===== December 4, 2022 - Floor 1, Eastern Forest =====
Link, Kirito, Zelda and Asuna trekked through the forest toward the tower dungeon, along with the rest of the raid group. Their squad had been assigned as 'backup,' charged with the task of defeating the boss' minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. They had agreed on a rotation of "boy-girl-boy-girl" for two reasons. One, it kept things simple; two, the most familiar pairing (Link/Zelda) started off every attack rotation, which was best for everybody. Until Asuna asked one question out of the blue:
"What's a switch?"
"Okay, level with me here," asked Kirito. "Is this your first time being in a party?"
Asuna said nothing, merely nodding her head in the affirmative before walking ahead of the group. Zelda grimaced in frustration; not only was she tasked with keeping two complete strangers safe and alive along with herself and Link, neither of them had any prior experience playing in a team dynamic (Kirito described himself as a solo player as well, but he was a beta tester so he was at least somewhat familiar with working as a party). She found herself strongly regretting her idea to team up with them, not to mention what Link must have been thinking. She decided not to ask, however.
The group quickly reached the boss room at the top of the tower (the scouting party had apparently cleared the majority of the dungeon in the days prior), and Diabel addressed the raiders one last time before entering the boss' lair.
"I've got just one thing to say to you: let's win!"
Link and Zelda shared one final kiss before entering the darkened chambers of the floor's final boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord. The door slammed shut behind them and the room lit up, revealing Illfang and his minions at the far end of the room. Link took a quick count of the minions; there were only three of them, so Link guessed that they would have pretty formidable strength, though nowhere near the level of the boss. He moved his squad to the far left flank of the battle group, where they awaited the next move.
Suddenly Illfang and his minions leapt to their feet and charged across the room. Diabel pointed his sword and shouted, "Commence attack!" At once, the entire raid group charged forward and engaged with their assignments. Link met the Sentinel with a Shield Charge, parrying its weapon out of the way for a follow-up combo. There was no need to call for a 'switch;' Zelda was behind him in the rotation and she knew exactly at what point in the specific combo he was using (strike 4 out of 6) she should prepare to jump in. Sure enough, he completed his combo, the enemy moved to counterattack, and Link rolled out of the way to the minion's weapon hand, leaving it swinging at nothing but air and wide open for Zelda's devastating follow-up. Her final strike was a stab to its center, which caused it to explode in a shower of blue shards. However, no sooner had it vanished than another Sentinel spawned to take its place. As it charged, Kirito rushed forward to engage it with a sword skill. He parried the minion's attack and called for a switch, and Asuna charged in. "I'm on it!" She then surprised both Link and Zelda by striking the enemy so fast that they could barely see the tip of her sword.
They kept this up until the minions stopped spawning and the boss let out a deafening roar. Zelda pointed out that its last health bar was in the red just as it tossed its weapons aside.
"Looks like the guidebook was right," Kibaou pointed out.
"Let's flank it!" Link called out to his squad. They moved to surround the boss, but then they heard Diabel yell for everyone to get clear. Link stopped in confusion, and happened to get a look at the weapon Illfang was preparing to draw: a long, two-handed sword he recognized as not a Talwar.
Shit, this isn't like the beta! "It's no good! Get out of there!"
But by then, it was too late.
Diabel was out in the middle of the room, completely isolated from the rest of the raid. The boss jumped from pillar to post, preparing to rain down what surely would have been a fatal strike. Link did the only thing he could do: grabbed the Sheikah Slate from his hip, activated Stasis, and managed to lock the boss in the air a split second before its blade cleaved Diabel in two. Fortunately, Diabel was smart enough to use the five seconds Stasis lasted to get clear and avoid certain disaster. Link, however, was not so lucky as the boss landed and sprinted straight for him. He rushed to get his shield up in time, but Illfang countered with an upward strike that launched him clear across the room, red 'data' streaking across his torso where the blow had landed.
Zelda sprinted to Link's side with a health potion, but he was too weak and addled to drink it. She watched helplessly as his HP drained.
"Link? Get up... don't you dare die on me!" She was starting to cry as his HP gauge dipped from green to yellow.
"You promised me you wouldn't die in here, now get up, dammit!"
The rest of the raid group was now screaming at Zelda, but she didn't hear a single thing; all she could focus on was Link, whose HP was now dangerously in the red.
"I can't... I can't go on without you," she whispered. "Please, get up... I'll do anything, just... please..." Her tears were now falling on his cheek.
"I have no life without you, Link... please..."
Finally, through all the pain and tears, she managed to scream out three simple words:
"I LOVE YOU!"
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a giant flame hurtling towards them.
No... it's too late...
She threw her body over his to shield him as best she could.
At least... we'll die together...
===== Adrenaline Rush! =====
Illfang's fire breath attack consumed both Link and Zelda, to the shock of the rest of the party... and then, a brilliant light came from where the two players had been...
Zelda blinked and looked up and saw Link standing over her, with the Mirror Shield on his arm and a fire in his eyes. The shield was burning with flames and pulsating rapidly. He pulled his shield arm back slightly, and a weapon skill charged.
"Shield... Slash!"
He flung his arm forward, and a massive fireball in the shape of a shield burst forth. The rest of the raid group looked on in amazement as it struck Illfang in the chest, reducing its health to a bare sliver. Link reached down to pull Zelda to her feet. "But... how-"
Whatever else she was going to say was silenced by Link's lips on top of hers.
She hungrily kissed him back... but wait, this was a new kiss, a new sensation... she felt her very body getting stronger and more powerful. They finally broke apart and looked each other in the eye, but only for a moment as they turned their eyes to the boss. Nothing else needed to be said, at least right now.
Zelda looped around towards Link's left and took up her Base Hold stance. Link placed his back to hers, sword and shield at the ready. They waited for the flames to clear and for Illfang to regain his feet. When he did, he let out another massive roar.
That was their cue.
Wordlessly they took off in a dead sprint, somehow in complete step with one another. Illfang recklessly swung his weapon and Link knocked the strike aside effortlessly, leaving him wide open for one of Zelda's combo attacks. Illfang prepared to swing again and Zelda dug in to deflect, only he changed his strike at the last second, eluding her defense and sending her flying. Link got his shield up over her to guard against the next blow, but as it came down a green flash appeared over his head. It was Agil, who had rallied the rest of the raid back to the fight.
"We can hold this bastard off until your health's back up!"
"Thanks," Zelda replied with a small smile.
That's two I owe him, Link thought to himself.
Zelda quickly drank the health potion Link offered her and got back to her feet. The boss had knocked most of the raid group to the ground and was flying around using the columns again. Link used his shield to launch Zelda through the air.
"You're going down!" she yelled, intercepting the boss in the air with another violent attack. Link joined her on the ground and they charged the boss once again.
"Help me take this sucker down! One last attack!"
"I got your back!"
Link charged in first as usual, waiting for the boss to strike. When it did, he dodged instead of parrying, unleashing a flurry of sword slashes and shield bashes while watching for a counterattack. When it came, Link parried and called for Zelda to switch in, which she did with a straight stab to the gut.
"Now we end this!" Link hopped on the flat of Zelda's blade while she used her Skull Cleaver skill, a mighty vertical slash which ripped a red data wound from stomach to throat in the boss and launched Link in the air. He came down like a missile, using his shield as cover while cocking his sword back.
Illfang looked up towards Link and let out one more earthshaking roar, which Link took as an opportunity to drive his blade straight down the monster's throat. The last of its HP finally drained, and Illfang the Kobold Lord exploded into a shower of polygonal shards. A few tense moments passed, then...
========== Congratulations! ==========
A giant banner appeared in the air, making official what the raid group already knew.
They had won.
Yells and screams of joy went up at once. Players got massive sums of loot, Col and XP. Link and Zelda hit Lv. 10 and got 2,500 Col apiece, and each got a second screen:
You got the last attack!
Link got a Champion's Tunic, and Zelda received a Royal Armor. Searching the spot where the boss died revealed another special item, Illfang's Orb. Link picked up the item, and a red orb appeared in his hands. It was red, about the size of a softball...
...and had a pair of crossed swords on it!
The words of the Maz Koshia Shrine rang in his head like a gong:
Return here once the way forward has been cleared.
Link stashed the orb and looked for Zelda, who was coming up along with Kirito, Asuna, Diabel and Agil. "That was some fine swordsmanship," Agil said. "Today's victory is all thanks to you."
The rest of the raid group began applauding and cheering, and Zelda threw her arms around him. "I thought I lost you there."
Link thought back to the fight: taking a near-fatal hit from Illfang, then throwing himself in from of Zelda to shield him from the boss' breath attack. He didn't remember much in between...
...except for three words, shouted in desparation almost as in prayer to the gods of this world...
Link dropped his arms for a moment before finally wrapping them around Zelda. "I love you," he whispered loud enough to be heard by her and no one else.
Zelda said nothing, merely drinking in his presence and the fact that he was indeed still alive. Another "New Skill Unlocked" notification hovered at the top of her HUD, but she didn't care right now.
Their embrace was interrupted by Kibaou - of course he would choose this moment to be a complete and total asshole - shoving the two apart. "How'd you do it?"
"Do what?"
"Freeze the boss mid-air like that! We all saw it!" Kibaou spotted the Sheikah Slate on Link's hip and grabbed for it. "It was that thing-"
*SLASH!*
Kibaou fell to the ground, horrified and suddenly missing a hand. Zelda stood between him and Link, her sword so close to his face, in the real world he would have smelled his blood on the blade. "Don't you ever come at my partner like that again, or I'll cut off more than just a hand," she seethed.
"Hey... Link, right?"
It was Diabel.
"I don't know how to thank you enough... I owe you my life."
Link thought back to the battle; everything had been such a chaotic whirlwind that he was having trouble piecing together specific events... but piece them together he did. He had used the Stasis rune in the Sheikah Slate to freeze Illfang in midair, giving Diabel precious time to escape a demise of his own making. He said nothing, merely pulling his guidebook from his pocket, thumbing through it... and solidly thumping Diabel on the forehead with it.
"Listen, everyone... this book is an awesome resource. I know because I helped contribute a lot of information to it."
"Contributed... but then, that means-"
"Yes, it means I'm an ex-beta tester, just like you are."
"And so am I," Zelda said, still staring down Kibaou.
The rest of the raid gasped in shock, but Link continued unfazed. "Most of the info in here comes from what we learned during the beta, but it seems like nobody paid attention to this little disclaimer inside the front cover: 'Information is subject to change when the game goes live.' That's why the boss pulled a weapon that looks exactly nothing like a talwar, and used an entirely different attack pattern than we were expecting." He looked over the rest of the players, in case anyone had anything else to say. When they remained silent, he gave Zelda a slow blink. In a sign of understanding, she sheathed her blade and followed him out of the dungeon. The way forward was open, but Link and Zelda had some business to take care of before leaving the first floor. First was scouting (but not fighting!) the giant monster they had spotted while out horseback riding. It turned out to be something called a Lynel, a creature almost identical to a centaur with the exception of its lion-like head and face. It had 1,500 HP, which was the same as the Guardian they had fought at the stable, so defeating it wouldn't be a matter of strength so much a matter of tactics... well, tactics and possibly gear.
"Hey, Zelda... you know all those armor pieces we've been finding?"
"Yeah?"
"Take a look at this." He opened his inventory, and the five Champion's set pieces he had found were not in his gear repository, but listed as Key Items, meaning he couldn't equip them. Zelda found her Royal gear in the same place in her own inventory. She huffed in frustration; yet another seemingly pointless thing they'd come across in this game.
Besides, before they could address Zelda's obsession with defeating the Lynel, however, there was another pressing matter to attend to: the Maz Koshia Shrine was calling.
They used the Sheikah Shrine to warp to the temple, not wanting or needing to burn unnecessary daylight by riding all the way there, and descended once more into its depths. The blue light from the room and the torches now felt welcoming rather than ominous, as it did on their first trip here. They approached the altar and placed the orb that had dropped from Illfang's digital corpse into its corresponding recess. The torches burned brighter and another door opened, directly opposite from the platform from the surface. Both players cautiously drew their weapons as they approached, only putting them away once they were certain they were the only ones in the room. In fact, the only things in the room were two identical-looking treasure chests.
"Zelda, watch my back while I open these?"
"Why?"
"In case this room is trapped or something."
"...All right, if you insist." She drew her sword, ready to strike at whatever might jump out of the shadows, the walls... or Link's imagination. She heard him tussling with one of the chests for a few moments, then swear under his breath. "What's wrong?" she inquired.
"It won't open."
"Won't open? What do you mean?"
"I mean, it won't open."
"Really?" She put her sword down and joined him in examining the left chest. Almost immediately, the problem became apparent. "Look at the chest."
"I'm looking at the chest... what am I supposed to see?"
Zelda removed her gloves and placed her right hand on top of the chest. Link stared blankly for a moment, but then the realization dawned on him as well.
On the chest were three triangles, arranged in a pyramid, with the lower left one shaded just a little bit darker...
...just like on Zelda's hand!
Link moved to the chest on the right, and exactly on cue the pattern was reversed: the lower right triangle was darker just like it was on his own hand. "No wonder I couldn't open that chest; it's for you to open, not me." He tried opening the right chest, but it still wouldn't open. "Okay... what now?"
Zelda knelt down in front of her chest. "Perhaps if we tried opening them at the same time?"
"I mean... I don't have any better ideas. On three?"
She nodded in the affirmative.
"One... two... three." They pulled the catches simultaneously, and just as she had predicted, both chests opened without so much as a squeak. From hers, Zelda pulled an ornate silver... wand? Baton? She couldn't really tell what it was or what it was for...
From his, Link pulled a shining blue musical instrument. It looked like a woodwind; it had several of what he could only assume were finger holes, and an extension that looked like a mouthpiece...
As they touched their respective items, they both went into a trance and were shown a vision. Zelda saw a figure holding the silver wand and waving it about, but in a very rhythmic fashion. As the figure waved the baton, the very winds seemed to shift and change.
Meanwhile, Link saw a figure holding the device to its mouth. Three stones flew out of its pockets, and a door opened revealing a pedestal with a sword embedded in it.
After the visions passed, both players came around to find the other collapsed on the floor. They helped each other to their feet, but then jumped back in surprise.
"Who are you?!" each asked the other.
"What do you mean, 'who am I?' I'm Link, Chris, whatever you wanna call me, but I'm the same as I've always been... who are you?"
"'Who am I?' Don't you recognize me? It's me, Zelda-slash-Lanay."
Link cautiously approached Zelda, now that his eyes were starting to adapt to the low light again. "Your face is the same, but your clothes... what the hell-"
"Is going on here... look, over there!" Zelda noticed the walls were covered with mirrors, so she dragged Link in front of them, and both of their jaws hit the floor in shock.
Link's appearance hadn't changed that much; his brown leather boots and black leggings were still there, except he could feel a layer of chain mail underneath them. His brown leather gauntlets had a layer of blue fabric beneath them now, and they had been reinforced with a light layer of steel plate. His chestpiece had undergone the most drastic transformation, however. Instead of a plain chain shirt with an eagle tabard over it, he now wore a short-sleeved green shirt with chainmail underneath it. It also had a steel shoulder plate on the left arm, and a blue scarf draped around his neck. On his head was a simple green cap that matched the tunic.
Zelda's full suit of plate armor was gone, replaced by a pale purple gown fit only for a princess. It had a layer of shining silver scale armor underneath the fabric, and the torso was articulated plate, so it was clearly meant to be worth something in combat. Her helmet was replaced by a crown, and her hair had been woven into a single braid with a talisman at the end.
They both stood speechless for a moment, trying to come to grips with their new appearances. Link checked his equipment, and saw that the formerly labeled Key Items that made up the Champion's Regalia were now equipped, meaning he could remove and replace them at will. He also noticed his stats were through the roof compared to what they had been before, although his level was the same. He checked each piece, and saw that they granted stat bonuses as a percentage of base stats multiplied by player level, which meant that with very rare world-class drop exceptions, his current clothing would always outperform anything he would come across in the game. He shared his revelations with Zelda, who learned the same thing about her equipment.
Seeing nothing else of import in this particular room, they turned to leave. A familiar voice stopped them in their tracks, however:
Children of the sword, you have proven to possess the resolve of true heroes.
Heroes worthy of the blessings of Hylia herself.
Return here once you are further hardened by battle.
Another altar arose from the floor between the two empty chests, this one containing sixteen spherical recesses surrounding a larger recess with crossed swords.
"Well, our next objective seems clear enough... for now, let's find a place to stay and get some rest."
"Couldn't agree more. I think we can both agree now that coming close to death tends to be both physically and mentally exhausting."
The two teleported back to the town of Tolbana where, due to the large influx of travelers making the trip through the dungeon to Floor 2, more players were flooding the town than they had ever seen. Fortunately, most were just passing through so they had an easy time finding space at an inn. Link wanted to take a nap, but Zelda had a shopping/hunting list for him to accomplish first. Apparently she planned on cooking something special for dinner and needed ingredients, so off Link went. Neither errand proved to be a horribly difficult challenge, just time-consuming due to the rarity and quantity of the drops she needed. As a result, he didn't get back to the inn until sunset. When he did, he found the surprise of his life waiting for him.
The room was softly lit with candles... dozens of candles, arranged all around the room. The smell of incense hung heavy in the air, and as he closed the door behind him he heard soft music start playing. He looked in the direction of the music and saw the absolute most stunning sight he had ever seen, in this world or any other. Apparently Zelda had used the time Link was out hunting to do some black market shopping of her own, for there she stood in sheer white lingerie.
"Zelda... wha..." For the first time in living memory, Christopher Lance 'Link' Farron was absolutely speechless.
Zelda shyly stepped across the room. "I wanted our first time to be special... a night we'd never forget."
Try as he might, Link still could not speak, so he did the next best thing: he pulled her close to him and kissed her.
Zelda's entire existence was lit ablaze, mind, body and soul; this was an entirely different type of kiss than the ones he had given her before. There was no hidden message there; no unspoken promises, no clumsy words being silenced, no fears being put to rest, and no unspoken words being conveyed.
This was the kiss of pure love.
Link and Zelda made love all throughout the night, stopping long enough to eat the absolutely fabolous dinner Zelda cooked using the ingredients Link had hunted for her. At a certain point while eating dessert, Link noticed Zelda giving him a really strange look.
"What's that look for?"
"I just want to know..." She came around the table and sat in his lap, her hair undone and draped over her shoulders, keeping her modestly covered. "Why it took you almost dying to tell me that you loved me?"
Link chuckled softly. "Well... you said it first."
Zelda chuckled and kissed Link, draping her hair over both of them since they were sitting in front of a wide open window. "Do you think they can see us?"
"Since the window is wide open, my guess would be yes," Link said with a laugh.
Zelda just shrugged. "Eh, I don't care... the only thing - the only person - I care about right here and now, in this very moment, is you. I love you, Chris. I always have, and I always will."
"I love you just as much, Lanay. Maybe even a little bit more."
They extinguished the candles, closed the window and went to bed. Despite Link's initial insistence that they go right to sleep, they did make love a couple more times before finally going to bed.
They did have a world to save after all, only now they had an even more powerful weapon and driving force on their side: love.
A/N: TwistedViper20XX here!
Shockingly, I managed to get this written before my exams finish up. I feel like I set some sort of speed record for this chapter, although a lot of it was just transcribing Episode 2 and modifying it to fit the story, so the boss fight itself (about half the chapter) was pretty simple.
Finally we have Link and Zelda's avatars looking like the classic Link and Zelda we all have grown to know and love! Both outfits are straight out of "Hyrule Warriors," with the exception of Zelda's gown being reinforced with armor as she's the heavy tank of the pair.
For anybody wondering why Zelda's the stronger of the two, there are actually two reasons. One, the only times in the LoZ universe she's carried a sword, it's been a rapier. SAO already has one female rapier user, and I'm not trying to cramp her style. Two, it's just a refreshing change of pace to paint Zelda in the role of a wrecking machine rather than the classic damsel in distress.
Her fighting style is taken directly from Siegfried, from the 'Soul Calibur' franchise... for now, anyway. She gets an *entirely* brand-new style down the road. :)
That's about all for now... I can almost promise this is going to be the last chapter until about mid-November. I graduate my course next Friday, then spend a week in the field before flying home for a week, so that's about 25 days I either won't be able or interested in writing. Plus since the next few chapters are going to be extremely devoted to LoZ, I should probably do some research on the source material (read: play dozens of hours of various 'Zelda' games... Lol).
Until next time, this is TwistedViper20XX, signing off!