Chapter 9
After Ike got out of the chains, the ninja said, "Think you can help me get the others out of here?"
"Sure" Ike responded. The two of them went opposite ways when Ike realized something; he couldn't see. The room was still really dark, making it close to impossible to make out the shapes of the others in the room. Ike strained his eyes to see, but he still didn't see the people until he was practically walking over them. He could hear the sound of chains being taken off on the other side of the room. Then, he was the one removing the chains.
The person that was chained up fell limply on top of him when the chains were removed. He graciously caught the stranger, not sure what to do with them. That's when he heard the ninja reappear behind him.
"Here, let me help with that" the ninja said, taking the person out of Ike's arms.
"I'll be back" he said, holding the two unchained people that Ike and this ninja had set free. Then, the ninja disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Ike wasn't sure what to do, so he continued to get the others out of their chains, hoping that the creatures wouldn't come back while he was doing this.
The ninja came back a minute later and Ike handed him two more prisoners before he disappeared once again. They continued doing this until all of the prisoners were out of the dungeon.
"So I have a question" Ike started, but stopped to see if this ninja would let him continue. Only the silence answered. "Where are you taking everyone?"
"Somewhere safe" was the ninja's simple reply. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah" Ike said. "Who are you?"
At first, the ninja hesitated. Then he said, "My name is Ryu Hayabusa. I was once a member of the Hayabusa Ninja Clan before it was wiped out by Doku, an evil black samurai"
"I'm sorry to hear that" Ike said. "But, how did you survive?"
"I didn't. I was killed along with everyone else". Ike stared at Hayabusa in confusion, although this look couldn't be seen in the darkness.
"I was revived by our clan's animal spirit, the falcon. That's all you need to know. Ready to go?" he asked Ike. Ike didn't have time to react before he was teleported out of the dungeon into a different room filled with the bodies of the prisoners.
"Stay here" Hayabusa said, once again teleporting out of the room. Ike was left with many questions and no answers.
She saw the guards closing in on her, not sure what to do with herself. Then, suddenly, she felt arms wrap around her and she screamed before disappearing in a cloud of mist. She reappeared in a different room with bodies all over the floor.
"Let me go!" Zelda screamed out, her captor releasing her. She turned around to face the man that had taken her to this place.
"You're welcome" he said, walking further into the room. Zelda took a look at her surroundings, seeing all of the unconscious bodies on the floor and a familiar face in the corner of the room. "Ike?" she asked. The figure turned around, revealing that he was indeed who she thought he was.
"Zelda?" he asked, stunned. "What are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing" she responded. Hayabusa began to walk up to her once again.
"And just who might you be?" Zelda asked.
"I'm Hayabusa".
"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Zelda. And…sorry for screaming". The three of them walked over to a round glass table and sat down on the stools next to it.
"So, what's going on here?" she asked which led into a long conversation between the three of them. Hayabusa told them that ninjas and other fighters were being captured and taken into the cave to be turned into guards of the cave. These guards were necessary just in case anyone tried to come in and stop the evil things that some people were trying to do.
"What are they trying to do?" Zelda asked.
"I'm not sure yet. My job was to find out and rescue these people before they were turned, but I think I'm a little too late. If they were given the second injection, then there's no hope for them".
Zelda interrupted, saying "That's not true! Roy was doing just fine even after the injection, right before…" she stopped herself.
"Before what?" Ike asked. "Wait, Roy's here too?"
"Yeah" Zelda answered.
"Where is he?" Ike asked.
"I don't know" Zelda said. "I haven't seen him since we saw that creature". A look of disgust crossed her face.
"Let me guess" Hayabusa jumped in. "He froze up when he saw this creature".
Zelda looked at Hayabusa in astonishment. "Yeah, how did you…" she was cut off by Hayabusa.
"Because that's what would happen to all the others if they hadn't already been turned".
"Turned? What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.
"The first injection is given in order to knock out and paralyze the victim so the creatures can take them to this cave. Although the prisoner usually wakes up within half an hour after they're injected, they remain paralyzed until the second injection. The second injection keeps the prisoners paralyzed and knocks them back out as well as puts something in them that makes them obey the 'Master', which is what the creature you're talking about is called. This thing was supposed to knock them out until they were ready to obey the 'Master', which was when they woke up. You woke your friend up before he was supposed to wake up, so he hadn't changed yet. Once they do, you can't get them back".
"Why can't you just take it out with your magic?" Zelda asked. "I was able to do that with Roy and myself"
"Yeah, but you only took out the paralyzing fluid, now didn't you?" he asked her. She took a moment to think about this before she realized he was right.
"It attaches itself to the victim, so you can't remove it without killing who it's attached to" he answered.
"I have a question" Ike cut in. "How do they know when to do the second injection?"
"It's timed" Hayabusa said. It was a simple answer that now seemed obvious to Ike, but he didn't reflect on this; instead, he asked another question that popped into his head.
"Wait, you said that the first injection was to paralyze the victim until the second one".
"Yeah?" Hayabusa said.
"But I wasn't completely knocked out by the first one and I was able to move not long afterwards. Why?"
This question seemed to stump all three of them.
"I'm not sure" Hayabusa answered. "I haven't seen this or heard of this happening".
A few minutes passed. This question wasn't answered, but some questions still remained.
"Did some of the people in here get the second injection already?" Zelda asked.
"I'm afraid so" Hayabusa answered. A sense of helplessness seemed to fall over the group and one thought seemed to remain at the back of their heads: what were they going to do now?
