Another split POV chapter – and I have nothing to apologize for because it works for me!
We are inching closer to the final battle (of this story) and the stakes will be raised.
Chapter 18 – Kneph's Revenge
Roy exited Link's home with an obnoxious yawn and began an improvised stretching routine, demonstrating for no one in particular that he was in tip-top shape and fully healed after Kneph's attack. A sudden gust of wind blew his cape against his face, signaling the end of that moment.
He looked up to the overcast morning sky, the thick grey clouds having effectively choked all signs of the sun out of existence. A frown traced his lips for just a second.
Lucario was near the aftermath of the battle between Link and Ike. Roy strolled around the craters and boulders that littered Link's front yard, surveying them with a whistle.
"Link told me what happened, but this place looks like a warzone!"
Lucario ignored him, but he was used to that. As he got closer, he noticed a serious glower on the pokemon's face as his red eyes were fixated on the sky. Well, it was more of a glower than Lucario usually wore.
"What's up?" he asked, not expecting an answer.
"There is a malicious wind blowing through Hyrule," Lucario replied cryptically.
"Uh...is that allegorical? Is something nasty heading this way?"
"No, there is literally malice within the wind."
Roy scratched his head.
"I...don't think that's something that can be literal."
"Fool! I can feel it! This wind is unnatural; it is generated with hateful intentions. I have no qualms guessing the source."
Roy rolled his eyes, "So there is something nasty coming here after all."
Another strong gust passed through the area, causing Roy's cape to flap.
"I'd say the wind is a bit rude," the swordsman said with a grin, remembering the incident just a minute ago, "but malicious is a pretty strong description." His humor fell on deaf ears.
"I'm going to trace it to its source," Lucario stated suddenly.
"Wait, you're going off by yourself? And what if it really is Kneph? Are you just going to take him on all alone?"
Lucario folded his arms and Roy narrowed his eyes.
"You're always telling us not to go off and fight the demons by ourselves. But you're the leader so I guess that gives you special privileges."
"There is something about this wind that is leaving me incredibly unsettled. I cannot sit still while..."
Lucario's thoughts were cut short by a horse galloping down the forest trail. Rusl, Link's former mentor, rode the steed with a panic stricken face.
"You must get Link!" he called out to them, but it was unnecessary. Just the sound of his name summoned Link from his home.
Rusl struggled to bring the horse to a stop; the terror deep in the animal's bright eyes made it evident that this went against all of its instincts.
"What is it?" Link asked in a commanding tone, stepping ahead of Lucario and Roy.
"The wind wraith has struck again. The castle town – I've never seen a storm like it!"
"What exactly do you mean?"
"Wind funnels tearing homes from the very earth! Lightning striking relentlessly! The sky has waged war with the land!"
Lucario's arms unfolded and his eyes widened. "The Tempest!"
"Wanna run that one by us again?" Roy quipped.
"It is Kneph's ultimate power; a fierce, unrelenting storm that destroys everything in its wake. He must be absolutely desperate to summon it."
"He's still a coward to target the castle town and not us!" Link growled.
"Roy, gather the rest of the Brotherhood," Lucario commanded. "If there are to be any survivors from the town, we must pool our efforts to evacuate the people and stave off the storm!"
Link had already acted, running to one side of his home where Epona waited. He mounted the horse and rode up to Lucario.
"There's no time to lose so I'm going on ahead."
Lucario nodded, knowing there was really nothing he could say to deter the hylian.
"Don't get yourself killed. I went through a lot of trouble awakening your soul once already."
Link responded with a cynical laugh before Epona's powerful legs broke into a run down the forest trail.
Neal's silver car hovered to a stop next to the curb. The street was quaint and a little grungy with a few shops, and the overcast skies only heightened the sense that he was walking into something a little shady. He stepped out of the car and scoped the area, taking extra care not to let his tail brush against the damp street.
"Yo! Over here."
He looked over his car into the alleyway, noticing a striped tail behind a white trench coat. The skunk stepped onto the sidewalk, the white fur atop his head slicked back and his hands tucked into the coat.
If he was trying to be covert or intimidating, it wasn't really working.
"Really Don, an alleyway? You had me drive all the way to Deelburg so we could meet in a dirty alley?"
"No way! I don't treat my friends like that."
He motioned for Neal to follow and they walked down the empty sidewalk to a coffee shop and pseudo diner. The etching on the glass door read 'Burg Days.'
Garish yellow walls were accompanied by burgundy seating, and Neal was surprised to find the place to be quite empty when they entered. A few humans were there, including an old man engrossed in a virtual newspaper and a young mother with her son who were on the way out.
Of course it was the weekend so there were less people in need of their morning coffee. Neal was relieved at the lack of activity; he didn't want to discuss sensitive matters while submerged in a sea of people.
They found a window booth in the corner of the shop and Don initiated the conversation as soon as they settled.
"How's the family? I mean, besides this recent little incident."
"Fine, for the most part. What about you?"
"My social life is still as nonexistent as ever," the skunk said in a mock cheery tone.
"Well you're always working..."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Nobody's fault but my own. Look, I'm sorry for dragging you all the way out here after you called last night but I think you know how secret and potentially explosive this information is."
Neal cast a quick glance around the shop. "How do you know we're not being watched now?"
"First of all, the coffee here is mediocre at best. Second, nobody there appreciates the retro novelty of this place like I do. They wouldn't step foot in here."
Neal chuckled and found himself asking, "Why go to a coffee shop where the coffee sucks?"
"For the Burg Cakes, of course."
A girl in a black shirt and khaki pants began wiping down one of the nearby tables. "Hey Donny. You come for the usual?"
"Two this time, Cindy," Don said, holding up two fingers.
"I'll get 'em in a minute, you make yourselves comfortable" she replied, moving to the next table.
Neal couldn't help but feel like time was ticking away.
"This small talk is nice, but..."
Neal turned his attention back to the table and found a black tablet sitting squarely in the center. He hadn't seen or even heard Don place it down and yet, there it was. Government property or his own personal tablet? It didn't really matter where it came from as long as it delivered.
Don leaned back with a cocky grin and said, "This is what you wanted, right?"
"I'm going to figure out how you do that."
"What are you waiting for? Go on, watch it!"
The tablet brimmed to life and the video in question was already loaded. All he had to do was tell it to play.
The camera was low to the ground with foliage to the far sides. Neal figured it must have been in one of the statues or monuments in the Lucent Gardens. In the distance was a man clad in green and a blue jackal. They were in the middle of a conversation that proved brief before a blue field of energy encapsulated them and rose into the sky. The camera angled upward in an effort to follow them but they ultimately disappeared.
Neal was silent as he ran the video twice and then three times. Finally, he stopped it on a frame and zoomed in the man in green.
"That's definitely Link...if he were a couple years older." He looked up to Don, who seemed to be waiting on him, and said, "You know I'm going to need a copy of this."
Don's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. "What? No! No way, man."
"Donny! Albert and Nora need some kind of proof. Link's been missing for almost a day...any longer and they're going to get the authorities involved. Derwin was one of the last people to see Link and..."
"And the last thing you want is for the cops to start hassling him. If the cops do get involved, the worst thing Derwin can do is tell them the absolute truth. It's almost guaranteed that they won't believe a word he says, but if they do, then that's where my department steps in..."
"Please? Come on, I have to protect my family!"
Don closed his eyes, obviously wrestling with the idea.
"If this gets out, they're gonna have my ass," he suddenly said. "And yours too."
There was a heaviness to his tone that Neal was familiar with. It always meant that he was dead serious.
"I thought you were pretty high up over there?"
"You're never too high to get your ass kicked to the ground."
Don took the tablet and shoved it inside of his coat. Neal's heart sank and it was written all over his face.
"Now, wait a minute. I'll get this video to you," Don assured him. "But we're doing it my way. I'll send it to your email but it'll be encrypted."
"I don't know how to decrypt anything."
"Don't worry, I'll send you a decryption key later on. Show the video to the kid's parents and delete all traces of it. Might want to wipe your computer too just to be safe."
"Thanks Donny, I owe you."
"You practically have a tab with me now."
The tone considerably lightened when the Burg Cakes arrived; Don was almost giddy.
"You have GOT to try these!" he squealed.
Neal looked down at the square cake in front of him. Blueberries were scattered along the red and white icing. It certainly looked tasty.
"Derwin would have my head if he saw me eating this..."
Clouds had blanketed the skies of Hyrule, but a particular mass of black clouds settled over the castle town, where it coiled down into a monstrous storm.
Epona fought against the wind the best she could. It whipped in all directions whenever it felt like it; the only thing not random about it was its intent to deter anyone from coming to the aid of the people in the town.
Link halted Epona as they approached the bridge leading into the town. With disappointment and determination etched on his face, the hylian dismounted Epona to survey the damage.
The doors had been blown off of the gate and the bridge leading into town had collapsed. The gap was too large for Epona to jump and, even if she could clear it, the wind was so erratic that Link wouldn't chance it.
This was intentional, no doubt. Not only was this keeping him out, it was keeping the populace in. There were other gates into town, but traveling all the way around to them would take up precious time.
"You waiting on us?"
Link turned to find Roy, Lucario, Peach, Marth and Ike: the Brotherhood. For just a moment, he forgot that he wasn't alone anymore. This wasn't just his fight.
Lucario gave Ike a nod, prompting the swordsman to step in front of the remains of the bridge. He drove his blade into the earth like he did when he challenged Link, who had to keep Epona calm when the ground started to quake.
The last remnants of the bridge collapsed and the earth stretched and protruded out before slamming into the other side. The new earth bridge was warped and a little rough, but it served its purpose.
"Let us waste no more time!" Lucario commanded.
Link held his head against Epona's and stroked the horse's silky white mane.
"Last time I brought you here with me, you almost met the same fate as I did by the hands of Kneph. I won't force you into the fray this time if you don't want to go."
He was hoping for her to respond in her own way and tell how she felt. He got more than he bargained for when a small voice manifested from within. It was so faint that he wasn't sure if it really was a voice or just a feeling, but its intentions were clear.
I'll follow you anywhere.
Mild surprise registered; no one else seemed to have heard it. But after learning about the element bonded to his soul, Link began to understood and mounted Epona once again, bringing up the rear as the team crossed the makeshift bridge into the town.
But even that distance couldn't prepare Link for the ambush from the raging storm. A dark funnel of wind touched down on top of them, ripping them up into skies of chaos.
Looks like the Brotherhood will have to save themselves before they can save the castle town.