The Legend of Fairies.
Chapter Eight: Hunting Poe's.
Previously in the last chapter.
"Hey, since we have the dungeon item, guys, do you know what this means?" Natsu suddenly asked with a rather sadistic smirk on his face, breaking the silence and getting Link's and Happy's attention. "It's time to officially start the Poe Hunting game."
Link and Happy were scared at the sadistic smirk on Natsu's face at first, but after thinking about Natsu's last sentence and the Poe Sister's words they met in the previous room, they quickly understood and grew similar smirks on their faces like Natsu.
It was time to hunt some Poe's.
(In the Present; With the Group)
"Oh, I can't wait to see the look of fear on the Poe Sister's faces when they face Natsu's wrath!" Happy exclaimed, still having the sadistic smirk on his face, while rubbing his paws in a gleeful manner. He looked like a madman, much to Link's great shock. How can a very adorable cat become such a madman?! She missed the adorable one! "Let's go get them, guys!" Happy quickly summoned his wings, flew up in the air and was about to fly towards the room where the first Poe Sister was when Natsu, who wasn't shocked by Happy's maniac attitude, placed a hand on his head, stopping him in his tracks and making the sadistic smirk vanish. "Hey, let me go!"
"Whoa, Happy, slow down for a second," Natsu said, amused at Happy's struggles to get him remove his hand. It was just like him trying to get Gildarts to let go of him whenever he gets caught in a tight grip. "We still have an important thing we need to get before we hunt down the Poe Sisters."
Happy stopped struggling and looked at Natsu as if he had lost his mind. "What could be more important than hunting the Poe Sisters, Natsu?"
The answer didn't came from Natsu but Link, who had understood what the Dragon Slayer was talking about. "The blue and yellow chest in the twisted corridor room."
"Exactly what Link said, Happy," Natsu stated, giving a pleased nod towards Link, who beamed and blushed slightly at the nod. "Whatever's in that chest must be important and we cannot ignore it. If we do, we'll completely forget about it and I know full well none of us wants to search the temple again if we came across something we can't do. As much as I want to hunt down the Poe Sisters, we need to go back and get whatever's in that chest."
Happy let out a frustrated sigh that the group had to back-track to open a chest of all things instead of hunting the Poe Sisters. But he can't really argue with Natsu's point since he was right. If the group did came across something they couldn't do, they would have to search the temple again in order to find what they need to get pass whatever's blocking them.
Happy let out another sigh, this one being tired instead of frustration. Sometimes, he wonders if Natsu was always this intelligent but kept it hidden for a reason. If he was this intelligent, he would've been S-Class many years ago. "Alright, Natsu, you win. Let's go back to the twisted corridor room and get that chest."
"Thank you, Happy, that means a lot to me."
And so, the group made their way back towards the twisted corridor room to get the blue and yellow chest Natsu was talking about, not before he and Happy gave Joelle sadistic grins that told her she was going to meet death soon. However, they couldn't get to the chest since it was hanging on the wall and even with Happy's ability to fly up there to open the chest, the item could easily fall out…and smash on the ground into pieces, something the group didn't want.
For a while, the group was stumped on figuring out how to reach the blue and yellow chest – they had chosen to reside near the door they came through since Navi told them about Wallmasters reappearing in rooms, despite being killed – but it wasn't until Link remembered Natsu's words earlier when they first entered the twisted corridor room.
"I think the only way to get to the chest is by shooting that silver eye switch back in the maze-like room."
"THAT'S IT!" Link suddenly screamed, greatly startling both Natsu and Happy, the former covering his ears from how loud the scream was. "I KNOW HOW WE CAN GET TO THE CHEST!"
"Holy Fiore, Link! Don't scream that loud!" Natsu shouted, giving the blonde-woman a glare after removing his hands away from his ears. "In case you haven't noticed or probably forgotten, I have sensitive ears! If you kept screaming more, I would've become deaf!"
"I almost had a heart attack from what you just did, Link!" Happy exclaimed, also glaring at Link. "What on Earthland were you screaming about? And please don't say it was a spider."
"I'm sorry, guys! I'm sorry!" Link quickly apologized to Natsu and Happy. "I didn't mean to scream that loud to startle you both, and I wasn't screaming because of a spider." Here, she gave the cat a glare. "I was screaming because I figured out how we can get to the chest."
"Really?" Natsu and Happy both asked, no longer glaring at Link and having hopeful expressions on their faces. "How?"
"We need to go back to the maze-like room we were resting in and shoot that silver eye switch Natsu noticed with an arrow. We couldn't do it before because we didn't have anything sharp, except the Hookshot, which wouldn't do a thing. If we shoot the switch, I'm positive the room will shift into a position where we can reach the chest, but it is a theory."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Natsu asked, starting to feel a bit impatient from standing around. "Let's go test the theory."
The group made their way back towards the maze-like room to test Link's theory, making sure to quickly jump platform to platform to avoid the Wallmaster. They did not want to kill it now and kill it again after they shoot the silver eye switch. It's better to deal with it once the room is shifted. When they reach the twisted corridor, Natsu once again had to hold down the urge to throw up as they began walking in the corridor, getting slightly dizzy in the process. He sometimes hated being a Dragon Slayer because of this stupid motion sickness and he wonders if being a Dragon Slayer is a good thing or a bad thing.
'Focus on holding down your urge to vomit, Natsu, before you can think about that,' Natsu thought, mentally shaking his head. 'Don't get distracted by thinking about something different. It's only going to make the urge to vomit worse.'
It didn't take long for the group to enter the maze-like room after walking through the twisted corridor where Natsu's urge to vomit vanished immediately, much to his great relief, though he knew he would have to walk through the twisted corridor again to get back where the Poe Sister was with Happy and Link, which was something he wasn't going to enjoy. Screw the stupid temple and screw the stupid corridor!
However, the moment the group entered the maze-like, they were confronted by the two previously deceased Blue Bubbles. Link was about to charge in with her sword and shield already unsheathed when Natsu suddenly stopped her, causing her to look at him with a raised eyebrow. Why did he stop her?
"There's no need to face them since they're on the other side of the room, Link," Natsu elaborated from seeing the raised eyebrow, not knowing Link's silent question. "It will be a waste of our time and energy just by facing two skulls who posed no threat to us, and we can't afford to lose energy since we need to face the Poe Sisters. Let's just shoot the silver eye switch and go get that chest."
Link didn't like the idea of ignoring the Blue Bubbles in the room since the group would have come back here to shoot the silver eye switch again after opening the blue and yellow chest, but when she glanced at the flying skulls, which were, true to Natsu's word, indeed on the other side of the room, she realized he was right. They did not pose a threat and it will be a waste of the group's time and energy by killing them. They need all the energy they can get when they confront the Poe Sisters.
So, with a small sigh but giving Natsu a nod of understanding, Link sheathed her sword and shield, walked forward a bit to make sure not earn the two Blue Bubble's attention, turned around, pulled out the Fairy Bow, loaded it with an arrow and aimed it where the silver eye switch is. With the eye switch in her line of sight, she pulled the string of her recently acquired bow backwards before releasing it.
Clink!
Shift!
The sound of room shifting in a different position filled the air and the group shared a glance before they nodded. It was time to see if Link's theory worked. They walked over to the door they had entered from a moment ago, opened it and walked through it to come across a sight that made them grin. Instead of the twisted corridor being twisted, it was a now regular straight corridor.
"Nice, it worked," Natsu said, still having the grin on his face.
"Now, let's go get the chest and see what's inside," Link stated, losing the grin on her face to become serious and began walking in the regular corridor. Natsu and Happy were right behind her.
"Be sure to take out the Wallmaster when we get in the room, guys," Happy warned, remembering Navi's words about Wallmaster appearing in rooms. "We don't want to walk all the way back here if we grabbed by it."
Natsu and Link didn't need to be reminded of that since they were going to take out the Wallmaster but weren't sure how to drag it from the ceiling. Do they have to stand in one spot and wait until the monster swoops down upon them, only to dodge out of the way at the last moment or do they use fire magic on the ceiling? Natsu's Dragon Slayer magic would definitely work since his flames were powerful than Link's magic, but due to the temple being old, the magic will cause a lot of destruction.
In the end, Natsu and Link decided to go with the former plan of standing in one spot and wait until the Wallmaster swoop upon them so that they can dodge out of the way at the last moment, but only Natsu volunteered to be the bait since he didn't want Link to be in danger, despite knowing she can take care of herself.
Nevertheless, the plan of baiting out the Wallmaster to kill it was a success and the group had jumped down onto the ground where the blue and yellow chest was. Link walked up to it, opened it and reached inside to pull out whatever the item was. When she showed the item to Natsu and Happy, an unnerved feeling appeared on their faces.
The item that was in the blue and yellow chest and now in Link's hands was a key, but it wasn't a normal key like the silver keys. This key was big as Natsu's hands, black in color with a gold trim at the edges and evil-looking. It would've been passed as a special key, if it wasn't for the white skull at the bottom. The skull had two sharp horns sticking straight up and two glowing, sinister orange eyes that almost seemed to be staring at the group. It was as if the key was…alive.
"That's a rather big key," Natsu pointed out the obvious, still looking unnerved at the key in Link's hands, a feeling shared by the said woman and Happy.
"It's the Boss Key of this temple, Natsu," Navi explained, coming out of Link's hat and flying in circles. "Each temple will have a key similar like this one in order to unlock the big door. Without it, you and Link won't be able to fight the boss of this temple. Also, the key design will tell you what boss you guys are about to fight and this one, judging by the white skull, is a phantom."
"And you are just telling us that bit of information now, Navi?" Natsu looked at the blue fairy with an annoyed look on his face. "Right after we glanced at the chest when we came in here the first time?"
"Sorry, I was taking a small nap in Link's cap." Even though the group couldn't see her face, Navi looked greatly embarrassed. "And besides, you guys were doing a great job of navigating the temple and fighting the monsters, so I figure I would stay silent until we get to the boss."
Natsu was about to scold the fairy about keeping information to herself when Happy, who had decided to look around the room since he wanted the image of the scary-looking key out of his head, spoke up. "Hey, guys! Look what I found!"
Natsu, Link and Navi looked over where Happy is and saw he was looking at a hole, which wasn't far from the blue and yellow chest. They walked over to the hole and looked down in it. It seemed to lead into a room.
"What do you guys think what's down there?" Happy asked, still staring at the hole he spotted.
"No clue, Happy," Natsu replied with a small frown, crouching on the ground with one knee. Link wasn't far behind to copy the action. "I can't sense anything since it's eerie quite down there and I don't smell any monsters. I think it's safe, but it could be a trap."
"Maybe we should ignore it. It's probably meant to confused us and waste our time. Let's go back to the maze-like room, shoot the silver eye switch to shift this room again and go kill the Poe Sister."
Natsu was very thrilled of doing that and it showed on his face when he stood up from the ground. "Yes, let's do that. We wasted enough time by going back and getting this key since someone didn't bother to tell us about it." Here, he gave Navi a small glare. "We need to find the human those bastards are keeping and save Saria. Let's get moving."
"Aye, sir!" Happy exclaimed, raising a paw in the air before summoning his wings and flying after Natsu, who was heading towards a wooden ladder that leads back to the regular corrdior.
"Guys, do you really think we should ignore this hole when it could lead to something important?" Link's voice caused Natsu and Happy to stop in their tracks and looked at her. She was still crouching near the hole and never turned her gaze away from it. "It might lead to a small key we need or maybe even your friend you two are looking for."
That last sentence caused Natsu and Happy to freeze, haven't considered the thought. They had been so focused on killing the Poe Sister they found that they didn't have any thoughts about the human they're looking for could be in a secret room. Happy was instantly agreeing with Link's idea and had flew over to her so that he can support her idea. But Natsu was conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to agree with Link's plan and go down the hole to see if it leads to something important, but he wanted to go back to where the Poe Sister is and kill it. What choice should he pick? Should he agree with Link's idea of jumping down the hole and see where it leads to? Or should he ignore it and go back where the Poe Sister is?
'What's the harm of going down the hole, Natsu, when your friend could be down there?' A voice in Natsu's head asked, causing the conflict inside him to be put on hold. 'Besides, it's not like the Poe Sister will go anywhere since she gave you her word about not moving to a different spot. The least you can do, at the moment, is agree with Link's idea. Even if you want to go back where the Poe Sister, you need the Fairy Bow to shoot the silver eye switch to shift the corridor again and use it on the paintings. Without it, you won't be able to fight the Poe Sister.'
As much as Natsu wanted to argue with the voice in his head, he knew it was right. Without the Fairy Bow, he won't be able to get back where the Poe Sister is and shift the corridor. The only thing he could do was agree with Link's plan of jumping down the hole and see where it leads. While it may be a waste of time, it will help the group by finding something important.
Natsu let out a tired sigh, already hating what he was about to say to Link, but he's only doing this just to make sure they don't split up. He would never forgive himself if she got hurt because of his mission to kill the Poe Sister.
"Alright, Link, You win. Let's jump down the hole and see where it leads."
Alright, I'm going to end the chapter there because I want to get a new chapter posted since I haven't worked on this story for a while. There will be two part chapters with this being the first one. The next will be the finale of Hunting Poe's and the next chapter after that will be a new chapter.
I'm very sorry for the lack of chapter updates, I have been quite busy with stuff and I'm so excited for Resident Evil 4 Remake to come out. I can't wait to play it. Like I always said, I haven't given up on the story, I just haven't been focusing on it.
Anyways, I'm sorry about the lack of chapter updates and I hope this chapter makes up for the waiting.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.