Chapter 22: The Search
"Ponder and deliberate before you make a move." –Sun Tzu
Frustrated at not being able to help Link, Samus can only evade the shots being fired at her quickly failing ship.
"Argh, this is getting heavy…" Samus says to herself as she tries to keep the ship steady. Not long after, Ridley manages to grapple onto the ship; leaving large slashes and bites across the hull, before finishing with a massive fire blast through it. The alarm blares as Ridley leaves, indicating to Samus that the main reactor has been severely damaged by the blast. Desperate, she maneuvers the ship to begin falling within Tanagar Canyon (specifically the northern end) until eventually the engines fail, leaving Samus with the only option to bail out. Before ejecting out of the bottom hatch, Samus grabs a particular weapon from the back of the ship and she finally leaves. Landing on the rugged terrain, Samus watches as her ship crashes inside of an ancient structure at the northern end of the canyon. "That ship has not had an uneventful existence…" Her inner monologue is cut short as her attention is brought back to the sky; Ridley begins soaring down the canyon. "Oh hell." Not wanting to be in such a disadvantageous area, Samus decides to retreat into the structure despite its distance. As Ridley closes in to the structure, he is forced to fly upwards to avoid a large stream of fire (which Samus ducks under) coming from the structure. At last, the source of the fire emerges; a massive, whitish orange serpentine dragon with long ears, a red underbelly, three pairs of clawed feet (two pairs up front and the third as a pair of hind legs, an almost feathery mane of scales, a large pair of almost S shaped, glowing orange red horns and glowing spines running down its back ending in spikes on its tail. Now fully out of the structure, it glares at Ridley.
"Out of my way!" Ridley shouts in frustration.
"You have no place here; begone, foul creature!" The dragon bellows in ancient Hylian, unfazed by Ridley. He responds by blasting the dragons face and it responds by shooting fire from its mouth, as well as producing heat from its body which become fireballs that zoom in on Ridley. The latter responds by retreating from the onslaught as well as the overwhelming heat. Unwilling to take the damage, Ridley angrily roars before flying away. Now alone, the dragon lowers the surrounding heat and looks down at Samus, whom it had hidden underneath one of its claws.
"You…kept me safe?" A bewildered Samus asks as the dragon lowers its head to be at her level. "Hold on; you're one of the three dragons that Zelda mentioned, aren't you?"
"You have arrived at last" The dragon looks over at the structure. "…then it is time."
"Ah, ancient Hylian. My translator still can't decipher it." Samus comments, activating her recorder for later viewing with Zelda so she can interpret it.
"We have been expecting you three for many eons; the time has come for you all to meet your destiny. Gather each other and come to the Forgotten Temple. So commands Hylia…in the name of the star flyers." After saying its part, the dragon departs, destroying a few guardians to give Samus a better chance to get away. Putting the recording away, Samus jumps onto ledges on the canyon wall to escape. Remembering where Link and Zelda fell to, she makes a beeline for those areas to reunite with her partners, until she receives a communication.
"Zelda, thank goodness. Where are you right now?" Samus breathes a sigh of relief as she answers the communicator that Zelda had been given previously.
"Hello Samus." Silas answers instead, much to Samus's shock.
"Silas?! How did you-"
"A gift from the princess; got it from her when she wormed out of our grasp."
"Where is she?" Samus asks in quickly growing frustration.
"Oh don't worry; we'll find her. There are plenty of us spread out; it'll be a matter of time. As it stands, you have bigger issues to deal with."
"What do you mean?"
"Remember a few days ago when you faced a pair of golden bokoblins on a rainy night? Well, I released a few more creatures like them out on the land for some exercise. They'll keep you company while we look for the princess, no thanks necessary." Silas cynically comments.
Angered, Samus responds. "I swear, you bastard; if you do anything to her, I'll-"
"Enjoy the fun." Silas cuts the transmission, leaving Samus to seethe. No time to waste, Samus moves out towards the last place she dropped off the others, nonchalantly blasting a damaged guardian in the eye as it tried to aim at her.
Link, 13 minutes earlier.
Link wearily gets up off of the ground as the suit folds the paraglider and puts it away within its back. After realizing that he's mostly unharmed, he sighs in relief over having made it to the ground. "Yeah, I'm in Seres Scablands; I've got to let Samus know." Before he can contact Samus, Link ducks behind a boulder after hearing rumbling footsteps approaching his position. Now out of sight, he sees that a corrupted black hinox was drawn to the sound of his landing. "I don't have time for this…" As the hinox looks away, Link shoots a bomb arrow into the distance, succeeding in drawing its attention and giving him the chance to escape towards the ruined Tabantha Bridge Stable. "Ok; Samus, are you there?" Link brings up his wrist communicator, but no one answers. "Samus? Damn it." Link stops trying after a while after getting nothing but static. Exiting the stable with the coast clear, Link decides to move east due to the fact that west would lead to an occupied Rito Village and overwhelming enemy forces. The large horse head structure on the stable catches his attention due to the fact that it's covered in graffiti, all of them saying the same thing; DEATH TO THE FALSE GOD. Ignoring it, Link leaves.
The Breach of Demise
Avoiding enemies, Link unintentionally reaches the Breach of Demise, thinking he was heading in the direction of where Zelda's pod landed. Exhaling in frustration, he attempts to head back but a loud thud resounds behind him. Turning around, Link sees a large man wearing black trousers, brown boots with tarnished gold greaves, a blue loincloth that now resembles more of a battle skirt, black and red armor covering his entire torso (with designs resembling flames) and an intricate necklace with Gerudo symbols matching shoulder guards, golden armlets on his well toned arms, red and black armlets that have replaced earlier bracelets with brown fingerless gloves, a headdress with a red jewel, long red hair and a stubble on his chin. After a few seconds of mutual glaring, Link realizes who exactly this is. "You can't be serious…"
Grinning, Ganondorf materializes an energy orb and tosses it at Link. Dodging to the left, Link avoids getting hit not only by the orb, but its blast radius; Ganondorf takes this chance to close the distance between the two, aiming to punch Link, who spins away and the former drives his fist through the rocky wall. Link takes the opportunity to jump over the breach (using Revali's Gale) to get more distance from Ganondorf. Pulling his fist out (damaging more of the wall in the process), Ganondorf jumps up and stands at the opposite end of the breach, staring at Link. Quickly, Link fires off several phazite arrows, but (to his shock) Ganondorf forms a barrier of malice over his entire body, nullifying the attack before following up by drawing his sword (a massive broadsword made of red phazite with blue phazite glyphs running along the blade, a brown crossguard and a white grip) and swinging a wave of phazon and malice at his opponent. Ducking underneath it, Link catches Ganondorf jumping towards him and he responds by clashing his blade with his bow of light, canceling each others attack and sending both back in the breach. As they both stand up, Link pulls his bowstring back, forming an arrow of light and shooting it at Ganondorf's face, only managing to graze the right side of his face. His eyes changing from their usual amber to "malice eyes", Ganondorf swiftly seizes Link by the throat, forcing him to the wall (dropping the bow in the process) and stares into his eyes. Struggling to get loose, Link tries to pry his hand off to no avail and he begins to lose consciousness. "….Surrender the princess to me."
Before Link falls unconscious, his eyes glow blue and he reflexively activates hypermode, much to Ganondorf's shock.
Zelda, 15 minutes earlier
Having landed in the woods near Washas Bluff, Zelda's pod disintegrates and she breathes a sigh of relief over being released from it. Unable to spot the ship amidst all the laser fire and explosions, she instinctively hides behind the rocky walls facing away from them. Knowing that following the ship's last direction (thanks to where the guardians were firing last), Zelda decides to cut time by using her new power (now dubbed Farore's Wind) to teleport all the way to the Ancient Columns past the Tabantha Great Bridge. This would prove to be a mistake as a golden moblin was 3 feet away from where Zelda appeared and began to holler; alerting other golden monsters to its location. "Oh no!" Zelda reacts quickly as the moblin swings its double axe (phazite) downward, dodging to the side and running down the slope before the other monsters zero in on her. Before she reaches the rocky cliffs, a golden lizalfos extends its tongue around her right wrist and tries to reel her in. Struggling to get loose and knowing that its tongue is stronger than steel, Zelda uses her rapier as an anchor and leverage to get loose. Finally able conjure Farore's Wind again, Zelda teleports once again before more of the monsters appear, leaving the confused lizalfos with her communicator in its mouth. Appearing at the road to the right of the Rayne Highlands, Zelda reaches to her right wrist and sees that the communicator is missing. Slightly unnerved by her now lack of contact, Zelda hides by some ruins down the road, she tries to find her bearings, but finds red graffiti on the ruins which she reads aloud.
"DOWN WITH THE USURPER. What does that mean? Who wrote this?" Zelda ponders, wondering the meaning behind this graffiti. His inquiry is short lived as an arrow zooms past her head, causing her to fall down. As this happens, several Yiga teleport over and attempt to surround her. Zelda tries to use Farore's Wind once again to leave, but an arrow hits her on the shoulder and she can do nothing but focus on the pain. The Yiga gather around Zelda in an attempt to restrain her, until several sacks are thrown around their immediate vicinity, erupting and releasing a gas like mist. Zelda and the Yiga start coughing and their vision becomes impaired from the gas. Just then, a small cloaked figure grabs Zelda by the hand and leads her away from the Yiga and smoke. Taking her to the Great Fairy Fountain, the cloaked individual leads Zelda behind it and into a tunnel with luminous ore deposits. Finally getting her breathing under control, Zelda asks who this stranger is and why they saved her. The stranger pulls off his hood and Zelda's expression slowly relaxes.
Samus, West Hyrule Plains
Aimlessly searching for over 30 minutes, Samus reaches the West Hyrule Plains. However, instead of reaching her partners, Samus finds a grisly sight; many dead monsters strewn across the grass. "Whoa…what happened here?"
"Samus, it would appear that these creatures were slain by a blade made of phazite." Virginia reports. "Furthermore, it would appear that they were blindsided."
"How many were they?"
"From what I can gather, only one. Also, the presence of the phazite blade is due south of here."
"Virginia, I'd better take a look; I've never seen an opponent in Hyrule with this level of combat strength to take out this many monsters alone."
"Exercise caution, Samus."
After walking over several dead monsters, Samus reaches an area with several stone structures resembling rings and a lone figure sitting on one of them. It is revealed to be a Yiga Blademaster, wearing blue pauldrons, breastplate, fauld, gauntlets and grieves over his usual attire and a sheathed sword on his lap. Samus slowly approaches and the Yiga reacts to her presence by slowly lifting his head up to face her before standing up, placing the sheath on his left hip and drawing the blue phazite sword.
"Samus, I detect that this Yiga has a red phazon core."
"Copied. I'll have to be- whoa!" Samus quickly dodges backwards as the Yiga swiftly moves forward and swings his blade downward on her position, leaving a crack on Samus's helmet. "He's not much of a talker, is he? Alright then."
Samus quickly shoots off several power beam shots, which the Yiga takes due to his armor and manages to leave another slash on her left arm. Shrugging off the cut, Samus shoots three missiles at him, only for the Yiga to intercept each with a swift block. He then punches the ground, forming a fissure that travels towards Samus, who jumps to the side to dodge the phazon covered stone pillar erupting from it. Sliding on her side, Samus shoots a power beam shot at his head, disorienting him and allowing her to slam down on the Yiga's chest with the boost ball, which sends him flying towards a ring structure. Angered, the Yiga slices off a large portion of the ring structure and hurls it at Samus. Round house kicking it away, Samus is immediately forced to the ground afterwards by the Yiga; using her arm cannon to hold him back and her left hand to keep the phazite blade from piercing her armor. Thinking quickly, Samus switches to the plasma beam and fires a round, catching the Yiga off guard and allowing her to blast him in the chest, severely injuring the Yiga and allowing her to recompose herself.
"Samus, that Yiga is showing irregular vital signs as well as a significant increase in phazon." Virginia reports. Looking up, Samus sees the Yiga dropping to his knees and left hand and he begins to mutate; the red phazon core protruding from the chest, increased muscle mass, reptilian-like feet and hands, the lower part of his mask crumbles which reveals sharp fangs in his mouth. Screeching, the now mutated Yiga charges the startled Samus with his blade held outward with the intent of bifurcating her. Trying to shoot him, the Yiga ducks down and kicks Samus away, leaving a laceration on her armor from his clawed feet. Falling on her back, Samus shoots at where the Yiga was standing, but he's revealed to be clinging on a pillar. The core on his chest begins to glow and a small, but destructive, ray of red phazon fires from it at Samus. Scrambling to avoid it, Samus somersaults away and shoots charged plasma at his position, but he jumps up and leaves a slash down her right shoulder, injuring Samus. The Yiga lands nearby and begins snarling at Samus, who glares back in a mix of anger and pain.
"You have suffered a serious injury; I suggest you retreat from this fight." Virginia comments, bringing up Samus's injury.
"No, I need this data; I doubt he's the only one like this. Link and Zelda need to know what I've discovered." Samus answers, clearly pained.
The Yiga charges once again, only this time Samus intercepts him; getting on her back and kicking him over her. Landing hard, the Yiga gets back on his feet and Samus does not give him time to respond; blasting him several times with plasma. The now injured Yiga jumps up in the air and lands on top of Samus, leaving another laceration on her left side. Shouting, Samus knees him and finally lands a charged plasma shot on his chest. Now both injured and facing each other, the Yiga tries to slash Samus once again, but she swats away the attack with her cannon and punches his mask with her left fist, disorienting him and allowing her to seize the blade. Impaling him through the abdomen, Samus lands a definitive blast through the Yiga's head, finally ending the fight as he falls to the ground. Exhausted, Samus deactivates her suit and finally observes her injuries.
"Those wounds will take time to heal, I'm afraid."
"I'm aware, Virginia." Samus answers, pressing her hand on her abdomen to stop the bleeding. "I think I better lay low for awhile. Try and establish communication with Link while I rest."
"Understood." Virginia complies as Samus limps away over to a shrine nearby to hide from potential enemies.
Link, some time later
Link awakens in his old house, wearing his tunic, unaware of how or when he got here. Sitting up, Link moves to leave, but the door downstairs opens and Dark Samus steps in.
"Hello again, Link…" Dark Samus greets as she walks up the stairs.
"You!" Startled, Link reaches for the master sword, but it's nowhere to be found, along with any of his equipment. "What? Where-"
"You understand the power that phazon offers you…? How invincible you feel…?"
"I never wanted this! You did this to me!"
"Regardless, it's already yours… As we speak, it spreads in your body; growing in strength as you invoke it… In the end, it will overtake you…"
"Samus didn't let it; what makes you think I'll be any different?" Link defiantly responds.
"I suppose you'll have to show me….Keep it interesting for me, will you…?" Dark Samus then obliterates the house in a flash of blue light.
Link awakens with a start and begins to look around his surroundings. Taking it in, he sees that his on a bed within what looks like a stable. Sitting up, Link wonders how he got here until a familiar face walks in through the door.
"OH! You're awake!" Beedle excitedly comments, putting down a bundle of firewood.
"Beedle? Is that you?" Link asks, rubbing his eyes.
'Yes! Good to see you awake, Link!"
"I'm happy to see you too. But, how did I get here; and where is here?"
"We're in the Serenne Stable, or what's left of it, in Salari Plains. I found you passed out at the Breach of Demise, so I brought you here; you've been asleep for a few hours. What happened to you?"
"Ah, bad run in with a…monster. Anyway, thanks for finding me." Link says before realizing something particular. "Wait a minute; Beedle, I was looking for you!"
"Me? For what?"
"We're here to stop what's going on. We were told that you were the one who talks with the Rito since they lost their village. Is that right?"
"Yes. Since they've been driven out of their homes, I've been trading with them; giving them supplies such as bomb arrows and other types. In return, they bring me a three days worth of food."
"How do you find them?"
"I don't; they find me." Beedle answers before pulling out a scroll. "They leave me instructions on trees covered in bark; in areas where beetles are abundant. That's how we rendezvous." Beedle then opens up the scroll and shows what's written on it. "Lucky for you, they're going to meet up with me tomorrow morning; here at the stable."
"Then, I can see them!" Link exclaims hopefully.
"I'm sure they'd be more than happy to see you." Beedle nods with a smile.
"Wait, by any chance, have you seen the Princess or a person wearing orange armor?"
"No, I'm afraid. You're the only person I've seen that wasn't a Yiga or monster."
"Oh…"
"But, I'm sure they're fine." Beedle comments in an effort to ease Link's mind. "Besides, why is the Princess here? What exactly is happening in Hyrule?"
Finally, Link explains to Beedle everything that's been going on as of late and how the Yiga have acquired all this power. Although bewildered, Beedle trusts Link and his friends to get all of this straightened out. Finally caught up on everything, Beedle points out that Link's equipment is on the adjacent bed and he sees that everything is in fact there, thanking Beedle once again. A few moments later, Beedle goes off to get the supplies ready for tomorrow, leaving Link alone to tend to the campfire. Wanting to at least contact Samus, Link takes the time to open up his wrists holo screen. A few seconds in, Samus thankfully answers.
"Link? Aren't you a sight." Samus, still a bit worse for wear, answers with a slight smile.
"Samus, sorry for not getting in touch sooner; I was a bit occupied." Links comments, relieved to see his friend. "Wait, what happened to you? You look terrible."
"Heh, you sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself." Samus quips, still uncomfortable with her injuries. "I ran into a new Yiga soldier; crazy bastard cut through my suit, took me a while to take him down."
"New Yiga soldier? Great…"
"Also, I have some bad news."
"I'd rather not hear it then."
"Tough luck. My ship took heavy damage to the central core; it can't fly now."
"For how long?" Link, now fairly worried, asks
"Until I can replace that core. Do you have an extra lying about?" Samus sarcastically answers.
"So, we can't even reach Vah Medoh now. This mission is getting better all the time; first we lose the ship, we're scattered, Zelda is still missing, you found more new threats and Ganondorf is here." Link announces in frustration.
"Ganondorf?" Samus's eyes widen in surprise. "But, we got rid of him, didn't we?"
"Remember that plaque underground? I'm starting to think he really is Immortal." Link replies in discouragement. "I barely lasted against him this time."
"How did you get away? You don't look too banged up."
"I think I used hypermode. I blacked out, but Beedle found me. He didn't see Ganondorf; he just found me and took me to a stable."
"Huh, we were looking for him and he found you instead. That's lucky."
"If only he found Zelda too..."
"Don't worry, she's a tough girl. The Yiga won't get her, have some faith." Samus says in a firm but soothing tone.
"I'm trying, Samus. I really am. But, I'm worried."
"About what?"
I was supposed to tell you this earlier, but with everything happening, it slipped my mind; before we descended the chasm, Gandrayda told me the existence of an informant giving Dark Samus and the Yiga our plans. I thought maybe she was bluffing but she had no reason to lie since Zelda purified her soul. Then, today I realized that she might be telling the truth after all; Ridley and the Guardians weren't there by chance. I think they were waiting for us."
Closing her eyes and thinking slowly, Samus takes in all that Link just told her before speaking up. "We can't rule out the possibility now, but as it stands, we need to focus on finding the Rito first. Did you find out where they are?"
Deciding that she's right, Link puts it off for now and nods. "They come to trade with Beedle for supplies. Tomorrow morning, they're going to arrive at this stable. Can you make it here?"
"Yeah, I can locate it on my map. By tomorrow morning, my wounds should be mostly healed and I'll make a beeline for it as soon as the sun rises. From there, we can ask them to help us find Zelda and maybe a way to the Divine Beast."
Both mostly satisfied with this agreement, they decide to turn in for the night, mostly to allow Samus time to recuperate from her injuries and to avoid monsters. Before this, Link speaks up again
"Hey, one more question?"
"What's on your mind?"
"You had hypermode before, right? I want to know..." Link pauses briefly before continuing. "What did it feel like?"
Samus takes a few seconds to gather her thoughts before answering. "Ah. The first time I used it, it felt powerful, exhilarating, invincible...but also terrifying. Having that much power that could take you over if you're not careful, it shouldn't be taken lightly."
Link doesn't even comment on Samus's experience, now unsure of himself if he can actually keep it at bay and not become one of them.
"We'll find a way to fix this." Samus adds, wanting to give Link hope.
"But if we don't-"Link attempts to retort, but Samus quickly stops him.
"It won't come to that. Just don't use it too often. Understand?"
"...Yes."
"Good. Now, get some sleep. I'll be there in the morning."
Shutting off his holo screen, Link takes a breather sitting at the fireplace. Beedle finally arrives, having prepared the supplies and moved them inside the stable, and brought a few meat skewers to share with Link. After sharing a few stories of current events with each other, they both get inside the stables to get some rest, wanting to be up early for the meeting.
Serenne Stable, Morning.
While Beedle has slept soundly, Link had woken up at sporadic intervals, not getting a good nights rest. This would prove to be a mixed blessing in the morning…
"Hmm? Beedle, look out!" Link shouts in alarm as he turns around to look at the entrance. Beedle awakens with a start and just barely avoids getting hit with a boko club. Link quickly pulls the startled Beedle back as they both see a small group of gold bokoblins glaring at them. Thinking fast, Link moves Beedle to the back of the stable, before picking up his weapons to face the enemies. Link immediately has to being up his shield due to the increased strength of the monsters, being forced back in the process. Eventually, the bokoblins manage to gang up on Link and begin hitting him with their clubs and swords, damaging his suit in the process. Despite this, Link uses the AKEB to launch himself and the bokoblins outside. Getting up, Link sees that there are several more bokoblins waiting for him outside. Assessing the situation, Link puts away his shield and pulls out the bow of light, dual wielding it with the master sword. Before either can react, a blast of energy sends a bokoblin flying and Link looks over at where it came from and sees Samus running towards them with her cannon extended. Seeing this, one of the bokoblins sends three riders to intercept Samus while the rest handle Link. The riders, each equipped with phazite swords, rush Samus with the intent of subduing her. Samus slides under the first blade, stopping abruptly as the wound on her waist makes her wince, allowing another rider to ram its horse onto her, knocking Samus on the ground. Another bokoblin tries to impale Samus, but she manages to get a grip on the blade before it makes contact. However, the sting of her injuries inhibit her strength, allowing the blade to move ever closer to her torso as the other riders move in to stab her as well. Before she can react, a golden streak beheads the bokoblin as the streak "boomerangs" back around and lands at Link's left hand, revealed to be the bow of light. Capitalizing on the stunned riders, Samus gets back to her feet and kicks away both riders and blasts them each with missile before charging up her speed booster to barrel through a few bokoblins to finally reach Link.
"Sorry I'm late." Samus comments. "That's what you've been practicing with that bow? How can it do that?"
"Later, we need to get rid of these monsters!" Link quickly retorts before rushing the monsters with both weapons drawn, locking blades with two bokoblins. Samus, scanning the beasts and seeing that they have increased phazon numbers, activates her new suit (now dubbed the Duo-Blight Suit) and enters the fray despite her injuries. Link manages to push back the bokoblins and swings both weapons one after the other (master sword with long swings and bow of light with wide swings), culminating with the bow being thrown and a skyward strike hitting it and sending rays of light at the monsters before it boomerangs back to his left hand. Samus, for her part, blasts the attacking bokoblins with shots of malice infused phazon. After about four minutes, the number of monsters has dwindled to five, but to their shock, another six squads of bokoblins and lizalfos (all golden) arrive from phazon tentacles that burst from the ground, surrounding the pair. Link and Samus stand back to back, eliminating their blind spots from the enemies.
"Now what?" Samus asks, checking her diminishing phazon levels and status of her injuries.
"I'm open to suggestions." Link answers, gripping his weapons tightly. Eventually, a bokoblin loudly screeches, rallying the others to charge with their weapons ready. Just then, several sacks filled with a gas like mist drop around them all, bursting and covering the area with it. Startled, Link and Samus try to find the enemies amidst the gas so the latter activates her thermal visor to locate them, until an explosion near several monsters overloads it.
"What's going on?!" Link shouts amidst the explosions. "I can barely see anything!"
"Your guess is as good as mine!" Samus answers and the explosions stop, followed by monsters screaming as they are attacked by unseen attackers. "Hang on; I think I can spot them now!" Switching back to the thermal visor, Samus observes several dead monsters on the ground, as well as a group of swift attackers with phazite blades attacking the surviving monsters. "I can't make them out, but it looks like they're all hooded and they have black robes."
Once the last monster is slain, the attackers rise up and swing their arms down, dispersing the mist. Once cleared, Link and Samus stare in awe as several more hooded individuals stand in front of them (the other attackers join them)
"Who are you?" Link asks, still wary and holding both weapons defensively.
Samus, for her part, activates her x-ray visor to see their bone structures, surprising her. "Link, I think they're-"
"Well, what took you guys so long?!" Beedle, rushing out if the damaged stable, shouts to the strangers in a small fit of anger. "You all said early morning!"
"You know them, Beedle?" Link asks, retracting his helmet.
"You came a long way just to say hi, Link." The stranger at the front addresses Link, and the former turns around at hearing this familiar voice. To his shock and relief, the stranger pulls down his hood, revealing a white avian face with a yellow eagle like beak, two braids framing his face and amber eyes.
"Teba!" Link exclaims in excitement. Teba smirks as the other hooded individuals pull off their hoods, revealed to be the Rito.
To be continued.
Authors note: The Rito! I've been brainstorming a lot these past few weeks, getting help from another writer to find out which path I want this story to take and I think I now have a good feel of where I want to go. Wish me luck and take care, guys/girls.
