Beacon Academy: The Courtyard
ZOOM!
Action is underway as Link is visibly chasing after something or someone who has tremendous agility and the setting is perfect for this cat and mouse type of game. It is soon revealed to be Velvet when she slows down to taunt Link who is right on her tail. The rabbit faunus sticks her tongue out and quickly turns around and leaps into a tree with such elegance and grace
"Oh we're hiding in trees now?" Link chuckles. "I didn't realize you were also part squirrel."
The one man team closes his eyes and concentrates, remembering how he performed his move at the docks a few weeks ago. Link plants his feet into the ground and chooses not to twist his body beforehand in an attempt to work on his mid air agility. He springs up in the air, using enough leg strength and relying on luck to end up underneath the tree as he intends. Link opens his eyes and spins while being in the air, executing a perfect aerial spinning slash, spinning five times with each spin faster than the last one. Although, he is cautious too as these aren't White Fang soldiers he's fighting, this is Velvet and they are training together. When each spinning slash occurs, he redirects each attack to avoid branches, the tree trunk and seemingly Velvet herself, ultimately avoiding causing any real and only hacking apart leaves and under-branches
"Ahh!" Velvet comes out from hiding in the tree in some pain. However, she lands perfectly and graciously on the ground, almost as if she were floating before her feet touched the ground and dropping to her knees
"Velvet!" Link rushes to the rabbit faunus' side as soon as he lands on the ground too. "Are you okay?!"
"Oh yes I'm fine, you just got me that's all." Velvet looks up and smiles
Velvet then reveals it's her hands that were caught by one of the aerial spinning slashes, but in reality they are relatively unharmed as her aura protects her from real damage. The team CFVY member rises up to her feet, her bright smile remains as she fully extends her hands for them to be seen unharmed. The girl's larger than life smile come from a place of happiness with herself for embracing the challenge that comes from sparring someone with an unfamiliar fighting style to her, a sense of newly acquired confidence, and finally a sense of relief as she is getting closer and earning more trust from Link
"Thank goodness." The boy sighs in relief. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, it's truly okay. We're training and helping each other out. You wanted to work on the moves you already know along with improving your speed and I wanted to improve my elusiveness and dodging."
"I still don't understand why you focus on that." Link raises an eyebrow. "You are very fast already in my opinion and that is considering that ninety-six percent of people at Beacon alone haven't even seen your real speed."
"Well, I said elusiveness first. When we fight monsters whether it's because of missions or your class when you did the initiation exam. You were all sent to the Emerald Forest, which could be a good environment for someone like Blake. But what about someone like... Weiss? She is used to combat arenas and classrooms. Or in other words, a perfectly set environment where there's no elevating and steep terrains, no trees, mountains, water, anything." Velvet speaks with enthusiasm and passion. "Going back to my original point, the environment around us is always going to be different and that also applies to the Vytal Festival. The arena we will compete in is custom made to be able to change the terrain around us. The most I get to train with you, Coco, Fox, or Yatsuhashi in the combat room inside Beacon, out here in the courtyard, when we get deployed on a mission, you name it. The more experience I get under my belt against different opponents on different terrains, the stronger I will become." She looks her friend directly in the eyes. "What about you?"
"Wow..." Link's mouth drops in shock. "That's very articulate and really well said. I don't even know how to even top something like that, but I will start with my speed. I am only deceptively fast which a lot of people don't really grasp. My speed has been compared to Ruby's, Blake's, Ren's or even yours for that matter. And believe me I would love to be as fast as you three but I am not there yet. I have my moments of quickness but it's not consistent at all. This is me helping myself and trying to improve my speed, by training with someone who is clearly faster than me. The 'working on the moves I already know' part is self explanatory, but I can add onto it now that I heard you speak. Every scenario is different, every opponent is different, and small adjustments can make the difference between an attack landing or missing. In other situations a small mistake could lead to losing a fight and I don't really know how to wrap this up other than to copy what you said. The more experience I get by training by getting better at what I know now and sparring with as many people as I can, the stronger I will be in the near future."
"Well I must say fantastic job overall." Velvet says as she sounds like she almost gasps. "And I don't just mean your explanation. It was excellent, don't get me wrong, I am also talking about you and the skills you displayed out here today. It was an amazing training session and I hope to do it again very soon."
"Thank you." Link nods while he sheaths his sword and places his shield in its stationary spot on his back and above his sword
"No seriously, it's important to me that you hear this feedback. Your aim, technique with your sword, and speed has come a long way in just the first semester. Granted, I haven't gotten to see you every time you got involved in some sort of fight but I can just tell you have more confidence than before."
"That's really nice and good to hear. Professor Port once described me as someone who could be the best huntsman in the world but I would never claim that title because of how much I doubt myself and lack of confidence. He's not exactly wrong but at the time I took his comments to heart. That's another thing that should probably change about me, having thicker skin. Anyway sorry to keep rambling, thank you. My focus this semester was not completely on mastering my craft so I'm glad to be showing improvement regardless." Link speaks confidently at first but his last words turn into whispers
"Huh?" Velvet looks at him alarmingly
"N-nothing! Thanks for training with me." Link smiles and gives the girl a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I'm grateful I have many people to train with."
"No problem, I could use the training as well." She laugh
"You'll be fine. Besides, the skills you show now should already be something to look out for." Link nods. "And, the more people underestimate you, the better."
"How come?" Velvet looks puzzled when the last words come out of her friend's mouth
"Because when and not if, but when you show what you really can do, you'll never be doubted again." Link smiles/ "Even I don't know your full potential in a potential fight, but I'm excited to see it as a spectator. The world of Remnant is not ready for you."
"Stop, you're just buttering me up now." Velvet nodded "But Thank you. I do have one last question before we head inside. Will you be joining my team for lunch today? We are going to eat outside and not in the cafeteria."
"Normally I would jump at this opportunity, but I'm sorry Velvet I cannot join you and your team today." Link sighs. "Ruby asked me to join her team and team JNPR for lunch." He nervously chuckles. "And I kind of promised them I would too."
"Oh..." Velvet looks down
"But if you want I can-!"
"No it's okay." Velvet shakes her head. "You promised and we can't go around breaking promises like they mean nothing. Maybe tomorrow we can eat together?"
"Yes! Most certainly." Link squats to be eye level with the disappointed girl. "I promise."
"R-really?" Velvet looks up and almost takes a step back out of instinct when she is inches away from Link's face
"Of course and like you said a promise-!"
Suddenly, the one man team stops talking as he feels a shocking sensation flow throughout his body, his vision goes black for a split second before he sees Beacon, the courtyard and Velvet perfectly. However, he still feels stuck and when he tries to speak out loud his mouth lacks the function to push out the remaining words of his sentence to Velvet
(Hey, kid... I know you can hear me stupid!)
(What do you want now?) Link frowns (I thought you only come out when I'm in distress or angry at something or someone. It could also be possible you only come out during fights. You tell me...)
(That doesn't matter. You know damn well what happened weeks ago is not an isolated incident. Something else is going on in this stupid town... and while I don't care if 'innocent' people get hurt, you know I love danger and the idea of killing people who deserve it!)
(Not now. I don't really care about what happened with Roman Torchwick, the priority was finding Blake and bringing her back to Beacon. Whatever else may be going on isn't my concern and it doesn't even involve me. Besides, I'm with Velvet right now, go away.) Link shakes his head
(Alright then your loss idiot. But if there's more danger looming around and you aren't there to prevent it, that'll make you a bad huntsman now wouldn't it? The choice is yours. Hehehe...)
"Link?" Velvet asks when her fellow Beacon classmate is still tense and hasn't moved in about fifteen seconds
"Leave me the hell alone." Link blurts out and responds by covering his mouth too late
"O-oh!" Velvet takes a step back. "I'm sorry. I didn't know I was annoying you. If you changed your mind about tomorrow, that is okay."
"H-huh?" Link's eyes widen. "N-no Velvet that wasn't for you I just-!"
"I should go. My team is waiting for me." Velvet slowly walks away but decides to turn back to speak once more. "I'm sorry that I caught you at a bad time. Thank you for the spar, I had a lot of fun."
"Velvet wait..." Link growls with anger as he walks away, his apparent anger does not help his case as Velvet walks faster
(Hehehe, nice one kid. Really well done there. So, how about now?)
"Not a chance." Link whispers despite not needing to be quiet, he also proceeds to walk away and goes the opposite direction of Velvet
Far off in the distance, Professors Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch observe the one person team, their finished drinks imply that they had been watching over him and Velvet for some time now
"He really is quite the interesting boy, isn't he?" Glynda speaks as she and Ozpin observe him
"Truly. Another marvelous addition to our students here at Beacon. When we're done teaching and molding him to be even stronger and wiser than he is now, he will be one of Remnant's greatest protectors."
"Is that so? You see so much potential in him, even over someone like Miss Nikos, why?" Glynda pushes her glasses back as the slide down her nose about half an inch
"Hm..." Ozpin weakly smiles. "We will all see it in due time, just know that I made the right decision. But for now, there's much more to him that nobody knows about."
"What makes you say that? Did he not tell you anything about himself when you talked to him?" Glynda asks. "Because all we know about him is rumors and those are not reliable."
"Not at all. The only valuable information he shared with me was that he did jobs for a price, so as a young boy he was a mercenary. When did he start? Only he knows. How long was he a mercenary? Same answer as the previous question."
"And why is that all the information you got? Also, what does that have to do with-!"
"Why is that valuable you might be gearing to ask?" Ozpin keeps the same expression, showing little to no concern. "He has done jobs as a mercenary... everywhere."
"You don't think he had anything to do with the White Fang like Miss Belladonna did?" Glynda's eyes partially widen. "Or perhaps he was associated with-!"
"I will not speculate any further than I already have in my head. All I suggest is we keep a close eye on him. He may just be sixteen and a student, but I do know that he is very skilled for someone who was not traditionally trained. As you recalled too, he has shown to be deadly if he truly wanted to be. We need to find out more about him, this will confirm or dispute if the rumors are true. While also telling us where he stands, if he wants to protect the world or stain it with malice."
Glynda nods her head and agrees with what her longtime friend and boss says, although she ponders carefully what Ozpin just said, trying to decipher the vagueness of it. Ultimately, the two of them soon exchange nods before walking away as the person they were observing has left to go inside the school.
Later on: Beacon Academy, The Cafeteria
"Hey everybody, sorry I'm late." Link waves as he finds a seat next to Jaune
"Hello." Pyrrha waves happily
"Helloooooooooooooo..." Nora cheers with a big grin on her face as she pulls back on a plastic spoon that holds a grape
Ren does not greet Link verbally but still nods and waves his hand with a slight smile
"Hi." Jaune mumbles with his head down, he is visibly tired and the only reason the team JNPR leader is awake right now is Pyrrha
"Heyo!" Yang waves at the same time a grape lands in her mouth
"Greetings." Weiss says formally but without looking at the newcomer to the table
Blake says nothing and unlike Ren, she does not look up to wave or nod her head, instead the quiet girl is looking at her notebook which looks more like an actual book than a traditional notebook
"Whatcha doin?" Yang leans over Blake's shoulder as so did Weiss. "Cause our friend just arrived and you didn't even say hi."
"O-oh..." Blake looks up and warmly smiles at Link. "Hey. As for what I'm doing..." She mumbles and notices the attention her 'notes' are getting from both Yang and Weiss. Within a second, the cat faunus hastily closes her notebook. "Nothing, just going over notes from last semester."
"Lame!" Yang chuckles as she opens her mouth, waiting for another grape the her mouth courtesy of Nora
Nora giggles as she follows through and tosses another grape at the blonde girl with her spoon. Yang catches the fruit with ease and gives Nora a big thumbs up.
"So, where's Ruby?" Link asks
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jaune chuckles and raises both of his eyebrows
"Very funny."
"The real answer is we are not sure. We haven't seen her since this morning. Even you got here before she did and normally you are always the last one to arrive." Weiss mumbles, then turns to face Link after seemingly ignoring his presence earlier. "So where were you today that made you late? Lazing around in your dorm? Having to complete more missed assignments? Or perhaps starting more fights in the dorm hallways?"
"Hey you said how I handled Cardin and his team was nice." Link turns his head in confusion
"M-maybe. BUT! That still isn't how a professional student should act." Weiss stammers and turns away from him once more
"I see. Well to answer your question, none of them above. I was actually training with Velvet in the courtyard and before you say anything, yes we could just train in the combat room but we both like the outdoors so it works out for everyone."
"Oh..." Weiss rubs her chin. "That's actually a great use of your time. And don't worry I won't judge where you decide to train. I just simply wished my team loved to train more together."
"Hey we're pretty sick as it is." Yang says while throwing up a 'call me' sign on her left hand a 'rock n roll' sign on her right
"While that may be true... we could always improve or hone our skills at least."
"Ugh, I can't stand the word training anymore." Jaune groans
"What are you talking about? We just trained the other night." Link chuckles
"Yeah and do you have any idea how exhausting it is to spar you AND Pyrrha back to back." The JNPR leader lowers his head to the table. "Oh did I forget to mention back to back again? Because that's exactly what happened. Overtraining is a thing guys."
"No." Link shakes his head. "But you should know how pri-!"
"Jaune!" Weiss slams her palm on the table. "Do you have any idea how much of an honor is it to get private training from Link and Pyrrha? You do know they're the top ranked rookies right?"
"There's rankings?" Jaune raises an eyebrow
"Y-yes Jaune." Pyrrha sighs. "Each year has their own rankings, check your scroll it updates almost every week."
"Ohhh." Jaune nods as he is slow to follow along. "You're number one Pyrrha? Wow! Congratulations!"
"She's been ranked number one since the start of the year you nitwit!" Weiss grunts
"And Link have you been rank number two all semester?" Jaune asks
"I have no idea, I don't really look at that stuff." Link shrugs. "I suppose you could say I'm playing the long game. Not focusing on stuff like ranking and being the number one rookie. I just want to be the strongest warrior by the time we all graduate."
"I must say, that's a good way to think and prepare yourself for the future as opposed to putting all your focus on now. I must say it's very noble." Pyrrha smiles.
"To some..." Weiss shakes her head. "So how did this sparring session go?"
"How did it go?" Link looks directly at Weiss in the eyes and a smile starts creeping up on his face
"DON'T!" Jaune shakes his head
"It's okay Jaune, practice only makes us better." Pyrrha looks the three team RWBY members sitting across from her and gives them nods
Flashback: Beacon Academy, Dorm Room Rooftop
"Let's go Jaune!" Link says as he confidently twirls his sword around his left hand
"E-easy for you to say." Jaune huffs loudly as he is on one knee
"What's that supposed to mean?" Pyrrha says with an amused look on her face as she observes the two huntsmen about to face off for a third time. "Don't tell me you're tired already."
"N-no! Maybe..." Jaune looks at the ground and attempts to slow his breathing, but to avail. "Why don't you and Link go at it?"
"We can but how would that help you improve?" Pyrrha giggles
"I can watch and take notes?" Jaune looks up to both of them with hope in his eyes
"Okay good point." Link chuckles. "But not good enough, come on. I know you've already stood up for yourself against jerks like Cardin but if you don't want him coming back and harassing you ever again, let's get stronger shall we?"
"R-right!" Jaune gets up and stands on shaky legs
"Jaune." Pyrrha speaks. "Look at Link's stance. I am not saying to copy it but look at how he stands for someone in a neutral position. Wide stance, one leg forward to attack, a second leg further back if he has to defend or retreat. Your stance is not wide and your legs are too close together. You are not well prepared for offense, defense or to even be in a neutral stance."
"Thank you Pyrrha. Let's see if this is any better." Jaune widens his stance a bit and bends his knees
"It's a start." Link nods in approval. "Now then, do you want to meet in the middle, should I attack you or you attack me?"
"Meet in the middle." Jaune nods back and charges forward
Link does not respond but reaches the middle faster and raises his shield to see how much strength the other blonde boy has. When Jaune brings his sword, one half of his weapons, Crocea Mors down to collide metal with Link, one thing becomes very clear. Despite being untrained and getting into Beacon with forged transcripts, he has plenty of physical strength and for a moment pushes back on Link's shield. But the one person team firmly stands his ground and eventually breaks the tension by pushing back with his shield awkwardly and it works to perfection as Jaune stumbles back. One smirk later and Link is now on the attack, he implores Jaune to raise his shield or else his aura will have to do plenty of work to protect him from incoming strikes. The lost leader glances over at Pyrrha, who quickly helps by throwing her arms up and over her face in an X, but with his left not turned over. Jaune quickly adapts and holds his shield in front of him, while doing so he brings his sword behind the shield and holds it with all the strength he has in his body. The blocking technique Pyrrha shows him on the fly is intended to add extra weight and stability by using an offensive weapon to help back up the defense weapon. Link begins with a charging jumping slash that collides with Jaune shield. No test of strength occurs as Link takes a step back and attacks again: A simple slash across the body, but it's blocked successfully too. As the sword is fully across, Link brings it back with precise speed to perform a backwards slash. However, this attack also falls short as Jaune precisely moves his shield perfectly with the enemy's sword. Link nods in approval and as his sword is now at his head level when he brings it back to himself, the boy doesn't stop there and finishes his off his opening sequence with a direct sword jab. His left arm thrusts forward and sword surges forward
"Ahh!" Jaune shouts as he does block the direct jab of the sword but the power and speed breaks his otherwise stiff but wobbly stance
"I got you now!" Link says with no intention to harm Jaune but to teach him a valuable lesson
Link drops his shield to the ground and brings his left elbow and sword up to head level again. This time, both hands grip the purple of the sword that looks like it hasn't ever been damaged in its existence and gets in a wider stance. With a bent left leg and fully extended right left, the rookie huntsman shows this next attack will have more power than the previous four as he shakes with some tension. Jaune brings his shield up to block as Link lunges forward, bringing his entire body forward, with his left leg and arm advancing the most. This sword swing is powerful and smashes into Jaune's shield, the momentum and power so great that it almost knocks the shield out of his hands. The second slash is incoming with even more power as Link turns his body to the right, both arms and sword shift behind him. After a second or two, the boy with spiky blonde hair steps forward with his entire body advancing again, this time it's his right leg and foot that steps forward, he lets go of the sword with his right hand and brings it across for a powerful slash with only his left. Unfortunately, Jaune isn't ready to block this one, during the time Link sets up his next slash, the boy with longer and straighter hair takes too long to adjust and raise his shield...
"..." Pyrrha says nothing but watches in 'shock' before slightly raising her right hand, black aura emerges slyly
Time feels like it slows down but in reality Jaune does have his shield going in the right direction but not fast enough to block a sword strike that is so fast and powerful, Jaune's eyes follow the afterimage of the sword while not realizing the sword was mere inches from his body. Fortunately, some assistance comes his way as his shield illuminates with the same black color as Pyrrha's hand and in the split that Link's sword is about to make contact with Jaune's body, the shield is redirected not perfectly but just enough to make direct contact with Link's sword and block the attack to the best of his abilities
"Oomph!" Jaune exclaims as he does not withstand the full attack and falls to the ground as the power is too much, although he does come out of the exchange unscathed. "My balance could use a lot of work, but at least my swordsmanship and shield usage is getting better, right guys?"
"Actually-!" Link begins to speak
"Actually it's more than getting better, you were exceptional today." Pyrrha speaks proudly
"R-really?" Jaune looks happy as he sits up
"Yeah, Pyrrha said it better than I could have." Link nods and picks up his shield. "Speaking of her. Pyrrha, do you want to take over? This should probably be Jaune's last session before he passes out from exhaustion."
"Of course. Will you be staying?" Pyrrha asks
"No I don't think I will, but I do have some homework for you Jaune." Link puts his sword and shield away and walks off
"Yeah?" What do you got for me?" Jaune gets up to his knees and begins to rest as much as he can before his spar with Pyrrha
"What you saw from me, Pyrrha said you don't have to copy it but I'd like you to try and copy it, from the different stances I showed down to the finest detail of let us say exact leg placement." Link stops when he's side by side with Pyrrha. "Is that too much to ask for?"
"No at all." Pyrrha shakes her head and smiles. "We will work on that the next time Jaune and I train together."
"Next time I see you up here Link, I think you might be surprised." Jaune makes a fist with his right hand, with a determined look is in his eyes
"Train hard!" Link nods and turns to face the wisest member of team JNPR. "Pyrrha." He shows her a smile and a nods
"Link." Pyrrha makes eye contact, smiles, and nods too
Link leaves and heads back inside the dorm room building, whilst walking to his dorm he wonders if he should have told Jaune how the last attack was blocked. Soon enough, he shakes his head and knows that Jaune needs help and while he cannot be babied all the time, being too rough can hinder him too
End of Flashback: Beacon Academy, The Cafeteria
"Wow..." Weiss looks at Jaune and nods in approval. "Nicely done."
"I know right?" Jaune laughs. "I couldn't believe it either."
"Maybe because-!" Link lets out a small chuckle as Pyrrha shoots him a quick glance. "You've really improved ever since you stood up to Cardin and you gained some confidence that's really flourishing."
"Perhaps yes." Pyrrha smiles and mouths the words 'thank you' to him
Ruby comes into the picture, immediately struggling and with an enormous heave, slams an extremely thick binder onto the table, which catches everyone off guard. On the cover of the binder is written 'Vytal Festival Activities, Property of Weiss Schnee.' as the main title but it has now been crudely crossed out with what looks to be red spray paint but is more than likely a red marker. With the same red color, a new title, "Best Day Ever Activities!" is now written underneath
"Ugh! FINALLY! " Ruby leans over, huffs and puffs for a few seconds and then whips her head up and looks around her "Ehem..." She clears her throat. "Hello everybody, I will now take the floor because I have an important announcement. AHEM!"
All attention is now drawn to her, except for Nora and Yang who are listening but still play with their food in the process
"Sisters." Ruby waves her right arm towards Yang and Blake, "Friends." She waves her left arm to Link and team JNPR and then her happy expression drops. "Weiss..."
"Hey!" Weiss offendedly crosses her arms
"Four score and seven minutes ago" Ruby raises her right hand, extends an index finger and shakes her wrist. "I had a dream..."
"This ought to be good." Yang whispers to Blake as she catches another piece of fruit, it was red so not grapes but a berry instead
"Wow. Look at this thing." Link says as he is in disbelief over how big and heavy the binder is. "You two really outdid yourselves this time." He says to Ruby and Weiss, then begins laughing as he picks up a piece of wood from the ground that broke off the cafeteria table
"What do you mean by 'us two' what's going on?" Weiss raises her head and tries to look at the binder for herself
"Shush!" Ruby shakes her head and dismisses her teammate. "As I was saying, a dream that one day, the four of us could come together as a team, and have the most fun anyone has ever had...e-ever!"
"Now you've done it!" Weiss frowns as she finally notices. "When did you steal my binder?!"
"Ah! ah! ah!" Ruby wags her finger. "I am not a crook."
"Forget the binder. What are you talking about?" Blake questions her leader with intrigue in her eyes
"I'm talking about kicking the semester off with a Bang." Ruby says while she zooms over to be directly in front the cat faunus and poke her cheek
"I see what you're talking about sis." Yang clears her throat. "But I always kick my semesters off with a Yang! Eh? Get it? Guys? Am I right?"
"Boooooo!" Nora disapproves of the pun and a millisecond later she launches a red apple that hits Yang directly in the face
"Grrr..." Yang glares at Nora and tosses a green apple but is not fast enough to hit her intended target, but does however hit a poor student behind Nora who wasn't even involved
"Hey!"
"Sorry!" Yang sighs
"Look guys, it's been a good two weeks. Considering what happened with the docks and all that, it's got me thinking. That guy got away, we still haven't seen Penny again or Sun even. And between more exchange students arriving and the tournament at the end of the year I think-!"
"A tournament Pyrrha or Link will most likely win." Jaune sighs. "Which is still a win for Beacon so the most someone like me will have to do is help plan the festivities."
"I wouldn't be too sure about any of that Jaune." Link shrugs "Pyrrha is better than me and besides us two, there's all the guys and girls in years above us with more experience. Besides, there are many people I still haven't faced yet and I haven't even decided if I want to participate. So I would take my name out of consideration."
"Don't sell yourself short Jaune. A win for Beacon is a win for us all, no matter how you perform in the tournament." Pyrrha puts an assuring hand of support on Jaune's shoulder and smiles sweetly at him before she looks up at Link. "It would be a true shame if you didn't participate in the tournament. I hope you reconsider before it is too late."
"That's what I said!" Weiss calls out and nearly gets the entire cafeteria's attention on her. The heiress, originally planning on speaking further, ultimately stops herself and sits down
"Anyway." Ruby commands Jaune, Link, and Pyrrha to quiet down. "Our second semester is going to be great. But classes start back up tomorrow and we hate classes isn't that right? Don't answer because it's a rhetorical question. This is why I took my time getting here, I've taken the time to schedule a series of wonderful events for us today."
"Wow... I don't know whether to be proud or scared of what you have in store." Weiss smiles warmly
"I don't know... I think I might sit this one out." Blake mumbled
"Hmm..." Weiss picks up her head and gets a full glimpse at the binder. "You didn't have to scribble over it with a marker? If you wanted to use it then just use it!"
"But then how would my plans be official?" Ruby scratches her head in confusion
"She's got a point." Link smirks
"No she does no-!" Weiss balls up her hand in front of her mouth. "You are just messing with me, aren't you?"
"Maybe." Link nods
"Ugh! Whatever." Weiss looks over her shoulder directly into Blake's eyes. "Sit out or not, I think however we spend this last day we should do it as a team."
"Grrr, stay still!" Yang angrily throws more apples at Nora
"I got it!" Nora giggles as she easily evades more delicious projectiles, angering the blonde huntress in training
"Huh?" Link turns around eyes all the annoyed students who are pelted by apples
"Well!" Weiss stands up firmly. "I for one think that-!"
SPLAT!
Weiss is completely interrupted with no way to prevent it by a lemon meringue pie landing on her and not just on her, but directly in her face. Luckily for the heiress, it was thrown with minimal strength so only the cream remains on her face when the pie slides down and off. All eyes turn to the other side of the table where Link and team JNPR are sitting, it becomes clear that Nora was the one who threw the pie. The huntress who is caught red handed sits down and points at Ren who has his face in both of his palms. Pyrrha's hand is over her mouth in shock, Jaune is simply staring with wide eyed while Link's mouth is wide open in shock
"Uh oh..." Link sighs, the boy knows things are only going to escalate from here
The next thing that comes is the instigation, Nora blames red despite it being very obvious that she did it. After that fails and leaves the orange haired girl with not one but angry people at her in Yang and Weiss, Nora attempts to blame Pyrrha. None of this works and it only gets worse when another student unfamiliar to team RWBY, JNPR, or Link stands up on his table and cups his mouth to scream
"FOOD FIGHT!"
"YEAH!" Yang acts first by jumping on the table her team and her friends were sitting at
She grabs Jaune by his blazer and flings him across the cafeteria, where he faceplants directly into a window but surprisingly does not shatter it. The rest of the cafeteria ignites in cheers and chaos as a majority of the students attempt to exit all at once while the rest throw all the food they have on their tray
"Wait guys, maybe we shouldn't do this..." Link carefully backs up and feels grateful that he chose to be in his gear and not in uniform today, his shields comes in handy immediately when fruit and milk comes his way. "What the-! When did they-! What am I witnessing right now?"
The students who decided to stay quickly regret their choice and also bolt out of the cafeteria which then turned into a full blown stampede out the door past Sun and what seems to be a friend of his, he spots spiky messy blue hair, goggles above his eyes, a white dress shirt and black tie underneath a red coat, with his bottoms consisting of blue pants with black padding and black shoes. The latter of two is looking worried and shocked at what he is witnessing also. By the time Link is done dealing with food throwing at him by other students, along with Sun and his new friend entering the cafeteria, team JNPR are seen standing on stop a tower of tables stacked like a house of cards
"Ahahahahaha!" Nora laughs. "I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" She chants while standing tall on top of the mountain of tables, with three soda machines at the bottom acting like barriers
"Justice will be swift, justice will be painful, it will be delicious!" Ruby pointed at Nora as she squeezes all of the milk out of a carton
"Alright then, talk about sitting it out." Link executes a smooth backflip and also shuffles backwards to avoid the crossfire. "I don't want to be just another person running out of here, but which side will I take?"
"Hmph!" Nora jumps down, seemingly intending to land on the ground. "Off with their heads." She says whilst glancing at a section of watermelons
"I should have accepted Velvet's offer." Link shakes his head
The one man team does stick around to watch, observing Ren spin kick three watermelons, Jaune only launches one, but the flip is impressive, he shows again that athleticism is one thing he has down. Pyrrha launches two watermelons herself and Nora launches a whole table's worth of watermelon's when she drops all the way down and lands on a table holding many of the black seeded fruit. Her force and power flips the entire table over and launches at team RWBY
"Oh who am I kidding, I'm on my own." Link chuckles. "It wouldn't hurt helping both of them if I need to."
"Yang turkey!" Ruby shouts, then Yang flips over and perfectly transitions to slip her hands inside two conveniently placed turkeys.
The boldest member of team RWBY pounds her fists together and begins punching all the watermelon's away and after plenty of success, she also launches her turkeys at Pyrrha who easily dodges and unknowingly lets Jaune take both of the hits and goes down for the count. Blake follows up by grabbing two breadsticks and rushes Pyrrha, who also has a breadstick in her hands now
"Sometime today would be nice..." Link frowns and jumps in the air, deciding to be neutral by catching sandwiches that are flying through the air. He swiftly grabs about six or seven with both hands, utilizing the technique he was practicing on with earlier in the day, he spins in place and launched them like projectiles towards Pyrrha and Blake who were mid breadstick swing
Blake instead of backing up to avoid the incoming projectiles of 'doom', throws a breadstick that easily repels all of the incoming sandwiches away, not focusing on Pyrrha who takes a free and easy shot at Blake, directly hitting her and sending her flying back into a pile of about 3 tables, food and plates scatter every and the tables get bulldozed by the flying girl
"Well then..." Link smirks as he touches the ground. "Wasn't that easy, Pyrrha?"
Pyrrha however pays no attention to Link and focuses on Yang. The powerful red haired huntress launches more breadsticks Yang's way, who does manage to smash through a few of them before being hit and sent back, sliding backwards back first due to her speed and the floors now becoming slippery
(Are you going to do something? Or are you going to sit here and worry like a little girl?) The dark voice mumbled
(Why are you just talking to me freely? We aren't friends and I don't need you.) Link frowns as he watches Ruby and Pyrrha go at it
Ruby uses a food tray to slide on a table cleanly and with any struggle towards Pyrrha who is directly across the table. The latter launches another breadstick this time aiming for Ruby, but the former is quicker on her tray that she rides like a skateboard. She grabs onto the tray with her hands, springs in the air and smashes the tray into the breadstick, sending it back to Pyrrha, who dodges without any issues. However, she is unable to stop Ruby's next move. The youngest huntress in Beacon continues using the tray to slide after deflecting the breadstick. When she reaches the edge of the table, she jumps in the air again, this time the tray stays on her feet as she collides into Pyrrha. The moment is tense for about two seconds as Pyrrha holds her ground and blocks the tray and Ruby but not for long as it gets to be too much. It also does not help when Ruby launches herself off the tray, which sends Pyrrha backwards
"Alright let's see how this goes." Link gets behind team JNPR and rushes in behind Ren and Nora
What the three of them do not notice is Ruby jumping behind Weiss, who unloads a container of ketchup all over the floor. Ren does not catch on at all, slips, falls on his back, and slides away, eventually crashing into tables. Link also initially slips but he manages to keep his balance and in the end, slides calmly on his knees and avoids crashing into tables. Nora meanwhile, perfectly avoids the ketchup despite running in front of Link. She jumps in the air, grabs a pole that would normally hold up a banner and sticks it directly into a watermelon, making herself a makeshift hammer. The chipper girl giggles before she slams her 'hammer' into the ground, aiming at Weiss to take the impact of it. But Ruby makes the save by jumping in front of Weiss and taking the hit for her. The team RWBY leader cannot do much to stop the aftershock of the hit and is sent crashing into Link, who had just stopped sliding on the floor
"Hey Ruby." Link waves as he lies flat on his back
"Link!" Ruby's eyes widen when she realizes she is on top of Link "S-sorry. You're kind of just taking friendly fire from both sides."
"No no, it's fair game, besides if anything, I'm surprised you didn't attack me."
Link smiles at her, but their conversation is cut short when they see Weiss slam into a pillar due to a direct one on one fight with Nora, despite having a swordfish for a weapon, Nora's watermelon hammer proves to be too much when she spins in place repeatedly. Weiss attempts to block every hit but eventually her defensive form breaks and Nora slams Weiss in the stomach with the 'hammer' which breaks the watermelon from the sheer strength its wielder uses
"Ruby!" Link points at Weiss who falls rapidly
"I'M ON IT." Ruby nods and speeds away to catch Weiss and save her from any further damage that would have been caused by the crushed pillar pieces dropping
"Wow, she is a good leader... throwing herself in harm's way for a teammate" Link smiles in awe
"Weiss! Weiss! Don't leave me NOOO!" Ruby shouts in a very dramatic fashion as the pillar falls behind them
"I... spoke too soon" Link facepalms sarcastically
"Anyways." Link eyes Yang, who grabs two more turkeys and sprints at Ren, "I should move in but knowing those two they'll just turn all their offense on me and I will be toast."
Yang gets another one on one duel, this time with Ren, who wields a pair of leeks. Ren, despite showing more technique with his superior martial arts, is overwhelmed by Yang's power and for every hit she takes, the blonde returns twice the to Ren before she sends him about ten into the air with a strong uppercut. Ren recovers from the uppercut and throws his leeks at Yang like kunai knives, but she dodges them and proceeds to finish off Ren by jumping high in the air, ending up above the latter. She smirks and punches Ren in the back, he falls and slams to the ground, officially knocking him out cold
"Oooh... that'll leave a mark." Link mumbles and stays back when he sees Nora come in to save the day and get revenge for Ren when she wields another "hammer" which is just another watermelon on a metal pole directly onto Yang, with enough power to send Yang flying through the ceiling of the cafeteria
(Would you stop being so passive, this is boring! Prove to these kids that you should be feared!)
(It's a food fight, not a fight to the death.) Link frowns and shakes his head, when he looks back up, Nora is seen with her back against a soda machine
"More projectiles are incoming." Link glances at who nora is setting her sights on
It is Blake, who looks ready for anything that is coming her way next. But what she did not expect Nora to do is repeatedly kick the soda machines and wait for dozens of soda cans to pop out. Nora picks up as many shaken up cans as she and launches them at Blake, they pop instantly upon making contact
"Ah!" Blake backflips away when identifies Nora's maximum range at which she can throw the cans, therefore making it easier for her to dodge or completely avoiding anymore soda cans tossed by Nora
Pyrrha however thinks to act differently and rather than use her strength to throw the soda cans, she uses her polarity to her advantage. And soon enough, a huge swarm of soda cans that could be confused for a swarm of bees or wasps rises in the air spins around, and are all tossed at Blake consecutively
"So we are using abilities? Alright then Pyrrha... Two can play at that game!" Link shouts as he sprints to Blake, touches arm and then proceeds to stand in front of her. The boy shuts his eyes and concentrates, his body glows with a faint gold aura. Link raises his arms in front of Blake protectively, and within seconds, her body glows with this gold aura as well
"What are you-!" Blake's eyes narrow in anger
"Just let me help please." Link demands as the incoming firepower of full soda cans flies at them, most of them bounce off of them when they make contact and the rest miss
"Oh Pyrrha, trying to use your special ability to take down Blake, that's a bit unfair, it's just a food fight." Link grins but next comes to a surprise, Blake is resisting the help and shaking her head
"Hey!" Link shouts. "What are you-!"
"I can fight on my own." Blake insists
"Fair enough. Goodluck." Link nods
He watches Blake zoom to the side with her impressive speed, only to watch her get swarmed by the soda cans, the impact of the cans makes her lose balance and even sends her airborne. The cat faunus is driven into the wall by the force of all the cans as all of them collide with her, she is covered in sugary carbonated water and so is the wall behind her. What comes next is not pretty as Blake takes damage from the cans, slamming into the wall, and eventually she hits the ground back first
"I tried to help..." Link can't help but laugh a bit as Blake doesn't take any real damage besides hitting the ground roughly. He lets out a sigh and moves in for another sequence, only to stop himself and realize he is gassed. Covering himself and Blake with his aura took more of a toll than he expected, and completely repelling all the soda cans doesn't help his case either
"Hmph." Ruby gives Pyrrha a frown when she sees her teammate hit the ground and gets in a sprinters stance, leaving team JNPR to look confused
"Damn, despite doing nothing I'm actually a bit tired." Link's 'visible aura' vanishes, he has a smile on his face until the one person team sees what was coming next, it was Ruby...
Ruby, the last remaining member of her team, takes off as fast as she can with her regular speed; this alone causes a large gust of wind to form behind her. The girl then activates her semblance, 'Petal Burst' to dash through the food court, causing everything to follow her like a massive tornado by her overwhelming speed. She spins like a torpedo missile, increasing the power of the food tornado into a hurricane that is aimed directly in front of her. Which in results, means that it is aimed perfectly at Link and team JNPR
"Oh shit..." Link's eyes go wide but his sharp instincts help him get out of harm's way rather than freeze up and take the hit like team JNPR, who were caught in the strong wind and food hurricane, "Wow." He looks on and observes the cracked wall that was now colorful and has the four team JNPR members on it, who promptly flop over and fall to the ground. "Well then, it's definitely over now."
"I love these guys." Sun exclaims, he is completely untouched and amused. Meanwhile, his friend has his face covered in purple soda and he does not look amused with Sun
SLAM!
The sound of doors opening echo throughout the entire cafeteria as a growling Glynda Goodwitch storms in through the open doors. Glynda, with just one wave of her weapon, proceeds to fix the entire mess with the huntress' semblance 'telekinesis' to quickly reorganize the room. All the messed up tables, broken pillar, tipped over soda machines, plates, everything that is out of place.
"Children. Please." Glynda mumbles as she adjusts her glasses that slide down after all the work she does to repair the cafeteria. "Do not play with your food!"
"Wow... that's it?" Link whispers as he joins JNPR and RWBY, who were all in for a shock until Yang comes crashing down and smashing through a table. That in itself causes an eruption of laughter from all three teams who have no hard feelings despite being in the most serious food fight to ever occur
"This place always seems to have more surprises every day." Link smiles and walked up to a laughing Blake
"Hey Link." Blake mumbles softly, the cat faunus realizes what she did wrong earlier. "Sorry about denying your fault, I-!"
"Don't mention it." Link cuts her off and smiles. "I get that. When we're under pressure, we do..."
"Stupid things?" Blake raises an eyebrow
"Mhm." Link nods "I just wanted to let you know then that I got your back. And I always will too."
"Thank you." Blake nods
(You are such a boring kid. And why were you so passive? Why did you waste my time and energy too? You should have gone-!)
(Be quiet. I will never go off on my friends, there is no need to. For someone who is pure evil, you sure ask a lot of questions. And hey it's my aura too I can use it whenever and however I like.) Link sighs and tries to block out this strange creepy voice from his head
(For now that is...)
(Never. in your dreams) Link frowns. (Leave me alone will ya?)
(Now we both know I can't do that. No matter how good you strive to be now, your past speaks for itself.)
(Will you just begone already...) Link growls as he puts on a fake smile and rejoins the festivities
(9/23/17) Edited: Deleted unnecessary lines added in editing that's been fixed with every other chapter before this one.