"In Battle-Ring, you will utilize four different combat techniques," Rauru said, pacing between students. "Hand to hand, staff, dagger, and blade. Each time a battle begins, a coin toss is held to determine which team will select the technique. A Ringer must be well-rounded in all four techniques if he hopes to avoid being under-advantaged. Today, we will begin with the most basic technique, hand to hand. It is known as the foundation technique because the other four depend on a mastery of it in varying extremes. It's our first training, so I'll demonstrate the basic forms, and you'll attempt to replicate them." Raru stepped up to a dummy and executed a perfect right hook, blasting grass and hay from the stuffed head. "See how I transferred my weight to my back foot," He said, "pushing off and twisting my hips to throw my body into the swing?" He demonstrated the blow again, slower this time. "Punching is the simplest move in Battle Ring, and yet it can be your trump card in many fights. Practice with your dummies now." Link turned to his dummy, holding the image of Raru's blow in his mind. He turned, angling his body as the instructor had done, then lunged forward, drilling his fist across the dummy's jaw. A dull thud rewarded him, and the dummy rocked slightly, but came to a standstill quicker than Link would've liked. He pressed his lips together, then reset. WAM! The head of the dummy next to him exploded in a flurry of straw. Link jumped back, blinking to get the hay dust out of his eyes. Yunobo pulled his fist back, staring at the headless stand. "Uh... Oops." he said. "That's alright," Raru said, striding up. "Goron strength isn't to be understated. It's for good reason you're only allowed to fight each other." Yunobo grinned sheepishly. "We have dummies specially designed for your kind, I should have taken one out at the start, but I didn't expect any of you would be powerful enough yet. Come with me; we'll go set one up." Yunobo glanced at Link as Raru strode off. Link grinned and waved him towards the instructor. The big Goron shook his head and turned to follow. "Wish I could do that." Link muttered to himself as he faced his own dummy. He took his stance again, then delivered another blow to the stand. This time he didn't let it settle before resetting and swinging again, and again, and again. Left, right, left, right. His fists drilled across the dummy's face, snapping its head left, then right, then left, then right. After a couple seconds, Link stepped back, breathing heavily. The featureless face of his dummy bore several lumps and scuffs from his assault, but other than that seemed completely fine. He scowled, staring at his hands. The knuckles were red and sported several scratches. "How do I get hurt more than the dummy?" he muttered. "Wish it was easy as Rauru makes it look, huh?" A Rito to his left said. Link chuckled. "I wish, somehow I managed to get hit harder than my dummy." He held up his hands. "Yeah, my older brother was a Ringer here too, and he said the first few months are rough," the rito said, then held out his wing. "Teba." Link gripped his hand and shook. "Link. You ever done Battle-Ring before?" Teba shook his head. "Nah, we don't have a ring in Rito Village." "Really?" "Yep, my folks put a lot more emphasis on things like archery and flying. Battle-Ring doesn't get a lot of hype there. We've got the best aerial course in Hyrule, though." "So I've heard. How come you joined up here then?" Link asked. Teba grinned and shrugged. "Not sure, partly for fun, partly because my brother did it, partly because there's just something about the ring. How about you? Why'd you join?" "I've always wanted to be a Ringer, it's like you said, there's just something about the Ring." Link said. "Funny how that is huh?" Teba said, then nodded over Link's shoulder. "You're Goron friend is heading back," Link looked behind him to see Yunobo walking over with a heavy wood dummy over one shoulder. "I like our chances with him on the team," Teba said, "That guy's built like an ox." "No kidding." Link agreed. "So how was Battle-Ring?" Sidon asked. Link swallowed his bite and nodded. "Really good. He had us practicing the fundamental forms, like punching, grappling, and kicking. It was hard, but super fun." "Yunobo kicked?" "Well, no. But he blew up a training dummy's head, so it's fine." "So that's the team's backup plan then. If you start to lose, Yunobo blows the guy's head up." "Basically." Link grinned as he scanned the cafeteria. Dinner at the Academy was just as good as lunch, and the hundreds of students eating seemed to agree. The dining hall itself was a marvel as well. Stairs against the wall granted access to a large balcony that ran against the four walls, forming a second story. Circular tables were strewn around the room, offering seating and conversation. finish in credits.
"So," Link said conspiratorially, pointing his fork at Sidon, "Yona." The Zora blushed and leaned back in his chair. "What about her?" He asked. Link rolled his eyes. "I don't know, maybe her pretty eyes, or her casual grace, or her-" "Alright, I get the idea." Sidon interrupted, crossing his arms in front of him. Link grinned. "You're blushing." "Am not." "I bet you're thinking about her eyes right now." "No I'm not!" Sidon insisted, "It's not like that." "Ok then what is it like?" Link asked, shoveling mashed potatoes into his mouth. "I don't know, but we're friends. We're both Zora, we both love music, we both enjoy sports..." "And you're both in love." Link added wisely. "No we're not!" Sidon insisted, "Well, she's not." Link rasied an eyebrow. "I mean I'm not. we're just friends." The Zora continued, "We got paired at the same table so we get along? Is that so bad?" "Is what so bad?" Tulin asked, sitting down next to Link, "And why is Sidon blushing?" Link roared with laughter as Sidon attempted to give them the dirtiest glare he could muster. "How was Cookery guys?" Yona asked as they took their seats. Zelda grinned as she set her plate on the table. The beckoning aroma waffing up from the steamed fish seemed to be the most beautiful scent she'd ever inhaled. "It was pretty good," Impa said, "They mostly just talked about ingrediant theory, but it's the first lesson so I guess they have to start with the basics." "Ingrediant theory?" Zelda asked. "Yeah, all of the ingrediants are classified into five categories, Base, Effect, Critter, Seasoning, and Monster Part. Base is just plain good old ingrediants, nothing special, Effect ingrediants can give certain benefits, like boosting adrenaline or awareness, Critters and Monster Parts are gross unless you use them together, where they make some kind of drink that can give you the same boosts as Effect meals. Seasonings are just spices and sauces that can be added to anything except those drinks." "Really? I thought it was just random stuff thrown together." Zelda said . Impa shook her head. "Nope, it's super complicated. Like aside from Base items, you can't even mix ingrediants from the same type with each other. And they can only be combined in certain ways." "Huh." Yona said, "that's actually pretty intresting." "Speaking of intresting," Impa said, leaning forewards. "What's the story with this Sidon guy?" Purah giggled as a slight blush spread across Yona's cheeks. Zelda grinned slowly. "Sidon?" Yona asked, glancing across the room. Zelda followed her gaze to a table in the corner. Link, Sidon, and Tulin were laughing over their meals. "Yep," Impa continued, "Sidon, the guy you very inocently just looked at." Yona smiled sheepishly. "I'm not sure, honestly. I mean, he's nice, and funny," "And handsome?" Purah interjected. "...Well, yes sure," Yona admit, "and I guess he could be flirting with me, but he does strike me as the kind of guy that just flirts with everybody." "Really?" Zelda asked. "I mean, it has only been one day." "And Yona, he's DEFINITELY into you." Impa added. Yona squirmed slightly, but a small grin pulled at the corners of her lips. "You think so?" She asked. "Oh yeah, he couldn't take his EYES off you." Purah said. "That is good right?" Zelda asked when Yona bit her lip. Yona nodded slowly. "Yes, I guess it is. I just don't want to rush into anything. I mean, we've barely been here a week." "That's true," Zelda said, "But he seems like a good guy. Maybe a little flirty, but he's not arrogant or mean. And from the way Link talks about him, I'd say he's not just performing." "Yeah," Impa agreed, "I grew up with those two. Sidon's a goofball, but he's honestly a good person." "And he's really good at Water-Ball." Purah added. Yona chuckled. "Okay, well I guess we'll see how it goes then." She said. Zelda smiled to herself as she picked up her fork. Good for Yona, the girl was always so mature and responsible; she deserved this. Aaaand that's the end of chap 6. hope you all enjoyed, lemme know what you think in the comments, and make sure you hit the green flag so I know how many people read this! Also, Hylia Academy is fan driven, so If you guys have any input, arcs you'd like to see, ships you want to read, let me know! And for some reason the project glitched out and wouldnt let me use text on the backdrop, so there's no title on the cover, sorry.
