A/N: I am still looking for one or two additional Beta Editors to assist my current Beta, Hrymeigh. He does an amazing job, but his personal life is such that he cannot edit everything I write. There is no experience required, only a knowledge of the fandoms you would be reading for (primarily HP, Zelda, and Pokemon at this time), a functional (ie, fluent-ish) knowledge of the English language (Hrymeigh is not a native speaker, and does just fine), and a willingness to help. PM me on this website and I'll respond ASAP.

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Of course, you can ALSO find more of the same stories there. I post everything on this site at least a week after it's posted on 'The Pat-r-on Site', so if you want more and don't want to wait, well... there you go. That's enough out of me, though. Enjoy!
A SPECIAL NOTE FOR THIS CHAPTER: FFnet doesn't allow "Ch 0". I despise that... because this series had a prologue (you might recall it). I'm 'skipping' a numerical chapter by their own count to bring it into line with the actual chapter count now.


Ch. 5

Bokoblin / Bane

... And then didn't.

Or maybe it would be better, her mind mused after what felt like no time at all, to think of it as un-dissolving.

Because those motes came back together after only an instant, she thought, and reassembled her bit by bit at an incredible pace, equipment and clothing and wounds and all, exactly as she'd been when she was taken apart.

She gasped, turning her hands over and back in front of her face, unable to believe what had happened. The Sheikah could fold space, and apparently transport her across great distances! That was at least a mile she had moved in a moment!

Zelda even glanced at the clock function of the Slate. It showed the same date- XXXX- but the time actually told her nothing, aside from that it was near mid-day. She didn't know how long, precisely, she'd been in the shrine, and hadn't checked the clock before being transported.

But she was here now.

And, somehow, though it had taken only a moment, so was the old man!

"You are awfully well-informed, and very fast, for a person of your age," Zelda muttered quietly.

Even so, the old man seemed to hear every word, for he chuckled again, "When you get to be my age, you have picked up a thing or two. As for my speed... Leave an old man his secrets for now. I promise, I will tell you in time. Now, look down, there... Aim the eye of the slate toward that Shrine. Notice how the screen then lights up, showing the same thing but magnified, as if through a spyglass?"

Zelda's eyes widened, "Indeed- and so clear!"

"Ho, ho! Yes, indeed, a marvelous work of technology. You can tap the shrine, go on... ah, yes. See how it now shows on the screen, that pillar of red light? That will appear on the map, too. It is a way to mark a location for future investigation, or a reminder to do a task. You can stick that pin of light anywhere you're interested in simply by looking at it through the Sheikah Slate's scope."

"How do you know all of this," Zelda asked, growing increasingly suspicious despite all the old man had done for her, "Who are you?"

"Ha! I learned through experience, wisdom... and a little instinct. Like everyone else, young Princess. Call it what you will, and believe it only if you so please. It matters not how I know, only that I do, and now you do as well. Go ahead and take a look. From here, you should be able to see the other three Shrines on the plateau quite easily."

Zelda scowled at his careful but seemingly casual avoidance of any sort of actual answer. In lieu of that, her only real choice was to do as the old man suggested. To the southeast, the next nearest shrine was at the back of an old walled garden of sorts, she guessed, at the eastern edge of the plateau itself. Further south, high on a cliff behind the Temple of Time from where they stood, another rested. And the third he had told her of, far west and a little south, stood atop the highest mountains of the plateau, well behind and past the Shrine of Resurrection amid drifting snow and clouds.

All three, she marked carefully as he instructed, finding more beams alit in blue and yellow on the map and in the slate's scope. Grumbling still if only to drown out the old man's amused chuckles at her expense, Zelda climbed down, down, and further still. She was half-way down the tower when she realized she was wasting her time and much of her still too-limited endurance. After she dropped to the nearest platform, Zelda frowned and brought up the slate again.

With a moment's hesitation, because it was unnerving if not uncomfortable to be taken apart and reassembled, Zelda double-tapped the Oman Au Shrine again.

When she was reconstituted, she immediately had to lunge to the right as a spear was thrust past where she stood.

Zelda let out a shriek of fright as the Bokoblin howled in frustration. It must have seen her appear in light, and taken a stab before she even fully materialized! This was no mere carved chunk of wood in a club, either, but an actual spear meant for hunting or light combat, with a steel head. Even a glance told her it was worn with time, but the Bokoblin's reach was far larger than her own with it.

Zelda cried out again again as it made another thrust, and a third. She ducked under the first, and hastily threw up the wooden shield strapped to her arm.

Somehow, it caught, deflecting the wild stab.

What little training she had must have saved her, for Zelda seized the moment at once. She ducked under his arms, the club at her waist lashing out against its rib cage while her shield-arm pushed it back even further. It staggered, off-balance, and fell onto its back. With another cry, this one of fury, the club came down on its face, and the Bokoblin vanished.

"I'm getting far too used to these sudden bursts of intense violence," the princess muttered to herself, "and it hasn't even been a day, yet!"

Still, the battle, brief and surprising though it was, had netted her another weapon. A much longer one, one suited to her fighting style more than the club she had slain the beast with. Not as much as a bow, perhaps, but she spun and twirled the spear with grace that denoted long practice at one point in the distant past.

Zelda found herself smiling again as she turned toward the nearest shrine, the one surrounded by ruined walls... and stopped.

A glint of metal in the pond near the Oman Au Shrine.

Two, in fact.

No, three, and more besides! Two chests, sturdy and sealed perhaps against the water, lay at the bottom of a collapsed road, deep inside a sinkhole. Ruins of carts and metal crates littered the area, too. Perhaps a caravan of supplies had been caught by the Calamity?

Zelda didn't know, and at that moment, didn't care. She knew there was no way to haul the chests up or break open the crates with the tools she had, but there was something she did. The Magnesis rune would lift the chests out of the water, and if nothing else, she could smash the crates, already worn by time, to pieces by dropping them from a height.

A large chunk of amber joined the ruby first, and an opal, clear and pearly after that.

She didn't get much salvage from the remainder of the crates, but a few arrows, eight in all, joined her meager supply, bringing her to almost two full quivers. If only she had a proper quiver! It would let her fire much faster.

She started making her way south, but was sidetracked by spotting a pair of chests, crafted of stone this time, nesting on a raised platform above some sort of volcanic, muddy bog. It smelled of rotten eggs, but Zelda had no idea at first how to reach them.

The platform looked to have been much larger once, possibly part of a bridge that spanned the muddy sinkhole, but it was damaged and worn, falling apart.

What was there bore significant weight, too, those chests had to weigh several hundred pounds, plus whatever was inside them.

But how could she reach them? They had to guard something.

No one just put chests around with nothing in them, did they?

Unless it was an ambush or trap of some sort? The smelly bog could be just such a thing, but even then... it would serve better as actual protection for something than a simple trap guarding nothing.

It made no sense.

Then the golden-tressed princess had an epiphany. Not so far away, the ruins of several carts and wagons lay strewn around a sinkhole much like this one, only filled with water.

One of the beams there was long enough to bridge the gap to a raise section, she thought, but only just. It would be risky, dangerous to climb across... but if it held, if it took the pole's weight and her too, the platform was something she could stand on.

From there, opening the crates would be easy.

It was the work of several minutes to carry the frame of the wagon over with Magnesis, but worth it in the end as Zelda pried open the first chest to find a bundle of five arrows with a curious, ice-blue head. It was carved to resemble a three-pointed snowflake, jagged and sharp, and even being near them made her fingers shiver with cold. Ice arrows. Magic arrows. Amazing! I can certainly find a use for these!

The other chest held an equal prize, these arrows, another bundle of five, tipped with a stylized red glass head that glowed with heat and seared her finger as she touched them. "Fire arrows, too? This is great. I will certainly be able to use these. Bokoblins, watch out!"

She wasn't done yet, though. Just on the south side of the bog, Zelda spotted a chain dangling into the water from a broken, old stump of a tree still taller than herself. Curious, she turned on the Magnesis rune once more, and found, buried a few feet down in the muck, a metal lump at the end of the chain. Amused but rather bored, she placed it on the stump as a landmark of sorts, then started to move on.

Only to hear it thunk dully as the metal sphere rolled into a hollow in the top of the dead tree.

"What? What was that?"

She turned slowly, the metal no longer in sight, and the chain dangling now up and into the hole.

Something giggled, high-pitched, "Yah, hah, hah! You found me!"

She blinked in surprise, letting out a yelp.

And Zelda received yet another shock, just the newest in an endless stream, it seemed, as a creature faded into view. It was floating by means of a branch with two leaves that spun somehow around it, carrying the creature into the air, just above the stump. Its own body was short, knee-high or so to herself Zelda thought, and pointed, thorny, with tiny little arms and legs, and a very long nose. That nose, as sharp as any other thorn, affixed a leaf-like mask at its front, which seemed to be the creature's actual eyes and mouth, for they blinked and moved as it talked. "Wait... you aren't Hestu! I've been waiting so long! Baaah... I don't want to play anymore, this game is boring now. Here, you can have this! Give it to Hestu if you see him!"

Zelda found her arm pulled upward toward the creature by an invisible force, inexorable though gentle, and it tossed a little, golden lump into her hand. Then it was gone in a flurry of leaves, vanished to where it had first appeared from, she supposed.

Curious, Zelda lifted the lump to her face. It was vaguely droplet-shaped, rigid, harder than actual gold, but of a slightly lighter shade than her hair. And it reeked. Thankfully, the thing was small! Zelda didn't know what it was, and she debated throwing it into the much to rid herself of the smell, but eventually decided that she should do as it said.

Perhaps Hestu was the old man's name? It would serve him right to be given such an odiferous gift after teasing her with the paraglider, and one quest after another.

And not answering any of her questions, either!

Zelda was grateful once more for the comfortable doeskin boots as she trekked back south and up, eventually climbing the long stairs that lead to the parade grounds before the great temple. There, she was accosted by not one but two of the little blue acid-slime monsters. Fortunately, they were slow and she was more prepared this time. A single swing of her club was enough to dispatch each one, and the thicker wood was still in decent shape despite being burned by their acid after the reaction stopped.

She picked up a pair of green-capped mushrooms, too, her instinct telling her they were as edible as the red ones, though better cooked.

Still, she would ask the old man first. Just to be safe.

On her way to the next shrine, Zelda was able to gather up another butterfly, a few more eggs, and even caught a healthy-looking, green-skinned frog she hoped would be decent eating too. She definitely needed more meat, as active as she was going to have to be for however long it took.

Unfortunately, the easiest way proved nearly impassible. Zelda thought she might have been able to jump the gap with a full run, but not carrying the weight of her satchel, clothes, and weapons, for all their were magically lightened. The bridge spanned a deep gully, too, and if she fell Zelda worried it would be the death of her. At the very least, she would have a broken leg and be easy prey for the clutch of Bokoblins nearby.

They, unlike others she had seen, were camped in a strange rock that resembled nothing so much as a skull. It had two eye-holes, a nose-hole, and a wide mouth the creatures used as the door. A single Bokoblin stood on one of their flimsy watchtowers inside, too.

Surely, she would die if she failed to make the jump.

It was too much risk.

Zelda sighed, and turned north again, making her way down.

The Bokoblins were a dangerous threat, and either way she would feel better if they were dead. Killing the lot was risky too, but with a shield, her pair of short swords, and the spear, her chances looked a lot better than jumping a ten-foot gap from uneven, shaky flagstones. Then she would just have to climb back up the gully's far side.

She sighed. Needs must, the princess reminded herself, and started to slink carefully down into a broken spot of the old road.

She thought she had a good position to attack from when she could look down on the watchtower still, but also see that inside the skull-rock's eyes were two hanging lanterns. Oil. Fire. If I can make them fall- a good shot can cut a rope. I've done it before, haven't I? I think so... it feels like I have, even if I can't remember. The proper spin, which the fletching should do...

Yes. If it breaks the lantern, it should light enough fire to at least hurt whatever number is in the rock's shelter. I hear at least two, but can't see any.

This one at the watch, though... I'll have to remove him first, that bow could be lethal even at this range. They have some draw.

Zelda strung her bow, crouched, and moved into position for a clear line of sight. It was a long shot for the range the shoddy Boko bows or even her hunting bows had, but it was doable. She just had to believe, exhale, and release!

Perfect! The arrow aced up and out, gracefully spinning in silence.

It pierced the top of the Bokoblin's head at the back, the force, assisted by gravity too as it curved downward, throwing it face-first to the watch post and pinning it there. The beast did not so much as twitch before it vanished.

That was a shot for the ages, Zelda crowed quietly, mindful not to attract attention. She was unwilling to risk shooting for the lanterns from here, though. Instead, she started picking her careful way down the sloping rubble of the gulley until she was beneath the watch post itself. From there, she gathered up what the Bokoblin had left- a few arrows, a bow she did not bother with, and a single fang- and started climbing as quietly as she could.

Zelda was nearly at the top, bending in half to climb to the peak of the little tower, when two sharp stabs of pain hit her right shoulder.

Too late, she heard the flapping of near-silent wings, and felt her flesh tear.

Somehow, she kept the scream from burbling up, transforming it into a sharp hiss of pain instead.

Throwing herself the rest of the way up, Zelda rolled, reaching with already bloody fingers for one of her last clubs.

Keese. It's a giant bat, one-eyed, and mildly toxic. It burns, but I'll live. If I can kill it quietly, anyway!

But there were two of the creatures. The first dodged back, flapping out of the way of her clumsy swing. The second mistimed, swooping in to catch a return swipe. Even backhanded, it was enough to break the Keese's wing, throwing it back and down against the lower parts of the stone skull.

Zelda fought to ignore the burning pain in her shoulder where its saliva had been injected, knowing somehow that the creature would happily kill her and slake its thirst on her blood while she still breathed. Eventually, her fingers shaking from the toxins but her grip firm, it came in for another pass and bite.

Zelda caught it in her free hand, then quickly threw it down to the platform, where it was crushed beneath her boot. The sound was partially muffled at least, but the snorting from the Bokoblins inside the skull had gone quiet.

She remained still, hopeful, dreading...

Eventually, one of the beasts chortled, and the raucous, guttural conversation resumed.

Zelda exhaled softly in relief. Stealth was truly serving her well against these larger numbers.

The pair of Keese had left behind two intact wings as they, too, vanished in smoke, and one large, multi-colored eyeball as large as her fist. Those joined the other monster trophies, the first of their kind she could remember slaying.

Now, she just had to make a good cut with an arrow against an already-frayed rope, and hope the burning oil was enough to finish off the Bokoblins inside the rock.

Like before, her aim was true, and soon a deafening explosion, far stronger than she had expected, rocked the landscape around her. Zelda's ears rang, her eyebrows felt singed too, as the flames roared in a huge gout out of every hole in the massive skull.

Over the high pitched whine left in her hearing, once the blast wave had passed, Zelda heard the cries of several dying Bokoblins... and the louder roar of one that had survived.

"Darn," she murmured, "I'll... I'll have to go finish it off up close, then."

She didn't have a chance before it rushed from the rock's mouth, a burning club in one hand.

Zelda quivered in sudden fear, glad she could barely hear as it shrieked in fury. The thing was huge, easily a foot taller than any other Bokoblin, standing at her shoulder or so. It was blue, too, a deep color not unlike forget-me-nots.

But somehow, it didn't see her, and soon dashed back inside the rock.

Zelda exhaled in relief. If she were patient, night was coming on... perhaps the creature had eaten recently? Or maybe it would succumb to its wounds?

She didn't know. But eventually, the last survivor's grunts and expressions of pain or displeasure went quiet, and soon she heard it snore as the ringing in her ears slowly subsided.

By the time the princess made her careful, silent way into the rock itself, night had fallen in earnest, but she felt the patience was justified.

The brute was truly gigantic, easily outweighing her by a hundred pounds, and far better fed than its skinny little kin.

The remnants of other Bokoblins and a few red-painted barrels were scattered around the space, some actually embedded in the stone walls by the force of the explosion. That explains it. Storing explosives like dynamite in their home. Idiots.

As she neared the larger, blue Bokoblin, she could spot a few more differences between it and the lesser kind, too. Its hides were larger, thicker, mottled from some animal rather than flaxen or boar skin. It wore more than a simple loincloth and wraps, too. Its arm guards were leather, not cotton, and a belt held a giant, spiked club that looked menacing. The spikes themselves, if she was right, were shorn-off Bokoblin horns or maybe teeth embedded into the hardwood.

Zelda gulped.

Being hit by that would probably kill her, too. At the very least, it too would break bones and pierce skin.

But she had no intention of letting it get in a strike back.

Carefully, oh so carefully, nimble fingers freed the the spiked club from its belt, and lifted it into the air. She set the thing behind her, out of its easy reach, then lifted the club high once more.

Even at full force, directly into the blue Bokoblin's snout, it survived. The creature jerked, both eyes opening at once, then narrowing menacingly. Before it could rise, Zelda brought the club down again, a third time. That swing missed, striking between the creature's legs as it moved to avoid her, sending a puff of dirt upward.

Another swipe, this one across, which it caught with one arm. It howled in pain, the arm breaking, but somehow the creature was still standing. In fact, it lurched to its feet, and came in for a powerful, grungy-nailed claw swipe, straight for her face.

Zelda ducked just in time, some of her hair pulled out after being caught in the thing's grip. Her shield bashed out too, smashing across its face, and then another club blow down, right onto its solitary horn.

That made it crumple to a knee.

A final blow in the same place, the Bokoblin unable to dodge as its eyes watered severely, sent it to the ground in a heap.

A moment later, it was gone.

Another long, slow exhale as Zelda tried to deal with the let-down of adrenaline once more. Searching the place was useful, though. More than just the Bokoblin's teeth and horns, hard as they were and possibly useful for crafting, she of course picked up the spiked club for herself. And tucked at the back, a chest concealed beneath a pile of furs the blue Bokoblin must have been using as a bed contained another parcel of the same red glass-tipped Fire arrows she had picked up earlier that day.

After stepping outside, Zelda stretched, winced at the pain in her shoulder and head, and resolved to take a break. She needed to eat again, and a nap wouldn't hurt, either.

With relative safety found in the crumbling ruins on the far side of the gully, Zelda pulled out one of her mushroom and fruit skewers, and started to eat.

After a too-short nap, the princess kept moving on. As the map pinged with a new location, Eastern Abbey, Zelda found another chest within a pond. It contained another lump of amber. Had the people of Hyrule valued the stone...? It was certainly pretty, she knew. Was it for decorative purposes? Was it valuable still?

Too many questions, and not enough answers.

Outside the abbey itself, she was attacked in the night by a trio of very dead, skeletal Bokoblins. They still moved, though, hissing silently at her as the three monstrous fiends surrounded her. Zelda lashed out quickly with her club in a near panic once again.

Thankfully, they were no more speedy than the living versions, and considerably less hardy. One blow was enough to knock its thick skull from its shoulders. More followed, and even though one was armed with a long, straight stick as a rudimentary spear, Zelda was able to dodge out of the way of one thrust and end it, too.

Only the creatures didn't die.

She watched in horror as the scattered bones of the first reassembled themselves.

She swung again, and it collapsed. Only for the second to rise, followed by the third, though thankfully it seemed to have forgotten its weapon this time.

Zelda found herself backed into a corner, trapped by stone walls covered in thick moss and one of the ancient, bell-like devices that still inspired so much terror.

She swung madly, wildly.

Eventually, she smashed one skull while it chattered and laughed on the ground.

This time, it didn't rise back up.

Her eyes widened once more. That's how it's done! They heads must have the animating magic!

This time, Zelda attacked with purpose.

Both of the remaining skeletal Bokoblins collapsed once more a moment later, and Zelda did not hesitate to smash the skulls beneath her club. It was starting to look well worn, but was still alright for now.

Shaking her head at her own panic and fear over what turned out to be a simple foe to defeat, Zelda gathered up the remains they had left behind, then set to work checking both of the nearby constructs for parts she could scavenge.

More gears, screws, and the like joined her slowly growing collection, and all seemed well at first. The night was getting now toward morning when panic set in all at once.

True panic, born of massive amounts of fear.

One of the creatures, the bell-like machines, lit up as she approached.

It was filled with malevolent light, and hatred despite being a machine.

Then the red light from its central eye wavered and struck her chest.

Zelda expected pain, but there was none, only a reflected circle of brilliant crimson on her tattered dress.

The eye of the machine-beast began to glow as a high-pitched whine started up, growing louder and louder as it got brighter.

It was just like the eye of the machine in the Oman Au Shrine, only much, much larger.

And, no doubt, stronger my entire orders of magnitude.

Zelda panicked, throwing herself behind the nearest wall.

It saved her life again, but only just. The walls shivered and shifted with the impact, the whole thing nearly tumbling down to bury her alive, but the scorching heat of the beam did not touch her.

She could not stay here. It would fire again.

It was going to kill her.

Kill her, kill her, make her dead, unalive, deceased.

Shoot her.

Dead.

The beam was death.

The eye was death.

Too late, Zelda realized she was actually in a full-blown panic, as she ran, and ran.

The device did not follow, though once the eye lanced out a brilliant beam of deathly fire far too close for her liking, cutting an entire oak in half as it went by, and lighting it ablaze too.

Eventually, exhausted, Zelda came to a halt in the shadows of the great temple. She crawled, crying and half-blind by those tears, to the foot of the altar, and collapsed.


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