Rargon placed the gear in its slot. Turning with a smile, he gave Samba a thumbs-up.
Samba nodded and took a deep breath. Before he went, though, he noticed a few pots made of delacately thin marble near the door. Curious, he went over and broke them. Inside one was a bunch of magic bottles, another held hearts, another held much-needed pebble ammunition, and inside the last was..."A FAIRY!" both monsters cried before racing to catch it. Samba was quicker to the draw, however, swinging an open empty bottle and turning around to cork it while Rargon slammed his paws down on nothing behind him. Samba smirked as he held up the bottle. "Good luck's all mine, I'm afraid," he told his companion.
"Come on! You've had your turn with good luck if you've made it this far already WITHOUT a fairy!" whined Rargon. Samba shook his head and waggled a claw. Rargon's face fell. "Dangit..."
Samba nodded. "So, are we ready?" he asked.
Rargon gulped and nodded. "R...Ready," he replied.
"Don't be afraid. That'll only make him stronger." Samba clenched a fist while he dug out the key again. He jumped and stuck it in the lock, turning it before he landed. The padlock hung on, but something happened to make a grinding sound. The stone chains pulled, and the lock soon fell away. As soon as it did, the chains snapped up into the walls, pulled by the gears. The door was unlocked. Samba had only to touch it before the double doors, as it turned out to actually be, slid apart into the wall. He walked in, Rargon joining him. As soon as both were inside, the doors slammed shut behind them.
It was normal rock again. The mammoth room was actually a network of tunnels, it appeared, lit by bioluminescent mushrooms. Above them, stalactites dripped water on them sometimes. The tunnels were enormous, and Samba wondered if the room really was as small as it appeared on his map. He and Rargon walked forwards a ways down a main path directly from the doors. At one point, the tunnel became very wide as they reached a dead end. Samba had a bad feeling, and Rargon was shivering very badly. "I think we're really close..." Rargon whined.
Samba clenched his fists as he looked around. They waited. Nothing. Shrugging, Samba turned around. "Let's try another tunnel," he said while he began walking back.
"Who dares disturb me now?" whispered a sinister male voice. Samba wasn't sure where it came from. It sounded like it came from all over. The language was Hylian, but it appeared that, somehow, Rargon could understand it. Samba, too, strangely found he could understand a bit more easily, as well.
Rargon squeaked even higher than Samba could, stepping back a bit. "S-Samba!" he stuttered, pointing.
Samba looked behind him before turning his whole body. There, in front of them, was the wall they had just found. It was pushing itself out, bearing a giant, beastlike face that stretched from floor to ceiling. Yellow, glowing eyes stared at them, a jaw of stone with stalactite/stalagmite teeth jutting out of its lips. Part of the walls moved and became small tunnels themselves. A dull red glow came from these tunnels and from the creature's maw. Samba bared his teeth and drew his sword.
"You...Blue lizalfos...And you...My former servant..." the beast whispered, mouth making no movement as the voice came from all over. The voice rose slowly as it continued. "I have felt you traveling within my body, fighting. It is annoying...Perhaps I shall do to you what I recently did to those of whom I hear are your loved ones..." The caves shook a little as the creature roared from its mouth. "...and give you the honor of being crushed by my indominatable immensity! Be pulverized by he whose size and strength is beyond words, for all stone in existance in every nook and cranny of reality form his body: Krungratrg, Leviathan of Stone!" The beast's words threatened to burst Samba's eardrums.
Rargon screamed and tried to run, but, despite Samba's reaching paw, he was instantly victim to a huge boulder that came rolling at high speed from one of the Leviathan's arms. After being run over, he sort of stuck and rolled with the boulder before crashing, face-first, into a wall. He struggled to get up, but he quickly fell unconcious...or, at least, that's what Samba hoped.
Samba turned to face the beast, fear starting to flare up inside of him as he realized he was alone against the hugest beast he'd ever seen. "Shit," was all he whispered before the battle began.
Krungratrg (KRUHN-grah-terg) began by firing a few boulders at Samba. These were as big as the one he had run from when collecting the final keystone, and fairly slow. He ran and avoided them while he focused on the face in front of him. After dodging three boulders, the Leviathan spat a spray of fist-sized rocks at him. He raised his buckler and blocked three of them, arm burning from the force it had to endure. He noticed that some of the rocks were glowing red. He also noticed that there was a spot high up on the face, on its forehead, that appeared to be a red ring. The ring was connected to a dimly-glowing red line going above its eyes. Samba had a burst of inspiration. He picked up a red rock and held it while he ran towards the Leviathan to get in range. When he thought he was in range, which was dangerously close, he threw the rock with all his might at the hole.
It bounced off nearby, but suddenly stopped and floated in. Samba couldn't stop and wonder at this, though. Backing off, he grabbed a pebble and blocked the storm of rocks again before he cast Fire Pebble, aimed, and let fly right at the red rock. It glowed white breifly before the whole red line started to glow. A second later, Krungratrg roared in pain as his forehead exploded. He grumbled and fixed it, forming more rock around the wound. His face appeared a bit cracked, now. Samba raised his eyeridges. 'It's a scar!' he realized. 'It must be made of this volatile red rock for some reason.' He noticed that it formed a hole at the same place, but also at the other end, too. 'I think I have to throw a red rock in each slot before I can detonate them again.'
So, the battle continued. Samba was amazed at how stupid this guy was. 'Must come with being made of rocks,' he mused. Krungratrg continued to cycle between throwing boulders-which admittedly got faster-and spitting rocks at Samba. He found a red rock amidst the black ones and threw it at his forehead. After putting one in each slot, he fired a Fire Pebble, sparked an explosion again, and got ready for the third go-around, finding a new slot in the center of the scar this time. Krungratrg's face was pretty cracked, now, and Samba saw red glowing beneath it. He grinned viciously as he predicted what would occur.
Sure enough, after he detonated the scar a third time with three full slots, the Leviathan's face exploded amidst a loud roar of pain. Samba shielded himself from the debris for a moment before looking up. The arms had collapsed and the face was gone. He pumped his arm in victory, panting a bit from the amount of running. A second later, though, the chamber rumbled again.
"Dare not think I am finished so easily! I see I will just have to take care of things the HARD WAY!"
From the spot where his body had fallen into pieces rose what looked like a quadripedal golem of stones about double the size of a goron. It had a humanesque, cartoonishly-huge-chinned (with a cleft, of course) face and enormous stones around its body that appeared to simulate muscles of impossible size. It looked to be the form of a round-backed armadillo, of all things. It grinned and laughed maniacally at Samba. "I'm huNGgry For somE Lizalfos PAncAKeS!" it stated in a grinding, erratic voice that abruptly spiked in intensity and back down normally again at random. It spoke from its face instead of all around, this time, though its mouth didn't move. It cackled, crackled, as it ran a few steps to Samba and curled up into a ball, starting to roll.
Samba yelped and ran, but he wasn't fast enough to avoid him. He was struck from behind and flew off to the side, slamming into the hard ground painfully. As he got up, he noticed that there were some red stones in the stalactites above him. He looked and saw that the Leviathan was uncurling and skidding to a halt. 'I wonder...' He stood, readying a Fire Pebble while stepping back. He waited for the Leviathan to start a roll again before quickly hucking it to the red stone above. He hit, and the explosion resulted in the stalactite and the surrounding stones to crumble and pour down into a huge pile of rubble. The cave-in idea was successful because, as soon as it had finished pouring down, Samba had to duck down and avoid a spray of rocks as the pile was plowed down with a muffled surprised roar. When he looked up, Krungratrg was a heap of stones, a dull rrring emitting from it. In the center was a soft-looking clear globe holding a red fluid inside.
Samba didn't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that Krungratrg's weakpoint was that globe.
With a warcry, he raced over, hopping up the pile of rocks as much as he could for speed before he got to the top. Without hesitation, he unleashed a good, solid combo attack on the globe, which made Krungratrg cry in pain and roar in agony after the finisher. Samba was able to get in two full combos before he felt the heap rumble. He hopped off and watched as Krungratrg reconstructed himself, using some of the rocks used in the cave-in to increase his size to even bigger than before. Samba found that there weren't any more stalactites with red rocks in this tunnel, so he ran down back to the entrance.
This time, instead of trying to run from Krungratrg, he pressed up against the side of the tunnel, hoping he couldn't see where he was going. It worked, and he continued on, looking for a tunnel with a stalactite he could make a cave-in with. He found another one after some searching and five times dodging Krungratrg's rolling. 'He's like a big, sorta-intelligent boulder,' he mused. He got out his pebble and didn't have to wait long. He waited as long as possible before he caused the cave-in, fleeing along the side of the tunnel as it came down. It was barely as tall as Rargon when Krungratrg slammed into it, exploding into countless rocks.
Samba ran up and unleashed two combos on the liquid mass before he felt the rocks start to move again below him. He didn't make it in time and was stuck inside as rocks came and formed Krungratrg again, bigger than ever. Krungratrg stood up on his haunches before belching quite loudly. As he did, Samba flew out of his mouth, not a very happy lizard. He got up off of the ground and ran as the Leviathan, laughing maniacally, took a swipe at him in the corner of the tunnel.
Samba raced along the tunnels, wishing he had a blue potion with him. 'If I get hit again...will I survive?' he wondered. He noticed that Krungratrg wasn't following. The tunnel rumbled a bit before he heard a CrAcK! and gasped as he looked up.
"I seE YOu!"
The stalctites above started to fall down on him, raining huge spears of death from above. Samba squawked and turned tail. He avoided one wave of falling stalactites, then another, then another by running forwards at all times. He then heard a rumbling behind him and jumped to the side. The enormous beast rolled right by him. No more stalactites poured down, though. He noticed that hearts and-of all things-magic bottles (more bottles than hearts) lay where a few stalactites had fallen, and pebbles had formed from many of the broken pieces of rock.
Samba grumbled and went back, deciding to keep running forwards next time. He got back to where he had been assaulted and found a red-stoned stalactite standing alone among a myriad of holes from fallen stalactites. 'It must have been spared...' He mopped his brow in relief at this. This theory was soon tested when he felt the rumble again. He ran forwards and avoided the rain until the third shower, when he jumped aside, avoided the Leviathan, and ran back to the stalactite he'd seen. He also noticed a few more around it had remained when the shower had occured. Looking over his shoulder to make sure the big galoot was following, he readied a Fire Pebble. As soon as Krungratrg dived into a roll, Samba fired, shored up against the sides, and ran along the wall from the falling rocks. He passed by Krungratrg and made a face as he slammed into the pile and became one himself. He raced over and executed one combo and was two hits into another before he jumped off, feeling the rocks moving again.
Samba repeated the process with the mammoth-sized beast rolling along, sending stalactites at him, or swiping at him when he was close by. His strategy prevailed, however, when he ended up executing one last combo on the beast's weak point. He heard a long, agonized roar after hitting the last time. He jumped off and saw the stones reassemble slowly.
"Nooo...I can'T loSe NOw...I...i...HAvn'T hAD...mY f-f-F-FUNn-n..." The Leviathan seemed to be losing it even more. As his head formed, it went through different angles, like a robot going haywire, before he finally cocked it back to normal. The gathering of the stones picked up speed. "yEeSsssSS...You TroUbleSOMe LItTle gEcKO...CoowWwerrr...CCOOWWEeerRR!" The whole tunnel system began to rumble violently as Krungratrg stood up, still growing, and spread his arms out. "FOORRR YOU hAVE NOWhEERE ELSSEEEeeE!" The walls cracked. "TOOOOOO!" Spiderwebs of deep cracks appeared on every surface between ceiling and floor, and Samba hit the deck, covering his ears.
"HIIIIIIIIiiiIIIIIIddDDDDDEEEE!" roared Krungratrg with a voice that almost sounded like he was erupting in bliss instead of rage. Every single wall in the tunnel system shattered with an amazingly loud sound that certainly would have deafened the lizalfos had he not covered his ears. The stones swirled around the Leviathan, growing him to live up to his title. He pressed against the ceiling, revealing that it went up higher than the map could have ever said while he broke more and more stone as he grew. His body grew immense, and it almost appeared as if he was becoming nothing but round back and belly of hardness. Finally, with a deep, otherworldly cackle, the growing ceased.
Samba peeked after the rumbling ended and widedned his eyes. He hadn't noticed the fact that, strangely, there was nothing but empty space around him, nor the fact that he could still see as if it were all illuminated now (despite the walls with the only source of light, the mushrooms, being destroyed), but noticed only what was in front of his muzzle. Before him stood a beast whose face was lowered down to him, a beast that made him look like a tiny ant if one were to back up enough to see him in his entirety. He paled as he looked into the gargantuan, swirling, irregularly pulsing eyes. Then, with a voice in the same whisper as he had started in, Krungratrg said, "Boo."
In an instant, Samba was thrown clear across to the other side of the room. He was still flying in the air, faceup and parallel to the floor, when he gasped in pain five seconds later. He found himself in a bad position and in bad shape, but he had to keep going. So, with sheer will powering him along, he flipped in midair just before landing, skidding along the stone. "What the hell IS that thing?" he cried in shock as he saw it coming towards him. He looked around, finally noticing the strangely different environment. "And how big IS this place?" he added. 'More importantly, HOW DO I BEAT HIM NOW?'
He found that there were now patches of stalactites of pure red in the center of a field of them that were like marbled meat-mostly red with cracks of normal, light grey rock in it. He looked and saw Krungratrg barrelling at him again. "Only chance I've got!" he muttered before firing a Fire Pebble at the red stalactites. They blew in a terrific explosion, causing an immense shower of red pieces to heap up in a pretty big mound, much bigger than what Samba had been doing up until now.
But it wasn't enough. Samba watched in horror as the Leviathan plowed through the pile, covering itself in the rocks all the way around, before slamming full-force into Samba, blowing him at LEAST a hundred feet away again.
And he didn't get up.
...
Well, not instantly. When he opened his eyes, he saw a red fairy flying off, leaving his body revitalized. Getting up, he saw what had happened to the Leviathan, the red rocks speckling his entire body. An idea struck him. "I'll cover him in red rock until I'm sure he's become one big, rolling bomb!" he whispered before getting up and running as fast as he could. He found the big guy started a roll for his position very early now, and rolled in a straight line regardless of the lack of tunnel walls. So, as soon as he saw him coming, if he didn't see another red stalactite bunch between them first, he ran to the side as fast as he could. He barely made it regardless, since the thing he fought HAD to be at LEAST half as big as a mountain. It rolled on for quite some time afterwards even so, giving him time to search more.
He finally found another patch, blew it up, and rolled out of the way as fast as he could before he got run over. He'd used his fairy-he didn't want to waste it. Having started right behind the lizard, the thing covered itself in more red, and Samba saw that they were almost all touching. The speckles had become large spots with cracks of black inbetween them. "One more ought to work..."
He ran again. And again. And again. He had never worked his body so much in his life. Then, he finally caught sight of red. In an instant, he had created a pile of red stone and was running to the side. He got hit, though, and tumbled along for a bit before recovering. He watched as the Leviathan of Stone, at last, became a ball of blood red. He waited for it to stop...turn slowly to face him...then tumble again.
Samba was tossing a Fire Pebble up and down in his paw, sort of like he had been when he was about to use the spell for the first time. "Die," he whispered before throwing it as soon as it began to get in range.
When he struck, right on the nose, the creature started to glow white, spreading from the point of contact until a ball of bright white light faced him. He raised his buckler and covered his ears with his shoulders as one hell of an explosion rocked the whole mountain. When he looked up again, the mound, now a hill, met him again instead of rolling death. Wasting no more time, he drew his sword and ran as fast as he could possibly go, hopping at top speed regardless of how tired he got. Then, with one mighty leap, he jumped from the bottom of the pile all the way to the top, practice sword underhand in his paw.
"DIIIIIIIIIIIIEE!" he roared as he came down in a finishing blow on the soft mass. He punctured it clear through, spraying blood everywhere that turned grey upon touching air. He stayed on, though, twisting his sword around a bit to ensure it died before withdrawing it and backflipping away.
An almighty roar erupted from the pile. The stones rose up, shaking as they formed a vauge shape of the Leviathan. They hovered out in midair, spaces between them all as they formed a sort of basic wireframe, each stone acting as a vertex, of him. When the stones were all used, the half-there Krungratrg held his head while roaring again before exploding apart, sending his rocks all over the place. None hit Samba, though, thankfully. As his foe finally accepted defeat, he did his little victory sword dance again.
As the last echoes faded away, the room faded back in. From being a nigh-infinite space, it had reverted back to a series of tunnels. He was in the same tunnel where it all had begun. He looked around in wonder. "Must be magic," he muttered. He looked in front of him and saw another red stone. "A Heart Container!" he gasped, recognizing the item. Slowly, he walked over and picked it up. "I thought...I never thought a monster like me could get one of these..." With pleasure and pride, he absorbed the item into his body, filling it with energy. He sighed as his fatigue absolutely melted away.
"Uuuuggh..."
Samba whipped around. "Rargon!"
Rargon walked towards him, holding his head. His vest had been destroyed in the hit, and his loincloth hung by threads. "Uuuugh...I think I just got hit by an avalanche..."
"Naw, just a boulder," Samba said, shrugging.
Rargon grumbled before he looked behind Samba. He gasped. "Wh...What's that?" he pointed.
Samba turned and gaped. In a bubble of light, a ring floated down from the spot where Krungratrg had been defeated. Curious, the blue lizalfos trotted over and skidded to a halt beneath it. He held his paws out as it settled down, gently, in them. It was a silver ring with a beautiful ruby in the shape of triangle in it. "What is THIS?" he muttered. He tilted his head. "It feels...strange; magic..." He took it in his claws slowly, raising it...
"DON'T PUT IT ON!"
He gasped and looked up. From a pit in the ground that was in the place where Krungratrg had first appeared came Vardi, running out to him. He broke into a smile and ran to hug his sister, closing his fist around the ring. "VARDI! Oh, thank the godesses, you're alright!" he cried, crouching down and hugging her tight. "You scared the shit out of me!"
She hugged back. "I'm sorry, Samba!" she sniffed. She'd been crying pretty hard, her teal cheeks turned a bit muddy from the color brought up in them. "I was just so worried about Rakeh-kor!"
"Rakeh? Shit! RAKEH! NORGA!" Rargon cried, running over them and skidding to a halt, making some stones fly up as he reached the pit. He crouched and held a paw down to help up his wife, who wore a plain brown dress, and Rakeh. After they had gotten up, the eight-and-a-half-foot lizalfos (he was exaggerating before when he said he was twice as big as most adult lizalfos, which are around six feet on average) embraced them in a hug. "Oh, crap, I'm so sorry! I didn't want you guys to come for me! I was fine! I swear!" he blubbered. "Don't EVER do anything this stupid for me again, alright?" he asked, crying big tears. They nodded back at him while they hugged him.
"Don't start another fight at the vats, Daddy!" Rakeh cried.
"And quit guzzling more blue potion than you need!" added Norga, his wife. She had a female voice, but a bit of a deep one-deeper than Samba's mother's. "I love my giant, but next time someone interrupts your drinking, let them, alright? Nobody knows if you can die from overconsumption of our lizafloren-enhanced potion...you've been lucky so far, you know..." She continued scolding her husband, crying at the same time, while Vardi giggled.
Looking over at them, as well, Samba sighed. "And YOU never run off like that again," he scolded Vardi gently, looking back at her. "You almost got me killed looking for you."
Vardi gasped, then took a step back and bowed deeply in apology. "Sorrysorrysorry sorrysorrysorry SORRY!" she squeaked, blushing.
Samba chuckled and told her he's fine. He held the ring out in his paw and looked at it. "What is this?" he asked.
"Don't you remember from what Ko said?" Vardi asked. "It's part of that thing he was talking about." She looked left and right before leaning in and saying, "Put it in your pocket or something, but just hide it from the chief. I'm with Ko on this one all the way-I don't like what's going on."
Samba looked serious and nodded. "Right," he said, burying it in his pebble bag carefully (he still had ten or so pebbles left). He stood and turned, noticing a blue beam of ascending light. "What the-?"
"Ko told me those appear in caves and stuff sometimes," Vardi said. "It'll take us back outside! C'mon, everyone!" she called, beckoning with her arm as she began to trot over.
First went the girls. Then the giant lizalfos named Rargon, who thanked Samba with a huge bow in midair, and finally it was Samba himself. As he rose towards the ceiling, light brightened and whited everything out.
After the world faded back in, Samba blinked to clear his vision of spots as the light deposited him down at the entrance of the cave. Dawn shone through the chasm above as the river ran below. The light shone beautifully off of the scales and metal armor of the guards who rushed to grab Samba as soon as he had landed. "Wh-What the-?" He was brought by two strong lizalfos in front of the chief. Beside him, he saw five large lizalfos restraining Rargon with difficulty. Rargon didn't look too happy.
The chief of the village of lizalfos called Jgk'hry was a large dinolfos. Standing at six and a half feet, he had dusty brown scales, a grand frill, and half-shut, laughing, acid green eyes. On his left, he wore a single shoulder plate with large spikes, the way their ancestors did back when Ganondorf first came to Hyrule hundreds of years ago. An ornate leather loincloth hung about his waist, and a red cape covered his back and right shoulder, coming down to the ground. "Samba." He spoke in a bit of a drawl, voice deep and commanding even if he were to give a request. He gave him an evil smirk. "Well-done."
Samba looked up in his eyes with confusion. "What's going on?" he asked, but he was smacked hard on the muzzle by a guard.
"Silence while your leader speaks," the chief said, losing the smirk. "And if you complain one bit, you'll never see her again."
At this, Samba noticed that, struggling in the arms of another guard, his sister was being held captive, as well. Likewise, Rargon's family was being held hostage. He also looked and noticed Ko, who was standing with a very sorry expression on his face as he looked back at Samba. Behind him stood two spear-weilding guards. It was, really, quite the crowded ledge. 'Ko...'
"Ko. Excellent work leading us to the Empty Cavern after all you've done," said the chief without looking.
Ko said nothing, frowning tightly and clenching a fist as he had to resist glaring at someone who could and would order him thrown into the river if he was displeased.
"Now, tell me," said the chief. "The Ring of Dualty. What happens when you wear it?"
Ko was silent at first before he was prodded in the back with a spear. "You become either the Leviathan of Wood or the Leviathan of Stone, depending on whether you took the bronze Ring or the silver Ring, respectively," he answered curtly. "That is, unless you're one of those chosen to weild the Blade of E-"
"Countless Slain," finished/corrected/interrupted the chief. "And you took it, didn't, you, Samba?" he asked.
Samba was silent.
The chief scoffed. "Search him."
He was searched-patted down, the contents of his bag spilled out onto the ledge, and finally every pebble dumped out of his bag until the ring fell out with it. The guard who'd dumped it out picked it up and held it out to the chief.
The chief chuckled briefly as he examined it. "I see." He tossed the ring onto the floor by Samba. "Take it. Gather your things. You are coming with me." He chuckled evilly. "You are now the crux of our campaign starting later today to Hyrule Castle."
Samba blanched. 'My...My dreams! Were they...prophecies?'
The chief raised an eyeridge for a moment. "Surprised? Don't be. You're an excellent swordsman and very capable of many things. As well, you are a magic user, since I know it as fact, thanks to your bookwork friend here," he said, and allowed the guards a snigger at Ko (who looked unimpressed at their idea of "funny"), "that the Fire Rock-or Pebble, or Stone, or Whatever-spell is needed to vanquish Krungratrg. Take a pebble, which I hear you're famous for throwing, and show me," he commanded, pointing to one of the pebbles from his pouch that was now on the ledge.
Samba was low on magic before the Heart Container, but now, here he was, having enough to cast what was becoming a close friend after it had saved his hide and his sister's (however breifly) and he didn't want to. However, he had his paws tied with Vardi and Rargon's family in jeparody. He grabbed a pebble, aimed across the river, and fired. It made a spark as it hit the opposite side. "All it does is cause a big spark," he said. "Nothing you couldn't do with a flint and steel and a little time."
"Yes, but can anyone else match arrows with mere pebbles?" asked the chief, raising his head as he looked down haugtilly at Samba. "You shall make an excellent warrior. With you, we can carry out our grand campaign with certainty. And if you disagree with that..." He trailed off as he looked at Vardi, who widened her eyes before she kicked around furiously. She screamed, but it was muffled, since a cloth had been tied around her snout and chin, holding her jaw tight. The chief looked back at Samba, drumming his claws together. "So? What do you say?" he asked. Vardi, starting to cry again, shook her head furiously.
Samba glared at the chief. "As if I have a choice," he muttered.
"Good," the chief said, and pointed to his things strewn about the ledge. "Gather your things and get anything else you need from home and possibly get some sleep. We will collect you come midafternoon. Until then." He turned and started off. "Oh, and Rargon," he added as he went. "You're going to be a special project of ours unless you want to face the same consequences as Samba would have..." He chuckled to himself as he went to the edge of the ledge. He proved to be no pushover physically as he, after pausing to look back with a triumphant sneer, hopped down the ledge and down the way Samba had come. His guards and their captives followed. Ko looked helplessly while he mouthed, "I'll come by later," in Hylian to him.
Samba just continued to glare at the chief for a moment before bending down and gathering his things. Three minutes later, he started back to home.
When he reached it, he looked at the door mournfully before entering, going to his room, putting his things on the floor, sitting on his bed, and crying in rage, confusion, and overall stress.
Fifteen minutes later, after he'd gotten some food for his hungry belly-he was way too awake to sleep right after what he just saw-he heard a knock at the door.
"Ko," was the only word spoken from behind it.
Samba came and slowly opened the door. Ko came in and closed it behind him, a totally sorry and guilty look on his face. "I'm sorry, Samba," he said softly. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"It's fine," Samba half-lied, turning and sitting in a chair. He was a bit bitter at the moment.
Ko looked away a bit as he sat down as well. "It's...sort of my fault...I wasn't strong enough," he began, adjusting his glasses. "I was visited very early this morn by guards saying that they had a message from the chief. They showed me a note in Hylian written by, it looked like, Vardi, and said that unless I decode it, they'll burn my books and put me into the campaign, anyway. I then had to face leading them to the Empty Cavern, though they knew perfectly well where it was, since they've got their weapons store in a room nearby where the Leviathan had been. I don't know if you noticed another locked door in the dungeon or not, but I think it was directly east of the door leading to the stairs that you go down to reach the Leviathan." (Later on, Samba would look back at the map of that place-noticing, too, there was a chest behind that cave-in he'd seen before in the hallway behind the first door he could enter from the main room-and discover, yes, there WAS a door there.) Ko buried his face in his paws. "I'm sorry. I was weak."
Samba looked away, blank expression on his face. 'A guard must have caught me running out.' "You were given no choice," he said quietly and calmly. "You need your reading material so that you can teach people Hylian. I know how important that is to you..." He looked down a little. "...and your students," he finished in a whisper so that Ko couldn't hear him.
Ko grabbed at his skull in the same way some people would grab thier hair. "Promise me you'll make good use of that language and apologize to everyone you fight," he said.
"I'll try to remember."
"Thank you. That's all I need on that." Ko leaned back and sighed, wiping his brow. "...I know that you've got to follow the chief's orders," he said after a moment, "but I'm just going to say this, in case it might come in handy: Whatever you do, don't take anything said to you directly from Princess Zelda for granted. Listen to her. She is descended from a line of princesses who have borne the Triforce of Wisdom. If she asks you a favor, I'd do it." He sighed and shook his head. "You're stronger and braver than I am," he told him. "Far more. If I were as strong and brave as you and were in your footpaws, I would try and find a way to save my sister."
"That's what I've been TRYING to do since I woke up!" seethed Samba, turning sharply to look at Ko. He was NOT happy, and his bared teeth showed it. "I woke up in the middle of the night and ran out to save her. I thought I'd done it after what became the longest night in my life...I almost died...I didn't know fairies restore your life if you're killed," he commented despite his unhappiness.
Ko nodded, glad to change the subject. "Some say that they only react to a noble heart, but that's just a legend; the only thing noble hearts do is spur them to heal you even more. They'll resurrect you no matter what, though, if you're an adventurer-something you'll be come noon or, perhaps, are now. So, it's very wise to keep a fairy in a bottle at all times," he advised. "They can be more valuable than our lizaflorenized blue potion at times. By the way, do you know what they're going to do to poor Rargon?" he asked. "They're going to start making a special batch to force feed him as a meal each day, starting today. The chief thinks that he can make the perfect secret weapon in the form of a Leviathan-sized lizalfos. He'll end up killing the poor guy, or worse..." He shuddered. "Never underestimate the power of too much of a good thing. It can be quite unpredictable compared to the opposite end of the spectrum. Not only that, but he's going to end up wasting our valuable supply of lizafloren."
Samba was silent.
Ko turned and put a paw on his knee. He looked with a sympathetic face at him. "Look, I'm sorry, I really am," he said quietly. "But have heart; I'm sure that Fate's got it in for you, but so does Destiny. You're the first person to have conquered the Empty Cavern and lived to tell the tale, AND the first to have recieved the silver Ring of Dualty and do the same. Sure, our chief wants to use said ring for his own purposes, probably using you somehow, but I swear, you getting that ring means something." He smiled a little bit at Samba.
"What does he wanna do, exactly?" Samba asked, tilting his head and crossing his arms.
"He wants to band the races of monsters together," Ko said darkly. "At least, that's what it looks like to me. I don't know if he's the grand mastermind, but he's probably got a big head now that someone from HIS village got a Ring of Dualty."
Samba scoffed. "If he even cares about the village anymore," he grumbled.
Ko groaned sympathetically. "I know," he said. He frowned in worry. "I don't know what's gotten into him as of late, really...He's been acting like a complete tailhole for a month and a half. The only reason I'm still putting up with him somewhat is because I know that our old leader's still in there, somewhere..." He crossed his arms and looked down in thought.
Samba looked out the window. "I remember," he muttered. "He used to be so nice, and made so many good decisions. Sure, he sent my father out so long ago that I've forgotten who he is...though, with the little time he spent with me, it's not all that surprising...but that's the only time the chief's sent anyone out for anything." He clenched a fist. "Now, he's sending out every male, even someone as young as I am, to some...some WAR or something stupid. He's going to make Rargon a lizalfos guinea pig. And, to top it all off, he's threatening both Rargon and I by holding his own people HOSTAGE!" He banged his fist on his chair. "What the HELL crawled up his ass?" he exclaimed, seething with his teeth bared in a snarl.
Ko squeaked and made shushing noises. "Hush! A guard might hear you!" he said urgently in a hoarse whisper. Samba growled, but he closed his lips again and sat back in his chair. Ko breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said, calmer.
Samba grumbled, "Seriously, though..."
Ko frowned again. "I know...I've actually come to secretly hate him for how he's been acting. He keeps saying that he's got the village at the forefront of his mind, but I'm seriously thinking that his ego has somehow inflated itself so extraordinarily, he's actually thinking about himself way more." He whined worriedly. "Maybe...Maybe being chief for so long and having us praise him for his leadership has finally gotten to him...He's becoming more of a tyrant than a chief, now." He looked away a bit, then looked back at Samba, a sorry expression on his face. "You're going to follow his orders even if I said not to, aren't you?" he asked softly.
Samba nodded. "I have to," he said. "Otherwise, Vardi's going to be killed, and I'd probably be next. I have to go with him to Hyrule Castle whether I like it or not."
"Good," Ko said, pointing at him. "Keep an eye on him. See if he does anything weird, even for what he's been doing lately."
Samba nodded, looking serious. "I was going to do that in the first place," he said. "If someone can change so much that they can make you momentarily forget all the good they've done while hatred fills your body, something's bound to be up. If he's really become this vile..." He trailed off, looking unsure.
Ko looked down at the implication. "If it comes to that, then just cry out for help. Best-yet-worst-case scenario there would be that the Legendary Hero comes and kills him...and perhaps many others of us if us kinder lizalfos can't stop him by speaking to him in Hylian. At least he would be gone." He closed his eyes tight as he spoke. He opened them now and quickly said, "But that's only if he's truly evil inside and it's just showing now! Of course I want our old chief back, of COURSE I do!" He leaned forwards a bit while he said this last part.
Samba smiled sympathetically, holding up his paws. "I know, I know," he said, sort of chuckling. "I do, too."
Ko sighed and leaned back into his seat. "Right...Right." He looked out of the window, seeing the morning light reflecting off of the lake. "I'm sorry, but...you'd better get some sleep if you can at all. You've got your orders from the chief and your mother to both carry out, and you need some energy." He smiled sadly back at Samba. "Before I leave, though," he said, getting up, "I have one last request for you."
"What?" Samba asked, looking up at his friend.
Ko smiled and tapped Samba's head with a claw. "Use this once in a while, would you?" he asked a bit playfully. "I mean it." He crossed his arms and slouched as he looked at Samba. "That's just your problem sometimes," he said. "You follow orders from your superiors just about no matter what. You've got to remember that you're someone, too. Think for yourself and decide what to do. I know," he quickly added, holding up a paw to stop Samba before he retorted, "you do that when you're in combat. But I'm asking that you think for yourself when outside of a combat situation or solving a puzzle like you had to when inside the Empty Cavern. You have something that some peoples have been denied at points through history: The freedom of individuality. The right to think for yourself." He smiled and chuckled as he turned. "Don't waste it; but, be sure you're certain you can handle the consequences when you choose to use it." He stopped and muttered, "As I said before, I'm not good at this kind of thing. So...Don't die. See you." He opened the door and left.
"Bye," Samba said softly, raising a paw after his friend. He held it there for a second before he let it fall. Then, he stood up, turned, and retired to his bed for what scant few hours he could catch of sleep.
...
Link woke up and stretched, having rested quite fitfully. It was midmorning and the sun was still climbing high into the sky. He got back out onto the path from his cave and continued towards Hyrule Castle Town...well, at least he hoped he was going towards it.
He faced more enemies as he went, and when he at last reached the town, it was midday. He was a bit tired and hungry, so he gladly went inside in hopes of finding a tavern. He found the town was more like a city, it was so huge compared to what he was used to. Bustling with people, wagons, and stalls, he had a bit of difficulty making his way inside to the center of town. Once he got there, he found a fountain that he gladly went over to in order to take a sit. He doubted it was water for drinking, so he decided to wait until he found a tavern to quench his thirst.
'What now?' he wondered. He looked around and found no signs directing him. So, he decided to find someone who looked nice enough to give him directions. Standing up, he looked around the fountain and found a couple of women standing on the opposite side of where he had been sitting, busy in the act of gossiping.
"You hear about what happened at The Broken Rupee?" asked one woman excitedly.
"You mean that dingy place down the east part of town over there?" the other asked, thumbing to her right. A road was in that direction, and it went, well, east.
"Yeah! I hear a guy got drunk and went around saying that you can die if you go into the old cathedral in town after dark when everyone's left the streets!" She laughed. "Can you beLIEVE that?" she asked, batting her hand down and holding it up that way, resembling a cat for some reason.
"With as sharp corners as those seats have around them, yeah," the other woman scoffed facetiously, crossing her arms.
"You've been there? ...Hey, is it really haunted, you think?" the first woman asked quietly. The other woman sighed and held up her hands, shaking her head as she looked up helplessly.
Link followed the direction the second woman had pointed down and eventually found the nice-looking tavern. A hanging sign over its door with an actual big red rupee-normally worth quite a lot-broken in half on it bore its name. Link went in and found it to be a bit fuller than the last tavern he'd gone to, as was expected in a large town like this. He went in, ordered some water and some food, and sat down at a table by some people who gossiped a lot. 'I'm turning into quite the eavesdropper,' Link mused with a little bit of shame.
"So, what's this new game they've got in town, now?" asked one burly man. "'Hall Racers' or something?"
"'Wall Racers,' corrected a young man, probably about twelve, pointing at him. "It's really cool! They're talking about making a special show for people who want a challange instead of a race. I LOVE it!" He grinned and shook his fists enthusiastically.
"How do you, like, race walls?" asked a blonde woman, tilting her head and putting a finger to her chin.
"You tell it to go to that line and walk over to it!" laughed a tan-skinned, red-haired woman in an exotic outfit.
The blonde pouted and crossed her arms. "Like, not funny," she told her.
The kid shook his head. "Actually, people race ON them," he explained. "They all sit in some cool little special chair attatched to the wall and pedal like crazy. It looks fun, but they're a bit dangerous to get close to, since they really hurt if they hit you. It's like getting hit by a horse!"
"Then why not just make it a horse race and drop the gimmick?" the burly man asked. "It sounds like a lot of work for a stupid race...I miss the old shooting gallery..."
Link thanked the waitress as she came and brought him the glass of water, hunk of bread, and thick soup he ordered. He began eating as he waited for some pertinent gossip to start up.
"Speaking of shooting," said the gerudo, putting a foot up on her chair, "I heard that the guards are shooting at things at night, saying they swear they're monsters. Half the time it's traders or stragglers from that caravan of entertainers that goes around Hyrule all over the place."
"Heh, yeah," said the man. "They're getting a bit defensive lately."
"Hey, why are the guards, like, doing more stuff around the walls of, like, the town?" asked the blonde, tilting her head again.
"Because the castle said so," the kid answered. "I'm serious! I'm not making fun of you!"
"But, like, what's going on?" asked the blonde.
"I hear they're picking up security because of the increase in monsters around the outside of town," the man said. "From some of the folks I've seen around here, I'd say they haven't been doing a good job..."
The gerudo raised an eyebrow. "You implyin' somethin', bud?" she asked shortly.
"No, I'm not," the man answered back just as shortly. "I've got nothing against you gals-except for the fact you're cruel as hell to men sometimes."
The gerudo batted her eyes sweetly and smiled. "Well, you gotta be able to provide, you know," she said. "We gotta find guys we're sure're gonna turn out top kids."
"Well, you'd get a lot more if you weren't so damn sexy..." the man muttered, crossing his arms. Link sniggered. 'He's right, though,' he thought. 'They ARE damn sexy...'
The blonde humphed and glared at the man. "ExCUSE me? Like, helLO-o? Girlfriend here!" she reminded him, pointing to herself.
The man groaned. "I know, but can't a guy make a compliment to another woman?" he asked.
The blonde rolled her eyes. "Duh! Of course not! Like, not in front of your girl!" She scoffed as she half-eyed at the gerudo. "Pssh, and, like, people call ME an airhead..."
"Tell me about it," the gerudo said, rolling her eyes as well. "I mean, guys think we're all about earrings, necklaces, and nice clothes."
"Yeah," the blonde agreed. "We're also about, like, keeping our hair perfect." She nodded with crossed arms and closed eyes like it was a matter of fact.
The gerudo chuckled. "Amen to that, sister, but not what I was thinking of, precicely," she said.
"...Oh! Like, we want nice guys, too!" the blonde added, blushing. "Can you say, like, 'major fail in the trying-not-to-be-a-ditz department?'" she giggled, putting a hand behind her head.
"It'd be a bit late, if you ask me," whispered the boy to the man across the table, who sniggered.
"But, like, I know I'm gonna sound worse, but, like, we like other jewelry," the blonde said. She held out her hand and sighed, looking dreamily at the finger right next to her pinky. "Rings are, like, so pretty and stuff, too!"
The gerudo nodded. "Which makes it quite a shame they've got that ring aaaalllllll locked up for nobody to wear inside the castle," she said. (Link scootched his chair over an inch.) She crossed her arms and looked away, unpleased face on as she recalled, "When I just tried to take a look at it, they threw me out. And I even asked the guards posted at the entrance to the room where it was to let me in nicely!" she added, holding her hand up and looking back across the table with a look of annoyance.
The blonde dropped her jaw. "Well, that was, like, really rude," she commented.
"Yeah, sneaking past all the OTHER guards instead of going and asking the FIRST one's pretty rude," the man scoffed.
The gerudo pouted. "Well, I'm sorry for doing what came natural to me," she said. "At least I was thoughtful enough not to get in there without permission at all."
"What's up with that thing, anyway?" asked the boy curiously. "It's just a ring, right?"
"HelLO-o?" the blonde went, raising an eyebrow at him. "If a piece of jewelry's being locked up like that, it's, like, Royal Family stuff! It's probably, like, got tons of awesome history with it!"
The gerudo raised an eyebrow. "Wow. Blondes DO like more than material things," she muttered, impressed.
The blonde slammed her hands on the table as she barked, "HEY!"
The rest of the table laughed at this, though. "But you're on the right track, sorta," the gerudo told her, pointing a finger at her. "That thing's pret-ty special, alright. It's not Royal Family property, per-say, but it's being guarded by them. I hear that they had to carry it in there without ever touching it directly. It's magic, and is supposed to curse you if you do." She waggled her fingers and made a spooky face. "And then, if you wear it, something REALLY bad's supposed to happen to you!"
"MAGIC?" the man repeated, eyes widening. "And you wanted to steal something that's magic? You idiot!"
The gerudo growled at him. "I just wanted to look at it," she said through gritted teeth at him. "I'm worried because some of the girls back home have been talking about a prophecy made quite a while ago by one of our kind involving some special rings and monsters," she explained normally. "It also described the rings, too. I don't know whether to believe the rumors or the description the proph has; it says that you can touch it all you want, but wearing it DOES bring bad stuff to you. Anyway, though, I got to thinking, 'Hmmm, a ring goes and gets protected by the Royal Family and monsters are going around a lot more. Connected?'" She paused and looked around as the idea sank in.
Link furrowed his brow. 'A prophecy about special rings and monsters?' he thought. 'What kind?'
"Anywho, I thought I might maybe take a look at the ring while I was hanging around here." She shrugged. "So much for that. All I hear is it just had a triangle-shaped sapphire in it and was plain gold, though. Nothing really special. But, if you think about it," she said, waggling her finger and looking a bit mischeivous, "that makes it all the more special, considering what's going on over it."
Link finished his food and thought a moment. 'She's right,' he thought. 'It's got to be like my ring I got from Ruedekul...I wonder...should I...go and check it out before I consider giving mine to the Royal Family? Would they believe me?' He wondered what he should do as he waited to hear any more gossip.
"Very interesting," the man said. "But I don't think that anything magic like that's something we should worry about." He sounded unhappy. 'Must be a magic hater,' Link thought.
The gerudo held her hands up in defeat as she closed her eyes. "Fine, fine, I'll hush," she sighed. "I don't have much else more for useful information on that, anyway, so it's nothing worth gossiping about anymore."
Link stood up and left after that. His first task was to go to the castle. After a half hour of looking around, during which time he ended up exploring the whole city, he found it, north of the fountain. A guard stopped him at the gate, though, saying that only those with royal business could pass. He wondered if he should show him the ring, but he considered it and thought he'd get thrown out for sure if he was thought to be lying. So, he sighed in defeat and looked for an inn to stay the night. He wasn't leaving Hyrule Castle Town until he saw that ring if he could help it.
...
Samba was awoken by the sound of knocking on his door. A guard spoke. "Samba. Get up. Get your things. The time's come." Samba groaned and got up, having gotten less than eight hours of sleep and feeling a bit groggy, not to mention he felt pretty low already. He stood and went around his room, looking to see if there was anything he should bring in his bag. The things he got from the dungeon, his bag of pebbles, and that was about...wait.
He exited his room, finding the guard had moved to wait in front of the front door, and went into Vardi's. He looked on the floor and found that her doll was still there. He picked it up and turned back to his room, where he went and packed it. 'I'll have to give this back to her when I save her,' he thought. 'This way, I know I HAVE to save her; she'll want it back, and I can't lug this around forever.' He grabbed his buckler and practice sword and walked out, having slept in his clothes.
"Ready?" the guard asked. Samba nodded. "No, you're not," the guard said shortly back, making Samba narrow his eyeridges. "You've still got to put on the proper attire and equip yourself better." He knocked on the door and stepped aside. Another guard stepped in, carrying a pile of clothing and something long wrapped on top. "You're lucky the chief likes you," the first guard said as the second placed the bundle in Samba's arms. "That sword's a lot different than what soldiers are usually given, since you've been seen with a practice weapon like it and he wants you to fight the way you're most used to. Go put it all on and come back out. We've no time to lose." The guards stayed still, waiting at the front.
Samba waited, looking at them, for a moment. The guards fidgeted a little before the second one leaned over, cupped his paw to his mouth and said quietly with a bit of genuine sympathy, "Look, Samba, we're sorry about the situation you're in, but we've got business to take care of here and the chief's got an eye for you after what you did. We just don't have time to be sympathetic, or we're sunk. Please understand..." He stood up again and stood still once more.
Samba nodded understandingly before turning and walking back into his room. He closed the door and undressed, taking everything off of him. He looked at himself, standing as just a big, blue lizard. 'I have the feeling that I'm not going to be undressing anytime soon in the near future,' he thought, giving a small smile at the random thought. He then looked at the items of clothing and, slowly, put them on, one by one.
A moment later, he stood, dressed. He had on a durable white loincloth that encircled him like a kilt with a split for his tail underneath a normal, front-only leather loincloth made of five stiffened strips of increasing size as they met into the center. The first was held up by a belt of thick leather squares in a strip, like on the loincloths warriors wore. On his big feet, which he swore had gotten just a little bit bigger, he wore strips of tough leather that covered the balls of his feet and went into a thong that stretched around his ankles. Three sharp stripes of black, fade-resistant warpaint went across his normally-plain back and two went from the base of his tail out. White short sleeves connected to each other with strips of cloth that ended right at his collarbone, interesting articles of clothing that were basically like on a normal shirt without the bottom. A standard-issue item went over it; a very thick vest made of Dodongo hide hung around his chest, laced together at the bottom loosely with a single hourglass of leather cords. He also wore metal shoulder plates that looked like giant scales and enough metal on top of his short-cuffed leather gauntlets that they looked like they were solid metal gauntlets from the top. The gauntlets' three fingers were actually fingerHOLES, since they didn't even go to the first joint. On his head he wore a metal helmet that went only over the top part of his head, covering the top of his snout and eyeridges. A leather chinstrap hung from behind his eyeridges down the sides of his head to meet under his jaw. A support strap farther down his snout met the strap underneath his eye, making it framed on all sides by his helmet. Two horns poked out of the back on top of the helmet, sort of like a dragon's. He was dressed for combat.
He looked at the final piece of armor that he had left lying on his bed. It was a piece of frontal armor that protected his chest and middle. Groaning, he remembered that he had to put it all on, so he did, hanging it from his neck and shoulders and around his body. He then took a look at the wrapped item, unwrapping it. It was a real, sharp, steel sword, longer than his practice sword was by a foot and a half. Its hilt and handguard were blackened metal and were pretty basic, with leather wrapped around the hilt. It had a bit of serration on the blade near the hilt on the edge that he would be using to slash with. He swung it a few times before nodding, taking the scale-patterned black leather-covered metal sheath, putting the sword inside it, and strapping them to his waist where his first weapon was. He got no new buckler, which was fine, since his was pretty good already. It had a few small dents from the countless rocks he repelled earlier, but it was still good. In fact, it was already almost standard for lizalfos shields. So, finally, after attaching his pebble bag to his belt and getting his normal bag, he left his room.
"Ready?" asked the first guard again. Samba nodded. "Then follow us." Samba followed them out of the house, but he stopped and looked back for a moment at his home. 'Goodbye.' He turned and went back to following the guards.
They went around the lake and all the way to the entrance of the town. Many who couldn't go watched as they went. Ko was actually nearby the place where the other lizalfos, some wearing armor like Samba and some just in a basic leather loincloth and vest like most normal fighters, grouped, waiting to leave. As Samba reached him, wearing a sad smile, Ko gave him something. "I know it's not much, but take it," he whispered quickly before Samba had to walk on. As Samba nodded, putting the item in his bag, and turned around to continue walking straight, Ko bade a final, "Farewell, Samba."
Samba stopped when the guards directed him to the back of a group of some twenty-five other soldiers. He saw that the chief was up front, looking the same except for wearing a helmet and some upper body armor and holding a mighty, ornate flachion that was as long as his body-counting tail. He raised it up with one arm effortlessly, pointing towards the entrance of the cave leading out. "Everyone, we are about to embark on the beginning of a war. Be brave, be strong, and be sure to slit the throat of anyone who dares defy me in my goal. We might die, though we hopefully will not. I promise, though, that we shall return victorious. Now, then! Onwards! For glory and for our village!" He started off, sheathing the sword in its sheath on his side that really ended up going across his back behind his red cape.
The soldiers cheered. Samba didn't. He was in this for Vardi's life, not for the village. He followed the clanking group out of his hometown, leaving to explore the world outside the mountain for the first time in his life.
The group went through the dark cave path, each hopping across the stepping stones over the lake without falling (not even Drejsk, whose armor consisted of the largest chestplate availible and a great big vat's lid to cover his gut). When they reached the exit, the afternoon sun blazed on their armor, blinding them for a moment. Then, they went down the mountain, moving as fast as they could. They reached the bottom by late afternoon. They then began their march across Hyrule Field to Hyrule Castle. They were already halfway when night fell and they had to set up camp.
Samba removed his armor before lying down on the grass to sleep, using his bag as a pillow. He then remembered what Ko had given to him and brought it out. It was merely a piece of parchment with a seal on it and words reading, in Hylian, "This voucher is good for one free string instrument at Sound of MuZach." He raised his eyeridges. 'Wow. Pretty useless, but still something you don't just throw out,' he thought as he put it away. He sighed and put his head on his bag again. 'Soon, Vardi,' he thought as he closed his eyes. 'Soon.'