notaname: It's a wonderful way to spend your time, I'll have you know! Totally, one hundred percent healthy! My week's been alright... the usual chaos that is life, all that fun stuff, but I'm not dead and the chapter's done, so it's all good! Building a PC? That's... pretty sweet. I can't make heads or tails of wiring and robotics and circuitry... and whatnot. I just write stories and play video games XD. Maybe I should look into learning about it sometime! OH MY GOSH, SEVERUS SNAKE IS REAL! XD You learn something new every day! That's kind of what I do with the randoms too... I also like it when I find one good move that kicks butt, and then I spam it. That time was a few years ago, but I used to play smash all the time with my siblings and cousins all the time... it was always me and one of my cousins that won (unless we had x2 launch rate on - my brother likes using Dark Pit when we do that, because the side-B legitimately autokills and causes destruction and madness and PAINFUL, AGONIZING DEATH). I might be a bit rusty now, but it might be fun! OH, is it... I think Little Mac, right? I'm glad you're doing well, and I hope you continue doing so!
Guest (who is curious): I hope the curious-ness is a good thing XD. You should always, ALWAYS doubt my sincerity... I mean, it's probably legit, but you never know... you know?
Guest ("no chapters left?"): IT IS WITH DEEPEST PRIDE AND GREATEST PLEASURE THAT I PRESENT... YOUR CHAPTER! (and more to come! XD)
That's all for guest reviews. ROLL THE TAPE! ...or whatever. I need more creative things to put here...
Chapter 35: Dogged Determination
"Link Equitem. Enlisted as a squire at age eleven. Top of his class - quickly advanced through training."
Zelda skimmed through the rest of the squire records. "Often picked on by other squires. Failure to fight back. Lack of aggression is somewhat worrying, but can be fixed with some disciplinary measures."
They're talking about him like some sort of dog, Zelda realized. Disciplinary measures? What did that look like for squires? Sitting in the corner for a few minutes to think about their actions?
Zelda doubted it.
"...Three good ones with the belt for every failed response," said one form. "Make them hard."
Definitely not sitting in a corner, Zelda thought with a shiver. Now, in her mind's eye, she could see a younger Link crying out in pain as a belt met his back.
It seemed like a harsh punishment for something so small as a "lack of aggression," as they'd so simply put it. Was that how they trained their squires? Mere children, beaten for the sake of training? Like some sort of animals?
Zelda added "Reevaluate squire training" to the list of things that would be done when she became queen.
She picked up the squire forms and papers and set them aside, moving on to the stack of papers on Link's knight years. It was… much taller. So she started at the very first - the certificate that recorded the name, date, etc of a knighting.
It didn't take long to find something interesting.
"Link Equitem, age twelve, is hereby declared a knight of the kingdom of-"
"What?!" Zelda screeched, the previously neat and tidy stack of papers flying of the desk, scattering.
It took her a few moments to really process it. Accepted as a squire at eleven… knighted at age twelve… that had to be a record. Is that even allowed?
She doubted there were any laws against it, even though there probably there should be. Who on earth would allow a twelve year old to be knighted?
Sheepishly, Zelda gathered up her papers and reorganized them, setting the knighting form aside and quickly moving onto the earliest mission report to Link's name... dated a mere two weeks after his knighting.
"Mission to Tabantha Village to investigate suspected Yiga Clan activity. Most of the mission is centered around Sheikah Scientist Doctor Yorin, who we believe is being spied on by the Yiga. Knights sent: Sir Leon Hendrick (Leading the investigation), Sir Ross Zago, Sir Alphoso Oren, Sir Link Equitem."
Doctor Yorin, Zelda thought. She wasn't familiar with the name. She'd have to check it out later.
She skimmed through the rest of the documents that had verified and approved the mission. Yes, the time expected and route traveled was good and all, but not particularly important to her task. The reports were what she needed.
She spent a long while reading through Link's missions, slowly becoming more and more shocked. They had sent him on the most top secret missions, the most sensitive of assignments, and there was not a single one on his record that he had failed. The stack for his first year as a knight alone was packed with information.
Yet despite the 100 percent success rate of his missions, Zelda repeatedly came across forms for disciplinary action. Hardly ever were there so many forms - most captains and commanders didn't even use the forms for knights - they only had to use them when the knight punished was injured too severely for duty.
Then she came across one of the forms dated all too recently… it took a moment for it to click in her mind, but it clicked nonetheless.
"That's the day I found him injured," Zelda realized. It was the very same day she'd found him training, beaten and bloodied.
"Reasoning: Unproductive use of time. Inattentiveness in duties. Endangering the life of the princess."
"What?" Zelda furrowed her brow. Never, not even once, had Link endangered her life. Nor had he ever been inattentive in his duties! Now that she thought about it, she had given him time off at the time. He wasn't even on duty.
Just what is going on here?
The foreboding air of this mystery was like a heavy weight in her mind. And with all of the information connecting, all the small facts coming together...
...well, it seemed that she would not be going to sleep that night.
The sky was dark, stars the only light by which one could see the courtyard. If you looked close, and quite a bit so, you could see the glimmering of the glowing white specks reflected on the hull of large, monstrous guardians.
The courtyard had never needed high security, you see. While most places housing important artifacts and treasures were crawling with knights, the courtyard of the guardians was still except for a single lone guard. That was all it needed, if that. The guardians were feared creations, regarded as the embodiments of death and destruction on six spindly legs.
The guard knew this, of course. Not a soul in Hyrule had not heard of the guardians, nor been told tales of their great power. Not a man, woman, or child didn't know of the strength a single beam could be. That was why the courtyard was usually safe from thieves; a valley of death was not one many dared to enter.
No, the guard was mostly there to ensure that the guardians did not escape. Though it was easily the simplest job a soldier could have, the one with the least likelihood of risk, it was well known for being the least favorite. No one wanted to spend a night in a cage with the guardians.
But unfortunately for the guard, he had drawn the short stick. It was his night to patrol the dark, dusty paths of the large courtyard, his alone to feel the eyes of the mechanical beasts on his back. And though logic said that it was safe, that all of the guardians were deactivated, his mind feared that one would malfunction, and screamed at him to run for his life.
So he did his duty diligently. He was a soldier of Hyrule! Not of high rank, of course, but a soldier indeed. He had honor, and he was loyal to his kingdom. So if he had to prove that loyalty by walking these nightmarish paths all night, so be it.
He had been so focused on the guardians, however, that he hadn't realized something foreign was in the courtyard until he heard something thump behind him.
Most would've screamed and panicked, fled in terror, but the guard's training kicked in. He whirled around on his heal, positioning his spear in a position for attack. While he may have been panicking on the inside, he skillfully made his face cold as stone.
"Well, well, well…" said the figure, carelessly spinning a glistening sickle in their hands. "Looks like there's a guard dog here after all… pity."
"What are you doing here?" the guard snarled.
The figure took a step forward, the spinning sickle coming to a pause in their hands. "I'm just here to take back what is rightfully mine, that's all. But you… you're just a pet, aren't you? Doggedly following orders, no matter how pointless they may seem… to the common folk, anyway." The figure chuckled.
"Leave now," the guard growled. "You're surrounded on all sides by hundreds of soldiers. How did you get in?"
"Who's to say I wasn't already, as you so eloquently put it, 'in'?" The smirk was clear in the infiltrator's voice. "Perhaps someone helped me in - it could've even been you, without even knowing it."
That's enough, thought the guard. So he shot forward, spear raised for a strike, and-
-froze as a sickle met his flesh.
"I was planning on letting you live if you behaved," sighed the infiltrator. "But it seems that luck is not on my side tonight." The dark figure yanked the steel from the guard's gut, crimson immediately gushing forth. "I am lucky they sent one of their lesser guard dogs… I couldn't have disposed of a Royal Guard or knight nearly as easily."
The guard fell to the ground, and the infiltrator kicked him while he was down - in the literal sense of the phrase.
The infiltrator smiled as he watched blood drip from the guard's mouth. "Not a traditional kill, of course, but it will have to do. We can't have you knowing I was here, yes?"
A gurgle was their only response. The infiltrator leaned in towards the guard's face, smirking fiercely behind his mask.
"You're…" The guard coughed fiercely, scattering crimson droplets. "...Yiga," he breathed.
"So you aren't completely stupid after all!" cheered the infiltrator, rapping his knuckles on the red symbol on his mask. "Well, I suppose I'll let you live a little while longer - I assure you, with the toxins I put on the sickle, it will not be long enough for you to report this."
The Yiga continued down the path, leaving the guard gasping for breath, choking on his own blood.
"Now, where are you, super weapon?" the Yiga murmured. "I know you're here somewhere..."
Oooh, spooky banana ninjas... I always thought they seemed much less intimidating in the game than they should have been. A cult that worships the Calamity? Originating from the Sheikah? The game mostly uses them as comic relief, and as hilarious as they were, I thought it was a bit strange. Shouldn't they be all powerful, with the worshipping the Calamity and whatnot? Why aren't they ruling Hyrule? I supposed the Calamity was trapped and all that, so I could let that part slide. But to be so... well, them... Master Kohga himself is a good example of the Yiga. Hilarious, but not really a huge threat. I like to think that before the Calamity, they were a much more organized group, more fearsome. After, however, they got caught up in the victory. Time changed their group and made them what they are in BoTW. Just an idea, and there's a lot of arguments that could be made, but I like it.
I'm not super proud of this chapter. For one, it's much shorter (six pages, while the average is 7-8.. so not much shorter, but still shorter). Also, the first half of the chapter doesn't have nearly as much effort put into it (and is much shorter that it probably could be)... I just wasn't super motivated as I wrote it, and it could probably do with some major editing. I'll add that to the growing list of chapters that need extra TLC. If you catch anything, or have any recommendations to improve things like grammar, flow, etc, feel free!
REVIEW, PLEASE, I'M BEGGING YOU!
I think that's all. I hope you all have a wonderful next two weeks (and for my fellow Americans in the USA, a happy Thanksgiving)! Wear your seatbelts~
Most Incredibly and One Hundred Percent Sincerely, I Assure You,
Ari~