~chapter 21 ~
Justin had gone back to talk to Link.
"So, where are we headed next?" he asked.
"Hmm..." Link thought for a moment.
"Erm...I have a suggestion," JD said. "If you had nothing planned."
"Go ahead." said Link.
"Well, we might know of another location of an essence."
"Where?"
"It's quite a ways away, really....several days. It's beyond the great plains."
"What's the great plains?"
"Simply what it says, a great plain. It's this empty stretch of land that covers several hundred miles. There's no cities, no villages, no people, except the wandering travelers, and possibly merchants; they like to create little outposts. It's actually quite handy since the plains can be full of monsters."
"How long will it take to get there?"
"Oh, not long. We should see it in a few hours."
"Hmm...Sure, we'll go there." The two told the group that they were headed to the great plains next.
"All right!" Bobby said. "Some real action! None of this little pansy capture-the-mayor crap."
"What do you mean?" Jared asked.
"Real monsters."
"Hmm..."
"Wha?"
"Nothing..." Jared paused, staring at Bobby and Mitch. "This is the first time you haven't cracked a joke about Sam and me...Got nothing to say?"
"Well...I would say that if you couldn't handle Sam, you wouldn't last long against those monsters, but....that's not exactly saying much." Bobby replied.
"Why?"
"Because she's tough."
"For a girl..."
"For anyone." Mitch said quickly, as if he took the insult to Sam offensively.
"You'd think he'd learn not to bad mouth her with all the beatings he's received." Ron said. Bobby and Mitch chuckled. The group continued walking for a while, after a few hours a small cliff loomed ahead of them in the distance.
"Are we going to have to climb?" Link asked.
"No, there's a small crevice that follows to the other side." replied JD. In about half an hour they reached the cliff. They soon found a small opening and went through it. In only about ten minutes of walking they emerged on the other side. Jared, Justin, and Link all stopped short when they emerged. They stared in awe at the scenery ahead of them. They were on a small plateau that ran about 50 feet before dropping down into a large grassy field that stretched farther than the eye could see. It seemed to be surrounded by cliffs and mountains. Link could barely make out small colored dots. Within the first few miles a person or two could be seen walking. It was rather simple, mostly grass; a few rocks here and there; a few cracks in the earth. Very tiny magical sparks of light seemed to be coming from the ground. It almost looked like faeries were floating around the grass. Far into the distance small cliffs could barely be seen.
"Holy monkey doodles..." Jared said with his mouth open.
"Is...is that...the Great Plains...?" Link mumbled.
"Yep, beautiful isn't it?" JD said grinning as he walked past the three. For some reason he was right. Though there was nothing particularly outstanding about it, there was just some feature about it that seemed greater than anything they have ever seen. Perhaps it was the small faerie looking things, or maybe the vast size, but Link knew he liked this place. Apparently Fenix had seen this before, for he seemed not as impressed by it as the three and walked on with the others.
"Let's be off, the plateau slopes down a bit ways over there." JD said pointing to the left. The three quickly caught up with the others and made their way towards the slope. They reached the bottom and made their way across the soft grass. The small magic things looked like dandylion seeds floating around with the breeze, except they had a mystical glow about them. They would circle around a person for a few moments then continue floating freely. No sooner had they went 100 feet in than a pack of wolfos suddenly appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them.
"Ah, yes. Well, there is the occasional monster or two. Nothing serious." JD said calmly, withdrawing his sword. The other four did so as well, and Link and the others just watched; as there was only five wolfos anyway. It was over in a matter of seconds. One wolfo charged each of them. They quickly jumped back and slashed the wolfos' exposed back. Even Sam had seem excellently skilled with a sword. When the wolfos fell to the ground, the small magic lights began swirling around them rapidly and the bodies vanished with a flash and more of the floating things emerged.
"Not bad..." Link said. Their calmness through the whole thing was rather impressive.
"Eh...that was nothing." Bobby shrugged.
"Wait till the better ones come along." Mitch added. They continued along. After about a few miles, they reached a colorful tent.
"Ah," the merchant said, eyeing the group. "Perhaps I could interest you in something."
"What have you got this time?" JD said.
"Everything you can imagine. Weapons, armor, items, you name it." the merchant replied.
"Weapons eh?" Link mumbled to himself. He looked at his poor sword; which had been stollen from a lizalfo. "How much."
"Ah, you are interested? I have a wide variety to suit every type of warrior." the merchant said, bringing out a rolled cloth. He unrolled it, revealing all sorts of blades wrapped in the blanket. Link looked over them carefully. There was one dagger which had a black dragon stretching its winds for the handle with the tail wrapped around the blade. There was another sword with a golden handle with rubies along the sides and a silver blade with a strange pattern along it. There was one that caught his eye. The handle was a red phoenix with its wings stretched out and its head stretched towards the blade. The phoenix's mouth was open and on the silver blade was a pattern of red flames, giving the appearance of the phoenix shooting out flames. The phoenix's feathers seemed to shimmer all colors of the rainbow as Link turned it in the light.
"How much for this one?" Link asked holding the phoenix sword.
"Ah, sir has great tastes. The legendary phoenix blade is the only one of its kind. A very rare find. You're lucky you stumbled upon me." the merchant replied. With every word Link was beginning to think the sword would be too expensive for his tastes.
"This sword is usually 1 million kaybs." the merchant said.
"You've got to be kidding! That's a rip-off!" JD shouted.
"Erm...eh, but...for you sir, since I like your face, only 500,000 kaybs." the merchant replied. JD shook his head.
"Uh...do you take rupees...?" Link asked. The merchant raised his eyebrow.
"You have a rupee?" the merchant asked curiously.
"Well, I only have 50..." Link mumbled quietly. JD, his party, and the merchant's jaws all dropped to the ground.
"T-t-twelve, sir?!" the merchant faultered.
"Q-quit kidding around, Link..." JD mumbled.
"Uh...what's so big about me having 50 rupees?" Link asked.
"The exchange rate from kaybs to rupees is very high...One rupee is worth about....750,000 kaybs..." JD said.
"Wow..." Link said.
"We're millionaire's and we didn't know it." Justin mumbled.
"Must be cause of that stupid Trump ass." Jared said.
"I changed my mind. Two rupees." the merchant said.
"That's not fair!" Link said, even though two rupees to him was pocket change.
"Make it five." the merchant sneered. Link glared at him. Five rupees really wasn't that much for him, but it was the principle. He couldn't let this merchant push him around! Could he?
"Take it or leave it." the merchant said nonchalantly. "I assure you this is the only sword of its kind in existence." Link did want this sword. He growled and slammed down five rupees.
"Take your damn money." he growled.
"Hey, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll buy your old sword off you." the merchant said.
"Fine, whatever." Link put his old sword down and took the new one.
"Hmm. Here." The merchant handed him five coins.
"Er...how much is this?" Link asked JD.
"Only five kaybs!" he shouted.
"Hey, you ripped me off!" Link shouted, turning back to the merchant, but he and his tent was gone.
"That lousy son of a..." Link mumbled. "This sword had better work." They continued walking. In about a mile they stumbled upon a strange creature. It looked like a human with blue skin, a lion-like face without the mane, and claws on its paws. It had long gray hair tied back into a pony tail and it wore strange armor.
"That's a ronso...they're tough...They're not bad, but they go around the Plain challenging people" JD said.
"Lemme do this." Link said. He stepped up to the ronso. The ronso looked at him and brought out a large spear. Link got out his phoenix sword. Whether the ronso looked impressed, or simply more confident when it saw the sword, Link could not tell. The two seemed to wait for the other to strike first. Link lunged forward and swung his sword. The ronso jumped back and thrust its spear forward. Link managed to barely jump out of the way but the spear slightly tore the side of his tunic. The ronso suddenly got in a strange stance. It had its free arm held out like someone would look at a watch, and its other arm stretched behind it, the spear pointing to the sides. Link stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, and suddenly the ronso thrust its spear forward and slammed it into the ground, jumping high into the air. He came down with his spear pointed to the ground and Link barely jumped back. He regained himself before the ronso and slashed. The sword sliced across the chest armor of the ronso. The tear in the armor was glowing as if it had been burned. Link sliced again, the ronso trying to block, but Link cut through the spear. The spear was sliced in half, the cut ends glowing with burnt embers. The ronso looked at its broken spear then at Link, who raised his sword and slashed the ronso in the arm. It was hard to catch; if you blinked it was missed, but the second the blade touched the ronso's skin, a magic flame surrounded the blade. Once the blade returned from the flesh, the fire went out. The ronso fell to his knees holding his shoulder. He held up his hand, signaling for Link to stop. Link stopped and the ronso stood up. It bowed and handed Link a small bundled cloth then walked away.
"Wow. That was amazing! Ronso's are supposed to be really tough!" JD said. "Wha'd he give you?" Link unfolded the cloth.
"Eh..." he held up a small stone worm.
"What the hell is that?!" Jared shouted. "Some gift..."
"Anyone knows what it is?" Link said. No one said anything.
"Maybe its food for some rock bird." Bobby said. Mitch chuckled slightly at this and the lameness of the gift. Link sighed and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Well anyway, that was still amazing. That sword...did you see what it did?" Ron said.
"I guess that sword has value after all..." Justin mumbled
"Yeah...it was only five rupees..." Link said. The others seemed to twitch.
"Well, let's continue. It will be dark in a few hours and we need to get to the tent sight." said JD.
"Tent sight?" wondered Link.
"Yeah, it's this place where this guy rents tents out for the night. He stops taking in people an hour after sunset though." Finally, Link thought. A night with something warm to sleep under. Not having to worry about rain or wind. They kept walking for a few hours. The sun had set behind the mountains and a few stars were begining to show in the orange sky. About half an hour after sun set, they stumbled onto another merchant.
"Need a place to rest?" the merchant said. Link walked up to him.
"Yeah, how much?" Link asked.
"100 kaybs per tent per night." replied the merchant.
"How many people does each tent fit?"
"2"
"Hmm...we need...1..2..5 tents. Do you take rupees?"
"Nope, sorry."
"Eh...you got any money?" Link asked JD.
"Sure, we'll take it this time." he responded.
"Since you're the only ones here, you can stay up as long as you want. Fire's are permitted, breakfast is from 6-9. You must check out before noon." the merchant told them. He gave four tents and they set off to an even ground with bare dirt. They set up the tents in half an hour. Link and JD stayed in one, Jared and Justin stayed in another, Bobby and Mitch shared the third, Ron stayed in the fourth (Fenix stated he would rather sleep outside), and Sam had the fifth tent. The stars were shining and numerous by the time they had settled. They made a fire in the center of the ring of tents. They sat around the fire, sitting on their packs or rocks. Bobby and Mitch were telling jokes to each other, Ron and Sam muttering about Jared, Jared and Justin muttering about Sam (Jared saying the bad things and Justin sticking up for her), and Link and JD were discussing their journey.
~end~
Justin had gone back to talk to Link.
"So, where are we headed next?" he asked.
"Hmm..." Link thought for a moment.
"Erm...I have a suggestion," JD said. "If you had nothing planned."
"Go ahead." said Link.
"Well, we might know of another location of an essence."
"Where?"
"It's quite a ways away, really....several days. It's beyond the great plains."
"What's the great plains?"
"Simply what it says, a great plain. It's this empty stretch of land that covers several hundred miles. There's no cities, no villages, no people, except the wandering travelers, and possibly merchants; they like to create little outposts. It's actually quite handy since the plains can be full of monsters."
"How long will it take to get there?"
"Oh, not long. We should see it in a few hours."
"Hmm...Sure, we'll go there." The two told the group that they were headed to the great plains next.
"All right!" Bobby said. "Some real action! None of this little pansy capture-the-mayor crap."
"What do you mean?" Jared asked.
"Real monsters."
"Hmm..."
"Wha?"
"Nothing..." Jared paused, staring at Bobby and Mitch. "This is the first time you haven't cracked a joke about Sam and me...Got nothing to say?"
"Well...I would say that if you couldn't handle Sam, you wouldn't last long against those monsters, but....that's not exactly saying much." Bobby replied.
"Why?"
"Because she's tough."
"For a girl..."
"For anyone." Mitch said quickly, as if he took the insult to Sam offensively.
"You'd think he'd learn not to bad mouth her with all the beatings he's received." Ron said. Bobby and Mitch chuckled. The group continued walking for a while, after a few hours a small cliff loomed ahead of them in the distance.
"Are we going to have to climb?" Link asked.
"No, there's a small crevice that follows to the other side." replied JD. In about half an hour they reached the cliff. They soon found a small opening and went through it. In only about ten minutes of walking they emerged on the other side. Jared, Justin, and Link all stopped short when they emerged. They stared in awe at the scenery ahead of them. They were on a small plateau that ran about 50 feet before dropping down into a large grassy field that stretched farther than the eye could see. It seemed to be surrounded by cliffs and mountains. Link could barely make out small colored dots. Within the first few miles a person or two could be seen walking. It was rather simple, mostly grass; a few rocks here and there; a few cracks in the earth. Very tiny magical sparks of light seemed to be coming from the ground. It almost looked like faeries were floating around the grass. Far into the distance small cliffs could barely be seen.
"Holy monkey doodles..." Jared said with his mouth open.
"Is...is that...the Great Plains...?" Link mumbled.
"Yep, beautiful isn't it?" JD said grinning as he walked past the three. For some reason he was right. Though there was nothing particularly outstanding about it, there was just some feature about it that seemed greater than anything they have ever seen. Perhaps it was the small faerie looking things, or maybe the vast size, but Link knew he liked this place. Apparently Fenix had seen this before, for he seemed not as impressed by it as the three and walked on with the others.
"Let's be off, the plateau slopes down a bit ways over there." JD said pointing to the left. The three quickly caught up with the others and made their way towards the slope. They reached the bottom and made their way across the soft grass. The small magic things looked like dandylion seeds floating around with the breeze, except they had a mystical glow about them. They would circle around a person for a few moments then continue floating freely. No sooner had they went 100 feet in than a pack of wolfos suddenly appeared out of nowhere and surrounded them.
"Ah, yes. Well, there is the occasional monster or two. Nothing serious." JD said calmly, withdrawing his sword. The other four did so as well, and Link and the others just watched; as there was only five wolfos anyway. It was over in a matter of seconds. One wolfo charged each of them. They quickly jumped back and slashed the wolfos' exposed back. Even Sam had seem excellently skilled with a sword. When the wolfos fell to the ground, the small magic lights began swirling around them rapidly and the bodies vanished with a flash and more of the floating things emerged.
"Not bad..." Link said. Their calmness through the whole thing was rather impressive.
"Eh...that was nothing." Bobby shrugged.
"Wait till the better ones come along." Mitch added. They continued along. After about a few miles, they reached a colorful tent.
"Ah," the merchant said, eyeing the group. "Perhaps I could interest you in something."
"What have you got this time?" JD said.
"Everything you can imagine. Weapons, armor, items, you name it." the merchant replied.
"Weapons eh?" Link mumbled to himself. He looked at his poor sword; which had been stollen from a lizalfo. "How much."
"Ah, you are interested? I have a wide variety to suit every type of warrior." the merchant said, bringing out a rolled cloth. He unrolled it, revealing all sorts of blades wrapped in the blanket. Link looked over them carefully. There was one dagger which had a black dragon stretching its winds for the handle with the tail wrapped around the blade. There was another sword with a golden handle with rubies along the sides and a silver blade with a strange pattern along it. There was one that caught his eye. The handle was a red phoenix with its wings stretched out and its head stretched towards the blade. The phoenix's mouth was open and on the silver blade was a pattern of red flames, giving the appearance of the phoenix shooting out flames. The phoenix's feathers seemed to shimmer all colors of the rainbow as Link turned it in the light.
"How much for this one?" Link asked holding the phoenix sword.
"Ah, sir has great tastes. The legendary phoenix blade is the only one of its kind. A very rare find. You're lucky you stumbled upon me." the merchant replied. With every word Link was beginning to think the sword would be too expensive for his tastes.
"This sword is usually 1 million kaybs." the merchant said.
"You've got to be kidding! That's a rip-off!" JD shouted.
"Erm...eh, but...for you sir, since I like your face, only 500,000 kaybs." the merchant replied. JD shook his head.
"Uh...do you take rupees...?" Link asked. The merchant raised his eyebrow.
"You have a rupee?" the merchant asked curiously.
"Well, I only have 50..." Link mumbled quietly. JD, his party, and the merchant's jaws all dropped to the ground.
"T-t-twelve, sir?!" the merchant faultered.
"Q-quit kidding around, Link..." JD mumbled.
"Uh...what's so big about me having 50 rupees?" Link asked.
"The exchange rate from kaybs to rupees is very high...One rupee is worth about....750,000 kaybs..." JD said.
"Wow..." Link said.
"We're millionaire's and we didn't know it." Justin mumbled.
"Must be cause of that stupid Trump ass." Jared said.
"I changed my mind. Two rupees." the merchant said.
"That's not fair!" Link said, even though two rupees to him was pocket change.
"Make it five." the merchant sneered. Link glared at him. Five rupees really wasn't that much for him, but it was the principle. He couldn't let this merchant push him around! Could he?
"Take it or leave it." the merchant said nonchalantly. "I assure you this is the only sword of its kind in existence." Link did want this sword. He growled and slammed down five rupees.
"Take your damn money." he growled.
"Hey, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll buy your old sword off you." the merchant said.
"Fine, whatever." Link put his old sword down and took the new one.
"Hmm. Here." The merchant handed him five coins.
"Er...how much is this?" Link asked JD.
"Only five kaybs!" he shouted.
"Hey, you ripped me off!" Link shouted, turning back to the merchant, but he and his tent was gone.
"That lousy son of a..." Link mumbled. "This sword had better work." They continued walking. In about a mile they stumbled upon a strange creature. It looked like a human with blue skin, a lion-like face without the mane, and claws on its paws. It had long gray hair tied back into a pony tail and it wore strange armor.
"That's a ronso...they're tough...They're not bad, but they go around the Plain challenging people" JD said.
"Lemme do this." Link said. He stepped up to the ronso. The ronso looked at him and brought out a large spear. Link got out his phoenix sword. Whether the ronso looked impressed, or simply more confident when it saw the sword, Link could not tell. The two seemed to wait for the other to strike first. Link lunged forward and swung his sword. The ronso jumped back and thrust its spear forward. Link managed to barely jump out of the way but the spear slightly tore the side of his tunic. The ronso suddenly got in a strange stance. It had its free arm held out like someone would look at a watch, and its other arm stretched behind it, the spear pointing to the sides. Link stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do, and suddenly the ronso thrust its spear forward and slammed it into the ground, jumping high into the air. He came down with his spear pointed to the ground and Link barely jumped back. He regained himself before the ronso and slashed. The sword sliced across the chest armor of the ronso. The tear in the armor was glowing as if it had been burned. Link sliced again, the ronso trying to block, but Link cut through the spear. The spear was sliced in half, the cut ends glowing with burnt embers. The ronso looked at its broken spear then at Link, who raised his sword and slashed the ronso in the arm. It was hard to catch; if you blinked it was missed, but the second the blade touched the ronso's skin, a magic flame surrounded the blade. Once the blade returned from the flesh, the fire went out. The ronso fell to his knees holding his shoulder. He held up his hand, signaling for Link to stop. Link stopped and the ronso stood up. It bowed and handed Link a small bundled cloth then walked away.
"Wow. That was amazing! Ronso's are supposed to be really tough!" JD said. "Wha'd he give you?" Link unfolded the cloth.
"Eh..." he held up a small stone worm.
"What the hell is that?!" Jared shouted. "Some gift..."
"Anyone knows what it is?" Link said. No one said anything.
"Maybe its food for some rock bird." Bobby said. Mitch chuckled slightly at this and the lameness of the gift. Link sighed and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Well anyway, that was still amazing. That sword...did you see what it did?" Ron said.
"I guess that sword has value after all..." Justin mumbled
"Yeah...it was only five rupees..." Link said. The others seemed to twitch.
"Well, let's continue. It will be dark in a few hours and we need to get to the tent sight." said JD.
"Tent sight?" wondered Link.
"Yeah, it's this place where this guy rents tents out for the night. He stops taking in people an hour after sunset though." Finally, Link thought. A night with something warm to sleep under. Not having to worry about rain or wind. They kept walking for a few hours. The sun had set behind the mountains and a few stars were begining to show in the orange sky. About half an hour after sun set, they stumbled onto another merchant.
"Need a place to rest?" the merchant said. Link walked up to him.
"Yeah, how much?" Link asked.
"100 kaybs per tent per night." replied the merchant.
"How many people does each tent fit?"
"2"
"Hmm...we need...1..2..5 tents. Do you take rupees?"
"Nope, sorry."
"Eh...you got any money?" Link asked JD.
"Sure, we'll take it this time." he responded.
"Since you're the only ones here, you can stay up as long as you want. Fire's are permitted, breakfast is from 6-9. You must check out before noon." the merchant told them. He gave four tents and they set off to an even ground with bare dirt. They set up the tents in half an hour. Link and JD stayed in one, Jared and Justin stayed in another, Bobby and Mitch shared the third, Ron stayed in the fourth (Fenix stated he would rather sleep outside), and Sam had the fifth tent. The stars were shining and numerous by the time they had settled. They made a fire in the center of the ring of tents. They sat around the fire, sitting on their packs or rocks. Bobby and Mitch were telling jokes to each other, Ron and Sam muttering about Jared, Jared and Justin muttering about Sam (Jared saying the bad things and Justin sticking up for her), and Link and JD were discussing their journey.
~end~