[center] [img]https://i.postimg.cc/vTD8rQzY/Star-Fox-Faded.png[/img] [@Dawnrider] [h3]Tora & Poppi/GM[/h3] [@Lugubrious] [h3]Geralt of Rivia[/h3] [@MULTI_MEDIA_MAN] [h3][color=darkgreen]Linkle[/color][/h3] [@Gentlemanvaultboy] [b]Level:[/b] [color=darkgray]2 (14 -> 17/20)[/color] | 6 (54 -> 57/60) | 5 (49 -> 52/50) | 5 (5 -> 8/50) | [color=darkgreen]7 (42 -> 45 (-5) -> 40/70)[/color] [b]Location:[/b] Land of Adventure - Spiral Mountain [b]Word Count:[/b] 2118 (+3 EXP) [/center] Geralt managed to recover from his desperate leap away from Link’s whirling attack, not trusting Quen to manage to block such a flurry of blows. As the Hylian approached, Geralt narrowed his eyes and shifted his stance slightly, ready to parry the incoming blows. Steel rang against steel as Link’s slashes rained down, Geralt expertly diverting the blows as the two danced around, Link being careful to try and keep the Witcher between him and at least one of the other adventurers at any given time. While he could keep Link from hitting him, Geralt was frustrated to realize that the boy wasn’t giving him any real openings. Making his way around from behind Geralt in rapid steps, Fox came dashing in at Link’s left with a running sweep into a double aerial roundhouse. The boy, despite being preoccupied with another swordsman, was quick on the defense, and out of four hits, only the second from Fox’s tail managed to tag Link. All the same, he now had another foe on each side to deal with yet again. He focused his defense primarily on the Witcher, given blades were immediately deadlier than feet, while balancing offense evenly between the two. The manageable, but stressful trade went on for the better part of a moment until Link decided to do something about it, throwing out a swift, heavy diagonal swing in a semi-spin--a divided modification to his Spin Attack (and down smash)--to each side with the lethal intent to drive his attackers off. Geralt stepped back as Link’s sword spun around him, the attack telegraphed ever so slightly. Once the blade sailed past him, the Witcher stepped in, thrusting his blade towards the Hylian’s center of mass. Having dealt with the same earlier, Fox anticipated the strike from the split-second wind-up and evasively corkscrewed over the attack, then stepped back in to punish the Hylian with a signature backflip kick to his chin. Link let out a pained grunt as he snapped backward head first through the air, piercing razor steel running the length of his back as he left the ground. Minus the sustained damage, this happened to work out for him better than expected as far as his positioning. He righted himself while airborne, holding his Slate forth commandingly to detonate the cubic bomb he left at his opponents’ feet without their prior noticing. Fox caught sight of the blinking explosive almost a second too late to skip back away from it and flash his Reflector to nullify the damage, but still being launched by the blast force. Geralt, however, was not as lucky, and found himself launched into the wall of the tower, groaning in pain. In near unison with the first detonation, Link triggered a second below him at just the right distance to harmlessly propel himself higher. At the near peak of his cheated altitude increase he drew his bow once more with the intent to arrow-blitz the remaining half of his opposition as he had done just moments ago. By this time, however, Fox’s shield was down, and they were at level with one another when he started up his illusory dash. In the temporal dilation that was Link’s perception, Fox was the only other one moving at a rate worth considering, rushing through the air straight for the Hylian with a trail of faint blue wind drawing the line behind him. They made contact the instant before Link completed his first draw as Fox bodily rammed into him with a reckless forearm tackle with enough forward momentum to carry them all the way outside through the gaping hole in the tower over the entrance. The two locked fighters clipped part of the remaining brickwork on their way out, sending them tumbling over the bridge, onto the left guardrope, and bouncing over the side. Link booted Fox overhead while Fox wrested the bow from Link’s grasp--thanks in part to Link releasing it for a handhold on the bridge--blindly flinging it away anywhere into the field as he continued to fall. The air in his lungs audibly, forcibly, painfully vacated them with uncontrolled impact onto a chunk of demolished rubble at ground-level, and he haplessly rolled the rest of the way down the destructed mound until he fell prone in the dirt, raspilly groaning as he tried to recover his breath. He successfully relieved his enemy of an advantage, but took an unduly hard, potentially costly hit in doing so, even if all it cost him was a bit of time out of his ongoing role in the battle. That much would likely hinge on whether or not the hero followed him down in pursuit or opted to deal with him last. At this point, it hardly mattered. Either way, neither of them could relent until the other fell, for in their wrong minds, greater judgement would not avail them. Geralt moaned as he shakily stood, watching through half-closed eyes as Fox and Link jumped out of the tower. Rolling his shoulders to make sure he wasn’t too badly hurt, the Witcher ran over to the others that had been turned into trophies and quickly started touching the bases of their trophies, not stopping to check until he had hit the last base. “Come on, they went out the hole in the tower.” Again not stopping to check if he was being followed, Geralt raced out of the tower, looking to find some sign of the two. The hero of Hyrule pulled himself up onto the bridge, his muscles screaming. He stood and breathed heavily, watching the tower entrance for any sign of his next opponent. He doubted that they would give him time to recover. Unfortunately for Link, his next opponent didn’t come from the tower. The sound of boots on stone sounded out behind him, three hard footfalls. If he turned it would be just in time to see a girl in a green cloak pitching something pink and glowing right at him. On instinct he raised his right arm to block, only to remember he no longer had a shield. Instead he pivoted, trying to intercept the incoming projectile with his sword. Linkle growled as the sword hit the friend heart, popping it like a soap bubble, but didn’t stop running. Honestly, what kind of Hylian had that reaction to a heart? With Link’s sword outstretched to parry the heart she took the opportunity to slip inside his guard, bumping his sword arm with her shoulder to push it even further afield and bringing up a knee to strike at his gut in an attempt to knock the breath out of him. Tired and wounded as he was, Link fell prey to Linkle’s strategy and gasped, almost faltering. He dug deep to clench his teeth and bring his sword around in a rather slow horizontal slash. Linkle ducked under the sluggish blow, bringing her hand up and thumping her chest to make another friend heart as she did. Popping back up she reached out and grabbed Link’s sword arm around the wrist, pressing herself forward to force it against his chest with her whole body while raising the heart like a dagger. “Just take it, they’re good for you!” She shouted, bringing it down toward his face. The pink shape slipped right in, and Linkle ended up palming her hero in the forehead. In the next few seconds she got a front-row viewing as the power of the bizarre heart surged through Link, scrubbing the streaks of ash from his skin and washing the sunset from his eyes. His tense and weary muscles, struggling against Linkle’s grip, finally relaxed, and he gradually went limp. As Link’s struggle ceased and his condition caught up with him, the harrowed look evaporated from his face, and he slipped into unconsciousness in the girl’s arms. “Ha!” Linkle laughed, then started struggling as the hero went limp. She half carried half dragged him over to the side of the bridge, laying him gingerly against the railing and looking him over. Even through the wounds it was clear that this is the one that had shown up in her dreams. It was sheer luck, or at least skill on his part, that he wasn’t dead. From the look of it her friends had seriously put the boots to him. She stood up, looking down to where she’d seen the Fox fall when they’d flown out of the tower. He was lying in a painful looking heap, which in this world was a relief. She’d half-expected to see nothing but a spirit down there. Charging out of the tower, Geralt saw the two Links fighting just long enough to see Linkle force the Friend Heart into the male hero. Letting out a sigh and a nod, Geralt approached the girl. “Linkle. Good work,” He called out. “Now we just have a few more.” She looked up as The Witcher approached, smiling before an uncomfortable look came over her. She glanced nervously from him, to Link, and back again before asking, “He didn’t kill anyone, did he?” Geralt shook his head. “No. Just turned the lot of them into trophies, but they should be fine now. I hit the bases.” She let out a relieved breath before smacking both her cheeks in an effort to psych herself up. “All right!” She said. “The giant looks pinned down from out here, so that just leaves the two that fell off the tower.” She pointed off to the area beside the tower, near the waterfalls. “The last time I saw the crossbow lady she was over there. The other one fell into the water, but they could be anywhere by now.” “Linky-Linky!” Tora sang as he bounded out of the Tower, with Poppi following behind. Following his partner’s revival he’d stopped to make sure she was okay, and now both appeared to back up their allies against Link. The only hylian they found, however, was one with long, strawberry-blonde hair and matching rabbit ears. As Tora approached the bridge wobbled, so Poppi took to the air just to be safe. Up above, a couple more allies were trading blows with Gough, but the Nopon didn’t see anyone else up there. “Something happen? Where others?” Reasoning that anyone at the top of the tower would be otherwise engaged, Poppi scanned the ground. She didn’t get far before a black arrow careened into Tora from nowhere, trophifying him and sending him off the bridge in one golden burst. “Masterpon!” Poppi dove after him, leaving the others to deal with the attacker. Judging by the path of the shot, the sniper in question hid somewhere near the riverbank, either by the tree or in the field. “Poppi!” Linkle shouted as the Blade dived over the side. By the time she heard the splash she’d dived to, sliding up to the railings to take a little cover. She placed her hand down on top of it, her hair flashing blue as ice began to grow up from it to cut Geralt, Link, and her off from the sniper’s line of sight. Geralt grunted in shock, ducking behind the barrier Linkle produced. “Damn, can’t even get a moment. We’ll have to hunt ‘em down now. I hate it when they hide…” The Witcher grumbled. Having regained himself in the brief moment following his fall, Fox picked himself back up at a dignified pace that betrayed not his condition and drew sights to the bridge on Link’s last known position. His need for medical attention would neither compel him to seek it as needed, nor deter him from stubbornly resuming battle. For him, the fight wasn’t over yet, but as it turned out, it wasn’t for anyone else either. He had forgotten all about the remaining snipers until an afield black arrow streaked overhead past the tower’s base at the mountain’s peak, prompting him to pivot into cover behind the stone debris. He didn’t have time to get a clear bead on Link beforehand, and by the time he glanced back up, an inexplicably formed wall of ice on the guardropes of the bridge impeded his view. Even if he started from the top of the mound, Fire wouldn’t carry him high enough and was too slow to start, which would leave him vulnerable, so he would have to make his way back up on foot. When he saw the giant atop the tower begin to fall, he took that as his chance to book it for the mountain’s base, Illusion zipping over the moat just out of the giant’s fall path, opposite the fielded sniper’s view, to cover his first rounding up the mountain path.