Hyrule will never get used to the vertigo portal jumping brings.
Seriously, couldn't they get a break?
They had finished eating lunch after a tiring hike in Wild's Hyrule and were just settling down to converse when he felt a portal coming. How does he know when a portal is appearing? Simple — when the air smells of ozone and his magic feels heavy in his body.
As their unofficial alarm system for portals, he then informed the rest of the Chain. This prompted a chorus of groans from the other members, most specifically Wind and Sky. Twilight even had the nerve to question his portal prediction skills, but Wild — the most divinity sensitive of the group — confirmed his claims.
So, with quiet grumbles and sighs, the group started packing to be prepared. It wasn't that long before the purple-black portal swirled to life at the edge of the camp, calling to their souls and pulling them closer. So with hopeful looks it could be one of their Hyrules — preferably Time's — they stepped through.
It started like any other portal jump for Hyrule: the feeling of stepping into nothingness and getting his soul thrown around like a yarn ball in a cat's paws.
Yet, there was something… different.
Usually, it only takes a split second to go from one end of the portal to another, for a quick and 'easy' trip. But around what he would call midway, the feeling of the portal around him jerked; it threw his soul around much more aggressively and the space around him felt like it was stretching and being pulled apart.
One of the worst experiences he's felt, and he hopes he never has to go through it again.
Where was he?
Oh yeah.
Throwing up against a tree.
Really, could the portal spit him out any harder? He feels like he's been chewed on and his magic is roiling inside him the same way his stomach is. His head felt like it was splitting open and he was having trouble differentiating up from down. He barely registers Sky walking over to rub a hand soothingly against his back as he gags and heaves against the tree — if he keeps throwing up everything he eats after portals he'll never gain weight at this rate.
With a final spit and a green potion in his hand, he straightened to see the rest of the group. It seemed he wasn't the only one to be hit hard by the rough treatment. Most of his brothers were kneeling on the ground after getting spat out of the portal except for Wild, Wind, and Sky, the latter of which was still rubbing circles into his back.
Sipping at the potion to get rid of that horrid experience, he walked toward Four to check on him. He always had it the worst out of all of them, needing time to recuperate after a portal, but this one was especially bad so he's now splayed on the ground in a position that looked mighty uncomfortable. So after he kneeled next to his brother he, carefully, moved around his unconscious body so he was laying on his back more comfortably. Keeping one ear turned towards the rest of the group, he took to looking over Four's body.
"Alright," he heard Time start, turning to address the rest of them, "Does anyone recognize where we are?"
"Well, it's not my Hyrule," huffed Wind, crossing his arms with a pout. He hadn't hidden the fact that he missed his Hyrule and the sea.
It went like that, everyone awake shaking their heads with mumbled 'no's. Wild mentioned it looked similar to his, but they just came from his Hyrule so there was no chance. With everyone affirming that they could not recognize where they were, there was only one question to be asked…
"So this is a new Hyrule?" asked Twilight, his eyes scanning the cliffs.
"Maybe we're getting a new Link," offered Sky.
"It can't be, it's been months since we picked up Wild," Legend countered.
At this, the Chain devolved into discussions involving the probable new Link, but he tuned them out.
"How's he doing?" he heard Warriors ask as he slid up beside him, his own eyes scanning the smaller boy. He still looked a little pale, but compared to Hyrule who nearly threw up his whole stomach, he looked alright.
"He's okay, I think… I didn't find anything wrong, so it's probably his soul responding to the rougher-than-usual switch," Hyrule said, patting his hands on his knees as he stood up.
Now that he felt alright and Four wasn't in any danger, he took the time to survey the area around them. The first thing that he took notice of was the green — it was a shade of green that nearly assaulted his eyeballs under the midday sun, but it wasn't so abrasive as to put him off from looking around. The second thing he noticed was the amount of small rocky cliffs and the wind that rustled the leaves and grass, sending a pleasant sound into his ears.
Looking forwards to the North — he thinks, the sun is nearly in the middle of the sky so it was hard to tell — there's the tree that he fertilized with his stomach acid, a couple of strange-looking fruits hanging from its branches; past the tree he could see more trees and a path that goes up between two rock walls. Looking to the left — the West — there was another path between the cliffs with some stairs and small monuments leading to… somewhere. Behind him to the South there wasn't much, just a cliff blocking the view and more trees. Already, he could tell this new Hyrule was a beautiful one.
To the East, he could see a strange floating blue monument, glowing crystals against one of the rock walls, and… what looked like a castle in the distance; he could also see other large buildings and what looked like a windmill, but from this distance, he couldn't exactly tell. Deciding to bring attention to it, he let out a quick whistle and proceeded to point at the buildings when he had the other's attention.
"There's a castle of some kind over there." He dropped his hand when he was sure they had noticed.
"A city," he heard Time mumble before turning back to them. "Well, it seems we have a destination set. Two of us should go scout ahead for a path."
"I'll go!" Wild called as he walked in the direction of the city, and Twilight followed after sharing a Look with Time.
The rest of the group proceeded to check themselves over, patting off dirt and picking out grass stuck in their hair; due to being roughly spit out of the portal, a lot of them went rolling in the grass involuntarily and picked up unwanted guests… Like the ants Wind was trying to smack off of his arms. Hyrule went back to sitting next to a still unconscious Four and a grumbling Warriors, who was carefully picking dirt off of his scarf. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Legend switching out the magical rings on his fingers.
Not long after there was the sound of crunching grass as Twilight and Wild reappeared and walked back into their 'camp'.
"Well, we found some sort of path, but it's more of a detour than anything." Twilight started when he got close enough, throwing a hand out toward the castle. "We're up on a cliff and the city itself is in the middle of a lake, and trying to fly or swim our way there is bound to get us arrested."
"I tried to jump off and paraglide there, but Twilight nearly broke my neck yanking me back…" Wild pouted, rubbing a hand against his throat.
"I thought it'd be better for all of us to go together instead of having one of us arrested in a new Hyrule," Twilight reasoned, sending a sharp look in Wild's direction, who looked playfully offended.
"You thought well," Time said, making Twilight flush a little, which in turn made Wild nudge him playfully. "I'd rather we all go together; we don't know what kind of threats exist here. Are we all ready to move?" he asked, scanning over the group with his single eye.
At the others' nods, everyone began to stand. Time had sent a questioning look towards Four and Warriors went to pick him up without being told to. Hyrule and Warriors worked together to get Four seated properly upon Warriors back, making sure he was in no way going to slip off.
"Glad to see you're being useful," remarked Legend dryly as he stood up from the ground, new rings glittering on his fingers.
"Says the one who was changing his jewelry," Warriors snarked back.
"They are magic. Items." Legend hissed as he moved to follow the rest of the Chain, even as Warriors chuckled.
They worked their way serenely down the hill — Wild and Twilight lead the way, with Time watching the rear — with the breeze murmuring in their ears. The area around them seemed almost untamed, much like how Wild's Hyrule was, but the city also showed how it was probably just this area. That didn't stop Hyrule from appreciating the sight with the breeze and the sound of Legend and Warriors bickering behind him.
It didn't take long while walking for them to round the corner of the larger cliff, and Hyrule felt the air leave his lungs — there in the distance, past more cliffs and many trees, was a huge mountain, and even from this distance he could tell it was full of snow. The peak was covered with swirling clouds and he could just barely see something floating over the mountain. Hyrule had been right — just from this view alone he could still this was a beautiful place.
From the noises of amazement that he could hear from the others, he could tell they thought the same.
"What are those?" asked Wind, interrupting the moment as he crept closer to the front of the group when he spotted something.
"They look like chuchus, but…" Wild trailed off.
Coming to the front of the group, Hyrule could see what they were talking about; a pair of chuchu-like beings were bobbing without a care in the world, not noticing the group of nine looking at them. Despite looking like a chuchu, there were differences: he could see how their eyes were beady instead of grotesquely popping out of their bodies, and they had some sort of shining antennae at the top of their heads — sometimes he saw a flash of light travel from one's antennae to the others. The largest 'chuchu' was yellow, while the smallest was purple, and they both had white lines that stretched from over their eyes to their backs before twisting into circles at their 'cheeks'.
"They're kinda cute," he heard Sky say from behind them, prompting Wild and Wind to nod in agreement.
"They're electric," Time stated as he moved towards the front of the group, his hand twitching towards his sword before thinking better of it. "It would be no good for us with armor to face them."
"We don't know how strong they are either…" Warriors added quietly, moving to the front of the group as well. "Time can't fight because he's going to get shocked, and I'm busy with Four on my back…"
"Relax, we can defeat them easily with just a few of us!" Wind boasted, pulling out his sword eagerly.
"Maybe I can throw a bomb and see how they do against it?" Wild muttered as he pulled out his slate; Time, who had heard, looked as if he had aged a couple of years at Wild's words.
With a long-suffering sigh, he motioned to the 'chuchus'. "You can throw—"
Before he could even finish the sentence, Wild was already chucking the bomb he had pulled out of the slate at the 'chuchus'. They jumped slightly when it landed between them, turning to look at it curiously — they were clearly not very smart to look at where it had come from. With the touch of a button on his slate, the bomb exploded, sending the smaller 'chuchu' flying off the cliff that they were bordering — if Hyrule squinted he could see tears in its eyes as it fell off the cliff.
He felt kind of bad for it.
The larger 'chuchu' smacked against the rock wall and then fell back to where it was originally, shaking itself off before turning towards them. Wind, not hesitating, took off toward it before swinging his sword and slashing at its face, causing… something to leak from the creature. The 'chuchu' took to flattening itself against the ground as Wind kept slashing at it; while Wild ran towards Wind to help with the creature, it launched itself up into the air. It shocked the pair into pausing, seeing the damn thing jump into the air with no legs.
"Look out!" called Twilight, jolting the other two into dodging when the 'chuchu' slammed down onto the ground where they were standing.
Twilight himself ran to join them, slashing at the creature once close enough. Between the three of them the 'chuchu' didn't last, jiggling for a moment before promptly exploding, covering the trio with some strange slime that crackled against their clothes and skin.
With the enemies eliminated, the rest of the Chain ran forward to look over their brothers. Hyrule specially moved to check them over — they had not been hit, but the 'chuchu' was electric and they're covered in its slime, which still sparked every once in a while.
"Does the slime hurt at all?" he asked, looking them over with a critical eye.
"It kind of itches, but it doesn't hurt," Wind answered, wiping at his arms to get the slime off; Twilight and Wild nodded in agreement — no pain, just a little itchy. Deeming them to be in no danger, Hyrule took out a handkerchief and helped them wipe off the sticky slime.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Legend walk a little farther from the group before turning back to them, snapping his fingers lightly to call the group's attention to him. "We're not done yet, there's a camp of strange creatures just down the corner," he informed them, a scowl on his lips.
Time frowned. "Strange creatures?" he asked, walking over to where Legend was.
"As if someone grabbed a bokoblin, gave it bunny ears, glued fur onto it, and gave it a mask," Legend clarified.
The rest of the group also moved closer, and yeah, Hyrule could see what Legend was talking about. Camped next to a tree with a crude tent were a couple similar-looking creatures lounging around, practically exactly as Legend has said; they looked more proportional compared to bokoblins, with dark grey skin and arms covered in dirty bandages. Tan fur made up the manes around their heads and two large ears popped up from it. He couldn't see the design from this distance, but they wore white masks with two small horns curling up from the temples.
"Oh," he heard Sky breathe before pointing at the group, "there's a bigger one."
And now that Hyrule looked better, he couldn't believe he missed it. There was a much bigger creature there, similar to the others but with black fur as its mane and with two large, curled red horns protruding from its mask. It was a little intimidating, but it didn't look as much of a threat from the way it was sitting leisurely.
"So what's the plan?" Twilight asked quietly, holding his sword at the ready.
"Can I —"
"No." Time didn't even let Wild finish his sentence, which made him pout as Wind snickered. "No bombs this time. I'm frankly surprised they didn't come to investigate that last explosion."
"They might not be that smart," rationalized Legend, pulling out his sword and shield in preparation for the battle.
"What's the plan?" Twilight hissed back at the group, tightening the grip on his sword.
Warriors shuffled close for him to speak. "I can't just drop Four and join you all, so I'll stay over here and guard him." He shifted enough to bring Four higher onto his back. "You all can fight them without us, yeah?"
Legend let out a scoff as he rolled his eyes. "Of course we can."
The look Warriors sent him would've made Hyrule giggle if they weren't about to fight.
The air was thick with tension as the seven heroes stared down the monster camp ahead. Legend, his sword shimmering in the moonlight, shared a nod with Hyrule, which he returned. Twilight gripped his sword, and Sky's Master Sword glowed with its legendary power.
The group huddled together as Warriors and Four remained back, ensuring their safety. "We've got this," Twilight reassured, his voice a quiet but firm command.
Wild notched an arrow, drawing it back with practiced ease. Time's Biggoron sword glinted ominously, a formidable weight in his hands. With a nod, Time motioned to Wild, who let the arrow fly true, embedding it deeply into the larger monster's arm.
The monster's enraged roar echoed through the camp, and the smaller creatures — maybe 7 or 8 of them — turned to face the intruders. Clubs raised, they began to advance.
Seizing the opportunity, Twilight lunged forward, his sword slicing through the hilichurls' ranks with precision. Wind danced between them, his sword slashing in a whirlwind, and Hyrule came in swinging, his sword slicing through vulnerable flesh.
He could hear how Wild's bow sang through the air as arrows found their marks with deadly accuracy, injuring some and outright killing others. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see how Sky charged forward with the Master Sword blazing; his strikes swift and unforgiving, carving the creature's skin and painting the battlefield red.
Hyrule noticed how Time's massive Biggoron sword crashed down like a force of nature, the smaller monsters unable to withstand its might. It seemed to be no match when it came to the larger monster, however, as it raised a gigantic wooden shield that blocked any attempts to hit it. No matter how much Time swung at the creature, the shield didn't yield to his hits. Hyrule jumped back from his last kill, moving to aid Time in his fight against the hunk of wood. It seems he wasn't all that needed, however.
Something grey and green darted out from the nearby forest.
Hyrule only heard the surprised shout of "Hey!" from Legend before it got behind the large monster. There was the smell of ozone, a flash of purple, the crackle of electricity, and then the monster roaring out in fury and pain. When it turned to face the new threat, Time swung his sword with no hesitation. It cleaved through its shield arm, causing it to drop it and roar once again.
Now vulnerable Hyrule wasted no time in coming in and shoving his sword straight to where the heart was — or at least where it should be. The creature doubled over before promptly falling to the ground, bringing Hyrule onto its back. When he managed to pull his sword free from its body, it exploded into red and black ashes.
With heaving breaths, he turned to their helper.
A boy with red eyes and stark white hair.