A few days had passed since the girls' arrival on the island of Triskellion and the princesses' wedding with the new queens emerging from that day, but they couldn't just let time go by without doing anything, after all, the danger was still very much alive, they had to save Hyrule from Andrew Hanbridge's tyranny of all that had happened in the world, and to do that they would need to go to the next dungeon, this time on the island itself, the second of the nine witches' dungeons, taking one more step on the journey before setting off across the island to risk everything.
The girls were already preparing to go to the dungeon, with a trio already determined for the place, Diana, Hellene and Akko, they who will explore the dungeon, were already arming themselves and also taking the necessary to explore the place, since both girls of royalty have more knowledge of Triskellion Island and its dangers.
With everything ready, they take a deep breath and look at each other, ready to get to work. They nod to all the girls who lean their heads against them, then raise their hands in celebration.
"Okay, now let's go, this time we'll be back with one more of the nine witches being brought to the temple" said Atsuko.
"Do your best and always take all the care in the world, for all that is good in this world" said Chariot.
"Don't worry, Chariot, we'll get back here as if nothing had happened" said Kagari, smiling and signalling with her thumb.
Together the three girls walked to the entrance of the dungeon, taking a deep breath as they thought about the place, but without hesitating they went in more certain that they would return, as they entered the dungeon they managed to pass through what had previously seemed to be an invisible barrier that prevented the two royalty girls from gaining access, which really confirmed even more that they could only enter accompanied by the heroine.
"Wow, the legend is really true, I almost thought we'd have to go in here alone, but luckily there's nothing like that here" said Diana.
"Even so, when we get to the room where the boss of the dungeon is, I'll have to kill him on my own. Anyway, we've got everything here, pots with fairies, potions, we've got enough to carry, and you can heal us yourself with your magic" said Kagari.
"It's not the most precise or well-done cure in the world, but I think we can handle it so we don't die, at least there's that" said Cavendish.
"So far it's been pretty quiet, to think that we've never been able to do a dungeon together with Akko and me, now we have our big chance" said Hellene.
In that first room of the dungeon there was only the decoration of the place, which already showed that the place was more intimidating, with strong green colours all around, as well as white lines passing by, with drawings of triskellions, but until then no creature in that room, only that they were surprised by a hand suddenly falling into that room that they quickly dodged and with that they hit it, making it disappear,
"What's that?" The three of them said together.
"Apparently we can't just stand in a corner, that hand could catch us" said McLaren.
They soon realised that the ceiling seemed to have nothing on it, just a huge ceiling with no end, dark, as if there was a void staring back at them, so they headed for the first door. As they passed into the next room, they came across what seemed to be several hardhat beetles that ended up making the place more difficult to dodge, even more so as the walls seemed to have something labyrinthine in shape, forming corridors with thorns.
"It seems that they're not stupid at all, they're trying to test us so that we'll stop at the walls and become mincemeat" said the brown one.
With care, the platinum-blonde-haired queen ended up going on the attack, slamming her rapier into the creature and it barely slipped backwards, just enough to dodge the hand that was falling towards it to catch it at that moment.
But it wasn't the only hand that fell, there were several that came down to catch the other two girls, who dodged it by continuing to follow the path through the corridors, taking care as necessary, but with the
challenge of dodging the hands and also the hardhat beetles, it was really complicated, especially as the creatures caused burns when they touched the person and hurt a lot, which couldn't be avoided by any of the three in the trio who used the monster's momentum to dodge being caught by the hands.
"Ugh, this is painful, are you sure this is the best strategy?" said the crimson-eyed woman.
"I'm really just trying to get away safely here, but there's a lot to get away from" said Cavendish.
Hellene was soon the first to be caught by the hand and the two girls tried to go and save their friend, but they didn't stand a chance as the hand simply went up with the McLaren, which just disappeared, and they continued to dodge it in the corridor, but soon Diana let herself be caught and Akko too, which surprised them where they ended up.
The hand only ended up stopping them at the entrance to the dungeon, so much so that the redhead was just standing there looking around strangely when she realised she was back in the same place.
"Holy shit! So we can't give ourselves a chance to get caught? Is that what I'm thinking? I don't doubt that it's going to be that idea" said the frustrated girl with the platinum blonde hair.
"Damn, we have to dodge a giant hand that's trying to catch us, as well as avoiding danger from monsters" said Atsuko.
"Come on, it can't be that bad, just keep moving and ignore the attacks, let's go to the corridor, we just have to pay attention, or even attack those huge hands" said the purple-eyed one.
So they went back to the corridor they were in, this time with more attention and care, so much so that Diana made a point of using her attack with the rapier on the huge hand falling on her to try something, as did Akko with the sword, while Hellene took care to open the way using the punches of the gauntlet, even more so as the same enemies simply reappeared when the hand had caught them at the beginning.
A little bruised from passing through that corridor due to the burning of the hardhat beetles, they manage to open the first chest with the first key, which they start to use to go to the next corridor, where there is a room where their hands are still falling off, but the way is clearer and it takes them longer to get to the girls.
"Well come on, there doesn't seem to be anything here" Kagari said naively, only to be taken aback.
Eventually the blocks in the room began to rise up, they weren't light flooring like last time, they were literally blocks, and they were heading towards the trio, who still had to deal with the other worry, which was the falling hands trying to catch them, which they had to cleverly dodge.
McLaren even let herself be caught and was hit by a block that made her hand die and let her go before she ended up worse off, which the others saw as an opportunity to use the scenery against the hands
"Wonderful, that was a close one, what a boring little hand, the worst thing is that it has a disgusting texture, it doesn't look like a real hand, it looks like a cold, dead hand, it's a shame that the enemy here is a hand, I don't have one" said the redhead.
"No clowning around now Hellene, more focus on the dungeon, we can't get distracted or we'll be in trouble" said Cavendish.
They were soon dealing with those blocks that ended up forming the entrance to a staircase, which they entered and were surprised that there was a corridor that had a ceiling and no hands fell from it, but that corridor had water running over the floor and there were many Bari, creatures similar to living water that entered a state of electrification which made it impossible to attack, so much so that the naive girl with crimson eyes attacked one at that moment and got a shock that she felt all over her body.
"What? How are we going to attack this thing? His attack makes him immune" said the confused brown woman.
"So you have to wait for the bari to stop glowing and blinking before you attack, or else you'll feel pain all over your body, and that also goes for the Biri that come out when we kill the Bari, believe it or not these things can wreak havoc and get in our way a lot" said the Queen of Wedinburgh.
And soon they were walking down that corridor and taking care of the creatures, following the challenges ahead, also killing the little Biris that came out of there, dodging what the monsters were attacking, until they reached the end where there was a corridor with a staircase down, when they passed through that corridor they entered a room.
In that room there are green Goryias, strange creatures that copy the trio's movements, but go in the opposite direction, practically dodging their attacks, but when they look at them head-on they fire a fireball.
"Do we really have to defeat these things?" asks the blue-eyed girl.
"Through the door you locked behind us, yes" said Akko.
"Damn, I don't have the long range for that" said a frustrated Hellene.
Atsuko ended up shining, as she easily defeated the first Goryia with her arrow, as well as the second and third, but there were still six of them missing and they were in the field of vision of the royalty girls, who worked their way round, Cavendish trapped the three in a corner and with her rapier she ended up hitting them, while McLaren was having more difficulty, the monsters were running away from her trying to get close, but when she cornered them, the punches from her gauntlet only distanced them.
"Damn, these monsters here are being a huge nuisance, they won't die for anything" said the redhead.
"Take my rapier, sis" Maybe you'll get it," said her sister, tossing her the sword and making it easier.
The rapier, being light and with precise cuts, even made it easier since the gauntlets were short-range, which ended up with the rest of those Goryia and soon a chest appeared, another key could be collected, only in that room itself there was no more way to go, so she had to stop there, until she could get the chance to return.
"Phew, but all that for a spanner... Damn..." Said the frustrated purple-eyed girl.
"Dungeons, you get used to them, it's always like this" said the crimson-eyed woman, shrugging.
"Tell me about it, the last time we went together was too complicated, having to go through everything you went through was quite a challenge, I don't know how we didn't die" said Hellene.
"You don't have to remember that, let's move on, now with keys in hand we can go to the fork on the left" said Diana, a little jealous.
The trio made their way back, almost surprised by the hands that were falling from the sky trying to catch them, but they were no fools and managed to dodge the hands until they followed the path to their right, where there were no difficulties ahead, and it was absolutely calm.
But in the corridor that came up was narrow and had some Bari, as well as their own hands that kept appearing, even if they were less frequent, they saw that there was a door that seemed to be closed, but it wasn't locked with a key, so they would have to find a way to open it, seeing that there were several skulls, they picked up the skulls and threw them from one side to the other.
"Let's open the way here, maybe what we need is here" said Akko.
As they clear the way, they notice a button on the floor and stepping on it opens the door, but they couldn't stand around waiting, in that room at least the Bari who were killed didn't bother them, only the many hands falling, which they would have to find a way of putting something over that button with enough weight.
"We can't stand on our hands and wait for one of us, we have to think big" said Cavendish.
"Leave it to me, I'll push that statue, you cover me" said the warrior from Luna Nova.
"I can freeze my hands with magic for a while, it could be our chance, if anything Hellene is here with the gauntlets to hit and cover" said the platinum blonde haired girl.
The plan worked, the three hands were frozen right on top of the trio, which soon led Akko to push the statue she had found of a soldier in armour and take it to where the button was, with Diana practically forcing it to keep the spell in place until everything thawed.
The hands thawed, ended up falling to the floor and that was enough for the girls to climb the ladder and together go to the door that was closed. At that door they came across a room with a corridor where there were some holes and Babusus came out of them that went from one hole to another, as well as the falling hands.
"Well, one more corridor with a chest up ahead, at least there are two forks, let's go" said Atsuko, taking a deep breath.
The trio ran forwards, hitting some of the Babusu that appeared in front of them, as well as dodging the hands that fell along the way. It was easy to dodge, but it was a bit of work as they were hit by Babusus. When they opened the trunk, a master key appeared instead of a normal key, which gave them a little hope, so they headed for the door on the right.
When they enter it, they come across a corridor full of Rupees and a little dark where the hands simply fall off and they walk away in a bizarre way following the girls.
"Oh great, with our poor eyesight it's going to be very difficult" said Kagari.
"Lux!" Cavendish said, using an illumination spell.
With the room all lit up, they realised that it was just a room with blue rupees and hands that followed them. They just shrugged and went on collecting the rupees until it was dark again, dodging the hands by walking in a very bizarre way.
When it gets dark again, they leave the room and go back to where they had opened the chest, this time taking the path to the left. Luckily, it was a room with a roof, but it was locked, which was a relief nonetheless.
"At least there's a roof here, it's not like the others where one appears... Shit!" Hellene said as she saw a hand appear.
Three hands appear and walk around in a kind of humanoid shape, but the girls are very motivated, just staring at the monster, which fires a few projectiles with its fingertips that end up being fired very quickly to the point of hurting them.
But even so, they keep going, eventually noticing that those hands are very resistant. Rapiera's thrusts could do nothing, but the slashes of the master sword did something, cutting the hands in half, and she quickly looks back, realising that she has multiplied the various hands.
"Damn... It seems they can multiply like that" said the frustrated girl with the crimson eyes.
"But they got smaller" said the redhead.
A plan ends up being synchronised, with the two girls who have swords in hand, they go together cutting the various hands in half, while McLaren uses her powerful punches to push those strange creatures so that the girls can hit the cuts, which would divide them into smaller and smaller parts, which would also gain a little agility in their movements.
"The smaller they are, the harder they are to hit" said a frustrated Akko.
"Come on sis, that attack we learnt together" said the one with the platinum blonde hair.
"Akko, get out of the way, things are going to get hot" said the purple-eyed woman.
The blue-eyed one starts to make her rapier emit flames that make lines around everything while her sister moves her hands, which causes a little wind and so they get out of the way.
The red-haired one gives a mere push and soon the results arrive in several flames that shoot out everywhere, killing all the creatures as the fire burns them since they can't regenerate, which leaves Atsuko dumbfounded.
"What? What do you mean? Have you really mastered magic in that time?" Said the impressed Kagari.
"As we didn't have much to learn, we focussed those six years on magic, there was nothing for Chariot and Croix to train us in physically, so we mastered magic" said Queen Cavendish with a shrug.
"Come on, there's a door here" said Princess McLaren, pointing to the door.
They walk together to the door, and when they open it, there's a corridor full of Baris, which is familiar enough for them to attack with peace of mind as they have a better idea of the creatures' weak points, even more so as they no longer have a hand to dodge them all the time, somehow wanting to catch them.
As they pass through the easy corridor, they come to a room with a larger chest inside, which Akko curiously opens with the master key, which she is surprised to find inside is a staff.
"Another staff, this one looks much bigger at least, woah now that I can see, as I think I can change what's inside the transparent stone inside it, you can release fireballs, release ice, release lightning, release wind,
release water, I can release stones, everything, how cool, I can control the elements" said the amazed Atsuko.
"An elemental staff, that'll come in handy, you can control it well now come on, we've got to get back to those hands, don't use up all his magic yet love" said Diana.
"It's okay, I'll know how to use it, I'll keep it in my bag and we'll soon have something to use it for - said the brownish girl.
The girls go almost all the way back, this time to get back to where the triple fork is that they didn't follow north of it to get to another point in the dungeon and soon come across a corridor with a lockable door, the first of them, but in the corridor they had to deal with old friends Hardhat beetles who simply appeared to get in the way of getting to the other side, with the walls on the sides full of thorns, as well as hands wanting to grab them.
"Damn, always those hands, I really can't wait to get rid of them so I can get ahead," said Hellene.
It was an arduous path to get through, the girls were already badly wounded, but soon they reached the door and everything they had suffered with their hands came to an end, as they opened the door and were faced with a very different room, in it there were many waterfalls and platforms that would depend a lot on the skill of the recently acquired elemental staff of the warrior of Luna Nova.
There were also some Zirro flying around and throwing firecrackers at the girls, but Kagari wasn't about to let these creatures get in the way, so she made a point of shooting arrows at the many of them.
"Well, now you just have to freeze these various waterfalls and jump from platform to platform, that'll make it easier," said the crimson-eyed girl.
"Are you sure about that? Look at the distance between each platform, we won't be able to cross to the other side by jumping - McLaren said.
"Leave it to me, I've thought about how to make the passage," said Atsuko, making the first use of her staff.
She slams her staff into the ground, freezes the waterfalls and then raises platforms with earth, which makes the girls jump onto the first platform with a waterfall, following the path to the end, but soon becoming a little worried about their friend who was lagging behind in the corner.
"Akko! And you should have... - The hook of the clever Hyllian of Luna Nova comes into play.
She simply passed through everything without any difficulty, arriving on the other side still leaning on the waterfall that had frozen over at the entrance, using her elemental staff to clear the way to open the door, which she passed on the other side with the two girls somewhat surprised.
"I forgot that you have a hook, it's not even funny, you could go through it all by yourself," said the surprised Diana.
"It's good to be versatile, now come on, we have to manage very well on the road ahead," said Akko with a shrug.
In the room ahead, the path was quiet without a hand falling on them, but they still had to deal with some Bari who were on either side of them in the dungeon with the appearance of Hardhat Beetles while there was a cliff in the corners with springs in the centre.
"It looks like they're trying to stop us from getting through, but come on, we're managing to keep going," says a smiling Atsuko, who is soon accidentally pushed by one of the springs.
The other two come to rescue their friend, but they end up being hit by the hardhat beetles that push them, causing the trio to fall over the cliff, but they are surprised, they fall right into a hole where there are fairies, which was really impressive, already injured they take the opportunity to heal themselves right there and take a short rest.
"Wow, we got lucky," said Cavendish.
"Sorry about everything, I was the one who faltered, I let myself be carried away by the spring, I had no idea it was going to push me so far back, but there, now we have a cure, I was already all broken up - said the renewed Kagari.
"That's exactly why we got lucky, but how are we going to get back? These are the times when a hand would be good, otherwise we'll stay here forever" said the platinum blonde-haired girl.
When the three of them recovered, they headed for a portal, which was their hope of getting back, but when they stepped through it, they found themselves standing at the top of one of the pillars where the frozen waterfalls were, which made them go back a little way, but not so far as to get back to where they were quickly.
"Wow, at least we weren't transported to the entrance of the dungeon" said the relieved crimson-eyed girl.
"Well at least that's it, come on, we just have to follow carefully, or else use the hook Akko, have you stopped to think about that" said the blue-eyed one.
In the corridor Atsuko uses the hook and realises that it's more useful than it looks, it simply works wonders in pushing the hardhat Beetles out and also ends up being useful against the Bari who end up splitting up without being hit, which Kagari even gets all clueless about because it worked so excellently at long range.
"That's it, now come on, your hook is by far the most useful thing you've acquired in these dungeons, it not only serves to pick things up from afar, but also as a weapon and even takes you places, I wish I had a hook like that, I think I'll think about making one to take with me, since the gauntlets only let me break my face up close" McLaren said.
They went down the corridor, opening the key door, where they came face to face in the room where the entrance to the dungeon boss's room was located. It was a quick dungeon, but it had its complications, and soon they were looking at the door, taking a deep breath, knowing that it was Akko and her skills that would be in danger from now on.
"Good Akko, my love... Be careful, put everything you've learnt into practice, don't be afraid to be afraid... You understand, please don't die, kill the monster that comes, free Gwendolyn from this prison and we'll have one more of the nine witches to have the seal opened and the power more in hand, I'm sure Andrew will be more afraid to know that his plan is going wrong" said Diana with her hand on her wife's shoulder.
"HeyAkko, break this monster's face, show him what you're here for, we'll be waiting here, I'd like to join in too, but we'll have to wait, good luck there my sister-in-law and majesty, I'll be waiting for the queen here" said Hellene, making Akko look a little embarrassed.
"Don't exaggerate girls, I'll be back fine, I guarantee it, if I die you'll break the monster's face for me, I'll do it for all of Hyrule" said Atsuko with a thumbs up sign.
She hugged them both and gave her wife a very romantic kiss, as if it were her last kiss, to the point that her younger sister was just watching with her arms crossed, waiting and tapping her feet as they stood there having a moment together, but soon the sealing of lips and the joining of tongues would come to an end with the departure of the warrior of Luna Nova for yet another dungeon monster to face.
Far away on the island of Edo, Louis Blackwell, in disguise, was already drawing his own conclusions about the place. He couldn't find any of the suspects he'd only heard news about, which frustrated him, especially as he couldn't return to the kingdom of Appleton without news, so he was already thinking of something more strategic to do.
(Damn it, they're not here, they must have fled in another direction, I was wrong all along, the lord would be very angry to know that my mission failed, the worst thing is that I don't have that much time, I need to think of something to do, I think I might have an idea here, I already know what to cause... That's right).
The boy uses his metamorphosis magic to transform himself into someone else and looks on with a huge smile while also putting on Appleton's clothes, all to make his plan work better, as this way he'll have a better chance of causing the worst in the place.
(I can't find them, but they won't get away with it, but damn it, the worst thing is that I don't look much like her, but I think it might be enough to fool her, then I'll get out of this place in disguise).
Even though he hadn't mastered the metamorphosis technique, the boy went out of the house and was soon approached by some people who were impressed by him, but then walked backwards when they realised that this person was simply adoring Appleton and started attacking random people, including the guards, leaving in a frenzy with a sword in hand;
"Quick, someone contain that bastard! She's tricking us!" Said one of the guards.
"Glory to Appleton, these lands are mine!" Blackwell said, pretending to sound like a girl.
After that, he ran in disguise around the city until he realised he was cornered and ended up entering an alley because he knew the map of the city and used the metamorphosis spell, which ended up sneaking into an establishment next door and the guards couldn't identify the boy, who just left casually as if nothing had happened.
"Where did she go? This traitor won't get away that easily, we'll find her and make her pay seriously" said the town guard.
"She can only have escaped somewhere or she's being very cunning, let's find out, she could have used some kind of metamorphosis spell, it could be anyone from here, everyone stop!" Said another guard.
Soon the guard was spraying everyone who was there, and even so Louis managed to escape by sneaking away, just avoiding contact with the guards who were there trying to somehow find out who the suspicious person was who had caused all this, even to the point of killing an innocent person in front of the whole town.
(Well, now I know that the lord will reward me, so by putting you down as a criminal I'll get you sent back to Appleton and arrested, all according to plan, plus I've already made a complete and detailed map of the region, it's only a matter of time before this pathetic island is conquered).
Blackwell went to collect his things, all the information he'd acquired, and immediately took a boat back to the mainland, since he didn't have much of a mission to do, having been trying for a week to get something out of it, he couldn't delay the mission too long or he'd deeply irritate the lord of Appleton.
Diana, Hellene and Akko have reached the second dungeon of the nine witches. The trio have had their challenges and have been getting on very well with their skills, even more so since they have combined the experience of previous dungeons that they have been to together, but the trio challenge will come to an end with Kagari having to face the great monster of the dungeon alone, which she has already suffered in the previous dungeon and in this one will not be so different from what she has been through before.
See you, dungeon witches...