fleets: Happy Holidays! Sorry it's not a Rend update like I'd planned initially, but something kept making me come back to this story instead. Hope you don't mind too much :P
Disclaimer: In addition to the fact I don't own the Zelda franchise, I also don't own the Pokemon franchise. Nintendo does ;)
Chapter 3: So This is… Working Together?
As soon as Dark got home from school later that day, he made his way straight to Vaati's room where he was sure the sorcerer had arrived fifteen minutes earlier like any other day. He ignored the initial yammering of Loze ordering him to help run the pizzeria, and he skipped the stairs two at a time until he reached the second floor. He stopped in front of the closed door to the sorcerer's room, suspicion blooming on his face.
Vaati always kept the door to his room open when he got back from school because he didn't like being cooped up. It was strange seeing him locking himself up like this.
Something's fishy… Dark narrowed his eyes. He felt a little ashamed when he pressed his ear against the door to see if he could hear anything, but a little eavesdropping never hurt anyone. As long as he kept it to himself, at least.
Hands in the pockets of his jeans, Dark could make out faint tapping sounds of fingers furiously moving over a keyboard. There were a few pauses – probably from Vaati reading something on the computer – before another series of clicks and taps could be heard from behind the door.
Dark stepped away from the door, rubbing his chin. That's a first. He actually seems busy for once.
Curious.
Just then, the door whipped open and Vaati nearly collided with Dark when the teen stepped outside. Dark flinched backwards, awkwardly trying to pretend he had been about to go to his own room. "Uh, hi Vaati."
Vaati just stared at him with a hint of slightly crazed obsession. It was that look he had when he was excited about something. Like, really excited about something. "Oh, it's just you," he mentioned when he noticed Dark. Then, Vaati stole a look downstairs to make sure Loze was busy with running the store.
"Hey, I was meaning to ask but are you okay?"
"Hmm, make sure Loze doesn't notice I'm gone. I'll be back in an hour, I'm going to the Palace," Vaati mumbled. When Dark looked at him pointedly, he seemed to notice his housemate had asked him something. "Oh sorry. What was that?"
Dark sighed. "Okay, look, you're hiding something aren't you?"
That got Vaati's attention. The sorcerer rounded on him defensively. "What gave you that idea?"
"You're not acting yourself. Actually, I take that back; you're acting like your creepy self except it's much more exaggerated than usual. Come on, just tell me already. You've been weird since you went out for lunch today."
Vaati regarded him for a long time. Then, he smiled wryly. "I ran into quite a catch today, and we exchanged phone numbers."
Dark looked at him skeptically. "A girl? You?"
"The whole thing sounds dangerous and exciting," Vaati laughed as he prepared to warp away. "What more can a guy ask for?"
As he left Dark with those words, he found amusement in the fact that he hadn't technically lied. The sorcerer chuckled at how clever he thought he was.
What Vaati didn't see was how Dark didn't really believe everything he'd said. He'd lived with the sorcerer for two years now – he knew that no girl would ever be able to make the wind mage have that devious, fiery expression he'd had as he'd walked out of his room. Vaati was after something big. Something bigger than a new female interest, that much was sure.
Dark cracked his knuckles.
I'm going to get to the bottom of this, Vaati.
XXXXXXXXX
"Mind your step, Thyme dear."
"What is – Ah!"
"I told you to mind your step, Thyme dear."
"This place is so cluttered! Thistle, what is this?"
"I heard somewhere that people expect practitioners of magic to have clutter, so I added some disordered orderliness to this place."
"You're not serious."
"Can't you just feel your skin tingling from all the magical power created from The Clutter?"
"All right, your sarcasm is so thick you could suffocate people with it…"
"Truthfully I just felt lazy about putting things away."
"I thought it was something like that. Huh, what's that you have there?"
"Oh, this thing? It's something fun I've been working on recently."
"It looks like a metal capsule of some sort? What does it do?"
"Here, try it."
"Hmm."
"Slide the small switch on the side until the center button glows blue."
"Uh huh."
"Now press the button and throw it."
"Okay then… EEEK!"
"Ah. I forgot to warn you…"
"Thistle! Oh my goddesses, everything's soaked!"
"Er, yes. I forgot to warn you that the metal ball contains pressurized water that is set to shoot water everywhere when thrown."
"It didn't occur to you that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't something to be used indoors?"
"It's not like water's going to hurt anybody."
"Here, I'm going to find some towels..."
"Isn't it fun though? I like to call it Squirtle."
"I'm not amused."
"I made another kind, too. This one glows red."
"…"
"Uh, well, I wouldn't recommend trying this one though,"
"I wouldn't have recommended trying 'Squirtle,' either."
"Because, er, how should I put it, this one is filled with gasoline."
"… oh my goddesses. Thistle –"
"I'm thinking of replacing it with ethanol instead. It's cheaper."
"Thistle."
"I call this one Charmander."
"That's no different than a bomb."
"It's not supposed to explode. Nothing's going to happen as long as no one lights a match next to it. And besides, if anything catches on fire I can put it out with Squirtle."
"What are these even for?"
"What do you think about painting these red and white?"
"You're dodging the question."
"The fact that I am ignoring your question should indicate that it's for me to know and for you to find out. But what do you think about painting these red and white?"
"SIGH. You mean like Pokeballs?"
"Exactly! Wouldn't that be fun?"
"And you're going to catch them all, are you?"
"Mmm, no. Just these two. And then I'll throw them with an 'I Choose You'!"
"And have water and ethanol everywhere, yes?"
"Yes."
"Do you ever take anything seriously?"
"What an absurd question. I'm always serious about everything."
"You're doing it again."
"What?"
"That voice you use when you're making fun of something."
"You mean when I'm lying?"
"Yes."
"And when I'm being sarcastic?"
"Yes."
"And therefore the voice I use seventy percent of the time?"
"More like ninety, yes."
"Well, then count this in the ten percent when I'm not being ironic, but these two things I made? They're not just toys. These little capsules are going to be very useful to me."
"Mmm."
"Oh, and very, very fun. Hilariously so, in fact."
XXXXXXXXXX
Sixteen days later, Vaati closed his locker for the last time that week. Tomorrow was Saturday, and the sorcerer was beginning to wonder when he was going to actually start hearing details about the temple expedition. It was almost three weeks since he had spoken to Dugal about it, and his initial excited impatience about it was dwindling into a fizzle with each passing day. Even Dark, who had been keeping a close eye on him to see what he was fretting about, had lost some interest and wasn't spying on him so much anymore.
He still didn't even know where they were going.
"Hey Vaati. Ready to go back home?" Dark came up next to him with his backpack slung over his shoulder. He sounded tired after a week's worth of classes.
Vaati nodded, tired for other reasons.
"You have any plans for the weekend? Are you free?"
The sorcerer shrugged.
"Wow I'm surprised. What about that girl you were so excited about three weeks ago? It doesn't seem like she's very interested in you if you're so free," the black haired teen snickered.
Vaati shot Dark a dirty look. The lack of communication from Dugal was exactly what was irritating him these days and he didn't need Dark rubbing it in. It was times like this when he wondered if Dugal wasn't telling him anything so Vaati would squirm with the uncertainty of it all. He would be evil enough to do something like that…
"Eh, I don't care anymore. It wasn't as interesting as I thought."
Just then, a persistent, annoying ring came from his jacket pocket. Eyebrows scrunching, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a small black phone. It vibrated earnestly in his hands.
"Who's th-"
"Shh!" Vaati flipped the phone open and pressed it to his ears. A smooth, infuriating voice that made him want to punch something flowed into his ears.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Engst. Please find a quiet place where you will be able to listen with full attention."
"Let me guess, she decided to call you to make plans." Dark grinned while observing Vaati's eyes taking on that sharp glint again. "You don't look like someone who 'doesn't care.'"
Vaati glared. Well Dugal, you have AWESOME timing. Just. Awesome. Then, he thought bitterly, And you would be evil enough to set me up like this.
Dark watched the sorcerer listen intently to the phone. Vaati nodded once, and then said something that struck the other boy as peculiar: "I'm going to hang up. Call me back in twenty seconds sharp." Before Dark could say anything, Vaati clicked his phone shut and ran out of school to warp out of sight.
Dark rubbed his chin. Once again, he had let the sorcerer run off before he could get him to tell him what the hell was going on.
And he would be stupid to think there was nothing going on.
XXXXXXXXX
"Hello Mr. Engst. How is your day?"
"Bloody well, thanks. Took you long enough to call," Vaati spat. He locked the door of his room shut and levitated over his bed with his knees crossed like some angry genie. There was a slight, baffled pause on the other end.
"Hm. I was making sure everything was set up properly for the trip. Being unprepared would be foolish, as you may well imagine."
"I thought we were working together, Dugal! I need to know about these plans of yours if we're working together."
"And that is exactly why I called you. I need to ask you a few questions," Dugal answered, smoothing over Vaati's accusatory tone like a steamroller would an ant.
"What in Din's name is going on with th-"
"Tomorrow at noon, please go to the park where your friends and I had that little reunion last year."
"Tomorrow at… what?" Vaati stared at his phone. The slightly fuzzy sound from the phone buzzed.
"I take it you are free and able to go?"
The sorcerer could just imagine Dugal pushing up his glasses and leaning against a damn comfortable chair, expecting him to answer the way he wanted him to. Vaati thought he deserved to have his superiority squashed. "No," he replied firmly.
Just as he thought, Dugal's voice hesitated in the way that suggested the man didn't expect that answer. "… No, Mr. Engst?"
"No. I want to meet today so you won't have time to weasel out a half-baked response. And you're going to tell me everything."
"You want to meet… pardon, today?"
Vaati grinned triumphantly. "Exactly. I wager you can have that arranged."
"Now look here –"
"You can handle a little schedule change. I know you can."
"Wh-"
"In three hours time, you'll see me at the bench we were at the last time." Vaati leaned back in the air so he hung upside down over his bed. He was still peeved that Dugal was doing things while keeping him out of the loop as though he thought the sorcerer wasn't worth informing. We're going to do things my way, you sneaky little bastard. "Thanks for calling!"
He ended the conversation cheerfully and snapped the cell phone closed. He watched the phone float away in midair, and when it still didn't ring after several minutes he smiled satisfactorily and let the levitating device drop onto his pillow. He wanted answers, and he was going to get them now.
XXXXXXXXXX
Three hours later, Vaati teleported behind a clump of bushes in the park so no one would see him appear out of thin air. Then, he flicked away some stray leaves from his shoulder and stepped out as though he were going for a casual stroll. He looked around for the bench where, about a year ago, Dugal had called out him, Dark, and Zelda to tell him everything they knew about the Avilux incident. He gave a slight smile when he saw a man in a black suit sitting stiffly on a bench and wiping his glasses.
"Hello Mr. Engst." Dugal continued to wipe his glasses as Vaati approached. He sounded just as upset as the sorcerer had earlier, and probably for similar reasons: he also didn't enjoy not being the one pulling all of the strings. "So you wanted to hear about my plans, yes?"
Vaati huffed. "It's been about three months since you mentioned anything about this trip. I think I deserve to know a little more about what I'm getting myself into."
Dugal slowly and deliberately pushed his glasses on his nose and stared down at them coolly. "Isn't this a part of what's called 'taking risks?' I was under the impression that you were okay with that."
That rustled the wind mage. "Well, yeah…" he admitted.
"Then I see no reason why you should be so upset, as you clearly are right now."
Vaati fumed. He was being forced into the other man's rhythm and if he let this go for too long he was going to lose all notion of being in control. He knew Dugal's type: that man would let his pawns think they had control of things when they didn't. He was the kind of person who could make citizens believe their nation was a democracy, even when they were under a dictatorship.
In fact, what unnerved him the most was that his intuition told him they weren't too different from each other. He also had an inkling that Dugal felt the same; especially from the way the man kept a tense distance from him.
Well, for starters they both had a tendency to look down their noses at people. Put two people like that in the same vicinity and you had two very uncomfortable narcissists who where both trying to outstretch their necks over the other.
"At any rate," Dugal continued, "What I need to know before I proceed further is the full extent of your abilities. I've witnessed some of it in the past – teleportation, hurling powerful spheres of energy, et cetera. What other things can you do, and what are your limitations?"
Vaati took a seat on another bench across from the one Dugal was sitting at and crossed his arms with a sneer. "Various things. But first, tell me more about this plans of yours."
The other man sighed impatiently. "For these types of things, it's better if less people know about all the details."
"Pfft. You're worried about a leak?" Vaati scoffed. "You think I'll be foolish enough to advertise something like this?"
"I've gotten to where I am now by being cautious. One little slip is all it takes to ruin an otherwise good plan."
"I haven't even told Dark about anything." When he saw Dugal stare at him expressionlessly, he narrowed his eyes with a smirk. "You thought I'd tell him, did you? Well I'm smarter than you give me credit for."
Dugal didn't sound satisfied. Finally, he huffed, "But I expect he's suspicious of you, at the very least."
"Well of course he's suspicious! I know I'm driving him insane by now. But suspicion without proof doesn't get anyone anywhere." Vaati grinned knowingly. "I'm pretty sure dozens of people are suspicious of you by now, but no one's ever been able to pin you down, have they?"
There was a silence between the two as the sorcerer gave the other man time to take in his words. He smiled in that arrogant way that was backed by the life experience most high schoolers his age couldn't possibly have. Vaati observed with amusement how Dugal's eyebrows gradually inched together like two fuzzy caterpillars until they met in a furrowed, angry mush in the middle.
"Hmph. Very well," the man gave in. "Do not make me regret this." Leaning forward almost conspiratorially, he crossed his hands in front of his face. "We will depart on the afternoon of December 27, and as far as your family and friends are concerned you are travelling for shadowing during your break. As you are currently a senior in high school, this shouldn't be too suspicious."
Vaati interrupted him immediately. "You're wrong. You better have some pretty convincing story to get Gramps to believe I care enough to go job shadowing." He scoffed. "See? This is what happens when you make plans without telling the people involved."
"I will bear that in mind for future reference," Dugal said, his voice taking on a strained, dangerous tone. Still, they were in the middle of a peaceful park and he couldn't do anything rash or risk attracting attention. He continued civilly. "I will think of something to have your grandfather out of the way. On the 27th, you will take a taxi to Newark where you will meet me at the airport. From there we will fly to California and I will take you to the temple in question."
Dugal waited patiently with a 'There, satisfied?' look on his face.
Vaati's lips flattened into thin lines. "I find it hard to believe that that's all there is to it."
The other man shrugged, tugging at his purple tie. "What more do you expect? Would it have been better if I said we were going to smuggle ourselves to California in suitcases?"
"I mean that I think you're leaving out a lot of things unsaid," Vaati glared. "Where is the temple, exactly, and what's inside it?"
"I've told you all you need to know for now."
"So that's how it's going to be, is it?" the sorcerer leaned back in his bench defiantly. He said nothing for a few minutes, and then smiled with fake cheerfulness. "All right, I suppose I can tell you what I can do since you need my help. I'll take your word that I'll find out more about the temple eventually."
Dugal remained perfectly still and waited patiently.
"I can teleport us anywhere as long as I have coordinates. I can even teleport us to California if you'd only just tell me where we're going – then we can skip the entire plane ride."
The man waved him away with his fake arm. "I've thought about that, but I'm not sure the use of magic for travel will be a good idea in this case. Sometimes, we want the people who may be following us to have records of where we're going. You'll see why later." He drummed his fingers. "Please continue."
Vaati huffed, and obliged. "I can turn any living thing into stone, cause a storm in any region as long as I'm present in the area, and destroy whatever I don't like."
"… Can you be more specific about the last bit about you destroying things?"
"Example: I don't like you. Therefore I can turn you into to ashes with a very devastating energy beam."
"Ah. I see. Well I would suggest you don't use that often because flashy, explosive types of murder will attract the most annoying kinds of people like flies to carrion. You are aware, I imagine, of what happened with the world's governments after the Avilux incident."
Vaati sighed. This was one thing he didn't like about the future world compared to the world in the past: it was stupid to believe you could be a single, powerful entity and have a cakewalk in subduing everyone. In the past, Vaati could just subdue the Hylian royalty and scare the other people enough to make the entire nation freeze up like petrified rabbits. In the future, you had to have at least an army to back you up or you were definitely going to have nukes and ballistic missiles and other nightmarish weapons thrown at you.
Even a super powerful sorcerer like him wouldn't be able to handle all of those things at once.
Checklist for world domination: a.) Find an army. Fast.
"Yes, I'm aware," he said finally.
Dugal nodded. "Very well." He fiddled with his ring for a moment. "So you can teleport, destroy things, and… destroy things. Anything else?"
"Destroying things in other ways." Vaati laughed when the other man didn't appear amused. "What did you expect? I'm an evil sorcerer: I specialize in terrorizing people. Didn't you read the Hylian legends about me? I saw a few in the library, and I'm sure you've poked your nose around to find out more about me."
"Now about that," Dugal frowned. "Is it true that you're really the wind mage incarnate of the twenty-first century?"
"Believe what you want to believe. That's all I have to say."
"Right, but my question is, how?"
At this time, Vaati simply returned Dugal's earlier favor. "I've told you all you need to know for now."
Vaati's crooked grin cracked into a wide sneer when he saw the other man squirm in frustration. As a team, they were working together quite horribly and a bystander might have mistaken them as rivals instead. Even so, seeing someone who was normally lofty being shoved off of their pedestal of privilege was a delight that never got old.
There was a ten second stare-down where tension crackled between the two supposed 'allies.' Then, Dugal stood up to leave and Vaati did the same. "All right. That's all I needed to know for now." He held out his left hand. "If you would give me back the phone I gave you."
"This?" Vaati pulled out the black cell phone from his jacket and handed it over. Wordlessly, Dugal took it and handed him another phone that looked exactly the same.
"I will be calling this phone from now on."
Vaati smirked. "So am I right that someone's trying to track you?"
"I'm merely being cautious. Someone like Kestrel would be able to bug these phones easily if given the chance."
The mention of the old Talon group's tech expert caught Vaati's interest. As he slipped the new phone into his jacket, he tilted his head questioningly. "Just curious, but what happened to the other guys after you disbanded?"
Dugal straightened out his jacket. He began to walk down the park path towards the parking lot, holding up one hand in a lazy wave. "I will talk to you again some other time, Mr. Engst. Good day."
fleets: Right now it seems like all Thistle mentions is a whole lot of random nonsense. It also probably sounds like his talk with Thyme has nothing to do with the story. Ah well, I don't blame you, but I won't include his talks if they weren't important :3
Shadow R-B: Waiting for Christmas... that's exactly what it feels like. DX Whoo, emotes for me! (jumps on them) Er, anyhoo, thanks! I think this one is going to be fun to write :)
Slyshin: Vaati's my favorite Zelda villain, and I really hope he comes back! (part of the reason why I started writing fics about him was because his disappearance from the games was really disappointing...) Thanks! And I think you're right about 'inspiration.' :D
msfcatlover: Dark's a fan of his own games XD Meanwhile, Vaati's in denial.
Midna Hytwilian: The game itself wasn't that good. All I remember is that it was forgettable, unlike games like WW and Link's Awakening.
Nira Rose: Oooh yes that was a huge risk! (which he's now paying dearly for). Happy to finally start this too :D
darkdigidestined: You're welcome, and glad you like it! :)
henslight: I've been going back and forth on the concept of keeping Zelda or getting rid of her. Personally I would prefer not to include her just so I wouldn't have to juggle so many characters, but a part of me thinks she's too important. I'll have a better idea once I start writing the actual relevant chapters.
Astral S. Kepeire: Whoops, I didn't notice that! (yeah that sounds awkward lol). I'll need to fix that, thanks for catching it as always! :D
Vaati and Dark's Gamecube Adventures will continue...
Ohoho very good guess. It is an obvious setup that's too good to ignore if you're paying attention to that fact (like you did). ;)
I wouldn't say you've got it nailed, but it's a very good guess.
SubZeroChimera: Ah, now I have to go listen to the bolero of fire remix XD
Sapphiet: He doesn't like the Holocaust - that was his point ;)
Those two working together is going to be... difficult. lol.
GGFF: I didn't know the website existed until I put in the search Vaati did and came across the entry. I thought the domain name was funny so it managed to find its way into the story :3
And oh man, I love writing about Thistle. I like Dugal and Vaati too, but Thistle belongs in his own category of insanified snark.
i-wish-799: Vaati, Dark, Dugal, Thistle, Thyme - I have too many characters I like writing about in this story XD. Well, I'm not complaining haha.