[center][h1][color=00aeef]Hyrule[/color] [color=darkgreen]Warriors[/color][/h1][/center] [center]Word Count:1164 [/center] [center][color=00aeef][b]Level 5[/b] [/color] - (48/50) + 2[/center] [center][color=darkgreen]Level 9 [/color] - (35/90) + 2[/center] [hr][hr] [h2][center][color=00aeef]Link[/color][/center][/h2] [center]Location: The Bottomless Sea[/center] [hr] Link collapsed to his knees as the remainder of the team gathered aboard Shippy, stowing the sword he had been using to take swipes at one of the tentacles with as Peach turned the ship away from what was left of the rocky spire and back toward their original destination. It was about all he could do to merely cut at the tendril that had appeared at the prow, the increased choppiness of the sea doing nothing to help him balance on these literal sea legs he had acquired. He tuned and sat with his back against the railing, doing a quick head count and noting the damage everyone had taken before hanging is head and letting out a deep breath. No one was hurt. By the grace of the goddess above they hadn't suffered any losses from that debacle. Crisis mode was over. They were safe again. He could now afford to be angry. As he listened to Sakura as she explained how they had gotten involved in a fight between two sea monsters, even if the why continued to be a mystery, his face started to harden into a grimace. Worth it, she said. [i]That[/i] had all be worth it? At the very least he decision to Friend Heart the big pink monster had been born of ignorance, she was right about that. Someone should have communicated to her that that wasn't how the hearts worked. Then she spoiled it be doubling down on the friend hearts, as though she hadn't leaned anything from what had just happened. She was so lucky Ace Cadet had been quicker on the draw then he was, as he laid out basically everything Link was about to except much more calmly and in a way she would probably listen to. Hearing your complaints laid out by someone else did wonders for stemming the tide of your own anger. "If monsters want to be kill one another, let them do it." Link added on to the end, still clearly irritated, as Cadet turned his attention to Peach. "We're lucky they didn't decide to put their differences aside and team up on us. That's how it usually goes." The closest he had ever seen to monsters fighting one another in Hyrule was Moblins using Bokoblins as live ammo. "It would have been so easy for them to crush both our ships if they hadn't been so focused on one another, and there's no way we could even fight that big fish at the end if it decides to come after us for us as dessert. It could come directly from below and that would be it." "That's why it's so important to not [i]pointlessly[/i] draw attention to ourselves!" He continued, to the whole ship. "No more bombs in the water without a good reason. We don't know what's under us!" He almost wished he was at this alone. He had never felt this kind of stress on his previous adventure. There most everyone he cared about had been tucked away safe in villages, sealing the calamity, or dead. The ones who had come out with him only did so long enough to aide him in getting inside the Divine Beasts. He had never felt this sustained had to deal with this kind of sustained stress, this fear of losing the people right in front of him, before today. After two frantic combats it was clearly starting to raddle him. [hr][hr] [center][h2][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h2][/center] [center][h3][color=red]Merge Rate: 31%[/color][/h3][/center] [center]Location: The Cold Monastery[/center] [hr] It wasn’t too long before Linkle realized that taking the sled with her was completely infeasible along this path, so she turned back and left it nestled up against the cliffside along with the wood the tree women had turned into. By that time Albedo was already some ways ahead of her, those golden flowers of his making for a good path marker as the wind kicked up and the snow began to billow up around her. She crept carefully forward, a feeling in the back of her mind keeping her all too aware that a fall from this height may as well be one into a bottomless pit from which there was no return. As she made her way along, hand sliding along the wall to her left, she could swear she could see shadows in the white out. Odd specters flickered in and out of view, oddly familiar ones that she couldn't quite place. She drew one her bows as they harassed her, words as sharp as the wind carried in the wind passed her ears, and as it spoke she realized what it was. That was the shadow that had burst out of the old Skullgirl. “So that’s you, huh?” She said, the only thing keeping her from shooting at it wherever it flashed up being the knowledge that Albedo was somewhere in front of her in this whiteout. It probably knew that too. It would be just like it to try and trick her into putting an arrow in his back. “Come closer! Come on, unless you’re scared of me!” She shouted, but the wind blew her voice away as it emerged. “Try and throw me over why don’t you?!” It didn’t respond, and in a way that was more mocking that anything it had previously done. She didn’t know how long she was haunted in the blizzard, but she was grateful when it was over and she found herself slightly behind Albeado once more though her previous enthusiasm seemed to have been sapped. Not even the brilliance of the main hall seemed to inspire much in Linkle. She had been expecting it to be warmer in here. It had to be with the way that icy eyed girl was dressed, but to Linkle it was all the same. She really wished it was warmer. She stood close enough to Albedo to hear the softly whispered conversation, the rules, and where they were allowed to go, but as they walked into the main hall the pair stood in silence for a moment until she noticed Albedo looking to her for guidance and straightened up. All right, they were here. What did they do now? Just go around asking everybody which gods made you invincible? No, there had to be a quicker way than that. They had to return to the village by sundown. She thought back to anything that could help narrow the search down while looking around again. Her eyes slid across art and symbols, and suddenly she had an idea. “His tattoos.” She said in a loud whisper. “He was covered in symbols, remember? They glowed when he fought me. There was a big circle encircled in weird little symbols and something that looked like an upside down bat. Maybe the goddess put them there when she made him immortal. Did you sketch any of them?” “We should look around the shrines for symbols that look like that.” She suggested. “Even if they’re not related to his power they’re still from his world, right?”