Hello everybody!
I'm finally back with another chapter, thanks to all those who reviewed and sorry for taking so long to update, I would like to give you a complete explanation of why I haven't been able to but I know you all don't really care much.
I know most of you think that I made Link seem too powerful, skilled and simply the world's greatest bad-ass in the last chapter. But that was only for that chapter, I promise that from now on he will be on a more equal level with the rest of the warriors and that it won't happen again, at least not anytime soon and probably not to Link (Yes, you heard me! someone else will have a chance to look like a bad-ass for an entire chapter!)
Thanks to all of those who reviewed and those who didn't please do this time! I love your commentaries on my story and how it can be better (flames accepted to a moderate degree)
And now to your reviews:
Crimson-88: thanks a lot, I hope this next chapter is more to your liking, I know it's too long and starts out really dull, but I have some surprises planned for you and everyone else who reads.
Sacharia: Thanks! Hope you like this one!
Shadow Rave: If you think a blow to the head would be fatal, you have obviously never watched or any matches from ECW and WWE/WWF's golden days. If you have, I think you should know better, and if you haven't and have no problems with graphical violence, I suggest you do. Anyway, thanks for reviewing!
And to all of those who didn't review: Please! Even if it is just a three word sentence like "this fic sucks" or "great job dude!" I'll take any of those, and it only takes you like half a minute to write that. So please, R&R!
WARNING: The makers of TAG body spray... wait a minute, wrong wrong warning; This chapter will start out really slow, but I promise it gets better!
Yours truly:
Jastul
The Ivy's poison
It was another typical morning in this typical French port, the sun was shinning and the birds chirping, but only those on board of Le Messeger de L'Espoir knew anything about the battle that had been fought on the ship's deck not more than twelve hours ago.
When morning came, all the fighters involved in the previously mentioned battle (even the attacker) met at the ship's dinning room. It was just a long room that took up most of that level of the ship with a small door that led to the ship's kitchen. It was filled with and equally large table on its center with enough chairs to sit a small army. But, of course, not even half of it was used by the current crew.
Currently, the entire crew was at the table, having breakfast in their usual merry manner. Most of the attention, though, was directed to the newcomer of the group: Link, the elven swordsman that had somehow managed to single-handedly beat some of the world's finest warriors, present, past or future.
"So, Link" started Cassandra "Where are you from? Because it is obvious by your sole appearance that you're not from around here... and by here I mean the world of humans."
"Well, I come from Hyrule" responded the young elf. "And you're right; it is not within the limits of your world."
"Then how did you managed to come to our plane." Quickly inquired Raphael, showing his natural distrust from people learned in the French aristocracy.
"Well, you might not know this, but the blade you know as Soul Edge was originally forged in my world –where it was called Evil's Soul- by the evil sorcerer Agahnim, who poured his great evil and most of his power and knowledge into it.
He used the sword for his evil purposes. But, he was defeated in mortal combat by the greatest Hylian knight in history (or at least I think he is, although many think I took his place about four years ago, but that's another story) who then sealed him away, shattered the sword, and sealed it into another realm, where the shards were scattered and hidden.
But there was a primitive tribe of beings that bore some resemblance to us. These beings, at that time were little more than animals, and as such, were sensitive to the blade's luring power -as they still are- and fell easily under its great powers. You obviously know who I'm talking about."
"Yes." Answered Sophitia. "It was humans who found the blade."
"Exactly, your primitive ancestors found the blade, and with its power and knowledge, became the dominant species on this planet. But, the blade slowly but surely corrupted humans to such a degree, that they were –and still are- susceptible to every form of evil, not only the blade's.
From there, the blade spent a millennia switching from kingdom to kingdom, bringing power and glory with it. But, it also brought destruction; every great civilization that took its powers from the blade was doomed to being attacked time after time until another kingdom seized the blade and its former house fell into decay, malaise, and ultimately destruction." After this, Link fell silent, waiting for everyone to take all this in.
"But that still doesn't explain why you are here." Stated Kilik.
"Oh, yes!" exclaimed Link. "I almost forgot! Well, because it was used by so many to gain so much power, the blade was drained of a great deal of power and rendered almost useless, only able to go on due to all the souls that had died in the wars led by its empires.
But then, a man in my world, the direct descendant from Agahnim, found a way to bring the sword a short while after he was exiled from our land. And when the blade's ancient powers mingled with his dark and evil magic, it twisted him into some strange being: it turned him into the chimera known in my world as Ganon and raked chaos upon Hyrule.
Ganon quickly gained power with the sword's help and became something short of a God. Some said that he sold his soul the devil in exchange for his powers, which isn't far from the truth. But, in truth, he had mixed his essence with that of the blade to such degree that one's faith was bound to the others. So he is basically immortal unless the blade is destroyed.
One after one, the descendants of the great Hero came forth to face to evil Ganon and seal him back into the evil realm where he had been vanished to. But no matter what, he reincarnated and returned to our world. Until one of the knights decided to seal the blade back to where the hero had sent it, thinking that that would be the solutions, as it had worked with Agahnim before Ganon.
But that proved to be fatal, as it was found by a man you have surely heard of; the dread pirate Cervantes de Leon." At this, everyone who had met the pirate shivered at the memory of such terrible adversary.
"Cervantes was eventually defeated, but the Soul Edge wasn't since, when Cervantes came into contact with the blade, he split its powers into three blades. But the rip went deep into the blade's core; so deep that it actually released enough energy to open the portal back to our world and brought the third blade with it.
But the third blade didn't come back alone. No, it brought with it Ganon, who had also been released from his prison by the rupture created from separating something as powerful as the Soul Edge. And, as the next one in the great Hero's line, it was my duty to seal Ganon away." He paused after this, wanting all of them to take in what he had just said.
"So, did you?" asked Yunsung, rather sarcastically.
"And it wasn't easy at all, my friend" responded Link without taking heed of the Korean's sarcasm. "I had to travel several times up and down the stream of time, slay entire hoards of demons, make my way across magical labyrinths known as temples and awaken their respective sages, save half a dozen of races from extinction, help all the people in distress I found, rescue two princesses (twice) and then engage in a fight to the death with the greatest sorcerer my land has ever seen. Without mentioning that I had my land's future on my back and the odds were completely against me."
"Well, you seem to have a lot of experience in fighting the Soul Edge and more than a few good reasons to do so." Understated Raphael. "It would be an honor for us to have you amongst our crew, Link. By the way, do you people in your world refer to you by any kind of title or something like that?"
"Well, they mostly call me the Hero of Time, since I traveled through time to save my land, but I don't really like it. I grew up as a child from the forest and desire little. So just call me Link."
"How about a family name?" inquired Sophitia.
"If the research I made on my bloodline is true, then my family name is Rey-hûl. But in that same research, it showed that the name given to me by my parents is actually Gaeden, which is not how I wish to be known as. But if you indeed need to know, everyone in my land calls me Master due to my skill with the sword; so I think that Link Masters will do."
"Well, then, I think it shall" answered Raphael.
After a moment of eating in silence, Talim decided to break the ice. "So, what are we doing today?"
"Well, me, Sophitia, Kilik and Xianghua have to go meet with a potential ally and Maxi has offered to stay and take care of the ship. So the rest of you youngsters can go and have fun around town for today." Raphael responded, giving Link a cautious look.
"Don't worry, I'll be careful not to let anybody let my true identity." Link said, disregarding the French man's glance. "Remember that I have been able to go undetected by all the civilians that I have encountered in this city, and every other one I have been to during the five months since I arrived to this world."
That seemed enough to calm the rest of the crew and everybody went their separate ways. Some stayed to finish their meal, others, like Sophitia, Kilik, Raphael and Xianghua to attend to other manners while Yunsung, Talim and Link decided to go visit the town market and see if they could find anything of interest.
They all decided to take their weapons as a measure of safety in case things got nasty. Talim, like Yunsung, carried her elbow blades on her belt while Link carried his shield and sword (together with the rest of his weapons) underneath the cloak he used to hide his pointy, elfish ears.
So the three young warriors headed for the town market. Talim seemed quite curious about Link, his land, his adventures, and basically, him. Yunsung, on the other side, seemed annoyed at the elf's presence and muttered crude, obscure comments about anything he could and often mocked Link or anything relating him in Korean so neither Talim or Link knew what he was saying.
It was while walking through one of the market's busy streets, that Link felt a presence much similar to Soul Edge's, yet it wasn't quite the same. He looked for the source of that strange energy with his eyes, which landed on a hooded figure, a woman. She moved in a sadistic kind of way, but, most importantly, like a warrior. Then, after focusing on that woman, Link traced the strange power to her waist line, to be more precise, her left hip. On that side, he could notice a long, pointy object –the sheath of a sword, this couldn't be good.
So, our elven pal followed that mysterious woman throughout the town, she led him to a beach hidden on the opposite side of the harbor to which their ship was docked. On the top of the cliff he could see the lighthouse from which he had made his suicidal jump less than twelve hours ago. On the cliff's wall he could see the entrance to a cave which had an ominous feeling about it. By that time, the elf was about fifty meters behind the woman and almost certain that she would lead him inside the cave.
Instead, the woman just stopped dead on her tracks and yelled without turning back.
"What do you want from me?" it wasn't a question, it was a request. Resigned, Link decided that this woman was dangerous, vicious, and definitely not one to play dumb with. So, with a sigh, he went straight to the point
"Tell me, what is that energy that is coming from your sword?" Link demanded in return.
"You mean my Ivy blade?" asked the woman while turning around and lowering the hood of her cape. "It is the energy of the only living sword made by man."
A living blade, just what he needed, another piece of metal that not only could kill him, it could also think of how to do so. And if her eyes were something to judge her by, this woman had seen most death and blood in her life than some Hylian knights he had met and was ready to see even more, even if it was she who caused it.
This woman was obviously an enemy for him and his cause, so he drew his sword and shield while the mysterious woman drew her own blade: it wasn't too big; about four fingers wide and a foot long, that wasn't good since soul blades –especially living blades- were extremely good for offense while short blades allowed fast movements and were good for defense and/or assassination … definitely not good at all.
"Well, well, looks like we have a lively one here" The woman said in a sarcastic, arrogant tone before entering a relaxed stance "I will love to beat such a handsome man as yourself and make you my slave" she said this wile liking her lips hungrily.
Disgusted at the woman's idea, Link decided to circle her and study her stance. It was the oddest one he had seen: back straight, face up; the legs were comfortably open with the left leg slightly forward and the right arm together with the blade resting with ease on the right thigh while the left hand was on its respective hip.
After careful study of his opponent, Link decided that she would probably be slow to defend against a quick attack directed to her left shoulder. The only thing that made him hesitate to strike were the mysterious powers from her blade. He did not have even the faintest idea of what a sword that reeked of soul edge's magic could possible do, especially one of such odd construction.
But seeing that his opponent was not about to move anytime soon, he decided to go for his first plan of action: attack recklessly at the first weak spot he found; just like the old times.
The elf exploded in a sudden burst of speed towards his opponent and raised his sword to deliver a vertical strike but reversed it in the last second and turned around into a roundhouse slash towards his opponent's unprotected back and left shoulder.
"Hey Yunsung, where's Link?" asked a puzzled Talim to his young companion. She had just noticed the elf's disappearance, being too busy looking at some goods brought from the eastern continent that had recently been discovered such as gold, jewels and other precious materials.
After looking around the street, he responded. "Well, that's a very good question." He and Cassandra hadn't noticed Link's disappearance either. "We better go find him before he gets in trouble and compromises our mission."
"Why do you think he will do something like that?" Asked Talim offended in Link's place.
"Well, maybe because he can be easily mistaken by a demon in this lands, or because he is new to our world, probably doesn't speak any French at all, and maybe because I don't trust him." While Yunsung said all these things, Talim just got angrier and angrier.
"Why are you like that Yunsung? Since we came out to the market this morning you have done nothing but bad mouth him the entire time! Yes, I may not speak fluent Korean but I know how to insult someone I ten languages and right know I am thinking of something for you in seven of them! So I suggest that you start being more attentive to him, even if you don't like him! Because even if you don't like him, he is our ally and probably going to be around us for a long time
Besides, I do not recall you knowing any French at all either! And just so you know, he's been around this world for five months and hasn't gotten into any identity problems. You, on the other side, used to get in trouble every time at you dojo and couldn't spend a day without being scolded by your master…"
"I've told you that most of those times it wasn't my fault!"
"Maybe it wasn't every time, but there must be a reason why people always looked at you when something bad happened! And, if he did get into any trouble, he is good enough of a swordsman to fend off most common enemies." By this point, Talim was almost screaming and her face was completely red. Yunsung thanked the great noise surrounding them otherwise everyone would have heard Talim yelling at him in the middle of the public place. Meanwhile, the Athenian maid watched this discussion with great amusement
After much hesitation as to what to do, the embarrassed Korean just said "Lets go find that elf before he gets too far away." Talim, who was shocked at her own reaction, complied and followed Yunsung through the busy streets of the marketplace.
Link expected his attack to connect, but when his sword was about to hit his opponent's back, it clashed into something that stopped it dead in its tracks. To his surprise, it was the strange blade his opponent wielded, only this time it was segmented into different pieces which were joined by a wire of sorts that coursed through the middle of the tiny blades while the woman hadn't even flinched and stayed firmly in her place.
A snake sword, if his knowledge in alchemy was correct. Its creation, one of the most difficult tasks an alchemist could undertake, but if done right, it was a force to be reckoned with and stayed loyal to its master until the blade or creator was destroyed. That meant two things: first, his opponent was an alchemist and a very good one at that; and second, her sword could basically attack him from any direction at any time and even wrap itself around his body or sword, which usually led to excruciating pain.
And in fact it did, right after stopping the blow, the serpent sword this woman called an ivy blade slithered around his sword's blade and then pulled it away from his hand and threw it away. Not a good sign for Link.
While his sword was still flying through the air, the strange woman turned around, her sword returned to its regular form and she turned around to slash at his neck. The elf dodged underneath the blow and came up with a right-handed uppercut to her chin and she was hit square by his shield.
While she stumbled back, Link made a dash for his sword, which had landed about twenty meters away from him.
"Oh no you don't!" yelled out his opponent and stabbed at him. The ivy blade split again and the pieces flew at him in a straight line. Link barely made it in time to draw his sword and sidestep the blow, which was directed to his heart. The blade kept on though, and dug itself on the sand.
Link took this as his cue to act and stepped on the whip-turned sword and ran along its blade. When he was three meters away from his enemy, he jumped high into the air to come down with a vertical slash that would have split her in two had she not stepped aside.
Link's sword buried in the sand and the woman, after recovering from his opponent's impressive maneuver, retaliated with a vertical slash of her own, which was blocked by the shield. After this quick exchange, both combatants stepped back and examined each other closely.
"Well, I guess formalities are in order." Said Link. This surprised the woman a little, since he was speaking so calmly. "My name is Link Masters, but you can just call me Link, and before we proceed, let me take off my cloak, so I can move easier." And he took off his hood and cloak, from under which came a green hat, tunic, leather boots and gloves and a white, mail of armor and then threw away the garment.
With a small laugh, the woman started taking off her own cloak, to reveal a voluptuous body and a very provocative and indiscrete leather outfit that made Link blush and she also threw her cloak to the ground "Well Link, my name is Isabella Valentine, but you can call me Ivy, and it will be a pleasure to kill someone as skilled as yourself."
"I am honored madam. May the best one win."
"I am planning to, sweetheart."
And with that they resumed their fight, Link went to his traditional stance, while Ivy kneeled and dug her sword into the ground. This puzzled Link, but when he saw the blade segmenting again, he jumped to his right. A fraction of a second later, the ivy blade was going through the place where Link's stomach had been.
'Damn it! This is going to be much harder than I thought. She is obviously tricky and ruthless. Man, I love fighting people I may not be able to beat!'
Link ran towards Ivy while her sword was still inside the earth, but the ivy blade turned around and stabbed at him, which forced Link to stop and summersault backwards to dodge the blow. As he was in the mid air, he looked up to see his opponent. Ivy was already pulling back on her sword and was ready to strike at him.
Link landed like a cat in the sand and again was forced into defensive by Ivy, who was her sword as a whip this time. He felt a slight pain on his cheek but took no heed to it; he had been lucky this time, if he took a little longer it would have been his neck which would have suffered the consequences.
Ivy didn't give her opponent time to rest, as she lashed at him with fury using her whip-like weapon. Some of her blows were dodged, others deflected by the blade or shield. Link decided it was time to try a new approach, so he put away his sword while dodging or blocking the incoming attacks. He then used his free hand to dig inside one of the bags on his belt and drew a black sphere with a string coming out of it. He used some magic to light the fuse on and then threw it at Ivy, who was too busy attacking him to notice what he was doing.
When the little sphere was in mid-air, Ivy noticed it and tried to destroy it, however, it was too late. As she hit it with her whip, the bomb exploded and the sonic boom it created hit her and sent her to the ground.
Darunia, thank you for those pocket bombs! Link thought to himself while celebrating his small triumph. But that was a short lived victory as he felt the impact created by the explosion hit him too and send him to the ground. Crap, I forgot those were powerful! These thoughts filled Link's mind as he struggled back to his feet. It took him a while to get up and by the time he got up to his feet Isabella was up too, but she had also been hurt by the explosion.
"You know, I'm getting really aggravated" Said Isabella in a tone that sent chills down Link's spine.
With one swift motion, she turned her sword into a whip and lashed at Link, he quickly jumped to his right but had no time to react as another whiplash put him in the defensive as he rolled to his right to dodge the many attacks from Ivy. He soon was forced to change from rolling to running in order to avoid getting drilled by the Ivy Blade but his efforts were in vain as one of Ivy's blows struck him in the back of his left leg.
When Ivy saw Link fall down, she retracted her blade and walked slowly towards him, when she was five feet away from him, she rose her sword and prepared to strike him down.
"I think this is where our fight ends, dear Link" she announced triumphantly.
"Think again!" yelled out the elf and threw a handful of Deku Nuts to the ground in front of Ivy and covered himself with his shield. The nuts exploded in front of Isabella and created a blinding flash.
Link took advantage of his opponent's sudden blindness and decided it was time to end this if he wanted to get out alive. He jumped to his feet and ran towards Isabella, who was bending down and covering her face. When he reached her she hit her right hand with his shield to make her drop her weapon and Isabella realized a second too late that her defeat was at hand.
And it didn't take but an instant for Link to position himself behind Isabella, drop his shield and use his now free hand to hold her firmly while pressing the edge of his own sword against her neck strongly enough to leave a scratch that would take a while to heal but not deep enough to open a wound.
"Do you yield or do I have to kill you?" asked Link firmly and coldly, as if he had used this phrase many times in the past.
After a short battle between her pride and her wish to live, Isabella 'Ivy' Valentine conceded defeat: "I yield." And with those two words Link released his grip on her. Ivy fell to the floor caressing the mark on her neck from her recent battle but didn't have time to do much more, as Link quickly grabbed her two hands, put them behind her back with a rope he got from God knows where.
"What are you doing!" she screamed out. She tried to break herself loose but it was in vain, Link had already tied her up and it was impossible for her to get loose.
"I'm going to take you and your sword to my ship, and you will tell me and my companions all you know about Soul Edge."
That was a shocker for Ivy. He didn't expect this guy to know about Soul Edge. But then again, being such a skilled swordsman he would have to be a fool not to have heard of such a powerful sword. She knew there was nothing for her to say or do, so she complied with the elf's demands with only one doubt: how the hell were they going to get to his ship? The docks were on the other side of the cliff and she wasn't about to swim around it nor did she feel like walking such lung road through the town. When she told Link about this, he simply said "No problem" and picked her up, threw her on his shoulder and carried her towards the town.
Great, just what she needed: to be exposed throughout the entire town by the man who had just beaten her. But apparently Link was planning on keeping a low profile as he took her through many deserted alleys and avoided crowded places as much as he could. Ivy was surprised at first at this guy's knowledge of the streets of the town, but after a while, it was obvious that he was just guided by sheer instinct and relative memory of where his ship (and docks) was. This eventually became painfully obvious as it took them an incredibly long time to reach their destination.
When they arrived to the enormous ship, Ivy saw one of the least persons she expected to see coming out to the ship's deck: Maxi, the pirate from Ryu-Kyu, Japan.
It is more than obvious to say that Maxi was also surprised to see her as well.
"Link, what the hell is going on?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth.
"I believe this woman has information about Soul Edge. So, after beating her in a duel, I brought her here so we can interrogate her." To Link's surprise, Maxi started laughing, hard. After switching his gaze from Link to Ivy –who looked extremely annoyed by the situation- and laughing for a good five minutes, the pirate calmed down and managed to tell Link.
"Link, of course she knows a lot about Soul Edge! She is the person Raphael, Kilik, Xianghua and Sophitia set out to meet this morning!" and after saying this he started laughing again while going back inside the ship, he came back out with a messenger pigeon that had a letter strapped to its leg. He released the pigeon, which flew towards the town in search for whoever the letter was destined for.
While Maxi was away, Link untied his 'prisoner' and excused himself. They remained silent the rest of the time and after about an hour, Raphael, Kilik, Xianghua and Sophitia arrived at the ship. Apparently the pigeon was directed to them. They too were surprised at learning that Link had managed to beat and drag Ivy to their ship from a hidden beach on the other side of town.
But Ivy's obvious anger towards the situation led them to promptly drop the subject and move on to what they had arranged a meeting with Ivy for: information about Soul Edge, who was wielding it this time, and where they could find him.
They talked long after the sunset and in the end, it was decided that Ivy would join them in finding the Soul Edge and destroying it.
The next day, they all went to the market to get supplies for their journey and left under the darkness of night to Italy, where there had been many attacks on villages, all ending in fire, destruction and death to all the villagers.
That's it! I know the ending was crappy but I couldn't think of anything better, maybe I'll come up with something later on and make the proper changes. I hope you liked it and am waiting for your reviews.
Until the next time we see each other! This is Jastul saying: "Courage"!
No, wait, that sounds weak… how about "Have some balls"! Yeah, that's better. See ya!