Chapter 14: Determinedness; a Fight for Control
Scourge of the Ocean Pirates 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.
"Leaf 's Army – In Search of Victory ~ Base" - Fire Emblem V: Thracia 776 OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Pirates' Fortress" - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Great Red Spirit" - Dynasty Warriors V OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
"Moments of Peace" - Dynasty Warriors V OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
Having at last located his long-awaited companion Epona, previously having been missing in the beginning of his adventure, Link's morale grows to ever-skyrocketing heights; it is in this morale that instils his own brand of courage and faith into his new friends, nearby ranchers Romani and Cremia. In meeting the two twins, both dead-lookers for his old confidant Malon, he agrees to assist them in both their similar woes; in true keeping to his outgoing and overconfident personality.
In chasing off 'them' – a mysterious and unknown group of alien-like entities – Link gains the trust of younger sister Romani and, with it, secures his claim to Malon's legacy; the ever-loyal horse Epona.
When Cremia finds herself in need of a bodyguard in case of attack during milk delivery, as always, the Hero of Time provides; while tagging along he manages to hold back the intruding bandits, seemingly theorised by Cremia to be the nearby Gorman brothers, and all without forcing an injury on either one of them. In assisting both the Romani twins Link and Tatl are gifted with a bottle of Chateau Romani, the coveted 'Romani's Mask' and, of course, memories... in the form of pictographs.
With his morale running ever high, Link pushes on to the far-west; Great Bay.
Said to be home to the sea-faring Zora people in which Link is similarly familiar with in his previous adventure, the sandy beaches and rolling waves of Great Bay are in dire straights indeed. A young Zoran woman, by name of Lulu, has unfortunately had her laid eggs stolen and with them her bandmates and companions; the Indigo-Go's. Tijo, Japas and Evan all express their sadness and concern for their close friend however, none more than the band's lead guitarist.
A young Zoran man by name of Mikau.
Unfortunately for Mikau, with his passion far outstripping his skills in battle, he is overwhelmed and defeated in single combat by the eggs' pilferers; none other than the nearby Gerudian Pirates. In washing up on Great Bay Coast's shore, Mikau comes into contact with the adventuring Hero of Time himself and in doing so at last manages to find final rest and peace in his impending death.
With Mikau's spirit now emboldening the new Zora Mask he has been gifted with, Link presses on his luck and indeed his very progress itself, by taking his investigation to the northern stronghold in Great Bay; the Gerudo Pirates' Fortress. While infiltrating Tatl soon takes notice of a young girl, seemingly locked up within the very dungeons of her own people's rampart. A young Gerudo girl, as of yet nameless, whom calls out for help.
Link, of course, cannot help but oblige...
… for that is what a 'hero' does.
Scene 1
NIGHT OF THE FIRST DAY
-60 Hours Remain-
"Link, huh..."
The young girl's voice, so impudent and insolent, could only make the listening Link's grin grow even if by a small amount. Having freed her the cell in which he found her in, a young Gerudo around his own age, he made his introductions beyond the Zora Mask he was previously wearing.
A surprise which had, thankfully, passed the three by.
"That's a weird name," she frowned back at him, tanned and slim arms folded as she stood to her curved-shoed feet. "First I've heard of it."
"Oh yeah, 'cause 'Flyssa's what my last girlfriend was called," the grinning Link shot back in a victorious and similarly childish laugh, leaning back against the iron bars of the cell she once resided in. The young Gerudo, a red tinge of embarrassment to her cheeks, swung her fire-haired head away from his in an annoyed mixture of chagrin and disconent. "I mean, it's a cool name, I'll give ya that," he amended his sentence, his grin lowering a little as he similarly pulled his body off the wall behind him. "Puts me in mind of-"
"A sword?"
The newly-introduced Flyssa couldn't help but flash her own close-mouthed grin back at him, seemingly satisfied at his similarly surprised state.
"Hell yeah; don't you know nothin' about Gerudo customs?" She grinned, folding her arms as she leaned to the side. He couldn't help but grow his surprised frown into a light smirk of his own, her cheer successfully infecting him. "We ain't your everyday girls..."
"Hah!" Link laughed, throwing his head back as he did, amusement written across his similarly young countenance. "You ain't wrong there, for sure," he grinned himself in agreement with her, placing a hand on his hip in his usual confident stance. "I thought Gerudo were confined to Hyrule... I guess not."
Flyssa's own grin soon switched to a surprised frown, and she shot her blood-red eyebrows up to successfully display it. "Hyrule...?" She parroted, curious. "Is that where you come from?"
He exchanged a knowing cheeky grin with the unamused Tatl before swivelling his blonde-haired head back to face her. "Maybe...," the youth batted back, his grin widening a little as he spoke. "What if it was?"
Her own smirk returned and in full force when she clocked the mischeivous look in his eye. "Well... I'd have to check that... wouldn't I?" She asked, stepping forward with a deliberate slowness to her actions that made the standing Link nearly pull out his Gilded Sword; a reaction of sheer muscle memory. He couldn't help but narrow the light pools of his sky-blue into her honey-gold as she came disturbingly close to his own form; seemingly a very forward gesture of amativeness.
Or perhaps it was just a prank.
A practical joke and a test to ascertain the durability of his position and posture.
It was only when Tatl spoke up, however, that the pair of swordsmen were pulled out of their hypnotised gape.
"Can we move on please? Today?"
When Flyssa, seemingly so confident before, averted her gaze from his in response as she turned to walk away, the lightly-grinning Link rubbed his nose in recognition from the perfume she seemed to be wearing.
Must be a Gerudo thing, he thought to himself.
"Y-Yeah, good idea..." The young girl murmured back in response, her back facing the two. The young Hero of Time turned his straw-haired head 'round to watch her curiously and the revealing nature of her clothes.
"I feel so sleazy watching that." He thought in an amused, silent chuckle. "So!" He spoke this time, leaning back against the cell wall that allowed it once more, folding his small arms as he did. "Let's ask that all-important question, huh?"
Flyssa turned again to face him, this time a curious eyebrow raised and a frown to match it.
"Why was a Gerudo stuck down here of all places?" He grinned her way, raising his own straw-haired eyebrow.
"Hmph," she frowned back at him; a look to indicate her annoyance and impending seriousness of the conversation they were about to have. "The Gerudo Pirates have been... I dunno; what's that word for-?"
"Infighting?" Link guessed curiously, a new frown adorned on his face.
Flyssa blinked back at him before nodding in assent. "Yeah...," she confirmed for him before continuing on. "Our leader before was ousted by the current; a woman called Aveil," she explained for him, frowning on in a business-like fashion as she did. "She's been a lot more aggressive than our last one was."
"Huh...," Link frowned back similarly, eyes narrowing. "How do you mean?"
"Well... this place was only gotten recently," she claimed, raising up her tanned arms to gesture out toward the Pirates' Fortress itself. "And even then it was stolen."
"Figures; pirate-see-pirate-do," the Kokiri-born youth cracked a grin as he listened. "Stolen from who?"
"It was just two women and a man," Flyssa illustrated in a single shake of her crimson-haired head. "But they were..."
The frowning Link opted to stay silent, raising only an eyebrow in response to prod her silently to continue.
Flyssa shook her head a second time, this time with an unsure grimace on her face. "They were weird...," she claimed. "Like, actual whackos."
"Whackos, huh...," Link repeated, his brow furrowing in memory and recognition. Thinking back to the only people he could truly attribute that callous term to, the Forgotten Ones, he glared curiously as he thought on them and their fey and mysterious origins. "I can see that."
"They were pretty strong for just a small group but... it was Aveil that eventually beat 'em," Flyssa continued on. "After that it was just her and Joanna constantly at each other's throats," she sighed, re-folding her arms as she lowered her head into a thoughtful frown. "Eventually a lot of us ended up either in Joanna's... or Aveil's camp."
Link nodded, tilting his head similarly astutely. "Makes sense." He answered.
"I ended up in Joanna's, so...," the young pirate finished her sentence in a simple sheepish smile, signed in a suitably-saddened shrug. "Obviously they threw me in here."
"By yourself?" Link chortled, eyebrow shooting up in an unsure mixture of confusion and doubt.
She rolled her gold-shaded eyes, annoyance marring her countenance. "I didn't say it was a popular camp...," she muttered, turning to wander off within the cell, presumably to continue her sentence.
The listening Link couldn't help but exchange an interested look with the quiet-voiced Tatl hovering next to him before at last swivelling his head back 'round to face her.
"I... I liked her," the youth clarified, a frown in her tone. "Joanna was a thief like the rest of us but she had compassion for people, y'know?" She explained, a similarly saddened look in her eye as she briefly swerved her head 'round to face his. "Aveil was strong but... she didn't care who she ran over in her way; so long as she benefitted."
"Mm..."
Having been interrupted, however softly, managed to make the frowning Flyssa turn her fire-haired head 'round to face him a second time amidst her words. Link lowered his cobalt-blue eyes in a hardened frown, briefly revealing the years of stress and hardship he had dealt with as he opened his mouth to respond further to her.
"I know what you mean."
His normally cheery tenor had been replaced by a firm and oddly seasoned tone of voice, easily betraying the otherwise childlike and innocent look he carried about him.
"Well...," Link began again, turning his head back up, this time to smile again at her. "At least you stood up for what you believed in," he spoke, an unusually tender look in his eye. "That's more'n most people that can say."
Her frown, so surprised and curious, could only take a similarly soft turn into a light smile of her own. As they shared an odd kind of silence together, the nearby floating Tatl let her annoyance show through with a face-twitching glare.
"And...?" She posed forward in a miffed tone of voice, clearly not amused by the display of tension between the two. "What's our next course of action?"
Tatl's frustrated and impatient jab left the pair similarly embarrassed, wincing and turning their heads away from one another.
"W-Well...," Link began again, his ever-confident grin slowly returning to him as he rubbed the back of his head, turning his head back up to face the hovering guardian fairy next to him. "I guess our next avenue's pretty obvious...," he started before rising up an eyebrow as he swung his head 'round to eye the initial frown on Flyssa's face. "Huh?" He quipped, his grin extending a little.
She couldn't help but smirk back at him and nodded. "Yeah!"
Having manoeuvred themselves through the deep underside of the Gerudo Pirates' Fortress quite skillfully, Link, Tatl and their new companion Flyssa managed to find themselves out in the top structure of the dungeon-like stronghold; a seemingly well-designed floor that saw the Gerudo Pirates themselves having similarly felicitious positioning.
In his usual productive and quick advance, the group of three managed to slip by almost every single well-placed sentry throughout the large fortress, leaving the first main point of interest; a door hidden behind one of the many iron posts, situated through a long bridge's walk. Upon stepping through what seemed to be a long corridor ahead, the grinning Link and frowning Flyssa walked side-by-side, their fingers ready to reach their weapons.
BZZZZZ...
"W-What's-?!"
Tatl's sudden worried pinging caused the pair of swordsmen below her to swing their heads in her direction, and it was only when she floated out of the way of an incoming flying insect that the watching Flyssa and Link let out similarly-held laughs together.
"Hey!" The miffed guardian fairy exclaimed angrily, turning her rage down on the pair of children. "That's not funny!"
"Kinda is, to be honest Tatl," Link retorted, flashing her a rude and impudent grin in reply. "I mean it was just a bee."
He winced however in a combination of regret and discomfort when he felt the recovered Flyssa jab her elbow into his side; seemingly a silent request to settle down.
"We're sorry Tatl," the young Gerudo smiled up at her politely, nodding and bowing her head in a display of respect. "We didn't mean any disrespect."
"Oh yes we did..."
SMACK
Link gasped, sky-blue eyes widening as he felt the young girl next to him slam her curved shoe into his boot, leaving him comically gripping it with both hands in a similarly humourous hop.
"Come on!"
With little regard for the young Hero of Time, the two pressed forward to presumably chase after the flying bee.
"W-Wait up!" The former Kokiri hissed on after them, pattering on to follow them as quietly as he could to avoid detection. As he turned 'round the corner to his left he narrowed his cobalt-blue eyes at the odd cell-like opening before them all; strangely there appeared to be some kind of window, marked only with iron bars into another chamber, seemingly below the one they currently resided in. As the bee buzzed up into what looked like a beehive high above the chamber's rafters, Link's eyes soon found themselves wandering down into the rest of the room.
"I've been waiting for you!"
A woman's voice, so hard and so firm, made the listening three swing their heads 'round in curiosity and surprise; resting down at what appeared to be the main area of the chamber stood a suitably-dressed Gerudian Pirate, as fiercely red-haired as the last before her.
"Aveil..." The watching Flyssa growled out quietly, her gold-tipped eyes narrowing in intense dislike. Link found himself tracing his furrowed brow with his new companion's animosity before eventually clapping his eyes on the similarly slim and tanned woman below.
Sure enough, it appeared that this woman was the pirates' commander; a hot-red firecracker of a woman. Even looking at her suggested a fierceness that reminded the watching Link of the hard-eyed Nabooru.
"And did you find the rest of the eggs?" Aveil questioned, crimson eyebrow rising up in curiosity as she folded her tanned arms together.
"N-No, I'm sorry commander Aveil b-but that's becau-"
"What do you mean, no...?!"
Aveil's angry hiss, so urgent and yet so restrained, managed to make the listening nameless subordinate before her stiffen in her hardened frame.
"If those idiots out there discover that the Gerudo Pirates of Great Bay lost the treasure that they themselves stole...," the narrow-eyed Aveil spoke, glaring forward as she did. "Do you realise what will happen to us?"
Although she was seemingly posed with a request, the poor wincing woman before her knew better than to respond to a rhetorical question.
"We'll be laughing stocks...!" She hissed again, glowering on as she spoke. "Any trade we make will be forever tainted by this gods-forsaken blunder..."
"B-But... commander Aveil... the sea has been oddly murky as of late when we were attacked by the sea sna-"
"Silence!"
Again, the nameless subordinate grimaced in discomfort, her form flinching as she stood to action.
"That's exactly why the Zoras can't send for help!" Aveil exclaimed this time, her hands resting on her slim hips, scowling horribly as she spoke. "Now that their eggs are missing those Zoras'll be searching frantically for 'em... and if we don't hurry they'll get to them before we can!"
"But why...?"
"Sh!"
Tatl and Flyssa's sudden and similarly quiet hush made the frowning Link cast his annoyed frown on the pair before swinging his head back 'round, re-narrowing his eyes in thought.
"They must have somehow lost a certain number of the Zora eggs... but how many and where?" The frowning Link wondered silently to himself, oceanic eyes sitting and waiting.
"We have four eggs here, now..."
As Aveil spoke a second time the listening Link's eyebrows both rose up in recognition as the similarly silent Flyssa and Tatl exchanged a knowing look together.
That tells me all I need to know, at least for now, the young Hero of Time thought to himself.
But if four are here now... then where are the remaining three?
"The other three have to be past the twin stones of Pinnacle Rock, where those sea snakes lurk..."
Once again, the Gerudo Pirates' commander let on far too much information than she should have; in one single sitting session, the smirking trio of heroes gleaned all the intelligence they needed for their search.
"Those eggs are the only clue we have about that gods-forsaken dragon cloud that's floating over the bay," Aveil continued on, re-folding her arms as she frowned. "If what that weirdo in the mask says is true..."
Link's grin very quickly dissolved, a hardened recognising frown taking its place.
"And if we can get our hands on the treasure sleeping inside of the great dragon cloud...," the newly-grinning Aveil started again, this time with a gleeful and almost manic-sounding chuckle. Her strangely demented tone was bolstered by a change in stance; she set her feet apart and bent her body lowly, raising her two arms to rest hovering in the air, palms open and all. "Then we can spend the rest of our otherwise miserable existences living the good life!"
In a newly morale-restored smile, the nameless subordinate rose her own stance to clap her small hands together in a display of reinforcement and support for her commander's motivations.
"Joanna can rest easy in her grave once we achieve that...," the young pirate commander grinned out, seemingly in a mixture of malevolence and knowing. "Am I right Selina?!"
"Yes, sir!"
As the red-haired white-clothed woman saluted her commanding officer officer off, Link couldn't help but crack an amused grin as he watched them, somehow reminded of other memories.
"They're bandits but they act like soldiers," he chortled amusingly, eyes narrowing. "They wouldn't know the meanin' of the word."
"Damn right." The glaring Flyssa agreed with him, similarly narrowing her gold-tipped eyes in intense dislike.
"Link..."
Tatl's interruption once again managed to make him blink out of his surprise; he swung his blonde-haired head up to eye her briefly before raising his eyebrow over toward the area she nodded her head to.
And it was then that he was reminded again of the beehive resting in the chamber's rafter's so innocently.
"Oh it's more than we could have asked for..." He spoke out gaining a slow-growing grin to his words as he reached back into his inventory, presumably for some kind of tool with which to elucidate his words.
Flyssa, curious, could only exchange glances with the grinning Link and floating Tatl. "What are you-?"
It was only when the young Hylian affixed a simple arrow to the hardwood Hero's Bow that she realised what he was doing.
As he aimed the arrowhead, very carefully, through the open bars in the cell before him he affixed his gaze firmly on the buzzing beehive high up.
"Watch...," he began, his one remaining eye open soon narrowing before widening to match the growing grin on his face. "This!"
FWIP-CRUNCH
In response to the abrupt noise the two Gerudo women, and the nearby standing guards, all tore their heads up from their earlier conversations to gaze above.
Unfortunately for them however, it was an exercise in futility.
WEEEE...
CRASH-BZZZZZZZ...
"Oh hell!"
"Get it out, get it out!"
"There's too many!"
In a sudden slew of buzzing bees and horrors, the Gerudo women all found their otherwise rigid positions harshly woken up; as the beehive dropped from the ceiling, courtesy of the grinning Link's flying arrow, it broke apart as it crashed upon the ground to reveal the inevitably glaring and angrily chasing insects residing within. Seemingly having blamed them for their home's destruction, the livid-tempered insects turned their rage on the only nearby forms before them; the Gerudo Pirate women.
Perhaps inevitably, the sound of their distressed calls and horrified screams echoed out from beneath the heroes' positions, leaving the watching Flyssa and even Tatl wide-eyed in surprise. As they witnessed the numerous Gerudo forces all leave their own well-manned chamber in near disbelief, the similarly watching Link could only let loose a barrage of laughs, seemingly now safe to do so.
"Don't let it go to your head." The newly-frowning form of Tatl threw in, her eyes limp as she swung them 'round to stare back at her laughing partner.
"Look like you're ready to blow a gasket over there," Flyssa shot in with, folding her slim arms as she cast her grin down at him. "I mean...," she began again, soon unfolding her arms to place a hand down on her hip as she tilted her head down at the now empty room below her. "I'll give you it," she grinned, rising up her eyebrows as she grinned. "That was effective."
"You damn right it was," the laughing Link recovered, his own grin soon returned to his complexion as he raised himself back up to his feet. "Now let's go get our first Zora egg!"
2
Having emptied the room beneath them of any nearby security personnel, the three heroes managed to successfully and quickly infiltrate the chamber. As they took in the lavish sights before them they very quickly deduced that it must have been the fortress' main chamber and Aveil's throne room, as the rather luxurious pink-shaded sofa sitting at the end of the area would seem to suggest, marked only by the numerous weapons hanged overhead.
In the centre of the room however appeared to be a treasure chest and inside was something the overjoyed Link had been missing ever so fiercely since his relatively recent adventure through Hyrule.
The Hookshot.
"Ohhh yeah!" He exclaimed, grinning on as he held the marvellous tool up by its golden handle as if to show it off in the light of the throne room. "And it's even bigger 'n the Longshot!"
Tatl swung her milk-shaded light 'round to face him, creasing her face behind it to display her displeasure. "The what?"
"What's so great about that thing?" The curious Flyssa questioned from the couch's end of the room, eyebrow raised and arms folded.
"This thing..." Link grinned on as he repeated the young girl's words, aiming his new Hookshot up toward the ceiling high above them. The two girls watched him in a curious frown and, as they did, they witnessed the wide-eyed youth press some kind of button within the tool he carried.
CLICK
"Can do this!"
THWUCK-TWUCK-TWUCK
In an incredible show, the Hookshot extended forth a powerful chain, marked only by its eponymous hook. As it caught the top of the hardwood ceiling situated just above the aquatic tank before them it pulled the smirking Link up to meet it in a superfast exchange, leaving him to land directly in the tank's water.
SPLASH
"L-Link!" The wide-eyed Flyssa exclaimed, extending a hand out as if to help the fallen youth with. Tatl merely shook her head in a limp-eyed frown.
"He's fine." She insisted, her tone as dry as her humour.
Just as his guardian fairy asserted, the sly-faced youth re-appeared within the liquid's container only in his Zoran form, seemingly wearing the Zora Mask. In an over-the-top fashion, as he always did, the youth cast his grin back on the two girls on the other side of the tank as he lay hovering under and inside the water, laying on his left side. He placed his left hand across to rest just under his similarly left ear presumably to hold his head up and arranged the rest of his body in a likewise horizontal position.
It was one that suited his showboating personality.
A number of uncomfortable seconds passed between the watching pair of girls before, at last, Flyssa reacted; perhaps unable to hold it back any longer, she giggled as she rose up her hands presumably to plug her mouth with.
"Just pick the damn egg up!" The annoyed Tatl suddenly exclaimed, testy and irritable.
The ever-boasting Link chuckled; a fact reflected by the visible bubbles rising up from his mouth. He flashed his two partners a toothy grin in response before swinging around while submerged and produced an empty bottle, with which to cage the sensitive Zoran egg laying behind him. In spite of the obviously miffed and annoyed tone that Tatl had taken with the two, the watching Flyssa couldn't help but grow her smile as she watched the young Link similarly grin as he swiped at the egg with an empty bottle.
A kind of interested look hung strong in her gold-tipped eye.
"Halt!"
As the three heroes entered one of the many interconnected chambers of the fortified building, the sound of what seemed to be a nearby Gerudo sentry made them all stiffen up.
How's that possible, the narrow-eyed Link wondered silently to himself, reaching for his Gilded Sword.
We've been careful the whole way through.
"Link, up there!"
Before he could follow his guardian fairy's advice the owner of the interrupting voice let herself be known by dropping down, apparently from the ceiling itself.
TMP
"Hmph..." The woman huffed forward, a grin growing on her appealing countenance. The wide-eyed Link could only cast his surprise in his staring frown, the woman's identity revealed.
Commander Aveil stood before them.
"You're a new one...," she hummed out, her honey-shaded eyes drinking in the sight of the frowning young Hero of Time. "Any relation to that stupid Zora from earlier?"
"'Stupid Zora'...," the narrow-eyed Link murmured out in repeating, his mind almost immediately thinking back to the deceased Mikau. "That was you?"
"Oh yes...," the woman smirked back at him as she leaned her posture back up into a folded-armed grinning glare. "He infiltrated here, just like you, all by himself," she informed the three. "But it wasn't to be...," she mocked in a low-toned frown, pouting her lips forward in a display of sarcastic derision. Her eyes, so careful and so analytic, found themselves double-taking in the direction of the similarly glaring Flyssa. "Oh... you." She greeted, brow furrowing as her unsure frown soon morphed into a grin.
"Stay back." Link whispered carefully, his own cobalt-blue eyes never leaving his enemy's as he placed a small arm to rest in the air between the two Gerudo.
"What was your name again...?" Aveil murmured out curiously, raising up her slim index finger to rest under her heart-shaped head thoughtfully. "Alyssa... wasn't it?"
Flyssa's eyes, suddenly full of impatience and rage, flung wide open and the scowl on her face grew similarly to match. The surprised Link could only exchange likewise shocked looks with the pair, unsure and all.
"Yeah, I remember now," Aveil chuckled, lowering her right hand to rest at her waist, joining them by the elbows as if casual and all. "You sympathised with that pathetic excuse of a woman, didn't you?" She pressed, raising her eyebrow a second time as she tilted her head at her, as if in judgement.
"How dare you call her that...," the glaring Flyssa growled back, her emotions rising to match her words. The standing Link couldn't help but widen his eyes once more, his own adrenaline rising in response to the inevitable confrontation that was bound to happen between them. "She was twice the woman you'll ever be!"
"Oh I disagree," Aveil fired back, a knowing grin upon her lips. "Didn't you hear?"
"Hear what?!"
"I wouldn't say she's twice... no...," the sly woman smirked before, eventually, her malevolence saw her open her smirk into a toothy delirious one, near mad with the hilarity. "I'd say she's around half the woman she used to be!"
Flyssa's rage almost immediately cooled; a reaction to suit the wide-eyed flinch and gasp she spiced her face with, taking a shocked step back from her new opponent.
Even the ignorant Link had some idea of what she was saying.
That's just brutal, he thought, shaking his blonde-haired head in disapproval.
"You're a fucking animal!" Flyssa shrieked back vulgarly, eyes wide with rage as she took a similarly angry step forward. The ever-helpful Link however managed at least to prevent her from taking too many steps forward by barring himself in between the two females. "I'm gonna take your head off!"
Aveil stopped laughing but only to cast her derisive grin down on the two young swordsmen. "Oh is that so...?" The woman hung her words into the air as carelessly as she spoke, rising a half-curious, half-amused eyebrow into the air as she did. "Spoken like a true Gerudo..." She spoke out in a husky, low-toned glare.
SHHHHHING
Almost as if in response to her own words came the inevitable ringing of her paired and curved steel swords; a common Gerudo greeting. She finished her last sentence with a smirk spicing the dark-eyed glare her furrowed brow gave off.
"Or at least like a former Gerudo..."
–-
3
CLANG-CLANGGG
The sound of the two Gerudo women's paired swords clashing noisily made the watching Link cringe, his sky-blue eyes snapping between the two. As the imminent sparks of their weapons flashed in between them, Flyssa found herself slowly but ever surely being pushed back; something that the looming form of her enemy took obvious delight in.
"You're not gonna be able to prove those bold words of yours...," Aveil giggled out as she pushed further and further forward, her shadow directly hanging threateningly over her smaller foe. "Like this!" She squealed out, a display of maddened glee filling her normally calm and composed complexion.
"Ngh...!"
As the gasping Flyssa was pushed back, so was her posture; in a pained bend back she leaned similarly rearward, sweat dripping down from her forehead from the exertion.
"Link you have to-!"
"On it."
Barely waiting for permission, the narrow-eyed Hero of Time darted forward before reaching back for his sheathed weapons. Before he could even cross the distance successfully however, the wide-eyed Flyssa managed to somehow break the hold of her weapons with her opponent's before bending back in an amazing dodge, as the similarly wide-eyed Aveil's two swords took a lunging swipe to kill her with. Flyssa grunted this time however as she used her left hand to balance her landing support before swinging both legs brutally into the older woman's face horizontally.
SMASH-SMASH
"Grngh...!"
Even as the Gerudo commander flew through the air she tossed one of her small but strong hands down to grasp at the ground, before soon pushing off of it in a deft and acrobatic recovering side-flip. Flyssa barely waited in response; as she twirled around in her own recovery she shot off in angry-eyed pursuit before tossing forward a scimitar, presumably to strike her descending enemy with.
"Hmph!" The watching Aveil grinned back before she, very simply, swatted the fast-approaching weapon away with her own in a simple horizontal swipe.
CLANG-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK
"What do you think I am, a-?" The avaricious woman began, grinning down as she spoke before soon realising her mistake; a premature action, rooted deeply in her expectations. It was only when she dropped down that she realised almost exactly where her foe was and, with that in mind, shot her two scimitars to rest behind her in expectance.
Just as she had successfully calculated, the scowling and grit-toothed Flyssa waited behind her, both swords ready to ambush her with.
KATAAAAANG-SKRRRRR
With both arms powering her scimitar, Flyssa widened her eyes as she pressed on her abrupt offensive with a deft forward kick.
"Hya!"
The narrow-eyed Aveil, having been sent a few yards back, turned her crimson-haired head 'round half-way to eye her younger enemy. As the sword that the glaring Flyssa previously tossed at last came falling back down to meet her, she snatched it out of the air and quickstepped forward to presumably begin her second offensive; something that the watching Aveil had managed to catch on to. In response to the younger Gerudo's movements she back-dashed through the air and met the leaping Flyssa's aerial assault with a single scimitar of her own, causing a loud and cacophonous clang.
"Why don't you go help her?!"
Having stopped his earlier attempt to leap in to assist her, the frowning Link swung his blonde-haired head up to eye the shocked tone that Tatl took before he briefly swivelled his head back 'round to the fight before him.
"Because if I did I know exactly what kinda response I'd get," he answered her, folding his small arms in an oddly wise kind of stance. "She's a Gerudo, right?" The youth asked her, almost as if for some kind of confirmation as his eyebrow quipped up to match his questioning tone.
"W-Well, yeah but-"
"Then she wouldn't take very well to it," the former Kokiri interrupted the blinking guardian fairy next to him, his cobalt-blue eyes soon returning to the engagement before him. "Trust me; she's a fighter," he reasoned with the little pixie, his eyes narrowing at the quick women's forms. "If I waltz in there to help she'll take it as an insult."
Though the listening Tatl wanted desperately to disagree and fire back an immediate reply, she held her tongue and instead turned her bulbous body 'round to similarly watch the fight unfurl before them.
In an acrobatic twirl through the air the narrow-eyed Flyssa spun in an aerial assault with her two recovered scimitars, the steel singing noisily as it collided vociferously with the two similar swords her opponent carried. A kind of long and uninterrupted whine of steel joined the impending sparks and firefly-show that their weapons caused; a Gerudo special. The two women grunted as they pushed off of one another however, stepping backward almost as if to recover from their offence and defence.
As both Gerudo swordsmen began to slowly circle one another, eyes similarly hungry for the other's blood, the silent Link watched them with likewise enthusiasm and interest. Eventually however it was Flyssa that chose to break the peace-of-arms between them, by suddenly lunging one of her curved swords in a deft horizontal slice. Expecting it, the glaring-faced Aveil leaned her slim body out of the steel's harmful way before replying with a simple but effective vertical slice of her own; a response that the wide-eyed Flyssa saw herself meeting her weapon with, clanging their swords together shrilly as the two stepped around to each other's previous defensive spots.
Even as the glowering Aveil stepped forward in her earlier slice however, she soon widened her gold-tipped eyes as she swung her right scimitar 'round in an obvious high horizontal swipe. Flyssa found herself gaining a sudden grin as she saw the assault coming by grabbing her slim arm and issuing a counter-attack; a low chop with her free right sword that saw the shocked Aveil back-dashing to safety, just barely managing to avoid the surprise assault.
Angered, she swung her blood-haired head up before grunting in effort as she pulled her own right armament back for another less-than-subtle high carving. As the steel rung out through the air the younger Gerudo wasted no time in responding by swinging her curved sword diagonally up to meet the haymaker-like aggression.
CLLLLAAAAAANNNNG
The collision was rough enough for the younger Flyssa to gasp and drop the very lifeline she held onto, the jarring just simply too much for her.
KATANG-FWIP-FWIP
As it dropped noisily to the ground the laughing Aveil took advantage of her enemy's blunder by abruptly thrusting her sabre forward. In response, the wide-eyed Flyssa suddenly jerked her similarly tanned body to the right in order to avoid it; an event that managed to anger the earlier amused Gerudo commander. Aveil growled and swiped a second time in a wide horizontal angle, determined to catch her younger opponent in her acrobatic sidestep.
"Woah...!"
"W-What is it?! What happened?!"
The similarly wide-eyed Link and Tatl's voices did little to influence the outcome of the battle; as the grit-toothed Flyssa cartwheeled herself athletically across the ground, only a very small portion of the blade managed to catch her cheek, drawing visible maroon-red and dropping it to the floor messily. Although she was near cleaved by the hasty-moved offensive, the newly narrow-eyed Flyssa achieved her goal; as she cartwheeled across the ground she managed to grasp at the hilt of her fallen scimitar before swiftly recovering back to her feet.
As the watching Link bore witness to her feats, he couldn't help but grin in his folded-armed stare, nodding as he opened his mouth to speak his next sentence.
"She's good."
The steel sword gave out a loud ringing sound as she hung its hilt upward to tilt its blade similarly skyward, before soon twirling the blade up and down within her grip; a marvel of dexterity that left the vigilant Link cracking another grin and the scowling-faced Aveil baring a single twitch to her otherwise rock solid expression. The two Gerudo glowered at one another hiding little to no contempt for each other before, at last, beginning their offensive once more; as the glaring-expressed Flyssa twirled her scimitar 'round her right hand the contrastingly wide-eyed Aveil stepped forward in an offensive advance of her own.
CLANG-CLANG
In two echoing rings of steel, the pair of Gerudo twirled 'round one another as if in some kind of dance with one another, eyes ever watching. As they finished their second clash however the grunting Aveil roared out a battle cry as she lunged her sword in a forward horizontal slash, eliciting the narrow-eyed Flyssa to swipe at the air similarly horizontally, only, in a higher height to match her opponent's form.
As before, though, the malevolently-scowling Aveil back-stepped to safety in quick evasion.
In response, the glaring Flyssa lurched her own form further forward in order to catch her retreating figure, this time in an abrupt narrow-eyed thrust.
"No!"
Tatl's worried exclamation made the listening Link similarly squint his vision in examination.
It definitely wasn't looking good for her, he thought.
As she jerked toward her opponent, her older and taller foe took advantage by grasping at her slim arm and pulling her in. The standing Flyssa could only gasp in wide-eyed surprise as she was dragged in, seemingly defenceless.
CRACK
"Agh!"
In a successful disarming the newly-grinning Aveil kicked the grunting Flyssa in her lower stomach, sending her stumbling a few steps back.
CLANG-KERANG
The first scimitar that Flyssa previously carried dropped down to the ground following dislocation of her arm; an alarming act that saw her left with only one weapon to support herself with.
"Shouldn't we help her now?!"
The frowning Link, eyes narrowing a second time in his folded-armed state could only shake his head wisely, knowing his inevitable response. "I'd never hear the end of-"
"She's going to die!"
Link's frown winced a little in response, unable to find a vocal reply with which to gift her.
She's right, he thought.
If I don't get in there soon then-
THWOOSH
Flyssa's similarly honey-shaded eyes widened as she jerked her head back in adept evasion of the swift and sudden thrust her foe threw her way. Almost immediately however the glaring-faced Aveil growled as she twisted her attacking wrist in order to spin the blade she carried, even going so far as to drop the other sword she carried for extra strength behind her strike.
FWOOM
THWUCK-TWUCK-TWUCK-THWUCK
In an incredibly acrobatic series of side-flips Flyssa shut her eyes almost as if in concentration before darting her head, and her body, back before leaping forward in her extraordinary evasive manoeuvre. As her near-elastic form skid across the ground in a deft recovery she swung her similar-haired head 'round in a hateful scowl, pulling out the echoing ring of the only weapon she carried left.
SHHHHING
Although she shot her eyes 'round to her front however, the similar-faced Aveil had suddenly and seemingly gone missing; as she inevitably darted her head around in frantic search it was the concerned Tatl that gave voice.
"Above!"
Not even considering whether to ascertain the guardian fairy's ever wizened words, the narrow-eyed Flyssa clicked her fingers low below her form once before very swiftly rolling forward in a deft grunt. Just as the excited Tatl had claimed down came the screaming Aveil, gold-tipped eyes widened in a mixture of alarm and rage; as she fast descended down, now unable to change her trajectory or landing, she could only widen her eyes further at the fast-approaching sign below her.
A single solitary flame.
It was nothing more than a conspicuously chosen trap but a well-chosen one, for as the Gerudo commander eventually smashed her weapon and form against its seemingly tiny flame it erupted magnificently in a brilliantly-dazzling exhibition of blazing fire. As the forward-rolling form of Flyssa found herself about-turning in her recovery, she couldn't help but put on a satisfied grin to her face as she watched from her knelt position.
Standing similarly on the sidelines, the gobsmacked Link could only remained fixated in his stare, registering his shock thusly.
"All right... that's impressive." Tatl at last gave in to compliment the brash young Gerudo.
As the simple yet effective trap surrounded the form of the blundering Gerudian commander, she let out one final shrieking yelp of agony that carried her eventual and imminent fall to the ground. Almost immediately, as she did, the flame dissipated and left her form entirely, successfully rending her safely unconscious; a feat that managed to impress even the watching Link.
"Considering...," he chuckled in a slow-growing grin, unfolding his arms to step forward in response to Tatl's words. Sensing his approach, the kneeling Flyssa whirled her red-haired head 'round to flash her grin at him victoriously. "You must be proud after-"
"Agh...!"
In a precipitous gasp Flyssa similarly suddenly lowered her head and scrunched her eyes shut as the wide-eyed Link made contact with her right shoulder; now seemingly and visibly a sore spot for the young girl. Feeling admittedly sheepish, the former Kokiri could only wince apologetically as he drew his hand back, as if he were touching a fragile piece of china.
"I'm... f-fine...," she insisted, regaining her grin as she re-raised her head to face him, a visible drop of sweat forming behind the long sweaty bangs of her blood-red fringe. "Shoulder's just a little..."
He shot her a grin of his own before edging his right thumb behind him and reached his remaining left forward; she gracefully took it, chuckling as she did.
"I got a way to fix that; Saria taught m-"
FWIP
"Ah...!"
In an unexpected lapse of judgement both the shock-eyed Link and likewise-faced Flyssa found themselves embraced together in a simple but intimate hug; something that seemed to take quite a while for the two swordsmen to even take note of. Eventually however, when they did, they found themselves locked with one another's stare, eyes similarly widened together as a dusky shade of pink adorned their cheeks.
"Hey!"
The hasty and jerky voice that Tatl's offended tone took managed to violently drag the two children out of their seemingly entranced gazes with one another; something that the newly-frowning Flyssa proved by using her only responding arm to push the young Hylian off her form, leaving him reeling.
"What the hell was that?" The annoyed Tatl hissed forward as she hovered toward the blinking Link's figure, eliciting an annoyed glance in her direction.
Flyssa, seemingly still recovering from the arduous experience, turned her tanned back in his direction. "Th-Thanks...," she threw over her right shoulder, left hand resting across her unresponsive right. "Thanks for... for not getting in the way."
The listening Hero of Time's almost immediate urge was to respond scathingly, his feelings having been damaged in the exchange.
Think about it, he thought.
She's reelin' from this harder than I normally would be.
Take it easy.
Instead, as always, he cast her his knowing grin and placed a hand ever on his hip as he re-opened his mouth to respond. "Ain't no skin off my nose," he grinned back at her. "I figured you'd want a crack at her yourself."
She re-rose her fire-haired head to face his and, in the exchange this time, she laid her golden eyed stare with his and gradually found herself smiling in response to his own.
"I guess I owe you one then...," she responded, her smile very carefully curling into a tiny smirk to match his own. "Huh?"