It took several hours, but Link began to hear strange noises.
Some part of his mind recognized that these noises sounded somewhat familiar to the noises the Master Cycle made.
Could it be that he and Ivy had found some sort of town? Civilization? There was only one was to find out…
The two exited the forest to find themselves behind a bunch of big houses. Some were falling apart, while others stood proud and strong on their foundations. Some were one story, or two, or even three; all of them had fancy roofs, and designs, and colors, and various other layouts that made them unique.
Link and Ivy were unknowingly in the oldest section of a place called South Town.
As the two watched, they saw various humans walking around. Link became slightly worried about his appearance.
"…At least I've got that hood." He lifted it to being around his head - it temporarily solved the pointed ear problem - and looked down at his clothes.
He deemed them to be good enough - at least he wasn't in the "traditional" clothes like the past heroes wore - and left the forest, deciding to walk on the path before the - to him - massive houses.
Link couldn't help but silently marvel at all of the architecture.
Ivy happily trailed behind Link as they walked past the houses.
As they walked, they could hear shouting coming from not too far in the distance. Link and Ivy decided to investigate. They traced the yelling to an alleyway next to a shop of some kind. Inside the alley, there were two shady looking individuals from the mob yelling at what looked like a shopkeeper.
"You said you'd pay us in full if we finished the job before Thursday!" The first mobster said.
"Yeah, well I said I wanted him offed, not just injured." The shopkeeper said. "So you don't get all the money since you didn't do all of the job."
"Do you know what we do to guys who rip us off?" The second mobster asked.
"Try it. I dare you." The shopkeeper replied.
Link knew it wasn't really any of his business, but he knew a shady deal when he saw one. So he entered the alley to have a little chat with these three. Ivy followed closely behind.
Before he got close enough so the three could see him, Link hung back a bit. Sure, he couldn't walk up to them unarmed, yet he couldn't exactly just walk up to them with a sword, either.
He desummoned the Master Sword, and instead picked a Lynel Dagger for self defense, if it was needed. He also swapped his shirt for something a lot more formal, it was a simple blue shirt, nothing too fancy.
He then returned his attention to the three and stepped forward.
"Good evening, gentlemen, I happened to be walking past this alleyway, and couldn't help but overhear your conversation. What seems to be the issue?"
Everyone turned and looked at Link with hateful glared.
"None of your business, pretty boy." The first mobster said.
"Yeah so beat it, before we do something you may not like." The second one added.
The three then slowly approached the Hylian.
'Right. Time to be defensive.'
The Hylian sidestepped so the three stayed in front of him. "I don't think so, you see, what I heard the three of you conversing about greatly caught my interest."
Link noticed that Ivy was staying out of sight for now. Good, he didn't want the creature getting hurt. The Hylian got into a defensive position. "I think the best thing for me to do at the moment, would be to take you three to the local authorities, and let them decide what to do with you."
There was silence in the air for a moment before the three gangsters started laughing.
"Just who do you think you are, telling us to turn ourselves in?! You think you can make us, tough guy?" The shopkeeper asked.
"It's three against one. There's no way you can take us all on at once!" The first monster added.
"I'll take my chances." Link responded.
Without another word, the three rushed Link all at once.
Link waited until the first one reached him, then leapt up, and kicked off the nearby wall; soaring over the one man's head as he twisted in mid air and aimed a defensive punch at the man's raised arm.
He landed the punch, causing the criminal to hold his arm in pain. The second one approached and readied a punch that he aimed at the back of Link's head. However, Link saw this coming and sidestepped the attack. The mobster fumbled due to throwing a punch at nothing. Link took advantage of this by grabbing the mobster while he was fumbling and throwing him into the other mobster, knocking them both down. The Hylian then turned towards the shopkeeper.
"Now, let's start this again."
The shopkeeper was visibly seething. "How about no."
"I've dealt with people like you, ones who like to extort whoever they can for some amount of profit."
The man laughed. "So what? Me and my friends own the town, kid. Do you really think you can stop me?"
"I can try." Link shrugged before he took a step back, then ran towards the shopkeeper. At the last second, he went down into a slide, trying to cut the man's leg's out from underneath him so the shopkeeper would fall to the ground.
But the shopkeeper dodged and got into a fighting pose. When Link got back up, the shopkeeper threw a punch at his face. Link recoiled, but quickly stood up straight again.
"So that's how we're going to do this, then?" Link asked.
Link threw a punch of his own to the shopkeeper's gut. When the man doubled over, Link threw an uppercut to his chin. The shopkeeper responded by throwing a punch to the ribs.
The two were so busy fighting each other, that they did not see the two mobsters getting to their feet.
One of the two mobsters bent down and picked up a jagged, broken glass bottle that had been discarded.
Ivy watched this from the end of the alleyway with concern. His concern only grew when the two mobsters moved towards Link, who was still fighting the shopkeeper.
Link took the hit to the chest and retreated a bit.
"I gotta wonder", the shopkeeper said as he forcibly moved his jaw back into place. "Where'd you learn to fight like this?"
"I was trained." Link responded before he dodged another punch.
"Then show me." The shopkeeper paused, then grinned at something over Link's shoulder. "On second thought… Nah. We're done here."
At this, Link turned around, only to see a glint of something in front of him -
- There was the sound of shattering glass, and then a thud, as if a body had landed on stone.
Ivy couldn't see much from where he was, but he smelt spilled blood, he heard cruel laughter… Something had happened.
"Alright, alright, don't kill the kid, we can… use em'" the shopkeeper's voice reached Ivy.
"What for? Manual labor?"
"He's strong… we'd have to make him compliant through… someway… toss him in the basement, we'll see if he's up in a few hours."
More cruel laughter as a door was opened, and then the sound of footsteps retreating.
Ivy ran out of his hiding spot, down the alleyway, and into the building just before the door was slammed shut.