Hello people, after that extremely long absence...


Last Time: Navi and I ran into an 'old friend' Queen Gohma,and let's just say she was a little less than happy to see us. After a quick fight, we were congratulated by a disembodied voice. Now we have to run a gauntlet of old enemies to prove how strong we are, or else the mission will be a failure.

Darklantern12 presents:

From the Shadows

Chapter 8

Origins

The shadow kept its sword drawn as it entered the next room.

"You seem tense," Sparks noted flying close by.

"I don't like this," the shadow responded, "Umbra obviously knew we had to go to the back of the temple, that's why he told us to go there if we wanted to join him, but with everything that's been going on, I can't help but get a bad feeling from it all."

"I can't blame you," Sparks said, "I have a feeling something's going to happen, and it won't end well for us."

"Hey Sparks," the shadow said.

"Yeah?"

"How did you end up here anyway?"

"Well," Sparks replied, "It all started when me and my friend found this empty bottle in the woods..."

...Flashback...

"Come on Sparks," an orange fairy said as he zoomed through Lost Woods.

"Wait for me, Spruce," a teal colored fairy yelled.

"Wait up guys!" a emerald green fairy said zooming behind the teal one.

Suddenly, the orange fairy, Spruce, stopped, causing the teal and green fairy to crash into it.

"Ouch, watch it!" Spruce said.

"Then don't stop so suddenly," the teal fairy, Luna, said.

"I stopped to look at something," Spruce said, flying toward a patch of grass.

"Guys," the Emerald fairy complained, "it's going to be dark soon."

"Just hold on a second Sparks," Spruce said, "whoa, guys, come look at this."

Sparks and Luna soon joined Spruce by the grass.

"Whoa," Sparks said.

"Yikes!" Luna yelped hiding behind Sparks, "it's a stalfos!"

"No it's not," Spruce said, "it's just a plain old life less skeleton."

Luna seemed to calm down at this, but still remained a little tense.

"But that's not the best part," Spruce said, "check it out."

Spruce flew over to the skeleton's hand, which held a bottle.

"That's cool because..." Sparks asked, not impressed.

"Because," Spruce answered, "I has an idea for an awesome prank."


"Hey! Hey, sis!" Sparks said in hystaria, "You gotta come quick, Luna's in trouble."

"What happened?" Navi asked.

"We-we were playing in the Lost Woods," Sparks said, sobbing, "wh-when we found a bottle, and-and she flew into it, and she got stuck."

"Oh Din," the blue fairy said, "where?"

"This way," Sparks said zooming off with his sister on his heels...


"SPAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRKS!" the angry blue fairy that was trapped in the bottle said, "GET ME OUT OF HERE!

...End Flashback...

"She eventually got unstuck and started chasing us around the forest," Sparks said, a hint of a giggle in his voice.

The shadow had long since fallen to the floor, laughing.

"So she didn't think to look before just flying into the..the bottle?" it asked, trying to calm down.

"Nope, it was strait in," Sparks said.

The shadow calmed himself enough to stand. A slight rustling sound pricked his ears.

"Did you hear that?" the shadow asked, drawing its sword.

A figure pasted quickly behind the shadow.

"Who's there?" the shadow asked.

Sparks quickly took refuge inside the shadow's cap.

An answer rang out in the chamber:

"Noooooooooooooooooot meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

The shadow gulped. Sparks was shaking under the cap.

It was quiet for a few moments.

Suddenly a figure emerged from the shadows in front of them, hunched over slightly. It wore a shadowy tunic and cap, though it lacked any visible weapons, it had long claws and a feral look in its eyes.

"Nooooooooot meeeeeeeeeeeeee," it repeated.

The shadow looked at the creature for a second.

"Excuse me?"

"NOOOOOT MMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the creature yelled, charging at the shadow.

The shadow was thrown on its back as the creature tackled him, the only thing keeping the beast from clawing his flesh being his shield.

"Not me! Not me! Not me!" it said angrily, claws less than centimeters from the shadow's face.

"Why is it attacking us?" Sparks asked from under the shadow's hat, "and why is it only saying that?"

"You wanna come out and ask it?" the shadow said through gritted teeth, completely occupied with keeping the claws away from him.

"No thanks," Sparks responded.

The shadow pushed upwards against the shield, catapulting the creature off of him, and into the air. This gave him enough time to get up and prepare for the next attack.

As the creature picked itself up off the ground, the shadow got a clear look at its face, and while they were disfigured slightly, there was no mistaking them.

It was the same face he had seen when he had fought the hero three years ago...

The same face he had seen in the picture that Ganondorf had shown him of his target...

The same face he had seen looking back at him from the water in the illusion room...

Link's face... its face.

"Not me..." it said under its breath, "it's another Dark Link!"

"Then why in Nayru's name is it acting so insane?"

"This must be some sort of messed up one, I was made to be as smart as Link is, this one must just be a feral version of him."

"Nooooooooooooooot meeeeeeeeeeeeee," Feral Link repeated, charging at the shadow yet again, claws raised.

The shadow blocked the claws with its shield yet again as sparks flew from where the claws hit the metal.

Feral Link jumped over the shadow with unnatural agility, landing behind it and delivering a painful kick in the back, quickly spinning and and landing a slash before the shadow could regain its balance.

The shadow quickly rolled forward to put some space between itself and Feral Link, cringing slightly as its wounded back hit the ground.

This can't go for much longer, the shadow thought, think, if he's a feral version, that means he's all strength and no brains, more animistic...THAT'S IT!

As the shadow stood, it made a show of dropping its sword, faking weakness.

Feral Link seemed to take the bait, and began closing in for the kill.

"Not me!" he said definitively as he raised his clawed hand to deliver the finishing blow.

The claw began coming down, but in an instant, the shadow had spun, raising its shield to intercept the claw. The shadow's arm buckled as the razor shape claws became embedded into the shield, the tips showing through the wood on the other side.

The shadow acted quickly, throwing the shield off of his arm, and using his other hand to deliver a punch to Feral Link's face.

It grabbed its sword from behind it and lunged at Feral Link, impaling him through his chest with deadly precision.

Feral Link's eyes widened slightly, and then began to roll into the back of his head.

"Better than me..." he breathed, as his body slumped forward on the blade, and he moved no more.

The shadow moved the body off of its sword, laying the sword down next to it, and passed out from exhaustion.


Hehehe! Oh I just love a good old fight. Hello pathetic worms, 'tis I Sapiens Umbra. After this little fight I'm not sure how the shadow is going to fair in his trials, after all, this is only the opening act. And while him and the green fairy are busy, I get to watch as that little bug Link works through my boss gauntlet. Hehehe, oodles of fun for me. I can't wait to see what happens next.


So yeah, Umbra's a bit of a sick twisted psychopath... But hay, we got some back story on Sparks.

Reviewers get a free pet cucco.