Notes:

*Some foul language*

*CRASH*

Sky went flying into a large bookcase, causing its contents to explode around the room. He scrambled to his knees trying to recover from the blow to his chest, heaving in small, pained gasp fighting to make his lungs work against his squished diaphragm from the sucker punch he sustained on his initial charge at the black-blooded beast. Hyrule skidded to a stop in front of him with his shield raised to guard his friend while he recovered.

"THAT was an Antique!" Ravio cried in fury as he lunged forward at the beast. The monster gave him a once over as he charged. It chuffed in irritation. It then simply tripped him as he approached and sent him flying into a plush chaise by the fireplace behind it. He crashed into the chaise, flipping it over with a shrill yelp, and hit the floor with a groan.

Time charged at the fiend, opting for his Gilded short sword in such close quarters. He lunged under the Lizal shield it held up and drove the blade into its chest just up and under its breastplate. It squealed in rage and whirled around catching the man behind the knees with its tail, sword still sticking out of its gut. It clutched at its abdomen as Time rolled back onto his feet. Wild came around from behind him and lopped off the monster's thick green tail at its base. The tail landed on the floor with a heavy thud, still lashing back and forth as if it had a mind of its own. The monster's knees buckled, and it dropped to all fours, its center of gravity thrown off by the sudden loss of body mass. It snarled in rage and pain as it made to charge when an arrow came shooting out of the doorway and right into its forehead, dropping it to the ground with an unceremonious *Thump*

Legend leaned heavily against Winona with his bow in hand. His leg was now bleeding quite freely.

"You Dropped this, you son of a Bitch!" He growled at it through gritted teeth before he, too, buckled to the floor. Winona yelped in surprise and tried to help ease his descent.

Apparently, he had just ripped the arrow free from his wound and fired it back at the beast in a stubborn act of 'fuck you' towards the Lizalfos that shot him. Hyrule rushed over and began to tend to his leg.

"You idiot!" Cried Hyrule, eyes wide at the angry wound. "Did you not have your own arrows?"

The vet sucked his teeth in a hiss as the magic began to knit back together his abused flesh. "Principle of the matter."

Hyrule rolled his eyes at this. "I should leave you like this… My magic isn't infinite, you know. If I get dizzy, you're carrying me." He grumbled.

Legend simply grunted in reply.

Time walked over to appraise the trio on the floor. Winona looked up at him with wide eyes, mouth agog. Apparently, she too was as flabbergasted as the rest at Legend's actions. He nodded to her then shook his head at the Vet. "Foolish. You ought to have a cooler head in battle. You can't let your pride be a liability..."

Legend turned red at his scolding but said nothing. He looked away and at the ground like a petulant child while Hyrule finished healing his leg.

Time turned back to the room to survey the damage. "Strange that it was alone..." he murmured.

"Lucky…" Ravio added on to the sentiment. "It may have been a scout waiting behind to report on our return. We need to leave before more show up when it doesn't return. There's no telling where the rest are."

Time nodded.

The group made their way back down to the ground floor and towards the front door. Before they exited Ravio paused at the fountain. He kicked off his flip-flops and waded into its center. He knelt for a moment and said a quick prayer before pulling the rod with the jewel-encrusted bird up and out of it. The staff shone briefly with a soft blue glow as he picked it up. A soft click came from the door behind the fountain and the stone wall swung inward noiselessly.

"A secret Door!" murmured Danielle in quiet delight, her wide eyes wandered from the door to Winona's who mirrored her wonder at the revelation.

"Sir… Is it truly that bad?" Asked Ms. Fen uneasily as she watched her boss disappear briefly into the dark alcove behind the wall with wide scared eyes.

"What kind of a Question is that, Lydia? LOOK around you!" Ravio groused as he reemerged with a black leather bag slung over his shoulder. He stepped out of the fountain and shook his feet like a dog before sliding his flip-flows back on without really drying them off. He squelched over to the group and rested the staff on his shoulder as he shifted the weight of the newly acquired mystery pack to the other side of his back. "Right. Let's get the Hell out of Dodge.