The 'Lone' Hero of Vale (RWBY & Link)

by SRenthusiast

Team RWBY runs into a classmate while on a self-assigned mission, when they realize he does not have any teammates because he is a one person team. Link quickly proves he's not just a swordsman and is very much worthy of calling himself a huntsman despite a dark past that correlates with major events. (More of a fusionfic since its Link in Remnant.) (Story is undergoing re-writes)

27. Link vs SLVR: Uncovering more secrets

Continent of Sanus: Amity Colosseum

It is time for a fight between none other than two teams who have faced off before as during the prior day, Skylar, Leon, Violet, and Ryker executed a near flawless sneak attack on Weiss Schnee. However, their efforts soon fell apart when Link stepped in to help the defenseless girl, who did not have her weapon on her when the assault took place. After a brief exchange between the blonde one person team and two members of the team, Blake Belladonna stepped in to reprimand them for attacking humans unprovoked and making faunus look like wild animals, a stigma assigned to them by humans who shamelessly discriminate against faunus. Nevertheless, now it is time to settle the unresolved fight once and for all, with it being conveniently set as the last fight by a scheming Cinder Fall, who has the access to play the matchmaker and more, after successfully hacking the Beacon CCT tower at the dance months ago

"Here we are, the final match of the first round, we have Team SLVR! The all faunus team from Haven Academy. Team SLVR is one of the dark horses of the tournament, with their different styles of weapons and fighting styles, there is NO way to properly do your homework and prepare against them!" Professor Port announces. "However, their opponent is no slouch either, as it is Link from Beacon Academy!"

"JUST Link for those who know or do not know about him, this young man is on a team all by himself." Doctor Oobleck speaks. "And I must say, after watching him closely in the classroom and on the battlefield, he has earned that privilege and right to be called a one person team. Do not get the wrong impressions from the weapons he wields or the way he fights, this young man is the real deal!"

As the two continue to break down both teams with more details over their schools and fighting style… Down below in the arena, team SLVR staredown their opponent with looks of determination to win, but Link simply stares at them with a blank expression

"Of course we got him." Leo smirks. "It's karma at its finest."

"Don't jinx us!" Violet slaps her teammate on his arm. "Karma is implying we're going to lose and we aren't!"

"Be quiet, both of you." Ryker shakes his head and keeps his eyes on Link, who has since shut his eyes within the ten seconds that pass by, he appears disinterested

"Don't get quiet on us now." 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 formulate before their own eyes

The first biome is a rocky mountain terrain behind team SLVR, and a forest of thick trees behind Link, who now furrows his eyebrows and keeps his eyes shut, with both hands in his pockets

(I accomplished absolutely nothing yesterday! Maybe I should have fought back against Winter, to prolong the exchange and perhaps draw information out of her. But….) Link sighs. (Out of respect for Weiss, I could not in good conscience have a full fledged battle with her sister. Yesterday was a failure and I did not get any closer to finding out who took Ray, her family and the village of Garanda from me.)

Meanwhile, in the crowd, teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY sit together, with six people sitting in one row and the other six sitting in a different row of seats. Ruby, Velvet, Pyrrha, Blake, Weiss, and Yang sit in the row ahead, while Coco, Ren, Nora, Jaune, Fox, and Yatsuhashi sit behind them

"What's up with him?" Jaune asks

"He has not shaken the old memories." Pyrrha's smile fades as her expression softens. "I spoke to him yesterday and it was mostly a positive conversation but he experiences a lot of sadness and anger."

"That anger sure could help him here." Nora nods, "All that anger against these tough looking people, it would be the perfect time to let it all out on someone."

"It could also harm him." Ren shakes his head. "Fighting emotionally is never wise."

"And it is extremely dangerous too." Weiss crosses her arms and watches carefully. "You better not lose Link! You can beat these people"

"She's right." Pyrrha mumbles. "If it works in Link's favor, team SLVR could get seriously hurt. And if it works against Link…"

"R-Right." Velvet fidgets with her shorts nervously

"Lighten up, Vel. He's going to do great." Coco chuckles. "But if he doesn't, we can make fun of him for the rest of the year."

"Coco…" Fox mutters

"I'm kidding." Coco covers her mouth to continue laughing

"We can see you." Yatsuhashi raises an eyebrow

"Okay! I'll stop." She clears her throat loudly. "The kid is going to win, mark my words. I guarantee it."

"You are determined to jinx Link." Jaune's eyes widened. "The match hasn't even started."

"I stand by what I said." Coco nods confidently

"Right on!" Yang cheers. "If I had to bet, they won't even get his aura near the red." She chuckles and eagerly slaps the armrest of her chair. "Let's go, Link! Woooooo!"

"Ah, I'm not so sure about that, Yang." Weiss frowns

"How come?" Ruby asks

"W-well-!" Weiss stutters. "Link might be good but-!"

"It doesn't matter how strong Link is, he is still going up against four people." Blake quickly speaks over her teammate

"Exactly!" Weiss angrily stomps her foot on the ground. "That's what I wanted to say!"

"Well, why didn't you?" Yang snickers

"Hehehe, you got her sis!" Ruby laughs

"Ugh! Be quiet!" Weiss narrows her eyes in frustration

"This is going to be a good fight, we are at least guaranteed that." Pyrrha grins

"I agree." Blake nods. "We also get to see the conclusion of this fight without any outside interference or sneak attacks this time. Good luck, Link and teach these four a lesson for what they did to Weiss."

Back in the arena, on the neutral space in between the two biomes, each member of team SLVR gets in a fighting stance: Skylar bends her knees, fists by her sides, Ryker wields a sword bigger than Yatsuhashi's, holds it with his right hand whilst extending his left arm forward. Violet grabs her long, thin sword with one hand, stands straight, with her right foot forward and ready to lunge, and Leo has a sniper up to his side, holding the powerful rifle with both hands. The team of faunus eagerly await the countdown, but their opponent remains in a relaxed stance, with the same nonchalant expression

"If you fight me..." Link opens his eyes and stares at Skylar. "I'll do more than damage your confidence. Withdraw and save yourselves for another day."

"THREE!" Oobleck shouts. "TWO! ONE! BEGIN!"

The crowd's roaring slowly tones down and Doctor Oobleck's voice fades away, but neither team moves.

(Are they shaken up? Did my attempt work?) Link frowns

"You're crazy if you think we'd withdraw!" Skylar shouts

The leader of team SLVR sprints as fast as she can, her sharp claws transition outwards but just like before, Skylar's powerful hook with sharp claws is blocked by Link, who grabs his shield and blocks the attack while standing upright and not in a defensive stance

"Your hand to hand is impressive, but it won't be enough." Link keeps his eyes on the rest of Skylar's team, for some reason they stay put and watch closely. (That's suspicious… I wonder why-!)

"I've got news for you!" Skylar grins as she opens her hand, on the same fist that was just blocked and reveals something engraved on the palm of her hand

(Atlas' emblem? Why is this on her hand?!) Link frowns at the design, but then notices the center of the emblem, which is conveniently placed on the middle of her hand, has a hole inside it

Skylar's grin turns into an evil smirk as the hole promptly blasts fire right into Link's face!

(What the hell!?) Link, in the few seconds of realization, is only able to shift his face and the rest of his body towards his shield

The one person team attempts to cover and block as much as he can, before the fire ultimately blows him away, seemingly incinerating him

"What beautiful bait and strike from the ATLAS born leader!" Oobleck's voice rings throughout the entire colosseum

---

In the Crowd

"L-Link!" Velvet's loud cry is accompanied with her jumping out of her seat, she does not look to her CFVY teammates behind her, or her fellow friends in JNPR and RWBY on her left and right

"Holy crap... A direct hit too." Coco lifts up her shades. "His aura isn't updating either."

"Have faith you guys." Weiss shakes her head at their worry. "It's Link, somehow, he always finds a way to save himself just in the nick of time."

"Weiss is correct, Link can always get himself out of a tough situation." Pyrrha looks up at the tron, nearly gasping when Link's aura updates and plummets into the yellow. "Hopefully he's okay."

"At least he's still in the fight." Ruby sighs in relief

"Maybe I jinxed his aura dropping near red after all, but I am confident that Link is still winning this fight." Yang smirks

"That's the spirit!" Nora cheers. "GOOOOO LINK!"

"Yeah!" Jaune follows suit. "Go Link!"

Blake, Ren, Fox, and Yatsuhashi quietly nod along with the words of support for their friend in the battlefield, with the cat faunus and young man with pink eyes raising their hands and clapping happily

---

Inside the Arena

"See! We did it!" Violet claps and happily jumps around Ryker, "Good plan Skylar! Attacking the same way, he got too comfortable and then BOOM!"

"I told you guys that it was all a big fluke." Skylar grins. "He was good yesterday but clearly he isn't that good."

"Well, it may not have been hard, but defeating the 'one person team' from Beacon is going to look great when we graduate. Wouldn't you say so, guys?" Leo nods

"It would, but we have a problem. 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. "He should have emerged from the smoke already."

"What are you talking about?" Skylar shrugs as the smoke from the burst of fire slowly clears away. "He's obviously down for the count."

"Hm..." Leo raises his sniper up to eye level and aims into the smoke, only to "I got nothing, let's see with some better sight." He reaches over and taps a button on his scope,switching it to a thermal view. "Ryker's got a point, where is he? There's no body in the smoke."

"What?" Skylar backs away and pounds her fists together. "Everyone on guard!"

"He's not... dead, right?" Violet nervously chuckles as she covers her eyes. "I don't want to see a pile of ashes."

The smoke eventually fades away, and just like Leo points out, no unconscious Link and no body at all. There is only a partially burnt steel floor from the fire used by the tiger faunus

"We would have been arrested already." Ryker looks up at the holographic screen to take a look at their opponent's aura. "...And his aura would be at zero but from what I can see, he's very much alive. Good work Skylar, at least his aura is down in the yellow-!"

"It should be in the red!" Skylar frowns and charges into the forest in front of them

"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, "We don't know what makes him good enough to be a person on his own team, but I can assume he is wise enough to know that hiding in known territory would make it easy to find him."

"Known territory?" Violet raises both eyebrows in shock. "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 the forest at the fairgrounds!" Violet playfully slaps her forehead

"Exactly." Ryker nods and takes off running towards the opposite biome. "Follow me."

"You bet I will!" She nods

…

Elsewhere

"Atlas born leader, huh?" Link mumbles to himself as he takes cover behind one of the many mountains on the side of the arena he is on, panting hard as he feels his upper body, arms, head, and then legs, "There goes my tough guy act." He looks down and sees exposed skin ranging from his arms, parts of his torso and some of his lower legs, but not enough to force the cameras to shut off. "How's my aura doing?" He looks up at the tron and sees the exact number. "Seventy-six, not bad considering I took a blast of fire to the face."

The lone boy on a team all by himself winces briefly as he stands up, then looks down at himself again, making sure he saw correctly. And he does indeed verify, with the fabric covering his arms now completely toasted and burnt away, portions of his upper body are visible, legs are unscathed apart from his lower legs, and his face is completely untouched

"Good, I saved myself fast enough to avoid any permanent scarring." Link shrugs as he makes his way up the mountain. (That and the audience is spared from having to potentially witness someone without clothes or worse, a dead body.)

The few dozens of people that spot Link start to roar with excitement as he reaches the very top, an artificial flat surface, perfect for direct combat on the otherwise rocky and unstable mountains

"I wonder if I'll have any time to-!" Link suddenly shifts his entire body in another direction 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 sidestep and then jump back to create distance. However, his evasive maneuvers are not perfect and he takes damage to his chest. "You miss us?"

"How could I ever do that?" Link mutters, but then grins when he sees only her and Ryker in front of him. "Did the other two run into the forest?"

"What do you think?" Ryker rolls his eyes. "If we were all 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. "Does your headmaster love taking risks?"

"Professor Lionheart? No, not at all." Ryker shakes his head. "You just don't get it. Skylar's determination and strength is something you haven't seen yet, all you have seen is her stubbornness."

Ryker grabs his sword again, a complete opposite to Violet's weapon as it outsizes her sword in size, length, and weight tremendously, and yet he easily wields it with one hand

"Are we done playing twenty-one questions now?" Violet rolls her eyes. "I'm getting boreeeed."

"Stop pouting, we're in the middle of a fight." Ryker sighs

"I'm sorryyyy." Violet's lip dramatically quivers

"Actually I had one more question." Link clears his throat. "I was wondering if-!"

"Too bad!" Violet, with lightning quick speed, zooms away from Ryker and within seconds, is back in her opponent's face

"Alright then!" Link grabs his signature sword and shield, whips around and strikes down Violet's sword with a sturdy stance and a powerful shield bash, then spins in place and extends his left arm for a quick spinning slash

"Ryker!" Violet dodges a close attack from Link as she manages to recover her weapon whilst moving forward

"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! I haven't been training on how to control you for nothing!) Link looks at Violet and Ryker, his eyes scan both students, contemplating which one to choose to experiment on

(Hmmm.) His sights are set on Violet. (Why is she wearing a scarf in the middle of a fi-!)

(Do it already!) The dark raspy voice barks

(I can't do it like this…) Link takes a slash to his chest as he foolishly looks up at the screen, his aura slightly drops down to sixty-eight

"At times like these you could really rely on teammates, being alone is so lame!" Violet giggles. "Wouldn't you agree? Mister One man te-!"

"Quiet!" Link suddenly stops the fast paced fighting as he grabs Violet by her purple scarf and roughly pulls her towards him

"Ryker!" Violet cries out. "H-Help! He's too strong! I can't break free!"

"Get your hands off her!" Ryker leaps off the ground and aims his massive sword for both of them, desperate to get to the opponent as soon as he can

"Hold..." Link manages to grab Violet by her neck as his eyes glow first, followed by his clothes and weapons. "STILL!"

…

In the crowd, three pairs of eyes took notice at what Link was doing

"Cinder..." Mercury starts. "Isn't that what you-!"

"I know..." Cinder smiles

"But how?" Emerald scoffs. "Did he see you do it?"

"I'm not sure but… It does not matter. The outcome will be inevitable, nothing and nobody will stop us." The older woman narrows her eyes while she focuses on Link, specifically his clothes lighting up with dust. "This boy continues to surprise me... Not that weaving dust in clothes is a new technique, but it is not something a novice would ever even attempt."

…

Back to the battle

BOOM!

Ryker dashes and slams his sword downwards onto Link and seemingly Violet as well, but luckily for her she was shoved away from the impact, by her opponent of all people

"W-Wha..." Violet looks up at the tron and sees her aura level plummet down to sixty

"Gah!" Link struggles despite the damage he causes, as now he and Ryker now collide metal, in the form of the latter's sword against the one person team's shield

"I guess she wasn't exaggerating, you are physically strong." Ryker grunts whilst applying more power into bringing his sword down

The ground below the two of them begins to crumble from the power they insert into their legs and stances, with Link's heels starting to crack the rocky surface, while Ryker's feet completely crack rocky ground beneath him

(Hm. This gives me an idea…) Link grins

Ryker growls and shows no fear despite Link's eyes continuing to glow, he backs away, taps a button on the handle of his sword, and triggers the transformation of his weapon into a thick single barrel shotgun

"That's going to be a problem..." Link sighs as he re-positions himself back into an attacking stance as opposed to staying on the defensive

Ryker fires off his shotgun at Link's feet, but the latter jumps forward and over the tall student, whilst in midair, the blonde swordsman notices bear ears hidden within Ryker's hair. Regardless, when Link lands, it is behind his opponent by a few inches and the piece of land hit by the shotgun dust shell immediately disintegrates into smaller bits, ultimately becoming mere pebbles

(I need to ensure I do not get hit by one of those shots, they will cause so much damage.)

Ryker turns and aims at Link again, but the blonde student grabs the bear faunus moves quicker and grabs the tallest member of team SLVR by a strap going across his chest, presumably for a scabbard on his back or simply the strap to hook the sword to the faunus' back. After a firm grab, Link, with all his force, but with resistance from his larger opponent, manages to first spin himself and his opponent, then send him over his shoulder and across the surface, landing on the exact spot when the shotgun blast hit earlier

"Damn you!" Ryker takes his eyes off Link to spot Violet on one knee, but as he lands on the ground, the rocky surface underneath him caves in from all the damage done along with the impact of his weight. Seconds later, he is falling off the mountain and all the way back down to ground level

"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, he slowly and methodically presses both hands together, his eyes, weapons, and parts of his clothing 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!?" Port shouts. "It seems we are completely blind, I apologize to our viewers around the world, this should be over soon, what do you suppose is going on, Doctor?"

"It seems like Mister Link has some more tricks hidden that he's about to reveal!" Professor Oobleck adds on. "Trick that none of us professors here at Beacon have seen either, we are all in for a treat!"

However, certain audience members are not affected, such as the entirety of team CFVY

"Hmph..." Coco smirks and comfortably pushes her sunglasses back. "Team, you can thank me later."

"Thank you!" Velvet smiles and puts on a pair of sunglasses lent to her

"I said later!" The leader of the second year team giggles

The light fades after thirty seconds or less, but as everyone struggles to focus their vision back on the fight, almost all of them miss the big revelation

"W-what the-!" Violet steps back, taking several when she sees Link... And a figure standing right next to him, made of bright golden energy. The only similarities are that figure has Link's height and hair, but otherwise, this is its own entity and person

"W-Who said I was a-alone?" Link nods and grins with slight confidence, having some struggle speaking

Violet looks at her newly formed opponent, who vanishes as quick as he shows up, leaving the cat faunus looking around frantically

"W-whoa..." Violet continues to back away, her weapon switches back its sword state, and she grips her blade tightly. But it is almost too tight of a grip, as her fear slowly begins to accumulate

"Eyes over here little girl!"

Violet whips her head around, but there is nobody present, only the sound of 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 only a few feet away

"Eyes over here!" Link shouts as he raises the back of his left hand, the triforce engraved in his hand lights up, and a small beam of light shooting out with the boy standing only a few feet behind her

"W-What's that?!"

Violet plants her feet and attempts to take off, but she can barely move now, the cat faunus remains still in her same spot, with two large triforces, one in front and one behind her now. The one in front of her is faded and transparent with light golden energy, while the one behind her bright and vibrant

"Looks like your distraction was not completely worthless." Link nods and before the girl notices, both weapons are back in his hands

"Hit me with your best shot!" Violet growls. "I can take it!"

"No you cannot." Link shakes his head

"This child is weak." The demon mumbles. "But he is correct, you cannot take it."

Link glances at the tron and sees Ryker barely landing on the ground, he looks at the demon, and the two of them nod at one another, despite their vast differences

"Gah!" Violet starts to punch, kick and slash at the triforce in front of her, but none of her attacks dent the spinning entity. "Let me out of these stupid things!"

"As you wish!"

Both Link and the demon appear on opposite sides of Violet, the demon summons his custom sword, a two handed longsword with an elegant guard and three circular ridges on the handle. Without hesitation, the two of them grant Violet's wish of not holding back with brutal slashes of all kinds whilst transitioning all around the trapped opponent: Two handed, one handed, spinning, rapid jabs, low horizontal strikes, high vertical strikes, and of course, slashes with full power. Until it is time for the final blow, before the demon can unleash a full strength blow from its end, it is Link who acts quickly by delivering the final attack. A simple but still powerful two handed slash to Violet's midsection that breaks her aura, launches her through both triforces and sends her off the top of the mountain as well

"Now that is a 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!" Professor Port speaks to the audience in the colosseum and those watching in other locations

"Lucky for Miss Lilac, she 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 screen behind them, Ryker is at seventy, Skylar at ninety-five and Leo at one-hundred. Meanwhile, he is at sixty-five. As for the live action being 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 thick forest

"Stick around, you're not draining my aura anyway." Link nods to the formed demon as he 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 quickly. You drained it from her and used it to form me just like you did against that drunken old man a year ago."

"Be quiet..." Link shuts his eyes and thinks about the remaining team SLVR members, their biggest noticeable features are brashness, long range weaponry 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 nearly landed a perfect shot on Weiss, aiming with only a split second or two. I can only imagine how accurate he is with distance and plenty of time. But let's not find out." He opens his eyes and slowly rises

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the arena

"How is she!?" Skylar shouts as she and Leo stare at their teammate with dumbfounded looks on their faces

"She got caught off guard." Ryker growls and gently lays her down on the ground, "Even if she wanted to continue, her aura is already done for, any strike could seriously hurt her and anything powerful could be lethal if it lands."

"Grr..." Leo draws his sniper and takes aim, only to put down his gun in astonishment. "T-there's two of them!?"

"Explain." Skylar lightly slaps Ryker's arm, looking for an explanation

"He can steal our aura if he gets the chance." Ryker mumbles. "But it doesn't look like he can replenish himself with it though, it seems like it's only meant to deplete the aura of the victim while making his offense just that much more powerful."

"T-Then-!" Leo stutters. "Explain what the hell that-!"

"Maybe that's his semblance!? I don't know!" Ryker snaps. "That's his second move that could be classified as his semblance. Unless he tells us what it is himself, we have no way of knowing."

"In the meantime, 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 the demon jump from the very top of the mountain

"W-what the-!" Skylar looks at both her teammates as she walks backwards. "Let's back away! Keep your distance from him!"

"Don't have to ask me twice." Leo smirks, spins in a fluid one-eighty and quickly sprints away

"Right." Ryker nods and follows his teammates

The demon lands easily as he is not real or takes actual damage, golden energy covers Link in a noticeably thick layer as he lands feet first and nearly shakes the entire floor, though his legs wobble and nearly give out in the process

"Whoa! Link winces. "Even with that protection, it feels like my legs were just fractured or worse."

"Too bad." The demon speaks coldly, and just like with Violet, immediately gets into the heads of team SLVR by disappearing right before their own eyes

Link follows this with a full speed run towards Ryker and Skylar, the blonde boy reaches into his pouch to grab a handful of throwing knives. Slowly but powerfully, 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. That's how he got Violet!"

"He's long gone, Skylar." Ryker frowns and makes quick work of another incoming knife

(Good, it can take care of Leo then.) Link nods and skids against the steel floor to slow himself down

"He stopped?!" Skylar calls out as both she and Ryker both stop running to face Link, with a good amount of distance between them. "What's he up to now?"

"Tell me, you're 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 despicable and psychotic father... It's something I wouldn't wish on my wo-!"

"But 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! Why do you care about the Schnee's anyway?!"

"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, don't you?" 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!" Link shuts his eyes and furrows his brows. "Do you have a sibling? I'm sure they were tormented as well."

"..." Ryker does not speak, instead he glances 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

"Skylar, stop that!" Ryker puts a hand on her shoulder and shakes her. "Punching yourself in the head does not wake you up!"

"We may not have gone through precise experiences, but I am where I am today because of my past and how I grew up... For all the wrong reasons."

"Just like you." Ryker mumbles low enough to exclude Link from hearing him. "Is that right? Sk-!"

"Don't say it, Ryker!" Skylar opens her eyes. "Just. Don't."

"Abusive and power hungry father, weak, broken mother, and a hopeless, broken sibling." Link opens his eyes and reveals they are welling up with tears. "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?!" Link frowns. (That was more powerful than any strike she's thrown before.)

The one person team acts quick 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 has the power to send their opponent flying away... That is Skylar's cold and punch

"My father and the Schnee's are the reason I hate humans. You'll never relate to my pain!" Skylar follows Link as sends him 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! Whatever it is! It's getting him, shit!" He does not follow his leader and runs in another path. "Skylar! Forget him, all that crap he made up was to distract us, we need to find Leo and now!"

(W-What?) Link grunts but then suddenly collides back first against a big tree, (Crap? Made up?) He shakes his head multiple times, disoriented from the punch and collision against a tree

"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 that is conveniently a few feet away from where he lands

"Heh..." Link smirks as he slowly straps the shield to his back and pushes himself up to his knees

"What's so funny?" Skylar marches towards Link and with impressive strength lifts him up by his throat with only her right arm

"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! I'm tired of hearing from you!" 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 in an attempt to slow himself down

"W-Wha!?" Leo's voice is heard as Link suddenly appears in his sight

"You had one job."

"Shut up, their leader is quite 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 is it?" Ryker catches up and stops too

"You couldn't hold back a little?" Link mumbles nervously as the demon has Leo on the ground back first, with its long sword 'through' his chest, being stopped from going all the way through by Leo's last remaining aura and the fact that the sword is not a physical blade

"I'm not done yet." The demon whispers to itself as the sword inside Leo vanishes

"With that final attack from this creation Mister Link has summoned, team SLVR's Leo Lee is out!" Professor Oobleck's shouts are vividly heard throughout the entire colosseum

"Mister Link has been able to isolate two members now and taken them out in one on one combat." Professor Port sternly mumbles. "Perhaps now Miss Harrison and Mister Beckett can stick together and not get themselves picked off."

"Two down." Link nods. "Violet, Leo, now I focus on Ry-!"

"What is he doing!?" Ryker grabs his sword and charges at the demon, who sprints at an already defeated Leo, with the same sword reforming in his hand, and ready to strike

"You bastard!" Skylar takes off after the demon

(Of course he'd try to kill... He didn't try the same with Violet because we sent her back towards Ryker. Damn it!) Link gets up to both feet and follows suit by running at Leo, contemplating on who to go after

"Ryker incoming!" Skylar shouts. "Get the nuisance while I deal with this thi-!"

"NO!" Link jumps in front of Leo and raises his shield... To the demon!

"Hmph!" Ryker grins, grabs Leo by his shirt, and jumps back to avoid the action

"Are you serious?! How stupid are you?!"

"SHUT. UP!" Link growls as the demon's sword collides with his shield, stopping him at full speed and shaking the ground around them

The demon drops down to the ground and immediately runs around Link, now aiming its sights on Skylar

(Your services are no longer needed.) Link drops down to one knee, closes his eyes and focuses 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 away like glass shards disintegrating into tiny pieces... As well as the demon itself. "You little sh-!"

Unfortunately for it, before the demon can finish its cursing sentence, it vanishes completely and does not appear any further, signaling it is completely gone

"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 any of 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. Leo was done in the fight and does not need to be attacked any further."

"Why unleash that thing if it can go rogue on people and disobey you like that?" Ryker asks

"Because of her fire attack-!" Link points at Skylar. "...It shook me and instead of believing in my own ability to bounce back, I relied on something or someone who looks for any way to shed blood and steal life."

"Have you used it before?" The bear faunus asks

"Of course, but only to train and get it better under my control, it's still a work in progress as you can see." Link chuckles

"Fair." Ryker nods

"So… I knocked you off your overconfident pedestal that bad?" Skylar chuckles and flexes her right hand. "One of the few things from that bastard I have to acknowledge as my father 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. "Nowhere in my mind did I actually think you'd actually surrender."

"That was all to try and intimidate us?" Skylar bursts out laughing. "Maybe it got to Violet or Leo, but there is no way we were 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, I somewhat respect it. You know we're in the middle of a fight, right?"

"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 sharply exhales, "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 so much? Fine, I will tell you..."

"Hmm." Ryker smirks. "BUT, not right now."

"Precisely. How about after the match?" Skylar smirks as she extends her hand, slowly opens it and shows off a small flame coming from within her palm

"We'll see about that." Link looks up and observes everybody's updated aura, he is down to sixty, Ryker is at seventy, and Skylar has the most aura of the three with ninety

"Ryker, you know the drill." Skylar mumbles and then takes off

"You got it." Ryker nods and stays in place, much to Link's surprise

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 primary weapons, his sword and shield. Multiple swift slashes from his sword are dodged and the shield blocks every major strike from Skylar, mostly straight punches and hooks. The latter plants his feet into the ground and in one swift motion spins in place, sword in hand, arm fully extended, but the former manages to retreat just in time before her midsection gets cut and shredded

"Perfect, here goes nothing Ruby." Link stops abruptly to put both of his weapons away, draws his steel bow and activates its second form, the double crossbow, "Uhhh... Not that one." He giggles in embarrassment and with another click from the weapon's button, the crossbow transforms into its third form, a semi-automatic rifle

Link takes aim and fires directly at Skylar's chest, but with quick reflexes and impressive speed, she dodges and completely disappears from his sight. Right behind her is Ryker, who slams his sword downwards and into the path of the red dust bullet to split it in two and withstand the explosion that comes from the bullet. To retaliate, Ryker transforms his sword back into its shotgun form and blasts a shot right at his opponent. Link drops his rifle to grab his shield and swing it in front of him. However, even the resistant and powerful defensive weapon could not withstand all of the blast, and it sends Link flying back yet again

"Damn!" Link reaches for his sword and fiercely slams it into the ground while flying through the 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 gets up to one knee with a tight grip around his sword and pull it out of the ground

"What was that?" Ryker asks while the giant student marches towards Link, stopping a foot away from him, planting his weapon that is now back to its sword form, on the ground

"I'm the last person you should be laughing at..." Link smirks and sees the bear faunus is too relaxed, "...Mid fight!" He stays on one knee but fluidly whips his right leg around and with the bottom of his boot, kicks Ryker's sword 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 appear on his face at a rapid pace. "Skylar back up!"

"No way!" Skylar frowns

(It's time to use 'that' move for the first time today.) Link channels his thoughts and easily manages to suppress the demon, who desperately tries to take over, but the marks slowly retract completely

"What is it!?" Skylar continues but gradually slows down

"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, the triforce on his left hand lights up along with a thin layer of golden energy visibly covering his body. Which includes everything from his weapons and parts of his clothes embedded with yellow lightning dust, all light up too. He opens his eyes, both of them flash the bright gold color again after the demon's attempt to take over. Link rises up to his feet, digs his heels into the ground, takes off rapidly, and just like that, he is gone from the spot he was just standing on...

SLASH!

The sound of a weapon colliding with someone is heard, but nothing clear is seen immediately, by anybody except Link himself

"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 opponent while trying to hold onto her much larger teammate, struggling to keep both of them on their feet

Twenty seconds pass in reality, but it feels like an entire minute as nobody can spot the boy with the negative label of the 'twilight demon'

"Aha! There he is! What amazing speed by Link!" Doctor Oobleck shouts as the camera's spot the one person team

Link is visible to everyone, across the two remaining members of team SLVR, he remains in a striking stance with his sword sticking out, bent knees, and a slight forward lean, showing that his attack was executed perfectly as Ryker tumbles and nearly Skylar with him to the ground

"Come on Ryker, you're fine." Skylar squats, plants her feet into the ground, and with all her force, keeps the giant student on his feet. She desperately sets her sights on the board, Ryker's aura is brought down all the way to sixteen, one aura point away from elimination. "Holy crap..."

"Don't even say it." Ryker shrugs. "I don't need to be lectured 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 try to act tough and stand on his own. Rather, he allows his leader to hold him up, "You're smart, strong and besides, 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!"

The blonde boy runs at the two faunus and obviously 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 him and with a swift dropping axe kick, pushes Link away from getting any closer

"I should've known better." The one person team nods and backs away to avoid the kick

Skylar lands on the ground and with a determined look in her eyes, runs at Link full speed, the latter swings his sword but just as it is 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 out 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 after Link as he begins to drop down, 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, it may just have been a simple bait and attack but they have completely shell-shocked their opponent!" Professor Port calls out

Ryker breathes heavily and with both hands, the bear faunus brings his massive sword across his body for a mighty downwards swing. Regrettably for him, the swing is not fast enough as Link flips over mid-air and lands on the giant sword a second after Ryker's powerful swing ends

"Crafty." Ryker growls and wildly pulls his sword back, trying to knock Link off balance

Link instead replicates what Skylar did with a backflip of his own, not an acrobatic one, but it is 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.

"UGH!." 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.)

The blonde student grabs onto one of the thick trees 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 emotions and weaknesses and focused on those."

"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 lunging forward and wrapping an arm around her neck, then he turns the tiger faunus around and restrains both her arms by the wrist with just one hand

"Gah!" Skylar growls and immediately tries to break free

"Skylar!" Ryker frowns and lowers his shotgun

(Damn, I thought he was more trigger happy.) Link struggles to keep Skylar restrained as one of her arms feels cold and rough, as opposed to feeling warm

"I 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 widened. "Did your father-!"

"Quiet!" Skylar shakes her head and throws a wild elbow strike at Link

"Whoa!" Link ducks takes multiple steps backwards, which forces him to let go of Skylar, and immediately finds himself in a tricky situation, dodging shotgun blasts from Ryker's weapon. (I can still make it count, but I need to do it quickly, it's only a matter of time before he goes back to his sword and this becomes harder to execute.)

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… If I dodge Ryker's bullets, Skylar is in my face. 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

"You're looking a bit sloppy! Getting tired already!?" Skylar shouts as she starts to land powerful strikes against Link's chest, chipping away and lowering his aura more and more

"N-Not... Quite." Link plants his feet, sturdies his grip, and blocks one of Skylar's punches with just one hand, the momentum and speed from their exchange comes to a complete halt as they face off, inches away from each other

"NOW!" Skylar shouts at Ryker, who seemingly has a perfect shot lined up

Link grins and with his free hand, reaches into his pouch and sneakily grabs a smoke bomb, something he has not used in this battle against team SLVR

BOOM!

Thick, white smoke disperses throughout the area, making it difficult for Ryker, who previously had an easy and clear shot on Link

BAM!

Regardless of the smoke bomb, a round is fired just milliseconds after smoke engulfs the two leaders

"Ahh!"

The voice of Skylar is heard as she comes out of the smoke, but not triumphantly. Instead, she is flying through the air, having clearly taken an attack that levels her

"Skylar!" Ryker abandons his position, opting to run towards his teammate and attempt to catch her

"Not so fast!" Link emerges from the smoke unharmed as he launches himself into Ryker and sends both of them back to the ground in an awkward crash

This quick thinking denies Ryker the chance to save his teammate and leaves Skylar to be sent soaring through and out of the forest with tremendous speed

"You little..." Ryker winces in pain as he can only get up to one knee, he transforms the shotgun back into its sword form to help himself up

"You're finished and I had to find some way to get to you. There was no way Skylar would have let me come near you if I did not get her out of the picture first." Link stands and gets in a striking position, with his left hand aimed at Ryker. "This is the end of your tournament run."

"I suppose you're not wrong… No point in lying to myself." Ryker growls and fights through the pain in order to stand, he closes his eyes and exhales when the same two triforces form in front and behind him, "Same move that took out Violet huh?" He shrugs. "Great, 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 winks and takes off, heading straight at Ryker but instead of the combination of different slashes and jabs he normally executes, along with the copious amounts of damage from a usual triforce slash, he strikes with just one big swing, a jumping straightforward jab with his sword aimed perfectly at Ryker's midsection...

---

Back in the Crowd

"Wow." Weiss mumbles. "He's so..."

"AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING." Coco rolls her eyes as she kicks her feet up against the seat in front of her, which happens to be Velvet's

"Coco." The rabbit faunus sighs. "Why the sarcasm?"

"I know, I know, just kidding." Coco smiles. " He's pretty damn good."

"Ruby?" Yang nudges her sister. "What do you think?"

"Hm?" Ruby shakes her head as she instead of just watching Link, she's carefully observing him and every single little move he makes whilst combating all four faunus'

"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 does not object. "Suppose you're right, we should all be prepared for scenarios where we are outnumbered. That's not fair! Link is gaining so much experience."

"Do you want to ask Professor Ozpin if you can be your own team?" Blake raises an eyebrow, with a big grin on her face

"Good point." Weiss sighs. "He fights so recklessly but he has also adapted so well to everything. There's no telling how many people would have been rattled and never recovered after Skylar's fire attack at the beginning of the fight."

"Not many. The elite students with a resilient mindset or the strong willed." Pyrrha nods and displays a big smile. "It appears that Link has both."

"He sure does, it's incredible to watch." Jaune laughs whilst sitting right behind the red haired girl. "I can only imagine how stressful it is having to actually do it though."

"You would have puked already, vomit boy." Yang chuckles

"H-Hey!" Jaune frowns

"She's just kidding." Nora giggles

"I'm sure most of us would feel plenty of nerves and perhaps some sickness." Ren mutters

"Right on, pretty boy." Coco nods

"Hey!" Nora crosses her arms and glares at the CFVY leader, who does not bother turning her head

---

Returning to the Fight

Bzzzzzzt!

The buzzer is heard as a third elimination occurs, only seconds after Link sends Ryker colliding through the triforces and crashing into the ground of the thick, grassy forest. Now only one member of team SLVR remains standing against the one person team from Beacon

"That final strike was more than enough to drop team SLVR's Ryker Beckett into the red and now the powerhouse of the team is eliminated." Professor Port exclaims

Link's immediate first move after his third successful elimination, is to scale a tree and starts jumping from tree to tree, back to the center of the colosseum, hoping to have a direct one on one fight with Skylar whilst disregarding the biome's or potential advantages for either student

"Can't see..." The blonde boy narrows his eyes as the trees block the view of the screen with everybody's aura

Due to his lack of patience, Link grabs his scroll to check his own aura, and it was in the yellow... Nearing closer to red, but with no exact number. Soon enough, there are no more trees to jump on and the one person team reaches the center, where Skylar is waiting for him, all by herself and in the neutral platform

"Taking a direct shot really took its toll on my aura." Skyler shuts her eyes and jabs her index finger towards the tron, her previous ninety aura is 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. "Or is my assumption incorrect?"

"No, you are correct." Skylar moves her right arm around and sighs. "It looks somewhat real, right?"

"I could not figure it out until I had a good grip on it, so yes it looks very real." Link nods. "And I'd like to say I have great eyesight."

"Thanks, I guess." Skylar sighs, "My father was not the main cause, but he is the reason I have this now. When he returned back into our lives, I damaged my arm pretty badly while talking on a grimm that was way out of my league and… 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 both of her fists and eyes. "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 who looks like she's fond of you while resenting you at the same time. And you know I had every intention of hurting her. Why not just wipe us out, eliminate us from the tournament and move on?"

(Weiss does seem to admire my skills from time to time, before she completely wipes out any hope of us being good friends by being classic Weiss.) Link chuckles internally but on the outside, he is completely serious, "I do not want to come off as giving a cliché answer but you deserve closure Skylar. You deserve happiness too, 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 war. I have been on both sides, I know how evil and vile both parties can be and while I like humans and faunus equally, that doesn't mean I will ever put down one or the other if I were forced to." He grins. "Tell me your story, I want to hear it."

Skylar opens her eyes and looks to her right. Violet is nearby and conscious, but very much still down and out. She looks to her left, looking for Ryker and Leo but they are too far deep into the forest. The tiger faunus sighs and meets the eyes of her opponent

"You hit the first part about my father on the nail, from what I was told by my mother, he abandoned us only weeks after she had me... I wasn't meant to be born, if you get what I mean." Skyler balls up her fists. "He dedicated every single second and all of his effort towards convincing her to not have me."

"I'm sorry." Link nods. "I do not know how that feels and I won't pretend like I do, but I am sorry."

"Lucky you. My mom had to scratch and claw just to get us by, especially when it came 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 and covers her mouth to say what she has to say, without having her lips read by anybody

"He was a scientist for the Atlas military, though he would occasionally serve as an undercover spy from time to time."

(Scientist? That would explain her arm and how her father just got rid of it in place for a robot arm.) Link shrugs

"Anyway, long story short, during one of his few spy missions, his cover was blown and he had to take on a small militia of White Fang members. The new recruits are what my mother called them, but we would call them the newbies nowadays, teenagers with no experience." Skylar nods. "But, regardless of their experience, a militia outnumbers one man who himself was very young at the time and only fought with a revolver and his hand to hand skills." Suddenly, she frowns. "And no, that's not why I'm primarily a hand to hand huntress."

"I would never say that." Link follows her lead and covers his mouth for the sake of consistency

"My mother was in that militia but she wasn't nearly as pro-White Fang as the rest of her 'brothers' that day. The man who unfortunately is my father today was badly injured despite emerging victorious. However, instead of freezing to death or being eaten by grimm, a nice young woman assisted him, regardless of the fact that the two had just fought against one another. That woman was my mother and although the man showed resilience, he had no choice but to accept her help. It was either get saved by someone he thought was an enemy or get killed by a real enemy, aka the militia's backup. Plus, my mother was, is, and always will be an amazing medic, so she patched him up in no time and that's how their story began."

"Your mother saved the life of a man who turned out to be your father." Link exhales. "Wow… What are the odds?"

"Get this, the man hates faunus too, which is crazy." Skylar shakes her head as her eyes well up. "Because how are you going to have a child with a faunus but then DISCRIMINATE against them?" The tiger faunus scoffs. "That doesn't make any sense, I know. But it is what it is, here I am today. Despite being drawn and emotionally attached to my mother, he just couldn't change how he felt about the faunus. 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 became complete abandonment."

"How much of a toll was it on your mother?" Link asks

"She always wanted to move on from being a White Fang soldier and did so by becoming a full time medic in Atlas. Then she wanted to become a huntress but… She had to give up on that dream to take care of me and provide us with a 'better' life." 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 was one of the best scientists in Atlas' entire history from what my mother has told me about him, even now she won't bad mouth him. Anyway… He vanished for a long time and then returned to our lives exactly two years from today. I was still training hard and doing my best as an up and coming huntress at the time and my mother did not discourage my desire to be one." She smiles. "If anything, she encouraged me to be one, and everything I know when you see my hand to hand ability is from her."

"Two years ago you say? You already look like the youngest in your team as well." Link chuckles. "By any chance, are you-!"

"I'm fifteen, yes." Skylar nods, "My lack of talent was overshadowed by my hard work, and paid off with fast progression as a fighter. It caught the eyes of many too, hence the return of my father. I was so stupid for believing he wanted to return to our lives or to be part of our family. Everything was great when he first came back, but there was something off about him.

"How so?" Link turns his head in confusion

"Well, he didn't want to go out in public with us and any time he did go out, he wore big coats and many hats, like he was trying to hide something, or himself." Skylar narrows her eyes

"I see." Link frowns. (I hope this isn't going where I think it's going…)

"My mother and I obviously showed signs of uncertainty and distrust but after two or three months of us enduring his secretive act, we were a happy, bright, and even normal family. Sadly, as you can suspect, that's when the manipulation began. From what I learned about him, he never stopped being the evil genius scientist he was previously and somehow got his hands on any piece of Atlas technology he desired, then it all started with my arm." Skylar aims her right arm at Link, she opens her palm and summons a small flame. "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, allows the fire to nearly touch him, and just 'narrowly' dodges for dramatic effect

"Careful now." Link reaches into his pouch and shows off one of his throwing knives, taking extra time to launch it

But when does launch the knife, it is with precise accuracy and a lot of power, the sharp projectile blade flies through the air, towards the tiger faunus. But unsurprisingly, Skylar dodges it and does the same as Link when she nearly lets it touch her

"That should be good enough for now." Skylar nods. "Unless you want to do more?"

"No, that's okay." 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." Skylar covers her mouth again. "Most of it I assume was illegally obtained, but as if Atlas would ever find him, let alone throw him in jail. As we speak, my right arm, shoulder, right knee and my lower left leg are all... Pieces of Atlas technology."

"What did he use, do or say in order to make you comply?" Link 'slowly' rises up to his feet

"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 was happy to simply have him back. When in reality I wanted it all to end." Skylar walks closer as she mumbles, "The way he got me was in a similar way, he told me that my mother was happier with him around and that in my current state of receiving powerful technology for body parts, the progress I've been making, and my dreams of becoming a huntress… That she's been the most proud of me she's ever been." Sky sighs. "I know I was stupid for believing him but, as someone who loves their mother so much, how would that make you feel if your father told you that your mother said that?"

"It would make me continue doing whatever it is I was meant to do." Link nods. "I understand completely, your father manipulated both you and your mother with each other's feelings."

"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, and not even for Atlas, but another organization he said. I was nothing but a mere test dummy, and if I failed?" The tiger faunus' eyes tear up, "That's what he had my mother for, he saw her as a SOURCE for more potential 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 twice now, her husband and father to her daughter was using her and everyone around him for his own gain."

"I'm so sorry Sky-!"

"Stop, you deserve to hear more." Skylar shakes her head. "Regarding the Schnee's... After my mother and I both ripped my father apart verbally, he suggested that rather than use me as his personal soldier, he could finally come out of hiding and return to living in Atlas freely again by proposing to use me as a personal bodyguard for the damn Schnee's! And why would the Schnee's turn it down? They wouldn't mind more faunus labor." She shakes in anger. "Imagine that, a faunus with the heart of a rebel, was going to be turned into a super soldier for either my dear father's use or the Schnee's."

"What would have happened if you let him continue to 'experiment' with you?" Link raises an eyebrow

"I can safely assume I would have become a cyborg-esque monstrosity and serve as nothing more than a pawn for… Someone, but I certainly wouldn't have had freedom." Skylar finally breaks and tears stream down her cheeks

"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." She giggles. "Although, I quickly learned that it was the complete opposite, he labeled me as someone with a lot of potential who is loyal, passionate and has a big heart, those words I'll treasure for the rest of my life."

"This Professor Lionheart sounds like a good man." Link smiles

"He's the best." Skylar nods. "Fast forward a bit, I am paired up with Leo, Violet and Ryker as teammates, despite doing everything by myself during our initiations. They were already friends before being paired too so it was awkward beginning from the get go. I was never social as a kid so for the first month it was a challenge, especially with me being the team leader too." She sighs in embarrassment. "But I adapted and 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 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 is team SLVR today."

"That's just... Wow, I'm speechless." Link blinks multiple times and lets out a big sigh, "Hear me out Skylar, I understand your hate for humans, I had it too for a long time. From the few memories I have of my 'father', he destroyed my mother from the inside by getting to me and my little brother, the same type of manipulation, with physical violence too and..."

Link promptly explains to Skylar what happened on that tragic day. The day where his entire family disintegrated and never reformed. The heavy thunderstorm, need to escape, an abusive father chasing after him, not knowing what he was going to do, the demon's first emergence, the lightning strike that sent him flying and crashing into a river, his rescue at the hands of Amber, and learning about their home being burnt down with his mother and brother nowhere to be found

"Damn." Skylar stomps her foot angrily. "You were right, we didn't walk the same path, but we're both here because our families are messed up."

"Y-Yes." Link sadly nods. "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." He smiles at his opponent, "You do what you think is right Skylar, just know that I am here for you, and so are other humans too. 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 and I personally have beaten up bullies who picked on my faunus friends."

"You have?!" Skylar's tiger ears perk up as she nearly laughs. "That's awesome, we need more people like you in that case."

"Thank you." Link smiles warmly

"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 in reality, you were defending your friend, you didn't fight us to stop us, you did it to protect your friend. Besides the top of your priorities, it is clear that you mean well and are passionate about a lot of things or people, I..."

Skylar boldly marches towards Link and extends her left hand, completely ignoring the booing crowd

"O-Oh..." Link takes a step back

"What's this?" Professor Port exclaims

"It seems like the team SLVR leader is offering a respectful handshake to Mister Link." Doctor Oobleck says with major interest in the exchange

(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

Right as the crowd was moments away from turning on the entire match, a chorus of cheers rain down into the arena

"We 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 is 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, with their jogs quickly transitioning into full blown sprints, the latter grabs his shield and raises it as his opponent leaps and comes down with a downwards punch with her protracted claws. Link pushes back, grabs his sword in one quick motion, and swings at Skylar who blocks with her raised arms, the tiger faunus' right arm conveniently in front of the left. She 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 using a 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 of heat, and the third is an explosive round, a fourth shot knocks the one person team back

(What the-?! I thought that type of gun was only supposed to be a single shot, then reload.)

He grabs his sword and starts moving towards Skylar, slashing away bullets in the process and just as he is inches away from her, the tiger faunus slots her gun back in its holster 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 biggest strength. Link swings his sword again, this time with a straightforward jab, but Skylar sidesteps and takes aim at Link's back with her metal arm

"Not so fast!" Link rapidly spins in place, partially leaps in the air, raises his leg, and clashes his foot against Skyler's fist with a jumping side kick

For a split second, it appears to be a picture perfect clash between straight punch versus jumping side kick, but Skylar's punch prevails and her power sends Link back first into the ground from the momentum of his failed counter-attack. The tiger faunus sprints at the downed one person team, but as Link sits up, he plants his hands on the steel floor, turns over, spins, and kicks towards Skylar's legs with a slick spinning attack

"W-Whoa!" Skylar, not expecting the leg sweep that follows, falls to the ground after losing her balance

Link pops back up to his feet and runs at Skylar, who scrambles to her feet but not fast enough to match her opponent's speed. This forces her flintlock pistol to come back out. Unfortunately for the tiger faunus, her long range weapon is immediately kicked out of her hands. Skylar rises and throws a front kick aimed at Link's midsection with her left leg! Lnk catches the powerful kick from the metal leg, and Skylar aims her right arm directly at his face!

"That won't work again!" Link ducks and connects with a quick uppercut aimed for her stomach, but ends up aiming higher and connecting with her solar plexus

"OOF!" Skylar coughs loudly while she recoils due to the air that is knocked out of her

Link with a quick swiping punch, slaps Skylar's metal arm to the left... Right as the blast of fire emerges from the palm of her hand! The redirected fire blasts with plenty of speed away from them, and soon hits the forest behind them, engulfing multiple trees within seconds of the fire connecting. Meanwhile, Link follows up with another uppercut, more powerful than the previous one, and it lands flush on Skylar's jaw, sending the tiger faunus into the air

"It's now or never." Link grins. "This might just take me out too but…" He jumps into the air without another word and uses enough power to position himself below Skylar. With a grasp of her shirt, the blonde boy pulls her down, spins Skylar once, and launches her further into the air, "Change of plans then!" He grunts and purposely lets himself drop back down

Link waits patiently, eyeing everything Skylar does. First, she flails around for a short while before regaining her composure. Secondly, when realizing how high up in the air she is, her right arm aims directly at Link and shoots out another wave of fire

"What a last ditch effort by Miss Harrison of team SLVR, but Link dodges the young lady's attack! All she can do now is fall right into any attack her opponent can muster up, this could be the end!" Doctor Oobleck's voice grows louder as Skylar falls from the sky

"This is it." Link glances at their names for what seems to be the last time, his aura is at twenty-five, and Skylar's surprisingly is at thirty, a huge drop from before

(I feel… Oddly relaxed, more in control even. This fight against these four, I feel stronger.)

Link concentrates as he summons more than just the golden eyes, but now the facial marks of 'the demon' emerge. However, there is no resistance or inner struggle, because Link displays more control than before. He looks at his hands as they and the rest of his body briefly glow with a thick golden energy

"What an incredible showcase of the young man's abilities." Professor Port beams. "Now to sew what Mister Link does with this display is anyone's guess!"

Link runs towards Skylar, who is now closer to the ground, and leaps in the air! For only a few seconds they are on the same level, and in those couple of seconds, Link aims his left hand at Skylar, a bright flash emits as a beam of light shoots at Skylar and forms the same two triforces used on Violet and Ryker, with the dark behind and the faded in front of her. Although, there is no time or possibility for the one person team to perform his combination of attacks, seeing as they are in the air and momentarily floating. Link, having remained close to his opponent, raises his sword with both hands and brings it down on Skylar's head! The triforces shatter with the one and only attack and send the tiger faunus flying downwards to the metal floor, head first

"Crap! Ahhhhhh!" Skylar flails and tries to flip herself over, but her lack of energy and aura prevent her from having any success

"OH NO!" Professor 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 a second!) He struggles to aim but with the lack of time, he fires and 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-! Hold on! What's this!?" Professor Port rises out of his chair, microphone in hand

With the hook-shot assist, Link catches up to Skylar and wraps an arm around her waist. Now, both students appear 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 energy that engulfs them within seconds, an ability previously seen and used to protect himself and others, with the two seemingly plummeting into the ground

SMASH!

…

Only a minute passes, but to the colosseum it feels like an hour and then at last, the smoke clears. Loud gasps and mumbles consume the entire arena, until the audience sees Link, rising up to one knee and Skylar on the ground back first. All chatter and gasps die down as everyone's eyes dart to the tron, eager to see the final results. Link's aura is at the tournament regulation's breaking point, fifteen; Skylar's is at seven and clearly in the red

"A dramatic finish indeed, but Mister Link of Beacon Academy is victorious!" Doctor Oobleck announces with plenty of pep in his voice

"I… l-lost." Skylar sighs as she struggles to sit up, "W-Whoa, I'm not broken? But wasn't I falling head fir-!" She glares at Link with narrowed eyes. "You, you saved me, didn't you?"

"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 you cushioned my fall, thank you." 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 to look around, "My mom said she'd watch my match, I wonder how disappointed she is right now. With how big our advantage was and-!"

"Something tells me your mom is anything but disappointed." Link chuckles. "She's a good woman who raised a strong daughter. If anything, she's definitely proud of you."

"You really think so?" Skylar asks

"He is right." Ryker steadily walks towards his leader and Link, with Leo by his side, who carries a rifle in his hand. "She'd be so proud at how hard you fought."

"Thanks, both of you?" Skylar weakly smiles as tears flow down her cheeks

"Enough of that." Link mumbles. "You should be proud of your performance."

"They are happy tears, you rat." The tiger faunus giggles whilst she stands up. "I am proud."

"I believe this belongs to you, mister Link." Leo winces, but with a proud nod, he extends his arms and holds out Link's rifle

"You brought this for me? Thank you." Link smiles and takes back his secondary weapon

"Awww man, the pretty boy actually beat us." Violet groans as she regroups with her team, having been lying closer to the mountain biome. "Good job, now give us a rematch!"

"Right now? Are you crazy?" Link grins. "Another time, okay?"

"Deal!" Violet happily nods. "I promise we'll have more than one sequence next time!"

"I look forward to that." Link nods before he suddenly turns to Skylar. "Hey… About our talk. I said what I needed to say, and now I trust you will make the right decisions."

"We'll see." Skylar nods. "With the stuff I have gone through, it feels impossible to forgive, and I don't think I can forget about revenge either, it's going to take some time."

"Do what you think is right." Link extends his hand

"I will, thank you." Skylar smiles and shakes his hand. "W-WHOA!"

Link tightest the grip on her hand and pulls the tiger faunus in for a big hug that draws cheers and 'awwws' from the live audience

"Whoa..." Violet claps her hands, giggles loudly, and jumps in excitement. "You're friends? It was only like what? Ten minutes ago, Skylar wanted you to burn in h-!"

"I think we all got the message!" Leo shouts and chuckles nervously

"Heh, yeah I sure did almost burn." Link chuckles and scratches his head

"Good luck in the double's round." Ryker mumbles. "Not that you're going to need it, but your opponents will."

"Thanks Ryker. Thanks to all of you." Link nods

He turns to face the crowd, the cheers and clapping double in noise as the victor acknowledges the appreciative crowd by waving and taking a bow

---

Amity Colosseum: The Audience

Moments later, with both teams off the arena and preparations being made and announced for the doubles round, those in the crowd are given a brief intermission before the start of the next round

"The man of the hour is finally here!" Ruby shouts at full volume while 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." She turns away and sighs. "I nearly thought you were done for then."

"Please don't remind me of the beginning of the fight." 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 whilst observing team SLVR... Approach their group. "Link? We have some company."

"Hm?" Link turns and sees Skylar leading her team towards them

"It's team SLVR!" Ruby claps. "Good fight out there! You guys looked awesome."

"Thanks, Ruby Rose is it?" Skylar nods

"Mhm!" Ruby nods back excitedly

"You looked pretty good yourself." Skylar grins

"Oooh, THANK!" Ruby pumps her fist in the air

"Not so easy huh?" Weiss jokingly taunts

"Grrr..." Skylar balls up her fists, but smirks immediately. "Y-Yeah, Guess you're right."

"Don't get cocky though." Violet chips in, the cat faunus' wriggles around while she displays a big smile on her face. "Maybe you'll meet your match in the next round."

"Even if Weiss came off as cocky. Can you blame her?" Yang laughs. "We did get by the first round rather handily."

"No offense, but you guys didn't face the best opponent. We've sparred against team ABRN many times, trust me." Skylar grins. "Us on the other hand? We fought quite possibly one of the best in this tournament."

"Oh stop." Link shakes his head

"But she is not wrong." Pyrrha mutters. "You are one of the most touted students to compete in the tournament."

"Exactly." Skylar rapidly nods

"W-Well..." Yang goes quiet. "I guess you're right."

"Sorry if I crapped on your victory." The tiger faunus cringes. "And hey, it's not like it was a completely one-sided match with no resistance, you guys earned it. Leo, praise them."

"I thought you'd never ask!" Leo nods, walks up to team RWBY and dramatically bows, "My leader is right, you four earned that victory and you especially looked impressive." He turns to Yang. "To wipe out three people with one punch, that was awesome."

"Yeahhh! I did my best." Yang cheers with a wide smile

"Miss Rose, you went completely unharmed and led your team flawlessly, keep up the good work." Leo smiles at the young leader

"THANKS!" Ruby giggles

"Weiss Schnee. You set up the entire finish that cannot go unnoticed and you had your teammates covered, which led them to taking no damage." Leo firmly nods

"Why, thank you." Weiss looks uneasy at the team of faunus' sudden generosity

"And last but not least, Miss Belladonna." The nerdy bull faunus turns to Blake, but then suddenly freezes up and blushes. "Y-You…"

"Excuse me?" Blake raises an eyebrow

"He's too stunned by the smokeshow, clearly." Yang purrs and nudges her teammate with an elbow to the gut

"Yang!" Blake frowns and politely smiles at Leo

"The nerd has a little crush! How adorable." Violet giggles

"Okay, praise over." Ryker shrugs, grabs his teammate by his collar, and yanks him away from team RWBY

"We should get going now, but it's nice to see that you have so many friends." Skylar nods at the one person team. "Seeing as you're such a good person."

"Thank you." Link grins and nods at the three teams standing nearby. "I'm grateful to have them all by my side."

"Aw, thanks kid." Coco leans forward and punches him in the arm

"Coco!" Velvet gasps as she hides behind Yatsuhashi, as a result of the complement making her blush

Skylar and the rest of her team wave whilst leaving in unison, but it is their leader who stops first, lets out a big sigh, then focuses directly on Weiss, a girl that was previously attacked by the all faunus team

"Hey Schnee." Skyler mumbles

"Yes?" Weiss raises an eyebrow and looks somewhat concerned

"Sorry. For 'pestering' you the other day, we were out of hand and it won't happen again." She nods

"Huh?" Jaune scratches his head

"Apology accepted." Weiss nods. "Don't even worry about it anymore."

"Cool." Skylar smiles, waves at everyone again, then heads for the exit. "Come on team."

"Yes ma'am." Leo nods

"Ugh! Why can't we just find somewhere to sit and watch the matches?" Violet sighs

"Because we should probably eat first." Skylar chuckles. "And I would rather eat real food as opposed to just snacks."

"Ohhh!" Violet nods. "Lunch it is!"

"..." Ryker remains silent and simply follows along

"That was a bit… Weird." Nora says

"Tell me about it." Ruby mumbles, "What was she apologizing for anyw-!"

"Nothing really." Weiss quickly dismisses the confused huntresses

"Hey guys, I think I'm going to head out." Link points to the exit. "That match took a lot out of me."

"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

"Yeah, come on kid." Coco nods. "Stick around."

"Y-Yes, please Link?" Velvet speaks up

"Hmm..." Link dramatically sighs and slowly nods. "Fine, but I am going to head back and get changed at least. I might also have a drink while I'm there."

As soon as the word 'drink' comes out Link's mouth, he gets cold glares from Pyrrha, Weiss, Ruby, Blake, Velvet, Coco, and Yang, whom all question his intentions

"...Of water." Link widely smiles and without another word, he departs from his group of friends to race back to Beacon and do what he said he was going to do

---

(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 at the last minute as usual... but here is the update after like 600 years of wait, enjoy.)