Hello, one and all! Last we left off, Link all but finished clearing out the evil in Skyview Temple, aside from one tensie little thing called the boss, a Queen Gohma. Anyway, why should I be keeping you, enjoy this next chapter!

Chapter 8

Vicious Puppeteer: Queen Gohma

Link drew his sword, preparing himself for what the Queen would do first. Watching her movement carefully, he watched as she crawled down to the ground, shattering any bones and crushing any corpses that stood in her path. He stood his ground as the Queen roared again at him, taking this chance to run in and slash at one of her eyes. The Queen was smarter than the King, however, and blocked his sword with her mandibles. Link was caught off-guard when she grabbed him, throwing him hard against the wall. His back cracked on contact, and he was left without breath as the Gohma charged. Standing weakly, he braced himself as the Gohma knocked him aside with one of her legs, though his shield managed to absorb most of the blow. Link was sent to the opposite end of the room like a ragdoll, though this time he hit the floor before he hit the wall.

"She's too... fast for me to attack with my sword..." said Link as he stood, the Queen searching for her opponent. Link had an idea, and as such drew his bow.

"Let's see if she can react to arrows flying over 200 mph," he whispered before firing off an arrow into one of her eyes as she finally saw him, the arrow completely circumventing her defenses and hitting her dead in one of her eyes. The Queen began squealing in pain, scurrying to the ceiling much like the King did. Unlike the King, however, she was capable of giving birth to skullwalltulas at a moment's notice, the newly hatched creatures swarming at him. Putting away his bow and drawing his sword, he cleaved through the swarm of arachnids, wasting no effort to dispatch all of them. The Queen roared again, spreading her legs wide and falling to the ground, Link barely managing to dodge between her legs in order to not get crushed. The Gohma was significantly sturdier than her mate, and quickly got up in order to attack Link before he could attack her. Link knew that he couldn't deal and damage with his sword, however, and as such sniped her in the same eye with his bow as she turned around. The Queen roared in pain again, this time charging at Link in order to bulldoze him, but Link leapt up and landed on the Queen's face. Taking sword in hand, Link made short work of her wounded eye, all but gouging it out of the socket. He was thrown off, forcing him to regain his balance before the Gohma rushed at him again, barely making it out of the way in time before she slammed into the wall. The Queen turned around angrily, only to find that link was nowhere to be seen.

"That was close," whispered Link, who had used his wiring to cling to the ceiling and out of the Queen's sight. "Just one good hit from that leviathan would end me. But maybe we can use her colossal size against her..."

Drawing his bow, Link aimed for the unarmored spots along the Queen's legs, her joints. Though too small to be struck by a sword other than a rapier, an arrow was the perfect size to slip right through the armor plates. Letting fly the arrow, it buried itself deep in her leg, nearly taking off the limb itself. The Gohma squealed in pain, finally finding Link on the ceiling.

"Uh-oh," said Link before severing the line, dropping him to the floor as the Gohma lunged at him. She crashed headfirst into the wall, dazing her as she came back out, revealing rays of sunlight as she retreated, burning at her armor. Link sprinted in front of the Gohma, taking out two more eyes before the Queen regained her composure, making hissing noises as she retreated from the light. Shielding her eyes from any further arrows, she spawned more skullwalltulas, though Link once again ended them all. The Queen remained on the ceiling this time however, forcing Link to come up with some way to take her down.

"She didn't seem to like the light... Let's see how she likes a good dose of it!" shouted Link as he reflected the light off of his sword's finely honed blade, burning at her armor and weakening her, dropping her to the ground. Too weak to stand, the Gohma could do nothing as Link impaled a forth eye, eliminating that one as well. The titanic arachnid let loose a guttural noise as it stood and retreated to the ceiling. She grabbed an egg sac and broke it revealing the frail body of a hylian wearing red.

"Oh my Goddesses."

The Gohma attached a few threads to the man before slowly lowering him to the ground. Link knew this man all too well, and was heartbroken at what was happening right now.

Link was being forced to face his mentor, Kain Borne.

Before Link could question what the Dark Realm was happening further, the familiar puppet was basically thrown at Link, and he was forced to defend against a heavy blow from a crimson knuckle buster, Kain's signature weapons.

Link narrowed his eyes threateningly, slicing through one of the threads that supported his mentor. Kain was returned to the ceiling for a moment, and was quickly dropped back down with all of the threads in perfect condition.

"So it's all or nothing here," deduced Link as Kain's body rushed at him again. The Queen would fix the threads so long as there were any to pull the puppet back, so he had to cut them all at once.

Link defended against the hammer blow that would have met otherwise with his shield, the added force of the Gohma controlling her throwing him back. The worst part was that Kain wasn't just being moved- his body was actually moving on its own, adding Kain's otherworldly strength to each blow. However, due to the few months he's been stuck with the Gohma, his body was deathly pale and vastly thinner than the heavily muscular physique he knew all too well. The Queen must have been using some kind of special toxin to keep him alive and control him, like some kind of possession.

Link was brought from his thoughts by another blow from Kain, once again sending him skidding back. When Kain came at him again, Link shield-bashed the hit and severed all of the threads holding the man up as he was staggered. The Gohma grew angry and crashed to the ground again, though Link noticed that it went out of its way to not crush Kain, aiming more efficiently at Link, though he still managed to dodge, albeit barely. Link once again ran around to stab away at her eyes, thought she was defending using her forelimbs, making it impossible for him to get a hit in. The Queen grabbed Kain and returned to the ceiling, suspending him by threads again. Link noticed that while Kain possessed close to his normal physical strength, he barely possessed even a fraction of a fraction of his normal agility, meaning the Gohma couldn't replicate everything. Link dodged another hammer blow and severed the threads again, though this time he grabbed his bow and instantly aimed up.

"If she's going to try and crush me, she has to look at some point..." said Link as he aimed at the Queen's face, and true to his beliefs, the Queen's limbs moved away, setting up a perfect shot with his bow. The arrow dazed the Gohma, sending her plummeting to the bottom of the room, thankfully missing both him and Kain. Before he moved to the eyes though, he made sure to fit a few arrows into the joints of her front legs, weakening them enough to cut them off with a sword, nullifying her defenses. He then went to work, taking out two more eyes. The Queen regained her composure and returned to the ceiling, Kain in tow. She re tied him and sent him back down, though before the Gohman could make a move, he put another arrow in the Queen's face, bringing her back down. Grabbing Kain, he quickly got out of the landing zone with the other hunter in tow. He quickly and violently turned to the Queen and stabbed her in and eye, easily getting rid of it. The Queen recovered, but this time roared instead of heading to the ceiling. Spawning as many skullwalltulas as she possibly could, she went for one final assault, and she was going down swinging. Link dodged through all of the skullwalltulas and took a powerful slash at her eye, though her young acted as a living shield and protected her from the slash. Link was about to follow up the attack, though he became swarmed by the remaining skullwallulas, forcing him to clear himself of the arachnids with a well-timed spin attack. As his spin ended, however, the Queen came at him full force, pinning him against the wall. He looked on in fear as the Gohma's mandibles became coated in some sort of venom, inching closer to his face. His breath ripped from his body by the force of the impact, he can do nothing but gasp for breath as she came closer to injecting him with something.

"Not... on my watch...!"

Link was surprised when the Queen was knocked away by a devastating blow, thanks to none other than Kain Borne.

"That's my... student there, you... freaky bug monster...!" shouted Kain, a little of his normal color back. He still looked a bit pale though, but that was what red potions were for.

"Kain!" called Link in joy before viciously turning to the titanic arachnid that was the source of both Kain's and Link's current problems. "How about we finish this one off together, for old time's sake?"

Kain cracked his knuckes, slamming his knuckle busters together. "I wouldn't have... had it any... other way!" replied the red-clad bounty hunter, still feeling extremely weak from his ordeal with the Gohma.

"Then let's end it!" called Link as he drew his sword and charged the Gohma, Kain following suit. Link took a single swing, killing off a majority of the remaining skullwalltulas, Kain using his extraordinary strength to roundhouse kick through the rest. Link made his way to the Queen, though she blocked his assault with her mandibles, rearing back for a bite attack. Link dodged out of the way while at the same time passing his shield to Kain, who with the remainder of his strength trucked the Gohma as hard as a Goron going full speed downhill, if not harder. Kain took pride in his herculean strength, and as such smashed through the Queen's mandibles. Link leapt over Kain, who had thrown her back with the force of his blow, and with sword held reverse, came crashing down and pierced the Gohma in her final eye. She finally reared back as if to attack again, though she fell backwards and onto her back, limbs flailing wildly as her body gave, each segment of her body burning away in some kind of golden fire before her entire being was engulfed in the glorious blaze. Link shielded his eyes as the Queen's corpse burnt, in the end revealing some sort of golden coin with a star pattern on its sides.

Link walked forward and took the coin, which had been floating in mid-air mind you, questioning what on earth he was looking at.

"What the Dark Realm is this...?" Link said as he held the coin, which gave off a feint golden light. Kain limped towards Link, resting his vastly larger frame on the Hooded Demon.

"What is that?" Kain asked, leaning onto Link.

"I don't know, but it's some kind of coin. Whatever it is, it made the Queen what it was... I should hold on to it, just so this doesn't happen again," explained Link as he placed the relic within his pouch. While he thought about it, he reached in and grabbed a couple of red potions, offering one to Kain.

"You'll probably need this," said Link as he held the drink to his old master.

"Is that supposed to mean something?" Kain asked jokingly. "I'll have you know I'm still in fine shape. Just give me a good meal and I'll be right as rain!"

"But until then," said Link as he shoved the potion into his hands, "this will have to do."

Kain laughed for a moment before chugging the medicinal liquid. Link remembered that Kain really enjoyed the red potion's flavor, but of course Link wasn't to be outdone. Chugging his own, he resisted the urge to stop even as tears came to his eyes.

"Ah! That sure hit the spot," declared Kain as he handed that bottle back to Link. "Anyway, why don't we head back to Hyrule? I'm sure my wife is dying to know that I'm fine, my little bro too."

"You have a brother?" Link asked.

"What, I never told you? Damn. Well, his name is Abel, Abel Borne."

Link's eyes widened as he went to the door of the Gohma's chamber.

"Well, you'll be seeing him first," Link declared as he opened the door, startling Abel as he turned to Link.

"Oh my Goddesses, did you actually manage to kill that thing?! And who's thi-"

Abel was about to continue, though he finally realized exactly who it was that he was referring to.

"BROTHER?!"

Abel tackled Kain as hard as he could, though be barely made an impact on the huge man. Kain laughed, commenting on how Abel has gotten stronger since he's been gone.

With his face buried in Kain's shirt, Abel, crying loud as a newborn child, went on and on about how he thought he'd never see him again. Link, smiling, turned to the huge spiral staircase that led back to the forest floor.

"When you two are done, meet me at the entrance of the temple. I'll get you back to Hyrule."

Kain and Abel smiled at the hunter, Kain rubbing Abel's hair.

"We've got so much to catch up on, little guy."

OOO

It took a solid hour or so for Kain and Abel to make their way to the entrance of the temple. Of course, Link didn't mind. He'll take his sweet time when he finds Ryla...

If I find her, Link thought.

Blinking a few times, he got the thoughts of never finding his sister out of his head. He'd have to find her he was going to find her.

He was pulled from his thoughts when Kain and Abel walked out of Skyview, waving at Link.

"Hey, buddy!" called Kain as he waved at Link, carrying Abel on his shoulders.

Link waved back, but looked up at Abel when they reached him.

"Still have Marze?"

"No, actually. He said he'd make his way down by himself, but I'm not sure ho-"

"He can fly," specified Link, cutting him off. "Stardrakes can do that."

"Uhhh..." said Kain, "What's a Stardrake?"

Link removed his mask and lowered his hood, shaking his head. "Long story. I'll tell you on the way back to Castle Town. It might com as quite the shock."

Leading them out of the forest, Link mounted Epona, Kain and Abel following suit.

"So you see, it all started when my sister and I went Hyrule Castle Town for a trip..."

OOO

"Damn, kid," said Kain as he hopped off of Epona, "that must be rough. I can't imagine my little bro getting kidnapped like that by some god-like being."

"I can," called Abel in annoyance, hopping off in return.

"Calm down, you two," said Link with a tone of sass. "Anyway, we should be heading to the bounty office. There's a few people who might want to see you."

Link led to the bounty office, having set Epona off on her own outside Castle Town walls. She'd always be a whistle away, so there was no worry. Just before entering the building, however, he ripped off Kain's headband.

"Wait out here," Link said with a smirk to the two.

Putting both his hood and mask up, he made his way into the office.

"Hood!" yelled Gerome in excitement. "You're back, and in one piece no less! Well, did you find anything?"

Link nodded, but said nothing more.

"Well, out with it lad!"

Link sat down and reached into his pouch, setting Kain's headband onto the table.

"Oh my Goddesses... I should have known. He'd been gone for months, there was no way he could have still been alive. Though I think you have a reward that I o-"

"Hey," said Link, cutting him off. "There's still more. Abel, bring him in!"

The door opened, revealing the silhouette of two figures, one vastly larger than the other. They both stepped in, and Gerome dropped the bag of Rupees he was putting together.

"Kain?!"

Everyone else in the room turned to look at the door, and true to his outburst, Kain Borne was standing in the doorway, perfectly alive.

"You're alive?! I thought you'd have been dead... All that time..."

"Eh, save it Gerome, I'm fine. Though I do want my headband back," declared Link's master before snatching his headband back, putting it back on. "Oh, and could you be a pal and cook me up some food? I could really go for some grub..."

"No problem. In fact, it's on the house! Whenever someone pulls off something as impressive as coming back from the dead, the least I can do is reward 'em with a free meal! And you, Hood, you can have a plate too. You managed to bring back Kain, the Bloodborne! It's the least I can do to thank you."

"Don't mention it, Gerome. We'll be stopping by his house after this, but that doesn't mean to lighten the load. He's been without so much as a scrap of food for months, let's have a feast!" declared Link, Abel nodding in agreement.

"I'll get to it then! Don't want to keep her waiting, now do I?"

Gerome quickly scurried off to the back room, and the clatter of pots and pans could soon be heard.

Link leaned back in his chair, a certain huntress sitting across from him.

"I'll give you this one Hood, you did well. Maybe I misjudged you," said the Huntress, spinning her dagger between her fingers as usual. "Maybe you really can make a difference."

Link smiled at her, though the huntress couldn't see behind his mask. "You're not so bad yourself. You helped me do this, believe it or not. When you took care of those thieves and called me a hero... Thank you. That gave me the courage I needed to go on. The world itself is against me right now."

The Huntress smiled, stabbing her dagger into the table. "What can I say, my charms have been known to do that. But who knows, maybe I'll help you directly along the way some day, just so you know that there are still people willing to fight alongside you."

The Huntress held out her hand, Link taking it in his own larger hand.

"And I look forward to that day."

OOO

"The boy is beginning his true journey," said a deep voice, and evidently from his gravelly tone it was a male who had spoke.

"He won't get far, not if I can help it!" declared a semi-psychotic voice, following it up with a rather demonic laugh.

"Silence. You know we are not to intervene until given the order," commanded a voice that sounded like the combination of hundreds of others at once.

"But when that order is to be given, time has yet to tell. I grow tired of waiting. When are we to move?" asked a dark voice, the sound of bored sighing following. "There is nothing to do but wait. I wish to test the new power I have..."

"Dark Realm if I fuckin' know," said a familiar voice. "It's not like the author tells me this shit. Hey, Oni, what happens next?"

Enough of that.

The five voices were silenced by an exceedingly powerful voice that echoed throughout whatever structure they were standing in, his authority over the others being obvious.

"Enough! No one is to attack until I say so, and anyone who dares to defy my order has to face punishment by none other than myself. Do I make myself clear?"

The other five voices were silent, though the final voice asked again, "Am I clear?!"

"Yes, Sir."

"Fine."

"Of course."

"If I must."

"Sure, fuck it. I got nothin' better to do."

"Good," declared the leader of the group. "Besides, there is still more I need from that boy. And once I take it from him, I'll take pleasure in being the one to rip his heart out with my bare hands."

AND THE PLOT THICKENS. Thankfully enough, it appeared that Kain was still alive. Also, I'd like to point out that the Gohman part was a little joke by Reclusive Dork. It gave me a laugh, so I decided to put it in. But regarding the Gohma, it makes you wonder what that coin was in order to do that to a Gohma to make so much more dangerous... You'll find out soon.

Just not yet.

OniHelix out!