Town, Swamp, Ocean, Mountain...we are now here...What will Team Link encounter in Snowhead? I still own nothing! Level 6
"Uh, Lucius, didn't this area have more snow last time it was cursed?" Link commented as they came to a halt at the top of the, apparently, snow-less ramp that led down.
"Yes," Lucius replied. "But there's none this time…how shall we answer this riddle?"
"We don't," Kafei interjected, coming up to them. "We just head into Snowhead and find the jewel before Team Shadows,"
"Okay, if you insist, O omniscient son of the Mayor!" Link gave a corny and purposely incorrect bow. Kafei casually smacked him upside the head as he headed down the ramp.
"Be careful, Dodongos lurk around here," Lucius cautioned.
"You mean like that?" Link pointed at the Black Dodongo below.
"Yes," Lucius agreed as they all halted and crouched to look at it.
"I think we should sneak around, give Team Shadows an obstacle to deal with," Kafei suggested quietly.
"I like how deviously your mind works, Kafei," Link said with a mischievous smile. "I can just see Ganondorf's face now…" Kafei ignored him with a good-natured roll of the eyes (or as good-natured as you'd get from Kafei, anyway), and pulled out a small, black sphere.
"You guys start heading for the foothills, I'll blind it," the thief slunk off towards the Dodongo. Link looked at Lucius and shrugged before the two quietly got up and headed over as undetectably as they could. Kafei crept close to the Black Dodongo, managing to avoid being heard, and, when he saw the moment, he threw the smoke bomb into it face with an arcing throw. The Black Dodongo began to thrash and roar, spouting flame as it did so. Kafei sprang away, joining his running companions.
"On second thought, this plan is scary!" Link yelled as they hurried.
"You call yourself a hero?" Kafei challenged flatly. "Just keep going!" Lucius slapped his forehead with a groan.
Da-Dong! 07:30 met them in the foothills.
"You know," Link mentioned as they slowed to a walk and began the climb. "That Dodongo looked different, like it was empowered by some dark will,"
"Hmm, yes we have seen it before with the minions of Vaati and Ganondorf…" Lucius agreed. "Do you suppose that they are behind this?"
"I suppose we'll find out soon enough," Link shrugged. "Ganondorf always likes to announce his 'latest and greatest plan' to destroy me," He rubbed a finger under his nose in a self-important fashion. He was cut off as several Black Wolfos jumped out of seemingly nowhere and attacked. Link blocked one with his shield as it came for his head and spun, giving it a fatal slice. Kafei flipped out of the way as two darted for him, causing them to collide, before springing forward and slitting both their throats in a flash. Three more dashed at Lucius.
"Gale of courage! Farore's Gale!" he swept his staff in an arc and blew the foes away, slicing them up and slamming them into the cliff walls.
"This place is even more friendly than before," Kafei commented with sarcasm in his flat voice.
"Indeed," Lucius concurred, pulling out the jewel compass. "Let's see…if I'm correct in assuming, the jewel should be over in the Goron Village," He put it away.
"Well, we should be fine as long as there aren't too many more monsters around," Link said nonchalantly with a smile. They continued on a little ways to find that the grassy clearing was now full of Black Wolfos and the Smithy was surrounded.
"I think that counts as too many," Kafei said pointedly.
"Okay, I'm sorry for jinxing us," Link replied melodramatically.
"Fight later!" Lucius reprimanded as several foes noticed them and started closing on their position. "Here they come!" They countered the first assault rather well, but more came almost immediately.
"We can't fight them all, best we run!" Kafei commented in the midst of his mid-air acrobatics and smoke bomb raids.
"I agree!" Lucius raised his staff. "O sacred flames that crafted the red earth, fall from the sky and set upon these un-pious fools who dare oppose you! Din's Flare!" A single stream of fire fell from the sky, but, upon striking the ground, it produced a fiery explosion that engulfed around 50 of the Black Wolfos. The others howled in fear and confusion as the mighty conflagration continued to rage. "Move!" Lucius barked, prompting Link to bash the nearest still-fighting Black Wolfos in the face with his shield and hightail it. Kafei flipped and jumped around the enemies as he emulated the hero. Lucius raced past as well, blasting any stragglers out of the way with Farore's Wind.
Da-Dong! The clock tolled 08:00 as they reached the lake with the bridges.
"Didn't these used to be suspension bridges?" Link inquired of no one in particular as Lucius checked the jewel compass.
"Planks, bridges, same difference, why bring it up?" Kafei raised an eyebrow indifferently. Link shrugged.
"Just pointing out changes in case they matter," he said, turning away to look in the direction of the Goron Village.
"It's definitely over there, come," Lucius set out in front of them. A Black Wolfos attacked on the first island, but Lucius blew it back with Ruby Flame, effectively torching it and sending to tumbling into the water below.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you're awesome, Lucius!" Link exclaimed, holding up his hand in a cheering fashion. The mage gave a small smile inwardly.
"Would you act your age?" Kafei grumbled as a Black Wolfos attacked on the second island. The thief dodged nimbly around it and killed it with two deft cuts of his knives.
"And you're cool too!" Link added. Kafei, as usual, hid whatever his reaction was to the complement.
"Don't say stupid stuff…" he muttered. "Come on, we've got a schedule,"
"Aww, Kafei's embarrassed," Link said in a sing-song voice. Lucius sighed as the hero suddenly found his face smashed into the ground. After prying him up, they continued to the Goron Village. Apparently, by the third island, the enemies had either run out or wised up, because they were unimpeded.
"Ho! Humans!" one of the Goron guards greeted them. "We see lots of humans lately. Just the three days ago, during blizzard, red-haired female human and two male humans come here,"
"Must be Team Eye," Link deduced to his allies.
"Hold it, there was a blizzard here?" Lucius inquired of the Goron.
"Yes, it was terrible, even worse than the one all those years ago, but it just went away, two days ago," the Goron replied.
"Hmm…" the party proceeded on a bit. "So this place was cursed, after all," Lucius presumed.
"What broke the curse, I wonder?" Kafei wondered. "Oh, well, we can figure that part out later. Which way to the jewel?" Lucius pulled out the compass and saw. He double-checked and then triple-checked.
"Could this be correct?" he looked out to the abyss next to the village. "The compass says that it's out there, somewhere,"
"You're kidding, right?" Link was not happy.
"No, I'm afraid not," Lucius shook his head. "It's likely in one of those rounded stalagmites out there," The clock tolled 08:30.
"Blast…" Kafei grumbled to the ground. "Well," he looked at Lucius. "How do you propose we get across?"
"We could warp again," Lucius suggested.
"No!" the other two said immediately.
"Very well…" Lucius frowned. "Then I'll have to improvise," He held his staff aloft, but put it back down. "First, I'll need a green potion," Link quickly handed a vial of it over, hoping that another discussion about his packing skills wouldn't come up. Lucius downed the potion and then raised his staff again. He chanted some arcane words and a flat polygon of light appeared in front of them, floating in midair, just off the side of the cliff. It was just big enough for the three of them. "All aboard," Lucius stepped on, keeping his staff aloft. Kafei stepped on without too much hesitation. Link looked a bit nervous.
"Hurry up!" Kafei said, annoyed. The hero finally relented and boarded as well. The platform then moved away from the clifftop.
"You sure this thing is safe?" Link asked nervously. It was a long way to the bottom.
"Since when are his spells unsafe?" Kafei replied. They both remembered the warp fiasco that had temporarily cost them their arms and/or legs and put them in the middle of the desert for a good hour before it could be rectified. "On second thought, don't answer that,"
"Over there," Kafei pointed to the stalagmite in question as he referenced to the compass. Their platform finally stopped next to the entrance of a hidden cave. They all stepped off and the platform vanished. The cave was filled with a red glow and the red jewel was sitting lodged between a couple of small stalagmites. Link reached down and pried it free.
"Chalk one up for the good guys!" Link shouted, holding it up triumphantly. His voice echoed all over the abyss and the village. Kafei slowly uncovered his ears.
"Well, if Team Shadows is here, you just alerted them, noisy dolt!" he said waspishly.
"They'd likely spot us coming back, anyway, if they're in the village right now," Lucius interjected soothingly. "Come on," He reformed the platform and the embarked again on the trip.
Da-Dong! The bell tolled 09:00 as they were almost back.
"Well, this is dull…" Link yawned. Suddenly, they heard someone yelling in the distance.
"I'll teach that kid to usurp the King of the Gerudos!" it said.
"Link!" Kafei pointed forward, his sharp eyes having detected the source of the shout. A ball of energy was hurtling their way from the cliff top. Link gave a cry of surprise and pulled his Mirror Shield in front of him in time to rebound the attack.
"Lucius! Hurry this platform along!" Kafei ordered. It seemed that he heard, because the speed almost doubled. The ball was coming back again, but Link bounced it with a swing of his sword. It returned again, and Link deflected it again. They were now close enough to see as the ball hit its originator, Ganondorf, and knocked him back several paces as it exploded, energy jumping over his body as he gave a cry of pain and anger.
"ARGH! That little…" he grumbled. The platform was close now. Link, tired of being a sitting duck, donned the Bunny Hood and leapt at them. They all dodged, but he performed a double-speed Hurricane spin after them as the others arrived and disembarked. Vaati held an air shield against the attack, but was still being pushed back. Knil and Ganondorf left him to it as they rushed Lucius and Kafei. Kafei flipped out of the way as Knil took a swing but quickly had to block a flurry of blows as the alter ego recovered, almost instantly. Ganondorf fired powerful waves of darkness at Lucius, who barely blocked it and sent it flying in random directions with a cry.
Link's attack was ended and now he was blocking wind spells and dodging flying objects. He glanced over as Lucius dived out of the way of a Warlock Punch and blocked another with a magic barrier.
"Lucius!" he dashed over and gave Ganondorf a shield attack to the face, catching him partially off-guard and sending him hurtling into the abyss. He barely recovered in time to avoid hitting the bottom. "Here," the hero handed the mage a vial of green potion. "You can't fight with depleted magic," A salvo of magic suddenly smashed into them as Lucius chugged the potion and Link was send smashing into a wall.
"Don't let your guard down, idiot!" Knil reprimanded. Vaati swooped over to engage Kafei and immediately sent a whirlwind after him. Lucius jumped back as Knil fired another salvo at them and sent a beam of blue light out of his hand. The beam flew to Link and he glowed briefly before getting back up, wounds gone.
"Thanks!" Link said gratefully.
"YOU!" Ganondorf raged, having flown out of the pit. Lucius ran over to engage him.
"That ridiculous mask won't save you," Knil threatened, looking at the twitching bunny ears in an annoyed fashion.
"Wanna bet?" Link replied with an annoying grin.
"Your light can't save you forever, Lucius!" Ganondorf shouted as the mage dodged another Warlock punch. Lucius countered by firing a bolt of light into his face and sending him flipping back through the air. He quickly righted himself and fired a salvo of dark energy blasts.
"Divine Lightning!" the mage cried, casting the lightning of judgment against the dark attack. Ganondorf summoned a Black Hole and fired the mass of energy at the bolt. The two clashed with loud noises of electrical interference and the entire area shook. The nearby rock cracked a little and static electricity jumped through the air at random intervals from the clashing point of the spells.
Vaati continued making his whirlwind chase Kafei, but the thief suddenly ran up the side of a rock outcropping and launched himself at the wind mage.
"Blast!" he released his whirlwind and brought up a shield but Kafei threw a smoke bomb at him. "Ah!" he was blinded by the stinging dust. Suddenly, he felt several slices all over his body and then a blow to the head that smashed him into a wall, taking him out of the fight for the moment as he flopped limply to the ground.
"Humph, I must admit that you're faster with that mask," Knil sneered as he and Link fought through the village, he pushing the hero back with each flurry of blows. "But I'm still the better fighter," He locked swords with Link and then glowed silver again. The detonation destroyed the bridge they were on and they fell to the lower level, picking up the fight immediately as they landed. Knil jumped over Link's swing and slashed downward, but the blow bounced off of the mirror shield. Link took advantage of this by performing a leaping spin attack, injuring Knil several times before he went sprawling away. Rolling backwards once and quickly leaping up, he dodged a smoke bomb that suddenly came out of nowhere by leaping back onto the upper paths. Kafei cursed and dashed along a rock face before doing and flip and landing behind Knil. Unfortunately, the alter ego had already spun and now the thief was deflecting blows like the wind. Link suddenly jumped up from below and slashed downward. Knil did a pivoting flip over Kafei, but still suffered a cut across his lower back. Such an injury was a trifle, however, and he kicked Kafei into Link, knocking them both off of the bridge.
A few drops of sweat dripped from Lucius's face as he forced his spell at Ganondorf. The Divine Lightning was his ultimate spell, but that didn't mean that it couldn't be overpowered. His opponent wasn't doing much better. In fact, he finally gave out around this point and was pierced with light.
"AGGGH!" he roared as he was fried by the light, jolts of energy shot all over his body as beams of light shone out of his joints, and fell into the abyss, crashing into the ground below. Lucius sighed and ran over to where Knil had jumped down to engage Link and Kafei again. They were both trying valiantly to strike him but, aside from a cut on his back, there was no damage, and he kept dodging and blocking them.
"Is this really all there is to Team Link?" Knil smirked, flipping backwards as Lucius fired a salvo of fire blasts at him. They barely missed his allies as they too jumped away.
"Watch where you're aiming!" Kafei reprimanded. Knil fired a dark blast at him in his moment of distraction and he was forced to dodge it, but a second caught him in the face and he flew off to land somewhere in the scenery. Link's strike was blocked a second after the spell hit and the hero looked a bit annoyed at this opponent that just had no weak spots. He continued swinging at him as Lucius cast another restoring spell on him and then proceeded to fire bolts of light at Knil, forcing him to mix up his strategy a little. He rolled out of the way of one of Link's swings and behind him, performing a spinning strike. Link, however, seeing and knowing what move he was using, countered with a backwards Helm Splitter and severely injured Knil's shoulder. He jumped away and faced the heroes, holding his blade with his good arm and grimacing in anger and pain.
Blast it. he growled in his head. I can't move my left arm. Lucius took advantage of this diversion and fired a salvo of light bolts at Knil. Though right-handed (the opposite of Link), Knil was at a sore disadvantage without his left arm, not that that stopped him from deflecting the spells away with a swing of his blade and attacking Link viciously. He jumped at the hero, smashing his blade into the mirror shield and then springing off of it, flying at Lucius. The mage jumped back but the alter ego was on him in an instant, slashing at him. His staff deflected a few blows before Link caught up and kicked Knil in the back, sending him sprawling towards the abyss as Lucius dodged away from the trajectory. He rolled back to his feet, inches from the fall, and deflected several more bolts of light before the foothold gave way, having been weakened by the two mighty spells clashing earlier.
"LINK!" he roared in outrage, falling into the pit and being swallowed by the deep fog that hovered there. Link sighed in relief.
"Glad that's over," he commented. He turned back to the village, which was a bit damaged, to say the least. "Let's go find Kafei,"
"Right, and make sure you apologize to any Gorons you see," Lucius added.
They set off across the village, finally finding Kafei next to the Elder's House, in a rather uncomfortable position.
"Here he is," Link picked the thief up and set him down on more even ground. The bell tolled 09:30.
"And there's Vaati," Lucius pointed to the KO'd wind mage, who was slumped by the wall nearby.
"Ahh, just leave him," Link waved his hand. "Anyway, shouldn't you heal Kafei?"
"Let's take him up the slope so that I don't heal Vaati by mistake," the mage explained.
"Okay, you're the boss, I guess…" Link picked up the thief again. He was surprisingly light, but, then again, it made sense. How else could he be so nimble and light-footed?
"Is the battle over?" one of the Goron guards asked as he and his partner came back through the entrance to the village. "That was one of the biggest battles in this village's history,"
"Yeah, it's done," Link gave a cocky thumbs-up. "We thrashed 'em!"
"That is good, a battle well fought is a battle that earns respect of Gorons," the Goron nodded. "But we respect the losers too. They are still strong," Link decided not to mention the whole 'bad guy-good guy' thing, as Gorons are just too nice for their own good and wouldn't get it, anyway, probably.
"All right, now I can heal…" Lucius held aloft his staff, yet again. "O precipitation of wisdom, pour down and wash away the wounds and woe of your servants! Soothing Rain!" A rain cloud formed over the party and poured a relaxing shower on them that smelled of spring and relaxation. Soon, their vigor was restored, and the cloud vanished again.
"Ahh! The smell of fresh rain!" the Goron commented happily. Kafei stirred and sat up.
"What happened?" he asked flatly. "I'm wet, did Link screw up again?"
"Hey!" Link objected.
"My healing spell is responsible," Lucius replied, gesturing with his staff and causing a ring of fire to form briefly and dry them off. "There, now we should head back before those three wake up,"
"Shouldn't we kill them while we can?" Kafei suggested darkly. Link shook his head.
"No, it wouldn't be right. Besides, have you tried killing Ganondorf? He's worse than a Kokiri-Roach!" he laughed at his own joke and led the way out of the village. Kafei wasn't impressed, but walked with Lucius after him.
Not much left now. The story is nearing the climax. Just two or three more chapters before all the teams are done. Review, vote, etc.