[center][h1][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h1][/center] [center][color=darkgreen][b] Level 7[/b][/color] - (28/70) + 3[/center] [center][b]Location:[/b] Lumbridge ~ The Starting Gate ---> Subspace Frontier [b]Word Count: 1713 [/b] [@Lugubrious][@DracoLunaris] [/center] [hr] "No. You heard the princess, you can't come." Linkle said. Her Chochobo looked at Linkle with big, red, soulful eyes and tried to stand up again. Linkle put her hands on the things feathery back and gently pushed it back down against the outside of the gate. "Kweeh," it went, dejectedly. "What am I going to do, put you in the back of the kart?" Linkle asked. The chochobo forced itself back up, letting out another excited "Kweh!" and pointing with its beak over her shoulder. Linkle turned around to see the Courier doing just that and frowned. Linkle might have been giddy like a kid when the man had come through on getting her the potion she'd asked for, doubly so when he just threw in the bottle it had come with as a bonus, but she couldn't help but dislike him just a little for undermining her like this and beating her to the idea. She turned back to the chochobo, that now looked at her so hopefully. She crossed her arms. "Well now there's definitely no room." She said, in the same tone her grandmother would use to signal that this particular discussion was over. The chochobo looked unconvinced, and Linkle signed and decided to take a different track. "Between the other chochobo, the big bug lady, and the robot you could get jostled over the side and go under the tires. Why do you think you're Epona II? That thing [b][i]ate[/i][/b] the first one." Whether it understood the words or something in the girls fearful tone commanded its attention the Chochobo heeded her and sat down against the gate of its own accord, though not without giving her a betrayed look. "Just hang out and we'll be back in no time. Here." Linkle reached into her bag and pulled out one of the plants she'd gotten from Mina, the kind she said chochobo loved. She held out the Gystal Green as a peace offering and after a moment of determined pouting the bird reached out and snatched it from her hand. As Epona II gobbled it down Linkle laid a couple more in front of it. "You'll get some more when we get back, if you be good. Maybe I'll even give you on of those weird peppers." Epona II finally "Kweehed" in a sort of affirmative way. Linkle nodded to herself, then turned to the gate and whistled loudly. It wasn't but a moment before her three cucoos came running out of the gate to her side. "Let's go girls." She said, headed for the big truck with them in toe. [hr] Linkle spent the first part of the journey enjoying herself. The warm sun, the cool breeze, the smell of grass blowing in the wind. It was different riding across this beautiful land while it was still full light. It let you see a lot more things, including the very big monkey monster they had avoided yesterday and the lake with the big colorful tower in the middle. Linkle waved furiously as they passed it, standing and holding onto the handrail to lean over the edge, but had no clue if the owners of that place had even seen her. That was where the familiar sights ended, and the incredibly unfamiliar ones began. Trees filled with what she instantly recognized as those monsters that she'd helped Fi put a stop too, mystery towers, giants buildings that screamed [b]Dungeon[/b] at the top of their lungs. There was some kind of giant tree thing big enough to be seen from a great distance. All these things they just rolled past, leaving in the dust behind them. It made her feel a little sad. There were so many things to do and see here she could spend he entire life exploring and still probably never see it all. She could stay here forever. [i] "Like a pillow."[/i] The thought came sneaking into her head. [i]"Like the whole world was some big soft pillow."[/i] She felt her grip tighten on her bag. That did remind her though. She looked up. "Din?" She said over the engine noise and wind. Getting up and make her way unsteadily across the truck bed to plop down next to the girl. In her lateness she'd nearly forgotten. She reached into the sack and pulled out the feather ornament she'd bought from Malo Mart, holding it up between them careful so the wind didn't blow it away. "Pretty, right? I saw this hair thing in the shop and just had to get it for you. Check it out." She held it down next to where Din had her wings flattened against her arms. "It's the same color and everything. I'll bet with this and that mask of yours you'd look like some kind of graceful, beautiful eagle." [hr] "KEEEEESE!" Linkle shouted, right before a bomb arrow obliterated a huge swarm of the annoying bat monsters. As though responding to Linkle's new suspicion of it the land had stopped awing her with promises of adventure and started throwing monsters at them. Linkle looked at her crossbow, impressed. The range and speed of the bomb arrow had increased significantly from the simple act of maintenance. Not for the first time she wondered what these babies could do if she could find someone that really knew how they worked. As more monsters came closer Linkle took more potshot to test get used to the new range and power, targeting any of the ones Junior and the pack (Flock? Cabal? What did you call a group of old turtle wizards? A Retirement?) of Grandpas manged to miss on their quest to gather spirits. No matter how much the performance of the crossbows had been improved they couldn't well hold up against someone that could just fly up to the enemy. She invited anyone else in the bed who wanted to make a contest of getting the monsters before the koopas did, though even she knew to duck down for cover when she saw the little gold boys holding guns. The sound of bullets pinging off the side abruptly stopped as Junior slammed into them, much to her relief. The finally rolled to a stop in front of a big canyon that sat between them and the orb of darkness in the distance. Bowser, though, had gone right over just like that jump when they were riding through the desert. As the Princess began to reverse away from the edge Linkle grabbed on to one of the handrails, grinning like a madwoman. The Princess sped forward, sending them hurtling off the edge and into the air. Linkle wasn't the only one screaming as they flew. She wasn't even the only one screaming for joy. They landed with a sudden jolt that jerked Linkle forward off her seat and into the bed, laughing. It wasn't long before battle was joined, though. As she pulled herself off the ground and climbed up onto the roof of the Brother Grimm for a better look she could hear Bowser talking about Tatoo, the world boss, and see the various monsters emerging from the pits of darkness that had sprung up all over the canyon. The Koopas responded in kind, calling forth their own minions and letting battle be joined proper. She couldn't help but note three white figures among the horde of Gooba that charged the first wave, and a quick look around the kart bed confirmed her suspicions. The cucoo's must have been bounced out from the landing and joined up with the first friendly horde of creatures they'd seen. That was all right. The girls could have their fun. Linkle was about to jump in after them, but a noise gave her pause. A loud horn noise drew her attention to the creatures that had horns for faces and the almost visible sound they were using as an attack. She could see them blowing whole groups of goombas and dry bones away with that noise. She mentally kicked herself for not buying a pair of earplugs when she'd had the chance. If she ran into the middle of all those monsters and got paralyzed someone would have to come in and save her. With Jak and Donnie already swooping around to handle the airborne enemies those horn guys seemed to have the best chance of breaking the bottleneck that the bug lady and the Courier were currently taking advantage of. Linkle jumped off the Brother Grimm, advancing to behind the front line with the Koopas and pulling out her bow instead of her crossbows. Flipping open her pouch she withdrew one of her arrows, nocked it, and fired. The arrow buried itself right in the chest of one of the horn guys, and another joined it to finish the monster off. She turned her attention to another one, killing it with another pair of arrows just as it was abut to let loose on a squad of big spikey dry bones. She reached for another arrow as she saw a third one. Out. She patted around the inside of her pouch, but found only pokeballs. She hadn't restocked on any arrows either! Well, you couldn't blame her for that! It wasn't like she was used to worrying about ammunition. She was about to put away the bow and risk engaging the horns up close when she had an idea. Her hair suddenly flashed blue and she outstretched her hand. Ice began to grow in her palm, elongating and sharpening until it had the rough shape of an arrow. Linkle held it up proudly. It wasn't the sort of ice arrow she was accustom to, but it should do the job. She nocked it and fired at the nearest horn guy. It fell short, falling right into a Primids head. She made the next one thinner, but that one went wide and shattered on the ground. Another, this one striking true but breaking against the monster without doing any damage. She made around fifteen arrows before she started to get a feel for the right weight and shape, but once she was in the groove of it she was putting as many arrows as she could cleanly in the Borboras.