A.N. Sorry! Sorry!
Disclaimer: Nothing...this crazy girl (smack) I mean TheLastRose owns nothing!
Catch Me if You Can!
Sunlight glared down on North Clocktown. A large crimson balloon with a badly painted Majora's Mask on it floated a few feet off the ground. A small pea bounced off it with a pang before falling to the ground. A few moments later another one followed. Suddenly a large bubble reared up and pierced the balloon, which shattered with a handful of glitter. The boy you had been attempting to pop the balloon jumped startled glancing around to find who had succeeded where he had failed. His eyes narrowed in on a short deku who was standing nearby grinning at him.
"Did you do that?" he asked and the plant nodded.
"The name's Link," he chirped. "And I'm looking for something called a Moontear." The bandana boy raised an eyebrow crossing his arms slowly.
"I can tell you where you might find it and how to get there but…" Unseen by him Moray sighed muttering about a "catch" as Link tried to ignore her. The boy placing his thumb and fore finger together and put it to his lips, whistled loudly. Out of nowhere four more kids came scrambling up to stand in a line beside the first, all grinning at the hero. They each had blue bandana and matching jerseys. The whole line turned to look away showing that they each a number on their backs, 1,2,3,4 and 5. The leader looked over his shoulder with a twinkle in his eye.
"We're part of the Bomber's Society, catch all five of us before the day is done and we'll help you out," he laughed before continuing to explain the game. "We won't go out of the town or into any buildings but as soon as you do the game is over. All you have to do is tag us and we are out. You have until mid-night tonight!" Link nodded in understanding glancing over at Moray to be assured that she was fine with it. She only nodded ever so slightly before looking away, a dark aura surrounding her.
"Ready?" Link snapped back to reality watching as all the kids prepared to scatter.
"Set?" Their eyes narrowed carefully as the snickered with joy. "GO!!" As soon as the word was out they were gone sprinting to find hiding places throughout Clocktown. Link let out a soft sigh rubbing the back of his head with a hand. Finally he shrugged and walked off for North Clocktown.
Beady eyes scanned the small plaza, picking up on all movements. Someone shifted out on the roof of the café which was level with the plaza.
"Ha-ha!" a voice whispered the owner clenching his fists. Carefully he moved to the right pressing himself against the wall and inched forward. When he came across the gap leading downward to the lower square he rolled to reach the opposite side and pressed back against the wall. Sneaking up until he was ready to spring his eyes remained locked on their target, a young boy with the number 3 on his back. Muscles tensing he lowered himself a little closer to the ground before springing at him like a bullet. A battle cry slipped from his lips alerting his target to his presences. The boy leapt off the roof, his small hands wrapped around the legs of a cuckoo(sp?) who flapped its wings in an effort to hold the extra weight. Failing to do so, both the animal and boy dropped to the ground. With a growl Link launched himself after his target, landing solidly on his feet and without a second thought grabbed the boy by the shirt.
"Okay, OKAY!! You got me!" The bandana wearing boy cried struggling in the deku's grip. Satisfied Link set the boy down with a grin, eyes instantly searching for the next child. The top of a red bandana stuck out from behind a stack of boxes in front of the inn. Link ducked to the right slowly moving to the stack of boxes. An idea struck him and he carefully pulled himself on top of the stack peering over the form on another boy curled, facing away from Link giggling into his hands. The number two was written on the back of his wrinkled and slightly dirty shirt, mocking Link. This time though the hero had the advantage. He stuck out his hand and managed to knock the younger in the back of his head knocking him flat on his face.
"Two down three to go!" he exclaimed dismounting the boxes and ran into South Clocktown.
The third kid was harder to catch, ducking in and out of the construction workers. As swift as he was he was no match for the Hero of Time and soon joined the other two who had been caught and Link was on the tail of the second last. Just as the clock at the center of town announced it was four o'clock Link had hooked his arm around the boy's waist and lifted him into the air.
"Now it's only me and that leader of yours," he commented placing him on the ground. Walking out of West Clocktown he headed for the north side with a hunch.
Sure enough, sitting tall and proud on the top of the slide was the leader of the Bomber's Society with a giant grin plastered on his face. The four boys that Link had caught stood clustered looking guilty.
"Sorry Jim…" one muttered staring down at his feet.
"Ah! Its okay!" the older one waved in off causing the four to brighten somewhat.
"But Link, you still have one more kid to catch," Jim pointed out sliding down the ramp and landing on his feet. "So come on! Catch me if you can!!" And he was off like a bolt. Spinning on his heels, Link glanced around in attempt to track the boy but failing to. Finally he froze closing his eyes. Footsteps echoed to his left so Link rolled sideways and sprung up blocking Jim's path. Surprised the bandana boy hesitated for a moment before darting to the right. Mimicking the others movements Link followed suit flexing his wooden arms slightly. One of the watchers muttered something about Link not being a normal deku but he ignored the whispered comments choosing instead to focus on his opponent. Jim had bolted behind the tree, circling around the stone pillars carefully. Link crouched watching, slowly adjusting his stance and waited for the other to make his move. Just as Jim did, ducking for the East Clocktown entrance Link launched himself forward causing dust to billow about the pair. When it cleared the four youngsters gasped. Link stood between the arch and Jim, arm outstretched and a single finger pressed against Jim's forehead.
"Got ya!" was all he said smirking.
"Guess you did," Jim agreed stepping back and nodding. For a moment he thought before calling the other boys over. They huddled together and whispered for a long time before coming to an agreement. Jim moved to stand before Link and handed him a book.
"This is a Bomber's Notebook," he explained as Link flipped through the mostly empty book. "You can write down useful information in it, like people's names and other things like that." He then proceeded to hand Link a pencil.
"Don't forget to jot down the code for future use but don't go spreading it around!" Link nodded in agreement flipping to the first page and readying the pencil. The five boys scrambled into a line before turning around to show the number code. 12354. Simple enough. The deku wrote it down and thanked them for it.
"Now just in East Clocktown one of our members guards an alley way between two buildings. That path leads to our hideout, members only type of thing. A little ways through there is a ladder that leads up to the Observatory. A fence surrounds the outside so our path is the only way in. the guy there is the one most likely to know anything about a Moontear here in Clocktown," Jim told him and then without another word, walked away chatting animatedly with the other members. Link watched them go before walking toward their hideout.
He discovered the one guarding the entrance way was a girl but not wishing to insult Moray he said nothing. Quickly supplying the password he hurried down into the tunnel noting that the sun was setting.
Inside the hideout was nothing special to note. It was a dirty underground water way, coated in moss with water droplets falling from the stone roof. Link cautiously edged up to the water spotting three platforms between where he was and the opposite shore, each with its own torch. Bravely Link jumped to the first, then the second and the third shortly after but ran into a snag right there, the last jump was much to far and deku couldn't swim.
"Moray what should I…" he trailed off realizing that the shadow wasn't there. "Moray? MORAY??" Her name echoed through the stone area a few times as he listened for a response. Just as he took a deep breath to shout again Moray appeared standing on the far side of the water.
"What is it?" she asked irritably placing her hands menacingly on hips.
"Where have you been?!" Link demanded stomping his wooden foot. Moray glared at him coldly.
"Like you care, I'm only a shadow nothing more!" she spat angrily.
"When did this come up?!" Link was getting upset.
"It's always been there! You've just chosen to ignore it! I'm sick and tired of people always expecting us to stay behind them! (1)" she screamed dropping her hands and closing her eyes. Suddenly it dawned on Link and his look softened.
"Is this about how the Great Fairy addressed you?" he asked in a hushed tone. When Moray replied it was barely above a whisper.
"It's not just the fairy, everyone acts like because we're shadows we have to be heartless bringers of death."
"That's not true," Link sighed. "A lot of people think like that but, the moment I meant Dark I knew it wasn't true. I got this feeling that deep down there was light in him." He paused looking right into her eyes. "You give me the same feeling." For a minute they stared at each other in silence until finally Moray spoke again.
"Jump?"
"What?" the hero muttered confused.
"Deku jump short distances on water, so all you need to do is jump," she explained letting her crimson eyes wander away from his blue ones. Shrugging Link jumped out onto the water, jumping again as soon as he felt his feet touch the liquid surface and landed safely beside Moray.
"Wow…" he commented breathlessly. "Now that…was cool!"
A.N. Again sorry it took so long but look! It's even longer then the last one! (still hit with a duck from peanut gallary) Ouch! was that needed? Oh ya!
(1) This is kind of a take from Four Swords Plus Manga when Blue tells Shadow "If you're a shadow then get behind us." Or something along that line.
R&R No flames please
TheLastRose
