I'm alive I swear.
I know I haven't written ANYTHING on Fanfiction in the longest time, and I apologize. I've been busy and I've been working on a new project that's an original, so um... not going on Fanfiction yeah.
Now I thought about including the boss fight but after polishing and finishing this chapter I decided against it, it was getting too lengthly anyways.
So here are some thoughts;
after a year of not writing or editing this piece I find my style has changed YET AGAIN. Not as majorly but I've been shifting to a lot more descriptive writing. To the point it takes me a few thousand words to make one character turn around. It's that bad.
It will start to show in the next chapter.
There's a little more humour from 'me' that I hope you'll appreciate... somewhere along the line.
DISCLAIMER:
I do not own Twilight Princess.
Otherwise I'd make the deku baba's weeds or some random plant that you can eat to live off of.
Speaking of which, what does our hero live off of anyways?
Maybe we'll explore that later...
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Jakie was greeted by a slap in the face, due to the strong winds.
Beside her, Link wasn't doing much better. The blonde's face was scrunched as he bore through the constant whipping. The female brought her sleeve to her face in an attempt to cut off the wind.
The duo looked wearily at the remains of the cut bridge, their monkey companions nowhere to be found.
"Great, how do we get across now?" Jakie muttered in frustration. In her hand was her newfound weapon/equipment, the Gale Boomerang, as it was apparently called. When she focused, she could create miniature whirlwinds with the item; a feat only she could manage and Link could only dream about.
"Well, there's got to be another way." Link said thoughtfully. He eyed the enlarged tree branch to the side of them. As Jakie stared, she could make out a bridge of some sort leading to a different part of the first tree they were in. She decided to go along with it. The duo fought the gusts as they struggled to make their way to the other side. There, Jakie realized that they couldn't cross due to a turned bridge that blocked access to the other side.
"Great, how do we cross now?" She muttered, her eyes narrowing once more as her face took another battering from the winds. She couldn't see a way to cross, even without the fierce winds that was forcing the bridge from turning in their direction. Link thought for a moment as well, pausing where he was, sides heaving. Jakie didn't notice it but she figured he must've been really worn out by today's events. Not long ago was he transformed into a wolf, dragged to a castle, freed from that castle, stole a sword and shield, revived a whole forest by killing bugs and beasts, and then kicked some monkey butt to save his friends which, by the way, were kidnapped. She felt pity for him; she had never had to go through such an ordeal before, though she had a feeling that she would now.
She decided to let Link rest for a bit now - she was weary herself. Slumping down and lowering her body beneath the natural curves of the branch and was briefly sheltered from the current direction of the howling breezes. "You okay?"
"Tired… just tired." He replied, his voice cracking a bit. Jakie felt more in the base of her stomach; this must be very hard on him. She tried to find a way to comfort him but all she could come up with was just a rather weak, 'you're doing a great job'.
"So're you." Was his slurred response. Jakie's eyes widened as his own drooped, obvious exhaustion coming off him. She felt a slight tinge of worry as the skies above began to darken, a signal of her being awake for the past twenty four hours, and who knows how long he'd been awake. She got up, grimaced at the gusts, and dragged him into the previous room where there was shelter. She let his body slump down gently against a pile of leaves within the confinements, where his hat fell off his head and his body limply thudded down. Jakie noticed the steady rise and fall, indicating his sleep.
Midna glanced at the pair slightly indignantly after pulling Jakie's shadow so she could talk. Jakie gave the imp a pleading glance; the two needed rest after their long day. The imp narrowed her eyes, but there was some very slight sympathy edging in on the corner of her irises. "Fine. Two hours, max." She said before disappearing again. Jakie sighed in relief, slumped down, and closed her eyes.
Sleep had never come to her so quickly.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Much too soon, she was shaken awake again by Midna, who was muttering: 'humans, always sleeping, I did say two hours but what do I get?' Jakie opened her eyes and was glad that they weren't out in the sunlight, yet. Link was already awake, the circles underneath his eyes that she didn't quite notice before now gone and the blue in his eyes just a slight bit brighter. Jakie stretched and stood up, fastening the cloak tighter around her small torso. Link took his hat and put it back over top his golden locks. "Good morning."
"Mmf." Was Jakie's reply. "How long were we out?"
"Much longer than I had expected you two to be." Midna accused scathingly. "Well I do admit that you two needed some sleep, but you guys were nearly out for five hours-"
Jakie groaned in protest. Five hours was not long at all, barely enough to get her through one day. She knew that, at the rate their journey was going, she could pretty much kiss sleep-filled nights goodbye. And she was definitely not looking forward to that.
Shaking herself back to reality, she noticed Link was ready to go. He looked much better than he did the night before; he was completely awake and had a fresh look of determination in his eyes. Jakie drew the Gale Boomerang, knowing it was going to be needed soon enough.
The duo walked outside and once again was treated with a welcome by the winds. They fought against it as they made their way to the wooden bridge, still not having an idea of what to do. Only until Midna appeared, with a rather murderous expression on her face, did Jakie get an epiphany.
"Wait, what if I try this?" Jakie wondered, lifting the Gale Boomerang in question. Link looked at her thoughtfully while Midna tutted.
"Give it a try, since Wolf boy can't do anything about it," the imp said scathingly, causing Link to grimace. Jakie ignored her but did as she was told. She focused her powers into her boomerang and let it go, watching in satisfaction as it created a whirlwind powerful enough to change the way the bridge was facing. The pair crossed the bridge quickly before the wind had a chance to change its direction. Directly in front of them were more moblins waiting to ambush them. Link grabbed his sword and quickly plunged it into one of the creatures, slaying it with ease. The other moblin looked at Jakie greedily, who immediately noticed the gesture. The moblin took one step forward, Jakie taking one step back. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Link still fighting other moblins; she figured he didn't need to be troubled by her. She took another step back, feeling herself backed up against the natural slope of the large branch. The moblin peered closer to her, determining whether she was worth the effort. She felt a chill rise up her spine as the dark beady eyes scrunched up with malice.
"Go away!" Jakie exclaimed indignantly, trying to push it away. The moblin instead knocked her down to the ground, raising its club threateningly. Jakie shrieked as the club was brought down with surprising force. Link shot up at the sound of Jakie's voice, racing across and slashing anything that came in his way. Fearing the worst, he finally made it to where the moblin and Jakie were.
He snorted; he was both relieved and amused at the same time. Jakie, whose hands were still out in front of her in defense, slowly lowered them and stared. The offensive moblin was perfectly frozen, unable to move and preserved in its attacking state. "Really," Link said, still chortling, "The one enemy you decide to take on turns out like this." He poked the frozen moblin once, watching as it fell over, petrified, before suddenly exploding with black smoke.
"That thing scared the jeebers out of me." Jakie said defensively, gritting her teeth. She stood up and brushed any dirt that might have dirtied her cloak off indignantly. Link laughed once more at her angry glare.
Midna suddenly appeared, rolling her eyes at the two's attitude. "Har har, can we laugh later, please?" The red-yellow eye spotted something hanging on a piece of rope a few feet above them. "What? Another one? Well, might as well free him too…"
Jakie stuck out her tongue once more at Link, both mocking him then and now, before firing the Gale Boomerang at the cage. The whirlwinds cut through the rope cleanly, causing the cage to fall and burst open. The monkey clapped a couple times before joining them back to one of the earlier rooms via another spinning bridge.
It turned out there were a lot more monkeys hidden around than expected, which meant Link and Jakie had to go around and release them all. Jakie kept stealing occasional glances at the swordsman, worried that he'd be getting drowsy. His steps began to falter after the first monkey, stumbling by the second, and by the third, Jakie halted their progress with a hand at his face.
"Jakie?" Link muttered, his breaths coming up short. The swordsman had just finished fighting three or four large arachnids while Jakie had been working on freeing the monkey. The female curled her lip at his grungy appearance; during the fights one of their pincers must've hit true.
"You're tired. You're hurt. Don't try to make me change your mind, because in case you haven't noticed you're as tired as hell." She said, forcing the boy to sit down. Link removed his hat and wiped his forehead with the back of his glove. Though he protested, she could tell by looking into his eyes that he was painfully suffering through silently.
"We don't have time to rest, Jakie. I have no idea what's going on with my friends, and…" His voice cracked as the pain overtook his system. Jakie watched worriedly, wishing she could be more of a use to him. Midna was beside her, watching but not commenting. The asian sighed and held his arm where the pincers had scored against his skin. He winced in pain.
"Okay, look. We will go after them, I promise, but how can you save the land if you're dying?" Jakie murmured. "Just rest, okay? Rest and get better. I'll go after the rest of the monkeys."
Link watched her like he wanted to say something, even as if he wanted to tell her off, but he was too exhausted. Jakie smiled gently before pulling out a bottle from her waist. On her belt was only a few belongings, but one of them was a bottle that had appeared there with her clothes. When Link wasn't looking she had purchased a 'restorative potion' from the same place where they bought the lantern oil and poured the drink into her bottle.
"Drink it, it's supposed to help you." Jakie said, giving him the bottle. He stared at the bright red liquid incredulously, but Jakie shook her head. "Seriously."
"I don't know if you're trying to poison me." He joked but still eying the bottle wearily. Jakie paused: she didn't actually know for a fact what the drink was and what it did. But somehow, she had a good feeling about it.
"Look, just drink it. Once you feel better you can thank me." She leaned forwards and grabbed the lantern off his belt. "I'll be taking that, and I'll rescue the rest of the monkeys. I know how to take care of myself," She added, when she spotted him opening his mouth in protest, "I have a bow and a quiver, remember? Don't worry. Get yourself out, find a place to shelter, and I'll meet you with the rest of the monkeys, alright? Okay, good." Before Link could object, Jakie jumped off the ledge and began to climb up the steep ledge of vines, the three monkeys following her.
The sandy-brown haired male stared after her retreating figure. With a huff, he drank the red liquids. He curled his lip in distaste, it tasted horrid. But he instantly felt a little better, so he decided to finish the rest. Though he felt fine, he was still a little woozy, perhaps a side effect from the potion. He decided to take the females advice and leave the room to go find a safer place to stay. He slumped down at the main room, breathing heavily. He hoped she came back soon.
.:::.
"Remind me what I'm doing again," Jakie snarled in frustration as she lobbed the boomerang back at another spinning bridge. Midna rolled her eyes at the female as she scurried onto the bridge.
"Well, you just shooed away the one person who could save your sorry butt if you were to get in trouble…"
"Be serious." Jakie grit her teeth as she waited for the winds to change the direction of the bridge once more. She felt like she was getting nowhere, and certainly wasn't when the imp beside her wouldn't stop with the cynical comments.
"Want the truth? I think you're going to die before you make it to the next monkey."
"Thanks for the support," She muttered as she leapt onto another tangle of vines. Midna said nothing, merely sneering from where she was. Jakie had no idea why Midna was still following her at this point and why couldn't she have just stuck with Link, but now she knew that she'd have to adapt to having a little imp yapping rather angrily at her as she attempted to free more monkeys.
The door to the next room slid open, causing Jakie to recoil a little. It was a cavern with water everywhere; atop a piece of driftwood was a Bombug that was just hanging. Her eyes raked over the scene before her, a seemingly harmless bridge over the water lead to an area beyond it that had a ledge up top that was blocked by a large boulder. She took a gulp and began to cross the bridge gingerly before a black shape slapped her shoulder.
"Ow! What was that for?" She cried indignantly. Midna rolled her eye.
"Oh, so the little hero gets hurt from a little slap on the shoulder." She droned, her eye was hard and fixed on the female impassively. "If you want to ever go back to your realm, you can't go rushing blindly into things."
Jakie felt a wave of anger surge through her system. It didn't help that she was helping two strangers, in a foreign land, fighting when she had never fought before in her life, with one of those said strangers constantly criticizing her.
"Look, if you're so angry with the way I'm doing things, why don't you do things yourself?" Jakie replied back with malice, her temper flaring. Midna glared back, her anger level seeming to match Jakie's.
"If you haven't noticed, look! Shadow!" She jabbed a finger to her own, black silhouette imp form. "And I don't know how to do things in this realm."
"You think I do?" Jakie shot back, now glaring at the imp. "I have no idea what I'm doing either, so cut me some slack!" She wrenched herself out of the shadow's grip and trudged forwards. Suddenly she screamed in surprise and pain as something underground flipped her up, causing her to fly backwards and into the water.
Splash.
A few seconds later she surfaced, hair soaked and face dripping. "What was that?" Jakie cried as Midna glided towards her.
"A tile monster. Obviously it got the better of you."
"No kidding." Jakie replied furiously as she waded back to shore. She pushed herself back up and shook out her cloak indignantly, watching water droplets spray everywhere. "This is going to be a killer to clean."
"Maybe you shouldn't try to rush headfirst into everything."
"Do you want to listen to me?" Jakie rebuked, not appreciating the rash comment Midna shot at her. The imp rolled her eye.
"Look, I would love to listen to a human but I'd die of the amount of malice and spite a human is capable of nourishing." She spat. "Anyways, don't just rush into the bridge; find a way to get rid of the tile monsters."
"Gee, thanks for your help." Jakie grumbled, wringing her cloak dry once viciously. She took a deep breath to calm herself from the anger and shock before gazing once more at the bridge. This time she watched more closely, she noticed miniscule shifting of a false tile that presumably was hiding a tile monster.
"Before you rush into there though, you might want to get that." The imp lazily indicated the chest that was sitting on a piece of rock that was jutting out of the sides of the cavern. Jakie grunted in acknowledgement as she abandoned her concentration from the bridge. Instead, she focused on reaching the other side of the ground to open the chest. When she jumped, she was briefly reminded of the flying sensation she felt when leaping with Midna as a guide.
Landing squarely, she heaved the chest open to find one rusted key near the bottom. "What a rip off." She sighed, plucking the chest's contents and pocketing them. Midna rolled her eye as she leapt back. She returned on the bridge and grimaced as one of the monsters lifted its head to glare at her.
"Maybe you could try staring it down."
"Shut up." In frustration, Jakie lobbed the boomerang at the silhouette in front of her. Midna giggled and vanished, causing the weapon soar past and towards the bridge. Suddenly, all the tiles were tossed about, and with disgust, watched as the monster was lifted out of its hiding spot to reveal a long, worm-like creature. The creature was thrust into the water and apparently it couldn't swim, as it disappeared with a puff of smoke.
"Joyful." Jakie murmured as she ran across the bridge, no monsters thrusting her back into the water. She stared at the boulder blocking her path, eyes narrowed. Midna let out a snort of contempt and opened her mouth for what was surely going to be another sarcastic retort.
"Don't say it." Jakie growled, already catching on. She grabbed the Gale Boomerang and threw it at the bombug, watching with a twinge of satisfaction as it collided with the boulder, causing it to explode. She leapt up and gripped the ledge, hauling herself up onto the platform above. Vaguely, she could hear a monkey squealing behind another boulder. Curling her lip, she lobbed yet another bombug at the obstacle with her weapon.
"That's all of them." Midna informed as the monkey scurried out to meet with her. "Now we just have to find Link and find what we're looking for."
Jakie nodded, but there was a twinge of doubt in her system. She didn't expect to find Link's companions here, but nevertheless they did have a deal. Sliding open the door to the previous room, she set out to find the blonde swordsman once more.
.:::.
"So you were just sitting here like a hobo?"
"I take offence to that." Link said playfully, hauling himself back up as the asian returned, five monkeys at her heels. "Although I feel much better now."
"Yup, here's your lantern back, by the way." Jakie said, tossing the item at his direction. He caught it quickly and gave a wolfish grin. "So, what do we do now?"
"Why don't we go back to that room where there were those fungi?" Link suggested. "I think there was something across from the abyss-" He chuckled as Jakie snarled a rude word under her breath. "You've done this many times already."
"No thanks from you." The female retorted sarcastically. Link smiled, though it was a little too sweet for Jakie's tastes. Her premonitions were correct as suddenly he scooped her up and ran towards the next door.
"HEY!" Jakie screeched, flailing her legs against the swordsman. "Let me down!"
"No way, you'd make a break for it then." Link replied impishly, quickly dashing across the wooden bridge before it had a chance to turn. Jakie gave up and laughed.
"I guess that break really did return your strength; though I don't particularly enjoy being treated like a baby."
"Deal with it," was the playful reply. Jakie snorted and kicked him in the ribs hard. He grunted a little in surprise, his grip only tightening around her waist. Jakie squealed as he laughed.
"Enough you two." Midna groaned as she appeared from their combined shadow. "Wolf boy, let Cold girl down – we have a bridge we have to turn."
The blonde finally let Jakie down, who let out an indignant huff and brushed her clothing icily. She wrapped her fingers around the ivory wood, letting her powers seep into the weapon, before firing it into the bridge. The wooden platform spun once before settling.
"Hurry." Midna said before disappearing again. Jakie rolled her eyes; it wasn't like she was contributing much. Link caught her purple eyes with his own, the blue orbs sparkling mischievously. The female felt an ominous chill creep up her spine as she pulled open the door across from them.
They were in a rather damp surrounding, with curtains of lichen hanging down from the surrounding walls. Around them, fungi were seeping from the wood and bark that curled up towards the ceiling.
"Attractive." Jakie commented sourly, lip curled as she lifted her foot after stepping and hearing a particularly nasty squashing sound. She hissed as she looked at the crushed mushroom beneath her toes, puss and bits oozing out from underneath.
The monkeys suddenly began to clap rapidly, the sounds echoing and rebounding off the walls. Swishing was heard overhead, and as Jakie whipped her head upwards she spotted the other monkeys the two of them had freed earlier. The monkeys climbed down the bark to meet with them.
"Hey little guys." Jakie purred, bending down and patting the one with the rose in its ear. Link watched as she coaxed the monkey with ease. Suddenly, it shot its head up, startling the female. It motioned to its friends with some sounds and claps. "What's going on?" Jakie exclaimed.
The swordsman could only shrug as the monkeys suddenly climbed up the trunk of another tree and up onto it's branch. They suddenly began to climb down and cling on each other's hands, creating a monkey-rope that began to swing back and forth, the bottommost monkey clapping its hands expectantly.
"Mother-" Jakie didn't even have time to finish her thought as Link leapt across the abyss with a yell, catching the hands of the monkeys. He gripped the monkey tightly as he swung back and forth, releasing right as the momentum brought him forward, landing squarely on the other side.
"Your turn," was his cheeky comment.
The female bit her lip, her violet eyes judging the distance between her and the monkey-rope. She waited, heart pounding loudly, and leapt as the makeshift rope swung towards her. She nearly couldn't get a grip, only managing to stop from falling into the pit below thanks to the strong pair of monkey hands that grabbed her arms. She let out a huff of relief, before with a rush of panic remembering she still has to get to the other side.
She felt the momentum swing her as she thrust forwards. Perhaps she had gone a little too far, next moment she found herself nearly on top of the green clad male. More accurately, she didn't notice she was on top of him because her mentality was repeating: 'oh shit, oh shit, I am so dead.'
And then: 'green and squishy.'
'…. This is so not going to look good.'
She barely managed to scramble off in time when their shadow twisted once more. It wasn't like Midna didn't know what just happened, but she prayed the imp would let it slide.
And as most hopes went when it came with Midna, there would probably be more of a chance that a monkey would release on their heads.
'I really shouldn't have thought that,' Jakie flustered when she remembered the still-swinging monkeys behind her.
"Well if that didn't knock the weight out of Wolfie, I don't know what would," Midna commented dryly. Jakie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, trying to fight off the blush that had already crept on her face. It was pretty hard.
Link was still on the floor but he got up, shaking off dust and straightening his tunic. "Jeesh, you're heavy."
"Appreciate it, really," Jakie retorted.
"Tell that to my chest," he replied before chuckling. She rolled her eyes as he pulled out a key from his pocket, inserting it into a gigantic lock that was keeping the way closed in front of them.
"Where did you find that?" the female asked, trying to fight off the slight embarrassment in her tone.
"Maybe I wasn't sitting around like a hobo? Not for all of it, at least." Link replied as he turned the key, stepping back with a slight smile on his face.
"And I thought you were going to let me do something," Jakie muttered with a slight playful edge. A loud clink caught their attention. The outer rim of the lock spun quickly, the spikes whirling so fast it looked like a blur. After that part unscrewed the lock fell apart, landing on the floor with a loud thud. The chains flew off and landed with an equally loud thunk.
"Well hopefully you won't have to," Link muttered as he pulled open the doors into the next – and final – room.
"Hopefully," Jakie muttered in response as she followed him in.
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Yay some progress.
Next chapter will finally be the boss battle... I'll write it I swear!
... Reviews? :D
~CK