Lunarian :Many things contributed to the lateness of my update. Bleach, One Piece, fanfiction of other series, Disgaea 1 and 2, and much much more. It is thanks to you, my reviewers, that I can pull myself up from that quagmire and continue this. So if not said enough already, thanks to all.

Key
Text Narration
"Text" Dialogue
'Text' Sarcasm, Saying's, and/or so-called... quotes
Text Character Thoughts, and/or Character Tittle
Text Sound Effects

--Chapter Sixteen--

- Starting off Anew -

After letting one of the strange looking wandering fairies, left behind by the four armed one, refresh himself, Link left the sea shell home. The fairy healed exactly the same as Tatl's brethren so he couldn't find any difference to the two but their looks. Now standing at the shore of the small island he was no closer to understanding things then before meeting the fairy.

"This sucks!", Tatl gave her opinion with unrestrained vigor. "That stupid fairy reject down there didn't help us at all, she didn't even introduce herself." She sent her harshest glare towards the hole they had came from hoping it would find its way to her target of ire. "So what if she didn't have anything to give us? What, is she so important she can't take the time to shoot the breeze for a few minutes." -

For the first points of her rant Link nodded his head along in agreement, but when his partner showed no signs of giving it up he tuned her out to look around the ocean for their next destination. He could see many bumps of land sticking out of the water in all different directions although it was impossible to tell how far away or big they were. Slowly as his eyes adjusted to the view given by the sea he became aware of the more intricate details.

In addition to the land masses he saw, Link noticed that there was a strange structure coming out of the water not too far away. Slightly to the right of where he was standing and a few hundred feet out in the water was a risen platform on a long pole high above the sea level. "Hey Tatl." Link said to get her attention. "Look at that, what do you think?"

Tatl stopped her rant immediately and went over to Link's side to see what he was pointing at. She was about to run out of things to complain about that strumpet of a fairy anyway so she welcomed the change in subject. "It's a wooden deck on a pike Link, what's to think about?" She sarcastically said. He appeared to be annoyed at her response so she put her full focus to observe it. It was quite a distance away to get any good view, but with some sharp squinting against the sunny glare she saw something to report as help. "I see something moving around on it." She said. "It's hard to make out but I think there is some type of creature over there, it's definitely not human."

Link could only see small moving dots that formed a a blur from where he stood so he had to take his fairy friends word for it. She had a keener magical sense then himself so it wouldn't seem too strange for her sight to be much better as well. "Let's go then and find out just what's going on here." He exclaimed with purpose.

Tatl could only shake her head at her friends impetuousness showing again. "Wait Link." She called to him before he could take off into the waters. "If those are monsters over there then why would they tell us anything? When have you ever been able to converse with your enemies without them trying to kill you?"

"Oh." Link said as Tatl's counsel began to make more sense as he thought on it. Her second question however brought to mind the times that he would use the captain skull hat and talk with the Ikana graveyards dead soldiers. "Good idea, Tatl." He told her. Opening up his bag he shifted the masks around to find the right one.

It would surprise Link to know that Tatl had actually not been thinking of the practical solution. She was just trying to make him choose somewhere else to search. She was understandably confused that the youth got a different message. "What are you doing?" She asked him as he continued digging through his pack.

Ignoring her for the moment, Link finally found what he was looking for. "Got it." He said, showing her the Captain Hat before putting it on securely. I was only half kidding before when I thought had too much junk but now I feel there was more truth there then I realized.He thought to himself ruefully. Finding a certain mask among all of them used to only take a couple of seconds.

"You think that hat will let you talk to the monsters again?" Tatl was skeptical on the chances of success Link's idea had. She was still amazed it even worked to fool the skeletons in Termina since it only covered his face. It didn't change his voice or his size and shape, it didn't even affect his magical presence. Tatl was sure that one day her friend would try one his mask tricks against an enemy without knowing they knew magic and she would be there to laugh endlessly when it wouldn't work.

Link had already swam towards the pole by the time he answered Tatl back. "Yeah sure." He was positive it would work and saw nothing wrong. "Why wouldn't it?"

Tatl could think of several reasons why the idea was stupid and idiotic, but she didn't want to voice them aloud so she resigned herself to going along with the plan. From what she could see and feel from the monsters she knew that they were of the average stupid minions stock so she knew they would be fooled. Quickly she caught up to Link's swimming and followed him as he went.

The water around the island was the same calm that Link and Tatl entered in. It was no more then a small and almost gentle wave that moved through the sea, it would have been ideal for relaxing at a beach. It was unfortunate for them they had no time for taking it easy however, because the burning need for answers grew with every moment.

It took Link less then a minute to reach his destination and as expected there was no reaction from the watchers from above. He hung onto one of the ladder's rungs for a moment, but then a quick change in the water's level knocked him off his place and brought him higher. Before the tide had a chance to recede he grabbed on the next highest step and continued climbing. Within a few seconds he had reached the platforms floor and had his first close up look of the monsters.

There was two of them there, each carrying a small personal telescope that they would use every few seconds to scan the seas far off in the distance. The creatures were devilish in appearance, pink with rough leathery skin, a pig-like snout, sharp jagged teeth and a long spiked tail. They wore a simple garment of white trousers and a black shirt, and held their posture bent over head close to the ground.

Before the creatures had a chance to see her Tatl quickly flew behind Link to hide herself from their roving eyes. She still didn't put much faith in her friend's plan, but she would still help him out as best as she could. Somehow she figured that having a glowing light accompany him wouldn't help.

Only now that he was standing in front of the monsters did something occur to Link. What the hell do I say? He thought nervously. It must seen strange to them to see a skulltala swim right up to their perch like this, but at least on the plus side they hadn't raised any kind of alarm. The creature stared at Link hard for a few moments, and he worried that the disguise was seen through after all, but then it relaxed as if it coming to a decision.

"Are you here to fix the cannons?" The pink Bokoblin asked the odd being that had shown up. He didn't know what it was, it was too small to be a Stalfos and no fire around its skull so it couldn't be a bubble. It even swam by itself to the guard platform. It looked very dangerous also, so he assumed Ganon sent it.

Link had to stifle his amazement when the monster spoke to him and he understood it clearly without the usual grunting garble that he had become accustomed to when dealing with beastly creatures. What was strange was it spoke words that sounded only a little like basic Hylian, there was many more different sounds and vocals then he expected and yet it made perfect sense to him. This must be that gift of kindness working again. He thought reasonably. It still left him in the dark about how find something out however, so he tried to draw the goblin into explaining more. "The canons..?" He said slowly and trailed off on the end.

The bokoblin was used to dealing with slow creatures, it was impossible not to when they were one of the more intelligent races in their lord Ganon's army. Being used to the dull witted ones allowed the bokoblin to not lose temper and attack, and a healthy dose of fear added to that, so he tried to explain more. "The cannons for our defense, the ones that rotten little kid in green clothes blew up with a pack of bombs." Then suddenly he had an awful thought, maybe this being was sent by Ganon to kill him off for failing. He needed to know immediately. "That is why our great lord Ganon has sent you here isn't it?" He added hopefully.

Seeing as how the monster in front of him was under the impression that he belonged there, Link silently congratulated himself in successfully infiltrating its confidence. His composure however suffered a massive shock when the goblin mentioned that name. "Ganon is back?!?" He yelled out loud in horror before he could stop himself, the thought of the King of Darkness once more being free was too terrible to repress.

Unfortunately for Link, his abrupt exclamation destroyed any hope of continuing the disguise. "Intruder!" The pink bokoblin screamed in fury, gaining the attention of the other one that had started to fall asleep. "Kill him!" The monster ordered as it pointed it's spyscope at Link like a sword.

The moment Link heard the goblin call his bluff he gave up all acting and went straight to the fighting. Within seconds he had his sword and shield out just in time to deflect a jumping strike from the angry goblin in front of him. His opponent was much weaker then he expected so he was able to push it backwards several feet where it collapsed onto its back from losing balance.

Struck by a sudden fancy to do something flashy Link held out his sword and began to concentrate his magic into the blade. With a quick two-step he was standing in front of the downed enemy just as it got back to its feet. The enemy's ally had just reached them by this point and leapt at Link with a strike of it's own aimed to knock him out with a strong blow to the head.

The situation was exactly as Link had waited for, and just before the attacking goblin made contact he unleashed his own attack. His sword, aided by magic, cut a brutal spin catching both of the goblins at once and tossing them away into the air. They both screamed in pain as they were quickly destroyed. Seconds after landing on the ground from the attack their bodies exploded in a cloud of thick purplish black smoke leaving only a few rupees and other miscellaneous items behind.

"That smoke reeked of powerful dark magic." Tatl spoke up, speaking for the first time since Link had climbed up the ladder. Watching him take care of those monsters was enough to make her pity them, they were even weaker then the average lizalfos. She wanted to give him an 'I told you so' when he was found out, but something about the way he reacted to hearing the name Ganon told her that now would not be a good time. In fact, unless she read him wrong then Link's feelings were currently a desolate mixture of fear, pain, anger, worry and even unbelievably enough some hatred. She decided to lay low for awhile until after Link was ready to talk about what he was thinking. To pass the time she collected together the items left behind by the minions.

Now that the immediate fighting was over with Link could focus on what was really important. Ganon was back, with an unknown army as well. It's just like my worst fears from the courage trial coming to life. He thought to himself, not liking the direction things were headed in.

First he returned to what should be Hyrule with it's beautiful rich green fields and thick forests, only to encounter a vast ocean where the land should be. Then he heard from a different type of great fairy then he had ever seen that there is some kid walking around that looks like him called a Waker, whatever the hell that was. As if things couldn't turn out worse now it was revealed that Ganon somehow escaped the sage's seals and was terrorizing the world again.

It was now more important than ever to Link that he find out exactly what had happened since he was gone. He swore to himself after recovering from the courage ordeal that he would never let those horrible things to come true, and now he was faced with the possibility of the very situation he had been dreading.

The first order of business was to find a better source of information than random monsters. Tatl would usually be very useful in this position, often telling Link more then enough about things when he needed it. Unfortunately his fairy friend was in the dark about things as much as he was. Maybe even more so... He thought to himself. While it was true that Link had told Tatl about Hyrule and his adventures against Ganon, he only told her little pieces from time to time. I need to tell her everything so she understands.

Now that Link thought on Tatl he was surprised to note she hadn't said anything in awhile. After a quick search he found her sitting on a small pile of junk near the ladder. "Tatl?" He asked. "What are you doing?"

Tatl had been sifting through the items left behind. On the most part there was little surprise, several blue rupees and a bomb or two. What stood out to her however was a couple of pieces of jewelry shaped like butterflies and a long thin red cylinder with glass on both ends. She was just about to inspect these curiosities further when Link stopped brooding and approached her. "Hey Link, I was just gathering up the treasure, check it out." She said with an excited wave toward the small pile.

Glad for the brief respite before having to dredge up memories of his first struggle against Ganon, Link sat down with his friend to see what she found. The rupees were quickly swiped into his wallet, worth about 15 in all, and he added the extra bombs to his supply with relief. He had to use several since he had stocked up before leaving Termina and it was a good thing that he could still pick them up here even if things were not normal.

That left two things, some bauble's in the shape of a flying bug that he dumped into his pack after a cursory examining and a collapsible telescope. Link didn't really care about the pendants, he just stored them on the off chance they would come in handy, it wouldn't be the first time his pack-rat tendencies would pay off. The telescope on the other hand was a godsend, exactly the kind of thing he needed for this wide new unexplored area.

Putting his newest utility away for the moment Link adjusted himself slightly to get a bit more comfortable. "Tatl." He began. "I think it's time I told you about my fight against Ganon."

Link and Tatl stayed up late into the night going through Link's tale. Sharing stored food and drink the two partners grew closer as the night passed on.

To Be Cont'D:

Omake

Link's Transformation or Wherein my Disgaea playing Shows itself

When Link was told that Ganon was alive and well despite his best efforts he was overcome with an intense anger. He really wanted to do some mass destruction. Without realizing it he had taken out the Fierce Diety mask and over the protests of Tatl placed it over his face.

He welcomed the rush of energy and power the change gave, it felt like the mask was reflecting back his own agressive feelings feeding off of and amplifying them. The power was more then he had ever felt, he started laughing in delerium as his common sense clouded over into insanity. The mask appeared to welcome the change in mindset as it continued to release more and more power.

"wHaT dO yOu SeEk?"

The words echoed through his head, a distorted demand for a direction to take this power. A strong enemy. He thought back. All thoughts of Ganon had fled his mind in the rush of power, that puny sorceror was so far beneath him now it was pathetic. I need a challenge. His newfound power screamed to be used against a worthy being.

Link had no way of knowing that there was a sealed demon inside the FD mask and that was where it's power came from. Not just any demon either but an overlord of one of the countless nether realms. Normally it could only influence a wearer minimally but thanks to the human's large mana capacity when his thinking turned violent he was acting like a demon enough that a connection was formed. This overlord may have been trapped within a mask for centuries but it still was informed of recent happenings. Most interesting to note, the newest and youngest overlord, one Laharl the son of the former King Krichevskoy of one of the more famous netherworlds.

Responding to it's host's demands the demon took the opportunity granted for what it was. It could send this human to the netherworld to confront the overlord and see for itself if the rumors of his strength were true and if it could be released. Even if the human lost and died then it would still die along with him and be able to reincarnate, thus being freed from the prison.

A FiGhT yOu SeEk, YoU sHaLl HaVe iT.

Suddenly several flashes of lightning struck close by surrounding Link and scaring Tatl even more. She quickly flew back as they increased in intensity. Then before her eyes glowing runes appeared beneath Link's feet and rapidly spun around before a huge flash lit up the sky taking Link with it. Poor Tatl, suffering one too many shocks at this time, fainted dead away.

Review Replies

CrystalC: Hehe I know what you mean, of course you can just imagine poor Link's reaction when he gets to that area by the tower. I'm of the belief that if he tried to get in the magic would repel him.

Arvel: Stream away, I tend to write reviews like that as well. I thought I was going kind of slow myself already, but I will endeavor to try so. Just recall that at this point in time Link doesn't know everyone is long dead, he is just mightily confused. I'm pretty sure MM Link doesn't have his triforce piece so WW Link wouldn't have a duplicate. Sure MM Link may have some triforce envy not to mention the master sword ( I had both of those before your grea tx10 grandma was born! ) MM Link has entered around the time of WW Link getting the Iron Boots and Power Bracelet. Thanks for the review.

Youthninja: You and me both, although I will admit to some hemming and hawwing as to how to write that out.

Rewind Gone Nuts: Glad to hear your thoughts. The storm was definitely a curse, kind of how when you try to have the KORL take you past the map and he forces you to turn back, I'm going with the theory that he hasno choice and knows you would never make it out. Right about the winds changing from the little conductor in training, of course MM Link has no idea about that and so that may be a recurring oddity. Medlink federation was the best site for Medli x Link content and I was a member, unfortunately it closed quite awhile ago and I was sad to see it go.

jon58840: About now, thanks for reading.

MoonGirl2: I was always saddened to see so little stories with Tatl featured prominently in them, so I'm happy with mine having her share protaganist status with Link and hope you are too.

BushWhacker: Really appreciate the concern. All is well and it was your review that finally jump started my thinking about the story again, so applause.