[center][h3]Linkle[/h3]
[b]Level Up! Level 2![/b] - (0/20) EXP
[b]NEW POWER:[/b] Bombs
[b]Location:[/b] 1-1, Central Path -> 1-1, Master of Masters
[b]Word Count: 980 [/b][/center]
[hr]

As Linkle flew over the Hammer Brother's, already taking cover from the combined assault of her and Michael, she heard a satisfying [i]crack[/i] from behind. As she headed toward the ground on the other side of them she tucked herself into a ball and rolled three or four times, ending up on her back but mostly unharmed, and could see from her position that the Hammer Bros were no longer occupying their high ground. Which meant...

Ratchet landed a little ways away, somehow even less gracefully than she had, but as he started to laugh she did too. She pulled herself up off the ground, wiping the grass and dirt stains from her thighs and cloak, as Bowser yelled for everybody to take five. That was as good a sign as any that the battle was over, as as she looked back across the field all that was left of the enemy were the strange little lights that danced melancholy fairies between all her new friends. Bower swept his hand through a dense cloud of them, scooping a bunch up and holding them out for all to see, and Linkle cocked her head at that. So you could catch them?

Ratchet came up, waving and derailing he train of thought. She waved back and graciously took back the crossbow she'd loaned him before asking whether she was up for scouting ahead. She shook her head. "Normally I'd be all over that, but right now I've got to go see a guy about some birds. I'll catch up in a minute." Ratchet accepted this in good spirits, and as he turned and started off down the road Linkle called out. "Hey, Ratchet?" She tossed the crossbow back over to him. "Keep it a while longer. There's no telling when you could run into trouble." Satisfied, she gave him one last wave, holstered her own crossbow, and started heading back up the path back toward The Master of Masters mushroom base.

It turns out she wasn't the only one with that idea. As she rushed off to catch up with the group that was now she saw something flitting by her eyes. One of those little rainbow things. She reached out and closed her hand around it, nestling the thing in her palm. It was really pretty up close, and inside she could see one of the monsters she's blown away earlier. The thing was actually pretty cute, round and brown and kind of like a nut, when it wasn't all red eyed and gold veined. She would give anything for a proper bottle to keep it in, just to watch it fly around. Maybe she'd ask The Master if he had one.

As she went Din ran past her, carrying Kirby no less, which only made her feel better about extending that crossbow loan she'd given to Ratchet. That guy was a crack shot. She'd given him the important bow on the basis that, if he was asking for it, there was no way he didn't have better aim than her but he was actually really good if he managed to hit them while flying through the air like that. 

Speaking of shots and shooting, she managed to catch up to the group just in time for Michael's gun lecture and was almost instantly enthralled. From the way he described it actually handling the thing wasn't all that differed from her own crossbows, but the mechanism behind how it fired caused a whole lot of things to start making sense. No wonder they did more damaged to those turtles, the projectiles were coming out so fast they couldn't even be seen. Evey single shot this thing made had the force of a bomb behind it, and it put out a lot of shots. "Wait, if the thing is making an explosion every time it shoots how long can you use it before it breaks?" she asked curiously. 

[hr]

"Hey Master, I'm ba-" Linkle started as they reached the mushroom, but then chomped down on the words as she noticed what Michael and Tora tactfully already had. There was another person with the Master now, a pretty down looking girl not much younger than Linkle herself. She waited until after the Master had helped the girl into his hammock to open her mouth again, but then shut it as he raised a finger for silence and began to speak.

It was all so promising. Mystery, adventure, 13 great enemies, a terrifying monster, and there they were picked by destiny to beat them all and bring peace and property back to the land. She could almost cry, it was everything she ever wanted from her life. The only thing that kept her from letting out a joyous shout was that there was someone resting right nearby. But then she had a sad thought. "Awww, if Bowser had just stopped earlier he would have known you could turn all his friends back to normal." She opened up her hand and let the little mote of light she'd caught, the Goomba's spirit, float out of her palm. She looked at it sadly. "We just did that to them. OH!" She reached up quickly and caught the spirit again in her cupped hands, careful not to smush it, before it floated away. "But if we take these to Bowser he can bring them back! He's their boss, he could definitely connect with them."

That also meant that her Cukoo's were okay. Sure, they might be black and burnt and all red eyed, but all she'd have to do is beat them and then make them into strikers and they'd be fine. It would be easier than hauling each one she found back to this mushroom, after all. "How do you connect with a spirit? Talk to it?" She asked, both for Bowser and later reference.