Chapter 11: Alpha and Omega; Beginning and End

Pathos of the Palashian Premier Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.

Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst The World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.

"Song for Torment" - Fear & Hunger OST. Scene 1 (First Half).

"Character Select" - Street Fighter X Tekken OST. Scene 2 (First Half).

With confidence backing their convictions and with great curiosity filling their souls, the party of heroes led by Impa at last finish through Prima's World Tour tournament in Hyrule; the 'Hylian Hyrax' in respectable positions. Link finishes in an extremely close second, losing only to his old rival; last survivor of the Van Garrick clan, Raynard Van Garrick.

In this position he has secured a trophy, a sizeable lump of prize money and, of course, championship points. Barkner and Alwyn, although finishing in third and fourth respectively, also receive a considerable sum of championship points with which to add to their own tournament career in the PWT; something that they choose to pursue along with their common close companion Link.

When arriving into the great metropolis known as Palashia, however, the group are beset by numerous curiosities; the young Hylian children, though blameless in their youth and innocence, find themselves the target of what appears to be some brand of racial hatred. The highly-knowledgeable Impa and Alwyn explain to them that this stems from countless centuries of injustice and slavery, wrought at the hands of the Hylians themselves during the height of their power and reign. All facts that are conveniently omitted from Hyrulean history books.

"You'll find that... history is written by the winners, princess."

Wise words spoken by the ever business-like Impa herself.

It is while securing their rooms for the Palashian martial arts tournament, however, that the heroes are approached by nearby miner by name of 'Paul'; he explains rashly and worriedly that he is the only seeming survivor of an attack at the Greymont Mines, via what seems to be a random infestation of fiends and to make matters worse the city's mayor himself is being held hostage within.

Although the group vote two to four in favour of leaving the miners to their fate, they choose to go assist the poor miners, receiving merely impudence and rudeness from the nearby soldiers' commander. Soon enough, however, he soon realises his precarious position and agrees to allow the party to assist them; something that earns them the city's respect and gratitude. While inside the warriors easily mop up any small-time fiends such as Lizalfos and Keese before eventually bumping into the winner of the Hylian Hyrax himself; Raynard Van Garrick.

He explains he is in the mines for a 'contract'; when the suspicious Impa questions him further they are swiftly ambushed and by one of the most shocking sights of all.

A gigantically-sized black-haired Wolfos.

Although the heroes are initially shocked by the appearance of such a huge fiend they shake it off and quickly work together, new ally in tow and all; with little to no trouble at all, they put the Wolfos away with deft teamwork and synergy but are left with no more answers than when they came in.

Where did the fiends come from? And with what intention?

Though smaller fiends generally congregate within damp, dark places such as the Greymont Mines, Impa's suspicion only grows when she considers the abrupt appearance of such a powerfully-sized Wolfos; it can only be bad. Her sharp mind at first goes to imprisoned Ganondorf himself but, realising he couldn't possibly be at fault for such a far-off indiscretion, her suspicions fairly quickly fall back on his right-hand man; a former deserter of the religious Hylian order and feeder of information to his cause.

Scaverin Estienne.

The heroes put their suspicions out of their mind however; as a new day breaks, so too does the sun shine for the glorious opening of the Palashian Premier tournament. Link, as always, awakes fairly groggily and early in the morning...

Scene 1

The ground didn't rumble in the effect that the robed Scaverin evoked but it gave off a strange vibration that the watching Raynard found himself feeling uneasy with; he held back a grunt of effort as he stayed his body to the ground, tree-shaded eyes glaring back at the vibrating form of his mentor before him.

"Just as I told you...," the bald-headed Hylian man grinned on, his robed arms held on his sides and his palms opened up, as if he were embracing something. "These foolish Aurelians... they know not the true value of which they watch over..."

Raynard gulped down a load of nervously-gained saliva as he watched, a single bead of sweat dropping down from his forehead in likewise anxiety.

Something's not right here, the young Hylian thought.

A chill ran down his spine and he felt like regurgitating whatever he had last eaten...

"And yet he's perfectly okay... why is that?"

The robed Scaverin made no attempt to read his student's ruminations; indeed, as the air around them rumbled and vibrated somehow, so too did some form of Aegir and Quintessence slowly hover into the grinning sorcerer's form.

"Excellent...," he sighed out, his robes at last lowering, as if to indicate the end of his odd eldritch-like ritual. Raynard's killing senses at last relaxed and he sighed through his nose in a grateful-faced frown, glad to be rid of the odd sensation that once weighed heavily in the air. "Calling that giant Wolfos certainly turned out to be a good idea after all..." The wizard grinned on in satisfaction, drawing a half-curious frown from the watching Raynard.

"Couldn't we have done this without endangering needless lives like that though?" He shot forward, arms folded as he did, black-shaded eyebrow raised. Scaverin lost his grin in favour of a half-curious frown as he slowly 'rounded his bald head to stare back at the boy. "I mean I'm happy for the experience, but..."

"You received a sizeable amount of Rupees from the killing of that creature, didn't you?" The conjurer claimed in a testy tone, his hazel-shaded eyes narrowing in scrutinisation. "What's wrong? Those pathetic Palashians refuse to pay you?"

"No I got the money all right, but...," Raynard answered him, lowering his eyes lightly as he did before swiftly re-raising them to face him again. "People died for this," he reiterated, frowning forward. "Was that really necessary?"

"Yes...,"

Raynard's senses twitched back into killer instinct mode and he unfolded his arms, taking a step back as the glaring-faced Scaverin turned his form 'round in his hateful-faced glare. The baritone he spoke in flavoured his tormented words perfectly; anger and frustration filled him as he turned to stand threateningly over the boy.

"It was," the wizard claimed boldly. "Domination... is at last complete; it just barely reaches the requirements but a full regiment of soldiers and the odd miner or two should bring us up to speed..."

As always the listening Raynard could make little to no sense of his mentor's drivel; it was something that always divided them and prevented them from bonding.

Not that he ever wanted to.

"What even are these questions anyway...?" The sorcerer pressed the boy suspiciously, furrowing his bald-headed brow as he spoke. "You come from a clan of people murdered and abandoned by these thoughtless cretins... what could you care for them?"

Raynard lowered his chestnut-brown eyes, twitching as he listened. "I dunno I guess... it just ain't right..."

"You've been spending too much time with that boy...," Scaverin growled out as he marched down the mountain of soldiers' corpses he stood on, marching past the wincing and silent Raynard. "Although you may both be Hylian...," he began again, half-turning his head as he spoke. "You can never trust him..."

Raynard furrowed his own brow in curiosity. "Why?"

"Why...?" Scaverin murmured out in a frowning-faced parrot before he swiftly regained the satisfied smirk on his face, refacing the front. "Why because of his relation to the royal family of course..."

The listening Raynard's frown-turned-scowl twitched one last time as he stood. Unable to respond, having known the answer anyway, he merely began marching along behind his mentor ever faithfully.

The sound of birds singing and calling away echoed out from the window nearby, slowly but surely pulling the sleeping form of the groggy Link back to the waking world. He winced as he opened up his oceanic-eyed gaze into an inevitably low-held squint as the bright rays of the sun itself shone through his window on his top-right. The blonde-haired boy rose up his right hand to block the powerful rays that shot through his eyes to his head, bringing on a light ache to his head.

Another day, another Rupee, he thought to himself in a light sigh through his nose.

His spirits quickly rose however when he remembered that today, of all days, was the day of the Palashian tournament.

He almost let a smile grace his young complexion before he swung his head down to glare in annoyance at the feeling of something pressed down on his side.

"What the...?" He murmured out, half-curious. He furrowed his brow as he pulled up the quilt only to widen his ocean-shaded eyes at the sight waiting for him; sleeping next to him was the quietly-snoozing Malon, her small form curled up to lean on him. "Gagh!" He exclaimed out, half-surprised. Soon enough however his initial shock turned to annoyance and his comically-faced deadpan-like frown changed to convey it, and rather successfully at that.

The young farm girl slowly but surely opened up her similarly sky-blue eyes and yawned as she rose her head to face him. They stared at one another in another humorously silent exchange; Link in his annoyed glare and Malon in her genuinely curious-eyed early-morning lethargy. Eventually and soon as well the frowning-faced Malon's expression soon switched to a greeting smile.

"Morning." She spoke surprisingly cheerfully, drawing an annoyed twitch from the Hylian next to her.

"Don't morning me!" He snapped back, his frustration with the auburn-haired girl growing. "What the hell are you doin' here?! We shouldn't be sleeping together!"

Malon let a devious little smile etch across her face as she wrapped her slim arms 'round the boy's own left, pulling it closer. "Oh darling, what will the others think if they hear you talking like that?"

Realising he had walked himself straight into an embarrassing sentence the former Hero of Time blushed both in chagrin and shame, mostly in their abrupt and strange change in relationship.

This just feels weird, the young boy thought.

Normally it's me embarrassing her.

"I don't think I like it..." He finished silently as he tried, in vain, to pull his arm free from her grip.

"So what's on the agenda for today then?"

Her sudden question dragged him straight back out of his frowning-faced ruminations and he double-took back down toward her in a disapproving look before lightly sighing in defeat, relaxing his left arm in her hers.

"Palashian Premier's on today at 11:00," he answered in his sighing tenor. "Y'know...," he began again, staring down at her in an annoyed frown. "If we'll ever get out of bed."

She giggled impishly back at him.

"I guess there's always breakfast first though...," the Hylian boy murmured out, turning his blue-eyed gaze toward the sun's rays. "Wonder what time it is..."

"Early...," Malon sighed lightly back, re-shutting her eyes as she leaned in closer to the boy's neck. He twitched again from the contact and couldn't help but near shiver when he smelt her scent; a nostalgic one that reminded him of their forgotten days together within a different timeline. "I made sure to sneak in here early enough so we'd get a good night's sleep."

"Yeah...," he replied in a suspicious-eyed frown. "About that... shouldn't you be over there?" He nodded his messy blonde head and pointed his free right hand toward the far-off bed at the edge of the room. "And where the hell is Barkner?"

"He's fine...," Malon sing-singed out in a grinning roll of her azure eyes. "All I did was switch our keys!"

"So we'd get paired y'mean." He accused her in a disapproving narrow of his eyes. She rolled her eyes again, her cheer wholly undeterred.

"You make it sound so lewd and indecent," the girl batted back before she grew her grin a little as she brushed her right finger softly across his left arm, making the youth twitch in her grip again. "Whatever will we tell the others...?" She whispered in his ear, drawing an embarrassed wince from him. Finding himself unusually pressured by the young girl he immediately went to his panicked thoughts and drew on the only female member of the crew that didn't embarrass him.

Or didn't try to embarrass him, at any rate.

"IMPA-SENSEI!"

–

2

Following his rather humorous debacle with the audacious farm girl, the wise Sheikah leading them opted to punish not only the overstepping Malon but the annoyed Link as well; a fact that left a sour taste in the blonde boy's mouth, even as he shovelled food into his mouth, drawing laughs from the well-natured members of the group.

Thankfully however, for them both, their punishment was deferred until after the Palashian Premier was over; a fact that managed to allay the youth's concerns as he signed and showed up for the next tournament itself. Just as with the national championships in Hyrule, the stadium within Palashian Palace was packed; even having arrived fairly early, thanks to the wise Impa's counsel, the group still barely found enough room with which to manoeuvre.

With some genuinely light surprise the well-founded Link, Barkner and Alwyn soon discovered that their earlier finishing positions within the Hylian Hyrax had bought them a reprieve from the Palashian preliminary rounds; with nine-hundred points shared between them all they more than qualified to make the top eight. However, thanks to official rules and guidelines regardless, the three were forced to fight through a series of relatively easy preliminaries alongside everyone else as a formality.

It was something that, while the heroes didn't mind, the lone wolf himself, Raynard Van Garrick, did; and he voiced his displeasure with the staff members severely. As always however he was briefly swept aside in favour of the officials and guidelines; a consistency in their style that kept the Prima World Tour on top. Just as within the Hylian Hyrax's stands, every seat was filled and with screaming and enthusiastic watchers at that.

"Hello and welcome, one and all to the beautiful splendour of Palashia Palace!" The well-dressed man called out, ever professional from his desk just below the audience stands. "I'm Mr. Marshall, man on the scene! And with me always is my partner in crime..."

"Tasty Seth!" The notoriously loud youth called out loudly, standing up from his seat to place himself on their very desk itself, leaving the worried Marshall wincing on his immediate right. "What's poppin' Palashia?! It's ya boys T.S and M.M and we can't wait to show you today's top eight competitors!" He called out, drawing an annoyed grunt from his older companion; he swatted the man's attempts to grasp at his arm, presumably to pull him down, before continuing to speak through his small Gossip Stone. "We got returners, we got newbies, we got former champions! It's gonna be the best damn show you people have ever seen!"

YEAAAAAAAAAHHH

In an excited call the audience boosted the morale of the already enthusiastic youth and, at last, Marshall managed to pull the young man back down, gifting him with a half-annoyed frown before regaining his smile as he re-faced the front.

"That's right, folks; if you've been following our Prima World Tour you'd know we've already been to Aurelia's capital in Hyrule... a tantalising tournament indeed!" The man explained in his sociable smile. "Returning with us in today's top eight are none other than the previous winner of the Hylian Hyrax himself and now-crowned Hylian champion; Raynard Van Garrick!"

YEAAAAAAAAAAHHH

"His blonde-haired rival; the blonde bombshell himself... Link Firbrand, nipping at his heels rejoins us for the Palashian Premier!" Marshall called out, briefly reading from what seemed to be a parchment of paper laying on his desk.

YEAAAAAAAAAAHHH

"Don't forget our boy in Zora's Domain!" The ever-exuberant Seth called out in his infectious grin. "Alwyn Weirson; the drunk... with style!"

"And, of course, our last returning competitor and no slouch himself; Barkner Elbrus!" Marshall continued his younger companion's call, smiling on as he did. "The rock that no one can lock!"

YEAAAAAAAAAAHHH

"We got one hell of a show for you today folks and we can't wait to get down with it!" Seth grinned on. "Ain't that right Marsh?"

"Most definitely!" The older man smiled on in enthusiasm. "Don't go away folks; stay tuned to this ever-developing event!"

"So how have you been since...?"

"O-Oh um... you know... I'm... hangin' in there."

The watching Link couldn't help but grow the grin that threatened to split the sides of his face, holding back a similarly-held chuckle that the standing Alwyn mouthed lightly beside him. Standing directly ahead of them was the awkwardly-held Barkner in conversation with a familiar woman; his last opponent from the Hylian Hyrax itself; a woman by the name of Lyna Greene mixed a surprisingly sociable smile with the Goron as she folded her arms back at him.

"Y'know... I am happy for the guy...," Link began positively, his grin growing a little in his usual brand of mischief. "But of all chicks...?!" He laughed, pulling his straw-haired head back in hilarity as he did. "She's like, the manliest girl I've ever seen...!" He laughed out in a low-toned hiss of his tenor, being sure to keep his voice low so as not to attract any undue attention.

Alwyn cast the childish boy a half-amused smirk of his own before re-facing the smiling Lyna and chuckling Barkner ahead, his slim Zoran arms ever folded.

"Some of us legitimately can't help the kinds of women we attract," the Zoran merely shrugged back in a lighter smile of his own, the atmosphere meshing well with his usually-stoic behaviour. "You of all people should know, surely." He batted back however, this time in a knowing smirk.

Link's laugh soon died out only to be replaced by a half-amused grin of his own, a blonde eyebrow shooting up in piqued curiosity. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

Alwyn grinned back knowingly as he turned his blue-shaded head 'round to face the boy. "You're dangling two potentials within our party by itself, let alone any possible women you've met in your little adventures."

Link couldn't help but grin back in a zig-zag like nature, unable to find a word with which to respond.

He has me there, the former Kokiri thought.

"And a Palashian princess if things go your way by the end of today!" The former soldier continued on, another eyebrow rising up as he did almost as if to gauge his friend's reaction. Realising Alwyn was referring directly to the number one prize of the Palashia Premier tournament they were here for, Link rose both eyebrows of his own before wincing.

Oh yeah, he thought.

There's that too.

"Now I got mixed thoughts about winning..." He murmured out, folding his bare arms as he stood dressed within his karate gi attire, casting his frown downward in deep once, and surprising the youth beside him, Alwyn let out a light laugh that agreed with his normally hardened and stoic form.

The frowning Link swung his raised-brow to eye the man before swiftly switching his frown into an infected smirk of his own, joining along in the Zoran's cheer. He shrugged back and lowered his blonde-haired head lightly as he did, oceanic eyes shut.

"What can I say? I got too many girlfriends!" He boldly stated, drawing another laugh from the amused Zoran. "Danglin' one more just wouldn't be fair to the others!"

"You're an idiot is what you are."

The pair turned their heads, half-surprised to find the source of the deep tenor stepping into the competitor's box the folded-armed Raynard himself, ever scowling in deep-disapproval.

"Ray!" Link greeted on in an amused chuckle of his own, raising up his slim arms to rest behind his pony-tailed head ever in an old habit. "Nice to see you too!"

"You're a Hylian; act like it," the black-haired boy lightly chided as he unfolded his arms to begin marching past them. "I respect what strength you do have so have respect for yourself," he criticised on as he nodded his head in his firmly-frowning form of recognition. "Acting like a clown will avail you nothing here; I promise you."

Even as the spiky-haired mercenary marched off and issued two more nods, one to the light-faced Alwyn and the similarly-smiling Barkner, the grinning Link couldn't help but shake his straw-haired head in near disbelief as he watched him leave. Barkner jabbed a rocky-bodied thumb back the way he came, half-turning his head in the disappearing mercenary's figure as he re-opened his mouth to speak.

"Yo was that Ray?" The Goron asked in the quip of an entertained grin. "It looked like he gave us nods of respect!"

"Yeah; I told ya!" The ever-grinning Link shot back, nodding his own head upwards in greeting as the Goron approached them. "The guy's okay at his core! He's just, y'know, a little weird."

The disagreeing look he received from the knowledgeable Alwyn made him roll his eyes in his light smirk.

"All right he's more than a little weird, I admit," the blonde boy chuckled. "But he's got a good heart I'm willin' to bet."

Alwyn nodded on along in light agreement before he slowly turned his ocean-shaded head to face his Goron companion on his right, his smile still on his face as he did.

"So how's Lyna?"

Barkner's grin immediately dissolved, and in favour of a shocked and embarrassed zig-zag-like frown, eliciting a snorting snigger from the listening Link on the side.

"U-Um...," the Goron began uncertainly, wincing noticeably as he revolved himself 'round to eye the folded-armed woman herself standing patiently behind him near the box's centre end. She double-took in his direction and smiled lightly as she nodded back, drawing an awkward wave from him in response. "Y-Yeah; she's... fine," he answered, unsure and all. The listening Link exchanged his silent-faced grin with the similarly smiling Alwyn and the pair began to laugh in their own respective ways; Link in his ever expectant outburst and Alwyn in his more reserved and respectful chuckle. "W-What?!" Barkner called out in his annoyed frown, as if insulted. "What the hell's so funny?!"

Alwyn merely shook his head in response, perhaps in an attempt to dissuade the Goron from pressing him further, an amused smile still dotting his expression.

"No judgement." The grinning-faced Link spoke out as he rose up his hands in mock-surrendering, his voice half-breaking from the laugh he desperately held back.

"Welcome one and all! And thank you all again for taking part in the Palashian Premier."

The trio widened their eyes before turning their heads 'round toward the north-east end of the competitor's box; sure enough, one of Prima's many staff members began to move the event forward. All the necessary competitors were standing all around her and the whiteboard she utilised.

All except of course the heroes themselves.

Link nudged his two companions in his grin and cast them both a wink. "Come on! We better not be late."

–

3

"Congratulations to one and all for making it to the finals of this prestigious tournament!" The woman spoke out as she cast her smile down toward the growing group of warriors below her. As within the last national championships, there was a full group of eight challengers all littered 'round her, their numbers having grown with the grinning Link and his two companions. "In my hands are somewhat small Gossip Stones of the country of Hyrule."

The listening Link couldn't help but exchange his outward grin with the similarly silent Raynard across from him. The older boy looked back in his half-curious frown before he huffed lightly; ever in his usual knowing stoicism, Raynard merely kept his arms folded as he re-shut his chestnut-shaded eyes and grinned on as if infected by the blonde's sociability.

"When I hand all these out to you they will all flash a specific number," the referee continued on, smiling as she spoke. She bent down to hand over the first to the the firmly-frowning form of Raynard; he unfolded his arms and nodded in his hardened frown of respect as he gratefully took one from her. "With all that said, the Prima World Tour thanks and congratulates you once again and wishes you all good luck in your pairings!"

Link nodded in his excited smirk as he took the miniature Gossip Stone from the smiling woman before rising it up to his oceanic-eyed gaze.

Here we go, the young Hylian thought.

What's my number?

一

The former Hero of Time blinked on down unknowingly at the character shining in the Gossip Stone's beautiful display.

It looked like ancient Hylian, just like the last one, he thought.

His frown turned zig-zag in half-annoyance, unable to translate it.

"If only I could read this like Kage could..."

His thoughts, seemingly somehow read by the nearby leaning Barkner, made him swing his blonde-haired pony-tailed head in his direction in surprise. The Goron rose a curious eyebrow before smiling as he nodded.

"Number one; nice!" The man exclaimed out, drawing the curious referee's attention from across the room. "That means you're in Block 'A'!" Barkner claimed, pointing a rocky-bodied finger toward the neatly-written display on the whiteboard across from them.

"How do you know how to read ancient Hylian?" Link batted back in a half-amused grin, rising up a straw-haired eyebrow as he did, drawing a shrugging chuckle from the Goron.

"I took a couple classes whenever me and big bro Darunia were in Hyrule Castletown; what can I say?" He merely replied with in his grinning-faced shrug. "It's come in handy!"

"I'll say!" The smiling referee nodded as she approached the pair, turning her purple-haired head to face the ever-grinning Link. She reached down to collect his Gossip Stone and nodded a second time in confirmation. "Number... one! Excellent, thank you." She thanked again, this time in a third nod as she brought the stone back toward the table and reached up presumably to convey the results on the whiteboard.

Link's blood boiled at the thought of getting matched up with Raynard again; he couldn't help but swing his grin 'round on the ever-frowning form of his raven-haired rival, drawing another huffing silent-faced smirk from him in response.

It was obvious they were contemplating the same thing.

"Hey, that's real lucky!" Barkner grinned in next to the boy, drawing curious looks from everyone else.

"Yeah?" He asked.

Alwyn nodded along in light agreement. "Yeah," the Zoran claimed, arms ever folded as he nodded his head toward the whiteboard's placements. "Looks like you'll be up against Amaliya."

"Amaliya...?" The young Hylian parroted out quietly, turning his head to his left only to find the woman in question; a black-haired woman in a long military coat, native to Stralanavia. She stood in a seemingly similarly stoic sense to their comrades and cast the watching Link a hard-frowning glower as he stared on back at her hot-pink irises.

Damn, he thought.

I've met friendlier Wolfos', he finished in a half-amused grin.

"She looks strong though..."

Even the thought of a challenge from what appeared to be a well-experienced former soldier was tantalising; it was something that lit a fire in the boy's belly.

His fists clenched at his sides and he narrowed his eyes forward in his excited grin, morale rising high.

"In round one we have Link Firbrand versus Amaliya Valentinovna!"

As the referee at last announced the match-up confirmation, the raven-haired woman narrowed her eyes over at the whiteboard almost as if to validate the staff member's words, before eventually swinging her glare on the grinning young Hylian to her left in a swish of her two long strands of black-shaded hair, the rest successfully held together in a neat bun.

"Round two is Katina Agarista versus Alwyn Weirson!"

The former Zoran soldier himself turned his curious-faced frown 'round and, sure enough, his opponent stared back at him; another young woman that had qualified for the top eight's grand finals but, this time, much friendlier. She smiled and nodded over toward him in an affable nod. She was dressed in a loose-fitting white top that fit the simple breezy Palashian weather, merely opting as well for a basic pair of shorts, fingerless gloves and boots.

A Palashian local it would seem.

"Round three is Barkner Elbrus versus... um... 'unknown'!"

The group of warriors all swung their heads in the referee's direction in a mixture of curiosity and shock.

"Unknown?" The brow-furrowed Goron himself parroted, unable to believe the woman's words. She winced as she turned to face him. "What the hell does that mean?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Elbrus; it's part of the royal family's wishes." She apologised in a conciliatory frown, shrugging as she did, almost as if to convey the sense that there was nothing she could do about it. Barkner merely blinked back before turning to exchange unsure shrugs with the listening Link and frowning Alwyn.

"And finally, in round four we have Raynard Van Garrick versus Lycidas Marino!"

As the Palashian woman spoke again, the black-haired boy himself swung his hard-frowning face 'round only to find a similarly standoffish man staring back at him and a huge one at that; Raynard's brow near hit the roof when he had to raise his raven-topped head to get a decent look at the incredibly tall man staring back at him. Standing in at what seemed to be a rather intimidating 6 inches at least Lycidas' overall aura was compounded even further by the incredible six-pack muscle that he carried.

The man's long purple hair – seemingly a trademark of the Palashians – was pulled into a long and braided pony-tail, diving down the long reaches of his bare back. He sported nothing across his bare torso, almost as if to reveal his hardened training to all, and wore golden-shaded bracelets across his wrists to go along with it. A tattered black belt sat across his waist, dotted along with simple worn trousers, diamond-green in colour. Similarly golden-coloured boots adorned his feet to complete his look.

All in all, he was rather intimidating.

Raynard glared on back at the hardened stare he received, a side of his scowl twitching in doubt.

"Better not lose!"

The young mercenary widened his chestnut-brown eyes and swung his body 'round to stare back at the contrastingly grinning-faced Link. The blonde boy nodded forward, rising up his left fist vertically as if to gesture with.

"Not before we meet in the finals anyhow!" He amended his sentence with, chuckling on well-naturedly as he did. Raynard at last found his cheer again and smirked lowly as he huffed, eyes briefly shut before he swiftly re-opened them to narrow forward.

"That's my line." He shot back in a confident gaze.

Link couldn't help but chortle again, his excitement growing.