Hi. Sorry the last chapter was so short. I guess I need to work on that.
Anyway, it's finally here! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own neither the Legend of Zelda nor Okami.
"HIYAH!"
Another imp went flying as Link slammed his sword into it's monkey-like body. Epona slid to a sudden stop and reared up to kick another imp, who barely had enough time to dodge out of the way.
The imp celebrated it's short lived victory long enough to be hit by an arrow and explode into a purple cloud of smoke.
Link put away his bow and pulled out his bombs. Lighting one, he threw it into another cluster of imps, sending them flying. Tossing several more, he pulled out his sword and spurred Epona on. Nearby, Oki was biting viciously at anything that got in his way as he charged forward. His sword hovered above his back, and he used it to slash any imps who came at him from the side.
Link drove Divine Retribution into another group of imps, who vaporized almost instantaneously, then slashed at an imp who had been trying to blindside him. Still, more kept coming.
Link brought Epona to a halt, letting her rest while he thought back at the events that had led up to this madness. They had made it to the sea, and Nuregami had kept her promise (thankfully), creating a literal bridge of water that they were able to cross over fairly easily. As soon as they set foot on the other shore, however, they had been ambushed by an enormous swarm of imps who looked like they had known that they were coming. There had been no sign of a leader, but the imps had moved as though someone were giving orders, so there must be a leader somewhere. But where?
Link didn't notice the imp sneaking up on him until it was in the air, club raised to bash his skull in. He readied his sword to defend himself, but the imp was suddenly slashed out of the air with a powerful brush stroke, courtesy of Proxi.
"No time to daydream," she said, remarkably calm, "Not until we give these filthy monkeys the beating they deserve."
Link nodded, and readied Epona for another charge against the enemy. A sudden arrow nearly took him by surprise, but he just managed to block it with Divine Retribution. It broke off his arm and reformed just to his left. Scoring a powerful hit with his sword, he managed to vaporize at least fifty imps.
Suddenly, he heard Oki howl in pain. Link turned to see Oki just absolutely swarmed with imps, fighting to shake off one that had dug its claws into his shoulder.
Link charged forward, jumping off Epona straight into the melee, using a spin attack to throw most of the imps off, giving Oki a chance to recover.
Oki turned, suddenly human, and screamed over the noise of battle: "LOOK! THAT ARCHER! ON THE DUNE!"
Link turned to look. Sure enough, there was a black imp, about fifty meters away, perched on top of a small sand dune, watching the battle. Currently, it was yelling at a group of retreating imps, who were running away in panic. Link drew his bow, knocked an ice arrow, and…
Suddenly an imp charged at him, seemingly out of nowhere, and raised its crude club to strike him. Reacting quickly, he shot the imp at point blank range, freezing it so brutally that it shattered into a million pieces.
But the damage had already been done. The black imp had spotted them and was now barking orders, and another horde of imps was on the way.
But Link wasn't having any of it.
Putting away his sword and shield, he started running to meet the imps. The imps couldn't believe their luck, and one raised its crudely made spear to meet him. Link saw the movement and just smiled.
As the imp thrust its spear forward, Link brought his hand down on the spearhead, forcing it down into the soft, sandy ground. Using the spear as leverage, he cartwheeled into the air, landing hard on the head of one imp. Flipping off, he continued to make his way through the horde of imps until his path became blocked by an imp as burly as a barrel and as tall as an apple tree.
Angrily, it launched a series of crushing blows, driving Link back several feet. Then it made its error: it tried to finish Link off with a thrust.
Jumping into the air as he twisted just so, Link was able to land and balance on the thin blade of the Imp's sword. He'd started practicing the move when his shadow had pulled it off in the water temple. He knew that it was possible for him to do it (because...he did it already… sort of), so he started practicing as often as he could.
There wasn't an opportunity to practice in combat until now, and Link made full use of it. Smiling, he drew his sword and aimed a vertical slash at the imp's enormous head. It cut deep into the imp's skull, causing the imp to vanish into a cloud of dust. Link dropped lightly to the ground, and continued to make his way up the hill top towards the black imp.
As he fought his way out of the horde of imps, the black imp started to panic. It pulled at its bow and started to take aim as Link sent the rest of the imps flying with one of his devastating spin attacks.
Link noticed the movement just as the black imp let the arrow fly, on a course towards Link's heart. But, moving with blinding speed, he jumped out of the way of the arrow's path and charged straight up the hill. The imp didn't even have time to scream as Link took it out with one jump attack.
It took the imp's a little while to realize their commander was gone, but once they did, all it took was a coordinated attack by Proxi and Oki to send them into retreat. They all watched as the imps scattered, running back to who-knows-where.
As soon as they were gone, Link ran to Epona. After making sure she wasn't hurt, he laughed and threw his arms around her neck. She nuzzled him back in reply.
After a few moments, he released her and turned to see Oki walking towards him, covered in cuts and bruises, his clothing ripped, mask askew, and breathing heavily. Other than that, he was perfectly fine. Proxi, riding on Oki's shoulder, didn't have a scratch, and was as energetic as ever.
"That was...some excellent...fighting, hero." Oki said, gasping for air.
Link smiled, nodding in thanks and turned to look at Proxi, still perched on Oki's shoulder.
"Meh," she said, hopping onto Link's shoulder, "I bet I could have done better, but I kinda like your style, kid."
Link's grin grew bigger, and even bigger still as Epona snorted in indignation.
Oki looked a little sheepish. "Oh, your horse...too. She's quite...the battle horse?...isn't she?"
Epona seemed to accept this, and Oki suddenly straightened as he was reminded of something.
"Those imps," he began, breathing finally returning to normal, "I don't like it. They knew exactly where we were going to be, and were able to ambush us in one of the best places possible. They knew that the soft sand would interfere with our fighting; I was doing fine until I twisted my paw."
Just as he said it, Link noticed Oki was favoring one foot over the other.
"That's not normal imp behavior," he continued. "Usually they just wander the roads, picking on travellers and stealing their goods. And maybe, if they have enough numbers, they'll attack a small village once in awhile.
He paused for a moment, looking like he was pondering what to say next. "I don't like it… it makes it seem that someone sent these imps after us, that someone doesn't like what we're doing, and wants to stop it."
Oki stared directly at Link "I think we should camp here. Shinsu Field is already a hazardous place to be, and we've already had a long day. So after we set up, I think we should each tell our stories. I don't want any secrets between us, if we're going to be fighting evil and saving villages and all that stuff."
Oki stare started to become more of a glare, "I don't even know what your name is. Come to think of it, I haven't even heard you speak."
Link met his gaze unflinching. He didn't know what exactly Oki was implying, but he knew it wasn't very nice. And Link saw that as a challenge. So they just stood there, staring eachother down, until Proxi cleared her throat.
"Well, I hate to break up...whatever this is, but we'll need to get a fire going, food cooking, and a comfortable spot to sleep, because I'm not gonna just stand around while who-knows-what is out there looking for us.
Oki turned to face her, a little confused. "Wait...won't a fire just attract unwanted attention?"
Proxi just stared at Oki, and asked incredulously: "How have you survived this long? Why do you think the sun's gone out?"
Oki just looked even more confused. "Huh?"
Proxi rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "This kid, doesn't even know pro-tip number one for staying alive out here. Monsters
"Yes...well...I'll, uh, get started on the fire and...see what you can salvage on the beach."
As Oki walked away, Proxi and Link let out a sigh of relief.
"Whew, you coulda cut the tension in the air with a knife!" Proxi exclaimed as she started her normal bouncing.
"Those were some nasty things that he said to you, kid. Are ya alright?" Proxi's voice was laced with concern, and he felt a surge of gratitude for the tiny little poncle.
Tucking all of his negative emotions into a tiny little corner of his brain, Link smiled and nodded, showing his appreciation with a brief nod in thank you.
Then they started the mind-numbing challenge of combing through the scattered debris and spoils left behind by the war party of imps.
As most monsters vanished into dust when you cut through them, they didn't leave a lot of stuff behind. Mostly it was just a bunch of splintered clubs, or shattered swords, but occasionally they would find a piece of shredded cloth, or monster teeth, or a small dagger. Link even found a couple of metal disks with holes in the middle. He showed them to Proxi, who called them "yen", and said that you could buy things with them.
So it seemed that this "yen" was Nippon's version of a rupee. When he pulled one out to show Proxi, she started sputtering, and talking nonsense about gemstones and other stuff. So his rupees weren't so useless after all…
After that little scene, they made their way back to Oki, who had managed to get a fire going, and was squatting beside it, staring aimlessly at the flames as they flickered to and fro.
"Hey, you're back," he said, voice devoid of feeling. "I don't suppose you found any food, did you?"
Puzzled by this sudden changed, Link just shook his head, a little dumbstruck.
Oki sighed, "Well, I suppose it was too much to hope for, guess we're going to bed hungry tonight."
Link glanced at Proxi, who wore the same stupefied expression. One minute Oki was angry enough to charge straight into a fortress of monsters. The next, he looked as sad and hurt as an abused puppy.
Link sat down next to Oki and started to rummage through his bag. Link didn't carry food very often, but he remembered that sometimes he'd carry around his favorite soup that his grandmother made. It was enough to serve two people, but Proxi-
Wait, he didn't have a grandmother.
*Sigh*, this memory thing was so confusing.
Searching the deep confines of his magic bag, he did manage to find a bottle of Lon Lon milk and a few mushrooms that looked like they'd been in there for quite a while.
Tossing the mushrooms aside, Link decided that he'd better hunt; Oki looked like he could barely move, and Proxi wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to long distance travel.
So, brushing off a slightly annoyed Proxi, Link walked away from the campfire, digging out his Ocarina to call Epona, when he suddenly stopped.
He remembered to golden wolf mask, which had supposedly been a past life of his. While he wasn't all that excited to experience another identity crisis, the mask wasn't going to do him much good sitting at the bottom of his bag.
He walked a distance away from the fire, made sure no one was looking, and slipped the mask out of his bag, studying it.
It was unlike his other masks, that was for sure. It was one that would only cover the top half of his face, with a nose that stuck out about an inch, made of the same material as his other masks. It looked to be just like a normal wolf (or Wolfros), and was painted a gold that sparkled even under the faint light of the moon.
He hesitated for only a second, slowly reaching up to put the mask on his face.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then, the transformation began. It started with no warning whatsoever, and caused him to drop to all fours. Memories came flooding back as thousands of needles forced their way through his skin. Teeth lengthened, bones grinded, and then it was all over, in just a few seconds.
And just like that, the Hero of the Night was reborn.
Author's note: I can't believe it took this long to write this chapter, and I didn't even get to the part I wanted to! I apologize with the long wait, I've just been a little busy lately. I don't want to jinx myself, so I'll just leave here with the reminder to review, and I'll get started right away!
P. S: I know Wind Waker takes place on a separate timeline, but the official timeline also doesn't specify when each game timeline happened relative to one another, so I took a few creative liberties.