're in the middle of a fight?"
"You won't ever speak to me when this fight is over IF I don't continue asking, and the last thing I want is other people getting hurt because of what one-!"
"My father was the main cause, yes." Skylar exhales heavily, "My hatred for Schnee's is the same as any other faunus, they all deserve-!" She stops herself and wags her finger, "Forget those rats, you want to know about my father that bad? Fine, I'll tell you..."
"Hmm." Ryker smirks, "BUT, not right now."
"Precisely." Skylar smirks as she extends her hand, slowly opens it and shows off a small flame coming from within her palm
"Right." Link looks up and now clearly sees everybody's aura, he was down to sixty, Ryker was still at seventy, and Skylar dropped to ninety.
"Ryker, you know the drill." Skylar mumbles and then takes off
"You got it." Ryker nods, and to Link's surprise he stays in place
Skylar's claws emerge as she charges at Link exactly like their first encounter, except this time everything went far more differently. Link fights back with his weapons, sword and shield drawn, multiple swift slashes from his sword are dodged and the shield blocks every major strike from Skylar. The latter plants his feet into the ground and in one swift motion spins in place, sword in hand, arm extended to full capacity, but the former manages to retreat just in time before her midsection gets turned into ground beef.
"Perfect, here goes nothing Ruby." Link stops abruptly to put both of his weapons away, draw his steel bow and activate its second form, the double crossbow, "Ah... not that one." He shrugs in embarrassment and activates it from the crossbow to the third form, the semi-automatic rifle.
Link takes aim and fires directly at Skylar's chest, but with speed faster than ever his own, she dodges and completely disappears from his sight. Right behind her was Ryker, who brought his sword down on the dust bullet to completely squash and get rid of it, and in return Ryker turns his sword back into the single barrel shotgun and blasts a shot right at his opponent. Link drops his rifle to brings his shield back out, but even the resistant and powerful defensive item could not withstand all of the blast as it sends Link flying back.
"Damn!" Link quickly reaches for his sword and fiercely slams it into the ground while in mid-air to stop himself from flying further away
"Not bad at all." Skylar mocks Link with a golf clap as Ryker catches up
"So much for being serious." Link mumbles to himself as he finally comes to a full stop, he slowly rises to one knee with a tight grip around his sword.
"What was that?" Ryker asks as he marches towards Link, stopping a foot away from him, planting his weapon that turned back into a sword, on the ground.
"I'm the last person you should be laughing at..." Link smirks and sees Ryker a bit too relaxed, "...Mid fight!" He stays on one knee but fluidly whips his right leg around and boots Ryker's sword right out of his grasp
"Why you little-!" Skylar growls and charges at Link
"Not again!" Ryker sees the glow in Link's eyes as they go from blue to gold and the marks appearing on his face at a rapid pace, "Skylar back up!"
"It's time to use it on another person again..." Link channels his thoughts and just manages to suppress the demon who desperately tries to take over once again as the marks slowly withdraw.
"No way! What is it!?" Skylar slows down... but does not stop
"NO!" Ryker intercepts his leader and wraps his arms around her, completely shielding her
"You should have listened to him!" Link whips around and tightens the grip on his sword even more, suddenly his signature triforce on his left hand lights up along with a thin layer of golden aura visibly covering his entire body, his weapons and parts of his clothes embedded with dust light up too. He opens his eyes, both of them flash the bright gold color, and just like that, he was gone from the spot he was just standing on...
SLASH!
The sound of a weapon striking is heard, but nothing clear is seen just yet.
"AGH!" Ryker shouts out in pain as he falls to one knee, un-voluntarily bringing Skylar down with him as he still has his arms around her
"Ryker! W-what happened!?" Skylar looks around, frantically searching for her team's opponent while trying to hold onto her much larger teammate
A whole minute passes by, and nobody can spot the 'twilight demon.'
"Aha! There he is! What amazing speed by Link!" Oobleck shouts
Link is seen across the last two members of team SLVR, he remains in a striking stance with his sword sticking out, showing that his attack struck.
"Come on Ryker, you're fine." Skylar slowly lifts up her teammate, desperately focusing on her sights on the board, Ryker's aura was brought down all the way to twenty, "Holy crap..."
"Don't even say it." Ryker shrugs, "I don't need lecturing right now."
"I... I don't know what to say." Skylar sighs, "I'm sorry, I should've listened and backed up, maybe I could've dodged that move with better awareness, I am such an idiot."
"No." Ryker shakes his head and does not hesitate to try to get back up, "You're smart, and I'm not done yet." He winces as he feels his back, the pain is very much still running its course.
"Good thing our fighting style as a duo relies on me doing most of the work while you sit back." Skylar grins
"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." Ryker rolls his eyes
"Hmph." Link approaches Skyler and Ryker slowly and with his eyes still in their golden state, "Time to end this!"
Link runs at the two and immediately targets the much weaker Ryker, who smiles as he turns to reach for his sword a slow pace, all to bait him as Skylar jumps over and with a swift spinning axe kick holds Link off
"I should've known better." Link nods as he backs away even further
Skylar with a determined look runs at Link full speed, the latter swings his sword but just as it was about to make contact, the former pulls off an acrobatic back-flip and just narrowly avoids the sharp steel from touching her face. She does however, use her sharp claws to hook Link's sword and yank it right of his hands just as he prepares another swing... Link's balance is completely jumbled as he stumbles forward, falling right into his opponent's reach. Skylar grabs Link by his collar and launches him in the air, she jumps up and right as Link begins to drop down, Skylar spins in place and plants a spinning side kick right into Link's lower spine, sending him flying downwards and propelling towards Ryker.
"Amazing teamwork by Skylar and Ryker, they have completely shell-shocked their opponent!" Port calls out
Ryker with both hands brings his sword across his body with a mighty swing but one not fast enough as Link lands on the giant sword mid-swing.
"Crafty." Ryker growls and wildly pulls his sword back, trying to knock Link off balance just like Skylar.
Link instead replicates what Skylar just with a flip of his own, not as acrobatic but still enough to avoid the giant blade.
"We're not done yet." Ryker quickly turns his sword back into its shotgun state and fires a shot directly at Link, who does NOT even have the time to reach for his shield
Link takes the damage by bringing up his forearms and covering his face, in return the blast sends him crashing back first into a tree.
"Worth it." Link winces as he is slow to get up, "Ryker's shotgun is guaranteed to blast you to bits or send you flying... good to know."
Link grabs onto the thick tree to keep himself on his feet as Skylar approaches him with Ryker behind her
"I'll give credit where it's due, you've proven why Beacon was right in allowing you to be a one person team." Skylar genuinely nods, "I myself wouldn't even know where to begin against four people, but you did, you went for the emotional and the weak."
"Your words, not mine." Link chuckles
Ryker aims his gun at Link despite Skylar getting closer and closer, giving Link the perfect opening to strike
"GOTCHA!" Link surprises Skylar by grabbing her neck, turning her around and restraining both her arms with just one hand
"Gah!" Skylar growls and immediately tries to break free
"Skylar!" Ryker frowns and lowers his weapon
"Damn, I thought he was more trigger happy." Link struggles to keep Skylar restrained as one of her arms feels more cold and rough than the other
"Think he just figured out how I used the fire." Skylar smirks and with one rough pull, frees her right arm.
"Your arm..." Link's eyes widen, "Did your father-!"
"Quiet!" Skylar shakes her head and throws a wild elbow strike at Link
"Whoa!" Link ducks and forces himself to let go of Skylar, and immediately he starts to dodge shotgun blasts from Ryker, "I can still make it count, but I need to do it quick, it's only a matter of time before he goes back to his sword."
Link zigzags to avoid incoming shots while having to dodge Skylar and her incoming punches as the persistent tiger faunus chases him
"It's no use... I have to bait and strike just like Skylar did to me at the beginning of the match." Link frowns and starts to slow down when dodging
"Huh? Getting tired already!?" Skylar shouts as she starts to land powerful strikes against Link's chest
"N-not... quite... huff." Link plants his feet and blocks one of Skylar's punches with just one hand, their momentum comes to a complete halt as they tense up
"NOW!" Skylar shouts at Ryker, who seemingly has a perfect shot lined up
Link grins as with his free hand he reaches into his pouch and sneaks out a smoke bomb
BOOM!
...
BAM!
The round fires just milliseconds after smoke engulfs Link and Skylar
"Ahh!" The voice of Skylar is heard as she comes out of the smoke while in the air.
"Skylar!" Ryker makes a last ditch effort to catch his leader by leaping in the air
"Not so fast!" Link emerges from the smoke unharmed as he leaps right into Ryker and sends both of them back to the ground, leaving Skylar to be sent soaring through and out of forest with tremendous speed.
"You little..." Ryker winces in pain as he only gets up to one knee, he turns his shotgun back into its sword form to help himself up
"You're finished, and there's no way Skylar would have let me come near you if I did not get her out of the picture." Link stands and gets in a striking position, with his left hand aimed at Ryker
"No point in lying." Ryker growls and fights through the pain in order to stand, he shrugs at the two triforces forming in front and behind him, "Same move that took out Violet... now I'll never hear the end of this from her."
"Brace yourself for more humiliation then, because you are only one hit away from being declared ineligible to compete."
Link takes off and runs straight at Ryker but instead of the multiple sword slashes and copious amounts of damage from a usual triforce slash, he strikes with just one big swing, a straightforward jab with his sword aimed directly for Ryker's midsection...
In the crowd
"He's so..."
"AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING." Coco rolls her eyes as she kicks her feet up against the stone barricade
"Coco." Velvet sighs
"I know, I know he's pretty damn good." Coco smiles
"Ruby?" Yang nudges her sister
"Hm?" Ruby shakes her head as she instead of just watching Link was carefully watching how Link was combating both Skylar and Ryker at the same time
"Oooh, Ruby is in nerd mode." Yang chuckles
"Mhm." Ruby nods diligently, "I don't get why I wasn't doing this sooner, I want to improve and I won't always have you guys with me, what if I'm outnumbered again like in the tunnel?"
"I..." Weiss doesn't object, "You're right."
Bzzzzzzt!
The buzzer is heard as another elimination occurs, and now only one member of team SLVR remains standing
"That final strike was just enough to drop SLVR's Ryker Beckett into the red and now the powerhouse of the team is eliminated." Port exclaims
Link scales a tree and starts to jump from tree to tree back to the center of the colosseum
"Can't see..." Link shrugs as the trees block the view of the jumbo-tron, he grabs his scroll to check his own aura, and it was in the yellow... nearing closer to red.
Soon enough, there are no more trees to jump on and Link reaches the center, where Skylar is waiting for him all by herself
"Taking a direct shot really killed me." Skyler gives Link a grimace of pain as she points up, her ninety aura was now at sixty
"Wow." Link nods in surprise, "Good thing I took out Ryker as early as I did."
"Early?" Skylar scoffs
"I imagine if the field was even he would outlast all of you." Link mumbles
"True..." Skylar moves her right arm around and sighs, "It looks semi-real, right?"
"I could not figure it out until I had a good grip of it, so yes." Link nods
"My father was not the main cause, but he was the reason I have it now. When he returned back into our lives, I damaged my arm pretty bad while talking on a grimm that was way out of my league, he tricked me into believing that my arm was as good as done, it wasn't until a few months later that I discovered on my own that my arm could've been saved, but by then..." She frowns and closes her fist, "We should get back to fighti-!"
"Forget them." Link shakes his head, "This conversation matters more than their entertainment."
"Answer one question from me then." Skylar growls and shakes her head in confusion, "Why go this far for me? I'm a stranger who attacked your friend with every intent on hurting her. Why not just wipe us out, eliminate us from the tournament and move on?"
"I do not want to come off as giving a cliché answer but YOU Skylar, you deserve closure, you deserve happiness, and whether that concludes with forgiving or getting revenge, it has to be the right choice, because once you make your choice and act on it... there is no going back. Forget the faunus vs schnee or faunus vs humans feud... I have been on both sides, I know how evil and vile both parties can be. Tell me your story, I want to hear it."
Skylar looks to her right, Violet is nearby, she is conscious but very much still down and out. She looks to her left, looking for Ryker and Leo but they are too deep into the forest.
"You hit the first part about my father on the nail, from what I was told by my mother, he abandoned her only weeks after having me... I wasn't meant to be born, if you get what I mean." Skyler balls up her fists
"I'm sorry." Link nods, "I do not know how that feels."
"Lucky you. My mom had to scratch and claw just to get us by, especially when it came down to living in Atlas, all this schnee vs white fang blood war made it downright impossible for her to hold any stable job, and it's not like she wasn't competent. Name me a job, I guarantee you my mom could do it with an arm tied behind her back."
"What did you know about your father growing up?" Link asks
"Not very much, my mom would never speak about him, there weren't any pictures or mentions, it wasn't until I grew older where I had to ask about him before she finally opened up. They met by fighting actually, if you can believe that." Skylar smirks, "He was undercover for the Atlas military, though he wasn't an official member of the military."
"I knew they ran something behind the scenes..." Link shrugs
"Anyway, long story short his cover was blown and he had to take on a small militia of white fang members, the newbies as we would call them nowadays, teenagers with no experience... but regardless of their experience, a militia outnumbers one man who himself was very young at the time. My mother was in that militia but she wasn't nearly as pro-white fang as the rest of her brother's that day. The man who unfortunately is my father today was badly injured, and instead of freezing to death or being eaten by grimm, a nice young woman assisted him despite just fighting against him. That woman was my mother, and although the man showed resilience, he had no choice, it was either get saved by someone he thought was an enemy or get killed by a real enemy, aka the militia's backup."
"Your mother saved the life of a man who turned out to be your father, what are the odds?" Link exhales
"Get this, the man hates faunus too, which is crazy because how are you going to have a child with a faunus but you discriminate against them? That doesn't make any sense but it is what it is, here I am today. Despite being drawn and emotionally attached to my mother, he just couldn't change, he 'loved' her but hated her just as much, that love turned into spite... and when he got what he wanted." Skylar shivers and cringes, "He was quick to distance himself, when my mother refused to get rid of me, the distancing turned into borderline abandonment, and then it did."
"How much of a toll was it on your mother?"
"She gave up on being a huntress to take care of me full time." Skylar nods, "The rest I described to you but what I did not describe in detail was what my father was doing during my days as a kid. He turned into a higher up within the Atlas military, yet he still was never a military figure. He just remained close with everyone he knew, these by the way are not my mother's words, I found out about this when he returned to our lives, exactly a year and a half from today. I was still relatively new to being an up and coming huntress, my mother did not discourage my desire to be one, if anything she encouraged me to be one, and everything I know when judging my hand to hand ability is from her."
"Relatively new? Does that mean you-!"
"I'm fifteen." Skylar nods, "My fast progression caught the eyes of many, hence the return of my father. I was so stupid for believing he wanted to return to our lives to be part of our family... everything was great when he first came back, my mom and I obviously showed signs of uncertainty and distrust but after like two or three months of us being a happy, bright, and even normal family, that's when the manipulation began. So from what I learned about him, he kept a close connection to the Atlas military higher ups, which in return allowed him access to their technology... and it all started with my arm." Skylar aims her right arm at Link, she opens her palm and teases fire, "Psst, they're expecting us to fight, so heads up."
Skylar blasts a giant wave of fire at Link, who is ready for the attack thanks to a small tip and just 'narrowly' dodges.
"Careful now." Link reaches into his pouch and shows off one of his throwing knives, taking extra time to launch it
Link smirks and with precise accuracy, he launches the knife but un-surprisingly Skylar dodges it
"That should be good enough for now." Skylar nods
"Good." Link drops to one knee, playing up his injuries
"I was nothing but a guinea pig for my father whenever he wanted to try new weapons or even new technology. Some of it was blatantly illegal, but as if they would ever throw him behind bars. As we speak, my right arm, shoulder, knee and left leg are all... pieces of Atlas military."
"What did he use, do or say in order to make you comply?" Link 'slowly' gets up
"This was about a year into his return, my mom knew what he was doing, but he managed to manipulate her by saying that I wanted this and that I'm happier now that he was back. When in reality I wanted it all to end... the way he got me was in a similar way, he told me that my mother was happier with him around and that at my current state, she's been the most proud of me... ever. As someone who loves their mother that much, how would that make you feel?"
"It would make me continue doing whatever it is I was meant to do." Link nods
"Exactly." Skylar sighs, "Eventually the bastard messed up and spilled his beans in front of us both, he wanted to use my faunus abilities combined with atlas technology to make a powerful soldier, with me as the test dummy, and if I failed?" Skylar's eyes tear up, "That's what he had my mother for, he saw her as a SOURCE for more experiments, he treated us like garbage to the bitter end, this is where the 'broken mother' part that you spoke of fits. She was devastated because the love of her life, the father to her daughter was just using her and everyone around him for his and Atlas' gain. As for the schnee's... guess who this powerful soldier was for, not just atlas military, but for the damn schnee's! A faunus with the heart of a rebel, was going to be turned into a super soldier, cyborg-esque monstrosity, and serve as nothing more than a pawn for the Schnee's!? No way!"
"What is the ending to that chapter?" Link turns to glance at the crowd as they start to get rowdy, "I can think of many scenarios in which you make it out alive, but now that you're telling me everything, please go on."
"Moving to Mistral was the ending." Skylar pounds her left fist into her right open hand, "I wanted to write a different ending believe me, but being there for my mother was more important than revenge. I took over as the carer the moment we settled down in Mistral, and tried to make the most of what we had. Haven Academy should have been impossible to get into, but Professor Lionheart didn't send me on my way back from wherever I came from, he bypassed my age and lack of experience... at first I thought he pitied me and just LET me into the academy. Although, I quickly learned that it was the complete opposite, he labeled me as someone with promising potential and a big heart, a big heart, those words I'll treasure for the rest of my life. Fast forward a bit, I am matched up with Leo, Violet and Ryker as teammates despite doing everything by myself during our initiations. They were already friends before being paired, I was never social as a kid so for the first month it was awkward, especially with me being the team leader, but I adapted and I evolved. Leo showed me respect because that's just who he is, the guy respects his superior no matter if they're younger than him or if they're incapable. Violet kept pushing me to be more vocal, Ryker tested my toughness and desire for doing what I do as a huntress... and here I am, here we are today."
"That's just... wow, I'm speechless." Link blinks multiple times and lets out a big sigh, "Listen to me Skylar, I understand your hate for people, I had it too for a long time. My father destroyed my mother from the inside by getting to me and my little brother, the same type of manipulation, only with a lot more physicality, my father probably does not even compare to yours in as far as his intellectual prowess, so he had to compensate by making us feel weak, and my only regret was not leaving sooner."
Link promptly explains to Skylar the other abusive things done by his father, along with went down on that tragic day where his entire family disintegrated. The heavy thunderstorm, the need to escape, his abusive father chasing after him, not knowing what he was going to do, the demon's first emergence. And the lightning strike that saved both himself and his father from one or the other facing their imminent death, the rescue by Amber, and learning about their home being burnt down with his mother and brother nowhere to be found.
"Damn." Skylar stomps her foot, "You were right, we didn't walk completely identical paths, but we're both here because our families are messed up."
"Your father's loyalty to Atlas over you and your mother shouldn't make you hate someone like me, or someone like Weiss, neither of us see you as an animal or a horrible person. I see that you're hurting but you're also blaming the wrong people, so that is why I'm here talking to you instead of grabbing my sword and charging at you." Link smiles at his opponent, "You do what you think is right Skylar, just know that I am here for you, and so are other human's, times have changed, the only reason faunus are still discriminated against are because of organization's like the White Fang using violence to get what they want..."
"Hold on-!" Skylar squints her eyes
"I know." Link sighs, "There are humans who hate faunus for no reason, I won't even bother to defend them, they are scum to me."
"Violet was right about you when she said you seemed genuine." Skylar smiles back, "We didn't see it at the time because you were fighting against us when you were defending your friend, you didn't fight us to take us down, and you did it to protect your friend. You have other's interests and well being at the top of your priorities."
Skylar slowly approaches Link and extends her left hand
"O-oh..." Link takes a step back
"What's this?" Port asks
"It seems like the team SLVR leader is offering a respectful handshake to Link." Oobleck says with major interest
"I'll need to brace myself just in case she decides to use that robot arm to blast fire in my face again." Link laughs to himself as he extends his hand and shakes the hand of Skylar, and just when the crowd was going to turn on the entire match, a chorus of cheers rain down into the arena
"Almost caused a riot." Skylar smirks
"Wouldn't be my first." Link nods as their hands slip away, and both of them begin to step away
"Now let's end this." Skylar grins and slams her fists together
"Let's do it!" Link's eyes change color as he slams his foot into the ground, he quickly looks at himself, only his bow-turned-rifle was missing and his aura was precisely at thirty-five, he also looks at Skylar's aura, she was at fifty-five.
Skylar and Link jog towards each other, slowly gaining speed as they turn into full sprints, the latter grabs his shield and raises it as his opponent leaps and comes down hard on him with a straightforward punch. Link pushes back, in one quick motion grabs his sword and swings at Skylar who blocks with her raised arms, the right conveniently in front of the left. Skylar retreats and surprises everyone by reaching into a hidden holster and pulling out a modernized flintlock pistol
"Where was that during the entire fight?" Link asks
"I don't like using it much, so it's rare when I need it... but in this case." Skylar frowns as starts firing shots at Link
"She needs distance. Why else would you resort to gun?" Link raises his shield and takes the dust bullets head on, each shot impacts his shield differently, one simply shatters, the second feels like a burst a heat, and the third was an explosive round, "What the hell? Her flintlock is semi-automatic at best and not one shot." He grabs his sword and starts moving towards Skylar as he slashes away bullets, and just as he was inches away from her, the faunus put her gun away and slams her fists directly into Link's shield once again, her claws screech against the metal but she still cannot get past the defensive fighter's best defense. Link swings again, this time with a straight jab but Skylar sidesteps and with her metal arm she takes aim at Link's back.
"Not so fast!" Link stops himself and spins in place, raising his leg and colliding his leg against Skyler's fist with a spinning heel kick
For a split second, it looks even, but very quickly Skylar's punch prevails and sends Link back first into the ground from the momentum of his failed counter-attack. Link sits up, puts his hands into the ground and kicks towards Skylar's legs
"W-whoa!" Skylar, not expecting the leg sweep follows suit and falls to the ground
Link springs back up to his feet and runs at Skylar who tries to get back up just as quick but when she doesn't, her flintlock pistol comes back out but is immediately kicked out of her hands by her opponent. Skylar rises and throws a kick of her own right to Link's midsection with her left leg; as Link catches the incoming strike, Skylar aims her right arm directly at his face
"That won't work again!" Link ducks and connects quick jab aimed for her gut but ends up connecting with her solar plexus
"OOF!" Skylar coughs loudly as the wind is knocked out of her
Link with a backhand slap sends Skylar's metal arm aiming to their right... just as the blast of fire emerges! The redirected fire hits the forest and starts to engulf tree by tree. Meanwhile back in the center, Link follows up with a powerful upwards uppercut to Skylar's jaw, sending her into the air.
"It's now or never... this might just take me out too." Link jumps into the air as he is just beneath Skylar, with a grasp of her shirt he pulls her down and spins mid-air to launch her further into the sky, "Change of plans then!" He shrugs and purposely lets himself fall all the way back down
Link waits patiently, and eyes everything Skylar does, she flails around for a bit before regaining her composure, and when realizing how high up in the air she is, her hand aims directly at Link and shoots out another wave of fire.
"What a last ditch effort by Skylar Harrison of team SLVR, but Link dodges! All she can do now is fall right into any attack her opponent can muster up, this could be the end!" Oobleck's voice grows louder as Skylar starts to fall back down
"This is it." Link glances at their names one last time, his aura was at twenty-five, and Skylar surprisingly was at thirty, a huge drop from before.
Link concentrates as he summons more than just the eyes of the demon, the facial marks emerge, but unlike before, there is no resistance or inner fight... Link has more control than before. He looks his hands as they and the rest of his body briefly glows.
"An incredible showcase of the young man's aura." Port says
Link runs towards Skylar who was closer to the ground, and leaps in the air! For only a few seconds they are on the same level, and in just those few seconds Link aims his left hand at Skylar, a bright flash emits as a beam of light shoots at Skylar and forms the two triforces, the dark behind and the faded in front. Then it begins, the nonstop barrage of sword strikes, all direct hits, one handed, two handed, fast, strong, and most importantly aimed at vital points not made of metal, the powerful slashes continue until the final blow lands... Link raises his sword and brings it down on Skylar! The triforces shatter with the final attack and send Skylar flying downwards to the surface headfirst.
"Crap! Ahhhhhh!" Skylar flails and tries to flip herself over
"OH NO!" Oobleck shouts and the crowd in attendance gasps
"No! no! no!" Link scrambles to reach for his pouch and pulls out his hook shot, "I can't use this! It will just hurt her more... wait!" He struggles to aim but with the lack of time, he fires and by chance manages to hit her left leg
"Ngh! What the hell!?" Skylar whips her left leg as she hears a blade pierce it.
"This is going to end very badly if-! What's this!?" Port is heard rising out of his chair
With the hook-shot assist, Link catches up to Skylar and wraps an arm around her, and now they both look like they will slam head first into the ground
"One more time..." Link reaches for another smoke bomb and quickly detonates it, covering himself and Skylar from the public view, and hiding the bright golden aura that engulfs them within seconds
SMASH!
The smoke clears, the loud gasps and mumbles slowly die down as they see Link on one knee, and Skylar on the ground... all eyes are then drawn to the jumbo-tron, Link's aura was just at the tournament regulation's breaking point, fifteen; Skylar was at seven, and in the red.
"A dramatic finish indeed, but Link of Beacon is victorious!" Oobleck announces with pep in his voice
"I l-lost..." Skylar sighs as she struggles to sit up, "W-whoa, I'm not broken either." She looks at Link and narrows her eyes, "You, you saved me, you really did that."
"What?" Link whistles casually, "We got lucky with our landing, that's all."
"That's probably what they believe." Skylar points at the crowd, "But I know that was all you, thanks." She mumbles
"Hey, don't beat yourself up over the loss." Link points at his name on the board, "It was anyone's to take."
"Yeah, yeah." Skylar is slow look around, "My mom said she'd watch my match, I wonder how disappointed she is right now."
"I don't she's disappointed." Ryker's voice is heard he steadily walks towards Skylar and Link, with Leo by his side, who carries a rifle in his hand, "She'd be proud at how hard you fought."
"I believe this belongs to you." Leo nods and extends his arms, he winces as he holds out Link's rifle
"Thanks." Link smiles and takes back his secondary weapon.
"Aww man the pretty boy actually beat us." Violet groans as she regroups with her team
"I said what I needed to say." Link turns his attention to Skylar, "I trust you will make the right decisions."
"We'll see." Skylar nods, "It's impossible to forgive, and I don't think I can forget about revenge."
"Do what you think is right." Link extends his hand
"I will, thank you." Skylar smiles and shakes his hand
"Whoa..." Violet claps her hands and giggles in excitement, "You're friends? It was only like what, ten minutes ago that Skylar wanted you to burn in h-!"
"I think we all got the message!" Leo shouts and chuckles nervously
"Good luck in the double's round." Ryker mumbles
"Thank you." Link nods and turns to face the crowd, the cheers and clapping double in noise as the victor acknowledges the appreciative crowd
Moments later, with both teams off the arena, those in the crowd are given a brief intermission before the double's round begins
"The man of the hour!" Ruby shouts as Link approaches team's RWBY, JNPR and CFVY, "You were so awesome out there! BUT next time don't scare us by having it end so close!"
"Gee, I didn't know it was optional." Link raises an eyebrow
"Of course it is." Weiss cuts in, "There were plenty of moments where you could've done something to preserve aura... like at the beginning."
"Please don't remind me." Link looks down at himself, "My clothes are a mess and so am I."
"Even though the pairings are random, I'm sure you won't have to compete today." Pyrrha says as she watches team SLVR... approach their group, "Link?"
"Hm?" Link turns as sees Skylar leading her team towards them
"It's team SLVR!" Ruby claps, "Good fight out there! You guys looked great."
"Thanks, ruby is it?" Skylar nods
"Mhm!" Ruby nods back excitedly
"Not so easy huh?" Weiss taunts
"Grr..." Skylar balls up her fists, but then she suddenly smirks, "Guess you're right."
"Don't get cocky though." Violet chips in with a big smile on her face
"Can you blame her?" Yang asks, "We did get by the first round rather handily."
"No offense, but you guys faced losers." Skylar scoffs, "We fought quite possibly one of the best in this tournament."
"W-well..." Yang goes quiet
"But hey, it's not like it was a complete one sided affair, you guys earned it." Skylar glances back at her team, and then her focus shifts towards Weiss, "Hey Schnee."
"Yes?" Weiss raises an eyebrow and looks a bit concerned
"Sorry. For 'pestering' you the other day, we were out of hand and it won't happen again."
"Huh?" Jaune scratches his head
"Apology accepted." Weiss nods and does not say any more.
"Cool." Skylar smiles and heads for the exit, "Come on team."
"Yes ma'am." Leo nods
"Ugh! Why can't we just find somewhere to sit first?" Violet sighs
"..." Ryker remains silent and simply follows along.
"That was a bit weird." Nora says
"Tell me about it." Ruby shrugs, "What were she apologizing for anyw-!"
"I'm going to head out." Link points to the exit
"Aw come on you can't miss the first match of the double's round." Yang puts a hand on his shoulder
"Please?" Ruby asks
"..." Link sighs and hesitantly nods, "Fine, I'm going to head back and get changed though, I might also have a drink while I'm there."
As soon as the word 'drink' comes out Link's mouth, he gets cold stares from Pyrrha, Coco, Velvet, Ruby and Blake
"...Of water." Link smirks and departs from his group of friends
(Hey, it's been over a month lol, sorry about that. I had about half of this chapter done mid-November, but schoolwork got in the way as I had finals to study for and a project. Still no excuse though, I had plenty of time but just left everything last minute as usual... but here is the update after like 600 years of wait, enjoy.)
