Chapter 1-1 (part two)
Link held tightly onto what was left of the post with one hand, his other was holding onto Blue's wrist, which was dangling over the edge of the ravine. Blue was being stretched between Link and his post and an even lower Purps who was reaching out to grab Red's hand. Red leaped out of the water and grabbed onto Purps' hand but he slipped and fell back on his backside in the surprisingly shallow water.
"DIN DAMMIT!" he yelled upon splashing to the floor again, landing on a rock and bruising his tailbone. He strainfully pulled himself off the ground, picking up his soggy red hat and wringing the water out from it. He looked up the rock wall again and saw Purps wiping his right hand on his sleeve, drying it off and then offering it out again. Red steeled himself for another run up and sprinted forward, jumping off a medium sized rock and onto the wall. His boots scraped the slippery side as he quickly tried gaining footing, and his heel found a sturdy stone sticking out of the wall. He kicked off the wall and leaped up with his arm outstretched, and just as he started to tumble back down, Purps leaned out and gripped his forearm. Red returned the hold, and Purps yelled over his shoulder "GOT HIM!"
The dangling company started to slowly move upwards, with Link trudging his weight thrice over backwards as Blue awkwardly shuffled up the wall with both his hands occupied. Purps started shuffling like Blue, with Red half climbing, half being dragged up the rocky wall.
As Red rolled over the lip of the ravine he exhaustedly flopped onto the ground next to the other heroes. Link grudgingly sat up and propped himself up against a huge boulder nearby.
"So now that we know we can't jump the gap, any other brilliant ideas?" asked Blue from his place on the floor, massaging his aching shoulders. Red snarled at him and threw a nearby rock, which Blue easily avoided "Watch your damn mouth, I don't see you helping."
Purps couldn't help but grin "Without saying anything, I thought you just went suicidal." He said, walking over to sit next to Link. Red sat himself down next to him with his back to the rock.
"Well at least I'm trying something." Red said defensively. He looked at the charred wreckage of what was left of the bridge. What little the bomb hadn't destroyed was weakened and blackened, still smoldering in some areas. The slow current of the water in the ravine had washed most of the big chunks downstream, but a beam was still laying awkwardly against the wall here and there. Red thought hard about what they could do, staring in deep thought at the broken path in front of them. Blue walk in front of his field of vision, and Red flailed his hands angrily towards Blue, indicating he should hurriedly move. He walked over to where Link was resting and also sat down. When he added his own weight to the boulder, all four of them noticed that it shifted backwards about a foot, causing them to roll onto their backs.
Red yelled over to Blue "Nice going, fat ass!" but Blue just absently responded "Thanks." and walked behind the boulder, an idea forming in his mind.
Purps caught on to the idea quickly. "Let's make a bridge." he said, tugging on Red's tunic and pulling him behind the rock. Link let out a rarely seen smile. We can actually get a lot done when were not fighting each other he mused.
He heard a scream from Blue from behind the rock, and Link rolled his eyes. Like THAT will ever happen he thought, the smile leaving his lips. Link turned the corner and saw Red and Blue bickering, with Red's fists beginning to clench and Blue already reaching for his shield by instinct. "SHUT UP!" yelled Link, and the two stopped fighting briefly to turn to Link.
"What's this about?" demanded Link. Red flicked something off his shoulder, scoffing in a peeved manner "I don't have to explain to YOU." he said smugly. Link looked over to Blue, expecting more cooperation, "He wouldn't push when I said." Blue replied innocently, Link cocked an eyebrow in an unimpressed and doubtful manner, and then broke the silence that had followed Blue's statement.
"Fine, I'll count it off, on the count of-"
"ONE!"
They turned to see Purps already giving the countdown, and he was already trying to push the rock towards the gap. Red rushed over to join him and Link followed along grudgingly, at least they were co-operating.
"TWO!"
Blue scuttled over into the open spot on the far edge by Link, he set himself up to push the boulder forward...
"THREE!"
All four Links pushed with all their might, and the boulder slid toward the wrecked structure. The Team of One kept straining forward, and slowly the rock crunched over any remaining timber in it's way, when it reached the bridge's edge, every member gave the stone a final and mighty shove and then let gravity run it's course. The boulder tumbled over the lip, crushing the remaining lumber under its massive girth, crunching through sturdy beams like toothpicks. It hit the stream below with a thunderous crash, spraying the cheering group with water.
Blue was laughing gleefully at their success, their makeshift bridge was big enough to cross with just a small hop on their side, he looked over and saw Red and Purps giving each other a leaping hi-five and even Link was smiling. Blue hopped across the bridge and was the first to land on the other side, and he walked a little over to the left to see where the other trickle of water's source was.
As Link skipped across the gap, he walked over to a small hole he had seen while on the far side of the ditch. It was in the side of a hill, with a small bush growing in front of it, and he scraped those aside and walked in alone, making sure the group didn't follow. They could get Link very irked very quickly, and solitude was necessary to relax a bit.
As he entered, two keese flew out at him, aggressively defending their territory. Link drew his sword instinctively and attacked, twirling around with a swordsman's grace as he dodged the first keese that assaulted him, and he sliced through the second one behind it. He grinned grimly as the large bat fell about him neatly in two pieces, and twirled around to face the other bat. As the second bat saw its cave-mate chopped in half, it flew off into one of the small tunnels in the cave, just the right size for a creature of its size.
Link wiped off the keese's blood off his blade and on its severed corpse. He felt no guilt in killing the small monster, as he knew how dangerous they could be. To an armed warrior, they were mere annoyances, but to an unsuspecting civilian, they could be severe threats when caught off-guard. Link had heard countless stories of kids wandering off and being attacked by the monstrous bats, most had a parent come to their rescue before something terrible could happen, but he had come across a few bones of unlucky people in a few of the caves he had ventured into. Hyrule was a dangerous place to the weak, but that's why people like him were around.
He looked through out the cave again, searching for anything of value, and his trained eyes immediately found something. One of the holes in the ceiling was allowing light to shine through and illuminate the side of a pedestal. Link walked forward to retrieve his prize. Rumors of treasures like these were what tempted unprepared travelers to venture into the more dangerous places in the Golden Kingdom. He reached out and grabbed a handle to some device, pulling into a ray of light. He smiled.
Perfect
Blue peered over the edge of the ravine, looking for Link or his traditional green hat. Seeing nothing, he grew more worried. Link had only been gone for a minute, but the group still had to move along. They evidently couldn't move forward anymore without Link around, being the only one of them people seemed to recognize as the hero. Apparently some details were left untold to the general public about the Four Sword, like its origins and nature. When the sword was drawn, it would split the wielder's personality into three separate parts, each being greatly exaggerated, but never a set selection. The Four Sword would choose three different traits of the drawer's personality, each set varying of with the wielder. The original design was to destroy Vaati after it was infused with elemental powers, which now lay too dormant to tap into, but the sword would also work as a test of character. Eventually, people took the sword just to 'get in touch' with their romantic side, so the sword was hidden away.
Link didn't seem to have one of those, joked Blue to himself, as none of them seemed to be sex depraved maniacs. Blue, Purps and Red had all know of the swords purpose and design, but they had to keep it a secret from Link, who apparently didn't know the blades secrets either. It's not a real test if the person knows their taking it anyway thought Blue.
He heard a rustling from behind and saw Link stepping out of a bush in the hill's side. With a boomerang tucked into his belt and Blue let out a sigh of relief. He walked up to Link casually, "Find anymore of those in that cave?" he asked, indicating to the boomerang.
Link shook his head "Where's Red and Purps?" he asked.
"They went a little ahead to scout out the area." said Blue. As if on cue, Purps tumbled in from around the corner, a look of urgency on his face. He quickly caught his breath and looked up to Blue and Link
"We found Shadow."
As the three rounded the corner, they saw another house, and also Red fighting a pack of octoroks. There was another ravine just to the left of the house, and to the house's right was a thick tree-line with Shadow sitting behind a sturdy looking fence, trees at his back. He was laughing with his demonic wail at Red as he fought tooth and nail with the octoroks.
Red rolled to his right, dodging one projectile fired from one of the ugly quadrupeds. He heard another spitting noise from behind him, and used the reflection from his sword to briefly check the trajectory of its shot. He charged forward at the slimy beast in front of him, grinning as he felt the excretion from the monster behind him shatter against his shield he kept placed on his back. He bounded of a rock and leaped above the monster that was now just below him and turned his blade around for a powerful downward stab. Red saw the fear in the monsters eyes as it tried to propel another 'homemade' ballistic from its snout, but it simply didn't have the time. Red's blade plunged into the beast, entering from the top and leaving straight out of its underside, dark blood oozing from the fatal wounds delivered to it by the skilled swordsman. He brought his octorok-kebab up just in time to bash aside another blast of compacted waste from the third octorok, and then he shook the fallen monster off of his sword.
He prepared to charge the new challenger, but was knocked over by the powerful projectile that slammed him across the side of his head. He went down swearing, dazed as he sat up to turn to the sneaky beast, who was preparing a second shot to knock the red fighter unconscious so it could eat him without a struggle. Red stood up angrily, surprising the vicious monster with his impressive display of stamina, most humans his size went down with one blow. Red risked a quick glance to the third octorok and saw Purps sneaking up on the beast. Red turned his attention back to the present matter at hand, and barely avoided a second blast of waste aimed for his head.
"Sneaky little shit, aren't we?" he asked, bending over to pick up a heavy stone. He walked forward with the stone over his head, and when he saw the octorok inhale sharply to fire again he threw the rock into its open snout. With the weaponized waste lodged in its throat and the rock blocking its only passage of breathing, the monster started to choke, and Red casually walked up and picked up the struggling and slimy beast, holding it like a ball. He turned towards the ravine and punted the creature into the stream, watching it try to squeal as it sailed away downstream, slowly sinking thanks to the heavy rock in its mouth. He smirked darkly at his handiwork and just as he turned to meet his group, he was clobbered to the ground by a flying Shadow who had chosen Red as his landing spot.
Link yelled in frustration, as he and Blue had tried to sneak up on Shadow while he was distracted with the show Red was putting on, Shadow did a front flip over the fence they had slipped through right before the two could catch him off guard. He was cackling and waving to them as he did and squashed Red, laughing horribly as he knocked Red face first into the dirt. Red rolled over slashing and swearing, and Shadow preformed another back flip back to his original perch and Link saw his chance.
He pulled the boomerang on his belt off and threw it at the Antihero in one fluid and practiced motion, drawing his sword as he did. The boomerang slammed into the Shadow's skull and Link saw him loosen up, knocked out of his senses as he sailed through the air right towards Link's eager blade. Shadow landed chest first onto the Four Sword's cold steel, dying almost instantly, but still plunging forward with his momentum, ripping Link's sword from his grasp. Shadow let of an unearthly wail that pierced the heavens with its shrill agony as he slammed heavily into the ground, devoid of whatever traces of dark magic gave him life. The creature of shadow dripped away into the ground, fading away into the shadow of the trees, leaving behind Link's blade and a sizeable green force gem. Link stood triumphantly over the pile of rocks and was about to go retrieve his sword when his boomerang slammed into the back of his head, knocking him face-first off the stone heap. He landed heavily on his upper torso right next to his sword. Where did that come from?He thought angrily, adrenaline still flowing through his veins. He looked over to Red and pointed an accusing finger towards him.
"What the HELL was that for!" he screamed, demanding an answer, Red gave him a confused look.
"I didn't do a thing man, but nice job with Shadow there." he said, sincere admiration in his voice as he cleaned his blade on the grass. Link looked at the boomerang again. He picked it up and hurled it both angrily and experimentally at a tree trunk, expecting it to smash into the bark and fall back to the ground. Instead it smashed into the bark and started to return to a surprised Link as though it had missed its target. He caught it with his sharpened reflexes and stared at the jewel encrusted weapon. Had he had found a weapon the not only resembled his old boomerang, but also held magical properties like his old one he used last adventure? It was almost too good to be true.
He stowed his projectile and walked over and picked up his sword, and jammed his pommel into the large green Force Gem, which shattered into hundreds of pieces that were sucked up into the emerald that split them like a small vortex was sucking them in.
"Hey! Were supposed to split that!" said Blue, a little saddened that he didn't even get a single Force Gem into his sword. Link shrugged and walked towards the house.
"Did you help kill him?" asked Link. Blue crossed his arms and stamped after him.
"Awww, that's not a fair question! You know I can't use this sword!" he huffed.
Link gestured towards Purps. "He didn't."
Blue turned, and saw Purps sitting on slime coated and slightly bloody rock with a bruised and bludgeoned octorok nearby, smiling happily over his kill. Blue chuckled a bit in spite himself, Purps could be a bit of a wildcard.
As he approached the house, Link tried to open the door but found it locked. He knocked on the door three times in quick succession and waited a bit, and then he heard something heavy and fragile shatter against the door.
"Get out of here you abomination!" the four heard from the other side of the door. They looked at each other and Purps yelled back through the door
"If your talking about a shadowy, dark figure who died a second ago, it isn't us." there was a brief silence, then a strong rattling that made all the Links jump from it's suddenness.
"Let me out! PLEASE LET ME OUT!" yelled an ecstatic voice from the other side of the door. Link look confused, and Purps yelled "Let us in!" back through the door. The slamming and rattling on the far side stopped.
"I'd love to let you in Sir, but I was locked in for not co-operating, could you please open the door? That beast should have been carrying the key."
Link looked over near the rock pile where Shadow had died and saw nothing. He turned back to the door and saw Red working the lock with a key he had come across somehow. Link gave him a questioning glance and Red responded without looking "Grabbed it off Shadow when he tackled me."
Link nodded and heard a click, and Red grinned, but before his hand could even reach the knob, the door flung open and smacked Link in the face and knocked him off his feet and into a bush behind the door. An old and short lady came rushing outside and embraced Red in a huge hug around his waist, or her head height.
"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU" The look of confusion and terror that was on Red's face was priceless.
Link sat up rubbing his face and walked around the door, "Don't mention it" he said sarcastically.
The woman unburied her head from the folds of Red's tunic to see who here saviors were and once she saw four faces that were the same as her deceased captor, she screamed and ran back inside, slamming the door behind her. The Heroes on the doorstep stares at the door with expressions of bafflement and one by one turned to walk away, starting with Blue, then followed by Link. Red looked over to see Purps biting back a smile at Red, barely holding back a fountain of laughter. Red jokingly pushed him away "Never bring this up again." he said. Purps burst out laughing and as they started to walk off, the door behind them opened.
A young boy wearing a red cap stuck his head out from around the door frame, causing all of the Links to turn. The boy, who couldn't have been older than 11, said cautiously "...Link? NO WAY! Come in guys! I've gotta give you something." and flung the door open as he retreated indoors.
Purps skipped right in through the doorway, and Blue followed directly behind him, a bit more cautious through. Red stopped Link before he could get in and asked "Are we gonna barge into every random house we see?" Link walked past him and indoors while trying not to notice Red's vulgar protests.
This house was much darker on the inside, and the boy walked into the second doorway that was letting the only source of a greenish light into the back of what looked like a kitchen. Purps entered and saw the old lady huddled in the corner and looking away from either door. Purps hurried across the dark room stealthily to avoid detection and he arrived in a heavily wooded area behind the house. The trees here looked almost like they had grown around the house to form a small clearing and fence. The boy was standing next to a large rock, smaller than their 'bridge', but still easily considered a boulder. Red made his entry, and the boy spoke up, "Sorry 'bout my grandma, she's been worried sick without dad around. He left to get to Hyrule castle about a week ago and isn't back yet, then yesterday that shadow guy walks in and locks us up in our own house, she's been having a rough time, y'know?" said the naive little kid.
"Ignorance must be bliss, eh?" whispered Red to Purps who giggled at the rude statement, and Link frowned. If they hadn't spent their childhood with Zelda, they... actually only Link could have ended up like the kid, blissfully protected by their family... If I had one. Red, Blue, and Purps wouldn't have appeared, and Link would be normal, just a kid entering his 17th year in life alone. It worried Link. What set him apart from any other boy in Hyrule? Why was HE the chosen Hero out of everyone? What made him special?
Link leaned back near the door and watched them, a little curious where Blue was. Purps and Red snickered and followed the boy over to a rock, where the kid proudly pointed "When the shadowy kid showed up, my grandma gave me the family's secret weapon and told me to hide it back here, and that's what I did! I'm really good at hiding things, so if the guy got in he couldn't take our stuff! You guys can use it though, since you four are like the coolest Heroes Hyrule has ever had!" At the mention of a secret weapon, Red unconsciously perked up. The kid's gotta be jokin, there's probably nothing useful to us that can hide under a rock He thought, but still investigated for his own amusement.
When he and Purps approached the rock, they each grabbed on to one side and pulled upwards, flipping it over. Purps noticed the rock shattered and assumed it was made of clay or some weak mineral and made a small note of that as Red bent over to collect his prize. Red had been expecting a bottle or a sword, or some other useless implement, but he reached over and pulled out a weapon he though he would never see again.
The rod had a steely blue base at its bottom that balanced the device evenly. At the top was a red glowing jewel that was hot to the touch, and rested on the strangely chilled blue metal that cooled down the Fire Rod's searing power source. The shaft of the magical blowtorch was made of a dark red wood that looked like it had seen more years than the Goddesses themselves. Red held it up over his head to examine it in the dim green light flitting through the canopy above to see if this was just some illusion, scarcely believing his luck.
This was a fire rod, maybe even... He flipped the rod over to stare at the shaft again. He gasped when he saw the same deep gouge in the aged wood that was delivered to him by a moblin last adventure; he had tried blocking with the fire rod while his sword hand was occupied. Link berated him for using a stupid move that could have ended in disaster for weeks; the mark couldn't have been replicated.
This was Red's fire rod.
He looked over at the boy with a calm and misleadingly collected voice. "Where did you get your 'family' weapon, kid?"
The boy proudly boasted forth without noting either Red approaching or Purps getting very worried, Link shifted his weight into a more ready position should he need to intervene and tensed his muscles. "My dad brought it home from work one day, he said we would have to watch over it for awhile while -"
Purps intervened and held up a hand to stop Red and the boy, "Where's your dad work?" he asked.
The boy looked over confusedly. "He's in the Hylian army, but I haven't seen him at all in the past week, it's just me and my grandma. He usually has to work late, but there's supposed to be a big crisis, so he's been extra busy."
Link scratched his chin thoughtfully, "alright kid, thanks" he said. He looked towards the group. "Lets go, we've got lots to discuss."
They all got up and walked out of the house and waited by a cluster of tree stumps by another large rock near the ravine. Blue was waiting there for them while resting on a tree stump. Link looked at him curiously. "Where'd you go?" he asked.
Blue answered without moving "I scouted around a bit to try and find a way over" he opened his eyes and got up. "Find anything useful or bow-like in there?"
Red smiled wickedly and flashed his enchanted flamethrower. "Guess what I found?" Blue's eyes bulged a bit looking at the rare weapon with wonder and amazement and some nostalgic fear. "Where'd you get that?"
Purps laughed to himself, "Under a rock".
Blue gave him a skeptical look. "It's true actually." Link added. Blue looked back over at the logs behind him "I couldn't find a bridge, but there's a rock in here, but we can't get a good grip with all these stumps in the way, but I thin- WHOA!"
Everyone jumped away from the searing flames which leaped from the fire rod and began licking at the soaked stumps and hissing as the water in the stumps evaporated. Red was blasting the stumps with a concentrated wave of flames that forced everyone to squint at the blistering inferno. After he felt the fires remaining could finish the job, Red stopped the flow of magical fire and smiled at his handiwork
"Get your grip now, Blue" he added mockingly. Link lifted his head from where he had laid down in an attempt to dodge the heat wave to observe the damage. Red's plan had worked... for the most part.
Red had burnt down most of the stumps blocking their way, leaving smoldering and smoking cinders. But the burning stumps were sending off billowing white smoke which could be seen from miles away. Red quickly realized what he had just done. "Oh SHIT!" he exclaimed.
Red and Link jumped up and started to put out the flames however they could. "FIND A WAY ACROSS! HURRY!" yelled Link to Blue and Purps. The two caught on to the direness of the situation immediately and franticly searched for a bridge, a low-lying tree, ~anything~. Blue ran over to the rock he had seen in the stumps, hopping over flames and scampering around charred trunks. He reached the rock and was shortly accompanied by Purps. They both began to heave, and slowly the rock rolled over through the heat while crushing a smoldering stump as it rolled by. Blue looked cautiously into the large hole in tye ground that was hidden under the rock and he noticed a ladder leading down into the hole. Link and Red ran up to them, having given up the futile fight against the flames, and Link noticed what Blue was eyeing.
"No time, jump for it and get moving!" commanded Link. Blue looked back to see Purps' hat already sinking down the dark hole, followed quickly by Red. Blue was still hesitant to follow, so Link shoved him forward, following behind quickly. Blue screamed as he tumbled into the blackness below, and soon noticed his voice wasn't the only one screaming.
As Red slammed into the packed earth and let out a loud grunt. He rolled over and found himself looking up at Purps, who smirked and offered up a hand, which Red took with a thankful smile and pulled himself off the floor just as Blue landed and rolled onto his feet gracefully. Link came falling behind him and absorbed most of the shock onto his legs and tumbled back, then lifted himself up on the rungs. He leaned against the wall for support and gestured forward into the cave's blackness.
Red drew the Fire rod and they hurried forward, using a brief flicker of flame from the rod to light the path, they only got five feet forward when Blue halted the party.
"You guys hear water running?" he asked nervously and Purps listened intently. He did hear the telltale trickle of water nearby, but the source seemed to come from all around them. Red stopped only briefly to cock his head and listen, then kept moving moments later and bringing the only light source with him.
"We must be under the stream then." commented Link as he walked past a slightly frightened Blue. They followed the dim torch until Red came across a ladder. He stared upwards from the base and looked over at the party and smiled in the flickering light. "Sorry 'bout this."
The cave went completely black as Blue, Link, and Purps began to fumble about in the dark, trying to find each other with their voices.
"Blue, WHAT'D YOU DO!"
"What? I couldn't- I wasn't ev- HOW?"
"I didn't say that, calm down now..."
"Hey, has anyone seen Red?"
"Purps, I can't even see the hand in front of my face."
The dim light illuminated the cave again, and the small group shielded their gaze to allow their eyes to adjust to sudden change of light to dark and back. Link noticed the light was now being cast from above them, and he saw Red dangling his legs over the ladder "So who's up next?"
As they climbed their way up, Red gradually increased the fire output to allow more illumination. He scanned the tunnel to look for a path to follow and saw only open space leading over the area they walked in from. He checked behind him to see a crystal switch attached to the floor. He walked over to further examine the crystal, and heard a loud thud behind him as he approached. He spun about, drawing his sword as he did, but saw nothing except the empty ledge. He returned his attention to the crystal and he gave it a quick look over before he turned back to the ladder he was supposed to be illuminating. Oh, right thought Red as be peered over the edge of the rocky outcrop. To his amusement, Link was lying on his back at the ladder's base and groaning ever so slightly, with Blue and Purps gathered around him worriedly.
He brightened the magical weapon and all looked up. Red gave a 'friendly' wave and Link returned a scowl and pulled himself upwards using the rungs. Link reached the top of the ladder and got up to look around.
Red looked over towards him, "Not much other than a switch." he said. His voice echoed and bounced off the open area's narrow walls. Link sat down next to Red and waited impatiently on the rest of the group. They had an unspoken law that the group push buttons together after one particularly nasty trap that left Link fighting in alone against a moblin pack till help had arrived.
Blue arrived over the ledge's lip and walked over by the crystal since the spot by Red and Link was getting crowded. He saw Purps' head pop up on the ledge and he prodded the crystal switch with the hilt of his sword and watched the elaborate mixture of spellcraft and mechanics kick into motion. The open space past the ladder became crowded quickly with a resonating rumble of stone.
Portions of the wall skidded out of the way or tumbled off to the ground below to allow stone slabs to emerge and create a stone walkway above the floor. The thin slabs were suspiciously flimsy in appearance, but these tunnels had always been reliable transportation systems for Hylians. Using them, people could travel abroad without much worry about monsters prowling above attacking them. Even if monsters did enter, the tunnels were protected by simple puzzles and security systems that most Hylians had knowledge of, and if they didn't... well...
Blue broke off his train of thought and realized quickly that the group had almost crossed the bridge. Blue skipped across the small gap in the bridge left open for the ladder and hustled across. He saw Red's dim flame ascending up a ladder and poking against the roof, then releasing a mighty spout of flames and allowing a bright ray of sunlight to filter through the smoke and into the tunnel. Blue slowed as he approached the ladder and grabbed onto a rung to start climbing. He ascended quickly and arrived at the top in a clearing just as Purps was dusting off his tunic. He gave Blue a nod and a smile as he absently scanned the landscape they were heading into, a small pass between two steep hills.
Blue pulled himself up turned his gaze across the ravine that they had burrowed under and saw that the fires had begun to die down, but they were still sending off billowing clouds of smoke. He shook his head and turned around to face Link and Red who were starting to move forward already. Red gave Purps a light touch on the shoulder and he tore his gaze from the slopes ahead of them as he joined the group.
They walked into the small and grassy canyon with trees on top of either side of the walls. Link drew his sword and shield as Red and Purps pulled their swords from their scabbards. They weren't in any immediate danger, but they were in the most venerable position possible. The slopes were to steep to climb and the tree line would provide perfect cover to any ambushing thieves or anyone who saw the rather large and smokey welcome sign the Heroes had placed above their heads. If they were ambushed now, they would be trapped like zoras in ice.
The group tensed up, and prepared themselves for trouble of whatever kind when the ground beneath them suddenly shook and rumbled ominously. The shaking stopped as abruptly as it began, and the group looked across at one another with looks of confusion plastered onto their faces. Purps looked over nervously to Red. "What's going o-"
He stopped midsentence as the floor shook again, and they moved into the cross formation for greatest protection on all sides, preparing for anything.
"It can't be an earthquake" thought Blue aloud, "earthquakes don't have patterns, it sounds like something's coming here!" he exclaimed as another rumble, more powerful than the last, accented his statement. Link was at the far edge of the cross closest to the valley's end and he sprinted towards the end with a slight head start above his companions. He hurdled over the small rocks blocking his passage and threw others out of the way as he bolted towards the rope ladder leading up the slope of the ravine, intent on getting away from their trapped position and to the higher ground to fight whatever was approaching. He quickly scaled the ladder with Blue, Red, and Purps following behind him and poked his head over the ledge.
He saw the impossible. Shadow Link was standing in the field's center and was sinking into the ground while he stared straight towards Link. He smiled with an ear to ear grin as his head sunk away into the field and he vanished, leaving nothing. Link sprinted across the field and charged toward the spot Shadow had disappeared to. Link sank to the floor as he reached the spot, seeing nothing unusual about the unkempt grassy field. Blue stuck his head over the ledge and saw Link scrambling wildly around the field as if searching for something, screaming in frustration "Where is it? A trap door? Magic runes? WHERE ARE YOU?"
Blue's trained eyes scoured the plane and he let out a low whistle to attract the distraught hero's attention. Link looked up from his frenzied search to see Blue making silencing motions with his hands and gesturing around the field with his head. Link stopped and looked around to see that he was flanked by two fully grown octoroks, each as tall as him. Fortunately, they were eating grass and neither had noticed the green hero at both of their backs. Blue climbed the ladder and motioned for Red and Purps to stay there by flapping an arm in a downward motion. He looked back to Link's situation again as his mind raced for a solution.
Octoroks were hard of hearing, maybe even deaf, since they lacked ears. This lead to their heightened sense of taste, smell, and sight. As long as the omnivores were eating grass and filling two of their three senses, Link could still escape. Blue motioned over to Link to return and stopped as he noticed the monster to the right perk up. "Oh Din." said Blue aloud. Link, Blue, and the Octorok all knew at once the beast had caught a wiff if human flesh, Link's flesh. It lumbered around to face Link straight on for the clearest shot and it inhaled deeply, preparing to fire a ball of compact waste to knock the Hero down to for good.
Link stared down the large beast's barrel nose. He checked over his shoulder briefly as an idea formed in his mind. He rolled towards the second Octorok as the one targeting him took its shot. The ballistic, easily the size of Link's head, sailed into the area Link was previously standing and slammed through a solid tree trunk, sending shrapnel and splinters scattering through the air with a tremendous crash. Link slid right behind the second monster and prepared for another roll. He waited till the beast that was aware of him fired again and then he rolled towards the ladder. The huge ballistic slammed into no longer dormant Octorok and it turned around with a thunderous roar to face the challenger. Link slid out of his roll and into a prone position next to Blue to avoid detection, both of them watching the amusing spectacle.
The two Octoroks growled and hissed at each other as they armed their ballistics. The one that was hit fired off the first shot and hit it's attacker with a well placed blast to the eye, causing it to become blinded permanently should it survive the battle. The blind one fired a return shot and followed with a charge and the two monsters slammed heads. They snarled and slid across the field as Red poked his head over the ledge.
"What's going on up...whoa!" he said, ducking as a stray ballistic fired from point blank missed both its intended and accidental targets. He heard a loud bellow and the two monsters tumbled over the edge and into the tiny canyon, flailing and firing their natural cannons as they tumbled down the path, bouncing off walls and into the stream. Red shimmied up the ladder and helped Link up off his feet.
"Clever trick there, were they making all that ruckus?" he asked. Link shook his head and leaned onto his knees to support himself, still shocked by what he had witnessed.
"Shadow." he said flatly. Blue cocked his head questioningly and Purps reeled backwards and off the ladder he had almost reached the top of with a startled yelp. There was a stunned silence, which Red broke as he burst out laughing suddenly. "That's actually a good one there Link, I didn't think you could make a joke." he chuckled some more until his laughter died off as Red gazed into Link's stern face, devoid of any humor.
"Does it look like I'm joking?" Link asked, or rather stated. Red looked at him seriously and actually considered the weight of Link's words ponderously. He sputtered his lips when the hysterical laughter burst past Red's mouth. He kept laughing madly, causing Blue to actually move backwards from the unpredictable doppelganger.
"Link, I SAW you run Shadow through on your sword, there's no way ANYTHING could have survived a straight gutting like that." Red stated, his mocking mirth dying out slowly. "Shadow is dead; I don't even think he was a real threat in the beginning, just some goon Vaati hired so some one could get him unsealed."
Link shook his head "No way, magically created minions die in a smokey explosion, normal monsters die regularly, but Shadow left no trace... nothing. He's no normal foe."
Blue looked skeptically from the floor. "Well, lets be reasonable Link. I think that if Shadow was making the earthquake, those octoroks would have noticed the ground shaking black creature, right? I don't doubt something happened since we all felt it, but maybe those monsters were recently fighting and still had some high tensions." Link glared at Blue, but was forced to agree with his logic. Those octoroks hadn't noticed a thing, so either they caused it or Shadow was being protected by...
Purps walked up from his spot near the ladder and put a reassuring hand on Link "It's not a bad thing if they're right, right?" Link sighed and nodded in agreement. He just couldn't be sure if he had killed his enemies anymore, Vaati, now this thing... Link was becoming doubtful of the Four Sword's blade.
He stood straight and turned to the far side of the plain, searching for a path to continue down. They're taking too long thought Red restlessly. He looked above Purps and saw their smoke signal drifting far above the tree tops, inviting anyone to come and see what had caused the fires. His eyes scanned over to the west and saw two boulders blocking two path through the trees. "Let's get going!" He yelled loudly.
Blue winced, all this yelling would only help if someone were tracking them down, but he had to agree, they needed to hurry. A thought struck him as he positioned himself near the boulder next to Link as they prepared to lift. "Hey guys, where exactly are we going?"
The party stopped what they were doing to stare at Blue. It was a simple question, but they really didn't think it had needed answering. Purps responded quickly to avoid Red's easily detected scorn from entering the conversation. "Well, the maidens got kidnapped so we've got to save them, right? Besides, I'm wondering what the soldiers are up to. It could make our lives much easier if we could get some help, so I'd say we head towards Hyrule castle to find a map of the temples we need to visit and find out how the army's condition is."
Red responded as he placed his foot against the boulder that Blue and Link were about to push on. "Hold on, Purps, I think we ought to head back towards Link's...er, our... THE house that's got all our weapons in it."
Link grunted as he pushed the boulder away from the path with the help of Red and Blue, "No need, I can tell the house would be empty. That's your Fire rod, and this is my boomerang." He said between breaths as the gang shoved the boulder. "Don't look at me like that, I saw its scratch. Besides, no one makes magic boomerangs like this one. I guarantee you, if we checked the house we would find it ransacked and empty. Just a matter of time before we find our old weapons." he stated to Red as the boulder rolled off into the tree's ahead.
Link walked forward onto the new path they had formed when a slimy blue monster leapt up off the floor and tripped Link over and onto the floor. "NAYRU'S SAKE!" screamed Link as he rolled over to grab and dislodge the weird gelatin beast from his booted ankles. He flailed and kicked to no avail as the beast slowly started to slide up his body, enveloping Link's legs and slithering upwards and wrapping around his struggling form.
"One of you gonna help me with this?" Link yelled as he neared a frantic state. His companions just stood over him uselessly as Link struggled a fruitless battle.
"So... what exactly ~is~ that anyway?"
"Blue Chu maybe?"
"Nah, Chus are going into hibernation soon..."
"Who asked you Blue?"
"I think that was Purps."
"Hey, I'm Purps"
"HELP ME DAMNIT!" screamed Link as the weird slime enveloped and immobilized his elbows. Wherever its stretchy blue body enveloped felt like it was packed inside a slab of stone.
Red watched with some amusement as the Slime eventually reached Link's chin, already slowing his jaw from producing swears so violently and quickly. Blue drew his sword "Alright, shows over, I don't want it to kill him."
"Aww, I wanted to see what happened if it covered his mouth!" said a dejected Purps, obviously disappointed.
"It would have killed him and he'd stop cursing, why do you have to be such an ass, man." said Red giving Purps a pat on the back and glaring at Blue. Blue sighed and poked the creature with his sword, puncturing the thin membrane that kept its digestive acids in and paralyzing goop out. The beast popped and spilled it's foul smelling blue liquid all over the floor as Link jumped up and away from the mess he was recently trapped in.
"BLEGH! DAMN THING GOT IN MY PANTS!" Link exclaimed, shaking blue gunk out from his tunic's folds. He looked up at Red and Purps grinning faces just as he realized the unfortunate meaning of the slang he had accidentally used. "No wait, I didn't mean it like that-"
The damage was already done, Red and Purps fell about themselves laughing, even Blue managed a chuckle at his friend's unfortunate slip of the tongue. Blue passed him as he gave Link some berth while trying to keep his distance from the fowl smelling hero in green. "You're gonna want to wash that off." Blue said while pressing on. He was shortly followed by Link, who was leaving a sickly blue trail wherever his boots met the ground. "You think?" he asked sarcastically, being followed by a mirthful Purps and Red, who were supporting each other from collapsing under their laughter.
The group rounded the corner and quickly slowed to a halt. They were on the side of a ledge that was a lengthy 15 feet above a deep lake spanning below them, which seemed to be running to the West as water rushed under the bridge to their right.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Red as he almost slipped over the ravine and into the flowing water below, but he was yanked back from the cliffs ledge by Purps. Blue leaned cautiously over the lip of the cliff, looking anxiously at some shallow and jagged rocks that waited just underneath the water's surface. "So how are we gonna get down?" he asked, not looking forward to such a landing.
"Hmm, if we had some rope we could lower ourselves..." thought Link, he leaned over to survey the ravines sides to see if they were climbable as something whizzed right where his head was and imbedded itself in the tree trunk. Purps looked with wide eyes at the shaking arrow in the tree and dropped to a knee as he surveyed the bridge. His trained eyes saw a group of blue armor clad warriors with helmets resting over glaring white eyes looking almost hungrily at the group of one. He gulped as he stared at the four or five armored bandits being lead by one with green armor wielding the bow. Purps couldn't see their leaders face, but he could almost feel the low curse breathed under his helmet at the near miss. He signaled a few orders to his troops and they obeyed instantaneously, silently jogging down the bridge to report back somewhere.
Purps eyes widened even more when he noticed the green assassin pulling another arrow from his quiver and aiming directly at Purps. His sword flashed from its sheath as he slashed at the new projectile while dodging, clipping the flint arrow point with his sword and causing a loud ring and sparks to emanate through the calm lakeside air.
"Shields up!" yelled Purps. The group's eyes shot toward the Purple clone and back at the bridge, where the armor clad foe screamed a single command and half a dozen more troops dressed like him sprang over the bush line on the far side of the lake with crossbows at the ready.
In perfect unison, the Hero(s) looked up with a single expression of dread as the leader on the bridge yelled out a single command
"FIRE!"
"DIVE!" exclaimed Red, already lunging headfirst into the water with an arrow bouncing off the shield on his back. He was followed shortly by Blue and Purps, curled behind their shields, and eventually Link as arrows rained down upon the spot they had submerged, a small red cloud already floating rapidly away downstream...