Chapter 48: Dead (In the Water)
Search for the Missing Mother Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fan fiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Lost in the Rain" - Lost Judgment OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Inside a House" - The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Saint Anne" - Pokémon: Firered and Leafgreen OST OST. Scene 2 (Second Half) and 3 (First Half).
"Mad Club" – Black Lagoon OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
"Underground Activities" – Final Fantasy 10 OST. Scene 4 (First & Second Halves).
"Scaldera/Tentalus" – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword OST. Scene 5 (Second Half).
In their incredible adventure across far-off northern Stralanavia, the party of heroes led by Impa not only manage to rid the politics of their ancient and long-held slavery issue, they also make quite an impression on the people; both good and bad, by helping the poor and yet meddling in their strict and harsh customs. While some in the more unfortunate walks of life find their assistance welcoming, others more rooted in their ancient ways of life do not.
A 'mixed reception' indeed.
When all's said and done however, the heroes are met with more adulation when signing up for the 'Stralanavia Skirmish'; the national martial arts championship sponsored by the Prima World Tour. New fans and old fans alike flock from around Aurelia to watch as surprising upsets occur around them, leaving them in the perhaps inevitable match-up with Link's demonic side Kage Narumono and surprisingly powerful newcomer, Veronika Fedoroa.
While their battle begins as similarly as any other, it is the ending to their engagement that piques not only the watching audience's interest, but the curious Kage and his Hylian host's group of companions; in their fated fight, Veronika somehow manages to overcome Kage's brutal and savage blood-thirst by making a successful connection to the sacred triangle crest resting on his forehead. When initiating this connection, she utilises her elusive and mysterious new powers to render the raging demonic will unconscious; a verdict that sees her acquire the well-earned title of 'Stralanavian Champion'.
Now, with Stralanavia's woes and troubles far behind them, the group of adventurers turn their eye to their next destination and indeed the Prima World Tour's next location; the mysterious isle of 'Gylomecia'.
Said to be far-off in a similar sense to Stralanavia, it is cut-off from the rest of Aurelia by a huge expanse of water known as the ocean, said to have been separated once in ancient years by the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide in the 'Continental Divide'. With this knowledge in hand, the heroes decide to reach Gylomecia they must enlist the much-required aid of Stralanavian sea-faring sailors and none more experienced so than the men and women of Stralanavia itself.
While normally the group would stay for the after-party of their biggest tournament yet, there is little time to waste, for the next is in a mere few weeks to come and with the preparations that must be made alone, time waits for no man; a fact that the hard-eyed Link, in spite of the childish demeanour he displays, understands all too well.
Before the heroes decide to recruit a crew for their voyage, however... a surprising new discovery awaits them...
Scene 1
"Grnnngh... dōshite...?"
The listening Link's sky-blue eyes rent open and, as he had half expected to find himself in, he stared back at the iron-like bar doors of Kage Narumono's cage before him, soon realising he was in the depths of his subconscious for what felt like the umpteenth time. He held back a sigh and briefly shut his eyes in a soft-faced frown, the demonic pitch to his old adult baritone an unwelcome and familiar presence indeed.
"Ah... you..."
He re-opened up his cerulean eyes to stare forward back at the glaring-eyed demonic will caged before him; his twisted second side, an existence that names itself only as 'Kage Narumono'. The devilish presence seemed to be in a sat-down position, his mirrored body sitting facing his own front, the side of his frame meeting the forward of Link's. As always, it felt odd to the former Kokiri to be even be speaking to the strange form before him; a near mirror of himself, tinted fiery-red in lieu of its satanic-like abilities.
It was unnerving, almost as if he were truly speaking to a potential existence of himself in some other timeline; what could have been.
"What 'rating' would you give us this time, hm...?"
His hardened sarcasm, so sickeningly mocking, left a bitter taste in the listening Link's mouth. He chose not to display his frustrating with his crazed twin however, leaving instead a near impassive-faced frown on his complexion; a joker he always played in the proverbial card game with his alter ego.
"What do you mean?"
"You know what I mean...," Kage batted back angrily, his lava-like eyes narrowing in match to his furrowing brow. "We have become jesters in the Light World now...," he explained briefly and not without a hint of anger in his demonically-tinted voice. "Jokes...," he elucidated this time, baring his devilish-like fangs at the blonde boy as if to display his rapidly-rising frustration. "I can understand you being unable to fight these... pathetic weaklings... but I...?"
This time Link found the solemnity he had won so firmly during his adult years in Hyrule return to him and he expelled air through his nose as he put on a mirthless-faced smirk to match it.
"Maybe it's a wakeup call Kage," the boy shot back. "Not everyone can be beat through brute force... no matter how strong the Shinzui is."
"Kuh..."
Kage's angered grunt echoed out and knocked boldly against the walls of their shared subconscious, leaving the listening Link satisfied indeed; he tried with great effort to remove the small smirk from his face, but with the face of his troubles experiencing its own hardship, it was difficult.
"The world's bigger than just divine means y'know," he further cemented into the iron-bar cage before him, drawing out a hateful-eyed scowl from the listening Kage's face. "You can't just expect to power through every opponent we have like a mindless-"
"Beast?"
The inclusion or, rather intrusion of a third voice into the mix, made not only the listening Link widen his eyes but the gasping Kage; the mirrored pair darted their heads 'round, like two cats being interrupted in a savage fight, before soon recognising the intruder in question. Sure enough, it was the very last person they both saw; their last opponent, dressed in the showy midnight-blue scarf she seemed to love wearing.
Veronika Fedoroa.
"W-What the...?" Link murmured out, brow furrowing forward cluelessly. "How the hell did you...?"
Veronika turned slowly to eye the young Hylian, an impassive-faced frown ever present on her expression. "It's not important," she spoke again, her thick Stralanavian accent sounding odd to his small Hylian ears. "I'm here for one purpose..."
As she finished up her last sentence she deigned to march forward a few steps through the shallow water that covered the landscape around her, raising up her left hand to reach the iron bars before her. When Kage noticed her approach, he narrowed his livid-red eyes at her and stood up from his sitting position to march slowly toward her, glowering and glaring venomously back at her.
"You...," he growled out forward. "Putting a fist through us in Stralanavia was bad enough woman... but now... you simply come too far." He spoke slowly, carefully and reservedly-angrily. As he finished up his sentence, he at last reached the only wall in between them both; the iron-cage doors that kept him contained.
CLANNNNG
The only sign that Veronika even reacted to Kage's brutal claw-slam into the iron bars between them was simply a twitch of her shut-eyed frown. He huffed out a light, low-voiced chuckle, as if entertained by the situation.
"Why are you even here, woman...?" The demonic will questioned curiously, bringing his animalistic claws back from the rotting bars. "This here is my space... my home. You... are not welcome here."
"Wrong."
Even the listening Link had to pique up both blonde-haired eyebrows in surprise, a curious-faced frown dotting his complexion as he took in Veronika's sudden and abruptly-shocking response. Kage's light smirk very quickly dissolved into the angered scowl he was known so well for and rose up one of his own fiery-haired eyebrows back at her. She snapped open her own eyes, her whole figure beginning to shine, dimly at first and then soon growing bright.
"It is you who is the intruder," the elusive youth shot back, her long raven-black hair rising up in tandem with her seemingly rapidly-ascending Aegir. "If not for his connection to the holy Triangle... you would not exist."
She had him there, the shocked Link thought.
How the hell does she know about that?
His sky-blue eyes narrowed at the scene before him, torn between trusting the young Stralanavian and distrusting her completely.
"You...," Kage began again, his fanged scowl twitching in unbridled hate and rage. "Absolute RA-"
FWIP
DROOOOM
Link gasped out, bringing up both arms in a defensive cross to block the sudden and abrupt bright light that filled up his subconscious, wincing as he attempted to re-open his cerulean-shaded eyes to actually see what happened. When he did, he could hardly believe them; before him sat Kage's earlier rotting, weakening cell, now further reinforced with what seemed to be symbolic construction made obviously of the rapidly-rising Aegir that Veronika utilised earlier. While the cage that his mentor Impa and companion Zelda constructed for Kage was mere iron bars, this one appeared to be nearly a house in and of itself.
It was definitely something that Kage would find a lot more difficult in seeping his Aegir out of, even when near-death.
"Damn...," the watching Link whispered forward, turning his gaze up at the huge symbolic building before him, marvelling at her work. "That's incredible..."
"Come."
He blinked back at her as she turned to face him, softly grappling at his right arm; he could only stare back at her for a second or two before leaving the large house-like prison one last look as the pair of children phased out of existence from the dimension wordlessly.
When he came to, Link found himself in a surprising location indeed; while he expected himself to wake up in the medical division of Velinsk's 'Yensk', the building reserved for those only of the Stralanavian law and those with special privileges, he instead found himself coming to in what seemed to be a quirky fashion-like room of a separate building, perhaps a home in Velinsk Castletown.
"W-What's-?"
"Shhh..."
The soft soprano that soothed him awake, marked also by the delicate touch of her fingers on his chest, could only make the surprised young blonde tense up, especially when he soon noted parts of her flesh touching his and some missing it.
I must be wearing a bandage across me, he thought.
Which means...
"I might be naked under these covers..."
Soon grasping she'd realise that he was suddenly so self-conscious with his appearance before her, he held back the powerful urge to open up the bedspread he lay in, instead slowly revolving his oceanic-eyed gaze up to his top right to find her standing over him. Sure enough as within his subconscious mere moments earlier with Kage Narumono, there she stood still dressed in her earlier garb he fought her in; Veronika Fedoroa.
"Please... don't fret," she spoke again, an oddly comforting smile across her well-toned complexion. "You are safe here."
"A-And... where is... 'here'?" He opted to press her curiously, straw-haired eyebrow piquing up as he did. She stood up from her bent position over him to turn and walk over to one of the tables littered around the small room, presumably to retrieve something. When she grasped at it, seemingly a small glass, she swivelled back 'round and began marching toward him again, her warm smile still spread softly across her face.
"Tuvir Street," she answered him in a surprisingly fairly quickly 'roundabout fashion. "Inside my home."
Even through her thick Stralanavian accent he was able to place her words quite clearly and took another quick blinking look around the room she had placed him in; on the walls all around appeared to be beads and strange trinkets.
It looked as though it truly belonged to her, peculiar and deliciously eccentric to the young girl's personality.
"Why aren't I in the Yensk or Velinsk Castletown?" He batted back curiously, brow furrowing as he swung it back on her.
Her smile dropped but only to give way to an understanding light-faced frown. "Because those at the tournament did not have the ability or knowledge to treat your wounds," she answered him again, surprising him once more. "They were of... a different nature."
"R-Really?" He asked her for confirmation, genuinely curious. "B-But they've treated me before in Hyrule, Palashia and-"
"The wounds I cleaned on you were not just of today's," Veronika politely interrupted him with, lightly shaking her black-haired head at him as she frowned in disapproval. "Whatever you were seemingly suffering from... these were wounds that gathered over time. Most probably related to... that shadow that stalks under you."
"Shadow..."
Even as Link parroted out the word she spoke of in a low-voiced murmur, he couldn't help but narrow his eyes forward back at her in light suspicion of his own.
"H-How did you...?" He began again, shaking his blonde-haired head as he did. "Inside my...?"
"Ah... I apologise," she said, expressing her remorse with a light bow forward, joining both hands at her centre in a display similar to his companion Zelda. "While your breathing was stable I had wanted to check on your condition... so I dove into your mind to confirm."
"Dove into my mind...," Link murmured back, brow furrowing a second time as he did. "God-damn. No-one's ever been able to do that."
Her frown upturned lightly into a half-gained smile. "It's not a very common practice, fortunately... the only reason I'm able to do so is through my Soul Power."
"'Soul Power'...," Link murmured again, tilting his head at her as he did. "Yeah; you used those words in our fight, didn'tcha?"
"I believe you and your companions would call it... 'Aegir'?"
He blinked. "Oh," he merely spoke, a kind of surprised and sheepish look dotted around his face before he chuckled and rubbed the back of his pony-tailed head; an old habit. "Yeah... I guess it is," he conceded in his light chortle, shut-eyed and all. Before long however he dropped it in favour of his earlier curious-eyed frown, lowering his arm from the back of his straw-haired head as he sat up in the bed he lay in. "But... no, wait."
She rose an ebony-night eyebrow at him, prodding him to continue.
"No-one else I know can do that kinda thing," he explained briefly. "Not even Zel and she's great with this kinda thing."
"That's... what I wished to speak to you about, actually," she spoke back, this time in a light-faced smile. "The group you lead..."
"Oh... I don't lead it." He shot back in an underwhelming frown, taking the young girl off by surprise; she blinked back at him.
"R-Really?"
"Yeah," he answered with a shut-eyed frown, shrugging as he did. He lowered both skinny arms to fold them forward at her as he crossed his legs in his seat. "I mean I've gone on a few adventures by myself, but... I ain't got the skills to lead a group our size," he laughed this time, rising up another eyebrow, this time in light-hearted banter. "Nah it's Impa-sensei that leads us."
"Impa... sensei...?"
"Oh uh... just Impa," he laughed this time, a sheepish kind of jagged smile to his countenance. "She's my sen- uh... mentor I guess is the Aurelian word for it."
"Ah... of course...," Veronika murmured out, light-brown eyes briefly lowering in realisation. "'Sensei' as in 'teacher'..."
Link, ever-curious, could only rise up yet another eyebrow as he listened to her, opting to tilt his head at her as he awaited her next answer. She rose up her head to face his and frowned back at him.
"Where are your group headed next...?"
He set his head back forward and re-opened his mouth to respond to her. "Uh... well...," he thought briefly, eyes rolling up in quick recollection. "Gylo... somethin'-somethin' I guess. I remember Bark and Al talkin' about-"
"Gylomecia, yes?"
Link blinked, cerulean eyes dropping back down to meet her, like an anchor on a ship. "Ah... yeah... I guess so," he chuckled well-naturedly, a smile re-appearing on his face. "If that's where the Prima World Tour's headed... then so are we." He finished, this time in a confident-faced smirk, all in great spite to the massive wounds he sported as a result of all his constant fighting. The watching Veronika couldn't help but grow a small smile on her face, shaking her ebony-haired head back at him as she did.
"A touch... of destiny..."
"A touch of what?"
His abrupt blurt, so rude and yet so clueless, could only be construed as curious and puzzling. Rather than opt to respond vocally to him, Veronika shut her light-brown eyes and walked over to him; he flinched and, like a spooked cat made ready to run, but when he realised she wasn't going to attack him the jumpy youth settled back into his seated position. She sighed long and deep as she reached up with her hands, cupping the sides of his own head, lightly pressing her forehead against his.
He couldn't help the light red flush his cheeks took on in embarrassment, silently thanking the Sainted Three that his companions were no-where to be seen.
"A touch...,"
VVVVVVV...
At last Link realised her intentions; his oceanic eyes widened when he felt the powerful glow of the holy triangle mark light up on his forehead, as pleasantly warm as her skin against his.
How is she doing that, he wondered silently.
It's only supposed to show up on the back of my left hand, not my forehead.
"Of destiny..." She breathed deep into the end of her sentence, a placid smile written across her shut-eyed countenance. The listening Link could only hold back a wince, wandering his eyes from her closed ones in a mixture of embarrassment and cluelessness.
Maybe Impa-sensei will know what to do here, he thought.
He let the oddly comforting touch of her fill his senses, driving him off to an unguarded state.
2
When their odd interaction with each other had concluded, Link surprisingly found his close companions visiting him in person themselves to Veronika's very domicile itself; although some teased him for Veronika's odd display in hospitality and care, they couldn't help but show their own concern for him in their own ways. It didn't take long for the curious Veronika to question the ever-wise Sheikah that led the group on their intentions and their journey's purpose; a surprising revelation that left even the more untalkative members curious and exchanging unsure looks with one another. However, to truly surprise the group, it was only when Veronika broached the possibility of joining them that they began to converse more on the controversial subject.
While Veronika herself was positively taken aback by the band's fairly innocent pretenses, and by Link's in particular, she soon came to understanding the party's pure and genuine goals; a revelation that left her, at Vassia's great protest, joining the group. When they discussed the possibility of travelling via ship and their need to procure a crew for their fast-upcoming voyage, Veronika proved herself fairly useful already by utilising connections she had seemed to grow all on her own in her life as a Stralanavian. Unfortunately however, as they required to leave as soon as possible given the deadline they had to keep, they were unable to stay not just for the Prima World Tour's afterparty but for the feast that Impa had promised earlier.
Needless to say a fairly disappointing moment for the saddened Link.
"Man what a gyp," he sighed through his nose as he trudged along after the group along up the gangway, headed for one of the many large ships docked in Belezma Port. "I can't believe you'd do that to me Impa-sensei. That's just mean."
The listening Sheikah marching ahead of him rolled her ruby-red eyes in frustration, sighing similarly as she did. "I'll get you something on-board. How's that?"
"All of us?"
She had to turn around and raise a silver-haired eyebrow at the interjection, only to roll her eyes again when she found it to be the hopeful-voiced Barkner next to the young Hylian.
"Yes... all of you." She conceded.
"All right!"
SLAP
The two old friends slapped their hands together excitably, a divergent smirk on the blonde boy's face in comparison to his earlier disconnection. The watching Impa, Malon and Vassia all rolled their eyes in light frustration and annoyance, leading one to saunter toward him, re-growing a fair smirk on her face.
"Well... I suppose it gives us time to prepare."
The listening Link could only blink back in response, swinging his azure-eyed gaze her way only to find the ever-confident Vassia grappling at his free right arm with both of her own; a surprising grip at that. Although his arm wasn't bare like it was in his karate-gi, having changed clothes back into his standard Kokiri tunic, he still felt the hardened and rough touch the Palashian princess ever-graced him with; the former Kokiri couldn't help but hold back a groan and roll his own cerulean eyes in response as he yanked back control of his right arm from her grip.
"Prepare for what exactly?"
While Vassia looked a little irritated by his behaviour, she soon removed her small hands from her hips and began to saunter next to him as they climbed the gangway together.
"Why... our wedding of course, mon amour."
The youth held back from spluttering and winced in a mixed frown, angered and embarrassed as he darted his eyes and head from hers, drawing out similarly divided looks from his surrounding companions behind him. While Barkner, Zelda and even Alwyn allowed them looks of mild amusement, Malon carried an annoyed look of calm resentment on her face as she held with her the cage of the lightly-clucking Cucco Grasshopper himself.
The quiet Veronika leading them at the front, however, had a strange contemplative look in her eye, a simple and near-unreadable frown written across her faced as she turned briefly to watch the pair of children before soon re-facing the front.
"In your dreams..." Link shot back hurriedly and embarrassedly, attempting with great difficulty to move the subject on from the inevitability of the upcoming mocking that he would no doubt receive.
"Well... I suppose I can work on you on the ship... can't I chéri...?"
She uncharacteristically gently blew into his small, pointed ear as they moved up the plank, pulling an abrupt and very sudden jerk of his body that made him gasp out in genuine surprise; Link spluttered out in an unhealthy mixture of embarrassment and found himself instinctively turning to run from her, comically hiding around the low-smirking Zelda behind them all. While the Hylian princess smirked at the situation it was more in growing amusement than malicious intent; a fact that the watching Vassia had grown wise to, her own smirk opting not to leave her doll-like complexion.
The Palashian princess raised up her head and kissed at the great space between them both, making the watching and gasping Link stiffen from her movement. Seemingly satisfied with her humorous reaction, Vassia chuckled along with the laughing Barkner and the rest of the party turned to follow Impa up the rest of the gangway.
"Come on...," she sighed out-with, rolling her fire-red eyes as she revolved her silver-haired head to the front in her military-like march forward. "Before these men give way without us..."
"You got it boss." Barkner chortled behind her, drawing out a non-voiced nod from the ever-frowning Alwyn next to him. The rest soon followed behind, leaving only the soon-settling Link and the smiling Zelda.
"Thanks Zel...," he gasped out behind her, stepping out from her back, a kind of tired look in his cobalt-blue eyes. "That chick wears me out, I swear."
"That's okay," the smiling Hylian princess responded with a deft yet soft shake of her similarly blonde-haired head, re-opening her mouth to finish her sentence. "I'm glad you picked... me... to hide behind."
Finding himself on the defensive again, he held back the blush that threatened to hit his cheeks before rolling his eyes and gaining the overconfident smirk he loved to wear since his return from Termina, re-opening his own mouth to shoot back a fitting response.
"You betcha... mistress."
She laughed through her nose delicately and deftly, opting to lower her left fingers and snake them very skilfully and carefully into his own right digits as they walked the rest of the way up the plank.
"Yo this place is pretty damn ritzy for an everyday ship."
"How would you know?"
Malon's little quip made the frowning-faced Link 'round his piqued-up eyebrow on her, gaining a little small smirk back as he swivelled 'round from his position facing his bed to spy back at her in the doorway; she stood with a similar little smirk plastered across her face, hands held carefully behind her person.
"'Cause it ain't the first time I been on a ship." He shot back just as quickly, folding his small green-clothed arms back at her as he did.
While it was a small lie, it seemed fairly believable.
She hasn't known me long in this time, he thought.
She won't get it.
"No way."
The look on his face dropped into a genuinely surprised and disappointed frown, eyebrows rising up as they did.
Damn, he thought.
She's smarter than I'm givin' her credit for.
"I bet you'll get seasick of all things." She added in her knowing grin, placing one of her rough hands across her hips.
"You really think so, huh?" He batted back, his grin re-growing as he swung over his duffel bag to sit at the side of his bed, turning to leave the room and march back toward her.
"I'd bet Epona on it."
His grin dropped but this time in sudden remembrance to one of his oldest friends and one he had returned from his journey across time in Termina with.
"I hope she's gettin' on okay." He merely retorted with in a softer tone of his tenor as he began marching toward her. She swung her body 'round to begin walking alongside him, losing her own grin as she faced him curiously, hands still held behind her.
"What, Epona?" She asked him again, as if for confirmation before rising up another eyebrow and chuckling. "She'll be fine," she answered. "Dad may be lazy but he takes good care of her."
"I guess it's more Ingo I'm worried about..." Link half-grinned this time in her direction, turning his booted walk to begin stepping through one of the large ship's many corridors.
Malon rolled her blue-shaded eyes and smirked along with him. "Ingo acts like an ass but he's really a big softie underneath," the seemingly wise little farm girl spoke before growing her grin a little as she reached for the blonde boy's side, re-opening her mouth to speak again. "Sort of like someone else I know..."
"Hey!" He laughed back, jerking suddenly a half-a-step away from her in his own flirting grin, realising she was attempting to tickle him playfully. "Downstairs is off limits to you."
"We'll have to change that when we get older y'know."
"Is that so?!"
The pair of Hylian children, surprised at the interjection, could only rise up both eyebrows, lose their joined smirks and swing their bodies 'round to the source of the noise, only to find the folded-armed Palashian princess herself staring back at them both in a disapproving narrow-eyed glare. Link rolled his eyes and re-obtained his earlier jovial grin, re-opening his mouth again to speak.
"Hello Vassia." He greeted half sarcastically.
"Hmph!" The violet-haired princess merely huffed back, unfolding her small arms before marching toward them both. "I can see all sorts of things have been happening behind my back!"
"You gotta learn to loosen up Vassia," Malon shot back, her grin unmoving and near-eternal on her expression, re-joining her hands behind her as she did. "You're so damn easy."
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
Link's grin cracked another inch, finding humour in Malon's sudden new level of banter. "It means you uptight as all hell Vass; come on," he began, raising up his right arm to ring 'round her shoulder in a friendly manner, as if to take her with the pair. "We'll go chill for a change."
"Hmph!"
Genuinely surprised by her refusal, Link could only drop his arms to his sides and his ever-confident grin from his face as he watched her angrily stomp away further down the corridor before him, blonde eyebrows risen upward as he did. When he made ready to go after her, opening up his mouth to call toward her, Malon rose up her arm and softly patted his own as if to stop him in amongst.
"Let her go," Lon Lon's farm-hand began, this time with a light smile on her face before turning to eye the stomping princess ahead of them. "Maybe it's time little miss Palashia learned she can't have her cake and eat it too." She finished in a surprisingly wise yet satisfied little grin upon her countenance, drawing out a half-exasperated frown from the listening boy.
He rolled his eyes at the obvious gratification she took in her rival's failure but soon put on his earlier concerned frown as his curious-eyed gaze found itself wandering back on Vassia's pouting retreat. Sure enough, in spite to the undeniable satisfaction she took in her rival's defeat, he couldn't help but find sense in her words nonetheless.
"Yeah...," he agreed on along with her, sighing through his nose with some effort and exasperation. "I guess so."
He felt the rough youth grasp at his right arm and begin manhandling him down the corridor, not necessarily after the far-off Palashian princess. "Come on," she began, a grin appearing on her lips as she did. "I'll get you some breakfast."
While he wasn't particularly appreciative of the rough handling that she was seemingly a fan of, Link couldn't help but find his mood improve when she mentioned breakfast, turning his half-annoyed frown into a lighter one.
"Yeah I guess that sounds good."
3
"I wonder what could have happened..."
One of the ship's sailors, similarly curious and all, could only shake his head in response to his captain's words as he opened up his own mouth to respond.
"Cap'n Reading... you can't be seriously thinking about actually going through with this venture o' yoren...?"
"It'd be too big a loss to lose so many well-payin' passengers go," the bearded captain responded in a similar shake of his own head, frowning back at his first-mate as he did. "Besides, I'm sure we'll be fine; we always are. How are the oarsmen Hastings?"
"Our men are fearless cap'n, no problem there," the first mate smiled back; perhaps the first bit of good news since he spoke. "It's just that..." He began again, trailing off with an unsure frown, drawing out a piqued-up white-shaded eyebrow from the listening captain before him.
"It's just that...?"
"If those bilge-suckin' sea-rats show up while we're crossin', then we'll get taken over fairly quickly," Hastings responded in a deft shake of his brown-haired, blue-scarf-wearing head. "We just don't have the-"
"Manpower; I know," the listening Captain Reading sighed back, a kind of disappointed tone to his expression as he placed a hand on his old hip, turning his eye away as if in deep thought. "And we can't very well ask the oarsmen to fight..."
"I mean who says we're gonna get hit by those little bastards cap'n?" Hastings shrugged back, a kind of hopeful-eyed frown to his own tone. "We might just pass on by 'em all!"
"I wouldn't count on it."
The pair of sea-loving sailors swung their heads 'round only to find the source of the interruption a baritone unfamiliar to them both; when they realised it was a passenger, their tense muscles calmed a little and their pervasive frown soon returned to their expressions. A similar-faced and eyed Zoran came marching down the corridor toward them, unfolding his slim arms as he did; a tell-tale signature of his head-fin having been cut at the end.
Clearly it was Alwyn.
"I've seen Kargarocs, Seahats, Octoroks and even Big Octos all over Aurelia," the former soldier wisely stated as he made the final approach to the pair of sailors before him. "Just as true as time itself."
Captain Reading rose one of his eyebrows at the Zoran, curious. "Ah... and you are...?"
"Weirson," Alwyn responded with his surname, re-folding his arms into his ever-beloved stance, tilting his head ever-so-slightly to the side as he did. "I came with the-"
"Ah yes, the Sheikah party of eight...," Reading winced, briefly shutting his eyes as he lowered his head as if just recalling the event, having somehow forgotten it. "Forgive me... I've had a lot on me mind."
Alwyn merely shook his Zoran head dismissively and amiably back at the ship's captain.
"How can you be so sure we'll be attacked?" First Mate Hastings opened up with, shooting the former soldier with a half-suspicious eyebrow-raise and a tilt of his own head, placing a hand on his hip as he did. While Alwyn opened up his mouth to respond and even turned to face the younger man, it was the rolling-eyed captain that opted to do it for him.
"Because he's a blasted Zoran Hastings, that's why."
The listening Hastings could only chuckle back nervously, a kind of zig-zagged-like smile written across his countenance. "Ah-ha... oh aye..."
"If it's sea-monsters and creatures you're all really worried about then don't be," Alwyn at last spoke up with, opting to eye the captain on his right as he did, slim arms folded. "A lot of us, at least in our party, can fight. And fairly well at that too."
Captain Reading rose up both eyebrows, this time in genuine surprise and hope as he met the Zoran's gaze. "T-Truly?"
Alwyn lightly nodded, eyes briefly closing as his frown grew a little deeper before returning to normal as it opened up to speak. "We've been fighting in the Prima World Tour, actually," he elucidated the pair with, continuing on. "It's our whole reason for travelling to Gylomecia in the first place."
"Well flog me silly and give me a lass' name...," the listening Hastings murmured out, his own eyebrows shot up in shock. "I guess we're saved."
"We'd be relying on passengers though Hastings...," Reading tilted his white-haired head to the side in knowing dissatisfaction as he did. "It'd simply be too much to-"
"Mm... it'd be a good challenge I think," Alwyn politely interrupted the ship's captain with, frowning on eternally as he loved to. "Lot of us are looking for some way to get better than the others; this can just be another competition."
"Ey cap'n, I think I like these landlubbers." Hastings chose to grin this time in Reading's direction, bringing out an exasperated rolling-eyed frown in response.
"All right...," Reading sighed in defeat, nodding his white-haired head in the Zoran's direction. "You let your leader know and I'll let the boys know; your group are only to be used as a last resort," he began, drawing out an understanding shut-eyed nod from the listening Alwyn. "'Til then my boy Hastings can handle anything that comes our way."
"All on me todd?!"
Reading and Alwyn both comically turned to eye the shocked first mate, exchanging silent looks with one another before the captain responded.
"Aye... y'said yerself," the captain began, a small grin arcing up on the side of his mouth in conjunction with a white-shaded eyebrow as he did. "Who's to say we'll even be attacked out here in the great sea?"
While the listening Alwyn couldn't help but hold back a half-smirking snort, Hastings half-rolled his eyes and cringed, looking away from the pair as he only uttered a single curse.
"Fuck."
Link couldn't help but dart his carefully-laid oceanic-eyed gaze periodically up from the massive grouping of food he had heaped from around the buffet tables surrounding them, finding the smiling Malon staring back at him from across the table, her rough but small hands resting on the sides of her cheeks as she balanced their elbows on the furniture itself.
"Stop that." He snapped softly but firmly enough, annoyed at her. Her smile grew, slowly at first into what seemed to be a knowing smirk, before soon settling when she realised she was getting under the blonde boy's skin.
"Stop what?"
A side of the Hero of Time's frown twitched as he shovelled heaps of scone into it, quickly flashing his eyes up to glare back at her disapprovingly, as if to dissuade her from watching him.
"You know what," he shot back, his words muffled comically by the incredible amount of food covering the insides of his cheeks, puffing them out ridiculously and humorously. "It's freakin' me out."
Malon's devious smirk carried her on as she rolled her own dark-blue eyed gaze up to her upper-left, unchanging in her stance as she did. "I have no idea what you're talking about…"
She's learned way too much from me, the disgruntled Link pondered to himself silently, rolling both cerulean orbs in frustration with her before attempting with great effort to return his full attention to the food she so generously bought him.
She bought me food, he tried to remind himself with incessantly and regularly.
Just keep that in mind before you open your big mouth and annoy her.
"So…"
He rose a straw-haired eyebrow and double-took in her direction above the pile of food she bought him. "So…?"
"So… what was she like?"
This time he dragged his green-hat head up out of the food he so laboriously loved and couldn't help but furrow his brow back at her. "What was who like?"
Malon rolled her blue eyes, growing impatient yet unchanging in her stance on the table. "Little miss 'Soul Power'," she clarified quickly. "Veronika, was it?"
"Oh," he blinked back at her. "Um… fine… I guess." Link answered simply, eyes lowered in thought.
He still wasn't quite sure what to think about Veronika, especially after she so skilfully not only beat him and Kage in the grand finals of the Stralanavian Skirmish, but somehow and more recently entered into the subconscious he shared with the demonic will himself.
She seems helpful, he thought.
And yet there's somethin' off about her.
"You better not be thinkin' good things about her…"
He brought his eyes back up, eyebrows shooting up in light surprise when she grumbled over at him, before soon rolling them up into a frustrated sigh through his nose.
"No dear…"
"I should hope not!"
The pair of Hylian children, startled by the interjection into their shared conversation together, could only dart their heads 'round in its source of direction; the firmly-frowning form of Vassia accompanied by the contrastingly-smiling Zelda, the Hylian princess' hands joined at her back, stood at the table's side having seemingly entered mid-conversation.
"Oh no," Malon groaned back, her initially-surprised eyed frown soon taking a humoured deadpan-like tone to it. "What are you two doing here? This is our date."
Rather comically in response to hearing the fairly liberally-taken words, the listening Link could only cough out painfully and agonisingly as if in shock when heeding her quarrel with the pair of princesses.
"What… afraid of a little…," Vassia began, her disapproving frown soon cracking upward into a competitive grin, unfolding her small arms from the sides of her hips as she began to saunter toward the fire-haired farm girl. "Competition…?" The violet-haired vixen veraciously shot back, gesturing the tone of her soprano with an insulting rise of her thin index finger, flicking up against the scrunch-eyed shut Malon's face, drawing a surprised grunt from her in response.
While the watching Link could only watch on in growing concern, his frown turning zig-zagged, the ever-quiet Zelda's guiltily-entertained smile remained eternal on her face, tilting her blonde-haired head at the amusing scene before her.
"Up yours!"
Like a pair of hellcats, the two children were off and rolling across the ship's floor as Malon very brazenly and angrily leapt from her chair, having been successfully goaded into a reaction by her bold rival.
"Yo we gotta stop 'em," Link called out in a watching wince, sitting up from his previously-slouching form. "If we don't then-"
Almost as if they were listening to them, Malon somehow and surprisingly gained the upper hand over the altercation; having straddled the screeching Vassia and scowling angrily as she took handfuls of the Palashian princess' well-kept hair, pulling it with great force.
"Wow…," the spectating Zelda began with a similarly astonished murmur. "You'd think Vassia would be winning with her martial arts experience, but…"
"Huh…," Link blinked in kind with his old companion, opting to swerve his blonde-haired head 'round to raise an eyebrow at her, provoking her to do the same. "I guess Malon really does got potential."
"Has."
Link rose another eyebrow at the speaking Zelda before him. "Uh?" He merely blurted back at her unknowingly. She smiled and briefly shut her eyes, rising up a single index finger as if to correct him.
"'I guess Malon really has got potential'." She amended his sentence with, re-opening her sky-shaded eyes in her light-faced smile. He drooped his eyes humorously back at her and she giggled; a scene of otherwise classic nostalgia, in great spite to the savage beatdown occurring mere inches away from them both.
It was only when the visibly-annoyed Impa came marching toward the group of children that they all realised the situation grew shockingly serious; with little effort, the Sheikah broke the pair up and held them aloft away from one another, fire-ruby eyes darting from each in irritation.
"Having fun over there?" The annoyed Sheikah shot over, an irritated tone to her contralto. The listening pair of Hylian children could only wince and cringe similarly together, both having been likewise intimidated by the threatening presence that she always so skilfully conveyed.
"S-Sorry Impa-sensei…"
"I'm… sorry Impa…"
The listening Sheikah sighed and, in great spite to the yelling Malon and Vassia below her, put on a fairly calm, disappointing frown as if she were doing any basic parent duty.
"I expected this out of him princess...," she began, shaking her silver-haired head as she did. "But you…?"
Suddenly feeling insulted, Link put on an annoyed turn to his face and frowned back at his mentor, re-opening his mouth to voice his injured person. "Hey! What's that supposed-ta mean Impa-sensei?"
The listening Sheikah rolled her eyes in a mixture of frustration and irritation. "You know what's it's supposed to mean," she clarified for the blonde boy, brow furrowing down at him, little seeming effort exuding in keeping the screeching pair of girls below her apart from one another. "You've always been a bad influence on her."
Link merely shrugged back at his mentor bravely, his pride and ego stroking the fire that was the fast-growing smirk on his face. "Hey, I can't help it if your chick loves the bad boy Impa-sensei."
Watching on in growing amusement of her own, Zelda could only snort out quietly to herself, hiding a smirk of her own behind her raised hands. When Impa, annoyed by the proceedings swung her silver-haired head 'round in the pink princess' direction, she almost immediately dropped both arms to rest behind her and the smirk to match, instead replacing it with a mere business-like smile.
Impa narrowed her eyes suspiciously back at her charge before sighing through her nose and returning her attention to the two screeching girls in her two hands' iron-like grip.
CRASSSSSH
4
Even the stalwartly-standing Sheikah herself had to stop herself from sailing down to the swabbing deck below her, eyes widened from the sudden sheer jarring and violent shake that filled the very ship itself. The shocked Vassia and Malon, their own eyes widened and similarly shocked out of their squabble, could only gasp and swing their eyes 'round as if to search for the seeming shaking storm.
"Goddamn…" Link cursed out, darting his own oceanic-eyed gaze 'round in swift scan for the source of the sudden slam they suffered.
"What the hell was that…?" Impa mouthed out quietly, more to herself than the group she stood with.
"Guys!"
The gaggle of heroes swung their heads 'round to the voice's direction, only to find the similarly concerned-faced Barkner standing behind them, gesturing to the back of the dining room, toward the sounds of the yelling staff.
"Kraken!"
Impa's normally resolute face quickly grew white and her frown drooped into a horrified, open-mouthed 'o'. "Good god…"
The similarly knowledgeable Zelda and Vassia winced together, the Hylian princess opting to raise her hands up to rest behind her face again as if to display her shock. "Oh no…"
Malon and Link, however, could only exchange comical puzzlement together, unable to even recognise the name.
"What the hell is a 'Kraken'?" The former Kokiri merely parroted back to his old Goron companion, drawing a half-amused snort from the listening Malon on his right. Angered by the display, Impa darted her silver-haired head on the pair of Hylians and grappled at their arms.
"Find that funny do you…?" The Sheikah began, dragging the surprised pair toward the entrance and exit to the dining hall. "Come see this."
DROOM
CRASSSH
VOHHHH…
Like the sound of a powerful foghorn renting through the air even the normally resolute Impa had to stop herself from falling in place as she stood newly outside the main deck, ruby-red eyes narrowed up at the source of the commotion and the unrelenting chaos. The wide-eyed Link and Malon could only stare with their Sheikah leader, near-unable to find words with which to respond in light of the near-otherworldly discovery before them.
A gigantic creature, completely unrecognisable to anything even the shocked Link had seen, towered over the once-beautiful ship that they all stood on; as the surrounding crew members of the ship and the nearby passengers ran around in circles aimlessly in a frenzied panic, the towering tentacle-like creature opened up the jagged-toothed mouth it carried and screamed.
RRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRR
Link scrunched shut his azure-blue eyes in kind with the rest of his companions as an incredibly-dense and thick-like liquid came shooting out of the monster's mouth, dousing and covering the trio in its inside juices in an animalistic roar not unlike that of Kage Narumono. When it had at last finished its seeming intimidation tactic, the blinking Link at long last opened up his mouth to offer his usual comical commentary.
"Well… shit," he began crudely, drawing out a half-annoyed look from Impa on his right. "First I've seen that before."
"Oh my lord…," the watching Malon murmured out, her own sky-blue eyes widened and face contorted in sheer shock and dismay. "What in the name of the three goddesses…?"
While the similarly concerned Impa had originally intended to scare the two children straight, she hadn't counted on being frightened herself and held back a visible gulp of nervous saliva in order to maintain her image in front of the two. Grateful when the ever-helpful Alwyn and Barkner stepped out from their back toward below-deck, similarly curious to the goings-on, Impa swung her head 'round to face them.
"Barkner, take her down below-deck," Impa quickly ordered, bringing out a surprised look from the listening Goron. "We're going to need all the space we have here."
"But… shouldn't I stay to hel-?"
"It's a sea-monster Barkner," Alwyn pointed out quickly and politely, shaking his injured head-fin forward at the tentacle creature before them all. "Unless you've suddenly gained gills or overcome your weakness to water you're going to be a liability here."
Link winced as he listened.
Alwyn was fair and quick with his information, especially given their limited time, but brutal. Barkner however, was more than adult about the situation and opted to merely nod back understandingly.
"All right," the Goron conceded knowledgeably. "I'll be back anyway!" He called out as he reached down to grasp at the squeaking Malon, throwing her over his beefy shoulder. "Save some for me!" He called over his muscled body as he swerved 'round to drop the Hylian girl off below-deck, his enthusiastic words eliciting an excited grin from the standing Link.
Gotta hand it to him, the young Hero of Time thought.
He don't ever give up, even in the face of adversity.
"You! Sheikah!"
The woman, in genuine surprise, could only rise up both silver-shaded eyebrows as she swung her body 'round to face the speaker only to find the worried-eyed captain of the very ship they were about to save.
"What in Davy Jones' hell is going on here?!" Captain Reading called out above the din of the noise out in the night air. "I've been on these seas a good fifteen years… and not once have I seen anythin' like this before! The second we pick your little group up-"
"Calm yer cuccos," the grinning Link quipped smartly, sporting a similarly impudent tone to his tenor that went well with his usually-overconfident demeanour. "There ain't nothin' we've never beaten before," the blonde youth shot back, rising up his right arm to clench its fist at the captain, almost as if to reinforce his bold claim. "Give us a couple of minutes."
"Are ye insane lad…?" Reading whispered out disbelievingly, eyes widened as he did. "Were ye drapped oan yer heid as an infant?! That's the goddamned Kraken!"
While the grinning-faced Link re-opened his mouth to respond to their benefactor, it was the firmly-frowning form of Alwyn that retorted for him; a business-like quip that suited the militaristic Zoran.
"It's not our first time," the slim, blue-skinned man shot back, briefly eyeing the shocked captain with an almost professional-like manner. "I daresay we've had more dangerous engagements in the recent past." The Zoran finished wisely as he swerved his head back 'round to eye the towering creature before them all.
"Hell yeah we have." Link chuckled good-naturedly and knowledgeably, nodding along as his close companion's words brought to mind their recent struggle for survival in Kaiohdrahl against the incredibly-powerful Velkarez and his 'Templars of the Weeping Stars'.
This'll be a cakewalk in comparison, the overconfident Hero of Time pondered to himself carelessly.
"Well… in that case… I guess you three are our best shout here then if we're gonnae survive this," Captain Reading tilted his white-haired head as he spoke briefly before re-focusing it forward. "Ye'd better no' be lyin' tae us all…"
"We should be fine, hopefully," Impa at long last answered their captain with, frowning firmly as she affixed the fingerless gloves she wore so well atop both hands before turning to face him for a second or two. "Though we should be receiving some reinforcements; three more," the Sheikah claimed before swiftly swinging her head 'round to eye the creature waiting for them. "Just let them through if they come up after us."
"They're wi' all of ye's? The ones ye's came with?"
"Some of them," Alwyn added on in a light nod. "The only one in our group that doesn't fight is Malon; the red-haired one."
"Fuck…," the listening captain rudely and crudely cursed, shaking his head in further disbelief. "Ye're all unique… I'll gie ye's that," Reading spoke, this time in a tilting smirk, drawing out a light laugh from the listening Link. "See that, that big bastard disnae damage the ship anymair," the captain began, nodding his white-haired head up toward the far-off monster. "Last thing I need is mair holes in her."
"You got it… cap'n."
In Link's ever-cheeky response, the small group of close companions all took off following their Sheikah leader, all preparing in their own fashions, leaving the lightly-sighing Reading with an overwhelmed frown on his face.
"Here's hopin'…"
5
As the more-than-enthusiastic Link shot forward to close the distance between himself and the exclaiming Kraken caught his sudden advance with one of its many slithering tentacles.
"Link!"
"No, Link!"
The worried Zelda's and annoyed Impa's calls could only make the listening, frowning-faced Link widen his eyes and drop his previously-overconfident grin, soon falling into what looked like a shocked expression in his oceanic-eyed gaze.
"Uh oh."
RRROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR
Link scrunched shut his cerulean-shaded eyes into a creased, wincing expression as the Kraken bellowed a war-like cry in his face in a savage and animalistic-like howl.
"First I've had that before…" He muttered out comically, fighting back the urge to force his trapped hand up to wipe away at the incredible amount of muck and goo from the Kraken's mouth that had by now completely encapsulated his small Hylian form.
"Link! Are you okay?!"
He blinked and swung his green-hat head 'round to his lower right, only to find the source of the soprano as the worried-voiced Zelda, now dressed in her battle-wear as Sheik. While he knew she was still only a child, much like himself, it still made him grin on clapping eyes on a mini variant of the mysterious and elusive Sheikah fighter from his own era.
"Don't you worry baby!" He called back down overconfidently, soon swerving his grin back on the growling Kraken's scowl mere yards away from his own face. "Imma be just…"
VVV…
FRRR…!
KERRASSSSH
"Fine!"
In a widely-grinning explosion of grand-expressed flame and fire, Link appeared to utilise his very Aegir-control itself from within as a way of defence that resulted in an awe-inspiring display of pyrotechnics; a demonstration that even the formerly-departed Deku Tree himself would have been proud of. While the shocked Alwyn, Zelda and even Impa could only stare up in what seemed to be sheer bewilderment at the incredible level of finesse and control it took to manage such a technique, a deeper bass that called out in matching excitement and near-hysteria.
"WOOOO!"
The small group of close companions darted their heads 'round to find the grinning-faced Barkner behind them, also joined by the recently-reappeared Vassia and Veronika.
"Go Link!" Barkner cried out in further motivation, marking his morale with a sky-driven clenched fist. "GO!"
Spurred on by his devoted Goron friend, Link merely shot him with a similar-faced beam before swinging back to re-eye the glaring and roaring Kraken. As if also energised by the youth's contagious spirit, it didn't take very long for the remaining party to follow, all running up behind him in support with their own fighting techniques; the narrow-eyed Sheik, first in line, leapt up high into the air and spun her small body 'round in a 180 angle as she swung a back-hand through the air.
Like magic, a number of near-invisible needles came careering toward the bellowing Kraken, easily penetrating through its thick flesh. When the angered sea-monster clocked Sheik's location, a quick dart of its deep-yellow eyes in her immediate direction, it shot three of its many tentacles up in quick pursuit of her.
"Spark!"
FZZZZZ-KRSSH
SCREEECH
Like electricity itself somehow or, a lesser variant of it, the projectile that Veronika threw forward from the relative safety of the back of the party made its successful mark and caused the shut-eyed Kraken to turn its yellow-eyed head to the heavens in agony. As the small bolts of artificial electricity petered out around its filled figure, the Kraken roared again in rage and reached up for a piece of debris from the ocean to attack with; as it tossed it toward them, the ever-grinning Barkner stepped up to the plate and easily tanked the assault, bringing out laughs from the watching Link and Vassia in response.
"Now it's our turn!"
With that single exclamation marking the beginning of his own counter-attack, Barkner let his excited smirk carry him forward as he rose up his right beefy arm before swiftly beginning to spin around in place; as he began to rapidly approach the wide-eyed Kraken, a long and sharp-like rock started to protrude from his extended right palm before very quickly soon forming a bat-like weapon as if to attack with. By the time the sea-monster even noticed it, however, it was far too late.
CRASSSSH-SCREEEECH
In rapid-growing rage and anger, the ocean leviathan gave vent to another sky-rending roar as it shot up one of its many slime-green tentacles high into the air, high above the grinning Goron. When Barkner noticed the Kraken's counter-attack himself, he couldn't help but widen his eyes and, realising he was far too late to attempt to move suddenly and sharply to avoid it, brought up both muscled rocky-skinned arms to block forward; like magic, a dome of earthen and magical energy formed up to block his form within. Unfortunately for the gambit-driven Goron however, the Kraken's offensive tentacle-turned-sword managed to somehow pierce the resolutely-handled roof of Barkner's defensive technique.
KRRRRSSSH-SKRRR
Like a blade grinding noisily and powerfully against other steel, the creature's arm-like appendage ate through Barkner's dome of rock and scraped noisily against the hardwood of the floor beneath them both.
THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK-TWUCK…
SMACK-SCREECH
The narrow-eyed Alwyn perhaps in immediate response to shield his companion from further harm, side-flipped through the newly-raining air as he tossed his own pair of bladed fins at their shared enemy, landing across the main deck in a deft skid as he did. When the bladed boomerangs struck the Kraken across its attacking tentacle, it sent others in sudden response, ravenous for swift retribution; just as with the earlier-hovering Link as its tentacles surrounded and constricted him, so too did the Kraken's besiege and envelop his own.
Alwyn, however, opted to respond much more practically and timely than his younger counterpart.
BZZZZZZZZZZZZT…!
SHRIEEEEEK
In a display of static electricity, similar to Veronika's earlier technique, the former Zoran soldier managed to utilise an Aegir Art unique to the Zorans themselves and successfully infected the shrieking monster with a body-full of artificial lightning; a super-effective technique. It didn't take very long for the injured Kraken to respond and respond it did; with an angered growl it snaked its many appendages in counter-assault attempt, slithering them 'round the landed Alwyn's form, surprising even him.
Having seemingly already utilised his earlier artificial lightning, the 'Barrier' technique, Alwyn was forced to find other means to escape the sea-monster's powerful hold. However, before he could, it was the unexpected source of Vassia that was found to be his saviour; the smirking-faced Palashian Princess leapt forward in a graceful diagonal flip, kicking at the screeching Kraken's exposed tentacle with her right leg first. As she landed however, she called out in effort as she spun in place and outstretched her left leg into a vigorous stabbing boot, her while-rising pink Aegir covering her form.
As the pink-shaded Quintessence made successful contact with the creature's body and filled up its body completely, it gave rent to one final bellow of immense pain and agony, vibrating the very rain-filled skies themselves. Even with her deep-purple long hair matted by the lashing rain, Vassia couldn't help but extend forward the smirk she previously wore so well as she drank in the sight of the group's collective efforts, marked by her final contribution; the screaming Kraken's body sagging backward from the mildly-damaged ship back whence it came, its huge and lumbering body slowly dissipating into black smoke as per most fiends'.
Almost as if reacting to the leviathan's immediate defeat, the tyrannical downpour of rain that oppressed the fighting seven very quickly began to lessen, first into a light trickle and then eventually into a simple clear sky. The watching Sheik, Impa, Veronika and Alwyn all sighed in comparable relief whereas the frowning Link merely turned his expression up into a snarky-faced scrunch.
"Is that it?" He shot out with impertinently, drawing out an amused giggle from the listening Vassia a good couple of steps behind him. "We had bigger challenges in the Hylian Hyrax's prelims!" The half-insulted young Hylian exclaimed with as he swung his now-annoyed look on his group of close companions behind him.
While irritated with his overconfident and rambunctious behaviour, even the listening Impa could only roll her eyes as the grinning Barkner snorted in his own amusement at the situation. Although generally quite a serious girl, Veronika put on the smallest of smiles on her own face, forcing the frowning-faced Alwyn to raise up his head to shake it over at the exchanging-eyed Impa diagonally across from him; a look as if to dissuade the harsh-teaching Sheikah on reprimanding the blonde boy.
Unchallenged, Link sighed out deliberately as he rose up both arms to rest behind his green-hat head carefreely; an old habit. "Oh well…," he began simply. "At least we can chill now."
"Indeed! Mon amour…"
Realising the only member of their party that spoke Palashian, spoke Palashian behind him, Link soon found his nerves standing on end and his eyebrows lifted up to match the widening his azure-eyed orbs took; unfortunately for the youth however, he was far too late in moving to avoid the wily Vassia's sudden grapple around his lower tunic half, evoking a still-surprised gasping-like 'whulf' from him in response.
"Perhaps you can give me a…," she began whispering in his ear, drawing ever closer to him and eliciting a noticeable wince from him in response. "Reward…?"
He couldn't help but flinch as she sheerly breathed the last-whispered word of her sentence into his small and pointed ear; an oddly-pleasing purr that not only irked the listening Link but disturbed him somewhat as he pulled away from her grip in an abruptly-annoyed jerk. Watching on from the back, the members of the group all displayed their own shows of amusement and entertainment; Sheik's soft-faced smile, Veronika's similarly-reserved little smile of her own, Barkner's chuckling folded-armed grin, Alwyn's seemingly neutral-faced frown matching well with the ever-business-like Impa and, of course, the hugely satisfied smirk plastered across the watching Vassia's face a mere two steps away from the blonde boy.
"Keep dreamin'!" He shot back, running one of his rough hands over the ear she spoke into, as if she had somehow filled it with something. "No-one touches these goods."
"Probably why you've never kissed a girl then…"
The smirking-faced little murmur that Vassia whispered out managed to make the listening Link widen his cerulean-shaded eyes in annoyance and near-splutter in an unhealthy mixture of sudden irritation and indignation; a trigger that brought out light giggles and boisterous laughter from the rest of the surrounding group.
"H-Hey! That ain't true!"
