At long last, season 2 has arrived! I'll try my best to connect the inter-season chapters with the season 2 ones, but I can't promise they'll be too good. Here we go!


It had been a few weeks since Aris's meeting with the other Heroes and Queen Mirellia.

He walked away from the fishing site in Lighthaven Village, bumping into a couple of young Demi-Humans along the way. "Ah, sorry, Governor Aris!" said one of them.

Aris smiled at the two. "Don't worry about it. Just be more careful next time, yeah?"

"We will!"

Aris nodded and continued to go about his business.


"Keep it up!" said Elrasla Grilaroc, the old lady Aris had saved so long ago. "Let your energy build up as you hold that stance!"

Joker and Rishia complied. The latter of the two didn't have much trouble, yet her forehead still shined with sweat.

Rishia managed to find her balance very quickly. "I think I've got it!"

"Whew, this is a workout," said Joker. "Think I'm getting the hang of it."

"That's the way!" Elrasla cheered. "You two are well on your way to mastering my lost art of Hengen Muso!"

Then, a certain Hylian arrived on the scene. "Ah, if it isn't young Governor Aris!" said Elrasla.

"Hard at work once again, huh?" Aris remarked. "How are things?"

"G-Going well, I think..." Rishia panted, briefly shedding her aviator jacket to cool off. "I should've taken that off earlier."

"Keep at it," said Aris. "And Rishia, your stats are looking a little low, but your Phantom Thief garb seems to be helping them out a bit. You shouldn't just rely on that alone, though."

"She's a natural at Hengen Muso," said Elrasla. "Might I suggest further training?"

Aris nodded. "Take it a bit easier, though," he said. "She still needs Persona training from Joker."

"She should be okay for now," the Phantom Thief chimed in. "Personas are surprisingly easy to master using."

"Governor Aris!" said a young girl's voice. Aris watched as Keel ran up to him, wooden sword in hand. "Could I fight alongside you in the next Wave?"

"Heck no!" said Aris, bewildered. "Keel, you've barely started your training! The Wave occurs in not even a week! Look, I'd love to let you fight, and I appreciate that you want to help, but I can't risk your death. You think Raphtalia would want that?"

"The Wave after that, then," Keel suggested. "Raphtalia's been helping me with swordfighting, and I'm getting the hang of it pretty well."

"Maybe."

"Excuse me, Governor?" said a new voice.

Aris recognized the strawberry blonde lady walking up to him. This was Eclair Seaetto, the daughter of Sayette's previous governor. Aris smiled at her. "Swordfighting class going well, I assume?"

Eclair nodded. "Yes, and I have nothing else to report."

"Good, good," said Aris.


Raphtalia cut down a few bat-like monsters. "And that's the last of them!"

She had left the village to clear out a swarm of these newly discovered monsters with the help of Filo and Pit.

"Great work, guys!" Pit cheered as he deactivated his Beam Claws. "Let's see if we can grab some of their drops for the others. Aris might want to have a look at them."

"Yeah, let's do that!" Filo had already shifted to her human form and was moving an armload of bat monster parts to the wagon. Raphtalia and Pit quickly went to help her.

"Hey, didn't the knights in this area say that these things had never been seen before?" Pit remarked.

Raphtalia nodded. "They seem to have this weird emblem on their bodies." She held up the disembodied torso of one of the monsters. "And Sora mentioned that the Heartless have an emblem."

"If they were the Heartless, they likely wouldn't have left any remains behind," Pit pointed out. "Sora mentioned that, too."

"Oh, right." Raphtalia tossed the bat torso into the wagon. "But if they're not Heartless, then what are they?"

"We'll find out soon," Pit replied. "I have a feeling."

Raphtalia got Filo ready to pull the wagon as Pit took a seat inside. The trio started the trek back to Lighthaven Village.


"Newly discovered monster species, you say?" Aris was surprised.

"Yeah," said Pit, "and we brought back a few of their remains. I thought you might want to take a look at them."

Aris took a severed wing from the wagon, feeding it to his Sheikah arm as he always did with monster remains. "I just unlocked a new shield," he said to himself. "A Familiar's Shield, it's called."

"Familiar's Shield?" Raphtalia asked, confused.

"Yeah," said Aris. "Bat Type, to be exact. Wonder why that is."

"Think it's something connected to the Waves?" asked Pit.

Aris shook his head. "No, there's still about a week left. It can't be something from the Waves."

He took a look at his display within his right arm. "Wait...what?!"

"What is it?" said Filo.

"You know that timer that counts down until the next Wave happens, right?"

Raphtalia nodded. "What about it?"

"It's...it's gone." Something popped up on the screen. "And there's this number that just appeared to replace it." It was a seven, and to the left of it was a symbol shaped like an hourglass.

Then, an earsplitting roar filled the air as light burned around the group. Within his mind's eye, Aris saw the silhouette of what looked like a giant tortoise.