Well-Slimed Rescue
We don't see Groose, but we see some other people doing some pointless and some plot-related stuff.
Takeshi, grand master of the Yiga, felt more and more unsettled in the days following the messy summoning. The mixed success would normally have been easy to recover from, but Master Takeshi knew this opportunity was exactly what Veran wanted. To say she practiced dark magic was like saying the Zora practiced swimming and Veran was ambitious. The Yiga clan leaders had become seen a little less as infallible speakers for Ganon's will after Link slew Ganon eighty-seven years ago. The old hideout had to be evacuated and the sacred hole-in-the-ground was a keen loss. It was a very important hole-in-the-ground. At first, talk had been in favor of settling in the Faron region. All the banana trees were appealing. The problem was the region wasn't remote enough and random explorers kept showing up at the door. One of them had been the Hero. After Farosh took to lurking outside entrances for his own amusement, the clan decided relocation was in order.
They settled on Hebra's icy mountains when they discovered a vast cave network. Very few travelers came and it was easy to blame disappearances on the harsh conditions.
Takeshi entered the council room the night after the ritual to find Veran waiting. The rest of the senior clan members were standing against the wall. She coolly said "I challenge you for leadership with Lord Ganon as witness. Draw your weapon, Takeshi." Takeshi grimly did so and the two faced each other in the ring of people. He still was confident in his fighting ability at least and planned to maybe use the Magnesis Bracers as another advantage. When the signal was given, both vanished but Takeshi reappeared after three seconds. Veran appeared behind him. He whirled about and scythe met cleaver with a clang. All in the room could sense the disturbance in the fabric of shadows.
"Wha-Veran, you..." Takeshi managed to choke out as Veran inspected his ceremonial scythe at leisure. She smiled as black smoke coiled about his limbs.
"I've been learning a few things while you have been neglecting to pay attention to the world around you. Now then..." Veran turned away and began speaking to the rest of the people present who tried desperately to ignore the slowly disappearing man. "Would someone send word to the smith? I have something I want him to make for me." When the bracers dropped to the floor, she scooped them up and explained.
There was a Like-Like. As far as creatures go, these are fairly simple creatures of darkness. They look like giant slugs. They make various noises like a pudding being used as a pinata. They move somewhat slowly, so open pursuit will not do if they are to obtain a steady diet. They usually hide in the ground until something steps on them. When something does step on them, they slurp at it and spit out what they don't want to eat that day. Some would find objects to wear, usually the remaining rupees off of lunch. At other times, they used other objects they could hide under. Like-Likes are not really malicious as they don't have the mental capacity for it. The danger was that while you can see a rampaging Moblin coming at you fairly easily, a completely hidden slug-thing was easy to miss. Many people in the days of the Like-Like blight had ended up covered in saliva and with lighter wallets.
This particular Like-Like did not have a lure on it but was slurching along aimlessly until it caught a whiff in the air.
It sensed a shield.
It needed to eat that shield.
The Like-Like moved toward it as a cow would move to a nice patch of grass. It followed as the shield kept lurching at the same pace it did. Had the Like-LikeLike been more intelligent, it would have been suspicious of the delayed lunch. The shield movement was due to a small Zora boy at the other end of a string attached to the shield. They kept moving in tandem across grass and dirt. Finally the dirt gave way to a long, wide plank of wood leading onto a rock in the middle of a pond. The kid swam away to the other shore while two compatriots jerked back the plank. They congratulated each other with cheers and celebrated with apples as they outlined their plans for the creature.
After the Like-Like happily dissolved the shield it started slithering about the rock in a manner as close to agitation as it could get. Deep water and the high drop from the rock kept it stuck there but the three children had a fishing rod, a pilfered notebook, and a pile of miscellaneous objects. Daltus, the 11-year-old Hylian boy, had collected his uncle's fishing rod, a collection of shields, pieces of shields, objects resembling shields, a few rupees, and some toy dolls. Ralis, the Zora boy of similar maturity, had acquired some fish, rusty weapons, apples, the notebook, the plank, and some of the less valuable ores out there. The Korok brought a pinwheel, some mushrooms, some seeds, and a few bugs.
They were going to do science and no adult supervision was going to stop them now.
It took a little over an hour before the Korok got bored and wandered off. The notebook contained the findings so far. One looking over the shoulders of the two boys would have had a hard time reading the handwriting of Daltus but would have been impressed by the two kids' meticulous adherence to the scientific methods. Ralis was not slowed down much by being unable to see the Korok.
This likelike likes sheilds a lot. It didn't have aynthing on top Any proper sheild in proper condition given to it gets eaten immediately. The pot lid wasn't a sheild but didn't get spit out right away. When Ralis used it as a sheild and I hit it with a sword a few times it got eaten. It didn't eat sheild peices. When we made a toy sheild it acted like the toy was the pot lid. Over a few pages similar findings were scratched in with pencil. The Like-Like didn't like a few things. It only ate rupees when it didn't have any shields around for a few minutes. The seed brought by the Korok caused the Like-Like to regurgitate a few half-digested snacks. When they used the fishing pole to dangle a toy knight, the like like ate the minuscule shield. Oddly, the little blue shirt on the knight vanished but the two chalked that up to the frayed seam. The tiny wood sword stayed glued to the hand in spite of the harrowing experience. As they were discussing whether different Like-Likes liked different things and how to catch another with a rupee lure, they heard Jezeldabel yell.
"DAL! Where did you go? I'm bored and I can't find my great-grandpa dolly." She crunched through the tall grass as 9 year olds do. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" She shrieked when she saw the knight on the ground sans blue shirt. The toy was still soaked in Like-Like saliva and the horrified girl hit her brother. Daltus yelled back about science, Ralis pleaded for clemency, and Jezeldabel screamed for retribution.
Eventually the girl stopped to stare at the captive on the rock. "Hey, is that a Like-Like?" Ralis responded to Jezeldabel's question.
"We caught him! Sorry about your doll Jess, we forgot to ask. We'll get you a new shirt and shield for Link. It's just that we wanted to see what it would eat and figure out if there is a reason it eats shields but not other flat stuff and stuff like that. Want to help name it? I want to call him Slimy, Dal wants to call him Squish" He grinned sheepishly after his appeal for mercy.
Jess sniffed. "Why didn't you tell me you were doing this! I want in, let me help!" The duo was a trio once more as they continued chucking large stuff and sticking things on the fish hook. The Like-Like had no complaints. The children were delighted to note that Squish started humming when they gave it several things in a row that it would eat. Many things were sacrificed in the pursuit of science.
"...So why'd the shirt not get spat back out?" Jess asked. Dal accepted a piece of red dress which had been hacked off the hem. It was dangled over the Like-Like and slurped up like spaghetti. A similar procedure was enacted for a piece of Ralis' bag. Squish paid as much attention to the burlap as it would a passing butterfly.
Ralis said, "I'm going to get some fabric scraps from the tailor. Maybe we can find out why it didn't like the bag."
Daltus shrugged as Ralis sprinted back to the village enthusiastically. He and his sister chucked various bits of garbage at the monster while waiting for Ralis to return. Despite the warm early autumn sunlight, a chill went down Daltus' spine. He subconsciously moved a little closer to the oblivious Jess.
The boys had been tailed from the very beginning by a knight. Tumbo felt honored to be asked to watch the boys and cringed as they executed the plan for science. He relaxed once they finished with the trap a bit but felt that maybe he should have intervened when the creature spat things into the water. This was a favorite fishing pond of a few people and that was probably not healthy for fish. It was a little late at that point and Tumbo settled on the tree branch for another long wait. The Zora polished his spear and enjoyed the antics of children.
Later, Jess' bodyguard, Karane, nodded at her fellow guard from behind a bush before creeping to another hiding spot. Normally, she went with heavier armor but it hadn't been very good for stealth. The knight was wearing a lighter, quieter uniform.
The woman who walked along the trail towards the pond was innocuous enough at first. It was a good fishing spot, if a little out of the way. Karane readied herself anyway. No traveler was above suspicion.
"Why little boy, what are you doing way out here?" the traveler asked Daltus. The boy tried not to look at the rock he was planning to pull Jess behind. Jess was still oblivious to the change in atmosphere. Daltus mentally began to evaluate options for escape.
"We were working on some research. Learning about monsters," he said. Jess would try to fight back against any assailants, of course, but Daltus knew that would not work out well.
"How cute! Want to learn about... death?"
There was several different puffs of smoke at once. Insane laughter snapped through the air. Arrows followed after. Karane launched herself at the nearest opponent. Tumbo leaped out of the tree with a quick stab at another. Daltus grabbed a rusty shield as he dragged Jess toward a Sheikah that appeared. It was two Yiga versus two knights and two children.
Jess and Daltus were not able to keep good track of what was going on as they ran. A third foe, a Blademaster, appeared in front of the terrified siblings.
As if the heavens answered their prayers with a choreographed miracle, a green-clad hero jumped in the middle of the confrontation. The kids watched in awe as he fought off the Blademaster then dashed over to help take down the others. It was over as quickly as it began. The four non-assassins gaped at the teenager with golden flowing locks, icy blue eyes, and rippling, lean muscles. A distinctive sword was clutched in his grip and twirled before being sheathed. The resemblance to what Jess' toy mimicked before being destroyed was unmistakable.
The guy who appeared to be Link said, "Are you kids all right? Lucky I came by when I did."
"Wow, is that the sword?" Jess asked as the knights started to inspect them for injuries. "Are you, are you the hero?"
"Straight to the point. If you want, one of those guys can try and pick that up if it will convince you." The newcomer unstrapped the sword and held it out as he kept talking. "My name's... Link."
"Wha?" Karane asked and remembered that she was a professional bodyguard. "I would like to test that claim. If that truly is the Sword That Seals the Darkness, I apologize profusely and hope you will forgive me." Karane slowly reached a hand over to the purple hilt. She grasped it.
Despite much effort on her part, the sword utterly failed to budge. Tumbo had the same results when he tried to pry the unyielding metal up. It looked fairly genuine in light of this unusual sword behavior. Daltus stared at Link as Jess happily asked all the questions her lungs could handle. Her chatter drowned out the mushy sounds of the monster on the rock.
"WOW! Are you here to be my sister's champion? Are you going to kill Ganon? Where have you been!? How long have you had the sword?!" The calm face twitched and revealed uncertainty in the face of this new barrage. It seemed more perturbing than assassins trying to behead him.
"I just came from the Lost Woods, I can't really stay long here, a vision from the Goddesses called me from Catalia where I lived-"
"Catalia?! Wow, you came far. Did you meet any Koroks? What did the Deku Tree say? Can you hear the sword?" Jess continued to assault Link with questions until he finally managed to escape with traveling directions. Daltus kept quiet and forced a smile. If he just came from the Lost Woods, word hadn't spread from the woods among the Korok. Word traveled among them faster than all the other races in Hyrule, but given their tendency to get distracted playing, it still took time. Daltus still didn't like this
Daltus and the adults present still felt like Yiga could be hiding behind every rock as they went home. Squish was utterly forgotten until halfway through dinner when Daltus remembered the large mess at the side of the pond.