I've decided to take a bit of creative license to screw around with the places in the story. In other words, they are now expanded beyond two-roomed houses and eight-roomed castles. Because it's completely unrealistic and it just bugs me.
By the way, how do you all like the new story name?
Oh, and krourou2, if you review again could you include your email address s p a c e d o u t l i k e t h i s? It's supposedly against the rules to reply to reviews in-chapter, and otherwise I can't contact you to respond to your review. And no, none of the things you listed is the thing that still disturbs me. (Honestly, I get a bit of a kick out of the mask transformation scenes. I usually skip 'em only for time's sake.)
And why does it feel like this took a sharp turn into Crackville during Link's part?
Oh, and disclaimer's in profile and will never be mentioned again. Whoopee.
Link watched the odd… thing shoot up into the sky long enough only to be sure it wasn't powering up an attack before turning and running towards the decrepit castle. Sure, the humanoid creature was pretty nice, but Link was sure it was just hiding its claws—whether they were metaphorical or literal he had yet to find out. To make matters worse, Fierce seemed almost confused by it and had refused any attempts the Hylian child had made at conversation. And when Fierce thought something was screwy, things were going to go very wrong very fast.
But he could dwell on human-like monsters another time. Right now, he had a mission to complete.
Expertly slipping a tattered mask on, Link hurried down the aged hallways, trying his best not to think of the low moans emanating from somewhere deeper in the castle. His worn boots minimized the sound of his footsteps on the rocky floor, using mostly memory to find his way around the rundown building. While the whole 'falling moon' thing was very unwelcome, at least it had supplied some light to Termina's nights and the inside of a haunted palace. But now, the inside was only a few shades lighter than pitch black. It was only when he ran across an intersection he didn't remember that Link decided he did need a light after all.
Swearing softly, he pulled an arrow out of his quiver. Channeling a bit of magic into the arrowhead, he struck it against a nearby wall to set it aflame and make an impromptu torch. Shadows danced on the walls and further down the corridors, and Link forced himself to ignore his survival instincts that were screaming at him to put the light out, to meld into the shadows and stay hidden. The other occupants of his head squirmed.
"Hey, uh, dude, do you think maybe you should, y'know, put out the light?"
Link carefully withheld a sigh. "No."
"Huh?"
"Whaddya mean no? Are ya crazy!?... Don't answer that."
"Listen," the swordsman replied, "I already can barely see my hand in front of my face. If something decided to attack me, I'd be completely vulnerable. At least now I'll be able to counterattack."
It was more than that, though. Usually, he would have almost no qualms about walking in the dark, but now that Fierce was too busy to play radar, Link would rather take his chances with whatever the light attracted. As proof, the homicidal warrior hadn't taken part in the conversation and still seemed to be brooding over something. And besides, usually a small, flying companion would light the way for him…
Now that the others had more or less settled, Link shoved the thought into a dark corner and redirected all his attention to finding his way through the maze of hallways. He continued feeding the arrow magic to keep the fire going and kept a wary eye on the flickering shadows. The familiar groans steadily grew louder, but the physical child had faith in the mask he was wearing. Eventually, Link came across a round door he recognized. Pushing the hidden switch on the nearby wall, the door rolled open and he stepped in.
Immediately he was bombarded with the smell of rotting flesh and the groans were louder than ever. Only his familiarity with both allowed him to keep his cool, and Link stepped bravely to the center of the room. His gaze swept across the room and the wooden faces that were slowly turning towards him. He stopped once he felt all the empty, decayed eye sockets lock onto him and then slowly drift up towards his face.
All was tensely silent.
Then the zombies started dancing.
Most of the Redeads paired together and started to waltz while the few loners stood by the walls of the room and did their own, solo dance routine. Link patiently watched, oddly amused despite himself, for the undead dancers to finish their routine. After a few minutes, they took their bows, and the living Hylian clapped politely before stepping up to one.
"Hello," he said conversationally, voice slightly muffled from the Gibdo mask, "how are you doing this evening?"
All he got was a groan in response but he nodded anyway, acting as if he completely understood what the Redead was saying. In truth, he didn't have a clue. "I have come on urgent business to meet his Highness," the child continued in his most official-sounding voice, "but I seem to have lost my way. Could you point me in the direction of the throne room?"
The undead dancer moaned again and slowly, agonizingly, turned and pointed to one of the shadowed doorways. Link nodded his thanks and slipped past—taking extra care to make sure his still-burning arrow wouldn't torch the monster that had so kindly given him directions—before bolting down the corridor. Whenever the troupe started dancing, he was never sure whether he should laugh or scream or take advantage of their distraction and just kill them before they had a chance to kill him.
Once he had gotten a respectable distance away and slowed to a walking pace, someone doubled over in laughter.
"Dude, I think you were talking to a chick!"
Link audibly groaned and felt his ears turning pink. "Shut up."
Danny wasn't sure how much time passed or when, exactly, he had drifted back down to the ground. It was just so weird, so utterly bizarre—even for him!—that the moon was just… gone. Vanished into thin air. He'd been watching the night sky for years, and-and how could that even be possible?
Wait… Wasn't the Professor saying something about the moon earlier today?
Sitting on one of the half-demolished pillars in the barren courtyard, the half ghost focused on the memory of when he first arrived, right after his abrupt wakeup call a la bucket of cold water. (Come to think of it, he'd gotten pretty wet that day. First Jazz with the bucket, crossing the river, crossing the river again, and then that sudden downpour…) Sure, what the Hylian had been saying then sounded like pure science-fiction, if not straight up fantasy, but at the moment Danny had no other explanation. He also figured that he wouldn't be able to get a more specific description of the events from the good man, but who else could he ask?
Forcing himself to remember all the little details from the conversation that seemed to enjoy hiding from him, Danny stared hard into no place in particular. Oh yeah, hadn't Anton mentioned something green shooting up to the moon before it self-destructed? Yeah, that's very specific. Green. The aspiring astronaut made a strangled, frustrated sound and buried his head in his arms. How was he supposed to find someone based on such a vague description as that!?
Link wears green.
Blinking at the randomness of that last thought, Danny barely had time to wonder where it came from when two and two suddenly made four. But that was impossible; despite all his weirdness, Link is still a ten-year-old kid who likes to cause a little mischief. Sure, the kid has a sword, but there's no way he could cause that much damage.
The teen slowly exhaled and blew his pale bangs out of his face. But there's also that odd conversation from earlier, and what's up with the kid's obsession with death? The half ghost got the feeling that he was missing something. Something big.
Mulling it over in his head for a few more minutes, Danny decided to just ask the Hylian himself about this crazy theory if only so that the mystery won't keep the living-yet-dead teen up all night. He glanced around the courtyard with his eerily glowing eyes, looking for the object of his musings, but he didn't see him. Frowning, he hopped off the pillar and into flight to turn all the way around. Still nothing. Well, since Link probably couldn't get back outside, that just leaves…
Eyes widening, Danny spun to face the entrance to the ancient castle. "He didn't…"
Floating over to the large doorway, Danny Phantom heaved a tired sigh. "Well," he stated, "I did want to check out the castle."
He flew in without a second thought, oblivious to the spying eyes.
A word of advice: do NOT, under any circumstance, look up and watch the Detective Conan live action movies. It scarred me. The last thing that was able to do that was the Legend of Zelda cartoon series from the 80's.
80'sAnimated!Link: Well, ex-CUUUUUUUUSE me, Princess!
(-shudders-) Find a happy place, find a happy place, find a happy place… MAH HAPPY PLACE IS BURNIN'! D=
Oh, and before I forget, I chose a name for the Deku. I'll just explain it now just in case I forget to tell you guys (and in case I forget I already gave him a name and go looking for one).
Horst (pronounced HAWRST); German for "wood" or "thicket"
Anyway, leave a review if you liked!
