Deadly Frenzy: Looking for an Answer

by Kenrai

Having rescued the continent of Termina in what seems to others as merely a single three day cycle, the Hero of Time himself at last returns to his home country of Hyrule. This time, to not only continue his search for his missing companion via Prima's 'World Martial Arts Tournament' circuit... but also for the answer that her light provided him with.

16. Acknowledgement

Chapter 16: Acknowledgement; Recognising One's Rival

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.

"Title Theme (Ocarina of Time)" - Hyrule Symphony Orchestra. Scene 1 (Second Half).

"The Instinct" - Killer Cuts OST. Scene 2 (First Half).

"Force Addiction" - Yakuza 0 OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).

"Simple Rating"; Vassia's Theme - Street Fighter Alpha III OST. Scene 4 (First Half).

"The Funk Goes On" - Yakuza OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).

"Tusk" - Yakuza 0 OST Scene 5 (First Half).

"Last Moment of the Dark" - YS I & II PCE OST. Scene 5 (Second Half).

"Termination"; Kage Narumono's Theme - YS II Complete. Scene 6 (First Half).

---

Having saved the city of Rocknesse and Palashia itself from a nearby pest problem involving fiends such as Lizalfos and even a giant Wolfos, Impa and company easily find their foothold within the grand metropolis; said to be a beautifully white-pristine city of relaxation and enjoyment, often sought by those with affluence.

In meeting the city's mayor himself, a man by the name of Lavrentius Marino, the group receive close seat tickets as a result of saving him from annihilation in the Greymont Mines; a mysterious spreading and invasion of fiends that even saw multiple miners and soldiers deceased. Although the ordeal for the poor Palashians is at last put to rest, the suspicious Impa cannot help but wonder as to the origins of such an attack; while a simple fiend invasion is often little cause for concern, one on such a massive scale is often the result of an outsider's influence.

Regardless however the heroes all sign up for the upcoming Palashian Premier tournament; the national championship itself. While Raynard and Link both manage to progress past their initial rounds only Barkner and Alwyn lose their matches; Barkner unfortunately loses his in a privately-held match with the royal family's stand in (a fact that bothers Link to this day), while Alwyn himself loses his gambit in the semi-finals more recently with the former Hero of Time himself.

A sign of achievement and progression ever since their first meeting in Zora's River and Jabu Jabu's Belly.

Now only two of Hyrule's original party remain qualified and stand to win in the Palashian Premier; Link Firbrand and Raynard Van Garrick. The two, having become fierce rivals in the era that the Hero of Time has emerged from, promise one another to meet in the grand finals for their chance to prove that not only are they the country's best...

But that they are better than one another; a true rival's test.

One obstacle stands in the last Van Garrick's way however; the royal family's stand in. A mysterious fighter that has, so far, remained completely evasive and elusive; having already beaten all their opponents in privately-held matches. Although Raynard feels similarly sour akin to his rival at the thought of special treatment to his enemy he knows he has no choice; no commoner must defy the royal family of any nation, especially one allied to his own.

Raynard prepares himself for his next great test and Link, in turn, hopes to meet him in the grand finals, having already qualified for them.

Truly, it will be a survival of the fittest...

---

Scene 1

"That was... impressive..."

The gasping Link, having been near completely exerted in his earlier counter-attack, relaxed his arms and hands at last as the grunting Alwyn peeled himself off the concrete below to step back up the ring and re-join him. The former Zoran soldier cast the young Hylian boy an initial business-like frown that he always knew him so well for; a fact that made the former Hero of Time near grin out of habit.

It was only then however that the older man's frown soon split into a lightly-appreciative smile.

"Good games..." He spoke so quietly it made the listening youth widen his eyes in genuine surprise, dotting his softly-spoken baritone with a light nod and raise of his hand; a gesture of sportsmanship.

Link's shock-faced frown soon curled up into a deliriously-happy grin; the look he was always known for, before he reached up and clashed his handshake with his close Zoran companion's. The watching Aurelian audience all erupted into deafening cheers and shouts that rent the floors and surrounding palace.

YEAAAAAAAAAHHH

"Truly an incredible ending to such a fierce competition between close friends," the smiling Mr. Marshall spoke through his Gossip Stone. "Thrills, chills, twists, turns and all things in between!"

"I'm sure that ain't the last we'll be seein' of old man Weirson in the Prima World Tour either Marsh," the contrastingly grinning Seth began, ever sociable and enthusiastic. "He's already came here all the way from Zora's Domain in Hyrule; he'll be with us in the Kaioh Bio! I bet all my Rupees on it!"

"A sentiment I can get behind my young friend!" The chuckling Marshall agreed with, lightly brushing his softly-held fist of fingers with the grinning Seth before re-facing the audience. "We're going to take a quick break and let our fighters rest up for the next round... don't go away!" He exclaimed out excitedly, thrusting his free left index finger at the watching crowd of people. "We have one hell of a surprise waiting for you all right here at the Palashian Premier!"

---

"Aren't you done yet?"

"Nearly... please hold still for me."

Link rolled his oceanic eyes, impatient and as antsy as ever; having won his last match merely moments ago and recovering his strength, he was swiftly ordered by his mentor to go sit with princess Zelda to work on their seal. As always, it was to strengthen its hold on the demonic Kage Narumono.

It wasn't something that terribly excited him but a necessity nonetheless.

"I didn't think you'd be okay that soon."

Alwyn's voice, so close-by, managed to take him by surprise; he turned his blonde-haired head from his sitting position and rose an eyebrow up at the approaching folded-armed Zoran in a curious-eyed stare.

"Yeah I guess it was just fatigue in the end," the young Hylian grinned his way, drawing a similar look from the older Zoran. "We didn't fight that serious anyway," he admitted in his light knowing grin. "Not like how we met."

"Hmph...," the listening Alwyn huffed back, his frown swiftly rising up into a low smirk of his own as if he were thinking of the memory. "Still though... it didn't make sense."

Link rose up a curious eyebrow, his grin soon dissolving into a curious-faced frown. "What didn't make sense?"

"When we met... in Zora's River...," Alwyn began again, this time in his contemplative frown, folded-armed as always. "You were... just an amateur. A child in every sense of the word," the Zoran spoke objectively and firmly, eyes narrowing suspiciously down at the blonde-haired youth. "But now, a few days after this journey to... 'Termina' you called it?"

"U-Um... yeah..." He answered in a shakily-held laugh, turning his eyes from the man as he rubbed the back of his pony-tailed head in response; a natural reaction of the awkward feelings that shot through his spine as a result of the Zoran's question.

He knew just what was coming.

"Now I remember our fight in Lord Jabu Jabu, if you recall..." Alwyn started a third time, stepping lightly forward in his hardened frown, drawing another nervous-sounding chuckle from the boy.

"N-Not really I was out of-"

"Yes... yes you were out of it; that's correct," the man claimed wisely and re-collectively. "By the time Navi and I'd already found you you'd changed into that thing."

The hardened flex of his baritone in the end of his sentence made the listening Zelda flinch amidst her sealing properties. Even the silent Link's nervous-faced grin soon found itself dropping in favour of a hardened frown of his own as he quickly reached back into his memories.

It was difficult to forget.

"Even with those powers of the... what did you call it... the-?"

"Shinzui."

Although the frowning Link had opened up his mouth to respond to his older companion, it was the similar-faced Zelda that had did it for him; surprised by her interruption the two turned their eyes 'round to face her briefly, eliciting her to rise up her blonde-haired head from her task of Aegir-control. She double-took in their direction before turning her bright-blue eyes away, as if in light embarrassment.

"Yeah...," Alwyn nodded in understanding, frowning on sombrely as he did. "The 'Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai', huh...?" He murmured out as if to get the words rolling off his tongue. "Even with that, Kage couldn't match me which makes me think as you get stronger...," he started again. "So does he."

Link's eyebrows lowered and his brow furrowed to match; it was a revelation that he already realised and one that he wasn't surprised someone eventually worked out.

But why, he prodded on the Zoran silently.

What could have provoked such an intense raise in strength and speed in merely a few days?

"So I started wondering how that was even possible... and no matter what scenario I run through my head, nothing made sense," the former soldier continued on in his folded-armed frown. "Until it hit eventually hit me."

Link's senses tightened as he listened on intently and respectfully, his fingers gripping the white-shaded cloth of his karate gi.

"You're not Link."

The blonde boy and his princess, surprised, could only swing their straw-shaded heads in the man's direction with eyebrows risen up to convey it.

"Or, sorry...," Alwyn began again, ocean-teal eyes briefly shut as he tilted his head as if in further thought. "You're not the same Link that I remember."

The former Hero of Time's frown twitched on in recognition and anxiety.

Bullseye, he thought.

"Who are you really?" The Zoran questioned firmly and suspiciously, brow furrowed down lightly at him. "Are you who I remember? Or someone else entirely? Or... are you even from this time?"

"P-Please don't say to anyone else about this," Zelda murmured out from her task, a light wince in her speech. "Only the royal family and those of importance are supposed to know about it..."

"No," Link at last answered, a comparative firm frown adorned on his young countenance. He shook his hot-blonde head as if to emphasise his next confirmation of the Zoran's suspicions. "I'm not from this time."

"Link...!"

The urging whisper he received from the worried princess next to him made him briefly eye her in an appreciative smile; he shook his head back at her as if to elicit the young girl to back down before he turned his eye back on the curious-faced Alwyn.

"I'm from a time and era where our country gets usurped by a man from the desert," he explained fairly concisely, frowning on his unusually mature business-like solemnity. "The only reason I was able to come back to this era... was her," he continued on, briefly re-eyeing the surprised and blinking young Zelda. "Zelda, of that time, sent me back here for two reasons."

Alwyn rose up a curious eyebrow. "And those were?"

"To prevent what happened there to happen here," he began in reply, frowning on similarly as he leant his head lightly. "And... I dunno... as an apology I guess," he finished out, lowering his oceanic-eyed gaze this time in recollection and deep-thought. Alwyn furrowed his brow curiously as he listened on intently. "A lot of people died to get us that last victory."

Alwyn's frown softened up and even his normally-firm form soon loosened.

"Barkner... Ray...," the Hylian boy spoke out softly and quietly, frowning on as he did. He turned his sky-eyed gaze up to face the Zoran in a half-amused smile, weak in form and nature. "You as well... actually..." He chuckled out mirthlessly before soon re-facing the floor.

The listening Alwyn, surprised by the news, could only lightly open his mouth as if to respond.

No words came out however; only air.

"That's why I'm so much stronger now than I was four days ago," he finished out, this time in a light-voiced sigh, re-facing the man in a more confident look. "I guess I ain't the same guy you remember." He finished out this time in a knowing, weak chuckling smile. A kind of stiff if, awkward silence descended on the trio, leaving them in what felt like a kind of odd-feeling limbo.

"Nah."

The surprised pair of Hylians turned their eyes 'round to face the Zoran, awaiting his perhaps inevitable follow-up.

"You're stronger than he was," Alwyn claimed, a light grin adorned on his face. The listening Link laughed outwith, half-surprised by his words but grateful for the change in atmosphere. "I think I like you better."

Link held back a loud laugh, gasping out from the sudden movement of his mouth as he grinned on back at him.

"Don't worry," the former soldier shook his head. "I'll keep your secrets."

The two Hylians looked up at him thankfully and gratefully in silent nods and smiles of their own, drawing the former Zoran soldier to turn and walk away as if to give them space.

Link couldn't help but leave the smile resting on his face, surprised not only by his companion's intelligence but also his choice to help the pair. He double-took, however, when he caught a similar look resting on the smiling Zelda's face; something knowing and something mischievous. His grin widened a little to match the curiosity in his risen eyebrow, casting her his unsure look.

"What are you grinnin' about?" He queried her curiously. She looked up from her double-handed task to exchange her grin with his.

"You told me first... didn't you?"

Her words, although true enough in their delivery, managed to take him by surprise nevertheless; he blinked doubtfully and dropped his own smile only to realise she was referring to his absurd secret. The blonde boy rolled his sea-shaded eyes and regained his grin as he re-opened his mouth to give voice to his silently-held thoughts.

"Of course I told you first, I had to," he admitted back as he returned his attention to the floor, as if in memory. His grin soon dissolved however, thinking back. "It was our only chance..."

"Would you have told me first if I wasn't Hyrule's princess?"

He shot his curtain-haired up in light surprise, blinking cluelessly a second time before holding back a chuckle and shaking his head as if in disapproval.

"Yeah... I think I would have anyway, lookin' back," he admitted, eyebrow rising up in his low-held grin. "You were always fairly easy to talk to."

She shared in his smile, opting to spend the rest of their time together in comfortably-held silence.

–

2

"Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to the one, the only... the Palashian Premier!"

As always, the ever-talkative Mr. Marshall's light baritone filled the palace walls rather well; the listening audience all let loose calls of approval and cheer. He sat in his classic business wear; a fairly professional look that suited the older man.

"It's a beautiful Saturday morning here in Rocknesse and, if you're just joining us, we're already eight rounds in this wonderful championship!" The man spoke on in his smile. "With me always is my partner in crime..."

"Tasty Seth; yo!" The ever-overambitious young man shot out with as he was referred to, leaning in his chair to issue the older man a brotherly fist bump before re-facing the audience. "That's right Marsh; we eight rounds in already!" He exclaimed out in his infectious grin; a fairly contrasting personality that complimented the two rather well. The young man rose up his free left fingers, once to flash for five, and a second raise to flash for three as if to emphasise for the watching audience. "And we got one hell of a reveal for ya folks!"

"Indeed we do my young friend!" Marshall nodded along in his sociable smile. "Although a national championship is typically fought in nine complete rounds, you savvy members out there in the audience will have keenly noticed that we have skipped two rounds completely."

"Say it ain't so Marsh!"

Marshall chuckled alongside the younger man's oh-so-obviously overdone tone. "It is I'm afraid," he continued on. "We all remember that secret that the royal family of Palashia themselves expressly forbade us from revealing... until the final round of course..."

"But then, that means...!" The wide-eyed Seth whispered out, a slow grin growing on his face; this time an honest one.

"That's right Seth!" Marshall chose to grin this time, snapping his fingers in the youth's direction as he did. "Now that Van Garrick's lost his match and the mystery competitor has progressed to the final round to meet Firbrand, we have been given the 'okay' to give to Palashia the final round!"

YEAAAAAAAAAHHH

As the listening Aurelian audience all outburst in approving yells and cries, pictographs of the Palashian Premier's final round contestants flashed up on the two pristine-white walls of the tournament building itself.

Vassia Palashia

Agility: S+

Side-Stepping: A

Defensive Ability: A

Link Firbrand

Aggressiveness: A

Agility: A

Tenacity: S

Although the ever-grinning Link's pictograph remained as similar as had been used previously, the newly-revealed 'unknown' competitor's face had at last been revealed as a young lavender-haired girl; she stared back at the viewer in a haughty-looking low-held smirk that seemed to gauge at her no doubt affluent background.

Her hair, although similarly long, was put together with care that bordered on extreme; long and oversized Victorian-style ringlets. Two small forelocks encircled her head, topped off with braids and a rather fashionable black-shaded bow tied at the back; a rather amusing way to give the haughty young girl an innocent facade.

"Yo, her last name is Palashia?! Does that mean what I think it means Marsh?!"

"That's right Seth...," the chuckling Marshall responded to in a chortling little nod of his brown-haired head. "Our mystery fighter is the very first-place prize of the Palashian Premier itself! Princess Vassia Palashia herself, in the flesh!"

YEAAAAAAAAAHHH

"I can't believe it!" The grinning Seth called out, clenching an excited fist as he did. "Not only are we gonna get to watch the princess fight... but the qualifier for the grand finals of another nationals is that Firbrand kid!"

Marshall grinned back in a similarly entertained and knowing look as he nodded. "He's certainly a fiery one isn't he Seth?" The man smirked on in a light tilt of his head before re-facing the audience. "It is true however! Young Firbrand is not only the first one so young to break some Prima World Tour records, he's also managed to successfully progress into two national championship grand finals! Now that's impressive!"

"Considering most competitors end up just goin' home before even the semi-finals, you damn right it is." Seth chuckled on well-naturedly.

"We have all this and more for you coming up in just a few minutes folks!" The firmly-smiling Marshall called out, finger lightly pointing directly at one of the watching audience stands. "Don't go away!"

---

"Damn... I ain't seen anyone beaten up that badly."

Barkner's grinning comment, spoken ever in his usual happy-go-lucky tone, was not met well with the scowling-faced Raynard even as he entered the competitor's box. Having seemingly already fought his semi-finals match with the mystery competitor, he sported some new wounds and marks that had, albeit, been worked away with the use of medical Aegir Art and drugs.

"Tch..." The young mercenary tutted out, his scowl lightly twitching as he regarded the grinning Goron before stepping past him, presumably to join the rest of the group.

"Ray!" The frowning-faced Link called out with, half-surprised as he swung his blonde-haired head 'round in his small chair. Although the similarly sitting Zelda across from him let out an annoyed twitch of her own frown, she chose not to voice her mild irritation with the boy's sudden movement. Link cast his older rival an appreciative grin this time as he re-opened his mouth. "So how'd you do? We sittin' on a run-back for the grand finals or what?"

Raynard shook his raven-haired head, ever in his business-like frown. "I'm here to tell you just the opposite, I'm afraid."

The grin on Link's face soon fell, both in legitimate surprise and shock. "Really?! Someone beat you?!"

Rolling his tree-shaded eyes in a mixture of annoyance and alleviation, as if he were grateful to be regarded highly by the youth, Raynard re-opened his mouth to reply. "That's what I'm here to talk to you about," he informed the youth, re-folding his arms as he approached the two. His eyes briefly regarded the sitting Zelda and though they merely brushed the blonde girl he opted to keep his concerns of her to himself. "I've been expressly forbidden by the royal family to even do this... but I want you to win this."

His words, so surprisingly selfless and appreciation, left the listening young Hero of Time in his own display of shock. He couldn't help but grow a small grin of his own in reaction to the hard-boiled boy's words.

It was subtle but it was there.

Respect.

"Your opponent will be a girl; a princess. The royal family's princess, actually," the young mercenary began in his firmly-held folded-armed frown. "I'm not sure who they stood in to fight Barkner but my opponent was definitely her; Vassia I think her name is."

"Vassia...," Link murmured out in a thoughtful-eyed frown, his oceanic orbs briefly lowering in pondering. "The name rings a bell."

Zelda nodded across from him in her own knowledgeable frown. "He's right," she confirmed, her small hands still caked with Aegir and pointed at the blonde boy's lower stomach. "Vassia Palashia is her name; I've been introduced to her before."

"So it was a girl!"

The grinning Barkner's words caused the children to swing their heads 'round to find the big Goron lumbering toward them, his own rocky-bodied arms folded as he spoke in light-voiced greeting.

"I should have known...," the older man chuckled good-naturedly, a grinning and shut-eyed shake of his head the conveyor of his inner-held suspicions. "When your gut knows... it knows!"

"Yeah I'll bet," the grinning-faced Link shot back in a similarly cheery-faced chuckle of his own before he turned back to face his other blonde companion. "So what do you know about her?"

Taken off-guard by his question, the pink-dressed princess could only blink back at him before re-opening her mouth to respond. "U-Um... not much," she answered. "She didn't seem very friendly now that I recall."

"Forget 'friendly'; she's strong," Raynard growled back at the two Hylians, chestnut eyes narrowing in scrutinisation as he did. "Do not underestimate her; I made that mistake."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Link batted back, ever the comedian. His listening black-haired rival glared back at him voicelessly, scowl twitching as if in anger; the blonde-haired boy could only laugh back, rising up both hands as if to ward him off in apology. "Hey I misspoke! Take it easy!"

The listening and silent Zelda held back an amused grin of her own as she lowered her head, returning attention to her sealing technique. Barkner snorted out quietly but audibly enough that the group heard him.

"Nah I appreciate that though," he added, this time dropping his comedic grin in place of a smiling nod. "Thanks Ray."

The listening young mercenary's initially annoyed scowl soon softened up into an understandably-sighing frown. "Mmm..."

"So it was the royal family!" Barkner spoke up in a curious-eyed frown of his own. "But why would they send their own daughter in to fight their battles?"

"Maybe it's like a test."

Zelda's sudden response made the group of males swing their heads in her direction in curious looks and raised eyebrows. She double-took up to face them all and looked back down sheepishly before continuing.

"This is just a hypothesis of course but it seems to me that this might be princess Vassia herself that's chosen to do this," the young girl explained briefly, hands ever extended outward. "I hear she's fairly... imperious." She finished, this time in a suggestive low smile that made the listening Link's frown turn an unsure stage. Raynard rolled his eyes in knowing and Barkner chuckled on knowingly.

"Whassat mean?"

"It means you got your work cut out for ya pipsqueak...!" The laughing Barkner managed out amidst his light fit of giggles. Although he was previously irked by his loss earlier to the young girl in subject-of-question, Raynard found his frown slowly upturning into a light smile of his own as he watched the similarly frowning Link turn his annoyed look on Zelda in a comedic grunt of irritation.

"Anyway...," the young mercenary began again, his smile soon dissolving back into the hardened frown they had begun to know him for. "Just be careful...," he advised his younger rival with, this time in a firm narrow of his tree-shaded eyes. "The way she moves... she's had training men like you and me just can't afford."

"What a quaint way of saying 'I'm poor'."

The words, spoken in such a quick and surprising tone of casual conversation, even more shockingly came from the prim and demure young princess Zelda herself. Link himself had to double-take in her direction, oceanic eyes widened and Barkner let loose a sudden burst of laughter that shook the competitor's box. Raynard, more surprised than annoyed, could only turn a curious raven-shaded eyebrow on her.

Although he was slightly insulted by the young girl's grinning words, Link couldn't help but grow a small grin of his own as he opened his mouth to voice his shock. "Zel!"

"What?!" She called back, eyes briefly wavering from his own in her light knowing smirk. "I'm just joking..."

Link chuckled, shaking his blonde-haired head, his neatly-kept pony-tail shaking lightly as he did. "Impa-sensei'd kill me if she caught you talkin' like that."

Barkner stifled his laughs at last and nodded. "Better make sure she don't hear of this then eh?"

–

3

Even as he walked out to face the screaming crowd and audience surrounding the Palashian Palace, Link couldn't help but cast his charming grin out toward them as he tossed the men, women and children watching him waves. It was only when he caught the sight of his opponent, at last, sauntering in after him that he double-took in her direction; sure enough, as her pictograph seemed to suggest, she wore a simple but elegant-looking red-shaded dress that complimented the black fingerless gloves and tights she sported.

A frilly white shirt sat comfortably underneath the business-wear red dress, matched well with the similarly white-shaded ascot tie that rested on her neck. Her footwear, although small as if to match her petite form, were no less stylish; a pair of similarly red-coloured boots that clung well to her figure.

As she took her spot directly across from him she rose up her gloved hand to rest under her left cheek, tilting her head at him as if she were looking him up and down. The standing Link couldn't help but feel somewhat awkward and let his oceanic eyes wander from her black irises, wincing as he did. The young princess' abyss-black eyes lit up lightly as she turned her frown into an amused smirk and opened up her mouth, almost as if to give voice to her no doubt bold words.

"Not bad... but I was expecting a lot more than... this..."

His pride suddenly insulted, Link swung back his half-annoyed and half-curious frown back 'round to face the unacquainted Vassia before him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He fired back, single ocean-shaded eye narrowing in scrutinisation to successfully convey the mental injury she managed to land on his ego.

Vassia rolled her ebony-night eyes back at him and swung her head 'round, her lavender curls following her as she did. "It means I don't believe you're even worthy of fighting me. That's what it means... little boy."

A kind of awkward silence descended down upon the listening arena and even the watching audience all let out mixed gasps and laughs. Link's blonde-haired eyebrows shot up in sheer shock that such words even came from the seemingly prim and proper princess.

Zelda would look like a saint compared to this chick, he thought angrily.

He couldn't help but grow a small grin as he lowered his head, eyes narrowing back at her as if in excitement. The watching Vassia could only rise up an unsure eyebrow at him, her face and even position unchanging even as she re-opened her mouth to poke and prod the young Hylian some more.

"What are you so chipper about?"

"Just imaginin' the look on your face when it's me that rejects you."

Her grin very quickly fell from her face and she turned her purple-haired head fully 'round this time to face him, shocked more than anything; her widened eyes confirmed her awe, watching deeply into his own lightly-narrowed cerulean orbs of his own, jolted by the way he was speaking to her.

It was almost as if no-one else either had the stones to speak to her in such a way...

Or were stupid enough to in the first place.

"And that's after I win this whole thing... and beat you." He added on, tilting his own blonde-haired head back at her as he did. The listening audience all erupted into laughing cheers; a mixture of support and sheer laughter at the boy's reckless challenge.

Her cheeks grew red, not in embarrassment, but in anger; an emotion held dearly well to the impulsive young girl. She breathed in deeply and briefly shut her eyes before breathing back out and re-opening them to stare back at him; the youth spun her slim arms expertly 'round as if to ready herself for combat and glared on back at him as she did, setting her small feet apart from one another.

"Fine...," she muttered out before glaring back at him. "Then I'll show you... the true divide in our class!"

"Red side, ready!"

Link nodded back at the woman's words, loud and clear as he crossed his clenched fists diagonally from one another, casting his defiant grin back at his watching opponent.

"Blue side, ready!"

"Hmph!"

The impudent huff from the young girl in question was all the staff member needed; she smiled awkward before reaching her long hammer for the gong.

"Begin!"

---

Bedazzling Heir to the Palashian Family

Vassia Palashia

The young Hero of Time wasted none of his own and cast his overconfident grin forward as he began to dash forward, his bare feet though unprotected, easily eating up tiles in his wake. He leapt up and kept his grin strong on his face, even as he air-dashed into the firmly-frowning Vassia's rose up her right elbow to block the horizontal chop, glaring back at him as they flew near-soundlessly through the air.

As they landed, however, she called out in a loud battle cry as she expertly spun 'round his form and leaned a quick kick his way. The blonde youth's form cast her another grin as it shimmered in and out of it; a clear indication of the after-image technique. In a simple sweep of the legs, Link managed to surprise the young girl and send her falling; a fact she rectified quite quickly and acrobatically.

As Link slammed his follow-up left elbow into the ground where she once would have rested, he found her fairly quickly pushing up off against the tiled ground beneath them both in an effort to side-flip skilfully into a graceful-looking landing far away from him. He rose his form back to his feet, clenched fists at his sides as the wind blew his pony-tail and fringe as well as the karate gi he wore.

"Not bad!" He called forward, drawing her attention; she swung her frown forward to face him and narrowed her ebony-shaded eyes back at him curiously, almost as if looking for any mistake in his form. "For all your boastin' I figured you were all talk."

"Hmph!" The young princess huffed back, her own frown swiftly switching to the superior smirk that he had begun to know recognise her for. "It is you that is lacking I'm afraid!"

Link's grin widened, but only a little. "Oh yeah?"

"If that's all the strength and speed your form possesses... and after beating your country's champion mere but hours ago..."

As she gave mention to the far-off Raynard, no doubt licking his wounds from his loss to her, Link couldn't help but drop his smirk in place of a twitching frown.

"I have no mortal fear of you." She called over haughtily and confidently, drawing a mixed reaction of cheers, boos and alveolar. Although the young Vassia had essentially just insulted himself, Raynard and everyone from his home country, Link found his grin slowly re-growing on his face; the prospect of a challenge just too much not to taste good.

"Some choice derogatory slinging here folks!" The smiling Marshall began from his commentating table. "Princess Vassia proclaiming her superiority over her opponent and even the Hylian race itself! Truly a whirlwind of emotions."

"She is a firecracker Marsh!" The ever-grinning Seth called out excitedly from his seat next to the older man. "She's one hell of a heel but people are cheerin'! They absolutely adore her!"

Marshall smiled on, winking suggestively into the audience as he clicked his fingers and pointed his index at them, opening his mouth as if to voice his next thought. "She's the one you hate to love!"

–

4

Almost as if she were listening to the crowd's mixed jeering and cheering, the smirking Vassia used her small feet and Aegir-control within to vault her high into the air; a tactic to keep her distance from the watching Link. The young blonde curled his contemplative frown swiftly into a low smirk and he ran his right thumb over his nose disrespectfully.

"Hah."

With that he gave immediate chase; oceanic eyes fixated on his high-flying opponent he pounded his marginally larger legs boldly against the white-tiled floor of the arena, before grunting in effort as he leapt skyward to swing his body upside down in a grinning-faced dive-kick.

"Hmph!" The young princess huffed out in her own superior-faced smirk. "Pathetically predictable!"

As she called out her insult, so too did the commanding purple-shaded Aegir that surrounded her form vibrate out as a result of her mandate. Link's overconfident grin very quickly dropped in favour of a curious-eyed frown as he watched her mid-air floating form spin seemingly endlessly in place; an incredible feat to be watching of an adult, much less a child of their similar ages. Before he could even approach her, however, she had already seemingly finished and yelled out in effort as she vaulted forward what seemed to be a wheel-shaded projectile, deep-lavender and flaming in element.

"Sunset Wheel!"

Link's frown dropped even further, this time in place of a horrified look in his oceanic eyes.

"Oh dear lord no."

FRRRRRR-CRASSSSSSH

The audience all let out deafening roars and cheers as the beautiful disc of flaming Aegir made successful contact with his body; an inevitable launch that sent him burning and careering back down to the white-tiled ring below him, crashing violently and agonisingly into the ground as he did.

"Ooooh! That's gotta hurt!" The watching Marshall winced out from his seat a few yards over.

"Ouch town, population you bro!" Seth quipped out, drawing the odd laugh or two from the listening audience.

RUMBLE-RUMBLE...

As the ground began to vibrate, presumably from its prisoner held underground, the smirking-faced Vassia at last landed and cast her curious-eyed look over to raise an eyebrow at the wreckage before her as she did. With little warning a blonde blur shot up from the debris in an endless acrobatic flip; as it landed, soon revealed to be the newly-recovered Link, he dashed forward into the air almost as soon as he touched tile.

The watching Vassia narrowed her eyes back at him and her grin soon dissolved, almost as if to match the watching youth, as she brought up one of her arms with which to defend herself. As the fast-approaching Link soon came within acceptable range, he feinted to his left before immediately shooting off to his right; an agility so quick it left after-images of his ever-overconfident grin.

A period of tense silence descended upon the witnessing audience as they watched the frowning Vassia dart her blackened eyes 'round as if in search for her vanished opponent; only the light far-off sound of his footfalls remained. Suddenly, however, and all-at-once she widened her eyes in her sharp right and leapt forward before chopping at the air.

"There, got you!"

SMASH

"Gurgh...!"

The poor Hylian's body found itself embedded within one of the tournament's two long walls, crashing noisily and agonisingly within; his oceanic eyes widened from the sheer shock and ferocity with which he was sent into it. His defence, at last opened up completely, left the grinning young girl with all the room in the world to press her lightning-quick jabs into his form continuously. Although she didn't look like much, the purple-shaded Aegir powering her fingers made each strike leave bruises and scars, surprising not just the endlessly-gasping young Link but the watching audience as well.

"Weak!"

As she called out her final insult, she spun her form in a graceful twist of her arms, striking the blonde youth savagely into a ricocheting fall; he knocked painfully against the tiled ground below before at last landing in an agonised heap. Before long however, the young Hylian grunted as he swung his legs upward to flip back to a standing position, grinning on in his well-loved defiance; the watching audience all erupted into long-held cheers and applause as the smirking Link rubbed at his bruised lip.

"That ain't too bad!" He admitted out, his voice fairly well-held for the action he had just gone through. The watching Vassia, shocked by his relatively healthy condition, could only stare back at hi in a curious furrowed brow. "You're definitely fast to be able to have caught me during that."

"Hmph!" The young girl shot back, soon recovering into her own superior-faced smirk. "It was nothing really...," she admitted, shrugging lightly as she did. "You're so obvious when you move..."

"Is that so...?" The former Hero of Time murmured out in response, his eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly as his grin grew a little, almost as if salivating at the prospect of the ever-growing challenge.

"Yes! It is so! Indubitably so!" She shot back in similar defiance, tilting her lavender-haired head up at him in dominance, smirking on incessantly as she did. "There is nothing you can do to take me unawares!"

The watching Barkner, Alwyn, Raynard and Zelda, still all remaining within the competitor's box after assisting their companion, could only watch in their similarly-held displays of concern.

"She's got one hell of a mouth on her... for a princess..." The firmly-frowning Alwyn muttered out, eyes narrowing in his folded-armed disapproval. Zelda cocked an eyebrow up at him and even grinned a little as she opened her mouth to respond to him.

"You should know," she suggested forthwith. "With guarding princess Ruto and all."

He shrugged in silent defeat, frowning on as he did to draw a chuckle from the young girl.

"She's definitely strong though...," the unusually frowning Barkner agreed on with his younger companion next to him. "I can't believe it was her we both lost to..."

"You're damn right it was...," the glaring-faced Raynard growled on out, his glare focused on his former opponent and his grinning blonde-haired rival. "He needs to stop holding back."

"Of course he is...," Barkner murmured out, rolling his eyes as if in brief annoyance. "Why wouldn't he be at this stage?"

"Come on Link...," Raynard whispered out through gritted, hard teeth, eyes boring holes deeply and passionately into the battlefield before them. "Teach her respect..."

---

WHOOSH

The previously laughing form of Vassia very quickly dropped her grin and hilarity only to gasp as her lower chest was suddenly assaulted by the super-fast figure of her opponent; the smirking-faced Link re-appeared in mid-air and issued the young girl a light series of blows across her face and chest, effectively catching the young princess off-guard and sending her stumbling backward in an angry-voiced growl.

Allowing frustration to get the better of her, she swiped at the air where he once stood and found her arm slicing through little but the space itself; realising his smirking face was merely an after-image she swung her purple-haired head 'round to her sharp right only to find the ever-grinning Link re-appearing to sweep her legs.

She gasped as she was knocked off her feet and lowered her hands to recover with; a rescue that the grinning boy denied her in with a simple spinning roundhouse kick. As she was sent careering high and screaming high to the sky, Link pulled his hands back and charged Aegir directly within the palms of them both. His oceanic eyes narrowed and his grin dropped but only for a moment; his feet set apart lightly as the bright-blue of his beautiful Quintessence was fired forward like a projectile.

"Shinku HADOKEN!"

The gasping young girl, barely finding enough time with which to reply, found herself scarcely avoiding the huge rocketing projectile by leaning her body out of the way as she descended back down. She landed in a continuously huffing gasp, gripping at her stomach as if in pain from the savage exchange, eyes boring angry and hateful holes into her newly-gained enemy. Link folded his small bruised arms back at her and tilted his own wounded smirk in further goading, the wind lightly brushing at his long blonde hair.

"Fast enough for ya?" He uttered out, his tenor casual and filled with the intent to insult. The listening audience all let out laughs and cheers in response, drawing an even uglier angry look from the young princess.

"How dare you!" She cried forward, baring her teeth at the blonde boy. "No-one talks to me like that! I'm royalty to your ugly, disgusting kind!"

"Is that right?" The grinning Hero of Time quipped back, eyebrow rising up mockingly in his head-tilted grin. The listening crowd of Aurelians couldn't help but laugh along with him in his easily-baited derisive treatment of the impudent young girl.

"What's wrong with that boy...?"

Impa's long-held sigh in one of the audience stands, a frustrated and disappointed one, made the listening Malon sitting next to her turn her curious-faced frown up to face it before swiftly eyeing the smirking boy in question below them. Although the young farm girl already knew the answer, it felt satisfying regardless to remind herself on the weak points of his personality.

"What do you mean Impa?"

"I mean he's just inviting danger with that attitude," the concerned Sheikah sighed out a second time in her folded-armed contralto. "He poked the bear during the grand finals of the Hylian championship and now he's doing it again...," she reminded the red-haired youth, shaking her silver-haired head in disapproval and denouncement. "And we all remember how that one ended..."

"Oh yeah..."

Malon's low-voiced murmur of recognition and memory made even the listening Impa briefly eye for a second before returning her attention to the battle below. As the young farm girl thought of the ending to the last national championship she couldn't help but regain a half-saddened frown, her heart for once going out to the boy's eventual plight.

Angered on by the brazen boy's words, princess Vassia soon found herself bitterly charging forward to meet his taunts, fists held back as she did; when she eventually closed the distance she embroiled herself into a fierce series of punches and kicks that saw the pair of children blazing 'round one another, their aura of fire-red and blaring-purple Quintessence burning high and lighting the arena up in a beautiful mixture of smouldering magenta.

As Link's fire-red Aegir flashed a bright crimson, the wide-eyed Vassia at last saw her opportunity; she yelled out in effort as she tossed forward a counter-attack kick, effectively ending the blonde's offensive pressure. He gasped and back-dashed to safety away from the darting kick but found little time for recuperation for his older enemy pursued in quick air-dashes, vertically and horizontally chopping at the air as she chased the retreating and hopping young Link.

She grunted as she swung a final roundhouse that saw the grinning young Hylian flip over her crown acrobatically, watching her carefully as he landed. Vassia narrowed her ebony-night eyes back at him as she darted another kick forward, eliciting the grinning-faced youth to dart his form in mid-air to her undefended right side; she widened her eyes as she re-faced him, immediately pressing the attack with two more air-punches. The slickly-moving Hylian darted his head out of frame to avoid them before reaching up to catch one of her limbs; she gasped as he pulled her defenceless form toward him and slammed a palm directly into her grunting face.

Vassia found herself staggering back from the exchange before widening her blackened eyes open back at him; a mixture of rage and impatience growing in them. She overextended in another lunging forward punch, allowing him to punish by lowering his blonde-haired head under it and slamming a fist of his own into her lower chest. She gasped out, eyes widened a second time as she was sent faltering back a few steps.

As the overconfident blonde stepped forward to continue his offence, the glaring Vassia reached her slim arms to her right to catch the boy's perhaps inevitable left-handed punching strike; it was his turn to gasp this time as the newly-smirking Palashian princess used his overextended arm to pull him toward her. She gracefully spun her slim form 'round his own, as if a spinning top itself, before grunting out as she struck a reversal roundhouse into his chest, sending him gasping and tailspinning back into the tiled ground beneath them.

Almost as soon as he landed, however, his white-clothed form abruptly split into a number of ten complete copies of the blonde boy, all making a childish tonguing face at her. The watching Palashian princess merely lowered her arms and briefly shut her eyes, her smirk soon re-growing back on her face; a window into her similarly overconfident ruminations.

"Those are either after-images...," she began, re-opening her black-shaded eyes to concisely look over each cheeky face the ten Links gifted her with. "Or Multi-Form copies and, either way, they can't fool me..."

As quickly as she finished speaking, one standing copy behind her grinned on as he leapt presumably to attack her. She huffed out in superiority before swinging a graceful roundhouse in his direction before soon widening her eyes when it passed through his form completely and harmlessly.

"B-But then-?!"

Her wide-eyed words preceded her as she swung her head around to her seemingly undefended rear, only to find the ever-grinning Link leaping at her again for a second assault. As he swung a punch at her, however, her own form soon began to shimmer into an after-image, leaving her wide-eyed frown staring back at him for a second or two before vanishing completely. She smirked on down at him behind him, her tall form standing leagues above his own somehow as if she were just that much stronger than he was.

"Now who's seeing double?!" She cried out in her open-mouthed laugh, deftly swinging a cross-chop diagonally down to strike at him. As earlier, however, his form shimmered like before and began to vanish away but not before he turned his head to grin back at her in satisfaction. Soon enough he re-appeared and, surprisingly, directly in front of her to issue a quick roundhouse in her face, sending her grunting and careering through the air.

In an angry glare, Vassia growled as she raked her fingernails deep into the tiled ground beneath her, easily drawing up countless slabs of concrete and debris. Although her attempt to slow her movement was rather crass it was effective; the young princess used her newly-gained traction to rise up her arms, presumably in defence.

Sure enough, the grinning young Link leapt in pursuit and threw out a few air-dashing jabs that she parried, her eyes boring holes into his own as she quick-stepped backward in evasion. The lavender-haired girl gripped at both his clenched fists before grunting as she counter-attacked with a swift double-slam of her feet, effectively launching him high into the air.

As he flew up soaring to the cloudless blue sky above, the firmly-smirking Vassia gave immediate chase. Acting fairly quickly on her okizeme she huffed out as she swung up an axe kick to vertically slam on the blonde boy's front, sending him gasping and rocketing back down at top speed, this time his form directly aiming for outside of the ring itself.

Even while she slowly descended in contrasting confidence, Link's oceanic eyes re-widened in a mixture of effort and shock as he pulled his arms back, presumably to ready a projectile. Princess Vassia watched him in genuinely unsure curiosity as the audience all murmured in similar doubt; a sentiment carried with and reinforced by the clueless commentaries.

"Shinku...," he began lowly, eyes lightly narrowing before suddenly bursting wide open as he extended his opened up palms downward, directing aiming his projectile into the concrete ground below him. "Hadoken!"

FRRRR-DROOM

CRASSSSSSH-FWOOOOO

In utilising his Aegir Art technique, the gasping Link essentially used the force of his massive form of Aegir to create a force of which that sent him soaring back diagonally into the air; as he flipped forward to land on one knee he couldn't help but gasp in his old grin, gasping on continually as he exchanged his glare with the watching Vassia. She rose a night-shaded eyebrow at him before turning her purple-haired head away from him, huffing as she liked to.

"Hmph!"

"Now that's ingenious!" The wide-eyed Marshall exclaimed out in an excited grin. "Faced with a potential ring-out and loss situation, young Firbrand utilises his 'Shinku Hadoken' technique to fire himself right back into the air!"

"He's a regular Loftwing Marsh!" The grinning Seth quipped alongside the older man, ever in his sociable smirk.

"Apt words my young friend; a boy truly worthy of the 'Loftwing-Style Dojo'!"

YEEEEEEEEAAAAHHH

In response to the hearty commentators' words the listening audience all let loose deafening cheers, approval rising on for the fast-paced fiery match before them. Even as he landed, Link cast his opponent a tiny grin as he rubbed at the right side of his mouth; a small trickle of blood that had begun to fall staining his lip.

"You've fought rather well! For a Hylian," the newly-smirking Vassia called over at him, drawing a curiously-raised eyebrow from him in response. "But now it's over."

"Oh yeah?" He batted back, nodding his straw-haired head upward as if to gauge her to elaborate. "And why's that?"

"Because... of this."

With that, the young girl shut her night-black eyes and crossed her slim arms diagonally with one another, palms open as she did. Her long lavender hair began to lift and billow as a dull aura of similarly violet Aegir filled her body. Link watched on in unsure curiosity, tilting his head back at her as he did. It was only when she finally seemingly finished charging that she snapped open her eyes into a glare and, like magic, the dense aura of Aegir surrounding her formed two large arms hanging up at her shoulder.

The watching Hero of Time couldn't help but stare back at them, eyes widened in genuine shock and awe, drawing the witnessing audience to let out 'oohs' and 'ahhhs' in fascination.

"Is that... arms?!" He called over in his half-shocked, open-mouthed frown. Vassia regained her know-it-all grin as she rose up her head at him in superiority, perhaps taking pleasure in his jolt.

"Yes, it is!" She called back before her smirk grew in satisfaction. "And the correct way of speaking you're looking for is... 'are those arms?'" She finished on, drawing chuckles and boos from the listening audience.

Link found himself rolling his oceanic eyes in impatient ignorance before cricking and cracking his neck, as if to ready himself.

"Hmph... take pleasure in this...," Palashia's princess shot out with before her smirk soon swiftly switched to a biting glare. "It's the only time I will grace you with my presence!"

–

5

Princess Vassia wasted little time in her offence; she air-dashed toward the narrow-eyed Link and called out loudly as she shot her arms horizontally to chop at him. The young blonde glared back as he rose up both hands to block and double-took to the sky. Eyes widened, he soon realised his defence was essentially open to her two remaining Aegir Arms; a fact she took great pleasure in as she joined them together to crash heavily down on the gasping youth.

FRRR-SMASSSSH

The bright-violet fire that encased her form left light sear marks on his skin, even as he gasped to back-dash away from the young girl's follow-up strike; a simple low punch aimed at his head. The ground cracked up under the incredible new pressure in which she found herself endowed with; time slowed down for the watching Link, one of his eyes shut from the sheer pain he suffered, as the low-smirking form of Vassia glared back at him, stones and tiles flying up in between them.

She inevitably gave pursuit and, almost like a spider with multiple arms, she began to jab at him in super-fast strings with her natural arms and her Aegir Arms; a revelation that easily saw him on the defensive end of a seemingly never-ending offensive. He darted his small body 'round the similarly super-fast jabs and movements she made, all in an attempt to manoeuvre his footwork away from the ring's edge. Unfortunately, however, her incredible pressure by sheer will alone managed to steer him toward one of its corners, leaving him gasping and near-sweating in the effort.

He widened his eyes and channelling fire-style Aegir directly into his own hands – a recreation of the Din's Fire technique itself – he used its divine flame to form a defensive cross that managed to withstand the powerful violet-shaded fire that the glaring Vassia utilised. Her superior smirk soon fell short when she found her jabs fading with effectiveness before, soon enough, he grunted and slammed his arms to both sides of himself.

In an effort-filled bellow he widened his eyes a second time as he expelled forward a dose of Quintessence, surprising the young princess and sending her sailing backward through the air, magical arms and all. Link utilised his recently-won okizeme by dashing forward and leaping to the sky before swiftly descending down in a downward dive-kick. Vassia shot her purple-haired head up and, her Aegir burning away, rose up all four of her workable arms to grapple at the blonde boy's exposed limbs.

Realising his grave mistake, the former Hero of Time's eyes widened once more; this time in horror.

"Oh no." He near mouthed out soundlessly, terror filling his tenor.

"Oh yes!" The wide-smirking Vassia called out excitedly, licking at her canines in growing elation.

Sure enough she easily caught him in his telegraphed assault and, essentially trapped within her powerful grip, he could only yell out agonised suffering as she violently tortured him in a mixture of her physical and magical strength.

"Yo I guess it's true what they say," the grinning Seth commented on, turning his brown-haired head to face the blinking Marshall. "Four arms 'r better 'n two!"

As the listening audience all chuckled at the young man's quips, the formerly frowning-faced Marshall shook his head in a defeated chortle of his own.

"Right you are my young friend..."

CRACK

Link's inevitable horrified and agonised shriek carried so well throughout Palashia and Rocknesse that even those cheering for Vassia gave out winces and cringes; a pained expression of terror and anguish written all over the blonde youngster's face.

"Oh, Link..." The watching Zelda murmured out, similarly wincing in a hand resting to her closed mouth, face softened up in pity and compassion.

"She's a fucking animal..."

The abrupt profanity from the ever-blunt and vulgar-voiced Raynard made the listening Alwyn, Barkner and Zelda herself to all swing their heads in his direction, frowns decorating their faces as they did. The black-haired boy glared on back into the battlefield, single chestnut-brown eye narrowed in scrutiny and acrimony.

"She's enjoying it; you can tell," the young mercenary claimed, nodding his spiky-haired head in the young princess' route. "Just look at her."

Alwyn and Barkner found themselves exchanging an unsure raised eyebrow before doing just that and, just as he claimed, Palashia's princess was open-mouthed smirking up at the screaming young Link in her possession, even licking her lips in the savage and ruthless exchange of violence and pain.

"I mean I didn't want to agree but..." The wincing Alwyn began in his folded-armed frown, wincing in his own display of discomfort with the situation.

"Is a little tough to contend with that ain't it?" The frowning Barkner clicked his tongue noisily, almost as if in attempt to draw attention away from the agonised screaming of his companion.

"I-I'm sure she can't be enjoying that, surely..."

Faced with a potential disagreement Raynard darted his raven-shaded head 'round to cast a glare on the awkwardly-frowning Zelda beside him. Tree-shaded eyes narrowing he re-opened his mouth to press her.

"Are you really that naïve?" Raynard pressed the young blonde in a genuinely curious turn of his head. The standing Barkner and Alwyn exchanged another look, almost as if unsure on whether to say something, before shaking their heads together. "Almost every royal family is corrupt to its eyeballs in this shit," he condemned on in his hardened glare before narrowing his eyes distrustfully. "No... Every royal family." He amended, his hateful tenor successfully conveying the intense dislike he felt for the blue-bloods.

"S'alittle harsh, ain't it?" The unusually frowning Barkner postulated, eyebrow rising up as he watched in.

Raynard, his head swinging in the Goron and Hylian princess' forms both, soon found his once-resolute scowl twitching in faltering. He sighed deeply through his nose and briefly eyed the frowning young girl before shaking his head over at her.

A silent apology.

"Tastes good, doesn't it?"

Link halted his screams to groan back down at the excited smirk his opponent gave him before scrunching his cerulean eyes shut in a fierce scowl of effort; the watching Vassia could only cock a curious eyebrow up at him in doubt but, before long, she found all her arms (even her Aegir ones) soon snapped their grip from him, having been burnt by the boy's channelled fire-style Quintessence.

As he back-flipped to a safe distance from her cursing form he cast her the overconfident grin that he was well-known for before soon rising up both his own slim arms; as the audience and the glaring Vassia all turned silent in watching, they witnessed the narrow-eyed young Hylian slowly swing his arms and clenched fists as if axes in diagonal sways. The speed soon upped however and, as it did, his arms began to leave after-images of one another; a shocking discovery that left the young Hero of Time not with two or even four arms...

But six.

He stood back at her and held all six flashing arms along with their palms, smirking over at the young princess as if he had just checkmated her in chess. The listening audience all let out cries of surprise and shock, even some cheering in approval.

"B-But that's...," Vassia began in wide-eyed stammering, taking a step back from the sheer shock at the boy's speed. "That's- that shouldn't be possible!" She shrieked over, her earlier anger soon returned to her.

"Four's nice baby...," the ever rude young martial artist shot back, slowly lowering his form and clenching his six open fists, as if to begin charging toward her. "But six is BETTER!"

The tournament arena's tiles beneath him cried out in agony as they all shot up from the sheer strength at which the boy ran at the Palashian princess, his grin ever constant and remaining on his firm-faced countenance. Vassia gasped out, lightly surprised before aligning her posture correctly to prepare for his approach, blackened eyes glaring back at him.

Her Aegir Arms shot down in defence along with her natural ones and, sure enough, it was her turn to find herself on the defensive; she growled out in frustration as the grinning-faced Link managed to force her into the air, back-dashing away from his smouldering fire-fisted offensive. Just as the watching audience's cheers reached their climax so too did the blazing engagement; Link's sheer quantity of lightning-fast arms managed to overwhelm the gasping young Vassia's four and broke through her defence, resulting in a gasping series of brutal counter-attacks that sent her launching high into the air.

Princess Vassia grunted out, light blood trickling down the side of her mouth as she somersaulted backward in mid-air to recover, only to gasp a second time when she realised the force of her opponent's blow managed to dissipate her Aegir Arms. She cursed out loudly in Palashian regional dialect angrily before swinging her loud-growling scowl down on the smirking Link below her.

"That's incredible..."

The watching Impa hovered her raised silver-shaded eyebrow 'round on the whispering Malon, genuinely surprised that she was surprised before she soon swung her head back on the match before her.

"Hrm...," the older woman murmured out in her throat, blinking down lightly once as she watched. "Yes... I suppose it is... for him anyway." She added, this time in a knowledgeable chuckle.

Malon quipped up a fiery-haired eyebrow at her curiously. "What do you mean?"

"I mean it's a fairly difficult technique to manage," the wise Sheikah claimed, turning her smile back on the young farm girl. "To do what he just did?" She asked, raising up her eyebrows as she briefly eyed the smirking-faced Hylian boy standing in the ring below them. "It takes a tremendous amount of Aegir just to fuel those extra after-images of his arms let alone form them in the first place."

"Wow...," Malon spoke in an unsure frown, re-eyeing the scene below them as she re-rose up an eyebrow. "So he's gotta be running low then right?"

"Possibly... but not necessarily either," Impa continued on in an impartial shrug, re-opening her eyes as she also re-opened her mouth to resume. "He's always had a large stockpile of it; that much I remember. It's just whether he really wants this or not."

Malon blinked back at her once before returning her attention forward and furrowing her brow in thought. As she looked as deep into the blonde boy's sky-shaded eyes as she could from her current distance from him, her memory went back to how determined and downright foolish his tenacity remained in fighting; a fact bolstered by her own witness to his hard-won efforts in Jabu Jabu's belly and the Hylian Hyrax itself.

She couldn't help but crack a smile as she watched the overconfident smirk drawn on his young face, her thoughts carrying her on.

"He sure is stubborn... that's for certain."

Almost as if the adamant pair were listening to the young girl's thoughts somehow, the growling Vassia descended down at an incredible speed in a debilitating axe kick, leading the grinning Link to push up off the ground with his arms to send himself careering high to meet her with his own upside-down dive-kick. The watching audience all remained on baited breath before, finally and suddenly at last, the two grand finalists clashed in what looked to be the deciding blow of the whole tournament.

CRASSSSSHHHH

CRACK

The very stands that the audience sat on themselves shook in the sheer vibration of the massive force of their assaults; a long flash of light that saw the poor men, women and children unable to view the results of. Eventually however when the initial shock passed and light returned to the arena once more the scene below them was one of surprise indeed; the gasping and injured Vassia, seemingly having been spent near completely to exhaustion, glared on down at the fallen form of her opponent.

Link, consequently as a result of the ruthless exchange between them, lay in a broken and defeated heap on the near-annihilated ground below them, his neck having been broken from the sheer ferocity of his enemy's counter-attack. The resulting commentary of the watching audience and other members began as a small and quiet murmuring but fairly soon escalated into loud calls of distress and concern.

"Bastard!" The hard-scowling Raynard screamed out, chestnut eyes narrowing in thinly-veiled hatred. "She's killed him!"

"Good god..." The watching Alwyn murmured out disbelievingly through his throat, eyes widened.

"No!"

"Someone's gotta get out there!" Barkner interrupted the Hylian princess' outburst next to him, briefly eyeing each member.

"Not yet...," Raynard muttered back, shaking his spiky-haired head in response. His brow furrowed in realisation of two facts that he was suddenly reminded of. "Wait for the staff's announcement..."

---

"Link Firbrand is unable to battle!"

Almost as if the young woman was listening to the mercenary's words far-off, she called out her proclamation before re-opening her mouth to continue.

"As he is mortally wounded also, princess Vassia will thusly be disquali-"

"Wait!"

Zelda's far-off call, though surprisingly loud for her distance away from the young woman, made her turn her head briefly in her direction before re-facing the arena. Her eyes widened in shock and awe when she did; a dense figure of hell's Aegir began to encircle the deceased blonde boy's form and, as it finally filled him completely, it lifted him back up to his feet.

Just as within the Hylian Hyrax, it made him look like a ghost.

"We've seen this before...," the frowning-faced Marshall murmured out from his seat in the commentator's table. "Haven't we Seth?"

The younger man gulped down a load of nervously-gained saliva before nodding, briefly blinking over at the ominous scene before him. "W-We sure have Marsh..."

Suddenly grateful for the invisible walls of Aegir and Quintessence that the Prima World Tour had graced them and the audience with, they watched on as the shut-eyed Link's body began to convulse, crick and crack back into shape, almost as if a spirit within him was healing his very injuries themselves. The watching Vassia's brow furrowed and she could only blink back at him in wordless bafflement, unable to make sense of the phenomenon.

"What's-?"

CRACK

"Grnnngh..."

Vassia pulled her purple-haired head back, her ebony-night eyes briefly narrowing as she took a step back in response to the boy's new demonic tone to his tenor; an unwelcome addition that made the little hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. The brash and brazen young princess, so full of ardour and impudence, very quickly found herself silenced in sheer growing fear of the unknown; a fact that the fast-growing aura of lava-shaded Aegir filling his new form almost seemed to acknowledge, its height giving shape to what looked like the fires of hell itself.

"Shin'ozo..."

Vassia gasped out a second time and took another step backward, pulling up her shaky slim arms as if to defend herself with in the knowledge of her new enemy's perhaps inevitable counter-attack. The newly-possessed Link shot up his fiery-eyed scowl forward, revealing the fangs and claws that came with it and, indeed, the spirit consuming him. With little warning he shot forward into the air, clawed palm opened up and aimed at her, as if to wring her throat.

"Tomete KURERU!"

–

6

Demonic Manifestation of the Holy Triforce of Courage

Kage Narumono

Vassia barely had any time to react to the violent-faced air-dash that Kage employed; she could only watch as he somehow phased straight through her. Exhaustion playing on her mind, she widened her eyes soon when she realised the possessed youth had passed through her using an after-image but it was far too late to do anything about it; even as she swung her form 'round he grunted out as he savagely kicked down at the back of her leg, earning a pained shriek as she fell to the ground in an exhausted heap.

"KOROSHIIII!"

CRASSSSSSH

Time slowed down for the two warriors as Kage screamed out in his usual ancient Hylian, turning his body to rake down at the ground where his enemy once lay; Palashia's princess widened her eyes and immediately rolled her body out of the way, narrowly avoiding a messy end as remaining tiles and other wreckage shot up flying into the air. The glaring-faced demon opted to pursue however and screamed out in a mixture of rage and epinephrine, endlessly raking and smashing the ground as he marched on after the fast-rolling young girl.

When at last he appeared to match her movement speed she shot up her legs in a tight vertical formation to catch his clawed fist and glared back at his growling demonic scowl, before grunting with effort as she tossed him overhead, sending him careering into one of the tournament's once pristine walls.

CRASSSSHHH

The quiet audience remained on cautious silence as they watched the wall collapse down into debris and wreckage atop the formerly friendly blonde boy. Almost as quickly however, the ground surrounding it began to rumble

RUMBLE-RUMBLE

RRROOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRR

In an animalistic and near demonic bellow that rent the very halls of Palashia Palace itself, Kage's huge aura of hellfire Aegir completely annihilated what remained of the tournament walls, leaving even the remaining people in the competitor's box hiding far off and exposed to the public. Kage's livid clamour never left him, even as he turned his head snapping down to scowl hatefully back at the barely-recovering form of Vassia; she gasped in fast-growing fatigue, eyes narrowed back at him in her best attempt to seem intimidating.

It was only when he opened his fanged mouth to proclaim his next offensive that he even gave the watching princess an inkling of his intentions; he sprinted forward and held back his muscled left arm, pulsing with a powerful hellfire Aegir.

"Tada kuso SHINU!"

In that single scream he fired forward what looked to be a simple stream of lava-like fire; although the watching Vassia grunted as she took to the air in defensive evasiveness, the stream of hellfire easily eating up what remained of the poor tournament arena around them. Fortunately for the otherwise vulnerable audience however, the protective wall of Aegir that kept them safe kicked in and successfully stopped the stream from penetrating any further.

Kage was less than impressed in contrast and directed his angry scowl up to follow the young girl before pulling both arms back; fairly quickly he charged what looked to be a different kind of fire-like Aegir, this one solid as opposed to liquid. He formed it into a sphere, similar to the Hadoken technique, before screaming out as he fired it upwards after her retreating form.

"Shakunetsu!"

A huge sphere of cylindrical hellfire rushed up after the wide-eyed Vassia and, finding little option other than to block, she scrunched her eyes shut and crossed her arms diagonally.

KERRRASSSHHH-FRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Though the initial explosion of heat was immense indeed, it seemed to be surmountable for the hardy young Palashian. She gasped and shook terribly as the Shakunetsu sphere of hellfire eventually began to wear off; a revelation that shocked even the watching Kage. He shot up his fire-red eyebrows in legitimate surprise as he watched her trajectory get sent toward one of the tournament's many flagpoles.

Vassia reached up as she came within range and grunted out in further effort as she began to swing atop it; her speed soon grew and, eventually, she ended up using it as a vault to dive-kick back toward the arena from, her target the shock-faced Kage. The devil-like entity lowered his initially angry scowl into an amused chuckle, shaking his fiery-haired head as if in disapproval.

"Awarena..."

As he uttered out his demonic-toned tenor, a mixture between his host's normally happy-go-lucky tenor and his own deep satanic baritone, he readied his arms to catch the brazen young girl and glared back at her as he did. Rather surprisingly however her slim form appeared to phase through him, drawing a wide-eyed gasp from him in response.

"Nanda-ko...?!"

By the time even he deduced her correct location she slammed back into him through the air somehow in her originally-intended fierce dive-kick; a savage collision that saw her essentially drop-kicking the former boy's face in.

"GRAAAGGGH!"

His agonised demonic-toned voice knocked horrifyingly against the walls as he was sent brutally skidding across what remained of the tournament floor; an excruciating grind that saw the ground itself cry up with wreckage as a result of Vassia's merciless assault. She grunted out as she flip-kicked him in the face; a quick back somersault and recovery attack rolled into one that saw her twisting gracefully into the air before landing swiftly on the ruined battlefield behind her.

Headed straight for the out-of-bounds territory of concrete, Kage growled out as he swung his body backward to recover himself; as he did he smashed his animalistic claws deep into the ground and raked up at it to slow his rapid descent. He roared out in effort and rage as he used the very raked up ground itself to vault forward in immediate pursuit after the young princess, shining his fangs directly into her hard-eyed glare. She side-stepped his inevitable dive-kick but the follow-up sweep drew a wide-eyed gasp from her lips; the small princess found herself dropping downwards but soon regained control of her senses and issued out a counter-attack drop kick in Kage's face.

SMACK

"Grngh...!"

Not one to be deterred from lack of success, the demonic will's form flipped lightly through the air before he shot forward again in chase, scowling horribly as he did. This time his dive-kick was successful; a savage roundhouse sent across the young girl's face, sending her tailspinning and yelping through the air in agony. He leapt up to continue his combination but, having managed to recover somewhat, she cast her bloody-faced scowl back on his before rising up both arms and smashing them into his obvious assault.

"NANIIII?!"

As his fiery figure ricocheted painfully against the already-ruined floor of Palashia's tournament arena, Vassia followed in a vicious somersaulting axe-like double-kick that saw her yelling out in narrow-eyed effort. As Kage landed however he rose up both arms and his tall cloak of Aegir billowed out aggressively, almost as if a cape to cover the demonic will's form completely.

SMASH

The two struggled for what felt like minutes at a time; mere seconds they spent glaring and scowling in toothed grimaces, their auras of Aegir clashing with one another violently. Unfortunately for the fatigued Vassia, however, her slow defeat was as plain as day; a fact reflected in her gradually declining aura of Aegir and Kage's tall and hot-burning one.

Perhaps inevitably he roared out in effort as he eventually broke her hold on him before back-fisting her across the face, sending her grunting and careering high into the sky above. He used his Hylian host's small arms to swiftly push back and up against the ruined ground beneath him into a deft back-flip, landing safely enough to point his fiery-haired head skyward before pulling both arms back as if to follow-up on his initial counter.

"Omae no inochi...," he began speaking lowly, ever in the near-undecipherable ancient Hylian. A hot, lava-like Aegir began to charge directly in the centre of his opened-up palms behind him; the fulcrum of his final offensive. "Moraiukeru!"

RUMBLE-RUMBLE...

As the watching audience had expected, the ground vibrated terribly in the growing demonic strength of the devil-like entity and the hellish projectile he readied to finish his opponent off with. They all called out in mixtures of worried gasps and distressed yells, as if the eldritch creature was turning its fist on them alone.

"It's just like before Marsh!" The watching Seth gasped out, arms rose up to block the inevitable artificial wind that kicked up around them violently. "This is gonna end horribly!"

"Thank the Sainted and the Prima World Tour associates for installing this wall of Quintessence to protect us!" The smiling-faced Marshall replied in a contrasting chuckle, turning his well-natured look on the worried audience. "Am I right folks?"

His words, though spoken with an obvious hint of forced composure, managed to alleviate some of their similarly apparent concerns, drawing the occasional excited call of approval from them once more.

"OhhhhhhhhHHHH!"

At last, however, the glaring Kage had finished his attack preparations and widened his satanically-red eyes before pulling his opened palms forward to fire his projectile with.

"KESHITOBEE!"

DROOOOOOOOM-FRRRRRRRRRR

A gargantuan sphere of hot-purple and hellish-red shot out with frightening speed from Kage's palms, directed in an obvious rapid ascent for the skyward descending Vassia. Soon realising that she'd somehow just alter her air-trajectory to merely avoid the sphere of hellfire, even in its gigantic size, Kage widened his similarly satanically-charged eyes before grunting out in effort.

"Hmph...!"

Using the Shinzui's Aegir itself to control the speed and intensity of his high-jump, he fired his body in a similarly rapid ascent both to meet his Metsu Hadoken technique and the poor young princess Vassia herself. The listening people below craned their necks and heads to watch but, unfortunately for them, could barely squint to even get a decent look at what was happening; the fighters looked like mere dots to them in the sheer altitude in which they now fought in.

Only the hotly-blazing Kage and the near-fatigued Vassia themselves were now privy to the last moments of their grand finals set; as he began to rapidly approach her form, sure enough she was swaying her slim figure as best she could to lean her way out of the huge burning projectile. Although it was difficult for the tired young girl, she at least managed to barely do just that; a feat that saw her gasping in effort and relief. As the large Metsu Hadoken sphere of lava-like violet fire whizzed by her she shut her eyes to avoid being burned by its sheer proximity and primal power.

When she re-opened her night-black eyes she widened them in shock, having come face-to-face with the roaring Kage himself; having used one last Metsu Hadoken technique, this one fired behind the way to propel his airborne form forward, he essentially turned himself into a blazing and burning arrow. Found with little alternative, Vassia narrowed her eyes and brought up both arms and even curled her legs up in her best effort to maximise her physical and mental defence for the last incoming assault her opponent could give her.

"MESSEYOOOOOOOO!"

CRASSSSHHH-DROOOOOOOM

"Ngh...!"

Vassia scrunched her eyes shut and tensed up terribly, her light Aura of Aegir clashing aggressively with the animalistically roaring Kage's blazing one, developing an incredible display of fireworks and explosions high in mid-air. The watching audience below all at last let out long-held cheers of adoration and entertainment, impressed by the incredible lengths at which the two children had gone to put on a contest of strength. Eventually, however, the clash between the two would-be champions eventually came to a head and Kage's absurd offensive broke through Vassia's defensive; a display that left her reeling and yelping in bloodied exchange. Even the gasping Kage himself left the hard-won engagement with agonised coughs full of blood and pain; an after-effect of his life-endangering blitz.

"Incredible!" The watching Marshall yelled out, his morale and excitement returned to him; he clenched his free left fist in display of his motivation, narrowing his eyes to the sky as if to squint in order to see the pair high above them. "You'd think Firbrand would have been happy having his opponent in the air but no! He jumps himself straight into the sky in order to pursue and lays Palashia with a life-threatening assault!" He commentated on, shaking his brown-haired head in near disbelief. "They're descending now folks! This looks to be the end of the Palashian Premier!"

"Yo they are so far up Marsh!" The yelling Seth exclaimed out excitably, narrowing his own eyes through the pair of binoculars he seemed to sport, of course promoting the Prima World Tour logo atop them. "That's gotta be miles...!"

"I tell you Seth, someone has to go make sure they're okay; they're just children after all!" The concerned older man replied in a contrasting frown. "And they're falling at such a high altitude that, even if one of them wins by ring out, they'll die!"

"Nahhh," the grinning-faced Seth shot back, shaking his similarly-haired head as he re-faced his companion. "Not our boy fire-fist! And that princess chick is real strong; I bet they'll both be okay!"

"I certainly hope so Seth...," the frowning Marshall nodded alongside the optimistic young man, turning his eyes skyward a second time. "But it looks as though they're both headed for Rocknesse! Good goddesses!" The man exclaimed, eyes widened in horror and realisation. "They're going to crash land in the city streets!"

In response to the trepidation in Marshall's horrified voice the listening audience returned to their original anxiety and even upped to worried yells of frustration and terror, fearing for the lives of children themselves.

"God-damn!" Seth called out, eyes similarly widened as he sat up from his seat. "We gotta get over there right now!"

---

As the growling Kage and near-unconscious Vassia plummeted downwards at a rapid rate, their trajectory appeared to be diagonal; a direction that took them near-precisely within the centre of Rocknesse, Palashia's main city hub. Kage rose up one of his serrated arms and yelled out in a mixture of frustration and rage as he attempted, in vain, to rip and tear at the far-off young princess ahead of him, his claws hacking through little but air itself.

Eventually, however, the pair soon found themselves within the shocked vicinity of the city's citizens; although the gasping Vassia was far too fatigued to even take notice of her surroundings, the wide-eyed Kage roared out demonically in growing terror as his enemy passed by a fast-approaching horse and cart, leaving only himself to crash directly into it. The rider of the carriage double-took in the demonic will's direction only to widen his own eyes and comically yell out along with him, pulling at the horse's reigns with force as he did so.

CRASSSSSSH-NEEEIIIGH

"Grnnngh...!"

Kage breathed his last as his Hylian host's small form crashed horribly and agonisingly into the carriage, his body landing directly within its form only for the two women inside to humorously pull their legs and skirts up to their seats, widening their eyes down at his now-unconscious form below them.

SMASSSSHHHH-CRASH-CRUMBLE...

It wasn't long after Kage eventually landed but it was long enough; by a mere microsecond itself Vassia's fallen and comatose form collided savagely with the cold concrete of Rocknesse's streets, sending her ricocheting and rolling in agony not far from her opponent's last location.

"Ring... haa... out!"

The gasping young woman and member of Prima's staff, having followed the fast-descending Vassia and Kage's forms since they started plummeting, just barely managed to make it in time to personally witness their gratifying falls.

"The winner... of this set... and of the P-Palashian Premier...," she began again, taking breaths in between her words to catch it, sweating and perspiring from the exertion. "Is Vassia Palashia!"