Chapter 10: Phantom Boarova
As the chills of autumn settled into the city and everyone bundled up to combat it, the students of Harkinian Academy got something fun to do as the end of the month closed in: a field trip to the local museum! It mostly hosted historical art pieces, but there was a little bit of everything ranging from fossils, tombs, artifacts and displays both still and living. Today they were focusing more on the artisanal aspects with their teacher, Mr. Pikango Nishimura. They all had to fill out a worksheet as they went, but otherwise it was a few hours away from school. Stalworth seemed the most invested in the trip, but it was mostly with the music or fairy related pieces.
"Welcome!" Called a voice from near the group. It was a man about 48 years of age with green hair up in a ponytail that was white at the temples and had a cane in one hand. "Most of you know me as Mr. Vaughan." He squinted out into the group and tried to assess who all was here. "I think I remember some of you...Groose for sure. Hello Stalworth. Nice to see you again Hilda." His violet eyes began to sparkle when he saw a certain green-haired girl jumping up and waving. "And my little Korok, Saria!"
While that was going on, Link and Zelda were signing to each other about the worksheet and what they could tell, from where they were currently with the group, what could help them answer the questions. Any further conversation was cut off when Mr. Nishimura said it was time to go out and find the answers on their worksheets. Mr. Vaughan took some of the students with him, Link included, in hopes that they could find some good answers while Nishimura took the rest of the group to another part of the museum. After the split up they were free to roam around to look - within reason. Any signs of monkeying around would get them stuck to an adult's side like a small child that can't be left to themselves.
Zelda found herself in front of a picture and wondered if she could use it to answer a few of her questions. It was a noblewoman taking a moment to tie a beautiful scarf around the bicep of a knight about to ride out on a long journey. Some part of her could see herself as the noblewoman as this was reminding her of being Athena and her dear partner. A soft, dreamy sigh escaped her lips as she let herself daydream for but a moment about how this scene would play out between herself and him.
Her thoughts of romantic chivalry were interrupted by a sudden voice. "Ah, I see you too are enamoured by the beauty of 'Godspeed.'" On turning to face this person Zelda found that the owner of the voice is male with red hair kept in locks that reminded her of curlers from her grandma's time and favored flamboyant usage of light and dark purples, even in a bit of some eyeshadow he wore. The only thing that seemed easy to look at were his brown eyes.
"Ah! Um, yes sir." Zelda nodded as she spoke. "It's a beautiful painting. It's so...soft and romantic."
"Truly a magnificent display of the period's romanticism in media!" Yuga agreed. "Its only equal being The Accolade." Her blank stare made his face and body deflate a bit in disappointment. "The one with the lady knighting the guy."
"Oooh." Now she got it.
The flamboyant man looked her over for a moment. "Now that I think of it...what brings you here, miss? You're a bit young for college and you also look like you've actually had more than a day's worth of sleep."
"I'm on my first field trip with my art class!" Zelda explained happily as she then showed him the worksheet. "We just need to find some pieces of art and answer these questions. Sure it means it's a short-ish trip, but better than nothing!"
He gave a thoughtful hum as he looked over the questions. "Ah, yes. Interesting. And such lovely handwriting too!"
"Thank you!" Zelda grinned a bit.
"Actually, I could help you if you like. I didn't go through college just to meander around and occasionally dust historical artifacts." Yuga offered with a kind smile.
"That'd be lovely, thank you." Zelda nodded and so walked around with Yuga to find the pictures that would fit best for the answers she needed. Due to his help, she finished up quite quickly and ended up helping her classmates with theirs as well. He had to depart half-way through to tend to some curator business, but she had enough of a foothold on the world of art history to be okay on her own for now. Trying to do it with Link was interesting, as she wasn't sure of what signs were for certain terms, in addition to them both trying to hold their writing utensil and paper, but after Hilda wisely (and bluntly) pointed out that they could just text, things went much more smoothly.
While that was going on, Yuga went to his office and looked over a picture he had hanging behind his desk. It was a painting that he had most recently finished and dubbed as his masterpiece. He had yet to show it anyone, but today was the day that he was finally going to achieve his dream of having one of his paintings displayed in his beloved art museum. The painting itself was of a woman in a long, flowing white gown with her violet colored locks flowing behind her, save for a section that was tied back in some sort of halo braid around her head. In her hands, was a golden, inverted triad of triangles, which her ruby red eyes were fixated upon. Crimson ribbons and a golden circlet adorned her hair, along with other pieces of matching jewelry that were present on her chest, middle fingers and the ends of her violet-colored tresses respectively. It was his interpretation of Lorule's Goddess, Loria, and the Lorulean Triforce that she had guarded many eons ago, painted in the style of the romanticism era. It was his best work yet and he could only hope that Mr. Vaughan would be proud of him. Now he just needed to wait for Mr. Vaughan to come to his office to talk it over!
There was a knock on the door. Yuga's heart rate spiked a bit from the suddenness of it all, but took a deep breath, threw a purple silk cloth over his masterpiece and opened the door. "Hello Mr. Vaughan!"
The older man hobbled in with a sigh. "Kids these days...at least Saria kept them from doing anything too drastic. Now, why did you wish to speak with me again, Yuga?"
"Well you see, sir…" Yuga rubbed his hands together in both excitement and nervousness, "I know you're set in your ways when it comes to the art of today. However!" He quickly stood beside his covered picture. "I have something that is the epitome of blended times! The romantic period of the past with the colors of today! I give you…" He did a dramatic pulling of the silk, "The Shadow's Light!"
The older man walked over. The only noise he made were the soft thumps of his cane against the floor. After carefully inspecting Yuga's work, he turned to him with a sad look upon his somewhat wrinkled features. "It's lovely, Yuga, it really is. However...it's a bit unbalanced."
"Un...balanced…" Yuga repeated back slowly with a slightly wavering voice.
"Uh, you see, you put a bit too much emphasis on the modern look of paint instead of the soft look of romanticism." He explained while gesturing a bit to the painting. "It just looks more modern than anything, Yuga. I'm sorry."
"I...see…" Yuga forced a calm smile on his face and nodded. "Very well then. I'll just...do what I can with this at a later date." Mr. Vaughan's phone suddenly went off and he answered it after some difficulty with the touch screen. "Yes, son? Ah. Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, I'm coming to take a look. Keep your pants on, Vaati." He then exited the room as he kept his son on the phone.
As silence began to settle into the office space, Yuga looked at this picture once more. He clenched his teeth, tears beginning to blur his vision. With a cry of rage he took his artwork and hit it against the ground. "EZLO, YOU FOOL! YOU KNOW NOTHING!" He screeched while falling to his knees.
Meanwhile, in a dimly lit cavern, the muffled clanking of armor could be heard as flames began to illuminate the pathway to the center of the room. "Ah yes, the heart of an artist is so easy to break when faced with judgement from even the most experienced of critics." He looked over the drawings upon the rocky wall and gazed at the choices in front of him. "Decisions, decisions…" He pondered for a moment before stopping at a large figure that had a loose resemblance to Boore. "Excellent." He placed a claw upon it and his Gufuu formed in his palm. The small creature had an extra devious glint to its eye and soon took off after Boarvoa's target. "Go forth, and claim a new servant for my plans!" He commanded before cackling maniacally at the thought of his impending success.
"I worked for hours on that masterpiece and he had the audacity to call it TOO MODERN?!" he seethed, his hands shaking as he clenched them into tight fists. "Has he no concept of 'beauty'?!" he shrieked, beginning to shove miscellaneous items off his desk in his fit of rage. He continued to grumble to himself about his misfortune, unknowingly getting a flying visitor as Yuga paced this way and that around his office. It wasn't until he turned back towards his desk after his third or fourth pace that his gaze landed on the small, purple creature that had been eyeing him and he let out a loud, audible gasp before instinctively flinching away from it. "What is that..thing?! It's absolutely hideous!" he exclaimed, a disgusted look upon his face.
The Gufuu made a noise that sounded like it was highly offended at being called ugly and used a wing to slap Yuga across his nose before diving in that area. After it took place within Yuga, black scales formed around his face and a certain voice was heard within Yuga's mind.
"Greetings to you, my artistic companion." the voice began. "My name is Boarova and I have taken notice of your...unfortunate situation. I can give you the power to show everyone the true beauty of your brushwork, but only if you promise to bring me the miraculous of Athena and Sheikhan Wolf in return." he stated, confident that his offer was too tempting to refuse.
"I ACCEPT!" Yuga responded with great enthusiasm as he threw his arms up into the air. "I WILL MAKE THEM ALL PAY!"
"Then go forth, Phantom Boarova, and show the people of this world what a true masterpiece looks like!" he exclaimed, a wicked grin present upon his face.
Yuga cackled as the scales spread over his body. His suit was replaced with a bodysuit that was a malevolent shade of dark violet, a cape with fashionable rips at the hem and a boney mask with shadowy horns on its sides covered all but his lips and chin. He examined his new look and took special noticed of the spike-covered bracers and his much, much longer and even redder hair. He summoned forth a weapon that had the handle of a paintbrush but where the bristles would be was instead three, long trident spikes. With another cackle he exited the room, "I'M COMING FOR YOU, EZLO!"
"C'mon Zel, we won't hear the end of it if we miss the bus!" Saria warned as the students started to head outside.
"Just a second, really!" Zelda had hoped to spot Yuga one more time to thank him for this help earlier but couldn't find him nor anyone who seemed to know where to look. It was on hearing screams of terror not too far from where she was and the cackles of a madman that she began to worry. "Saria!? Get everyone outside, hurry!"
Saria was about to ask when she heard a second round of screams. "OKAY, EVERYONE LET'S GET OUTSIDE NOW!" Despite her small size, she could really push people out when need be. She about tackled Link when she noticed him trying to double back. "Hold up! You're not going back in there! Just give Zelda a little more time, she'll be out soon!" She looked to the exit and just tapped her foot. "Yup. In three...two...one...point nine...point...eight…" Her voice faltered the more and more time passed.
"Can I go get her now?" Link asked dryly.
"Yeah. Don't die okay?" Saria let go and then focused on rounding up the other members of the class. "And check on my family, if you see any of them!"
"Will do!" And Link was off.
"Has anyone seen Ravio or Hilda!?" Saria was doing a frantic headcount, but couldn't find either of them in the crowd.
Back in the museum, in a little hallway not too populated by visitors, a certain couple was having a quiet moment to themselves, or rather it would be quiet if one of them wasn't being a bit chatty. "So what's the difference between outlaws and inlaws?" Ravio paused to wait for her response, which was a shrug. "Outlaws are wanted!"
Hilda covered her mouth with one hand in attempt to stifle her muffled laughter. "That's horrible!"
"NOTHING IS HORRIBLE WITH ME AROUND, MY SWEETS! PHANTOM BOAROVA IS HERE TO DELIVER BEAUTY TO THIS DULL WORLD~!" The Gufuu announced with vigor while attempting to zap every person who appeared in his line of vision and transforming them into still-life paintings resembling said people.
Ravio grabbed Hilda's hand and started racing to the nearest exit with panicky mutters.
"NOT SO FAST MY DEAR LOVEBIRDS!" he exclaimed, turning towards them as a devious grin spread across his face. "YOU TWO SHALL MAKE AN EXCELLENT WORK OF ART TOGETHER, DON'T YOU THINK?" he suggested before quickly sending a burst of magic their way.
Hilda's eyes widened as a small gasp escaped between her lips. "NO!" she cried before quickly shoving Ravio out of the way, so that the blast only collided with her. All too soon, the heiress's form dissipated and was replaced with a violet-colored picture frame, encasing her own self-portrait that slowly clattered to the ground near Ravio's person.
"HILDA!" Ravio yelled and picked up the picture as quickly as he could despite his anxious fumblings. "Oh Hilly, oooh no. I-I gotta find the heroes! How do I get them? How do I call them? Oh Hilda, I'm so sorry you had to take that blow for me!" He carefully put his face against the painting as his lip quivered and a few tears fell.
"YOU'LL THANK ME LATER, HER ETHEREAL BEAUTY IS IMMORTALIZED FOREVER NOW." Phantom Boarova huffed and then went back to the task at hand. "OH EZLO~!"he said in a sing-song voice as he took off towards said person's office.
By a miraculous coincidence, Zelda managed to find enough space behind a large statue to duck behind while Phantom Boarova was going around turning people into paintings. She was reluctant to step out and face him due to having learned the hard way that her Miraculous can't protect her from Boarova's minions if they possess a transformation-based power. Once all seemed quiet she poked her head out and assessed the damage. "He...turns people into paintings. Great. Not as horrible as being turned into a tree, but that's still pretty unnerving.".
Brawynn flew out and perched on Zelda's head as she made a soft noise of thought. She then began to preen her hair a little before speaking. "What do you think needs to happen?"
"We…" Zelda paused to think. "Need to stay calm despite this development."
"Mm-hmm." Brawynn confirmed as she straightened out a few hairs.
"Transform, find Wolfie, try not to upset this particular Gufuu, eventually get to saving the day." Zelda concluded while tucking a bit of hair behind her ear.
"Very good." Brawynn smiled as she went back to sitting on her shoulder.
"...Oh! And keep these people off the ground so nothing tramples over them." The heiress worked on moving the portrait people off the ground and, with any hope, out of any potential danger. After that was done she started running in the direction she last saw Phantom Boarova in. "Brawynn, spread your wings!"
'Where is she!?' Link thought in a panic as he ran around the museum. So far all he's found were pictures on the ground and hearing cackles echo off somewhere in the distance. He even took the time to examine some of the paintings left behind to see if she had been captured...to find that this was not the case and worked to moving them out of the way. At this point, his Kwami decided to show up and started to sniff around. "Trying to track her or something?"
"Nah, just getting a look-see of what's going on." Bleddyn explained. "I'll give this Gufuu this - there's major dedication to the theme here."
"I have a bad feeling about who this Gufuu is under the possession." Link recalled the help Zelda had, what was his name again? "Yaga? Yaya?"
"Yuga." Bleddyn responded with a deadpan tone. "Guy acts like he was around when this stuff was made. Pompous know-it-all." He huffed with a slight bristle to his fur. He calmed down on seeing The Accolade nearby.
"...You okay there, Bleddyn?" Link asked while walking over and soon found a weird expression on his face. It was stern as if he was in deep thought, but his eyes had a lovey dovey sparkle to them. "Uhh…?"
Bleddyn seemed to snap out of it once Link entered his field of vision. "I was just thinking about some stuff. Let's get moving, yeah?"
"Yeah…" Link nodded in agreement and continued on, the little Kwami hiding in his hood. He began to pick up the pace on hearing some laughter rather closeby. "Bleddyn, time to howl!" He let out his ear-piercing howl as he ran full speed to the source.
"WHERE ARE YOU, OLD FRIEND?" Phantom Boarova called as he tore through Ezlo's office trying to find him. Despite the minimal spaces to hide in such a location, he was having difficulty in locating him. "DID HE NOT COME HERE AFTER DESTROYING MY ART PIECE?"
"Don't forget about your end of the bargain, my phantom." Boarova reminded with an edge of threat to his tone.
"WORRY NOT, ONCE I HAVE MADE EZLO PAY, I WILL GET THOSE MIRACULOUS OF THEIRS FOR YOU~!" Phantom Boarova declared while accidentally knocking over a lamp.
"Terrific. Thank you." Boarova rubbed his temples and made a note to have the voices of his pawns taken down 4 notches from here on out. Maybe also tone down the intensity of their emotions to control them better.
"NOW...WHERE ARE YOU~?" Phantom Boarova gave his weapon a fancy twirl of his fingers and pointed it at a nearby wall. He waved it around in a rectangular shape and made a new door into it and proceeded to push it open before going through to the room on the other side. He went through this process a few more times before finally finding Ezlo in the exhibit of old technologies that have the current working theory of once functioning as guardians of times past. "THERE YOU ARE, YOU HEATHEN!"
"Wha-?" Ezlo squawked on seeing this supposed stranger before him. "What do you want with me?!" He held his cane in a manner that he could hit this odd figure if need be.
"MY REVENGE~!" Phantom Boarova cackled as he pointed at the curator and, in a flash of dark energy, turned him into a lifeless portrait as he did the others.
It was at this point that Athena and Sheikhan Wolf had entered the scene and found that they were too late! Both let out a terrified "NO!" on seeing the frame that held the elder man clatter to the floor. They didn't even have time to process that the other was here as Phantom Boarova started shooting out his attack again to give them both the same cruel fate.
"We have to leave!" Athena commanded as she bounced off a wall to nullify a blast that was coming at her.
"But we just got here!" Sheikhan retorted as he used his shield to knock back a blast.
"We're running around like cuccos without heads, that's a bad strategy all around!"
"Fair point!" Sheikhan grunted as he did a somersault out of harm's way.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL YOU GIVE ME YOUR MIRACULOUS!" Phantom Boarova screeched while speeding up the strokes of his paint trident.
"Not good." Sheikhan gulped as he switched out to his Pegasus Boots and sprinted out of harm's way. This worked until the exhibit got in his way and he ended up crashing into it and getting entangled by the metallic, octopus-like limbs displayed there. Oddly enough, they were still intact despite being disturbed in such a destructive manner. "Ooowwwww…"
"SUCH A KLUTZ YOU ARE! LUCKILY YOU WON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT SUCH A THING WHEN YOU'RE MADE INTO A WORK OF ART!" Phantom Boarova sent out an orb of magic to seal the lupine hero's fate when it was knocked off course by one of Athena's arrows. The Gufuu growled and now put his focus on her.
Athena summoned her wings once more and flew out of harm's way thanks to many air acrobatics.
"STAY STILL, YOU BEASTLY BLUE JAY!"
"I think myself more of a hummingbird!" Athena retorted as she found some large, circular gears being displayed and, with a bit of quick thinking and some winding up with a corkscrew spin, tossed it at him like a discus. She managed to land her target and Phantom Boarova was seeing stars. The holder of Wisdom was quick to land and untangle her partner from his impromptu prison and spotted a doorway she's very sure wasn't there before. "Hurry, this way!" She whispered in haste as she ran to and through it with him.
They both slowly slid to the ground panting while looking at each other.
"We're screwed." Sheikhan stated bluntly.
"We just...we just need to think." Athena assured. "Oh! Your Item Charge, have you used it yet?"
"N- ooh!" Sheikhan straightened himself up a bit and then reached into his pouch. "Item Charge!" He waited until he felt something in his hand and pulled out a bracer with an identical build to his Miraculous but instead housed one fuchsia colored gem instead of a green paw print. "What."
"...You really need to talk to your Kwami about these."
"I know I do!"
"Now to figure out what it does." Athena took it from him and gave it a look over.
"Any ideas, my goddess? Other than having to wear it."
Athena bit her lower lip a little. "Ahh…"
He sighed and gently took it back from her. "We'll find out then." Then he slipped it on his free wrist. The gem glowed a bit once it settled, but otherwise didn't do much. "Ready to go back?"
"I've gotten my second wind, so yes." Athena nodded, got to her feet and then helped her partner up. They both snapped to attention when they heard a clatter and a strangled yelp. "Who's there!?"
"Athena? Sheikhan Wolf?" Ravio sounded both sad and hopeful. He came into their view with Hilda's portrait in his hands.
Athena felt her heart sink on seeing what fate had befallen Hilda while Sheikhan just had a look of disbelief.
"I, uh! It's not from here, promise!" Ravio clarified in thinking that they reacted in such a manner because they thought he was stealing from the museum. "It's my girlfriend, she…" He choked up a bit on recalling the recent memory.
"We'll save her." Athena stated in a firm, serious and almost cold manner. "I promise."
Sheikhan was a bit surprised at how she sounded but shared the sentiment nonetheless. "As do I."
"Thank you." Ravio's voice cracked a bit before he sniffled a little while wiping his face and nose with his sleeve. Due to that he lost a bit of his grip on his girlfriend-turned-portrait and scrambled to try and catch the frame. Sheikhan had beat him to the punch and used his fast reflexes and Pegasus Boots to do such.
The gemstone on the mystery bracelet started to glow! Hilda's still life form was bathed in a blinding light, which soon dimmed to reveal that the Driscoll Heiress had been restored to normal, albeit unconscious for the time being.
"HILDAAA!" Ravio cried with glee as he fell to his knees and held her close. He then thanked the heroes through his ugly crying while he rocked her a little.
"...That's what it does!" Athena exclaimed as she hugged Sheikhan from behind. "It absorbs his magic! Sheik, your Kwami's a genius!"
Sheikhan choked a bit since the sudden hug knocked the wind out of him. "All in a day's work! Athy, we need to save the day before I lose consciousness from your bear hug."
"Apologizes." Athena released him and then headed to the painted door. "Now let's go!" Her wolfish partner was quick to follow.
"Good luck you two!" Ravio called out. "Hilda would say the same if she was awake!"
The heroes gave him a glance back with a smile on each of their faces before going through the door and psyching themselves up for round two.
"YOU GOT IN A LUCKY SHOT LAST TIME, YOU WON'T THIS TIME!" Phantom Boarova announced as he began to furiously swipe at the duo while they were still within a close proximity of each other.
Sheikhan slipped his shield onto the side with the Item Charge and absorbed the blasts while Athena hid behind him. "Hopefully this doesn't have a limit." He muttered.
"Or if it does, you figure out how to release the built up energy in time." Athena said with a bit of a flinch due to a particularly hard blow to the shield.
"WHY! WON'T! YOU! TWO! TURN! INTO! PAINTINGS!?" Phantom Boarova was getting tired of all this swinging with no results.
"Need I remind you to GRAB THEIR MIRACULOUS before you make them into works of art?" Boarova stated bluntly in his mental link with his pawn.
"WORRY NOT, IT SHALL BE DONE!" Phantom Boarova declared with a fancy twirl of his weapon.
While he was distracted with the mental link, the duo separated and tried to attack. Athena rapidly shot out as many arrows as she could while Sheikhan used his wind power to knock Phantom Boarova off balance, and to give himself a bit of a boot to attack with his sword. This Gufuu was getting fed up with their attack and, on some advice from his boss, merged with a nearby wall! Their attacks couldn't hit him now and they had no means to follow him.
Sheikhan let out a curse in Japanese as he sheathed his sword and stared at the moving art that Phantom Boarova turned himself into. "He's taunting us."
"I'm aware." Athena sighed and wondered if she could stop him from moving further if she had an arrow embedded into the wall before the now 2D Gufuu could cross it. Instead of shooting it, she instead waited for it to appear and drove it into the wall. Sadly, she had no luck as he just walked through it with no damage. "Curses!"
Sheikhan sighed and gave a light punch against the wall after witnessing that. As luck would have it, he ended up hitting it with the hand that bore the Item Charge and found himself being absorbed into it with a surprised yelp. "ATHY!?" And soon found himself 2D and screaming.
"SHEIK?" Athena cried out as she witnessed Sheikhan's odd transformation.
"BE QUIET YOU WELP." Phantom Boarova exclaimed, his ears beginning to ring from the 2D wolf hero's screams. It was then that he realized that said hero also became a part of the wall and began to move as quickly as his flat form could take him.
"...Sheik! You can get him now!" Athena pointed to where she saw the Gufuu fleeing.
"Oh right!" And he was off to chase after Phantom Boarova.
The chase was...much less exciting if you were just watching since it was just 2 paintings moving around in a straight line. Inside the wall, it was much more intense as Phantom Boarova worked on avoiding capture by doing whatever he could to slow the other down. He tried hiding behind displays, going over glass, trying to blend into other pieces and all that good stuff. Sheikhan was not fooled by any of this and continued his pursuit!
Poor Athena was just left to sit and wait until her wolf could capture the Gufuu. "This looked more fun in cartoons…" She sighed and hoped Wolfie would find a way to get both him and the Gufuu out of the wall soon.
Meanwhile, with Sheikhan Wolf and Phantom Boarova, they continued their cartoonish run around the room despite neither making any sort of real progress in catching or escaping from the other. At some point, they both agreed to a truce that would last long enough for them both to catch their breath. Sheikhan flinched a bit on hearing the beep of his Miraculous. 'Even when I'm like this? Aw c'mon!' He took a moment to think about how to do this. Could he bring in Athena? Probably not, splitting one artifact between 2 people for travel typically didn't end well. 'How many times did I run around?' He tried to recall and slowly began to realize that he had ran around the room. "That's it!" He whispered to himself as he found his second wind and ran in the opposite direction he had been going in before.
"WAIT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Phantom Boarova watched the hero move while trying to figure out the thought process behind this. He only started to understand the plan when he finally saw Sheikhan trying to come at him at a full sprint while his back was turned. "YOU CHEAT!" Pride overcoming fear (and intelligence), he charged right back at him in hopes to ram his weapon through the green-clad hero in the process. He had forgotten that Sheikhan had a sword and remembered such the hard way when his paintbrush-trident was knocked from his grip with a hard thwack. Phantom Boarova's face was then promptly punched while he was momentarily stunned from the previous attack.
"Go Wolfie!" Athena cheered as she watched the spectacle. She then proceeded to freak out a bit as the two of them were pulled out from the wall and returned to their usual, three-dimensional selves once more. The both of them groaned due to suddenly being on the ground, but Athena only helped up her partner. They both then had to hold back a dry heave as Phantom Boarvoa's Gufuu showed itself where his nose used to be.
"YOU LITTLE WRETCHES, PREPARE TO PAY FOR THAT!" Phantom Boarova started to charge up for a super attack...only to be hit in the proverbial bull's eye by Athena.
"I absolve the darkness in your heart!"
"A wonderful shot, my goddess."
"It helps that he decided to leave himself vulnerable to power himself up." Athena did a little bow to Sheikhan.
The Gufuu departed from Yuga and worked on trying to fly away before it was caught. The attempt was unsuccessful and was soon shoved into Sheikhan's magic bracer to prevent any further damage. One toss into the air and one "Miraculous Restoration!" later, the Navii came into being and the heroes sent it off to repair the damage of the day. Even Ezlo was turned back to normal thanks to the healing fairy dust left behind.
"Urgh...what happened?" Yuga questioned as he rubbed his nose.
"You tell us?" Sheikhan responded as he helped Yuga up while Athena helped Ezlo.
"I was…" Yuga sighed as a forlorn expression developed on his features, "I was trying to convince my boss to let something I made be displayed in the museum. He said it didn't fully envelope the styles I combined, so he rejected it."
"I'm not an art critic, but was he really as harsh as your wording implies?" Athena asked with a gentle tone.
Yuga looked at her with a guilty expression for a moment before answering. "W-Well...no. He said it was still lovely despite it looking more vibrant than intended. I was the one who trashed it afterwards, not him." He then had a severe look of horror on his face. "I SMASHED MY PAINTING ONTO THE GROUND!"
"Easy, easy!" Sheikhan patted his shoulder. "Our little Navii friend will have fixed it by now."
"Oh thank goodness." Yuga instantly calmed down at this bit of good news. He would have said more when he heard this odd beeping noise. "What was that? It wasn't a phone?"
"That would be us." Athena gave an awkward smile as she started to walk out and wave to the curators. "Keep in mind what you've learned this day, farewell!" And, once she had a bit more space, flew off.
"Don't let the critics eat ya, basically." Sheikhan summarized as he gave him both a salute and then ran off.
"I...suppose that's...true." Yuga muttered to himself as he looked to Ezlo. "Mr. Vaughan, I…"
Ezlo walked over and gave him a pat on the shoulder. "It really is a beautiful piece, Yuga. Perhaps if we get a bit more space for the modern art section, we could hang it there?"
"In due time!" Yuga beamed. "Until then, I'll be sure to create more beautiful works for the world!"
"Same old, same old." Ezlo shook his head with a small, amused grin on his face.
Boarova growled and punched where the cave drawing of his latest failure had been. "Curse that cur! Curse that bird! They may have made a mockery of me today...but their luck will run out as the sands of an hourglass do!" He drew his hand back from the indent that was now there and solemnly exited the cave. "And when it does, I shall capture the moment in all its glory!"
Sheikhan Wolf had a stroke of luck on finding an empty hallway to detransform. He let out a large sigh of relief, leaned against the nearest wall and slowly slid down it. "Man that was kinda scary." His vision was invaded by his Kwami. "...I have food in my backpack, we'll get to it when we leave."
In response to this, Bleddyn just patted his nose. "Good boy."
"Thanks…?" Link wasn't sure if he was being condescending or not.
"Now, go save your princess." Bleddyn reminded as he zipped into Link's hoodie.
"AHH!" Link jumped to his feet and ran like he was fleeing from monsters on horseback. He eventually came across Ravio and Hilda, both of whom were glad to have found him in one piece and were more than glad to help with the search for Zelda. Hilda was a bit more tactful in how to do so by calling her fellow heiress up, only to end up in a bit of a giggle fit as she heard a ringtone a hallway over.
"Guys!" Zelda ran over and got them all in a hug. "You're okay!"
"How'd you avoid that art nut?" Ravio questioned as he adjusted himself so that Link could get a little closer in the group hug.
"I managed to find a decent hiding place." Zelda wasn't lying about that fact, so it didn't give her guilt about explaining such.
They were then interrupted a few moments later by a certain green-haired classmate running towards them. "You guys had me worried sick!" Saria exclaimed, her lips forming a deep frown as she placed her hands on her hips in a very unamused fashion like a parent would when speaking to their child.
"Sorry, Saria!" Ravio straightened himself out as Zelda finally ended the group hug. "We all got...caught up in...things."
"I was a painting." Hilda stated bluntly. "I couldn't go anywhere without Ravio."
"And I cried!" Ravio admitted with an odd amount of cheer.
"You dorks…" Saria shook her head. "So how're the blondies holding up? Neither of you got turned into a painting...right?"
Link shook his head. ["I just hid for a while."] He signed.
"...Zel?"
"He just hid for a while." Zelda translated. "As did I."
"Together?" Saria had a little smirk on her face.
"No." Zelda shook her head.
Saira only deflated a bit at her friend's answer. "Fiiiiiiine...so let's get going! We're all probably in trouble with the school for being gone for so long thanks to that Gufuu!" She ran ahead of them. "Last one there's a rotten cucco egg!"
"Wait up!" Ravio went after her, Link on his heels. The heiresses just sighed and shook their heads in amusement as they followed after them at their own pace.