Chapter 3: Ravenscroft? Who'sThat?
"Watch my horse for me," Link requested of Marley. The girl was reluctant to at first, but when Link passed his filly off to her, the horse was suddenly much more docile than when she was found on the side of the road. "You'll be good for the nice lady, won't you," he said to his horse, who answered with a snort and a shake of her head, "That's my girl."
"What!? Where are you going? You just found your horse," Marley protested as Link walked away. She tried to follow him, only for Link to stop her.
"Don't worry, I'm not going far. I won't even leave your line of sight," Link assured her.
"Then where are you going," Marley asked again.
Link couldn't easily lie his way out of easing her worry, so he decided to answer honestly. "Just down the street to that group of scary-looking armed men," he muttered just loud enough for Marley to hear as he averted his gaze.
"What!?"
Without another word, Link started walking down the road. It would have been easier, if Marley and Epona both hadn't been trying to pull him to safety.
"Where is he," one of the men demanded to know, "We know he's here! So, which one of you is hiding him?"
Currently, the men were on a warpath, overturning carts, bursting into buildings and brandishing their weapons to innocent bystanders. At the moment, one of the men brandished his sword at a man whose son was hiding behind him. "You: start talking! Where is he?"
"Yeah, let's get him! That guy's a real jerk!"
The five hooded men all turned to see the boy they were chasing from before with a girl and a foal pulling on either one of his sleeves. "Hey, who are we looking for anyway," Link said, now that he had their attention, as if he didn't know already.
"Well, well. Look who it is," said one of the men as he patted his many pronged whip in his hand.
"Link. We should go now," Marley said tersely as she pulled harder on his arm, only to find that he was surprisingly steadfast in his position.
"Yes, that would be wise," the man said as he stepped closer, "At the moment we have no interest in you. But if you stay here, I'm going to repay you for the trouble you've caused me."
"That's funny. The way I remember it, you chased me through the woods, then tried to whip me silly," Link said. "But since we're on the subject, what's more important than me right now?"
"Leaving comes to mind," Marley said as she pulled harder. Epona snorted in agreement, and also increased her effort. Unfortunately, the filly wasn't as strong as when she was a grown mare.
"As powerful as your magic is, we only seek out the strongest for our cause. And you, boy, are nothing compared to the power of Ravenscroft," the hooded man answered.
Once the name was spoken, the entire market square went silent. Even Marley stopped yanking on Link's arm when she heard it.
"What? I'm being upstaged by a bird and his farm," Link asked, completely confused by the statement.
"Surely, you know of Ravenscroft, the fire god?"
"No, but I ate a pepper called 'Din's Fire' once. And if there's any pepper named after this guy, please, give it to my horse first."
Epona shook her head and nickered.
"Sorry, sweetie, but I'm not taking any chances after that first time."
Link would have kept talking, if not for the sudden snap of the man's whip.
"It's perfectly plain that you know nothing. And I mean that in general. And it's only because I'm sick of listening to you that I'm going to let you walk free. For now, at least," the man said.
"As generous as it is that you're letting me go, I don't think I can stand by and let you terrorize the populace," Link answered, even though in the back of his head, he was cursing himself for confronting five armed men when he was without any means to defend himself.
"Link, as much as I admire your courage, we should take their offer and go," Marley said. Much to her relief, she felt Link stop resisting and take a small step backwards. Another gentle pull on his arm, and he started walking away with her and Epona.
"You're very lucky to have such a smart friend," the man said. He could have resumed looking for this mysterious Ravenscroft, but he decided to offer one final jab, "Not so lucky in the department of fashion, though."
Oh, that was the last straw! Link could handle a lot of pressure, but for the third time in twenty-four hours, someone made fun of his clothes. That on top of mysteriously ending up in a new land, getting chased through the woods, and Zant's magic lesson, he was about to burst! He knew what he was about to do would send the town into a panicked frenzy, but he wasn't about to let them get away from him.
"Marley, do you read any horror books," he asked.
"No," she concisely answered. She never did too good with scary stories, but why was he asking such a stupid question?
"Then this is all gonna be new to you," Link said as he touched the shard of darkness in his pocket.
Marley gasped as she and Epona quickly backpedalled when Link suddenly turned pitch black and dropped to all fours. Her gut wrenched when she watched him convulse, and start to change shape. What was happening to his face? Why was it getting longer? And why was he growing claws?
In a burst of darkness, the boy she met earlier was gone, and in his place, a black and gray wolf with white markings on it's head.
Epona snorted, and backed away from him when she saw his transformation. She loved Link so much, but not when he looked like that. In that form, all the light and warmth from his presence went away, replaced by something dark and sinister that made her feel uneasy, and sometimes scared of him. But this time, not so much as before.
Link barked and snarled at the men, letting them know that he meant business. In this form, he had seen the bravest warriors cower before him, but instead, Link swore he could see the men smiling under their hoods.
"And what exactly do you plan to do to us? Nibble our shoes," one of the men said, amusement clear in his voice.
Once again, Link realized how much bigger everything around him was than it should have been. Even as a wolf, nothing looked this big before. In a sudden whoosh, his confusion washed away, and clarity struck like a needle in his brain when he realized that he was now a wolf pup, complete with downy fluff. Sure, he had seen Zant while he was in this form, but he figured that it was something to do with his magic. Like when the Usurper King grew to fifty feet tall when he fought him in the yeti's mansion.
But size be damned, he would not back down from these men. He growled as viciously as he could, only to realize how he must have sounded, having heard puppies growl himself.
The five men drew their swords, expecting an easy victory over a helpless wolf pup. Unknown to them, this tiny canine was anything but helpless.
Now, it was time to put Zant's magic lesson to use. After a week of constant practice, he had it practically down to a science. Once the men were upon him, they were all viciously assaulted by a volley of unseen blows. One by one, they were knocked backwards, both irritated and astounded by what just happened.
When the men stood, they saw the wolf surrounded by shadows, which morphed into a pair of large, deformed hands. Another high pitched snarl from the pup, and the men decided that they could put off their search for now. This wolf pup would surely suffice for their needs.
One of them stepped forward, and his sword began to darken, and it's blade began to take a more amorphous shape, like a shadow of a waving flag.
Link couldn't be too sure what was going on. It looked like Twili magic, but at the same time, it was very different. But, he couldn't ponder it too much. Not when the sword was coming down on him.
With a jump to the side, the sword slammed the ground, extending far longer than it was before. The man with the shadowy sword swung again, his sword snaking around obstacles as if it had a mind of it's own toward Link.
The wolf pup quickly jumped over it, and landed on the flat of the blade, which took him rocketing down the market square toward another assailant.
This man had what looked like a wheel of swords spinning behind him, each one different from the last. And one after the other, he swung them at Link, who jumped, ducked and weaved around each one once the shadowy blade stopped extending.
Between the swings, Link was able to sneak in a punch or two from the dark hands. He would have loved to slap his head inside out like he did Zant, but the man's concentration was not easily broken, the way his swords kept magically swinging.
The shadow blade retracted back to it's wielder, leaving behind his opponent, "Work on that swing while I'm gone," and taking him toward a new one. "Oh crap!"
The third member of the group actually changed before Link's eyes. Though he couldn't see his face, he saw a pair of horns sprout from under his hood, and saw him grow larger.
Once Link was close enough, the man grabbed him off the blade, and held him tightly in his grasp. Under his hood, Link could see that his face changed to something more monstrous.
With a snap of his head, Link sank his canine teeth into the monster man's hand, only to find his puppy teeth worthless against his opponent's thick, red hide.
Feeling his opponent's grip tightening, Link summoned his shadowy hands to pry himself loose from the monster man's grip, but only managed to slightly open his fingers before he started using two hands.
It was like being caught in the grip of the Stallord for him. Only this time, Midna wasn't around to help pull him free. He would have to figure out a new way. But then, all of a sudden, the monster man's eyes bulged, and he let go of Link.
Link fell through the air, and landed quite softly on something that definitely wasn't the ground. Looking up, he saw nothing but fluffy white hair. Things started making more sense when he saw the profile of a horse's head turn and look at him. "Did he hurt you," she asked him.
He had completely forgotten that he could talk to Epona as a wolf. Then again, he barely did so anyway when he started relying on Midna for transportation as opposed to his own beloved horse. He almost felt bad for how that happened, but at the same time he was glad that there was someone familiar who he could talk to. With a happy thump of his tail, he answered, "Who? The beefcake? I've eaten pumpkins more dangerous than him."
The monster man was finished agonizing over his injury. Not that he was planning to have children anytime soon, but a buck from a horse was incredibly painful, even if it was just a foal. With an angry shout, he swung his fists again, cracking the ground when the foal dodged.
"Pumpkins don't punch," Epona said to the wolf on her back.
"Mix it with a little rum and it all goes down fighting," Link said as he clung to Epona's back while she weaved around the following blows.
Before they could dodge another attack, lightning struck the ground in front of them. Since they were forced to stop, they had no way of dodging the next blow from the monster man, which sent them both sprawling down the road. Before they even stopped rolling, Link saw a flash of yellow, and felt a stinging, burning pain like none he ever felt before. He heard a loud whinny, and knew that Epona had been hit as well.
They were going to pay for hurting his horse. He nearly got up again, only to once again be struck by lightning, and brought to the ground.
Marley looked on in horror, wanting help, but not knowing if she would do any good. She knew that she could help, but the only way to do so was forbidden by her dad.
Link tried to block another bolt of lightning with his shadowy hands, only to be hit by another. After that, the five men all began closing in on him.
It had to be done. There was no other way that Link might possibly survive. Marley focused her will, and hoped it would be enough to save him.
Looking up, Link found himself once again surrounded by the hooded men. Four of them already had their fiendish magic brandished to annihilate the wolf, but the leader with the whip hadn't yet used his. Only now did he choose to demonstrate what horrors awaited Link.
The leader took a kind of talisman from his robes, and draped it around the hand in which he held his many-pronged weapon. Once he had, the trinket began to glow with a malevolent red light which spread to his weapon. The prongs of the whip began to sway about as if each had a life of their own
In the center, at the base where the prongs joined the handle, a fanged mouth opened up and hissed loudly. One of the whip prongs reached out and grabbed a piece of produce that had been toppled by the men earlier, and was consumed by the monstrous mouth. One by one, other prongs reached out, and consumed more fallen items. It was as if some kind of gluttonous demon had taken residence in the man's weapon.
"A lot of spirit," the man mused as he raised his weapon, and its fanged mouth opened, "Normally, I would enjoy the long, arduous process of breaking down one like you. But, this time, I'll have to settle for quick and painful."
There was no way Link was going to be fed to this mini-Morpheel. He tried to fight back with his dark hands, only to have them eaten by the leader's weapon. All he could do now was frantically plan what he would do next once he was in whatever passed as that thing's stomach.
Suddenly, the leader was hit in the face with what looked like a burst of light. "Light arrows," Link thought. Each one of the men was hit in succession, and Link looked to the direction they were coming from.
What he saw was Marley, standing there with what looked like a much, much smaller version of the cannon that shot him to the city in the sky. She kept pulling a trigger underneath the main barrel of the contraption, which kept shooting concentrated light at each opponent.
Even though they looked slightly similar, Marley's projectiles weren't nearly as effective as Zelda's light arrows, as the men only flinched at each hit. Until they were all hit with a singular powerful blast that took them all off their feet.
Marley looked at her weapon, marvelling that she had such a power within her. Her dad only taught her a little bit of magic, but that was something else!
Two more much smaller shots came flying past her, and she, Link and Epona watched as an older, red-haired man with with gray stubble stepped in next to her and began firing his rifle at the men, cocking a lever beneath the stock between each shot before he drank heavily from a silver flask.
"Dad," Marley yelled, glad that he came, but at the same time, afraid of what he'd say since she was using magic unsupervised.
"Quit talkin' and fan that hammer, girl," he said as he put his flask back on his belt. Without another word, he charged into the fray.
Taking his example, Link and Epona rushed into battle as well, paws and hooves flying furiously.
Each fighter took an opponent of their own. Epona took out her anger on the monster man who tried to hurt Link earlier. She dodged his wild swings, and countered with every stomp and buck she used to keep bokoblins at bay back in Hyrule.
Were she bigger, she would have taken him down without a problem. But now, with her stupid filly body, her usual techniques weren't as effective.
When she swung her head, it only impacted lightly. When she charged, it was met with a dull thud. And she was met with a powerful swing of a fist that sent her rolling.
This was getting her nowhere. Whenever Link came back from one of those dungeons he talked about, he always mentioned some kind of monster at the end of them that was several times his own size. However, he always told her about how each one had some kind of weak point. She had hit one earlier, but chances were that he would protecting his oat bag against further attacks. Something had to be done about that.
Link always told her there was some trick to make each monster reveal their weak point, and now she had to come up with a strategy to wrangle this nasty red demon cow.
The monster man swung another punch that sent the filly rolling into a cart after cart. She shook her head, and realized that she was now surrounded by the key to her victory.
The monster man charged at Epona, who started bucking cart after cart in her opponent's direction. Some were cast aside, while others hit their mark, but did little damage. But, this was not her intent. With every buck, the monster man stepped closer, and with his hands busy, he was not able to protect his weak point.
Once again, Epona's rear hooves shot out and connected between the monster man's legs, making him bellow in pain. He tried to retaliate with a strong jab, only for his knee to be attacked next. He only ended his opponent's assault by slamming his massive palm down, forcing his equine opponent to jump backwards to safety.
"Aw, cripes, I need a drink," Marley's dad said after he clubbed the shadow-swordsman with the butt of his rifle.
Once the other man was down, he quickly unscrewed his flask and took a heavy sip, just as he dodged a bolt of lightning from another opponent.
The lightning wielder rushed in with his electric-imbued sword to take the drunk's head off, only for his opponent to finish his drink and slam the flask into his face as he fastened it back onto his belt.
This was followed up by the drunk bashing his face with the barrel of his gun, followed by shooting the shadow-swordsman over his shoulder, more on accident than skillful shooting.
Nearby, he saw his daughter being attacked by the other swordsman with the wheel of blades on his back. Though she held her own well enough, he knew an inexperienced mage like her was no match for someone like that guy.
"Hands off the kid, psycho," he said as he shot a funnel of wind that took the wheel-swordsman off his feet. "Remember what I told you, Marley: eye on the target, and your heart in the trigger!"
When she was learning magic, Marley was taught that she must place her full concentration into ever spell. The more she put herself into it, the more powerful it would become. But, that was so hard to do when she was in an actual combat situation, and against such an advanced opponent.
She saw the shadow-swordsman and the lightning-wielder both raising their weapons to her dad while his back was turned.
Taking her dad's words to heart, she aimed her weapon, emphasizing the intent to protect her dad as she cast her spell.
A large ball of light shot out from her six-shooter, and rocketed toward her dad. The drunk held up his arms to block the magic, only for the shot to divide in two, swerve around him and hit both his attackers in the face.
"Nice shootin', girl," he said as he reached once more for his flask. His drink would have to be delayed though, as he saw the wheel-swordsman readying all of his blades for attack. "Duck," the drunk shouted.
Not wasting a second, the farm girl crouched low, as she felt the wind of the lowest blade fly over her head.
Before the swordsman could bring his weapons down on the girl's head, he was hit in the face by a half-full silver flask that bounced off his head, and into the drunk's hand before he shot a concussive blast directly into his stomach.
Once he was down, Marley ran to her dad's side, who, by the time she got there, was drinking from his flask.
The shadow-swordsman's weapon came swinging in, forcing Marley to duck, while her dad bent far over backwards, taking a heavier drink.
The very second they both dodged, they fired their weapons at their opponents, quickly snapping between targets to keep the three of them at bay.
"They just don't wanna quit, do they," Marley's dad said as he pulled her out of the way of a bolt of lightning, while his daughter retaliated with another shot.
Marley didn't answer. She was too busy concentrating on fending off her opponents. The lightning-wielder shot several sparks in her direction, each of which were shot out of the air.
She continued to fire her opponent's projectiles out of the air, while her dad fought off two enemies at once. Her dad used his magic once more, firing a blast that knocked the wheel-swordsman backwards.
Though Marley desperately wanted to help her dad, she had to keep her focus on not getting electrocuted. She needed to do something, but she was only a beginner mage. She dreaded her imminent defeat, but more so cursed herself for not being able to help him.
Through nothing more than her will to protect her father, the magical shots came rushing out of her gun, faster than she ever shot before, and only with her finger holding the trigger instead of releasing between shots.
The sparks of electricity were all shot down quicker than the hooded man could throw them. Soon, he was bombarded by several small, yet painful shots that brought him to his knees.
Once he was down, Marley quickly turned and shot both of the men her dad was fighting. The two of them both skillfully blocked her shots, until they were hit by another whirlwind from her dad.
"I don't remember teachin' you that," the drunk said, his voice perfectly steady, though brimming with pride for his daughter. His attention was caught by the sight of Epona and Link fighting their respective opponents.
Epona had just destroyed a shop's awning to blind her opponent, before bucking his weak point again.
"So, that's where that stinkin' filly ran off to," he said to himself. "Glad I didn't piss it off that bad."
Link shot backwards, away from the snaring tendrils of the leader's weapon. When he was at an appropriate distance, he summoned a magical pair of hands that grabbed anything around it as a makeshift weapon.
"A literal dog and pony show? Now I've seen everything," he said, wondering how in the world that animal was using such a magic, or even what magic it was using. He couldn't keep thinking though, as Marley shot one of the men they were fighting, prompting him to resume fighting.
No matter what Link did. No matter what he used to attack, it was eaten by the monster his opponent wielded. He couldn't even land a punch the way the tendrils kept swatting away, or diffusing his dark magic.
He recalled that bloated Daibaba doing something similar, until he fed it explosives. Unfortunately, there was no such thing at his disposal at the moment. He tried to feed it his own Dark Hands, only for them to burst into a mass of black tiles that dissipated into nothing.
A mass of tendrils lashed out to get him, forcing him to jump back. Link kept backpedalling until he entered one of the shops. With none of his usual items at his disposal, he was forced to use what was around him to aid him in battle.
One of his dark hands shot out and grabbed the first thing he could reach, only to find it to be a spool of thread. "Eh!? Goddess damned tailor shop!"
Link threw away the useless tool, in favor of swinging mirrors, stools, scissors and boxes of fabric at his opponent. Each one was eaten, while the larger items were broken apart first, then consumed. Once again, he found himself with a spool of thread in his possession. He was about to discard it in favor of something else, until one of the monster's tendrils lashed out to get him.
With nothing else at his disposal, he threw the spool of thread, which was caught by the tendril, and subsequently unwound. The other tendrils all worked to gather the threads into the mouth, only to tangle themselves momentarily.
That was the window he needed. He could already see there was no way he would ever defeat the bottomless stomach with a handle. Instead, he would have to incapacitate it while he took on the leader.
Wasting no time to think anymore on it, he let loose a volley of punches on the monster's master, pummeling him back out the door of the shop. This was stopped when he was kicked out the window on the opposite end of the shop.
Stars cleared from Link's vision as he lamented that this guy turned out to be an evil psycho, instead of an athlete with a kick like that. The leader of the men came jumping out the window after Link, his weapon having pulled loose a few of it's tendrils.
The man swung his weapon, sending it's deadly prongs to Link, who was taken off the ground by one of them.
Suspended in the air over the gaping maw, Link's mind raced for a way to escape. Attacking the weapon would do no good, he already knew. So, once more, he attacked the wielder.
He began by swinging a grocery cart at the man, taking his legs out from under him. He then used his dark hands to grab a fistful of peppers and jam them into his face.
His face burning from the peppers, Link's opponent covered his face and tried to wipe his eyes clean, swinging Link around in the process.
Without even thinking about it, the man had been ensnared by the tendrils of his own weapon, which were slowly creeping up his arm. "No! I am your master! You will do as I order," the man yelled as he forcefully pulled off the devilish appendages.
Some of the tendrils that held Link had loosened as they crept to their new target, allowing him to shake himself loose.
Once he was on the ground, he watched as the leader pulled off the last tendril that had grabbed him, and glared murderously at Link. This experience had shown Link that the monster his opponent held was not a docile servant. Though controllable, it was still a mindless eating machine, which Link knew would bode well in his favor. Until he figured out how, he would have to keep those things busy while he tried to subdue it's wielder.
Link picked up a watermelon and heaved it at the leader, who cut it cleanly in half with a newly drawn sword.
Now, Link was dodging sword strikes in addition to the wild swings of the demonic weapon. He picked up a broken piece of wood as a makeshift sword, and returned the attacks, only for his new weapon to be cut down to size with each successful block.
Soon, Link was left with only a stub of wood, which he used to simply flick at his opponent's forehead.
Only a light offense on Link's part, but it was not to be taken lightly to his opponent. The man retaliated with a swing of both weapons, snaring Link with one and cutting him with the other.
Try as Link did to dodge the weapon, he found himself getting cut as he was once more drawn to the gaping mouth in the hilt.
There would be no surprise punches that would save him this time. The constant attack of the blades kept him from focusing properly, and summoning his Dark Hands, leaving him to the mercy of the monster.
If he was ever going to die in battle, Link knew he would not be an entree to some travel-sized glutton. He recalled his week-long session with Zant, how the Usurper King would relentlessly attack him, and how Link could never so much as conjure a single square of Twili magic when he did that.
Every ounce of his pent up frustration channeled into what he did next. He jerked out of the way of every swing of the sword, while above his opponent's head, a dark shape formed. As Link was inched closer to the monster, the shape took the form of a massive Dark Hand that slammed down hard on his opponent's head.
The force of the blow made the leader let go of his weapon, which started reaching out and eating whatever it could reach.
Summoning another Dark Hand, Link picked up the demonic weapon and started driving it into the ground, making the tiny demon screech loudly.
The leader tried to retrieve the weapon, only to be punched by another dark hand, which was quickly slashed into oblivion.
He marched toward his weapon, cutting away any attack hands. Once he was close, Link lunged forward, fangs bared.
The wolf's teeth sank into the man's arm, and was subsequently shaken and slammed against everything around him.
Link's ears began to ring as he took more and more punishment from the larger opponent. He tried to attack with another Dark Hand, but those were all cut down by the leader's sword.
Link was running out of options, and he knew he wouldn't be able to battle much longer if this kept up. He needed a new tactic, and he had one readily in mind.
The leader's whip lay wriggling on the ground, and was picked up by one of Link's summoned hands. With a mighty swing, it struck the leader on the back as Link let go of his arm. Soon, the tendrils of the weapon began lashing onto the man, who started slashing them off his body.
This was what Link was waiting for. This would be where he would put the monster's gluttonous appetite to good use. As the leader tried to pull off and cut away the tendrils that attacked him, Link sent one of his Dark Hands to grab the tendrils and attach it to his opponent's leg.
When the leader tried to free himself with twice the effort, until Link kept attaching more of the monster's tendril's to its master's body.
Once or twice, it tried to eat the hands that held it, but this was corrected by Link simply making the ones it grabbed disappear.
Soon, the leader was draped from head to toe in his weapon's tendrils, all of them pulling him slowly toward the snapping maw. He tried resisting the pull of the weapon by pushing it to the ground with his foot, only for it to be caught in the monster's mouth.
All around, the hooded men were being overwhelmed. Marley and her dad both unleashed a flurry of shots that pushed their opponents into each other, forcing them to magically retreat in a wisp of shadows.
Epona unleashed one last buck to the monster man's weak point, this time sending him flying on his back.
He agonized on the ground, swearing vengeance against the young equine as he changed back to his normal human form, and disappeared the same as his associates.
The leader knew that he was finished, but he would not go alone. He grabbed his sword and slashed at Link, who backed away from each strike, until both the man's legs were consumed by his monstrous weapon.
Link was well beyond the reach of the sword, but the glare the man shot him struck him harder than any blade as he clawed the ground to give his last words.
"Nothing has changed from this," the leader said as he was consumed, "Because of the magic you possess, we will find you wherever you run. And we will not stop, until Lord Zeref has been resurrected…"
With those final words, the man let go of the ground, and was consumed completely as the hand draped with his medallion disappeared down the monster's throat.
An eerie silence filled the town square, until the weapon on the ground began to shriek and convulse. It flopped across the ground, making Epona take a quick step back when it got too close to her.
Finally, black squares began to drift upward from the monster, until they all merged to create one solid shard that floated in the air for a single second before it disappeared from sight.
Link's eyes popped when he recognized the shard that appeared before him. An all too familiar magic that had somehow found it's way into the wrong hands. This was only on top of his already mounting pile of troubles. But, he wouldn't let that get him down. He changed back to his human form and gave his brief eulogy to his fallen opponent.
"Just be wearing men's clothes when I see you again," Link said, knowing that he had not seen the last of any of them.
"Link!"
Turning to the direction of Marley's voice, Link was suddenly enveloped in the tightest hug he ever felt that lifted him off his feet.
"Did you see what I did? And my dad, and your horse? And you were so amazing," she said, psyched over their victory.
"In amazing need of air," Link choked out.
"Sorry," Marley said quickly, before she dropped him on the ground.
Epona helped Link to his feet, and he dusted himself off. "So much for the gentle hospitality of rancher's daughters," Links said as he cracked his spine back into place.
It was nice to see that even when he was in pain, he had a sense of humor, even if she didn't quite get the joke. But, before she could say anything, her dad came in next to her.
He examined Link from head to toe before he spoke, "First a puppy? Now a kid? How drunk am I?" Slowly, he began to sway, "Oh, wait. I know."
And with that, he passed out in the street.
A/N: Sorry for being so late, folks. My partner and I ran into a bit of a snag when we were writing this: we had no idea what the hell direction this story was going to take. So, we put it off for a while, in that time we worked on a few other projects, and we gradually worked out a way this story can go in the future. We're still not too sure about this particular one, so this project may continue to be slow-going, but we do plan to finish it.
Anyway, about that story, I ended up getting my hands on Hyrule Warriors, which gave me the brilliant idea for Epona getting involved in battle. The idea here was that the guys Link and company fight are the boss of the 'dungeon' that Link enters. The 'dungeon' being this strange new town. I personally like the idea of Link fighting opponents his own size, as opposed to a towering monster with a giant eye.
That's about all I can think to say for now. I must once again ask you all to rock on \m/