-Blabber start-
As I said… Longer between updates now, what with school and all…
Ihara's mean, he doesn't want to share his plans just yet! Xc(
Sorry for some of the randomness in this chapter (looks away).
Enjoy(?)
-Blabber end-

The Lion's Ruby.
By Dagron.

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Chapter 10: Weapons.

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Vodka stared at the 'floating-above-his-palm' blade of grass…
The magic compass seemed to be confused.
One minute it was pointing one way, the next another…
Oh dear.
He had three choices…
A- Go in one direction,
B- go in the other…
Or C- To go neither.
Solution C was definitely the most appealing. Finding magic stones with an enchanted blade of turf was, he had to admit, too much for his usually restricted line of thought.
But choice C was NoT the one to take.
Vodka knew Gin… Or at least enough to know that when Gin glared at you with his deadly arctic eyes, telling you to do what you had been told, it was not wise to disobey. That was how Vodka managed to gain status in the organisation in the first place. Those who rebelled never lived long enough.
Sighing, he closed his fist.
He had better decide which direction to go in. He stepped towards the area the compass had been most interested in…
And stopped, clenching his jaw.
Damn shivers! They were crawling beneath his flesh!
Alright then. He knew which direction -not- to go.
Clenching the gun in his pocket, he ran towards choice B, conveniently 'Away' from the shivers zone…

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Zelda was lost in thought…Her feet automatically followed in Haibara and Saria's steps, as her eyes vaguely took in the exterior world.
'What a strange country…'
She looked at the tall buildings surrounding her, looking at them properly, no longer overwhelmed by the novelty of the place.
Many were tall and made in remarkably smooth stone. She was amazed at how few seams she could see… Surely they couldn't have built each construction directly from the one bloc!
Others were full of 'seams' or rather 'beams', surrounding multiple areas of what was probably glass.
There was also the odd pagoda, similar to some illustrations she had once seen in her father's library. The King had told her that they were the homes of people in some foreign land, but little details she could notice told her that the resemblance stopped there.
Quite a few of the walls were covered in huge illustrations, or tagged with flashing giant symbols very similar to those in the text Koizumi had shown them earlier.
But what surprised her the most were the masses.
There seemed to be people everywhere. She noticed a few looking oddly at her ears… She blushed slightly. She was glad she wasn't in her princess's gown anymore. She wasn't sure she could have faced the curiosity that would have attracted.
Shaking her head, she returned to the task at hand:
In other words, stopping Ganondorf by finding this Tsuki Ichigo and hopefully the rupee that would send them home too.
While scanning the crowds for a skinny, greasy haired man-boy did they all look the same here, she absent-mindedly fiddled with the Lion's Rupee that was in her jacket pocket.
Of what use could these magic rupees have been to Ganondorf? Presumably he had not had just the one… And who had brought them to him?
It took a mighty large amount of magical power to help someone break free from the sacred realm… Perhaps the stones had served as a catalyst of some kind? Or as a decoy for the seals of the sages?
But Ganon's escape wasn't the only mystery occupying Zelda's mind.
She turned her clear blue eyes to the small auburn haired child called Haibara Ai.
Once you knew what to look for, it was obvious the girl was not a normal child.
She didn't caper, or look around with wide eyes. Her movements were measured and had that ever so slight hint of watchful dread and wariness.
Zelda recognised it. It seemed as if the girl was trying to anticipate some pursuer, just like she herself had spent her time as 'Sheik' doing… After a while, it became a habit. It definitely looked like a habit in Haibara's case. But who could she be hiding from?
- 'The sheikah red eyes often indicate a life in shadow, punctuated by a loss.' -
…Perhaps she was fleeing those who had caused her loss… And maybe those people had a link to what caused her to be so un-childlike. Being in hiding alone could not explain Haibara's mature tones… And what about the little boy, Conan? Was he hiding too?
All this was very disturbing.
Cleansing her thoughts, Zelda once again returned to looking for Tsuki in the crowds.

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« Aha! » went Link, picking up what looked like some strange stick and holding it above his head. He smiled looking up at it.
It was perfect. He could grip it with ease and it was neither too heavy or light. He gave it a few experimental swings before testing it's bend with his right hand. It was probably too blunt, but it would most certainly do. He grinned. His sixth sense was feeling better already. He no longer was totally unarmed. He would be ready to face whatever was coming their way.
« Aha? what? » asked Ayumi, looking confused.
« Link, what are you doing with that metal bar? » said Ruthan, slotted eyes peering suspiciously up at him. Ruthan knew more about Link than Ayumi did.
« I wasn't just going to leave this on the ground for someone to trip over now, was I? » He answered, doing his hopeful best at an innocent look. He was quite good at it in fact.
« Okay… » sighed the Zora child.
Link happily hummed a tune with his metal bar in hand.
They continued down the strangely empty street for a few minutes, until…
« PooWee! What's that smell! » Ayumi stopped walking to cover her nose.
It was then Link noticed the stink… Ruthan, not being equipped with much of a sense of smell, just blinked.
The stench smelled like a dead animal marinated in old sock juice and sprinkled with some unpleasantly strong cheeses before being flambéed!
It reeled, recoiled and punched you in the nostrils.
« Can't you smell it! » Ayumi asked Ruthan, with tears in her eyes. The blue skinned boy simply shook his head.
« But you have such a long nose: » said the young girl, surprised.
« Areo… Aera… Air roe day gnomics… » stuttered Link. Giving up he answered, « it's more good for swimming. Come on, let's move on… »
And as they moved ahead, a following shadow accompanied by a ghost cursed, before trying to discreetly catch up…

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Unbeknown to him, Link's makeshift weapon had previously been the Orc's.
The Orc had dropped it when it had noticed a potential weapon much more suited to it's own personal fighting style than the metal bar (torn from a fire escape ladder) had been.
The creature grunted as it ripped the new weapon out of the structure it had previously been a part of…
So much for Urban Art…
The monster growled gleefully as it stood back up, swinging what now could only be called a 'fluorescent-pink-dangerous-looking-heavy-metallic' club.
Stomping on what was left of the modern day sculpture, the Orc sniffed the air anew.
It was still totally unaware of it's own steadily increasing stink, that cleared any street before it even set foot on it.
Once more unhindered, the fiend marched on towards it's private goal. It didn't even bat a heavy eyelid as it walked past a greasy haired man followed by a ghost…
Neither the Orc, Tsuki nor dead Ihara cared in the slightest to know that some poor Sculptor was going to have to build a brand new abstract allegory for 'achievement'.

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