Just as the sun began to set, one of the conductors of the train informed Zelda that they would be stopping for a short, twenty-minute break near Kakariko Village; they needed to pick up additional supplies, and the conductors themselves needed a break. Luckily, it was the crown's private train, so the only ones aboard were herself, Kirby, Roy, the crew, consisting of two conductors and a handful of service people. The sun fully set as Zelda stared out the window, thinking about Link. However, the other two did not even notice her sudden sad mood. Instead, they were talking about something rather… Interesting…

"Personally, I recommend clearing dungeons out entirely," Roy told Kirby, who sat across from him. He put his cup of tea down, continuing, "To think about the amount of riches stuffed in those places, some hundreds of years old, makes my head hurt."

"Where do you even find dungeons? All over Ylisse? Or Elibe?" Kirby asked, still trying to get a feel for Roy, "I've been basically all over the world, and there's only a handful of places that I could think of."

"Come on, Kirby. Don't be so dense," Roy commented, pointing at his own head with a cheeky grin, "Once you learn how to identify them, then you'll see that they're everywhere. Sure, you may only have your run-of-the-mill dungeon with a few traps and a linear layout in Dreamland, but in my—"

Suddenly, the train stopped abruptly. Zelda finally broke out of her daze from the sudden stop. She was able to stabilize herself, as did Kirby. Roy, however, was not so lucky; his tea spilt all over his lap, staining the pants underneath his green armor. "My tea!" Roy shouted in anguish. Immediately, he stood up and looked down, seeing the brownish stains.

"Why did we stop?" Zelda asked Kirby, who looked just as confused as he was.

"Maybe we're at Kakariko?" Kirby suggested, also getting out of the booth. He looked at Roy, who still looked distraught at his tea spilling. Kirby rolled his eyes, though he left out a little chuckle.

After getting Roy a towel, the three left the cabin, stepping out of the train. When they were outside, they could finally see that the engine appeared to be smoking; the front of the train almost looked like it had hit a brick wall. One of the conductors approached Zelda. "We're not sure what happened to the engine," he tried to explain, though, by the tone of his voice, he sounded confused and aghast, "I might be able to give you an update in an hour or two, but we're realistically stuck here for the rest of the night."

Cussing under her breath, Zelda looked down in frustration. She sighed heavily, showing this, "That's fine. Just do whatever you can…"

"It's too bad that I don't have Binding Blade anymore," Roy shook his head, "I'd be able to start a fire for us."

"This isn't right…" Zelda muttered, studying the environment carefully, "It looks like the train ran into something… I know we were slowing down, but whatever we hit shouldn't have stopped us so suddenly."

"Is it an enemy Spirit?" Kirby pondered, also trying to find clues around them. However, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary under the moonlight. Then, suddenly, they heard something rustle in the treeline.

Roy quickly drew his sword and readied himself toward the treeline. Kirby turned to it as Zelda crossed her arms, her life energy suddenly becoming visible. Before she could call her Spirit, they saw a figure emerge and put his hand out. Although Zelda relaxed, her life energy slowly becoming invisible again, Roy stayed with his sword drawn. He put his arm in front of his face, placing his blade atop it and bent his knees, eying the person as they walked out of the trees. When the person's face was visible, Roy dropped his sword and placed it back at his hip: it was Richter Belmont, wearing a black getup, though his cloth headband was white.

"Sorry sneaking up on you like that," he said with his hands up, "I was… Venturing through the woods and saw your train crash."

"Richter Belmont?" Kirby said, looking up at the massive man, "I haven't seen you since that day in Dharkon's realm."

Nodding, Richter closed his eyes, apparently trying to hide his arm. He sighed, "Well, I've been busy. As you can tell, I just finished my… Venture through the woods."

As Kirby looked behind Richter, he saw some blood on the trees and leaves behind him. He noted it mentally and turned back to Richter, who did not move from his initial spot in the bush, "Did you, by chance, see what hit the train? Or were you too busy… With your venture through the woods?"

"Okay, stop saying that," Zelda quickly said. The train clearly made her easily agitated, "Did you see what hit our train?"

"We should really sit down for this," Richter advised. He took a step, but Zelda stopped him with her hand.

She twitched her finger, studying Richter's eyes and body language. Once again, Kirby saw energy form around Zelda and, behind her, Phantom Warrior slowly appear. "He could be the one who stopped our train," Zelda suggested, her annoyance turning into anger, "How do we know we can trust you?"

Quickly, Roy turned to Zelda and said, "Princess, if I may… You're talking about Richter Belmont. Don't you know anything about the Belmont clan? Why are you so suspicious?"

"I know what he used to be," Zelda said, making sure Richter stayed perfectly still. It seemed that he could not see her Spirit; he just looked at her with steady eyes, "And I remember who you were too, before Galeem and Dharkon… Yet, you still attacked Peach and Mario back in the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser's influence knows no bounds; Richter could be just another one of his minions."

"You have a point," Kirby said, turning towards Richter, "There's a trial of blood behind Richter. It could be a sign of his parasitic Spirit."

"You mentioned Bowser," Richter said, putting his hands down to his side, "I'm trying to find him as well. But, it's for my own reasons. Maybe we could help each other."

Zelda scoffed, beginning to cross her arms in a way to make Phantom Warrior creep forward, "Yeah, right—"

Richter's own life energy became visible around him. However, before Zelda could send her Spirit to attack, a dark mist appeared in front of Richter. Then, a man with pale, white skin and nearly identical hair formed from the mist. The man was wearing a black coat as well as period clothing and held a broadsword that look predominantly black. As suddenly as the man appeared, he vanished. He reappeared directly behind Zelda and swung his sword; then, she heard something fall to the ground. Zelda turned around, seeing one of the conductors on the ground behind her.

"Before you accuse me of being a murder, I recommend you check the body," Richter said plainly, his Spirit vanishing. Roy looked at him as his energy became invisible.

"Kirby, check the body," Zelda ordered, gritting her teeth.

Kirby walked over to the body as Zelda maliciously stared at Richter, who returned her gaze but look as if he were brooding. The conductor was much paler than the last time Kirby had seen him, and his dark hair seemed to have grey in it now. "Something's not right…" Kirby said, "He looks as if his life force has been drained."

"The teeth… Have you checked the teeth? Do they look like fangs?" Richter asked unwavering.

Roy walked over to Kirby and handed him a stick. With the stick, Kirby opened the mouth of the conductor; like Richter said, there were fangs inside it. "Yeah, there are…"

Richter slightly grinned with the side of his mouth, blinking to break his gaze. On the other hand, Zelda was surprised, and she noticeably became less agitated. "Forgive me once again, but I had to make sure you were not under Bowser's influence as well," Richter informed, his sly grin suddenly changed, "You see, my venture through the woods was not a venture, but more of a hunt. Ever since I come into contact with this Spirit, I've encountered many a vampire and monster in this land…"

"God, he speaks like that too?" Kirby muttered, but he was quickly hushed by Zelda.

"…I've been off on my own since the final battle, taking out any of these vampires…Initially, there were only a few. But then I saw Simon," Richter continued, now allowing for his arm to be shown; there was a cut on it, looking fairly fresh, "Even though he's a Belmont, Bowser still got to him. And since I've become aware that Bowser has a Spirit, the number of monsters that've attacked me has increased. That tells me everything that I need to know about his power."

"Perhaps we were fated to meet?" Roy suggested, "We're on a quest to destroy Bowser's Spirit, and it seems you search for him as well."

"Perhaps we were," Richter agreed.


The other crew members were understandably confused, even upset, by their colleague's death. Because of this, Zelda told them to stay in the train for the night while she, Kirby, Roy, and Richter stayed outside, watching for anything that may jump the train. By this time of night, Kirby and Roy were long asleep, leaving Zelda and Richter awake by the campfire. The only sounds of the night were the only things Zelda could hear, besides the crackling of the fire. Out of boredom, she summoned Phantom Warrior's arm and sword, just to pick at the fire.

"Your Spirit…" Zelda heard Richter say. When she looked up, she saw him sitting next to Roy, who slept on his stomach with his butt in the air, "It looks very powerful."

"Well, it's strong and precise with its attacks, but it lacks quickness," Zelda explained, calling Phantom Warrior back, "When I'm fighting with it, I have to make every hit count, you know?"

"Well, what about drawing it back when you aren't attacking?" Richter suggested, leaning back on his hands, "I mean, if your Spirit lacks the quickness to dodge, then why not just draw it back?"

"I… I never thought about that, actually," Zelda responded, now thinking hard about that thought.

As Zelda kept quiet, still thinking about that, Richter spoke up, "You're lucky that your Spirit's only weakness is his slowness. That one can be dealt with easily."

"Well, what about yours? What's your Spirit's weakness?" Zelda asked curiously.

Sighing, Richter looked out in the distance; the night was very quiet at this point, "My Spirit is an incredibly powerful Spirit: ALUCARD."

"Oh… Your Spirit is Alucard?" Zelda responded, "Alucard as in… The Son of Dracula?"

"Ah, you know of Dracula," Richter said, almost chuckling, "Well, yes. My Spirit is the Son of Dracula, making it's incredibly powerful. However, I cannot use him in direct sunlight and many of his traits have become may own; I'm lucky that I can still travel around during the day. If I get into a fight before sunset, I'm afraid that… Well, I guess I have to find another way to fight."

"With Vampire Killer, right? The Belmont clan's whip, or whatever?" Zelda asked again.

"Unfortunately," Richter responded, his voice slowly becoming saddened and disappointed. Zelda perked up, Richter's tone catching her attention, "Because Alucard is a vampire, I can't even hold it without feeling like I'm beginning to be burned alive…"

Now, Zelda felt bad; she clearly brought up something of great pain for Richter. "Oh… I'm sorry I asked—"

"It's alright…" Richter dismissed, trying to smile slyly. But he could not hold it, "Funny, isn't it? A member of the Belmont clan becomes a vampire, disgracing his name, no matter what circumstance is…"

Trying to comfort him, Zelda said, "You aren't a vampire, per se… You just have a vampiric spirit attached to your life force."

Suddenly, they heard a noise from behind the train. Both of them stopped talking and turned to towards the sound. It must have been a stray cat or something, Zelda thought to himself. However, Richter stood up immediately and woke Roy up. As Roy yawned, Zelda followed suit by waking Kirby. "Is it morning already?" Kirby asked, climbing to his feet.

"No, it's still the middle of the night," Richter explained. He closed his eyes, letting his arm fall. Then, his life force became visible, and soon his Spirit appeared, "There's something behind the train."

Roy drew his sword as Zelda muttered her Spirit's name, Phantom Warrior. They strode to the back of the train, Kirby slowly matching Zelda's movement. After they walked around the train, Zelda saw what had happened; the other conductor was on the ground and one of the windows had been knocked out. Richter bent down to investigate the body, though Kirby immediately spotted what he needed to see; two bite marks from fangs.

"There must be a vampire nearby," Kirby deduced, looking at it the conductor, "That poor man…"

"It's not just nearby…" Richter corrected him, "It's inside the train now."

As Zelda looked on at the train with Richter and Kirby, each having the same reaction of surprise, Roy spoke up, "It's only four carts long. We'll each search a cart, then one of us could kill the monster. What'd you always used to say, Richter? BEGONE MONSTER, YOU DON'T BELONG—"

Kirby stopped him immediately, "We need to travel and search each cart together; we don't know who the vampire has bit, right? It's better to travel as a unit."

"How about in pairs?" Zelda asked, "I'll go with Kirby, and Richter can go with Roy."

Roy chuckled at the suggestion, only to receive a broody stare from Richter. However, Roy was ignorant of this, "Clearly, the most efficient way to search the train is to take one cart each."

"As we sit out here and argue, innocent people are potentially dying at the hands of a monster," Richter said loudly, breaking the exchange, "I'm going in to kill that vampire. Feel free to split up or come with me."

As Richter walked towards the train, his Spirit seemingly floating along the ground, Zelda stared at him walk away. "He has a point," Kirby sighed, "Let's go inside."

"I'll guess we can go together; this Belmont knows what he is doing," Roy said, beginning to walk towards the train as well. Kirby followed him, but Zelda stood still, gazing at Richter enter the train. She finally broke out her daydreaming and followed the others.


After they cleared the first cart, Kirby opened the door to the second one; inside, there was a single shelf that stood in the middle of the room. It stretched for the entire stretch of the cart, and it was nearly empty. As Zelda got inside it, she could not help but to feel uneasy. Roy followed her closely, then Richter. Kirby was the last one to get inside, and he closed the door behind them. There were no windows and the only light source was a dangling lightbulb in the center of the room. Because of the small light, the corners of the room were entirely black.

"This place gives me the creeps," Roy commented, his hand on his sword, ready to draw, "Thank the gods that there's not much to search in here."

"I second that," Kirby muttered, looking at the shelf; it was completely empty, which took him by surprise, "Why are the shelves empty?"

Shrugging, Zelda said, "Well, we did have to stop for supplies, right?"

They stood in silence, looking around the room. It was silent for several minutes, that it, until Richter told everyone to stop moving silently. When everybody was standing completely still, no longer searching the cart, they could hear somebody's faint breaths. Richter summoned his Spirit quickly, as did Zelda. Then, just as Phantom Warrior appeared, a body dropped from the ceiling of the cabin. Following it was another.

"They're here!" Richter yelled, grabbing something at his belt. Alucard suddenly drew his sword and slashed, just missing the first vampire. The second one lunged at Roy, who put his sword through it. However, the monster clawed at Roy, making Roy let go of his sword.

"That blasted thing almost got my throat!" Roy shouted, "How didn't it die!?"

Both vampires calmed down, retreating to the pitch-black corners. While in the corner, the only thing visible from the monsters were their red eyes and sharp fangs. They emerged, revealing it to be the vampire hit by the train, and another member of the crew. It seemed that the vampiric abilities made both the new monsters much more muscular.

Richter backed away, allowing Alucard to be in front of him. As one of the vampires, the female crew member, stepped towards him, he asked, "Any of you fight a vampire before?"

"You have to destroy the brain by any means necessary; any wounds on the body will heal when they feed," Roy responded.

"You're confusing zombies and vampires, Roy," Kirby said, studying both the vampires, "You can't kill a vampire unless you use sunlight, holy objects, garlic, or a wooden steak."

"What about a Spirit?" Zelda asked, beginning to cross her arms to summon Phantom Warrior.

Before Kirby could say anything, Zelda flung her arm forward. Phantom Warrior launched forward, knocking the male vampires back. The power of her Spirit's attack was powerful enough to completely destroy the cart's wall. Zelda relaxed her arm as Phantom Warrior stepped outside the train. The Spirit slowly approached the vampire, who had landed near their own campfire. The vampire hissed and jumped on Phantom Warrior.

"Maybe your Spirit can kill a vampire," Kirby commented as Roy watched Alucard easily slash the other vampire in the stomach. When the vampire dodged one of Alucard's attacks and struck him in the arm with his fangs, he saw Richter wince as a bite mark appeared on his arm.

"Richter! You're bit!" Roy shouted. He picked up a can from the ground and launched himself at the vampire. He began beating the vampire's head with the tin can, but the vampire easily pushed Roy off. Having underestimated the strength of the vampire, Roy flew back into the shelf.

"You idiot! Why would you just attack a vampire with a tin can!?" Kirby shouted, remaining still as the shelf collapsed onto Roy. He pushed a wooden plank off himself as Kirby continued, "You can't kill a vampire by destroying its brain!"

Before Roy could respond, the vampire hopped on Roy and began scratching at his neck. Roy could only defend himself with a wooden plank. Kirby rolled his eyes and grabbed another can off the ground. With all his strength, Kirby launched the can at the vampire. However, it did not respond. 'How could I forget; once a vampire is close to feeding, it won't let anything stop it…' Kirby thought, 'Good grief… What should I do?'

Seemingly on cue, Richter appeared out of nowhere with his Spirit. Quickly, Richter's spirit transformed into a wolf and jumped onto the vampire, knocking the vampire off Roy. As the wolf dug into the vampire, Roy could finally breath. Kirby ran over and helped him up as Richter reached to something on the back of his belt. "Funny, his Spirit could turn into a wolf," Kirby noted, making sure Roy was okay.

"What can't Alucard do?" Roy responded, rubbing his neck in pain.

"You should probably move," Richter advised them before relaxing his arm. Clearly in pain, Richter swung his hand, unveiling his whip, Vampire Killer. Alucard transformed back into his regular form and stabbed the vampire in the stomach before disappearing. The vampire shouted and jumped up. Richter had timed his last attack perfectly and landed the whip directly onto the vampire's forehead. The vampire flew backwards, out of the cart, and exploded as soon as she hit the ground. In her place were ashes. Immediately, Richter dropped the whip and Alucard disappeared.

"Damn this Spirit…" Richter said, clinching his hand in pain, "Anytime I use that whip, I feel like I'm on fire."

"We have other problems right now, Richter," Roy said, staring at Zelda battle the last vampire. Quickly, Phantom Warrior flew forward, swinging it's sword sideways. It smacked the vampire in the hip, sending him into the bush. As Zelda's Spirit walked towards the bush, Kirby could see the vampire preparing to attack.

"He's luring you! Draw Phantom Warrior back NOW!" Kirby shouted at Zelda, "If she gets close to that bush, the vampire will jump directly onto her Spirit. I don't know if Phantom Warrior is quick enough to avoid him."

"He has to be because Zelda is not listening to you," Roy said, picking his sword up from the ash, "I can only pray that she knows what she's doing."

"She gets too agitated too easily at times," Kirby sighed, "It's weird because she's usually so level-headed and calm. When even one thing goes wrong, she loses her head. Richter, can you use your whip again?"

"No, but I'll help her," Richter responded. He put his hand to his side, and Alucard appeared. As soon as the vampire emerged from the bush, Alucard transformed into a bat and flew towards the vampire. However, Phantom Warrior disappeared before the vampire landed.

"What? She just withdrew Phantom Warrior?" Kirby said, watching in shock.

"She must've come to her senses," Roy added, nodding in admiration, "Thank the—"

Suddenly Phantom Warrior appeared again. Zelda yelled, "Wisdom Slash!"

Following suit, Phantom Warrior launched a light blue curved beam out of its blade. The beam smacked the vampire in the neck. Then, as soon as the beam hit him, Phantom Warrior launched forward and swung its sword downward, seemingly through the vampire. As the vampire fell, Zelda knew that it was over.

Kirby looked on surprised, much like Roy, "She recalled her Spirit so it would avoid damage and it the vampire as soon as it hit the ground!" said Kirby, "She's learning to use her Spirit's weaknesses to her advantage. She made the vampire think he had the upper-hand, but she had a plan all along."

The vampire shrieked in pain as it exploded, much like the one Richter killed. By the bush, where the vampire had perished, was only ash now. Zelda turned around, a finger resting on her cheek, and smiled at Kirby.

"Not bad, huh?" she said, still smiling.

"Very impressive, Princess," Roy said with a nod of approval, "Maybe you don't need a protector, huh?"


At sunrise, Zelda made sure that the remaining members of the crew were safe. After they departed for the nearby Kakariko Village, Zelda, Roy, Kirby, and Richter gathered their direction and headed south. Their next stop was probably going to be somewhere closer to the Gerudo Desert. According to his map, they were a few kilometers away from a rest stop; a local inn that Kirby had never heard of before.

As Richter walked slightly ahead, the burns on his hands still visible, Kirby handed the map to Zelda, who put it in her bag. "You sure that you don't want to get to a nearby train station? I'm sure tickets are affordable," Kirby asked, "I don't know what the next inn on the road is, and we'd get to Dreamland faster if we took a train to the Gerudo Desert first."

"After what happened last night, I think this is the best way," Zelda answered, looking straight ahead; they were on a dirt road, each side having rolling hills with minimal trees, "It's been a day since we left the Mushroom Kingdom, and we already endangered innocent people… Two of them are dead because of us, and I don't want to have more lives at stake."

"Fair enough… We have sixty-nine days to travel half-way across the world… That's enough time if we minimize the time we travel by train."

"I don't want to travel by train at all; we'll get some horses to get to the Gerudo Desert," Zelda explained, "From there, we can decide what we do."

"There are monsters lurking everywhere, Princess," Roy chimed in, his hand nobly on the pummel of his sword as he walked, "We're sure to have more attack on if we travel strictly by the road."

"But if we travel by train, innocent lives will be at risk," Richter added, agreeing with Zelda. He stopped walking, signalling the others to stop as well, "I didn't tell you what I think Bowser's Spirit is… After our little encounter last night, I think it's fair that you know."

"Why so standoffish?" Kirby asked.

"Even though I could barely use Vampire Killer, I had to take it away from Simon," Richter told them clearly, his voice more brooding than they had heard before, "That's because I think that Bowser's Spirit is… Well… The most powerful Spirit imaginable…"

"And that is…?" Roy asked, as if he wanted Richter to get to the point.

"…Bowser's Spirit, I think, anyway, is DRACULA," Richter told, looking down, "The way I see his minions act and fight… I know it all to well."

'He has to be joking…' Kirby thought to himself. He looked up at Zelda, who blankly stared at Richter. However, the longer she stared, the more it made sense to her, 'Then again, it could be possible… Luigi said that Bowser's Spirit is parasitic and has already consumed his life force entirely… Good grief, we're in for a lot of trouble if Richter's right…'