Oh man, this chapter is horrible... if i could, i'd skip it, i would rather not even look at this... but it's still an importent part... So try to enjoy and i promise next time, things get EXTREME!
With the familiar crunch of the grass under their feet, Trent and Courtney looked about them, seeing the arrived in the exact same spot they always did. The only difference was that now, the sun had set and the moon was out in a luminescent crescent shape. They all took in the night light and enjoyed the peace of the night for a second. "Strange enough, I'm getting used to that light," Courtney admitted with a look to Trent.
He nodded with a smile at her, and then his face turned stern. He lifted his hat up off his head and grabbed with gently and put her to eye level with him. "Beth, I need you to do us a favor," Beth tilted her head with confusion at his sudden action, but paid attention to what he was asking. "I need you to go back to Mido and tell him what Saria told us, just to put his mind at ease, alright?" Trent asked, getting an 'aww' from both Courtney and Beth.
"You got it Trent. I may as well pick Epona up on the way too," She responded as she fluttered out of Trent's hand and buzzed off towards the Lost Woods.
"That's very nice of you Trent," Courtney pointed out with a smile at her friend.
Trent smiled back at her warmly while he put his hat back on. "He seemed to really care about that Saria, so I'd hate myself if I didn't pass on her message," He explained with a noble tone.
For a few moments, the two of them made no sound but just looked to each other. "…A-anyway. What should we do now since we don't know the way to Death Mountain?" Courtney asked, trying to hurry back to their quest. Trent froze and his kind smile turned ridged and nervous. Courtney noticed this and narrowed her eyes. "You didn't plan pass the part where Beth left… did you?" Courtney took Trent's silence and nervous laugh as a yes. She palmed a hand to her forehead and groaned. "So what do you plan on us doing now?" She asked harshly with one eye looking to Trent and one shut in annoyance.
"Don't worry, I know the way there," Trent assured her with a proud smirk. Courtney put her hand down from her forehead and gave Trent a half smile.
"Really?"
"Yeah… it's right there," He informed her as he pointed towards the north-east, where I giant volcano with an ominous red aura flowing around the head of it.
Courtney looked up at it and shrugged. "Huh, would you look at that…"
"How did we miss that?" Trent added before starting his walk in its direction.
He was followed by Courtney as they made their way across the field. A few steps in on their venture, Trent stopped in mid-step with a curtailing groan. Dropping to his knee, he put his palms on the sides of his head while he groaned in pain. Courtney gasped and quickly ran over to him, ignoring her dress getting scuffed up. "Trent! What's wrong?" She asked with horror in her voice.
Trent made no answer except howling in pain and falling to his side. "Oh no…" She muttered before picking up Trent and putting his head on her shoulder and his arm on her other shoulder.
She quickly analyzed the way back to Castle Town. Mustering her strength of, she dragged Trent's groaning and heavy breathing body on her back to Castle Town in the north. "Don't worry Trent. You're not dying on my watch. I still need you… for the quest," She muttered to herself, then looked around the area of the field. "Wait? Why am I trying to tell myself that?" She asked herself as she slowly made her way across the field, desperately trying to support Trent's body on her back.
Dismissing it all, she dragged herself towards Castle Town, looking for any sort of shelter that she could use to help Trent. Far behind them near where they started, a small shadow flowed out of the ground and looked out to them with a visibly yellow and red eye while the rest of their body was transparent. "...I can't just leave her like that…" the shadow growled before diving back into the ground and charged after the two of them silently.
Courtney continued to pull Trent along as he panted in pain and his hands clenched tightly into fists from whatever pain he was having. "Excuse me!" Courtney looked ahead and saw a guard of Hyrule Castle standing not far ahead of her. "Maybe I can help you with that luggage?" He joked but ran up behind her and lifted Trent's legs up off the ground so he wasn't being dragged anymore.
Courtney let out a sigh of relief and took a look back at the guard with a caring smile but still started to walk to the town. "Thank you… and aren't you the same guard that helped us get that rock out of the way near the castle?" The guard chuckled as he moved the legs he was holding under his armpits for a better hold.
"Yeah. Sorry if I've been following you two, but I didn't feel right not giving you two protection," He explained as he looked down at Trent's limp body.
Together, the two of them made it quickly to Castle Town and across the bridge. "You know we're lucky that no monsters attacked us," The guard pointed out as they carried Trent through the plaza of Castle Town.
The streets where dead silent, no life running through the streets other then the small flame lit lights that shone through the windows of houses and closing businesses for the night. "Why do you say that?" Courtney asked as she switched her body position so she was facing the guard and was putting Trent's head to her chest and holding him by his arm pits.
"I mean, the field may be attractive at night, but it's filled with monsters and creatures that only stalk the night," The guard replied, flaring his teeth in a fake fearful manner.
Courtney pondered for a minute about that statement, but put it aside as they made it to a small building with a hanging sign that said "inn". "This should do," The guard noted as he took the first steps into the inn, bringing Trent's legs in first and Courtney bringing the rest of him in after him.
Once they got in, they carelessly dropped the pained boy on a red couch in the corner, taking in sighs of relief. "That guy is heavier then he looks…" The guard admitted with a stretch of his arms up and a look to Courtney.
"I have to admit, he is heavy," Courtney replied with a snicker.
The guard turned to Courtney and put a hand on her shoulder. "You should rest; I'll go find help… I think I know what's bothering him, and I know just the guy that can help," The guard explained to Courtney.
With a look at Trent and a look outside, Courtney nodded solemnly. "Alright… but can you pay for us to—"
"There's no need to pay," The guard assured her as he made his way to the exit of the small wood floor lobby. "You're the princess," He reminded her before opening the door and exited to the dark streets of the city. Feeling relieved, Courtney settled down next to Trent on the lobby couch; and moments later, fell asleep using his arm as pillow and his chest as a source of warmth.
The guard looked through the glass window built into the front of the inn and smirked devilishly. "She's making herself all comfy warming up to him…" The guard noted as his voice lost its masculine tone for a younger and feminine tone. "Guess that boy's taken," the guard let out with a fake sigh before hopping down to the cobblestone street, making his way to the plaza.
When he got back to the plaza, he scanned around the barely lit opening for a certain building. Finally, he spotted a small house just beside the path to Hyrule castle. "Let's just hope that nerd is still awake," 'he' mumbled before walking over to the building.
Peaking through the dark window, he saw nothing but darkness. He balled his fist up and knocked the door a few times. "You awake in there?" hearing no response, the guard shrugged and lifted his leg up into the air. "Wake up call," with a loud thwack, the guard's foot collided with the wooden frame of the door, knocking it down with a shatter of wood into the air. The lights of the building sparked on and a red haired man shot up from under the counter at the end of the room with frightened but sleepy eyes. "Oh good, your awake."
They crack of the breaking dawn over the lush Hylian Field hills brought new life all around those that resided in this world. The shopping districts of Castle Town sprang back to life and the people conversed and traveled throughout the streets and shop ways. The shimmering morning glow flowed softly through the window frames of all the houses and other such buildings throughout the town. The sleeping princess inside the in felt the soft rays of light warm her tanned face and she scrunched her freckled forehead in displeasure. "It's too early for morning," she hissed to herself but still started to stretch herself for the start of the day.
Her morning glazed eyes skimmed around the room as she continued to lay her head down on the couch she fell asleep on. The small lobby of the inn was empty of all people except her and… "Oh right, Trent," she mumbled to herself, remembering she had slept snuggly into him last night, invoking a blush on her face in the process.
She extended her hand behind her and put her hand on Trent's shoulder. "Hey Trent… you feeling any—" For a moment, she paused as she felt Trent's shoulder.
What she felt was not a teen boys arm, strong, or even clothed. What she felt was a small, coarse, bark like twig that had a somewhat warm feel to it. Her head slowly turned back in fear of what she was feeling. "Trent?" She asked, but immediately leapt off the couch and landed on the floor to the side with a sharp and loud scream at what she saw behind her.
Outside of the inn, a lanky man with large pack covered on all sides with masks waited with his hands around the handles of the bag. The guard that helped Courtney earlier stood leaning next to the entrance with one foot up on the wall behind him as well. Suddenly, they heard a fearful scream and the guard looked to the man in front of him. "She's awake… let's go," The guard informed him flatly with an open of the door for him.
As a loud scream shocked through Trent's head, he shot his eyes open and stood up. When he looked to see what the scream was, he saw Courtney on the ground looking up at him scared. "Courtney? What are you doing on the ground?" He asked with a confused voice.
"T-Trent, l-l-look at yourself," She stuttered as she pointed to his body.
Trent tilted his head then took out his sword to use the reflection to look at himself. Right as he unsheathed his sword, he toppled over off the couch at the sudden hefty weight of it. As his head hit the ground, he didn't hear a thud of his body, but an empty knock of wood on wood. "What the?" He pushed himself up off the ground and saw his arms tube like lengths of wood.
He quickly sprang up and checked his whole body, shocked to see not only he was partly naked, but his body had shrunk to a third its usual size and it was completely made of wood. "I don't—what the—how the—" Trent muttered out loud in a ramble as he checked his body up and down, looking to Courtney with his now glowing ember eyes.
Just then, the inn door creaked open and the guard from before strode in with a man in purple clothes and a large pack with masks cladding it on his back following close behind. "Princess, Link, I've brought the help you need," The guard assured them, smirking a little at Trent's fearful movements.
The other man leaned towards Trent and knelt down in front of him. "…Yep, he's been cursed alright," He let out with a bored and tired sigh.
Courtney and Trent's faces turned shocked and looked to the man. "Cursed? Who would have cursed—Skull Kid…" Courtney figured out, remember the last time they saw him.
The man nodded and started digging through the back pack he was wearing. "That darn kid gets in all kinds of trouble… I mean, gosh! When does it end?" He protested as he took out a crinkled piece of paper out.
"By the way, I'm the Happy Mask Salesman, or HMS for short… and this here is a song that will turn your curse into a mask that you can where anytime you want to turn back into this form," He explained to Trent, who graciously took the piece of paper and studied the notes.
"I don't think I'll be wearing it anytime soon," Trent nodded after studying it and took his ocarina out from his back pocket and slowly put it to the giant hole in his face that was his mouth.
As the ocarina got close, it disappeared and large wooden pipes sprang around him and a wind way that was connected to the array of pipes winded up to his mouth. "…That doesn't make any sense!" Courtney snapped, recovering from shock and went right back to her usual self.
"You shouldn't be like that princess… Nothing makes sense until it happens in front of your own eyes," HMS explained with a bow towards his princess.
Trent slowly started playing the special song, taking it slowly so it sounded choppy, but less horrific. After playing, his body sprang with a sparkling light that shimmered throughout the room, followed by a deku 'face' dropping with a wooden roll to the floor. Trent slowly removed his gloved palms from his face and looked around. Seeing he was back to his normal height, and his skin returned, he smiled and chuckled a little. "Link!" When he looked to the side he saw Courtney throw her arms around his shoulders and hugged him warmly with her head to his chest. "I'm so glad you're alright," she admitted as she held her warmly.
Trent flinched for a moment, but put a comforting hand on Courtney's back. The guard smirked at the two of them, and then looked to the Happy Mask Salesman, who had picked up the mask and was examining it. "Give that back to Link," The guard snapped in a hush.
"Excuse me. But you wake me up in the middle of the night and drag me here and I get nothing out of—"
His rant was cut short as he felt the guard's spear being pressed to his hip. "Okay, it's theirs," He whimpered as he tossed it to Trent, who had broken from Courtney's embrace with her face flaring red.
"Cool, thanks. But do you have any more masks like this that could help us?" Trent asked as he examined the mask.
"No…" He replied, but felt the stick of the spear head to his hip again.
"Give um' the masks," the guard ordered with a monotone voice.
HMS immediately tossed out two masks at Trent. "The brown one will turn you super strong and the teal one will give you the ability to breathe under water," He explained as he pointed between the two of them in his hands.
With no more words, the Happy Mask Salesman started to exit the inn, but turned around to them one last time. "Oh… if you see Skull Kid… get my mask back and bring it back to me. The same goes for those three masks when you're done with them," He insisted before disappearing outside, seemingly disappearing into thin air.
"Well, that being that, we better get you to Death Mountain," The guard let out as he opened the door for the two of them.
Trent wasted no time walking to the door, while Courtney on the other hand narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Trent, stay where you are," She ordered, stopping Trent midway out the door.
"How do you know we're going to Death Mountain?" She asked the guard with a sharp tone.
"Crap in a can…" The guard cursed before looking to Courtney with a shaky smile. "You told—"
"I said nothing about what we were doing. So why do you know?" Courtney snapped, Trent giving the guard a confused and concerned look.
The guard looked between them before admitting defeat with a sigh. "Looks like the jig is up…" he mumbled, his voice slowly turning to a girl's voice.
Before Trent or Courtney could say anything, the three of them slowly started to break apart into black rectangles and flew out of the room on pieces. After all of them where fully turned into dark particles, the collective darkness darted out of the city and through the morning sky in a zooming path back to where the first appeared in the Hyrule Field. Once over head, the shards of darkness shot back to the ground and reformed Courtney and Link little by little in the same positions they were in before teleported. "What the hell was that!" Courtney spat as her body shuttered at the feeling of that whole trip.
"I'd rather travel by that light the sages keep using over that," Trent admitted as he checked his body to see if any of him was missing.
"Well sorry that my traveling methods aren't as safe or clean as the sages," A girl's voice replied to their remarks with a sarcastic tone.
Trent and Courtney turned around to see who said that and where surprised to see Courtney's shadow twitching and slowly wisping into a impish looking girl with a stone like mask that covered one of her eyes and most of her 'hair' and teal line-ish designs across her black and white body. "I don't think we've been properly introduced," She pointed out as her 'hair' waved from under her helmet and she drifted closer to Courtney.
Courtney's eyes went wide as her hands started slightly trembling while Trent looked away as if displeased at the sight of the imp. "I'm Midna," The imp introduced herself as she extended her tiny black hand to Courtney.
She looked at the girl's hand and gritted her teeth as she took her hand and shook it weakly. "I'm Zelda—"
"Yeah I know who you two are, but we can talk about all that on our way to Death Mountain," Midna interrupted before drifting off ahead of them, her black and teal 'hair' drifting behind her.
Courtney looked to Trent with sympathy. "I had a feeling this would have happened sooner or later…" Courtney told herself with a shake of her head and a guiding hand to Trent's stiff shoulder.
Midna looked over her shoulder and rolled her eye. "We'll have time for your romance later. We still need to talk about junk," Midna sighed with a narrowing of her eyes but still keeping a playful smirk.
Courtney followed after her while Trent dragged his feet in following after Courtney. "Of all the girls… why Gwen?" he inwardly groaned as the three of them began their trek across the lush Hylian field.
Leaving the Lost Woods, an auburn horse with a glittering blue fairy atop its nose trotted out. The fairy looked to all her sides then gave a look to the horse's coal eyes. "I guess they'll meet up with us at Death Mountain… you know it's not really that hard to miss so I'm sure they'll find their way there in no time," Beth explained to Epona, who just nayed and began to trot off towards Death Mountain.
"But it still would've been nice if they met with us at the entrance," Beth pouted with a fold of her arms. Epona paid her no mind, not that she could, and started to gather speed to catch up with her master.
"Yeah, well you know what? Forget you! Yeah, this world is filled with more hoties, I don't need you!" A tall ponytailed man yelled to a girl walking off in a different direction.
Byrne failed yet again to get a girl for the umpteenth time since he got to Kakarico Village. His sharp sneaky eyes scanned the scenery of the small village, scoping out for a new girl. "Tsk… who needs these girls… they're all too simple and lame. I need a girl with more fire, more bite more—" His eyes slowly clicked to the entrance of the city; and at the field in the distance.
With a curies turn of his head, he shot his gauntlet claw hand up at the towering watch tower nearby and pulled himself up with haste. With a leaning look forward, he eyed off the distance of the Hylian Field, seeing distant shades of people heading towards the town. "—looks like my wish'll be granted…" He told himself with a devious hiss and great leap from the tower to the rocky mountain ledge in the distance.
Like i said, horrible... but still REVIEW and LEAVE a COMMENT regardless...
Will Beth make it before a fight breaks out?
Will Trent live with Midna looking like Gwen?
And where the heck is Skull Kid?
