REVIEW ANSWERIN' time wants to wish ZOoL a happy birthday. REVIEW ANSWERIN' time is late by two days. REVIEW ANSWERIN' time is bad with dates and time:
u00dfrady: Whoa whoa WHOA! Gimme a second here. Big review is big. And you bring up some valid points as well, so I'll take my time to answer them. This also means you get the dubious honor of earning the biggest RAT comment I've written yet. First, my quality. The story is already fleshed out in my mind (BTW, I don't think it'll reach 30. At least not THIS one.), and I have certain spots I want to reach. Examples: The Flambee battle, the Moldorm battle, the first ship fight, much of chapter 8, Chapter 9 finale, this chapter... you get the idea. I tried my best to have AT LEAST one interesting thing to look forward in each chapter, but it gets TOUGH to do so, and if I don't get a truly interesting idea, I trudge through with the best I can come up with. Chapter 12 is a glaring example. I know it's not the best policy, but I have a real-life time limit if I want to finish ZOoL. Also, I kinda got tired of making dungeons (not my forte), which is why chapter 15's dungeon was just a series of similar rooms with a continuous dangerous puzzle. I tried to make the best of it as well. (ALSO, please note that the action serves the story. The whole point of the darkness dungeon and the Light arrow thing was about Tetra overcoming her fears.) Now, your ideas. Let me point out that the Tower of Spirits is ALREADY THERE (see chapter 11), and what comes with it (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) as well. Or did you not notice the bridge to nowhere in the island in Chapter 15? Replay Spirit Tracks and tell me which island may look like a mountain if looked one way but it's hollow in the right way (read, the only way you enter it). Does this mean that Malladus is already written off? I say "dude, don't get ahead of yourself". I appreciate your ideas, but at this point, there are few things that I'm toying with in the story. All I need is the time and patience to bring it all together quite nicely. And I must say, thank you for making this wonderful comment, because I love seeing where can I improve. (BTW: Yes, the redeads were blue in TWW. You can look it up in a decent Zelda fansite that features the enemies.)
ACEAMC: You're getting ahead of yourself for asking about that in chapter 7. Keep reading, and when you read this, you'll already know the answer. Also, thank you for reminding me about them...
Now, enjoy the largest chapter ever. They ain't getting any larger, kid, just so you know.
The Legend of Zelda
Overlord of the Land
Chapter 16:
The Overlord of the Land
The sky was perfect, with only the occasional cloud floating above, and turning from a dark, nearly black hue to the more refreshing light-blue it's best known for. The sun was starting to appear from the horizon, its golden rays stretching into the infinite and giving light to nearly everything that fell right under it. The seas were amazingly calm, with nary a wave crashing into the rocks, and the tide making its slow but steady fluctuation downwards. The birds flew about, carried by the gentle breeze of the wind, carrying food for their young, or seeking a new place to live. In short, the morning was bright, it was calm, it was perfect. One would easily declare oneself incredibly lucky to be capable of witnessing such a splendorous harmony of nature in the early hours.
Of course, Nudge did not think it so.
"Unbelievable." Nudge declared while rubbing his eyes for the fiftieth time, trying to defeat whatever remaining tiredness he was harboring. "Look at me, awake and fully dressed in the wee hours of the morning. And with fresh, clean clothes to boot."
"Well, it's not unlike this job to be prepared to do anything at any hours." Mako explained as he carried stuff over to the top deck. "It's what you signed up for, so what are you complaining, oh loudmouthed one?"
"Well, for starters, these were my last pair of clean clothes." Nudge whined, pointing out how his bright-red shirt didn't have even the slightest speck of grime stuck to it. "Second, I fully expected to work at all hours... except I thought that usually meant doing stuff late at night, which I love to do, by the way. Third, we haven't even had breakfast yet. We're running around, working our butts off to get ready with no chance to recoup what we've used up, and not even a chance to claim our share of yesterday's treasure, and don't you dare tell me I'm being whiny because we can't even get a bite for..."
"BREAKFAST!" Niko announced as he passed around the ship's corridors. "BREAKFAST DELIVERY! Takeout special, full of protein for energy! Here's one for you, Mako, and one for you, Nudge. BREAKFAST!" Niko then walked away to the upper deck, leaving the bickering duo with a breakfast wrap in their hands.
"Now can I say you're being whiny?" Mako asked mischeviously.
"Oh, shut up!" Nudge retorted and took a hearty bite of the wrap before continuing with his work.
"Okay." Senza said as he wiped his hands clean, basking on a job well done. "The longboat is ready for deployment. Now what else do we need?" He began looking around for any sort of objects that were out of place on the top deck. Strangely, a couple of charts were left abandoned right in the middle of the deck, and nobody was doing any effort in collecting them, so he walked over to pick them up. "Now I wonder who was the irresponsible one who let these things out here."
"Senza." Gonzo called out his fellow crew mate as he approached him. "How are things up here? Is the longboat ready and secured?"
"Ready and secured as she will ever be, Gonzo." Senza answered, feeling very confident with himself.
"And these charts?" Gonzo wondered, seeing the charts in Senza's hands.
"Oh, these? I found them laying on the ground and I don't know who was the..."
"Weren't those the charts I told you to stow away on the cargo hold, since they were useless to us now?" Gonzo interrupted Senza, without really comprehending what he wanted to say.
Senza was suddenly quieted. He had completely forgotten that he was given this rather simple objective. It was so simple, apparently, that he had not remembered it and he did not do it when he was supposed to. "Eh... I'll get to it, Gonzo." He simply said, and he disappeared from view into the lower decks.
"BREAKFAST!"
"Not now, Niko!"
"What's with him...?" Zuko asked Gonzo.
"He's getting nervous, I'll bet." Gonzo supposed. "I wouldn't blame him. Considering that Miss Tetra had to wake us in the middle of the night and tell us what was gonna happen today, it's surprising nobody else is like him. Oh, thanks, Niko." He finished as he got one of the wraps Niko was serving across the ship.
"So... I know we're in for one heck of a battle, but don't you think our Captain laid it on a bit too thick last night?" Niko wondered, expecting to hear something that validated him.
"No..." Zuko explained plainly. "Miss Tetra spoke the truth... You don't sugarcoat the truth... no matter how harsh it may be."
"That's kinda harsh right there, Zuko." Niko stated as he tasted his own confection.
"Well, I never really won any awards for charisma." Zuko commented. "Anyway... We cannot be delusional... and think this will be over easy... I can feel this things, and I feel there will be a fight."
"Yeah, yeah, you say that, but I know you better than that, Zuko." Gonzo retorted. "You just wanna find the first excuse to go all out. Am I wrong?"
Zuko quieted down immediately. He took a few quick glances around, checking if there was anything that could save him, but at the end, he merely resorted to grabbing one of Niko's wraps and taking one huge bite. "Tfhis iff afful, Nifo..."
Link sat alone on top of the hammock that has served as his bed for the last two years. All of his items and weapons laid sprawled in front of him, as if there were a showcase or an exposition of his weaponry. He tried to think which items he would need the most in the upcoming challenge, considering he had a limited space to store them. His sword and shield were a dead giveaway, and his bow and grappling hook have been so useful in the past that he was already counting them in. For some reason, he gravitated towards his Deku Leaf and he considered its versatility, though the item did not do any sort of direct damage. He also weighted both his Skull Hammer and his Fairy Hammer, with the former being stronger but more unwieldy, and the latter, while it was definitely easier to use, simply did not hit as much. As much as he looked at his instruments, he couldn't figure out a workable combination for this one. This was their final stand, and he needed to be as useful as he could if they were to be successful.
Eventually, he decided on his weapons and stored the rest neatly in his chest, ready for the next chance he would need them. Afterwards, he exited the cabins and headed for Tetra's room to see how she was doing.
"BREAKFAST!" Niko shouted. Link could not believe the little guy's energy. He must have been shouting that non-stop for a good 10 minutes now, and he still did not have a hint of hoarseness in his voice. If nothing else, this was something worth admiring.
"Hey, Link. Here's your share." Niko said as he took one wrap and put it in Link's hands. He then thought a moment, and eventually gave Link another wrap. "By the way, can you do me a favor and give this one to the Captain as well? She's kinda unresponsive at the moment." Niko then made to leave to the mess hall with his already empty plate, but he decided to turn back to Link, as there was something that he simply needed to ask him. "Link, you're an honest guy. Perhaps the most honest from all of us. I wanna ask you a simple question, ok? This, all this that's happening now, what do you make of it?" Link stopped mid-bite while he tried to understand what Niko meant. "Well, you see, everyone's getting nervous, and they're like this may be it, but I'm not sure of that. Now, you're close to the Captain, right? So can you tell me if we're... well..." Niko stuttered, unsure of how to phrase his words. "I'll be blunt. Do you think this is the end?"
Link thought profoundly about Niko's words and his worries. In all honesty, he wondered the same thing himself. There was something he felt that he could not pinpoint exactly in the air today. A sense of foreboding, that eerie calm that thickens around before the storm blows over. Link has been in enough situations to understand this uneasy feeling, and probably the other pirates as well. In the end, Link shook his head and shrugged his shoulders with an almost-unreadable lost look.
"You don't know, either?" Niko questioned upon Link's answer. He sighed dejectedly, and Link could do little more than simply try and comfort the guy. Niko, however, sprung up almost immediately and, with a radiant energy and a humongous smile that looked like it could upstage Link's happy-go-lucky demeanor, puffed his chest and declared triumphantly. "Then, don't you worry, Link. No matter whatever comes, I will not let you down!" With those words, he sprinted at top speed towards the mess hall. "JUST WATCH ME! I WILL BE INCREDIBLE!"
Link couldn't help but snicker at Niko's sudden burst of energy. Still, that undying energy and loyalty the short, buck-toothed pirate possessed was definitely something worth admiring. If nothing else, that had to be the reason he became a pirate in this ship. However, Link's mind had wondered too far, and he remembered where he was about to go.
As Link approached Tetra's room, he sneaked an innocent peek inside, just to see if she was ready. To his surprise, he noticed a person dressed in a long blue coat you normally see on high-rank sailors and wearing a captain's hat inside the room. The person had their back turned to Link, and was looking at a long object sitting in Tetra's table, seemingly curious about it. Link entered Tetra's room cautiously and drew out an arrow (his sword would have been too loud) and approached the person very carefully. He tried to surprise the person, but Link's courtesy got the better of him and tapped the person's shoulder first and waited to see the face behind before deciding to attack. The person turned, and Link raised the arrow up, and...
"LINK!" Tetra yelled, indignant after seeing her partner had sneaked into her room and was brandishing an arrow to her. "What's the meaning of this?"
Link wasted no time to hide his arrow behind his back and bashfully give Tetra a toothy grin and a weak laugh. He then looked at Tetra, gussied up in flashy captain clothes quite unlike what she usually likes to wear, and began pointing all over it, from the stylish three-pronged hat, the long blue coat, the white pants with just a hint of pink on their sides, all the way to the strong leather boots.
"What? This?" Tetra quibbled as if it were nothing. "Yeah, It may be strange seeing me with these. But I though, since this is pretty much my last stint as a pirate, I might as well just end this with a bang. So, what do you think?" She then extended her arms to fully showcase her new attire. Link immediately noticed how her arms looked comically small inside the long sleeves, a fact he could not pass up to point and laugh. "Hey, what are you laughing at?" Tetra retorted while flailing her arms about. This made Link laugh even harder, forcing him to cover his face to try and calm down. "Ha, ha. Very funny." Tetra spat sarcastically while she rolled up her sleeves.
To change the subject, Link went ahead to inspect what Tetra was checking so intently not too long ago. It was a long, black sheath with a highly polished blade with carvings all around on its side. "What? Oh, yeah." Tetra said as she remembered what she was doing before Link entered. "I'm sure you've seen that blade before. It's my mother's cutlass. I guess... since I'm basically the only heir, that it belongs to me now, but to me, it shall always be my mother's memento. On one hand there's that... on the other, this blade would be better than my short sabre." Tetra then took the cutlass on her hands and stared at it, almost longingly so. "What would you do, Link? I wouldn't want this sword to break, but at the same time, I feel I should take it. What would you... do?"
Then, Link raised his hand and grabbed Tetra's arm. He then guided the arm towards the blade's hilt and pressed it inward to make sure Tetra had a firm grip on it. When Tetra took her eyes off her hand and guided them at Link, the green-garbed lad nodded at her in the most secure manner he's ever done. Tetra, now with her mother's cutlass firmly in her grip, gave Link the same expression before turning her gaze back to the blade. "Don't worry, mother. I will make you proud." She said while sneaking a glance at her mother's portrait in the wall.
"Is everything ready, Gonzo?" Tetra asked as she joined the rest in the top deck, with Link not too far behind her.
"Well..." Gonzo hesitated to answer the question. This alarmed Tetra and walked over to where the first mate was to try and receive some answers.
"What? What's missing?" Tetra asked. "You know what I told you last night. We do this now or never, so we have to make do with what we have."
"No... it's not that. We actually have just enough to cover the lot of us." Gonzo reassured his captain. "It's just... well... look for yourself, Miss Tetra." He then cautiously pointed towards the bow of the ship, to which Tetra followed. What Tetra saw terrified her.
It was Waarheid. Or rather, what was left of Waarheid. The full length of what they could see of the town was in shambles and ruins. There were whole buildings ripped clean in half, debris was scattered everywhere, smoke was pouring from dozens of places, and whole squares were looking leveled. The whole place resembled a war zone. Tetra joined the ranks of Niko, Mako, Senza, Nudge and Zuko, looking mouth-agape at the incredible levels of destruction that the city had suffered is such a short time.
"So this is what she meant." She whispered. "We can't wait anymore."
"What kind of monster would do this?" Senza asked, though not really expecting an answer. "I mean, There's not even a pirate crew large enough to cause such mayhem and destruction to a town so large. This work... this isn't natural."
"Of course it isn't." Tetra said. "There's one person who could so this in such a messy, yet very clean way. Only one person would be powerful enough to do this from the inside. It's the only way this reached such proportions."
"Dante." Niko responded his own unsaid question. "But why? If I remember right, his people were happy and he liked it that way. Why would he just go and make them miserable on a whim."
"I... don't know." Mako interjected. "I'd say this is his way of sending a message to us. Your guess is as good as mine."
"Gentlemen." Tetra spoke out in a loud and authoritative voice she often reserved for big speeches and the like. She climbed to the ship's bowsprit and, hanging from the line, she addressed them directly. "This is the extent of our enemy's determined and desperate tactics to destroy our courage and send us packing. They have sunk to a new low, forgoing the safety of their own people and properties merely as a scare tactic. They may think they have this won, that they have run us out of town, but we will prove them wrong! We will enter Waarheid and take their filthy, unworthy hands off the city's wheel! We will march right up there and give Dante a piece of our mind, and if he does not like that, we will give him a piece of our lead and our blades! We are harbingers of the truth, and we will do anything and everything in our power to take down the tyrants who love lying to their people and we will restore everything to their rightful order! No more deception, no more hiding, no more disproportionate punishment! For I assure you all that we have been chosen. Yes, we, a band of honorable sailors who took into the pirating mantle and sailed the seas as far and wide as the wind would guide us. We are the ones to bring about a new revolution, for I know the Goddesses are looking upon us with bated breath, and they will make sure that if we go on land and fight our fight bravely, we shall emerge victorious! So prepare yourselves, gentlemen. Load your guns and sharpen your blades, and prepare to be written into the history books. Today... WE MAKE HISTORY!"
For a band of eight pirates, the uproar and cheering they brought out upon hearing Tetra's speech could bring a normal riotous crowd down in shame. He group hooted and hollered like there was no tomorrow, his screaming and yelling raising to the skies and even scaring off faraway birds. "Mister Gonzo, bring us closer to shore! Zuko, up the Crow's Nest, on the double! Niko, ready the Chomps! The rest of you, on your stations! And Link!" Link suddenly stopped from running to his post to see what did Tetra want. Tetra, in a dramatically defiant look, pulled out her cutlass and pointed right at her partner. "I shall trust your sword and your shield!" She declared. Link nodded, delivering the same look back at his captain, and ran to his post at the ship.
"Sir!"
"Yes, lieutenant?"
"The pirate ship... it's here again. The pirates are here once more."
"..."
"They docked on the old harbor. Sources say they looked armed and dangerous."
"..."
"They look like they're heading this way."
"..."
"Sir? Should we just stop them?"
"... No."
"No?"
"You heard me, lieutenant. Do not waste your resources in stopping them. I want to see what the people would do in such a situation."
The band of pirates walked along what was once Waarheid harbor in a close huddled group. Compared to what they could see further ahead, all the buildings within the harbor area were totally leveled, with only a couple of lone walls still standing. A mixture of destroyed bricks, wooden panels, dirt and other debris formed the shaky and unsafe ground the group had to walk on. Off in a corner, Niko and Senza even spied a certain familiar tall and lanky man, bald on top but sporting a hearty beard, winding a portable vibraphone in a low, depressing manner, which gave the scene an extra creepy vibe.
"So much destruction." Mako uttered with a hint of fear in his voice.
"Dante has a lot to answer for, that's for sure." Tetra said. "The sooner we find him, the better. Let's keep moving. I'm sure he's right in the middle of it... WHAGH!"
Suddenly and inadvertently, an anonymous shot was fired, grazing Tetra's cheek ever so slightly. The searing pain made her clasp her face tightly and drop to the floor while the other pirates were quick to react and huddle around their captain and draw their guns (in Link's case, his bow) "Who's out there? Show yourself!" Gonzo shouted at the crumbled debris in the distance. It was tough to make out, but the pirates could see several shadowed people running low behind the destruction, as if trying to avoid being discovered. Seeing this, several pirates aimed their guns at the general area where the people were to be. "Don't waste your ammo." Gonzo ordered. "We're not sure who they are, and we sure don't have bullets to spare."
Link took down his bow just enough to go check on Tetra. Her right hand covering her wound was slowly overflowing with blood while she attempted to take out a red cloth from a pocket in her coat to cover herself with it. "I'll be fine. Don't break the cover." Tetra admonished her partner. Link belayed the order and rummaged through his bag until he pulled out a red potion, and while giving it to her, he pointed out with his fingers to only drink a small sip of it. "All right, but you better get back up." Tetra finished, taking the bottle out of Link's hand.
Link stood back up quickly and joined his comrades in the line, who were in point for any suspicious movements in the horizon. They looked left, to where there were two solitary walls, then to the right, where only one wall stood, then they turned again, where the three solitary walls wobbled, and then to the right, where...
"Wait a minute." Nudge spoke out. He started to look around the group and noticed there was something eerily wrong with the scene. "See? There are more walls than before. This... this means..."
"We're surrounded." Zuko finished Nudge's thoughts. True to what they suspected, more and more walls were being raised around them, and the ones that were raised were getting closer to their position.
"I'd get the bombs out if I were you." Senza suggested to Gonzo. The first mate hesitated, since he didn't want to disobey Tetra's orders to not begin any violence, but the way things were looking, a preemptive strike looked like the one option to take if they were to survive.
Suddenly, the walls began to flash brightly. Upon the flashing, some of the walls began falling down, and many shadowy people fell to the floor unconscious. "Ok, who began throwing the Deku Nuts?" Gonzo asked the crew. Everybody just denied having used any sort of attack. "Well then, who would...?"
"Hey, guys!"
Suddenly, all of the pirates' guns were drawn to the man that had surprised them. When they got a good look, it turned out to be nobody else but Miyahon, who looked completely terrified of having so many guns pointed at his head and hair. "Guys, calm down, calm down. I'm not gonna harm you."
"What are you doing, man?" Gonzo asked exasperated while motioning his men to lower their guns.
"The question is what are you doing here?" Miyahon questioned. "Don't you guys know there's a bounty for your head?"
"You know, Miyahon..." Nudge stepped forward and petted the guy's shoulder. "This may come as a shock to you, but us? We're pirates. There's always a bounty on our heads."
"No, man, that's not it." Miyahon insisted and took out a piece of paper from his pants and shoved it to Nudge's face. When they got a good look, the guys noticed the paper was more than just a bounty request. It was a full-blown smear campaign. "Read!"
ATTENTION, CITIZENS OF WAARHEID.
MASSIVE DESTRUCTION ALL OVER WAARHEID.
A STRING OF DESTRUCTION HAS BEGUN WITHIN THE WALLS OF THE LAND OF
WAARHEID. BUILDINGS HAVE BEEN BURNED, MONUMENTS HAVE BEEN BLOWN
UP, AND MANY LIVES HAVE BEEN PUT TO JEOPARDY. THE WAARHEID ARMY HAS
FOUND A LEAD, AND IS ASKING THE GENERAL POPULACE TO HELP IN ANY WAY
THEY CAN. A BAND OF FILTHY PIRATES, LED BY THE RUTHLESS CAPTAIN TETRA
HAVE BEEN USING UNDETERMINED, SNEAKY WAYS TO ENTER THE CITY AND
SPREAD CHAOS AND PANIC IN HOPES OF PROVOKING A STATE OF ANARCHY.
FURTHERMORE, THESE PIRATES ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR RELEASING DANGEROUS
PRISONERS TO THE STREETS, TURNING THE STREETS OF WAARHEID UNSAFE AND
FORCING THE ARMY TO SCRAMBLE ALL THEIR TROOPS. FOR THE GOOD OFWAARHEID,
THESE PIRATES MUST BE STOPPED! IF YOU KNOW ANYTHING THAT CAN LEAD US
INTO FINDING AND INCARCERATING THE MENACE THAT IS DESTROYING THE
BALANCE IN OUR PEACEFUL CITY, CONTACT YOUR LOCAL WAARHEID SOLDIER IMMEDIATELY.
FOR YOUR SAFETY, AND BY DECREE OF THE GREAT EMPEROR DANTE, THE WAARHEID
ARMY HAS BEEN AUTHORIZED TO ENTER ANY HOME OR BUILDING WITH NO PRIOR
WARNING TO THOROUGHLY SEARCH AND IMPRISON ANYBODY SUSPECTED OF
HARBORING THESE CRIMINALS. AGAIN, WE ASK YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND
TURN THESE NEFARIOUS PEOPLE IN.
(addendum)
A BOUNTY HAS BEEN RELEASED FOR THE CAPTURE OF CAPTAIN TETRA, ITS PIRATES
AND ALL FUGITIVES. WE ARE OFFERING 100,000 RUPEES FOR THE CAPTURE OF
CAPTAIN TETRA. WE WANT HER ALIVE SO SHE CAN PAY FOR HER CRIMES. REMEMBER,
WHENEVER YOU LOOK AT THE DESTRUCTION ALL OVER WAARHEID, YOU ONLY HAVE
ONE PERSON TO THANK FOR IT. THAT PERSON IS CAPTAIN TETRA.
Further down the paper were detailed drawings of Tetra, the pirates, Link, Miyahon and several other people, all with a bounty price and either the words 'WANTED ALIVE' or 'ALIVE OR DEAD' written underneath each face. (Link was labeled 'ALIVE OR DEAD', making him wince.) Of them all, Tetra was definitely the biggest bounty by far.
"You see?" Miyahon talked fast, feeling increasingly on edge for being outside so much. "Loads of people blame you for the destruction, and you're not safe here. Come on, I know a place." And giving them no real time to think about it, Miyahon began running low-headed towards a large pile of debris. The group had no choice but to follow him, looking around to make sure there were no other ambush attacks out there. Once over the pile, Miyahon pushed a tree stump to reveal a hole and invited everyone to jump right in. They were hesitant, but the pirates began jumping, one by one, into the hole, and when everybody had already jumped in, Miyahon jumped in quickly and closed the hole from the inside.
"Not to put doubt in your judgment, Miyahon." Tetra talked as the group walked along the Waarheid underground. These were the so-called 'rat holes' the group first knew about while talking to the people in their first visit to the town. "But wouldn't Dante know about these corridors, these rat holes? I mean, we know about them, and we've even been down here before. We're not exactly safe here."
"Not to worry, madam." Miyahon reassured her. "These corridors are very twisty and turny. You probably haven't seen all of them yet. Besides, even if Dante sends his entire army down here to comb the area, they would never find our hiding spot." He finished with a wide grin that looked rather disconcerting.
Afterwards, they walked around for a while, taking some turns here and there, and eventually, they reached what looked to be a T-shaped intersection. "We're here." Miyahon announced. Everybody else looked from confused to aggravated, feeling cheated for walking around several corridors to encounter absolutely nothing. "Oh, it looks like nothing, and that's exactly what we want them to think. Now observe." Miyahon then faced the wall that met the one singular road and began tapping it in several seemingly random places and eventually the rock in the wall began raising until it stopped just two feet above ground. "I'm sorry to ask you this, but you'll have to roll to get in. Like this." Miyahon then laid flat on the floor next to the wall and rolled right into the hole in the stone wall. Seeing this, the group decided to try it and they all rolled into the hole in the same way.
"Welcome, guys, to the Revolution Headquarters!" Miyahon announced as he showed them the shabby but decent area they managed to maintain considering the lot of them were outlaws. Miyahon then started shoving some people closer to the pirates and started introducing them. "These are the people running the show right now. We're not a lot, but we've managed. Some of them escaped from the prison after that big explosion some time ago. Anyway, this is Dennis. He's been here since the beginning."
"How you doing?" Dennis addressed them.
"And this is Alexa. She's an artiste."
"Hey." Alexa waved at them while perched at the wall.
"And this is Phil, the ugly one."
"Hello!" Phil extended his arm to shake, to which Niko quickly responded.
"And this guy..." Miyahon pointed to a man with slicked-down black hair and a tattered long coat who simply refused to turn and face the pirates. "He tagged along with us, whining and begging to let him join our group, so we brought him here. He's been good for us, and always loyal to the end. So anyway, here's... eh... what was your name again?"
The man turned around for half a second, but when he saw the new people inside the room, he quickly turned back around. That briefest of moments, however, was enough for Link and Tetra to notice the man's face, his baggy, darkened eyes, his reddened nose, his slim mustache split down the middle, and his marked bone formation. "L... Linebeck?" Tetra wondered, tilting her head to try and get a better look at the man.
"Yeah, that's it." Miyahon remembered, snapping his fingers when it hit him. "Wait... you know this guy? You know these people, Linebeck?"
Linebeck, still refusing to look at them, mumbled some incoherent blathering while he waved his hand around dismissively. It almost looked like Linebeck did not want to speak to anybody right now. "What? Don't you recognize us?" Tetra asked, pulling Link closer to her and taking off her hat to make it easier for him. "It's us, Tetra and Link. These guys are my crew. Man, what happened to you? After Link insisted that he saw you in the horizon over two years ago, we haven't even heard anything from you."
Linebeck lowered his head in apparent shame and regret. It has been two years, and he never really even tried to contact them again, despite knowing where they were most of the time, and still they recognized him and showed true caring and worry for him. It was not often someone made him feel like such a slimeball, but with those simple words, Tetra had inadvertently achieved it.
Slowly, Linebeck turned around and, with a face fraught in conflicting and pained expression, faced what were once his cabin boy and that statue off in the corner he almost cracked. "Link!" Linebeck uttered before throwing himself right to the green boy's arms. He then tightened his embrace to the point that Link was starting to turn different shades of purple. "I'm so sorry it took this long. I always knew about you guys, but I'm a coward who doesn't even dare face the music. I stayed away, looking from afar, until I heard that you were in the mother of all adventures, and this mean old guy Dante was making your lives horrible, so I decided to try and find you and help you."
"Linebeck?"
"That was months ago. I couldn't find you, so I tried to get a talk to that Dante fellow."
"Linebeck..."
"And he had me locked up for treason! The nerve of that man! I'm not even a citizen on this place. My home will always be the sea. I hope my ship is still safe where I hid it..."
"Linebeck!" Tetra yelled. Linebeck stopped his bickering for a second to see what Tetra wanted. She then pointed to Link, who was still pressed between Linebeck's arms, and his face was turning ash-gray from lack of oxygen.
"Oh! Sorry there, mate." Linebeck apologized while letting go of Link.
"So let me get this straight." Mako began. "You've been in jail all this time, only because you wanted to defend your friends you did not see for two years?"
"The least I could do." Linebeck defended himself. "Besides, it was not for naught. I learned a few interesting things in prison from our friends of the Revolution, and I'm pretty sure you don't know these. For example, how old do you think is Waarheid?"
"Well, considering the finesse and extent of the structures and the expansion of the land... I'd say somewhere around 100 years at the least." Mako summarized.
"Nope." Linebeck simply answered.
"What? Older? 200 years?" Mako tried to answer reasonably.
"Noooo. Lower." Linebeck taunted, etching a rather childish mischievous grin on his face.
"Lower?" Mako asked, feeling confused. "Well... fifty? And that's quite a stretch, considering..."
"Five years." Linebeck answered. "This town, all buildings in it, and its government... it was all set up five years ago. Pretty amazing, no?"
"Th... that's impossible!" Senza exclaimed. "The time and the manpower to put up such a ridiculously large city... You couldn't do it like that."
"'Tis true, however." Dennis interjected. "I was here before Waarheid came t' be. Then Dante came right outta nowhere and me and some others fled to the hills 'till it was safe t' return. Three days later, boom, Waarheid, as if it was there all along. The people who lived were either brainwashed of gone missin'. Try to ask 'em of anything that happened here ten years ago, for example, and they'll all draw one big blank. Alexa here was one of those, 'till she learned the truth on her own and joined the rebellion."
"Yeah." Alexa added. "Something just didn't click for me. I still can't remember clearly anything before a certain point in time, you know. So I did my research and found out that this place is about as legit as piracy."
"Hey!" Niko spouted off without thinking. "We actually run a legit piracy business here, and don't forget that."
"Anyway..." Tetra talked before Niko could talk more nonsense. "If this place was built just five years ago, then it was built for a very specific reason, right?"
"We think so." Phil concurred. "But the reason or reasons... that's what we don't know. It may be linked to what you're trying to accomplish, but we've never been able to discover any specifics. They're definitely up to something, of that we're sure."
"And that's where we come in, right?" Nudge asked. "We were planning to confront Dante anyways, so how's about we join up and you'll get what you want while we get what we want."
"Wait... you were planning to go up to Dante? Now?" Alexa wondered, feeling slightly alarmed. "'Now' now? Do you even have a plan or are you suicidal enough to just go and walk to where he is?"
"I wouldn't worry." Tetra reassured the revolutionists as she showed them the bounty poster. "They need me alive, so they cannot hurt me. So we'll go to Dante and talk to him about a few things. won't we, Mako?" Tetra winked to Mako at that last statement, making the smart one double check his bag and return with a satisfactory nod. "I think he'll find us rather... forceful."
"And if it don't work?" Dennis asked. "The army will go all out on you. They can separate you from your teammates and they'll exterminate 'em. Can you really say you're ready for that?"
"Now listen here." Niko interjected before Tetra could open her mouth. "We've been through plenty nasty things in the past. We've faced entire packs of ravenous wolves, nearly endless snake pits, fire-breathing monsters, giant birds, homicidal flora, the incredibly creepy undead, and loads more. And you know what? We're still here! We've been trained perfectly to face whatever Dante and his cronies can bring us, because no matter what they can send us, we have our unity, and our unity will prevail over their numbers. That's what I believe."
The rest of the pirates did not speak. Instead, they stood rather oddly for a second, trying to digest everything that he had said, but eventually, they all sided with him, giving the revolutionists determined faces despite the high-risk venture they were about to face.
"Wow. You're really above the norm, being so tight-knit like that." Alexa commented. "Well, personally, I say we go. If we're gonna take down Dante, the sooner the better, I say. What do you say, revolutionists? Should we give it a go?"
"Well, we're not a lot, but we can make a difference if we work together." Phil reasoned.
"I'm all for it. I'm gonna get our supplies and the map." Dennis answered and retired to a faraway corner in the room.
"I'm not sure if I can be of much help... but I promise I won't be such a coward anymore." Linebeck said decidedly.
"It's decided, then!" Miyahon exclaimed happily. "We'll get going soon! Time to give Dante a good what for! Time to kick some butt! Time to dethrone the dictator! Time to take matters on our own hands! Time to..."
"Dude..." Zuko stepped forward and stopped Miyahon from continuing. "Calm down."
"Emperor." A random soldier reported in at Dante's office for his progress. "Unit 23 has completed its mission. We've apprehended the traitors and... burned the headquarters."
"Very well, soldier. You may retire. Your unit will receive a new assignment soon." Dante dismissed the soldier from his office while he attended some other matters in his desk.
"Y... yes, sir." the soldier stuttered before turning around to leave.
"Wait... what was that just now?" Dante raised his head and finally started talking directly to the soldier. "Did I sense a hint of... doubt? Why do you hesitate?"
The soldier fidgeted with the doorknob, incapable of explaining exactly what troubled him. "Well, it's just... that place we raided... don't take this the wrong way, but, personally, I... I don't think it was really an enemy base of any sort." Dante jumped at the soldier's sudden outburst, making the lowly man quiver in fear. "Y... you see, there wasn't anything related to the underground revolution. In fact, it l... looked like a normal house... there were even k... kids inside."
Despite what he would normally qualify as a sign of defection for Dante, the bearded man simply stood up calmly and looked at the soldier with a stern leer that contrasted his relaxed voice. "My boy, you don't seem to understand. It is my job to find out where the terrorists hide, and it's your job to control them. Don't try to cross the line."
"Well, that's fine and all, sir..." the soldier continued despite Dante's deteriorating demeanor. "but we've just been... well, I think we've been doing as much destruction as the terrorists. I'm sorry! I just... I can't keep this bottled up."
"My dear unnamed soldier." Dante continued. "You have to learn a few things form the art of waging war. For example, the enemy will always try to get the jump on you. Stealth, sneaky tactics, gonzo tactics, backstabbing, what have you. When you're at war, you're always exposed to the enemy. So what do you do? Expect the unexpected. Discover them before they discover you. Learn their patterns and anticipate their movements. Isn't that right, Captain Tetra?"
The soldier was initially confused, but when he noticed a few thuds and steps, he tilted his head to look beyond Dante and found there were several people that were not there before who probably entered through the recently opened window. He recognized one of them, since he's had to plaster many of those posters all over the land. It was her, the the one with the big bounty on her her head, the only one required to be brought alive: It was Captain Tetra, in the flesh.
Somehow, he expected her to be taller and bulkier.
"I'm surprised you even remember me." Tetra remarked. "One would guess I'd be one of those people you'd rather forget about, Emperor Dante."
"Well, you shouldn't be surprised." Dante said, turning to face the captain. "You'd think I want to have nothing to do with you, but that's far from the truth. If you haven't noticed, you're the only one I seek alive in this bounty request. You are our goal, and the only reason we didn't got you before is because you weren't ready, captain." He then turned sideways and delivered a rather smug look towards the pirates. "Or should I say... princess?"
These words shocked the group of pirates, but for Tetra, it was little more than a mild surprise. "So, how long you've known?" She asked.
"Oh, since the beginning." Dante explained. He leaned on his desk as he collected his thoughts and began discovering it all. "You see, when I got here about five years ago or so..."
"There's that time again." Mako commented.
"... I learned of a great Demon King that was imprisoned here in an age gone by. This Demon King waged a relentless war with the forces of good, but in the end, the good side managed to imprison him. In order to seal him, the good ones spread chains all along the land, and sustained them through their proxies that hold to their will to this day. The Demon's name..."
"... Is Ganondorf, right?" Nudge interjected.
"What? NO!" Dante spat out furiously.
"Are you sure?" Nudge continued while reasoning with his comrades. "I mean, big bad demon, battling against nature and goodness, imprisoned and probably seeking his way out... that's sounds like Ganondorf from what I heard."
"Well, it's not Ganandwarf, whoever he is!" Dante roared furiously. "He, the Demon King, is called Malladus! And I am his loyal servant, seeking only to return him to this world with a new body and a newfound thirst for vengeance against those who wronged him!"
"Nice." Tetra commended her opponent with scattered applause. "I find it nice when people find a purpose in life. Don't you find it nice, Link? It's nice indeed. However!" Tetra stomped on the floor for emphasis as she went to make her point. "I'm afraid you've followed the wrong ideal. This Mallardeuce has led you to a path of self-destruction. What will the people say when they find out all this you've said?"
"HA!" Dante let out a single, loud laugh, feeling absolutely no threat over Tetra's words. "And who is the one that's gonna tell them? You? Like they'll believe anything you tell them now!"
"Really then?" Tetra retorted slyly. She then pointed beyond where Dante was standing. "You! Soldier boy! Don't you dare go out that door without listening what I have to say now." The soldier was immediately frozen in place, incapable of doing anything despite the dark looks Dante gave him. Tetra then snapped her fingers, which prompted Mako to take out a folder and give it to his captain. "This is from the desk of your precious Emperor Dante. Here's a summary of the more questionable laws and decrees in Waarheid... you know, the stuff that makes you wonder why would anyone would follow this." She then opened the report Mako had written and she began reading form where the juicy stuff began. "Let's see. The anti-government propaganda ban... we already went through that before. Prohibition in a creation of political parties of any sort... because if the people have power they can question the law. You'd need to have permission from the Emperor or a close representative to create a club... to make sure they're not talking bad of you, Dantie? Nearly-unrestricted military power to search any non-residential building... Why?"
"Stop that!" Dante roared furiously. "You probably don't even know why those were even made."
"Wow, look at him go." Mako told his comrades from the sidelines. "And the really juicy stuff doesn't really begin until page five!"
"I hope you're listening, boy." Tetra reiterated to the soldier standing by the door. "I can't even begin to describe the depths of this report. And you." She then turned her attention to Dante. "It seems you've forgotten one pivotal point. Exactly why did you build Waarheid? Why did it have to be so frickin' big? And where do I fit into all this?"
"Do you really want to know?" Dante asked darkly. Tetra answered with a determined nod. "Don't blame me if you start crying and bawling over this. As I told you, I am the loyal servant of the great Malladus."
"Are you sure it's not Ganondorf we're talking about here?" Nudge asked.
"NO!!!" Dante yelled, frustrated. "Malladus is nothing like that guy! He is strong and powerful. So much that the good deities could not destroy him, so they had to imprison him. But now I will free him. At first, I wanted to create Waarheid to cover and eventually destroy all the chains set all over the land. This task proved very difficult for one man, but then two twin witches came along. They told me many things... mysterious, cryptic things, and then I toled them what I wanted to do. They said they could help, and they began covering the chains, and with their help, Waarheid was built up in a matter of days. However, they told me this was not going to last a long time, and they told me of one way to make it permanent. Can you guess what comes next?"
Tetra was thinking about all that she heard, and deep in thought, she said the only thing that got to her head. "Hexing ritual?"
"Y... eh... well, yes." Dante stumbled on his words, fully expecting another answer. "A ritual is required. You see, Malladus requires a new body to reenter this world, and any old body would simply not do. Thus, it was by the twin witches that a worthy sacrifice was presented to us. Someone with the magical power and the lineage to sustain his spirit so he will rule again. That someone... is you, princess."
Tetra had to harden her faction to avoid showing the surprise she felt. So this was it, she thought. They want her as a sacrifice to revive a Demon King who would most likely destroy the world if given the chance. She simply could not let this happen. This was to be stopped now, but there was still one nagging question she had to ask before she would do anything. "But then... why didn't you capture me the first chance you got? We were face-to-face at least two times before, and you let me go!"
"I told you, you weren't ready." Dante explained. "You had to awaken your powers in full before we could use you as a worthwhile sacrifice. It took a while, and I even thought we wouldn't make it in time, but here you are! Your mystic aura radiates brightly. Why, you're a pirate in dress only. Now all we need is to..."
"No, I don't think you'll capture me that easily." Tetra said, walking around the room until she and her crew were on the other side, between Dante and the soldier. "You see, you're all alone here, and no matter what you can pull off, you cannot get me. You know that, don't you. Otherwise, you would have already captured me."
"It's funny how you're wrong, princess." Dante said smugly. "You think you're safe now, but I always have an ace up my sleeve. Soldier, call for reinforcements and apprehend this group of insurgents! If you do, I'll remember you in the day Malladus is revived and your benefits will be great!"
The soldier did not know what to do, for the first time in what he could remember, he was incapable of making a clear decision. There was Dante, the guy in charge, the one who paid his salary and whose word was absolute in Waarheid. And then there was Tetra, who had brought some rather odd truths to light, and the fact that she's barely scratched the surface of what Dante's been hiding did not help matters either.
"You've heard what I had to say." Tetra addressed the soldier directly. "Your eyes have been opened, which is why you have these conflicting emotions. But if you look deep inside, you'll know what's right... and act upon it."
The soldier covered his face with his hands while he thought intensely about what to do. His mind felt like it was about to break in half because of all this. Eventually, he came to a decision and silently opened the door and made to leave.
"Atta boy! I'll remember you!" Dante reiterated.
However, the soldier had other plans. He removed his helmet and set it on the floor alongside his weapons, and then he stood back up, looking straight at Dante with a look of clear contempt. The ex-soldier then looked at Tetra and gave her a sincere smile and a salute.
"And what's your name, boy?" Tetra asked the ex-soldier.
"It's Flint, ma'am." The man answered.
"That's a nice name. Now, spread the word, Flint." Tetra said before the man left the room.
"I guess this town really is filled with bumbling fools." Dante lamented, sighing loudly while he rubbed his eye sockets. "I guess the old saying is true: if you want something done right..." Suddenly, a large purple orb formed right in front of Dante, and it grew until it was three-quarters of his height before he released it straight to Tetra. Link thought quickly and threw Tetra his Magic Armor, which she used to cover herself with the purple reflecting shield just in time to avoid the blast and have it bounce back to Dante. "This is going to sting." He said.
Suddenly, the window in the third floor of the Emperor's office shattered open with a grand purple blast, and a large body flew off and crashed through the ground. Dante was feeling furious about that stupid mistake, but he could do little about it, nor would his screams be heard, since he was trapped inside a purple bubble two sizes too small for him.
"Wow. It was that easy?" Niko asked bewildered as the group looked at the trapped Dante from above.
"Of course not." Tetra responded, grabbing the hilt of the cutlass just in case. "He did that magic, and I'll bet he can undo it. Come on, guys, diplomacy time's over. This means war." She then ran to the door of the office and left immediately, followed by Link and the pirates. They ran down the stairs and out the main door to a crowded street full of curious people wanting to see what had happened. They managed to make it to Dante's crater just in time to see the purple bubble dissipate, just as Tetra predicted.
"All right, now this is an audience." Tetra said loudly and resumed reading from the report. She decided to skip a few pages to get straight to the juicy stuff. "Listen, people! Did you know Dante keeps tabs on your every movement? He has a dossier for every family, business, organization, individual, etcetera, just in case someone turns rogue." Upon hearing this, the crowd began chattering loudly, apparently intrigued by what Tetra had to say. "What else is here... Oh! Decree #03250-D: This one gives Dante alone complete control over banishing anybody he doesn't like. Seriously, folks, that's how it's written in the decree."
Just then, Dante began emerging from his resting place and, though covered in dirt and debris, was visibly angered against Tetra. "You! You come in MY city, question MY authority, try and trample over ME, and now spread blatant lies about ME!"
"Lies?" Tetra asked as if someone was wrong about a math question. "No, no, no. Everything here can be supported by the documents with your signature in them. There is no lie passing through my lips, and you know it." She then turned her back to Dante and faced the bulk of the group. "This, people, is the man that you call your leader. A controlling maniac who actually has a thing for demons and world destruction. He's done unthinkable things, and these I just read are only the beginning. And to think he's done this in only five years. What was life here before then? Don't remember? Then I'll tell you: It was beautiful and peaceful! This was a land chosen by the Goddesses to become a prosperous kingdom where everyone could pursue their true happiness, and I was chosen as the ruler of this land. When I rule, every single one of these ridiculous laws will be disposed of, and a new free life will begin! I only ask you that you wait a little as I displace Dante for good."
"So that's it." Dante interrupted Tetra's speech. "It comes down to this. A battle to determine who goes and who stays."
"Yeah. That's right. This is it." Tetra said, unsheathing her cutlass and holding it with both hands right in front of her face. "Come on, Dantie boy. Let's tango."
Evil Emperor
Dante
Tetra did not wait and decided to try giving the first strike, so she charged forward with her cutlass and made to slice Dante right down the middle. However, Before the blade could touch skin, it slammed into an invisible barrier and ricocheted right back, knocking Tetra off balance. Seeing her partner down, Link rushed forward and jumped for an overhead strike. Dante, however, was quick on the take and focused on the green boy, and Link was knocked back before getting too close.
"Talk about unfair." Dante berated while taking a few steps back. "Two against one... you're really sneaky with these types of attacks. Well, in that case let me level the playing field. Soldiers!"
Almost immediately, a flurry of soldiers emerged from nearby and started surrounding Link and Tetra. The soldiers unsheathed their swords and were ready to battle in a moment's notice.
"Well, Link..." Tetra whispered while clutching her cutlass tightly. "I'm sure you have a strategy for this, right?" Link thought for a second, and then nodded while checking the contents of his bag. "Well, then, time to do what you do best."
"Attack!" Dante bellowed. He then walked further back and decided to safely enjoy the show. All the soldiers in the area jumped to the call and attacked at the same time. Link was faster, however, and pulled out his Deku Leaf, and used a mighty wind blast to knock a line of soldiers away. He then jumped in front of Tetra and did a sweeping motion that blew a great deal of soldiers off their balance. Tetra quickly sheathed her sword and used it as a staff, striking soldiers all over while ducking and twisting about to avoid any sort of attacks they could pull off.
Before long, the rest of the pirates broke through the line and joined Tetra and Link in the fray. Senza battled the soldiers directly while Niko climbed atop the busy ones and drove them to the ground. Nudge, Mako and Gonzo battled back-to-back-to-back in a precise form, taking down soldiers left and right. And Zuko... he was left alone, battling about ten soldiers at a time. The soldiers never had a chance.
"Miss Tetra!" Gonzo yelled while blade-locked with a relentless soldier. "We'll take care of things here! You and Link go get Dante!"
"Are you sure?" Tetra asked just before hitting a soldier in the gut with the cutlass' sheath.
"Yes!" Gonzo insisted while finally pushing the soldier away and kicking him in the knee. "We'll be fine. There are bigger fish to fry ahead, so go!"
No sooner had they agreed that, Link pulled a large jump and blew a great deal of soldiers away with his Deku Leaf, clearing a way out of the melee and straight towards Dante. He then grabbed Tetra's arm and pulled her out before the soldiers could recoup.
"Dante!" Tetra yelled after finding the bearded man sitting in a chair near a crumbling building. "Don't you dare run anymore! We'll settle this now!"
"Are you sure you want to fight me?" Dante spoke rather calmly. "Last time you tried, you couldn't even touch me. What makes you think this will be different?"
"Because... I can see." Tetra retorted rather smugly. "I can see your tricks, and I can see through your deception. I can see, just like everybody else is becoming able to see. But also..." Then, her eyes began to glow a ethereally golden glow. "I can see where you're hiding." This specific revelation had both Link and Dante confused. If Dante was there in plain sight, where could he be hiding exactly. "Don't act so surprised, Dante. I see the shield surrounding you. That shield doesn't cover you entirely, though, does it? It only covers wherever you're focused on, am I wrong? All I have to do is take you out of focus and you'll be easy pickings."
"Hmm... impressive." Dante conceded, his face contorted in a suppressed surprise. "You did figure that part out. But I wonder..." He then stood up from his seat and extended his right arm, from which a purple energy sword emerged. "Will that be enough?"
Suddenly, Dante charged towards Tetra, which forced the blond captain to unsheathe her cutlass quickly to block the advance. Link quickly countered and ran to the dictator's back and sent a bomb arrow flying. Dante, however, managed to break the lock just in time to refocus on the bomb arrow enough to avoid being blown by it. Tetra took this opportunity to try and stab Dante with her cutlass, but Dante swung his Energy Sword rapidly and blocked the attack quickly. "You're got to be better than that to defeat me, princess." Dante calmly said.
"Don't worry, I will." Tetra retorted. She joined Link's side and decided to do a joint attack on Dante. They drew their swords and charged at Dante rapidly, catching the man by surprise. Tetra managed to enter a good swipe at Dante, but Link was blocked by Dante's shield. The emperor, taken aback by his carelessness, stumbled backwards and set his Energy Sword in a defensive position before continuing. "All right, Link, we can do this! All we gotta do is distract him." Tetra explained, feeling pleased in finding a weakness in the mighty emperor. They then charged again in unison, with swords ready for stabbing, when...
"ENOUGH!" Dante bellowed. In his bellowing, a large shock wave knocked Link and Tetra straight back and a large pillar of green fire emerged from the ground in front of Dante. Tetra and Link sported dual gazes of amazement and horror as the only things visible from Dante through the flames were select parts of his face, including his eyes shining green from the flame's glow. "You dare make a mockery of me! Then you shall suffer as no one else has!" The dictator then extended his arm and launched the wall of flames towards Tetra, and the duo jumped off in opposite directions just in time to avoid getting singed. Dante then summoned a circle of flames around him, and expanded it all around him, torching everything that was in its path. Luckily, Tetra and Link had found refuge behind stone walls and suffered no real damage besides a few extra beads of sweat.
"He knows MAGIC?!" Tetra exclaimed. This definitely changed her whole strategy for her, since they had to approach Dante and distract him while they avoided getting blasted with whatever he knew. For her, it wasn't that big a problem, since she held the Magic Armor, but what about Link? If she wanted to truly win this, she needed to go and expose herself, even if it meant risking death... or worse, capture. Tetra looked around, and when the coast was clear, she ran off into the shade.
"Hey, Dante! Over here!" Tetra called out from a faraway pile of debris to the left of where Dante was looking. When Dante turned to see, Tetra had the Magic Armor on her left and and Mako's report on the right hand. "People, listen now! The truth of your great emperor! A law has been passed enacting Dante total unilateral control over taxation and the use of said funds. Would YOU like to know what they do with that money you give them? Well, though luck! Also, here's a puppy... kicking... you're not serious! A puppy-kicking and kitty-drowning law? I knew you were bad, but this? This is just evil. You don't mess with cats."
"You don't know!" Dante yelled out while stomping his way to Tetra, all this while the crowd nearby was chattering about what they just heard, and even some brave ones talking out loud about how they felt things were wrong some time ago. "Those... cats! Always meowing at night and keeping you awake. They're annoying!"
"Annoying?" Tetra questioned. She even took a look back at her unsuspecting crowd in the background to see if they understood. When she turned back to Dante, though, her look was of complete fury and determination. "I! LOVE! CATS!"
Tetra suddenly rushed down from her perch of debris and launched herself to kick Dante right in the chin, but Dante was ready for her and was raising his hand to do some sort of magical incantation. Then, Link emerged from behind his wall and rushed to Dante at the same time, forcing the emperor to focus on the male menace first by erecting a flame wall in between Link and himself. Link managed to stop just in time thanks to his raised shield, but moreover, as soon as Dante turned around, Tetra managed to hit him squarely in the jaw with her hard boots, rendering him momentarily unaware of his surroundings. Link took advantage of this and used his Grappling Hook to tie Dante up and try to keep him immobile.
"You know that's not going to keep him down, right?" Tetra reminded her partner, to which Link opened her eyes like saucers and began smiling suspiciously, as if he had no real plan B. Still, this gave them time to think up another solution. "Ok, here's how I see it. Last time, we attacked right at the same time. This means Dante can't stay focused on two separate things at once. So I say we split up and attack him from opposite directions at the same time. That way, we'll manage to beat him." Just then, Dante began to stir up again, which alarmed the pair. "Ok, you go that way and I'll go this way. Remember the plan, and don't worry, we're almost at the end."
When Dante came to his senses, he found himself tightly bound, which he did not like one bit. In a furious rage, he flexed his bulgy muscles and broke the cord tying him up and freeing himself with a new-found sense of anger. He looked around until he found where Tetra was and pointed straight at her. "You!" Dante yelled at his opponent. "You think you're so smart, kicking me. Well, let's see how you like this!" Then, Dante enveloped himself in a strange eerie glow which turned his factions rather dark and rather indescribable. "Now, let's just say that you do so much as to touch a hair of mine. You do so, and you'll be instantly encased in an inescapable trap and ready for our sacrifice."
"And let's just say this!" Tetra retorted by revisiting the report. This time, however, she skipped almost to the end, where the most dangerous stuff was described. Before reading out loud, however, Tetra's eyes opened up in shock and she could not believe what was written in there. "PEOPLE! You HAVE to listen to this!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, gathering the attention of every civilian nearby, who were already rapt in attention. "Three things are described here, and you will not believe it! One, the creation of super secret jails in three different places, all with the express intent of taking many of the prisoners and subject them to horrendous torture until death! Two, the Waarheid New Life program, where old memories are suppressed so nobody remembers anything before this place was built! Three, the Emergency Waarheid Destruction plan, to be enacted as of this writing, gives Emperor Dante absolute authority to go ahead and destroy your city in part or whole for ANY reason by just giving the word! This includes killing anybody that he deems necessary with no distinction of age, gender, occupation, social status, etcetera!" At this point, the crowd was chattering loudly amongst themselves, some even yelling stuff directly at Dante, stuff such as 'traitor' and 'murderer'. This, combined with Tetra's complete smug satisfactory look, made Dante's anger build up to a extreme.
"So what!" Dante yelled so loudly it echoed through the town. "I never really cared of this place! Yeah, I said it! I let these people live because it was fun for me, and I needed a good cover for when you got here! Now all that is irrelevant, since all I have to do is touch you once and it's all over. So come on! Try and battle me without touching me, and you'll find how impossible it is!"
"Impossible you say?" Tetra questioned. She then rushed right at Dante with her cutlass drawn in front of her. Then, right at the final moment, She took a crucial step back before Dante could reach her, and when he realized what her grinning face meant, it was too late: Link had already launched a bomb arrow from behind, which exploded right by Dante's feet, making him fly forward about a foot before landing on his face. "I think you'll find it very possible indeed." Tetra finished.
Dante was quick to stand up, and he quickly stood sideways to try and focus on both Link and Tetra, who were standing at opposite sides from him. Dante then created two Energy Swords from his hands and launched them at both his opponents, but they were far enough to avoid them swiftly. Dante tried again and again to hit them with Energy Swords, but Tetra and Link were keeping up with the attack just fine. In the midst of this attack, Link pulled out his bow and pointed at it to Tetra, which prompted her to equip her own, and when the time was right, they both powered their arrows, Link with ice and Tetra with light. As soon as Dante let up for a second, the pair let their arrows fly at the same time. Dante thought Tetra's arrow to be the more dangerous one and swatted it away with his Energy Sword, but that gave way for Link's ice arrow to freeze nearly every part of his body. Then, Link and Tetra joined once more and quickly launched a pair of bomb arrows right at Dante's frozen body.
The blast was so magnificent and earth-shattering, that even Link and Tetra, and even the crowd that was witnessing the battle were knocked back by it. When the smoke cleared, Dante laid on the ground, charred and motionless.
"Ha, HA!" Tetra laughed in between heavy breathing. "In the end, you were just a petty enemy. Durable, yes, but petty. He was kinda like a rabbit, in a cosmic kind of way." She then turned around to see the crowd looking at the aftermath of the battle in silent curiosity. She looked at Link, and they both knew the best course of action was just to tell them what's been going on. "People of this land, listen to me. Your ex-emperor Dante was not who you think he was. He was a man possessed by an evil ideal, and he sought to revive an ancient evil that would have killed us all." Right then, the crowd gasped loudly, and some even showed signs of horror. "I know, it would not have been pretty if he had succeeded. However, we, those who will take care of this land like it were our own child, have bested him, and he will no longer be capable of pursuing his dream."
"Captain!" A faint but discernible voice was heard from among the crowd.
"I know of his goals because I have this..." She then showed the report that Mako had prepared for her to the public. "If you still have doubts, I can make sure you get a copy of this so you can see for yourself."
"Captainnnn..." The voice spoke again, this time in a more alarmed tone. The voice also had a body, and it looked like Niko.
"But now that Dante is done for, it will be time for a new beginning. I know some of you may have doubts as to why we're the ones who will take the reins of this land, but I will assure you that all will be made clear in time. Why..." She then turned to face Link with a most devious smile. "... I even have the name for the book. What do you think of 'A Kingdom Reborn'?"
(A/N: 'A Kingdom Reborn' was the original title for ZOoL. It was like that until about a week before it premiered. Now back to your story.)
"CAPTAIN!" Niko yelled, already in front of the crowd. This made Tetra leer at him dangerously, which meeked him out. Still he had to say what he had to say, and sadly, there was no way to sugarcoat it. "He... he's not done."
"What do you mean? Who's not d..." Suddenly, the realization of what Niko meant hit her like a ton of bricks. Tetra's factions dropped, her arms flopped down, and her feet threatened to fail her. She did not dare to turn around, but she had to now that Niko mentioned it. When she finally braved a look, Tetra noticed that among the charred Dante, his face had turned from straight down to looking right at her with large, anger-filled eyes.
"Y... you..." Dante spoke through labored breaths. He struggled to stand up, but each and every movement he made was an exercise in pain. "You're truly... one of a kind. Malladus... will be so proud of me... when I bring him... such a marvelous body." When Dante had finally stood up, his pitch-black frame made him look even more menacing than he looked before, effectively frightening the bulk of the crowd into retreating from the area. Tetra and Link were frozen in place, as if they were pelted by Deku Nuts while facing a couple of screaming redeads, and while they couldn't react, Dante quickly reached with his arm and grabbed Tetra's head, making her captain's hat fly off and destroying her bun. Tetra emitted a frightened scream... but afterwards, nothing happened. Dante waited a few seconds, but nothing was working. "The power... it's gone. Why is it gone?" Furious, Dante jerked his arm around and threw Tetra right to the ground face-first.
"My, you sure are resilient." An elderly voice commented from within the remaining crowd. When the voice was heard, the crowd parted to let an old woman with light-purple hair and a mechanical wheelchair through. "When I knew knew of this confrontation, I rushed here as soon as I could. I'm glad I made it so fast, and I wouldn't have done it without the Spirit Train." Those last words made Dante gasp loudly. There was something seriously wrong with his plan if those words were really true. "You know what this means, right? That little curse you and those witches tried to set on the Spirit Tracks has been finally lifted. Your plan of reviving Malladus has failed."
Just as soon as Anjean had uttered those words, an ethereal light began to shine around several points in the ruins of Waarheid, criss-crossing around and evaporating whatever debris it came in contact with. Dante managed to step away from an incoming light and witnessed as the light cleared the area and replaced the debris with a clean chain-patterned path with some fresh grass in the corners. This happened all over Waarheid, leaving the people either very amazed or very scared.
Meanwhile Link was tending over Tetra's new wound in her forehead and trying to make her wake up. He cleaned some of her blood off, but when he touched just too close to the wound, Tetra stirred with a wimpy groan of pain. "Watch it." She said groggily. When she eventually got to her senses, she opened her eyes and tried to assess the situation. "My hair... this is getting annoying. Anyway, what's happened?" She asked Link, to which the green-garbed boy simply pointed over to Anjean's position.
"Your powers are moot now, since your source is incapable of channeling them anymore." Anjean continued speaking to Dante. "I think the best thing you can do is get checked for all those burns. Maybe with some therapy you'll return to your previous look. Well, the beard is lost already, but otherwise..." She finished with a bit of a laugh.
"Yeah, that's right... Laugh at me..." Dante retorted, still finding it hard to breathe. "Poor Dante... He has lost, you say. I'll show you... why there's nothing... more dangerous... than one... who has nothing to lose. You think Malladus was my only source of power... But I developed something on my own... just in case."
Then, Dante dropped to his knees, and through great concentration and a great deal of screaming in pain, he emitted a faint yellow glow from within his body. The glow enveloped him entirely, covering every inch of his deteriorated skin and clothes, and eventually becoming bigger and bigger... so big, in fact, that everybody around him had to walk backwards to avoid getting absorbed into the yellow glow. When the glow started to dissipate, a gargantuan monster remained in its place. It had Dante's face and newly reinstated hair, but its body was unnaturally bulky, long and strong-looking. The arms looked like growing cones and its hands could barely create a proper fist, its body was almost spherical and incredibly heavy-looking, and his legs were long and proper for kicking and running. Standing up, the monster was roughly four stories tall, dwarfing almost every still-standing building in Waarheid. Indeed, Dante had managed to transform himself into a frightening and gigantic monster, causing panic all over the city.
"You may have foiled my plans, but I am still standing." Dante boomed from high above. "I cannot use you as a sacrifice anymore, but now I'm just going to kill you!"
"Niko! Gonzo!" Tetra called to the two pirates closest to her. "Find the rest of the crew and the Revolutionists, and bring every civilian you can find into the rat holes. Now!" They did not need to be told twice, and ran off to where they last saw their people. When they were gone, Tetra approached Link and pulled out her bow. "Bomb arrows at will!" She ordered. Link and Tetra armed their bows with bomb arrows and let them fly to Dante. Both arrows, pointed at different points, managed to find their target, which relieved Tetra in knowing there was no more shield to go past. However, when the dust cleared, there was not a trace of damage in Dante's body.
"What?" Tetra asked herself. Determined to find a weakness, Tetra powered a Light arrow, to which Link quickly followed with a Fire arrow. Both arrows reached Dante as well, but despite having knocked him back some, only the Light arrow managed to make some minuscule damage. "No way. This is impossible. He's all but indestructible!"
Suddenly, Dante began moving forward. For a large, bulky monster, Dante managed to walk rather briskly, meaning that Link and Tetra were forced to run at their fastest. Tetra ran admirably, but she was lagging behind the faster Link, which forced the young hero to slow his pace and carry her while he rummaged through his bag. Then, the pair entered a part of town that still had nearly-intact buildings. Link took this opportunity and aimed his Hookshot as high as he could and grappled to a high point in a three-story building. They wasted no time in entering through the building's window, yet they were not farther than halfway into the first room when Dante swept his arm across the building and brought much of the ceiling down, almost trampling the runaway pair. Link and Tetra quickly made it up to the crumbling roof and, sharing the Deku Leaf, jumped into a neighboring building just before Dante walked right by the building they just were.
While they were leaping from rooftop to rooftop, Link and Tetra lobbed bombs and Deku Nuts to Dante's face, in hopes of damaging him. While this proved handy in slowing him down, they still did not manage to bring him any sort of damage.
"What are we going to do, Link?" Tetra asked, with some desperation already creeping into her voice. "We can't keep this up all day. We HAVE to stop him!"
"In you go." Dennis motioned for the remaining civilians to enter the cave entrance that led to the famous rat holes. "Come on, guys. You're the last ones. There's space for you inside, yes. Not a lot, but it's safe."
"Oh, my. This is crowded." Anjean commented as she began to survey the interiors of the rat holes. "I sure hope I remember how to reach the Spirit Temple from here. Why, I used these things a lot when I was younger, you know. Great hiding places, they are. Once, I played hide and go seek and they didn't find me for a week, all because..."
"Well, that's that." Senza said to his comrades. The last civilian had finally entered, and only they remained outside. All that time, however, the rumbling of the floor that was most likely due to Dante's stampede was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. "Guys... We should get in... right."
"I... guess..." Nudge said hesitantly, hovering around the entrance but not being capable of going inside. "Oh, I can't do this!" He finally snapped. "Not when our captain is out there, probably within an inch of death! I can't just leave her behind!"
"I think she would've wanted us to get in that hole and remain safe." Mako pondered. This made the crew think it all over to see if it was worthwhile.
"Then I'm sorry, but I'll have to disobey her this one time." Niko said plainly. "I'm sorry, I won't do it."
"You're right, man." Gonzo concurred with Niko's way of thinking. "We have to do something to help her."
"But what?" Zuko asked. "You saw that thing... He can take a beating from any normal weapon."
"Man, Zuko's right." Nudge lamented their current uselessness. "We can't just use our bombs or blades on him. What CAN we do?"
"Maybe..." Mako began to wonder as he pointed at several random directions, trying to put his thoughts together. "Maybe normal weapons will not get him, but what about bigger weapons?"
"Bigger weapons?" Gonzo questioned... but then he fell right within Mako's train of thought. "You mean like the ship's cannons?"
"Of course!" Niko lit up when he heard the idea. "There's no way that huge thing could be invulnerable to everything. And if we use extra powder, those cannonballs will fly extra hard! He won't know what hit him!"
"So..." Senza interjected, letting out a small laugh. "I guess we're back to doing what we do best."
"Blowing stuff up..." Zuko uttered while rubbing his hands together and growing a wide grin. "Goody."
Meanwhile, the group of Revolutionists watched carefully at the pirates and their movements. "These guys are crazy." Phil commented. "That Dante needs to get stopped, yes, but like that?"
"Well, who knows." Alexa said calmly. "Maybe they have the right idea. Maybe we ought to get in on the act as well. What do you think, Linebeck. Linebeck?"
Linebeck was there, but it was as if he weren't, as he was deep in thought over something he would simply not talk about and, like Mako, he preferred to point around in random directions while thinking. Suddenly, his face was awash with some sort of clear understanding. "My ship!" He yelled. He looked all over, and when he finally found his heading, he bolted right out of the place. "Don't worry guys! I'm not running away! I'll be back, I promise!" He yelled while disappearing within the debris.
Dante's pace had slowed, which gave Tetra and Link some much needed breather space. However, the large monster now focused on stomping on the floor extra hard, which made the duo spring out of the floor, and pelting them with stones of every kind and size. Link tried batting the rocks right back with his sword, but all he managed was avoid getting trampled by tons of rocks while getting covered in dust and debris.
"Link, it's no use!" Tetra called out her partner and grabbed his arms to make him stop. "There's nothing we know that will damage him. He'll just continue his rampage until he somehow runs out of energy, and then... Well, I don't know what would happen next."
Just then, a black flying sphere flew right above Dante's head, surprising Link and Tetra, and even the monstrous Dante. "What the..." Just before Dante could finish, another sphere flew about... only this time, it hit its intended target: Dante. The humongous monster was knocked down for the first time since he adopted that form, and he grabbed his left shoulder with his hand. Tetra and Link could make out small splotches of blood protruding from the fingers, a clear sign that Dante was not just a hard-rock monster, but had a soft, squishy interior.
"Could that be..." Tetra wondered. Just then, her answer arrived in the form of yet another sphere. This one conked Dante right on the head, and it ricocheted and bounced to where Tetra and Link were. They inspected it, and they were certain: those were their own cannonballs, straight from the pirate ship. "Gonzo and the rest... The guys might have done it!" Tetra yelled in excitement.
"Taken off guard." Dante lamented having been pelted, which resulted in her current concussion and bleeding. "No more." He then stood up, and instead of facing Tetra and Link, he faced the way where the cannonballs were coming from: he was staring right at a red dot in the sea, which turned out to be the Great Sea Pirate Ship.
Dante began walking, then running, right towards the ship, ready to bring retribution to those who dared hurt him even in that large form. This began alarming Tetra, whose expression quickly dropped to one of worry. "The guys. No! Link, let's go!" She ordered, and before Link could be truly ready, Tetra pulled on him and started chasing after Dante. "I don't know how, but we have to stop him! We have to distract Dante... no matter WHAT!"
Meanwhile, on the pirate ship, the pirates were already cheering over seeing Dante stumble over and fall through their telescopes. Hey knew their plan was working, and they knew taking the cannons out to the top deck worked to get the distance they needed, and all they needed to do was keep it up and eventually, Dante would have to fall for good.
But then, they noticed something was wrong. Even though they were knocking him back and they were drawing blood with each successful strike, the cannonballs were no longer stopping Dante entirely. Even worse, the monster was actually getting closer and closer, advancing straight at them.
"This is not good." Nudge said, alarmed. "We have to stop, now!"
"But then Dante will only go back and attack the Captain!" Niko reasoned. "We can't stop now! We can do it, guys."
Thus the pirates continued to use their cannons as fast as they could load them. They also used their catapult to throw large barrels of gunpowder and bundles of spiky spheres to try and get Dante to wince in pain if he stepped in them. They had also pulled out the heavy manual artillery, with such things as bazookas, boomsticks, and stacks of dynamite. Their aim was marvelous for such an improvised offensive, but for some reason, no matter how many cannonballs they managed to hit Dante with, and no matter how much blood they drew from him, the monstrosity simply did not wish to stop for one second.
"... He's not stopping." Nudge said in almost a whisper as Dante's furious expression was becoming clearer and clearer to them. His voice was trebling, and his breath began to become shallow. His eyes were widening, and his body was sweating bullets. He was a three-year old again, deathly afraid of the monster under his bed. Only... the monster was right in front of him. "He's going to take us. He's going to sink the ship."
"ABANDON SHIP!!" Tetra yelled out, trying to make her voice heard to those in the pirate ship. "ABANDON SHIP! THAT'S AN ORDER! JUMP OFF! RUN AWAY! I DON'T CARE, JUST GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Tetra's face was becoming fraught with panic, worried that her words fell on deaf ears. She was getting tired of running, and Dante was already out-pacing her to begin with, but she could not give up, not when her crew, her family, was in danger.
"Guys..." Gonzo addressed the rest of the pirates in the ship after just barely hearing Tetra's order. "A quick vote. Any of you in favor of leaving?" He looked around to see if anybody would raise their hands. "No shame in it, you know." The guys looked at each other, sharing the same uneasy looks. Still, none of them raised their hands. "Staying?" Gonzo asked. Niko and Zuko raised their arms almost immediately, while Senza and Mako took a small while to raise theirs. Nudge was hesitant, but eventually he also raised his hand in support. "Well, that's that." Gonzo finalized as he turned to face an ever-approaching Dante. "Our fates are sealed."
"NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Tetra yelled at their crew while still trying to catch up with Dante. "THIS IS MADNESS! DON'T STAY ABOARD! I WON'T HAVE ANY OF THAT, YOU HEAR?!"
"It's okay, Miss Tetra."
"What?" Tetra suddenly stopped. She could've sworn she had heard Gonzo's voice, clear as day. When she looked around, she noticed a pocket in her coat was glowing, and when she checked, a blue stone was stowed into it. "Gonzo? What are you doing?"
"We... sort of expected this outcome to rear its ugly head sometime, Miss Tetra" Mako spoke through the blue stone. "We decided what we had to do if such an event happened."
"We are ready. We are unafraid." Zuko explained cleanly.
Tetra and Link could not believe what they were hearing. Ahead of them, a raging monster was running towards their pirate ship, and the crew was right there, using every bit of firepower to contain the ferocious beast, and they were only succeeding in making it angrier. Cannonballs whizzed by, and blasts of guns and bazookas filled the air, making the scene look like some war-torn battlefield still in the midst of battle.
"No." Tetra whispered when the whole of what they intended to do hit her. "NO!" She yelled louder. "I prohibit you from continuing! Stop shooting him and get outta there! Now!"
"Don't worry, Captain." Niko said, his voice beginning to crack a little while talking. "When... when I joined this crew, I knew what I had to do. This is something I have to do."
"No you don't!" Tetra yelled again, her voice becoming hoarse from all of it. "I'm telling you, stop being stubborn and get out of there! We'll think of something else! Just move!"
"I'm sorry, but there's no time." Senza reasoned. "This is your only chance. Don't waste it."
"Dante will go down one way or another." Gonzo said. "We'll make sure of it. You will see."
"Eh... just so we're clear." Nudge took his turn to speak. "I don't regret being in this crew at all. No matter how much we deviated from true blue pirating."
Tetra tried to hold them, but she could not fight back her tears. The bitter, warm tears began flowing down her cheeks, and Link could do little else but to console her and try to be strong both of them. Link however, stood back and tried not to look forward to where Dante was charging. Every time he sneaked a look, his throat felt stuck and he could barely control himself. The pair, however, stood in a desolate area listening quietly to what their friends were saying to them.
"After this, I hope you make a grandiose kingdom. A kingdom worthy of admiration." Mako said.
"Do know that wherever we are, we will look at you two... and we will smile." Senza said.
"Don't let our efforts be in vain. Work past this! I won't forgive you if you don't." Nudge said.
"Because we love what we do... and we love who we work with..." Zuko said.
"Miss Tetra... no... Princess Zelda. I know you will make us proud." Gonzo said.
"I told you, Link. Just watch me. I will be incredible." Niko said.
The blue stone stopped glowing right there, and any voices were cut off from Tetra and Link's earshot. "Hey... HEY!" Tetra yelled to the inert rock, her hoarse voice already cracking badly. "Guys! Don't go! DON'T GO!"
Dante's rampage was unstoppable, and he was already at the docks, making his way towards the ship. It was there when Gonzo decided to approach Niko, who was rather on edge. "You know, it's not too late." Gonzo whispered to Niko. "Jump off. Nobody will think less of you."
"No way." Niko said with finality in his voice. "I'm part of this crew to the end."
Gonzo saw this, the determination in the young pirate's eyes, the steely nerves with which he held that bazooka despite what lay ahead, and he couldn't help but admire him. "You know... I think we called you a swabbie for too long." Gonzo then gave an approving nod to Niko, to which Niko responded in kind. Then, they both looked forward, to a Dante that was basically steps away from them. "Go get them, Pirate Niko." Gonzo finished.
Then, Dante made a final leap, making to land right on top of the ship.
"FIRE!!!" Gonzo bellowed while pointing to the body on top of the ship. In an instant, all the cannons, all the guns, all the bazookas, and the catapult filled with all the dynamite, Deku Nuts and bombs they could find were all aimed right up to the falling Dante, and a magnitude of explosions and detonations adorned the top deck of the Great Sea Pirate Ship one last time...
For Dante fell right on the ship, braking it clean in half, snapping its mast like a twig, causing a massive splash in the ocean, and forcing the ship underwater in a matter of seconds. As the ship sank, blasts and detonations could still be seen from above, almost as if the battle had endured far into the depths of the ocean.
Tetra dropped to her knees after witnessing this. She was in a state of absolute shock. She could not believe what had just happened in front of her. She could not comprehend that in a flash, her ship, with its memories and everything that was in there, as well as her crew and friends, were simply gone. She could not process it fully. For Link, he had never before felt such a sense of helplessness. His eyes darted about, waiting for something that could help him here, even though he knew full well that there was no help in this situation, and he could do nothing to reverse anything that happened here.
"No..." Tetra whispered, almost inaudibly so. "No..."
...
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...
...
...
"N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N N O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O
O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Tetra, fast falling into irreversible despair, burst into a sprint that made her stumble and fall a couple of times before she could run nonstop. Her waning energies were a moot point, as were her pains in her head and feet. She did not care for anything in the world right now, she couldn't care less if there was a radical change happening right behind her with the ruins of Waarheid. All she cared about was knowing if her crew somehow miraculously survived such a savage attack.
"Please... please don't let it be true!" Tetra spoke to herself, trying to psyche herself into calming down. "Please... tell me this is some sort of cruel joke. I'd flog them silly, and then I'd hug them tightly. But please... this can't be true... THIS CAN'T BE TRUE!!!"
Finally, Tetra made it to the turbulent waters where her ship once was. She then began looking around the water for any sign of life or anything that could tell her that someone had survived. "GONZO!! SENZA!!" She began calling at the top of her voice. "MAKO!! NIKO!! NUDGE!! ZUKO!! Answer... answer me-e-e-e-e-e-e..." Right there, Tetra broke down in tears, having finally given in to despair and feeling utterly helpless and hopeless. "ANSWER ME!!!!"
Link emerged from the dusty ruins of the harbor, still deeply shaken by what just happened, but determined not to cry if it meant giving Tetra some sort of comfort. He approached the blond captain and very gently set a hand on her shoulder, which let her know that he was there, and he was there for her. "Link..." Tetra whispered, as her voice had already become damaged form the screaming. "They're... gone. The guys... Gonzo... Niko... Senza... they're really gone. They're... they're..." She couldn't handle it, and she hung to Link in a tight embrace, all while new tears began to stream down her cheeks. Link held on to Tetra, caressing her head and trying to calm her down in any way he could think of all while she unloaded every bit of sadness she could wring from her heart.
Eventually, The tears stopped, and Link and Tetra broke the embrace. Link then took out a napkin and gave it to Tetra, which she used to clean her face from the unsightly stream left by her tears. Afterwards, they both approached the border of the harbor and looked over at the horizon, and for the first time in a long time, they did not know what they had to do now.
"What now?" Tetra asked. "We can't do this alone. We have no heading. I lost the compass and the book... and now... It just feels like that day, where I had to be captain overnight... only now, I don't even have my crew."
Tetra hung her head, feeling helpless again. While it may be true that they might have won, it didn't really feel like a victory to her, and the long sets of hard work that laid ahead were not encouraging, either. In all this, however, Link approached her, and decided to get her attention and make her feel better.
"You know..." He began. "There was a time where I felt like that. Silly, right? Well, it happened. It was when I was... well, you know... trapped by those Wallmasters. The things I experienced when I was in that realm were the stuff of nightmares. Horrible, terrifying things that I can't even begin to describe. It sucks the life and joy right out of you, and makes you feel like you're nothing but a hollow husk of a person. I was almost ready to give in and let myself die... but then something sneaked in. It was a voice, and that voice was calling out my name. That voice said that I was needed." Tetra's eyes began to sparkle and water again as she realized where Link's story was going. "That voice... it was you, wasn't it? You called for me, because you needed me. You know, thanks to that, you saved my life. It was then when I decided I was not gonna let myself die there, that I was going to do everything I could and then some to return and be there for you. And... well... I never really properly thanked you for it. Thank you, Tetra."
Tetra's eyes were filling up with unshed tears, but she didn't felt nearly as sad as she was just a while ago. "You and your eloquent speeches." She mock-admonished her partner.
"So... We may not have a heading now." Link continued. "We may not know how to build a house, even. But eventually, we'll be able to build this kingdom. We'll be able to finally do what we were set out to do that night, so long ago. I know it, and the crew knew it. That's why they did what they did, because they believed in you. You gave them what no other captain this that sea would have given them... a place to call home, and the love and consideration to treat them as they were, as people. Yes, I am sad as well, but I will not waste their effort. We can finish this, if we work... together."
"Oh, Link!" Tetra let out before throwing herself to his arms and holding him in yet another tight embrace.
"Tee..." Link said as he answered the embrace.
Neither of them saw the enchanted wall flying at top speed towards them.
The enchanted wall pushed the pair with great force right into the sea, where the turbulent, raging waves forced them apart and away from the coast and deeper into the ocean.
"LINK!" Tetra called out while trying to remain above water in the furious ocean.
"TETRA!" Link called out from afar, his body confused by the turquoise sea color and still struggling despite his horrible swimming skills.
And then, they lost sight of the coast, and of each other. Link and Tetra struggled to survive in the unforgiving current of the sea, a task proving to be more and more difficult each passing minute. Their only hope is that whatever destination the sea was choosing for them, they could somehow find themselves alive.
And the only thing remaining from the battle was a lone tattered pirate flag, which floated slowly to the surface.
**To Be Continued**