Hey there, awesome people. How're you?
Here's a chapter!
I'm going to be pacing the tournament as much as possible by having a battle a day, and then moving onto to the super serious Twilight stuff.
Also, this chapter ended up a lot more swear-heavy than the other ones. Oops. You've been warned.
Chapter 7
"And the final match for the first round," the announcer, well, announced, "is between the new guy, Alton," said male waved nervously at the cheering crowd, "And newcomer, here to see if his skills are good enough for the Princess's Royal Guard, Link!" The crowd was mostly silent as they stared at Link, who was cloaked, for effect, and people could only see the tip of his wooden sword poking out.
Alton looked at his opponent nervously. If the cloak was meant to scare his foe, it was working. He couldn't even see the guy's face.
"Are you ready?" The announcer asked the two fighters. Alton smiled nervously and nodded. The announcer turned to Link. A small smile formed on his face, which was unseen, as he moved into his fighting stance. "I'll just take that as a yes..." the announcer said slowly. "Alright, GO!" He yelled.
Link shot forward, the hood of his cloak flying off as he slashed at Alton. Alton let out a shriek of terror at the newcomer's ferocity, ducking behind his shield. Link smacked the shield and then jumped back, awaiting Alton to move. The poor guy was stunned for a second before seeing that Link wasn't moving. It took him a second, but then he realized the guy was wearing a mask that vaguely resembled a wolf without any color. The only thing he could see of the boy's face was the piercing blue eyes.
"Why are you wearing a mask?" Alton asked.
"Because, if no one in this whole tournament can remove this," Link pointed at his mask. "Then I don't think you deserve to see my face. Also, I think the princess will have to rethink how she's training you. This isn't just a test for my strength. This is also to see if you amazing guards are really as good as you claim."
Alton gulped. "I just got this job, dude. I'm not as amazing as you seem to think I'll be. At least, I'm not as good as the others."
"Then you'll be a nice warm-up," Link said, dashing forward and swiftly knocking Alton to the ground, pointing his sword to the boy's neck.
"He seems pretty smug," many people that were watching muttered, not sure if they wanted such a child watching over the princess.
"He has a right to be, having saved the kingdom, but I do think he's taking it a little far…" Rusl murmured upon hearing the crowd's complaints.
"It's been a while since he's been allowed to show his stuff, though, I guess it's reasonable," Zelda commented.
"It's been two weeks, princess," Rusl informed her.
"Yes, but when was the last time he showed off? I believe I heard that he commonly showed his skills to the children before the incident, correct? And the whole adventure, only one other being was with him, so he's finally got a chance to show the world that he's improved."
Rusl took note of the fact that she said another being, rather than person, and figured he had to ask about that later.
Meanwhile, Link was declared the victor of that match.
He strolled over to Rusl and Zelda. "I hope they all aren't that easy to beat," he said, removing his mask.
Zelda shook her head. "No, Alton is a new recruit, who doesn't have a lot of experience. The rest of your opponents are a lot braver, tougher, smarter, and have a lot more experience. They all survived being attacked by the Shadow Beasts."
Link shrugged. "So? I've had to beat down 5 of them, all the while outsmarting them, and taking down specific ones first so they don't revive the others."
Zelda stared at him blandly. "Just don't get anymore cocky; otherwise you'll be in for a huge surprise."
Link shrugged again and proceeded to leave the area, for the tournament was done for the day.
Link walked into Telma's bar, Rusl following behind him. "Ah, good evening Honey!" Telma greeted. "How was your time at the mystery destination?" She joked.
Link chuckled. "It was the castle. Rusl apparently thought that I should 'get off my lazy butt and join the Royal Guard.' So now I'm in a tournament consisting of the best guards to see if I'm good enough to join them, though really I find that I'm just testing them to see if they're up to snuff."
"You're good enough, I know it. But the Royal Guards, they aren't chickenshit like the rest of them," Telma warned while Rusl sent her a look at said, 'That's what I've been telling him' and returning to the table where his friends still were, though most of them had fallen asleep.
"Try telling that to the guy I took down. He didn't even take the offensive," Link said, taking a seat at the bar and pulling out his mask.
"Whatya got there, Honey?"
"I threw together a mask to hide my face. I told them that if no one can knock of the mask, then they don't deserve to know my face. I like to call it motivation so they don't go easy on me," Link said with a smile. "Everyone thinks I'm just some cocky brat that doesn't know his place. I was even sarcastic to the Captain."
Telma raised an eyebrow. "So you're getting them riled up so they don't go easy on you? You know, as you rise through the ranks, they'll get serious anyway."
"I want them serious from the beginning. I don't want every one of them to hold back because I'm new, or I'm just a teen that doesn't know how to take punishment." Link frowned at the thought, before pulling out a tool kit from his pouch.
"What're you doing?" Telma asked.
"Like I said, I threw the mask together at the last second. I still have to add color and the markings," Link answered, getting to work putting on the designs that he had seen on his wolf form so many times in his reflection.
"Those are some pretty markings, Honey. They remind me of a wolf that tried to come into the bar once. I only briefly saw if before freaking and tossing it out, but it still looks eerily similar."
Link smiled to himself. "Yes, I ran into the wolf once as well," he lied. "A pretty thing he was. Poor guy had been imprisoned, so I set him free. I trust he didn't cause too much trouble?"
Telma shook her head. "No, he just scared the living daylights outta me. Knowing that he's a friend of your makes me regret throwing him out without a thought. A friend of yours is a good person, or in this case, wolf."
Link nodded. "Yeah. I don't think you'll be seeing him again, though. Something happened to him, probably one of Ganon's minions got to him. I don't know what happened to him."
"Shame, I'm sure he was a good guy," Telma commented. Link smiled and nodded, putting on the finishing touches on his mask and adding on blue earrings. "Earrings? Why?"
Link shrugged. "I don't know. He just had them when I found him. So I figured I should add them onto the mask." Now finished, he smiled happily at his work. Leaving the mask, he pulled out his wallet, flicking a red rupee to her, which she caught easily. "Wanna get me some food? I'm starving."
Telma wandered away in search of something that would please the Hylian, who, unless he's out in the middle of nowhere or lacked sufficient funds, was rather picky about specific foods, which he made known to the woman rather quickly.
When she returned with some milk and a cucco leg, she found the teen half-asleep, slumped over. She nudged him, making him jump in surprise. He had a strange feeling that something was horribly wrong, and that something was trying to drag away his consciousness…
Seeing that Telma had some meat and a drink for him, he thanked her and took it from her, gulping it all down in seconds. He pulled out an orange rupee, handing it to her before retreating to the room that he occupied whenever he stayed. It was much better than the rooms that she generally offered.
A king sized, top notch bed, alongside its own bathroom, complete with a decent bathtub and shower. Not to mention the price of staying was nice and small. 100 rupees could pay for a whole week, easy. The only reason it wasn't constantly occupied was that you first had to prove to Telma that you weren't, as she puts it, 'complete chickenshit', meaning that literally every average guard didn't even know of its existence unless they saw Link enter it. Link proved himself after helping her get Prince Ralis to Kakariko. Sadly, he didn't get to use the amazing room until after Telma returned because the Resistance weren't exactly kind to him then.
Oftentimes, after Link retrieved the Master Sword and Midna could take a physical form in the Light Realm, she would sleep on one half of the bed, which at one point, caused Link to wonder how she slept in his shadow before he took down the Lakebed Temple. He never managed to get a straight answer out of her, though, which only made him more curious.
Throwing his gear clumsily to the side, he promptly collapsed on the bed, finally allowing his consciousness to be pulled away.
Link awoke in the Twilight Realm to find he was being half-dragged and half-carried by a frantic Midna. Everyone around them was running around in a panic. A large boom echoed throughout the area. Stumbling up to his feet and out of her grasp, he asked, "What's going on?!"
Midna turned around swiftly to look at him. "There you are! Took you long enough!" She yelled. "Come on, we have to get out of here!" She grabbed his wrist and ran.
"Seriously, mind telling me what's happening?!" Link yelled after a minute, and another large boom.
"Isn't it obvious?" Midna growled. "We're under attack!"
Link froze at the news. Looks like that servant that tried to kill her had been on some pretty official business, and didn't just have some petty grudge. Midna gave a swift tug on him to get him moving again.
They moved for another couple minutes before a thought occurred to him. "The Shadow Crystal!" He yelled.
Midna stopped dead in her tracks. A second later, she shook her head. "We can recreate its effects somehow. We don't have time, Link!"
"That's true, but I don't think I should be running anywhere near an active battlefield without at least a shirt on!" Link countered.
Midna cursed under her breath and turned around, dragging Link in the other direction. They arrived back at the room, and Link threw on his upper clothing, and then transformed into a wolf to give the tired princess a moment of rest.
Link ran, following Midna's directions, to where there was a secret passage made for escape for when they were inevitably attacked. Why the princess didn't escape through it when Zant attacked was a mystery. About halfway there, they found their way blocked by 5 of the enemy, who didn't know that Midna had taken another form.
"Hey, you there!" One of them yelled as Link tried to run past them. Seeing that they didn't instantly attack, Link knew they didn't know Midna was with him. So he stopped and turned around obediently, finding that Midna had jumped into his shadow at one point or another.
"Hey there, boy," one of the men said soothingly, figuring he was talking to a mutt. He reached forward and gently placed his hand on Link's head. "Do you know where the princess is?"
Link glared at him, but did nothing. The man that had stopped Link approached. "Hey, mutt," he said with an irritated tone. Link glanced at him. "Where's the princess?"
In response, Link growled. The soldier, who, for the sake of convince, will be dubbed 'Bob' for the time being, that had his hand on Link's head turned to other man, who will be dubbed 'Joe'. "Yami, you have got to be kidding me," 'Bob' let out a groan towards 'Joe', whose name is apparently actually 'Yami'. "I've told you, animals take time to get through to, you can't just demand things from them and expect them to obey." 'Bob' turned to Link again. "Isn't that right?"
Tensely, Link nodded.
'Bob' smile under his helmet. "See? He responded to me in a non-threatening way, rather than a glare or attack."
Yami growled. "I am your superior; you do not talk to me like that!" He yelled in a rage. "Fine, you talk to the damn dog! Stupid animal lover."
'Bob' let out a sigh and turned his attention back to Link. "Ignore him, he hates animals, so our personalities conflict. So, do you know where the princess is?" Link shook his head. 'Bob' let out another sigh. "Alright, thanks boy. I personally think it's better if you didn't know where she was anyway." Link looked at him questionably. "To tell you the truth, I don't even know why I'm in this job."
"Hey, Kage!" Yami yelled. "Get your ass moving!"
'Bob', who was actually named 'Kage', growled. "Find the princess, boy, and take her away from here. I don't want anyone to get hurt," he told Link, standing up.
Link had an uncanny knack for knowing when people were good or not, and at that moment, he knew that Kage was actually not bad. Link whimpered, wanting him to join them, rather than risk his life trying to kill someone he didn't want to hurt. Kage turned back to him, yelling, "What did I say? Go!"
Link looked at the soldier sadly, before he turned and ran. He stopped again when he heard Yami yell at him. "Get back here!"
Link didn't want to be stuck in the castle anymore, but he forced himself to stop. He turned his head to look at the man. His eyes widened as Yami drew his sword. "Oh, so you understand what this means?"
Kage jumped forward. "Stop, what do you think you're doing?"
"I'm eliminating him, what does it look like I'm going?" Yami asked bluntly.
"Why?" Kage asked.
"Because I can," Yami answered simply.
Kage wasn't sure what to make of this. Not wanting the wolf to get hurt, he said, "We don't have time. We have to find the princess before she gets away!"
Yami scoffed. "I thought you didn't want to hurt the princess. Now you're telling me to go kill her so this mutt can be spared?"
Finding that he wasn't sure what to do, he stumbled over his words to find an answer.
Link, fed up with this whole thing, attacked while Yami was distracted, stealing his sword and transforming back into a Hylian. All 5 members of the squad stared in shock.
Link laughed, knowing their expressions despite there were helmets covering their faces. "Yep, I'm a Light Dweller. Shocked?"
"I couldn't care less," Yami said, shaking off his shock and drawing a dagger while the rest of the squad, except Kage, prepared to attack.
"Hey, your name's Kage, right?" Link asked. Kage slowly nodded. "You seem like a good guy. Why don't you come with me? I'm going to keep Midna safe from harm."
Poor Kage was unsure what was happening. First he was talking to a wolf, then the wolf turns into a Light Dweller, and then he's asked to assist helping the princess of another tribe.
While Kage was trying to figure out what to do, Yami and his squad attacked. Link had little difficulty fending them off, but didn't want to linger in the castle any longer. He knocked out 3 of the squad, and was left dueling Yami, who had earned the higher rank, as he was actually somewhat close to a decent match for Link.
"Kage, I need your answer today!" Link yelled.
Kage was brought out of his thoughts. He drew his sword.
"Kill him!" Yami yelled.
"Why would I bother doing that?" Kage asked.
"I'm your superior!" Yami yelled.
Kage shrugged. "Not anymore." He stabbed his sword through Yami's leg. Turning to Link and ignoring Yami's cry of pain, he removed his helmet and smiled. "At your service, Sir. I can get you a lot of troops that have the same mindset as me to join us."
Link smiled and nodded. "Thanks, Kage. Now let's get out of here." The two turned and ran.
Midna jumped out of Link's shadow. "Are you sure you can trust him?" She whispered.
"Have I ever been wrong?" Link asked.
"A number of times, but I think that's beside the point," Midna answered, earning a pout from Link.
Kage glanced at Midna. He frowned and asked, "Who are you, and where were you earlier?"
"I was in his shadow," Midna answered, watching as Kage nodded in understanding. "As for who I am, I'm the Twilight Princess."
Kage stopped running for a moment to quickly bow to the princess. "I didn't know you could transform your appearance. No wonder no one found you, even with 30 teams searching."
"No, you're all just incompetent," Midna replied. "I only took this form 20 minutes into the attack."
Kage laughed nervously, feeling rather useless . "Oh," he muttered.
"Now come on, we have to get moving again. The exit's not far from here," Midna said, lightly pushing Link to get him moving again.
The three found the passage and slipped through it. It was a little cramped though, and Link and Kage had to crouch to move. "It's a little suffocating," Link muttered.
"I know. It's supposed to slow down the enemy should they find it," Midna explained.
They arrived at a small room filled with long expired snacks and cots. "The hell is this?" Link asked.
"The building team built this part for their convenience, since the tunnel's pretty long, but they didn't do anything with their crap afterwards," Midna informed them.
The three sat down on the cots for a short break. "Hey Kage," Link said to get his attention. "How many are there like you?"
"Maybe, 50, I guess," he answered.
"Better than nothing," Midna muttered.
Link nodded. They fell silent for a couple minutes. Then a thought occurred to Link. "Hey, Midna, can't you just teleport us out?"
Midna shook her head. "We've placed a variety of magical seals around the place to prevent teleportation and other various magical spells so shit like what happened when Zant invaded can't happen again. Unfortunately, we can't get away for when stuff like this happens. We're nearing the border of it though, so once we're out, I'll teleport us to the village that's been prepared for this sort of thing."
Link nodded and got up. "Come on then, let's get there before anyone finds out we went this way."
Kage nodded and stood. Midna let out a groan and floated off the cot. Link turned into a wolf so the tunnel would be less of a hassle, at which point Midna dropped onto his back, and they set off.
There we go! Tell me of errors, again.
If you know where I choose Yami for the evil guy's name, GO YOU! (I love Okami!)
And if you know what Kage means, then you must have watched/read Naruto.
Those characters aren't all that important, other than for the plot, so, ya know, I'm not going to go to in depth with them. They're there, but they aren't going to be a main part of the whole plot. Though Yami probably is going to have significance in the whole 'invasion' sub-plot.
By the way, you people need to tell me some good Twili names. I want to stick with something that you would generally expect, you know, unusual names that aren't common for the light world, and are kind of like Midna's, where as it's derived from midnight.
(I just realized I said that Link paid with a silver rupee, when that's actually 200. It's fixed now, of course. I must have been thinking Majora's Mask.)
