"Okay…" Daphne sighed. "We have to figure out what the satyrs are going to do next now that they know that we know exactly what they've been doing."
"Daphne," Vincent said, his voice stern. "Our agreement for you coming here to Fa'Diel was that you wouldn't attempt anything that was too dangerous. The satyrs are going to that cave to hoard the mushrooms and continue whatever it is they're doing to prolong the drought—and they will fight to keep their operation going."
"Satyrs are extremely vicious when provoked," Miranda agreed.
"…And especially towards women," Vincent finished. "You saw how they targeted the Gerudo over the Rito, in spite of the Rito, as sailors, being more likely to infiltrate the seaside cavern." His expression darkened. "I imagine that if you had helped them brew that love potion the other day, the first thing they would've done was test it on you."
Daphne's upset expression grew.
"I don't like where this is going," she said, flatly.
"I will face the satyrs myself," Vincent finished, confirming her fears. "Miranda, can you look after the others while I'm gone?"
"Vincent, Daphne would be safe with you—even if the satyrs did dare to attack her, you would be able to protect her," Miranda insisted. She hesitated for a moment. "And she would be able to protect you."
"That was the entire reason why I started learning how to be a sorceress, remember? To avoid something like what happened when Ganon dragged us all to that other dimension? That's right—that thing had a name," Daphne added, as Vincent glanced at her with an arched eyebrow. "Captain Navya told me—turns out that Ganon was the last male Gerudo. And I'll bet he has a large part in why they don't allow men in their village anymore." She clenched a fist. "You could have died there, Vincent! …And for a horrible moment, we'd thought you had."
"Rheah," Scooby sniffed. "Bad things rhappen when rhou go off alone."
"…I'll second that," Miranda said, grimly. "It's always been difficult for myself and the others to go against your wishes all those times you demanded to be alone, even when we knew the kinds of things you'd get yourself into. But it seems easy enough for Daphne here to wheedle you into reconsidering, and so I'll put my faith in her."
"You've got that right," Daphne agreed, with a nod.
"If we had it our way, Vince, we'd all be going along," Flim-Flam pointed out.
"Yeah, we want to help you splat those satyrs!" Scrappy agreed.
Shaggy gulped, but nodded.
"Yeah, like, even if I'd rather not, I'd still go with you… But knowing that Daphne's got your back would help. Or Miss Muir—just… don't go alone."
"If we're going to be in two groups, then it is best if there is an experienced mage in each one," Miranda said. "Vincent, please…"
Vincent exhaled, clearly trying to find a good counterpoint—but there wasn't one.
"Very well," he conceded. "Daphne, you may come with me—but you must follow any instructions I give you."
"…Any other than abandoning you," she stated. He gave her a look, and she looked back at him. "I'm just being honest."
He exhaled, but acknowledged her with a nod, and she managed a smile in return.
For her part, Miranda looked surprised; she hadn't really expected Vincent to back down and change his mind—not when she'd seen him remain stubborn again and again for centuries upon centuries.
…These kids and dogs had worked more miracles than they would ever realize.
"Good luck," she said.
And instant later, Vincent had teleported Daphne and himself to interior of the cavern; they stuck to the shadows as they heard voices, and Vincent quietly handed Daphne a translation talisman.
Peering out from behind a ledge, they could see the group of satyrs frantically try to set up their cauldron on a fire in the middle of the cavern, trying to brew a new batch Aphrodite's Kiss, by the looks of it.
"What were you thinking, trying to ambush the Great Mage!?" she heard the one named Treble snarl at the others. "If he tracks us down, we are finished!"
"You were the one who got his attention by trying to bring his heiress to us to brew our potion!" another satyr retorted.
"How was I to know he had an heiress!?" Treble defended.
Despite the situation, Daphne couldn't help but put on a proud smirk.
"Does the Great Mage have any reason to know we are here?" a third satyr asked. "The Gerudo and the Rito have come dangerously close to this cavern, and they are in touch with him."
Treble didn't answer, prompting the fourth satyr to curse.
"And if he finds us? What then?" he asked.
The conversation was just getting good, in Daphne's opinion, when Vincent tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. She looked in the direction he was pointing, and blinked as she saw a drop of water get squeezed out of the dry cavern ground—and then, somehow, fall upwards, onto a stalactite, and continue up the stalactite.
She continued to direct her gaze upward, and her jaw dropped as she saw a large lake of water floating in midair across the cavern ceiling. Glowing stalactites held it in place.
Her eyes wide, she whirled around to look at Vincent.
"Did they cast a spell on those stalactites!?" she mouthed.
"Not them; that spell seal is the unmistakable calling card of a fairy—they had the fairy do it for them," Vincent murmured, almost inaudibly. "Whether the fairy did this voluntarily or not, I don't know. But we need to break that spell."
"DeSpell?" she whispered.
"Yes, but fae magic is very strong—it will take time for me to cast a DeSpell strong enough to do it. I'll be completely vulnerable while I cast it—and there's no way they won't notice."
"…I've got your back," she promised again, grabbing the staff again.
Vincent nodded and raised his hands towards the ceiling. As he focused, a green aura surrounded him—and the glow did not go unnoticed.
The satyrs shrieked and panicked, all of them grabbing for their panpipes, aiming them at Vincent—
"Not a chance!" Daphne called to them. "Reflect!"
The potion-tipped darts bounced back at them, causing the satyrs to scatter—and getting visibly infuriated.
They were faster than she expected, leaping great distances with their ungulate legs, closing the gap between them and her—and Vincent.
"You're going about this the wrong way, Dearie," Treble said, trying to turn on the charm once more. "Don't jump to conclusions; we're only trying to help people find their true loves—just as I have found you! Drink with me, and you will see that we, too, are also meant to be together!"
"First, don't you ever call me 'Dearie' again, and don't you ever, ever try to flirt with me again, either!" Daphne shot back, sounding a lot more confident than she felt. "Secondly, a love potion isn't true love—and you know it! It's one of the Forbidden Arts! And third, you're responsible for the drought in Fa'Diel—and you only did it to keep your little sideline here going!"
Treble's charming expression now turned into a scowl that sent shivers down Daphne's spine.
"The Great Mage has taught you well," he observed. "What a pity he won't be able to give you any more lessons."
He jumped again, moving to leap over Daphne to attack Vincent, who was still trying to focus on breaking the fairy's spell.
"NO!" Daphne yelled. "Aeroga!"
She aimed her staff upwards, sending Treble flying in a swirling gust of wind. Even as he went flying, the other satyrs rushed at her, and Daphne began to despair as she realized she was outnumbered.
There was only one spell that would put them out of commission long enough for Vincent to cast DeSpell. And as Treble now leaped back into formation with the others, all five of them jumping into the air to reach Vincent, she summoned up every ounce of will she possessed.
"Sleep!" she called, swinging her staff in a semi-circle in front of the five satyrs.
She then took a step back as the all fell like rocks from midair, snoring away on the cavern ground.
She hadn't even processed that she'd finally cast the spell that had been giving her so much trouble; she now used the staff to conjure up a rope that moved upon her command to tie the five satyrs together.
"DeSpell!" Vincent finally called.
The seal holding back the water now broke, and the water began to scatter, half of it seeping through the cavern ceiling and evaporating back into the atmosphere as the rain that had been stolen by the spell, and the other half of the water was crashing back down into the cavern as the seawater. Daphne gasped as she realized that she hadn't thought that far ahead, but Vincent drew her into a protective hug with one hand while grabbing the end of the rope holding binding the satyrs (who were waking up in a hurry after getting doused by water).
Vincent braced himself against the deluge of water as Daphne hugged back, trying not to get torn away from him by the flood.
"I just need to focus again and teleport us out…" he began, but even he was finding it difficult to focus when the raging torrent of water was trying to knock him off of his feet—and the satyrs were screaming and cursing.
"This whole cavern isn't going to fill, right?" Daphne asked, growing concerned.
"It won't," he reassured her. "We can teleport as soon as it stabilizes. But it'll still take a while for this to stop…"
He trailed off as, suddenly, through the opening of the cavern, where all the water was flowing outward, the large, orange fish that Daphne had saved on her first day in Fa'Diel, was swimming inside the cavern, against the current.
"Daphne, look—I do believe your friend is here to return the favor and help us out," Vincent said.
"But how? We can't risk going out that entrance now it's underwater again," she said. "What can that fish do to help…?" She trailed off as the fish began to glow with a blinding, white light. "Jeepers!"
"I did tell you that if you were lucky enough to see the full extent of this fish's gratitude that you weren't going to forget it," he reminded her, not at all surprised to see that the fish was glowing.
As the fish glowed, it also grew larger—larger and larger, its body lengthening longer and longer as it continued to grow. When it finally stopped growing, it also stopped glowing—and Daphne saw that it was no longer a fish, but a gigantic, blue sea serpent with a small horn of scales on its head.
Daphne stared, stunned, as the sea serpent leaned forward so that its giant head was right next to her and Vincent.
"Follow me, Daphne," Vincent instructed, still holding onto her hand to make sure the flood didn't carry her off.
Together, they leaped onto the sea serpent's head, holding on to its horn, and the serpent then grabbed the rope in its mouth, letting the wailing satyrs dangle from it. The serpent then dove through the cavern entrance, swimming out and into the rising sea. Vincent and Daphne held on to the serpent's horn, holding their breath until they broke the surface.
Once in the air again, the satyrs started loudly complaining as the sea serpent continued to give Vincent and Daphne a ride down the shoreline. Soon, Miranda, Shaggy, Flim-Flam, Scooby, and Scrappy were running down the beach to greet them, accompanied by Hasn, Captain Navya, and a squad of her Gerudo guards.
"Well…!" Miranda exclaimed, seeing them return in such a fashion. "I imagine you have quite a tale to tell!"
"Like wow…!" Shaggy exclaimed, seeing Vincent and Daphne return while riding the head of a giant sea serpent. "What happened!?"
"I don't know, but that's what I call making an entrance!" Flim-Flam commented.
"This is the fish I saved that day—I guess he suddenly grew up!" Daphne grinned, as the sea serpent lowered his head to allow her and Vincent to jump onto the beach. "Thank you for your help."
The serpent let out a friendly growl in response before unceremoniously dropping the bundle of tied-up satyrs on the beach before giving a roar of goodbye before swimming back out to sea.
"Yippie, you got the satyrs!" Scrappy exclaimed.
"Rheah, good job!" Scooby commented.
"Yes, with Daphne's help, I was able to reverse the magic that caused the drought," Vincent said, indicating the storm clouds rolling in. "There'll probably be a week or so of steady rain until the balance stabilizes, after which the weather patterns and water levels should return to normal."
"And we thank you, Great Mage—you and your esteemed pupil," Hasn said, with a bow. "And now, the captain and I have one more request for you—that you hand over the satyrs to us so that we can ensure that they face justice."
"They have plenty to answer for all over Fa'Diel between the love potion and the drought," the captain added. "And first, they'll need to answer to the Gerudo Court for their earlier attack today."
"Brought to justice by you!?" Treble hissed, glaring at the captain with utter dislike.
"Well, it's either us, or we can let the Great Mage be your judge and jury—perhaps more," the captain said.
"Yeah—I don't think he's too thrilled with how you tried to flirt with me," Daphne mused aloud. "Considering I am his heiress and the closest thing he has to a daughter…"
Treble looked absolutely terrified, and the other satyrs screeched over him in a panic.
"We'll go with the Gerudo!" one cried, desperately trying to pull himself and the other bound satyrs away from Vincent.
Satisfied, Captain Navya waved her guards forward, who took them into custody.
"I thank you again," she said. "My people owe you a great debt."
"As do mine," Hasn agreed.
"There is no debt," Vincent insisted. "We were only too happy to help."
"It was the right thing to do," Daphne agreed.
"And you have set an example to us all," Hasn said. "We must part ways here—the legalities will keep us busy for a while, and I imagine you'll want to get back to your realm ahead of the long rains we are due to receive. But I hope we are fortunate enough to cross paths again."
"I hope that, as well," Captain Navya agreed.
"As do we," Vincent assured them. "Take care, and be well."
They all exchanged a round of goodbyes before Hasn, the captain, and the guards left with the satyrs, leaving the little family on the beach.
"Hasn was right," Miranda sighed. "Fa'Diel won't be a fun place to train while the rains go on. You might as well come home for a bit, Vincent—it's almost Samhain."
"Samhain?" Shaggy asked. "What's that?"
"A harvest festival honoring spirits and souls," Vincent said.
"Yes, I believe you mortals celebrate your own version of it called Halloween," Miranda mused.
"Halloween!? You bet we do!" Scrappy exclaimed. "Yeah, I do wanna go back for that!"
"Rhme, too!" Scooby barked. "Rhime for candy rhand costumes rhand candy rhand caramel apples rhand candy…"
"I think we get the idea," Vincent mused. He looked to Daphne. "And how do you feel?"
"About what? Going back for Halloween? Sure, I'm for that."
"Yes, that. But how do you feel about successfully casting Sleep?"
"She did!?" Shaggy exclaimed. "Then I was right—she did step up to the plate and hit that grand slam!"
"Just like we all knew she would!" Flim-Flam chirruped.
Scooby and Scrappy started up their cheering section again, and Daphne blushed in humble pleasure.
"I think you have earned a good rest, Daphne," Vincent said, pride evident in his features as he looked at her. "We'll go back to our world—but rest assured we will train here in Fa'Diel more in the future."
Daphne grinned and nodded. As much as she wanted to continue training here in Fa'Diel, she couldn't deny that a break sounded lovely—especially when mixed with Halloween festivities.
And especially after conquering that personal demon.
Notes: The fish that Daphne had saved was, in fact, the Pokémon Magikarp. It turning into a giant sea serpent was its evolution into Gyarados.