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Chapter 9

Fox Or Faux?

"Ugh-!" The scraped-up deku boy groaned painfully. His forehead's sudden throbbing caused him to wake from his unconsciousness. He tried reaching up to rub his head, but his arms were restrained behind his back. He muttered indistinctly, before realizing the situation. He looked up, and realized he was surrounded by high walls. Much too high. Jace looked behind himsel, only able to glance at his tied hands. His head drooped as he scanned over the blurred memories of before. The memory of the girl he'd been traveling with had shone, which the last thing he remembered was her terrified call for help, and her terror-filled eyes staring into his as she was forcefully carried away by the dragalfos. It was all only seconds before he blacked out...

"Iris..." He muttered. He looked around frantically. His orbs were set on a figure right behind him- Of which he'd not noticed before. He recognized her long leaves. Iris was tied upm too, and didn't seem to be awake.
"Iris? Hey?" He nudged her with his elbow lightly. "C'mon, wake up..."
"... Stop nudging me." Iris, surprisingly, answered coldly.
Jace was taken aback. "Why won't you talk to me?"
She looked off, before giving a stern, "Hmpf!"
Just then, Jace's leaves fell slightly. He wasn't sure if that was aimed at him because of him. "Would ya' just answer me?"
She glared at him, her eyes being the only easy thing to see in the dark room- And boy did they look like a fire, even more so than before. She cut them at the blond boy with a sting. "Well, Jace, because of you, we're going to die in here!"
Jace jumped, feeling a little uneasy at her hatred-filled tone. He wasn't sure how it was his fault, though.
"You should've listened to me when I said to turn back, when I said leave the stupid room! BECAUSE of you, they're going to drown us!" Iris finished, and acid filled her tone to the brim. Her eyes were scared and uncertain, and her spirit-lit gaze was frantic. Seeing that only made him feel worse, he about spoke, before-
"The stupid fox was in cahoots with the scales-for-brains, why did we trust him?" Iris turned back around.

Jace looked down as he looked forward again. His headaches were getting worse it seemed, and now dealing with the guilt of him getting them in here only piled on. A small, squeaked sob pulled his attention from his aching head and back to the view behind him. The dragalfos were obviously serious about it. It sickened Jace, seeing as they could've killed him and Iris in seconds, quickly and painlessly. But instead would go through the trouble of drowning for entertainment. He'd remembered she was afraid of water, of which she told him the day he'd met her. Skits was gone, he'd hoped nothing happened to him...
Iris almost looked as if she was trying to silence her crying, but it obviously wasn't working. She wasn't one to cry very easily, but she was sure she was going to die tonight. Every so often, she'd take low breaths. The sound of her angered voice dropping to one so broken so quickly felt like small needles in Jace's heart.
'Me and my stupid pride…' He said to himself. "Iris, I-"
"Just shut up!" Her choked up voice shouted, which caused Jace to flinch.
She took a deep breath. "I don't even want to hear your voice right now! I'm scared, we're both stuck here because of you! We're both facing death today because of you..."
He turned around, there was some sting in her last words. Him speaking only poured salt in the wound for both of them... But something on his mind kept bugging him. Were they really going to die tonight? "'Bout time for me, I guess. Fate's finally catching up to me. I'm dumb enough, it's a wonder I'm still around… But her…'

"Alright..." Jace began.
Iris warningly glared at him, looking as if she was about to bite his head off again.
"If I was alone in here right now, and never met you, I probably would just let what's coming come... Seeing as the odds are a little stacked against me. But the thought of you dying in here because of me only kills me. The thought of losing you is much more painful than me drowning. With that, I want you to toughen it up with me, and we'll find a way through this. I'll get both you and the fairy out of here, even if it kills me, I promise."

Iris was sort of dumbfounded, even if he did seem to be sucking up for her forgiveness. She gulped. Jace was hoping she wouldn't yell at him, but she gave a simple nod and a choked "Thank you."

"It's what I owe for getting you into this mess." Jace replied. He looked around hoping to see a little sliver of hope, just something that would help untie the ropes around his hands. The jagged rocks in the wall were the thing that stuck out the most, but they weren't sharp enough. He looked up and saw what looked like a tunnel, or more like a pipe. He'd guessed they're going to empty the water from there. This seemed to look like where they would usually hold the water to drink.

Iris remained sitting down, when Jace managed to stand. The dragalfos hadn't even tied their legs. Jace looked up the wall and examined some of the rocks. It was hard to see far ahead of himself. The light in his eyes didn't give off much light for the wide closed space. Jace looked up and saw a circle of torches lining the hole they were in. Jace realized his rucksack at the top of the walls near a torch. "Shoot." He muttered. A dagger was out of the question. And even if he could knock the rucksack down somehow, he'd risk breaking a lot of the stuff inside, such as the hookshot and the Moon's Tear- Which he knew for a fact he'd never find another one of those anywhere...

Iris was aware that Jace was the expert in this situation, so she sat back and watched. Despite his encouraging words, she still felt they were going to be stuck down here till the dragalfos come back. She couldn't help thinking about Skits. He'd thankfully gotten away, but she hoped that he'd gotten out alright.

Jace soon sighed. He didn't want to say it out loud, but there wasn't anything around that could've cut the ropes. He continued to look, however, mainly not to worry Iris.
"Just give up." Iris spoke suddenly. Jace turned. "I'm not stupid, I can clearly see from even here that you can't find anything..." Only thing he could see were her eyes at the distance she was at- which she was clearly cutting them doubtably at him.
He looked down, and he kicked a rock on accident. "I'm sorry."
"..." Iris looked away.
Jace sat down behind her in his old spot to think things over. He was determined to get out. Jace soon looked back at Iris- Who was still moping. To maybe lighten up her spirits, he asked. "Want to hear a funny story?"
She ignored him again.
"Okay." He sighed as he shrugged. For once, he felt he was at the end of his rope. Usually he'd always felt that he could do anything. Something about now just felt hopeless. 'So much for that oh-so wonderful speech earlier…' He thought. 'This may be where I die- not that I didn't have a good run. If I had the chance to make her understand how I feel, that is all I care about. I feel maybe she doesn't quite get it. I feel everything I worry about just fades when I'm with her. I didn't mean to get us into this mess. Quite funny really how fast it all happened. A few days ago, I was on my own with only myself to worry about. But I can't imagine it being like that anymore now that I've met her. I've fallen in love with Iris, and so fast…'

"Well, I knew from the start that you were obsessed with me, but that's deep, man..." Iris muttered, her tone sounded as if she was a bit taken aback by his sincerity.
"Yeah, well I-!" Jace's leave's made a quick startled twitch before his face turned red. "Y-you heard that!?"
Iris laughed. "How wouldn't I have heard it? You were talking out loud!"
Iris found it funny that he was embarrassed. He turned back to her with wide eyes. She stifled a giggle at his reddened flushed face. "I-I wasn't even talking at all! That was all in my head."
They caught themselves staring at one another, before a switch had flicked. Jace's eyes were cut as he looked around. "Show yourself, traitor..."

In the darkness of the room, appeared two glowing eyes as they swayed towards Iris and Jace. When the figure came into view of the light of Jace's eyes, the deku boy's eyes widened. Silver Keaton limped toward them painfully, covered in wounds. A bloody paw print was left from one of his feet with each step before nearly falling. He managed to simply sit down in front of them and gaze at them with a pained chuckle. He wined slightly at his slashed paw.

"Don't give me that... I'm sure whatever happened to you, you deserved it." Jace spoke coldly.
Keaton's forced smile faded. He spoke in a broken and sorry tone "I am sorry this happened..."
"You sure weren't sorry when you sent your guards after us and threw us down here..." Jace hissed.
A little black shadow came flying down towards Iris, and landed in front of her.
"Skits!" Iris spoke thankfully. She would've hugged him if she could.
"This little bird rescued me..." Keaton spoke. "Give me the chance to explain..."

Jace groaned.
"I didn't throw you down here..." Keaton replied. "That wasn't me that you saw..."
Jace's leaves twitched, he didn't know whether to believe him or not. "I don't believe you."
"It's true, though. When I left to distract the guards, another keaton attacked me. He looked like me, but he wore a strange pendent. I'd fought, but he overthrew me. They had me locked in a cell, when this brave bird helped me escape. I managed to get this far. I told you I'd help you young ones, and I made a promise to the fairy. A keaton never breaks a promise."
Skits nodded.
Jace looked to Iris, not really sure what to think. He looked forward again. "Okay." Giving his unsure trust. "But if you can teleport, why didn't you just teleport yourself out of the cell...?" He questioned.
"I can't explain it completely... It was guarded by a strange dark magic, all of the cells were... I don't blame you for not trusting me." The keaton's head drooped as he folded his ears back.
Skits looked sad. Iris looked down at Skits, before looking up again. "If Skits is able to trust you, then maybe you're telling the truth."

Jace looked at her like she'd gone mad. Isn't she usually the paranoid, non-trusting one?
"I want to make it up to you both." Keaton spoke apologetically.
"If that's the case, then can you please do something about these ropes?" Jace seemed to hate asking for his help. The keaton nodded. He stood and limped around them. His long muzzle got close to Jace's hands, as he slipped a few teeth around the rope's knot. He crunched down and ripped the ropes. Jace immediately threw his hands out in front of himself in relief, as he shook them.
The keaten turned to face Iris' back. She glanced back, feeling nervous being so close to his massive jaws. She began to shake when she felt one of his fangs touch her hand, then she heard the same crunching snap that sounded when he cut Jaces ropes. She looked at her hands, as if checking if they were alright. She laid down with a sigh soon after.
Jace stood and dusted himself off. "Now, to keep my promise, Iris." He looked at her from above, gaining that sense of confidence again. Iris sat up as she dusted herself off.
"I guess we're climbing, huh?" Iris groaned.
Jace nodded. "It's the only thing we can do- Wait!" He looked up at his bag. "Skits?"
The black bird looked to Jace with a "Huh?" Expression.
"You see my rucksack up there?" He asked with a pause. "I want you to fly up there, undo the button, and take out my rope. If it's not already in a slip knot, bring it down to me, and I'll fix it."
Skits unfurled his wings and flew up. He used his beak to grab the opening on the bag and undo the button that held it shut, before digging around in the bag. He grabbed a folded rope, and threw it down to Jace.
"Okay, no slip knot." Jace leaned down and picked up the rope and began fixing it. Skits flew down and remained in mid air. Jace held up the slip knot end. "Here, don't let it come undone. I want you to find something to throw this around up there."
Skits was sure to grab the rope carefully, and flew it up to the top of the wall. He looked and looked, before finding a sturdy rock standing out of the ground. He yanked and pulled on it to check if it was secured. He jumped and hovered back to Iris, and nodded at Jace.

Jace gave the rope a hard yank, and gave a deku scrub's smile before starting to climb. He looked down at Iris. "C'mon."
She examined the rope, then looked up at Jace as if looking at how to climb up. She grabbed it tightly and she positioned herself to climb. The keaton used his ability to teleport himself to the top as he waited for them. He licked his paw during the wait. His ear's flicked when he noticed Jace come to reach the ledge. Iris soon peaked over the top, and she stepped up to face the lit up and hot room above the hole they were originally stuck in. Jace looked to the side of the room, spotting a row of switches. They didn't look professionally put in. Looked more like a bunch of stupid beasts had just lazily set it up- Of which they did.
The keaton followed his gaze. "Those are the levers that release the water."

Jace's attention was drawn to the silver fox. Keaton continued, "This base has been here for years, obviously. They've got that pipe above you hooked to Clock Town's water supply."
The keaton looked around. "We're in the central of the base right now. Since I'd been through here looking for you two, I know my way around a little better. But I'd yet to find the fairy." The keaton sniffed the air. "The impostor of mine seems to be the leader of the dragalfos down here. I'm not even sure if he's a real keaton. His magic is much too strong for me to see his thoughts or intentions..."

Jace shrugged. "All I want to do is get the fairy, and get out of here."
Iris nodded. The keaton sighed at the short sound in Jace's voice. But he followed the blond boy in hopes of Jace trusting him again.

Skits hovered above them as he glided down to Iris and landed on her head in his usual place. Jace examined the room and threw his gaze to each side. It was empty, and dimly lit. Torches lined the room neatly out of the way.
Jace grudgingly turned back to the silver fox. "Well, lead the way, because I don't know a way out of here."
With that, Keaton trotted up and was thankful for his acceptance of help, before trotting down a narrow corridor to the far left of the room.
Iris looked at Jace with a raised eye brow and small smile. This look caused Jace to raise an eye brow back and ask "What?"
"It doesn't take long to gain your trust again." Iris began.
Jace scoffed as he followed far behind the Keaton. "I never said I trusted him."
"Whatever. I trust him." Iris looked ahead.
"Why? You didn't trust him before." Jace was nearly cutting his eyes coldly at the keaton's nine swishing tails.
Iris chuckled. "Because I trust my brother. Do remember that he's an animal, and animals have a special connection with each other. If he feels he can trust Keaton, I'll have no problem trusting him, too."
Jace took a deep breath, and released a chuckle. "You two. I still find it cute that you walk around and tell people that Skits is your brother."
"Well, he is. I don't care what he is, I'll always see him as my brother. Who else would've taken care of him after his mother passed?" Iris responded.
Jace smiled largely- And winced. The wide scrape under his eye given to him during his last battle had only recently dried, and him smiling like that only opened it again. He ignored it after being reminded of it being there, before turning to Iris again. "That's a side of you I'd never seen, and probably won't see often."
"Hm?" She asked in a puzzled tone. Her gaze was immediately pulled to the now very, very lightly bleeding scar under his eye. She wanted to say something, but stopped herself.
"That loving sisterly side. Or motherly. I would guess you never let many people know that side, huh?"
Iris shrugged, surprisingly accepting the fact that he'd noticed such a side of her. "Depends on how I feel about the person, whether if I let them know."
Jace gave a smug grin. Her saying that gave him an opening. "You must really like me then, huh?"
Iris paused, noticing she'd walked right into that. "That is not it!" She laughed.
"Maybe there's even a loving loving side of you?" He joked with a charming tone, as he teasingly leaned toward her, which only caused her to put a hand to his shoulder and push him away.
"Yeah- In your sweetest dreams probably." She quietly laughed- Still aware they were in the enemies stronghold.
"Hey, nothing wrong with that~!" Jace replied. They both laughed, as Skits couldn't help but to roll his eyes. He looked down at Iris like she was losing her mind to even allow Jace to talk to her in such a way, and it be a first that Iris didn't snap at him.

Keaton smirked as he limped along. "Young people." He remained ahead and reached a corner through the corridor. He stopped, and turned back to them. "Okay, love birds."
At that comment, Iris suddenly pushed Jace away from her, and her cheeks flushed red. It was hard to notice though since her eye's were already glowing red in the dark corridor. Jace just laughed lowly and he caught up with her.
"We're in a whole different place than when we got split up. Please stick close." The keaton spoke with sincerity. Iris nodded, and of course, Jace only listened. The keaton chuckled his usual cunning chuckle. "And no more joking around, there's plenty of time for that when we get out of here." Keaton added. Jace about said something cocky, but figured it was best to end it where it was before stirring something else up. Iris found herself growing closer to Keaton till she walked side-by-side with him. A bird says he's cool, next thing you know, he's Iris' best friend. Jace scoffed.
"So, how old are you anyway?" Iris suddenly asked.
The keaton's long ears flicked, before looking down at Iris. "Will you believe me?"
"You're a talking fox." She added. "That alone seems ridiculous."
"Good point" He laughed. "My age, dear young one, is one hundred and two."
Her eye's went wide. "No way?!"
"I could've told you that." Jace spoke out.
Iris glanced back. "How?"
"He's got nine tails. He has to at least be somewhere over eighty or ninety years old." Jace replied, pointing out the obvious number of tails.
Iris simply turned back around. "You think you're such a know-it-all, huh?"
"The boy's wiser than you think. But it is true, my age is shown through my tails." He paused with his large canine-flashing grin. "Each ten years, a keaton grows another tail. We stop at nine."
Iris looked back at Jace, and knew he was going to have that same-ol' smug look that said "I'm all that." and she ignored it.

It was hours on hours of just passing through empty corridors. Or it felt like hours.
"Where are all the dragalfos?" Jace's tone rang with boredom. "I thought they'd be everywhere."
"They're here, I'm leading you away from them." The keaton responded, and Iris jumped. "They know you're gone, they're all looking for you now."
Iris shivered. "You knew all this time, and didn't tell us!?"
"To keep you from panicking." The silver fox shrugged. "I can read thoughts, you know, I can hear them clamoring all through this place..."
The deku girl chuckled nervously. "Wouldn't want us scared. I guess."
"I'm not worried about Jace, I was talking about you." The keaton snickered. Iris exclaimed, before giving a stern, "Hmpf..."
The keaton looked as if his wounds were healing at an alarming rate. He already seemed almost back to normal. He looked back at Jace, then began speaking quietly to Iris. "But... You've got great reflexes and are very skilled with your speed and wild Hyrlulean blood. At first meeting, you don't look like much. But inside your head, you know many things. You have strange deku genes flowing through you, though I'm not sure of the variety. You have powerful legs and powerful arms, something only few deku species' have, and you do have fighting skill. You're a living puzzle filled with things that no one would expect from a young person like you. You've had great experience with fighting back home. But here, you feel nervous and scared. Thus, it's like you're a child in skill all over again. And your partner is a wielder of weapons, and you feel secure knowing his skill." The keaton sighed. "You need to stand up and fight, because I know you can. I'd imagine you two would be a team made up of something fierce. That Hyrulean blood and instinct of yours is something to be feared when you're pushed to your limit. It takes a lot of skill to live in the Lost Woods surrounded by a forest of dangers where you're only hope is to hold your own. Find that instinct here, and things will go much more smoothly. Plus, it'd take some weight off his back."

Iris looked back at Jace- Who'd been traveling further behind the whole way. "Oh?"
"You don't realize... This young man would do anything for you it seems." Iris needs to remember she's talking to a mind reader, he's probably hearing everything that's going on in both their minds as they speak- Pretty creepy to her.
"You don't think I know that." Iris giggled. "Quite flattering really..."
The keaton shook his head. "You don't know the half of it, my child." He smiled. "Do something for him for once… He's breaking his back for you."
Iris looked down, now thinking to herself.
"I've seen that memory of yours of you fighting off those wolfos. I'd be scared to fight you. You feel useless, but that is not true. Believe in your strengths." The keaton gave a final snicker, his words intending to encourage her, before turning forward.

'He reaches for her, but she pulls away. He feels a strong sense of emotion, more than just love... Make's me wonder about the girl, makes me think if there's greater reasons as to why the Great Fairy brought her to Termina…' The keaton laughed in his mind. 'I must remember to thank the fairy for teaming me with such amusing young'ns.'

The keaton stopped them both, as his head peaked out from behind the end of the corridor walk way. The large room seemed useless and abandoned. Silver Keaton motioned the two deku scrubs to stay where they were as he inched out into the open. His ears moved from side to side. He pulled his head up and nodded toward Iris, Jace, and the small black bird with them, insuring safety. It was then however that a piercing yelp screeched through the room and down each tunnel way it lead to. In a flash, They were seeing double, as the twisted-looking version of the fox came out of no where and bit into Silver Keaton's neck. The impostor dropped him and licked his lips of the blood while staring at the terrified Iris and battle-ready Jace.
"A mouse hunt... It was fun at first, but now you're just starting to tick me off." He growled.

A loud and vicious snarl sounded, as it whooshed up at the evil fox's face. Silver Keaton had shot up, and scraped his claws at the dark one's side. They were soon locked in full fang-to-claw combat.
Jace put a hand out in front of Iris, and he backed up. "We better stay out of that..."
"But-"
"He can take care of himself, we need to find the fairy! Plus, jumping in the middle of a dog fight could only result in your own injury." Jace responded. "They're fighting mindlessly."
The evil keaton was grabbed by the neck and forcefully slammed onto the ground with a loud nasty snap. He used his back claws to scrape the underbelly of Silver Keaton, who reacted painfully as he shot back with a yelp. The evil fox sunk his long fangs into Silver Keaton's back, and threw him into the wall.
Iris' leaves dropped in terror. But it wasn't terror caused by the battle, but by how torn up Keaton was becoming… This was nothing new, Iris knewwhat true mindless fighting was like… She was wild, and she'd had moments in the past where she let instinct take over her, too. She pushed that side of her away often, but it was there if she was pushed too hard.
A slight glimmer caught her eye. Silver Keaton had thrown the dark one across the room with a scary amount of strength. When he'd made impact with the ground, he cried a yelp- but still a beastly roar, one she'd heard before. But the glimmer that caught her eye was the necklace around evil one's neck. It was small, and had a slight glow. It was glowing a faint green. She'd seen that before, and knew instantly what it was. She took to mind that the kind keaton was right earlier- She could fight, she just needed to know what she was doing. She ran out, ignoring Jaces terrified call to her.

The evil fox glared at her with his serpentine-slit pupils, and he shook the blood off his ear. He was already slightly weakened by his fight before. He was about to snap at Iris, when he got a paralyzing mouthful of exploding light. He cried out and reeled back. She'd shot a deku nut just after he opened his quick jaws. The beast's mouth was stunned and burning painfully, but it never stopped him from throwing a good slash at the sudden fired-up Iris. One would say that seeing Iris pull off a back flip and land successfully and gracefully on her feet was like getting smacked in the face with a rock to the stunned blond boy watching, who'd been lead to believe she was all bark and absolutely no bite. She was fighting almost at Jace's level- Without a sword or dagger. He wondered why now, of all times, did she reveal she could fight like that? She rolled out of the way of a swat, and came back up, sending a heavy kick to the monster's already aching jaw, causing him to bite his tongue and cry out.

The fox swung his tails at her. She was sent rolling off. She shook it off and ran back, shooting another deku nut. This time directly at his face. It screeched and closed it's temporary blind eyes, giving Iris the chance rip the necklace off. Iris was nearly crushed under the evil keaton, when the loss of his necklace caused him to lose footing and collapse. But she managed to move in time. Not a scratch on her. Jace stared like a deer in headlights at that beautifully dangerous display she just gave.

All eyes were soon on the dragalfos crowd that was growing around them all now, before an ugly sight of the once evil keaton was now a disintegrating bunch of ashes that had been formed into the body of a dragalfos for a short period. Nothing was left except ashes. The beastly crowd murmured, as Jace moved closer between Iris and the once again battle-wounded keaton.

"They killed our leader!" One roared. "We came too late!"
Jace wasn't prepared to have Iris do that, and certainly wasn't prepared for this now. All exits were blocked, and keaton was too weak to fight. They began closing in, and fast. Jace looked to Iris- Who was now extremely shaky, and back to her old self due to knowing she was outnumbered now. 'Worst possible timing…' Jace thought.
All the monster's eyes were on the necklace in Iris' hand. Jace grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to run with him. Keaton came up behind them, till he ran side-by-side. "Get on my back!". Jace nodded, and helped Iris up when they came to a short stop. Jace climbed up in front of Iris, and grabbed a tuft of fur. Iris folded her arms around Jace tightly.
"Now hold on, we're hauling tails out of here!" The keaton ignored his painful scrapes and cuts to tear through the forces of the dragalfos. He lunged high, and gave a heavy snap to ones neck and it dropped instantly, clearing a small way just big enough to slip through. Iris certainly wasn't the daring and brave person she was earlier and was clinging to Jace for dear life.
Out of no where, the keaton spoke brightly "Great idea Jace!" He was mind reading again. The keaton recognized this way as one of the tunnels that he'd traveled while looking for Iris and Jace before. Little did Iris know, there was a conversation going between Jace and Keaton in mind.

"What's a great idea...?" Iris was afraid she didn't want to know.
"Flooding this joint!" Jace replied. Iris was right; she didn't want to know.
"Kill two birds with one-" Jace noticed Skits glare as he flew next to them. "...You catch my drift." Jace glared back. "Killing the dragalfos and getting rid of their weapon's stronghold!"
"Like flooding a colony of ants!" The keaton added.

"Let's just hope we don't kill ourselves in the process." Iris shuttered.
Jace laughed. "If we time it right, we'll be good! Fifty/fifty chance we'll get out alive I guess. But that's a good fifty, at least!" Sometimes, Iris wondered if Jace ever planned stuff out that didn't involve near-death.

"We're coming close, get your dagger ready!" Keaton warned. Jace already had it with him and just needed to pull the case off the blade end.
Ahead, there was a pipe line sticking from the ceiling. It had rusted Terminian writing on it. And just at the joint where the pipe connected with another end, there were loose and busted rusty bolts just barely holding the old pipe. Jace closed one eye to aim, before giving a heavy swing with his dagger as it flew far ahead. A burst of water came rushing from the pipe. Silver Keaton jumped over the rushing water, as Jace reached out and grabbed his knife back when Keaton jumped. Iris dared to look back. Water was rushing through every corridor, and blazing up toward them. The keaton swiftly followed another trail that lead to the old room filled with working lizalfos crafting weapons. It wasn't long before the water came bursting into the room, and the large room became filled with beastly roars and shouts of terror. Keaton remembered the ladder ahead, realizing he wouldn't be able to climb that.
"Hold tight!" He shouted to Iris and Jace. He turned back around toward the water, which now caused both Iris and Jace to go wide eyed. It was so unexpected that Jace even gave a classic deku's squeak!
"Keaton, what're you doing!?" Jace shouted in shock. Keaton made a high jump to a crate and jumped into the high mine, and began running. The water came bursting in after them!

Keaton suddenly came to a halt, reaching a dead end. He looked up and spotted a hole. It was narrow, he wouldn't be able to fit through with everyone on his back. He turned back to Iris and Jace. "Go through that hole, it'll take you to the surface!"
Before anyone had a say in this, he vanished and dropped Iris and Jace, trusting they knew what to do.

Moments out in Termina field near the outside of the Observatory, a hole in the ground bursted with water.
"AHHHhhh!" The two deku scrubs were shot out of the hole and sent rolling down the hill on land. Skits had flown out of the hole before he could be put in that situation.
Iris opened her eyes and she came to a stop from rolling down hill, drenched and muddy... She stared up at the dusk sky. Terrified and angry at Keaton for doing that. She looked over. Jace stood up and coughed. He looked… Funny. His ponytail was all messed up and nearly fallen out. She laughed, but soon looked up to gaze eye-to-eye with Keaton.
"I see you made it out okay." He spoke.
She glared, holding in a harsh comment. Jace threw his arms into the air, going "Woo!" before adding, "That was fun!"
"You're crazy..." Iris mumbled. "And... you're filthy..."
"You don't look too good yourself, princess..." Jace teased.
Sikver Keaton laughed. "I can't lie about that; You both look awful... You might want to go back to the Inn in Clock Town and get washed up..."

"But hey, we didn't drown!" Jace spoke with a tone of thrilled excitement. "And I trust that's the fairy?"
Iris nodded and held up the fairy's orb that she was wearing around as a necklace for now. "I say we take her back before we do anything else..."
"Sounds like a plan." Jace helped Iris up.
Iris looked to Silver Keaton. "Why did their leader disintegrate when I took this off?"
The keaton sat down. "He must have been using her power to keep himself in that form. They supposedly already knew somehow that I was leading you... They had planned to frame me. But her power was too much for him to handle, and it destroyed him in the end when it was removed." The keaton seemed to give a sorry chuckle. "I can't believe I never noticed that he had her the whole time... Good eyes."
Iris scratched her head. "Aw it was nothing."

The keaten smiled. "When you get to Clock Town to return her to her Fountain, visit me on the way."
Jace nodded, "Sure thing!" With that, the keaton vanished.
Iris looked at her clothes "Yuck..."
"C'mon, let's go." Jace laughed.
"Ugh..." Iris snorted as they walked toward Clock Town.
The group was silent for a while, but mid-way, Jace began again. "Hey?"
"Huh?" She responded.
"Why didn't you tell me you could fight like that!? I mean, you even kicked the guy in the jaw, and did a back flip! Why've you been leading me to believe that you're weak and know nothing about battle!?" Jace shot his arms up in the air. "You don't need weapons!"
"I've said it before, I'm out of my element. I can't always do it-"
"Like you said you can't dance...?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Exactly. I can't always do it..." Iris retorted, looking off elsewhere. "If I'm really, really trying, it's hard." little did she know, the reason it was normally hard was because she was too afraid...
Jace shook his head. "Man, you weren't even trying!?"
"Natural instinct. I've been put in dangerous situations before, a lot." Iris laughed at his amusement.
"You train a little, you'd be deadly..." Jace laughed out loud.

To Be Continued...